MetaFilter posts tagged with Blues and JohnLeeHooker

John Lee Hooker and the fine art of translation

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:11:11 -0800

You know, I want you to pick up on this. You know, these lyrics are something else. Just dig this. Yeah, whoever put those subtitles on that clip was... um, shall we say, not listening? Let's take a look at that one more time: "Now, I want you to pick up on this" = "Now I want you to pick upon this." "You know, these lyrics are something else." = "Your delirious is something else." "Just dig this." = "This did this."... Knuckleheads. Fortunately, some were listening a little more closely: the same introduction gets rather more accurate subtitles (albeit translated into French) in this clip. Well, whatever. Mainly it's just a great performance from a great bluesman. Here's more from the John Lee Hooker of the 1960s: The awesome, quiet power of Hobo Blues, plus Maudie and Tupelo. And a real treat: Hooker backed by the Muddy Waters band (!) at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1960. Just for reference (and a kick ass performance) here's the band with their usual leader at the same 1960 event in Newport, RI: Muddy Waters at Newport Festival 1960, Hoochie Koochie Man and Rollin' Stone.

All the street's a stage.

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:43:19 -0800

Chicago's Maxwell Street Market wasn't just a market: it was a stage that played host to many an exuberantly ragged, hard grinding blues performance. It was lively, eccentric, ecstatic. You could get there on The Happy Bus. And of course, one of the greatest musicals in the history of American cinema paid homage to the street, as the setting for a fabulous performance by John Lee Hooker of his iconic "Boom Boom". (Note: See mouseovers for link descriptions.) There have been several documentaries made on the subject of Maxwell Street. Here's a little info on one called Maxwell Street Blues. There's a bit of interesting information here and there at this site, And This Is Maxwell Street, though it's mostly designed to advertise the CD of the same name. This CD, by the way, features the music from the 1964 Maxwell Street film documentary, called And This Is Free. The Robert Nighthawk clip in this FPP (linked to under hard grinding) is from this film, which, unfortunately, doesn't seem to have been rereleased on DVD. This page has some info on the film and capsule bios on the musicians seen in the film and/or heard on the CD. Here's an extended trailer for the documentary "Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street". Maxwell Street: Still Hanging On. Maxwell Street Wikipedia page. And just for good measure, here's another version of John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom. And what the hell, for extra good measure, here's his powerfully understated, riveting Hobo Blues, from 1965, which is probably my all-time favorite JLH performance on film. And thanks to my buddy Ken Kawashima, who sent me the Carrie Robinson YouTube link that got me started on tracking all this Maxwell Street stuff down.

The blues had a baby and they called it rock & roll

madamjujujive — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:19:00 -0800

John Lee Hooker performs Gloria and It Serves Me Right to Suffer with Van Morrison; I'm in the Mood with Bonnie Raitt; The Healer with Santana; Boogie Chilluns with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton; and Roadhouse Blues with Jim Morrison & the Doors (audio only). [Also, Muddy Waters, Etta James and more blues legends & rock combos inside]

ed — Thu, 21 Jun 2001 16:38:41 -0800

One of the last of the blues greats has passed on. John Lee Hooker is dead at 83.