Blues Lamentations from Years of Prohibition and The Great Depression

Another pairing of St. Louis-based Chicago-recording blues singers Luella Miller and Signifying Mary Johnson. The first up, "Those Black Man Blues," was probably intended to be "funny," but there's no denying the bleakness of the second one, "East St. Louis Blues." Rendered here are my transcriptions in reverse chronological order: Mary Johnson (singing with Ike Rodgers on trombone and Henry Brown on piano), August 18, 1934; Luella Miller ("and Her Dago Hill Strutters"), April 26, 1927.

"Those Black Man Blues" by Mary Johnson (1934)

I got a black man in Chicago
And one in Detroit, too
But my black man in Louisiana
Lord he really just won't do.

Black man, black man
What do you want from me to do?
Black man, black man
What do you want from me to do?
I have given you all of my money
And that's all a poor woman can do.

Ah, my black man gives me the blues.

Lord I don't feel welcome
In Chicago anymore
Lord I don't feel welcome
In Chicago anymore
Because my black man has told me
He couldn't use me anymore.

I'm gonna take my black man to Louisiana
Down in New Orleans
I'm gonna take my black man to Louisiana
Down in New Orleans
Put the hoodoo women on him
Because he treats me so mean.


"East St. Louis Blues" by Luella Miller (1927)

East St. Louis to the river
River to the deep blue sea
East St. Louis to the river
River to the deep blue sea
I don't get my Daddy
I don't care what becomes of me.

I'm gonna take some poison
Maybe to kill myself
Take some poison
Maybe to kill myself
I don't get my Daddy
Don't want nobody else.

Every time that lonesome church bell tolls
Every time lonesome church bell tolls
Make me think about my mother
That is dead and gone.

Mmmmmmmmmmhhhh
Lord lord lord lord lord
Mmmmmmmmmmhhhh
Lord lord lord lord lord

I think about my mother
Maybe that's dead and gone.

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

Veni, Vidi, Vici.

V words are cool. Off the top of my head, I particuarly love the sound of these V-words:

Vespers
vector
volatile
variable
variance
valence
valor
invincible
vivacious
vicious
viscous
victuals
viola
violent
video
violet
vent

Let's not forget excellent V names like:

Victoria
Victor
Vincent
Veronica
Venus
Vespa
Valerie
Valentine
Velentino

Funny thing is, a lot of Roman Latin words begin in V, but when the now ancient Romans walked the earth they pronounced V as if with a lisp, more like a watery W. Apparently. V also = 5.

Veni, vidi, vici: "I came, I saw, I conquered." -- Julius Caesar (47 BCE). Pictured above is a variant cover of Thomas Pynchon's V. (1963).

Any favorite V words out there?

Today's Rune: Movement.

Mysterious Gifts for the Dead

Leaving gifts for the dead has got to go back many thousands of years.   It must tap into something big and primal.   If you've ever visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., you see this in a dramatic way. But it's everywhere, for every remembered war and every type of remembered cemetery or graveyard. I find this compelling.

When I visited it, Comanche leader Quanah Parker's grave at Fort Sill had various mysterious gifts and offerings for his residence in the Other World. Coins were in abundance (Pennies for Heaven?), various bouquets, a tiny US flag and a pair of his-and-her cigarettes (Quanah had multiple wives while living on Earth and probably sports with more on the other side. Which begs the question: is he in Heaven, Purgatory or Hell? Possibly none of the above. Possibly all of the above.).



This one is more of a mystery: the grave of Grace Rose Sunday (December 3, 1895-April 23, 1911), also at Fort Sill but in one of the Apache POW cemeteries.  Her headstone is enclosed within a small fence and, when I visited, coins of all types lined the top of it.  So far, little about her has turned up on the internet, but clearly she resonates with people who make the pilgrimage.

Today's Rune: Journey.

Cowboy Churches and Christian Rodeos

I've got my eyes wide open, my ears up and cultural radar on high. Was "walking the Earth" -- driving actually -- and tuned into an American Indian radio show yesterday. Heard the host, not Comanche is all I could tell, talking about an upcoming pow-wow at a Cowboy Church in Texas. Thought, that's interesting, because I'd not long before driven by wooden structures with signs that read "COWBOY CHURCH" -- and even still I was wondering what they were all about.

On the radio, the host talked about rodeos (like one at the Comanche Nation Fair last weekend), and also about the Cowboy Church movement. What buzzed my ears was when he said, "You know there are 170 Cowboy Churches in North Texas today?"  Really?

First looking at a map of Cowboy Churches in the Texas area when I got back to the internet, they sprang out at me from Google like a vision out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers!  These churches are spreading like tumbleweeds in high wind, and not just across the Great Plains. . . 

Cowboy Churches remind me of the Great Awakening church movements and their concurrent waves of religious fervor back in the days before what we think of as American cowboys even existed. 

With the modern Cowboy Church you get a dose of Baptist-like fundamentals, plus "come as you are" dress code, horseback riding and rodeo competition. And signs with credos like "Branded by Jesus!"

For more on the Texas-based core area, see the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches:

http://www.texasfcc.org/

For the spreading manifestation of the movement, see the Cowboy Church Network of North America ("Impacting the Cowboy Culture with the Gospel of Jesus by Planting Cowboy Churches in Every County"):  http://www.cowboycn.org/

For Cowboy Church TV out of Waco ("now airing in the UK!"):

http://cowboychurch.tv/



I counted 22 Cowboy Churches in North Carolina like the one in this footage. How about in your neck of the woods?

Today's Rune: Possessions.  (Top image adapted from Cross Trails Cowboy Church for illustrative purposes only).

Tene'-angopte's Dilemma

The questions recently posed in English and Hindi by an Indian DJ come to play in this story.

1) Why do people trouble each other in this life?

2) What is the soul thirsty for?

After the American Civil War, Kiowa (Kaui-gu) leader Kicking Bird (Tene'-angopte) recognized the impossibility of (permanently) fending off the settlers and military forces of the United States, of maintaining the established way of life. He chose to attempt peace, with hope of some modified future for the Kiowa.

But Tene'-angopte was caught in an existential dilemma: in order to give peace a chance, he must show to doubting Thomases and men who would be king that he was also a brave warrior. So he formed a war party and engaged a detachment of the Sixth United States Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Wichita on July 12, 1870. Kicking Bird led the attack and killed a trooper personally with his lance. Having literally proven his point, it was time to end the conflict.

But making peace is more controversial than making war, and after a time, on May 3, 1875, Tene'-angopte became sick, apparently poisoned, dying the next day.

I visited the vast grounds of Fort Sill, where tribesmen, cavalrymen and family members are all buried together in a "Town of the Deads." This headstone reads "CHIEF KICKING BIRD / "TENE-ANGOPTE" / KIOWA TRIBE / MEDICINE LODGE TREATY SIGNER / MAY 4 1870."

Also spoke with many living members of the Kiowa Tribe. The Kiowa Casino is located just north of the Red River. On their website at http://www.kiowacasino.com/ there is a brief history and other information about their culture.  I heard one estimate that puts Kiowa numbers at about 12,000 today, many living in the southwest part of okla humma (Oklahoma).

Today's Rune: Harvest.   

"Trouble in Mind"

I was driving back in a horseless carriage over dark hard trails from Kiowa and Comanche lands and happened to turn the radio dial to a South Asian station in which the DJ asked two questions. Interspersed with a variety of driving, rhythmic music, he received numerous speculative call-in answers mostly in English but some with Hindi phrasing, all of which got me to musing right along with them:

1) Why do people trouble each other in this life?

2) What is the soul thirsty for?

Before I put up some of my own responses, what do you, dear reader, think?

Today's Rune: Partnership.

James R. Tomlinson Interview: Part 2

Here's the second part of my first formal interview with James R. Tomlinson (aka Jim Tomlinson and JR Tomlinson). I'm aiming to do my take on Adopted Behaviors (Motor City Burning Press, 2010), his excellent chapbook, soon.  

Erik: How did you come to write and produce Adopted Behaviors and where would you like to see Motor City Burning Press in the future?

Jim: I thought it was time I put together some of my writing into a chapbook.  Motor City Burning Press seemed like a perfect fit. I organized my favorite pieces into three categories: flash memoir, short story, and flash fiction. The flash memoir sets the tone, gives the reader an idea of what I’m all about. Spencer Dew, a reviewer for decomP magazinE, compared me to a pugilist, stating that I pummeled my words onto the page. Most of his references came from “Jail Bait,” which won a short story award at Wayne State University. Also, Dew claimed that I viewed myself in a sort of detached way, like I was observing myself from a distance. Hell, anyone who looks in a mirror has moments like that. The only difference is I’m trapped on the inside looking out; maybe it’s metaphysical, or mental, all I know is that I’ve got these golden handcuffs around my wrists waiting for the perfect opportunity to escape. Physically: I hope to retire from the prison system in six years; mentally (for now anyway): I hope to escape through my writing.

I’m not sure what’s in store for MCBP. What I do know is that my actions have been deliberate: first a chapbook and then an e-book for The Clarity of Night. My way of saying, “Hey there fellow MCBP comrades, look at me, look at what I have to offer!” If it’s not impressive, fine, I’ll read submissions, stuff envelopes, shag coffee, whatever it takes. Perhaps one day I’ll be invited to the party, instead of always kicking at the door. Trust me, I do know how to kick.

Hot off the press, please see Jim's latest, "The Trigger Man and His Accomplice" at: 

http://www.sleetmagazine.com/selected/tomlinson.html 

For Motor City Burning Press, see:

http://motorcityburningpress.blogspot.com/

And for JR's Thumbprints:

http://jrthumbprints.blogspot.com/

Today's Rune: Partnership.