Re: PBS blues documentary

["david j. brown" <nonidesign@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree that as a documentary it falls short of being comprehensive, but
there would have to be at least 100 episodes to do that successfully. What I
did like was that the segments gave attention to musicians like Blind Willie
Johnson, Skip James, and JB Lenoir instead of just focusing on those
musicians who normally get the lion's share of the footage like Muddy and BB
King. JB in particular had a surprising amount of footage. I also liked that
they involved the behind the scenes giants like Sam Philips and Len Chess
(personality "warts" and all).
Considering that most programs about the blues tend to go for the easy draw
to an uninformed public I thought the treatment did a fair job of including
something for aficionados as well as Joe Public.It has it's shortcomings
(the whole "Chuck D meets meets Electric Mud" slant seemed a bit of a reach)
but overall I thought it had a better balance between entertainment and
documentary than I expected.

...and yeah, Sonny sucked a harp sideways!

Now if we could just get someone to do a whole series about harmonica
players.



> From: "M. Erickson" <erickm@xxxxxxxxx>
> Reply-To: "M. Erickson" <erickm@xxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2003 19:28:49 -0600
> To: "BT" <bulldog483@xxxxxxxxxxx>, <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: RE: PBS blues documentary (Friday)
> 
> 
> The one to watch is "Godfathers and Son's". It had wonderful footage of
> Howling Wolf, Muddy, Butterfield Blues Band (with a funny interview with
> Mike Bloomfield). Best of all was the footage of Sonny Boy II. How he played
> his harmonica while holding it like a cigar I'll never know. (Can anybody on
> this list pull that off?).  There was great footage of a Chicago Blues
> festival, with Pinetop Perkins (whom I saw live this year -- may we all play
> with such passion and energy at his age), Ike Turner and others. Lots of
> good harmonica in this episode and lot's of footage of the blues giants. The
> footage of Muddy playing with a little four piece combo was too cool. I
> think it was Cotton on harp.
> 
> The rappers were utterly respectful of the bluesmen. This one episode could
> turn a whole lot of rap fans into blues fans.
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf
>> Of BT
>> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 4:21 PM
>> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: PBS blues documentary (Friday)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I stopped watching halfway through the second one ,,maybe I had high
>> expectations ,,but it got a lot off track ,,I was hoping the feedback will
>> tell me which ones to watch when it is rebroadcast 47 million
>> times between
>> now and next Christmas ,,
>> 
>> sorry for the negativity.
>> I really try to steer clear of that stuff ,,but the sixties were not that
>> great ..
>> 
>> Sorry, Tom Jones stinks when you want something anywhere near an actual
>> blues player of any import ,,,he or she could just have had a harmonica in
>> their pocket ,,and I would have watched.
>> 
>> My last hope is the Eastman one ,,It is the last one ,,maybe it has played
>> oh well I will wait for the reruns next month
>> Overall very disappointed
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 4:42 PM
>> Subject: Re: PBS blues documentary (Friday)
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> the Leones wrote:
>>>> I came in in the middle and after 10-15 minutes of Tom Jones,
>>>> I got disgusted and turned it off. What was THAT all about?
>>> 
>>> Did you *listen* to Tom Jones?  That man has one HELL of a voice, and
>>> whether or not you identify him with his "It's Not Unusual", leather
>>> pants and swinging hips background, he laid down some awesome
>>> vocals.  If you switched off before Lulu's closing number, you really
>>> missed out.
>>> 
>>> I think the fact that the British picked up on the blues that
>>> Americans were ignoring and brought it back to the states was pretty
>>> much the point of the show.
>>> 
>>> -tim
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Harp-l is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
>>> Hosted by ValuePricehosting.com, http://www.valuepricehosting.com
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Harp-l is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
>> Hosted by ValuePricehosting.com, http://www.valuepricehosting.com
>> 
> 
> --
> Harp-l is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Hosted by ValuePricehosting.com, http://www.valuepricehosting.com