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----- Original Message -----
From: terraplaneblue
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2004 11:59 PM
Subject: [GrassrootsHope] The Crucifixion And Resurrection Of Rock
Music The last day of 2004 marks the 52nd anniversary of the death of Hank Williams who brought black music for the first time to white audiences, although with a definite hillbilly twist...what we would call today "rockabilly". In short popular music crossed the color bar and became really "popular. It is no accident that the integration of music occured just before the birth of the modern civil rights movement. Many of the Hank Williams tunes of the late 40's and early 50's had a definite backbeat and a rock "feel"-- all of which got Hank in trouble with the regulars on the Opry and with the fundie preachers who warned whites against the implicit, if not explicit sex and intensity of the "devil's" "black music", that is to say blues. It was a certain non-Chicago, southern style Memphis blues which actually transformed itself into rock music... first by blacks in the 40's and later by Elvis and a whole genre of white imitators in the mid-fifties. It was only 6 months after Hank's death that his guitarist Smitty was recording the superb guitar lick's on Elvis's "That's All Right Mama". It was Hank's dues paid that proved that there was a ready market for cross-over popular music.......and Hank caught a lot of flak that may have thwarted the spectacular rise of Elvis and the whole 50's class of white crossover rockers. The rise of rock and modern country music can be traced to the man who died in the backseat of a Cadillac in front of a bar....who at the time was seen as a has- been by Nashville and the music industry. While the fortunes of Hank had turned drastically south when he was blackballed by the Opry and the music establishment, his health was ruined by prescription drugs and his family life had devolved into a very large lawsuit --he wasn't even allowed visitation with Hank Jr. At the time of his death he was losing control of his music rights and royalties as well. In short he was running on empty. His records were the most popular of the day in the juke joints and bars, but he was having trouble even getting gigs. When he entered the little juke joint outside Bluefield WV on Dec 31 at about 10 am , he was sick and weighed barely 90 pounds. The waitress, Hazel Schultz swooned groupie-style but he was largely ignored by the bar-flies through -out the day. He left to arrange a local 2nd driver named Danny Surface ( who just happened to be the boyfriend of the waitress) and some prescription meds from a local doctor who was well known for pushing prescription meds to those willing to pay the freight, upfront in cash. Like Rush, Hank had connections in every venue where he played, but in this coal field town he had to resort to making the connection at the local taxi stand . Strangely through-out the day he laid his face on the bar counter while his music played over and over again. When Hazel the waitress pointed out to the increasingly drunken regulars that Hank the guy who made the music was r i g h t t h e r e, a strange indifference prevailed. Dis-belief mixed with apathy. In mid-afternoon a regular was dancing, more like fondling a female regular when she protested. The drunk slapped her and the 90 pound Hank came to the rescue and pushed the drunk away. At this point both attacked Hank and the intoxicated romeo punched Hank a hard one in the region of the family jewels. If this wasn't enough, the bar owner threw Hank out of the bar for "fighting"!!! Hank retired to the back of his convertible waiting for Surface, the new driver to get off work at 5pm. He passed out with after a very sloppy injection in his forearm. When he died at about 4pm the original driver Carr asked a young boy to go get the bar-owner and a cup of coffee . The owner Sox White couldn't find a pulse and ordered Carr off premises. Carr and then later the new driver Surface cruised the roads for hours before resuming the trip to the planned gig in Ohio. When they stopped for gas early the next morning Hank , needless to say was stiff as a board. His death was reported at the last stop. Immediately after his death Hank 's reputation returned and the legend was born. The whole day he spent in Bluefield WV was investigated by the police and then the real details were covered up by all concerned, including the local newspaper, The Bluefield Daily Telegraph. His death was attributed to alcohol rather than drugs. Most of his personal possessions disapeared from the caddy, and his white cowboy jacket was last seen on a homeless man shopping at Dollar General in a nearby West Virginia town in 1989. The now tattered cowboy jacket had lost all connection with its original owner and was now in ruin. Like Elvis sitting on the toilet everthing was closing in like a tsunami. Many stolen artifacts have reappeared in museums, but what is important is the genius or originality in fusing together the discordant and suppressed legacies of a multitude of individual lives deemed worthless and without merit by generations of gate-keepers. Perhaps the ultimate founder of rock music is the legendary bluesman, Robert Johnson. The drums were absent on the recordings of 36-37 , but reportedly were used by Robert in his travels north out of the delta just before his death. Although the white gate- keepers denied that Robert Johnson ever played in a combo, his step- son Robert Lockwood insists that he did. Nevertheless the content and even the length of his recorded songs set a standard for rock recordings that is still operational today. White gate-keepers are busy at work in Oxford Miss. and the latest attack comes from a music critic at a Boston newspaper.....denigrating his contribution. But every blues legend I've ever asked said that they were intriqued by the Johnson guitar technique. But perhaps they are missing the point for his lyrics sometimes rose to heights only occupied by existentialist philosophers in such tunes as "Stones In The Passway". For myself, when I first heard "Crossroads Blues", a Cream number somewhat based on the Johson original....I couldn't find anyone who knew who the writer, Robert Johnson was. Then in a west coast coffee house in 68 , I asked Taj Mahal who was playing there who RJ was. He gave me the whole lowdown including the faustian deal. At that time I was among the few who knew the story which has since become legendary. Contrary to "blues archivists" RJ was much more than a pan-handler playing in plantation juke joints in Mississippi. In fact, crossroad blues was the only number done by Clapton that I ever liked until very recently when he has made some excellent covers, including "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day". On the day in 1938 when Robert Johnson died, the "queen" of the blues Bessie Smith died less than a 100 miles away in a Mississippi highway colision. That the king and the queen of the blues died on the same day is troubling considering the very powerful pro-nazimovements which was active at the time. It is said that the bar owner poisoned RJ due to flirtatious lyrics. But the little boy who was sent by Hank William's driver to get help inside that bar in the last day of 1952 is not convinced that the whole story has ever been told. 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