The Blues on PBS

Anybody watching this?

Tonight's Wim Wenders written and directed episode features the following:

T-Bone Burnett
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Eagle-Eye Cherry
Shemekia Copeland
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Skip James *
Garland Jeffreys
Chris Thomas King
J.B. Lenoir *
Los Lobos
John Mayall *
Bonnie Raitt
Lou Reed
Vernon Reid
Marc Ribot
James "Blood" Ulmer
Lucinda Williams
Cassandra Wilson

Oh, cool. Thanks for the notice. I remember hearing about this a long time ago but didn't know it was on. Just hope it's on MPT!

No, but I'll be taping the Mavericks on Leno tonight, and the Jayhawks on Conan.

Yeap. 8PM :D

"The Soul of Man
Director Wim Wenders explores the dramatic tension between the sacred and the profane in the music of Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J.B. Lenoir."

FYI: Skip James is the guy that did the song that the band the 22-20s named their band for.

FYI: Lou Reed is that guy who slept with transexuals.

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
FYI: Lou Reed is that guy who slept with transexuals.

:roll:

You're just begging for it today, aren't you?

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
No, but I'll be taping the Mavericks on Leno tonight, and the Jayhawks on Conan.

They going on telly!!…fucking sell-outs.

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
Anybody watching this?

I'm surprised you're promoting such a liberal tv station. I thought Mein Fuhrer Ashcroft had ordered you lot to block it from your televisions.

If you can't see the difference between appearing on the Today Show and the Tonight Show, I can't help you.

Typical guest on the Today Show are very middle of the Road: Sting, Kenny G, Gloria Estafan, Seal, Steve Winwood, Kenny Loggins, etc.

At least the late night shows take some chances and skew toward newer, more cutting edge bands.

I never said appearing on late night shows was selling out. And perhaps I was wrong, appearing on the Today Show is not seeling out any more than the night shows. But it is an indicator that your music is boring and middle of the road.

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
If you can't see the difference between appearing on the Today Show and the Tonight Show, I can't help you.

Typical guest on the Today Show are very middle of the Road: Sting, Kenny G, Gloria Estafan, Seal, Steve Winwood, Kenny Loggins, etc.

At least the late night shows take some chances and skew toward newer, more cutting edge bands.

I never said appearing on late night shows was selling out. And perhaps I was wrong, appearing on the Today Show is not seeling out any more than the night shows. But it is an indicator that your music is boring and middle of the road.

Or maybe simply because more people want to see it.

The following night he was on late night with Letterman….did he sell out one day then get all cool the next?

Read what I said.

I take back the part about Today Show being a sell out.

Though the night shows do skew toward newer bands, they do have advertisers to please. They are going to have middle of the road mainstream acts booked as well. Especially Leno and Letterman, since they're on at an earlier hour.

Originally posted by mankie:

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
If you can't see the difference between appearing on the Today Show and the Tonight Show, I can't help you.

Typical guest on the Today Show are very middle of the Road: Sting, Kenny G, Gloria Estafan, Seal, Steve Winwood, Kenny Loggins, etc.

At least the late night shows take some chances and skew toward newer, more cutting edge bands.

I never said appearing on late night shows was selling out. And perhaps I was wrong, appearing on the Today Show is not seeling out any more than the night shows. But it is an indicator that your music is boring and middle of the road.

Or maybe simply because more people want to see it.

The following night he was on late night with Letterman….did he sell out one day then get all cool the next?

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
Anybody watching this?

Last night's was really excellent. Robert Johnson gives me the chills…in a really good way.

Wow the KKK marching down KKKonstitution avenue was pretty shocking just now.

Great show, shame they bothered with so many of the current new artists…… I guess they get people interested, but they are mostly pretty bad in comparison. I did like Lou Reed though….

Originally posted by Bubba:
I did like Lou Reed though….

Except that Lou totally "happified" that Skip James tune.

I liked how PBS pointed out that James never received royalties from his recordings. Especially considering this article that appeared in the New York Times last week:

Royalties From PBS Dismay Bluesmen
By NEIL STRAUSS

Published: September 25, 2003


n Sunday PBS is scheduled to begin its weeklong documentary series "The Blues," with Martin Scorsese as executive producer. In the episodes, directed by Clint Eastwood, Wim Wenders, Mike Figgis and others, the past, present and future of the blues are honored, explored and explained.

But some record labels and music publishers say there is one old blues tradition being honored by PBS that would be better off left in the past: underpaying the artist.

Randall Wixen, president of Wixen Music Publishing, says PBS offered a bluesman he represents, Robert Wolfman Belfour, $500 for the use of a song on television, on DVD's and in promotions worldwide in perpetuity. That falls far short of the $8,000 to $12,000 that he said was the standard industry fee just for using a song in a DVD.

In an e-mail message sent last month to a producer of the PBS show, Mr. Wixen rejected PBS's music-licensing offer. "If your true purpose is to honor the blues and those who make it," he wrote, "why devalue it so by continuing to treat its creators as if they were worthless?"

The article later points out that the exposure that many of the artists get will compensate for the small payments and that the series wouldn't have been made if they had to dish out $10,000 for every song they used. But still, it seems a little hypocritical.

Lou Reed sucked!

His rendition of the blues was happy & bouncy (you can't play the blues unless you pay your dues).
His voice was totally off key but what do you expect from a lousy "musician" (and I use that word liberally). Every musical interlude was filled with an off-key "yeah, yeah" He totally sucks - what do people see in him?

Originally posted by G.Love:
Lou Reed sucked!

His rendition of the blues was happy & bouncy (you can't play the blues unless you pay your dues).
His voice was totally off key but what do you expect from a lousy "musician" (and I use that word liberally). Every musical interlude was filled with an off-key "yeah, yeah" He totally sucks - what do people see in him?

Should I bother defending Lou Reed or not?

happy and bouncy, wasnt it the song with the happy lyrics though? And as for not paying dues, well if Lou hasnt paid them, then who has? Especailly of the modern artists who did covers, Oh I bet Eagle eyed Cherry knows all about the blues.

Isnt the blues often sung off-key or with off-key interjections. Off-key works pretty well for effect, if you ask me.

Go and but a best of Lou Reed or something then you might see what others see in him. Ever heard of the velvet underground?

I didn't see the show, but GGW's and GLove's comments on Mr. Reed don't surprise me.

Sorry Bub, as much as I like Lou Reed, his versions sucked. I'm glad that they devoted so much time to Skip James. I've got a video of him, Bukka White, Son House, Muddy Waters and a few others playing in a backroom bar at Newport '64. The section on J.B. Renoir was great too. I hadn't heard of him before. I'll have to check him out.

So were any of the new artists versions any good then?

Under what defintion of blues does Lou Reed qualify? Anything good he's ever done seems to be the opposite of blues.