Cracks In Sidewalks

Writing about John Hiatt last week got me thinking about Louisiana guitarist Sonny Landreth.  He and “The Goners” use to back John Hiatt, but Sonny Landreth is a talent in his own right and deserves a column of his own.  Best known for his slide guitar work, many well-known musicians have called upon him for work on their own projects, but it should be known that he is a guitar force to be reckoned with as his own leading man.  One musician who has recognized the talents of Sonny Landreth besides John Hiatt is famed guitarist Eric Clapton who had Landreth as his opening act at last years “Crossroads Guitar Festival” in Chicago.

Having been influenced by Elvis guitarist Scotty Moore and groups like “Chet Atkins and the Ventures,” Landreth’s biggest guitar influence and personal hero was Robert Johnson stating that he also closely studied the guitar styles of Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James and Charlie Patton.  Lyrically he’s said he was influenced by a number of writers and Robert Faulkner was one writer up at the top of his list.

Born in Mississippi, his family soon moved to Lafayette Louisiana.  Starting off as a trumpet player Landreth later switched to guitar where he developed his own unique style of playing slide guitar.  His first professional gig eventually came with accordionist Clifton Chenier and then Landreth struck out on his own.  Catching the eye of Nashville Landreth was soon working with the likes of John Hiatt, and eventually John Mayall, Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Buffet, Steve Conn, Gov’t Mule, Mark Nopfler, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Buffet with whom he toured, to name a few.

A guitarist most people have never heard of, Landreth’s newest release, “From The Reach,” his ninth, is the first of his records to be released on his own label, “Landfall.”  On this disc Landreth collaborates with five of the top guitarists still alive today; Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, Mark Knopfler, Vince Gill, and Eric Johnson; something the artist had never done before.  Landreth says on his website, “I’ve wanted to make this kind of record for a long time – to do an entire album that would feature some of my favorite players as special guests.”  He’s also joined on the disc by Dr. John and Jimmy Buffett who add their own unique touches of piano and vocals on the cut “Howlin’ Moon.”

On tour this month you can check his website to learn more about Landreth and see if he’s playing anywhere near you.  And if you would like to hear a cut from Sonny Landreth’s most recent release, “From The Reach,” one of his collaborations with Eric Clapton, “When I Still Had You,” simply click on the link below or cut and paste it into your browser.

Sonny Landreth – “When I Still Had You” with Eric Clapton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8JvPu3FCVM

Official website of Sonny Landreth
www.sonnylandreth.com/

On 9/11 seven years ago I thought I was going to take the 1/9 train to the World Trade Center as I had the day before, get out of the train and walk several blocks east to the court house where I had started jury duty the previous day.  I had been chosen as a prospective juror in a grand larceny case and unlike the day before the judge had told us to reconvene at 10am instead of  9am as the lawyers and he had some things to discuss about the case.  I was just about to run out my door that morning when I got a call from a friend who was hysterical saying, “you’re not going to believe this but a plane just flew into the World Trade Center.”  At that point I thought maybe I should call the courthouse?  When I called the courthouse I actually got through as no one at that point had realized what was happening or about to happen.  They said in lieu of all the commotion downtown that jury duty was cancelled for the day and I should show up tomorrow as scheduled.  Little did we know!

Soon it became evident that this wasn’t one misguided pilot and a horrible accident.  At that point I decided, why watch the news to see what is happening, I should just go up to the roof of my apartment building where I would have a direct view of the World Trade Center buildings.  I wasn’t the only one to have the idea.  There were probably about 40 of us up there, each horrified in our own way.  Up on the roof we watched in shock at what seemed so unreal.  I don’t know why I didn’t think of my friend Karol at that exact moment.  I guess there was too much going on to think straight.  We listened to someone’s radio, heard about the Pentagon, some people had gone and gotten their binoculars which were passed around, and others got their cameras, but all of us stood in disbelief trying to console the persons to the right and left of us.   We knew there was going to be a high death toll, maybe even a hundred or two?   I also sadly knew that this meant war, that I was witnessing my generations Pearl Harbor.

As the flames got higher and the situation graver, people were saying things like, “it was built to withstand a 727 jet.”   They talked about the structure of the building and how well it was built trying to reassure the people watching and themselves.  Then the unthinkable happened, a building collapsed like it was a toy.  The magnitude of the experience was just too great!  The cloud of smoke and dust was like something I had never seen before.  I just shook and stared in utter fear waiting for the building to reappear.  It was unthinkable, impossible that it was gone.  It was unfathomable to think of all who must have perished.  Around me people were screaming and shaking, falling to the ground, trying to steady themselves.  Then we all nervously stood and watched the second building and prayed.  At this point I have no doubt I was in a state of shock and so were those around me.

Soon thereafter the second building collapsed too.  I cannot explain to you the profound sadness that swept over my body.  To this day all I have to do is think about those buildings and it is a physical experience.  It is something that lives deep inside me and at the time I didn’t know if I could ever feel a sense of normalcy again.  People stayed on the roof crying, hugging, feeling lost, not knowing what to do next.  What do you do?  Eventually I went back to my apartment and woke up a close friend in California.  I was talking and speechless at the same time.  Then I tried getting through to my family that lives here and elsewhere.  Everyone had known that I was on jury duty and thought that I was down there.  I needed to assure them I was not.

My girlfriend Karol was missing and all her friends were looking for her, but it seemed that people everywhere were looking for someone.  Makeshift memorials started to appear randomly throughout the streets with photo’s, flowers, and candles.  I stood in line at the armory with about 1500 others waiting to file a missing persons report.  Two of Karol’s other girlfriends had gone to her apartment to get a toothbrush, some hairs, anything that could prove DNA while I waited in line, which we knew would take hours.  Volunteers with water, sandwiches and snacks came and offered whatever they had just needing to feel that they were doing something.  People walked around the city dazed, few worked.

In different parts of the city groups started to gather, it just happened.  People needed to be with other people.  They needed someone to mourn with.  At Union Square, close to me, thousands started to gather at night, pictures of loved ones, memorabilia and candles filled the park, music, guitars, and groups singing filled the air and we all waited and hoped and started to come to terms with our losses, but we needed to do it together.  By this time my friends and I were beginning to accept that our friend was dead, after all she worked on the 89th floor and we knew she was there when the plane entered her building on the 82nd floor.

It’s hard to believe that seven years have passed.  Those initial months after 9/11, I lived in its aftermath.  I breathed bad air, smelled its stench when the wind would blow in a certain direction, counted the days it took for the clouds to disappear where the buildings once stood.  I heard emergency sirens throughout the night for months on end, didn’t sleep a good nights sleep until maybe January, and tried to remember what normalcy was but couldn’t find it.  I also knew that what had been normal would change and normalcy would never be what it once was so I would have to find a new normal, a new place to land.

My girlfriend Karol did die.  She was in the second tower to get hit but the first to go down.  She was on the phone with her mother when the plane entered the building.  She had called her mother to tell her something was going on at the WTC, but not to worry, she was ok.

Funny, beautiful, smart, kind hearted; a person full of life; Karol is missed everyday by those who knew her and loved her and she is especially missed today.

Peace.

There’s a little theater I pass in my neighborhood multiple times a week.  It’s called the Joyce.  There are always people standing outside their doors, and you always know they are enjoying themselves by the look on their faces.  The Joyce is an intimate theater that specializes in dance, all kinds of dance offering a broad range of movement styles and traditions, it supports and brings to the forefront some of the best known and most innovative small to midsize dance companies dancing today.  The Joyce Theater is a theater that was created by dancers for dancers.  Opening their doors in 1982 it is now considered one of the top performance venues in the country for dance.

The building that now plays home to The Joyce was once a revival movie house that was closed down by the community when it became a pornographic theater.  With a major over-hall, the entire interior had to be gutted., today it is a beautiful dance theater that seats 472 people.  And in1996 the Joyce Theater bought an old firehouse in SOHO and transformed that into a rehearsal space and small theater.  Called Joyce SOHO, that theater holds 72 people.

The Joyce reaches out to people in a number of ways.  First off they make it affordable to go there by offering three tiers of ticket prices.  They have partnered with the New York City schools and offer programs for K through 12 trying to introduce kids to dance and new artistic concepts.  The children study about the upcoming performances and attend two to four performances during that period of time.  And The Joyce is also family friendly.  It sets aside 3 Saturday’s each Fall and Spring season for parents to be able to bring their kids to watch the major dance companies perform.  They do this by charging the children only $10 a ticket.  They also have an adult education program offering discussions with the dance companies, the choreographers, artistic directors, designers, etc.  Through each of these efforts The Joyce truly offers those interested in dance an unbelievable outlet.

If you don’t live in New York, but plan to visit or know someone who will be visiting soon, pass this tip along.  You don’t have to stay in midtown to get Class A performances.  This is a wonderful venue offering up top talent and some of the very best dance you will find anywhere in the world.

To learn more about The Joyce and to see a schedule of their new fall season which starts next week, either click on the link below or cut and paste it into your browser.

http://www.joyce.org/

A lot of you left your suggestions and I want to thank you!  It really was a lot of fun.

I compiled the names from Day 1 and Day 2 and turned over the list to our kitten’s owners on Monday night.  The owner was so pleased with all the names and said it was a hard choice.

After much consideration the winning name was “Pekoe,” with “Cami” coming in a strong second.  I think it was Snook’s descriptive that tipped “Pekoe” in the winning direction.

“Pekoe,

Orange Pekoe.

We researched it on Wikipedia and the long name is:
Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe!
or
Far Too Good For Ordinary People!”

I’ll ask for an occasional photo from Pekoe’s owner so we can all watch her grow and if we’re lucky the owner will write us a little “Pekoe Report” from time to time.  The name “Pekoe” was chosen by “Cracks In Sidewalks” reader Snook, and the name “Cami” was chosen by “Cracks In Sidewalks” reader Alison.

If anyone else has a kitten that needs to find a name, send a photo and your request to me, Audrey.  Email address:  cracksinsidewalks@gmail.com

Also if you have any cat photos and captions or a little short story you want to submit, you can do so at the same address.

Again I want to thank all of you for your participation and all your great suggestions!

Warmest regards,

Audrey

Having lived with a jazz guitarist for many years, there was a time I could tell you about all these obscure musicians and their styles, but I couldn’t tell you about the persons who were topping the charts of Billboard.  Guitar and jazz bands were in our house all the time and the music was non-stop.  After a while some of it rubbed off and I’ll always be grateful for all that I learned about music and musicians during those years.

My boyfriend who studied as a teenager with LA guitar guru Ted Greene, played guitar like a piano, a thumb style like Wes Montgomery, but with big chords like Lenny Breau and another favorite (both happen to be Canadian), Ed Bickert who played with Paul Desmond’s band.  He and his guitar friends would transcribe and study every note these players played.  And if they weren’t gigging that night, they’d be up til 3 or 4 in the morning until they learned the part they had been working on so hard that day.  And if  I wasn’t up with my boyfriend, whether I wanted to or not I would hear the music come floating through our bedroom door.  Another guitar player friend of ours wrote for Guitar Player Magazine and had the opportunity to visit with Lenny Breau on a number of occasions for articles he would later publish.  We listened attentively to his stories each time he would go to LA and return. From what I gathered Lenny was a great guy, but he lived a hard life.

A well-known studio guitarist in Canada he had his own show on CBS and regularly recorded for CBS Radio and CBS Television in Canada.  But he got his early start as a young boy playing with his musician parents who performed country and western music, and by the age of 15 he made his first professional recording entitled, “Boy Wonder.”  When Breau was about 16 his family moved to Winnipeg and the family band with Lenny as lead guitarist played around the province.  It wasn’t until a couple of years later that the young guitar player began to seek out local jazz musicians and began performing on his own without his folks.  From there the guitarist moved to Toronto where he formed the jazz band, “Three.”  “Three” developed a reputation and following playing in Canada and the U.S. and performed on national television shows such as the “Jackie Gleason” and “Joey Bishop” shows.  Breau’s styled developed.  Greatly influenced by Chet Atkins and Merle Travis his style not only incorporated a Bill Evan’s jazz piano feel, but also his many other influences including his country roots, classical music, and even flamenco and Indian.  Eventually his music found its way to one of his idols, Chet Atkins, and the two became friends.  At this point Lenny started to record for RCA and released his first two LP’s “Guitar Sounds From Lenny Breau,” and “The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau.”

In the mid 70’s Breau moved to the U.S. and lived between Nashville, NYC, and the state where he was born, Maine.  In the early 80’s he moved to LA where he lived until his death in 1984.  The day he died I remember getting the phone-call from our friend so upset and sad on the other end of the line.  Lenny Breau who had had a serious drug problem all his life but had managed to stay clean the last year of his life, was found strangled in the swimming pool of the apartment complex where he lived.  The case has never been solved.
To view a short clip of the “Genius of Lenny Breau Excerpt 1,” either click on the link below or cut and paste it into your browser.  If you have any interest in jazz guitar it is very much worth viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9SvTtaQLC4&feature=related

A number of years ago, while living in NYC, I came home from work to an unexpected message.  It was from Taj Mahal, the blues legend.  Taj and I have been friends for a long time and every once in a while he would surprise me with a call when he came on into town.  This message said in a voice that could only be his, “Audrey, it’s Taj.  If you get home before 7pm call me at the hotel,” and he left his number.  I walked into my apartment from work around 6:45.  I was happy and surprised to hear Taj’s voice on my machine and glad it was not yet 7pm.  So I gave Taj a call.  He picked up the phone and said, “can you get to the hotel by 7:15?  If you can I’ll be outside waiting for you.  We’re being picked up.”  Luckily it wasn’t too far from my place, and I told him I could make it if I just kept on what I had worn to work that day.  Throwing some water on my face and a little lipstick too, I ran out the door.

I got to the hotel and there was Taj waiting outside for me looking all rested and dapper.  When I got out of the taxi I gave him a big hug and then asked him where we were going.  He said Allen Klein (once manager of The Beatles and the Rolling Stones) was picking us up, and taking us to dinner.  The next thing I knew a big limo pulled up and I was shaking hands with Allen Klein and a woman that worked with him and jumping into the limo with Taj.  I knew right away I was in for an adventure if nothing more than by the company I was keeping.  In the car Allen Klein proceeded to tell Taj how he just finished making the “Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus” and he was taking us to DeNiro’s restaurant in TriBeCa for dinner and had arranged with “Bobby” a little private screening for us.  He continued to tell us that his son had convinced him to finally do something with the footage and finish the film and that he and several others who worked on getting the film finally made were going to be at dinner too.  At that point he mentioned that so far the only persons he had shown the film to were Yoko and Sean, so everyone was really excited for Taj to see it and they couldn’t wait to talk to him and see his reaction.  You have to understand if you don’t already know, here we were it was 1996 or there about, and this film had been shot in 1968.  Everyone in the music business knew that this footage existed, but no one had ever seen it nor thought they would and I couldn’t believe that I was about to.  I was thinking of my business partner and all my other music friends knowing how much they would like to be sitting where I was that evening.

During dinner I found myself between Allen Klein and Taj, music and rock and roll history.  It was an amazing dinner.  Allen Klein’s son and the rest of the crew were asking Taj all sorts of questions about the filming, of what at the time was suppose to be a BBC special airing in 1968.  It appears that Taj was one of only a few during the shoot who was not tripping on acid and therefore one of the only persons alive with a clear recollection of the event and what actually took place.  For my part I decided this was a good evening for listening.  I wanted to be able to remember and savor this experience.

After dinner we were taken upstairs to De Niro’s private screening room where the film was ready for us to watch.  We were escorted to seats in the middle of the room where we would get the best sound and I felt very privileged to be there. Taj sat to the right of me, Allen Klein to the left, and eight or so other people who had worked on the films completion and put their heart and soul into the project were scattered around us just waiting for our response.  They had been so close to the film and really wanted to see objective first time reactions of someone who was there, and someone who wasn’t, both seeing the movie for the first time.  After so many years of living with this footage they were excited to finally be able to be show the movie, and in particular to Taj.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and needed to pinch myself from time to time to believe that it was real.  I was watching music history while sitting with music history!

If you haven’t seen the “Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus,” it starred of course “The Rolling Stones,” and featured the likes of “Taj Mahal,” John Lennon and Yoko Ono with a group they dubbed “The Dirty Mac,” whose band-members were Eric Clapton (Cream), Keith Richards (the Stones), and Mitch Mitchell (Hendrix).   Included as well in what turned out to be a two day line up filmed in a replica circus big top with Mick Jagger as the circus ringleader, along with trapeze artists and fire-eaters, was “Marianne Faithfull,” “Jethro Tull,” the “Who” with one of their best performances ever recorded, and “Eric Clapton” with his own band.  It also proved to be the last public performance of Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones.

Happy with our reaction, and pleased that Taj enjoyed the movie so much Allen Klein dropped us back off at Taj’s hotel where Taj proceeded to teach me how to smoke a cigar.  In between puffs of one of Taj’s famous cigars, and a few coughs and gags on my part, we conversed about the evening and the movie.  Soon thereafter I left for home my head spinning in the cab thinking of who I could call at such a late hour when I got there.  I was too wired from the events of the evening and wanted to share my night with someone, so I called one of my closest friends in California, as it was three hours earlier in Santa Cruz.

There have been many rumors and stories as to why it took so long for this film and footage to surface, and I am certain there are many sides to this story, but whatever the reasons I’m happy that almost 30 years after the fact it did.  Personally as someone who has worked in music and surrounded herself with music and musicians, my evening with Taj and Allen Klein viewing the “Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus,” definitely ranks in the higher stratosphere of greatest evenings ever.  It’s funny because I have never written about this evening and only shared this story with a few close friends.  I guess it took more than 10 plus years and a blog to do so, but in the scheme of this movie’s history I guess that’s not such a long time.

To view Mick Jagger introduce “The Dirty Mac” band starring John Lennon (as Winston Leg-Thigh) and to hear the the band play the Lennon/McCartney tune “Yer Blues,” simply click on the link below or cut and paste it into your browser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxEX__YXmDs&feature=related