Monday, February 27th
basement jukebox
J.B. Lenoir (vocals, guitar; 1929-1967), “Mama Talk to Your Daughter,” 1954
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: blues
2017
Thursday, January 19th
timeless
Sleepy John Estes (1899-1977), “Diving Duck Blues” (with James “Yank” Rachell, mandolin; Jab Jones, piano), recorded September 24, 1929 (Memphis)
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Whitney Museum of American Art (Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016, through February 5th)
Edwin S. Porter, Coney Island at Night (1905)
2017
Monday, January 16th
for the President-elect
Skip James (1902-1969), “Hard Times Killing Floor Blues,” live (song begins at :58), Germany (Cologne), 1967
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York)
John Sonsini (1950-), BYRON & RAMIRO, 2008
2016
Sunday, December 25th
Merry Christmas
Blind Lemon Jefferson, “Christmas Eve Blues,” 1928
*****
Victoria Spivey (with Lonnie Johnson, guitar), “Christmas Morning Blues,” 1928
*****
Bessie Smith (with Joe Smith, cornet; Charlie Green, trombone; Fletcher Henderson, piano), “At the Christmas Ball,” 1925
*****
Leroy Carr, “Christmas In Jail—Ain’t That A Pain,” 1929
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Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (feat. Charles Brown, vocals, keyboards), “Merry Christmas, Baby,” 1947
*****
Lowell Fulson, “Lonesome Christmas (I & II),” 1950
*****
Sonny Boy Williamson II, “Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues,” 1951
*****
John Lee Hooker, “Blues For Christmas,” 1959
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (MCOTD Hall of Fame), New York, early 1940s
2016
Friday, December 16th
Chicago blues
day four
Magic Sam (AKA Samuel Maghett, 1937-1969)
“All Your Love,” “Lookin’ Good,” live (TV broadcast), Germany, 1969
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“All Your Love,” 1957
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“Love Me with a Feeling,” 1957
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“Everything Gonna Be Alright,” 1958
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“21 Days In Jail,” 1958
2016
Thursday, December 15th
Chicago blues
day three
Otis Rush (1935-; vocal, guitar) with Fred Below (1926-1988; drums), et al., “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” live, East Berlin, 1966
***
Here’s the original 1956 recording.
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lagniappe
reading table
On the first page of the course syllabus [for the class, taught at Columbia, on “The American Radical Tradition”], I always included the words of Max Weber, a rebuke to those who believe that critics of society should set their sights only on “practical” measures: “What is possible would never have been achieved if, in this world, people had not repeatedly reached for the impossible.”
—Eric Foner, “American Radicals and the Change We Could Believe In,” The Nation, January 2-9, 2017 issue
2016
Wednesday, December 14th
Chicago blues
day two
Junior Wells (1934-1998; vocal, harmonica), Buddy Guy (1936-; guitar), et al., “Cryin’ Shame” (AKA “Country Girl”), live, Chicago, 1970
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lagniappe
reading table
winter wind—
he can’t find his roost
the evening crow—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
2016
Monday, December 12th
Chicago blues
day one
Howlin’ Wolf (AKA Chester Burnett, 1910-1976), with Hubert Sumlin (guitar), Willie Dixon (bass), et al., “Somestack Lightning,” live, England, 1964
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lagniappe
random sights
last night, Oak Park, Ill.
2016
Saturday, December 10th
more
R.L. Burnside (and family), live, Independence, Miss., 1978
“When My First Wife Left Me”
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“Boogie Instrumental”
2016
Friday, December 9th
sounds of Independence*
R.L. Burnside (1926-2005), “Poor Boy a Long Way from Home,” live, 1978
*Mississippi.
music clip of the day 