RE: [Harp-L] The Blues Life

[PINTO DIGITAL <pintodigital@xxxxxxx>]

again, sorry in advance Steve but I  have never "dismissed" Little Walter, he's
a huge influence of mine, I was just stating a fact. He was a mess in the later part of
his life, it's sad. I guess it's a bit like walking into a church and saying "you know that Jesus guy did
some pretty screwed up stuff at times".  You shouldn't take what I say to heart. 
Just Joe's opinion, not a god like commandment. People who steal from friends or screw somebody's wife are at 
a low point in their lives. Yes or no ? 
If an amazing harmonica player or "bluesman" was having sex with 7 year old children would he still be cool ?
I'll save you the agony of reading my resume. I get paid most of the time too unless the club owner sets
up a deal where I can sleep with the family pet. 
 

Joe Pinto
Little Joe & the Werewolves 
 




From: stevepower@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: pintodigital@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] The Blues Life
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:08:53 -0500





Joe,
 
I was going to reply to this off list but seeing that you choose to post your lecture in a public forum, and since I found it's tone unnecessarily disrespectful personally, I felt a need to respond. I have no desire to engage in a pissing contest, nor will I. You had your say. I will have mine and not respond further.
 
First of all, you totally missed the point.  I was relaying a story which I always thought had a sense of irony. Some of us end up living the songs. You seem to have gotten the idea I was condoning something. How you grabbed that I have no idea. 
 
Since you set yourself up as a judge of what is or is not a "bluesman" I would have thought you would have been more than aware that there are many blues songs dealing with the subject of infidelity, Howlin' Wolf's Back Door Man comes immediately to mind. Songs, though not always, do tend to come from personal experience.  I also would have thought that you would be more than aware that the blues world from the beginning of time is rife with artists who were adulterers, drunks, addicts, criminals, and generally outside the arms of polite society. You condemn them all in one breathtaking stroke of piousness while at the same time lecture about lifting up. 
 
You dismiss Little Walter Jacobs as a "low life". He may well have been. I never met him nor do I know of the details of his circumstances. He could have just been a jerk or perhaps he suffered from the disease of addiction, and it is a medical fact that it is a disease. Personally, I don't really care. I just love his records. I could be wrong but I'd venture you also never met the man and also don't have intimate knowledge of his life and circumstance beyond what you may have heard second hand, yet you judge and condemn. The question is, who voted you Lord High Determiner of Who Shall be Named "Bluesman"? 
 
There are a hell of a lot of folks on this list who I suspect have more illustrious careers than mine but I've got a track record as a musician that I am proud of. I've been getting paid to play for over 45 years. I've been some places, done some things, and had the good fortune and honor to perform and record with some legends. I've also come from something less than a childhood living the American Dream and I have lived on the streets as well. I have also shared some of the labels mentioned earlier, though I like to think I've done more right than I've done wrong.  I would never be so arrogant as to call myself a bluesman.  In my view, there are very few who have the right to that title. In my experience of those who I believe would by wide consensus of their peers be called genuine bluesmen or blueswomen even the most arrogant stand back with humility at that accolade.
 
I would with respect suggest that you listen to your own words, "lift up."
 
 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: PINTO DIGITAL 
To: stevepower@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ; HARP L HARP L 
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2011 7:58 AM
Subject: RE: [Harp-L] The Blues Life


Sorry buddy but that's not "the Blues life". 
I lived in the street many years ago but I never stole from a friend or slept with anybody's wife. 
That's called "the low life".  A true bluesman has experienced struggle and
is there to support other people because he's been in that position before. 
Even the great Little Walter who is a hero to many on this list was once a bluesman BUT he 
turned into a low life and that's what got him killed. We're here to lift each other up
not keep each other down. 
 
Joe Pinto
Little Joe & the Werewolves 
 

  

> From: stevepower@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:07:38 -0500
> Subject: [Harp-L] The Blues Life
> 
> Some of the info filtering through about Jason Ricci reminds me of a friend 
> of mine from years back, Cal Newman. Cal Newman is a country blues player 
> from Cardiff, Wales who's been around for decades playing mostly solo 
> acoustic. He's got a voice on the natch like Howlin' Wolf. I played with him 
> many times and performed on his first and I believe only album.
> 
> Many years ago word got around that Cal was in hospital having been stabbed 
> repeatedly by an irate husband who had caught him in bed with his wife. A 
> mutual friend and legenday guitarist, Mickey Gee, went to see him in the 
> hospital. There was Cal all bandaged and tubes coming out of everywhere. 
> First thing Mickey says to him, "Cal you got to stop living those songs." 
>