Charlie Musslewhite
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Update Jazzfest Day Three
Ok, it's finally here, the final update on jazzfest. If I don't get this done now I'm going to forget everything that happened.
Sunday was supposed to be a lot cooler than the previous two days. I decided to wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt over a t shirt. Plus I really didn't want the sun to touch my body again, I was pretty sunburned. I met Larry at the store and we set off for the last day of the first weekend. It was pretty chilly outside too, so I was feeling pretty smart with my choice of clothes.
We got to the site with no problem, parked in his great parking spot and was waiting outside the gate with two hours to spare. It's actually pretty fun, we set up our chairs and before long there's a group of people with us. Most of these people come to Jazzfest every year and they know each other. One guy came up and asked the people working on the other side of the gate if they wanted anything to eat and than proceeded to go get them some breakfast sandwiches.
Today we would not be at the Sprint stage. The first two days most of our time was spent at the Sprint stage. Today we headed towards the Acura stage. This was the biggest stage area at the site. It had a huge screen on the side for the people way in the back to watch the show.
First up was a group called 007. We set up our chairs and then headed out while they played. We made the rounds. Ended up at the Live Fest tent, where they were selling cds of acts that have performed from the previous two days. Some of the shows were taped and transfered to cd and sold within hours of their performance. I asked the guy working the table how they picked which act to record. He said at the start they got the list of whoever was going to be at the Fest and sent them a letter telling them what they do and asking if they wanted to be recorded. Than if the act said yes they contacted their record company and got permission. They said Wilco said yes, but their record company said no, so there was no live recording of their show. They said that was probably the most requested show so far. I ended up buying the Meters show. Buddy Guy was recorded either or I would have bought it.
We got our food and drinks and headed back in time to catch the end of 007's act. They were pretty good. We found out later their keyboard player was the drummer for G Love & Special Sauce.
The next act was Jon Cleary. I had saw him perform with Snooks Eaglin from the first day, but today he was playing his own material. Jon is a transplated Englishman. He lives in New Orleans now and is a local landmark in the music world here. His show was really good.
After Jon was G Love & Special Sauce playing hip hop blues. He plays blues music and raps over it. He brought with him his own fans. He was good, maybe not exactly something I get crazy over, but I enjoyed it. I had heard some of his stuff before, I actually have one of his cds. Larry had never heard of him and was pleasantly surprised. One nice thing during his set was he brought out Charlie Musselwhite, the great hamonica player to play a song with him.
Next up was Dr John. What can be said about the Night Tripper? This is my fourth time I've been able to see Dr John. The last time was a few years ago and he seemed to be in poor health. Today he looked and sounded great.
The final act was Brian Wilson. The genius behind the Beach Boys. This was a show I really was looking forward to. It was packed by the time Brian came on. A girl, she couldn't have been more than twenty if she was that old, came pushing up from behind us. She made her way in front of me and than Larry. She turned to Larry and told him that she had been waiting all her life to see Brian Wilson and she was crying. Crying like in the old films you see of girls in the audience for Beatle shows. She stayed up front for three or four songs and every now and than she turned back to look at her boyfriend in the back and she was in tears all the time. It would be easy to make fun, but I think it was wonderful. She loved his music so much that it moved her to tears. It most be nice to be so moved by something.
Brian had a keyboard set up in front of him, but he never played it. Sometimes he looked a little lost on stage, but he sang great. One point he was introducing a song and forgot the name of it....his first song he ever wrote, Surfer Girl. Can you imagine your first song you write is a song of the quality of Surfer Girl. It might not be Good Vibrations, or California Girls, but it still is a classic. He was such a genius and it's such a shame.
When they finished playing his back up singer came over and took him by the arm and lead him off stage. But they were back in a few minutes to do a few more songs. He even put a guitar on and played a few chords.
Listening to him was something special. So many of his songs are classics and have become part of our everyday life that hearing them come from the creator was awesome. Only a few times have I felt like this, with people like John Fogerty. You just hear a few chords and your whole body tingles and you know what's coming. It's special and almost enough to even bring me to tears.
I hated to see the day end. I wasn't going to be able to make it to the next weekend, I had to work. But end it did. It was a great day and a great weekend.
Sunday was supposed to be a lot cooler than the previous two days. I decided to wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt over a t shirt. Plus I really didn't want the sun to touch my body again, I was pretty sunburned. I met Larry at the store and we set off for the last day of the first weekend. It was pretty chilly outside too, so I was feeling pretty smart with my choice of clothes.
We got to the site with no problem, parked in his great parking spot and was waiting outside the gate with two hours to spare. It's actually pretty fun, we set up our chairs and before long there's a group of people with us. Most of these people come to Jazzfest every year and they know each other. One guy came up and asked the people working on the other side of the gate if they wanted anything to eat and than proceeded to go get them some breakfast sandwiches.
Today we would not be at the Sprint stage. The first two days most of our time was spent at the Sprint stage. Today we headed towards the Acura stage. This was the biggest stage area at the site. It had a huge screen on the side for the people way in the back to watch the show.
First up was a group called 007. We set up our chairs and then headed out while they played. We made the rounds. Ended up at the Live Fest tent, where they were selling cds of acts that have performed from the previous two days. Some of the shows were taped and transfered to cd and sold within hours of their performance. I asked the guy working the table how they picked which act to record. He said at the start they got the list of whoever was going to be at the Fest and sent them a letter telling them what they do and asking if they wanted to be recorded. Than if the act said yes they contacted their record company and got permission. They said Wilco said yes, but their record company said no, so there was no live recording of their show. They said that was probably the most requested show so far. I ended up buying the Meters show. Buddy Guy was recorded either or I would have bought it.
We got our food and drinks and headed back in time to catch the end of 007's act. They were pretty good. We found out later their keyboard player was the drummer for G Love & Special Sauce.
The next act was Jon Cleary. I had saw him perform with Snooks Eaglin from the first day, but today he was playing his own material. Jon is a transplated Englishman. He lives in New Orleans now and is a local landmark in the music world here. His show was really good.
After Jon was G Love & Special Sauce playing hip hop blues. He plays blues music and raps over it. He brought with him his own fans. He was good, maybe not exactly something I get crazy over, but I enjoyed it. I had heard some of his stuff before, I actually have one of his cds. Larry had never heard of him and was pleasantly surprised. One nice thing during his set was he brought out Charlie Musselwhite, the great hamonica player to play a song with him.
Next up was Dr John. What can be said about the Night Tripper? This is my fourth time I've been able to see Dr John. The last time was a few years ago and he seemed to be in poor health. Today he looked and sounded great.
The final act was Brian Wilson. The genius behind the Beach Boys. This was a show I really was looking forward to. It was packed by the time Brian came on. A girl, she couldn't have been more than twenty if she was that old, came pushing up from behind us. She made her way in front of me and than Larry. She turned to Larry and told him that she had been waiting all her life to see Brian Wilson and she was crying. Crying like in the old films you see of girls in the audience for Beatle shows. She stayed up front for three or four songs and every now and than she turned back to look at her boyfriend in the back and she was in tears all the time. It would be easy to make fun, but I think it was wonderful. She loved his music so much that it moved her to tears. It most be nice to be so moved by something.
Brian had a keyboard set up in front of him, but he never played it. Sometimes he looked a little lost on stage, but he sang great. One point he was introducing a song and forgot the name of it....his first song he ever wrote, Surfer Girl. Can you imagine your first song you write is a song of the quality of Surfer Girl. It might not be Good Vibrations, or California Girls, but it still is a classic. He was such a genius and it's such a shame.
When they finished playing his back up singer came over and took him by the arm and lead him off stage. But they were back in a few minutes to do a few more songs. He even put a guitar on and played a few chords.
Listening to him was something special. So many of his songs are classics and have become part of our everyday life that hearing them come from the creator was awesome. Only a few times have I felt like this, with people like John Fogerty. You just hear a few chords and your whole body tingles and you know what's coming. It's special and almost enough to even bring me to tears.
I hated to see the day end. I wasn't going to be able to make it to the next weekend, I had to work. But end it did. It was a great day and a great weekend.
My Top Five
I just found a site that lets you list your top five in different catergories. The link to it is on the sidebar, right below the weather girl. Now it's hard for me to pick my top five, and my top five is always changing. I should probably say that these are some of my favorite five in these catergories. I've tried to pick things that I keep going back to, books I've read more than once, tv shows I watch whenever I get a chance, singers whose newest cd I'll pick up as soon as it comes out. Even so there's a lot of favorites that didn't make the list. And some may make you wonder, I list John McDonald as one of my top five writers but I don't list a book by him. It was too hard to pick one book by Mr. McDonald. He's the writer of the great Travis McGee series and anyone of these books could make the list. Every few years I'll re read the entire McGee series, starting from the first book and going through them all to the last one. And he's written a bunch more great books that aren't part of any series. So I couldn't pick just one book, even though he's one of my top five writers. The same for Stephen King. I think my favorite thing by him is his Dark Tower series, but it's more than one book. Some catergories were really hard, it was hard to pick my top five movies, I kept thinking of ones that should make the list, this list could change daily. Top Five tv shows might have included Angel, but I figured Buffy kind of took care of that, I may have listed only her, but I look as them as being together. Well, I could go on and on about different subjects, but it's interesting to try and think of your five favorites in the different areas. Try it.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Day Off
I want a day off that I do nothing but get out of bed, stumble to the couch, get comfortable and pick up a book and read it. And that's it...my entire day. Unfortunately I haven't had a day like that in too long awhile.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
New Comic Purchases
Went to the comic store today and bought some new comics. The titles I got were: Invincible #0, The Walking Dead #17 and 18, Stray Bullets #37, Supreme Powers #16, Ex Machina #10, Ultimates #5, Young Avengers #3, New Avengers #5 and Daredevil #72. Seems like I've started reading more superhero comics than I used to. I had pretty much given up on the superhero comic, but in the last year or so I've slowly started reading them again. Not that all are superhero comics. I still like the black and white comics, the offbeat, the odd...
Saturday, April 30, 2005
War Criminals Cover
The cover to the one and only issue of War Criminals. It was drawn by a friend of mine Terry Pavlet. I was visting Terry in Wisconsin when I saw this artwork and knew it would be prefect for the first issue. I always post these things in the wrong order, this should have followed the next post to make any sense, but I goofed and put it first.
War Criminals Text Page
Ok, another page of pics from Jazzfest down. Only one day to go with words and pics and I'm done with it. While I was waiting for pictures to scan I was flipping through some old work I had sitting by my desk. I picked up a copy of War Criminals. This was going to be an ongoing comic book based on, well, you can guess the subject. I was given pretty much free reign to pick which war criminals I wanted to do. I was planning to do the first few issues on World War II and I had delusions of seeing it packaged in a trade paperback. I thought the potential for this series was very great...I could see it being used in schools. Ok, maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself but I really believed in this series. It came out during the black and white boom of the early ninties and lasted exactly one issue. The one issue I managed to get done featured Adolf Eichmann. I thought it was one of the best things I have ever written. I thought I'd copy the text page I did for this issue here, to give you a sample of some of my writing (that is writing away from this blog that is).
Okay here it is (I had called it Wreck on the Highway, but it appeared without title):
Our interest in criminals and the desire to know as much about them as possible is akin to that wreck on the highway. Everyone always slows down to glance at the accident at the side of the road. But after that quick glance and the image of the front of the car smashed into the front seat and glass and metal all over the street, everyone steps ont he accelerator and tries to hurry away. Who wants to see such gruesome sights?
That same rubbernecking priniciple remains at work when we hear on the news about the latest serial murderer and how horrible he went at his task. At first we sit mersmerized and want to hear more. But once the voice continues to list the sickening details, most of us turn away a little sick at heart as well as stomach.
Besides the first amendent there is a greater reason to publish stories of such atrocities. It has almost become cliched to say that those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it, but cliches are formed due in part because they capture a universal truth and do so often enough to be repeated until they become cliches.
Today as the youth become more distanced from such history and the name Eichmann or Bormann enlists a "huh?", it is more important than ever to continue to tell the stories. We read everyday in the newspapers and hear on tv or the rise in racism and the violence committed in its name. We need to remember the terrible toll such actions take.
There is nothing noble in classing a people different based on race as inferior. To most this may seem like common sense, but unfortunately there are too many that the crimes of world war two are either forgotten or ignored.
During the research for this issue I had to chance to read many interesting books, one of the most fascinating was the the Agent directly responsible for the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the book is EICMANN IN MY HANDS and is by Peter Z. Malkin with Harry Stein. I'd like to end with a quote from the book. Malkin's associate and co-leader of the group that spirited Eichmann out of Argentina askes the leader of the Israel secret service what will happen to Eichmann's wife and small child now that they have taken their income and support. In the end it is decided that no provisions are made for the family of an ordinary criminal sent to prison and thus nothing is owed to them.
"Yet I have never been more impressed with an uzi. In the end it was he who understood best of all of us what this whole thing was about: the need to hold on to one's humanity even if, all around, others have surrended theirs."
Okay here it is (I had called it Wreck on the Highway, but it appeared without title):
Our interest in criminals and the desire to know as much about them as possible is akin to that wreck on the highway. Everyone always slows down to glance at the accident at the side of the road. But after that quick glance and the image of the front of the car smashed into the front seat and glass and metal all over the street, everyone steps ont he accelerator and tries to hurry away. Who wants to see such gruesome sights?
That same rubbernecking priniciple remains at work when we hear on the news about the latest serial murderer and how horrible he went at his task. At first we sit mersmerized and want to hear more. But once the voice continues to list the sickening details, most of us turn away a little sick at heart as well as stomach.
Besides the first amendent there is a greater reason to publish stories of such atrocities. It has almost become cliched to say that those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it, but cliches are formed due in part because they capture a universal truth and do so often enough to be repeated until they become cliches.
Today as the youth become more distanced from such history and the name Eichmann or Bormann enlists a "huh?", it is more important than ever to continue to tell the stories. We read everyday in the newspapers and hear on tv or the rise in racism and the violence committed in its name. We need to remember the terrible toll such actions take.
There is nothing noble in classing a people different based on race as inferior. To most this may seem like common sense, but unfortunately there are too many that the crimes of world war two are either forgotten or ignored.
During the research for this issue I had to chance to read many interesting books, one of the most fascinating was the the Agent directly responsible for the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the book is EICMANN IN MY HANDS and is by Peter Z. Malkin with Harry Stein. I'd like to end with a quote from the book. Malkin's associate and co-leader of the group that spirited Eichmann out of Argentina askes the leader of the Israel secret service what will happen to Eichmann's wife and small child now that they have taken their income and support. In the end it is decided that no provisions are made for the family of an ordinary criminal sent to prison and thus nothing is owed to them.
"Yet I have never been more impressed with an uzi. In the end it was he who understood best of all of us what this whole thing was about: the need to hold on to one's humanity even if, all around, others have surrended theirs."
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