h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) here in America comissioned director Martin Scorsese (sp?) on an excellent seven-part series that aired nationally last week. the link to purchase the boxed video set or the accompanying CD's is at
www.pbs.org/theblues/aboutfilms/aboutfilms.html
i taped each of the seven episodes as they aired and was very impressed with the video clips unearthed, the interviews and the stories told by those that were there, plus the new artists that know of, and play, the blues, and how it has influenced music across the world for generations.
and Blues Shark....i can hear the songs as you have quoted them. i look forward to reading more of your excellent work!

Thank you kindly sir.

The Scorsese series has been causing a bit of a stir on the messageboards I belong to, and I look forward to being able to see it for myself.

As a matter of interest were you a fan before the series aired or did you watch with little or no knowledge of the blues? The trouble with blues message boards is they are full of people who know the blues backwards, and they have all been anxious to hear an opinion form someone who watched the series from 'layman's' point of view.

I am also eager to see the series! I enjoyed the piece shark! Let me know when I can get the next installment

If you look at the top of the page, you'll find that there are links to al the other pieces in the project.

Doh!

Don't worry, you're not the only one to have missed it.

Excellent piece Shark! I look forward to (using those links) reading the other articles. Have followed the Blues since the '70's, but always tended to focus primarily on 'Muddy Waters on up'(although investigating a bit more over the past decade or so.) Unfortunately, I missed most of the Scorcese series.

Shark--until about the late 70's all's i knew of the blues was ray charles, muddy, B.B. and clapton but then the blues brothers broke out from SNL, followed by stevie ray and bonnie raitt and i caught the connection--i 'knew' about the stones' and beatles' connections, but until the remastered CD's began coming out, i hadn't heard much of the old stuff. now i've got the robert johnson, early muddy and a couple louis jordan, which took me to duke ellington, which referred me back to ray charles and ken burns' 'jazz' series on PBS a few years back. (my local library has the whole set.)
i'll look over your site listings again, but i think you've got 'em down. the www.rockhall.com is pretty static, but that'll reference you alot of places, too. (yes, there's blues in dylan and springsteen songs, too.)

God, don't let the blues Nazis here you say there's blues in Dylan and the Boss... I annoy enough by talking about Jon Spencer and Little Axe.

There is blues in all music, thank god. From Quo to Britney, and used right those six notes of the generic blues scale go in with pretty much anything.

Blues is a feeling, not a dictionary definition!

well said tonemonkey!

Trust me, if I can solo over the horrendousness of westlife then Blues fits anywhere!

It also counts as about the only way to make westlife listenable!

In one of my past bands we used to cover the Sesame Street theme as a 12 bar.

"Sunny Day,
Evrythangs A OK...."

a 12-bar 'sesame street'? hummm.....
yeah, the endless debates between blues 'purists' and jazz 'purists' are more than a bit of a bore, as in 'shut up and play your axe, man!'
i saw a band from a local church last month, and the call-and-response between the singer and lead guitar was something soulful, meaningful AND MUSICAL, something that's sadly missing in alot of the crap i hear on the radio or glance at on teevee.
the MUSIC and musicianship is the star and each player riffs off that emotion i guess is the best way i can put it into mere words.

Very informative, Blues Shark.

Looking fwd to part.2. A few months ago Jack Bruce picked 'I'm so Glad' by the country blues singer, Skip James. It was excellent. Even better than the Cream version. There have been some good documentary's on Robert Johnson, so it would be interesting to learn more about Skip, hopefully he gets a namecheck in the near future. Eric Clapton's stuff was highly rated by the Blues musicians as was Peter Green of F.Mac. That may be due to the considerable royalties accrued.

Hopefully, the BBC will show the P.B.S. series. So whilst we are waiting, and I'm tired of waitin an tired o'moanin....no, once again..great peice. Keep your mojo workin.

Thanks very much. if you look at the top of the page, you'll find links to the other pieces - Skip James you can read about in 'Newport and all That Jazz'. He was a fantastic talent, no doubt about it. Quite unique.

outstanding series, Shark!!
blues music is still alive and well over here, but it's not the mega-seller--not that it ever was--it thrives in the juke joints, the 100-to-5000 seat venues, especially in the chicago-kansas city-cleveland midwest and the memphis-new orleans-texas markets.
aside from the www.rockhall.com site there is also the House of Blues site and series of 'essential blues' CD's they have produced--it's listed as www.hob.com or email [email protected] (AOL keyword: HOB)on my 'essential women in blues' CD that features cuts by bessie smith, etta james, koko taylor, big maybelle, willie mae thornton's 'hound dog' and ma rainey, among others.
i hope the Beeb shows the PBS series, but there's links off their website to purchase the video and CD's, if one is so inclined.
thanks for your work!!

outstanding series, Shark!!
blues music is still alive and well over here, but it's not the mega-seller--not that it ever was--it thrives in the juke joints, the 100-to-5000 seat venues, especially in the chicago-kansas city-cleveland midwest and the memphis-new orleans-texas markets.
aside from the www.rockhall.com site there is also the House of Blues site and series of 'essential blues' CD's they have produced--it's listed as www.hob.com or email [email protected] (AOL keyword: HOB)on my 'essential women in blues' CD that features cuts by bessie smith, etta james, koko taylor, big maybelle, willie mae thornton's 'hound dog' and ma rainey, among others.
i hope the Beeb shows the PBS series, but there's links off their website to purchase the video and CD's, if one is so inclined.
thanks for your work!!

I'm so glad, I'm glad, I'm glad to tell you that the Blues is alive and well - in fact, thriving - here in the U.K. Thanks to the excellent broadcasts on BBC2 by Paul Jones and frequent tours by Eric Bibb, not to mention new English bands such as Bad Influence. We owe a big debt to P.J. for keeping the spirit alive. Not only is he a great broadcaster, his Blue Band is one of the best live acts in the country.

Fads and trends may come and go by the week but 'the blues' are here to stay. Even old rockers like Bruce, Clapton, Bill Wyman, Chris Farlowe etc, etc..return to their main influences in the end...simple 12 bar blues without the hystrionics.

If anyone needs an urgent fix, try the 'live365' site its not only free but it contains numerous Blues stations broadcasting 24-7.

Better mention the first time I met the Blues...the Late, Great, Rory Gallagher at Manchester Free Trade Hall. What a Pro....still playing encores after a 2hr set. Had to walk home in the rain cos I missed the last bus but it was worth it.

Oh, my dispute in part six isn't that the blues is alive and well, but that it lacks a sense of innovation.

My main thruist of the pieces involved was that the people I have focused on moved the music forward in some way. that's almost become a dirty word now in Blues circles - Jon Spencer and Little Axe are despised, and artists like Burnside are accused of 'selling out'.

I find a lot of modern blues is merely Muddy and Wolf repeated, only louder.

'without the hystronics' indeed. for a while the texas boogie blues band ZZ Top was hitting the charts and playing the big 10-20,000 seaters with all the lights, flash-bangs and special FX and they rode that wave for a few years, but have recently disgarded a whole semi-load of staging and nearly all the pyrotechnics in favor of the music, which is A) more affordable and B) more fun for the band AND the fans.
rory gallagher--i was hearing rory being played in the local places before i heard of rory....