February 2005
You know what we don‟t get? Alka Seltzer is for indigestion. It neutralizes stomach
acid, and its carbonation makes you burp. That‟s what it was invented for. We think it has a
little aspirin in it too, or it used too. If and when you have a stomach bug it makes you feel
better, but mainly it‟s for neutralizing acid, as it‟s alkaline.
So what in the heck is Alka Seltzer Cold Medicine all about? What is the connection
between acid stomach and a runny nose? Is it for those pesky Sneeze-Burps? Hurling and
hacking? What‟s next, Pepto-Bismol Sinus? Maalox Allergy? How about Listerine with Desanex
for when you have your foot in your mouth? Maybe Preparation H Shampoo for when you have
your head up your ass? We smell money; watch for it.
zigs at bluesfest
Yes, that‟s right. Your beloved Zigs will be honkin out some gutbucket blues at the
OK Blues Festival again this year. This time we get to play on the second stage, rather than
third or fourth string as we have in years gone by.
We know, we can hear you thinking: “Them Zigs ain‟t no blues band.”
Well, au contraire, mon amis. In our deepest darkest pockets we are indeed blue
men. „Twas that great filosofer Muddy Waters who sang “The Blues had a baby and they
called it rock and roll.” We play mostly Rock And Roll because we want to work. The Blues
market is steady; proof that the music is timeless. But if we played only blues we‟d be
traveling all over the country every day. We‟d be playing a different club in a different city
every night, making just enough to get to the next town. Then we‟d come home broke. We
know people who do this. We just can‟t.
There is a difference between Rock and Roll and just plain Rock. Rock encompasses a
whole lot of stuff with a big beat, like The Who or Jethro Tull or even Rush. The Rolling Stones
play Rock And Roll. In fact, The Rolling Stones ARE Rock And Roll, though they started as a
blues band. There is probably a set limit on how many chords a song can have and still be
Rock And Roll. Three is good; that‟s definitely Rock And Roll. There‟re even a few songs that
have only one chord, such as “Who Do You Love?” and several Bo Diddley songs, and “High
Time We Went” by Joe Cocker. “It‟s Only Rock And Roll” has about five chords, and that‟s
pushing the envelope.
So we ain‟t no “Rock” band. Really, it‟s hard to find any new Rock And Roll these days.
The Georgia Satellites kicked off a retro phase that many mistakenly attribute to the Black
Crowes.
But it all comes out of the blues, even jazz. There are punk and metal rockers who turn
up their noses at the blues, not even knowing where those licks they are playing came from.
As we‟ve said before, just being a musician will give you the blues, so we all have that
feeling. Frankly, if you can‟t play blues, you can‟t play much at all. You‟d better stick with Oh
Susannah and Red River Valley.
Anyway, we will be doing nasty greasy blues at the OK Blues Festival, and playing
most of our album tracks.
JIMMY SMITH
It‟s a sad day in keyboard land. When it comes to the mighty Hammond Organ, there
is Jimmy Smith and there is everyone else. “He‟s so far out in front that he‟s lonsesome.”
Said the notes on one of his albums.
I was a teenager when I first heard him and it was a moment of sudden cosmic
awareness, like a bolt of lightning. I want to play like that. I want one of those Hammonds. I
want to make that sound and fly over the keys like a laughing eagle. I want to carry a 400-
pound console up two flights of stairs.
Smith played jazz on the organ. He was the first person to do so. The Hammond B3
has a unique sound and touch that lent itself well to his high-velocity playing. Yes, it was
called jazz, but his scales and chords were very much The Blues. He was the Jimi Hendrix of
keyboards. He didn‟t just play notes; he created sound effects and coaxed weird noises and
roaring growls out of his axe.
There is a guy named Joey DeFrancesco who plays a similar style on the organ. He‟s
worth checking out. Technically, he‟s very impressive. However, constant blurs of 64 th notes
get a bit tedious. Jimmy Smith knew when to get funky, when to swing and when to pour on
the coals. Smith had phrasing, style and feeling that few people ever achieve.
He often recorded with just three or four players, and could work with just a drummer,
since He kicked pedals (played bass with his feet). He was in a class by himself.
Another musing tangent
Most of this rant was from a few weeks back, but the Gazette was getting pretty large.
You got a problem with that? We decided it would be best to wait until after the Grammy
Awards, since they almost always piss us off.
Why? Once Milli Vanilli won for best new artist and had to give it back when it was
discovered they were just model/dancers miming to someone else‟s vocals. Steve Winwood
had hit records for thirty years before he won a Grammy for his sixth solo album. Never mind
Spencer Davis, Traffic or Blind Faith. Clapton also had hits for thirty years before he won. In
1964 when The Beatles turned the music business inside out with five records in the top four
spots in one week, the new category “Best Rock Song” went to Petula Clark for “Downtown”.
That was the academy lamely acknowledging that there had been some British action on the
charts. See what we mean? Little Richard never won a Grammy.
It has been said that there are only two kinds of music; good and bad. This statement
has come from Leonard Bernstein, among others, but was probably originally uttered by
Louis Armstrong. There are times in the history of popular music when there is a lot of bad
music, and perhaps we're coming out of one of those spells.
Take "Hip Hop", please. Ray Charles, the genius, said "Rap ain't music." and he's right.
We Zigs are musicians. We have spent years studying music, learning theory and harmony
and trying to fathom the meaning and purpose of music as well as the mechanics of it. In
music theory, you learn that a piece of music has at least four ingredients: Rhythm, Melody,
Harmony, and Timbre (pronounced 'tamber' and meaning, "tone" or the sound of an
individual instrument or group of instruments). A rap "Song" (Hah!) that has a drum machine,
one repeated bass note, and someone shouting dirty words is lacking in half these essential
ingredients. It takes intelligence and self-discipline to learn melody and harmony and create
them. The subject of rap is usually not about intelligence or self-discipline either. They
usually talk about crime, status symbols, fornication, and easy money.
Words do not make lyrics, nor does poetry, necessarily. Lyricism is the most difficult
poetry to compose. With a poem, you could have ten syllables in one line and nineteen
syllables in a rhyming line, and recite it in rhythm. BUT if you already have a set melody with
ten notes attached to those syllables, it will be very awkward to put those nineteen syllables
on those ten notes, even if you are Bob Seger. So, to write lyrics, you have to write in very
strict structure without sounding stupid. Go ahead and try it.
That said, we propose that Rap be included in the Spoken Word category at The
Grammys and see how it fares against, say, Kerouac reading his poems. Good Luck.
Well, there was much less Rap at the Grammies this year. Even Queen Latifa actually
sang a standard. There was some catch-up on inducting key people who never got their due,
such as Jerry Lee Lewis and The Carter Family. Some day they may even realize how much
Leon Russell contributed to American music. We hope he lives long enough.
Dateline Disney OK 2/20/05
We‟re sitting on the balcony here at Mooney‟s with a couple of fine mahogany-stock
antique Winchesters and a bottle of Usqebah Scotch. It‟s the season of Newt rut and the walls
are covered with the little buggers. Frank has rigged up a propane flame-thrower and he‟s
cremating them in their tracks.
Zig takes a long pull from the flask, makes his war face, and screeches “Incoming
gar!” and fires at the lake. Zig has overpacked his shells and the deep report echoes to
Ketchum and back. A small geyser of bloody cartilage shoots up into the air. A red slick forms
on the surface and soon a four-foot „freshwater swordfish‟ floats belly up into the cove.
“Should we throw it on the bonfire?” I suggest.
“Naw, the ducks will rip it up in no time. Mooney sedates them, then files their beaks
until they‟re razor sharp. These bloodthirsty fowl can shred a gar to the spine in 45 seconds
flat.”
“Sedation sounds good to me.” Says Frank. “This MDA is making me a little edgy.”
“There‟s still some opium in the bong.” I suggest, winking at Zig.
Frank says, “That sounds good. I may be a Scot, but that lighter fluid you guys‟re
quaffing tastes like burning peat moss.”
“But of course.” Says Zig.
Frank takes a long suck off the yellow blob in the bong. His eyes pinwheel then he
flings himself over the railing and skitters rapidly on his belly into the lake, making a
shrieking “Neep! Neep!” noise. He thrashes in the shallow water, then rolls onto his back in
the mud, moaning.
“You are a heartless swine, Reverend.” sneers Zig. “You knew that was Ayahusca in
the bowl. Now Frank thinks he‟s a flaming Newt.”
“Heh heh. It‟s a mild karmic lesson. No harm done. Besides, the acrid stench of
burning scales was getting thick.” I respond.
Bill lumbers out on the deck. “Didn‟t you guys check the Mojo Wire? Snake Guts
down in Charlotte sent an important message. Dr. Thompson cashed his check. He
murdered himself.”
“Alas, poor Hunter. He must have gotten notice. This calls for some extensive
toasting, and I don‟t mean Newts.” I suggest.
“I‟ll go get us some Wild Turkey.” Says Zig solemnly.
“I‟ll get the adrenochrome.” Bill answers.
Rest In Peace; Hunter Stockton Thompson 1938 – 2005. Whether you agree with his
philosophy or not, and most don‟t, it is quite likely that he will be remembered as one of the
best writers of the late 20th century. He had a vast knowledge of American Literature and a
great command of language. His first book was the definitive Hell‟s Angels. Fear And
Loathing In Las Vegas is a classic about the death of the hippie phenomenon. He also wrote
extensively about politics and sports. Beneath his caustic sarcasm was a voice crying in the
wilderness of a man who cared deeply about the human condition in his time.
Skeletons
The Bob Wills birthday bash is coming up. Here‟s a little story you probably don‟t
know.
Ruth McMaster was a child prodigy on the violin. Her grandfather, a Methodist
minister, had played with John Phillip Sousa. She began playing at age seven. While in high
school, she was judged the number one student violinist in all Oklahoma. She started the
Boston Avenue Church Orchestra, played with the WPA orchestra and several other early
Tulsa classical groups. She was second chair in The Tulsa Philharmonic for 25 years. She
played with a few dance bands and her female violin/vocal trio, Fiddlers Three, had a radio
show on KVOO in the 1930s. She was somewhat a local celebrity.
When Bob Wills moved to Tulsa along about 1935, he had never had a violin lesson.
He started to get a band of good musicians together and thought he might learn a little more,
so he asked the Union about teachers and they recommended Ruth. Ruth was surprised that
Bob held the bow properly, though she thought his sense of pitch needed work.
Lessons blossomed into a romance, and in a year they were married. Ruth may not
have known that Bob was divorced and already had a daughter. Polite people never
mentioned divorce. Ruth went to Fort Worth with the band and actually played on one of their
earliest recordings, Blue River. They had only been married a few months when Bob raised a
serious subject. The band was starting to get famous and women were flinging themselves at
them. “A lot of musicians‟ wives will look the other way, as long as their men come home to
them and bring home the bacon, but I don‟t believe you are like that. I have been faithful to
you so far, but I can‟t say for sure that I will be able to always resist temptation. If you want a
divorce, I understand.” Bob confessed.
“You‟re darn right I want a divorce.” Said Ruth. Her heart was broken, he was a kind
and handsome man, but she did get a brand new Buick as alimony. At least he was honest
about his weakness.
Bob married again and had another daughter, Rosetta. He finally settled down with his
fourth or fifth wife and raised four children with her. They were grown before they knew they
had two half sisters.
What does this have to do with The Zigs? Ruth got over Bob, and remained friendly
with him. In a couple of years she remarried and raised a family. She played with The Tulsa
Philharmonic until she was seventy. Her youngest child was her only son, whose middle name
is her maiden name. That would be James McMaster Downing. Now you know the rest of the
story.
MARCH 05
Another One Rides the Bus
It says here that Chris Crumney took a harp. He ended his days as a civil servant in
Liverpool. What‟s the deal here, you might well ask?
Well, he was the first Rock And Roll Drummer to play at the Tulsa Civic Assembly
Center Arena, way back in ought sixty-four. Chris Curtis, as he was known, was the drummer
for The Searchers. Technically, he was the second rock drummer to play the hall, as there
was an opening act: The Echoes with Eden Kane, both long forgotten. The number two act on
the bill was Dusty Springfield. The Echoes backed her up.
For you young ones, you may have only heard “Needles And Pins”, but The
Searchers were actually a darned good group that had several hits, including “When You
Walk In The Room”, “Don‟t Throw Your Love Away”, and “Ain‟t That Just Like Me”, which
Chris sang lead on. They all sang and used Burns Of London guitars, including an electric 12
string. They had great harmonies and much folk influence in their style. You might say they
were the UK equivalent of The Byrds. You don‟t often see someone who can sing and play
drums at the same time. Those who can are usually good at both. Chris had a lot of stage
presence.
“No side-winding, bush-whacking, horn-swoggling, cracker-croaker is going to ruin
my biscuit-cutter.” – Gabby Johnson.
Excuse US
But KMOD was running some poll. We don‟t know what the results were, but the
loaded question was “Who is the greatest Rock band, Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd?”
The correct answer is Neither. All right, Led Zeppelin was the biggest draw on the
planet in their day. They broke the Beatles box office record for a single act. They had five
albums on the top hundred at once. They lasted about ten years. Pink Floyd‟s Dark Side Of
The Moon stayed on the chart for 47 years, but we wouldn‟t even say it rocks.
The Greatest Rock And Roll Band of all time is The Rolling Stones. Feel free to
disagree, but you will be wrong. From “Time Is On My Side” to “Start Me Up”. The Rolling
Stones had 18 years of number one singles. Nobody can touch that. Most musicians don‟t
even live eighteen years after their first number one, let alone keep their band together or
keep hitting the top. Consider also that they have been going now for forty years with only
one guy dying and one guy quitting. The “New Guy” Ronnie has been with them nearly thirty
years. When they tour, they are still the greatest show on earth. Barnum and Bailey got
nothing on them, nor does anyone else. The Rolling Stones, simply put, ARE Rock And Roll.
So there.
APRIL 05
Today’s History lesson:
The Band
The summer of 1968: “I was gobsmacked! What was this? It was totally out of left field.
This changes everything.” This is what Eric Clapton said after first hearing The Band‟s debut
album, Music From Big Pink. Clapton was just winding down his stint with Cream, playing
feverish jams of blues and psychedelic excess.
That‟s what a lot of us thought. Where is this coming from? Some of us didn‟t get it at
all at first. This music was very subtle and dreamy. Are these guys on heroin? It was music that
took a while to seep in. There was a lot going on here. There was a song one of the guys co-
wrote with Bob Dylan, Bob painted the cover, and The Band had backed Dylan on some of his
first electric tours. That explained why some of the lyrics were so vague. It was vastly different
from the pop music of the day, maybe that‟s why the general public never caught on. It is
often the case that the most important art doesn‟t make the mainstream.
We knew this was the band that had originally been The Hawks, Ronnie Hawkins‟
backing group. They had been a hard-charging rocking roadhouse band at the end of the
fifties. This was the missing link between the fifties and the sixties, but the music seemed to
be from neither decade. It had it‟s own landscape. It sounded like folk music, or what country
music should really be, and it was.
Some had actually heard a little of what they were up to before Music From Big Pink
came out. The Basement Tapes had been bootlegged and were circulating in Los Angeles
among some of the folk-rock crowd. Some of those Dylan songs were being covered by
others; “Too Much Of Nothing” was a minor hit for Peter, Paul & Mary. “The Mighty Quinn”
was done by Manfred Mann. The Dead did “You Ain‟t Goin‟ Nowhere”. The Basement tapes
may well be the most significant American recordings of the sixties. Most of the songs are
Dylan songs, and he performs them with the Band backing him. There are no Band originals
yet. One amazing thing about these tapes is that they were recorded on a two track stereo
reel-to-reel machine using ¼” tape with only one or two microphones. To get an even blend
of five or six musicians playing acoustic and electric instruments into one or two mikes
requires players that know what they‟re doing. What they are doing is blending the sound in
the room to make the whole sound greater than the sum of its parts. It‟s astounding, really. Of
course, they had probably played close to ten thousand hours together at that point.
The Hawks had already become The Band when they backed up Dylan, and there
were occasional tracks that came out, such as a couple on Blonde On Blonde and a B side live
of „Just Lke Tom Thumb‟s Blues‟.
Being roadhouse rockers and skilled players, they first looked a bit askance at Dylan
as a musician. He was “just a strummer” on the guitar. But Dylan certainly had a big impact on
their concept of songs. Dylan knew that folk music is the American mythology, and songs that
endure contain archetypes, lessons, and stories that we can relate to, regardless of the time in
which we hear them.
One of the oddest songs is based on the idea from “Ode To Billie Joe”, of all things. It
is “Clothes Line Saga”. The plot is that something terrible has happened, but no one wants to
acknowledge it. The tune that points to the future sound of The Band, though is “No More
Cane”, also known as “Brazos”, an old folk song where Levon, Rick and Richard harmonize in
their unique sort of non-blending blend.
Music From Big Pink sold respectably, but it was not the hit it should‟ve been. Three
Dog Night covered two of the songs from that: „Lonesome Susie‟ and „Chest Fever‟. The
second album, The Band, contained “Up On Cripple Creek” which probably got the most
airplay of any song they ever did. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” was an instant
classic, and became a hit via Joan Baez‟ butchered rendition. “King Harvest” is one of the
most haunting songs ever written.
Though not apparent, they affected all musicians of the day. George Harrison was a
big fan and tried to get George Martin to make Ringo‟s drums sound like Levon‟s. By then, the
Beatles were no longer a real band in the sense that The Band was.
By the time they made Stage Fright, the effects of fame and fortune were taking their
toll. “The Shape I‟m In” was revealing about their state of mind, and was nearly as popular as
“The Weight” and “Cripple Creek”. The title track and “W.S. Walcott Medicine Show”
endured as parts of their concert set list.
They were multi-talented. The drummer would play mandolin while the piano player
played the drums or trumpet. The bass player played the fiddle, tuba and trombone. The
organist played piano, accordion, and a mean saxophone. Among them were three very good
singers. There is a hint of darkness in their work, not angry or violent, but wary and
sometimes foreboding.
The fourth album was Cahoots. Some people overlook this one, but it‟s one of the
best. The raucous “Life Is A Carnival” features horns arranged by New Orleans maestro Allen
Touissant, and the off-kilter rhythms almost sound like something Charles Ives would do, like
two pieces of music performed at the same time. “Volcano” features what is surely the
greasiest saxophone solo of all time. Garth also stands out on “Last Of The Blacksmiths”
where his soprano sax sounds like a harmonica or an electric cello.
They put out an album of oldies from their nightclub act, and the live Rock Of Ages,
and then joined up with Dylan again for Planet Waves and the live Before The Flood. Their last
two albums Northern Lights/ Southern Cross and Islands, lacked the fire of the early work. But
they still could make great songs such as the ragtime “Ophelia” and the utterly heart-
wrenching “It Makes No Difference”.
The Last Waltz is a flawed film, but it‟s a testament to the importance of The Band that
they are joined onstage by Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Joni
Mitchell, Neil Young, Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan in one night. Time will prove that The
Band is one of the all time greats in the history of Rock And Roll and American popular music
in general. They may not have been as popular as some, but no group was more original. Five
very different and talented individuals set their egos aside for two decades and aspired to
create something timeless. The results have stood the test of time.
Who wrote what?
I asked Lowell Fulson didn‟t he write Tramp, a hit for Otis & Carla?
“Yes, and I wrote Every Day I have The Blues, too.” He said
“I thought B.B. had the copyright on that.” I replied
“Well, he bought it from me, or I let him share it.” he said.
Well, now I‟m holding a copy of The Jimmie Rogers All Stars album from 1997 and
Rogers does that song. Lowell Fulson is on the track and it is credited to Peter Chatman, also
known as Memphis Slim. Maybe Jimmie made Lowell „fess up? Makes you wonder if all these
old guys exaggerated their resumes.
This brings to mind another song of unexplained origins. We‟ve all heard some
version of Dust My Broom from The Yardbirds on back. I think that Elmore James took credit
for it because he had a hit with it. But most of us know that Robert Johnson cut it years earlier.
So Heather shows up at Blues City and says, “You gotta hear this.” We are used to
being lured out in the parking lot by cute girls, so we went. She pops in a CD and it‟s Dust My
Broom with piano and a couple of acoustic guitars. It‟s been cleaned up digitally, but
obviously a very old recording.
“OK, who is it and when was it?” we asked, taking the bait.
“It‟s Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell in 1927!” she grinned.
This is one of those things that keep the Blues interesting; tracing its origins.
The call
The Call was a band that made the charts in the eighties and sold a slew of albums.
Scott Musick was their drummer. We asked him about those adventures last week.
“Well, the first album was doing well on college radio stations, but Mercury-Polygram
thought that didn‟t mean anything, so they didn‟t send us out on tour to promote it. Then a few
months later, R.E.M. was a hit on college radio; they toured and ended up making the
mainstream charts.
“Then with the second album we went on tour. They wouldn‟t do a video, though. So
the band borrowed money and made our own black and white cheapie video and it got a lot
of play on MTV.
“The third album got completely rejected by some limey producer. He told us to start
over. When we asked him what he didn‟t like about it he said, “I don‟t like the songs. There
are no singles. I don‟t like the singing. I don‟t like the performance and I don‟t like the
recording of it.”
They sold the master to another label and it turned out to be their biggest hit.
“So basically, the one constant was that the record company was wrong at every
turn.” Scott chuckled.
We guess that even if you do have a major label deal and sell hundreds of thousands
of records around the world and tour everywhere and play on television, it doesn‟t mean
you‟re going to build a villa on your own private island. It can be just a different high-stakes
pain in the ass.
MAY 05
Thunder & Lightning
A mysterious envelope was mailed to The Music Store. It was addressed to Jim
Downing c/o the store, sent from a downtown office building. The name on the return was
hard to read. I picked it up Monday.
It was from Gazette subscriber Eric Grimshaw, who is also a percussionist with the
Brady Theater Orchestra. There was a color Xerox of a photo and a note that said “Jim, I
think that‟s you on the Hammond B-3 in this picture. What year is it?”
My gast was flabbered. I didn‟t know there were any pictures of this group. Here is
proof that I was once in what was quite a phenomenal band, Thunder And Lightning. On
guitar is Tuck Andress, on sax is Taco Ryan, on bass is David Tanner, on drums is Scott
Music and the singer was Sandy Locasso. That is me in the back on either Bill Phillips’ or
Dick Sims’ Hammond. Eric took the picture at Mohawk Park. He was helping Peter Mayo
run the sound for those free park concerts we put on in the summer of 1969.
Tuck has a good career going with his wife Patti on Windham Hill records. Scott
played with The Call and Garth Hudson. Tanner played with Gatemouth Brown, Delbert
McClinton and many others. Taco was with Asleep At The Wheel in their heyday and
played with Prince, Seger and Clapton. I‟m the only one who never amounted to anything. I
think we opened for Taj Mahal at Dutch‟s Party Barn. It was a long time ago, kids.
David Schultz
Shuffled off this mortal coil a few weeks ago. Tom Hanford informed us of this at
Cain‟s. Tom and Downing were in a band with Schultz, The Windbreakers 1982-84. Schultz
was the sound man at The Brook for American Theater Company, and was drafted into the
band when the original bassist quit. Music ran in his family; his brother Bruce was Principal
French Horn in the Tulsa Philharmonic. “Baby Dave” was a good musician and a great guy.
JUNE 05
One of the best music jokes
This one, told by Tulsa‟s late great jazz drummer Mike Naifeh, might be the best
musician‟s joke ever:
A great musician died and went to heaven. (No, that‟s not the joke.) Saint Peter
met him at the gate and said:
"Hey, you‟re finally here! God‟s been waiting for you. He has a gig for you, but I‟m
not sure you‟ll want to take it or not."
"Why not? What‟s the gig?"
"It‟s a big job. You‟ve got the greatest composers of all time from Bach to Duke
Ellington; you can commission them to write or collaborate. Plus, you have all the finest
virtuoso players from Paganini to Coltrane to Hendrix. You decide who plays what, and it‟s all
under your baton; you‟re the musical director and conductor."
The musician was dazzled. "That‟s magnificent! Why in heaven would you think I
might not want the job?"
Saint Peter answered, "Well, you see, God‟s been dating this chick singer..."
Jimmy Markham And The Jukes:
NOT featuring Jimmy Markham!
We hear a lot of stories. A funny one we got from two sources was about Jr. Markham.
He was immoralized in Leon‟s "Shootout On The Plantation". Jimmy Markham & The Jukes
(which often featured Bobby Keys on sax) was booked for a month in some tiny Caribbean
island nation.
The very first night, Markham got drunk and got into a fist fight with a guy who turned
out to be the Chief Of Police, who had him removed from the island. I‟ve been thrown out of
clubs before, and so has Jimmy. But I‟ve never been thrown out of an entire NATION!
The band went ahead and played there the whole month without him.
Politcal Bull Leavings
Why is Leon Russell not in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? Maybe it‟s one of those
corrupt, ego-stroking shams like the Hollywood sidewalk star where you have to cough up a
quarter mill to supposedly be “honored” for posterity.
We should ask Ricky Nelson, Willie Nelson, Phil Spector, Garry Lewis, Jan &
Dean, The Byrds, The Shindogs, Asylum Choir, Joe Cocker, J. J. Cale, David Gates,
Delaney & Bonnie, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Freddie King, The
Rolling Stones, The GAP Band, B.B. King. Dwight Twilley, Willis Ramsey and Tom
Petty, just to name a few. It would be harder to make a list of whom Leon hasn't played with,
discovered or produced! The man is a Legend among Legends and has made vast
contributions to American music since he went out to Hollywood, barely 17. It is a travesty that
he hasn't been showered with Grammies and doesn't have a WING in the Hall Of Fame. We
sent a submission to their web site and suggest everyone do the same.
“Frankie Friggin‟ Lymon is in the Hall Of Fame.” Notes Ed King, another non-member
and author of several huge hit songs. Frankie had one hit and died a junkie. Percy Sledge is
in the hall of fame for one hit. Let‟s storm the building with torches and demand justice!.
We‟ve been thinking for some time that it would be a new shot in the arm for Leon‟s
recognition factor, plus a great musical collaboration if Leon would produce Hanson. After
all, Leon is a phenomenal producer; one of the very best. Steve Ripley should do the
recording.
Imagine our surprise when we open the Saturday paper the day after the Hanson
concert and see a big color picture of Leon and Ripley on stage at Mayfest, jamming with
Hanson!
Could this be the start of something big? We called Ripley to egg him on.
“I‟d like to record those guys, I really would. I‟d like to get them in here.” Steve said.
He also shared this odd bit of information: “You know, I think that‟s the first time that Leon and
I have actually played together. He played on some Tractors tracks and I recorded him for
years, but I don‟t think we ever actually played together at the same time before, and
certainly never on stage.”
So there you have the Gazette scoop of the week.
UNCLE JIM'S MUSICAL RULES Pt. 1
1. If you miss a note, bend it. If you can't bend it, play it again and they'll think you meant to do
it. DO NOT frown and shake your head at your mistakes or anyone else's. It never happened.
2. Without duct tape, there would be no Rock And Roll.
3. If you see a great looking waitress or bartenderess with little make-up and long soft natural
hair and a great bod who glides around quickly and all the guys are hitting on her, marry her.
She will understand you. Waitresses are our peers. Gary had a waitress show up at his hotel
room door with a spare bottle of champagne. He invited her in. She saw a bass leaning
against the wall and said "Wow! A pre-CBS Precision!" They have a long happy marriage.
4. "You need to know two things to be a professional musician: how to fix things and how to do
without." -Tommy Crook
5. You're not a real Rock & Roll band if you haven't played in a biker bar.
6. Always carry fuses, earplugs and a 50' extension cord. Unless you're a drummer- a square
of carpet.
7. If you think you're a really hot guitar player, you need to go out to L.A.- I dare you. There
are hundreds of guys better than you, playing in little joints for $25 a night.
8. "Original" does not automatically mean "good". Look it up.
9. Never ask to sit in. If you ask to sit in, you are instantly disqualified. Come back on jam
night. We understand that you roadied for Skynyrd, like 3,000 other people, but that doesn't
mean you can play. Someone asked Snooky "Can I play your Les Paul?" and he answered
"Can I have sex with your date?" Of course he would ask that anyway, but you get the idea.
10. On the other hand, if you are asked to sit in you have to. If you are too drunk, then you can
decline. If you are very drunk, you won't have the sense to decline. Which brings us to:
11. If you are going to make a complete and utter ass of yourself, do it in front of as many
people as possible.
12. Never trust a keyboard player who stands up. This is just wrong. He should have a volume
pedal, a sustain pedal and a Leslie switch and you can‟t operate all those and stand up and
play right.
Festival Express
is our recommended movie this month. OK, it‟s been out for a while but we had
trouble finding it. In 1970 there was a short concert tour across Canada by train. The main acts
were Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Buddy Guy, Delaney
& Bonnie, The Band, Mashmakahn, and Ian & Sylvia. The film sat in Canadian Film Board
storage for the last 35 years until someone recently dug it out and pasted it together.
We figured that Delaney & Bonnie would just blow most of them away, for chops with
soul. On the box, they are billed second to The Band. However, none of their performances
are actually in the movie. There‟s a shot of Delaney playing an acoustic guitar on the train,
and there are scenes where Bonnie walks through. Does anyone know what the deal is here?
Some of these Canadian Hippies were socialists without much sense. Woodstock had
disintegrated into a free concert because they weren‟t prepared for the unprecedented
crowds. Therefore, some Canuck pikers thought everything should be free, and they were
staging large protests.
One such dimwit approached one of the musicians (Ken Gradney) and said “This is
the people‟s music and this concert should be free!”
The bassist asked “What do you do for a living?”
“I work at my dad‟s clothing store.”
“Well, then I‟ll come down tomorrow to pick up my free suit; the people‟s suit, right?”
We always thought that Mashmakahn was a third rate band of losers. After all, the
name is based on a gross mispronunciation of Michoacan, which is a town in the notorious
state of Oaxaca. That‟s Mish-wa-KON and Wa-HA-ka. Some very high potency vegetation used
to be imported from those parts. Actually the band was not bad at all. They were kind of a
proto artrock thing. They had one hit (though it didn‟t get airplay here) and two albums and
then vaporized.
Janis gives some good performances. The Band is great as always. The extra footage
includes Tom Rush and Eric Anderson, yawn, and a rare glimpse of Seatrain doing their hit
“13 Questions”.
Seatrain featured Richard Green on electric violin, Peter Rowan who is now in the
country music background, and two members of Al Kooper’s old band The Blues Project.
They did about four albums on Capitol covering all kinds of things from obscure Carol King
to Little Feat. They had great harmonies and good original songs too. Green did most of the
soloing and his wah-wah fiddle on the uptempo version of “Willin” is one for the books.
George Martin was their producer.
AUG 05
Monk Passes
Mike Bruce died this morning in Houston, following a liver transplant. Mike had been
diagnosed with hepatitis C and cirrhosis several years ago. Hepatitis C can be contracted in
many seemingly benign ways. It has almost no effect on some people, but is devastating to
others. It can lay dormant for years before symptoms appear. It can cause cirrhosis. Mike had
been a heavy drinker, but quit after his diagnosis. He was actually a changed man, eating
healthily, exercising vigorously, and even doing a sort of prison guitar ministry. He was as
close to remission as one can get for quite a while. He and his wife Cindy moved to the woods
near Bentonville Arkansas.
“Monk” as he was known, first achieved local recognition in A Band Of Those with
Walt Richmond, Earl Funk and Gary Sloan. They put out some singles that got local
airplay. He joined Teegarden & VanWinkle in Detroit in the late sixties and played with
equal billing on their On Our Way album. They backed up newcomer Bob Seger on the
Smokin’ O.P.s album, recently reissued. Monk also toured with Bobby Blue Bland and
Rebbie Jackson, the other Jackson sister.
Monk was a world class guitarist who could read music and play any style. He taught
guitar at The Music Store for several years to several of Tulsa‟s best pickers. He was a
member of Big Frank, Rockin’ Johnny Flush & The Commodes, and The Soul Avengers.
He was a warm and witty man and will be sorely missed.
More Monk Memories
We got some details wrong regarding the passing of our friend Mike Bruce, but the
word had just come in and we wanted to get it out quickly. We heard the liver was rejected.
He did not have an operation. It was not a match or was unsuitable for some reason. He had
been barely hanging on and was in poor shape the last few weeks. His suffering is over,
anyway.
Mike would want people to know that he had returned to Christianity and was very
active in his little church and led the music there. Facing death is a life changing experience
however you look at it. He was not afraid to die and said he was ready.
I didn‟t mention this but Mike and I were related by marriage. My wife Diana’s
brother John Garrett was married to Cindy Bruce‟s late sister Theresa. “That makes us
brothers-in-law once removed.” He observed, “How awful.” Diana has known Cindy and her
family since Kindergarten.
I knew Mike forty years. All who knew him agree that he was a musical genius. He was
an all-around genius too; an honors student with a degree from T.U. Though he was never
mean, he once had quite an ego and certainly abused himself with hard partying.
He learned about the grace of humility and the joy of clean living the hard way. My
athletic step-son Adam says he had a hard time keeping up with his Uncle Mike and Aunt
Cindy mountain biking for dozens of miles.
Praise for Mike came to us from all over. From L.A. Joe Moguin cited Bruce as one of
his inspirations. Steve Pryor was a student of Monk, as was Cris Baker.
Terry Cooper said: “Monk was a mentor to me in many ways. He got me started
riding bicycles, dipping Skoal and living life for the moment like no one else. He was the first
guitarist I ever saw play solo jazz guitar live. It was breathtaking. I can still hear him saying,
"How hard can it be?" and "...that's hideous!!" I know where he is now he knows how much I
love him, and how he influenced me. He is truly one of the great souls of all time.”
Bruce left impressions everywhere. Steve Kilpatrick in Michigan remembers seeing
him with Seger and Teegarden and VanWinkle. “There was no doubt this guy can really
play.” Steve has a bootleg of the 10 for 2 concert film and we‟re hoping to get a copy for
Cindy if she doesn‟t already have it. The unreleased film includes John & Yoko, Commander
Cody, Allen Ginsberg, and Stevie Wonder.
Eric Grimshaw reminded us of the Jazz Babies; a band Mike was probably very
proud of. Members included Faulkner Evans, Taco Ryan, Leon Rollerson, Tommy Lokey,
Jamie Oldaker and we think at times Kirk Felton and Carl Radle.
The Greeks was another Bruce group Tim Kassen recalled. Monk would come on
stage in a toga, swinging his guitar around like a bludgeon. They had Roman columns
flanking the stage and needless to say, played a lot of frat parties.
Cindy surely has medical bills to deal with. Donations can be sent to The Samaritan
Community Center Attn: Medical Fund P. O. Box 939 Rogers, AR 72757
Profits from Smokin’ OP’s and Soul Avengers CDs will help too. Soul Avengers is
available at CDBaby.com
MARBLE PHROGG
I was working on a chapter of Road Years recently and wrote about the weekend in
1969 when I sang with a band called Marble Phrogg. I was on my way to L.A. in my 1952
GMC and needed to buy some tires so I called Tulsan Mick Turner, their lead guitarist. Their
singer was out for the weekend and they asked me to fill in. I‟d never been on stage without a
prop, but I went for it. It was OK. I made enough to buy three tires. Phil Norvell of Tulsa was a
member for a while. The rhythm guitarist, Hoppy Niles, had a hook in place of his right hand.
The bass player was a heavy hairy biker looking guy named Nick Mason. Nick and Hoppy
were the mainstays of the band.
So as I‟m musing over this, it occurs to me that someone said there was a Marble
Phrogg album that is now a collectible. I searched the web and found a big surprise. They had
done an album in 1968 on Derrick Records. It was all covers, but with different
arrangements. The record is a considered a paragon of garage band psychedelia and copies
are going for around $1000 a piece! See, there‟s another reason to stock up on these Jukin’ At
Joe’s CDs; to provide for your grandchildren‟s college education! How‟s that for a sneaky
plug?
Sept 05
Real Music
Percolating under the radar is Frank Adams. Most of you have probably not heard of
him, but if there is any justice you and the world will know him.
Frank‟s father was bassist Ted Adams, who died early last year. Ted played with Bob
& Johnny Lee Wills, Leon McCauliffe, and many other famous groups. He was an all-around
musician and knew a lot of jazz. Frank took up the bass, too, and played gigs with local bands
through high school and into college, when he discovered the saxophone. To call Frank a
virtuoso is almost an insult; he‟s just an incredible musician.
The last high-profile job Frank held was at The Grapevine where he played for
several years with just a bass player, often his brother.
One Christmastime, the Frank Adams Quartet (Frank Brown on guitar) was booked at
The Nine Of Cups. Someone slipped Frank a piece of paper with a phone number on it and
said “Chet Baker is in Yale visiting his family for the holidays.” Frank stared at the paper for
a while and finally made the call. The quartet gave Chet all their money for him to play with
them that weekend.
Frank set up his two track reel-to-reel and taped the gig. There was a problem,
though. The Nine of Cups stage was on top of the walk-in refrigerator and the tape had an
annoying hum all the way through it. Frank almost erased it, since it was maddeningly
spoiled. Years later, Tulsa drummer Kirk Felton, now an engineer for Fantasy Records, ran
the tape through their Sonic Solutions computer and took the hum out. Fantasy released an
album of it called “Out Of Nowhere”. Critics called it “A rare example of unrestrained
playing” by Baker.
“That‟s because we kicked his ass.” Frank chuckled. Recently there was a big
concert, A Tribute To Chet Baker. We didn‟t see Frank‟s name on the bill, though he is one of
only four people in Tulsa who ever played with Baker. “No one invited me.” He said.
Before Walt Richmond joined the Tractors, Frank and Walt recorded a bunch of
compositions they did together. It was a kind of Jazz with a lot of different rhythms; light years
beyond Tractors music. Frank also went to Europe and participated in a seminar with
Karlheinz Stockhausen, a pioneer of electronic and experimental music.
Frank is now composing and recording at home. He has filled 60 CDs with original
electronic music. “I don‟t know what you would call it. You just have to hear it.” Indeed we do.
PS:
Alice Chalmers writes to ask “How could anything be „light years beyond‟ The Tractors
music? These guys are Country Gentlemen, Rural Sophisticates, playing hillbilly jazz. Just
name some music that is better; I dare you.”
Well, Alice, you are absolutely right. Perhaps it was a poor choice of words. We were
not in any way dissing the Tractors; they are all incredible musicians – all 57 of them. We
were just trying to say that Walt‟s compositions with Frank Adams were more “Out There”.
This could be taken many ways, as being more complex, less accessible – you may like it and
you might not. There‟s a lot of jazz in The Tractors music. We would refer to Louis Armstrong
who said “There‟s only two kinds of music: good and bad. Anything that makes you pat your
foot is good music.” So we enjoy Slade as much as we like Bach.
chuck who?
Frank gets the prize for the dumb question of the week at Blues City Friday:
“Do you mind if Chuck Blackwell sits in?”
Gosh Frank, would you mind if Michelle Pfeiffer sat on your lap for a couple of
hours?
So we did The Letter. “That‟s one Chuck played on.” Said Zig.
Then we did Goin‟ Down. “That‟s one that Chuck played on.” Smiled Zig.
Then we did She Caught The Katy. “Chuck played on that one too.” We finally did one
that Chuck had not played on. We should‟ve done Who Do You Think You Are? by The
Shindogs. Chuck played on that one too. “That was number ten in Seattle.” Chuck laughed.
Blackwell is a survivor; he‟s been to the high plateaus of the rock world. The air gets
pretty thin up there sometimes; many don‟t make it through. If “Been there, done that.” was in
the dictionary they could put Chuck‟s picture there. But he kept his sanity, started a little
business of his own and lives quietly out of the limelight. Still, he is a bona fide legend and all
the best Tulsa drummers speak of him with awe and admiration. It was a joy and an honor to
have him sit in with our little band of blaggards. If your drummer doesn‟t know who Chuck
Blackwell is, fire him and then shoot him.
By the way, there‟s a movie that features Chuck Blackwell, Ron Morgan, Pete
Huckabee, Jack Palance and Andy Warhol. It‟s called Cocaine Cowboys and showed one time
at The Fox Midnight Movie. Good luck finding that one.
Everybody Loved Him, Too
It was Sunday, September 18th, that was one of the saddest days in music history. It‟s
hard to believe that it was thirty five years ago this week that James Marshall Hendrix died.
I actually heard about Hendrix before I heard him play. Wes Brunson had been to
England in early 1967 and came back talking about this American Indian/Black guitarist who
was tearing up London with these giant amplifiers, just freaking people clear out of their
minds. A few months later, driving into Chicago on the skyway, I heard Purple Haze on the
radio and realized that the electric guitar had become a different instrument than it was
before, and here was the new master.
There was Before Hendrix and now there is After Hendrix. It is safe to say that no one
has made anywhere near the advancement on the instrument since. Jimi literally made it talk –
listen to the final noise at the end of Still Raining, Still Dreaming. There‟s a lick on the first
turnaround of the solo on Come On Part One which, if you play it at half speed, you still can‟t
even pick out all the notes. There‟s a lick in Little Wing that he lifted out of Claire De Lune by
Debussy. He listened to and learned from everything. Gypsy Eyes sounds like city streets in
the rain.
By the way, Jimi did not overdose. The dosage wouldn‟t have killed him. He didn‟t
realize the German reds were stronger than the American ones. He accidentally took enough
to suppress his gag reflex and when the novice EMT sat him up in the ambulance, he choked.
If you want to win a bar bet, the name on his birth certificate is Johnny Allen Hendrix.
As Dizzy said, “You can look it up.” His dad was in the army when he was born and his mother
named him. When Al got home, he changed it.
Jimi fathered one son, who lives quietly in Sweden.
We had no winners on the other song in D Flat. It‟s Long Hot Summer Night.
Steve Bailey
Steve Bailey checked out last week. He was 52, which is far too young to be calling it
quits. Steve started playing in bands in high school with The Hallucinations, which included
the late Martin Welch and the late Rick Durbin. That group mutated into Sundog, which
included Murph Schuler, Bingo Sloan, and Jack Wolfe.
Steve played with just about everyone over the years including Don White, Gus
Hardin, Junior Markham and Mickey Crocker. He played the after hours Cornucopia in the
80s with Sass, which was Bob Withrow, Rocky Frisco and John Hoff.
A few years ago he ran Bailey‟s club at 11th and Sheridan. That club closed because of
a tragedy. Some fifteen-year-old girl was handed the keys to a pickup truck and decided to
drive 95 mph down south Darlington. She crashed into Steve‟s mom‟s house, right into the
dining room, severely injuring Mrs. Bailey and killing a friend who was visiting from out of
town. Steve took care of his mom for quite a while after that.
His mom died a couple of years ago and Steve became reclusive and withdrawn. The
public didn‟t see much of him in the last few years. He was a truly funny guy, a lovable and
caring person and we miss him.
bobby jones
“I never knew that a white man could sing like that.” - David “Hoppy” Hopkins, on
Bobby Jones.
Bobby Jones is a phenomenal singer and bass player who hails from Omaha
Nebraska. Some of his childhood friends were Herbie Rich, Stemsie Hunter and Buddy
Miles, who all joined up with some Jews from Chicago to form The Electric Flag. Bobby was
also with a Chicago band called The Aorta that did an album on Columbia circa 68 or 69. He
had also played with The Hollywood Argyles.
He moved in where I was staying at Sweet Earth on 15th Street in the summer of 1969
and started playing at The Cellar Club (later Magician‟s Theater) with The Sunday Servants.
His Tulsa connection was that he had met Tripplehorn, Karstein and Radle when they
played Omaha with Garry Lewis. The Sunday Servants were Tripplehorn, Teegarden and
Larry Bell. Bobby also did some gigs with Glenn Townsend that summer.
After that, he was out in L.A. trying to get a band together with Chuck Blackwell.
Chuck called him up and said “You‟d better get over to Leon’s house; he‟s putting together a
big band for Joe Cocker’s tour.”
So Bobby joined up with Mad Dogs & Englishmen. He was part of The Space Choir.
On the album, he even sings a solo on “Drown In My Own Tears.” In the group shot, he‟s the
one sitting in front with long curly dark hair and he‟s giving the peace sign.
Bobby has been fronting a big soul band called Jump Street out in Santa Barbara CA
for the last few years. He had a stroke exactly two years ago and forgot all the words to his
songs. He‟s had to learn the language all over again.
Larry Bell reports that Bobby visited Tulsa recently and stayed at his house for a
couple of days. It was a whirlwind visit and unfortunately I didn‟t get to see him. Bell said he‟s
looking good. Well, he always looked good, but how‟s he doing? Actually, he‟s doing great
and on the way to what appears to be a complete recovery. Anyway, Bobby says to tell all his
Tulsa friends hello.
OCT 05
Some Lies About Roger Tillison
11/23/00
NOTE: A lot of the tales I spin may be totally unfounded. Take into consideration the
bleary sources I cite and also the fact that, due to several years of Kentucky whiskey use, I am
no longer the near-genius I was once judged to be. These apocrypha must be taken with a
fistful of salt. It makes interesting reading, though. This slander was originally posted on
TulsaMusic.com in 2000. I let Roger read it first and he assured me they were all lies but it was
OK to print them anyway. Evidently the statute of limitations is not up on some of these lies.
In about 1971 drummer Dan Cornett, guitarist Terry McBride and I were writing
songs. I had already written a couple of dozen, which I had been doing in my solo
coffeehouse act, but they weren't all suited for the band "Possum" we were putting together.
Dan was good with lyrics, Terry was better with musical ideas, and I contributed to both and
helped cobble their ideas together.
One day Terry brought out an old spiral notebook with some writings in it.
"Here's some lyrics we can use. Webb said this Roger Tillison guy left this at his place
in Stillwater. He said Roger wouldn't mind if someone used some of his lyrics." Terry offered.
We selected a poem entitled "Lonesome Louie". Dan came up with a rhythm and a
melodic idea. I had a sort of Tull-like riff that fit under the verse lyrics. Terry came up with a
weird chord progression for the chorus. Dan edited some of the stanzas of Roger's words and
added some of his own. Then I came up with an instrumental section inspired by Terry's
chorus. It was our best group effort as a song writing team. We recorded it at Derrick Studios,
with Brian Felts on bass. It was played on KWGS a few times. I redid it a year later at Derrick
with Kirk Felton on drums, Terry on a bizarre lead guitar and Blaine Trombold on bass. I also
have three live recordings of Xebec doing it later on.
Who was this Roger guy? He was a friend of Webb's brother, sort of. I can't remember
the Webb brothers‟ names now, it's just as well. About all we knew of Roger was a tale that
Terry had heard from the younger Webb.
It seems the elder Webb had somehow acquired several big grocery bags of a very
amusing herbal material. This Roger person had appropriated not only this large quantity of
vegetable matter, but also the automobile of one Emily Smith. This was the first I'd heard of
her, too. Terry said her dad owned the Tulsa Oilers.
Roger vanished. A few days later he called Emily from Amarillo, just to tell her that the
car was all right and he would bring it back eventually. Emily wanted it back right then.
A couple of days later he checked in with Emily. She was getting agitated. If Roger was caught
with the illegal leaves, she could kiss her car good-bye and might be implicated. Roger said
he was in Albuquerque and was going to California. "Roger, bring my car back now!!" she
demanded.
The next call was from the opposite direction. "Emily, this is Roger. I'm in St. Louis and
they got me in jail!" he said, as if expecting she would raise his bail.
"Good!" said Emily. (Things got patched up, however. A few years ago Diana and I
were having a beer at The Bull & Bear when Emily cruised in with Roger and Junior Markham.)
When I joined Xebec, they had heard my recording of Lonesome Louie and wanted to
do it. When I mentioned Roger Tillison, someone whipped out an LP on the ATCO label
entitled "Roger Tillison's ALBUM". I had no idea he had ever really written any songs, let
alone recorded them on a major label! There was the original song, Lonesome Louie, which I
never knew existed. Naturally, it was nothing at all like the song I was doing. It was in fact a
rather straightforward blues tune. Whenever Xebec performed the song, I introduced it as
being by Roger.
One night we were playing at The Observatory and this guy introduced himself. He
was a tall blonde Poet with a withered leg. His name was Mike Killingsworth and he was from
Duncan, Oklahoma- home of Ron Howard, Hoyt Axton and Roger Tillison. He and Roger had
grown up together. He told me that when Roger did the ATCO album he was managed by
Albert Grossman, the famous Svengali who also managed Bob Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary, The
Band, and Janis Joplin.
One of the first Roger tales I heard from Mike was about a concert in Denver. Roger
was working solo. Albert booked him as the opening act for a black gospel-tinged group
named The Bells, or something like that. It made as much sense as Brewer & Shipley opening
for Black Sabbath, which also happened. The crowd was mostly if not entirely black and
Roger goes out there and performs one of his most irreverent ditties entitled "You Don't Have
To Be Black To Be A Nigger".
One can imagine this was not greeted with the warmest response. Roger was booed
off the stage. Grossman was furious: "What are you trying to do- ruin my reputation?"
"What are you trying to do? You're ruining MY reputation booking me a gig like that!"
Roger allegedly retorted.
Mike continued: "That was the beginning of the end of their short-lived relationship.
Roger checked into the Chelsea Hotel in New York under the name of Albert Grossman and
began charging all kinds of food and booze."
Mike also told me at that time that Lonesome Louie was a real person, an old club
owner that Roger had known.
Several years after my meeting Killingsworth, he turned up again when I was playing
with Flying Horse at Cain‟s. Crouch said "Killingsworth is going to do "Chickens" with us. It's
just a blues tune with a recitation over it."
Then this crazy lopsided guy, gesticulating like Joe Cocker on Angel Dust, got up and
recited a poem that was actually from a Zap cartoon by Gilbert Shelton which was about a
farmer taking acid and setting his chickens free.
In the dressing room he told me another Roger story. Mike was hanging out at Leon
Russell's infamous Skyhill Drive studio in Hollywood. Roger had written a kind of bubblegum
tune that Leon had Garry Lewis record entitled "You Don't Have To Paint Me A Picture". The
record made it into the top forty and Roger got a pretty fat royalty check.
"Then the day after he got his first check he showed up at Leon's house with a nice
used Buick he'd paid cash for and a quart jar full of cocaine." Mike said.
"I'm going to New York City, Mike. You want to come along?" asked Roger.
"Well, I looked at the car. I looked at Roger - kinda freaky looking - and I looked at
that big stash of coke. I smelled trouble." Mike recalled. "I said, 'No, Roger, I think I'm going
to sit this one out."
In the winter of 1989-1990, I was divorced and almost living on the street when Mike
offered to share his garage apartment with me. By this time he had illegally changed his name
to Art Pruitt, because he thought the IRS was looking for him. He demanded that all his friends
call him "Art", so we did. He thought of himself as a work of Art, and I suppose he was.
And at last I met Roger. He said at the time he was working with Blackwell and some
other guys on a band that was going to be called "The Tractors". We got together and jammed
some that winter. He had heard about my version of Lonesome Louie but he hadn't heard it. I
didn't have a tape of it at the time, and it was a little complex for me to perform it for him as a
soloist. To this day, I don't believe he's heard it yet.
But he looked familiar; real familiar. He looked like a guy named Roger that I used to
work with in 1966. "Roger, did you ever work in the mat room in the advertising department
of the Newspaper Printing Corporation?" I asked.
"Yeah, I did." he answered. He disputed the time frame, and he didn't remember me
from then, but I knew it was the same quiet greaser slacker I worked with back then.
So we had collaborated on a song before we ever met, then it turns out we had met
long before and never connected it all up.
Later that winter, who should show up with Roger at Mike/Art's place but none other
than Lonesome Louie himself. He turned out to be a likable but ravaged old junkie. It was very
strange to find out that I had sung about a real person for twenty years, and here he was; not
at all like I had imagined him. I had envisioned him as more like well, Roger. I moved out
soon after that, fortunately.
If someone ever puts out a CD of "Tulsa's Most Bizarre Music" I certainly hope that
both versions of "Lonesome Louie" will be on it.
Transatlantic Report
We are not joking about this being an International Edition. Here at the Global
Consciousness Office we actually get mail from Thailand, Dubai, and even Alsuma.
Let us introduce to you our Continental Drifter; a former Tulsan and fellow of the Yail
Bloor College of Delphonics.
The mention of Dr. Kim May brought to my mind one of the most unsung musical
heroes (mine at least) of Tulsa's past.
It was about 1960 and it had been announced that an Edison pep rally (yawn) was
to be held in the school cafeteria after classes. But...there was going to be live
entertainment. I decided to curb my ennui for school spirit long enough to check it out.
Walking into the cafeteria, I was confronted with a four-piece combo, wearing sport
coats and ties, on a portable riser stage. They launched into a very commendable cover of
Ricky Nelson's “Hello, Marylou”. I didn't know any of the players, but later found out that
the vocalist was Jeff Musick. Yup, Scott's big brother. If he hadn't gone into the family
business he could have gone to LA with his drummer, Jimmy Karstein, and probably done
quite well. He had "the look" and sang great. The bass player was Jim Daugherty. I don't
know what ever happened to him.
As the ode to Marylou approached the solo, the guitarist sailed off into the best
James Burton solo I've ever heard, before or since. He nailed it to the wall. I was stunned,
and that was likely an epiphany in my life. In the naiveté of my youth, something in the
back of my mind said "This music thing don't look like a bad way to go." Apparently the
Burton lick guitarist, with Jeff Musick and the All Nighters, did not share this sentiment.
If you were ever rushed from the bar to the St. John's emergency room, in the
middle of the night in the late 70s, with a gunshot wound or your nose half bitten off, you
were likely patched up by Dr. Doug Moore...
that killer Tulsa guitar player from the 60s.
He coulda been a contender. As it turned out, he is one hell of a fine doctor.
Au revoir,
Wynton Bluitt
Zig Gazette Correspondent
European Desk
FLOTSAM
Bill said this gal kept trying to get him on the dance floor “If you love music so much,
why don‟t you want to dance?” she axed.
He answered “If you love it so much, why don‟t you want to play?”
We discussed playing over. I offered that it‟s good business to always give a little
extra. Bill said “I am a whore, but I‟m not a slut.” He‟s full of these classic comments.
Stupid Question Department: More than once it has happened that we‟ll be loading
equipment into a bar and a new waitress or bartenderess will come up and ask “Are you with
the band?”
The correct answer of course is “No. It‟s just that when I go out drinking I always show
up at 7:30 with eleven hundred pounds of equipment.”
LAKE REPORT
We were honored to be the first band to play at Cruizers at Port Carlos. (Frank
suggested they name the place “Santana‟s”)
As if that wasn‟t enough, who should pop in but Polly Ess and Libby Jones! We didn‟t
have to twist their arms very hard to get them to come up during the last set and sing with us.
In fact they begged off singing lead so they could harmonize; something they don‟t get to do
that often. It was magnificent, of course. They are official Zigettes now. Those two have been
singing together for – well, being gentlemen we can‟t say, because then you will know that
they are not 25 years old. They volunteered to help out on our next album. Right on!
Polly admitted to being a big Zigs fan. “You guys at the Cain‟s were like a fierce
rocking machine!” she exclaimed. “It was like being run over by a Mack truck!” Of course,
that day we were all paying homage to the George Washington of Tulsa Rock, John Henry.
But this is high praise indeed. Polly Ess has more soul and shamanistic power in her
little finger than some entire bands do. So if she endorses us like that, we must have
something. We‟re not sure what, but whatever it is, we have it.
You won‟t see a review of The Zigs that reads like “Think The Rumbuggers meet
Pastel Bumbershoot.” or anything remotely like that. We‟re more in tune with gutbuckets,
piledrivers, bulldozers, and barnstorming.
NOV 05
DOGs AND PHROGGs
Mad Dog got back from Austin with a copy of the CD reissue of Marble Phrogg.
I had recently mentioned this band for some reason. I sang with them one weekend in
OKC in 1969. This album was done the previous year at Derrick Studios (Pine & Harvard)
when they were a five-piece. There are no credits whatsoever except song titles. The jacket
does not say who is in the band or who wrote the songs.
Most of the songs are pretty stock covers of that era. There really is no originality to
the arrangements. Even the guitar solos are sort of copies of the originals. It seems like sort of
an exercise in „why bother‟? You have to remind yourself that a mediocre band in Tulsa is
usually better than a great band in Toledo.
One wonders why this is such a collectible album that Europeans will fork over $1000
for it. Maybe it‟s the uncredited cover cartoon. [However, with a few notable exceptions,
Americans have always produced the best Rock And Roll; we invented it and it‟s in our
marrow.] There are a few good fuzz tone guitar licks here and there. The mix is in true stereo,
with the drums in the bathroom on one channel, the lead vocal on the other, and everything
else kind of in the middle with reverb. Derrick Studio had a four track ½” machine in those
days. We‟ve heard worse albums, really but we can‟t think of them right away.
The bass playing is solid, the rhythm guitar is in tune, and the drummer keeps time
almost all the way through. The vocalist sounds kind of like a distraught glee-club refugee;
soulful, he isn‟t. Most of the songs are recognizable: Born To Be Wild, I Feel Free, and Fire, for
example. But some are obscure like Fields Of Sun, There‟s A Girl and Love Me Again. So we
searched those titles and There‟s A Girl turned up nothing of that era, so it might be original.
Fields of Sun is by Iron Butterfly. Argh, that means someone in this band actually bought an
Iron Butterfly album and liked it! Ten points off for that. But Love Me Again is quite possibly by
Strawberry Alarm Clock – an Ed King song, no less. We sent word to Ed about this so he can
probably get that $1.37 royalty check he needs so badly.
The Tulsa Music scene of 1968 included such bands as Boss Tweed, Tulsa County,
Soft White, The Chosen Few, Steamer’s Trunk, and The Great Danes. Bill Davis had a
big soul revue at P.J.‟s. Skip & Dave were at The Rafters. Cale was playing with Don White at
the Stables. Carolyn Ann Blankenship had just become Gus Hardin and she and Steve
Hardin were at The Valhalla. There weren‟t that many hippie bands like Marble Phrogg, so
they were kind of underground at the time. They were mostly underage, too. We did catch
them once at Pepperland, opening for Family Tree.
Alternatives: HARRY PARTCH
How hip can it get? With no editors, publishers or advertisers breathing down our
necks, we here at the Gazette can write whatever we want to. We‟re gonna let you in on
something that even a lot of musicians don‟t know about.
Do you love music? Are you fascinated by it‟s many forms and styles? Can you dig
Bach, Hound Dog Taylor, Mozart, Dave Von Ronk, Miles Davis, John Cage, Roy Buchanan and
Stravinsky?
If you are indeed such a music lover with broad taste, we dare you to check out Harry
Partch. This is like nothing you‟ve ever heard before; we guarantee it. We know, somebody
said this about something else and it sounded to you like another guy, but Harry Partch lived
in his own universe and you have never heard anything like his music, because there IS
nothing like it.
To make a long story short, Partch was a composer in the traditional sense. Then he
started looking over Pythagoras and the theory of just intonation. Our music uses the
tempered scale, which is not harmonically correct at all. Partch called it “The ill-tempered
scale”. It was devised so that different instruments could play together “in tune” but what it
really does is make them all equally out of tune.
So Partch decided to create a whole new musical form. Western music uses 12 tones
to the octave. Harmony has it‟s roots in the physics of vibration of objects, and the arbitrary
selection of twelve has no direct relation to the math involved. Partch decided to divide the
octave into 43 tones; that means his music has notes between the notes we are used to
hearing, and even notes between those. Naturally, few instruments can play those notes, so
Partch built all his own instruments to play his music. The instruments are pretty fantastic too.
His works combine many performance elements; they are stories where the musicians
are also singers and actors. Several albums were released on Columbia Masterworks. The
Zigs say check it out if you dare.
FEEDBACK
Harry Partch is still a topic in the feedback department. Jazz guitar monster Frank
Brown stopped in at Bourbon Street and said he had made a copy from one of Tom Rush‟s LP
box sets and was wildly surprised by the music. We agreed it is for music lovers. Brian
Thompson of Cain‟s Posters fame, has had a box set for many years. He says that no matter
how suggestible some of his visitors might be, many are totally unhinged by Partch: “What
the %$#@ is that &#*!?” Some Coltrane records will eliminate unwanted houseguests too.
Stuff like this makes us realize how limited our definitions of art are. Partch is to Beethoven as
Victor Vasarely is to Rembrandt. Just wait until one of Partch‟s protégés gets their hands on a
Synclavier.
Our mention of the extraordinary Harry Partch prompted a few readers to check him
out. Evidently there‟s quite a bit about him out there on this here web thing.
Cindy Cain says “I LOVE THE GAZETTE. I always learn something and I always
laugh.”
One of our readers, whose name is indecipherable from his or her email address, but
is probably another Thompson, wrote in to say that the Nov 17 Gazette was the funniest ever.
Really? OK, there were a few zingers in there. But we appreciate the feedback and will exploit
all compliments to the fullest. For examples:
“The Zig Gazette is the funniest thing I‟ve read all day.” –Phil Seymour
“The Zig Gazette is always informative and thought provoking.” –Mike Naifeh
“If I was alive I would read the Gazette every week.” –Jimi Hendrix
“It‟s good enough to eat!” –Karen Carpenter
“I wouldn‟t let my dog, Charlie Watts, read that crap.” – David Tanner
A real living person, Rick Heck, our auxiliary #1 drummer said after the Chiggers
gig, “I don‟t remember when I last had as much fun on a gig. Yes I do – it was the last time I
played with you guys.” Thank you Rick, it was our pleasure to play with you too.
DEC 05
TULSA MUSICIANS REUNION
„Tis easy to get all mushy this time of year. The Tulsa Musicians Reunion is a labor of
love for Tim Kassen and all his Buddies and Buddettes. Tim was quoted in The Tulsa World
about the “fellowship and camaraderie” of Tulsa musicians that most people don‟t
understand. That‟s probably not entirely the case. It‟s hard not to see it, if you‟re looking at
the scene. Every time there‟s a need, we show up en masse to donate our talents. That‟s about
all some of us have.
Even players who are not on the schedule show up to cheer their friends on and just to
see each other. It is really like our second family. Relationships of other types may come and
go, but most of us keep strong connections with people we may have played with even briefly
in the distant past.
People wonder what it‟s like. When they hear you‟re a musician they have lots of
questions: What instrument do you play? What kind of music do you play? Where do you
play? Who have you played with? Have you played with anyone famous?
There are actually three “generations” of Tulsa music in our band. Bill was a teenager
when Rock & Roll began. His peers include Rocky Frisco, Jimmy Karstein, Gene Crose, Bill
Davis, Carl Radle, Wes Reynolds and of course Leon Russell, David Gates and J. J. Cale. Larry
Bell, Tommy Tripplehorn, and David Teegarden are a little younger. There was a small
second wave of postwar guys who were playing in the early sixties such as Townsend, Bill
Snow, Bill Pitcock and Downing. Then when The Beatles hit there was an explosion of kids
buying guitars, though most of them mercifully quit when they went to college or got
engaged. (The Mid-Life Crisis band was part of that boom and they took it up again in their
second childhoods. There is probably a band with that same history, if not the very same
name in every major city.) But a lot of post-Beatles boomers are still at it. Many of those have
had great success, such as Jamie Oldaker, Dick Sims, Pat Kelly, and Scott Musick. As we have
aged, those generational lines have blurred. Sometimes in one band you‟ll see guys from age
thirty to fifty.
“Man, that‟s a band.” Said one photographer as Junior Markham stomped through a
set of authoritative blues. Ray D. Rowe of the GAP Band sang a couple with them. Some of the
younger guys were on first; Dustin Pittsley had Jesse Aycock on lap steel. Tommy Crook
actually became a group member, playing with old cohorts Larry Bell, David Teegarden and
Larry York. Pete Marriot and Betsy Smittle did some originals that had a nice groove and good
harmonies. Larry Arnett put together a bunch of eclectic players and did some Dylan & Hawks
music. Charlie Redd sat in with Steve Pryor. There was some trouble with the Hammond, the
most customized one on the planet. (Bell said it used to be his and Dick Sims rescued it from a
club where the roof fell in on it.) Kassen, Downing and Sims got it working again for most of
The Zigs‟ set. Then Sims finished out the night with Scott Ellison and Pryor. It was a great
show, all good, and a lot of fun for the players even if a lot of the crowd obviously had to get
up early on Monday morning. Tim – we need more chicks on the bill next year.
FLOTSAM
Allow us to wax poetic about an old friend. There has never been any doubt, for the
last 20 years or more that Steve Pryor is an exceptional talent, even among the crop of world-
class guitarists that Tulsa has produced. Many of us watched him with morbid fascination
when he showed up late and stumbling, ordered a martini, then blew us all away with wild
passion and technical wizardry. But everyone knew he had problems, and those problems had
few boundaries. We needn‟t go into all of that. Many fine players have met their early demise
because of things they should have had control over, but didn‟t. Steve has fought the demons,
sometimes gaining ground and sometimes losing it. He‟s had more opportunities than a lot of
us have had, and sabotaged them due to what is basically a metabolic disorder. It was like
grabbing the brass ring and falling directly into a sewage pond. This inherent sensitivity to
certain refreshments begets all kinds of ethical, moral and psychic difficulties. 93% of
alcoholics and addicts never get straight; they die loaded. You can look it up.
Like many others, Steve skated close to the edge, and almost went over more than
once. That‟s the trouble in dancing with the devil; you rarely survive it.
Facing death is a convincing wake-up call (it worked for me). Steve came close to
dying a grisly death on a country road all alone, far from help and home. Even after that
happened, we were still worried, because sometimes that doesn‟t even do it. There were
signs that he wasn‟t facing up to it at first. That‟s understandable; it takes time to own up to
your mistakes. If you‟re lucky, you have a Keith Richards moment.
As a recovering alcoholic myself, I‟ve seen this movie many times and it usually ends
badly. I have to say that I strongly believe that Steve gets it now. Often egotism is a symptom
of someone with a very fragile sense of self. I always knew that beneath the egotistical
bombast and admitted selfishness, there was a man with the heart of a poet. That man has
come from the shadows and stepped out front.
Anyone can train his fingers to play scales at blistering speed. Steve can certainly do
that, but it takes something more to turn it into music. You have to get out of the way and let
the spirit in. Even when he was in fullest asshole flower, Steve could lose himself in the music
and take you somewhere with him.
He and I were talking in the bathroom at The Blank Slate and a stranger came up and
shook his hand and said, “You are better.” He did not need to say more. Yes, he is, and not
just musically. Thank you, Mister Pryor. Welcome to the survivors club; we‟re glad you‟re still
here.
CHRISTMAS JAM
Sorry we couldn‟t say more about our special guest. You‟re just going to have to
remember this, if you are still with us next year. Last year we hosted the Blues City Sunday
Jam on the day after Christmas and Ed King sat in with us. Ed is the original guitarist (and
once bassist) with Lynyrd Skynyrd. He wrote that Alabama song and Saturday Night Special
and many others. He is married to Sharon Brock , a lovely and humorous Tulsa girl. Her family
is here and they come to town around the holiday.
Well, this year they had a little family get together at the club with a cake and a gift of
a custom guitar strap because after seven nominations Ed‟s old band is finally inducted into
the Hall Of Fame. He played a whole set with us this year and actually jammed; something his
wife says he never does. He did an especially good job on “Crazy Mama”. It was so good, the
amp couldn‟t stand it and we had to pull up another one. Chuck Blackwell sat in with us on
“They Call Me The Breeze” and “Goin‟ Down”. (What am I doing here?)
But The Zigs Invitational Christmas Jam sounds like a good idea, and maybe we‟ll
continue with it. It was quite a busy week night at Blues City, even though the only advertising
was in this Gazette thing you are now reading.
Those who also sat in included Betsy Smittle, Valerie Meador, Joe Hancock, Bob
Parker and Kevin Flint. Bob and Zig did “Santa Boogie” from their Notions days. Also
dropping in were Dan Cornett, Richard Hoe, David Teegarden, Heather Tanner, Bill Martin
and Minnie Moore. This is starting to sound like the society page.
Raffensperger was sidelined to get his shoulder operated on. They had to fix his
rotator cuff, whatever that is. He is back on the good foot, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, but
will have his arm in a sling for a few weeks.
Sharon said they stayed at her mom‟s house. Someone called and asked for Mrs. King
and mom said they had the wrong number. Then Sharon noticed a framed picture on a table
of Ed and some blonde at some event. “So not only does my mom not know my name, she
doesn‟t know what I look like!” laughed Sharon.