Motley Moose – Archive

I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in “Cheers & Jeers”. OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.

ART NOTES – photographs, drawings and paintings are among works in a Civil War exhibition entitled One Life: Grant and Lee – now at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. through May 15th.

LITERARY NOTES – a year after his death: some later works by the Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney are to be published.

ALTHOUGH I have rarely bought my groceries there (as its stores are not quite close-by and I have a membership at a co-op market) I have nonetheless been stunned by the reaction not only locally to the Market Basket resolution – but also the national reaction (to a chain that only operates in three New England states).

I think the key factor was that the other family members (in firing the popular CEO) may have anticipated the employees’ reaction (and assumed they could be crushed). But they probably never dreamed the customer base would rise against them. That doomed any chance they had.

This was similar to Larry Summers’ ouster at Harvard. He had antagonized the faculty, but might have held-on …. since he had won some (surprising) support from the students. But he lost the support of the alumni, according to Alex Beam of the Boston Globe – and that ultimately sunk-his-boat.

CHEERS to the efforts of groups (in western Africa) working diligently to empower young girls to say no …. to childhood marriage.

THURSDAY’s CHILD is Calico the Cat – our family cat growing up (who died circa 1985) and such a fine family pet: that even folks who didn’t like kittehs … made an exception for her.

ONE OF THE PUNDITS I have on my radar screen (besides Digby, Atrios, Charlie Pierce and Kevin Drum) is Ed Kilgore – who has a sober-minded analysis without some of the polemics and one-liners others have …. yet delivers this analysis of an address by Dr. Ben Carson – who complains of American citizens being persecuted for their thoughts:

(On) one level he sounds like Barack Obama circa 2004: we’re letting ideologues divide Americans who actually agree on most of the basic issues; we need to talk openly with each other and try to solve our problems based on what works; we need to see each other as fellow-citizens, not enemies.

But it becomes obvious very quickly that in the world of Carson and the people cheering him the “dividers” are all liberals, the “common sense” real Americans all agree on is constitutional conservatism, and “free discussion” means the right of constitutional conservatives to say things that offend other people without anyone “intimidating” them ….. via complaints or criticism.

THURSDAY’s CHILD is Tigger the Cat – an English kitteh reunited with his family – 17 months after going missing – due to his microchip.

HAIL and FAREWELL to Glenn Cornick – the original bassist in Jethro Tull – who has died at the age of 67 ….. and also Werner Franz – the last surviving member of the crew (a cabin boy) of the German zeppelin Hindenburg (which exploded in 1937) – who has died at the age of 92.

BRAIN TEASER – try this Quiz of the Week’s News from the BBC.

SIMILAR TO the upcoming Scottish independence referendum: hopes ran high for an independence from Spain referendum in the northeastern province of Catalonia – but revelations that its long-time leader had secret bank accounts in Switzerland have clouded the picture.

THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted Top Comments with a photo diary of running the Berlin Marathon in 1990 … in the run-up to German reunification. Even though I had to leave before the midnight celebration – I still felt as if I had been a witness to history.

SEPARATED at BIRTH – the (mercifully) former owner of the LA Clippers basketball team Donald Sterling and GOP financier Sheldon Adelson – the Las Vegas casino magnate.

   

……………… and for a song of the week………………………………………………… people who love the blues all have their favorite musicians. Muddy Waters was the energetic star performer of Chicago blues, guitarist Robert Johnson is a Delta music legend (with John Lee Hooker a more modern spokesman), T-Bone Walker exemplified Texas blues, and B.B. King has become the public face of traditional blues. They and many others showcased the blues around the world.

Yet my favorite bluesman is someone not well known to the general public (nor especially known for his performances). But if you came-of-age listening to the British Invasion blues-based bands (or discovered them later) you will have heard many works by Willie Dixon who is truly one of the most important blues figures in general (and along with Muddy Waters, Chicago blues in particular). If all he did was act as Chess Records’ staff producer, arranger, A&R talent scout and in-house double bassist on many famous recordings: his place in history would be assured.

Yet it is his songwriting that endures. If you’ve ever heard a rock band perform “I’m Ready”, “Little Red Rooster”, “Spoonful”, “Back Door Man”, “Big Boss Man”, “I Just Want to Make Love to You”, “You Shook Me”, “I Can’t Quit You, Baby”, “Hoochie Coochie Man”, “I Ain’t Superstitious” and “My Babe” – among 500 others – then you have heard his work. And the tragedy is – like many other performers of his generation – he earned only a fraction of what he was owed until later in life.

The Vicksburg, Mississippi native was born in 1915 and like many from that region made his way to Chicago at age 25. He won the Illinois state Golden Gloves heavyweight championship in 1937, yet left in a dispute with his manager over … being cheated out of his earnings. Eventually he took up the double bass and performed in local bands. But his career stalled when he was imprisoned for ten months, after declaring himself a conscientious objector during WW-II. Military personnel escorted him from the stage of Chicago’s Pink Poodle club, in fact.

He later signed with the burgeoning blues label Chess Records in 1948 yet wound up not as a star performer but, instead: a full-time employee by 1951. His fame began when Muddy Waters had a hit with “Hoochie Coochie Man“, and he produced (as well as played bass with) many of the Chess family musicians such as Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush, Little Milton and Koko Taylor. Just to hear his ability as a rockin’ double bassist: have a listen at this link to him in a piano trio; not the way one usually hears him.

Yet all along his salary was not commensurate with his ability, and the lack of royalties resulting from his songwriting for Arc Music (Chess Records’ publishing wing) he became suspicious of when he saw the Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, The Yardbirds and numerous other bands find success with his songs in the 1960’s.

Chess Records was already going downhill when the blues began to fade after 1967, along with the death of founder Leonard Chess (and the subsequent sale of the company). In fact it was Willie who wrote the label’s last big-seller, Wang Dang Doodle that was made famous by Koko Taylor (who passed away five years ago).

Afterwards Willie Dixon began to perform again and had great success in Europe. Eventually, he and his manager began to collect back royalties from Arc Music and still later won a judgment against Led Zeppelin, as Whole Lotta Love was largely based on Dixon’s “You Need Love” …. and if you listen to Muddy Waters sing it at this link – you’ll see why Dixon prevailed in court.

Willie Dixon recorded a 1970 album called I Am the Blues in which he simply sang (with a back-up band) many of the tunes that rock bands had covered (as mentioned before). I would have loved to place a full-page ad in Rolling Stone for it, listing in various scripts the song titles … and then writing:

You’ve heard your favorite rock bands record these songs. Now, hear them sung by the man … who wrote them all.

Willie Dixon’s 1989 biography was also titled I Am the Blues and MCA released Chess Box – a boxed set of many Chess artists who had hits singing Willie Dixon tunes with him on bass. After losing a leg to diabetes, Willie Dixon died of heart failure in January 1992 at the age of 76. Even though it was only a short feature, I was touched that “Entertainment Tonight” mentioned his passing that evening. When he was inducted posthumously into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the introduction (delivered by Chuck Berry) included this line: “In no small way, he served as a crucial link between the blues and rock and roll“.

In his later years, his most lasting act was to start Chicago’s Blues Heaven – to preserve the blues’ legacy and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. Today it also has a museum, located at 2120 South Michigan Avenue – the home of Chess Records from 1957-1967. His widow Marie Dixon runs it and today they also provide medical care to older musicians, plus workshops (and even a scholarship) to young people.

In December 2008, the film Cadillac Records – based upon the life of Leonard Chess – featured Cedric the Entertainer in the role of Willie Dixon. The former Cream bassist Jack Bruce cites Willie Dixon as one of his idols not only as a bassist – but a total musician.

And as long as bands want to play Willie Dixon songs: his name will endure. Indeed, as to the aforementioned Led Zeppelin song which borrowed from him: BBC Radio named the riff to Whole Lotta Love as the #1 guitar riff of all time. Willie Dixon must be looking down and smiling.

   

If I have to choose just one Willie Dixon tune: perhaps it’s best to choose one that came from his last studio album Hidden Charms from 1988 – especially since the lyrics to the song Blues You Can’t Lose sum-up the life of a bluesman. And at this link you can hear Willie Dixon sing it.