Inside the 25th W.C. Handy Awards — Reminder

This in from Blues Brother Jay Sieleman at The Blues Foundation:

Dear Blues Lover:
At this time of year, one thing that everyone can do to ensure the success of The Blues Foundation is promote the sale of Handy tickets. The financial success of this event sets the stage and determines what we will be able to pursue the rest of the year. We have a great product in the Handys and we could use your help in spreading the news about this great event. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

The Blues Foundation is proud to present:
What? The 25th Anniversary of the W.C Handy Blues Awards which honors and celebrates the achievements of the past 25 years,as well as the best Blues artists and recordings of 2003. The festivities begin with a VIPre-party, followed by the Award show, with dinner, and concludes with an all-star jam session.

For full listing of performers, visit http://www.blues.org/index.php4

When: Thursday, April 29, 2004; Awards at 7:30 pm, VIPre-party at 5:30, and the jam till the wee hours.
Where: Cannon Center Ballroom in Downtown Memphis
Why: Support Memphis, along with its rich, musical traditions, and The Blues Foundation, while experiencing the premier Blues event of the year with performances by more than 25 Handy nominees.
How: Order tickets online at www.blues.org or call The Blues Foundation at: 901-527-2583. Prices for a ten-person table are $1,000 and individual tickets for $100 each. Ticket price includes pre-party, Awards, dinner and jam. Order now, because seating is more limited than in the recent past.

The W.C. Handy Awards are produced by:

:: Les Coles Friday, April 16, 2004 [+] ::

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Gwyn Ashton to play Malta

Blue Label Smooth 'N' Creamy is sponsoring the return to Malta of Gwyn Ashton, one of the best exponents of blues-rock today. This highly acclaimed international blues musician, is performing at various pubs and bars in Malta, starting on Thursday, April 15, at Muddy Waters in St. Julian's.

Compared favourably with Rory Gallagher who spearheaded and influenced the entire Irish rock movement, Ashton has taken his brand of high-energy blues-rock from Australia to the USA, Europe, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, New Zealand and the UK. He tours with his band or as a solo artist playing slide, acoustic, electric, steel guitars and harmonica.

Ashton has been invited onstage with Mick Fleetwood, Canned Heat and Hubert Sumlin and has played in festivals and clubs with BB King, Buddy Guy, Peter Green, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Ray Charles, Junior Wells, Mick Taylor, Albert Lee, Steve Morse and Wishbone Ash. He also opened for Status Quo on a 15-date arena tour of the UK.

"Blue Label Smooth 'N' Creamy's endorsement of Gwyn Ashton is an initiative which demonstrates the brand's contribution to promoting blues music in Malta. Gwyn Ashton's pub tour this week will certainly attract all blues lovers to all the pubs where Ashton will be playing," said Jocelyn Degiorgio, Blue Label Brand Executive.

Gwyn Ashton will be performing as follows:
Thursday, 15th April 2004 - Muddy Waters, St. Julian's
Friday, 16th April 2004 - Castille Wine Vaults, Valletta
Saturday, 17th April 2004 - Ryan's Irish Pub, St. Julian's
Sunday, 18th April 2004 - The Alley, Paceville
Wednesday, 21st April 2004 - Portside Bar, Gzira
Thursday, 22nd April 2004 - Time Square, Sliema

:: Les Coles Thursday, April 15, 2004 [+] ::

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Blues Blog wins Gold

Site inducted into Living Blues Hall of Fame

Received this e-mail today from friend Frank Garcia over at the Living Blues Web site:

LivinBlues.com is honored to present The Blues Blog with our Gold Award for Excellence on the Web.

Your win is posted in our Virtual Blues Hall of Fame at http://www.livinblues.com/halloffame5.asp
LivinBlues.com hopes that this will bring you new visitors. Thank you again for making the Web a better place.

su amigo,
Frank Garcia,
LivinBlues.com

Now where's my acceptance speach...

Ah, here it is....

But seriously, I'm chuffed, and I'll put up a link to the Livin' Blues site tonight.

:: Les Coles Wednesday, April 14, 2004 [+] ::

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Canada's PM of the blues to call it a day?

Dutch Mason says he's quitting the road

After 50 years playing the blues, going on the road, closing the bars, Dutch Mason, now 65 and in poor health, says he's truly retiring after one more party this Saturday

TRURO, N.S. — When Dutch Mason met B. B. King in Toronto in the mid-seventies, he instantly became a friend and Mason's biggest influence. B. B. was just as impressed with "Dutchie" —he dubbed him "King of the Blues in Canada." But one of Mason's band members noted that wouldn't work in this country and suggested "Prime Minister of the Blues." The moniker stuck.

Mason first heard King on a jukebox with 78-rpm records in his father's restaurant in Kentville, N.S. Mason's father was a musician, as was his mother —each had their own Dixieland bands. When Mason was 15, he put together his own band, too —but they weren't playing Dixieland, or blues, yet. They were into rockabilly, because in 1952-53, the kids wanted to hear Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Mason liked that stuff, too —for a while —and his first band was all the rage at the dance hall above the Kentville rink. But once he heard B. B. King, he decided "that's what I want to play."

That was 50 years ago. Mason has been playing it ever since —and always with the best guys in the business. But now he says it's time to quit —he's 65 and in poor health. But he'll belt out the blues one more time —his many friends and admirers are throwing a retirement party for him this Saturdayin Halifax. All the best players around —most of them his former band mates —will be on-stage that night at St. Antonio's Hall on Cunard Street (the former Olympic Gardens).

These days, Mason is pretty much confined to bed, buck-naked, with just a sheet over him, chain-smoking, working the telephone and watching classic movies on a big-screen TV that also plays old jazz and blues standards from satellite. For Mason, nudity isn't so much for relaxation; he has always been a nudist at heart. He says it used to startle people when he would answer his hotel room door in the buff, but "they got used to it."

He no longer stands tall —he's stooped over now from the arthritis, which has fused one of his knees and spread up his spine ("I can't turn my neck"). He can't walk without help any more —and he can't go very far —when he leaves the house, it's in his wheelchair. His hands look more like lobster claws now ("I can't open things, I can't button my shirts"), but he can still grasp his Winston cigarettes, which are never far away. He has developed diabetes, had a stroke and used to suffer from psoriasis until he quit drinking.

It wasn't easy playing the blues in Nova Scotia 50 years ago —that wasn't what the local kids wanted to hear back then. "Every time we'd play a tune like B. B.'s Sweet Little Angel, the dance floor would empty," says Mason. "It got so bad the guys in the band were saying, 'You've got to stop playing this stuff —people hate it.' " But Mason stuck with it, putting several bands together and going back and forth from Nova Scotia to Toronto. Then he started a house band at a now-defunct bar in Halifax. "It was right at the time when all the hippies were around, and if it wasn't for the hippies, we never would have made it," he says. "We were so 'avant-garde' and far away from Yummy, Yummy, Yummy and all that stuff."





Mason never wanted to stray too far from Nova Scotia. "I never wanted to be a Big Kahuna or anything —all I wanted to do was play music."

He was an imposing figure in those days —a big, robust man with a big electric guitar, wearing his trademark salt-and-pepper cap. There was that unique, powerful voice and his flawless timing. He was a classic band leader.

But then his fingers became arthritic, and in the early 1980s he had to stop playing guitar. He kept singing though —he still has that unmistakable voice and phrasing —but his health has continued to deteriorate.

Mason says he quit the booze more than a year ago, but over his musical career, his drinking was legendary. He says he doesn't know if his health problems stemmed from it, or whether "they just came here." But he's not feeling sorry for himself —he's stoic. He's also upbeat and says he doesn't want for much. He lives in a modest but comfortable apartment in Truro, and an old friend and former guitar player of his, Wade Brown, takes care of him.

Wade likely had to compete for the job -- Mason has a lot of friends. And he has respect —people in the blues community pretty much everywhere have heard of him, and sought him out —Mason has played with the likes of Junior Wells, Lightning Hopkins and John Lee Hooker.

In 2002, he was inducted into the Canadian Jazz & Blues Hall of Fame with Oscar Peterson, Jackie Washington and the late Moe Koffman —esteemed company indeed.

But for all that, and his obvious talent, Mason is one of those few artists who is truly modest. "I don't have a fucking ego —that ego stuff is for fucking somebody else. I just wanted to play."

He still launches that famous voice from his wheelchair, but he performs less and less now. He says he's tired, and he has led a, well, active life.

In fact, the stories of his band on the road are legion.

There was the time Mason finished a gig in Central Canada and got homesick. He had another engagement in New Brunswick afterward, but he called and said he was too sick to play —so he cancelled the show. He pulled over for a few drinks on the road back to Nova Scotia and, of course, sat down in the club where he was supposed to be playing that night.

There was also a rumour that Mason had once sold his keyboard player's piano to pay for Mason's bar bill at the end of a booking. According to Mason, that never happened, but he admits that sometimes at the end of a gig the band would end up owing the club money —but it was because of the entire band's bar bill. "Everybody drank the same amount," he insists.

"I had to drink in order to put up with the guys in the band," he says. "If I didn't drink, I'd have been nuts. I was always roaming around looking in different bars: 'Where's the band? Where are we playing?' " Another time, the band got a favourable review in a Toronto newspaper that gave the boys a laugh. The story said where Mason and the group were playing and added that the show included "Gary Blair on drugs." Blair, the drummer then, has since died -- as have most of Mason's former sidemen (his harmonica player died recently), nearly all of them from too much of a good thing.

But despite his physical ailments, Mason's mind is still razor-sharp —as is his wit. He says that one time when the band had to stay and play an extra week to pay their bar tab, the owner put a sign out that said, "The Dutch Mason Band —Back by Popular Demand."

And he has few regrets. "The only thing I wish I'd done different was when I was making money, I wish I'd put some of it away." Mason says he has never made much from his recordings —though he's hopeful for some re-releases.

He says he may still dabble in the music business —his 21-year-old son Garrett has picked up the guitar and already is described by local professionals as "a natural." In his retirement, father might just help son along in his career.But is Mason really retiring, or might he throw another blues band together sometime himself? "Forget about it," he says. "I'll do some polka band or something."

Source: GORDON MacDONALD, The Globe & Mail

:: Les Coles Wednesday, April 14, 2004 [+] ::

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L.A. to designate Ray Charles Studios historical landmark

LOS ANGELES, PRNewswire (April 14) —RPM International, Inc., home to Ray Charles Enterprises and the 13-time Grammy winner's recording studios, which was built 40 years ago in central Los Angeles, will be officially designated "A Historic Landmark" by the City of Los Angeles at a plaque dedication event on Fri., April 30, it was announced today.

I love this place," Charles said.

"It's the only home I've truly had for most of my professional career and I would never leave it and I thank Councilman Martin Ludlow and his team and City Council president, Alex Padilla, for their special efforts to make the studios a special part of Los Angeles history."

Numerous award winning, world-renowned artists and albums have been recorded there, featuring a who's who of the recording industry.

From Country & Western Meets Rhythm and Blues, the first album recorded here, to the soon to be released, Ray Charles Duets CD, RPM International has been an enduring presence in the life of the man and his music for the past four, historic decades.

Designed and built by Charles and his longtime manager and business partner, Joe Adams, RPM and its creators have remained loyal to the neighborhood, despite numerous changes to the area over the past 40 years.

During the early days of construction, the pair would often visit the site, with Adams gently guiding Charles through the skeletal maze of steel and concrete that would become their longtime professional home.

"Ray Charles is the quintessential entertainer and an icon for aspiring musicians throughout the world," NAACP president and CEO, Kweisi Mfume, recently said.

Source: Ray Charles Enterprises

:: Les Coles Wednesday, April 14, 2004 [+] ::

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'Blues On Tour' unites living legends in Ann Arbor

ANN ARBOR — On April 24, a monumental national tour will arrive in Ann Arbor to transport audiences on a musical journey up the Mississippi river, tracing the history of the blues from its acoustic birth in the Mississippi Delta to Memphis, where it first hit the radio airwaves and sparked the beginnings of rock and roll, and finally onto Chicago, where the genre became electrified in both instrument and style.

"The Blues On Tour" will be hosted by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ruth Brown and "Down From The Mountain" star Chris Thomas King, and will feature over a dozen living legends never before on the same stage together.

Artists include Robert Jr. Lockwood, Ike Turner, Lil' Ed (Williams), Walter Wolfman Washington, "chitlin' circuit" favorite Little Milton, Pinetop Perkins and Duke Robillard.

Don't miss this important concert event as it comes to Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium on Saturday, April 24 at 8 p.m. Reserved seats ($36.50 & $20) are available now at CC.COM, the Michigan Union Ticket Office (734-763-TKTS) and all TicketMaster outlets (248-645-6666).

:: Les Coles Wednesday, April 14, 2004 [+] ::

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Ruth Brown gets on the Blues Tour Bus

Blues Tour pulls into St. Louis

R&B and blues legend Ruth Brown hopes for comfortable buses on the Blues on Tour.

"We got a lot of old people on these buses," Brown, 76, says during a phone interview from Las Vegas, where she was learning the lines she'll use as one of the tour's emcees along with newer artist Chris Thomas King.

The Grammy and Tony Award-winning Brown isn't exaggerating: Blues on Tour, which plays the Family Arena on April 22, could be one of the oldest concert bills ever. But it also could be one of the most revered, featuring some of the finest purveyors of Mississippi Delta, Memphis and Chicago blues, including Ike Turner, Little Milton, Bobby Rush and Robert Jr. Lockwood.

"I was amazed that they even considered me," Brown says. "I'm really excited about it."

She's not alone. Ever since the tour's lineup was announced, blues fans and music lovers in general have buzzed over the punch the show packs. The tour benefits from the heavy focus the music received in 2003, from Martin Scorsese's ambitious documentary series "The Blues" to the declaration that 2003 was the Year of the Blues.

"There's never really been a blues tour like this, at least in the United States," says the tour's artistic director, Jack Randall of the Boston-based Ted Kurland Associates.

Brown says, "I'm so proud to be a part of this. I hope the audience realizes it's my privilege. A lot of entertainers go onstage and you can feel the attitude, 'OK, you lucky people, here I am.' It should be the other way around."

In pulling together artists for the show, Randall looked for a combination of things, beginning with representation from elder statesmen such as Turner, Lockwood and Pinetop Perkins.

"These are guys who are the first-generation bluesmen. There are not very many left today," he says.

Randall also wanted to feature acts that epitomize a sound, such as the electric Chicago blues of the Muddy Waters Blues Band; underexposed greats such as Little Milton; and a younger generation of performers such as King and Alvin Youngblood Hart.

Brown, known for songs such as "Teardrops From My Eyes" and "So Long," is the sole female artist on the tour, which isn't too much of a surprise to her.

"In the blues, when I was on the road (back in the day), there weren't too many women, and those that were there are gone," she says.

Of those who remain, Brown mentions the very much alive and kickin' Koko Taylor, Irma Thomas and Etta James. She describes James as "my child": "I took her on the road the first time she went out," Brown recalls. "I wish someone had said, 'Let's get those girls together, the ones who are left.'"

But Paul Zukoski, whose Front Row Productions is behind the tour, says there weren't many women available.

"We went to everybody we thought would fit," he said. "Koko couldn't do it due to health. Shemekia (Copeland) had other obligations. Cassandra Wilson is in Europe. And Etta doesn't do this kind of tour. She does spot dates. She's the queen of the blues."

The artists will mix and match in a way Randall says was partially inspired by the bluegrass Down From the Mountain tour featuring Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs. That tour put the idea in his head to do something comparable for the blues. Unlike Down From the Mountain, however, Blues on Tour is both acoustic and electric. And it'll feature "a revolving door of artists, not a bunch of minisets. We try to take you through a history of the blues and cover quite a bit of ground, as much as we can in three hours."

The show will open with a promised special surprise, followed by a musical visit to the Mississippi Delta that will encompass a tribute to Robert Johnson featuring Lockwood (Johnson's stepson), Hart and King. Among other highlights are a look at Memphis with Pinetop Perkins, and a Howlin' Wolf tribute; a side detour to Texas; a trip up to Chicago through the music of Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Lil' Ed and Hound Dog Taylor; and an excursion into R&B with Rush, Howard Tate and Little Milton.

"We have to jump around," Randall says. "We have so much ground to cover."

The ground doesn't quite extend to St. Louis, the proposed home of a national blues museum. The city won't receive serious attention on stage, though Randall points out the presence of Turner and Little Milton, who spent many creative years in the St. Louis area.

Chuck Berry wasn't invited to participate in the tour "because I didn't think it would work with guys that could typically play these kind of places on their own," Randall says. "And if we had Berry, we couldn't afford very many other people."

But the tour organizers give the city its blues due.

"St. Louis was important," Randall says. "It's the main city between Memphis and Chicago, and there was a pretty good scene there."

And Zukoski, whose company also puts together the annual B.B. King Blues Festival, says Turner's participation was key.

"He put B.B. King's band together in the beginning," Zukoski says. "B.B. tells me that story. He had a four-piece, and Ike came backstage and said, 'B.B., if you ever want to do this right, here is what you need.'"

Brown hopes Blues on Tour crosses over both to younger listeners - anyone under 50, in her eyes - and to an audience that's not almost exclusively white.

"I talk to B.B. quite often about the fact that when we play, the audience is not the (African-American) kids we're looking for," she says. "Unfortunately, the music has been 90 percent Caucasian. I don't know why. But I feel in my heart it's possibly because this music came out of a time of a lot of hurt and distress."

Brown describes the blues as coming out of cotton fields and slave units.

"A lot of people don't want to deal with it," she says. "They don't realize some of the things we went through.

"We got a lot of the younger white kids playing guitar, but it's not always the blues - it's green, because the money is there. We didn't make the money."

Zukoski says Blues on Tour gives the music the type of showcase it deserves.

"This is a very positive thing we're trying to do here," he says. "It's a presentation of a music form by the people who played it. They've never been together traveling as a unit, and all the tributes done for the blues hadn't been done by the players who've been playing all these years. And it pays respect to those who did this prior to them."

The nice theaters and arenas the tour is playing also make it special.

"Most of the time when you see blues, it's in juke joints," Zukoski says. "We're keeping it on a level where it should be. These living legends deserve it.

"This is America's music. It deserves a good home."


Blues on Tour
When: 7 p.m. April 22
Where: Family Arena, 2002 Arena Parkway, St. Charles
How much: $29.50-$33.50
More info: 314-534-1111

Source: Kevin C. Johnson
E-mail: kjohnson@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8191

Related Blues Blog stories:
March 28: "Hip-Hop Meets Blues at 21st Century"
March 20: "The Blues On Tour"

:: Les Coles Wednesday, April 14, 2004 [+] ::

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Got them old Taxman Blues

The annual stampede to mail last-minute tax returns takes place at post offices across the States on Thursday.

Yes folks, it's time for them old taxman blues again.

The good folk of Clarendon, Va., figure that if'n y'all going to have the tax blues anyway, you might as well enjoy 'em. So, the Clarendon community of Arlington is holding its annual Tax Blues festival, complete with music, dancing and food, right next to the post office.

What: Clarendon Tax Blues Night — "Why Should the Tax Man have all the fun?"
Where: Clarendon Post Office, 703-276-0228. Washington Blvd. @ Hudson St. (1 blk. from Clarendon Metro Station)
When: Thursday, April 15, 6 p.m. until midnight
How much: Admission: free.
Who:
    Robert Byrd Band
    Caucasians Playing the Blues
    Just Another Band
    Casablanca Belly dancers
    Kenny Haddaway Band
    & more!

More: www.clarendon.org




Taxman
Lyrics by The Beatles

(Harrison)

[1,2,3,4

Hrmm!

1,2...

1,2,3,4.]

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet

Taxman!
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

Don't ask me what I want it for (Aahh Mr. Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more (Aahh Mr. Heath)
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

And you're working for no one but me
Taxman!

:: Les Coles Wednesday, April 14, 2004 [+] ::

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The Trio ARE NOT Coming to Play

Just heard that due to the cancellation of the Singapore Jazz Festival, The Trio — Johnny Vidacovich (Dr) June Yamagishi( G) George Porter Jr. (B) — have decided to cancel their tour of Japan (which I've been hyping).

If your holding tickets, contact the promoter:
Up-Right Productions at 03-5465-5539

Meanwhile, you can check out The Daily Yomiuri story on June at:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040415woa4.htm

:: Les Coles Wednesday, April 14, 2004 [+] ::

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Take a TSOP Tour

PHILADELPHIA, PRNewswire (April 13)— Beginning on May 8, the Philadelphia Neighborhood Tourism Network (NTN) will roll out seven of its popular immersion tours of Philadelphia's neighborhoods.

Developed by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) in partnership with neighborhood organizations, the tours will be offered every Saturday at 10 a.m. from May 8 through June 26, and then again in the fall from September 18 through October 30.

Here's The Blues Blog picks of what's in store for the 2004 season:

      -- Latin Soul, Latin Flavor (May 8 and October 9, 2004): Learn about the

         roots of Latin American music and sample authentic Caribbean coffees

         and pastries during this trip to North 5th Street in the heart of

         Philadelphia's growing Latino community.

      -- Philadelphia's Civil Rights Struggle (May 15 and September 18, 2004):

         Recount the moments when racism was challenged in Philadelphia's

         streets, classrooms and churches during this visit to the North

         Philadelphia neighborhood that was the epicenter of the city's Civil

         Rights struggle.  Hear about the dramatic demonstrations at Girard

         College and join in a performance at Church of the Advocate.

      -- Taking a Stand for Freedom (May 22 and October 16, 2004): Witness

         moving first-person accounts and musical presentations that evoke the

         drama of the Underground Railroad during visits to two documented

         Underground Railroad stations, Mother Bethel AME Church and the

         Johnson House Historical Site.

      -- The Sound of Philadelphia (June 5, 2004): Listen to an array of

         musical styles and innovations and learn about the social and

         cultural trends that have contributed to Philadelphia's

         African-American musical heritage.  The tour, featuring classical,

         gospel, jazz and rhythm and blues music, culminates with a behind-

         the-scenes visit to the recording studios of Gamble & Huff.

Philadelphia Neighborhood Tours depart from the Independence Visitor Center, located at 6th and Market Streets, at 10 a.m. most Saturdays in May, June, September and October. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 students and seniors over 65 years old, $25 for individuals purchasing two or more tours, $20 for children 8-12 and $20 per person for groups of 10 or more. Price includes trolley transportation, refreshments and performances.

Call GPTMC at (215) 599-2295 for reservations or e-mail ntn@gophila.com to make a reservation.

Gamble & Huff Open Vaults To Philly Producers

(April 3)—Producers/songwriters Carvin Haggins and Ivan Barias have formed a musical alliance with legendary Philadelphia soul producers/songwriters Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. "Gamble and Huff have a vault of records that no one has heard before," Haggins tells Billboard, recalling his visit to the pair's Philadelphia studio. "They gave us a list and let us choose 10 songs."

The younger twosome is already working on one of those songs, "Friend," with RCA artist Heather Headley. "The same carpet from 1972 is on the studio walls, and the same equipment is there," Barias says. "That's when it hits you. Their studio is a summary of a career that spans three decades. That's a humbling experience, because I know how far we have to go."

:: Les Coles Tuesday, April 13, 2004 [+] ::

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The Gretsch 6118T- 120^th Anniversary Edition

When vintage-style gear made its big comeback a few years ago, it was like a blast of fresh air in a stuffy room. Guitars, though well designed and engineered, had become sterile and clinical, and lacked heart. Not surprisingly, anything that had a vintage vibe was regarded as if it had "cool" built into its DNA.

Unlike most trends, the vintage revival never went away. In fact, many manufacturers jumped on the retro bandwagon to produce gear that looked the part. Unfortunately, a splash of tweed and an art deco logo are no indication of rock 'n' roll soul.

Gretsch, on the other hand, has the vintage bona fides. The 6118T- 120 Anniversary Edition, a Japanese-built recreation of the 1958 model, is the proof.

Body and SoulThe 120-year-old Gretsch company has always marched to its own drummer. Like other Gretsch guitars, the 6118-T is imbued with distinctive styling and a sound all its own.

The Anniversary's singlecutaway hollow body is of medium depth. Its back and sides are made of laminated maple and finished in a richly metallic Copper Mist, which beautifully complements the sunny Bamboo Yellow that adorns the arched laminated maple top. Cream body binding highlights the finish.

The three-piece maple neck joins the body at the 15th fret by way of a traditional setneck joint. Access is easy to about the 17th, and you must arch your hand to reach the 21st. The 24.6-inch-scale ebony fretboard sports "thumbnail" position markers, which give it an uncluttered look.

One key feature is the guitar's ducktail-slick Bigsby B6CB vibrato tailpiece, which is mated to a floating Rocking-Bar bridge. The Anniversary's blackfinished headstock boasts chrome-plated Grover V98C Sta-Tite tuning machines that were superb. In fact, the Gretsch I tested was impressively stable, considering it had a floating bridge, nonlocking tuners and a Bigsby tremolo, which received a serious workout during testing.

Electronics
Gretsch pickups, at their best, have a unique sonic personalityÑwarmer than Fender single-coils and twangier than Gibson humbuckers. The Anniversary carries two TV Jones Classic FilterTron humbuckers, both of which were bright and warm and articulate without sounding strident. (Think of George Harrison's early Beatles sound.)

The Anniversary lets you dial up an impressive array of tones with relatively simple controls. In addition to the three-way selector switch, there are individual volume controls for each pickup, a master volume and a three-way master tone switch.

The last two controls are unusual but useful. The master volume lets you govern the guitar's output without disturbing the balance achieved with the pickups' individual controls. As for the tone switch, it provides quick access to three sounds, and while tone knobs may be more precise, they typically have such abrupt tapers that you rarely get more than one or two good sounds from them. Besides, you can always adjust tone levels further by changing the volume balance between the neck and bridge pickups.

Sound
The Anniversary played like a dream, with low action and sweet, natural tone. It had good sustain for a hollow-body guitar with a floating bridge, and the maple-and-ebony combination provides an articulate, natural acoustic tone that forms the backbone of the Anniversary's vibrant electric sound.

Plugged in, the Anniversary's sound is the offspring of a perfect marriage between guitar and electronics. Tested through a tube amp with ample delay and reverb, it erupted with a spray of shimmering reverb-drenched notes, cool as ice. The low action and 24.6-inch scale made it easy to grab chords, and the guitar seemed born to play major sevenths and minor sixths. But when asked to rock out, it was more than compliant, sounding tight and clear through distortion and easily resonating into harmonic feedback.

The Bottom Line
The Gretsch boasts vintage styling, classic sound and easy playability. It's no pretender to the retro throne-it's the real thing.

Source: Guitar World

:: Les Coles Tuesday, April 13, 2004 [+] ::

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Revised Hank Williams bio acknowledges influence of bluesman

Rufus 'Tee-Tot' Payne finally gets props

Last year, I posted a story on Tokyo-Blues.com about the influence a blues musician called Rufus "Tee-Tot" Payne had on the king of country music, Hank Williams (link to story). The influence was freely acknowledged by Williams himself, who in a 1951 interview, said: "All the music training I ever had was from him," referring to Payne. And Williams frequently mentioned Payne from the stage before performing.

However, hitherto, Williams' biographers have been less forthcoming about the role a black man played in shaping County Music's brightest star—can't think why.

But now respect is being given where respect is due.

Initially published in 1994, an updated version of Hank Williams: The Biography is being released in a new paperback edition. After emerging as one of country music's most famous singers in the early 1950s, Williams often credited Alabama street musician Rufus "Tee-Tot" Payne as his musical mentor. In this excerpt from Hank Williams: The Biography, author Colin Escott explains the inspiration that Tee-Tot provided and why Williams was barely influenced by the first country superstar, Jimmie Rodgers.

It was probably in Georgiana that Hank met his first acknowledged musical influence, a black street musician, Rufus Payne. Because Payne was rarely found without a home-brewed mix of alcohol and tea, Payne's nickname was "Tee-Tot," a pun on teetotaler. Details about him are not only sketchy, but contradictory as well. According to researcher Alice Harp, Rufus was born in 1884 on the Payne Plantation in Sandy Ridge, Lowndes County, Alabama. His parents had been slaves there, but they moved to New Orleans around 1890, giving Rufus a front-row seat for the birth of jazz. After his parents died, Rufus settled in Greenville, Alabama. Harp insists that Payne became a society musician, playing white functions, learning all the pop hits of the day. The musician that Hank's cousins J.C. and Walter McNeil Jr. remembered was quite different.

Payne, said J.C. McNeil, lived down by the tracks in Greenville and worked part-time at Peagler's Drug Store as a cleaner and delivery person.

Both McNeils remember that he had a hunched back and long arms that extended almost to his knees. "He would play the guitar and the cymbals," said Walter McNeil. "He had the cymbals tied between his legs, and he had this thing around his neck with the jazz horn, I think he called it, and the Jew's harp. And he could play all those things with the guitar and called himself a one-man band. He had a cigar box in front of him where you'd throw the money." Tee-Tot, sometimes in the company of other musicians, went out into the surrounding towns to play on the sidewalks. Although Hank probably met him on the streets of Georgiana, he later told one of his band members, Lum York, that Tee-Tot was a janitor at the school in Greenville, implying that Hank met Tee-Tot after the Williamses moved to Greenville.

A crowd of kids followed Tee-Tot around, but Hank was the only one who wanted to do more than listen. He wanted to learn. Exactly what passed between Hank Williams and Rufus Payne will never be known. If, as has often been said, Payne gave Hank lessons, it's hard to know what he imparted. Hank probably already knew most of the chords that Payne knew, so perhaps the lessons involved broader strokes. J.C. McNeil, who insisted he also took lessons from Payne, said that Payne always stressed the importance of keeping time and getting a good rhythm going. Later, one of the elements that would set Hank apart from his contemporaries was the irresistible drive to his music. He was never an accomplished guitarist, but his bands would always take their cue from his forceful rhythm guitar playing. He whanged the E chord in a way that any blues singer would recognize.

Rufus Payne almost certainly taught Hank some songs, and while Hank probably forgot most of them, he never lost the lazy swing and sock rhythm. The blues feel that permeates all but the goofiest of Hank's songs is another thing that Rufus Payne probably brought out.

Lilly [Williams, Hank's mother] says she fed Payne in exchange for Hank's lessons, but memories of him are otherwise vague. Some say he played the blues alone, others say that he led a little combo that played pop songs and hokum numbers. Irene [Hank's sister] said that Payne once came to Lilly's house and told her that Hank was going to get both of them into trouble by following him around, which seems to imply that Hank was quite determined in his pursuit. "More than anything," said Walter McNeil, "I think Tee-Tot helped Hank get beyond his shyness, and helped him project himself a little, little more, 'cause Hank was a shy person really. He had to lose that somehow, and I think Tee-Tot was a big help to him in doing that."

As unfashionable as it was to acknowledge the influence of black musicians, Hank later went out of his way to give Payne full credit. "All the music training I ever had was from him," he told the Montgomery Advertiser at the time of his 1951 Homecoming. Talking to jazz journalist Ralph J. Gleason the following year, he said, "I learned to play the guitar from an old colored man. … I'd give him fifteen cents, or whatever I could get a hold of for the lesson." Hank acknowledged Payne again during his Greenville Homecoming and apparently searched for him, but Payne had died in a charity hospital in Montgomery on March 17, 1939. He was on relief at the time, and his trade or profession was marked "unknown" on the death certificate.

Local musicians like Payne would have made a much bigger impression on Hank when he was growing up than the stars of the day. Lilly didn't have a radio or phonograph, although Hank would try to listen to the radio at the [neighbor's] house or in the local stores. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Hank was barely influenced by country music's first superstar, Jimmie Rodgers, who succumbed to tuberculosis in 1933.

Rodgers was the original kid with a guitar. Raised in Mississippi, he didn't draw on folk ballads so much as jazz, blues, Hawaiian music and vaudeville.

Like Hank, he turned to music in part because of a physical affliction. In place of Appalachian music's piety and grim resignation, Rodgers' music was populated by good-time pals one step ahead of the law, but still ready to shed a tear for mother and home. He sang with an insouciant, almost insolent drawl, and his sentimental parlor ballads were offset by rowdier songs, such as "In the Jailhouse Now," "Waiting for a Train," "Travelin' Blues," and "T for Texas." Many of the biggest country stars of the 1940s and 1950s, notably Gene Autry, Ernest Tubb, Floyd Tillman, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Snow, began as Rodgers disciples and recorded his songs. Hank was a few years younger, just nine years old when Rodgers died. Jimmie Rodgers' influence on Hank was less direct. Rodgers brought the barroom culture to country music, and inasmuch as Hank's music came from the honky-tonk, he was a Rodgers disciple. Hank learned to yodel like Rodgers, but usually did no more than break occasionally into falsetto, and he probably learned that from blues singers.

It was probably after Lilly moved to Greenville that she acquired a radio, broadening Hank's horizons. Greenville was fifteen miles further up the L&N tracks toward Montgomery and was four times bigger than Georgiana. As the seat of Butler County, the focal point of the town was the courthouse square rather than the railroad station. Lilly moved her family there in time for Hank and Irene to start school in September 1934. Several of Hank's contemporaries remember him bringing his guitar to school. He would play during the lunch break and tell people that to play and sing was his "highest ambition."

From HANK WILLIAMS: THE BIOGRAPHY by Colin Escott. Copyright© 2004 by Colin Escott.
Published by Little, Brown and Company, N.Y.

NOTE: I'll be reviewing this book sometime later in the year for The Daily Yomiuri.

:: Les Coles Tuesday, April 13, 2004 [+] ::

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The Trio are Coming to Play

The Trio—Johnny Vidacovich (Dr), June Yamagishi (G), George Porter Jr. (B) are playing Tokyo and Kyoto (June's hometown) in May.

Click here for a preview and to hear samples from their CD, We Came to Play.

:: Les Coles Tuesday, April 13, 2004 [+] ::

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BBC4 TO SCREEN "THE BLUES" IN UK

The BBC are to broadcast Martin Scorsese's "The Blues" on 7 consecutive Thu evenings beginning 9 p.m. April 15.
Details : www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/music/features/blues.shtml
For full info on the series, see The Year of the Blues Special on Tokyo-Blues.com

:: Les Coles Monday, April 12, 2004 [+] ::

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Weekly Gospel Music Jam in Oregon

Pickers, grinners and singers welcomed!

April 12 — Pickers, grinners and singers are invited to attend the WEEKLY Central Oregon Sunday Gospel Music Jam, each Sunday in May, except the third Sunday, at 10:30 am, at the Pine Forest Grange Hall, 63214 Boyd Acres Road, 1/3 mile North of Empire, just of Hwy 97 at the north end of Bend.

Coffee, tea and other refreshments will be servered beginning at 10:00 am. These 10:30 am Central Oregon Gospel Music Jams will be ninety minutes in duration, affording participation by all levels of paricipants.

On the third Sunday morning in May, at 10:30 am, May 16th, Jimmie Cantrell, with his wife Cyndi, will be sharing a variety of Gospel songs written by himself over the past 30 years, along with each songs inspiration. Pickers are invited to bring their acoustic instruments to this event also. The Monthly Afternoon Central Oregon Sunday Gospel Music Jam will begin at 1:00 pm.

The Extended Central Oregon Sunday Gospel Music Jam on the third Sunday in May, May 16th, will start at 1:00 pm and will conclude at 4:00 pm. Tune-up, fellowships and refreshments will be available at 12:30 pm. Attendees are welcome to
attend all or part of the Third Sunday events.

At all Central Oregon Sunday Gospel Music Jams, pickers are invited to bring their acoustic instruments (i.e. guitars, mandolins, banjos, fiddles, harmonicas, etc.) — no drums or electric instruments please. You can bring your own music stand too. All levels of players are welcome.

The playing participants will take turns, being given opportunity to select and perform their favorite Gospel song, as all others players are invited to join in. An overhead projector is used to display the words, and sometimes chords, to many of the songs - making it easier for the attendees to join in. Established players will be tolerant of newer, less accomplished players. The grinners will be invited to sing along and make occasional request. "Fun" will be the operative word at this alternative to traditional church.

For more information, visit
www.bluegrassvillage.com or
<>www.cascadechapel.com, or
call 541-318-0297.

:: Les Coles Monday, April 12, 2004 [+] ::

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Curtis Butler of the Butler Twins dies age 62

2nd twin dies 4 months after brother

The Butlers Twins, Curtis shown sittng

Curtis Butler of the legendary Butler Twins, has died at 62, less than four months after the death of his twin brother Clarence Butler. The Twins were internationally know for delivering the most original electrified "Delta Blues" sound heard anywhere. Their original writing and performing style earned numerous awards worldwide and they have long been considered among the most important members of the Detroit blues community.

Members of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, The Twins have received awards for: Outstanding Blues Writer (Clarence Butler) (Blues) - Detroit Music Awards (2000), Lifetime Achievement Award - Detroit Blues Society (1999), Nominee – Outstanding Blues Recording (Blues/R&B) - Detroit Music Awards (4/6/2001).

According to Detroit's Big City Rhythm and Blues Magazine, "...the Butler Twins are the real deal. An experience of sound and culture like no other blues band out there. These guys create a mood with their original Delta material and then blow you away playing Delta, fueled by the power of urban Detroit. These guys are a blues treasure..." Visit: www.butlertwinsblues.com —Gypsy, NBDB

Related Blues Blog Posts:

Mar 26: Detroit Music Awards to honor the Butler Twins
Dec 24: Clarence Butler passes aged 61

:: Les Coles Monday, April 12, 2004 [+] ::

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Delta Blues Casino set to break ground in 1 month

JACKSON, Miss. — Delta Blues Casino president Charles Preiser, who once toiled for Donald Trump in the Atlantic City Taj Mahal, got Mississippi Gaming Commission final approval Monday for his Greenville casino and blues museum.

The $30 million project will bloom in the Delta, the impoverished area that spawned a rich musical legacy as the birthplace of blues geniuses like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf.

Preiser expects to break ground in about a month on the 55-acre downtown Greenville parcel, the site of a defunct mill. The Delta Blues complex will include a 120-room hotel, 30,000-square-foot convention center and a nine-acre water park.

Preiser sees the 7,000-square-foot museum as the jewel that will draw for European tourists, a demographic seldom met in Mississippi casinos.

"The Delta draws a pretty steady stream of European visitors who are fascinated by blues history and love the music," Preiser said.

The museum will contain many miniature theaters each devoted to individual blues musicians and historical periods. Small groups of visitors can watch rare film and listen to audio of their favorite blues artists.

Live performances will also be featured along with memorabilia. Preiser believes that blues enthusiasts will provide the convention center with a steady steam of booking during Delta music festivals and scholarly gatherings.

A veteran casino developer, Preiser worked stints at the Golden Nugget and Bally's in Las Vegas before Trump's Taj Mahal, an experience he is happy to have survived.

"When Trump fires people, he's usually less articulate then he is on 'The Apprentice'; it's a more torturous process in real life," Preiser quipped of the reality TV show starring Trump and a troop of CEO-wannabes.

He recruited one of the Taj designers, Francis Wavier Dumont, to design the Delta Blues. The convention center and museum are scheduled for completion shortly before the casino's June 2005 completion date, according to commission spokesman Leigh Ann Wilkins.

The Gaming Commission approved of the Delta Blues' financing and construction schedule at Monday's meeting. Preiser and his Delta Blues partners Jack Newton and Steve Warner predict that most of their casino's customers will be within a 200 mile drive.

Their Greenville competition is Lighthouse Point Riverboat and Jubilee casinos. There are 29 casinos regulated by the Mississippi Gaming Commission and two others owned and operated by the Mississippi Band of Choctaws.

:: Les Coles Monday, April 12, 2004 [+] ::

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2nd Annual Oklahoma Art & Wine Festival w/ Blues

Blues on the Vine in June

After the wine tasting, food munching fun will be an evening performance at the Ritz Theatre by DC and Selby Minner 'Blues on the Move'. at 7:30 pm. DC Minner is a big Oklahoma favorite well known from the annual Dusk til Dawn Blues Festival held in Rentiesville, OK.

Tickets for the DC Minner show cost $15.00 and will need to be reserved by calling 273-1080 Downtown Shawnee, Inc.
Oklahoma Wine News - Your source for Sooner State wine tasting events.

What: 2nd Annual Oklahoma Art & Wine Festival
When: Saturday, June 12, 11 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Where: Downtown Shawnee, Oklahoma
How much: $6.00 per person—Anyone over 21 wanting to sample wines will need to bring/show ID for tasting bracelet.
Who: Contact 405-275-0688
okartwinefestival@sbcglobal.net

:: Les Coles Sunday, April 11, 2004 [+] ::

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J.J. Cale completes 1st studio album in 8 years

To Tulsa And Back to street June 8

I have fond memories of J.J. Cale, so I was real pleased to hear he has a new studio album out.


NEW YORK, N.Y. (April 8)—To Tulsa And Back is J.J. Cale's first new studio album since 1996's Guitar Man. But as he says, "It doesn't seem that long." You just can't rush the good things in life and that includes Cale, who, for his Sanctuary Records debut, went back to his hometown of Tulsa to record.

Set for a street date of June 8, the album is at once different than albums before it while reassuringly retaining the trademark sound that has made Cale an American music legend for more than 30 years. Cale is best known for his compositions—some of them hits for Eric Clapton and others for himself—including "After Midnight," "Cocaine," "Call Me The Breeze," and "Crazy Mama." His songs have been covered by everyone from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple, the Allman Brothers Band, Johnny Cash, The Band and Santana to Captain Beefheart and Bryan Ferry. Beyond the songs, his style profoundly influenced Dire Straits, Clapton and many others.

Fittingly, the album will be released right in the eye of Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival which will take place June 4-6 in Dallas. Cale will perform at the festival alongside B.B. King, Joe Walsh, Brian May, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan, Robert Randolph, Steve Vai, Buddy Guy and, of course, Clapton himself.

The initial plan for Cale's next studio CD was to regroup with his old friend and original collaborator, Audie Ashworth, who began producing his albums in 1971. "We were going to do a record in Nashville like we did in the old days, two friends sitting around talking about music and playing songs," he said.

When Ashworth passed away several years back, that idea was shelved and Cale dedicated his 2001 J.J. Cale Live CD to Ashworth instead. The concept lingered on, though, and Cale revived it after bringing many of his old friends out to join him on tour in 2002.

Cale—who lives nowadays in the Southern California desert—decided to return to his hometown of Tulsa to tackle the project on his own.

Cale loaded his gear into the studio of drummer and friend David Teagarden (Teagarden & Van Winkle) and looked up some of their old friends. "I played with some of these guys 40 years ago," Cale laughs. "I don't think there's anyone on this record who’s under 60 years old."

The result is a warm, rhythmic, relaxed record that preserves the down-home flavor that's come to define Cale's sound. His fans like it that way.

Cale began playing Tulsa clubs in the 1950s with his own band, Johnny Cale & the Valentines. He later played with fellow Tulsa émigrés Leon Russell and Delaney & Bonnie. Then Eric Clapton recorded "After Midnight" and the rest is history.

Lately, Cale garnered a new generation of fans when Widespread Panic and other jam bands covered some of his songs. Cale says of the jam band experience, "Those guys make a three-minute song last 15 minutes and everybody does a solo. But they still need songs. How they discovered mine, I don't know. But they did. Then through those songs, a whole new generation discovered me."

Among other changes to be found on the new CD, songs such as "Stone River," which he wrote for the environmental Earthjustice campaign, and the sharply political "The Problem," find him addressing new concerns about the world in which we live. Another touching commentary on our times is the moving "Homeless."

Almost as rare as a new Cale studio CD is a chance to see him live, and that opportunity too is on the horizon. Watch for updates.

On the Web:
J.J. Cale site
Sanctuary Records
The Rosebud Agency

Cocaine
Lyrics by J.J. Cale

 

If you want to hang out

you gotta take her out

Cocaine.

If you want to get down

down on the ground

Cocaine.

She don't lie

she don't lie

she don't lie

Cocaine.



If you got bad news

you want to kick them blues

cocaine.

when your day is done and you got to run

Cocaine.

She don't lied

she don't lie

she don't lie

Cocaine.



If your thing is gone and you want to ride on

Cocaine.

Don't forget this fact

you can't get back

Cocaine.

She don't lie

she don't lie

she don't lie

Cocaine. 

:: Les Coles Sunday, April 11, 2004 [+] ::

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TajFest Postponed

Taj Down Under—Dates
April 11
Sydney, Australia, Metro Theatre
Band: Taj Mahal Trio

April 14
Auckland, New Zealand, Sky City
Band: Taj Mahal Trio

April 15
Wellington, New Zealand, Club Indigo
Band: Taj Mahal Trio

On The Web:
TajFest
Taj Mahal site

:: Les Coles Sunday, April 11, 2004 [+] ::

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Got the Brown-Browne Blues

I'm a bit Browned off with The Syndey Morning Herald.

The report on the Byron Bay Blues Festival, carried on the April 12 online edition, headlined "All red hot blues and Brown(e)s," leads off with the photo of James Brown below:

The next 12 paragraphs then talk about Jackson Browne.

James Browm got three scant paragraphs.

So why not lead off with a photo of Jackson Browne?





Read the article

For details of Jackson Browne's upcoming tour of Japan, see the Tokyo-Blues Gig Guide

:: Les Coles Sunday, April 11, 2004 [+] ::

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