The Blues

The Blues is happy. I spoke today with a young woman who didn't recognize his name. Which is kind of sad...I guess young people mostly hear old songs by old people like him in movies, or when their folks put on Creedence or Dark Side of the Moon. I think it's important to remember all the joyful music (to cite random examples: Louis Armstrong, Lee Dorsey, the Meters, Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Huey Smith, Professor Longhair, Wynton Marsalis) his hometown has inspired--when you talk about losing a city, it means losing a community of extraordinary musicians with a rich shared tradition of music.

And The Blues is sad. What I loved best about this guy is that he didn't mind mixing it up with crazy East Village boys and beat makers. Primal state-of-the-art styles = something interesting, usually. (See also: Ornette Coleman, J. Hendrix, Lee Perry, James "Blood" Ulmer.)