Smokin'....Livin' the Blues
Yes, as long as we're on the subject, continue to smoke em if you got em. Just make sure that it's your cigarette etc. that's smoking and not your car! I had an unfortunate mishap last night involving excessive smoke billowing out of my exhaust and a police officer. I'm going to gloss over the hideous and extremely expensive details but it appears Bluzboy here is deep into the blues as we speak! No digital 8 track, no acoustic and no fun! And---no car--it appears it'll be impounded for a month...I have 6 electrics and no acoustic, what could possibly be wrong with this ratio? It's about the same as the men to women ratio up here in Alaska! Well, supposedly it's 2 to 1...When I was out in Dutch Harbor on the Aleutian Chain gigging the ratio was...drum roll please!....20 to 1! And to add insult to injury, half of the women were lesbians!
Since my name is officially alaskanblue4, yes I am into the blues and we should spend a little more time on them. Now I want to know, who are alaskanblue 1, 2, and 3? Currently listening to one of my favorite drivin' tunes "She'll be so Fine" by Roomful of Blues;
Now when you treat her like she's a queen
She'll show her beauty like you've never seen
You give her love, and some respect
She'll give you something you won't forget
She'll be so Fine,
You won't ever let her go
Amen!
These guys have been around for eons and have had several different line-ups, but this "Under One Roof" CD is a very killer effort. Sugar Ray Norcia on the wickedly sweet harp and vocals, a full horn section, ivories being tickled, tastefully raw guitar, and a locomotive rhythm section kickin the proverbial ass. Curtis Salgado, the former vocalist/harpist in the original Robert Cray Band did a stint with them as well. A riveting performer, and yes, he was the inspiration for the Blues Brothers. It seems that one John Belushi was in Eugene, Oregon filming Animal House when Robert and Curtis were both singing together. It seems that Curtis and John had some of the same bad habits and they did alot of hanging out together. Yes, it's a true story and us Cray fans were a bit annoyed that they were doing well over 300 one nighters up and down the west coast for years, barely getting by while the Blues Brothers tour and album was making good coin.
My feeling at the time was it was good to give the blues more exposure, it's just a shame that the blues performers who were actually GOOD at their craft weren't fronting the band. Ahh, show bidness...That was a long time ago and Robert did okay (ha ha!)--more on him sometime later.
I sometimes wonder what Belushi would be doing now had he lived, what a waste of talent! Of course, I also wonder what Jim Morrison thinks of the literature, art, music and film going on in the world as it is now. This is assuming that he has the ability to look down (or up-ha ha) on the proceedings. I've heard from informed sources that if you're "down there" with the guy in red satin suit and the pitchfork, you're generally too busy to do much perusing elsewhere...
Had a hideous time at my straight job in the parallel universe, there were heavy portions of tedium, annoying people with ego issues, and gladhanding by the clientele. Our executive chef/owner knows how to work a room as well as put out some fine food. Schoooze on, oh great one. He also tells jokes, some are---good, but he manages to screw up the punch line 50% of the time...which is what makes them so humorous! I found myself wishing I could go back to my vagabond/stowaway life of gigging tonight. My depression has really been pulling me under, especially since last nights debacle with the car. Life was alot simpler back then, lived above the clubs or motels and felt more "myself". Lots of feast and famine activity, it wasn't always a glamorous party--but I was playing 5, sometimes 6 nights a week! Maybe I've just outlived my usefulness or perhaps I'm on the cusp of something good. Time will tell...
Uh oh, Roomful is into "Easy Baby", a slow and potent number by Willie Dixon, one of the true blues legends-wrote "Spoonful", "I Just Want to Make Love To You" etc etc etc...One of my favorite players is also Albert King. Without Albert, there would be no Stevie Ray Vaughn. Talk about deep, stinging bends--man, Albert was top notch. Sang his ass off too...
over n out, Sir Derek Ozelle
Since my name is officially alaskanblue4, yes I am into the blues and we should spend a little more time on them. Now I want to know, who are alaskanblue 1, 2, and 3? Currently listening to one of my favorite drivin' tunes "She'll be so Fine" by Roomful of Blues;
Now when you treat her like she's a queen
She'll show her beauty like you've never seen
You give her love, and some respect
She'll give you something you won't forget
She'll be so Fine,
You won't ever let her go
Amen!
These guys have been around for eons and have had several different line-ups, but this "Under One Roof" CD is a very killer effort. Sugar Ray Norcia on the wickedly sweet harp and vocals, a full horn section, ivories being tickled, tastefully raw guitar, and a locomotive rhythm section kickin the proverbial ass. Curtis Salgado, the former vocalist/harpist in the original Robert Cray Band did a stint with them as well. A riveting performer, and yes, he was the inspiration for the Blues Brothers. It seems that one John Belushi was in Eugene, Oregon filming Animal House when Robert and Curtis were both singing together. It seems that Curtis and John had some of the same bad habits and they did alot of hanging out together. Yes, it's a true story and us Cray fans were a bit annoyed that they were doing well over 300 one nighters up and down the west coast for years, barely getting by while the Blues Brothers tour and album was making good coin.
My feeling at the time was it was good to give the blues more exposure, it's just a shame that the blues performers who were actually GOOD at their craft weren't fronting the band. Ahh, show bidness...That was a long time ago and Robert did okay (ha ha!)--more on him sometime later.
I sometimes wonder what Belushi would be doing now had he lived, what a waste of talent! Of course, I also wonder what Jim Morrison thinks of the literature, art, music and film going on in the world as it is now. This is assuming that he has the ability to look down (or up-ha ha) on the proceedings. I've heard from informed sources that if you're "down there" with the guy in red satin suit and the pitchfork, you're generally too busy to do much perusing elsewhere...
Had a hideous time at my straight job in the parallel universe, there were heavy portions of tedium, annoying people with ego issues, and gladhanding by the clientele. Our executive chef/owner knows how to work a room as well as put out some fine food. Schoooze on, oh great one. He also tells jokes, some are---good, but he manages to screw up the punch line 50% of the time...which is what makes them so humorous! I found myself wishing I could go back to my vagabond/stowaway life of gigging tonight. My depression has really been pulling me under, especially since last nights debacle with the car. Life was alot simpler back then, lived above the clubs or motels and felt more "myself". Lots of feast and famine activity, it wasn't always a glamorous party--but I was playing 5, sometimes 6 nights a week! Maybe I've just outlived my usefulness or perhaps I'm on the cusp of something good. Time will tell...
Uh oh, Roomful is into "Easy Baby", a slow and potent number by Willie Dixon, one of the true blues legends-wrote "Spoonful", "I Just Want to Make Love To You" etc etc etc...One of my favorite players is also Albert King. Without Albert, there would be no Stevie Ray Vaughn. Talk about deep, stinging bends--man, Albert was top notch. Sang his ass off too...
over n out, Sir Derek Ozelle
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