| Author | Message | ||
  john dixon (john_dixon) 4-Laureate Username: john_dixon Post Number: 72 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 205.188.116.138 |
I just finished reading "Moanin' After Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf" by James Segrest and Mark Hoffman. I can't recommend this excellent biography enough to anyone who's a fan of the Wolf, the blues or just interested in that period of musical history. I thought the Muddy Waters bio from a couple years back was the best that I had ever read and this one's even better. Exhaustively annotated, anyone still living from that era and those who've passed on but commented one way or another about the Wolf are all recounted in fascinating detail. Just before he died, and before the blues revival of the 80's, Wolf mystified friends by making then-outlandish but now-prescient comments about how people would know his name long after he was dead and that one day there would be a "blues McDonalds" (Hello, House of Blues!) Now I've got to track down that DVD released last year,"The Howlin' Wolf Story--The Secret History of Rock and Roll". If it collects all his performance footage, then I've gotta have it as what little snippets I've seen of the Wolf onstage have been electrifying. As a performer, Wolf had to be the most incendiary of all the original blues guys. A mountain of a man, larger than life with a definate aura of menace about him, singing about Killin' Floors, Smokestack Lightning, Back Door Men("the men don't know but the little girls understand"), that spoon that spoon that Spoonful and women who are Evil... | ||
mel(andthensome) (mel) 6-Zenith Username: mel Post Number: 515 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.153.212.76 |
THE WOLF............ SUPERB........ A HUGE PART OF MY 45'S etc........ mel | ||
sideburnslim (sideburnslim) 4-Laureate Username: sideburnslim Post Number: 104 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 64.79.76.39 |
I have the video but I want the book. Some of the footage is really cool including some classic footage of Wolf fighting with Son House. There is also some really cool home footage provided by Sam Lay ...I think. The video is only okay as far as biographical info goes. One thing I am interested in is how much info the book provides on Wolf's first and best guitarist...Willie Johnson. Johnson is a hero of mine and I have never really come across any substantial info on him. Is he mentioned in any detail in the book? | ||
mel(andthensome) (mel) 6-Zenith Username: mel Post Number: 518 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.153.212.76 |
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Leo B (leo_b) 3-Pundit Username: leo_b Post Number: 52 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.41.108.65 |
Photo of The Wolf at Detroit's Grande Ballroom C.1968. Photo Courtesy Tom Wright also visit: www.thegrandeballroom.com  | ||
john dixon (john_dixon) 4-Laureate Username: john_dixon Post Number: 74 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 205.188.116.138 |
Hey sideburnslim, as Willie Johnson played such an important role in both the Wolf's "down South" and early Chicago days, there is much written about him in the book. He's certainly given his due as an excellent musician and as an important part of the Wolf's early sound. After reading the book, I was interested in learning more about both Willie Johnson and another of Wolf's guitar players, Jody Williams. Hey, Leo B, your photo gives us a look at the Wolf's infamous size 16 sneaker-clad feet, which he was extremely sensitve about. Anyone that teasingly asked the Wolf what size shoe he wore was likely to receive such a baleful glare from the big man that their life probably flashed before their eyes! | ||
Sue (sue) 4-Laureate Username: sue Post Number: 162 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 64.12.116.138 |
John, I have the Wolf book but have only just started reading it...I'm already reading the new bio of Dinah Washington, and I can only stand so much excitement at once (laugh) ... | ||
sideburnslim (sideburnslim) 4-Laureate Username: sideburnslim Post Number: 105 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.41.175.175 |
excellent I'm going to amazon it right now! | ||
sideburnslim (sideburnslim) 4-Laureate Username: sideburnslim Post Number: 106 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.41.175.175 |
Thanks for the pic Leo!!!!! | ||
sideburnslim (sideburnslim) 4-Laureate Username: sideburnslim Post Number: 107 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.41.175.175 |
Jody williams was responsible for the really cool and lazy riff to 44 blues... a classic. He still tours and has some serious chops but I am more interested in Johnson. In my opinion he was the ONE! | ||
Keith Herschell (keith_herschell) 2-Debutant Username: keith_herschell Post Number: 13 Registered: 6-2004 Posted From: 81.134.69.21 |
I have said before, if the blues is the devils music, then the wolf was the voice of the man himself. No one else sang like him. Demoic is the only way to describe it, or as one of his own recordings said, 'Evil' BTW; It wasn't until I saw the film 'American Graffiti' that I pondered, is that why Wolfman Jack was so called, coz he sounded like the Wolf. Keith Herschell - London | ||
john dixon (john_dixon) 4-Laureate Username: john_dixon Post Number: 76 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.58.196.3 |
You're right, Keith, Wolfman Jack did pattern himself vocally on Howlin' Wolf. He's not the only one; Frank Zappa protege and avant-rocker Captain Beefheart sounded just like the Wolf and you can hear the Wolf in Tom Waits as well. John Fogerty said he was doing his best to sound like the Wolf on Creedence's "Run Through the Jungle". According to "Moanin' at Midnight", even during the Wolf's Chicago heyday there were Howlin' Wolf impersonators who made a good living performing in South Side clubs with names like Little Howlin' Wolf and Howlin' Wolf Jr. | ||
mel(andthensome) (mel) 6-Zenith Username: mel Post Number: 522 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.154.240.116 |
cheers mel thats okeh mel |
