Chick Willis: Gas Is Too High

The legendary Chick Willis telling it as it is!  Enjoy!

Pratish Motwane Blues From India

Got this email today.  It is nice to see the blues going on in India. I embedded a video of the band below. enjoy!

Blues from India!

Pratish Motwane bluesman extraordinaire, formed the Beat Root Blues Band in 2004 to recreate the sound of music that influenced just about every major artiste in the world today. The band since then, has performed at live music venues all over the country and has been selected to perform alongside legends like Buddy Guy and Robert Cray at a major international blues festival in Mumbai slated for February 2011. The band went through several personnel changes over the years with Prat's rock solid harp and vocals being the central force around which the band evolved.

After years of being on the road belting out all forms of the blues, Pratish decided it was time to create his own signature sound of the blues. He got in touch with the band's former bassman Colin D'Cruz who is now a music producer based in Goa. Colin suggested adding Dave Kelly a smoking blues guitarist from the UK, currently based in Goa, to the lineup that included veteran Mumbai based drummer Claude Abranches. Things just kept falling into place from then on. A villa in Sangolda will serve as the rehearsal/jam pad for the four musicians who will use Goa's inspiring environment over the next three months to create an exciting new 'Indian' sound of the blues!

THE BEAT ROOT BLUES BAND
Pratish Motwane-vocals/harp
Dave Kelly-guitar
Colin D'Cruz-bass
Claude Abranches-drums

Pratish has been passionate about music and the blues in particular as far back as he can remember. He balances a career in the corporate world where he is on the board of directors of several multinationals, with his music career that took off in New York City where he was based in the early nineties. He returned to India and decided to tilt the scale in favor of the blues forming The Beat Root Blues Band in 2004 and then touring the length and breadth of the country over the last six years belting out nothing but every style of the blues..



Dave is a UK based, smoking hot blues guitar player who has toured the world as the wailing guitar in innumerable all blues bands. He will be recording and touring with The Beat Root Boys over the next six months. Dave plays every bluesman’s favorite axe the Fender telecaster and actually makes the instrument emote onstage. He has been influenced by all the legends that blues has produced over the years and looks forward to performing alongside some of them when the band performs at the biggest ever international blues festival in Mumbai come February 2011.



Colin used to be one of the original members of the band before he moved to Goa in 2008 to set up base as a music producer. He runs a state of the art recording studio from his home in Sangolda and has been recording and broadcasting local talent on Goa's 105.4 FM Rainbow. Pratish reconnected with Colin when he decided to record his own songs and along with the recording project, he decided to go on the road with the band once again.



Claude is one of India's drum legends. He has been at it for close to four decades starting off as a nightclub drummer in the early seventy’s. He gigged with just about every jazz/blues artiste in Mumbai and around the country on five star hotel residencies before hitting the concert and festival circuit. He has an amazing feel for rhythm and sinks naturally into the groove of a song even if he happens to be playing it for the first time.

DaddyBStrong: Let Music Lift Your Spirit And Soothe Your Soul

Daddy has a great post on his blog HERE. He has graciously allowed me to re-post it here. Like I have said before DaddyBStrong is one of the best bloggers around. He writes from the heart and he can move your soul. Please stop by his blog and check out his posts.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Lesson 6: Let Music Lift Your Spirit and Soothe Your Soul

Albert King

"Blues means what milk does to a baby. Blues is what the spirit is to the minister. We sing the blues because our hearts have been hurt, our souls have been disturbed.
-- Alberta Hunter."

Listen up. You've been in a crisis. Having gone through the normal mental process of adjustment (lesson 1), gotten to the point where you can see positives from your situation (lesson 2), developed perspective (lesson 3) begun seeing family and friends (lesson 4), you're beginning to feel better about yourself, your family and friends too. You're beginning to believe and have a little faith in humanity...in yourself (lesson 5). Once in a while you may drink a little too much, and, on occasions, you may need to take a pill to sleep, but, for the most part, you're on pretty much an even keel. Like the great singer/pianist Nina Simone, you can smile broadly and say with passion, "I'm feeling good."

And when you're feeling good, you wanna proclaim it like Moses and drop it from the highest mountaintop. You wanna kick it like JB (soul brotha #1) and scream it at The Apollo, "Wow! I feel good!" And you wanna bounce it to an infectious, hypnotic reggae beat, and say with Bob Marley, "We jammin/We jammin/and I hop you like jammin too." Yes, when you're feeling good, you got to have some toe-tapping, hard-driving, soul-surviving, sho-nuf music to lift your spirit and soothe your soul.

What should you listen to?

What type of music should you listen to? Listen to music that corresponds to the way you're feeling (sad, depressed, lonely, happy, enthused, relaxed). Listen to music to get the feeling you want. Let music get you excited enough to run off to a rock concert or relaxed enough to dream of walking by the ocean. For example, if you want to go to sleep, listen to some cool jazz such as "Kind of blue" or "In a silent way." by Miles Davis. Or listen to a Schubert sonata.

Listen to music to music to shake things up. If you get stuck in a rut, let the revolutionary words and beat of Marley groove you, until you find yourself, patting your feet, and singing, "Get up, stand up/Stand up for your rights." Or continue the protest for civil and human rights with jazz diva Nina and shout, "Mississippi Goddamn!"

What about the blues?

In your selection music, don't forget the blues. And don't listen what some of your friends say: that the blues is just tired ole sad music. The blues is a musical form that encompasses all emotions. Nor is it just old. The blues (and for that matter, gospel music) can found in virtually all forms of contemporary American music: rhythm and blues, country and western, jazz. Yes, some blues is sad. But what's wrong with that? As you will see, by allowing the expression of sadness or loneliness, blues provides a survival framework and healthy outlet for people, especially people in crisis.

What is the blues?

1. Blues music is truth-telling. The form allows, even forces, an artist to sing or play from the heart. " When communicated effectively, it causes the listener to feel the rhythm and the words or ideas deeply. It evokes the truth from both the artist and the listener.
2. The blues is cathartic. Listening to the plight of others can help you to better accept your own, especially when that plight is performed to evoke feelings appropriate to the story.

The positive effects of catharsis

In an article in Mother Jones magazine, author David Jadju talks about the positive effects of catharsis in the blues music:

"The blues was designed to make oppressed people feel better. But the magic of the blues is that it isn't just about African Americans, but about people everywhere. Its tension-and-release form is designed to wring out the emotions, cleanse the soul, and make the audience feel whole-- like gospel music, but without the religion. In the same article, Bruce Iglauer, founder and owner of Alligator Records, states, "As we say in Chicago, you listen to the blues to get rid of the blues."

The healing effects of the blues

Musicologist Marteinn Bjarnar gives even deeper insights into the healing effects of blues music. Bjarnar views music as "folk medicine," especially music which used certain instruments to get certain undertones or "drones." "Such instruments may include," he writes, "jaws harp, bagpipes, didgeridoo, sitar, chiming bowls, mountain horn, various one-string instruments to be struck or bowed, and modern instruments such as pipe organ with pedal point (foot pedal), programmable synthesizers, and even tape loops can give the good effect of undertones, if used in a suitable manner." Of course the blues is sung and played with instruments which enable the musician to skillfully utilize undertones (harmonicas, organs and guitars, etc.).

Sista Monica

Beyond blues authors or blues label owners, it's the bluesmen and blueswomen who are best qualified to speak of the healing effect of blues music. Sista Monica, a part of a new generation of blues artists, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called synovial sarcoma and given three months to live without treatment. She underwent eighteen months of chemotherapy that shrunk the tumor so surgeons could remove it. Unfortunately, she was left with damaged nerves on the entire upper right side of her body. She eventually regained mobility on the right side of her body and say she is singing with more passion than ever. In fact, she has written an autobiography of her experience: "Soul, Spirit & Survival."

Sista Monica says the blues was healing for her, because it helped her to deal with the truth about cancer and other life experiences.

Other blues artists

Though he didn't write a book on the subject, the late great blues guitarist/singer Albert King often sang about blues healing. In the song "I'll play the blues for you," he sang with passion about his desire to play the blues and ease worried minds:

“I got no big name/Well, I ain’t no big star/
But I’ll play the blues for you/ on my guitar/
And all your loneliness/ I got to soothe/
I'll play the blues for you."

The late great blues guitarist Son Seals, who was once a drummer for Albert King, was adamant in advice to live audience to partake in some blues healing because, as he loved to say, "They're good for you." In a live album made in Chicago, he told fellow Chicagoans at the end of his last set: "Don't for about these damn blues!" he said.

"When you go home, get in bed and close your eyes,
dream about these damn blues. Don't forget about 'em.
When you get up in the morning, you say blues!
I said, when you get in the morning, you say blues!"

Whatever the genre, play music to lift your spirt and soothe your soul. So go ahead: Rise to R&B and shout "I feel good!" At work, groove with Smoke Robinson on the easy-listening radio station and sing, "You really got a hold on me!" Listen to Mozart and doze off to sleep. But don't forget the blues. They're good for you.

Have you forgotten about the blues?

A Public Service Announcement From Preston Shannon

I got an email from Blues Critic Media about file sharing.

Here it is:

Just a note from a fellow Blues Lover..... Our intentions may be good...most of us don't even realize what we're doing is wrong ...but "burning" a copy of an artist's CD for our "friends" is unethical and actually illegal. Support the Blues don't help kill it. We waste more money on other things but a "real" cd is forever. The big companies aren't the ones who get hurt by piracy it's the independent, trying to make a living people who do. Want to turn someone onto an artist? Give them a taste of the CD (a song or two) but NOT the whole thing Stealing music is no different than stealing somebody's rent money or food. You wouldn't do that would you? See what an independent artist feels about us sharing his hard-earned work for free. GO HERE

I know that some of you think that this problem is just the big labels, and since I am not high on corporate music companies I have not said a whole lot about the problem. However, it is now hurting the independents who need the cash. A lot of us self produce our music, and I haven't complained when I have seen my CD (which I have only sold 50 copies) on a free download site. I am sure I could look at who bought my CD online, and figure out who the culprit is, but since I don't need the money I haven't complained. But, there are a lot of musicians who are trying to live off their music, and it doesn't help if you steal it. My good friend Bob Dorr told me a story a few months ago that really explains how bad it is. Bob has played the blues for many years and he started his independent record company back when Vinyl was around. At a gig a few months ago he was standing at the CD table during his break when a guy came up and started looking at CDs. The guy had two CDs in his hand ready to buy, when his friend came up and told him, "Don't buy that! I have them at home already, I will burn you a copy."
I have known Bob for years, and in his younger days he probably would have got in that guys face and told him off, but being older and wiser he let it go. The problem is that "The friend" had two CDs and would have paid Bob for his effort. Then that money would have paid for gas for the vehicles, perhaps a meal, and certainly helped pay for the cost of a new CD. But this guy who burns copies of a regional blues band is doing his part to put us out of business. Smart move dipstick.

Lets hear Preston Shannon


Here is what I am going to do to stop people from stealing blues music. I know I have a couple links to websites that I know are ripping songs and putting them on Rapid Share. They send me a couple hundred hits a day, and I looked the other way. Well, NO MORE. I know you mean well trying to spread around music that you love, but you are killing us out here. I have been on the web for over 10 years, and I understand that everything should be free on the net, but only as long as it does not hurt anyone. When you put on music of people who are alive and well and trying to eat, you are hurting them and their music.

If your link is missing and you want it back here on Blues Historian, then you will have to prove to me what you are doing is right and legal. Otherwise I am not sending you any more web traffic to steal from my hard working friends.

Tom

Taylor Hicks: Blues Medley

Another cool blues medley from Taylor Hicks, received via email.

St Louis Blues

Not the hockey team, but a short article on the Playback StL website. It talks a little bit about the history, and then where to catch blues in St. Louis on a daily basis. Nice, short, sweet, and concise. Read it here.