One Track Mind: Corey Harris, "Basehead" (1999)

by Pico

Several years ago I read an article interviewing Robert Cray. In it he was asked about which up and coming blues artists he was listening to and he mentioned Eric Bibb and Corey Harris.

Being a fan of Mr. Cray, I naturally had to check out these aspiring artists to see what the fuss was about. After giving both of these dudes a good listen I am happy to report that Robert's great tastes extend beyond his guitar licks. I'll profile Bibb later but for now Corey Harris gets a song spotlighted today.

WE'VE MOVED!: Dablog by DaSlob is now ... SOMETHING ELSE. Find the remainder of this review through the new link.


"One Track Mind" is a weekly drool over a single song selected on a whim and a short thesis on why you should be drooling over it, too.

DaSlobTribute: Malachi Ritscher, 1954-2006

by Pico

Just this past November 3rd, along a busy thoroughfare in Chicago during rush hour, a 52 year old man committed suicide by self-immolation. Purportedly, the reason was to protest the war in Iraq. But I'm not writing this post to debate the rationale for a little-known man for setting himself on fire over a war. While this is a tragedy any way you look at it, we're all about music here; Lord knows there's plenty of places to discuss politics elsewhere in this vast bloggosphere.

Malachi gets mention here because only in stumbling across the story of his life and death in this piece published in that online indie music magazine Pitchfork that I realized how much this man was responsible for bringing to my ears so many fine recordings of whack jazz from Chicago's dynamic avant garde music scene over the last fifteen or so years. Many live recordings that Ritscher enthusiastically undertook entirely on his own labor and expense would have otherwise existed only in the fading memories of the handful of experimental music enthusiasts who come out to see these musicians play.

And so Malachi Ritscher's death may mean different things to different people, and probably to the vast majority, nothing at all. But his life is a reminder that good music by talented musicians with no commercial aspirations doesn't spontaneously find its way to it's intended audience. Sometimes it takes extraordinary effort by a few driven individuals just to develop a tiny fanbase.

Those such musicians who have had live documents of their performances to offer to the public solely because of Malachi are going to miss him badly.

Studebaker John, "Between Life And Death" (2004)

by Pico

When you look at the blues scene today, some of the best out there can do one or two things well. Studebaker John, however, is a quadruple threat. He can compose, sing, play guitar and play blues harp, and do all of these things better than most. The only other bluesman I can think of with that much versatility going for him is Kenny Neal, but we'll defer Neal for another time. Today I want to tell you about how Studebaker John has put his arsenal of skills to work on one of his latest releases, Between Life and Death (2004).

WE'VE MOVED!: Dablog by DaSlob is now ... SOMETHING ELSE. Find the remainder of this review through the new link.