Texas Johnny Brown at The Shakespeare Pub In Houston (11/15/09) Photo-Artistry by kenne
— Texas Johnny Brown (Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues)
Dancing to the Blues at Houston’s, Mr. Gino’s Lounge (03/09/08) — Image by kenne
The Blues
“The fundamental form in all of American music —
that’s what the blues is. It’s in every folk song,
The sound of the banjo and the sound of the guitar.
It’s in the sound of ragtime, it’s in the sound of
John Philip Sousa’s marches. It’s hard to get the
blues out of your sound. Blues is also call and
response, which is democratic form. It generally
has lyrics that described something tragic or sad.
But many times it reverses that and gives you
something that’s hopeful.”
— Wynton Marsalis (NY Times, June 28, 2020)
Jonn Del Toro Richardson at the Corner Pub in Conroe Texas (11/03/07) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Jonn played lead guitar for Diunna Greenleaf for several years before going out on his own. The following video combines two clips, one in a club setting, another in a festival setting in which Jonn and Bob Corritore jam with Diunna.
Ken & Mary’s Blues Project with Ashton Savoy & The Moe Hansum Band (10/18/02) — Image by kenne
— kenne
Pee Wee Stephens, Pete Mayes, Grady Gaines, Calvin Owens, Joe “Guitar” Hughes,
and I don’t know the gentleman playing bass on the stage at Billy Blues (1999)
— Image by kenne
During our time living in the Houston area, Joy and I were very much into live music, especially the blues. Although there are still plenty of blues venues, many have passed with time. One such place was Billy Blues, on Richmond Avenue on Houston’s trendy westside. Regional and nationally known blues musicians played there for about seven years. Known for its 63-foot-tall saxophone made of Volkswagen Beetle parts and beer kegs, the venue never seemed to capture the same blues feeling of clubs in Houston’s working-class 3rd and 5th Ward communities. “I love the blues. It’s a feeling,” Martha Turner said to Roger Wood in his book Down In Houston: Bayou City Blues. “You got to feel a song, you know. When a person comes into a club to see you, they enjoy your expression, not so much as what you’re singing. They watch your face.”
“You watch this person sing a song,
and it’s almost like you’re doing it yourself.
Know what I’m talking about?
You enjoy that blues.
The Blues is something you can identify with.”
(Martha Turner)
During these trying times, what better way of coming together than with The Blues, and Buddy Guy reminds us,
“. . . you treat everybody just the way you want them to treat you.”
— kenne
Lyrics
I've been around a while I know wrong from right And since a long time ago Things been always black and white Just like you can't judge a book by the cover We all gotta be careful How we treat one another I say Skin deep, skin deep Underneath we all look same Skin deep, skin deep Underneath, don't we all look the same? A man in Louisiana He never called me by my name He said "boy do this and boy do that" But I never once complained I knew he had a good heart But he just didn't understand That I needed to be treated Just like any other man Skin deep, skin deep Underneath, don't we all look the same? Skin deep, skin deep Underneath we all look the same I sat my little child down When he was old enough to know I said "I fear in this big wide world You're gonna meet all kinda folks" I said "Son it all comes down to just one simple rule That you treat everybody just the way You want them to treat you" Skin deep, skin deep Underneath, don't we all look the same? Skin deep, skin deep Underneath we all look the same Skin deep, skin deep Underneath, don't we all look the same? Yeah Skin deep, skin deep Underneath we just all look the same (the same, yeah) Skin deep (treat everybody), skin deep Skin deep, skin deep All look, all look the same Skin deep, skin deep Don't we all look the same?
Sonny-Boy Terry and Joe ‘Guitar’ Hughes at Houston’s ‘Big Easy‘ (02/23/03) — Image by kenne
Ezra Charles and The Texas Blues Band Gruene Hall, Gruene, Texas (06/17/07) — Image by kenne
Sherman Robertson (Houston, TX, 05-11-04)– Image by kenne
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
— from September 1, 1939, by W. H. Auden
Texas Johnny Brown & Diunna Greenleaf (12-02-06) at Houston’s Big Easy — Image by kenne— Michael Bublé
Down In Houston Blues — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— from Down In Houston-Bayou City Blues by Roger Woods
Ken & Mary’s Blues Project (11/16/09) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Cosanti — Paolo Soleri Studios in Paradise Valley (February 28th, 2020) — Image by kenne
— kenne
