West Words

Through the wonder of YouTube. Wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebT8o-uK6yg

Aaaarrggh! I had wanted to go to this show anyway, because: a) who doesn’t love Tom Petty?!; b) Chuck was performing; and c) it was in the magnificently colorful city of San Francisco. Then last night I saw Lucinda’s Facebook post with a pic of the Fillmore and realized she was one of the super secret special guests, but by then it was too late to get there. Aaaarrghh! It just isn’t worth it to behave prudently . 😈

Ruh-roh! Might have to go into emergency points/mileage awards scheming mode… 😀

TNT – you put it out to the universe about needing a southern show, and bam – you got one thrown right back at ya. YAY! 😀

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jul/10/woody-guthrie-novel-johnny-depp

Woody Guthrie novel to be published … with help from Johnny Depp
House of Earth, thought to have languished for years in a closet, is said to be influenced by Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath

A novel by folk singer Woody Guthrie will be published next year, with help from Johnny Depp. House of Earth, which Guthrie finished in 1947 but never released, is being edited by Depp and author Douglas Brinkley.

Depp and Brinkley revealed their plans in a new essay for the New York Times Book Review. House of Earth is Guthrie’s only “fully realised” novel, they said, influenced by his experiences in America’s Dust Bowl, as well as John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Tracing the story of Tike and Ella May Hamlin, “hardscrabble farmers” in Texas, it is a “searing portrait of the Panhandle and its marginalised Great Depression residents”. Despite a slightly esoteric focus on the importance of adobe housing, House of Earth also includes graphic sex, including “a scorching lovemaking scene on a hay bale”.

At the time of its writing, Guthrie apparently shared House of Earth’s first chapter with musicologist Alan Lomax, who called it “quite simply the best material I’d ever seen written about that section of the country”. But Guthrie only showed the finished manuscript to one person, film-maker Irving Lerner, and it languished for decades in a Coney Island closet. After learning of its existence in the late 90s, Brinkley finally tracked down the manuscript last year, with help from Guthrie’s daughter, Nora.

Since then, Brinkley has teamed up with Depp, whom he met via Hunter S Thompson. The pair previously worked together on soundtrack liner notes for Gonzo, a documentary about their notorious mutual friend. They recently presented House of Earth to Bob Dylan; the singer was reportedly “bowled over” and “surprised by the genius [of the prose]”.

Born in 1912, Guthrie was one of America’s most important folk singers and a principal influence for songwriters such as Dylan, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen. He is best known for his song This Land Is Your Land, as well as compositions such as Pastures of Plenty, 1913 Massacre and Do Re Mi.

House of Earth will be issued by a “major New York publisher” next spring.

http://millionpr.com/?p=1800

Bhi Bhiman announces two UK dates with Lucinda Williams at the Royal Festival Hall, Nov 10th and 11th.
2012 SEPTEMBER 12
by Gillian

‘Sri Lanka’s Woody Guthrie’ – Bhi Bhiman’s debut album ‘BHIMAN’ is to be released in the UK on October 15th via Boocoo Music and has already garnered huge praise. He will be visiting the UK to play as part of the London Jazz Festival and ‘A Weekend With Lucinda Williams’ at Royal Festival Hall, on Saturday November 10th and Sunday November 11th – Tickets

“Guttersnipe will transfix you into that special kind of lump-in-the-throat, moist-eyed stupor of utter gratitude that this song, and this singer, even exists. It’s that good.”
My Old Kentucky Blog

“What a voice” The New York Times

“Wry and subversive, the writing and performances here are first-rate, folk-based and undeniably unique.” The Washington Post

“this is folk music gassed with nitrous oxide.. a mix of folk oddities, social outrages and sticky black humour that’d make even Perfume Genius wince.” Drowned In Sound 8/10

“Woody Guthrie’s guitar was emblazoned with the words “This machine kills fascists.” Bhi Bhiman’s guitar should read ‘This machine kills the humorless.’” KDHX

Renaissance Man is what I always call Stoger, due to his affinity for smart phones and Facebook. 😆