I just found out that an old friend of mine from St. Louis (and a contributor to an old punk-rock fanzine called Pipeline that I put out while in college at CMSU), LarryMorrisey, not only works as Heritage Program Director for the Mississippi Arts Commission, but also hosts its weekly podcast occasionally, a program broadcast on Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s digital radio network, as well as on WLEZ (103.7 FM) in Jackson, Mississippi. The show features interviews with Mississippi artists, musicians, craftspeople, and others involved in arts and culture from around the state. Cool!
Click here for an MP3 of Larry’s most recent show (from November 6) where he talks with delta blues musician (he plays a diddley bow), Bill Abel.
A Saint Louis-based band from the early ’80s, The Obvious was among the first bands to play the New Wave/Punk styles of the late ’70s in St. Louis, a city a little behind the times. Drums: Kevin Brueseke, lead guitar: Alex Mutrux, bass: Jim Saltsider, vocals: Tony Patti, synth: Sally Barnes.
This video comes courtesy of Lo-Fi Saint Louis. Bill Streeter wrote:
This is a video sent to me by Tony Patti. In 1981 he and his band, The Obvious, made this video (shot on Super 8mm film) on the banks of the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis under the famous Eads Bridge. In it you can see many young St. Louis scenesters of the time, including Steve Pick and the famous (or some might say infamous) Beatle Bob. I really love this piece. Thanks, Tony, for submitting this one!
One of the really interesting things about this video is that it was made before the days of MTV, yet is interestingly enough done in true early ’80s MTV style. So in that respect, The Obvious was slightly ahead of the times.
For a lot more info on the early days of the St. Louis punk/new wave scene, please visit Tony Patti’s excellent St. Louis New Wave Nostalgia site.
Who the hell is Pinche Gringo, you might ask? Well, aside from obviously being some “fucking American” rumored to be living in Mexico (he’s originally from Greensboro, North Carolina), he used to play drums (maybe still does?) in The Spinns, an excellent, raw garage-punk band that played a show here once at the fabled Frederick’s Music Lounge. Pinche’s real name (and the name he went by while in The Spinns) is Josh Johnson. I’ve also seen him referred to as Duke Rattler, and his DJ name is DJ Charming Snake (check out his excellent podcast called ECHOES From the VAULT that we’re planning on adding to the stable of shows offered at the GaragePunk Podcast Network). But right now he’s on tour as the Pinche Gringo One Man Band, offering up primal garage/broken blues slop a la Hasil Adkins or Reverend Beat-Man… dirty, soulful, trashy and rawkus. And he’s bringing his act to St. Louis, appearing live at the Way Out Club this coming Wednesday night, November 19. Here’s a purdy cool video of Pinche doing his thing live in Mexico not too long ago:
By the way, this show is the same night as the Andre Williams doco at the Tivoli, but don’t worry… you’ll have plenty o’ time to hit that AND still make it down to the south side for this hoppin’ show. I know cuz that’s exactly what I plan on doing myself.
Agile, Mobile, Hostile: A Year With Andre Williams
Speaking of the SLIFF (and huge kudos to Jason Rerun for pointing this out), but this Andre Williams documentary will be playing there this coming Wednesday night! And for god’s sake, if you’re reading this blog, I hope to hell you know who Mr. Rhythm is, but just in case, I’ll attach a couple MP3s below…
Agile, Mobile, Hostile: A Year With Andre Williams Tricia Todd & Eric Mathes, U.S., 2008, 86 min.
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 7:15 p.m., Tivoli 3
Known as “Mr. Rhythm,” Andre Williams has recorded hit records (“Bacon Fat”), written hit songs (“Shake a Tail Feather”) and worked with such legends of the industry as Berry Gordy, Ike Turner and Stevie Wonder. But throughout his 72 years, Andre has also struggled with addiction, poverty, homelessness and the legal system. The film follows the alternately charming and maddening Andre on a fascinating, funny and distressing journey. Andre makes a declaration to the filmmakers – “I’m going to show you the right way, because I’ve gone so many wrong ways” – but as he moves from gig to gig, the mercurial singer all too often succumbs to temptation, risking dire consequences.
