passings
Richie Havens, January 21, 1941-April 22, 2013
“All Along The Watchtower” (B. Dylan), live, Mountain Jam (Hunter, N.Y.), 2009
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lagniappe
reading table
Nakamichi, 1892 (Japanese Death Poems, Yoel Hoffman, ed.)
Ice in a hot world:
my life
melts.
Chicago: 1970s
Junior Wells (vocals, harmonica), Buddy Guy (guitar), et al., live, Theresa’s, 48th & Indiana, Chicago, 1970s
A friend, forwarding a link to this clip, writes:
If anything, even better than John Lee . . .
Lightnin’ Hopkins (1912-1982), “Lightnin’s Blues,” live, England, 1964
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lagniappe
more Lightnin’
From The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins (1967) by Les Blank, who was remembered here last week:
*****
free music
Another friend, with whom I worked, thirty-some years ago, at Alligator Records, writes:
Hi Richard,
I continue to receive these [notices of new blog posts] and explore them as I can. I wonder if you might share this with your email list?
It’s a free, downloadable sampler from Alligator Records to celebrate Public Radio Music Month! Seventeen soulful free blues, roots rock and R&B performances by some of the stars of Alligator Records’ current artist roster and a few of our beloved heritage artists. From Chicago to Texas, from New Orleans to California, a collection of some of Alligator’s best “Genuine Houserockin’ Music.” Join us in celebrating Public Radio Music Month! Download it here: http://tinyurl.com/AlligSampler.
Thanks. Of course you’ve heard this music yourself, but there might be some good things you had forgotten.
See you down the road.
Bruce [Iglauer]
two takes
Alton Ellis (1938-2008), “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”
Live
Recording
*****
lagniappe
reading table
First day of spring—
I keep thinking about
the end of autumn.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694, translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
only rock ’n’ roll
Dolly Varden, “California Zephyr,” live, Chicago, 1999
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Last Saturday, with my wife Suzanne and son Alex, I heard these folks at Fitzgerald’s, a wonderful club in Berwyn (just outside Chicago) that I’ve been going to since long before Alex, now twenty-five, was born. Some people, if given the chance to be anywhere in the world on a Saturday night, might choose Paris. Others might take Rome. London would likely get some votes, New York too. For me, last Saturday anyway, there was nowhere I would rather have been than Berwyn.
They sounded so good last Sunday—let’s hear some more.
Pastor B. L. Blade with Daniel Lanois (guitar, vocals), Brian Blade (drums), et al.
“The Maker” (D. Lanois), excerpt (“Oh, river rise from your sleep.”)
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lagniappe
random thoughts
How strange it seems sometimes, like the other day in the shower, to have hands and feet.
only rock ’n’ roll
Savages, “City’s Full,” live, London, 2012
From Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport to Miles Davis Hall in Montreux.
Black Dub (Daniel Lanois, guitar, pedal steel guitar, vocals; Brian Blade, drums; Trixie Whitley, guitar, keyboards, vocals; Jim Wilson, bass, vocals), Montreux, Switzerland, 2011
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Set list (courtesy of YouTube):
1) Intro
2) Surely
3) I Believe In You
4) Steel
5) The Collection Of Marie Claire
6) Silverado
7) The Messenger
8) I’d Rather Go Blind
9) Ring The Alarm
Pastor B. L. Blade (with Daniel Lanois, guitar; Brian Blade, drums, et al.), “Louisiana Poor Boy,” Zion Baptist Church, Shreveport, La.
Most guitarists, most drummers would muck this up, thinking it needed a fill here, a roll there. Great musicians know how not to draw attention to themselves.
Screwdriver business just gets me confused . . .
Billy Bragg, “Handyman Blues,” 2013
music clip of the day 