Reflections on the blues and the Grammys

HELLO AGAIN, JIM...I'M BAAAACK!

      I took a step back for a couple of days to see if anyone else would step up and comment and, well...it doesn't look like anybody did. I imagine that this might be a little disheartening to you but if it makes you feel any better there's at least one person who shares your passion and concern for the Blues and isn't shy about expressing his opinion...ME. And aren't I just the 'kick in the pants' that you've been looking for!! I guess you can see why John Hammond Jr. might think I'm arrogant!! But, hey, the Blues is my life...until they pry the Blind Willie Johnson 78s out of my cold, dead hands.

       The Grammy awards and the Blues? As they say on Saturday Night Live, "REALLY?? The Grammys, Jim, Really??". If you're waiting for 'our music' to be recognized as being more than just a niche market I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Personally, I don't pay much attention to what most awards-bestowing groups think (or don't think) about the Blues. Bumblebee Slim (of WYEP fame) and I once discussed the idea that when it comes to the Blues there are basically two types of audiences: those folks who'd come out to see somebody like Kim Wilson on a Thursday night when it's 15 degrees outside and those folks who wouldn't. Casual fans who remember seeing a Blues legend or two at Mancinis or The Decade and hard-cores who never missed any of the shows at either place and travel to Cleveland, let's say, to see somebody who's bypassing Pittsburgh (like Eli 'Paperboy' Reed!!). That's just they way it's always been and will probably always be. Unfortunately, the Grammys will never make room for the Blues to the extent that would please the die-hards like us...that's what the Handy awards are for...now called the Blues Music Awards.

      Blues artists rarely sell even close to a million copies of a record (I guess they call them 'CD's now). And that is in large part what the music industry uses to judge the merits of the acts they pay attention to. It's all about the 'Benjamins' as those rap artist say. Based on sales, the Blues comes up woefully short in the greater scheme of the music business. Most Blues artists are just happy that people show up at the gig to listen. For them, and I'm speaking in general terms, the pay-off for years of 'beatin' it out' is the charge they get when a night goes exceptionally well. And that the van didn't break down on the way to the gig!! Of course, every artist likes to be (hopes to be?) recognized for their talents and contributions but they, especially musicians involved with the Blues, also realize there is some greater reward in a job well done. While it may or may not apply, Warren King once told me, "The cream rises to the top".

      My advice to you is to not pay so much attention to what the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has to say with respect to the Blues...and maybe they'll go away. The Blues will just keep rollin' along and folks who like this kind of music will continue to champion it and support it. Blues acts will come and go as they have for decades and the larger world will remain mostly oblivious. Real Bluesmen (and I include women) are born not made and stand the test of time!! If you think of Blues in terms of 'product' you will perhaps conclude that the worst thing an artist can do is try to manufacture the feeling you get from watching a real true Bluesman perform...it just can't be done. It must come from the heart...usually one that's been broken.

      I'm interested to see how many folks show up for the John Hammond Jr. show a week from Wednesday. My guess is that it'll be another 'private party' as I like to call it when the place is only about half full. It's bad for the guy who has to pay the band but at some of the best Blues shows I've ever seen in my life there were only maybe 20 or 30 people there!! If I could accurately predict in advance what size crowd will turn out for a show, believe me, I'd be playing the lottery alot more!! For me, Blues shows are the best when they're intimate encounters between performer(s) and fan(s).

Oh, and by the way, did you know that Kim Wilson was a major contributor to the music of the movie 'Cadillac Records'? Did you see the Movie? I didn't but it's on my list.

Keeping the faith is often a rough and dirty job but somebody's got to do it!!

I've been trying  my best for nearly 35 years.

         I know the alcohol flows freely at the Bluenotes World Headquarters but I also hope smoking is permitted.  I think a nice smoky haze sets the proper mood for the Blues.

        I've only met one musician in all my years of hanging out and paying attention that even mentioned his desire to win a Grammy. I'm sure alot of them think about what it would be like to receive such an honor but he was the only one I ever heard speak of it.

      If you look at the list of nominees were not talking about lightweight contenders. Most of them are legends in the field . Irma Thomas is another one of those great singers that Joe Rosen hipped me to. B. B. King and Buddy Guy need no introduction. Pinetop Perkins is among the last of the great piano professors in a tradition that is nearly extinct. (I LOVE barrelhouse piano Blues). Taj Mahal has been performing forever and is someone I've never seen in person but I hope to change that. I have a slight problem with a couple of the other nominees insofar as I'm not really familiar with them. I've seen Marcia Ball and I hate to say that perhaps her gender had something to do with her nomination. I'm not sexist by any means but she's the only other woman nominee. You do the math.  Dr. John was to my sensibilities always more of a rock artist with a New Orleans-based style. (would you call 'Right Place, Wrong Time' Blues or even blues-based? I wouldn't). Solomon Burke, who've I've also never seen but I know some of his music,  is a soul singer. His nomination depends on how loosely you want to define a Blues artist. Elvin Bishop the same thing. I never considered him to be a Blues artist but if releasing a Blues album makes it so then fine. More power to him and welcome aboard!!

      And then there's John Lee Hooker Jr. I didn't even know there WAS a John Lee Hooker Jr!! Maybe now that he's got a Grammy nomination somebody will book him in Pittsburgh and we'll get to see what he looks like. I'm gonna ask around at the JHJ show and see how many people actually know anything about John Lee Hooker Jr. I think I heard Bumblebee Slim play a cut once by Elmore James Jr. Again, I never even knew he existed. I guess I need to do a little more research. I wonder if there's a Tampa Red Jr. I can only hope.

         So here we are, Jim, the last guys still standing at closing time. I almost didn't confess that I was indeed BLUZER who appeared from out of the blue (nice choice of words wouldn't you say).  Eventually you would have figured it out and if you don't get *** and toss me out of the Bluenotes WH then I guess I'll pull up a chair and stick around. Alot of time has passed since that night at Mancinis many years ago when we saw Big Walter and I have plenty of stories to tell as I'm sure you do as well. To paraphrase Meade 'Lux' Lewis, 'Its time to tell the story'!!

      The one burning question I do have is this: Is there still a mural on the wall in the building where Mancinis used to be of Pittsburgh musicians? Has it been painted over? I remember vaguely that Norman Nardini was one of the subjects but not much else about it. Years, maybe decades, from now I imagine somebody's gonna come across the Moondogs Wall of Fame and wonder what the hell it's all about, not care, and either paint over it or tear it down. Such is life in the Blues world of Pittsville Pennsyltucky. (Yeah, I stole that from Norman....so sue me!!).

Footnote: Allow me to change the line in the above comment to read ' ....if you don't get MAD and toss me out....' . It doesn't change the intended meaning and I'll remember in the future that this is a family newspaper!!  Sorry.