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.”
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?
“For the latter half of the twentieth century, Houston has been home to what the sociologist Robert D. Bullard has identified as perhaps, ‘the largest block community in the South.’ More to the point, as David Nelson says in an editorial in Living Blues magazine, the city is also the birthplace for ‘some of the most significant developments in modern blues.'”
— from Down In Houston-Bayou City Blues by Roger Woods
Going through some old photos, I found some I took at a 2002 Fotofest event, State of the Blues. Since we were recently in Houston visiting family, I thought this would be an appropriate time to revisit the State of The Blues.
— kenne
Joe “Guitar” Hughes (Fotofest 2002)
Joe “Guitar” Hughes (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Oscar Obear (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002)
Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002)
Trudy Lynn and Joe Hughes with Diunna Greenleaf Looking On (Fotofest 2002)
Hotel Table Lamp (2001) — Computer Painting by kenne
Light the first light of evening, as in a room
In which we rest and, for small reason, think The world imagined is the ultimate good. This is, therefore, the intensest rendezvous.
— from Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour by Wallace Stevens
(Shared on this day as we stay overnight in Ft. Stockton on our return trip from Houston to Tucson.)
Currently, at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston through January 28, 2018, is a must see fashion experience, The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta, which celebrates the illustrious life and career of the renowned fashion designer. Here are four of nearly 70 ensembles in the exhibit.
Dancing to the Blues at Houston’s, Mr. Gino’s Lounge (03/09/08) — Image by kenne
Pee Wee Stephens, Pete Mayes, Grady Gaines, Calvin Owens, Joe “Guitar” Hughes,
Katelyn Turner (04/01/05)– Image by kenne
Down In Houston Blues — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Blues Legend 
Joe “Guitar” Hughes (Fotofest 2002)
Joe “Guitar” Hughes (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Oscar Obear (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002) 
Joe Hughes and Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002) 
Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002) 
Trudy Lynn and Joe Hughes with Diunna Greenleaf Looking On (Fotofest 2002)
Fotofest 2002 — Images by kenne
Desert Rosemallow (Hibiscus coulteri) — Image by kenne
Blues Musician, Sherman Robertson at the Old Rhythm Room in Houston (July 2004) — Digital Painting by kenne
Music Explosion — Abstract Image of Diunna Greenleaf by kenne
Diunna Greenleaf (CD Party, December 2006)
Hotel Table Lamp (2001) — Computer Painting by kenne
Images by kenne
Her Smile — Image by kenne
