THE MUSIC RAMBLER

B.B.King Buys Mississippi Hometown Juke Joint

B.B. King has brought a juke joint in his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi, a place where he plays once a year during his annual homecoming and where he met his second wife. Club Ebony opened in 1945 and B.B. was one of the many big names in blues and R&B who has played there over the years. Others have included Count Basie, Ray Charles, James Brown, and Ike Turner. The previous owner brought the place from B.B.'s mother-in-law in the mid-seventies. B.B. must have big plans for the joint because he is a man who doesn't think small. Besides continuing to tour at age 82, he operates namesake clubs on Beale Street in Memphis, Times Square in New York, Nashville, and Orlando.

Blues tourism is becoming a big part of the economic picture in the Mississippi Delta region. The town of Clarksdale, MS has been revitalized over the last decade with the influx of blues devotees from around the world opening music related business's and art galleries. Actor Morgan Freeman is the best known, opening his upscale juke joint "The Ground Zero" in 2001 ( if a juke joint is upscale, is it still a juke joint? ). Perhaps B.B. sees the same future for his hometown of Indianola, a place where he has returned to play many times over the years.

The Music Rambler in the coming weeks will be posting a music guide and travel information about Memphis and the Mississippi Delta.

Also see: Clarksdale Mississippi's Juke Joint Festival

B.B. King's Club website

The Ground Zero website

 

Chicago Beyond The Blues: Rock and Jazz Venues

As to be expected from a city of its size, Chicago has a vibrant rock music scene. That's the good news. The flip side is that these venues are shattered about the town and some aren't convenient to downtown or public transportation. Nevertheless, rock fans will find a wide range of places and styles to explore.

Chicago's jazz scene took a big hit with the closing of the long-running Jazz Showcase but there is still a decent amount of high quantity jazz to be found. The revival of the venerable Hothouse is especially good news for people with adventurous tastes. Here are some of the best known rock and jazz venues that Chicago has to offer.   

Van The Man Fan Websites Close Down

Popular unofficial websites of Van Morrison have closed up shop in the last two weeks at the request of Web Sheriff, a legal firm whose business according to its website is  "the protection of intellectual property and privacy rights in the Entertainment Industry". They have made this move in conjunction with asking bittorrent file sharing sites that enable the downloading of Morrison live concert performances to crease allowing this practice.  ( See Van The Man Requests File Sharing Ban )

 

Marianne Faithful Film To Open In U.S.

Marianne Faithful stars in the film "Irina Palm", opening March 21 at the Quad Cinema in New York and March 28 at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles with other U.S.cities to follow. The synopsis according to the film's website: Maggie, a 50 year old window is looking for work to pay for treatment for her dying grandson. Spotting a "Hostess Wanted" sign in Sexy World's window, she is hired and "applies herself in order not to lose her job". Find the trailer here.

Austin's Best Music Venues

The 2008 SXSW is over for another year but don't sweat it if you couldn't be there, because Austin has a great live music scene the other fifty-one weeks of the year also. Here are some of the best venues to catch local and national acts.

New York City Jazz On A Budget

New York jazz clubs are some of the best in the world and going to one is an experience that any serious fan of the music should not pass up. But a night at a club like the Village Vanguard or Dizzy’s can be an expensive proposition. The average admission to a big name New York jazz room is around $30 with another $10 drink minimum. Fortunately, for the music fan on a budget, there are ample opportunities to hear really fine jazz with little or no cover charge. There are many small rooms around town that feature jazz on a regular basis. Here are our suggestions for the best jazz deals in town .

Lou Reed Tour Dates

Lou Reed will tour in the U.S. and Europe starting in April. U.S. dates include shows at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium and the Highline Ballroom in NYC

Neil Young Adds Summer European Festival Dates

Neil Young, finishing the European leg of his Chrome Dreams II tour at the Apollo Hammersmith this weekend, has added some continental festival dates in June and July. So far, the shows include:

June 27 Rock in Rio Madrid - Spain

        29 Dublin - Ireland

        30 Live at the Marquee, Cork - Ireland

July    4 Rock Werchter - Belgium

          5 or 6 Roskilde Festival - Denmark

          8 Leipzig

          9 Oberhausen

        11 Bospop - Netherlands

        12 Optimus Alive - Portugal

Tom Waits Summer Tour Rumormongering

Tom Waits, master of musical mayhem, will possibly tour this summer. Maybe North America or Europe. Or maybe both North America and Europe. No one really knows, except Tom. And it's possible that he doesn't know what, if anything, he is going to do. But based on some recent offhand remarks by Tom himself and a somewhat cryptic mention in Rolling Stone magazine, it seems likely that something is in the works.

 

Was Mick Jagger Targeted by Osama Bib Laden?

Sir Mick Jagger, diminutive front man of the Rolling Stones, was once targeted for assassination by Osama Bib Laden, according to Doug Piranha an ex-CIA agent with close ties to the Pakistani music industry. Piranha stated in a BBC 8 radio show that Bib Laden was always a bigger fan of the Beatles than the Stones, believing that Paul and John were much cuter that Mick and Keith. Bib Laden, in a recent video tape shown on Al-Jazeera, expressed outrage at the poor quality of the Stones recent output, claiming that they haven't made a decent record since 1978's Some Girls. Bib Laden also stated that the stratospheric ticket prices for recent Stones concert tours was evidence of the decadent life-style of the West and expressed his supreme joy at the way the internet was destroying the record industry. Mick Jagger, currently in hiding from the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang (why are they the one's pissed about Altamont?), could not be reached for comment. 

Hell's Angels plotted to kill Mick Jagger (Telegraph U.K.)