July 18, 2011
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The drinking song list continues….

Listen to Sloppy Drunk Blues by Sonny Boy Williamson (Drinking Song #17).

There were two Sonny Boy Williamsons. This is the first one, who is generally known in the blues world as Sonny Boy I. He was an excellent performer and harmonica player who made a number of recordings with Big Joe Williams, a fellow who created a 9-string guitar by doubling up three of the strings for a more percussive effect. Mr. Williamson was tragically murdered back in 1948. I first heard Sloppy Drunk Blues back in the early 80s when I was in University. York U had a really fine collection of blues on vinyl and I used to go up to the listening room where they had turntables and headphones and I’d sign out all these old blues records and listen to them while I studied. This left me with a head full of obscure blues music, which I developed a strong affection for.

The second Sonny Boy Willamson, Sonny Boy II, claimed he was the original and so sometimes he is ironically known as the original Sonny Boy Williamson, but clearly, the second guy copped the first guy’s name and tried to take advantage of his popularity. While this seems like a nasty thing to do, I should note that the second Sonny Boy was at least as good as the first guy. In fact, not only was the second guy one of the best ever blues harmonica players, he was also one of the best blues song-writers. Just so you have a taste, here’s Sonny Boy II performing Your Funeral My Trial. This isn’t a drinking song. It might fit if I were putting together a murder song list though. It may not fit here, but it’s a great song so I’m going to post it anyway.

July 18, 2011
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What was that noise?

What noise?
That chirping noise.
I didn’t hear it. Maybe it was the blackberry.
Does it chirp?
Well, sometimes, yeah. I’m not sure what it’s telling me. At least it rings when there’s a phone call.
Wait, there it is again.
OK, I heard it this time. It’s the smoke detector, isn’t it?
I think so.

I check upstairs and downstairs and all around and discover that the house is not burning down. The noise stopped….temporarily.

It started up again at about 2:00 this morning and then chirped periodically all night. Tuffy P went on-line to discover some web entries suggesting that our our brand of hard-wired smoke detectors sucks and can chirp without a fire for all kinds of reasons from dust to old back-up batteries. Of course it isn’t obvious how to get at the back-up batteries or even what they look like.

I should say that I didn’t get much sleep last night. Sleeping through a chirping smoke alarm is most difficult. I’m going to try to not be grumpy today.

July 16, 2011
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The Cave of Forgotten Dreams

We met up with Candy and Stagg tonight to watch Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. This 2010 film is a 3-D documentary about an expedition to document the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France. This cave is special not just because few people are given the opportunity to go inside it but also because it contains the oldest visual art known to be created by man.

Getting a close look inside the cave and seeing these remarkable images was fantastic. They’re over 30,000 years old and they’re riveting. As a documentary though, I thought there were numerous problems. It was slow, and the music slowed it down even further. Some of the interview sequences were very flat. At one point, they interview a perfumer inside the cave. Very strange. And then there’s the end sequence which shifts to a strange tropical environment created by steam from a nuclear power plant – which produces albino crocodiles. I guess it is a statement about how the earth has preserved this cave environment for 30,000 years, but in a matter of just a few, we are radically changing the environment around us. OK.

It’s worth watching the film to get a look at the cave paintings. The first half of the film gives you that nicely. I found the rest dragged.

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Mostly unrelated – if film maker Werner Herzog were to engage in an Ultimate Fighting bout with former baseball manager Whitey Herzog (and they were the same age…in actual fact, Werner is 68 and Whitey is 79), who would win? Baseball strategy vs advanced film-making techniques. Tough call. What if instead of the Herzogs, the card featured Kid Rock, Chris Rock and Sgt. Rock? I think Sgt Rock would kick butt.

July 16, 2011
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I’m going, I’m going….

…where streams of whiskey are flowing. After that brief foray into hip hop, lets head over to Ireland for Drinking Song #12 and hear Shane MacGowan and his band The Pogues. I understand Mr. MacGowan did plenty of personal research in order to sing an authentic drinking song.

Irish music is a gold mine if you’re looking for songs about drinking. For instance, there’s Whiskey in the Jar – Drinking Song #13. Here’s Luke Kelly:

This tune attracted the attention of rocker dudes like Metallica and Thin Lizzy, but I’ll stick with a traditional version, thank you very much. Let’s continue with a couple more Irish drinking tunes. Do you know Beer Beer Beer by the Clancy Brothers (Drinking Song #14)?

…and one more by The Clancy’s with Tommy Makem – Jug of Punch (#15 if you’re counting along with me)

This post should set you up for the weekend (hic).

July 15, 2011
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A Hurtin’ Tune

Drinking Song #10 is Tonight the Bottle let me Down. Plenty of performers have covered this one. I don’t know who wrote it. I always assumed it was Merle Haggard, who is the performer I associate this song with. Here’s Mr. Haggard…

I love that twangy Bakersfield honky tonk guitar sound.

Here’s Elvis Costello’s take on this one…

Not bad at all.

The last version I’m going to share is by the Mavericks. These guys are a lot of fun…check out the drummer…and the piano man. OMG they’ve got a full horn section happening. Wow! In fact, forget those other versions. Hey, let’s dance.

July 15, 2011
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This week….

When I look at my notes from last year, at this time I was picking plenty of tasty edible mushrooms in my local forests. This summer, though, I’ve only found a handful of chanterelles, and the lack of any substantial rain over the past weeks has everything to do with it. A little thunder shower isn’t going to turn things around either. We need a couple wet wet days to get this forager back in the forests.

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I don’t know what Memphis got into earlier this week, but she came down with a nasty digestive problem. There are lots of fantastic things about Newfoundland dogs, but I can tell you that a dog that weighs in at well over 100 pounds with a system that’s not working right is not pretty. The other night, she woke us up several times in the night to go out to the back yard. We weren’t happy; she wasn’t happy either. However, I’m pleased to report our Memphilena is on the mend.

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I want to find some time to get out to see the Ab Ex show at the Art Gallery of Ontario this weekend. I have a lot of affection for the Ab Ex painters still.  Sixty years later, some of the work of that generation of painters holds up much better than others, and I’m looking forward to a chance to see a good collection of that material gathered together in one place. I’m told there are a number of Gustons in the show. Guston has been a very important painter for me. In particular, Mr. Guston’s peculiar and somewhat disturbing late works still transfix me.

July 14, 2011
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No Beer in Heaven

Let’s go down to Texas today for drinking song #9. In Heaven there is no Beer is an old polka. There are many many version from various countries, but my favourite was recorded by Flaco Jimenez on his fine recording Squeezebox King, in which he sings the tune in three languages. Here he is playing the tune live with Max Baco on Bajo Sexto.

Flaco Jimenez is the most well-known of the Conjunto button accordion players, at least in part because he has worked with pop figures like the Rolling Stones and Ry Cooder. I read an interview with him once in which he described what he played as simple music made to sound complicated. I think that comment applies to folks music from many countries.

Mr. Jimenez was also involved with a “supergroup” in the 90s that also featured the core of the Sir Douglas Quintet, Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers along with Tex Mex crooner Freddie Fender – The Texas Tornadoes. Here’s a fun polka that has a drinking component for Drinking Song #10. If you got the Dinero, I got my Camero…..we’ll buy some Cerveza, drive up the mesa, watch the sun go down.