*Happy Birthday Townes -Once Again, Townes Van Zandt- From The Vaults- “In The Beginning”

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Townes Van Zandt performing "Tecumseh Valley".

CD Review

In The Beginning, Townes Van Zandt, Compadre Records, 2003

This main points in this review have been used in reviews of other Townes Van Zandt material.

Whatever my personal musical preferences there is no question that the country music work of, for example, the likes of George Jones, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette in earlier times or Garth Brooks and Faith Hill a little later or today Keith Urban and Taylor Swift (I am cheating on these last two since I do not know their work and had to ask someone about them) "speak" to vast audiences out in the heartland. They just, for a number of reasons that need not be gone into here, do not "speak" to me. However, in the interest of "full disclosure" I must admit today that I had a "country music moment" about thirty years ago. That was the time of the "outlaws" of the country music scene. You know Waylon (Jennings) and Willie (Nelson). Also Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Jerry Jeff Walker. Country Outlaws, get it? Guys and gals (think of Jesse Colter)who broke from the Nashville/ Grand Old Opry mold by drinking hard, smoking plenty of dope and generally raising the kind of hell that the pious guardians of the Country Music Hall Of Fame would have had heart attacks over (at least in public). Oh, and did I say they wrote lyrics that spoke of love and longing, trouble with their "old ladies" (or "old men"), and struggling to get through the day. Just an ordinary day's work in the music world but with their own outlandish twists on it.

All of the above is an extremely round about way to introduce the "max daddy" of my 'country music moment', Townes Van Zandt. For those who the name does not ring a bell perhaps his most famous work does, the much-covered "Pancho And Lefty". In some ways his personal biography exemplified the then "new outlaw" (assuming that Hank Williams and his gang were the original ones). Chronic childhood problems, including a stint in a mental hospital, drugs, drink, and some rather "politically incorrect" sexual attitudes. Nothing really new here, except out of this mix came some of the most haunting lyrics of longing, loneliness, depression, sadness and despair. And that is the "milder" stuff. Not exactly the stuff of Nashville. That is the point. The late Townes Van Zandt "spoke" to me (he died in 1997) in a way that Nashville never could. And, in the end, the other outlaws couldn't either. That, my friends, is the saga of my country moment. Listen up to any of the CDs listed below for the reason why Townes did.

Townes Van Zandt was, due to personal circumstances and the nature of the music industry, honored more highly among his fellow musicians than as an outright star of "outlaw" country music back in the day. That influence was felt through the sincerest form of flattery in the music industry- someone well known covering your song. Many of Townes' pieces, especially since his untimely death in 1997, have been covered by others, most famously Willie Nelson's cover of "Pancho and Lefty". However, Townes, whom I had seen a number of times in person in the late 1970's, was no mean performer of his own darkly compelling songs.

This compilation, “In The Beginning”, gives both the novice a Van Zandt primer and the aficionado a fine array of his core early works in one place. This material, as the extensive liner notes reveal, was material that Townes performed very early in his career and had mislaid to be released only in 2003 several years after his death. Pay particular attention to some of the lyrics that are harbingers of later work like “Tecumseh Valley” and “Don’t You Take It Too Bad”. For those who thought that Townes merely evolved into his dark lyrics this one will disabuse you of that notion. He was always dark. Stick outs here are: “Black Widow Blues”, Black Jack Mama”, “Colorado Bound”, and “Black Crow Blues”. Blues is the dues, okay.

Waiting Around To Die

townes van zandt

Sometimes I don't know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can't even see the reason why
I guess I keep a-gamblin'
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
It's easier than just waitin' around to die


One time, friends, I had a ma
I even had a pa
He beat her with a belt once 'cause she cried
She told him to take care of me
Headed down to tennessee
It's easier than just waitin' around to die


I came of age and I found a girl
In a tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit in on the sly
I tried to kill the pain, bought some wine
And hopped a train
Seemed easier than just waitin' around to die


A friend said he knew
Where some easy money was
We robbed a man, and brother did we fly
The posse caught up with me
And drug me back to muskogee
It's two long years I've been waitin' around to die


Now I'm out of prison
I got me a friend at last
He don't drink or steal or cheat or lie
His name's codine
He's the nicest thing I've seen
Together we're gonna wait around and die
Together we're gonna wait around and die

Happy Birthday Townes-*In The Time Of My Country Music Moment- The Work Of Singer/Songwriter Townes Van Zandt-Early Townes

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Townes Van Zandt Doing His Song "Waitng Around To Die"

CD Review

Early Townes

Townes Van Zandt, Townes Van Zandt, Tomato Records,

The main points of this review have been used to review other Townes Van Zandt CDs.

Readers of this space are by now very aware that I am in search of and working my way through various types of American roots music. In shorthand, running through what others have termed "The American Songbook". Thus I have spent no little time going through the work of seemingly every musician who rates space in the august place. From blues giants, folk legends, classic rock `n' roll artists down through the second and third layers of those milieus out in the backwoods and small, hideaway music spots that dot the American musical landscape. I have also given a nod to more R&B, rockabilly and popular song artists then one reasonably need to know about. I have, however, other than the absolutely obligatory passing nods to the likes of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline spent very ink on more traditional Country music, what used to be called the Nashville sound. What gives?

Whatever my personal musical preferences there is no question that the country music work of, for example, the likes of George Jones, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette in earlier times or Garth Brooks and Faith Hill a little later or today Keith Urban and Taylor Swift (I am cheating on these last two since I do not know their work and had to ask someone about them) "speak" to vast audiences out in the heartland. They just, for a number of reasons that need not be gone into here, do not "speak" to me. However, in the interest of "full disclosure" I must admit today that I had a "country music moment" about thirty years ago. That was the time of the "outlaws" of the country music scene. You know, Waylon (Jennings) and Willie (Nelson). Also Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Jerry Jeff Walker. Country Outlaws, get it? Guys and gals ( think of Jesse Colter)who broke from the Nashville/ Grand Old Opry mold by drinking hard, smoking plenty of dope and generally raising the kind of hell that the pious guardians of the Country Music Hall Of Fame would have had heart attacks over (at least in public). Oh, and did I say they wrote lyrics that spoke of love and longing, trouble with their "old ladies" (or "old men"), and struggling to get through the day. Just an ordinary day's work in the music world but with their own outlandish twists on it.

All of the above is an extremely round about way to introduce the "max daddy" of my 'country music moment', Townes Van Zandt. For those who the name does not ring a bell perhaps his most famous work does, the much-covered "Pancho And Lefty". In some ways his personal biography exemplified the then "new outlaw" (assuming that Hank Williams and his gang were the original ones). Chronic childhood problems, including a stint in a mental hospital, drugs, drink, and some rather "politically incorrect" sexual attitudes. Nothing really new here, except out of this mix came some of the most haunting lyrics of longing, loneliness, depression, sadness and despair. And that is the "milder" stuff. Not exactly the stuff of Nashville. That is the point. The late Townes Van Zandt "spoke" to me (he died in 1997) in a way that Nashville never could. And, in the end, the other outlaws couldn't either. That, my friends, is the saga of my country moment. Listen up to any of the CDs listed below for the reason why Townes did.

Townes Van Zandt was, due to personal circumstances and the nature of the music industry, honored more highly among his fellow musicians than as an outright star of "outlaw" country music back in the day. That influence was felt through the sincerest form of flattery in the music industry- someone well known covering your song. Many of Townes' pieces, especially since his untimely death in 1997, have been covered by others, most famously Willie Nelson's cover of "Pancho and Lefty". However, Townes, whom I had seen a number of times in person in the late 1970's, was no mean performer of his own darkly compelling songs.

This compilation, “Townes Van Zandt”, gives both the novice a Van Zandt primer and the aficionado a fine array of his core early works in one place Start with “Don’t You Take It Too Bad”, work through the longing felt in “I’ll Be Here In The Morning”, and the pathos of “For The Sake Of The Song” that could serve as a personal Townes anthem. Then on to the sadness of “Columbine” and “Waiting’ Round To Die”. Finally, round things out with the slight hopefulness of “Colorado Girl” and the epic tragedy of “None But The Rain”. My special favorite here, as attested to by an old worn out LP album version of this CD is "(Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria". For sheer poetic lyrical form I do not think Townes did one better, the thing jumps with many apt metaphors. Many of these songs are not for the faint-hearted but are done from a place that I hope none of us have to go but can relate to nevertheless. This well thought out product is one that will make you too a Townes aficionado. A welcome addition are the copious liner notes that give some sense of his life, his work and his lyrics. Get to it.

*A Mixed Bag Musical Potpourri-Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Rock And Rockabilly-Mance Lipscomb

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Mance Lipscomb in Concert.

Another T For Texas

Pure Texas Country Blues, Mance Lipscomb, Arhoolie Records, 2002



I have written on the subject of Texas country blues guitarist extraordinaire Mance Lipscomb in connection with a series of DVDs that the well-known guitarist and performer Stefan Grossman put out a number of years ago, “Masters Of The Country Blues”, that featured the greats of acoustic country blues like Son House, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis and, well Mance Lipscomb. Most of the others came out of the Mississippi Delta tradition which is a shade bit different from the Texas tradition of the likes of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lead Belly and, well, Mance Lipscomb. Lipscomb is probably a more versatile guitarist than the others, if for no other reason than he has a greater range of keys that he can play in and a somewhat unique picking style (at least it looks and sounds that way to me). Moreover, his vocals are a little smoother than the rough-edged sound of the old Mississippi plantation cotton fields. A perfect example of the difference is his ‘soft’ version of the classic “Corrina, Corrina. My favorite Lipscomb song though is “Ella Speed”. Needless to say it is about how she did her man wrong (although in the mix of these things it could just as easily be the other way around depending on who is singing).


"Bill Martin And Ella Speed"

Bill Martin he was long an' slender,
Better known by bein' a bartender.
Bill Martin he was long an' slender,
Better known by bein' a bartender.

Bill Martin he was a man whut had a very small hand
He worked ev'y night at de coffee stand.
Bill Martin he was a man whut had a very small hand
He worked ev'y night at de coffee stand.

He walked out for to borrow a gun'
Something Bill Martin had never done.
Ella Speed was downtown havin' her lovin' fun,
Long came Bill Martin wid his Colt 41.

De fust ball it entered in po' Ella's side,
De nex' ball entered in her breas',
De third ball it entered in her head;
Dat's de ball dat put po' Ella to bed.

All de young gals eome a-runnin'an'cryin',
All de young gals come a-runnin'an'a-cryin',
"It ain' but de one thing worry de po' gal's min'-
She lef' her two lil boys behin'."

De deed dat Bill Martin done'
Jedge sentence: "You gonna be hung."
De deed dat Bill Martin done'
Jedge sentence: "You gonna be hung."

They taken Bill Martin to de freight depot,
An' de train come rollin' by,
He wave his han' at de woman dat he love
An' he hung down his head an' he cry.

All you young girls better take heed'
Don' you do like po' Ella Speed;
Some day you will go for to have a lil fun
An'a man will do you like Bill Martin done.

*Growing Up Absurd in 1950's Texas- Larry Mc Murtry's "The Last Picture Show"-The Movie- An Encore

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for the movie version of Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show.

DVD Review

The Last Picture Show, written by Larry McMurtry, starring Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybil Sheppard, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, 1971

Having just recently re-watched this great movie and after having kind of panned its sequel, Texasville (see post dated August 14, 2010), for no other reason (although there were more) that I liked the coming-of-age story of Last Picture better than the more recently experienced mid-life crisis (mine, and Duane’s) of Texasville I want to expand a little on the movie. A couple of years ago I gave it a few lines as an addendum to a review of Larry McMurtry’s book. Some of the points made there apply to both works, some to the film itself, especially in light of Jeff Bridge’s recent (2010) Oscar-winning performance in Crazy Hearts as Bad Blake-basically Last Picture’s Duane at 57.

****
There has been no shortage of coming of age stories in modern American literature. The late J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is merely the most famous and probably widely known of the genre. Here Larry McMurtry, the Texas bibliophile, Old West aficionado and flea market pack rat gives us his take on growing up absurd in a faded, dust-blown, one-horse (and one movie theater) semi-boom (and bust)town Texas during the Korean War era in the early 1950's with his central cast of Duane, Sonny and the femme fatale, Jacy.

Although the locale is different from Catcher in the Rye, the issues raised by the teenagers who drive the stories and those of their perplexed and clueless parents are the same. And what do those issues entail? Sex, the meaning of existence, sex, what to do on Friday night, sex, what to do on Saturday night, sex- well you get the drift. And those dilemmas of youth and its fight for recognition as presented through the main male characters, Sonny and Duane, are in McMurtry's hands well thought out and, at times, poignant. The attention to detail that McMurtry is noted for is on full display in the interplay between the “jock” students (Duane), the nerds (Sonny, kinda) and the “in” crowd (Jacy). High school football, the whys and wherefores of the high school classroom and the sheer fight to find one's own identity in this mix all contribute to a very strong trip “down memory lane” for this watcher.

From my own personal experience I know how tough it was to grow up in the 1950's (the later part) and it is good to see that there are indeed some universal ailments that are common, like those mentioned above, to the “tribal community” called youth in America. Moreover, watch this movie because it also has a few things to say about the adults, especially Sonny's lover, the older woman and the football coach's wife Ruth (played by Cloris Leachman in a mostly understated but powerful role), and their dilemmas as well. Damn, McMurtry is singing my song here.

The film version of this book strongly evokes visually the points that McMurtry tries to make in the book. It helps that he was the screenwriter in this effort. Fine performances were turned in by the young Timothy Bottoms, who story is more central in the movie than in the book. Jeff Bridges, at the start of his illustrious career, is tailor-made for these "bad", misunderstood man/boy roles (see his role as Bad Blake in Crazy Hearts) and who gets less play here than in Texasville. And Cybil Sheppard as, frankly, a very “hot”, sex-crazed (maybe), high school teaser as the object of Sonny and Duane's attentions (and of a fierce rivalry for her “attentions”). Also a very fine old cowboy, symbolic dying Old West performance by Ben Johnson. Also by Cloris Leachman as, the above-mentioned, neglected abused dish rag of a coach’s wife and as Sonny's genteel influence, older woman lover. And all in black and white to highlight the dusty, main street is the only street, small Texas town grit and boom-bust oil patch ambience. This is high plebeian art.

* You Can’t Go Home Again- The Midlife Crisis Of One Duane Jackson- Larry McMurtry’s "Texasville"- A Film Review

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of the movie trailer for Texasville.

DVD Review

Texasville, Jeff Bridges, Cybil Sheppard, Timothy Bottoms, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, 1990

There is no question in my mind, at least, that Larry McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show is a great post-World War II (about 1952), boom/bust oil patch Texas, but could have been a lot of places, 1950s places, coming-of-age story. Director Peter Bogdanovitch 1971 production, (with McMurtry writing the screenplay) stayed fairly close to the story line of the book and produced a great film out of the tangled teen relationships of three dust-blown, one-horse (and one movie theater), small-town Texas youngsters, Duane, Sonny and Jacy. I have watched that film several times over the last forty years and have not changed my mind in that regard; if anything I like it better these days.

Fast forward thirty years (thirty story-line years that is, about 1984) and take the same characters, the same writer, the same producer and the same actors (mainly) and make it a film about mid-life crisis (or crises) and the premises fall somewhat flat. It is not the acting. Jeff Bridges is well, Jeff Bridges, born for these Texas-type roles (witness Oscar-winning Bad Blake- Duane Jackson at 57). Cybil Sheppard (Jacy), although showing her age a bit and not the "hot" femme fatale teen of Last Picture is still okay. Timothy Bottom (Sonny) has definitely wilted. But like I say it is not the acting. Nor is it the writing, this is still based on good McMurtry material (unlike the seemingly endlessly contrived later parts of the Duane saga). Nor is it Bogdanovich who evokes 1980s boom-bust (some things don’t change) Texas well enough. Let’s just chalk it up to a preference for the black-and-white, dust bowl grit film footage of small-town Texas over color; a preference for the bite of original stories over sequels; and, most importantly, for distant coming-of-age stories over nearer mid-life crisis. If you can believe this I would rather now watch distant teen trauma (although I would not want to relive it, most of it anyhow) over more recent and symptomatic mid-life crisis. That story is “old.”

*From The Austin City Outer Limits- The Music Of Doug Sahm

Click On Title To Link To YouTube’s Film Clip Of Doug Sahm On "Live From Austin City Limits"

CD Review

Doug Sahm & Friends: The Best Of The Atlantic Sessions, Doug Sahm, Bob Dylan, Dr. John and other artists, Atlanta Records, 1992

One of the things that keeps occurring when one is, as I am, tracing in my own eclectic way, some of the roots music of the `American Songbook' is that once familiar names from the distant past keep cropping up in odd ways. Take the artist under review, Doug Sahm, as an example. I knew of his name from 1960's British invasion rock group Sir Douglas Quintet (Go figure, for a Texas boy, but that is the way things went in those helter-skelter days) and, later, from the edges of the Texas-driven "country outlaws" movement of the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark and the like.

However the impetus for this review of Sahm' music is due to a recent interview of Professor Douglas Brinkley (now at Rice University, I believe). Brinkley was talking about the nuts and bolts of his interview of the legendary Bob Dylan for "Rolling Stone" magazine on a National Public Radio talk show. In the course of that interview Professor Brinkley mentioned that the reclusive Dylan missed the companionship of his old time friend, the late Doug Sahm. That set off one alarm. Additionally, Professor Brinkley is well known to this reviewer as a long time friend of the late "Gonzo journalist", Hunter S. Thompson. That combination was enough to get me to this CD.

Like many others, when one is looking for the work of an older artist the best place to start is with some "greatest hits" compilation and that, in effect, is what is being reviewed here. Over the long haul Sahm was associated, broadly, with the Tex-Mex and Texas blues music that came roaring out of his state over the past few decades, particularly out of Austin. That sound, and the seemingly obligatory nod to the free-wheeling 1960's hard rock styles, dominates this well-produced album originally issued by well-regarded Atlantic Records in 1973. There is a virtual who's who of Tex-Mex and Texas blues musicians backing Sahms up (and the great New Orleans bluesman, Dr. John). Plus, as a bonus, Dylan doing his "Wallflower" with Sahm. Additionally, there is a nice booklet of liner notes showing the cast of characters on this CD in sunnier times. After listening to this CD one can now understand why Dylan missed his old friend.

*******

Doug Sahm Is Anybody Going To San Antone by Dave Kirby
Glen Martin

Doug Sahm vocals/guitar/fiddle
Bob Dylan background vocals
Charlie Owens steel guitar
Flaco Jimenez accordion
George Raines drums
Jack Barber bass
Augie Meyers keyboards
Ken Kosek fiddle


A D E7 A A D E7 A

A D E7 A
Rain dripping off the brim of my hat it sure looks cold today
D E7 A
Here I am walkin down Sixty Six wish she hadn't done me this way
D E7 A
Sleeping under a table in a roadside park a man could wake up dead
A D E7 A
But it sure seems warmer than it did sleeping in our king size bed
A D E7 A
Is anybody going to San Antone or Phoenix Arizona
D E7 A
Any place is all right as long as I can forget I've ever known her

A D E7 A A D E7 A

A D E A
Wind whippin down the neck of my shirt like I aint got nothin on
A D E7 A
But I'd rather fight the wind and rain than what I was fightin at home
A D E7 A
Is anybody going to San Antone or Phoenix Arizona
D E7 A
Any place is all right as long as I can forget I've ever known her.


SOLO


A D E7 A
Yonder comes a truck with the U.S. mail people writin letters back
home
A D E7 A
Well Tommorrow she'll want me back again and I'll be just as gone
A D E7 A
Is anybody going to San Antone or Phoenix Arizona
D E7 A
Any place is all right as long as I can forget I've ever known her

*From The Austin City Outer Limits- An Encore-The Music Of Doug Sahm

Click On Title To Link To YouTube’s Film Clip Of Doug Sahm On "Live From Austin City Limits"

DVD Review

Doug Sahm: Live From Austin, Tx, Doug Sahm (1975), New West Productions, 2007

Most of the following is from a review of a CD, "Doug Sahm and Friends". Except for a list of the song selections the points made there apply here to this DVD as well.

"One of the things that keeps occurring when one is, as I am, tracing in my own eclectic way, some of the roots music of the `American Songbook' is that once familiar names from the distant past keep cropping up in odd ways. Take the artist under review, Doug Sahm, as an example. I knew of his name from 1960's British invasion rock group Sir Douglas Quintet (Go figure, for a Texas boy, but that is the way things went in those helter-skelter days) and, later, from the edges of the Texas-driven "country outlaws" movement of the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark and the like.

However the impetus for this review of Sahm' music is due to a recent interview of Professor Douglas Brinkley (now at Rice University, I believe). Brinkley was talking about the nuts and bolts of his interview of the legendary Bob Dylan for "Rolling Stone" magazine on a National Public Radio talk show. In the course of that interview Professor Brinkley mentioned that the reclusive Dylan missed the companionship of his old time friend, the late Doug Sahm. That set off one alarm. Additionally, Professor Brinkley is well known to this reviewer as a long time friend of the late "Gonzo journalist", Hunter S. Thompson. That combination was enough to get me to this CD.

Like many others, when one is looking for the work of an older artist the best place to start is with some "greatest hits" compilation and that, in effect, is what is being reviewed here. Over the long haul Sahm was associated, broadly, with the Tex-Mex and Texas blues music that came roaring out of his state over the past few decades, particularly out of Austin. That sound, and the seemingly obligatory nod to the free-wheeling 1960's hard rock styles, dominates this well-produced album originally issued by well-regarded Atlantic Records in 1973. There is a virtual who's who of Tex-Mex and Texas blues musicians backing Sahm up (and the great New Orleans bluesman, Dr. John). Plus, as a bonus, Dylan doing his "Wallflower" with Sahm. Additionally, there is a nice booklet of liner notes showing the cast of characters on this CD in sunnier times. After listening to this CD one can now understand why Dylan missed his old friend".

And off of this DVD you can understand why Dylan would have been attracted to Sahm's gravelly-voiced, rough-hewed song style as seen in the "Mendocino" and "She's A Mover" set. Also a nice version of "Stormy Monday", a song that fits his style very well. Here is the kicker though. A lot of times when I am 'watching' music DVDs I am on the computer, or something. I was doing the same here when all of a sudden Doug started doing a version of Elvis Presley's "One Night With You". I jumped up to watch that. Wow. Yes, indeed, I can very definitely understand Dylan's sense of loss.


*******

Doug Sahm Is Anybody Going To San Antone by Dave Kirby
Glen Martin

Doug Sahm vocals/guitar/fiddle
Bob Dylan background vocals
Charlie Owens steel guitar
Flaco Jimenez accordion
George Raines drums
Jack Barber bass
Augie Meyers keyboards
Ken Kosek fiddle


A D E7 A A D E7 A

A D E7 A
Rain dripping off the brim of my hat it sure looks cold today
D E7 A
Here I am walkin down Sixty Six wish she hadn't done me this way
D E7 A
Sleeping under a table in a roadside park a man could wake up dead
A D E7 A
But it sure seems warmer than it did sleeping in our king size bed
A D E7 A
Is anybody going to San Antone or Phoenix Arizona
D E7 A
Any place is all right as long as I can forget I've ever known her

A D E7 A A D E7 A

A D E A
Wind whippin down the neck of my shirt like I aint got nothin on
A D E7 A
But I'd rather fight the wind and rain than what I was fightin at home
A D E7 A
Is anybody going to San Antone or Phoenix Arizona
D E7 A
Any place is all right as long as I can forget I've ever known her.


SOLO


A D E7 A
Yonder comes a truck with the U.S. mail people writin letters back
home
A D E7 A
Well Tommorrow she'll want me back again and I'll be just as gone
A D E7 A
Is anybody going to San Antone or Phoenix Arizona
D E7 A
Any place is all right as long as I can forget I've ever known her

*T For Texas- The Blues Of Lightnin' Hopkins

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Lightnin' Hopkins Doing A Couple Of Songs.

DVD/CD Reviews

This review has been used to cover several Lightning Hopkins CDs and a DVD review of an instructional film, "The Guitar Of Lightnin' Hopkins", directed and taught by Ernie Hopkins, Stephan Grossman Studio Workshop, 2004, on learning his guitar style. I might add that this film makes abundantly clear that learning Lightning's eccentric style is definitely not for beginners. Go to the Willie Dixon song book for that.

Lightning Hopkins & The Blues Summit, Lightning Hopkins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Big Joe Williams, EMI-Capitol Records, 2001

I have spilled plenty of ink in this space tracing the main line of the blues from its acoustic origins down in the plantation South up river through the way station of Memphis and then to the electric "Mecca of Chicago. Along the way I have occasionally mentioned some of the other branches of the blues line like the North Carolina pick. I have not spent nearly enough time on some of the other important branches of the blues expansion, especially in the post World II period such as the West Coast blues and, as will be noted here, Texas blues.

*T For Texas- The Blues Of Lightnin' Hopkins

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Lightnin' Hopkins Doing "Mojo Hand".

DVD/CD Reviews

This review has been used to cover several Lightning Hopkins CDs and a DVD review of an instructional film, "The Guitar Of Lightnin' Hopkins", directed and taught by Ernie Hopkins, Stephan Grossman Studio Workshop, 2004, on learning his guitar style. I might add that this film makes abundantly clear that learning Lightning's eccentric style is definitely not for beginners. Go to the Willie Dixon song book for that.

Blue Lightning, Lightning Hopkins, Paula Records, 1995

I have spilled plenty of ink in this space tracing the main line of the blues from its acoustic origins down in the plantation South up river through the way station of Memphis and then to the electric "Mecca of Chicago. Along the way I have occasionally mentioned some of the other branches of the blues line like the North Carolina pick. I have not spent nearly enough time on some of the other important branches of the blues expansion, especially in the post World II period such as the West Coast blues and, as will be noted here, Texas blues.

*T For Texas- The Blues Of Lightnin' Hopkins

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Lightnin' Hopkins Doing "Goin' Down Slow".

DVD/CD Reviews

This review has been used to cover several Lightning Hopkins CDs and a DVD review of an instructional film, "The Guitar Of Lightnin' Hopkins", directed and taught by Ernie Hopkins, Stephan Grossman Studio Workshop, 2004, on learning his guitar style. I might add that this film makes abundantly clear that learning Lightning's eccentric style is definitely not for beginners. Go to the Willie Dixon song book for that.

Free Form Patterns, Lightning Hopkins, Fuel 2000 Records, 2003

I have spilled plenty of ink in this space tracing the main line of the blues from its acoustic origins down in the plantation South up river through the way station of Memphis and then to the electric "Mecca of Chicago. Along the way I have occasionally mentioned some of the other branches of the blues line like the North Carolina pick. I have not spent nearly enough time on some of the other important branches of the blues expansion, especially in the post World II period such as the West Coast blues and, as will be noted here, Texas blues.

*T For Texas- The Blues Of Lightnin' Hopkins

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Lightnin' Hopkins Doing "Baby Please Don't Go".

DVD/CD Reviews

This review has been used to cover several Lightning Hopkins CDs and a DVD review of an instructional film, "The Guitar Of Lightnin' Hopkins", directed and taught by Ernie Hopkins, Stephan Grossman Studio Workshop, 2004, on learning his guitar style. I might add that this film makes abundantly clear that learning Lightning's eccentric style is definitely not for beginners. Go to the Willie Dixon song book for that.

Lightnin'!, Lightning Hopkins, Arhoolie Records, 1993

I have spilled plenty of ink in this space tracing the main line of the blues from its acoustic origins down in the plantation South up river through the way station of Memphis and then to the electric "Mecca of Chicago. Along the way I have occasionally mentioned some of the other branches of the blues line like the North Carolina pick. I have not spent nearly enough time on some of the other important branches of the blues expansion, especially in the post World II period such as the West Coast blues and, as will be noted here, Texas blues.

*T For Texas- The Blues Of Lightnin' Hopkins

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Lightnin' Hopkins Doing "Lonesome Road".

DVD/CD Reviews

This review has been used to cover several Lightning Hopkins CDs and a DVD review of an instructional film, "The Guitar Of Lightnin' Hopkins", directed and taught by Ernie Hopkins, Stephan Grossman Studio Workshop, 2004, on learning his guitar style. I might add that this film makes abundantly clear that learning Lightning's eccentric style is definitely not for beginners. Go to the Willie Dixon song book for that.

Lightnin'!, Lightning Hopkins, Arhoolie Records, 1993

Free Form Patterns, Lightning Hopkins, Fuel 2000 Records, 2003

Blue Lightning, Lightning Hopkins, Paula Records, 1995

Lightning Hopkins & The Blues Summit, Lightning Hopkins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Big Joe Williams, EMI-Capitol Records, 2001

I have spilled plenty of ink in this space tracing the main line of the blues from its acoustic origins down in the plantation South up river through the way station of Memphis and then to the electric "Mecca of Chicago. Along the way I have occasionally mentioned some of the other branches of the blues line like the North Carolina pick. I have not spent nearly enough time on some of the other important branches of the blues expansion, especially in the post World II period such as the West Coast blues and, as will be noted here, Texas blues.

If the blues is synonymous with the black struggle to get by day to day, to make ends meet and to make it to Saturday night and some relieve then the very big locale of Texas and its harsh hard scrabble life and strict Jim Crow laws hardly seems out of place as a key blues outpost. From the days, in the 1920's and 1930's, of Blind Lemon Jefferson working the streets of rural small town Texas, cup in hand, up to the artist under review, Lightning Hopkins, working the small black clubs and "juke joints" of the cities (like Houston) and beyond to the sounds of blues revivalists like Stevie Ray Vaughn and his brother there has been more than enough misery to create a separate Texas blues tradition.

Moreover, Brother Hopkins brings a distinctive guitar pick of his own to the "dance". He is famous, above all, for what is called the E shuffle sound as he works the guitar to create a sound that is a little "happier" than the forlorn one of the Delta or the "amped up" one of Chicago. I, unfortunately, did not get a chance to hears Lightning live until late in his career in the early 1970's when he had lost a little of his fine-toned edge. One can recapture some of that though through some of these earlier recordings from a tie when he was in full blown Lightning form. Listen up if you want to learn a different way to run a guitar from that of Muddy Waters, Bukka White, B.B. King or, for that matter, Eric Clapton

Needless to say Lightning had covered most of the known blues classics of his time as well as his own material. The borderlines of what is one's own material and what one has reworked from the blues pool is not always clear but you need to hear, for starters, "Mojo Hand", "Hello Central", "Little Girl" and "Rock Me Baby" to get a feel for his sound. Add on such classics as "Wig Wearing Woman", "Lonesome Dog Blues" (with an eerie dog bark included free), "Back Door Friend" and you are ready to become an aficionado. Throw in the talking blues-styled "Mr. Charlie", "Baby Child" and "Cooking Done" for good measure. Finally, team up Lightning with the likes of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and the amazing Big Joe Williams (especially on Hopkins' "Ain't Nothing Like Whiskey" and "Chain Gang Blues") at the famous 1960"blues summit" and you are ready for the graduate course.

Blues Lyrics - Lightnin' Hopkins

Back Door Friend

What you gonna do with a woman, yeah, when she got a
back do' friend
What are you gonna do with a woman, yes, when she got a back do' friend?
She just prayin' for you to move out, so her back do' friend can move in
Yes, it's hard to love a woman, yes, you know she got a back do' friend
Yes, it's hard to love a woman, oh Lord, yes, you know she got a back do' friend
Yes, when she prayin' for you to move out, so her back do' friend can move in
Yeah, you know I bought that woman a diamond ring, I thought that she would change
I went home one morn' and I caught her doin', whoa, that same old thing
Now what you gonna do with a mad woman, oh, when she got a back do' friend
When she prayin' all the time for you to move out, so her back do' friend, he can move in
__________
Note: this song is also known under the title "Letter To My (Back Door Friend)" on Charly Blues Masterworks Vol. 8, recording of 1963, Houston

Blues Lyrics - Lightnin' Hopkins
Coffee Blues

Mama got mad at papa 'cause he didn't bring no coffee home
Mama got mad at papa 'cause he didn't bring no coffee home
She begin to wonder what is going on wrong
Papa said, "Mama, I ain't mad with you, now, don't you get mad with me
Baby, I ain't mad with you, now, don't you get mad with me"
Papa must have been teasing mama 'cause she said, "I ain't mad with you"
Papa must have been teasing mama 'cause she said, "I ain't mad with you"
She said, "Everything's all right; don't make no difference what you do"
(Spoken: You know papa got good with mama somehow)
And I was crying for bread, and yes, I,
baby, I was crying for bread; and these are the words I said
(Spoken: Now look at mama, just trying to shout)
It was early one evening but papa came home late at night
It was early one evening but papa came home late at night
That's when mama was mad and her and papa began to fight

Blues Lyrics - Lightnin' Hopkins

Little School Girl

Little school girl,
let me tote
your books to school today
Please, little school girl,
let me tote your books to school today
She said, "I says you's a bad boy,
mama said please keep you away"
(spoken: That's what she said about Lightnin')
Mama want to know what you're doin',
yes, after you get out of her sight
She said "If I let you tote my books,
still I know, Sam, that ain't right"
When I get back home with my mother and dad,
that's where I might have a fight
I told the school teacher,
little school girl carryin' too heavy a load
Yes, I told that school teacher,
little girl was carryin' too heavy a load
She say, "You better get your big, bare feets,
Lightnin', make it down the road"
(spoken: That little school girl was all right in her place,
but she got me, so I walked away and I say...)
Good mornin', little school girl,
how have you been today?
Good mornin' little school girl,
how have you been today?
I say I'll tote your books, I'll tote your books,
darlin', 'cause you are goin' my way
__________
Note 1: tote, to carry by hand.

Blues Lyrics - Lightnin' Hopkins

One Kind Favor I Ask Of You

There's one kind favor I'll ask of you
There's one kind favor I'll ask of you
There's one kind favor I'll ask of you
See that my love will come thru
I was down last night on my bended knee
I was down last night on my bended knee
I was down last night on my bended knee
No people in the world seems to care for me
That's all I know darlin' what to do
That's all I know darlin' what to do
That's all I know darlin' what to do
I wouldn't be here worryin' if it hadn't been for you
Wish I had-a died when I was young
Wish I had-a died when I was young
Wish I had-a died when I was young
Wouldn't be here today with my head hung

A Larry McMurtry Potpourri

Leaving Las Vegas

The Desert Rose, Larry McMurtry, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1983

The last time, I believe, that it I mentioned Las Vegas in this space was regarding a review of the late Hunter Thompson’s classic “gonzo” piece "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" that used that city as the backdrop for his drug-addled adventures spoofing the rubes. The last time that I mentioned the author of the book under review, Larry McMurtry, was just recently praising his Texas trilogy that was based on his classic 1950’s coming of age tale "The Last Picture Show". In a sense McMurtry tackles the scenes that the drug-rattled Thompson failed to get- a view of those who actually live and work in Vegas 24/7/365. That story has a certain pathos that McMurtry is able to milk. Maybe not in the definitive way that he can milk small-town Texas for a story but he milks it nevertheless.

Hollywood and Las Vegas have stood culturally in America as meccas for generations of young girls from places like Oklahoma and guys from Kansas as places to achieve fame, if only for that proverbial 'fifteen minutes'. That is one of the strands that McMurtry weaved into his tale of the loves, dreams, losses and forfeitures of Las Vegas showgirl extra-ordinaire Harmony and her ill-fated marriage to that Kansas boy, Ross.

This is also a story of generations as the product of the marriage, Pepper, although only a teenager seems destined to avoid most of the mistakes that “mom” made by having more talent - for picking right guys, rejecting bad guys and being a dancing prodigy rather than a mere showgirl. The problem, however, is that for Pepper to rise Harmony must fall. The two cannot share center stage in the casinos or in life. Moreover, in a youth-crazed culture epitomized to the nth degree in Vegas aging “mom” cannot fight the fates, even if she had the capacity to do so. That is the drama that centrally drives this little piece.

Along the way we get to look at the lives and loves of the people who hold Las Vegas together (if not themselves). We get to view lifelong Vegas denizens, the inevitable gay wardrobe guy, assorted talented or talentless showgirls and their trials and tribulations, sundry backstage types who share the dreams of the spotlight. Is this a McMurtry work that you must read? No, I already told you that "Last Picture Show" trilogy is a must read. But if you have a few hours, and want to read about what Thompson missed on his sojourn, then read this little novel.


Portrait Of A Writer As A Young Man

All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers. Larry McMurtry, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1972.

As is usually the case when I get excited about an author’s work I tend to delve into all the work in order to see which way he or she is heading. That is the case here with Larry McMurtry. I have just finished reading his "The Last Picture Show" trilogy ("The Last Picture Show"; "Texasville"; and, "Duane’s Depressed") about coming of age in small town Texas, having one’s mid-life crisis there and, in the end, struggling against the strains of mortality there as well. The cumulative effect of this work was a five-star review. Here we step back to early McMurtry and while the promise is certainly there as well as his quirky look at modern life this is the work of a rising star writer not of a master writer.

Why? Well, for one thing the subject matter. All fictional writing in the final analysis may be autobiographical, consciously or unconsciously, but here the trials and tribulations of a young Texas writer who heads to California to find himself after the budding prominence of the publication of his first book and a movie offer is, well, just a little too precious. Moreover, the inevitable romantic problems of twenty-something males (and, by now in the 2000s, females) has been done to death. Nothing really jumps out here other than some cogent observations about the foibles of human nature as strained through the California mill. My advice to Danny, the protagonist writer here is –Go east, young man, go east back to Texas. That’s where your pot of gold is. Do you need to read this book? If you have time. Do you need to read "The Last Picture Show" trilogy. Damn right. That’s the different in a nutshell.

Welcome To Thalia- The Early Work of Larry McMurtry

BOOK/DVD REVIEW

The Eyes of Texas

Hud, starring Paul Newman, Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas, directed by Martin Ritt, UA, 1963

The last time I have had a chance to mention the work of Larry McMurtry, whose novel this movie is adapted from, was a recent review of his The Last Picture Show trilogy (a must read, by the way) concerning the coming of age, mid-life crises and struggles with mortality of a cohort of small town Texas characters, especially one Duane Moore. As usual when I get ‘high’ on an author I like to run through most of his or her work to see where he or she is going with it. Thus, this review of a lesser work turned into an exceptional film is something of an introduction to themes that McMurtry likes to give a work out in his literary efforts. Apparently, when it comes to bring to life the Texas of the 1950’s and 1960’s either cinematically or in book form your first (and maybe last stop, although I would give Horton Foote some play) is at Mr. McMurtry’s doorstep.

Okay, so what is the big deal? Take one young, world weary, cynical handsome and well-built ne’r-do-well 1950’s cowboy Paul Newman, complete with Cadillac and cowboy hat (and an eye for the ladies, needless to say). Take one old-time rancher father of said Hud, Melvyn Douglas giving the performance of his life as a man out of step with the times as oil-rich Texas is passing him by. Take one sultry (yes, sultry in a country sort of way) substitute mother as the household cook and drudge. Add, for generational purposes, a young teenage grandson the prototype for later characters that we shall see again in other Texas scenarios by McMurtry. Put them all together with all kinds of family, personal and social tensions and a ranch crisis brought on by an epidemic of cattle hoof and mouth disease. Film it in black and white (a natural medium for 1950’s- 1960’s modern cowboy movies-think the Misfits) and place it in small town Texas with all its pride, prejudices and customs. Then take a couple of hours to see how a well-written novel and a well-thought out film can mesh as one. This is the Texas of Larry’s dreams and ours. Kudos.

Horseman, Pass By, Larry McMurtry, University of Texas Press, 1961

I will concede that I have been on something of tear concerning the works of Larry McMurtry lately. That is just the way I operate when I find that rare novelist that “speaks” to me. Gore Vidal, the great American historical novelist, is another whose works you will be seeing reviewed more in this space. That said, the particularly purpose here is to compare McMurtry’s Horseman, Pass By with Hud, the cinematic version of this novel, that starred the recently deceased Paul Newman as a misbegotten, angry modern cowboy, a very talented actor from my youth. I, frankly, like to make such comparisons to see how close the film comes to the novel.

Some films, as I recall from an article that Joan Didion wrote in the New York Review of Books concerning one of her books, move very far away from the author’s intent. That happened in her case and she had to abandon the screenwriting of the film version of one of her books in the interest of her own artistic integrity. Some cinematic presentations, even more egregiously, pay bare homage to their source. That occurred in Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and To Have Not. Here the situation is something of a happy mix between the need to highlight the 1960’s blue-eyed heart throb Newman’s role as the errand, self-centered cowboy “angel” Hud and the coming of age story of his teenage nephew Lonnie that McMurtry is trying to portray here.

Naturally, as McMurtry’s intent is to show not only the ruthless way that the modern cowboy, Hud, has to deal with the world in order to survive but the vagaries of his nephew Lonnie’s coming of age in rural West Texas in the 1950’s (in the mythical town of Thalia the scene of more than one of his efforts) the screenwriting must reflect director Martin Ritt’s concerns to keep the story moving. Thus the book, unlike the movie, concentrates not on the action of the various events in ranch (the problem with the cattle that have to be destroyed) and small town life (the booze, dances and Last Picture Show movie house) that drive the film but the sheer struggle against loneliness and meaningless that every teenager goes through but more so here. Those feelings, described so well here (and in The Last Picture Show) do not translate well onto the screen.

There are a number of other characters and events in the book that do not make it to the screen. The family relationship between Grandpa Homer Bannon and Hud is different (although the generational tensions are still present). Grandma Bannon is still alive (as Homer’s second wife and Hud’s mother) and the housekeeper is black not white like in the film. Needless to say Newman’s sexual assault of the housekeeper (played by Patricia Neal) in the early 1960’s era film subject to more taboos than today is much less graphic than in the book. But a good suggestion here is to watch the film for the performances of Newman, Neal and Melvyn Douglas (as Homer) AND read this novel. This is McMurtry’s first effort at being the “king” of Texas story tellers (New West version and Old West version, as well). The pair of efforts compliment each other. That is a rare feat.

The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You- The Work Of Larry McMurtry

BOOK REVIEWS

As mentioned previously I have developed a strong interest in the literary works of Larry McMurtry the Texas bibliophile, Western aficionado and pack rat. At the time I had only read The Last Picture Show part of his trilogy on small town oil boom (or bust)Texas. In the interest of completeness I have in included that first review along with the two other volumes that make up this work.

DVD/BOOK Review

The Last Picture Show, Larry McMurtry, Orion Mass Market Publications, 2000

There has been no shortage of coming of age stories in modern American literature. J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is merely the most famous and probably widely known of the genre. Here Larry McMurtry, the Texas bibliophile, Old West aficionado and pack rat gives us his take on growing up absurd in a faded semi- boom town Texas during the Korean War era of the early 1950's.

Although the locale is different from Catcher in the Rye the issues raised by the teenagers who drive the story and those of their perplexed and clueless parents are the same. And what do those issues entail? Sex, the meaning of existence, sex, what to do on Friday night, sex, what to do on Saturday night, sex- well you get the drift. And those dilemmas of youth and its fight for recognition as presented through the main characters Sonny and Duane are in McMurtry's hands well thought out and, at times, poignant. The attention to detail that McMurtry is noted for is on full display in the interplay between the 'jock' students, the nerds and the 'in' crowd. High school football, the whys and wherefores of the high school classroom and the shear fight to find one's own identity in this mix all contribute to a very strong trip down memory lane for this reader.

From my own personal experience I know how tough it was to grow up in the 1950's and it is good to see that there are indeed some universal ailments that are common to the 'tribal community' called youth in America. Moreover, read this book because it also has a few things to say about the adults, especially Sonny's lover the older woman and the football coach's wife Ruth, and their dilemmas as well. Damn, McMurtry is singing my song.

The film version of this book strongly evokes visually the points that McMurtry tries to make in the book. It helps that he was the screenwriter in this effort. Fine performances were turned in by the young Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges and Cybil Sheppard as the object of Sonny and Duane's attentions . Also by Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman, as Sonny's older woman lover.

Boom or Bust?

Texasville, Larry McMurtry, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987

In the blink of an eye it seems we can go from a coming of age story to a mid-life crisis story. Or maybe it is just changing from one book to another. Ya, right? There may be a space of thirty years between the action in The Last Picture Show and Texasville but it hardly a blink of the eye. It takes effort to build up to the mid-life crisis (or better crises) that form the central idea of this novel as those of the generation of '68 and older are painfully aware. But so be it.

The last time we saw the characters who people these novels was Duane getting on the bus in Thalia to go off to basic training in 1954 and ultimately, he thinks, to Korea after a fight with his best friend Sonny over, who else, the flirty local femme fatale Jacy. They are both bewitched by her. The result of that fight was that Sonny lost the sight in one eye. That, however, after a thirty year interval was not the worst of it as a read of this book will confirm. Here, in any case, we have the old gang Duane, Sonny, the sultry Jacy and some new arrivals- Karla, Duane's wife, a slew of kids, a beloved dog Shorty and a cast of a score of locals some who have been resurrected from The Last Picture Show, others who have drifted in with the oil boom that is ready to bust in the 1980's. In any case, for those who are interested, if you read the whole book, you will find out what happened to every character from the Last Picture Show. That is the good part.

The bad part is that this thing is just too long. Duane's, Karla's, Jacy's, and the whole host of 40-somethings who are going through the storms of mid-life crisis stories are not enough to warrant a five hundred plus page book. Hell, this book took longer to read that some mid-life crises, especially Duane's. Even if you add in celebration of a town centennial to `liven' things up the thread is not there. The marital problems and infidelities of small town Texas, the bust up of a man's life work due to the international oil glut and assorted other problems from the 1980's when oil was only about fifteen dollars a barrel pale in comparison with $100 a barrel oil now. Those are `real' problems. That little difficulty of length aside, which keeps this from being a five-star review, McMurtry cannot write a bad novel, at least to these eyes thus far. Larry, just make this kind of story 400 pages or so, you know as long as it would take to tell of your own mid-life crisis. Okay?

In Search Of Lost Time

Duane’s Depressed, Larry McMurtry, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1999

In the blink of an eye it seems we can go in this The Last Picture Show trilogy from a coming of age story in the Last Picture Show to a mid-life crisis story in Texasville to the struggle against mortality during old age story here. Or maybe it is just changing from one book to another. Ya, right? There may be a space of thirty years between the action in The Last Picture Show and Texasville and another fourteen between Texasville and Duane's Depressed but it hardly a blink of the eye. It takes effort to build up to the mid-life crisis (or better crises) and then apply those lessons to the struggle against mortality that form the central idea of this novel as those of the generation of '68 and older are painfully aware. But so be it.

By one of life's little quirks this reviewer is the same age as Duane in this phase of his life's story, 62. Therefore the reviewer can sympathize, understand and relate to the struggle against the vicissitudes of mortality that, in the final analysis, Duane is struggling against. Duane's whole life has been consumed by the notion of duty, doing the right thing and keeping his own counsel to the exclusion of having any close personal relationships, including with his wife Karla. One day he decides, rightly by this reviewer's lights, to chuck his old life, at least the symbols of it. The tale told here revolves around that break out, the effect on his marriage and the subsequent lost of his dear wife Karla in a fatal automobile accident and his struggle to find a new place in his world without her. Along the way Jacy and Sonny, the companions of his youth in what seems like an eternity ago in the Last Picture Show also pass from the scene. In an odd sense Duane is the last one standing.

Needless to say all of this introspection is going to take a lot out of a very stoic man like Duane. Moreover, a review of his whole life means a look at lots of things that are not obvious. Probably the best little literary trick that McMurtry uses here is to link Duane up with a sexually unattainable woman psychiatrist who recommends reading Marcel Proust's Remembrances of Things Past as a form of discovery. This, as some readers may know, is a monumental work that has baffled more than one intellectual as to its meaning. Hell, on reflection, it probably baffled Proust. The trick is that uneducated but intrepid Duane actually struggled to read it over the course of a year. I suggest that the alternate translation of Proust's book is more appropriate to what Duane was looking for in this novel-In Search Of Lost Time. That, my friends, is what we all face as we face mortality. If you are going to read anything by Larry McMurtry read this trilogy. That's the ticket.


Duane’s World, Part IV

When The Lights Go Out: A Novel, Larry McMurtry, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2007

I have recently fulsomely praised Larry McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show trilogy (The Last Picture Show; Texasville: Duane’s Depressed) a saga centered on the coming of age, mid-life crisis and struggle with mortality of one small town Texas oilman and good old boy Duane Moore. Frankly, I thought with the review of Duane’s Depressed concerning Duane’s struggle to find relevance in his life as he hovers around old age and faces the grim reaper that I was done with this series. Needless to say that was not the case. Although I wish it were so.

I mentioned in my review of The Last Picture Show that the coming of age story described there boiled down to what to do on high school Friday night-the search for sexual companionship. What to do on high school Saturday night-the search for sex- you get the drift. Apparently in his dotage Duane is hung up on that same aspect of the tragedy behind that human drive except he has included weekdays. That, however, is not enough to sustain this slim novel. Moreover, I believe that Mr. McMurtry knows that as he has tried to spruce up his plot and characters with every current sociological trend known to the American scene- the search for a trophy wife, daughter Nellie’s gayness, daughter Julie’s nunnery prospects, his lesbian psychiatrist’s off-hand desire to throw away all her profession ethics for a chance to go to bed with Duane and the South Asian invasion of the mom and pop business marketplace, reliance on sexual aids, etc. Come on now, Larry this is not even Austin.

I once commented in a review of Howard Fast’s Immigrant series set in California over a couple of generations that during the course of the work his characters intersected every possible leftist political impulse in pursue of filling out the story line. I mentioned, at some point well before the last book, that the series had run out of steam. That, sad to say, has happened to Mr. McMurtry here. His story has run out of steam. What is left? Duane as the “stud” at his Thalia (or Wichita Falls) assisted living facility. He deserves better. Larry, put out the light. Please.