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February 8, 2010

Valentine's Day in Paris, the Big Mistake and Secret Subterranean Blues...

Ah, Paris. The city of love...a perfect place to take your wife for Valentine's day. How could a guy go wrong?  I'll tell you how: He invites one of his best friends to just happen to show up and join the fun.

In 2002, my first year of marriage, I did just that. My wife and I were living in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I decided to orchestrate a Valentine's Day three-day weekend in Paris. It was a special trip: our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. I knew The Wife would be happy. She had been to Paris before and talked about how much she loved the city. I had never been to Paris and was looking forward to it. 

I organised a great first night (which was the actual Valentine's Day). I bought two tickets to the midnight showing at the Moulin Rouge.  That was the first of the two "Big Surprises" that I kept telling The Wife I had for her on the trip. That one went over very well. First night in Paris was an epic success and quite a romantic evening. 

Day Two was when "Big Surprise #2" was expected. After the Moulin Rouge, The Wife was expecting Big things. I was confident that she would love Big Surprise #2. Even before the trip I thought it was going to be a hit. In hindsight, I may have thought this because Big Surprise #2 was a surprise I would have loved to have sprung on me!

I fucked up. Capital-R, Royally. This was Valentine's Day...in Paris...as newlyweds...for only three days...just the two of us...or so she thought. I invited my good buddy, The Rouster (name changed to protect the guilty) to surprise Julie by showing up at the Louvre at the same time we were there (what a coincidence!).

Let me repeat: I invited one of my best friends, drinking buddy, trouble-making twin, to surprise my wife while she was on a romantic holiday weekend with her husband in Paris. What was I thinking? What THE HELL was I thinking?!?

I remember telling my old man about my plan. When I did, he just stared at me with pupils the size of manhole covers. "Are you stupid?", he asked. "She is going to hate this idea".  

I was dumbfounded. She liked The Rouster. She really enjoyed all the times we went out together and had said so often. Like me, she hadn't seen him since he moved to South Korea two years earlier. Why wouldn't she want to see him? He was coming back to the States for a visit anyhow, so a rendezvous made sense. 

"Judd", my old man said to me as he fixed that you've really done it this time stare on me, "do you really think (The Wife) wants to be surprised by one of your craziest, beer swillingest friends...in Paris...on Valentine's Day?"

"Oh, shit!?  What have I done", I said to myself. 

Long story short: Big Surprise #2 blew up in my face. The Wife was not all too happy to be sharing time with The Rouster that could have otherwise been spent on L'Amour with L'Wife.

It took some tears and beers, but I smoothed things over and we carried on with our Paris fun. Like I said, The Wife and the The Rouster are good friends. There was no option but to act like the true Champions of Fun that we knew each other to be and get on with getting down. 

We decided to have a red hot go at the Latin Quarter on our last night. We went out for sushi and sake and then searched the streets to find the pulse of the city...and a bit of live music. We were walking down a busy street and heard blues music coming out of a small pub. We looked inside and couldn't see where the band was. The pub was small (maybe 20 ft by 40 ft) and packed with people.  Where the hell was the band?

We went inside and had the barkeep pull a few pints for us. I was about to ask where the band was when I saw a closed circuit TV hanging from the wall with musicians playing on it...but  where the hell were they.  In the back of the pub there was doorway.  That doorway led to a staircase down to the cellar. Ah! That's where the band was!

We struck gold. The cellar looked like someone went down earlier that day with a jack-hammer and banged out a cave big enough for a stage and a makeshift bar.  There were two rooms. In the main room there was the stage and assorted chairs, tables and church pews strewn about. The other room was smaller, but important...it was where the beer taps were. 

The scene was fantastic. The timing was spot on. We were Pros.  We were professional subterranean scene seekers and we just hit the mother-load. I spent a lot of my youth reading about the days of yore when the R&R got it's passport and spent time traipsing Europe. Stories of scenes such as this one seem to be the norm, each one hipper than the last.  True underground...that's where we were and that's what we were.
(The stage in the cellar)

It was a Sunday night.  Sunday night was (and still is) the open Blues Jam night. Ah, the Jam. Everybody loves a blues jam, right?  Drums, piano, harp, guitars...as many as the stage can hold. They all lurch out  in a  crude and chaotic cacophonic stupor, stalking each other until they find the communal groove.  
(me and The Rouster, 2002)

Who knows what can happen when the Jam is on...sparks strike and legends are born.  The crowd thought we had a birthing right there and then. There was this young kid...he must have been 15 if he wasn't 12. he jumped up on stage with the "house" band and strapped on someone's guitar. Oh man! We were knocked out loaded once he started to play!  

He was tearing frets and slamming the slide and seemed to do it with the wisdom of a guitar god.  The floor was littered with jaws.  This kid could play and the crowd let him know it. People were screaming out, "Le Petite Clapton".  Hot Damn!  What a night. 

We left around 2am. The Wife and I had to catch a few winks for our 8am flight back to the US. The Rouster stayed on in Paris to carry on the V-Tine's Day celebration for a few nights with a new sweetheart he met at the hostel.  No love lost in Paris that Valentine's Day.  

This past weekend, The Wife and I took the train to Paris for the day.  Almost eight years to the day, we visited that bar. We hoisted beers and toasted to Big Surprises, good friends and the sweet joy of serendipity. 

(me, returning to the Scene of the Crime this past weekend)

(The Sunday night Blues Jam lives on)
_____

The name of the joint in question is: Le Caveau des Oubliettes (check link for details).  Here is a snippet from a National Geographic  travel blog on the pub:

In medieval times, Le Caveau des Oubliettes, which translates to "the cave of the forgotten," held prisoners awaiting the guillotine. The tight door and thick stone walls masked the prisoners' wails and howls. Iron handcuffs on the walls, chains along the staircase, and a barred window remind listeners of the room's past and give the intimate club an uniquely eerie feel. 

Funny, I think I saw a couple of those guys there that night...
_____
Speaking of the Blues Jam & Eric Clapton, here is a jam from the anniversary edition of Layla.

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Filed under  //   Blues   Eric Clapton   Music   Paris   Riffs   The Rouster   The Wife  
Posted from Paris, France
Posted by Judd 

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January 24, 2010

B.B. King out Ya-Ya's the Stones: Why he sings the blues...because he can, dammit!

In December of 2009, the Stones put out a 40th anniversary box set of "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out". In the deluxe versions, the sets from opening acts Ike & Tina Turner and B.B. King were included.  If you need the low-down on the original "Ya-Ya's" set...I envy you. You are in for a treat, and, quite possibly, a life-changer.  Where to start to find out about it?  Start with Lester Bang's bow-down review of the original set from 1969. 

If you are a Ya-Ya's fan like me, the deluxe set was a must buy. The remastered Stones tracks are worth the price alone.  But...the real-deal, bow-down, shuck and jive toe tappers in this box set come from B.B. King. 

The B.B. tracks are comprised of five smoking hot scene stealers. This is raw blues power.  The performance is full-tilt from the horns to the rhythm section to the two stars of the show: Lucille and B.B.'s boom box vocals. 

Buckle up and have a listen to one of those tracks that I have uploaded for you: "Why I Sing the Blues"

Lucille jump starts the track and the rhythm sections churns out a bedrock backbeat. B.B. belts out the lyrics in his tenor horn howl (you know that B.B. never sings and plays at the same time, right?). 

At 1:58 in song, B.B. takes Lucille for a spin and rips off a solo sprint for over a minute. At the 3:30 mark, B.B. heads for the wings (this was the last song of the set before the encore). This is when the band takes over and lays down a stone groove...how fucking tight can one rhythm section be?!?

B.B., ever the crowd pleaser, comes out for a quick 30 seconds of guitar picking before the band pulls the emergency break and stops that groove dead in it's tracks (if only instruments had airbags). 

But enough hot air from me...go ahead, hit play.

  
(download)

p.s. I love the way B.B.'s guitar sounds like a horn. More and more, as he gets on in age and style in his playing...I think Keith Richards plays like B.B.'s horn-ified guitar sound. To see/hear what I mean, check out the Scorsese docco, "Shine a LIght" (short clip below).  Keith is honking his guitar like a chuck-riff saxo-trumpet. 

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Filed under  //   B.B. King   Blues   Keith Richards   Lester Bangs   Music   Riffs   Rolling Stones   Tune Treats  
Posted by Judd 

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January 23, 2010

10 lbs. of Shit in an 8 lbs. Bag: A request for keeping music simple in 2010

"Too much of anything is too much for me. Too much and everything gets too much for me". - The Who

That is a line from the chorus of the song of the same name, "Too Much of Anything". Strangely enough, this was a bonus track off the 1995 reissue of the always-delivers Who album, "Who's Next". I say "strangely" for two reasons: one, the original version of  this album was nine songs of bow-down material and two, the fact that this song was a bonus track is fucking ironic. 

Too much of anything, indeed.

Why the hell did we need bonus tracks for this masterstroke? We didn't.  Pete & The Who made a brilliant, time-tested album that consisted of nine crowd pleasing, beer hoisting tunes. Nine. Here we go again...gorging ourselves on a great meal; bloated and reaching for the bicarbonates. Too much.  

I am fed up with "too much".  This year I am bringing it all back home: keeping everything as clean and simple as I need it to be. Near the end of 2009 I started to think about  clarity: eliminating variables; reducing clutter; focusing on less to enjoy more. 

I am not preaching purely simplicity for simple's sake. I am talking about clarity. Clarity doesn't sacrifice depth at simple's alter. "Focusing on less to enjoy more" is about clarity; lucidity. It is a concept that I am (forever forward) latching on to and enveloping myself in...including my music listening habits.  

I find myself gravitating to music that is much more lucid and clean of complexities...but, not lacking depth. Case in point: the Black Keys' "Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough".  

I am a Black Keys fan. They aren't always on my playlist, but I enjoy them from time to time. I did not own this album prior to my hearing it. Recently I was in a crowed and very loud bar. Nothing on the juke box was cutting through the din until I heard this album being played. Whoever was at the controls, decided that they need to play this album in its entirety. The groove was so pronounced and clear, it drowned out the noise in the room and filled all the spaces like a welcome mist. It felt calming and clean to me (even amongst all the clutter in the bar). I went out and bought it the next day. 

Lucidity, clarity and depth are full frontal on this set of six songs. The straightforward, two-fisted, Corsican Brother drum and guitar approach of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney lends itself to the clarity/simplicity + depth credo. There is no gratuitous flutes or overdubs or 16 track recordings...just two dudes, two instruments and a half a dozen of a simple bluesman's simple blues songs.  By simple I mean uncomplicated, not simpleton or unsophisticated or naive. No, these songs have depth and sagacity. 

Junior Kimbrough didn't make it on the blues scene until the 1990's, but he'd been cutting tracks as early as 1968. Junior was a Mississippi Hill Country native and legend. His blues is a hypnotic, sauntering groove that preaches a knowing simplicity and bares warts, proudly. This blues holds you in it's vibe and makes it hard to pull away. Every time I put it on, I know it is going to be a happening. I know I need to dedicate at least 20-30 minutes to it's gravity.

Here is a clip from Robert Palmer's brilliant expose on the raw, country blues: "Deep Blues". If you have not seen this, you MUST do so soon. More-so, read the book that preceded the movie. It is widely thought of as a classic in the genre; a career high for Robert Palmer in career filled with tall peaks.

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(Junior also had the coolest album titles: "God Knows I Tried" & "Most Things Haven't Worked Out")

The Black Keys decided they needed to have a go at Junior's music. They gave it a richer, thicker sound...while keeping the ethos of it intact. They added to it without complicating it: less is more.  This is my fave track of the set:

What do you think? Does that feel like less is more to you?
_____

Nine songs. I like that. "Who's Next" wasn't the only great album with nine songs: "Let It Bleed" had nine songs, too.  That is my favorite album of all-time (a post for another day). Conversely, the Stone's 2005 Masterplunk, "A Bigger Bang", had 16(!) songs. Too much. 

I'd like to make a request of all music makers in 2010: please, don't try to cram ten pounds of shit in an eight pound bag.  Focus on reducing the clutter on your albums. Just because you can crowd16 songs on a CD doesn't mean you have to. I don't want more from you, I want less...and I want depth.

Excuse me while I go off to listen to some Charlie Patton...

_____

Regarding my personal thoughts on "too much": 

Too much of my time was being wasted worrying about things I manufactured or labeled as important.  Whether they were tasks or audacious (unattainable) goals or simply over thinking decisions or situations, the importance that I gave these things, put undue emphasis on them; one more thing I had to worry about. 

Here is a bit, from a larger mindmap (on my 2010 thoughts), on "reducing the clutter"

(download)

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Filed under  //   2010   Black Keys   Blues   Brevity   Charley Patton   clutter   Junior Kimbrough   Less   More   Music   Rolling Stones   The Who   Tune Tags  
Posted by Judd 

Comments [3]

December 17, 2009

A Judd's Juke Joint Xmas: A Holiday Happening from the Hills of Ol' N.H.

 

Here we go again...it is the time of year for sitting around the fireplace with family and reciting time tested tales of holiday cheer and christmas joy...unless you spend your xmas eves at Judd's Juke Joint!

Judd's Juke Joint:

Where we don't go caroling...we go carousing.
Where spreading cheer and drinking beer go hand-in-hand.
Where naughty and nice are our kind of girls.

That's right...Judd's Juke Joint is the place where all those who didn't make Santa's list go on xmas eve. Good kids gone bad; saints turned to sinners; losers and winners; everyone is invited and that means you.

About five or six years ago, I wrote a little story about what goes on during xmas eve at Judd's Juke Joint. Each year I share this with good friends who embody the JJJ spirit. We are a little family of freaks, weasels and Champions of Fun. This year, is different.  This year I am sharing that with everyone....the extended 6149 family.

And why, not eh?  Tradition is best when shared. What says tradition more than a time of year when we feed the capitalist retail pigs all the sludge they can eat from the trough by buying presents and flowers and trees for the wife and kiddies...and jewelry, crotchless panties and exotic trips for the mistress.  Load up on gifts and then load up on the booze.  A time honored tradition for sure.

Are you familiar with Judd's Juke Joint?  It is a real-fake place that currently only exists in my mind. Someday soon, I will build it and you will come. Have a read here of what Judd's Juke Joint is all about (see you soon).
____

On with the show!

This is a tall tale, but one not too far from the truth.  Some of the Juke Joint's regulars are called out by name: these people have true grit; charter members. Sure I copped the rhythm and the roll for this ditty from the famous "A Night before Christmas", but that is what makes it special and warms our hearts (and it is a qick gimmick, too).

The setting is a backwoods bar in the hills of Ol' New Hampshire where the state motto is "Live Free or Die"...and that is exactly what we do at Judd's Juke Joint.

Pull up a chair by the fire, snuggle up next a love one, pull the tab off another Pabst Blue Ribbon 16 oz'er and enjoy another Judd's Juke Joint Xmas (remember: you gotta read this as you would the "night before christmas").


"A Judd's Juke Joint Xmas"


Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the Joint
The beer was a flowing, let’s get right to the point.
The bar tabs were hanging by the register with care,
In hopes that the regulars would soon pay their share.

The patrons were nestled all snug in their booth,
While a couple of strippers danced for their loot.
Sweet mammas in G-strings, pranced in dude’s laps,
Maybe someone will get lucky, just maybe, perhaps.

When up on the stage there arose such a clatter,
The blues band tuned up, the windows did rattle.
Away to bathroom, someone flew like a flash,
Tore open his baggie and laid out his stash.

The goon rolled a heater, of green sticky griff.
Old habits die hard when the band plays a riff.
When, what to his wondering eyes did he see?
Well, not much, since there was, such a thick could of weed.

With a count-off from the drummer, so lively and quick,
The guitarman done played a nasty blues lick.
Judd's Juke Joint was jumpin’, the place was insane,
The singer was rousting all the locals by name!

"Hey Gilly! Hey, Huntely! Hey, Tony and Mini!
Yo, Erik! Yo, Zucco! Yo, J.P. and Quinny!
Raise up your mugs! This here tunes for y’all!
At the Juke Joint we never, shout out ‘last call’.


The owner he pulled down, from top o’the shelf,
A bottle of hooch he had saved for himself.
That shit was strong, he made it in his shed,
He passed out some shots; three people fell dead.

He stood on the bar and to the crowd he did yell,
"Might as well get rowdy ‘cause were all goin’ to hell!"
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
He huffed up three lines of some fresh-fallen snow.


The people all partied ‘til the sun came along,
And the band kept on playin’, song after song.
Judd's Juke Joint keeps open ‘til the last person stays,
Who knew that would not be, for almost four days.


As the last person left and the front door was shut,
We looked over our shoulders, ‘fore the ‘lectricity was cut.
In the window, a message, in bright neon lights,
"Live Free or Die”, to all you New Hampshire-ites.

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Filed under  //   blues   Champions of Fun   holidays   JuddsJukeJoint   Keene   Music   N.H.   The Blues   Tradition   xmas  
Posted by Judd 

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November 22, 2009

The Sunday Sauce: Scenes from The Soul Kitchen

Back in August I posted about a family tradition: the Sunday Sauce. Each Sunday my old man would make a homemade pasta sauce. There is lots of Italian blood running through both sides of my family.  Have a read of that post to find about more about the tradition if you like.

Today is Sunday and I needed the plasma. I cooked up a batch of sauce and took a few snaps. As always, the key ingredient was used: music. Nothing like spending an hour or so making sauce with good rhythms and good blues playing in the background.

I have an iTunes playlist I created that I use as the soundtrack to my cooking; its called, 'Blues With a Feeling".  It is a great blend of Blues, Gospel, Country, Soul and R&B...all old, old school. Just the way I like it.

A little bit of garlic, a little bit of oregano, a little bit of Booker T. & the MGs, a little bit of Waylon Jennings and a heathy dose of Bettye Lavette.

Perfect

                                   
Click here to download:
the-sunday-sauce-scenes-from-the-soul-kitchen-HABjEphhaybppndrJfAj.zip (16554 KB)

p.s. I made enough for everyone. Come over if you want. Bring wine.

(If you've never heard this Bettye LaVatte song...LISTEN NOW!  The Drive-By Truckers are backing her up)

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Filed under  //   Bettye Lavette   blues   Booker T. & MGs   Country   family   Gospel   home   Italian   Pasta   pics   playlist   Sunday   Sunday Sauce   Waylon Jennings  
Posted by Judd 

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October 5, 2009

Sweet home where?! Blues greats and where they came from (contribute to the interactive map)

I put together an interactive mind map of (most) all the Blues Greats and where they came from. I used mindmeister's web app to do so. 

The app is completely customisable for anyone that wants to add names/states to it, change wrong information, add links, pictures, comments to a particular branch or name, etc.  I also created one branch just for the best of the best of the "sidemen".  I know this is not complete, so be my guest and have at it. 

I got the idea to throw this together after reading the introduction to Jas Obrecht's book, "Rollin' and Tumblin': The Postwar Blues Guitarists".  Obrecht's book is collection of interviews with the postwar greats. It is a treat to hear them talk in their own words about their own stories. I am just about to rip into the first chapter. 

You can grab and move the map within the frame it is presented in, or you can open that map up to edit and add to it.  See the image of the tool bar below. You can (a) click the pencil icon and edit in this frame or you can (b) click the screen enlarge icon on the far right and the map will open up in a new window. 

toolbar controls: 

If you do choose to add/edit, I suggest you open the map in a new tab. You will have access to the sidebar with full controls. Plus, it will be much easier to contribute with the full map.

Interactive Map: The Blues Greats and where they came from  

I just finished Ted Gioia's book on prewar blues, "Delta Blues".  The latter was an excellent narrative about the history of the Delta Blues and all those who made it so. If you are interested in reading it, this review from the NYT may help.

(download)

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Filed under  //   blues   chicago   detroit   los angeles   louisiana   memphis   mind map   mississippi   sidemen   st. louis   texas  
Posted by Judd 

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October 1, 2009

Sittin' in a bar, drinkin' a jar in London (with Charley Patton, no less)...

  • Beer: Abott Ale 
  • Bar: The Zetland Arms, South Kensington 
  • Book: "Delta Blues" by Ted Gioia 

This is an EXCELLENT book if you are a fan of prewar blues. I am learning so much. Ted's writing is a rhythmic and knowing prose. I feel like there is dirt under my feet and train whistles are blowing in the distance when I am reading this. I just bought this Charley Patton record (seen in the photo). It is my beer, bar, book talisman for this session. 

(As I write this "Green Onions" by Booker T. & The Memphis Group just came on the radio. Great music knows no geographical boundaries. Shit, I love those guys. I saw Booker T, Steve "Never Played a Bum Note In His LIfe" Cropper and Duck Dunn in Sydney last year.  Al Jackson RIP).

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Filed under  //   beer   blues   book   Charley Patton   delta blues   London  
Posted by Judd 

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September 28, 2009

The Lure Of Going Around is strong in Honeyboy Edwards: A front-row review from when he brought the Mississippi Delta to London last weekend.

(Me & Honeyboy)

Either prior to or while reading my Honeyboy Edwards experience, you may want to play this bit of audio from the show. I was close enough (front row) to capture near the last 25 minutes on my iPhone. If you want to wait until after, fine.  I'm sure you will be playing it more than once. 

Oh yeah...those two instances where you jerk your head upwards and say in amazement..."HOT DAMN"!...after you hear what you hear, are at 7:35 and 15:23 in the recording. Enjoy.

  
(download)

I am standing four feet from David "Honeyboy" Edwards and my needle is in the red. I am rooted hard where I stand, up against the front of the stage...but I feel like vapour. I feel like I am a massive exhale exhorted out in to the atmosphere, swirling around to make sure everyone understands the significance of what is about to happen next.

At any moment, the Blues is about to emerge from a hole in wall and walk right up on the stage, sit a spell and play awhile. Yes, The Blues. The Blues will be here tonight. Not in black and white; not in folk or lore; not in contemporary mimicry. The Blues will be here, live and in the flesh, and it is going to show us just how blue you can get.
_____

I am in a small London bar cum music venue cum makeshift Mississippi-backroad juke joint. The stage is a rag-tag collection of folding chairs, assorted bits of rug, wires, microphone, amps and opened guitar cases. The stage is flooded in a velvety red glow from the dim white lights bouncing off the old ragged red curtain that is draped behind on the wall.

The house is three-quarters full and the opening act has just finished his set. People are rushing around to refresh their drinks. Some are grabbing two or three beers at a time to last them for the entire next set. Some are knocking back ceremonial shots of whiskey to prep themselves for what they are about to experience. For some, moving nary an inch from where they stand is not an option.

For these people...the non-movers...us...nothing could be more important right now than the anticipation of what is about to happen. One of the last two, and the only touring, living legends of the Delta Blues is about to play. David "Honeyboy" Edwards is 94 years old.  He has played the blues from the Mississippi's Delta on up to Chicago and all the broken down juke joints in between. The list of the blues legends he has played with can drop jaws: Tommy Johnson, Son House, Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, Lightnin' Hopkins...utterly staggering. He has played with them all at one point and tonight he channels them for us. 

Ninety-four years old. This ain't no oldies act. This man knows what he is doing. He knows who he is and what he represents. He knows why he is here and what he must do. Ninety-four. If it is true that age brings wisdom, then Honeyboy Edwards must be one of the smartest motherfuckers on the planet. 
_____

If you have been reading along on this blog you know I am a fan of the blues...to say the least. This gig was a bow-down event for me. One week after I move to London I visited Rough Trade records in Notting Hill. I am in the store and I see a concert bill for a Honeyboy Edwards show. There are a lot of old posters and playbills on the wall in Rough Trade and I assumed this one was an oldie and goodie. Not so.

I was in disbelief and disoriented at the thought of actually being able to attend this gig. I rushed home to get tickets online. I couldn't miss this show for anything. I had to be a part of this.  I had to be one in the crowd, clapping for and cajoling Honeyboy to play those country blues. 
_____

We got to the gig early I cemented myself in the front row to what would be Honeyboy's left. The first act, Les Copeland, proclaimed Honeyboy to be his hero. He played his set and played in a respectful manner that greased the skids for Honeyboy. I'm sure Les could have played with a bit more glint and flash; his subdued set was more than enough to let us know he has chops. 

Near the end of Les' set, Michael Frank came out to play an accompanying blues harmonica. Michael Frank is Honeboy's manager.  he is also an eccentric, a music producer and owner of Earwig Music. Honeyboy and Les are Earwig artists. Michael played one song and then went out back to get Honeyboy. 

Oh shit: Here come The Blues. Steady, Judd...steady. 

Honeyboy came out dressed in trademark shirt, vest and flat-rimmed "Chicago" baseball cap. Ninety-four years old. I wasn't sure what to expect. I anticipated feeling sympathy for the old buck. Surely the show was going to be more a figment of the blues than a fertile reading of it.  Oh, how wrong I was. 

Honeyboy Edwards played like a man possessed. Not possessed by the devil nor any other fabled figure...but with the spirit of youth.  I can only surmise that it is the passion he has for what he is doing and what he represents that allows him to play with such vigour and showmanship as he did last Friday night. 

He played smooth and he played dirty and he did each with a knowing confidence. He was engaged with his music and engaged the audience with kicks and gestures that were both a play to crowd and a natural reaction. He played for 1hr and 45min without a break.  He played lead guitar (with Les playing rhythm far in the background), he played slide guitar and he played dobro. He played it all with a gusto and sincerity that only a man who has played as long as he has, could. 

I was completely blown away by his slide work...especially when he brought the dobro out. It was a slashing and stinging sound that called for attention. In the audio clip I have provided for you, be sure to have your ears open for the 15:23 mark. Honey tears of a slide riff that give you the chicken skin (that is me with my knee-jerk "Whhooaa!" when the Honey takes off).

Yes, there were some bum notes, but no one cared. Honeyboy Edwards was serving some authentic Delta Blues and the crowd was lapping it up (just listen to us!). 
_____

I didn't move the whole night...literally transfixed with a huge, shit eating grin plastered on my face. Honey was looking at me a few times during the show. I was hopeful that my expression was egging him on, letting him know that he was nailing it and to keep stoking it. He must have thought I was some crazed lunatic. I could stop grinning. 

Why should I have?  This was the living Blues. A seminal figure who has toted the Blues Legacy around with him for many a year. I am so thankful for the opportunity to see Honeyboy live. He has a presence and I was in it. He is Honeyboy Edwards, but he is also the Mississippi Delta, West Side Chicago, South Side Chicago, Junior Wells, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, The Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray and Keith Richards and so many, many more. 

He knows his past and he knows his future is a day-by-day uncertainty. Friday night he played like neither mattered. He was in the moment playing his blues, the real Delta Blues, for the people...as he has for the last ninety-four years.

Thanks, Honeyboy. 

Honeyboy's website
Earwig Music's website
_____

Seeing as I was so close I was able to capture some sights and sounds of the show.  In addition to the audio above, I have some snaps and some short clips of video (no disrespect to Honeyboy and his management intended...I just want to share).  

The Goods

Honeyboy Gig Photos: Here are some snaps from the Honeyboy show.  I only had my iPhone 3GS with me, so the pictures are not of the highest quality:

A short video clip of Honeyboy taking the stage and warming up:

Two quick clips of Honeyboy: Honeyboy giving his manager the business & a short clip of Honeyboy in action.

(download)

(download)

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Filed under  //   Audio   blues   Bow-Down Post   Delta Blues   Honeyboy Edwards   legends   live   London   pics   riffs   The Lure of Going Around   video  
Posted by Judd 

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September 17, 2009

Fleetwood Mac, Elmore James and The "GREAT" Rip-Off (bonus material: the Jeff Beck - prison sex connection & why Elvis is suspect)

Note:  When referring to Fleetwood mac in this post, I am not talking about the Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham version.  I am talking about the Peter Green stuff...the "Early Mac". 

Recently I wrote a post about the not so fine line between influence and emulate.  I also wrote one on Mick Fleetwood's celebrity podcast on iTunes (that is a joy to listen to).  Low and behold, a convergence of thoughts has occurred!

After the Mick Fleetwood post, I went and picked up some early Feetwood Mac. I needed to go back and hear their sound of that time.  In the podcast, Fleetwood spoke about the heavy influence of Delta Blues in the original incarnation of the Mac.  Infact, as history and Mick tell us, a great many British bands of the '60's were influenced by these Delta inhabitants, musicians and creators of the folk and the lore. 

I wasn't sure what to get and it was spontaneous thing, so I went for the full buffet of early Mac: a 2009 (re)release, "Black Magic Woman: The Best of Fleetwood Mac". Again, this is the Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer stuff...not the flowing scarves of everyone's favourite cocaine pixie. 

I put it on and walked London for an hour or so. 

These guys, to say the Very least, were completely affected by those old sounds they heard come across the Atlantic from the Mighty Mississippi. They wanted no misunderstandings about what their intensions were...to play just like their Delta heroes. 

This got me to thinking about the influence and emulate discussion I posed a few days earlier. Like I said, "Influence is you with a twist.  Emulate is you trying not to be you".

Early on, to all their talent and credit, I think the Early Mac were emulators. Listen to a song like, "Shake Your Money Maker". This is an Elmore James song.  Now, I am no musician so what I say may not be technically correct. I do have a pretty good ear and feel for tunes.  What my ear feels after listening to the Early Mac play this song is almost a complete duplication of Old Elmore James' version.

Fine.  No issues with that. Early Mac may have been the best British blues band of them all.  My point is that they aimed to emulate  Elmore and his brand of blues.  It wasn't just that song either.  There are a half a dozen that have the Elmore feel. Now, as Early Mac evolved, they kept some of that blues culture in their music, but their sound developed into something more personal from the band.  Yes, later on they went stone-cold different and had unprecedented success.  That situation was a horse of a much different colour...and it wasn't blue(s).

Old Elmore, he was a bit different. He was hugely influenced by his predecessors and contemporaries. Still, he ended up with a very unique sound of his own for those times. A slash and slither, electrified slide that you knew was Elmore when you heard it. One of his direct influences was Robert Johnson.  Elmore took Johnson's "Dust My Broom" and whipped it up into an all out electric, slide frenzy.  This was Elmore being influenced by Johnson's playing, but giving it his own stamp...Elmore "with a twist". 

Just for fun...let's talk Jeff Beck.  What a natural fret-freak, eh?  The Jeff Beck Group was a like a dinner guest you really wanted to have over, but knew would cause a ruckus and may put others off. This Beck incarnation played a (self admitted/anointed) heavy sound.  This band included Rod Stewart on vocals and Ron Wood on bass (Wow...Woody is so underrated. Listen to his bass playing...stunning).

If we lean Beck to either side of this influence/emulate discussion, it is definitely the influence side. His first two albums, Beck-OLa and Truth are fantastic...especially the former. He plays songs we know, but he plays in a style all his own. Yes, he takes on a classic by Elvis Presley, "Jail House Rock", but he sets fire to it and burns the original to embers. 

Shit, The King would never been able to shake his pelvis to this!  By the way...what the hell is up with those "Jailhouse" lyrics?!  Go Back and listen to them?  Prison-mate love anyone? Here is a bit of the lyric:

Number forty-seven said to number three:
You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see.
I sure would be delighted with your company,

Come on and do the jailhouse rock with me.

Yikes!

For good measure, listen to Beck's version of "I Ain't Superstitious".  Yep, more influence. 

This is all just my opinion.  I truly like all this music whether it is a rip-off or new take.  I'm glad bands like Early Mac, The Stones and the Animals found the blues.  They just might have rescued it from an ignorant (uncaring) America.

Two more parting thoughts from good friends:

Like Ol' Neil Young says: "It's all one song".
A bit of wisdom from The Good Doctor, Hunter Thompson: "I've been plagiarising all my life.  Its called learning". 

Thanks guys. Spot on.
_____

Here are the tunes I was talking about.  Put your ear to them and tell me what you think...

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Filed under  //   blues   Bow-Down Post   emulate   influence   playlist   riffs   thoughts  
Posted by Judd 

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September 10, 2009

Poorman's Podcast: Walkin' the Talk on the Streets of London with Mick Fleetwood & his Celebrity Playlist

  
(download)

 

I have another another one my "Poorman's Podcasts" here for your listening enjoyment.  I make these on my iPhone using the voice recording app. Very simple to do.  This time I recorded it while walking along the South Kensington streets in London.

I was on my way back from the gym and had just finished listening to this new feature that iTunes has called, the Celebrity Podcast.  It is a new feature that I talk about in the attached podcast. Mick Fleetwood put one of these together and I loved it.  It is storytelling. It is about music.  It is about music through storytelling...and Mick Fleetwood spins a mighty fine yarn. 

Listen to what I have to say about it and then see then decide if you want to download it for free in the iTunes store. 

Also, here is the link to listen to it now: Mick Fleetwood Celebrity Podcast.  

That link does not take you to the iTunes store.  It opens up in your browser where you can watch the accompanying slide show of the podcast. It is cool because there are some visuals that go along with it.  I didn't even realise you could do that until just now.  Learn something new everyday...

A couple other highlights I forgot to mention my podcast:
  • Sandy Nelson: I didn't know who he was.  Listen to the Link Wray-light guitar in the background
  • Marvin Gaye: If there were three people that I wish stayed on to make more music and more statements it would be John Lennon, Robert Johnson and Marvin Gaye.  All of which were taken down by someone else's hand. Marvin was an extremely tragic character in life and in his death.
  • James Brown: Listen to the opening of "It's a Man's World".  Stopped me cold while at the gym and was close to bringing tears to my eyes.  You can't cry at the gym...
  • The Peter Greene song I mentioned is called "Man of the World".  Much like the tunes on Lennon's "Working Class Hero" album, here is a song where the artists takes their guts out and spreads them all over the mixing board and the listener for all to chew on.  I attached a link here for you to listen to it in your browser. The lyrics are full-on...
Fleetwood's new album: "Blue Again".  Allmusic reveiw and Amazon link. 

Enjoy...

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Filed under  //   blues   Bow-Down Post   itunes   London   poorman's podcast   riffs  
Posted by Judd 

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