The Rockland Report Part II - Artist Sampler

One of the reasons I started doing "Blues With A Feeling" last year on WQRI was to continue building an audience for an authentic musical genre that always seems to be teetering on the brink. It makes you wonder which blues artists are strong and versatile enough to pull in new listeners while still paying homage to the tradition. Here's a look at some of the crowd pleasers at The North Atlantic Bluesfest in Maine July 12 and 13, and their individual styles of music:


Wayne Baker Brooks is crafting a new approach to the blues, blending elements of soul,
rthymn and blues, hip hop and rock into a dynamic mix that had the crowd on its feet during his set. He has solid credentials , being the son of bluesman Lonnie Brooks , which prompted me to break into a few bars of "Too Old To Get Married " when I shook Wayne's hand backstage, a rocking duet between Lonnie and Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater on Clearwater's 2008 Alligator CD "West Side Strut." My personal favorite during Brooks' live set was his version of the Muddy Waters classic "Long Distance Call", but I didn't really start to appreciate his music until I started listening to his "Mystery" CD, available on Brooks' own label, Blue Island Records. The title tune is a soulful approach to the blues that picks up in intensity, delving into those endless guitar solos reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, while "Baby Stop", the second cut, is uptempo funk that reminded me of Sly & The Family Stone. "Exiled" evokes the vocal styles of Otis Redding and/or Solomon Burke, a soul-drenched love song that gradually builds to a crescendo. Baker Brooks points toward the future in "Nu Kinda Blues", a blues rap tune that puts together harp on steroids with a dance beat, churning out a solid rhythmic base with playful vocals bridging the gap between old and new. "She's Dangerous", "It Don't Work Like That" and "Your Turn (To Talk To The Blues)" also caught my ear. As Wayne explains : "Some people say I'm rock but I say I'm blues rock with a contemporary feel. I also add a little hip-hop to the equation." Check out http://www.waynebakerbrooks.com/


You can hear elements of Blues Traveler, Paul Butterfield and especially Stevie Wonder's wizardry on the chromatic harmonica when you listen to Sugar Blue , who says it all in "Bluesman", one of the standout tracks on his CD "Code Blue" ( Find it at Sugar-Blue.com), - "I'm a bluesman/That's what I am/ And if you don't like it/I don't give a damn" (Whiting-Lantieri). Blue, whose real name is James Whiting, was raised in Harlem by a mother who performed at the Apollo in the 1930s and 1940s, so he grew up around legendary performers like Billie Holiday and Big Maybelle. He plays homage to the originators with tunes like "Bad Boys Heaven", a tongue-in-cheek ballad combining barrel house piano with mouth harp, and "Chicago Blues", a brief history of the blues punctuated by Sugar's harmonica mimicking a saxophone and an accordion between the blistering runs up and down the scales. Blue - slash - Whiting really excels on "Krystalline", which describes a love affair with the "White Lady", the lyric perfectly capturing the insidious addiction. Sugar's talent has earned him the nomination for the 2008 Blues Music Award for Instrumentalist-Harmonica by the Blues Foundation.

Melvia "Chick" Rodgers doesn't waste any time in letting you know where she's coming from on her CD "Essentially Yours" (Spellbound Records) - she pays homage to both Muddy Waters, in Koko Taylor's twist on "Mannish Boy" - "I'm A Woman" - and segues into BB King's anthem "The Thrill is Gone" as part of her version of Albert King's "I'll Play The Blues For You". Her R & B credentials are firmly established in "Let's Make A Deal" , as well as Rodgers' handling of the Aretha Franklin standards "Baby I Love You" and "Ain't No Way". Chick's voice soars on her interpretations of "Over The Rainbow" and "Summertime" , breathing powerful new life into both classics. Rodgers' debut on Spellbound is due to her friendship with Koko Taylor, who asked Chick to play at her wedding in 1999. As Taylor says in the CD notes: "Chick Rodgers always respected me as a person and for my legacy. I've always called her my 'Little Chicken' ."

Some of the other artists who were new to me that took over the stage included Andrew Jr. Boy Jones, Lurrie Bell, Ruthie Foster and Lil Dave Thompson. As far as festivals are concerned, this is one of the best for variety and overall organization. I'll definitely make it next year.

The Rockland Report - North Atlantic Bluesfest 2008

I tend to think that I'm living in a vacuum when it comes to propagating the blues. When I started this blog over a year ago, as well as doing "Blues With A Feeling" on WQRI 88.3 FM, I felt it was my duty to preserve the music, to make sure that the audience not only survives but expands. I was surprised to find out that people actually listened to the show; I figured I was sitting there playing the tunes for myself. Fortunately, last weekend in Rockland, Maine, I discovered not only the North Atlantic Bluesfest but also the fact that the blues are definitely alive and well.


The event has been staged for the past 15 years in and around Rockland's Harbor Park, a setting that provides a picture perfect snapshot of "the way life should be"- sails swelling with the wind as boats criscross the harbor, framed by the azure sweep of summer sky and shifting shades of blue green ocean, a far cry from the cramped clubs and modest venues that first exposed me to the likes of Paul Butterfield, BB King and Muddy Waters. It seemed incongruous at first, blending a uniquely American form of music that is typically associated with pain and sufferring into a New England postcard setting, but I was happy to see the blues getting the respect it deserves as well as an audience that cut across all ages and lifestyles.


As I sat through eight different acts over two days, I started thinking about the music industry in general, the fact that it is getting harder and harder for performers to earn a living, not to mention the liability issues that seem to sink most large outdoor events. In a world of ringtones, downloads and cookie-cutter pop "stars", authenticity and musical integrity are outmoded concepts. The blues survive because of their hardcore following, as well as those who realize the unique place the music occupies in American history. Festivals like the North Atlantic Bluesfest give the audience a chance to get up close and personal with the legends as well as the up and coming players, since each performer would hang around right after their segment to sign their CDs and meet the fans.


The best known "name" at the event was veteran guitatrist Elvin Bishop, who closed out the show on Sunday, but the lineup featured some lesser known acts that I'll be profiling here over the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, blues aficionadoes should start planning now for North Atlantic Bluesfest 2009 - you won't be disappointed.

Meet "Mondegreen"

"Mondegreen" is a word that lends itself to many different interpretations - it could very easily serve as the name for a heavy metal band, or a new type of ecologically-focused rock music - but it refers to one of my lifelong sources of frustration. It is analogous to W.C. Fields' famous malapropisms - like "I resemble that remark" - as well as other verbal faux pas, like "interrogation" for "integration", or numerous other examples you hear mangling English every day. The term stems from an old Scottish ballad which contains the lyric: "laid him on the green" - BUT - to many listeners, it sounds like: "Lady Mon - dee - Green", apparently evoking an obscure but titled aristocrat. The word has been added to the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, a sign that it has finally "arrived."as an official word.


Musical mondegreens are numerous, perhaps owing to the way lyrics are usually mumbled, muffled or screamed and loaded with incomprehensible slang, rendering them almost unintelligible to begin with. For example, one of my own personal mondegreens stems from my own daughter. She grew up listening to the occasional reggae tune, one of them being "Rivers of Babylon" by the Melodians, from the soundtrack of the ground-breaking reggae epic "The Harder They Come." The chorus goes: "By the rivers of Babylon...", but my daughter substituted the word "polliwogs" for Babylon, singing along with the Melodians by warbling: "By the river of polliwogs."


There are some very well known mondegreens sprinkled throughout some of the most popular rock anthems. Those of us who grew up with Creedence Clearwater and Jimi Hendrix in the Sixties may have really thought that John Fogarty was singing: "There's a bathroom on the right" rather than "There's a bad moon on the rise" , or that Hendrix really said: "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" in place of "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky."


Even when I had to learn lyrics during my extremely forgettable stint singing with a rock band for a couple of months, I struggled with deciphering Robert Plant, trying to figure out which squeals equated to which words, or Paul Butterfield's "Born in Chicago", where one of the lines always sounded like: "Best thing I can say about that boy/He got laid". I still don't know the right word. Maybe that's why I like Wilson Pickett and Chuck Berry - their verses are pretty straightforward and comprehensible.


I'm sure you've got your own personal mondegreens. Feel free to submit them and I'll compile a more extensive list for a future blog.

Big Noise From Little Rhody

You would think the "Truth in Music Advertising Act" recently passed by the Rhode Island State House should have originated in New York or California, since most of the retired , decidedly over the hill performers affected by this landmark legislation live in those two states. However, the big question becomes - why is this bill so important?


Back when my generation was so obsessed with the Beatles that any kind of merchandise even vaguely suggesting the Fab Four was instantly devoured by legions of fans, an album came out called something like "Best of the Beatles" . Not only did the title allege that this particular piece of vinyl contained all their greatest hits, but also the price of the record was extremely reasonable (which should have been the first clue that something was rotten in Denmark). It was only when eager consumers actually looked at the record that they discovered the rip -off - the "Best" was actually the last name of the Beatles first drummer - so "Best of the Beatles" was a stroke of marketing genius, probably earning somebody a fast buck or two at the time, but now the record is listed the way it should be: "Pete Best: Best of the Beatles." However, truth in labelling when it comes to the recording industry is fleeting, as evidenced by a CD I bought a few years back that was jam packed with some of my favorite oldies, the cover emblazoned with the slogan "All The Original Hits". It was only when I started listening to it and discovered to my dismay that it did contain all the "original songs" - just not performed by the "original artists."


The act, which slipped through last week's dumpster diving for dollars in Providence - the result of an ever widening budgetary black hole - is a boon to the long suffering fan, since it mandates that what is loosely referred to as "the performing group" must have some artistic integrity. Specifically, the band has to include at least one person who is on a recording made by that particular group, or by the same token, have some kind of guaranteed right to the name. Sadly enough, this kind of restriction severely impacts the clubbing habits of baby boomers drawn to see a "legendary" band perform only to discover that the original members were six feet under.

The Rhode Island legislation was heavily influenced when Sha Na Na's "Bowzer" - Jon Baumann - lobbied for passage last February, stating at the time that groups like The Drifters, The Platters and the Coasters are constantly victimized by promoters and performers stealing their names. After all, how could so many state fairs, oldies clubs and other venues seemingly claim to have the same bands playing at the same time?


I think the only drawback is that this truth in oldies initiative will not be aggressively enforced, but is intended to provide pissed off audience members with the opportunity to file a complaint if they feel they've suffered an artistic rip off. The intimidation factor is the dominant force here, so the promoter out there somewhere getting ready to advertise a " Jimi Hendrix - Janis Joplin - Back From The Dead Concert" might think twice.


Unfortunately, and I do mean unfortunately, I was involved with enough nearly expired oldies acts in my short dalliance as a promoter to become totally disgusted with the entertainment business in general. Most of the acts with one or two original members have to rent extra tour buses to carry their egos; the agents talk down to you in advance, sensing that they are dealing with a "rube", warning that so and so has a reputation for not showing up, or that someone else has a wicked temper, or -most commonly - that so and so gets the souvenir revenues.


If this bill has any meaningful impact beyond the nation's smallest state, it may very well save us from a horrendous future, when Rolling Stones concerts happen simultaneously, featuring Mick Jagger's eighth cousin and Keith Richards' stepbrother appropriating the name, or Roger Daltrey's illegitimate son and Pete Towensend's ex-wife's stepbrother's cousin are the mainstays of The Who. As far as the performers are concerned, it really is a dead issue.

Blues Planet

As I get ready to wrap up another year in the life, I like to look back musically on the past 365 days to catalogue those songs which had the most impact on me. No question that the blues have kept me sane in 07-08, especially these standout tunes:


"The Lights Are On" - Albert Collins
The piercing, precise picking that characterizes Collins' guitar playing defines this virtuoso run, as if it would be impossible to coax another stinging riff to top the last one, but he manages to rip right through the song. The lyrics are sparse but evocative, perfectly matched to a bluesman whose mastery of the mood and the melody was legendary. In his own way, Albert Collins was the Jimmy Page of the blues.


" That's Alright" - Etta James
I forget all about Etta until I was trolling through the CDS in a mall music emporium and found "Blues To The Bone", the diva's collection of classic blues standards. James' immense vocal range gets a workout, from the throbbing sexuality of "You Shook Me", "Little Red Rooster" and "Crawling Kingsnake" to the uptempo versions of "Got My Mojo Working" and "Driving Wheel". The song that "sticks" in my mind is a tune attributed to Jimmy Rodgers called "That's Alright". Etta's bigger than life vocals swallow the lyrics whole and spit them back out as smooth as silk, the tale of infidelity and heartbreak smoothed over by her sense of acceptance. Her penetrating voice hits just the right tone in the sardonic chorus: "Some times I wonder / Who's loving you tonight."


"Come On In My Kitchen" - Keb Mo
Keb was someone whose name had been mentioned, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover his traditional style and deep, commanding voice. The spare mix of guitar, harmonica and drums keeps repeating the same enigmatic riff in "Kitchen", perhaps in homage to the song's cryptic author, Robert Johnson. Keb's rough, powerful vocals flesh out the lyrics, the tune ending in the same abrupt, mysterious way it begins.


"Damn Right I Got The Blues" - Buddy Guy

Damn right I know who the hell Buddy Guy is, but the OLD Buddy Guy of "You Sure Can't Do", "Sweet Little Angel" and " The First Time I Met The Blues". The NEW Buddy has kept right in the groove , easing those razor sharp notes out of his axe as he wails and bellows the title tune of yet another Grammy winning CD. "Damn Right" is the main course of this gourmet blues buffet, but side dishes like "Five Long Years", "Black Night" and a re-worked, bluesy version of Wilson Pickett's classic "Mustang Sally" are lovingly prepared in the studio to near perfection.


"The Celebrated Walking Blues" - Taj Mahal

I've never really been sure about Taj Mahal since I bought his first album, the one with him sitting in a chair on the front lawn, cradling his guitar, surrounded by cartoon animals. The music was overpowering but I was dubious about his authenticity - was he the real McCoy or some ambitious college student simply playing the role? Taj's music has ranged from foot-stomping solid blues tracks to flirtations with reggae and zydeco to the simple acoustic combination of vocal and guitar. This particular song moves like molasses slowly spreading across a plate, starting out with the basic six string and rough vocals, then slowly adding in slide guitar, harmonica, bass and drums until it flows. I decided it doesn't really matter who Taj really is and what he represents. The music speaks for itself.


A few other standouts....Bonnie Raitt teaming up with Sippie Wallace on "Women Be Wise" ..."It Hurts To Love Someone" by Earl King..."Too Old To Get Married" where the blues meets good time rock and roll in the persona of Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater joining forces with Lonnie Brooks...."Black Night", "Big Mamou" and just about all the rest of the songs on Roomful of Blues' "Raisin' A Ruckus"...the list goes on. However, I have to admit as I peer fearfully back to last year that Martha Davis' "Only The Lonely" still resonates, still summarizes yet another year in the life.

Bye Bo

One of the first real rock and roll albums I bought was a Bo Diddley disc on sale at the Bunch of Grapes in Vineyard Haven. I had graduated from the folkie wave and gotten swept up in the psychedelic tsunami of the 1960s, but that old time rock and roll kept pulling me back, especially Chuck Berry's Golden Decade, a Chess double album set that tracks nearly every Berry hit, on which I had spent most of my meager summer job earnings one week, adding the Diddley album as an afterthought .


I thought Bo was boring at first. Most of the tunes had that trademark "thumpa-thumpa-thump- THUMP THUMP". True, it was lively and bouncy but redundant. I liked Bo's sense of humor - you could tell from titles like "Mushmouth Millie", "Bo Diddley's Hootenanny" and one song that features him mocking an English accent that he didn't take himself too seriously. I've always felt that the rock and roll pioneers had the right attitude about the music - big and bold and laced with tongue-in-cheek humor. Two of Diddley's signature tunes stood out: "Can't Judge A Book" and "Who Do You Love?" Both tunes have been covered by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, George Thorogood and Tom Rush, just to name a few. The lyrics combine that brash sense of satire with a hint of menace, especially the latter, with one of Bo's most famous refrains: " Got a brand new house on the roadside/Made out of rattlesnake hide/Little bitty chimney up on top/Made out of a human skull" and "Got a cobra snake for a necktie." I lost my Diddley album somehow in the chaos of constantly shifting from one apartment to the next, and proceeded to pretty much forget about Bo. His distinctive guitar musings would crop up when I least expected it, most notably using the single "Bo Diddley" as the soundtrack for the depiction of Harlem in the R. Crumb classic "Fritz the Cat".


Then I picked up a 4 CD set of blues tunes that just happened to be sprinkled with some outstanding live performances featuring Diddley at his finest. Since the songs were on one of those minimally-labelled, deeply discounted collections of music randomly thrown together, there is absolutely no information about where or when the cuts were recorded, so it's impossible to provide any details about the flawless performances of "Can't Judge..." (In which Bo actually stops the tune in the beginning to laugh at the audience), "Mona" (Standard thumpa-thumpa-thump-THUMP-THUMP, packed with exceptional guitar and sax solos) " Road Runner" (I grew up listening to Junior Walker's version) and a vaguely psychedelic "Dr. Jeckyll". Probably the best collection that really covers most of Ellis McDaniel's (Bo's real name) output is another CD I borrowed from a friend that was called (I think) "Rare and Well Done". I always thought that "I'm A Man" was a Muddy Waters composition, but it turns out it was the flip side of the "Bo Diddley" single released by Chess in 1955.


Ironically, the day before Bo Diddley died in Florida at the age of 79, I had been thinking about trying to find the "Rare" CD to add to my collection. I was actually hoping to see Diddley and his trademark rectangular guitar in person, but I'll have to settle for his legacy.

Jah Mon

I set myself up when I picked the name for this blog, mainly because I've also been listening to reggae and ska for decades AS WELL as blues,soul and rock and roll, which is why it was such a privilege to spend the last week in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Not only was the weather idyllic (although incredibly hot and HUMID!) but the sounds of the island were everywhere.


The first surprise was how much the nation has embraced Bob Marley. There are Marley hats, tee shirts, wristbands, keepsake boxes, athletic socks, underwear, rolling papers and of course, CDs. I found it ironic that the Jamaican government has decided to promote a Rasta artist who came to prominence singing songs like "Burning and looting tonight / Burning all pollution in sight" or "Get up/Stand up/ Stand up for your rights", the anthems of the "rude boys." In effect, it's as if reggae's best known rebel has been co-opted as the national brand. The next time you are mesmerized by the technicolor images of cobalt sea and milk white sand, with Marley warbling: "One love/ One heart" , listen to the original song lyrics, which have very little to do with harmony. Personally, I've always thought that Peter Tosh deserves more credit for his role in the Wailers as well as a solo artist. His commanding voice, outlaw persona, and obvious contempt for Jamaican society, plus his confrontational compositions - "Legalize It", "Get Up Stand Up", "Wanted Dread or Alive" - seem to make Tosh a little too controversial for marketing overseas.


I've always felt that reggae was partially the precursor to rap. Toots and the Maytals have taken credit for naming the music, Toots explaining that the term means "regular" , or , as he puts it, "coming from the people". The content of reggae songs , excluding the ubiquitous love ballads, is mostly about political oppression, social issues, and the Rastafarian philosophy, one of the primary outlets for Jamaican artists to comment on their lives to a worldwide audience. In addition to using the music to advocate social change, many reggae performers would experiment with vocal rhythms and nuances as well. Although the connection between the two is tenuous, it is further evidenced by the various rappers who have incorporated reggae beats and intonations into their music.


I am a personal fan of what is called "dub" music. Dubbing refers to taking a familiar melody, stripping away the words and inserting your own commentary ( also referred to as "skanking") as well as utilizing intense reverb, echo, feedback, and any other musical device that comes to mind after consuming copious amounts of ganja. I managed to pick up a copy of "Superdub on Overdrive", featuring the superior talents of Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar. Besides doing covers of "Peter Gunn", "Roxanne" and "If I Were A Rich Man", they seem to have produced most of the CD trapped in an echo chamber, experimenting with turning the melodies inside out and then drifting wherever the music takes them.


Of course you can still hear the strains of the traditional Caribbean ballads made famous by Harry Belafonte, the familiar refrains like: "Daylight come and me want to go home" or "Sad to say/I'm on my way/Won't be back for many a day", right up there with rum punch, jerked chicken and duty free shopping. The "music of the people" tells a different story, the "riddims" of a Third World nation struggling with devastating poverty, uncontrollable crime and defining the true Jamaican identity.


Personally, I still wanted to find anything by The Mighty Diamonds, Big Youth, Max Romeo and a few others, but the clerk at the El Paso in Montego Bay was clueless when I asked for specifics, gesturing instead at the wall of reggae CDs. In retrospect,this was a fortunate development. Now I'll absolutely positively have to go back.