Christiern

Getting back to music, one of the nicest people I recorded in New Orleans during my 1961 sessions there, was Louis Cottrell, whom I have mentioned and posted photos of earlier in this thread. As a result, I heard from his son, who also is a musician. Now I have just come across this letter. The Dave Mr. Cottrell refers to is my engineer, David Johnson, the Herb is Herb Friedwald (Will's father) who, sadly, left me only with unpleasant memories.

Slightly Feather-like, however. Apropos jokes, at WBAI, I wrote an ongoing radio serial in which I played the title role, Gamma Globulin. Gamma was an old fool who fancied himself to be a detective, of sorts, and had his very own PR man, Fred Nurdley (played by Robert Potts). The series was fully sponsored by make-believe advertisers and sometimes—to our delight—listeners played the game with us. One commercial brought in this response from a Mr. Svedosh of the Bronx: As always, our customer support dept. responded... As I recall, Mr. Svedosh changed his mind and didn't purchase our product, but he accepted an offer for a free rum-stained Che beret.

Another record project that never materialized was a Jimmy Rushing album. Here the funds never caught up with the determination, sad to say. Anyway, I came across a couple of letter from Jimmy Rushing, written when he was in Las Vegas. One thing these letters bring to mind is the loss we have suffered since e-mail became the standard. Old e-mail can be interesting, but it is water sans flavoring.

Was the bar on the left as one walked in, and di one have to go up a few steps to get to where Little Brother performed?

Yes indeed, Chuck, Little Brother was a gentle soul. Anyone here remember Record Research? It was Len Kunstadt's continuation of the auctions one used to find in Bill Grauer's Record Changer, and it was better known for the information it contained than it was for its prose. Here's what it looked like. ...but the auction pages were not good for the eyes! Lenny Kunstadt later married Victoria Spivey in England, to justify booking a single room at a hotel!

In September of 1961, I did several Riverside sessions in Chicago. This is one of them... ...and here's a letter that Little Brother Montgomery wrote me after I sent him a copy...

I also came across this note from Martin Williams, but I can't recall what he was working on, why I somehow was involved, or what year this was ... Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Here's the staff of a restaurant I visited on a 1986 visit to Sweden. The food was as glorious as the setting... ... and they even sent me a greeting after I got back to New York.

I came across a few more things, ranging in interest from zero to mild, but—who knows? I don't suppose Orde Coombs' name means much to anyone here, but he was someone I knew back when. In our life, we cross paths with many people. Some leave our memory bank soon, some linger, others find a permanent spot. Orde belonged in the last category. H was a brilliant man who accomplished much in the few years allotted him. We had many meetings over a drink or two, and many stimulating conversations. Orde was determined to make a name for himself, which he did, although not as big as he had planned. That obsession was, as I saw it, his only fault. Orde was an excellent writer with much to say, but he knew that people would discover him sooner if his writing stirred up controversy. That sometimes led him to dilute his work with opinions that flew in the face of objectivity. I remember a party we attended at the loft of a mutual friend. It was in the Seventies, when afros and dashikis often were political statements. There were a number of afro-ed, light complected black people at this gathering and—typically—they seemed to be more militant than their darker brothers and sister. They were trying to prove their blackness, and Orde found that fascinating, so when he overheard someone saying, "They're taking over," he decided to make it the subject of an article for New York magazine. As I recall, it became the cover story, and it was a warning against rising "Mulatto Power." Orde knew that he was making much of little, but it brought him the attention he craved. So did NY Times article in which he suggested that blacks committed the majority of street crimes and should, therefore, be sent to detention camps. Well, you can imagine... Orde looked frail shortly after returning from Africa, where he had been on assignment for Esquire magazine. We did not know about AIDS back then, but that's what it turned out to be and, in 1984, it robbed me of a truly memorable friend and colleague. Here's more on Orde, if you are interested. And here is a letter I came across yesterday, the spark for this post:

I remember Jay as a very down-to-earth, nice guy who—in the mid-Sixties—occasionally dropped in to see us and participate in broadcasts at WBAI.

An interesting account of the Ghandi auction drama. Who got the sandals?

Horton died yesterday, here is more about it. I first met Horton about 35 years ago when he wrote a screenplay based on my Bessie Smith biography. He left us many memorable dramas, "The Trip to Bountiful" being among my favorites, along with his screenplay for "To Kill a Mockingbird".

Harold Z: "Billy Jackson was a talented cat! A GOOD producer." As well as a nice person.

Here's a card from Elmer Snowden, who by this time had—more or less— moved to San Francisco.

At a time of pending loo fees and a "maybe, if you're lucky" on that tiny bag of peanuts, this menu looks like somebody's fantasy...

...and one from my old friend, David, who always so kindly exaggerated my place in the scheme of things... ...and a card from Down Beat, a publication that never exaggerated its fees

Apropos Greenwich Village clubs, here's a letter I received from Lorraine Gordon (Vanguard) when she was looking out for Jabbo Smith...

Yes, and here's a slightly better look...

Here's John S. Wilson's NYT review of the albums (the August 3, 1980 issue):

He may be singing, there's a vocal by him on the disc: "'Tain't Nobody's Business". Actually, there is no apostrophe in Taint, so it may be an anti-graffiti song

Just one more for today... This is a floppy 33 rpm promo disc for a 1980 Ralph Sutton biography. It has a nice group of "sidemen". Note the suggested coin placement on the label.

I promised a revival of this thread. Well, today I looked in a nook and cranny or two for a Pantone book. I didn't find the book, but came across a few things. Here are 3 of them, starting with a 1964 flyer for a moldy fig gathering.... More coming this week. Sorry, that card from Ray Draper is from 1971, not 74.

I was thinking of pre-ordering this (to replace my LaserDisc version), but will we still have DVD in 2037? And, even so, how much will I enjoy this film when I'm 106?

Yes, and hurry, before Inspector Gould sends in a report!

Shades of J. Edgar Hoover--another one of them poor lost GOP'ers who couldn't find their way to the log cabin! Just read Dan's post. Funny how these Bushie-poos are quick to accept vague rumors when it comes to the dreaded "liberals" yet need a first-hand eyewitness account when it comes to their own