MANIFESTO & SUPERMANIFESTO 2024

 Manifesto & Supermanifesto 2024 begins with the most unexpected development of my career. On November 27, University Press of Mississippi released my nonfiction book Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane. This capped an intensive six-year research process into the most important folk song in American history. Aside from all the stunning historical information I absorbed as well as learning so many “Liza Jane” songs that now regularly dance inside my head, I developed quite a bit as a writer. It was important to step out of my “creative writing voice” and into a realm that was far more important than “me.” For once, I did not find myself trying to write poetry or fiction by depending upon “my own legend.” Instead, I functioned as a conduit for “Liza Jane” to tell its estimable story, one that reminds us of our shared humanity.

I could not have written Poor Gal without significant mentorship by a bloke named David Evans. A two-time Grammy winner, musician, professor emeritus, author, and blues ambassador, David provided patient, old-school guidance from the darkest days of the pandemic all the way to the book’s production. I had read his legendary book Big Road Blues when I lived in Arcata, but I should like to note the appearance of Going Up the Country, a 2023 work David co-wrote with Marina Bokelman. Going Up the Country blends an adventure narrative with detailed notes about making field recordings and, at its heart, relays an edgy investigation into American folk and blues music.

I enter 2024 with an ambitious creative agenda. I am hoping to step back to the microphone once again as a lyricist-vocalist with a band. Together with my colleague Emily Cohen, I am / we are still cranking away on a documentary film about “Little Liza Jane.” Emily and I feel a renewed sense of momentum regarding this endeavour (sic). Having seen Poor Gal hit the bookshelves, I have returned (buoyantly) to my “creative writing practice” or rather my “roots” as a writer. On the one hand, this would involve dealing with some shocking experiences—such as the long-ago murder of my friend Warren—as well as rendering myself more “vulnerable” in the presence of my own foibles. 

This too, of course. Not long after my friend (and his girlfriend) were murdered, my brother David Gutstein passed away. He had just turned 27. Over the last twelve months, I have really reflected upon the gift of life. One that I have been fortunate enough to enjoy but my brother was not fully able to: he has been gone, by now, for more years than he lived. He had not really gotten started. I visited his grave earlier this year and it really f****** hurt. Yet this well of emotion cannot simply smolder. It must lead to creativity, community—and earthly love. 

“I hate spending a lot of time in graveyards / We’re all gonna spend a lot of time in graveyards.” I meant these lyrics with both acidic and ironic properties alike. (Obviously, they follow from my admission above.) This music video from Joy on Fire’s 2022 album States of America is certainly titled for the season. The song features a medium burn and a more lyrical presentation than some of the hard-charging songs we fashioned together. Too, John Paul Carillo (bass, guitar) and Anna Meadors (saxophones) visited some fabulous production values on the effort. They filmed half of it in Trenton and the other half here, with me, in the Rockville, Md. area. “Show interest / Show interest / I show interest you” is aimed at you, my friend. Reach out. Let’s talk.

Let us not end the year without some serious geese and gosling action. Have a gander at this here gaggle as they comply with local traffic signage. They do not run afoul of going the wrong way down a one-way, so you can relax, the giant yellow arrow tells said waddlers where to waddle. These fowls are headed to the creek, where they can duck back onto the water. Even as they disappear around the bend, it is not their swan song. These here gooses can be seen regularly in the air as a plump wedge. In fact, they live in the same habitat (where their habit is at) as my best animal friend forever, the mischievous scoundrel known as The Fox.

People ask me have you seen The Fox? Well, yes I have. She is quite robust. Rusty red. Full of mischief. A true scoundrel of the finest calibre (sic). This summer, I spent some time with her before I went to live downtown in a friend’s apartment. Perhaps she sensed that I might be departing for a bit, so we chilled in the shallow woods, enjoying each other’s company. For some reason, the fake Australian accent emerges—“You’re a good lookin’ fox, man”—but she’s a vixen, not a reynard (sic). When she sees me, she has this way of darting a short distance away and then abruptly sitting down. She slays me pretty good with her wily shenanigans!

I’ll never forget the day The Fox let me sit at the edge of the den, where her seven kits flounced about, clearly inheritors of the same vulpine mischief. She brought seven rascally souls into the world!

Notably, in 2023, I vanquished my first chess-bot rated 2000—even as I played the black pieces! I am usually too chicken to sacrifice my queen, but I did so because an opportunity presented itself. And lo, the chess-bot was check-mated. Heh heh heh.

Happy New Year, Everyone! My very best wishes to you and your loved ones.

It would not be a true Blood And Gutstein post without a thumping R&B shaker. You may know Booker T. and the MGs for their hit “Green Onions” but I will take “MG Party” any day. The addition of horns to the classic lineup really clinches this song as a romping dance-floor instrumental from 1964. The infectious, propulsive beat will overcome the proceedings. To wit, let us flounce like kits, let us sacrifice our queens, let us croon at the microphone, let us be mentored, let us tell the kinds of tales that exemplify our connections to one another. Above all else, let us strive for peace and love. This is aimed at you, my friend. Reach out. Let’s talk.


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discographical information for “MG Party”
Booker T. and the MG’s. “MG Party” B-side b/w “Soul Dressing” A-side. Stax S-153, Memphis, Tennessee, 1964. Likely personnel: Booker T. Jones (organ); Steve Cropper (guitar); Donald Dunn (bass guitar); Al Jackson, Jr. (drums); Wayne Jackson (trumpet); Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone); Charles “Packy” Axton (tenor saxophone). Compositional credit: Jones, Cropper, Jackson, Dunn.

FROM MARGARET WALKER TO RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK: A GLANCE AT THE LESSER-KNOWN HEROES BEHIND THE DEVELOPMENT, PRESERVATION, & POPULARIZATION OF “LIZA JANE.”

Publication info

Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane, University Press of Mississippi, November 27, 2023. Available at UPM website, Amazon, and other online merchants. “Liza Jane” is also the subject of a forthcoming documentary film; please visit the project’s website for a trailer, information on the creative team, details on participating musicians, and ways to support the production. […For even more, please see the Poor Gal table of contents; Poor Gal Spotify playlist; and the author’s website.]

_____


Broadly speaking, my forthcoming book Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane chronicles the formation, spread, and enduring importance of the “Liza Jane” family of songs. “Little Liza Jane” and its sibling tunes crossed many boundaries to reach what I call the “musical paradises of the twentieth century.” Once there, they appealed to a slew of “big name” performers, whose performances were often stunning.

Stars such as Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone, and Pete Seeger (among many others) embraced “Liza Jane” songs throughout the twentieth century. Their renditions often made important political, emotional, and historical statements. Notably, an adaptation of “Little Liza Jane” became David Bowie’s very first single in 1964. Today, a new group of influential musicians such as Dom Flemons and Nora Brown have recorded “Liza Jane,” thereby preserving a tradition that began in the nineteenth century.

It is likely that the “Liza Jane” family of songs originated more than 150 years ago among enslaved people on southern plantations. From hardscrabble beginnings rooted in African American folk tradition, these bright, joyous tunes eventually found the stars, to be sure, but also a slate of less-celebrated individuals who made vital contributions to the development, popularization, and preservation of “Liza Jane.” With that in mind, I thought it might be enjoyable for readers to get a sense of some of the lesser-known women and men who will also populate the book, in addition to the recognizable stars. To me, the impacts made by these lesser-known heroes compete with those of the “heavyweights.”

From quieter, behind-the-scenes moments rooted in folk tradition to the big-audience moments in front of tens of millions, “Liza Jane” has crossed so many boundaries — including the color line, historical eras, geographical regions, music genres, and performance traditions — its story reminds us of our shared humanity.

Margaret Walker’s novel Jubilee begins in the antebellum South on a Georgia plantation. In the novel’s early going, Walker describes performance rituals associated with a game song played together by African American and white children, “Steal Miss Liza (Steal Liza Jane).” The analysis of this episode in Jubilee is part of Poor Gal’s second “intermission” which also looks at the inclusion of “Liza Jane” in fictional works by Charles Chesnutt and Jean Toomer.

In his autobiography, composer W.C. Handy describes how “snatches of folk melody” influenced his compositions. It appears likely that the earliest forms of “Liza Jane” contained similar “snatches of song.” Handy’s observations help to form Poor Gal’s theoretical framework and are discussed in the book’s “Introduction,” along with essential contributions by sociologist Howard Odum, the regal Duke Ellington, and African musicologists.

A regiment of African American soldiers during the Civil War

“Liza Jane” songs appealed to regiments from both sides of the Civil War. Stunningly, two opposing regiments — a Union unit comprised of Black soldiers and the other a Confederate unit — were both singing “Liza Jane” as they marched toward a battle at Spotsylvania Courthouse in 1864. Regimental adoptions of “Liza Jane” are presented in Chapter II of Poor Gal, which also explores the contributions made by the mysterious war correspondent “Dr. Adonis.”

Native American (t) and African American (b)   

musicians at the Hampton Institute ca. 1898-99

“Little Liza Jane” enjoyed many decades of popularity as a dance game at the Hampton Institute, now known as Hampton University. This community of students, and other communities like it, helped to preserve the essential character of “Little Liza Jane,” which would become the most beloved “Liza Jane” variant in the twentieth century. The presence of “Liza Jane” at the Hampton Institute is covered in multiple chapters of Poor Gal.

Did the eighteenth-century Scottish poet Robert Burns (and his poem “Farewell to Eliza”) influence the formation of “Liza Jane” songs? Poor Gal explores this possibility in the book’s first “intermission,” as well as potential influences from nineteenth century American songs and poetry. Notably, Robert Burns enjoyed widespread popularity in the United States when the first “Liza Jane” songs likely developed.

An influential friendship developed between student-composer Harry T. Burleigh and Antonín Dvořák, when the Czech composer became director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, in 1892. Burleigh was quite fond of “Liza Jane” and it is likely that he sang the song for his friend and mentor. This episode is developed in Chapter XV, one that also connects Nina Simone, David Bowie, and Langston Hughes to the expansive “Liza Jane” constellation.

George W. Johnson (t) and Arthur Collins (b)

“Liza Jane” songs attained “hit” status in the early recording era. Among others, African American star George W. Johnson (in 1898) and baritone Arthur Collins (in 1903) both produced popular versions of “Goodbye Liza Jane.” The former reclaimed a variant that had flourished in minstrelsy while the latter performed a Tin Pan Alley number. These efforts are discussed across various chapters that measure how societal forces acted upon early recordings of “Liza Jane.”

Actress, aviatrix, and novelist Ruth Chatterton may have been most responsible for popularizing “Little Liza Jane” in the World War I era. Unlike “Goodbye Liza Jane,” this variant likely did not feature in minstrelsy, and instead, was popularized by Chatterton from 1916-1917 during more than 200 performances of a Broadway play. Chatterton’s influence is chronicled in chapter XI of Poor Gal, which also introduces the enigmatic composer Countess Ada de Lachau. 

Beginning in the 1930s, two young musicians known as the DeZurik Sisters or the Cackle Sisters appeared on syndicated radio shows all over the country. They became especially famous for their virtuosic imitations of chickens. And of course, they sang about “Liza Jane.” The Cackle Sisters are discussed in Chapter XIII of Poor Gal, alongside other big-audience moments in popular films, television programs, early animations, and radio shows. 

The multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk loved performing “Little Liza Jane” and on one occasion told a colorful onstage story about the original Liza Jane. Poor Gal examines this moment in the book’s final chapter, in an exploration of Liza Jane’s identity. In the end, we may never know who inspired the first “Liza Jane” songs but a great number of people associated these tunes with brightness, levity, and dancing — the indomitable nature of the human spirit. 



Also check out the Poor Gal Table of Contents

[*All images sourced from Wikimedia commons and are thought to be in the public domain.]

POOR GAL: THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF LITTLE LIZA JANE TABLE OF CONTENTS.

 

Publication info

Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane, University Press of Mississippi, November 27, 2023. Available at UPM website, Amazon, and other online merchants. “Liza Jane” is also the subject of a forthcoming documentary film; please visit the project’s website for a trailer, information on the creative team, details on participating musicians, and ways to support the production. […For even more, please see a post regarding some of the lesser-known characters in Poor Gal; Poor Gal Spotify playlist; and the author’s website.]


Dear Readers, this post is meant, simply, to present Poor Gal’s Table of Contents:


Introduction: Sludge and Theory

I. Snotches of Songs: The WPA Slave Narrative Collection

II. “Liza Jane,” You Little Rogue: Dr. Adonis and the Regiments

III. 1865

IV. Intermission Number One: The Potential Influences of Robert Burns, “Susan Jane,” and Others

V. “Liza Jane” Meets the Masses: Postbellum Minstrelsy, Part First and Part Third

VI. From the Bold Soldier Boy’s Songbook to the Cylinders of George W. Johnson: “Oh, Goodbye Liza Jane”

VII. From the New Orleans Levee to the Hampton Institute: “Little Liza Jane” ad infinitum

VIII. Intermission Number Two: The Literary “Liza Jane” of Charles Chesnutt, Jean Toomer, and Margaret Walker

IX. You Went a-Driving with Mister Brown: The Tin Pan Alley Publishing Bonanza

X. Poor Gal

XI. I’se Got a Gal and You Got None: A Countess-Composer and an Actress-Aviatrix Popularize “Li’l Liza Jane”

XII. Intermission Number Three: Effie Lee Newsome’s “Charcoal, Leddy, Charcoal” and Betty Vincent’s “Problems of the Heart”

XIII. “Liza Jane” Meets the Media: Film, Animation, Radio, Television

XIV. The Lomaxes

XV. The Constellation That Connects Langston Hughes and David Bowie, Antonín Dvořák and Nina Simone

XVI. Portrait of a Young Enslaved Woman Standing Still in the Cathedral Silence of the Deep Woods after a Dance

Appendix 1: Loose Ends

Appendix 2: Sheet Music or Notated Music of Major Variants


Also included are an Apologia and Acknowledgments in the “front matter” of the book as well as Notes, Works Cited, and Index at the end of the book.

TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: FIVE NEARLY-FORGOTTEN SHAKERS THAT WILL DRIVE US PERFECTLY BLOTTO INTO EACH OTHER’S ARMS.

The great Frankie Lee Sims

Spanning a seven-year period from 1957 to 1964, these five shakers (all of which contain a ‘walk’) will move our bodies in the proper ways of raucous festivity. You will hear R&B. You will hear rock ‘n’ roll. To wit, you may learn how walketh the camel, how walketh the Cossak [sic], how walketh the cat. You will hear rockabilly. You will hear exotica. You will hear “Whooo-ooo-ooo!” Those who sporteth-not bosoms and those who sporteth bosoms alike will shake their bosoms. Apparently, “In wildness is the preservation of the World.” This comes from a bloke named Thoreau, from an essay entitled (aptly enough) “Walking.” Above all else, these five nearly-forgotten songs will propel us forward in wildness (and jumping) and in so doing we shall preserve the world.

Intro: Behold “Walking With Frankie” — an R&B shaker by Frankie Lee Sims from 1957.

26-word review: Here, the walk is a search (if not a prayer) in the registry of a driving pace with mischievous sax, insinuating guitar, and the gal? Aloof.

Best time and situation to play: Ten minutes to midnight, when doubt flickers.

Calories burned during the ‘walk’: Enough “for us to get together and be as two” (listen to the song).

Notes: A cousin to Lightnin’ Hopkins and noted innovator within the idiom of postwar Texas blues, Sims released only a handful of 45s during his lifetime although he did record enough material (circa 1960) for at least one LP. He served three years in the Marine Corps during World War II. He was, therefore, a soldier & a musician. We thank him for both.

Discography: Frankie Lee Sims. “Walking With Frankie” A-side b/w “Hey Little Girl” B-side. Ace Records 527. 1957. Jackson, Mississippi. Likely personnel: Frankie Lee Sims (vocals and guitar); Jack White (tenor saxophone); Willie Taylor (piano); Ralph Morgan (bass); Jimmy Mullins aka Mercy Baby (drums). Other musicians, if any, unknown. Composition credit: Frankie Lee Sims and John Vincent. 

Intro: Behold “Camel Walk” — a rock ‘n’ roll shaker by The Original Starfires from 1959.  

26-word review: Each of us has four limbs, same as the camel, and the sultry instructions may be obvious, but nevertheless, what do we do with the hump?  

Best time and situation to play: Round about 2am when everyone is blotto.

Calories burned during the ‘walk’: Enough to cover the 3am pancakes & stout run.  

Notes: We detect a little bit of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That A Shame” here and there — when the musicians decide to reassure us (somewhat). The ‘camel walk’ was a dance fad that reached regal heights with the likes of James Brown performing the moves onstage. There is also a surprising version (with church bells) by Magic Sam. Lots o’ camels. Lots o’ walks. Yep.

Discography: The Original Starfires. “Camel Walk” A-side b/w “Fender Bender” B-side. Pace Records P-101. 1959. New York. Musicians unknown [“Starfires” was a popular band name; some online speculation indicates that this band hailed from Florida.] Instrumentation likely includes lead and rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and saxophone. Composition credit: Jim Ford. [Also released on APT Records, a subsidiary of ABC Paramount.]

Intro: Behold “Cossak Walk” [sic]— an R&B shaker by Al Duncan from 1962.

26-word review: Cultures collide when an African American groove-drummer reimagines “The Twist” as a Cossack dance with an absolute MONSTER baritone sax prevailing. Wtf? as the kids say.

Best time and situation to play: To shock a party back into its fundamental mission, as when Sha Na Na or Billy Joel needs to be decisively cleansed from the air.

Calories burned during the ‘walk’: Enough to scale a peak in the Caucasus region.

Notes: Not to get too deep into the weeds, but Eugene Chadbourne writing in All Music Guide to the Blues calls this recording the work of an “obscure rockabilly dude” and not the legendary drummer Al Duncan, but we think Mr. Chadbourne is mistaken. This does appear to be the work of “one of the forefathers of groove” (and his collaborator Johnny Pate). We agree with Mr. Chadbourne on everything else, including how Duncan helped to develop the fundamental timekeeping or “metric feeling” of R&B.

Discography: Al Duncan. “Cossak Walk (Twisting in Moscow)” A-side b/w “Bawana Jinde” B-side. Stacy Records 933 XM. 1962. Chicago. Likely personnel: Al Duncan (drums) and Johnny Pate (bass); other musicians unknown. Composition credit: Johnny Pate.
 

Intro: Behold “Cat Walk”— a rock ‘n’ roll shaker by Tiny Fuller from 1963.

26-word review: Played ostensibly to drown-out the racketing sound of the freight train, the song startlingly projects the same locomotion that it’s meant to obscure. Which is which?

Best time and situation to play: 10pm when nothing has been broken (yet).

Calories burned during the ‘walk’: Enough to wrassle that swordfish on the record.

Notes: This rockabilly guitarist is nearly a complete mystery. What else can we say? The sound is not “tiny.” The harmonicaist cooperates. Perhaps the snippets of voice echo the yelps, etc., of western swing bandleader Bob Wills.

Discography: Tiny Fuller and His Combo. “Cat Walk” A-side b/w “Shock” B-side. Marlin Records 6301. 1963. Memphis, Tennessee. Personnel: Tiny Fuller (guitar); other musicians unknown. Composition credit: Tiny Fuller

Intro: Behold “I’ll Walk A Mile”— an R&B shaker by Bob Marriott and the Continentals from 1964.

26-word review: A pleading, howling, grooving piece that situates despair and triumph nearby as the singer confronts the dynamics of uncertainty: “take me in your arms” + “Whooo-ooo-oooo!”

Best time and situation to play: Anytime you’re in trouble with your sweetie pie. (Usually late at night after an understandable miscue.)

Calories burned during the ‘walk’: Enough to “walk a mile” at which point your sweetie pie will (usually) relent.

Notes: This was an integrated group, with an African American singer fronting a quartet of white musicians. The leader and his bandmates were inducted into the Kansas City Music Hall of Fame in 2021. Very deservedly so.

Discography: Bob Marriott and The Continentals. “I’ll Walk A Mile” B-side b/w “Night Train” A-side. Jayco Records 45-260701/02. 1964. Kansas City, Missouri. Likely personnel: Bob Marriott (guitar); Chuck Vallent aka Aubrey Washington (vocals); Larry Hensiek (drums), Cliff Manning (bass), and Ricky Lee (keyboards); maybe Butch Kelly (instrument unknown); other musicians, if any, unknown. Composition credit: Chuck Vallent.
 

Bob Marriott and the (fabulous!) Continentals

sources of information
Eugene Chadbourne. “Al Duncan.” AllMusic Guide to the Blues. Backbeat Books, 2003
45cat page for Al Duncan release on Stacy
Billboard May 19, 1962
Discogs page for Bob Marriott release on Jayco
Discogs page for The Original Starfires release on Pace
Discogs page for Tiny Fuller release on Marlin
Discogs page for Frankie Lee Sims release on Ace 
Edward M. Komara, editor. Encyclopedia of the Blues. Routledge, 2006
Jazz Discography page for Eddie Higgins (includes information on Al Duncan and Johnny Pate)
Kansas City Music Hall of Fame page for 2021 inductees, including Marriott and his band
Krazy Kat liner notes for Walkin’ With Frankie LP
Wikipedia page for Al Duncan
Wikipedia page for Frankie Lee Sims
Wirz discography page for Barrelhouse Records (establishes Tiny Fuller as a guitarist)
Wirz discography page for Frankie Lee Sims 

This “Walking” post is part of a double issue, Dear Reader. Do you need to RUN instead? If so, please see “Run Like Femke Bol.”

RUN LIKE FEMKE BOL.

Sheer joy after a shocking comeback.

 

We begin this post, well, at the finish line. The setting is: the women’s 4x400-meter relay at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Three top teams — Jamaica, Great Britain, and the Netherlands — vied for the lead throughout the race. Entering the anchor leg, Jamaica had a good lead, with Great Britain following in second and the Netherlands a bit farther back in third. Yet the Dutch anchor was Femke Bol, a gifted athlete who had something to prove. Yes, she’d won gold at her signature event — the 400-meter hurdles — but had fallen right near the finish line in the mixed (i.e., men’s and women’s) 4x400 relay, disqualifying the team.

Often enough, writer-types (and other types) dismiss the importance of athletic competition, but they couldn’t be more mistaken. Overcoming a significant deficit right at the finish line, Femke Bol reminds us all to “believe in your game” and “keep pushing despite long odds” and “run for your teammates” or your community. This is not meant to take anything away from Jamaica and Great Britain whose athletes are world-class and whose teams finished second and third, respectively, by mere fractions of a second. They too were magnificent and earned their spots on the podium.

For me, anyhow, Femke Bol ran a race that depended on the craft of her calm, upright posture as well as the edginess of her finish — the great move she made at the end, when she sprinted for all she was worth. It is one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Her teammates are Eveline Saalberg, who ran the first leg; Lieke Klaver, who ran a magnificent second leg; and Cathelijn Peeters, who ran the third leg. To be fair, they all played a big role, and Femke Bol didn’t win the race by herself.

Don’t take my word for it though. Check out the following videos, which explore the results from a couple of different perspectives. Laten we gaan!

The whole race. 

The race, as seen from the perspective of
two teammates cheering from the stands

This “Running” post is part of a double issue, Dear Reader. Would you rather walk, instead? Check out these five walkers — but be prepared to jump! And shake!

HAVE MERCY BABY: TWO SHAKERS THAT WILL STOMP AWAY ALL THE PLEADIN' & LYIN'.

 

Behold “Pleadin’” (above) and “Don’t Lie to Me” (below). A singer & drummer named Mercy Baby aka Julius W. “Jimmy” Mullins recorded these wild R&B numbers in the late 1950s on the now-defunct New Orleans label Ric Records. We suggest you medicate yourself appropriately and then consider the following 10 observations as you listen to these rollicking tracks.

10 Things to Consider About This Release

1. Mercy Baby is a pretty good stage name.
2. The drumming (by Mercy) and the hollering (by Mercy) are quite propulsive.
3. Notably, the guitar is played by one Frankie Lee Sims, a cousin of Lightnin’ Hopkins.
4. Never underestimate the B-side! Especially for the horns.
5. The topics – pleading and lying – seem to go hand-in-hand.
6. Apparently, pleading and lying can be great reasons to jump around!
7. Neither of these records prospered. Mr. Mullins himself died of a gunshot wound.
8. Once again great American music associates with tragedy and a paucity of commercial success.
9. These tunes appear in the very formidable Shakers Era.
10. Grab yr Sweetie Pie. Turn up the sound. & Shake everything on yr body!

Discographic Information

Mercy Baby. “Pleadin’” (A-side) b/w “Don’t Lie to Me” (B-side). Ric Records 955. Recorded in 1957 or 1958 in Jackson, Mississippi or in New Orleans. (Probably released in 1958; potentially released late as 1960). Likely personnel: Mercy Baby aka Julius W. “Jimmy” Mullins (drums and vocals); Jacquette Brooks (saxophone); Jack White (saxophone); Willie Taylor (piano); Frankie Lee Sims (guitar); Ralph Morgan (bass); other musicians, if any, unknown. Songwriting credit: Jimmy Mullins and Joe Ruffino.


Sources of Information

Discogs page for the release on Ric Records
45cat page for the release on Ric Records
Wikipedia page for Ric Records
Wikipedia page for Mercy Baby
Wikipedia page for Frankie Lee Sims
Cosimo Code page for Ric and Ron Records
Jeff Hannusch. I Hear You Knockin’: The Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues. Swallow Publications, 1989
Jeff Hannusch. The Soul of New Orleans: A Legacy of Rhythm and Blues. Swallow Publications, 2001
Stefan Wirz discography page for Frankie Lee Sims

KID THOMAS AND MAC REBENNACK REMIND US TO SWING MADLY WITH THESE BLISTERING SHAKERS FROM 1959.

A young Mac Rebennack aka Dr. John

Behold “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” and “Storm Warning”

Both of these shakers will rattle your marbles if you play them loudly and you should play them loudly, Dear Reader, so beware the jostled immies in your noggins. Both songs travel to us from 1959. The musicians who recorded them led vastly different lives. One died in obscurity and tragically at that. The other reached considerable heights. Nonetheless, both tunes predict mischief and both deliver. Amply. They deserve our devotion so let’s get to jumping! Shall we?

Kid Thomas – “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” 

The man who would eventually call himself Kid Thomas was born Louis Thomas Watts in Mississippi, circa 1934. He moved to Chicago with his family at a young age and eventually began gigging in South Side clubs. In 1957, he convinced the mighty King Records to record several songs but the company only released one of them on its subsidiary label, Federal. This one single did not chart or generate any recognition for the harmonica-playing bluesman. Having gotten little traction in the Chicago music scene, Kid Thomas relocated to Los Angeles in 1959 where he cut “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” b/w “You Are an Angel” on a micro-label, Transcontinental Records.

Easily one of the roughest-sounding, hardest-charging songs of its generation, the lyrics for “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” may have been hollered in emulation of Little Richard, but the side occupies its own terrain somewhere between the jump blues efforts of Chris Powell and Jimmy Preston, the Chicago electric blues idiom, and the proto heavy metal developed by the controversial Pat Hare in the mid-1950s. The ferocious shouting, amped-up harmonica, and relentless guitar will rock the joint to-nite, to-morrow nite, and every other nite. Unfortunately, “Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” did not achieve commercial success.

Kid Thomas had few additional recording opportunities in Los Angeles and, by 1969, was working in L.A. as a landscaper. In that capacity, he accidentally struck a boy with his lawnmowing equipment in 1969 and killed him. A few months later, the boy’s father waited for Kid Thomas / Louis Watts outside a courthouse and shot him to death. There is just too much sadness in this outcome to swing this concluding note upward, but the ferocity of Kid Thomas’s record nevertheless ought to remind us about living large, larger-than-life, while we still have the opportunity to do so.

Mac Rebennack – “Storm Warning”

Yes, someone recorded a song under the absolutely devastating, winning name of Mac Rebennack. Born Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr., the fellow in question would go on to call himself by a moniker—Dr. John—you may very well recognize. A New Orleans native, Dr. John began his recording career as a teenager, and would come to blend the rich Nola music he inherited along with voodoo, psychedelia, and other genres. Eventually, he became a member of the famous group of session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, a winner of six Grammys, and an inductee into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. His albums such as Gris-Gris (1968) and Gumbo (1972) are well-known, important, and have received critical praise. We here at Blood And Gutstein especially appreciate Gumbo because he included a version of the folk song—“Little Liza Jane”—that features America’s favorite Poor Gal

Dr. John cut the instrumental “Storm Warning” as a seventeen-year-old guitarist in New Orleans. He molded it in the “Bo Diddley vein” and the song would go on to become a regional hit. We can understand why. First of all, Dr. John / Mac Rebennack discredits the entire notion of “the calm before the storm.” The song serves the dual purpose of predicting the “house rocking” to come as well as actually rocking the house. A “storm warning” generated by a New Orleans musician more than likely refers to a hurricane, and in this case, it’s the two saxophonists—Lee Allen on tenor and Alvin “Red” Tyler on bari—who do the hurricane-force blowing. In fact, Tyler really jumps the piece about halfway through. He unleashes some muscular phrasing upon the groovy ladder that Rebennack, et. al., offer via guitar, bass, keys, and drums.

As a teenager, Rebennack obeyed an impulse to rock hard. He didn’t reinvent instrumental rock ‘n’ roll with this piece but, at the same time, he substantially swung the proceedings. He also chose saxophone as the soloing instrument in a genre that was increasingly turning to the electric guitar for this kind of statement. Of course, coming from New Orleans, Dr. John would naturally choose a horn to represent the virtuosity of the soloist, a practice that another Nola musician—a cornetist / trumpeter named Louis Armstrong—established a few decades earlier and, in doing so, in establishing the importance of soloing, would change American music forever. 

Best Practices When Listening to These Songs

Dear Reader, we advise you to adopt the following protocols:
—Liquid refreshments (e.g., corn liquor) wouldn’t hurt, but swill these in moderation.
—Put on some sensible slacks! 
—Engage your core.
—Jump by squatting down low, then propelling yourself into the air. Repeat often.
—Above all else, invite your sweetie pie to join you. If you don’t have a sweetie pie, then invite a nice companion to join you. This hardy soul may—just may—turn into a sweetie pie, especially if you’ve observed all the other best practices given above. Oi.

Kid Thomas

Discographic Information

“Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite” A-side b/w B-side “You Are an Angel.” Transcontinental T-1012, Hollywood, Calif., 1959. Kid Thomas aka Louis Thomas Watts (vocals, harmonica). Other musicians, potentially including two guitars, drums, and any other instruments, unknown. Songwriting credit: Kid Thomas and Brad Atwood.

“Storm Warning” A-side b/w B-side Foolish Little Girl. Rex 1008, New Orleans, 1959. Likely personnel: Mac Rebennack aka Dr. John (guitar); Allen Toussaint (keyboards); Frank Fields (bass); Charles Williams (drums); Lee Allen (tenor sax); Alvin “Red” Tyler (baritone sax); and Melvin Lastie (trumpet). Other musicians, if any, unknown. Songwriting credit: Rebennack.

 
Sources of Information
Dr. John and Jack Rummel, Under a Hoodoo Moon, St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 1995
45cat page for “Storm Warning”
Album Liner notes page for a Dr. John anthology
Wikipedia page for Dr. John
Wikipedia page for Kid Thomas
AllMusic page for Kid Thomas
Bear Family Records page for Kid Thomas
Mike Leadbitter and Neil Slaven, Blues Records, January 1943 to December 1966, Hanover Books, 1968. (Contains session information for the 1959 Thomas recording.) 

YOU MAY WALK THE STREETS AT SUNDOWN LOOKING FOR (1) TROUBLE OR (2) A NEW SWEETIE PIE AFTER LISTENING TO THESE TORRID SHAKERS BY THE SCARLETS FROM 1959.

 

Behold “Park Avenue” (above) and “Stampede” (below), two instrumental shakers recorded in 1959 by The Scarlets, a group that would release only one 45 before morphing into another group, or disbanding, or running riot. To be fair, it’s always possible they power-walked or jogged riot. “Park Avenue” is the B-side, but we present it first because we prefer it just a smidgen better than “Stampede.” We admit that “Park Avenue” is brighter; “Stampede” is more malevolent. Still, we prefer the B-side, slightly. And in case you haven’t noticed, we specialize in bands like The Scarlets, who poked their heads out for just one recording session in 1959 — during that fertile Shakers Era between the appearance of Elvis and the British Invasion of the Beatles et. al.

After listening to “Stampede” we feel like walking the hot summer streets at sundown just looking to heist — or hoist — an armored car. It doesn’t matter, heist or hoist, we’re just fairly jacked up. With “Park Avenue” on the other hand, we want to walk the hot summer streets at sundown and find us some new sweetie pies. We want to tell them all sorts of tales about ourselves — “we just heisted an armored car” — “we just hoisted an armored car” — before whirling them about a dance floor to the strains of that phat saxophone. O, we have torrid affairs with our new sweetie pies, and O, our new sweetie pies have torrid affairs with us. (For couple of minutes, anyhow. . . . . It’s all very innocent fwiw.)

As for you, Dear Readers, skip the heisting and hoisting and go right for the new sweetie pies. We suppose you can keep your old sweetie pies if you must. The key thing is to medicate yourselves (in moderation) and prepare to jump (knee high?) when that phat sax arrives.

Discography and Personnel:
“Stampede” b/w “Park Avenue.” Dot Records 16004, Hollywood, Calif. (1959). Also released on Prince Records PR 1207, Hollywood, Calif. (1959). Likely personnel: Tony Lepard (drums); John Sanzone (guitar); Pete Antonio aka Pete Antell (lead guitar); Bert Salmirs (piano); Howard Herman (saxophone); unknown additional musicians may include a second saxophone and upright bass. Composition credits: Wally Zober, Bert Salmirs, and Pete Antonio (“Stampede”); Wally Zober and Bert Salmirs (“Park Avenue”).

Earlier on, the band may have been known as Tony Leopard and the Spots before changing to other names such as the Escorts and the Scarlets. Antell, Salmirs, and Herman went on to have lengthy careers in music. Sanzone seems to have been a Vietnam Veteran who served in the U.S. Navy. Not much is known about Lepard and any of the other musicians who may have played on these tracks.


Sources of information:
Discogs page for The Scarlets
Howard Herman website
Pete Antell website
AllMusic page for Bert Salmirs’ composing credits
Blogpost with some biographical information on John Sanzone
John Clemente. Girl Groups: Fabulous Females Who Rocked the World. Author House, 2013
September 28, 1959 issue of The Billboard

DISRUPTING THE MINDSET OF COMMONPLACE APATHY: JOY ON FIRE’S “WEEKDAY AVE.”

Behold “Weekday Ave.” I sometimes consider it to be the jewel of Joy on Fire’s hard-charging (and mildly charting) 2022 album States of America. Your humble blogger served as lyricist and vocalist for said album, and as you might imagine, Dear Reader, I brought some poetry to the mix. In this regard, you might detect echoes of Robert Hayden and Paul Celan. See below for those details, as well as the full lyrics, but first let’s have a look “under the hood” at the fabulous musicians who provide “Weekday Ave.” with its formidable pulse.

Songwriter and guitarist / bassist John Paul Carillo directs the highly textured musical expedition of “Weekday Ave.” — one that seamlessly enters a variety of idioms. The song burns low-medium (or straight up the middle) with some notable climbing action. While JPC may describe the overall sound of Joy on Fire as “punk jazz,” this piece resists category. Ultimately, “Weekday Ave.” offers a potent urban elegy, but not without the energetic stripe of optimism that courses through the band’s catalogue.

Enter saxophonist Anna Meadors, who displays enviable versatility throughout. She doubles the vocals, chants in opposition to the vocals, and confers the sort of lyrical statement on saxophones (alto and bari) that endows the song with most of its emotional content. (She also audio-engineered the proceedings, including the addition of some synth keyboards.)

Drummer Chris Olsen delivers propulsive, off-kilter percussion, which amply contradicts the typical enervated rhythms found, these days, on a typical American weekday avenue.

The outro is sheer magic, and owes to John’s guitar communicating with psychedelic themes as well as futuristic content. It should be retroactively added to the sci-fi flick Blade Runner.

As for the lyrics, they are mostly original, but borrow from two twentieth century poets.

If you know Robert Hayden’s masterpiece “Those Winter Sundays,” then you might recall the phrase “weekday weather” as it applies to the speaker’s father, whose hands cracked selflessly during manual labor in just such climatology. From there, I arrived at “Weekday Ave.” — the typical American thoroughfare capable only of generating “glassy condos,” “cute t-shirts,” and symbolic outrage during a crisis. The enjoyable play between “Weekday Ave.” and “weekday haven’t you” ensued straightaway.

I drew a little more from post-Holocaust European poet Paul Celan, whose lines “Die Welt ist fort // ich muß dich tragen” (“The world is lost // I must carry you”) ring outward from his 1967 collection, Atemwende, or Breath-Turn. I invert and jumble these thoughts, with the singer (me) requiring the burden of being carried. Much of everything returns to love, and the inward turn we all take, when we lose someone. While Celan may have intended his lines to read with centripetal gravity, the genius of his language may reside in its elasticity — and universality.

As John’s outro proceeds, the concept of feeling inwardness springs forth. I suppose there is a difference between inwardness and feeling inwardness. The way there is a difference between “Weekday Ave.” and “weekday haven’t you.” The way we might trip along, numbly, without forming “a thinker’s word.” 

The lyrics follow below. States of America can be heard and purchased [here]. As always, Dear Reader, we urge you to don sensible attire, alter your mindset responsibly, and hardly resist when your body begins to move without any inhibitions. Oi.

     Weekday Ave.


     Scream, a siren
     The scream alone
     “O” of outrage
     & secondhand time

     [Chorus:]
     Weekday Ave.
     Or weekday haven’t you?
     Weekday Ave.
     Weekday Ave.
     Weekday Ave.
     Or weekday haven’t you?

     Yeah! / Yeah!

     Glassy condos
     & cute t-shirts
     Never require
     A thinker’s word

     [Chorus]

     Da-da da-da! // You must carry me
     Da-da da-da! // The world is lost
     Da-da da-da! // And if the world is lost
     Da-da da-da! // I feel inwardness!

     [Da-da da-da! + Chorus]

     I feel inwardness […]


     personnel

     John Paul Carillo: bass guitar, electric guitar, songwriting
     Anna Meadors: Vocals, alto sax, bari sax, sound engineering
     Chris Olsen: Drums, percussion
     Dan Gutstein: Lyrics, vocals

     “Weekday Ave.” & States of America appeared on Procrastination Records (2022). 

YEAH MAN: THE MAD SWING & BOLD PROPHECY OF CLEO BROWN’S “WHEN HOLLYWOOD GOES BLACK AND TAN”

 

Behold “When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan.” Recorded in 1935 by singer-pianist par excellence Cleo Brown, the piece swings in the most nourishing ways. Our musicology team has been working overtime to present complete lyrics (below) and, as ever, our critical acumen. Let’s examine the mechanisms of a bright tune that will propel us into the air, jumping.

a proper overview of the song

The opening riff circles energetically a few times before the band enters and the song drives toward the vocals. Brown’s voice veers between propulsive forcefulness and angelic flourishes. Meanwhile, she confers a torrential workout upon the keyboard, with her notoriously powerful left hand. As a listener, Dear Reader, you may feel “swung” — but can you imagine what the piano must’ve gone through? It experienced dizzying sensations that few uprights have ever encountered. We love how the call and response verifies the bold vision (in 1935) of a Black and tan Hollywood.

roots in ellington?

The royal Duke Ellington may have partly inspired this song. He first recorded his own composition “Black and Tan Fantasy” in 1927 and then, a couple of years later, starred in the early talkie Black and Tan. This short fictional film would introduce the magnificent actress and dancer Fredi Washington in her big screen debut. Not simply a musical, Black and Tan turns surprisingly elegiac at its conclusion, with the Ellington Orchestra playing “Black and Tan Fantasy” in a dimly-lit apartment setting as the character played by Washington passes away. Added to the National Film Registry in 2015, Black and Tan offers a remarkable conduit for the Ellington composition, which has since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

a bold vision

If Ellington’s composition began to foreshadow societal change, the Brown recording situated this coming transformation in the “promised land” of Hollywood, among the country’s elite performers. Composed by the brotherly songwriting duo of Leon René and Otis René, “When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan” introduces a host of burgeoning African American talents. Louis Armstrong, for instance, had already made his mark as a jazz trumpeter and singer. Other names may not be quite as familiar: musician Bob Howard, actor Stepin Fetchit, actress Nina Mae McKinney, and singer Ethel Waters. By comparing these new Black stars to established white talents such as Fred Astaire and Ina Claire, the pianist-singer Brown and her bandmates propound a very compelling Black and tan reality. Notably, “The Mayor of Harlem” may refer to African American dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

here’s good news and it’s the newest

While a boxing match between champion James Braddock and contender Joe Louis may have been “in the air,” the bout itself wouldn’t transpire until 1937, about two years after this song was recorded. In the end, Louis defeated Braddock, capturing the lineal heavyweight title. In time, Louis would become the first national African American hero, after he knocked out the German fighter Max Schmeling on the eve of World War II. In celebrating the rise of Louis and other stars, “When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan” doesn’t advocate the old dance moves of “wing-and-buckin’” but insinuates that “Everybody will be truckin’” instead. Yeah man! 

the career of miss brown

Born in 1909 in Mississippi, Cleo Brown moved as a young teenager with her family to Chicago in the early 1920s. She learned stride piano from her brother and, before long, began performing in Chicago speakeasies. There, she met the likes of King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Over the next several years, she toured regionally with different groups and notably, in 1934, performed at the same club (The Three Deuces) as jazz pianist Art Tatum. In addition to Tatum, she met a who’s who in jazz circles while performing at The Three Deuces. In 1935, Brown moved to New York, where she took over Fats Waller’s radio show, signed a recording deal with Decca, and produced her first recordings. Over the next 15 years, she toured all over the country before dropping out of show business to become a nurse and a church musician. In the 1980s, pianist Marian McPartland rediscovered Cleo Brown living in Denver and brought her to New York to record a segment for McPartland’s show Piano Jazz that aired on NPR. A short while later, the NEA awarded Cleo Brown a Jazz Masters Fellowship. Based upon the NPR broadcast, just about anybody would note the graciousness and kindliness of Miss Brown. She passed away in 1995.

complete lyrics

“When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan”
Cleo Brown, 1935
 

Creole babies from Manhattan
Will be leaving Harlem if they can
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
When Hollywood goes black and tan

Louis Armstrong with his trumpet
Will be heading westward with his band
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
When Hollywood goes black and tan

Harlem crooners with a swing
Will be singing at the studio
Makes no difference if you can’t sing
Just say, “Heedie-heedie-hidie-ho!”

When they start to swing that rhythm
I’ll be heading for that promised land
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)

You won’t find them wing-and-buckin’
Everybody will be truckin’
It’s gonna be grand
When Hollywood goes black and tan

The mayor of Harlem says he’ll be there
To give those boys a helpin’ hand
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
When Hollywood goes black and tan

Old Bob Howard made a promise
To latch onto that baby grand
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
When Hollywood goes black and tan

Stepin Fetchit’s gonna sing and dance
Like Fred Astaire
Nina May don’t have to sing
Cause she can be petite like Ina Claire

Waters [is] gonna do a fan dance
And shake those feathers off her fan
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)

Here’s good news and it’s the newest:
Braddock’s going to meet Joe Louis
It’s gonna be grand
When Hollywood goes black and tan

discography
Personnel: Cleo Brown (vocals, piano); Bobby Sherwood (guitar); Manny Stein (string bass); Vic Berton (drums); backup vocals likely by band. Recorded Nov. 20, 1935, in Los Angeles. “When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan” released as Decca 632 and Brunswick 02123 B-side b/w “When” A-side. Lyrics by Otis René and Leon René. [Interestingly enough, both songs on this release share the same first word, even as they are very different songs. Most of all, never underestimate the B-side!]

sources of information
—Whitney Balliett, American Singers: Twenty-Seven Portraits in Song. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2006.
—Eugene Chadbourne, “Cleo Brown.” AllMusic Guide to the Blues. Backbeat Books, San Francisco, 2003.
—NEA Jazz Masters page for Cleo Brown.
—NPR page for Cleo Brown’s appearance on Piano Jazz.
—Brian Rust, Jazz Records 1897-1942: Volume 1. Arlington House, New Rochelle, NY, 1978.
—Mary Unterbrink, Jazz Women at the Keyboard. McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 1983.
—Wikipedia page for “Black and Tan Fantasy.”
—Wikipedia page for Black and Tan (film).
—Wikipedia page for Cleo Brown.
—Wikipedia page for Leon René.
—Wikipedia page for Otis René.