Friday, May 21, 2010

You've been slowly driving me insane....



Geeze, talk about "ugly ways"......I was so pissed off yesterday about the divshare files that I forgot to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and well wishes concerning the wedding. Thanks a bunch ya'll. Please, just consider that I'm half crazed at this point.

Anyone got an extra Valium?

Took me awhile to land this 45, as copies often sell for more than I wanted to spend. That is, nice copies do. Mine isn't that nice, but it is original, plays through without a skip, and was probably cheaper than it should have been.

These two songs are well loved in this city. Hard to say why without over-generalizing, but it's true nonetheless. Within the last week, I've heard both played around town. "I Remember", re-fashioned into a gorgeous musical puzzle by a very talented pianist...... "Travelin' Mood", pounded out by some kids in the street on a plastic five gallon bucket, a guitar, and fiddle. Both times, I had to stop and listen.

Wee Willie Wayne, aka James Waynes, aka James Wayne is a bit of an enigma. Not much is known about him, even though he recorded a fair amount. By my count, he had records issued on at least six different labels.....not including the three separate occasions he was signed to Imperial. The problem is that sometime in the early 60's, he apparently fell off the face of the earth and was never heard from again.

Wayne/Waynes made the first recording of another local favorite, "Junco Partner", in 1952. It was recorded in Atlanta, but is generally acknowledged as having been a popular motif around New Orleans before that time. I'm one who believes Tuts Washington when he say's his [unrecorded] version of "Junker's Blues" is the source of both "Junco Partner" and Professor Longhair's, "Tipitina".

The two songs are closer than you might think. In fact, I'd say that Wayne had to have heard Fess play some version of what became "Tipitina" prior to recording "Junco Partner". Nothing Wayne recorded before or after sounds quite like it.

In no way do I mean that as a put-down of Wayne's output. There's good reason why the man is revered. His oddly clipped phrasing, combined with an approach so laid back it almost sounds like he's singing to himself, makes for some very beautiful records.

Background vocals on "I Remember" are by the Sha-Weez, aka the Kidds, aka the Pelicans...one of the more interesting vocal groups of the day. I presume Dave Bartholomew produced/arranged the record, as he did with virtually all Imperial releases recorded in New Orleans.

Hope ya enjoy "I Remember" and "Travelin' Mood".

The record's from 1955.

11 comments:

  1. Ana,

    I've been facing the same problems as you with Divshare... many older files are no longer working. It appears that they are there, but they will not play.

    I'm going to be switching over to something more permanent this summer.

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  2. Sorry for your troubles Westex, but it's nice to know it's not only one with a problem. Divshare says the files are saved permanently, that's one of the reasons I decided to use them, but that doesn't mean that much to me if the links break in time.

    Setting up a server of my own is possible, but problematic given my existing network. I may end up having to rent server space or some such.

    Let me know if you come up with a good solution, I'd appreciate it.

    ana...

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  3. Thanks for the tip Jer.Eps, I'll keep it in mind.

    ana..

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  4. Been out of the city in a little tent for a while so haven't been checking in but first of course congratulations on your up & coming...hope he's worthy of you & that the sun will gently shine on you both. Will you be honeymooning in s/hand record shops, I can see it now.

    Just been checking out the new mediafire links. For some reason they have all run smoothly (& I seem to have a message from "Holly" aged 22 into the bargin) except Wee Willie Wayne where I can't get past the processing download request & a message saying something about no servers being available. Tried other mediafire links since & no problems. Anyone else had the same?

    J

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  5. Ana- This Wee Willie Wayne 45 just won't download for me. Let me know if it works for you, thanks.

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  6. I deleted the existing files for this 45, re-uploaded them, re-did the links and I'm still getting the same message from mediafire. I can only presume that they're having server problems. Either that or I've become the Typhoid Mary of the blogging world.

    I'll post another record and see if the link works for it.

    Thanks for the congrats J.

    I don't know about spending the honeymoon in record stores, but you can be assured my portable player along with about 100 45's are coming along.

    ana..

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  7. Whatever deal ya struck with Mediafire......it worked!

    Thanks again.

    J

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  8. I just got the link for "I Remember" to work...."Travelin' Mood" is still down, hopefully it will be up in awhile.

    ana..

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  9. Both links are now working for me...

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  10. Btw, I got an email from divshare yesterday. They say they had a server fail and unfortunately the files are now lost. I'll have to upload them all again.

    ana..

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