Lenny Henry’s Got the Blues on Sky Arts

[pete1951]

I think this might be a couple of years old , on Thursday at 8.00pm’ Lenny looks into the reasons that there have not any major international Black Blues artists from the UK. I think he even makes a Blues record. ( hopefully not just a pastiche of what some think the blues should be)
Pete

Hopefully enlightening as well as entertaining, we shall see.

[blueshome1]

Remember it 1st time round. It wasn't great and Lenny is no blues singer.

[snakehips]

Hi there !

Love Lenny Henry. He sort of disappeared from TV for a long time.
He's never been as funny since then - it's like he has lost his Mojo.
He always looks sad, to me, not the bags-of-fun energy he used to have in the 80's & 90's when I was a kid.
I even remember him way back, on Saturday mornings, when he was on Tizwaz children's TV program - which was completely nuts.

[Deleted]

Low Down Finger Licking Hound Dog Smith and Jeff Beck



Lenny obviously likes the blues, so the programme could be good.

[pete1951]

Just watched it. ( the first of 2?)Not as bad as it could have been, with some interesting interviews.

Lenny however in not really a Blues singer,

Strangely I thought he sounded better with Jeff Beck where he was ( I guess) trying to sound like John Lee Hooker? He did make his name as an impressionist early in his career.
Pete

[Michael Messer]

I find this type of comedy offensive and embarrassing, especially using “ Low Down Finger Licking Hound Dog Smith” as his blues name. It can’t be considered racist coming from Lenny Henry, but it is insulting.

Shine On
Michael

[bonzo]

I didn't find the show engaging at all.
Rehash of well trodden (worn-out) themes with not any real insights.
Wasn't expecting much so I wasn't disappointed. Don't think I'll bother wiv the second episode.

Best wishes to you all, John

[bonzo]

Ps. The reason there weren't many black guys singing blues at the time is that most of them were from the West Indies and didn't have a blues music culture, at least not one along the lines of this discussion. Growing up in Ladbroke Grove we had the best of two music worlds,blue beat parties and record shops and import shops for our blues!

[Stevie]

From my own perspective, it was worth it just to see Jeff Beck play, reminding us of his command across so many genres, which doesn't say very much for "the turn". I'm the first person to find such stuff idiotic, but offensive? Nope. I like to think most decent folk rise above such basic intelligence hemorrhages, I'll leave that to the little englanders who have served up such sour broth over the last five years, but coming from someone who appears to have forged a recent career dining out on the race card, for me it is ironically "Pot-Kettle-Black".

でつ e&oe ...

[Michael Messer]

Stevie, I found it offensive because I do not consider the music I have dedicated my life to, and the people that created it through so much suffering, should be treated in such a childish and offensive way. It wasn’t funny and if you are an African American watching that, I think you would find it offensive and insulting. To be honest I couldn’t even get through the song, two verses was enough for me. Do you think that John Lee Hooker would have found that funny, I don’t think so.

That doesn’t mean you can’t make jokes about the blues and the people that created it,,but it can be done with taste and respect.

Sitting here at Zagreb airport ranting about bad comedy is a good way to pass the time!

Shine On
Michael

[pete1951]

Yes the Jeff Beck clip is typical of people making fun of the blues, but I didn’t get the feeling that the program ( rather than the clip posted by dobbsy) could be criticised for being in bad taste or making fun of the Blues or blues musicians.

Pete


Lenny , of coarse, was the comic on the Black and White Minstrel Show ( I learnt this from a TV biography, this really was an offensive show)

[Stevie]

Point well made and taken too Michael, but it doesn't alter my opinion, probably because I haven't devoted my life to The Blues. Anyone remember Lenny's "Katanga my friend, Katanga"? Nice guy and all that, no contest but a journeyman nonetheless.

Have a good time in Zagreb MM.

でつ e&oe ...

[pete1951]

Well , a couple of comments ( not very enthusiastic) on the program and some negative criticism on the clip of Jeff Beck showing off ( he is an amazing player) and Lenny rehashing an old cheap joke about blues players with unusual stage names*

Any more comments on the program?

I don’t hold out much hope for number 2, Lenny seems to have chosen popular Blues standards and his band is more a ‘rock band’ . I at least will watch it.
Pete

* I remember the Cambridge Footlights doing a sketch in the late ‘70s with a guitarist ( played by Rory Magrath?) called Deaf Boy Chitterlings ( or similar)
“take it away Deaf Boy..........I SAID TAKE IT AWAY DEAF BOY” . I’m sure there have been other similar quips on this over the years. But no disrespect or unnecessary jokes were squeezed into the program that I noticed.

[pete1951]

Sept 16, 2022 17:01:41 GMT bonzo said:

I didn't find the show engaging at all.
Rehash of well trodden (worn-out) themes with not any real insights.
Wasn't expecting much so I wasn't disappointed. Don't think I'll bother wiv the second episode.

Best wishes to you all, John

Did watch the second,and last night the third. Some of Bonzos comments were applicable.

Saved (a little) by (in the second one ) interviews with West Indian blues players. And ( the third one ) a couple of guest artists who could sing.

Pete

[bonzo]

Agree with you Pete. Did nod off a couple of times during the live show (had a busy couple of days with jabs)!
Lenny had good intentions, bit of a mixed bag averall I think, but it's good to see 'blues' music on TV.
Best wishes to you all, John