Hello friends. It's been quiet here, I know. But that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about you. I've been busy with some other stuff, and I'll try to bring you up to speed on a few of the exciting developments here in Fluville.
Did I say Fluville? That's funny. It seems I came down with some strain of the flu myself last week, and had to take myself to hospital. Yes, I feared that maybe I had come down with the Boogie Woogie Swine Flu.
I let the experts sort it out.
After an annoying few hours of coughing up my lungs in a hospital waiting room, my crack team of doctors, fearing that perhaps I had become stricken with the Rockin' Pneumonia, took a few x-rays of said lungs to reveal that it was only an infection. They sent me on my way. I got my prescriptions filled, did a boogie woogie in the middle of the street, and spent the next few days in bed.
The bad news is, I had to cancel a trip to attend my son's 10th birthday party. The good news is, here's here with me now for the summer, and I've been teaching him to play the guitar. He likes the anglo-rock of the 60's and 70's, and the other day I taught him how to play this song:
"Substitute" mp3
by The Who, 1966.
available on Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy
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Before I got sick, I went to see the re-united original lineup of X at one the three shows they did at the Bowery Ballroom. I was reminded again, of why they were so great and so important. Let's pause and listen to a few of their songs:
"Hot House" mp3
by X, 1983.
available on More Fun in the New World
"How I (Learned My Lesson)" mp3
by X, 1982.
available on Under the Big Black Sun
"In This House That I Call Home" mp3
by X, 1981.
available on Wild Gift
"The World's A Mess, It's In my Kiss" mp3
by X, 1980.
available on Los Angeles
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Okay, so now you might be be wondering about that picture of Guitar Slim at the top of this post, and what it's doing there. Well, I'm gonna tell you now. I wrote a little piece about him for Perfect Sound Forever, and you can read it HERE. Here's a few of the songs that I reference there.
Slim's theme song, was co-opted from Gatemouth Brown:
"Gatemouth Boogie" mp3
by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, 1947
available on Dirty Work at the Crossroads 1947-1954
"New Arrival" mp3
by Guitar Slim & His Playboys, 1951.
(Huey Smith on Piano)
available on 1951-1954
Slim recorded it again for a Specialty session:
"Guitar Slim" mp3
by Guitar Slim, 1954.
available on 1951-1954
...and he recorded another Gatemouth Brown number at his last recording session for ATCO:
"My Time Is Expensive" mp3
by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, 1949
available on Dirty Work at the Crossroads 1947-1954
"My Time Is Expensive" mp3
by Guitar Slim, 1958.
available on Atco Sessions
Here's his rare single from the J-B label:
"Certainly All" mp3
by Eddie (Guitar Slim) Jones, 1952.
available on 1951-1954
"Feelin' Sad" mp3
by Eddie (Guitar Slim) Jones, 1952.
available on 1951-1954
And a cover of it by Ray Charles.
"Feelin' Sad" mp3
by Ray Charles, 1961.
available on The Genius Sings the Blues
Ray Charles played on and produced the session that yielded these recordings:
"The Things I Used To Do" mp3
by Guitar Slim, 1953.
available on Sufferin' Mind
"Story Of My Life" mp3
by Guitar Slim, 1953.
available on Sufferin' Mind
Slim had a lot of influence on others, as a performer and guitar player. Here's a few versions of his songs done by others:
"The Things That I Used To Do" mp3
by James Brown, 1965.
available on The Singles, Vol. 3: 1964-1965
"It Hurts To Love Someone" mp3
by Earl King, 1992.
available on Hard River to Cross
"Trouble Don't Last" mp3
by Alex Chilton, 1987.
available on High Priest
"I Don't Mind At All" mp3
by Doug Sahm, 1980.
available on Hell of a Spell
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When I was In New Orleans in April, I had the opportunity to spend some time with recording engineer Cosimo Matassa and talk with him a bit about Guitar Slim as I was preparing to write the article for Perfect Sound Forever. The video here was shot with the intention of capturing the audio of our discussion, but I've edited some highlights for viewing. Cosimo was present for many of the most important recording sessions of the mid 20th century in New Orleans (or anywhere for that matter) at his fabled J&M Studio. It was an honor to meet him and spend some time hanging out with him. The interview took place at his office above the Mattassa Grocery in the French Quarter.
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A few weeks back, I did a post called Bob's Record Collection (again). In it I posted some of Dylan's source material from World Gone Wrong. There were a few things that I didn't post. For all you completest folks out there, I offer them to you here and now.
"Jackaro" mp3
by Tom Paley, 1953.
from Folk Songs From The Southern Appalachian Mountains
out of print
"Two Soldiers" mp3
David Grisman and Jerry Garcia, 1991.
available on Grisman & Garcia
Also, an interesting bit of ephemera HERE.
Okay, that's it for today, I hope I've made up for some lost time.
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In case you haven't seen it, I'm also posting some of my vintage photographs of New York City, along with a few choice mp3s at East of Bowery. It's a collaboration I've been doing with novelist Drew Hubner for the last several months. If you live in New York City, we will be doing a multi-media performance version of this in collaboration with musicians Jim Coleman and Kirsten McCord, TONIGHT June 14th at the Bowery Poetry Club.
More information: HERE.
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Photograph of Me And Cosimo by Jacob Blickenstaff © 2009
Photograph of Lincoln Barron by Ted Barron © 2009
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