The Blues On Campus (Lone Star College, Montgomery – 02/19/03) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
“The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits.
It’s better keeping the roots alive,
because it means better fruits from now on.
The blues are the roots of all American music.
As long as American music survives, so will the blues.”
Anna B Savage — Source: Music&Riots
London-based singer-songwriter has completed a new project,”A Common Turn.”
In Clash Magazine, Jamie Wilde begins her review:
“Michelle Obama once said that to “dare to be vulnerable”
is to break down barriers and show others who you really are.
With Anna B Savage, this quote can be applied explicitly throughout her
tenderly captivating and embracingly
vulnerable debut album ‘A Common Turn’.”
An artist brave enough to show vulnerability . . .
Here’s a link to the full album — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpymbnIc1YY
Ground Zero Blues Club Memphis (01/21/10) — Abstract Art by kenne
“There are only two kinds of songs;
there’s the blues,
and there’s zip-a-dee-doo-dah.”
— Townes Van Zandt
Another Glass Of Wine My Dear (April 5, 2007) — Image by kenne
Have Some Medeira, M’dear
She was young, she was pure, she was new, she was nice
She was fair, she was sweet seventeen.
He was old, he was vile, and no stranger to vice
He was base, he was bad, he was mean.
He had slyly inveigled her up to his flat
To view his collection of stamps,
And he said as he hastened to put out the cat,
The wine, his cigar and the lamps:
Have some madeira, m’dear.
You really have nothing to fear.
I’m not trying to tempt you, that wouldn’t be right,
You shouldn’t drink spirits at this time of night.
Have some madeira, m’dear.
It’s really much nicer than beer.
I don’t care for sherry, one cannot drink stout,
And port is a wine I can well do without…
It’s simply a case of chacun a son gout
Have some madeira, m’dear.
Unaware of the wiles of the snake-in-the-grass
And the fate of the maiden who topes,
She lowered her standards by raising her glass,
Her courage, her eyes and his hopes.
She sipped it, she drank it, she drained it, she did!
He promptly refilled it again,
And he said as he secretly carved one more notch
On the butt of his gold-headed cane:
Have some madeira, m’dear,
I’ve got a small cask of it here.
And once it’s been opened, you know it won’t keep.
Do finish it up.
It will help you to sleep.
Have some madeira, m’dear.
It’s really an excellent year.
Now if it were gin, you’d be wrong to say yes
The evil gin does would be hard to assess..
Besides it’s inclined to affect me prowess,
Have some madeira, m’dear.
Then there flashed through her mind what her mother had said
With her antepenultimate breath,
“Oh my child, should you look on the wine that is red
Be prepared for a fate worse than death!”
She let go her glass with a shrill little cry,
Crash!
Tinkle! it fell to the floor;
When he asked,
“What in Heaven?”
She made no reply,
Up her mind, and a dash for the door.
Have some madeira, m’dear.
Rang out down the hall loud and clear
With a tremulous cry that was filled with despair,
As she fought to take breath in the cool midnight air,
Have some madeira, m’dear.
The words seemed to ring in her ear.
Until the next morning, she woke in her bed
With a smile on her lips and an ache in her head…
And a beard in her lug ‘ole that tickled and said:
Have some madeira, m’dear!
—Flanders and Swann
Texas Johnny Brown at Houston’s Shakespeare Pub — Photo-Artistry by kenne
(Click on Texas Johnny Brown to see archived blog posting on TJB)
— Eugene Chadbourne Source: allmusic.com
Ye Vagabonds LP
I love British folk music — enjoy.
Galveston Bay — Image by kenne
Janet Yellen — Source: Getty Images
Biden: Yellen needs a “Hamilton” musical. Dessa: Here you go.
Houston Blues Legend, Sherman Roberson — Image by kenne
Blue Skies Above Star Pass Trail — Panorama by kenne
John Lennon — Photo-Artistry by kenne
“Where were you when . . .?”
I first asked this question ten years ago on the thirty anniversary of John Lennon’s death.
Whether asked the question or thinking to yourself, we often recall years later what we were doing when we first heard of a sad happening. With today being the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, thoughts on time and place are reviewed. I was in my small apartment on a rainy, cold night, just off the campus of Western Kentucky University, where I was teaching. If I had a TV, I don’t recall because I was usually listening to music on the radio. Then, as now, music is a part of my daily existence, and the beauty of Lennon’s music is its ability to make you think and help you answer questions.
In December of 1980, Lennon had only recently turned forty, and I was about to reach the same age. We shared little besides years of life and his music. Now, forty years out, I wonder what John Lennon would be like if he were still a part of our existence. We both would be fifty years into the age Lennon, as a young flower-child rebel, famously labeled, “Never trust anyone over thirty!”
Imagine
Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
May the spirit of John Lennon always be with us.
— kenne
“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky.
I believe that what people call God is something in all of us.
I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right.
It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.”
Singer-Songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard at The Rhythm Room (10/30/14)– Image by kenne
David Hidalgo, Los Lobos Guitarist — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Chris Duarte at the Cactus Moon, Humble, Texas (January 2003) — Images by kenne
When it comes to Blues/Rock guitar players, Texas has produced some of the best.
I saw Chris live several times in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and each time his
performance drained me. He is very intense and emotional — literally mindblowing.
— kenne
Kae Tempest (formerly Kate Tempest) — Source: scenestr.com
