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| Poplar |
Last night on PBS, the American Masters series was on Muddy Watters. It included a couple soundbytes from Keith.
He was stunning, as usual. didn't steal the show like he did in "Hail Hail Rock n' Roll," but he was memorable.
my question:
at one point - Keith tells the story (i've heard him tell it before) about seeing Muddy Watters painting the ceiling in Chess studios in Chicago. Chess's son follows immediately, saying "that's not true - that's a keith fantasy."
any thoughts? anyone see it? 'twas a good show.
wilson
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| Moonisup |
that was Marchall Chess, the former boss of RSR!
keef's heroin buddy hahah |
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| telecaster |
quote:
Poplar wrote:
Last night on PBS, the American Masters series was on Muddy Watters. It included a couple soundbytes from Keith.
He was stunning, as usual. didn't steal the show like he did in "Hail Hail Rock n' Roll," but he was memorable.
my question:
at one point - Keith tells the story (i've heard him tell it before) about seeing Muddy Watters painting the ceiling in Chess studios in Chicago. Chess's son follows immediately, saying "that's not true - that's a keith fantasy."
any thoughts? anyone see it? 'twas a good show.
wilson
It was a great show. Turns out Muddy lived 2 blocks from me
outside Chicago. The Stones went to his house during the 81 tour.
It was a good show and Keith was great. Did you see that little boogie dance Keith did?
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| J.J.Flash |
quote:
Poplar wrote:
my question:
at one point - Keith tells the story (i've heard him tell it before) about seeing Muddy Watters painting the ceiling in Chess studios in Chicago. Chess's son follows immediately, saying "that's not true - that's a keith fantasy."
I saw this story too...... So, is it true or not?
[Edited by J.J.Flash] |
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| Poplar |
J.J.Flash wrote:
my question:
at one point - Keith tells the story (i've heard him tell it before) about seeing Muddy Watters painting the ceiling in Chess studios in Chicago. Chess's son follows immediately, saying "that's not true - that's a keith fantasy."
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oh my god - that was THE highlight.
my boss and i were just joking about that!
like i said in the initial post - keith always manages to sort of "steal the show" - even in someone else's documentary. go keith! it was a great move, with a great facial expression to boot!
wilson
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| Martha |
I loved Keith's hoochie coochie dance move...had me rolling on the floor! He's so cute...a true blue Muddy fan for sure. Great bio! I believe Keith's story about Muddy and the painting the ceiling deal. If it isn't "true" at least it pays homage and respect to the plight of the Balck American..which I think is a profoundly respectful place for Keith to speak the truth or spin tales from. He's my hero. |
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| stonedinaustralia |
quote:
Poplar wrote:
Last night on PBS, the American Masters series was on Muddy Watters. It included a couple soundbytes from Keith.
He was stunning, as usual. didn't steal the show like he did in "Hail Hail Rock n' Roll," but he was memorable.
my question:
at one point - Keith tells the story (i've heard him tell it before) about seeing Muddy Watters painting the ceiling in Chess studios in Chicago. Chess's son follows immediately, saying "that's not true - that's a keith fantasy."
keith didn't steal the show in "hail hail.." - he made the show
as for painting the ceiling, well after you talk to michaelangelo i guess the truth is buried with muddy, or maybe not - his children may know...
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| J.J.Flash |
quote:
Martha wrote:
He's my hero.
Everytime I saw your POSTS and everytime I see how correct you are Martha!!! He is our HERO!! Hail to the king!
Take care babe! |
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| T&A |
The story regading Muddy painting the Chess walls is completely untrue - it has been denied by many...and frankly, if you've read any of the many good biographies on Muddy - it couldn't possibly be true. But, it's a typical good Keith yarn... |
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| sammy davis jr. |
Keith has alot of fantasies.....I think half the stories he tells, especially about himself, usually being a "badass" are just fantasies. |
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| Martha |
<------------Yeah...long live ME man!
Hey there...I'm sending you hugs today J.J.Flash!
And kisses...................smack!
xoxoxoxoxo,
Martha |
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| parmeda |
I've heard both sides of Muddy painting/not painting the ceiling at Chess. Who knows? But if it makes you guys feel any better, Martha and I are going o make a jaunt to Chess Records in June and we'll get the story straight once and for all, LOL...
IMO, it wouldn't surprise me to be true...Muddy spent so much time there that he probably washed the damn toilets too! |
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| Martha |
quote:
parmeda wrote:
I've heard both sides of Muddy painting/not painting the ceiling at Chess. Who knows? But if it makes you guys feel any better, Martha and I are going o make a jaunt to Chess Records in June and we'll get the story straight once and for all, LOL...
IMO, it wouldn't surprise me to be true...Muddy spent so much time there that he probably washed the damn toilets too!
Parmeda the thought of us going to Chess in June really lifts my spirits tonight!!!! Cannot wait! And oh yes, we'll be getting the "real story" don't you worry about that! LOL |
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| gypsy |
In an interview, Bill Wyman says Keith is mistaken in saying that Muddy was painting when they pulled up to the recording studio that day. And, I bet Bill is right...you know how he kept all those DETAILED notes and journals. I LOVE Keith, but he does tend to embellish a wee bit...or perhaps his memory is a bit messed up. |
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| parmeda |
Okay, I did some homework....'cause this kind of shit makes me nuts, LOL.
This is a taste of a very good, yet very long read...
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Leaving the reception area, we retrace the steps of innumerable hopefuls and follow a photo-lined corridor toward the offices that once belonged to Phil and Leonard Chess. I am reminded of a hallway encounter that had so bewildered Keith Richards, who recorded here with the Rolling Stones and made the address famous with an instrumental number titled "2120 South Michigan." "You walk in ... on your hands and knees in this Mecca," he told Paul Trynka, "And they say, �You might like to meet this guy who�s up on a stepladder in a white overall.� �Who�s that?� �That�s Muddy Waters.� It was another of those slaps around the face."
The story has always puzzled me. Either times were exceedingly lean or Muddy was one remarkably loyal employee. Dixon-Nelson admits that blues artists often took other forms of employment in the early 1960s, yet she believes that this story may be a "wives� tale."
"What I know of him, seeing him all my life, I would opt to dispel the story because of the nature of Muddy�s character," she says. "Not only was he larger than life in spirit, but he certainly was a celebrity in every form. I can�t remember a time, whether he was visiting my father in the garden or whether he was working on a song with him on an extremely hot, humid Chicago day, in which he was not dressed in a suit and a silk shirt with cuff links and whatever else was appropriate for his attire. However, I happen to believe that Keith Richards is one of the most honest artists that is on the scene today that was part of the original Chess family. I don�t believe that he would ever make a statement, if in fact that is his statement, that would be inaccurate. Who knows what actually occurred."
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Here's the link for the entire scoop! If you have the time, read it...
http://www.bluesaccess.com/No_36/chess.html
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| Doxa |
Thanks parmeda for the link! A very interesting article.
Doxa |
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| FPM C10 |
quote:
Martha wrote:
Parmeda the thought of us going to Chess in June really lifts my spirits tonight!!!! Cannot wait! And oh yes, we'll be getting the "real story" don't you worry about that! LOL
It is SO great.
Dandelion* took me to Chess in '99. I was just beside myself with excitement. At the time there was a lot of work being done to "Blues Heaven" as the site is now known - the little garden outside was just being created, and a lot of the inside was empty. That didn't matter to ME, because I could see the GHOSTS.
We were given a tour by a volunteer who was a college student - it quickly became obvious that I knew more about the history of Chess than he did, and after awhile when someone would ask a question he would defer to me. I DID ask him the question about whether Muddy ever painted the ceiling, and he said "Uh, YES, if he said so, I'm sure that perhaps he might have."
In the recording room, I asked him to point out where the vocal mike was, and then I went and stood there and thought about all the great musicians who had stood in that exact spot. I was just a blubbering MESS after that. At the end of the tour I tried to tell Willie Dixon's daughter how much the experience meant to me, and I couldn't put a coherent sentence together. She gave me a big hug, just to shut me up.
I've seen Keith tell the story about Muddy painting the ceiling three times since 1989 and it gets more elaborate every time. I think it never happened but that Keith thinks it did. The picture of Muddy watching TV in a silk suit made me think there was NO WAY the guy ever painted any ceilings. He was a KING, and he KNEW it. |
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| Martha |
FPM C10.... I love your story and experience at Chess....thanks!
I was a blubbering mess when we toured Graceland....at the last part when you see the graves....hell everyone gets choked up there. If you haven't been put it on your list of "must do this".
I was wondering why the summit that you all are trying to put together wasn't going to take place in Memphis?
We toured Sun Studios when we were there as well. So Chess is a must see in June. I am excited! |
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| FPM C10 |
quote:
Martha wrote:
FPM C10.... I love your story and experience at Chess....thanks!
I looked through Keno's archives and dug up the post I originally made at the time. Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for May 1999...
Posted by Fleabit Peanut Monkey on May 31, 1999 at 21:37:34:
Over the weekend I was lucky enough to find myself in Chicago again, and once again the lovely Dandelion was gracious enough to act as my guide through a dream come true. This time the dream in question was a visit to Chess Studios.
For anyone who loves the Stones and has followed this love upstream to see what inspired THEM in the first place, Chess Studios is Ground Zero. Located at the address immortalized by the instrumental on 12x5, 2120 S. Michigan Avenue, no other piece of real estate in the world can compete with this tiny white building for hallowed-ground status. You can talk about Abbey Road, Hitsville USA, Olympic and Sun Studios all you want - Chess is IT. Literally hundreds of songs which I would not want to live without were recorded there, not the least of which are the Stones' exuberant versions of Around & Around and It's All Over Now. The Stones' presence there was icing on the cake, though. The true claim to fame is that virtually everything you've ever heard by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter and a dozen other blues gods and goddesses were recorded there. Little Red Rooster, I Just Wanna Make Love To You, Smokestack Lightning, Hoochie Coochie Man, Killing Floor, Wang Dang Doodle, Still A Fool, Standin' 'Round Cryin', 40 Days and 40 Nights, Built For Comfort, Got My Mojo Workin'....whew. I could go on and on. You get the picture.
2120 S. Michigan hasn't been used as a studio in decades. It now houses Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation, which does so much good work that I can't begin to do it justice -- go to http://www.bluesheaven.com and read for yourself.
No official tours were scheduled for this weekend, but since it was the second time I'd been there, the nice lady who answered the phone at 11:00 pm Friday (we expected a recording) said to come by the next day and she'd see that we got a tour. Besides Dandelion and myself, there was a young doctor, his wife and their infant daughter. We were led into a back room and shown a short video with interviews with Bo Diddley and BB King. Then a nice young guy, a volunteer student from NorthWestern University, started showing us around. There are wonderful framed black & white photos of all the important blues artists- including a great picture of the Stones circa '66 playing on Ed Sullivan. The Stones are invoked throughout the tour; unfortunately things have not changed much since the Stones' early evangelizing turned me onto the blues so long ago. Until he realized that he was preaching to the converted, the student guide often mentioned that Rock and Rap owed much to the pioneering work of the Chess stable of artists. How could it be, I thought, that even HERE the blues had to be explained?
We went through some storage areas to the back door, where artists unloaded their equipment, where legend has it the Keith Richards encountered Muddy Waters "painting the goddamned ceiling" (Marshall Chess claims Muddy NEVER painted any ceilings at Chess; Keith has countered by adding elaboration to the story - white paint was dripping down Muddy's face like a harlequin's tear the last time I heard it!) Then up a narrow back stairway. "You can imagine the musicians carrying their guitar cases up here," said the guide. I was a mass of gooseflesh by this time, entering a realm of serious unreality. Upstairs we saw the fireproof vault where master tapes were kept, and a rehearsal space where Chuck Berry was forced to play 130 takes of Maybelline before the precious tape was allowed to roll. In that room were more Stones' references - a gold disc for "Stripped", sent over because it included Willie Dixon's "Little Baby", and a plaque for Voodoo Lounge signed by Don Was - I don't know why that was there.
Finally we reached the epicenter - the studio itself. I could hardly contain myself. There is NOTHING to see in there, really - some rudimentary home-made acoustic panels, and the big glass window to the engineer's booth. But DAMN is that room full of ghosts! "The musicians set up over there in the corner, and the vocalists here," said the guide. I stood where he was indicating. I stood RIGHT where Muddy Waters first sang "Rollin' Stone", where Chuck Berry sang "Little Queenie", where Bo Diddley sang any number of songs which included the words "Bo Diddley", where Koko Taylor explained the immortal equation "when the fish scent fill the air, there'll be snuff juice everywhere." Where Howlin' Wolf howled. Jesus. I didn't want to leave that spot.
But we did. We saw the pvc pipes that stuck up out of the floor in the mixing room, leading to a maze of tubing which gave Chess recordings their eerie 3 am reverb sound. We went down into the basement and saw the room where Chuck Berry lived for several months when he was hard up for cash. We saw Leonard Chess' office. Then we went back to the reception area and met the angels who make Blues Heaven fly - since the great Willie Dixon's death, his work has been shouldered by his wife Marie and his daughter Shirli Dixon-Nelson, and as luck would have it these wonderful ladies were there, stuffing envelopes - invitations to the opening of the Blues Garden during Blues Fest next week. They were not only polite, they made us feel like family. We mentioned that we'd been there in April when the Stones played, and Shirli said that the band had tried to come by but were prevented by a big crowd and a news helicopter waiting for them. But they had sent over some stuff - a set of Charlie's sticks resided in a place of honor, and Shirli sent a helper upstairs to fetch the lithographs Ronnie had sent over (the lithos looked great! One of Bessie Smith & Billie Holiday, one of Woody, and one of all four Stones circa '94.) Also on display was a small battered Hohner Marine Band harp, played by Howlin' Wolf in 1966 when the Stones had him as a guest on Shindig.
Shirli & Dandelion discussed the difficulty of having Willie Dixon's upright bass accurately appraised so it could be insured & displayed - how do you put a price on something priceless?
Soon it was time to go. A cameraman was there, people were in and out, and Shirli was overseeing the work in the garden next door, but first she pressed invitations to the opening into our hands. Even though she was busy as hell, she insisted on posing for pictures with us, and, when I started blubbering incomprehensibly that this was all a dream come true for me, Shirli (who is a big beautiful woman, obviously her daddy's daughter) gave me a big hug. It occurred to me later that perhaps it is nice for her to meet people who know what a giant her father was, although it is still hard for me to grasp that not everyone knows how incredibly important Willie Dixon and Chess Studios were and still are. All I can say is, if you ever have a chance, take the tour. It's $10, tax deductable, and goes to support Blues Heaven.
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| parmeda |
Thanks for sharing FPM...
It's great to hear everyone's little story, especially when you can relive some of the magic yourself. Martha is going to go "ga-ga" when she steps through the door. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and capture "the look" that some of us already know so well. |
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| Stonesprofessor |
Was there in 2000..man does the place give you CHILLS....very friendly folks also....I PROUDLY wear my Blues Heaven shirt all over..as far as the 'painting' story is concerned, Bill says in ROLLING WITH THE STONES its a great yarn...but WAYY not true...now maybe if Keith had told the same story about BUDDY GUY....every other story about that first Stones visit to Chess,tells how Muddy helped the guys bring the gear in..an almost mystical sign of respect..lets just say that Keith's memory isnt the greatest....lol |
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| Nellcote |
Just watched the show last night.
Great program on Muddy. Loved the Charlie Musselwhite story about Muddy and the beer bottle!
Keith does seem to be orbiting Neptune these days, however, we would not want it any other way.
Only dissapointment was the paltry reference to Johnny Winter, breathing life into Muddy's carrer during his later years. Without Winter, Muddy would not have enjoyed the resurgence during the last years of this life that he did. Winter produced three albums for him, was able to light the spark back into his show, introduce him to a new audience.
Take Winter out of the picture, Muddy could have ended up as Howlin Wolf did, during his last years, forgotten. |
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| Martha |
Holy Crap...after that wonderful story from FPM C-10 I'm ALREADY starting to blubber!!!!!! Perhpas I'm gettin' a case of the....BLUES! Can't wait to go to Chess!
You nailed it Nellcote....Keith IS orbiting neptune...that's a good one...Hahahahahahaha! And thanks for adding the info about Johnny's contribution to Muddy's career. I love the the Winter brothers...got to see Edgar in a club a couple of years ago...great stuff comin' out of some VERY white boys! LOL |
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| FPM C10 |
quote:
Nellcote wrote:
Only dissapointment was the paltry reference to Johnny Winter, breathing life into Muddy's carrer during his later years. Without Winter, Muddy would not have enjoyed the resurgence during the last years of this life that he did. Winter produced three albums for him, was able to light the spark back into his show, introduce him to a new audience.
Take Winter out of the picture, Muddy could have ended up as Howlin Wolf did, during his last years, forgotten.
Absolutely right, Nelly. At least they DID mention Johnny, but he deserves much more than that. Especially now that he himself is in poor health and in reduced circumstances.
I remember seeing Muddy and Johnny on the Dinah Shore Show in '77. (By the way, that was the same year Dinah had David Bowie and Iggy Pop on together - she might have accidently had the hippest daytime talk show ever.) They did "The Blues Had A Baby (And They Named It Rock & Roll)"...so there IS more footage out there that hasn't been archived. I'd love to see ALL of the clip of Muddy and Buddy Guy doing "She's 19 Years Old". Also the b&w show that has Muddy, Willie Dixon and Otis Spann on together. I'd rather see the entire songs than hear someone talk ABOUT the songs. |
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| Nellcote |
FPM, I've been able to pick up "Muddy Waters-The Chicago Blues Fesitval" on DVD, on the Pioneer label, which has Muddy for most of the show, on his own, then with Johnny Winter on for at least three numbers. I would cite it's origins after "I'm Ready" came out. It's a good 58 min DVD
show. Should you run across anything of interest of Muddy with Johnny on DVD, let me know. I recently came across a 60 min audio of Rockpalast, a German concert series, which I have on cd, which is Muddy in '78, in quite good form. PM me if you have interest. |
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