Re: [Harp-L] Willie Dixon Controversy

[IcemanLE@xxxxxxx]

Back in the day before radio play headed towards a nationwide awareness of  
artists, Rice Miller took the name Sonny Boy II with the hope to ride up on the 
 coattails of an already established name - Sonny Boy Williamson. He got gigs 
 because of the name recognition. I don't have the exact detailed story 
regarding  this, but do remember reading that Sonny Boy I didn't find out about 
this until  Sonny Boy II started getting some radio play using the name - and 
Sonny Boy I  was none too happy. 
 
History is rife with stories like this - taking something that didn't  belong 
to an artist and making it his own without giving proper credit. Hey,  maybe 
those old days were as hard as our new faltering economy in regards to  making 
a living, so people did "what they had to do" in order to survive.
 
Same could be said of "The Iceman" moniker. It is trademarked by  the soul 
singer out of Chicago, Jerry Butler, who calls himself The Ice Man.  Although he 
splits it into two words, I'm quite sure I'll hear from his lawyers  if one 
day I make a hit record using that name.
 
Since I am a poor historian and can not quote my source on the Sonny Boy  
story, take this remembrance with a grain of salt or hopefully another on the  
"L" may have more specifics.
 
 
In a message dated 11/25/2008 3:26:24 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

At 11:39  AM 11/25/2008, you wrote:
>POP ! Thats the sound of my bubble  bursting.  Istill like Willie,though.

Keep that bubble  intact.  There's a whole lot of music that wouldn't have 
gotten made  without Willie Dixon.  He was a great producer, studio 
musician, and  alot of those songs are either his for real, or he did the 
adaptation that  we all love now.  He's the bass player on most of those 
classic Chuck  Berry records, for goodness sake.

You can hear it in the Big Three Trio  stuff, too - he understood what the 
audience wanted and how to shape what  they got.

You can say this about very few people: without him, no rock  and roll.

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