Odds & Ends: News/Humor

I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in “Cheers & Jeers”.

OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.

ART NOTES – an exhibition based upon Dante Alighieri’s 14th century epic entitled The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists is at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art to November 1st.

HAIL and FAREWELL to two female legends of folk music: the singer and folklorist who helped popularize the Appalachian dulcimer in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Jean Ritchie – who has died at the age of 92 ….. and the one female member of the legendary folk-singing quartet The Weavers, Ronnie Gilbert – an inspiration to a later generation of female folksingers, notably Mary Travers – who has died at the age of 88. (Fred Hellerman is now the sole surviving member of that quartet, at age 88).

POLITICAL NOTES – if Lindsey Graham were to announce that his choice for running mate would be Michele Bachmann’s husband Marcus …… could this be their campaign theme?

YOUR SUNDAY READ of note: although he flamed-out spectacularly (and in the end, deservedly) I still have no regret voting for John Edwards in the 2008 New Hampshire primary … he simply wound-up being the #3 horse in a 2-horse race. Now, the Washington Post’s Jim Tankersley argues that his policy positions define the 2016 campaign – and even the wingers feel obligated to cite his goals (albeit advocating more-of-the-same policies).

THURSDAY’s CHILD is Domino the Cat – an English kitteh who was freed by a builder who made a giant hole in the brick wall (which joins the side of his garden to his neighbor’s house) … and after a two-hour effort (the end of which was captured on video), Domino is now recuperating well.

FILM NOTES – a documentary on the life of the late Saturday Night Live cast-member (and film actor) Chris Farley is set for release in August.

SCIENCE NOTES – researchers in South Korea believe they may have found a possible solution to the problem of electric cars’ battery life …. if they can be made more reliable.

FRIDAY’s CHILD is an Irish mama kitteh who gave birth to four newborn kittens in a pigeon’s nest up a tree – discovered by a pet shop owner who decided to investigate after hearing ‘squawking’ noises coming from his back garden.

HE’S BAAAACCK – former conservative French president Nicolas Sarkozy plans to seek to regain his former office with a truly bold move: renaming his party … “Les Républicains” … (yes, the Republicans).

BRAIN TEASER – try this Quiz of the Week’s News from the BBC.

SEPARATED at BIRTH – Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. and conservative author/polemicist Dinesh D’Souza – who has just completed his eight-month sentence (of nightly confinement) for his conviction on making illegal campaign contributions.

…… and finally, for a song of the week ………………………… in my recent Top Comments diary about the Paul Butterfield Blues Band I cited their influences in the Chicago blues scene at the dawn of the 1960’s … and one was the guitarist Otis Rush whose work became famous to many rock musicians. In a 1968 Rolling Stone interview, Paul Butterfield’s own fine guitarist Mike Bloomfield said that the rules had been laid-down for aspiring young white blues bands: “You had to be as good as Otis Rush”. Very difficult, and few bands were as innovative as he was. However, his name is not well-known today, for a myriad of reasons (bad luck, record company decisions, his own way of doing things, and a stroke that ended his career a decade ago). Yet he has five songs considered Chicago blues standards, and he richly deserves his place in the spotlight.

The Philadelphia, Mississippi native was born in 1935 as the son of a sharecropping family, who heard blues records on his mother’s Victrola and on jukeboxes when the family went into town. He sang in the church choir (which truly informed his style as a blues singer later) and when his older brother was away, Otis began secretly playing his guitar. However, being left-handed he had to play it upside-down … and even when he was later able to purchase his own left-handed guitar, he still maintained an upside-down stringing set-up.

Yet he never had the desire to become a professional musician until he visited his sister in Chicago, who took him to a performance by McKinley Morganfield … of course, the star bluesman Muddy Waters. “Damn, this is it for me!”, he thought. But unlike others who idolized him, Otis Rush developed his own distinct style, which Muddy Waters complimented him on later.

Along with Magic Sam and (somewhat later) Buddy Guy, Otis Rush helped establish a style that became known as West Side Blues – although he played in Chicago’s South Side just as much. It is a style often utilizing minor keys, a vibrato-laden guitar style and some searing Gospel-laced vocals (which came from his church choir experience).

Otis Rush moved to Chicago in 1948 at age twenty-three and after working his way around the city’s burgeoning post-war blues scene, began to attract attention. Most importantly, the Chicago blues legend Willie Dixon was able to secure him a contract at Cobra Records – where his first single – a cover of Dixon’s I Can’t Quit You, Baby – was a major R&B hit, and was soon covered by Little Milton Campbell. Critics seem to agree that his tenure at Cobra (1956-59) was his golden era for recording, as he followed-up with several charted singles, including two additional major hits: Double Trouble (a searing minor-key tune that was voted a Blues Foundation classic) as well as All Your Love – which had a rhumba-flavored sound (recorded with Ike Turner’s band) and was the inspiration for Peter Green’s later song Black Magic Woman – which he recorded with Fleetwood Mac and was a later hit for Carlos Santana.

When Cobra Records folded in 1959, Otis Rush followed Willie Dixon (who returned to Chess Records) but thus began a series of label changes that somewhat hampered his career. He moved to Duke Records in 1962 and had one additional major hit Homework then spent time at Vanguard and Cotillion Records.

The career of Otis Rush, like many blues veterans, went downhill after the British Invasion, (although blues-rock fans eventually became the backbone of his audience years later) yet he continued to record and had a notable disappointment at the end of the 1960’s. His 1969 Cotillion recording Mourning in the Morning was produced by two of his young admirers from Chicago (Mike Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites) and had the famed Muscle Shoals, Alabama rhythm section behind it, yet failed to chart (in part due to poor reviews). In 1971, he recorded for Capitol Records and released Right Place, Wrong Time – which seemed aptly named … as it sat in Capitol’s vaults for five years, to the chagrin of critics who considered it a (belated) hit.

The remainder of the 70’s and 80’s (as for other blues musicians) had its ups and downs, with him being signed and dropped by different labels. He had a 1975 release that received middling reviews and many of the recordings he released in the years-to-come were live albums that certainly showcased his talents yet failed to break any new ground. One promising 1986 recording session he was scheduled for (with some notable guest musicians) he decided to pass on, believing the amplifier and other equipment were not right. Even signing with Alligator Records – a label that has done more to revive Chicago blues than any other – had a downside, as an old recording he had made was re-released … with overdubbed musicians and stripped-down guitar work, making it a much less vital recording.

It was not until 1994’s Ain’t Enough Coming In that he regained his footing, without any new material yet delivering scintillating versions of blues standards that gained nearly universal praise from critics. And four years later, his recording Any Place I’m Going won a [Grammy Award http://blues.nz/1999/02/otis-rush-and-keb-mo-win-grammy-awards/] and fully re-established him as a vital member of the blues community for recordings – although he was always in demand for concerts, and was very willing to share a stage with Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, John Mayall and others.

Alas, he suffered a stroke in 2004 and has never recovered enough to perform, but did attend a 70th birthday celebration in his honor in May, 2005 at Buddy Guy’s club in Chicago. Two years later, the city of Philadelphia, Mississippi dedicated a plaque at the very same rail depot where he boarded a train to Chicago in 1948.

At age 80 today, even if he never plays another note: Otis Rush has left his mark on the blues world. His last release was a 2006 album Live and In Concert from San Francisco and a 2000 compilation album of his classic Cobra recordings. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984 and was ranked #53 in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list. He has been cited as an influence by numerous rock musicians and his songs have been covered by many of them, including John Mayall (”All Your Love”, “Double Trouble”), Led Zeppelin (“I Can’t Quit You, Baby”), Fleetwood Mac and the J. Geils Band (“Homework”). Lastly, one of his young admirers named his band after an Otis Rush song … and what a pity that Stevie Ray Vaughn did not live to see his band Double Trouble inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.

Of all of his work: it was his fifth blues standard, So Many Roads that is my favorite. I first heard it as recorded by John Mayall back in 1966 – and when Mayall released his “Along for the Ride” album 35 years later in 2001, he re-recorded it at this link with Otis Rush himself handling half of the vocals. You can listen to that version, or below the original version from 1960.

So many roads
So many trains to ride
I’ve got to find my baby
before I’ll be satisfied

I was standing by my window
when I heard that whistle blow
It sounded like a Streamline
… but it was a B&O

It was a mean old fireman
and a cruel old engineer
That took away my baby
and left me standing here

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