DIAMOND DUST Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 Are'nt we all?Don't forget the Martin Scorsese documentary THE BLUES starts tomarrow nite on your local PBS station.Put a tape in the vcr. http://b-cordova.dmusic.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_dup3 Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 ...& that's 7 or 8 consecutive nights so set up a series of tapes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedro Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 Originally posted by d: ...& that's 7 or 8 consecutive nights so set up a series of tapes!You guys need TiVo! It's one of the greatest things ever! I'm setting mine up today to record every episode. Everybody knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact. - Homer Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antimatter Posted September 27, 2003 Share Posted September 27, 2003 I heard Martin is organizing a big Concert with all living Guitar Blues legends to be filmed and what not. Go Marty!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 For those of us stuck in VHS land, that means 4 tapes in SP (2 hour) mode, or 2 tapes in SLP mode. That's if you use a 2 hour tape, of course. Make sure you have a hi-fi 4 head vcr at least. I hear they're cheap these days. Get one NOW if you haven't already. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antimatter Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 ARgggggh. I originally heard that a concert was to be held later this year with an unbelievable cast. Turns out the 'Concert' I referred to was the show held at Radio City back in February. Sorry for skewing info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george costanza Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 Not to rain on the parade ('cause I intend to watch & record myself!) but these shows will probably not offer any great, full performances & many will feature voice-overs, etc., obscuring the material. The overall focus will be as a general introduction to blues not as a real tutorial. A couple of the films will be along the lines of dramatic movies rather than historical documentaries...but like I said, I'm still planning to watch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlChuck Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 Whatever it's like (and I don't expect too much out of it), at least we'll get a chance to see Jeff Beck play on TV with Van Morrison... (the Mike Figgis-directed episode titled "Red, White and Blues," airing Saturday in my local market...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 Well, George, don't know WHAT you were expecting, but I found the first installment fascinating. The attempt to at least partially nail down the origin of blues music with a trip back to Africa. Maybe not a full-blown tutorial, but educational you bet! I was equally fascinated with the section covering that fife and drum music. The first thing that came to my mind was Johnny Winter's "Fast Life Rider" on the "Second Winter" album. NOW I know where he got that rhythm. Seems Johnny had more of a thumb on what the blues is than I realized two hours earlier... Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIAMOND DUST Posted September 29, 2003 Author Share Posted September 29, 2003 Great stuff.The blues are all around us. http://b-cordova.dmusic.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meek20 Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 I saw the first part of this last night. I thought it was well-made, educational & all- around entertaining. Tonight's installment looks very promising, as well. For anyone who did not catch last night's show...be sure to see tonight's. It's worth your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 I'm taping all of 'em. This is some cool stuff. The trip to Africa on last night's episode was very enlightening, and to show the flute guy in his element was great. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george costanza Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 Originally posted by whitefang: Well, George, don't know WHAT you were expecting, but I found the first installment fascinating...Well, my comments had to do with advance notice of the content of some of the shows, not what I expected [note my post was pre-showing]. That said, I found Scorcese's film quite above what I did expect. Othar Turner (flute) & Napoleon Strickland (drummer), who I hadn't heard for years, were a reminder of how certain elements of primitive music can seem very modern. Hard to tell the difference between him & the Art Ensemble of Chicago in some ways! [bTW, his style reflects the oldest elements of the blues---in fact probably pre-blues---in that it's an outgrowth of the proliferation of marching band instruments post-Civil War] What I was most impressed by though, was the subtle reinforcement of the musical theme to "Catfish Blues" so that by the end of the show even non-musical veiwers would recognize it's reiteration by various performers, most noticable when Toure ( I think it was) improvised a verse in duet with Hart! [wish they'd supplied a subtitled translation!] But keep watching, some episodes will be more like fictional movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elferoony Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 I was surprised by the narrator's friend's story of his introduction to Johnson via Zep's version of Traveling Riverside Blues. It bears a lot of relation to my own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Originally posted by george costanza: What I was most impressed by though, was the subtle reinforcement of the musical theme to "Catfish Blues" so that by the end of the show even non-musical veiwers would recognize it's reiteration by various performers, most noticable when Toure ( I think it was) improvised a verse in duet with Hart! [wish they'd supplied a subtitled translation!] This will most likely happen when the DVD's are released. Just a guess. BTW, I saw Monday's episode. Well, actually, I heard most of it on the radio simulcast on WBGO, while cleaning up some stuff. (Still taping it on the VCR, of course ) It basically focused on two blues legends' perspectives: one was about a life lived, while the other gained a social conscience. Their names escape me at the moment. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george costanza Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Comments on 2nd episode: Here we enter the territory I was wary of: The mixture of authentic photos & film footage with stuff that was shot to appear authentic. I'm sure the film makers (whether Wenders in this case or others later in the series) had no intent of faking anything but I'm fairly certain that at some point less-knowledgeable fans will mistake some of the created footage for actual films of Willie Johnson, Skip James, etc., especially as they are mixed in with authentic films [only the onstage footage of James was real, for instance, & that was immediately followed by shots that were designed (down to the hat & stance of the actor portraying John Hurt) to look real]. Granted this is a small point in light of the overall value of the series, but I wish the distinction had been more clearly made. I absolutely loved the Seaberg's films of J.B.Lenoir, though! He's better known in blues history than suggested in the narration (few detailed blues books lack a photo of him in his animal-print suits) but I've never even heard that film of him performing existed, much less that it was so extensive & personal! Final carp: I wish that more current blues-aligned performers had been included in place of some who carry a lot of cache with young music fans but who's connection with the blues is tenuous.For example, Nick Cave's ok but he's got little to do with this subject & his interpretive skills are, to me, weak. How much better to've included someone like Otis Taylor, who not only has strong ties to blues traditions but is an innovator in his own right; he also would've been an excellent illustration of how social consciousness (ala J.B.Lenoir) is still alive & well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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