Nothin' WIthout A Woman, Somethin' Even Without A Fat Man

Don't know about the Italian guy, but here's more James Brown, all right. (Don't quit too soon, it ain't over till the fat guy sings...)

G. B. Burt

Did you read today's NYT re: Roots of America Music Festival? Here's a video of Dr. G. B. Burt from that show.

Our Favorite Thangs

We've been flooded with emails wondering what the other proposed miracle performed by James Brown was thought to be: there are many contenders, but the pope was thinking of this following clip of Night Train;


It's a miracle, cuz everyone who sees it screams "Sweet Fucking Jesus!"

They Shall Take Up Serpents

And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Mark 16:17-18

There were hot times in the swamp last Sunday morning...


Link is here

James Brown and Muhammad Ali Do It To Death in Zaire, 1974

Watch Ali say "These Africans make all of us look ugly." Don't miss the sly reference at :33!!
Don't miss the original wardrobe malfunction at about 2:20 in the video!!! Truly, SHE WAS SAVAGE AND SUPERB, WILD EYED AND MAGNIFICENT!!!
...This clip is widely recognized as some of the greatest film footage of all time. Pope John Paul II is said to have started each morning by watching this video, and was on the verge of nominating James Brown for sainthood when the pope died. This concert was to have been one of the required "validated miracles" necessary for sainthood. DO IT TO DEATH!!!


This is from the movie "When We Were Kings," by Leon Gast. See NYT review of the movie here.

Llama fetuses

This is a NYT article about voodoolawyers in Bolivia.

Bukka White

Bukka White came through here the other day, said he was sick and tired of working for his room and board. I told him to settle into the swamp for a while, he sat down and started right in on it all....

Isaac Hayes Funeral in Memphis

NYT article about Issac Hayes' funeral, combination of Memphis Baptists and L.A. Scientologists..By the way, just what are those white people doing, anyway?

IT'S OVER, FOLKS

THIS JUST IN, JIMI HENDRIX IS DEAD.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST, FOLKS. (Were people really so square back then? The newscasters seem to regard Hendrix as a freak.)

Lightnin Hopkins

This cat's in a bus station in Jackson, waiting for the bus to bring him here...
Link to video is here.

Mali Mali

Here's more home grown swamp music, only this is from Mali...
Isn't that nice? Ministryofhope.org posted this video here.

Talk about Playing Blues on the Front Porch...

Don't know so much about the naration, but its worth seeing this video if only to watch a Mississippian play his front porch as a blues instrument.
This man is Lonnie Pitchford, there is a nice video tribute to Lonnie (1955-1995) here.

Napoleon Strickland

Did you see the big moon last night? It brought out all kinds here in the swamp, I always like watching Napoleon Strickland play, check out his wing tips, they make me suspect Napoleon may be a voodoolawyer in his spare time.



I think this is a clip from Land Where The Blues Began, I am told the whole of "the Land Where the Blues Began" is streaming on Folkstreams dot net.
Link is here for this video.

Least It Ain't Fey

Hurricane Fay has people nervous, all right, you can feel the unease spreading, but we ain't fey yet...So here's a cute Fais Do Do slip from this person's vacations, twenty seconds of pleasure at the fais do do.



You ever been in a dance hall like this? We used to hang at Allen(sp?) Fontenot's place on Airline Highway in an earlier life...

Canray Fontenot Interview

This is a real nice interview of Mr. Canray Fontenot. He's not from the swamp, but he'd fit right in back here. Clip is taken from Yasha Aginsky's documentary "Cajun Visits." Here is a list of his other projects and movies. This clip is worth watching.
Link is here.

Chained Melody

That night, when the Undead Soul Singers gathered in the swamp bottom to jam a bit, we had a new star...The Black Moses, Isaac Hayes...

He Stands Accused

Isaac Hayes came by last night...it was almost a full moon, and I knew him right away. He looked worried, and heartsick..."VoodooLawyer," he said,"I gotta talk..."
"Let's take a boat ride," I told him. As we rode along, he told me his story.

"A man as guilty as you must surely be innocent," I told him..."You outta spend some time here in the swamp with us," I recommended. I guess we'll see.

Who Could Walk By That Hot Buttered Soul?

Issac Hayes came through here the other day; seemed like he was thinking of settling in to life here in the swamp. His greatness was on display, all right, as set forth here:

Katrina Made Them Blue

Its real peaceful in the swamp at night, but it ain't very quiet. Along with the frogs and gators, the people who live back here are forever beating on drums, hollow logs, or pieces of iron, making a joyfull noise all night long. Sometimes you hear the renegade Chinese bang their gongs...these cats here are making this noise tonight, we always like to hear them through the swamp at night. These guys are three brothers, who lived in the ninth ward before Katrina. When the levee broke, and their neighborhood flooded, they had to swim through industrial waste flood waters to get to higher ground.By the time they got out of the waters, they had lost all their hair and turned blue. They are still blue and hairless.
Of course, New Orleans ain't a bad place to be if you are hairless and blue, but they wanted out anyway...They are seldom seen in the swamp, but I hear them back there from time to time.
Some say these boys were black before Katrina, some say they were white; I can't see that it matters anymore.

Indigo and Naugahyde

Lots of people have written in wanting to know more about these salt traders. The band is Tinariwen. They are Tauregs, once known as the "Blue Men of the Desert" because their indigo dyed headscarves left their faces blue. Here's more of their music:

More Tinariwen videos can be seen on this youtube page, check African playlist for a batch of them.
Meanwhile, folks also wanted to know who these girls are, dancing on stage with the salt traders in the swamp.
The young women are Newcomb College art history majors who snuck into the swamp a year ago, hoping to discover a genuine primitive folk artist...instead, they stumbled straight into the camp of Ernie K Doe and the Undead Soul Singers. Those girls have been here ever since.
The older lady dancing in blue is the Queen of the Bayougoula Indian tribe...some say she's 700 years old, but I don't believe it. She's 900 if she's a day. She sure can dance, though. I like to listen to her tell of the days when Cabeza de Vaca and his crew came walking through these parts. The remnants of the Bayougoula have made their last stand here in the swamp, pretty much like the rest of us.

A Common Reader

Dear VoodooLawyer:

Does voodoo law include the common law?

Yours, Oliver

Dear Holmie:

Common law is for common lawyers. It has little to do with voodoolaw.

Yours, VoodooLawyer