Of all the music memorabilia hanging on the walls of my home, a signed tour poster by The Hackberry Ramblers is perhaps the least likely to impress a typical visitor. Yet it means a lot to me. I had the honor of arranging a series of in-store performances and retail meet-and-greets with the Cajun gentlemen when Ben Sandmel served as the band's drummer and tour manager. Not unlike the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Hackberry Ramblers are an act that's passed on through the generations. Here's what it sounded like in 1937. And here it is in the 1991 documentary Marc and Ann. (The earthy anecdotes beginning at the 1:24 mark are too much.) The band's music may be a little creaky, but it's eminently soulful. Guitarist Glen Croker died last August. He was 77.
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Frank Driggs has died. Driggs and Chuck Haddix wrote the definitive history of Kansas City jazz.
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It's difficult for me to muster enough emotion to even shrug my shoulders at the news that R.E.M. is calling it quits. Its first three albums had a profound influence on me and I'll always be able to brag about seeing R.E.M. at a $1.02 concert at the Uptown Theater as it toured behind Murmur. I quit following the band after Lifes Rich Pageant was released. In fact, I passed on a R.E.M. concert to attend a Richard Thompson show at Parody Hall in 1986. Peter Buck stood next to me during Thompson's last few songs.
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I'm a prophet! Look for my quote from 2007 in Tim Finn's analysis of Taylor Swift's career.
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With a great deal of skepticism, I cued up Miles' Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1. Oh man! It's tremendous.
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Love it.
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Vesta Williams died yesterday.
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I don't understand what Tech N9ne is supposed to be doing in the video of Ubiquitous' "Roadwork". (Tip via Tony's Kansas City.)
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I recently discovered the music of Suchitra Mitra.
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Kansas City Click: The enticing triple bill of The Life and Times, Dirtnap and Cowboy Indian Bear is at Crosstown Station on Friday.
Mac Lethal headlines at the Riot Room on Saturday.
I recommend bringing earplugs to Todd Clouser's gig at Jardine's on Sunday.
The Jazz Disciples appear at the Blue Room on Monday.
(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)
4 comments:
I have a hard time understanding how you can say REM had a "profound influence on you but you can barely shrug your shoulders at their breakup". Granted, it is over due, but GD,they were good and very trend setting in their prime.
It sounds as though you lost all respect for them. They were good.
I have nothing but respect for R.E.M., Gordy. But I changed. And the band changed. We just went our separate ways.
I saw the Hackberry Ramblers maybe 10 years ago. It was at a little festival in Abita Springs LA. 'Festival' makes it sound bigger than it was. It was really just a picnic, and the band set up on the grass and played while kids ran around and the adults drank a beer or two. I don't think the audience really understood the historical importance of the band, but it was really the perfect setting to catch them.
People often equate unassuming and unimportant, Steve.
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