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Post by jono1uk on Jun 10, 2019 12:07:47 GMT
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Post by snakehips on Jun 10, 2019 12:29:41 GMT
Hi there !
My copy is arriving today, according to Amazon.
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Jun 10, 2019 12:46:04 GMT
Yup Jono, mine arrived yesterday too.
Like you, I've had a quick skim and will read it when I've finished Robicheaux.
Looks like a pukkah biography without the BS at last!
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Post by Michael Messer on Jun 10, 2019 12:54:24 GMT
I hate to be a pessimist, but what else is there to know?
They can dance around this story and retell it in various ways, but there is no more to know because his life was not documented beyond what we already know. King Arthur's sword and Robert's meeting at the crossroads are becoming a bit too close. I am sure many of us remember that until relatively recently, 1980s, that the meeting at the crossroads myth was not really spoken about much. Then there was a movie and everyone went crossroads crazy. Hmmmm....I suspect that Mr LaVere was the one at the crossroads.
Happy reading folks! (Apologies, I'm just a miserable old slide player)
Shine On
Michael.
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Post by jono1uk on Jun 10, 2019 14:31:00 GMT
Honeyboy Edwards reckoned Robert told him he had made a deal.
And the film is indirectly responsible for me being on this wonderful forum.
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Post by snakehips on Jun 10, 2019 14:57:17 GMT
Just arrived !
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Post by Michael Messer on Jun 10, 2019 15:07:49 GMT
Honeyboy Edwards was a dear soul. However, like so many of those old timers and I have tremendous respect beyond words for them, he would say stuff to perpetuate the myth and more to the point, to perpetuate the work. Big Bill Broonzy on his first trip to Europe in the 50s, when Alexis Koerner asked him about some of the other bluesmen like Muddy Waters and BB King, told Alexis that they were dead. One can only imagine he wanted to keep his patch for himself!
I have dedicated my whole life to playing music and I completely believe in reaching a higher consciousness through it, but I cannot accept that any kind of deal with the Devil or any other imaginary enemies or friends can exist.
Robert was and is the greatest exponent of acoustic blues, he took it to a place that nobody else had ever done before him or since. I could talk for hours about his incredible talent and how each song is more than just a song, they have so much going on that they are like ballets or symphonies. His music remains among the most beautiful things I have experienced in my life. He was without doubt a brilliant and extraordinary artist and his fire burnt bright and short because he messed with too many men's wives. Apart from the music, he left a few trails of his life behind and those have been studied, regurgitated and exhausted. What else is there?
Shine On
Michael
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Post by Kris on Jun 10, 2019 16:30:46 GMT
It’s funny how new books and documentaries are now suddenly coming out on Robert capitalising on someone whose life we ultimately know so very little about. Saying that, I’m certainly game to read it and will add it to my pile once I’m through with the Skip James book. I guess it’s only ever a good thing that new material is cropping up to keep his memory and the blues chugging along in a somewhat more mainstream capacity via Netflix and literature on Amazon. I’ve always taken the deal with the devil story to be a tongue in cheek metaphor steeped in a bucketload of old tyme superstition. I would imagine being an itinerant blues musician and tangling with booze and multitudes of women was simply seen as as a devilishly sinful lifestyle choice in comparison to living an honest working, settled family man’s life. Plus the church had the hump with dwindling attendance due to late nights spent on booze and blues, not to forget to mention lyrics filled with naughty double entendres at juke joints/house frolics, and attempted to demonise these activities with superstitious associations with the devil. They certainly wanted folks to toe the line and spend their spare cash on church donations instead! I’m with you Michael, I don’t know why it’s a point of such excitement in this day and age when we are generally a great deal less kooky in our willingness to accept spooky tales! It’s a wonderfully cool story but didn’t even start with Robert, nor Tommy Johnson. Robert is truly a legend and worthy of all the praise he deservedly gets. However, I don’t think getting a few lessons from Son House and going off to practise for a couple of years before coming back playing rather well presents any sort of huge mystery that can only be attributed to the occult. He just practised hard and improved! I should hope I’m doing just a little of that too with no demonic intervention needed (though I do actually live on a crossroads....sooort of in the South, does South Bucks count?! Haha!  ) |
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Post by Kris on Jun 10, 2019 16:59:01 GMT
Ooh, out of stock already on Amazon!
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Post by Michael Messer on Jun 10, 2019 17:03:03 GMT
They know what they're doing and the LaVere machine is still churning.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Jun 10, 2019 17:12:38 GMT
(though I do actually live on a crossroads....sooort of in the South, does South Bucks count?! Haha! ) The Blues Loft in High Wycombe, Bucks, 1966 - 1970 certainly counted.
All manner of demonic stuff happened there on Friday / Saturday nights.
Chicago Bluesmen, London Bluesmen and Wimminz, Detroit Bluesmen, New Orleans/Halifax Bluesmen played, Jazz Ciggies were smoked, underaged drinking of Guinness and Cider happened, strange sights were seen, stranger things were experienced and felt; let alone boys chasing girls and even some of us got married and are still together.
I'll hold fire commenting further on the book until I have read, marked and inwardly digested it - just like wot my old English teacher told me to do.
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Post by Kris on Jun 10, 2019 17:18:11 GMT
(though I do actually live on a crossroads....sooort of in the South, does South Bucks count?! Haha! ) The Blues Loft in High Wycombe, Bucks, 1966 - 1970 certainly counted.
All manner of demonic stuff happened there on Friday / Saturday nights.
Chicago Bluesmen, London Bluesmen and Wimminz, Detroit Bluesmen, New Orleans/Halifax Bluesmen played, Jazz Ciggies were smoked, underaged drinking of Guinness and Cider happened, strange sights were seen, stranger things were experienced and felt; let alone boys chasing girls and even some of us got married and are still together.
I'll hold fire commenting further on the book until I have read, marked and inwardly digested it - just like wot my old English teacher told me to do.
That sounds like the sort of party I’m sad to have missed! |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2019 17:39:22 GMT
RJ and the crossroads,Ozzy and the dove's head,Paganini and the walking stick violin bow--nothing like a myth to keep you in the thpotlight.
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Post by Michael Messer on Jun 10, 2019 17:54:03 GMT
The Blues Loft in High Wycombe, Bucks, 1966 - 1970 certainly counted. All manner of demonic stuff happened there on Friday / Saturday nights. Chicago Bluesmen, London Bluesmen and Wimminz, Detroit Bluesmen, New Orleans/Halifax Bluesmen played, Jazz Ciggies were smoked, underaged drinking of Guinness and Cider happened, strange sights were seen, stranger things were experienced and felt; let alone boys chasing girls and even some of us got married and are still together. I'll hold fire commenting further on the book until I have read, marked and inwardly digested it - just like wot my old English teacher told me to do.
That sounds like the sort of party I’m sad to have missed! I am sorry to missed all that too, but I did play there a few times and had some great gigs. On a more serious note, I look forward to hearing what you guys think of the book. On BBC Radio 2 tonight at 9pm, Cerys Matthews is doing a feature on the book and has the author of the book, Bruce Conforth, in for a chinwag. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005v91Shine On Michael |
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Post by jono1uk on Jun 10, 2019 20:39:53 GMT
Thanks Michael ..listening now..
The amazing work that has been done to clean up RJ's recordings make them sound wonderful.
Jon
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