Just when I think I want to post something a little serious, I find a cute little blues clip like this one.
Read the masthead up above where it says, "Squeeze my lemon, make the juice run down my leg!"
And know that yes, "The juice is worth the squeeze."
The Juice is Worth the Squeeze.
- Forrest Griffin
Here is a video that I had not seen before. It is of John Lee Hooker playing with the Muddy Waters' band. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
As some of you who have been reading this blog for a while probably know I am from Shreveport, Louisiana originally. I was born and raised there and grew up in a neighborhood just out side of downtown called Allendale. We had a few juke joints like that one on the corner of Dale and Alston St. They tore that building down a long time ago though.
They are busy tearing down that whole neighborhood. Things have changed, the blues there have changed too. I remember walking down Alston St. and passing this one house where a lady sat on the front porch. She listened to B.B. King's "The Thrill is Gone" over and over. I probably passed by that house hundreds, if not thousands of times. And that was the only song I ever heard coming from that house. It was not until I became an adult that I understood the kind of blues she had. That is the kind of blues that people in Shreveport have.
I have done a few post on my hometown blues favorite Leadbelly. The video below is a cool one that I had not seen before, it is of Pete Seeger talking about Leadbelly.
Those people over at Cox Cable, where I get my internet connection from are trying to give me the blues. As I post to my blogs this evening, I keep losing my connection. Thank God for auto save, or I would have lost a lot more of my work.
Yeah, I got the "keep losing my internet connection" blues. And another thing that is making me blue is wanting to post this video clip of Lightin' Hopkins talking about what the blues is, man I show (that is the way we used to say it) do wish I could show it to you.
But that is OK, see my intentions in this post are to explain how I think that Lightin' Hopkins was one of the best blues vocalist of all times. I really like his ability to make up a song on the fly. And that is really hard to do. But the man's mind was just that nimble. Of course he was a master guitar player too, but his voice to me is the voice of the bluesmen of my dreams.
I think the Wikipedia entry on Lightnin' Hopkins says it better;
Much of Hopkins' music follows the standard 12-bar blues template but his phrasing was very free and loose. Many of his songs were in the talking blues style, but he was a powerful and confident singer. Lyrically his songs chronicled the problems of life in the segregated south, bad luck in love and all the usual subjects of the blues idiom. He did however deal with these subjects with humor and good nature. Many of his songs are filled with double entendres and he was known for his humorous introductions.It's that whole "problems of life idiom" thing that I like to hear expressed by a blues vocalist, and is why I like Lightnin' Hopkins so much.
A master musician with extraordinary staying power, for decades his evocative vocal style has taken the blues out of the barroom and into the bedroom.I know that to be a true statement, Mrs. F. is my witness.
First you should go to the post prior to this one and pause the music.
A friend from StumbleUpon sent me this link. Magnum Photos Chicago 1946-48 Photo essay by Wayne Miller.
We may differ in race, color, language, wealth, and politics. But look at what we all have in common. If I could photograph these universal truths, I thought that might help us understand.
- Wayne Miller
OK, I thought I would repost my playlist again. I hope you all enjoy it, if not just press pause to stop the music.
Please excuse the video player below. I am doing an experiment with Googles new YouTube player. So far I can't really get it to play the kind of blues music that I want it too. But if you don't mind seeing music other blues music you can watch it and let me know what you think.
I was going to post a video of Bukka White playing some Boogie Woogie, because I think it is such a cool video.
Then I thought about posting this blues piano video (1), this one (2), this one(3), this one (4) and this one (5). And if you watch them all I am sure you will enjoy them.
But then I came across a video of a bluesman, whose music I truly love. It's funny to me that I did not think of Champion Jack Dupree when I thought of doing a week of post on the blues piano.
I guess it is true what they say about your memory being the second thing to go.
