April Fool's Cosmik Blues

This month, I'd like to announce a few changes to Cosmik Blues. First of all, starting next month, we'll be devoting more ink to a wider variety of musical influences like Mantovani or 101 Strings. Many Cosmik Debris readers may think that this is the music that inspired Muzak, the type that you hear in elevators or in the dentist's chair. Far from it. I remember seeing Frank Sinatra, Jr. at the Ford City Shopping Center on the far South Side of Chicago growing up, and I guess I should have followed the son of the Chairman of the Board instead of Seventh Sons like Willie Dixon or Muddy Waters. Secondly, I'd like to encourage you all to make a real clean break from the blues. There's a lot of other music out there, like the Air Supply, the Backstreet Boys, Bone Thugs & Harmony, or some of the very early precursors of recorded music like the music of the era of the caves of Altamira in Northern Spain. I'm not talking about Steely Dan's song from The Royal Scam about the Spanish cave paintings; I'm talking about prehistoric rock of the Paleolithic kind. Igneous or sedimentary, you get the picture. Back in the day, they probably created music by smashing two rocks together. That's what I'm talking about. I've seriously missed the boat musically: instead of spending hours every month exploring the blues, I'm going to find out how we can enthuse folks like Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti to cover Marilyn Manson. After all, if Pat Boone can do a metal album and cover Guns N Roses "Paradise City" or Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming," what's preventing the Three Tenors from recreating Marilyn Manson's Golden Age of Grotesque, and complete with Manson's "charming atmosphere of decay?"

April Fool.

I re-read that blasphemy above, and if I ever, ever wade into those waters again, just drag me outside and hit me on the head with a 2 x 4.

On a more serious note, I've received e-mails from two readers who've brought to my attention a couple of errors that I would like to correct. While I pride myself on learning as much as I can about and from the blues, I make mistakes. When I reviewed Anthony Gomes' first-class acoustic CD, Sweet Stringin' Soul, I said that "veteran harpman Slim Harpo ushers in 'Heartbreak Train' just like an old freight rolling off in the distance, and he blows sinister on 'Wolf in the Henhouse,' right along with Gomes' great slide." I stand by the way that Anthony plays, and to this day, Sweet Stringin' Soul remains one of my acoustic blues favorites. Thanks to eagle-eyed bluesmanship from bluesman Steve Hepler in Austin, Texas, I need to tell you that Sugar Blue actually was the one blowin' that mean harp, and not Slim Harpo. Even though I wrote those words in October 2000, they're still out there online and I hope that this correction gets me right with Anthony Gomes (as in homes) and the late, great Slim Harpo, who died of a heart attack in 1970.

Secondly, my January 2002 review of Harry Manx' Dog My Cat prematurely awarded a GRAMMY to Harry. Harry did receive an award for 2002 Best Blues Album of the Year from the Canadian Independent Music Awards for Dog My Cat, but he's received no GRAMMY (yet). In my review, I said "Manx and Ry Cooder shared a Best World Music Grammy for their 1994 live CD, Meeting By The River." Actually, Harry's musical mentor, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt was the one who worked with Cooder to bring an exciting new sound to the world mixing American and Indian slide guitars together. For more information on Manx' inspiration and musical colleague, check out www.vishwamohanbhatt.com.

Harry Manx' latest disc, Wise and Otherwise (Northern Blues) continues to showcase a unique and new mixture of traditional acoustic blues and Indian-tinged guitar. I shouted about his newest Northern Blues release in the CD Review screens of Cosmik Debris last month, and Harry's capable sophomore effort is a most worthy successor to Dog My Cat. In fact, this new disc is a treasure. I wouldn't be surprised if Wise and Otherwise received next year's blues award at the Canadian Independent Music Awards, just like Dog My Cat did this year.

Without a doubt, I stand corrected on both the Anthony Gomes and Harry Manx reviews. That said, I encourage Cosmik Debris readers to take me to task. No foolin,' it's important for me to get it right.

Next month, I'll look into my crystal ball and make a few predictions on who will cross the stage at the W.C. Handy Awards in Memphis.

Until then, let's play the blues.

(C) 2002 - Eric Steiner