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Category Archives: John Lee Hooker

TICKETS TORN IN HALF: October 10,1991- JOHN LEE HOOKER with Buddy Guy @ THE BEACON, NYC.

10 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, The Beacon, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF10/10/91: JOHN LEE HOOKER& THE COAST TO COAST BLUES BAND,THE BENSON & HEDGES BLUES EXPLOSION with Buddy Guy, John Campbell,Tinsley Ellis @ THE BEACON, NYC. When a legend is on the bill you must go. When TWO legends are on the bill, you must get as close to the front as you possibly can, which I did. Directly up front and center. I sat next to an elderly man who knew everything in the world about JOHN LEE HOOKER, and was interested in my observations of Mr. Buddy Guy. He nor I knew anything about Campbell nor Ellis but enjoyed their sets. Buddy was as always “on”, and more so in his excitement of sharing a stage with John Lee Hooker.Note:This was two years after THE HEALER album.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 8,1999-ERIC BURDON@ IMAC,Huntington,NY

08 Monday Oct 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, EdSullivan, John Lee Hooker, Rock music, The Animals, Ticket Stubs, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 8,1999-ERIC BURDON@ IMAC,Huntington,NY

After hearing a recording of THE ANIMALS doing “Boom Boom” by John Lee Hooker it was only a very short period of time before I was adding blues records by black Americans to my primarilly Anglophile collection. That song, as the lyrics go, really “knocked me out”. I watched as THE ANIMALS performed on ED SULLIVAN, again my mouth wide open,but I never had the opportunity to see them live, never, not as THE ANIMALS Parts 1,2 or 3. So this was my shot at seeing a legend perform in a small theater not far from my home. I went with two buddies, the three of us attending with great anticipation. “Ladies and gentlemen, a true legend…ERIC BURDON”… and sadly, that was the highpoint of the evening.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 11- THE BLUES IN BRITAIN

14 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in Big Bill Broonzy, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Lead Belly, Mersey Beat, R&B, Rock music, rock music trivia, The Animals, The Beatles, The British Invasion (1964-1966), The Stones, The Yardbirds, Vinyl Records, Willie Dixon

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From February 1964-66 The British ruled the US airwaves. The movie  A HARD DAYS NIGHT made LONDON appear cool while Carnaby Street fashions sold like hotcakes in The States. The Mersey Beat sound, as well as the (American) blues influenced London groups, were TOP OF THE POPS in the colonies as well as the Motherland. In the UK THE BEATLES were the most successful artists with 17 singles hitting #1, on top of the UK charts for 69 weeks during the 1960’s with SHE LOVES YOU being the best selling UK single for the entire decade.

The Beatles started as THE QUARRY MEN SKIFFLE BAND in 1957. SKIFFLE style music (guitar, washboard, tea chest bass) was popularized in England by LONNIE DONEGAN who was influenced by American HUDDIE LEDBETTER  better known as Lead Belly who had a hit with ROCK ISLAND LINE in1956) . BIG BILL BROONZY, another American artist was also an icon in England.

BIG BILL BROONZY aka Lee Conley Bradley was a true mystery man, a story teller to the Nth degree. He fabricated many a monologue using each as introductions to his tunes. Usually his “tales” were at best an amalgam of stories told to him by others. But according to most who saw him, BIG BILL was  a great story teller and performer nonetheless. A farm hand born to slaves he played violin and fiddle, later as an itinerant preacher he became Bill Broonzy for unknown reasons. He moved to Chicago in the 1920’s learned guitar and started recording as BIG BILL in 1927.

(broonzy.com)On 23 December, 1938, Big Bill was one of the principal solo performers in the first “From Spirituals to Swing” concert held at the Carnegie Hall in New York City. In the programme for that performance, Broonzy was identified in the programme only as “Big Bill” (he did not become known as Big Bill Broonzy until much later in his career) and as Willie Broonzy. He was described as:”…the best-selling blues singer on Vocalion’s ‘race’ records, which is the musical trade designation for American Negro music that is so good that only the Negro people can be expected to buy it.” The programme recorded that the Carnegie Hall concert “will be his first appearance before a white audience”.

In the fifties, folk blues (acoustic blues) gained popularity in England as Big Bill Bronzy toured the countryside. He was followed a few years later by the electric blues of MUDDY WATERS, SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON, JOHN LEE HOOKER, SISTER ROSETTA THARPE, BLIND GARY DAVIS, SONNY TERRY, and OTIS SPAN. In 1963 MELODY MAKER declared London “the NEW CHICAGO”. American Black artists felt a bit more comfortable touring Europe than they did in the USA.

Also in June of 1963 The STONES release their first single which is a remake of CHUCK BERRY’S 1961 tune “Come On”. Chuck’s original did not chart in the US yet The Stones hit #21 in the Mother Country. The Stones B-side was a remake of WILLIE DIXON’S “I Want To Be Loved”.

CHUCK BERRY was a pioneer of American rock n roll. A singer, songwriter, and guitarist of some renown to say the least. Berry developed a unique guitar sound with a few moves stolen from T-BONE WALKER and together with the addition of the amazing pianist JOHNNIE JOHNSON the two wrote some of the greatest rock songs: “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958).

In 1964, a tune written and recorded by JOHN LEE HOOKER’s (“DIMPLES”) was released in England as a single and stays on the UK charts for 10 weeks peaking at #23. Immediately THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP adds the tune to their set and recorded their version which charts. The Animals also add it to their set. Next HOWLIN WOLF’S “Smokestack Lightning” charts at #42 but more importantly THE YARDBIRDS, MANFRED MANN, THE ANIMALS and THE WHO add that song to their set lists.

The most significant UK single was a WILLIE DIXON (1961) penned tune “Little Red Rooster” originally recorded by HOWLIN’ WOLF, reworked ever so slightly and released in 1964 by THE ROLLING STONES. Their interpretation charts as #1, the first blues record to top the British charts. London Records THE STONES US record company refused to release the 45 in the states.

Within short order THE ANIMALS release LED BELLY’S “House of the Rising Sun”, THE MOODY BLUES record BESSIE BANKS “Go Now”, THE YARDBIRDS do the same with SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON’S  “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl”, and THE ANIMALS “steal” NINA SIMONE’S “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”. And ALL becoming huge hits in England and as well as in the States where the naive record buying public assumed these were original songs for the recording artist.

See you next time….Chapter12-POST WWII- THE BRITS and THE U.S. Comments?  jazzbus@gmail.com

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