Re: [Harp-L] Re: To tell the truth Butterfield

["Bob Maglinte" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Kally" <jkally3@xxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2004 11:28 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: To tell the truth Butterfield


> I played a tape of the Butterfield "To Tell the Truth" appearance last 
> night.  As amusing as it is to see a young Paul up there and the panel 
> (Kitty Carlisle, Orson Bean, Tom Poston, et al), the performance of "Born 
> in Chicago" is not a joy to watch.  The band they hired for the show, a 
> bunch of old  guys that appear to be jazz players , seem determined to bury 
> Paul with frantic  drumming , noodling on the piano and guitar that doesn't 
> back off when Paul sings or solos.   Too bad, as I don't know of other 
> video of Butterfield from this early era, must be around the time of the 
> first LP.    I just mention it because I would hate to see someone going to 
> great pains to get a copy (I 'm giving mine away, so don't contact me!) 
> only to be dissappointed.

Hi John,
That really shouldn't come as a surprise because Paul's band was a racially 
integrated band and being that this was in the mid 60's, that was something 
not condoned much at the time, and the sponsers of the show often had a lot 
to do with that, plus also the fact that harmonica was a FAR more 
disrespected instrument than it is now, and the instrument in the USA was 
finally allowed to join the musician's union after Jerry Murad's Harmonicats 
had a big hit with "Peg O'My Heart" in the late 40's, and so during the mid 
60's, there were tons of holdovers of people from an era that looked down at 
the harmonica as being not much above the level of a child's play toy, so I 
think you may need to put things more into perspective, and myself being 
born to mixed racial heritage myself, those little racially prejudical digs, 
subtle or not, I've seen that for myself first hand. I think too many fans 
tend to have a far too romanticized view of things about their heroes.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/