Tribute to Les Paul (June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009; 94Y)

“I thought the man was going to last forever!” – screamed Stevie Ray Vaughan to Albert King as he received the news Les was on his way. Bo Diddley blasted in a mix of cough and laughter at the explosion of his guitar mate and replied in an ironic tone “Man! Unless we crash into a hill in a helicopter or drown in our own vomit, we´re flyin´! You should notice that we tend to linger trough life longer than the usual talking animal… my feet were on the grave and was still finger twitching that ol´ squared guitar. We´ve just recently welcomed Robert Lockwood Jr. and we´ve still got David “Honeyboy” Edwards down there.”
Les Paul has gone somewhere. Should we care where? No. We´re just sad to see another legend go.

Larger than the prizes he won are his contributions to the evolution of music. Hail to the father of overdubbing. Some say that he invented the electric guitar. Well, many can take that title… Bo Diddley made his guitars at home and in 1932, Gage Brewer has the first documented performance in an electric guitar. In the same year, Adolph Rickenbacker was the first man to produce and commercialize a very similar instrument. One is certain; Les made his own electric guitar and pioneered at studio techniques such as overdubbing, multi-tracking, phasing and track delaying.

His most notable accomplishment was designing the perpetual Gibson Les Paul guitar. He approached Gibson Corporation and made a contract to a guitar named "Les Paul Standard". He later got mad at Gibson when the company decided to change the guitar´s design without his consent or knowledge. He first met the instrument in the window of a guitar shop.

He recorded beautifully with his wife, Mary Ford. In 1948, a car accident almost took one of his arms… alerted that they were treating a hand artist, the doctors managed to reconstruct his elbow instead of amputating it. Les Paul asked that his movements were to be restricted in a fashion that he could still play the guitar. He managed to do it for almost 60 years further.

In his later years he performed weekly at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC. I took these pictures in one of those performances on the 5^th of May, 2007. The 92 year young lad could still impress as a guitar virtuoso and conquer the audience with an enviable charm.

Hail to Les Paul. RIP

Songs of Leonard Cohen - Pavilhão Atlântico

... 30th July 2009. After a stage absence of 15 years, Leonard Cohen tries to cure his hangover and performs in Portugal for the second time in 2 years. The following text and pictures are part of the coverage made for festivaispt.org (pics by me and text by Teca):

“Leonard Cohen, Pavilhão Atlântico
29-Julho-2009

Num Pavilhão Atlântico repleto, sentiu-se o enorme carinho do público por Cohen, e pela sua grande humildade. Porque música assim já não se ouve todos os dias.

*******
Após uma ressaca de palcos e digressões de 15 anos, Lisboa recebeu de braços abertos e pela segunda vez em dois anos Leonard Cohen, um dos maiores songwriters da actualidade e claramente uma referência para tantos outros músicos (temas como Suzanne e Hallelujah são records de covers pelo mundo inteiro).

…

Depois do tema The Future, Cohen tira o chapéu, e numa prolongada vénia ouve-se um sentido “Muito obrigado Lisboa”.

…

Não é então de espantar que um poeta que alcançou fama e reconhecimento no meio tão cedo tenha querido experimentar e arriscar no mundo da música. Estamos em 1967 – plenos sixties, época de overdose intelectual, ideológica e artística – e Cohen aterra em New York City. Passa os dias na Factory de Andy Warhol e lança, no mesmo ano, o seu primeiro albúm Songs of Leonard Cohen, que inclui temas como Suzanne e So long Marianne, clássicos que ainda hoje estão bem vivos na nossa memória.


A sua voz penetrante e quente, num tom quase sussurrante, esteve bem presente em temas como There ain’t no cure for love, Everybody knows e In my secret life, sempre acompanhados pelo trio de solistas e em especial por Sharon Robinson, cantora e songwriter com quem Cohen partilha o palco com evidente cumplicidade há muitos anos.

…

Cohen apresenta a banda mais uma vez, e sai. Ninguém se mexe. As palmas são uma constante. O público queria mais. E já lá iam quase três horas de concerto.
Leonard volta, enche-nos de agradecimentos – “thank you, thank you, THANK YOU” – e apresenta So long Marianne. Tinha de ser. Segue-se First We Take Manhattan e mais uma saída. No segundo encore canta Closing time e lê-nos uma carta que assina com muita classe – “Sincerely, L.Cohen”. Tenta despedir-se mais uma vez, mas não consegue… volta com I Tried to Leave You, quase como se estivesse agarrado ao concerto e tivesse tido uma ressaca rápida demais à qual não quis sequer resistir.

No final Cohen falou com o público, que já estava de pé há muito tempo: “Good night my darling, I hope you’re satisfied”. Desejou tudo de bom, e avançou “If you have to fall to one side, let it be to the side of luck. And this one is harder…be kind”.
…

Sim, foi claramente magia. Mas daquela magia que não se faz só uma vez, mas que de cada vez que se faz é única. Pois música assim já não se ouve todos os dias.”

Maybe someday I´ll translate this...

Koko Taylor - A tribute to "the Queen of Chicago blues"

On June 3rd the blues´ planet lost another of its original hollers… Koko as left the stage and there´s no encore.

Wednesday’s battle was lost after an operation performed due to gastrointestinal complications. She was 80 years old and her last performance happened 4 weeks before at the Blues Music Awards, where she got her 29th commendation - a record among peers. Koko sung “Wang Dang Doodle”, her signature song written and composed by Willie Dixon.


On April 6th 2007, at BB King´s Blues club in NY, she left her perfume onstage




My respect and eternal admiration… and when you feel blue, have yourself a nice and warm cup of Koko Taylor. See if it works.

4339 South Lake Park - Muddy´s (Sweet) Home Chicago

“You can´t spend what you ain´t got, you can´t lose what you ain´t never had”
M. Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983)

Bought in 1954 at the peak of his success at Chess Records, these were Muddy´s headquarters for more than 20 years. To what many refer to as “the real house of blues”, it was as shelter for many bluesmen that arrived in Chicago to record with Chess, among them were Howlin´ Wolf and Otis Spann.

Muddy built a rehearsal hall in the basement were his friends and band would gather, in the picture you can see Otis Spann and James Cotton going down south with their pieces. Occasionally, when it was too hot in the summer, blues were carried out in the front porch.

I visited the ruins in July 6, 2006. Time, negligence and economic decadence of the surrounding suburbs are taking their toll.

(Muddy Waters´ inside cover of his 1968 experimental album, "Electric Mud")

T-Bone Walker – Very Rare (1974)

T-Bone Walker, a 1910 Texas born blues guitarist. He was a pioneer at plugging his guitar to an amp in a mid 30´s session and scored his major hit in 1947 with the recording of "Stormy Monday".

Very Rare was recorded a few months prior to his death in 1975. The music is a mere confirmation of a blues elder. I point out the cover – a tender and juicy t-bone steak served very rare. Take time to scrutinize the image and delight on the bubbly details. Drewling, are you?

In 1987, T-Bone was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Shelf of Sound

5 years ago started a scavenging hunt for music in a different form, vinyl. Forgotten collections emerged as bargains, an exposed mark for plastic devourers. I became a zombie too…

This display is a shelf of tangible sound - music, artwork, personalities, oddities, originals, reissues, albums, compilations, locations, events… and people.