ROBERT JOHNSON AT 100 - THE BLUES LIVE ON

After months of not going to concerts, last night I went to my first show since the fall, and boy did I pick a good one.  The Robert Johnson tribute concert at the Apollo Theater, celebrating what would have been his 100th birthday. As you can see by the image to the left, it was a pretty great bill, with lots of my favorite acts there.

I already wrote a review, which you can read here: but it was very classic rock-oriented, as I wrote it for that format. But to reiterate, Living Colour killed it. They kind of reminded everyone just how exciting, explosive and vibrant it can be when the blues is brought to life with LOUD electric guitars.  But I have to ask how it is that Corey Glover seems to age in reverse?  His voice is amazing, and he seems to have more control of it now than he did two decades ago. Vernon Reid is just a monster on guitar. Their performance by themselves was great, as were their collaborations with Shemekia Copeland and Sarah Dash.

The Roots were amazing as always: Black Thought wasn't with them. Instead, guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas took the vocals on "Milkcow's Calf Blues."  I love Black Thought, but they could have a parallel career as a rock band if they wanted to. Macy Gray did a great take on "Come On In My Kitchen." Taj Majal and Bettye Lavette were commanding presences every time they hit the stage, and what a treat to get to see both Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) and Allen Toussaint perform.  Most of these artists wouldn't be who you'd expect at a Robert Johnson tribute, but that's what made it cool. It showed that his influence extends far beyond "blues rock" artists.

It was also nice to see some younger artists:  The Dough Rollers are a traditional country blues-ish duo who were amazing, and The Pedrito Martinez Group were pretty exciting also.  I plan on checking them both out. Proof that, as I often say, the blues is alive and well.

THE ROBERT JOHNSON MUSEUM?

The AP has a story (which I found via Yahoo! News) about the home of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson being made into a museum.

Apparently despite all the mystery and myth that surrounds the man's life, his place of birth has been verified as a house in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. It's about 100 miles from the Delta, and the town is trying to get tourists to bring their money to town . I bet it will work to a certain extent: it isn't going to be Graceland, but there are surely people who want to learn anything they can about Robert Johnson.

In a way, it's a bummer that anything about the man will be demystified. There's something cool about his entire mystique: he was a decent guitar player, he disappears for a while, he comes back the best player anyone has ever seen. A deal with the devil? Why not? There's not a lot of mystery in the world any more. On the other hand, I don't want to take an elistist position with this, and I think that it is great that people want to learn more about a guy who died over 70 years ago, only two photos of him exist, and very few recordings.

Listen to the recordings! It sounds like two or three guitarists at the same time. It's just one. It's just him, singing, playing, and tapping his foot. That's it. Those recordings inspired so much of what we listen to today. It's amazing to think about it.

THE SPECTRE OF ROBERT JOHNSON

Robert Johnson looms so large over the history of blues, and popular music in general. He just recorded a few songs, but they really altered the course of music. Vanity Fair has an article on this picture, and one guy's quest to figure out if this is Robert Johnson in this picture (there are only two other known photos of the man).

I'd heard covers of Robert Johnson's music years before I'd heard his own recordings. They are so rough, they were hard to swallow at first. It's probably like whiskey: it takes a while to develop a taste for it. While I'm not a drinker, I can say that listening to the music from the source is pretty awesome, once you get used to it. And I say that as someone who can't always listen to "seminal influences" (I can't get into Kraftwerk, for instance, I don't care who they influenced).