Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Just a brief note to mention that I'll be on the road most of
tomorrow, and praying for some kind of internet access in my hotel room
once I get to Amsterdam. Y'll ask David some *really* challenging
questions to keep him busy, and I'll try to check in at least once
before I leave in the morning. 
  

    
Hi, Valerie. Thank you for the kind words about the book; I'm glad you
enjoyed it.  To answer your question, I believe there's only two
artists B.B. might--might--regard as protegees, one a singer, the other
a picker. The singer is Bobby "Blue" Bland, and I single him out
because he sort of learned about the business while working for B. as a
valet as he was breaking in. I believe B.  took Bobby under his wing,
the same way Bukka White had done B. in his youth, and taught him about
dressing right, stagecraft, dealing with fans, being a professional in
his approach to the music and the business around the music. And you
know, B. is an incredible vocalist, and I believe Bobby picked up some
inspiration from hearing how B. approached a lyric. Though their paths
rarely cross anymore, B. and Bobby have a close bond, spiritual,
really, and in their own way look out for one another. I have heard
from multiple sources that B. has insisted that Bobby be booked at the
B.B. King clubs on a regular basis, and I don't know that B. has done
that for any other artist. I don't believe he has much involvement in
those clubs that bear his name, but in the case of Bobby Bland, he most
certainly has thrown his weight around. The other artist who might be
a protegee on some level is one of B.'s favorite young guitarists,
Kenny Wayne Shepherd. B. is quite fond of Kenny, and at one time they
were in regular contact with each other, B. freely giving of his
experience and insight in helping Kenny get a grip on the business. And
B. himself told me that they had talked a lot about playing, little
tips and tricks they use, and of course he said something like, "Of
course I learn as much from [Kenny] as he does from me, maybe more."
And of course, B. absolutely loved Stevie Ray Vaughan, but theirs was
not a mentor-protegee relationship in the least.
  

    
You don't think Junior Parker was more important in Bobby Bland's
career than B.B. King? Or, since this isn't a contest, *just as*
important? 
  

    
I'm still interested in the Fender/Gibson deal, David.    As I mentioned
earlier, I've seen early photos of him holding a Fender, and wonder if he
played them early on, or if it was hust a prop.   If he moved from Fender to
Gibson, there should have been a major sonic shift in his playing.   It
would be unmistakeable on record.    I just haven't heard much early BB.
My earliest album is "Live at the Regal".
  

    
On the early records -- "Sweet Sixteen," "My Own Fault," "Rock Me
Baby," etc. -- B. played a big-ass hollow-body, I believe. A Gretsch,
maybe? 
  

    
Just checked an old King LP I've got, "The Greatest Hits of B.B. King,
Vol. 1," with a really cheesy photo-collage cover. One of the
clipped-and-cropped photos is definitely a Fender (and it's labeled, by
the collage person, "Lucille") but there's no way to tell if B. was
playing that particular guitar. 

About protogees, many years ago I heard B. say on the Mike Douglas
Show (might've been David Frost) that he admired Bloomfield's playing a
lot, and heard himself in some of Bloomer's work. This might've been
in 1969 or '70, perhaps '72. I don't know what kind of personal
relationship they had, though, if any. 
  

    
He is also reputed to have said that Peter Green's playing gave him "the
sweats".
  

    
Here's what B.B. had to say when I talked to him on the phone about
Bloomfield:

"What do you say about your son? If he favors you, you think that's a
great thing, makes you happy. And it's the same with playing guitar.

"We talked many times. We had many man-to-man talks, but it always led
up to music, you know. From the very first meeting we had a very good
relationship with each other. And when the subject would, as I said,
change to music, it would deal with something we wanted to do,
musically, and he'd ask my advice on what to do. 

"Michael was a warm person, a real good-hearted person, a friend, a
dear friend. If he liked you, he'd tell the world about you, and that
helped me out a lot. I met his mother, and she said he'd told her about
me. 

"Michael was very talented. I think of him as an old friend, the sky's
the limit. That's the kind of guy he was. No telling what he might
have accomplished if he'd lived longer, that's hot talented he was. I
miss him."

From that I gather that they did hang out some. There was also the
famous confrontation at the Fillmore during the Live Adventures
recording, when Bloomer saw B.B. had been invited down and was too
ashamed to play. And at one point, he was taking so much heroin that he
stopped playing for a month or two, and B.B. found out and sent him a
letter upbraiding him for wasting his talents like that. 
  

    
Interesting. Thank you, Ed.

I still miss Bloomers, too. No one before or since phrased slow, slow
blues solos the way he did. If Brahms wrote a concerto for blues violin
the phrasing of the solo passages would be like Bloomfield's. I listen
to the old records today, and the best of them ("Blues on a Westside,"
"Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong," and the swinging "Carmelita
Skiffle") still sound to me like a guy who was playing on another,
separate level from everyone else. 

Which isn't to say he was better than B.B., of course. B.B. plays a
different kind of instrument than Bloomfield did; in terms of soul, I
can't tell where B.B.'s voice stops and the guitar begins. They seem
one, and pure.  
  

    


  reminder for those following along on the Web:

  You can submit questions or comments or moving stories to us
  at inkwell@well.com and we can post 'em for you here. Or you
  can become a member of the Well and do it yourself: just get
  on over to http://www.well.com/join.html and you'll see how.
  

    
Hey, where'd everyone go? I've been online all week -- although that
may change today, and I should be back on Sunday. David?
  

    
Hey Ed, I was felled by computer problems. No online access at home
since this past Wednesday, plus my laptop processor's apparently on the
fritz Back in the office today and will check in here periodically in
case anyone has any queries.
  

    
David -- good to know you're back online again.  I was wondering about
you mentioning that BB was brought up in the Church of God in Christ. 
They just finished their annual convocation here in Memphis a few
weeks ago, and I would doubt that many of them would approve of BB's
brand of blues.  In other words, COGIC members are generally square
within the Pentecostal tradition that maintains that gospel or hymns
are the only music acceptable for the "sanctified" (as they refer to
themselves).   Do you know if BB is still a practicing member, and if
so, how he manages to play this worldly music in clubs and venues where
people drink, dance, and do whatever they feel moved to do?  And not
just any worldly music, but blues music, which has -- thanks probably
to the Robert Johnson crossroads legend -- long been considered
something a bit dangerous, with its hoodoo spells, black cat bones, and
evil spirits.
  

    
David,
My understanding, from sources close to B.B., is that he hasn't been
in a church in years, decades probably, as a practicing member of
anything. I believe what he keeps within him is a deeply spiritual
sense of his place in the world, his responsibilities, and his values,
and has kept sacred all the wisdom his mother passed on to him when he
was growing up. I think there's a God fearing side of B.B. that COGIC
members could relate to, but he's altogether too worldly for that
church--seen too much, knows too much and doesn't deny what he knows
about the games people play (and with 12 children by 12 different
women, it's safe to say he has indulged in those games with gusto
himself).  He has acknowledged in interviews the second-class citizen
status of blues artists, but I believe he sees his blues as being of
the positive and uplifiting variety, for the most part, while not
denying the tortured, mean-woman blues that have been a part of his
repertoire from the start. He'll tell you he sings about relationships,
not about voodoo, hellhounds, and such, and he's right. Still, I think
because he hasn't addressed his spirituality even indirectly in song
in years, I wish he would take up Stewart Levine's offer to do a gospel
album. I'll say it again as I said it in the book: for an artist so
steeped in gospel in his vocal approach, it's curious that he's cut
only one gospel album in his entire career, and that in 1959. The life
experiences he could bring to that music now would give us, I think, an
astounding record. Are you hearin' me, B?
  

    
Wow, what an idea.
  

    

Twelve children with 12 differnt women.  Wow.

And hell yes, a gospel album!  I'd love to hear that.
  

    
I left a question up there I was hoping you'd respond to, in relation
to the godawful 1956 single "Bim Bam." Were the Bihari Brothers at
Modern Records really thinking he was some sort of all-round
entertainer they could develop for the teen market, or...well, what the
hell were they *thinking* when they had him do that? (And, for that
matter, what do you suppose led him to cut it?)
  

    
Sorry to overlook your question about "Bim Bam," Ed. That record was
indeed done at the Biharis' request, at a time when they were having
B.B. experiment with more commercial styles (check out the great "B.B.
Wails" album on Crown--the song "Come By Here" is built on the old folk
song "Kumbaya," the beautiful love ballad "I Love You So" is
in-the-pocket '50s R&B that brought out the best in B.B. the crooner. 
"Bim Bam" had a chanting female chorus and a terrific sax solo by Plas
Johnson, and an infectious rhythm track. Even B., as much as he hates
it--and he has rarely passed up an oppoturnity to denigrate it, has
said, "...we did a pretty good job on it." But his standard take on it
is: "That's the only record I ever did because one of the executives at
the company asked me to do it for a friend. They thought they was
getting into rock 'n' roll. No more favors for friends." John Broven,
the A&R consultant for Ace Records who has been spearheading the B.B.
reissue campaign for that label, was a young man growing up in England
at the time "Bim Bam" was released, and he remarks in my book about
what a popular song that was, and remains so, in many British dance
clubs.  "If you go to a rock  'n' roll club, don't be surprised if you
hear 'Bim Bam,' and it fills the dance floor," he told me. The song is
still hard to find--it's rarely anthologized (interesting, since almost
every compilation has some level of cooperation from B.). Even Ace's
"Vintage Years" box set omits it. I think B. would like that one song
to disappear from his canon. Funny that "Bim Bam" should arouse so much
ire in him,  when there are a couple of tracks on his first
self-produced album, the woeful "Lucille Talks Back," from 1975, as
well as some of those horrid wah-wah things he cut with Jerry Williams
for the "King of the Blues 1989" album ("...scattered and unfocused,
its workmanlike execution betraying a pronounced lack of commitment to
the least distinguished collection of songs B.B. had ever committed to
a long-player" is how is described it in the book) that should earn as
much, if not more, enmity than "Bim Bam." But B. chose to do those
latter songs--and "Lucille Talks Back" certainly was his vision from
conception to completion--whereas he asserts "Bim Bam" was forced on
him, more or less. Maybe that's the distinction. 
  

    
I guess we should be happy they didn't decide to have him do a cha-cha
album. 

You refer to the "woeful:" '75 album above. Any others in the King
Kanon that should be avoided? 
  

    

We've rolled another conversation into the center ring, but that's o reason
for this one to stop happening.

I've enjoyed having with with us, David.  I hope you'll stick around in this
topic, and maybe visit the music conference, too?
  

    
Yeah, we didn't even get to talk about Carl Perkins!
  

    
Damn.  He was the most genuinely gracious music "celebrity" I ever got
to interview.  He deserves to be remembered well.  
  

    
Have you read the autobiography David did with him? Great stuff!
  

    
"Go, Cat, Go!" A great read.
  

    
I need to get a copy.  About 15 years ago I was getting set to try and
write a biography of Carl Perkins, but other commitments -- like
paying the rent and feeding the chirrens -- got in the way.  I'm
anxious to see what David McGee had to say about Carl.