"How Do You Define the Blues?"

I'm asked this question so often, I thought I'd answer it here. To me, blues is music that lifts you up without lying to you. It doesn't ask you to believe anything you can't feel. It takes you outside yourself without disrespecting any aspect of your life. And when it's right, when "everything comes together," it takes you to that place where you realize -- sometimes quite suddenly -- that the music is listening. Sun Ra called it "outer space." Others might call it some kind of mythocratic transformation. You don't have to call it anything. Why argue about it, when you can go there right now?

Rockin' Out With Sun Ra

On Saturday night, April 4, I was a guest on Tom D'Antoni's show on KMHD in Portland. We talked mainly about the Paul deLay memorial show at the Aladdin Theater (which took place the following night), and about the music of Sun Ra. I played some of my favorite Ra tracks as a sort of "introduction" to his music, with emphasis on his juke-joint roadhouse origins. Here's the interview:



Don't miss Ra's astounding live solo version of Take the A Train, which starts at about 21:00 minutes into the show. You'll also hear some of my own music.

R.I. P. Willie King: The Blues Liberator

Alabama's greatest bluesman is dead. If you've never heard of Willie King and the Liberators, you've been missing out on a good thing. Discovering his music and his message was one of life's great pleasures for me.

For anyone who wants to help with funeral expenses and to create a historic marker celebrating Willie King's life and works, here's an address;

Willie King Memorial Fund
c/o West Alabama Bank
Attention Tammy
PO Box 406
Aliceville AL 35442

Off On A Comet

Science reporting in an Associated Press article on Comet Lulin apparently can't pass the sixth grade smell test.

Rolling Out Their New Spring Roster

Whatever fee the Washington Speakers Bureau charges to hear this guy speak, it's a bargain -- compared to what it cost us over the past eight years to hear him for free.