Plus: Rockie Fresh, Piano C. Red, Terry Kath, Marvin Junior, Smile Empty Soul, Clarence Burke Jr., Date Palms, Kids These Days
1. From Bloodshot HQ:
“Like a misfit boomerang circling back around, we are thrilled to announce that Chicago-based artist Robbie Fulks has returned to the Bloodshot Records roster fold.
“Robbie will release a new full-length entitled Gone Away Backward on August 27.
“The 12-song album – and his first on the label since 2001 – was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago, and will be available on CD/LP/digital.
“We asked Robbie for his thoughts on the new album and on coming back to the Bloodshot stable, and here’s what he had to say:
As opposed to this idea that I’m “coming back to Bloodshot” (the verb ‘crawling’ has also been muttered behind sleeves) I don’t feel like I ever left.
For sure I never slammed the door behind me in proud, valedictory defiance. Well, not since 1997 anyhow. Since then, I’ve co-released 2 records with them (Very Best of [me] in 1999 and 13 Hillbilly Giants in 2001), doing separate runs on my imprint and theirs. I used their retail distribution network and other resources on Couples in Trouble in 2001. I contributed to compilations they put out in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006, and played for their 15th anniversary in 2011. Also in ’11 they helped me market my little tribute to Michael Jackson.
Most people would pick “Put out a Michael Jackson tribute record” as the best definitive answer to the question, “How do I make Bloodshot Records go away?” However, Bloodshot Records won’t go away. I see them at shows and seminars and parties and, in the case of Rob, wherever liquor is sold. When I go down to the Bloodshot office to buy records from my catalogue, there they are. Bloodshot. One reason I see Nan and Rob with some frequency is that we live in the same general area. Chicago is a big place, but the country music community is quite small. When you exclude style-hopping working stiffs who occasionally slap on Stetsons, and the usual corporately polished radio-imitation nonsense, there’s maybe 10 of us. No, there’s 9 – Kelly [Hogan] went to Wisconsin. So fate has really thrown us into the same cramped cauldron. Not a bad place to be at all. At this point, I think we’re kind of impressed, with each other and ourselves, that we’re still in the game; the smart money 20 years ago was on our being wards of the state by now.
“We couldn’t have said it any better. Welcome home, Robbie! – Love, Bloodshot Records.”
*
Fulks continues his Monday night residency at the Hideout throughout the summer. You can also catch him at the Chicago Craft Beer Festival on June 23 at St. Michael Church.
–
2. The new Rockie Fresh video.
–
3. Remembering Piano C. Red.
“Chicago blues piano player Piano C. Red, who performed with Muddy Waters, B.B King, Fats Domino and Buddy Guy before being paralyzed in 2006, has died,” AP reports.
“Red’s son, James Britton, confirmed Tuesday that his 79-year-old father died Monday. He says his father’s health had been deteriorating since the shooting that paralyzed him. Red was shot during a robbery.
“In a news release, publicist June Rosner says Red spent years driving a cab by day and playing in the city’s blues clubs at night. She says Red began playing professionally in Chicago at age 19.”
Living In The Shack.
–
Cab Driving Man.
–
Tribune interview four years ago with Red from the Glencrest Nursing & Rehab Center where he was living.
–
4. Remembering Marvin Junior.
“Dells lead singer Marvin Junior has died of kidney failure at his home in Harvey,” the Sun-Times reports. He was 77.
“His doo-wop and soul quintet formed 60 years ago, singing gospel as freshmen students at Thornton Township High School. They were inducted in 2004 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and had seven gold singles, three gold albums and 25 top 40 hits. Mr. Junior sang lead on the Dells’ biggest hit – ‘Oh, What a Night,’ recorded in 1956.”
–
5. Forgotten Heroes: Terry Kath.
“In 1968, the Chicago Transit Authority found themselves playing a show at the renowned L.A. club the Whisky a Go Go,” Corbin Reiff writes for Premier Guitar.
“The gig itself was unremarkable, just another in a long series of dates they’d been playing since changing their name from the Big Thing. It was what happened after the show that made this evening memorable for the group – and especially for their guitarist. According to the band’s saxophonist Walter Parazaider, after the show, ‘This guy came up very quietly and tapped me on the shoulder. He says, Hi, I’m Jimi Hendrix. I’ve been watching you guys and I think your guitarist is better than me.’
“The guitarist Hendrix was referring to was Terry Kath, and whether or not the above story is true or apocryphal is immaterial: The fact that one could hear Kath and then judge the story plausible matters as much as its authenticity.
“And among those who either witnessed his prowess firsthand or came to know it after his untimely demise at the age of 31, it is virtually unanimous that Kath is one of the most criminally underrated guitarists to have ever set finger to fretboard.
“Give a listen to what many consider to be Chicago’s signature song, ’25 or 6 to 4,’ one is instantly transfixed by the punch of the chromatically descending opening riff, the funky fills, the slippery licks, and the tones that range from wooly fuzz to searing, wah-inflected colors.”
–
6. L.A. Band Hits Chicago’s Pavement.
“Los Angeles rock act Smile Empty Soul will release its new album, Chemicals, in the fall,” Blabbermouth reports.
“The CD will mark the band’s first release through their own imprint, Two Disciples Entertainment, in conjunction with a unique business venture through Chicago’s Pavement Entertainment. Distribution and marketing will be handled through Pavement via RED (a division of Sony Music Entertainment) and MRI in North America and through RSK Entertainment in Europe and the rest of the world.”
From the SES vault:
–
7. Remembering Clarence Burke Jr.
“Clarence Burke Jr., the lead singer of the Five Stairsteps, a sibling rhythm-and-blues group that had its best-known hit in 1970 with ‘O-o-h Child,’ died on Sunday in Marietta, Ga.,” the New York Times reports. “He had turned 64 the day before.
“The Five Stairsteps – four brothers and a sister – formed in Chicago in the mid-1960s, having learned to play instruments and sing from their father, Clarence Sr., a police officer, and their mother, Betty. They were once called ‘the first family of soul,’ a moniker later adopted by the Jackson 5.”
–
8. Date Palms Thrill Boing Boing.
“A lovely video complement to the sun-bleached minimalist psychedelia of Date Palms’ ‘Yuba Reprise,’ from their album The Dusted Sessions due out [in June] on Thrill Jockey.”
–
9. Kids These Days.
“Just when it looked like they were really going to go places, Chicago band Kids These Days has split up,” the Sun-Times reported last month.
“The young South Side band, which encompassed a multitude of styles, just released its acclaimed debut album, Traphouse Rock, last fall. In little more than a year, the pop-rock-rap collective landed gigs at Lollapalooza and Coachella, a showcase at South by Southwest and an appearance on the TBS talk show Conan.”
–
10. The duet nobody asked for.
–
Comments welcome.
Posted on June 6, 2013