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1.
"LIVE" BLUES THIS WEEK (and beyond)...
Please go to our new Cat Head
web site for this week's "live" music news
in the Delta, including BB's Homecoming. The site has just been
updated!
http://www.cathead.biz/livemusic.html
2. HWY 61 BLUES FESTIVAL NEXT
WEEK IN LELAND...
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Billy Johnson, Director cell # 662-347-4223
The
fourth annual Highway 61 Blues Festival will be held June 12-15,
and this year¹s event will be bigger and better than ever
due to the fact that Congress has designated 2003 as the year
of the Blues in the United States. On a more local level, Governor
Musgrove has also declared that this is the Year of the Blues
in Mississippi. 2003 marks the 100 year anniversary of W. C. Handy
first hearing what he later termed "the Blues," while
waiting on a train depot in Tutwiler.
This
year's festival is dedicated to Leland native, Jimmy Reed. Through
the 50's and 60's Reed¹s sweet laid back style of blues had
more hits on the pop charts than any other artists. His songs
such as "Honest I Do""Ain't that Loving You Baby"
and "Baby What You Want Me to Do" were performed and
recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones.
Jimmy Reed's music remains popular today. Three of his songs are
on the popular sound track of the movie "The Divine Secrets
of the Ya Ya Sisterhood." Reed who passed away in 1976 was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
This
year's festivities will start Thursday, June 12th, with dinner
and dancing at Lillo's Restaurant to the sounds of Doc's B's.
For reservations, call Lillo's at (662) 686-4401. Friday night,
the 13th, will also feature Blues in the Clubs with bands at the
Walnut Street Blues Bar in Greenville (662) 378-2254, One Block
East (662) 332-3800 and The Bourbon Mall (662) 686-4389.
On
June 14, the festival will be held in downtown Leland from 10
a.m. to 10 p.m. at Railroad Park and is featuring three generations
of local Delta Blues artists performing on two stages for 12 hours.
Headlining this year's event will be Blues Entertainer of the
Year winner, Bobby Rush. Other featured musicians will include:
Nathaniel Kimble (Benoit native), T-Model Ford, Eddie Cusic, Cadillac
John Nolden, Lil' Bill Wallace, the Kattawar Brothers, Doc's B's,
Ben Johnson, Pat Thomas, Jay Kirgis, Bobby Rutledge, Three Legged
Dog Cody Ruth, Casey Ruth, Rhythm Jones, Speedy and the Amateurs,
Kern Pratt and the Accused, Mississippi Slim, Big Love, Eden Brent,
Bill Ables, Steve Cheseborough, Paul "Wine" Jones, John
Horton and the Special Occasion Band and Lil' Dave Thompson promise
a once in a lifetime Delta Blues experience.
Festival
goers can also experience Delta Food Fest, a variety of home-cooked
Delta cuisine, available during the event. Highway 61 Blues memorabilia,
including the official 2003 festival poster, "Red, White
& Blues" by Stoneville artist, Jamie Tate, will be on
sale during the festival. There will also be a Kids Blues Fest
June 14 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., held at Jiminey Creek and Stovalls
on the Creek on Main Street in downtown Leland. Bobby Rutledge
and Casey Ruth will be on hand explaining and performing the Blues.
Families are encouraged to attend and bring blankets and picnic
baskets. Horse rides and face painting will also be available
for children.
On Sunday afternoon, from 2 to
7 p.m., the party will continue with a Crawfish Boil and Blues
Jam at the Holly Ridge Store (662) 887-1456. The store is located
on old Highway 10 where Charley Patton once lived and performed.
The
Leland Blues Project cordially invites the Delta to come and help
us celebrate the "Year of the Blues." The event is a
benefit for the Leland F.E.E.D. Food Pantry and the Highway 61
Blues Museum. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the gate.
Participants are encouraged to bring a donation of 2 canned goods
that will be given to the Food Pantry. Tickets are available in
Leland at the Highway 61 Blues Museum, the Leland Chamber of Commerce,
Planters Bank & Trust and N & R Grocery. Tickets can be
purchased in Greenville at the Walnut Street Blues Bar, Buck¹s
Restaurant. Photo-Tech and McCormick Book Inn. For more information,
contact the Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau at
1-800-467-3582 or the Highway 61 Blues Museum at (662) 686-7646
or
http://www.highway61blues.nstemp.com/festival.html. JIMBO AND
BUDDY ON LATE NIGHT TONIGHT.
- Set your VCR or brew some coffee
for this Wed. night, June 4 at 11:30pm CST. Buddy Guy, Jimbo Mathus
and band will be on "Late Night" (That's Conan O'Brien
which is channel 5 in Memphis. Check your
listings and enjoy.)
- Also, check out the Buddy Guy
CD reviews at the bottom of this newsletter.
4. RECENT "LIVE" BLUES
AND EVENTS IN THE AREA...
- Robert Belfour and T-Model Ford
ended their three or so week tour with
a show at the Gibson Lounge in Memphis on Friday night. While
Oxford,
MS' Long Shot had a better turnout a few week's back, this was
the show
to see. Both guys were in great moods and well-practiced. So,
o.k. T-Model played basically the same 6 songs over and over...
But he was awesome, nonetheless. And Belfour sounded his best
yet, I thought. Including a few covers in with his originals that
I'd never heard him do before. On a bad note, they had all of
their gear and rented tour van stolen while out on the road (in
Chicago, I think?). That means that T-Model's signature "Black
Nanny" Razor guitar with "Taledragger" (sic) spelled
out in mailbox letters and Belfour's black acoustic with its folk
art decoration (featured inside the cover of his new CD) were
both stolen. If anyone has any information concerning this tragic
crime, please contact Bruce Watson at Fat Possum: bruce_w@fatpossum.com
(Both artists were heartbroken over the thefts.)
On a humorous note... If you've
seen T-Model play recently, he is sporting a stylish new pair
of black, plastic framed glasses. (Kind of like mine. Hmm.) Well,
he absolutely swore to me that an older male fan had switched
his (the fan's) glasses with T-Model's while on tour. I asked
how. T-Model said the man had asked to see them or try them on.
In doing so, the man took his off and - T-Model swears - swapped
the glasses before disappearing into the crowd. I asked T-Model
how he know for sure that they'd been switched. He held them up
to me and pointed at the small blurry squares on the lenses. "These
things weren't there before," he said. I told him they were
bi-focals, and that they were there for reading. He answered,
"But I caaaan't read!" and burst out laughing. (He still
claimed they weren't his, of course. This from the man who according
to the Fat Possum web site recently announced that "Each
town shall supply its own women." He's the best.)
-
Whew! Reese's - the new juke in C'dale - was up and running again
Sunday night. It really does appear that Big T @ Reese's will
indeed be a weekly Sunday night thing. Music seems to kick off
around 8 pm. This week (the third w/music) was absolutely hopping.
In addition to a great local turnout, a couple Cat Head customers
from San Fran (John and Sue) enjoyed the band, a game of pool
and a few quarts of Bud. Also, Preston from Living Blues magazine
was down for the party. Come enjoy it while it's happening because
it is definitely the real deal. Nice management and prices, by
the way. ($2 cover, $3.50 quarts, $2 long necks.)
- Also, last week Fiona Boyes
- a solo acoustic blues singer-songwriter from Australia - played
both Hopson and Cat Head to great applause. (See the article under
point 10.) And Cat Head favorite Bill Abel entertained a Benedictine
Lifelong Learning Center group from Minnesota with his deep Delta
style of playing. Lots of fun at the store these days.
5. NEW AT CAT HEAD DELTA BLUES
& FOLK ART...
- New at Cat Head: New tractor
and tractor-with-cotton-trailer wooden
folk art by Clarksdale's Willie Kinard; I can email photos, etc.
New CDs by Australia blues visitors Fiona Boyes and Collard Greens
& Gravy, each just $15.
-
Bring your tour group to Cat Head: Contact me before your tour
group of 12+ folks comes to town, and I'll set up a little free
or low-cost music in store to entertain you. Email or call to
see what we can do.
- Upcoming in-store events at
Cat Head:
- Sat., 6/14, 1 pm - Book signing with Olive Jean Bailey. She
has written a new book on the town of Coahoma.
- If you or a band you know is interested in playing for exposure,
tips and a chance to sell your CDs, call me at 662-624-5992. (Same
goes for authors in search of a booksigning space...)
6. UPDATED SUNFLOWER BLUES FEST
LINE-UP/INFO...
- Sorry, I ran out of time to
type this one up. It hasn't changed much. The big news is that
Pinetop Perkins has been added to Saturday night's headliner,
"Bob Margolin's Blues Allstars," featuring, Pinetop
Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Carey Bell and others. (A couple customers
told me they just saw Sumlin play, and he is still awesome.) I'll
try to provide the complete line-up in next week's email. If you
have a question, just call or email me.
7. NEW JUKE IN MEMPHIS...
Andria Lisle (music critic and
author of "Waking Up In Memphis") provided this info
on a new juke in Memphis. Hopefully, she won't mind me sharing:
- i think the club is called jones' but i cant swear 100%. it
is at the corner of walker ave and walk street in the vicinity
of lemoyne owen college. all they've had while ive been there
is a jukebox but rumor has it there is a band...
8. MS JOHN HURT FESTIVAL DETAILS...
I just wanted to remind everyone
of the upcoming first annual Mississippi John Hurt festival. This
year the festival will take place two days. On July 3, at the
old St. James Church, the home church of Ms. John Hurt in Avalon,
Ms. This will consist of a gospelfest. All the community churches
will come together for spiritual good time. On July 4, 2003 at
the site of the Ms. John Hurt Museum in Carrollton, Ms. , The
blues fest will began at 11:00 am. Until 6:00. There will be artists
from various part of the state and countries coming together celebrating
the legacy of Ms. John Hurt. Everybody is welcome to this family
reunion.
For additional information, please call 847-885-9295 or 662-299-1574.
Best Regards,
Mary Hurt-Wright
9. "JOURNEY TO CLARKSDALE"
EVENT...
Clarksdale October Blues, LLC
is planning to put on a star-studded event
in and around Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, October 17-25,
2003. According to Co-Producer Jeff Judin, it will be recorded
for a series of CDs and DVDs and promises to be both high profile
and professional. A tentative list of artists mixes the big names
(and some of the oldest) in blues with pop, rock and hip hop superstars
as well as some of blues' lesser known (but just as worthy) players.
Each of the 9 days will feature different themed events, for example
Day One is entitled "Delta Acoustic Blues" and Day Eight
is entitled "Hip Hop, Rap, Rock and the Blues." Interested
sponsors or those looking for more information will soon be able
to log on at www.journeytoclarksdale.com
10. OTHER LOCAL MUSIC/ARTS NEWS...
From Clarksdale Press Register:
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* Australian brings the blues to Hopson
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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From Melbourne to Mississippi, Fiona Boyes knows how to entertain
a
crowd.
(By: Emily Le Coz - Staff Writer)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8147320&BRD=
2038&PAG=461&dept_id=
230617
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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* New WROX manager plans live programming
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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The new general manager of one of Clarksdale oldest radio stations
has
plans to bring a new alternative to area listeners.
(By: Tommiea Jackson - Staff Writer)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8178165&BRD=
2038&PAG=461&dept_id=
230617
11. NY TIMES AND CAT HEAD REVIEWS
OF NEW BUDDY
GUY CD...
Reducing Buddy Guy: The Half-Caf, Venti Blues By BEN RATLIFF Buddy
Guy's new album, "Blues Singer," the consummate living
performer of urban electric-blues, one of the most exuberant performers
in American music, is put before you instead as an apparition
with an acoustic guitar, the clichéd lonely bluesman. For
a few songs, like "Hard Time Killing Floor" and "Can't
See Baby," he's all alone. For the rest of the album, he's
backed by an acoustic bass, an artfully rudimentary drum sound
and a second acoustic guitar, instead of his regular electric
band.
What's going on here is an old
game; perhaps now we all understand its rules. Mr. Guy, at 66,
is acceptably authentic. When a record producer wants to transmit
that essence in a working-class music, the musician's persona
and work may end up simplified. The artist is complicit in this
simplification, and even has the power to turn it back on us.
But let's just get the truth out
in the open: Mr. Guy, born in Louisiana and moved to Chicago in
1957, is no rustic, no ghost, no harmless old man but a complex,
self-conscious artist. And, as "Blues Singer" (Silvertone)
shows, a professional every bit as much as Muddy Waters, whose
1963 recording "Folk Singer" provided the inspiration
for Mr. Guy's new album.
"Blues Singer" happens
to be a good record. Whittled down to tasteful drawing-room levels,
Mr. Guy doesn't evince much of what made him a guitar hero, the
primary source for Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. But here it's
his singing that's more interesting: Mr. Guy alternates between
a low voice punctuated by booming notes, a keening high wail and
a gnarled, tired wheeze. He has been recorded by the producer
Dennis Herring and the engineer Jaquire King so that his voice
has presence, cavernous echo and a slightly overmodulated signal,
suggesting antique recording techniques.
But beyond issues of merit, "Blues
Singer" has another significance: its reference to the earlier
album. "Folk Singer" was made in an attempt to cross
over to the folk audience < young middle-class people who bought
records < and so it pushed Waters back to the acoustic instrumentation
he had been using 20 years before; it also toned down his exuberance
in the interests of classiness.
Mr. Guy played on "Folk Singer"
when he was in his 20's, but that wouldn't seem reason enough
to pay homage to it. "Folk Singer" isn't one of Muddy
Waters's best records. It was, however, an important early example
of what has become a serious trend: reviving older vernacular-music
performers for a more moneyed audience. Thanks to the album "Buena
Vista Social Club," these revival missions are something
of a cutting-edge science; Ralph Stanley, the bluegrass pioneer,
has undergone one, as have several Cuban musicians in the orbit
of the "Buena Vista" project; Johnny Cash has aimed
his last four albums at a younger audience.
In this process, a performer within
a music identified with working-class audiences gets symbolically
lifted out of his old context and groomed for the upper-middle-class
culture circuit: NPR, PBS, Starbucks (via the sampler CD's it
sells by the hundredweight), the newspaper you are reading, and
certainly the Grammy awards. Most of these records are good. But
their implications are complicated. The performer can become removed
from the traditions he has naturally built up with his own audience;
in some cases, the process reduces him, shrinks his meaning.
Each
of these genres has a long, convoluted history, involving innovations
in musical technique occasioned by practical matters of performance,
dance-steps, myth, exploitation, wicked humor. But you can't throw
someone with Buddy Guy's vitality at a general audience anymore
and expect them to embrace him fully. If you turn him into a
ghost, however, you have a chance. This isn't to say that "Blues
Singer" doesn't represent a legitimate style of the blues.
It's just symptomatic of the times, that Buddy Guy is choosing
it now.
Here's
a musician who owns a popular Chicago nightclub; in performance
he rides on waves of bravado, playing long, muscular improvisation;
for the last decade he has worn slick polka-dot shirts under farmer's
overalls < a brilliant joke, if I read it right, on what black
people want of their bluesmen versus what white people want.
In
the case of Ralph Stanley, whose self-titled album, produced by
T-Bone Burnett, was released last year on DMZ/Columbia, you have
a singer who knows hundreds of songs dating back to the beginning
of the 20th century, many of them currently in circulation among
the bluegrass culture of the Clinch Mountain region precisely
because of his influence. But they weren't the right songs. For
his major-label revamping, a result of his exposure in the movie
"O Brother, Where Art Thou?", he was given songs that
he didn't know, centuries older in provenance. It made him seem
older and more severe; in contrast to Mr. Stanley's real-life
identity, a gentleman-farmer who drives a Jaguar around southwestern
Virginia when he's not on the road with his band, he became an
Appalachian Methuselah.
As
for the constellation of Buena Vista Social Club records, starting
with the album of that name and spreading out to individual releases
by the musicians and singers in the band, there have been several
different strategies. In the simple version, the producer Ry Cooder
used old-fashioned miking and old-fashioned music, creating a
weirdly nostalgic exercise for Americans about pre-revolutionary
Cuba. In the advanced version, as for the singer Ibrahim Ferrer's
new album "Buenos Hermanos" (Nonesuch), Mr. Cooder has
ingeniously constructed a Cuban music that never existed, with
Hammond organs, accordions and cooing, 1950's American-style backup-choruses.
One
risks sounding like a scold and a purist for bringing up these
issues. Again, these are good records. They may be listened to
for a long time < much longer, say, than Mr. Guy's first commercial-breakthrough
comeback in 1991, "Damn Right I Got the Blues," which
relied on the contrivance of guest appearances, by stars like
Eric Clapton and George Thorogood. Nobody wants to make a guest-heavy
record anymore, and for good reason: they're impossibly naïve,
speckled with touches that are too extrinsic to the main performer's
vision, and which tend to date quickly.
But
as I watched Mr. Ferrer perform at the Beacon Theater last month,
I worried that a portion of the audience might think his touring
band's musical farrago was idiomatic Cuban music. Just as I worry
now that new listeners might imagine Mr. Guy as a haunted old
man.
Perhaps
not too many will. At this point Mr. Guy seems so aware of the
game that he toys with it: this is one of the reasons I respect
"Blues Singer" so much. Aging and frailty are subjects
Mr. Guy has adopted for singing the blues, and in his hands they
remain subjects, not inescapable facts. On his version of "Black
Cat Blues," he plays up the character, putting on an old
geezer's voice. (On Mr. Guy's last album, "Sweet Tea,"
a concept album in which he played the raw music of the Mississippi
hill country, he sang a lugubrious song called "Done Got
Old.")
This
process < making such artists seem old, simple, moribund or
encased in the past, and therefore more marketable < will not
go away, as long as one race, one economic class, one set of stories
and values, self-consciously performs for another. Everybody wants
to know what the other side sounds like; future producers will
become even more skilled than Mr. Herring, Mr. Burnett and Mr.
Cooder at repackaging the other side and selling it as a lifestyle
accessory. But an album like "Blues Singer" shows that
an artist has some freedom within this game < that he needn't
simply roll over and ghost himself out.
The
Cat Head review: I'm not sure what the NY Times is trying to say,
really. But I can tell you that I LOVE this album. I've been playing
it every day since I got a hold of a copy. The songs are both
classic and obscure. The musicianship is both subtle and deep.
The vocals are both edgy and sweet. (After all, few can pull off
Skip James' falsetto voice for "Hard Time Killing Floor."
Buddy is a natural.) If you like acoustic Delta style blues, the
Muddy Waters' "Folk Singer" album or any Buddy Guy recordings,
then this one will feel right at home in your collection. TRACK
LISTINGS: Hard Time Killing Floor, Crawlin' Kingsnake, Lucy Mae
Blues, Can't See Baby, I Live The Life I Love, Louise McGhee,
Moanin' and Groanin', Black Cat Blues, Bad Life Blues, Sally Mae,
Anna Lee, Lonesome Home Blues
(By
the way, I won't have copies to sell in store till early next
week. Long story, but my Silvertone distributor just went Chapter
11, so I had to switch to another company. Don't feel like you
have to wait, just try to buy it from an indie record store. That's
the only kind favor that I ask of you.)
12.
MORE FROM THE NY TIMES (By the way, the 4th sentence makes me
utter,
"huh?")...
They
Got the Ol' TV Documentary Blues By KELEFA SANNEH How do you pay
tribute to the blues? How do you capture the music's restless
spirit, its bitter wit, its elegiac grace, its raunchy energy?
The organizers of "Blowin' the Blues Away: A Gala Evening
Celebrating the Blues and Jazz" decided to trust the music.
On Monday night the Apollo Theater held a concert that took its
shape from the most vibrant expression of the blues today: the
television documentary. The concert, a benefit for Jazz at Lincoln
Center, succeeded, thanks in large part to the star performer,
Laurence Fishburne, whose smooth, rich voice evoked the great
voice-over narrators of old. If you sat back in your seat and
closed your eyes, it was easy to feel as if you'd been transported
. . . to your own sofa, in front of the television set. The soundtrack
was supplied by the Wynton Marsalis Septet, which nimbly brought
to life blues and blues-inflected pieces from throughout the century.
The ensemble sounded especially impressive during a run through
Ornette Coleman's jagged, asymmetrical "Ramblin'," bending
the notes a little further to emphasize the blues connection.
In case anyone had doubts, Mr. Fishburne stepped up to vouch for
Mr. Coleman's blues credentials: "Even his most demanding
compositions are anchored in the blues."
There was a full slate of guest stars, too, many who have reached
that stage of eminence when they don't play concerts anymore <
just benefits and tributes. Out came Eric Clapton, strapping on
an acoustic guitar for a charming, spindly version of Louis Armstrong's
"I'm Not Rough," and no one laughed when he moaned,
"It takes a brown-skinned woman to satisfy my mind."
(When Mr. Clapton was done, Mr. Fishburne assured the audience
that "the blues, they belong to everyone.") Out came
B. B King, who did more mugging than playing, and who didn't seem
totally comfortable collaborating with Mr. Marsalis's jazz band;
he seemed a bit more comfortable when Mr. Marsalis brought out
Mr. Clapton for the inevitable duet. Out came Ray Charles, who
contributed the night's most bizarre solo, bending notes on a
keyboard to imitate a guitar; Mr. Marsalis could only chuckle
and shake his head. And out came Willie Nelson, clutching his
battered guitar, mumbling his way through a marvelously casual
version of "Night Life." Each guest performer contributed
only a song or two or three, with Mr. Fishburne invariably supplying
introductions and explanations. In deference, perhaps, to the
old tradition of public television, there were no commercials,
although halfway through, Mr. Fishburne preached a blustery "blues
sermon" (written by Stanley Crouch) that might have been
the perfect time for a bathroom break. The overall effect was
entertaining but also dizzying; with so many performers squeezed
into a little over an hour, the concert often felt like one long
montage. Still, there were a few moments that would have been
worth rewinding. When Audra McDonald came out to sing Duke Ellington's
stately "Creole Love Call," Mr. Marsalis upstaged her
with a wild trumpet solo that ended with the instrumental equivalent
of laughter. And then there was the singer Carrie Smith, whose
sly, purring voice was drenched with vibrato. While many of the
other documentarians emphasized blues history, she delivered the
delicious lyrics as if she were more interested in settling a
score. "When you get good loving, never go and spread the
news," she sang, with the tassels on her red dress swaying
in time to the beat. And then the punchline: "Some old gal
will come along,/ leave you with them empty-bed blues."
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