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.”
Houston Blues Legend, Sherman Roberson — Image by kenne
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)
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?
Houston Blues Man, Sherman Robinson — Image 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.
Double Bayou Dancehall (October 19, 2002) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
DOUBLE BAYOU, THAT IS
— kenne
Note: Click on the Double Bayou Dancehall below the top image
to see a video on the history of dancehall.
Echo Azure Butteries — Image by kenne
— kenne
Spine-tipped Dancer Damselfly — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— from Scarlet Begonias by Jerry Garcia / Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead
Photo-Artistry by kenne
Keep’n The Blues Alive — Images by kenne
New Orleans Blues Man, Bryan Lee
“A Blast From The Past” Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, December 2003 — Image by kenne
Sadly, several of those playing in this Ken & Mary’s Blues Project house concert are no longer with us — those were the days with some of the best blues ever coming out of east Texas.
kenne
Mean Gene Kelton at The Rhythm Room On Washington in Houston, June 14, 2003 — Image by kenne
gone
— kenne
Swinging To The Blues — Image by kenne
— kenne
“Can You Feel It?” Houston Bluesman, Sherman Robertson — Image by kenne
The Guitar
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
The goblets of dawn
are smashed.
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
Useless
to silence it.
Impossible
to silence it.
Tw weeps monotonously
as water weeps
over snowfields.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps for distant
things.
Hot southern sands
yearning for white camellias.
Weeps arrow without target
evening without morning
and the first dead bird
on the branch.
Oh, guitar!
Heart mortally wounded
by five swords.
— Federico Garcia Lorca
![Zographus regalis cuprea [Cameroon]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52783978513_e3da275118_s.jpg "Zographus regalis cuprea [Cameroon]")
Becoming is Superior to Being 
We all need the blues
To better understand life
All its ups and downs.
— kenne
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