How many more years.

A photo essay on yesterday's 14th annual Howlin' Wolf Memorial Blues Festival at The Civic in West Point, MS.

Festival Director Richard Ramsey introduces the next act.



Big Joe Shelton does the "Black Prairie Blues!



Memorial shrine for the late Willie King.



Honored guests and members of Howlin' Wolf's immediate family.



Bill Abel from Belzoni.



Some signs at the Civic's entryway faux Juke.



Mississippi has been a "red" state since Reconstruction even whe it voted yellow Dog.



Billy Dee always was smooth . . . Bingo long anybody?



Colin Linden from Nashville via Toronto.

Medley.

Sam Cooke presents a classic medley.



Seems appropriate that this blog's 350th entry is a mishmash.

Tonight I'm heading West Point way for this. With any luck some photos up in the future. And don't forget this other local festival, which will have some major news re: headliners for 2009 the Tuesday after Labor Day.

This medley by The Bishop of Soul Solomon Burke pays homage to his fellow travelers.



Looking forward to a historic opener for the Mississippi State Bulldogs as they become the first SEC team to host a SWAC HBCU team, the Jackson State Tigers. More specifically, I'm really looking forward to the halftime performance of the visiting team's band, The Sonic Boom of the South!



A few other famous show band performances with better sound:







And let's close with a classic medley from "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business . . . Mr. Dynomite . . . Mr. Please Please . . . Soul Brother #1 . . . Are you ready for Star Time?"

Grits ain't groceries.

In honor of its republication in a new and improved version, I would like to reconsider John T. Edge's 2000 Hill Street publication Southern Belly, almost a decade on. I haven't seen the new one yet and do hope that it both expands upon the original as well as corrects some major oversights like Appalachian Southern Food dude! Just because they are poor WASPs doesn't mean they don't exist. Ask Evans and Agee.

I mean c'mon Fresh Mountain Rainbow Trout: Fried, Smoked, Pan Seared, Sauteed, or Oven Roast. Surely Frank Stitt said something about this to you as well! I suspect you spent too much time listening to Chapel Hill Sociologists and their marketing map of the New South. Fine, but they snobby flatlanders who don't understand 'dem 'dar hills. Just sayin'.

I take your introductory "it's my book" (xii) to heart. But Bro you can't have it both ways! Either's it's my idiosyncratically personal view of food in the South or it really is "The Ulitmate Food Lover's Guide to the South." They definitely t'ain't the same thing. But I will give you a pass since you did at the least visit Roanoke and mention the Texas Tavern (242–43). My Mom told me tales of dropping by there after school for takeout through the window. Proper young ladies did not enter such establishments in the Fifties. But they also preferred Perry Como to Elvis Aron Presley. Can't win 'em all!

While this books in an important part of Edge's culinary legacy. it is but one leg of a tripos. Lest we forget, Edge is also an accomplished journalist/editor working with such diverse publications as Gourmet, Southern Living, The Oxford American (out of Little Rock strangely enough) and The New York Times. Finally and most importantly he is a scholar visionary, who brought forth the Southern Foodways Alliance as its first employee and long-time Director and who regularly holds court on the Square in Oxford: upstairs at City Grocery Bar or jawing with Currence downstairs over the classic Shrimp and Grits preparation. THIS will be his major legacy, especially all the good work folks did helping the Katrina recovery efforts vis-a-vis local NOLA restaurants like Willie Mae's Scotch House.

Veni, vidi, omnivori.

Where is my mind?

Been a very busy pre-Father's Day week what with a lot of projects just starting up. Here''s tidbits and links on some stuff I'm doing now.

Perfect Sound Forever
As always, my Kevin Shields interview is in the latest issue. I've got a really long interview with Robert Ellis Orrall forthcoming maybe next issue maybe the one after. I'm working on pieces on Sonny Boy Williamson II myths and truths, the Dust-to-Digital label, and most intriguingly a new label Bifrost Arts founded by a former student of mine, now an RUF minister at UConn.

Pop Matters
I'm writing a few things specifically for this online zine. More about them later perhaps.

Mississippi Musicians
I'm pitching in to help Nancy Jacobs with this labor of love site by updating some of the web pages (Garrison Starr and Blind Melon should be up by the end of the week) & writing some new pages esp. for blues artists like Eddie Cusic and Willie McTell as well as a brand new page for Starkville's own composer, Albert Oppenheimer, a recent graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music!

Beer and The Bard
That whole book project is rewriting itself as we speak. But seriously major rethink and revision on-going. Thanks to Tom and Bryan for four extra eyes and three and a half extra brains!

The juke.

Opening Night Show review



The Grand re-Opening of the Bistro & State Theater complex was yesterday. Last night the State became a classic juke with a large LA-Z-Boy Barcalounger prepared for main act Blind Mississippi Morris, master of the "MS Saoxophone"! Guy, gals, and esp. one lonely balding guy from NH down on contract business in West Point got down on the dance floor to various blues classics from John Lee Hooker to Howlin' Wolf to BB King to Junior Wells and lest we forget, Little Walter and Sonnyboy Williamson too or is that II?















The backing band becomes the house band of the State AKA The Crooked Letters. as in crooked letter crooked letter i cl cl i humpback humpback i (cf. Afroman). Two requirements to be in: born in MS and work at the State or Bistro. Tonight's version was the extended and at some times unwieldy 6 piece with special guest sit-ins as well, like Scott "Scooter" Thomas. The stand up bass is nice but unnecessary and I think the rhythm guitarist should also know slide. So you're back to a four piece hopefully in the future. Still fun was had by all and we did it to the blues in MS, imagine that!

Time has come today.

The "official" Bistro @ State Theater Mix
Sam & Dave-Hold On! I'm A Comin'
The Jimi Hendrix Experience-All Along The Watchtower
The Who-A Quick One Whiles He's Away (Rock'n'Roll Circus version)
The Band-The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Box Tops-The Letter
Diana Ross & The Supremes-Love Child
Otis Redding-I've Got Dreams to Remember
Commodores-Sweet Love
The Chambers Brothers-Time Has Come Today (LP version)
Dusty Springfield-Natchez Trace
The Rolling Stones-Stray Cat Blues
Sly & The Family Stone-Dance To The Music
Little Feat-Time Loves A Hero
Traffic-Dear Mr. Fantasy
Lynyrd Skynyrd-The Ballad Of Curtis Loew
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band-Our Love Is Drifting
Elvin Bishop-Fooled Around and Fell In Love
Wet Willie-Keep On Smilin'
Big Star-Mod Lang

The internationale.

The I Bistro/State Theater complex has been for too long been the sleeping giant of Starkvegas eating and entertaining options. It finally looks like a crew knows what they're doing and might get it right. Financial backing from the Bryan family of West Point can't hurt either!







I went with my dad about an hour and a half after their 11:15 am ribbon-cutting ceremony. 1st impressions of the dining area were all positive. Where Doe's had the unadorned feel of an unloved institutional cafeteria; they've replaced some tables with booths, added mood lighting and a whole lot of music-related art on the walls and in some cases (metal rooster sculptures) floor, and thus generally made the place feel like a downtown Tribeca glass and brick warehouse-type place. Oh yes, and the menu has real variety, good for vegetarians and more generally people who don't like only steak and potatoes. Alas, Cisco failed them on the oyster delivery, so instead of my desired Poboy I settled for Catfish & fries with a side of slaw a more than ample portion and at $7 a real price point beater. Ty Thames having set the local blue plate special value at $8. They beat Chef Tyler a bit (Oyster PoBoy 7 versus 9) but then he local sources all his food and wouldn't have run out of oysters so early. so we'll charitably call it a draw all around. Both fine lunch places, just somewhat different clientele and different purposes to the two establishments. Dinner will be an interesting later investigation as they also feature pizza and pasta then.

Hard to be believe but the 2 blocks of downtown Starkville now have 4 quality lunch options!


Their new executive chef is JJ or Double J seen here in more relaxed climes sans his black uniform.



Not only is he the executive chef but he drums in their House band, The Crooked Letters. You know Mississippi: M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-humpback-humpback-I. Apparently to be in the band you have to hail from MS and work at the venue. They would back Blind MS Morris on opening night about which more later.

Struttin' with some bbq.

Sonny's on Sixteenth Section Road is back—sort of! Now it's Morris BBQ and Steak House with better weekly coverage. In fact they won best BBQ at the recent CDAF.





I met and had a really pleasant conversation with Ruth Morris, the doyenne of the clan. Some of you might remember her as the long-time manager of Perry Cafeteria during the Zacharias regime. 13 years ago Dr. Longest told her it was time to take it easier. And the place was never the same. We reminisced about stuff like Mr. Henry's bread pudding, when Paul Prudhomme visited campus, a certain rich alumna who dipped and drank corn likker but had a ton of dough and was generous to a fault, and the day Mrs. Longest graduated from MSU finally when 41 was the graduation speaker.



Oh yeah, the Q. Spot on. Not quite Sonny's hot sauce, but everything else was the equal and much was SUPERIOR, especially the sides which were clearly homemade and not out of a jar or can. Those baked beans were killah dillah.



Pointer for non-Southerners: if your BBQ plate comes with any carbohydrate but Wonder bread (like say Texas toast or hush puppies--get those at a Gulf seafood restaurant stupidhead!) run as fast as you can the other direction. You've been had! This message is John T. Edge-approved, well not really, but I bet he'd concur.

I will be back and I'll be bringing all my friends!

Ashes to ashes.

I've got a few projects upcoming for Perfect Sound Forever. Next issue (June/July 2009) a full transcript of my 1992 interview with Kevin Shields ('We use volume as an instrument a lot live'). I'm currently transcribing a 50 minute interview with Robert Ellis Orrall from 1984 back when he was a Top 40 artist duetting with Carlene Carter on "I Couldn't Say No" but before he became Al Gore's best Brentwood buddy. Then it's on to unpacking the myths surrounding Sonny Boy Williamson II AKA Aleck Rice Miller through conversations with his living relatives. Finally I'm working on a bigger piece: An appreciation of Dust-to-digital, Luddites, and generally old stuff. We'll also discuss the label's future plans. Stay tuned.

Here's what Paste has to say on the subject.

Me and my kind.

The issues about class in American culture are manifold and have long been overlooked due to our necessary obsessions with race. This is an extended rumination brought on by Rick Bragg's answer to Maridith's question Tuesday, which was referenced here. In short, he posited class, and specifically an agrarian working class, as a bedrock foundation of Southern culture: "The South: It's kinda like collard greens. It may be the Soul. It is the flavor. What it is I think it's class." This FACT explained why an urban SF audience didn't laugh at his burnt used car oil joke and we did. I wonder what bookstore that reading occured in: City Lights, Clean Well Lighted Place, some chainstore or further afield Cody's in Berkeley or Kepler's down the peninsula in Menlo?

Today's title theme song was written by a very good friend; I reiterate, "This is NOT a Rebel song!"

Me and My Kind

I never had no silver spoon
I went to school in an old saloon
I don't smoke, just dip and chew and spit
Meat and taters fit my bill
The Dukes of Hazzard gave me chills
And I'm still mad at Lee because he quit.

For me and my kind Dixie's more than just a word
To say the South won't rise again is plain absurd
Life without a truck is worse than doing time
As long as Hank is on the stage
As long as there is Jack to age
As long as wars for deer are waged
Then there will be hell to raise
For me and my kind.

Daddy told me long ago
"Son, when you die, you will go
To the capital of Tennessee"
Well, I swear that before I go
I'll let every Yankee know
That you can't tame or change a bird that's free.

Yes sir, nothing suits me more
Than the Rebel flag that soars
In the wind if only to remind
That country boys they will survive
God bless beer and four-wheel drive
That's the life for me and my kind.

For me and my kind . . .

Copyright 1991 John Brocato

Now the problem with solely race-based civil rights and at that a singular race is that they tend to overly favor those who do not need a helping hand. For example, many of the African American students I attended Harvard with starting in 1981 came from families with mid to high level six figure incomes, the kind of black elite who summer at Oak Bluffs on the Vineyard(cf Graham and Moore). I in no way deny that one can be African-American, well-to-do, and still have been discriminated against regularly. But I'm not sure the wealthy, prep-school educated son or daughter of a high ranking UN administrator who has never wanted for anything is what Affirmative Action should be about.

Rather I think we should have some other affirmative action components based on familial income, and some that seek out targeted non-African American minorities who are having a hard time in the US: say Vietnamese boat people along the Gulf Coast, Sudanese lost boys in Minneapolis, and Hmong villagers in Suburban Detroit, naming but three powerful exemplars.

I'm not a Lawyer or even a constitutional scholar, though I did study under Archibald Cox (who knew a thing or three), and I'm not here to re-argue Bakke or later Michigan cases. But I've read Agee and seen Evans' pictures. I know what happened in Muskogee and later the Central Valley between Modesto and Bakersfield. I've seen Matewan, and I do firmly believe that we have real class issues in the States that we have been denying since at least the 30s when effective labor and left political movements began dying off en masse. That's what Bragg (Rick and Billy!) is talking about.

We Liberals need to be tougher to borrow the adjective my former housemate applied to Alfred Shanker (cf. Kahlenberg). We need to engage those anywhere to the right of us with language and arguments they understand, so they can't just dismiss our ideas rotely out of hand as airy fairy left-wing fantasies. Liberals need to work on facts, figures, and specific proposals with limited targeted goals that are numerically measurable. Using such arguments we might actually start addressing the daunting problems which face our country, so many of which are about class and income and a result of the vast shift of capital away from labor over the past say 30+ years. Why do the highest incomes belong to those who produce nothing?

Remember Liberal is a seven letter word not four.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Graham, Lawrence Otis. Our Kind of People: Inside Black America's Upper Class. NY: Harper Perennial, 1999.

Kahlenberg, Richard. Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.

Moore, Jacqueline M.Leading the Race: The Transformation of the Black Elite in the Nation's Capital, 1880-1920. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1999.

Pound it out.

Booker T. Potato Hole (Anti)

An instant birthday present review. Thanks, GD!

Booker T. Jones has recently released a new album Potato Hole. Standing in for the MGs are the Drive-By Truckers,a most appropriate choice for a couple of reasons. Band members grew up around Muscle Shoals and some of their parents where session musicians who could have recorded with the MGs back in the late 60s/early 70s. Recently, The DBTs displayed their backing band R&B chops while supporting Bettye LaVette on her career reviving The Scene of The Crime, also on Anti. Don't blame for using 3 guitars when back in the day Steve Cropper was sufficient! And by the way o some tracks there are a massive five guitars providing a kudzu-thick jungle of sonic textures and timbres. For some time now beyond his studio producing duties, Booker T. has toured with Crazy Horse. Neil Young returns the favor providing yet again a further display of his brilliance as a guitarist of heat, passion, and refined lines. He becomes the ultimate session guy here.

The DBTs have been doing OutKasts's "Hey Ya" live for quite some time now, but the version that appears here takes on a whole new sense of freaky fun with Booker's funky leading Hammond B3 organ lines. They also cover Tom Waits' "Get Behind the Mule" which puts me in mind of The Eagles doing "Ol. No. 55." Surprisingly the least of the covers is the DBTs' own composition "Space City."

But the 3 really superb tracks on the record are the opener, "Pound it Out," "Native New Yorker," and the title track. The first track features lots of fuzzed out guitars and some searing leads by one suspects Neil. "Native New Yorker" has the feel of a lost instrumental outtake from Live Rust. On the title track Booker T. plays both acoustic and electric guitar.

Don't leave this little gem buried under the plantation floorboards.

Potato(e) hole.

Remember when Republican Veeps were basically harmless?



Yankee translation: a secret hiding place in the ground, often under the floorboards of a plantation shack where a slave would store some extra food, aka A TATER. I'll do a proper review of this fine new album by Booker T. later. Just know standing in for the MGs are the Drive-By Truckers. And Neil Young lays down some incredible guitar solos in an occasionally incredible 5 guitar assault (Booker T., Patter Hood, Mike Cooley, John Neff, and Neil Young). Yowzah! Now that's what I call music. Plus a lot of fun covers: OutKast, DBTs, and Tom Waits. Produced by Foo Fighter's guy, Rob Schnapf.

But the title track provides a musical clue about today's entry, a discussion of Rick Bragg's presentation at Mississippi State University's Mitchell Memorial Library for the annual Dessert Theater fundraiser. You all know Rick Bragg as a famously hilarious and heartfelt best-selling memoirist of rough and tumble family life in the rural South, specifically NE Alabma, more specifically Possum Trot just outside Jacksonville, in works like (cf. All Over But The Shoutin' and Ava's Man). I first came to know Rick Bragg as a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter/columnist for The New York Times, who happened once to write about a folk ad area near and dear to my heart: the oystermen and women of Franklin County Florida in general and East Point and Apalachicola, specifically. That's all that needs to be said on that topic. If you don't think stringers are valuable working class folk, ask Dan Rather about his career break. What I was unaware of was that Rick now has a new third (or is it fourth?) career as Professor of Writing in the Journalism Department a scant 89 miles SE of Starkville at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Apparently he does know the meaning of another Booker T. track, "Pound It Out"!



The Dessert Theater was held in a nicely appointed John Grisham Room on the 3rd floor of the library. Round tables with white tablecloths and low mood lighting aided and abetted by the odd candle set the tone for a special evening. There's a nice linkage there. John was born in Jonseboro, Arkansas, the sight of a much later tragedy we all remember, perhaps from Mr. Bragg's reportage for The New York Times as a national correspondent based in Atlanta.




Here's Rick prior to speaking sitting next to Starkville maven, Elizabeth Gwen. Pretty well preserved for a centurion! Yes, she was a High Fashion model in Manhattan in the 20s!! She remains a gracious hostess, proud supporter of MSU academics in general and the English Department in particular (whom her late husband served well and long), and a lovely dinner companion.

We talked about all kinds of interesting things, the best kind of BBQ and its availability in Memphis and T-town. I'm glad to report Bragg properly wants a wet rib and his wife understand the need for low and slow cookin'. He then nervously talked about how modern YouTube, cellphone camera (read TMZ.com) and blogging culture (Heh Heh) had in a way destroyed readings because authors felt less free to fully express themselves less a clip be taken out of context (translation: Karl Rove's basic playbook for 12+ years).



Soon it was time for the main event, Rick talking and reading from his third best-selling memoir, The Prince of Frogtown, about his father.



Bragg talked quite a bit extemporaneously, highlighting his ascent from that birthplace of gifted "Celtic fringe" storytellers, the Appalachian foothills. He even gesticulated to great effect.



Eventually he turned the night into a more traditional "reading." Funnily enough this act was prefaced by an even better story which highlights the man's essential qualities. He briefly left the podium and walked to the Barnnes & Noble table full of stacks of all three paperback memoirs and grabbed one to read from. He's stopped taking his own books to readings because

I always end up giving them away to some homeless person. You see in a big city you often get the Homelsss at readings because it a clean, well lighted place [well those weren't his exact words], usually warm and often with some free food. I'm living a dream no based on where I come from and what I write about. How could I begrudge someone so much worse of than me the pleasure of a book?

Then he read a story about his stepson with his wife's editorial "control" in plain view. It was a bravura performance!



Finally he took questions. Maridith asked the first one, a beaut reconfiguring the age old chestnut about whether or not there is still an essentially Southern literary quality. Three things stood out about Bragg's answer. It was long and well formulated. He was unafraid to display the courage of his convictions by naming names (though given his basically sweet-natured disposition he wasn't calling anybody out), and his anthracite-hard focus on "class" as the defining element of said culture was profound. No more needs be said about point one. Two: He trotted out several of this blog's personal faves, so who I am kidding when I say he, of course, knew what he was talking about. He did, you know! ;^)

Run don't walk to a bookstore near you and pick up a copy of Ron Rash, Serena. I was also moved to hear him talk abut Larry McMurtry and call Lonesome Dove (the book not the mini-series mind~!) one of the great novels of American literature. What Bragg didn't focus on is the fact that LM is arguably the greatest bookman in America today. Do yourself a favor; find a copy of this. The third point is so important to ponder, that I'll need another post to adequately deal with it. As a preview, a short honorary catalog of important Southern chroniclers of class: Faulkner, Hurston, Welty, Agee and Evans,WJ Cash, The Agrarians, Randal Jarrell, Otis Redding, The Drive-By Truckers, John Sayles, and Cynthia Cooper (even without an editorial board!). All I can add as a refrain:

I Don't Hate The South. I Don't Hate the South. I Don't Hate the South.

With the reading'done, it was time for the signin' as the fans lined up.


One special moment occurred when Rick signed former Athletic Director Larry Templeton's copy. Bragg wrote a famous SI piece about football in the South with a focus on the then new MSU Head Football Coach, Sylvester Croom. He also reminisced about enjoying a memorable beat down of the dread Gators on Scott Field.



Of course you're wondering: Yes, I got my picture taken with Mr. Bragg, and No, you're not going to see it. Life is like that sometimes.

Screamin' & hollerin' the blues; or, it's like soul man.

I first met Jim Murphy at one of the Vice man's legendary Catfish cum Croquet 'dos. He is a kindred spirit. After all we both got "Strawberry Fields Forever" on THAT FB Living Social quiz.

GIFT AND PRIZE


Manners still intact, smack of poor talk
speaking on our lips—mid-afternoon
rain makes the roof tiles steam across
the empty row of streets. The parkway
is so far and unconnected from us now
that traffic seems to be a sound from
some other century. We may never play
the Charley Patton 78 we found this morning
for sale on two sawhorses and a door.
It's silver-blue sleeve promises a knockout,
but we'll have to put it in our book and wait
to see if what's on the brittle wax still swings.
These gifts are simple, held in one hand
up to the light and rattled hard for soundness.
For the right ones we're ready to break the bank,
as if the mementos we devote our spare time to
collect and endlessly nail up as evidence
were all free for he asking. Paper money,
case of wine, wall of books—all free. Our luggage
sits in the pool of rainwater. We sag on the split
gray lip of a bench, and I have to pull you
close just to feel that you're still there.
Even the green mountains can go to hell.
For the shameless moment, I covet my own life.

—Jim Murphy, The Memphis Sun Wick Poetry Chapbook Series Two Number 8 (Kent State UP, 2000)

Cotton song.

A 2fer.

Cotton Song

Come, brother, come. Lets lift it;
come now, hewit! roll away!
Shackles fall upon the Judgment Day
But lets not wait for it.
God's body's got a soul,
Bodies like to roll the soul,
Cant blame God if we dont roll,
Come, brother, roll, roll!
Cotton bales are the fleecy way,
Weary sinner's bare feet trod,
Softly, softly to the throne of God,
"We aint agwine t wait until th Judgment Day!
Nassur; nassur,
Hump.
Eoho, eoho, roll away!
We aint agwine to wait until th Judgment Day!"
God's body's got a soul,
Bodies like to roll the soul,
Cant blame God if we dont roll,
Come, brother, roll, roll!

—Jean Toomer, Cane

Cane is a great but little known modernist Masterpiece out of the Harlem Renaissance. But is it a novel, a prose poem? A melange? A Bad CBS melodrama? Check it out; you won't regret it.

After lunch (A Veranda platter: two ribs and BBQ sausage on a stick and a slice of Chef Tyler's Rock Bottom chicken with avocado sauce wrap; darn I waited too long for a Turkey leg—next year Jay!)

Wandered around some more, saw a lot of nice art, but eventually left empty-handed. Three more shows to attend.

Gas pours fuel on the fire. Did a nice Heartbreakers cover, "The Waiting."



This little fella was practicing his hippy hop for Bonnaroo right down to a faceplant on the asphalt producing a cut lip.



Bill Davis was definitely in the District! Here he performs the rare "Spinout"!




Jeff of Jeff and Jeff with his favorite go go dancer!



Jeffrey C. Rockin' the Gibson as the show closes on the CDAF. But is it a Les Paul or an SG? Think this was his Dickie Betts' impression . . .

Boogie woogie bugle boy.

Black tornado/that's what love is all about.

This week's BSB demonstrates its bifurcated nature with a dual title. Looking back both to the revelry of Mardi Gras but also the coming of Lent yesterday on Ash Wednesday and forward for the next month but also next week's pagan-cum-Christian-cum floral greeting card commercial on the 14th. We also wish to remember all the victims of the tornadoes of 2008 which appeared on the cusp of a cold front hitting hot air just as Mardi Gras revelry was turning to Ashy piousness, ironically.

February was traditionally a month devoted to Fertility rituals including the Roman Lupercalia celebrated from the 13th through the 15th of the month. Then 2 or 3 Roman martyrs named Valentine were linked to the month and the 14th specifically as it became St. Valentine's Day. The first direct linking between Valentine's Day and romantic love appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's
Parlement of Foules (1382):

"Ye knowe wel how, Seynt Valentynes day,
By my staut and thorgh my governaunce,
Ye come for to chese—and fle youre wey—
Your makes, as I prike yow with plesaunce;"

The Riverside Shakespeare (Benson ed.) ll. 386–89.

The Playlist

BSB Intro

Mic Break

Lenten Blues
Charlie Musselwhite, "Christo Redemptor" Stand Back!
Charley Patton, "I Shall Not Be Moved" Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds Of Charley Patton [Disc 2]
Charley Patton, "Devil Sent The Rain Blues" Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds Of Charley Patton [Disc 2]

Mic Break

Elmore James, "Standing At The Crossroads" Best of Elmore James
The Fairfield Four, "Lonesome Valley" O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Charles Sheffield, "I Would Be A Sinner" The Best Of Excello Records

Mic Break

Mahalia Jackson, "How I Got Over" [Mono Version] [Live] The Essential Mahalia Jackson [Disc 1]
Mahalia Jackson, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" [Mono Version] The Essential Mahalia Jackson [Disc 1]
Mahalia Jackson, "Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho" The Essential Mahalia Jackson [Disc 1]

Mic Break

Magic Slim & The Teardrops, "Black Tornado" The Essential Magic Slim
Little Brother Montgomery, "Vicksburg Blues" Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways
Leadbelly, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" Lead Belly Sings for Children

Mic Break

Fred McDowell with James Shorty, "I Want Jesus To Walk With Me" The First Recordings
Junior Wells, "Lord Lord" (Alternate) Blues Hit Big Town
John Lee Williams, "I Been Dealing With The Devil" Broken Heart Blues
Jimbo Mathus, "Old Rugged Cross" old scool hot wings
Jimmie Rodgers, "Memphis Yodel" The Essential Jimmie Rodgers

Mic Break

Guitar Slim, "Reap What You Sow" Sufferin' Mind
Mississippi John Hurt, "Here I Am Lord Send Me" Newport Folk Festival Best Of The Blues 1
Preservation Hall Jazz Band, "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" Best Of Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Mic Break

VD Blues

Albert Collins & The Icebreakers, "If You Love Me (Like You Say)" Live 1992-1993
Albert King, "The Very Thought Of You" King Of The Blues Guitar
Aretha Franklin, "Only The Lonely" Aretha Sings The Blues
Arthur Alexander, "Anna (Go To Him)" Night Train to Nashville

Mic Break

Arthur Gunter, "Baby Let's Play House" The Best of Excello Records
The Avons, "Since I Met You Baby" Night Train to Nashville
B.B. King, "You're Still My Woman" Indianola Mississippi Seeds
Big Bill Broonzy, "Careless Love" Black, Brown & White

Mic Break

Muddy Waters, "Meanest Woman" (Monaural Studios) Muddy Waters At Newport 1960
Big Walter Horton, "Hard Hearted Woman" Mouth Harp Maestro
Blind Joe Williams, "Cold Woman Blues" Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds Of Charley Patton [Disc 6]

Mic Break

Big Mama Thornton, "Let Your Tears Fall Baby" Duke-Peacock Blues: Best Of
Sonny Parker, "She Set My Soul On Fire" Duke-Peacock Blues: Best Of
Buddy Guy w/Junior Wells, "In The Wee Hours" Can't Quit The Blues (Disc 1)

Mic Break

Edith North Johnson, "Honey Dripper Blues No. 2" Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds Of Charley Patton [Disc 2]
Ma Rainey, "Booze & Blues" Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds Of Charley Patton [Disc 6]
Mable John, "Ain't Giving It Up" Stax" We'll Play The Blues For You
Louis Jordan, "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (Ma Baby)" No Moe! - The Greatest Hits

Mic Break

Little Walter, "You're So Fine" His Best

Here's Hopin' You Avoided The Storms' Fury and that you have a fine Valentine's with Your Sweetheart (if you have one . . .) Otherwise stay safe and remember February and Lent will be over soon enough.

Baby, what's on your mind?

Here's the playlist for the Sunday January 27th BSB show: the Internet Request show co-presented with TNA. I will continually update the playlist as requests come in and time allows.

BSB intro
Baby What You Want Me to Do–Jimmy Reed Blues Masters: The Very Best of Jimmy Reed
Baby, Whats On Your Mind?–Jimmy Reed The Essential Boss Man (Disc 1)

Mic Break

Jimmy B's set
I Ain't Drunk Albert Collins & The Icebreakers Live 1992-1993
Am I Wrong? - Keb' Mo' Keb' Mo"
Smokestack Lightnin' Howlin' Wolf His Best: Chess 50th Anniversary Collection

Josh C's Set
Still A Fool–Muddy Waters Muddy Water's Best: 1947 To 1955
T.B. Sheets–John Lee Hooker The Cream
Same God-Sean Hayes Big Black Holes and the Little Baby Star (for Jenny I.)

Mic Break

If I Had My Way I'd Tear This Building Down–Blind Willie Johnson The Complete Blind Willie Johnson Recordings (for Josh C)
John The Revelator–Blind Willie Johnson Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 2B: Social Music
Dark was the Night–Blind Willie Johnson (The Complete Blind Willie Johnson Recordings (for Kicker of Elves)
God Don't Never Change–Blind Willie Johnson The Complete Blind Willie Johnson Recordings (for Kicker of Elves)

Mic Break

Angel of Mercy–The Fieldstones Memphis Blues Today!
Shake Your Moneymaker–Elmore James Best of Elmore James (for Chapman)
Wrong Blues—Curtis Jones Eisenhowser Blues (for Ike)
Worry Blues-Willie Mabon Shake That Thing(for Ike)

Mic Break

C's Set
Shine On, Moon!–Lightnin' Hopkins Mojo Hand
Will The Circle Be Unbroken–The Staple Singers Oxford American - Southern Sampler 1998
Aberdeen Mississippi Blues–Bukka White Newport Folk Festival Best Of The Blues 1
Jesus Got His Arms Around Me–Delta Big Four Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds Of Charley Patton [Disc 5]

Mic Break

Not P.C.'s set
St. Louis Blues-Bessie Smith Smithsonian Jazz Collection (Disc 1)
ST. Louis Blues-Louis Armstrong Ken Burns Jazz (Disc 2)
St. Louis Blues–Louis Armstrong Paris, 1934
Part IV (aka Come Sunday)–Mahalia Jackson w/Duke Ellington The Essential Mahalia Jackson (CD2)

Special Kiwi 2-fer-Organon
Roxette-Dr. Feelgood Down by the Jetty
Who Did All This To Me-Hammond Gamble Plugged in and Blue
My Mind is Trying To Leave Me-Albert Collins Don't Lose Your Cool

Mic Break

Little Red Rooster-Willie Dixon I Am The Blues
Washington D.C. Hospital Center Blues-Skip James Vanguard Visionaries
Help Me (A Tribute To Sonny Boy Williamson)-Junior Wells Vanguard Visionaries
Good Morning Little School Girl-Mississippi Fred McDowell Shake These Blues

Mic Break

My Soul's in Louisiana-Otis Taylor Shake These Blues
One Room Country Shack-Buddy Guy Shake These Blues
Call It Stormy Monday-T-Bone Walker Shake These Blues
Love in Vain-Robert Johnson Shake These Blues

3 days in: participation from Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, New Zealand, and England!

Baby what you want me to do.

The Jimmy Reed tune (it could also have been "Baby,What's On Your Mind?") is our theme for an experimental blog/net "all request" show. Tell me what artists and/or songs you'd like to hear. I'll play any and all of them that fit in a 2.5 hour show and that I can get a hold of by January 27, 2008. Go! . . . Oh and if you want the song dedicated to you or someone else mention that iny our comment, as well.

I will publish an actual playlist for the show in due time. This is an opportunity for all you European (Poland Denmark, UK, France, Germany, Holland) and worldwide (Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand ) lurkers (Thanks Sitemeter!) to influence a MS-based blues shows playlist. And you're welcome to do it anonymously. Just a reminder you can hear The Juke live On WMSVover the Net every Sunday from 6 pm to Midnight Central time which is currently UTC (formerly Greenwich Mean Time)- 6 hours.

This special version of "One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer" will run January 28, 2008 from 8:30 PM-11:00 PM CST or 1/29/08 UTC 2:30 AM-5:00 AM. The deadline for comment submissions is Wednesday January 23rd.

The power of the pontchartrain.

For the first BSB show of 2008 tomorrow night, we look back at the best of ought seven.

BSB Intro
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss-"Through The Morning, Through The Night" Raising Sand
Phantom Blues Band-"Yield Not to Temptation" Out of the Shadows
ZZ Hill Jr.-"Down Home Giorl (Goin' to Mississippi" Goin' To Mississippi
Tab Benoit-"One Foot in the Bayou" Power of the Pontchartrain

Mic Break

Phantom Blues Band-"Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?" Out of the Shadows
Tail Dragger-"Prison Blues" My Head Is Bald - Live at Vern's Friendly Lounge, Chicago

Mic Break

Tinsley Ellis-"I Take What I Want" Moment of Truth
Mannish Boys-"Carpet Bagger Blues" Big Plans
Phantom Blues Band-"Big Boy Pete" Out of the Shadows
Tab Benoit-"Midnight and Lonseome" Power of the Pontchartrain

Mic Break

Phantom Blues Bad-"Baby Doll" Out of the Shadows
Burnside Exploration-"Poor Man's Blues" The Record
Gov't Mule-"Soulshine" The Deep End, Vol. 1

Mic Break

Big Joe Shelton-"In Mississippi" Black Prairie Blues
Homemade Jamz Bluseband-"Cadillac Assembly Line" Tupeloms
The Cate Brothers-"Back To Memphis" Play By The Rules

Mic Break

Mannish Boys Featuring Finis Tasby-"Lonesome Bedroom" House Rockin' And Blues Shoutin'!
Jimbo Mathus-"Peaches" Old Scool Hot Wings
Tinsley Ellis-"Shadow Of Doubt" Moment Of Truth

Mic Break

Lester Chambers-"Every Day I Have The Blues" Tell Us The Truth
Little Walter-"Juke" His Best
Ensemble (Chambers/Bragg/Earle/Morello)-"Time Has Come Today" Tell Us The Truth

Mic Break

Elmore James-"Madison Blues" The Sky is Crying: The History of Elmore James
Jimmy Reed-"HGonest I Do" The Essential Boss Man Disc Two
Robert Lockwood Jr.-"C. C. Rider" House Rockin' And Blues Shoutin'!
Fabulous Thunderbirds-"Horsin' Around" House Rockin' And Blues Shoutin'!

Mic BNreak

Jimbo Mathus-"Torture Blues" old scool hot wings
Mavis Staples-"At The End of the Day" Have A Little Faith
Mahalia Jackson-"In The Upper Room" The Essential Mahalia Jackson

Mic Break

Lightnin' Hopkins-"Awful Dream" Mojo Hand
John Lee Hooker-"Teachin' The Blues" The Ultimate Collectrion Disc 1

Merry christmas, baby.

I am playing a Charles Brown Christmas tune on BSB this week, just not the really famous one which gives us our title. On this special show, I'll be featuring the great anthology Where Will You Be Christmas Day? (2004) collated by Dick Spottswood for Atlanta's Dust-to-Digital label.

BSB Intro
"Yield Not to Temptation"-Phantom Blues Band, Out of the Shadows
"Peace in The Valley"-Elvis Presley, Elvis' Christmas Album
"Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year"-James Brown, Santa's Got A Brand New Bag

Mic Break

"The Last Month of the Year"-Vera Ward Hall, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Christ Was Born On Christmas Day"-Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified SingersWhere Were You On Christmas Day?
"Christmas Is A-Coming"-Leadbelly, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Christmas is a Joyful Day"-Lord Executor, Where Were You On Christmas Day?

Mic Break

"Décimas De Nascimiento"-Los Jibaros, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Sherburne"-Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"He Was Born in a Manger"-Rev. J. M. Gates, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"The Wrong Way To Celebrate Christmas"-Rev. Edrward W. Clayborn (The Guitar Evangelist), Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"At The Christmas Ball"-Bessie Smith, Where Were You On Christmas Day?

Mic Break

"Santa Claus"-Davis Walters, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Papa Ain't No Santa Claus (And MAma Ain't No Christmas Tree)"-Butterbeans and Susie, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto"-James Brown, Snata's Got A Brand New Bag

Mic Break

"Through The Morning, Through The Night"-Robert Plant & Alison Kraus, Raising Sand
"Christmas Morning Blues"-Kansas City Kitty, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Christmas Morning The Rum Had Me Yawning"-Lord Beginner, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Christmas In Jail—Ain't That A Pain"-Leroy Carr, Where Were You On Christmas Day?

Mic Break

"Breaking Up Christmas"-Norman Edmonds, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Lonesome Christmas"-Son Seals, The Alligator Records Christmas Collection
Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'"-Tinsley Ellis, The Alligator Records Christmas Collection

Mic Break

"Silent Night"-Charley Musselwhite, The Alligator Records Christmas Collection
"Zydeco Christmas"-C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band, Genuine Houserockin' Christmas
"Santa Claus Do You Ever Get The Blues?"-Roomful of Blues, Genuine Houserockin' Christmas
"Christmas Time Again (Spend, Spend, Spend")-Little Charlie & The Nightcats, Genuine Houserockin' Christmas

Mic Break

"Grady And Santa Is Coming To Town"-Grady Gaines & The Texas Upsetters, Blues Mistletoe & Santa's Little Helper
"Santa Don't Let Me Down"-Earl King, Blues Mistletoe & Santa's Little Helper
"Santa Bring Back My Baby"-Elvis Presley, Elvis's Christmas Album
"Blues Christmas"-Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff And The Well-Hung Ornaments, Blues Mistletoe & Santa's Little Helper

Mic Break

"Young Girls Drive Me Wild (At Christmas)"-Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets Feat.Sam Myers, Blues Mistletoe & Santa's Little Helper
"I'll Be Home for Christmas"-Various Artists, Blue Xmas
"Boogie Woogie Christmas"-Charles Brown- The Alligator Records Christmas Collection

Mic Break

"We Wish You A Merry Christmas"-Various Artists, Blue Xmas
"Kings of Orient"-The Odds, A Lump of Coal
"The First Noel"-Crash Test Dummies, A Lump of Coal
"'Twas The Night Before Christmas"-Henry Rollins, A Lump of Coal

Mic Break

"I Saw Three Ships"-King's College Choir, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks, In The Bleak Mid-Winter: The Soft Sounds Of Christmas
"King Jesus Hath A Garden"-King's College Choir, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks, In The Bleak Mid-Winter: The Soft Sounds Of Christmas
"Wexford Carol"-The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge/John Rutter, In The Bleak Mid-Winter: The Soft Sounds Of Christmas
"The Holly And The Ivy"-King's College Choir, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks, In The Bleak Mid-Winter: The Soft Sounds Of Christmas
Mic Break

"Happy New Year Blues"-Mary Harris, Where Were You On Christmas Day?
"Happy New Year"-LIghtnin' Hopkins, Where Were You On Christmas Day?