A Brief Intermission

So I just saw (I wrote this a long time ago) this killer movie You See Me Laughin’, which with deals Fat Possum Records and some of its artists. It was interesting to say the least. The guys dealt with in the most depth are R. L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Cedell Davis, and T- Model Ford. They are all these old blues men from the deep South and all have intriguing stories to share. Two (Burnside and Ford) these men tell stories of killing men. Junior Kimbrough has 28 children. Cedell Davis has had polio, typhoid, and been shot on stage; all of which have combined to leave him confined to wheelchair. He plays guitar flipped upside down and he also is forced to fret the strings with a butter knife because his hands don’t work the way they’re supposed to. Burnside has toured with John Spencer and his Blues Explosion and cut a record with them. Kimbrough played ten dates with Iggy Pop. Both of these pairing came at the more famous artist’s request. Another funny anecdote from the movie is when Bono (yes from U2) tells of his meeting Kimbrough and Junior not even knowing who he was, which I’m sure shocked the oh-so-modest Irishman. Then Kimbrough and his band ripped into a song with lyrics dealt with raping a young girl and Bono began to feel very uncomfortable. Anybody that freaks out Bono is cool with me.

So this is quite incoherent but I’m just trying to persuade you to go check it out. This is a great movie about some passionate energetic musicians who do not, and never will, get their dues. It’s quite the shame to see these guys living in complete squalor and below the poverty line, while fucks like Bono and the Edge are living it up on dry, bland music without half the charisma.