Friday, December 30, 2011

Have Harps Will Travel


♥.•*¨`*•.¸.•´ ♥.._██_ ....(´• ̮•) ♥..( . • . ) ..... (... • .. ). Merry Christmas & Happy New Year ♥ from Middle Walter blues harmonica du jour.


Here's some links to my Middle Walter persona.



youtu.be/QBDjpF2bmxU

youtu.be/4ggDm3wh3IM



I have played with Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Van Morrison and the East Coast band The Bluetones. Have not been gigging too much lately – I am a writer by trade – but if you ever need a harp player who is into the deep blues and the country blues (both personified by my master Sonny Boy II), please do give me a shout.


OakK-6PicnicNoe_20small.jpg

NoeHarpBluetones1aa.jpg

NoeHarpSatch1aa.jpg



"Remember, a gift of the Deep Blues is like a pardon from the governor"




Now please enjoy this special performance from my Master, Sonny Boy II and some funky friends …


Friday, December 23, 2011

FILEmag-Summer-1978_01

FILEmag-Summer-1978_01 by Doctor Noe
FILEmag-Summer-1978_01, a photo by Doctor Noe on Flickr.

FILE MAGAZINE VOL 4 NO 1 (SUMMER 1978) alternative to the Alternative Press, legendary Toronto collaborative General Idea's FILE Megazine – published from 1972 to 1989.


FILE magazine Summer-1978 General Idea

General Idea: FILE megazine, vol 4, issue 1, summer 1978 (the “1984: A Year in Pictures” issue), edition of 3,000 copies.



FILEmag-Summer-1978_01


FILEmag-Summer-1978_02


FILEmag-Summer-1978_037001/6556725711_de61f8f165.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Hard-BoiledDefective_22">


FILEmag-Summer-1978_04


FILEmag-Summer-1978_05





General Idea, Fluxus, Mail Art, Ray Johnson and the importance of Art Magazines as the forerunners of Social Networking:

The first issues of FILE, the publication launched in April 1972 by the Toronto-based group General Idea (comprising artists AA Bronson, Felix Partz, and Jorge Zontal), leave a different, less sober impression than previous magazine-based Conceptual art projects. Lifting its name and logo from the most famous (and popular) postwar US glossy, Life, FILE clearly anticipated a strategy that today is an everyday youth-cultural ploy: namely, logo-busting, an ironic game with the powerful markers of consumer culture, a small act of semiotic subversion whereby one borrows power from the public side of capital--and momentarily uses it against itself.

For the better part of a century artists have been using the format of the periodical to create and disseminate their work. Yves Klein’s Leap Into the Void, another iconic work, was published in the artist’s broadsheet publication Dimanche, which was sold at Parisian newsstands in 1960. Artists' magazines were integral to numerous important movements, such as Conceptual Art, Mail Art, Performance Art, Intermedia, Concrete Poetry, Neo-Dadaism and Fluxus.

The name Fluxus was originally coined by George Maciunas for the title of a magazine of experimental notation that he had hoped to produce.

For the uninitiated, a simple distinction suffices: the “artist periodical” is a primary source and an “art magazine” is a secondary one. That is to say, whereas an art magazine features reproductions and documentation of artwork as illustrations, the artist periodical is an alternative site for the realization of art works rather than their review.

Like their cousins, artists’ books and multiples, artists’ periodicals were intended to be easily distributable, affordable and accessible. And now – much like artists’ books and multiples – they can be difficult to track down and often costly. Complete sets of FILE megazine can sell for upwards of $5,000. Depending on the issue, a single copy of Aspen magazine might sell for the same price. Putting together complete collections piecemeal is the artworld equivalent of collecting a complete set of baseball cards. Critical discourse, too, has been hard to come by; apart from a few key articles, very little has been published on the subject of artists’ magazines.

Publications by General Idea:
THIS IS A LIST OF PUBLICATIONS DESIGNED AND EDITED BY GENERAL IDEA
(Note: FILE Megazine was published by Art Official Inc. in varying edition sizes ranging from 1,500 to 3,500 copies)


A Side note about A.A. Bronson: He wrote …

TWENTY-TWO WOMEN TALK FRANKLY ABOUT THEIR ORGASMS
(Bronson, A.A.) Harrison, A.S.A. TWENTY-TWO WOMEN TALK FRANKLY ABOUT THEIR ORGASMS Toronto: Coachhouse Press, 1974 31 x 23cm, 78pp. Boards with pictorial dustjacket.

First edition of this feminist investigation of the female phenomenology of the orgasm (at the time such investigations were part of a concerted attempt to de-mystify female sexuality and empower women into exploring their bodies and, for some, enjoying sex for the first time). Verbatum texts of 22 different women explaining how they trigger and what they experience orgasms. This book was designed for Harrison by A.A. Bronson of General Idea who also contributes a short note of approval on the inside back dustjacket about his friend. The book is in part dedicated to General Idea. One of 2,500 published - this copy has a couple of tears on the edges of the dj and is slightly bowed but may interest not only those considering feminism in the 70s but also the association with Bronson and G.I.

=================
FILE MAGAZINE VOL 4 NO 1 (SUMMER 1978). Toronto: General Idea, 1978

35 X 27.5cm, 64pp plus pictorial wrappers. A single number from General Idea's art periodical where the trio published conceptual, mail and intermedia art including the GI's own work - often with a homoerotic element. This number has GI's "General Idea flees the burning pavilion in 1984" and several articles on Miss General idea 1984. One slight crease on the back cover and front lower-right corner and spine wear and, as ever, browned internal newsprint pages else VG+. Scarce.

1978

FILE Megazine ("1984: A Year in Pictures," Vol. 4, #1, summer 1978)

see also: FILEmag-Vol.4Nos.1-2-3_13a

FILEmag-Vol.4Nos.1-2-3_13a



GENERAL IDEA 1969-1994

An alternative to the Alternative Press, legendary Toronto collaborative General Idea's FILE Megazine --published from 1972 to 1989--

Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson of General Idea lived and worked together for 25 years. Partz and Zontal died in 1994. AA Bronson continues to work under his own name

The General Idea Archive is now on deposit at the National Gallery of Canada. You can access the finding aid here:
national.gallery.ca/english/library/biblio/ngc112.html

In 1974, General Idea founded Art Metropole, an organization devoted to collecting, publishing and distributing artists' books, multiples, audio and video.

Read about FILE Megazine in Artforum here:
www.aabronson.com/art/gi.org/artforum.htm

==================
www.panmodern.com/newobservations.html
Communities Collaged: Mail Art and The Internet

By Mark Bloch

(Originally appeared in New Observations)

NEW YORK June 6, 2000- Is it a coincidence that both international mail art and the Internet reached a critical mass in the late 1960s?

Mail art was expanding exponentially as ….


=======================

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Jimi & Mick Taylor at Madison Square Garden Nov. 1969 Pt. II

There is more to this story as I post this on Jimi's birthday November 27 2011 – if Six was Nine he would have been 69!

This video, an official one, from Albert Maysles, is a back-in-time back story of what happened backstage:




Jimi Hendrix with the Rolling Stones / Rocks Off Message Board - Thanks Albert Maysles!




Pix and videos from the deserved Stu tribute with 4 out of the 6 surviving Stones Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood at

rocksoff.org/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1299688523;start=all

TRANSCRIPT COURTESY OF YOUTUBE USER "LIMEGINGER"

[5:51-5:54] Black guy [to Keith]: Well, like, no reaction. He went back to what he was talking about, so...

[5:54-5:56] Keith: Well, y'know, it's cool, y'know I, I [inaudible] we'll get it together.

[5:55-5:58] Black guy: Yeah yeah Ok (exits)

[6:00-6:07] Jimi: Been watching too many formal dinner parties on TV. Everybody HAS to do this. You HAVE to say [mock ass-kissing, bowing and scraping] "Oh yes, Mr richards--"

[6:07-6:12: laughter - inaudible chit chat]

[6:12-6:14: silence]

[6:15-6:18] Jimi: D'you know--? nah, I shouldn't ask [scratching his head, laughing]

[6:18-6:20: Keith and Jimi laughter]

[6:19-6:26] Jimi: I dunno that's a big [inaudible] ever since I seen you Monday. Have--? When's last t-ttime you see- s-seen [clears throat]. Naaah, I shouldn't--

[6:25-6:26] Keith: [inaudible]

[6:26-6:27] Jimi: No. What was the last time you seen Linda?

[6:28-6:34] Keith: Oh, man, a long time ago. I mean, I tell ya, uh, some time last summer in--

[6:34] Jimi: Yeah...

[6:35-6:38] Keith: --on the coast [inaudible]

[6:38-6:39] Jimi: Oh, that far? You ain't seen her here?

[6:39-6:44] Keith: I haven't seen her for [inaudible]...You?

[6:44-6:45] Jimi: No. No...

[6:46-6:48] Laughter - Keith smooshes affectionately into Jimi.

[6:48-6:53] Keith gets up and walks away

[6:48-6:51] Jimi: I been watching too much TV too.

[6:54-7:01] Jimi sits smoking.


For more information, pictures and everything about Jimi with the Rolling Stones, with much more about the takes of "My Little One", check http://rocksoff.org/jimi.htm


More on Mick Taylor here:

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Roger Mayer w Jimi


Roger Mayer w Jimi by Doctor Noe
Roger Mayer w Jimi, a photo by Doctor Noe on Flickr.

Roger Mayer, left, with Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding.

I just talked to Roger and he is doing well, still being a guru to countless tone-freaks far and wide. Big hugs from him and Connie!

Mark Bosch: Got to admit, I miss the ole boy and u too G-whiz! where is he living these days?

Noe the G: He sez he's in Kingston, the posh-ier part north of London. Worcester Park, Surrey KT4 7DF, to be exact. Still salty as ever and Celebrated far and wide as a "FOJ" (Friend of Jimi):
www.roger-mayer.co.uk/history.htm

Guitar Effects Pedals by Roger Mayer - History
www.roger-mayer.co.uk

10-20-11:

Hey Rog,

It was ever so charming talking with you this a.m.

I think I'm gonna do up a blog entry just about you for old times' sake.

PS, Karin sez we have a couple of plane tickets for London, so we may be seeing you around Christmas time! Big hugs to Connie.

Attached are a couple-a pics I dug up from my "bin" I also have one of the Rocket done up as Eddie Van Halen's paint job and some more I'll be sending you. This one on Flickr can be accessed by this link:


www.flickr.com/photos/doctor_noe/2568560928/in/set-721576...







Here's what it says on my Flickr page:

JimiGalaxyAd#2.jpg
P. 165 "Do You Know This Face? Then you know THIS Face. ... You know Roger Mayer's Classic Fuzz, the very same fuzz distortion circuit that Roger designed for Jimi Hendrix during his tenure as the master's sound technician ..." This is one of the ads I published in numerous music magazines of the mid-'80s in which I touted my Guitar Galaxy mail-order company. Guitar Galaxy continues to flourish today!


Vol. 9, No. 2 MARCH 1988 THE UNPUBLISHED HENDRIX
>"}}}}”> Noe Gold, aka Noe the G is the Founding Editor of Guitar World magazine. Among his most cherished achievements is the creation, with partner Bill Nitopi,curator of the Hendrix Collection Archives and an editor-at-large of Guitar World, of two humongous Special Issues: Vol. 6, No. 5 SEPTEMBER, 1985 SPECIAL JIMI HENDRIX TRIBUTE! and Vol. 9, No. 2 MARCH 1988 THE UNPUBLISHED HENDRIX. Noe Gold blogs at Doctor Noe's Smooth Gadgetdoctornoemedia.blogspot.com.
>"}}}}”> Subscribe! To, Doctor Noe's Smooth Gadget doctornoemedia.blogspot.com/
(and share with others!) at: feeds.feedburner.com/

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Jimi & MickTaylor by Ethan Russell Nov. 1969

I believe that is Albert Maysles with the camera.

Jimi & Mick Taylor GW March 1988 P. 33


Here's a page from my Tribute to Jimi. We published stills from Albert Maysles' footage in Guitar World: The unpublished Hendrix Vol. II. That would be Guitar World March 1988, Special Issue. Hendrix Lives! Tribute to a Genius. The Unpublished Hendrix Vol. II. P. 33, "Backstage With the Stones."


Three of the four photos on the page (two of Jimi and Keith, two Jimi and Mick Taylor) were indeed stills from Maysles' unreleased footage. This is a fourth one by photographer Ethan Russell.


Now here is the kicker: Stones are going out on the road again next year, another "endless tour," but guess what? They will most likely include some guest spots on the tour by a very great-sounding Mick Taylor! Here is a video tribute to Ian Stewart featuring Ben Waters, Charlie Watts, Dave Green with Jools Holland, Ronnie Wood, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman, Mick Hucknall and other guests at the Ambassadors Theatre 9 April 2011.





Here's Mick on his discography: "I played lead guitar for the Rolling Stones from 1969 till 1974 and played on some of the group's best albums, including "Let it Bleed," "Get Yer Ya Yas Out," "Sticky Fingers," "Exile On Main Street," "Goat's Head Soup" and great live bootlegs!


"My fluid lead guitar shaped some of the Stones' best songs and albums. Songs like "Honky Tonk Women," "Gimme Shelter," "Love In Vain," "Brown Sugar," "Sway," "Bitch," "Tumbling Dice," "Rocks Off," "Shine A Light," "Ventilator Blues," "Heartbreaker," "Coming Down Again," "Silver Train," "Star Star," "Time Waits For No One," "If You Can't Rock Me" – these all feature my lead and slide guitar contributions."

Thursday, October 27, 2011


Just in time for

Halloween ...




... my updated essay on classic horror films entitled “Fear of Fright Night.” Wrote the original in 2001 for an AOL site called Entertainment Asylum. Find the page here. I wrote numerous pieces for Entertainment Asylum in my tenure as an AOL correspondent/content editor, but only this one was saved for posterity.

Flashforward to 2010, and I can now put up this considered reprise, recollected in tranquility entitled ...

FEAR OF FRIGHT NIGHT (redux)

Halloween Goes to the Movies

Watching Scary Movies in the relative safety of a theater with hundreds of other people around us will not turn us into raving, bloodthirsty lunatics. On the contrary, it's a cheap alternative to seeing a shrink.

By Noë Gold

We are now in the midst of another cycle of shock films, loosely categorized by film historians as the horror genre but I'll just call 'em Scary Movies, since these film historians tend to quarrel and quibble about what exactly is a horror film. I say "cycle" because these films come in bunches, about every twenty years or so, and are extremely popular. The films in the late-'90s crop (typified by "Scream," "Scream 2," "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "Disturbing Behavior", the latter-day "Halloween: H2O" and the equally sequel-tastic "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer") have one thing in common: they're not "monster movies" like "Frankenstein" or "The Fly" or any of the creepy horror films that were popular in the fifties.



1530 North Orange Grove Ave. across the street stood in for the Doyle residence, where Laurie was baby-sitting Tommy in "Halloween." Looking the same as when the movie was filmed there 30 years ago, except the brick pillars in the front are filled in with hedges. The panicked children ran from the house between the pillars and onto the street. Photo by Noë Gold

The Scary Movie of the nineties relies more on psychological terror than the obvious makeup-enhanced movies of that more innocent era. It deals with ordinary people in ordinary situations who come across a deviant like "Halloween's" Mike Myers. The suspense in H20 is more on account of the audience's expectations and the throbbing, spooky music than from any obvious monster. Mike Myers comes with a lot of baggage, and it's all hidden beneath that very ordinary white Halloween mask. The effect is much more chilling than Godzilla or Keith Richards could ever hope to be.

Why is this Scary cycle surfacing again now? On the surface, things are fairly stable in modern-day society. Crime statistics are down, the economy is whistling along and Charles Manson is tucked away neatly in prison with no hope of escape. So why do we flock to movies that scare the gizzards out of us? Because it gives us pleasure. When there are no real things to be scared of, we go to the movies to shake things up. In a weird way, it's therapeutic.

To illustrate this point, I call forth a reference in a seminal book by an author I used to know who taught me a lot about the genre, Carlos Clarens. On the frontispiece of his Illustrated History of the Horror Films, Carlos quotes sociologist Roland Penrose from his work, Violence in Contemporary Art: "The bogey of violence is particularly horrifying and intolerable to us when we meet it in cold blood. The arts, however, avoid its brutal impact by their appeal to the emotions, they warm us to its presence, turning terror into enjoyment and cruelty into compassion. We participate in the act of violence without suffering its evil consequences. Art, in fact, allows us, as in certain rituals, to satisfy our Olympian yearning to stimulate the forces of nature. Its nonviolent power has a therapeutic and catalytic influence."

So, watching Scary Movies in the relative safety of a theater with hundreds of other people around us will not turn us into raving, bloodthirsty lunatics. On the contrary, it's a cheap alternative to seeing a shrink. For the same reason we pay money and wait in long lines to ride the shriekiest roller coaster, we go to the movies to get our hair lifted. Steve Miner, who directed H20, says it this way: "My favorite scary film of all time was Psycho, which I could not sit through. I never saw the whole movie until I was an adult. Halloween I found reminiscent in spirit of that kind of movie: unrelentingly scary and suspenseful and atmospheric. I think people like to be scared because they can go to the edge without really being there."

Kevin Williamson, the Dawson's Creek director who wrote the screenplay of H20 as well as that of Scream, credits Halloween for what he is today. "Halloween is and always has been my favorite film of all time," he says. "It wasn't just a movie, it was an experience. ... The audience participation factor was one of the most incredible parts of the movie. The way the audience jumped and screamed at the characters on screen got my blood pumping. It was this effect in Halloween that made me realize that I wanted to be a filmmaker.

Okay, what about that "every twenty years" theory? It's no coincidence that the current Halloween is subtitled H20, since the original Halloween was released in 1978. That one put its director, John Carpenter, on the map and kicked off the career of Jamie Lee Curtis as well (it was her first feature film). H20 has among its co-stars Jamie Lee's mom, Janet Leigh, who was the star victim of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, released 18 years before Halloween in 1960 (and later to be redone in a faithful translation by Gus Van Sant). Carpenter's stated purpose in conceiving Halloween was that he wanted to create a picture that would play like a full-length version of the shower scene in Psycho.

Go back roughly twenty years from Psycho and you have the beginning of another Scary cycle in the early forties. A series of films produced by Val Lewton has a lot in common with what the Scary cycle of the nineties is going for - psychological horror with no monsters or creatures in sight. The great director Jacques Tourneur did more with camera angles, lighting and sound to chill the audience's bones with his masterpieces the original Cat People and his follow-up I Walked With a Zombie. I command you to go out and rent these right now so you can see what I mean.

The first of these twenty-year cycles, just to round out my argument, goes back to Germany in the twenties. You won't be able to rent Paul Weggener's Student of Prague or his series of films about the Golem, a vengeful Jewish monster who haunted Czechoslovakia. But there is also The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the original vampire story (with Max Schreck as the Vampire). And rounding out the cycle is The Hands of Orlac, with Caligari's Conrad Veidt, about a concert pianist who has the hands of a murderer grafted on after he loses his in an accident. The fright genre moved (along with a number of German filmmakers escaping the Nazis) to America for its next cycle, and it is also no great coincidence that another one of these German exports, Peter Lorre, made his American film debut in 1935 in a remake of Orlac called Mad Love, another one that you must rent or seek out on cable TV.

Which is all to say that what comes around goes around in the world of roller coasters and Scary Movies. Now that I have given you a quick sense of its history, it's a good time to grab a ride.








PS, there’s also a neato keeno compendium of creature features here on the same site:

http://www.angelfire.com/ma/babybrownsplace/articles/articles.html

.... and in this photo gallery from The Hollywood Reporter:

also ...


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Bryan Ferry Lets It Rock ... again

Brian Ferry_LetItRock_cov by Doctor Noe
Bryan Ferry_LetItRock_cov, a photo by Doctor Noe on Flickr.

Bryan Ferry "Cherry-Poppin'' Stories

I'll go first:

I anticipate Bryan's show at the Greek Theater Oct. 15.

My favorite Roxy show of many was in a little town in Lorraine (Salzbourg, actually), France, circa 1974. The band played in a high school gym, which they transported to the sophisticated realms of Radio City once the music started. I think I wrote about it in my piece on the trip for Crawdaddy, but being now a denizen of the"aging crowd," I can't find this piece of writing anywhere except in the smoke dreams of my mind.


This just in!


I did go to the concert and grabbed this little snippet of Chris Spedding on vid.






... to which Bruce Malamut adds the following comment:


"I remember you also liked Spedding's first three solo albums Songs Without Words, Backwoods Progression (recorded in-between Nilsson Schmilsson sessions) and The Only Lick I Know. Spedding is copious!"

Like Ferry, I like to think I have aged like a fine wine.

But the ultimate erudite benediction comes from the great Bruce Malamut, of the Kings Crown Radio (WKCR) mavens and the Crawdaddy Magazine punters – what are you, some kinda rock crit or sump'n?:

"Style + Substance, well hell yeah – the thrill of it all! I saw Roxy play The 100 Club London, June, '71 and was floored by the hooks, the asymmetries, the film noir refs, the pounding pose of ennui and anti-romanticism, electronic sheen and wailing sax ... oboe, even – these guys screamed avant-garde, loud, hard rock, but I just fully dug the hooks!

"Then the first album was released in '72 and it became clear to all – some of the best players in UK in one band tossing off hooks and choruses effortlessly – sweet! I give it an A- for Side One, which was Ferry's full-tilt rock, and A+ for Side Two, which debuted Eno's virtual keyboard world. There seemed a palpable tension between these two guys live – each a forceful leader in his own right – and it was clear on their first album as well. One of them might need to leave this band, I'd thought, and chart his own path. To me, Roxy the band is far from Brian the singer.

"Roxy the band is the drug for me – look no further than Mackay's wailing sax, the Great Paul Thompson's brutal beats (similar, yet just a few yards to the left of John Bonham's) but mostly the uncredited compositions and bold guitar work of Phil Manzanera. I think people sell Phil's "real time" composing short – true, Bryan would write a new lyric so it's "his song" and bring it to the band – but what the band, invariably lead by Phil, did with a new Ferry song was to de- and re- construct it into a wholly different beast than Bryan had first proposed. This process changed Ferry's songs musically, thus thematically too, marking them as 100% Pure Uncut Roxy Music.

"Their first U.S. tour, they naturally came up to WKCR-FM (how could they not??) for a delightful evening including a white-copy spin of For Your Pleasure. Members present were Ferry, Manzanera, Eno, Mackay (The Great), Thompson.

"In a six-hour interview, one gets a fair impression of one's guests. Everyone endorsed the theory of how Phil is Bryan's equal in the band's composition process, but that's as much as they'd give at least on this First U.S. tour. A fun time was had. Phil and I discovered that we were raised a stone's throw from each other– most unexpected news!

"–B:)"

OK, so now flashforward to 2011. I come across this great photo by Lorenzo Lessi, taken on July 28, 2011.

Bryan Ferry Live at Bolgheri Melody

Copyright © Lorenzo Lessi 2011

I am lovin' this one. Bryan is playing blues harp through a hand-held mike.


My cousin Larry, who is five years my junior, had this response:

"You know. Sorry I missed it.. I knew he was coming , Shyster.

"He is great. … I just read yesterday's article in the Financial Times. He is a wine schmecker

"Anyway, Noë, what I do remember, is that a long time ago, I was at your house on 95th street when I first saw that album. You might have even opened it in front me, with the hot girls [Country Life].

"I was really young. That's where I got my first exposure to Roxy Music.

"It is still fresh in my mind."

Erika Anderson, from the road, on tour, has this to say:

"I would love to go to that show. ... He keeps playing the same theaters we are but we're always about a week off!"



Friday, September 23, 2011

Roy Buchanan, of blessed memory


Born on this day in 1939

Roy Buchanan (September 23, 1939 – August 14, 1988), an American guitarist and blues musician, was a pioneer of the Telecaster sound. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still considered a highly influential guitar player. Ranked #57 on the Rolling Stone list "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time," Guitar Player praised him as having one of the "50 Greatest Tones of all Time."


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Robert Johnson&Johnny Shines1935RAW

Today's blog entry will be a quote from my discussion on this with some Facebook friends:

Hey Kicha, thanks. You might be interested in this response to a post on my Facebook page:


Noe Gold
Here is a link to the 2008 Vanity Fair article about the image, and yes there the pic is on that page. It is a 5-page article, detailing not just Robert's life and times, but the lawsuits over the past 40 years over who controls the rights to Robert's estate:

www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/11/johnson200811

Searching for Robert Johnson
www.vanityfair.com
In the seven decades since his mysterious death, bluesman Robert Johnson’s legend has grown—the tragically short life, the “crossroads” tale of supernatural talent, the genuine gift that inspired Dylan, Clapton, and other greats—but his image remains elusive: only two photos of Johnson have ever been found - until now.

Ed Supple, Heather Harris, Carolyne Mas and 3 others like this.
Heather Harris thanks for posting this, definitely of interest

Shelley Mitchell The whole Robert Johnson 'deal-with-the-devil' legend is right up my alley.. LOVE this stuff--THANKS!!!!

Simon Nisbet If it wasn't for Robert J Zeppelin would have to of written their own lyrics. ;-)

Heather Harris ‎@Shelley, you would enjoy his site doctornoemedia.blogspot.com/ as Noe has quite the unusual takes on rock and classic rock. I've only caught up with it recently and it's great fun to read our most outre rock musings written by a pro with such panache.

Shelley Mitchell Thanks Heather! I just took a quick preliminary glance, and you're right--this is something I will enjoy reading. I know you know music HISTORY is my real forte.. just love the OLD stuff, and the older I get, the more I like it!!!

Heather Harris the good stuff wears well, which is why I'm always interested in NEW good stuff happening, to replenish future supplies...

Noe Gold Thank you Heather. Now if only some more enthusiasts would buy my Roy Buchanan DVD I might be able to put up some more brilliant commentary.

Heather Harris This will cheer you up: cuttin' heads!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0QKbnCDW94

Noe Gold Yes! and even more amusing is the YouTube comments by theguitar dweebs over who is the "best guitar player." Funny thing is, inthisclip, STeve VAi was hired to playboth guitar parts – theDevils MusicMAn that he plays in the movie and the Fender-sporting Ralph Macchio kid who represents the down home-inspired licksters.

Heather Harris I thought Ry Cooder did the Ralph M slide parts: I learn something every day. I love the fact that this scene uses music solely as the narrative.

Noe Gold Here is the skinny, with some fascinating trivia about the movie here:
Trivia for
Crossroads (1986) More at IMDbPro »

www.imdb.com/title/tt0090888/trivia
Steve Vai played both sides of the guitar duel, while acting as Jack Butler, the devil's guitarist. Ry Cooder recorded the slide parts and produced the soundtrack.

Noe Gold This is a gem:
"Eugene's Trick Bag", the updated classical piece at the climax of the film, is largely based on Niccolo Paganini's Caprice #5. Paganini, as the pervading myth has it, sold his soul to the devil for his musical skills. Steve Vai, as 'Jack Butler', replicates Paganini's legendary rolling eyes, long unkempt hair and gaunt stature.
And Paganini is Yngwie Malmsteen's hero, but that is another story :)

===================

Hey Kicha, here's more. Think it is worthy of a blog post?



Shelley Mitchell I loved that 'cuttin' heads' part of the article, it really appeals to my macabre sensibilities. Never heard of that before--I learn something new every day, too! Always been a rock n' roller, with a whole lotta (old) pop and soul thrown in as well--but here lately, I've been starting to cultivate a greater interest in blues stuff than ever before. Known for years that Robert Johnson was probably THE single most influential old master of all, but just now beginning to really explore that whole realm. Rock's most prominent ancestor!

John Lynch: Cutting heads if speaking of competitive jamming or stealing a gig from the people on the stand, etc. is pretty old. I don't know if the article has the latest update on the litigation, Rupert Murdoch one after establishing that Johnson had sold his soul and everything else to him.

Noe Gold
OK, now I'll fill you in on something the Guitar World and Vanity Fair articles only touched on. Jimi was a self-acknowledged heir to Robt. Johnson's legacy as well:

Jimi Hendrix: The Complete January 1967 Interview With Steve Barker

jasobrecht.com/jimi-hendrix-london-complete-january-1967-...

" ... I turned up to see Jimi at his flat on Montague Square, cassette recorder and one cassette in hand. He was friendly and relaxed through the chat. His girlfriend – I assume Kathy Etchingham – drifted in and out. There was a huge stack of vinyl records. On top was Robert Johnson’s King of the Delta Blues Singers and under that a Lenny Bruce album. ..."

Steve Barker: What are the main influences in your music?

Jimi Hendrix: Well, I don’t have any right now. I used to like Elmore James and early Muddy Waters and stuff like that – Robert Johnson and all those old cats.

Do you feel any heritage from the old bluesmen?

No, ’cause I can’t even sing! When I first started playing guitar is was way up in the Northwest, in Seattle, Washington. They don’t have too many of the real blues singers up there. When I really learned to play was down South. Then I went into the Army for about nine months, but I found a way to get out of that. When I came out I went down South and all the cats down there were playing blues, and this is when I really began to get interested in the scene.
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John Lynch also points out that ...

John Lynch: Well and King appears on the cover of Dylan's Bringin It All Back Home along with Lotte Lenya, the Impressions, Eric von Schmidt

Noe Gold: You are a gent and a blues scholar, John!

John Lynch: Just loved the stiuff a long time . . . I wish I had a copy of a letter I wrote a friend after discovering Robert Johnson.