Got my own row to hoe...
(Click the pic for the full tattoo)
I wasn't born the seventh son, on the seventh hour, on the seventh day, or on the seventh month; but I was born in Keene, New Hampshire back in 1972.
I've rambled up and down the East Coast of the Good Ol'USA. Sat a spell in Sydney, Australia (2005-2009). And currently growing roots in London, UK.
I am a proud owner of a turntable.
I am a fan of music and all of the sounds and stories that live in the songs. I believe in the three musical truths: Blues, Country and Gospel (it all comes from here).
This is music that is deeply ingrained in the background of the music makers; all of whom are connected by a shared experience that links them inextricably; music with a message and a literal truth.
And like the bluesmen, country singers and folk troubadours before me, I'm pulled by the lure of going around in search of the sounds and to share my own stories.
“To see life clearly, to live it like a champion, you have to develop your own set of rules.”- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
“I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more...” - Bob Dylan
_____
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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").
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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Champions of Fun
holidays
JuddsJukeJoint
Keene
Music
N.H.
The Blues
Tradition
xmas
"It Might Get LOUD" (it damn well better be)
I just scored tix to see the UK premier of "It Might Get Loud". It is going to be at the, star-studded, mind you, Hammersmith Apollo on the 15th December.
Do you know of it? It is a documentary about three guitar players from three generation and three very different backgrounds. Maybe you heard of these guys: Jimmy Page, The Edge & Jack White. The scene is set for these three gun slingers to meet on an empty sound stage, start talking about their own story about how got into the guitar and then, [cue the spontaneity] hopefully a three-pronged jam will breakout.
Here is the trailer:
I like rock documentaries much better than I like straight-up rock concert films. I want to learn something when I watch music. I love the stories behind songs and albums and artists. I sued to love the Behind the Music series on VH1. Even when they had an artist on I didn't particularly like, I still watched for the story. Too bad it got drunk on hubris. I kept watching until I could no longer stand to see its show formula dry hump the legs of the performers until it turned into a parody of its former self.
Rock-Docco best done by someone who is passionate about the subject. Taylor Hackford is a great rock-docco/film director. He did Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll, the biting look the life and (fucked up) times of Chuck Berry. He did his best to make a glory film about Chuck even thought Chuck gave him a shit fight of a time. The deluxe version has loads of great interviews with rock and blues legends.
There is a GREAT interview with a very, very drunk...absolutely shitfaced...Jerry Lee Lewis on the deluxe version that is worth the extra bread (couldn't find it anywhere on the web).
Scorsese is another one. While I didn't really like all that he did with his latest on the Stones ("Shine a Light"), he has done some damn good work, a la The Last Waltz" and the Bob Dylan docco, "No Direction Home".
If you want to see a PHENOMENAL music documentary, watch "Respect Yourself: The Story of Stax Records" RIGHT NOW! If you don't fall in love with this, you have no soul. Here is a promo clip for it. When I saw Steve Cropper & Duck Dunn (remaining MGs) in Sydney two years ago, they played this clip from the movie before the show. The MGs were opening for this young Aussie wanker-pop-star. He went to Memphis to blood suck the soul music legacy to supplement his lack of creative song-writing talent. Cropper produced his album and was supporting it on this punk's Aussie tour.
I guess you know who I was there to see.
They showed this to make sure the Aussie audience knew that they knew just who the hell was up there...MUSIC LEGENDS. My old buddy Nev, owner of Mojo Music in Sydney, used to say about Cropper (one of his heroes): "Steve Cropper...never played a bumb note in his life. Agreed, Nev.
Here is a list of all of my music DVDs. You'll see that the majority of them are rock-doccos:
The CD Conundrum: Coasters or Collectors Items (What the hell should I do with my 1,000+ CDs?!?)
Images of me unpacking and resorting my CD collection in my new London flat.
For those of you who do not know, I have been on my own World Tour of sorts as of late. In 1996 I lived in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1998 I moved up to Boston, where I met my wife (at a Tom Petty concert: find out how here). In 2002 we moved from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In 2005, we made the big move around the globe to Sydney, Australia. This past September we relocated to London; ironically we now live on Sydney Street.
There are two things I have always traveled with no matter where I have rambled: my wife and my music collection. Arguably these are the two most important things in my life; I couldn't do without either. Funny though, I have had a longer relationship with my music collection than my wife (she and I have been together over 10 years). My wife is not the jealous type, nor should ever have reason to be: I am an extremely loyal and dedicated man. Which is why she shouldn't be surprised at my resistance to want to shed my vast collection of CDs.
My collection is 1,419 albums and box sets strong, consisting of both CDs and downloads. Recently I have converted back to vinyl (75 albums and growing) after decades of turning a deaf ear on their sonic brilliance. You can read through it all here in a live-list I created in a Google Doc: Judd's Juke Joint. I update this whenever I add to it. There is also a tab for my music related DVD material as well.
Before I go any further, let me say this: as far as I am concerned my collection is 99% fat free. While I do think that size matters, quality is of most importance.
As you can see in the spreadsheet I am in the process of highlighting which albums are physical CDs and which are downloaded bits and bytes. In my rough estimate, just under 1,110 of my collection is in CD format (including box sets). That is a quite a load to haul around the world with me. I am thinking of making a move that scares the shit out of me: junking all of my physical CDs.
I am entertaining this thought for a few reasons:
- The sheer volume of CDs is cumbersome to move (around the world or otherwise)
- The majority of the CDs are on my two Macbooks. One of which is dedicated to just play music wirelessly around my flat.
- Because of #2, I hardly ever go to pull a CD off the racks to play it...I do only if I haven't already ripped it to my laptop
- My taste for vinyl.
Why am I keeping all of these CDs? I don't know, really. Part of it is that it is tangible. I love seeing this tower of CDs everyday. A lot of work and play (and $$$) went into amassing this collection. Yes, I am emotionally attached to all of that polycarbonate plastic.
Conversely, I LOVE sifting through my vinyl collection and physically playing and flipping records...which is not easier nor is it more convenient. This of course, is because the sound and the experience from vinyl is worth the effort. The CD experience in comparison is shit. Having to get up and move across the floor to flip the record is exciting...I am actively participating in the music. Yes, I am now emotionally attached to all of that beautiful black lacquer.
So, what is poor music fan to do, 'cept to play some ol' rock and roll bands...899.html">heh heh.
Here is what I am thinking about doing if I decide to do anything at all:
- Rip my entire physical CD collection to hard drives. I would put as much on my Macbooks as I can and the rest, in its combined CD and download glory, would be stored on external drives. I would back it up to as many as necessary until I feel secure. I could keep two on hand, get a safe deposit book for one and send one to my parents in New Hampshire for extra safe keeping. And If all fails, I can bury one under a rock in Buxton, Maine for Red to dig up when he gets out of prison.
- I would then take all of the CD inserts/liner notes from each case and store them in a photo-album or something similar. This way I can have the info if I ever need it (this sounds like madness, doesn't it...).
- I could hook up my external drive to the computer and play everything and anything through my wireless network set up throughout my flat. This is also very convenient for mobile-music
- I would find some young, deserving music fans and donate my CD collection to them. I would divvy it up into assorted chunks so that the recipients would get a good mix of blues, soul, country, etc. If I do this, I might have to forgo keeping the CD inserts.
This would leave me with all digital files, vinyl and box sets (I would keep those in physical form). I think...think...I could live with that. But how would I buy music?
Let's use the last Bob Dylan album, "Together Through Life", as a test case. I bought that on vinyl and it came with a CD of the tunes sans CD packaging fanfare. This is best of both worlds: my preferred vinyl in 180 gram goodness and a CD to rip to my digital collection...and I get to give the CD to a deserving music fan/friend. If the album had come with a code for download that would have been just as good.
Anyhow, this is where I am at with my collection. I am not in a hurry to decide. All I know is that my collection will only grow. While I LOVE the thought that it will get out of hand, it could get physically unmanageable as I move from place to place.
Are any of you in the same situation? What are your thoughts? How have you/would you act on this...if at all? How do you buy your music? What are the holes in my potential plan?
Tune Tags
I chose "Sparks" by The Who as the tune tag for this post. This was the song playing in the movie Almost Famous when a young William Miller was flipping through the vinyl collection left to him (...to liberate him!) by his sister.
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CDs
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Tune Tags
Vinyl
Posted from Kensington, United Kingdom
Judd's Juke Joint: 1,400 hundred albums and counting... (and I ain't done yet)
Check out Judd's Juke Joint: 98% Fat Free.
- 1,400 CDs & downloads
- 59 pieces of pure black gold vinyl
This is my Music Manifesto: I do not believe in conventional genres. Genres are used to sell records. I believe in music that is deeply engraved in the background of the music makers; all of of whom are connected by a shared experience that links them inextricably; music with a message and a literal truth. Everything else is a product of the record labels.
This has been both my method and madness in pursuit of assembling a massive collection of bow-down music.
_____
Excuse me while I kiss the sky. Today I hit the 1,400 album mark in my music collection. "Judd's Juke Joint" has been a work in progress for some years now. This collection is my mirror. When I look at it, I look back at me.
I have made many acquaintances, business contacts, happenstances, life-long connections, international contacts, true friends and a wife (!) because of it. It has been fun and it ain't over yet. What a great passion in life to love music and to love to learn about it, share it and listen to it...incessantly. I am in awe of it and what it is capable of.
I won't say anymore except thank you to all who have been a part of this. Here it is, Judd's Juke Joint in all it's glory. Oh the stories it could tell...
p.s. the 1,400th album? George Jones - "Step Right Up: 1973-1979, A Critical Anthology". Heh heh. Perfect...
* A special thanks to Nev Seargent, A.K.A "The Kingfish". Without Nev, I wouldn't know half I do about the stuff that matters. Nev is the owner of Mojo Music where they specialize in "The Best of the Fringe and All of the Backbone". Thanks, Brother Nev. You got That Feel, mate.
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riffs
Black Beauties: New Vinyl at Judd's Juke Joint - Hathaway, Zevon, Carr, Neil & The Brothers...Oh My!
Here is the full truckload of music at Judd's Juke Joint
- 1,384 CDs & Bits & Bytes (downloads)
- 50 Black Beauties (vinyl)
- 47 killer DVDs
- And the "Roll Call"
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The new vinyl addiction has gloriously manifested itself again, resulting in some fine new members of Judd's Juke Joint. This time around I picked up some new and used stuff. My Vinyl Buying Manifesto still rings true: choose rich classic albums, collect a lot and make it diverse. When I drop a record on the turntable, I want it to be from a well rounded collection of vinyl , I want it to be a great experience and I want it to be a repeat offender.
I don't think I have to worry about these suspects subjects; they are all repeat offenders.
The New (and by new I mean new reissues):
- Donny Hathaway: "Everything is Everything". This is album is Donny's statement on himself in reflection of the (then current) times, and how he is trying to help with a message of soing and music. "Young, Gifted and Black" is both defiant and defining. Love that track!
- James Carr: "You've G ot My Mind Messed Up". I posted about James Carr before. The title track IS Memphis soul. It is such a bow-down event to listen to...go do it Now.
- Warren Zevon: "Warren Zevon". I can't stop listening to this. I have it on CD, but it always fell victim to the dreaded "shuffle". This once thought friend, developed into a parasite that drained the "album" from the record. Since I picked this up, I have really been into the album of it all...the dark, witty, cocky mood of it all: Awesome (in the truest sense of that word). I'll let the snarling lyric from "The French Inhaler" speak on behalf of this brilliant set:
But tell me
How're you going to make your way in the world, woman
When you weren't cut out for working
And you just can't concentrate
And you always show up late
You said you were an actress
Yes, I believe you are
I thought you'd be a star
So I drank up all the money,
Yes, I drank up all the money,
With these phonies in this Hollywood bar,
These friends of mine in this Hollywood bar
Loneliness and frustration
We both came down with an acute case
And when the lights came up at two
I caught a glimpse of you
And your face looked like something
Death brought with him in his suitcase
Your pretty face
It looked so wasted
Another pretty face
Devastated
The French Inhaler
He stamped and mailed her
"So long, Norman"
She said, "So long, Norman"
The Old (and by old I mean used
):
- Neil Young: "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere". My fave Neil album. His first with The Horse and a real gone classic. First...listen to "Cowgirl". Let it blow your mind and then listen again. The ups and downs, stretches and fuzz assaults and jagged melodies...that song and solo(s) is indicative of the flow of the entire album. Danny Whitten knew how to play with Neil.
- Allman Brothers: "Eat a Peach". Brother Duane ldied before this one came out. It is a bit of this and that from studio cuts with and without him to classic live material. The collection and range of the sounds is immense and serves as a cold reminder that one of the greatest ever was lost too soon. "Blue Sky" NEVER fails to make me smile and want to take a ride down an old dirt road, window down, elbow out the window and volume on "ear splitter". "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" is one of my fave studio cuts: "You don't need no gypsy to tell you whhyyyy. You can't let one precious day slip on by..."
Black Beauties: New Vinyl at Judd's Juke Joint (the Rolling Thunder of Pic/Vid Posts)
Once you go black...
The new vinyl addiction has gloriously manifested itself again, resulting in some fine new members of Judd's Juke Joint. My Vinyl Buying Manifesto still rings true: choose rich classic albums, collect a lot and make it diverse. When I drop a record on the turntable, I want it to be from a well rounded collection of vinyl , I want it to be a great experience and I want it to be a repeat offender.
Each update will have a pic or two of the album, it's contents and maybe a vid or two.
Here is the complete Judd's Juke Joint list of music. Click on the "vinyl" tab to see what we stock in Black Beauties...
Click here to download:
black-beauties-new-vinyl-at-judd-s-juke-joint-the-rolling-thunder-of-pic-vid-posts-AAcndcynBbeaauxAcuGI.zip (41296 KB)
Posted from Balmain, NSW and Sydney, Australia
Judd's Juke Joint: New Music in 2009 - Black Beauties & Bits and Bites
Judd's Juke Joint What's new in Judd's Juke Joint? In 2009, I have been busy buying music like I was stocking a bomb shelter. So far I am heavy on the Blues buying (just the way I like it) and there are heavy doses of classic Soul & R&B, too. Now I didn't just buy music in digital bits and bytes this year. This year was the year I found vinyl...again. It had been so long since I thought about vinyl...and now that is primarily all I play (just the way Iike it). Try as I may, I just can't seem to stuff the record in the macbook's CD slot. So the vinyl cannot be displayed in iTunes.
My Compilation of the Year? It is a serious toss up between the unreal Charley Patton set, "Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues" and Neil's Acrhives Volume I. The depth and breadth in both is massive...both in music and materials. The most intersting thing between the two is that one uses the most advanced technology to deliver the goods (Neil) and the other used primative tools (by today's standards) to capture the sounds. Which one is more rich and real?
Lookee here! Here is a month by month screen grab from my iTunes of all of the albums I have added thus far. There are also a few other pieces of video and audio in there as well.
_____
Here are the all of The Black Beauties I bought this year:
ALBERT KING BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN
ALBERT KING LIVE WIRE/BLUES POWER
ARETHA FRANKLIN SPIRIT IN THE DARK
BB KING LIVE AT THE REGAL
BO DIDDLEY HAVE GUITAR WILL TRAVEL
BOB DYLAN TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE
BOB DYLAN BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME
BOB DYLAN JOHN WESLEY HARDING
BOB MARLEY LIVE!
DEREK & THE DOMINOES LAYLA
DEREK TRUCKS BAND ALREADY FREE
GENE CLARK GENE CLARK
JAMES BROWN LIVE AT THE APPOLLO
JIMI HENDRIX BAND OF GYPSIES
JIMMY CLIFF THE HARDER THEY COME
JOHN LEE HOOKER NEVER GET OUT OF THESE BLUES ALIVE
JOHN MAYHAL BLUES BREAKERS W/ERIC CLAPTON
JUNIOR WELLS HOODOO MAN BLUES
LEVON HELM DIRT FARMER
LEVON HELM ELECTRIC DIRT
NEIL YOUNG DECADE
NEIL YOUNG CHROME DREAMS II
NEIL YOUNG LIVE AT THE FILMORE 1971
NEIL YOUNG LIVE AT MASSEY HALL
OTIS REDDING THE SOUL ALBUM
PAUL BUTTERFIELD EAST WEST
R.L. BURNSIDE MR. WIZARD
ROLLING STONES LET IT BLEED
ROLLING STONES 12X5
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST
THE BAND THE BAND
THE BAND MUSIC FROM BIG PINK
THE FACES A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK
THE FLYING BURRITO BROS. BURRITO DELUXE
THE FLYING BURRITO BROS. THE GILDED PALACE OF SIN
THE WHO QUADRAPHRENIA
THE WHO WHO'S NEXT
TOM WAITS SWORDFISHTROMBONE
TOOTS & THE MAYTALS FUNKY KINGSTOWN
TRAFFIC MR. FANTASY
VAN MORISSON ASTRAL WEEKS LIVE
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