Thanks, Hec. I hardly use allmusic anymore I hate their new site set up so much.

A radio repairman by trade, Elmore reworked his guitar amplifiers in his spare time, getting them to produce raw, distorted sounds that wouldn't resurface until the advent of heavy rock amplification in the late '60s.

fascinating

spending three years stationed with the Navy in Guam

crazy

This period of activity found Elmore assembling the nucleus of his great band the Broomdusters and several fine recordings were issued over the next few years on a plethora of the Bihari Brothers'owned labels with several of them charting and most all of them becoming certified blues classics.

I'm thinking these are going to be a lot better than what's on emusic, the editor who rec'd it flat out said it was one of his poorer collections.

Pick up the Rhino collection ("The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James"). Make sure it's the Rhino as there are many Elmore comps with the same name. It was compiled by Robert Palmer, whose book Deep Blues is rightly considered a classic in the field (and which deserves better than that ugly new cover -- bring back the Wolf!).

James is most famous for his guitar, the "Dust My Broom" riff in particular, but he's a terrific singer, especially on slow, heartwrenching songs like the title track. "Shake Your Moneymaker" is probably my favorite of his uptempo tunes, but I'd rather hear "The Sky Is Crying," "It Hurts Me Too," or "Something Inside Me" than any of his fast ones. He packs a real emotional wallop. You say you're hurtin'/You almost lost your mind/The man you looove/He hurts you allll the time/When things go wrong, Go wrong with you/It hurts me too

The Lothars have a song on our first CD called "Dust Mah Space Broom" with, I think, a similar guitar riff overwhelmed by the wails of three theremins.

a similar guitar riff overwhelmed by the wails of three theremins.

My favorite use of the riff is Ike Turner's piano on Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More Years," which Led Zeppelin copped for their first album. With Robert Plant starring as two of the three theremins and Jimmy Page's arco guitar impersonating the third.

Speaking of theremins, look at the second picture and check out its last caption. Saw it (the caption) & thought of you, Jon. Not to pigeonhole you or anything.

look at the second picture

My employer is blocking it. Bah!

My employer is blocking it. Bah!

I just sent it to your profile address.

It's the thirtieth anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (about twenty nine and a half for "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"). And now I'm earwormed with the John Valby version, which I am not sending to Buffistarawk but which is available on emusic for those so inclined (i.e., for those who find filthy filking, offensive in pretty much every way, funny. Like I do.) I may be his target audience but I'm not going to enable your preversions. </Col. Bat Guano> I'm going to hell. Which wouldn't be so bad if the current administration weren't sure to join me.

Got it Joe. Thanks. Cute!

Michele, your Mountain Goats mix is rocking my world. Thanks! Now I have to go back and read your liner notes again.

Whoo, horns are up! Glad you're liking it, Kate.

Joe, I'm going to reiterate here that you ought to download "My Favorite Things" from that mix. Don't make me have to come over there.

My Powerbook has stopped recognizing my iPod, so I'm on the list to see a "genius" this evening. I feel certain, somehow, that this will all end with my rationalizing the purchase of a nano.

I'd really like to pick up the new Neil Diamond, but it's one of the dreaded Sony copy-protected discs that put evil things on your computer, so I'd prefer not to give them one red cent of my money.

I know I could buy it and just not play it on my computer, but that's not what I want to do these days. Or I could just download it from iTunes, but I like having the actual CD and packaging.

Sony can kiss my rosy red ass, damn it.