David Larson’s Dead Blues Guys & Gals
This page presents bio portraits drawn from photos by David Early Larson. Many derive from stickers given by DEL to Mark Herder and Alan Bowling. Alan published the series on the DEL Facebook page and provided comments on many of the musicians. His description of the process is below.
David researched each figure, finding a photo to xerox, then did a tracing of the face on a clear plastic sheet. He’d xerox that with white backing and drew on the copy. He’d change details and backgrounds before he’d finish the design. Then he’d make multiple copies in the business card size format he wanted, glue them together on a 8×11 sheet and have the stickers printed from the master. Many of those masters are in files he kept. Alan Bowling
from Sasser St. John Lee Hooker (ink & wash)
from Mark H
One of the most important interpreters and writers of folk blues who was pardoned from prison for his expertise. The Library of Congress hired him to record many old songs for their archives accompanied by his 12 string guitar. “The Gallis (Gallows) Pole”, “In The Pines(Where Did You Sleep Last Night?)”, “Goodnight Irene”, and “Black Betty” are among them.
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983) known professionally as Muddy Waters. Migrated from Mississippi to Illinois to become one of the leaders in Chicago electric blues.
Born Eleanora Fagan in 1915 in Philadelphia from an unwed couple, Billie Holiday grew up in Baltimore with her mother. A troubled early life led to cleaning a brothel where she heard records by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. She started singing, adapting her musician father’s name Halliday and copying the way the instruments phrases sounded with her voice. She was singing in clubs when she was heard by John Hammond who said she was the first female singer “who actually sounded like an improvising jazz genius”. He got her with pianist and Benny Goodman collaborator Teddy Wilson to record for Brunswick. “What A Little Moonlight Can Do” and “I’ll Cry For You” were instant hits.
Another accompanist was Lester Young who played tenor sax for Count Basie. “Prez” was thought to be her love interest for many years and gave her the nickname Lady Day. Billie met Ella Fitzgerald who was the singer in Chick Webb’s band and they had a contest, Basie’s band backing Billie at the Savoy in January 1938. Metronome magazine claimed Ella won, but Downbeat said the opposite.
By March, she was singing for Artie Shaw, but had to deal with being the only black member of the band, entering kitchen doors and service elevators to the stage. This became too much for her, so she moved on.
“Strange Fruit” was so controversial, she had to go to a small label, Commodore, to record it. Her original performance of it in a club had the waiters silence the crowd while the house lights were darkened with a spotlight on her head. She disappeared directly afterwards.
Ma Rainey was the Mother of the Blues and was a tough bandleader in the 1920s whose life has been depicted in film.
One of David’s favorite bluesmen, Lightnin’ Hopkins. Known to work for cash in the recording studio, he could knock out an album in an afternoon, improvising and making a song up on the fly using bits from old songs. He made sides for different labels over the years, never worried about the rights to any of them.”Mojo Hand” and “Mr. Charlie” were ones he was known for, but his solo work was his best. Big Boy Henry told me once that he thought Hopkins was the best blues singer/ guitarist in the business. David had a videotape we’d watch of Hopkins hanging out at a ranch in Texas, talking and doing songs.
Only three photographs exist of the most famous Delta blues artist who had two recording sessions in hotel rooms in Texas in ’36 & ’37 producing 29 classic songs. “Love In Vain” and “Stop Breaking Down” were covered by the Stones and “Crossroads” by Cream. “Sweet Home Chicago”, “Red Hot”, and “Hellhound On My Trail” are among others that have been covered.
Keith Richards first met Mick Jagger carrying a copy of an album of Johnson’s singles and couldn’t believe there was only one person playing guitar on those songs. Story goes Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads of highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi to be able to play so well.
Sadly Johnson was murdered by a jealous bartender that slipped poison into his whiskey bottle.
Cotten (whose name was misspelled) played left handed in her Carolina Piedmont cotton picking way.
From New Orleans, Morton has the recognition of being the first arranger of jazz, proving that a music built on improvisation could still “retain it’s essential characteristics when notated” (Wiki). His recordings with the Red Hot Peppers sound as fresh as they did in the 1920s. He claimed to have invented jazz in 1902 and had his first composition, “Jelly Roll Blues” published in 1915. Pianist, band leader and composer, he exaggerated his worth to many and lost credibility in his later years, when his accomplishments spoke for themselves.
preparatory from photo
The Queen of the blues needs no introduction, but I favor her recordings with Louis Armstrong. (Alan B)
preparatory image
Mathis James Reed was described by critic Cub Koda as “perhaps the most popular influential bluesman of all” because of his easy going electric style. Many covered his songs including Elvis Presley, Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison’s band, Them. Born in Mississippi, he was trained on guitar and harmonica and played with Eddie Taylor for a spell before relocating to Chicago in 1943. Reed was drafted in the Navy and served in WW II. When discharged he returned to MS to be married, then took his wife to Gary Indiana to work in a meat packing plant. He relocated again to Chicago and tried to get a contract with Chess, but was turned down. He landed one with Vee Jay and with Eddie Taylor again, his hits started rolling. With wife Mary singing back-up, “You Don’t Have To Go”, “Bright Lights, Big City”, “Baby, What You Want Me To Do”, and “Big Boss Man” are among his biggest songs.
Reed’s rampant alcoholism became so bad Mary would have to remind him of his lyrics when performing. Misdiagnosed epilepsy set in during 1957. Vee Jay closed and he moved to ABC- Bluesway, but never had a hit. In 1968 he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival with other big names. Reed died in 1976 in CA, eight days before his 51st birthday. He’s been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and R&R Hall of Fame
Larger than life with a voice to match, Mable Louise Smith could belt out some jump blues. She recorded “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On” produced by Quincy Jones two years before Jerry Lee Lewis did his version. He was so influenced by her take that he upped his act to follow her lead to be more raunchy and raucous. Her 1956 hit “Candy” won a Hall of Fame Grammy in 1999, but it’s pretty tame compared to most of her output. Big Maybelle is seen performing “All Night Long/ Ain’t Mad At You” in the film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival: Jazz On A Summer’s Day . Her last hit single was a 1967 cover of ? And The Mysterians’ “96 Tears”.
Pink Anderson was born in Laurens, SC and lived and played in nearby Spartanburg, SC most of his life. Another Piedmont style artist, his late 1920s and ’30s recordings were few until the mid 1950s when in bad health, attention was brought to him and he recorded one album in the early ’60s and appeared in a documentary film.
Valerie Wellington started in the 1980s as an opera singer and played Ma Rainey in a stage production while in her 20s. She caught the blues bug and went on to use her bellowing voice in blues standards for Alligator records.
Frankie Lee Sims was a cousin of Lightning Hopkins who released nine singles and worked as a guitarist for T-Bone Walker and King Curtis among others.
Alberta Hunter had been working as a nurse for 20 years before John Hammond got her back in the studio after a few engagements she did in NYC. “Amtrak Blues” was her comeback album in 1980.
Melvin “Lil’ Son” Jackson was a contemporary of Lightning Hopkins who was a mechanic before pursuing his music career. His “Freedom Train Blues” was a national hit along with “Rock Me Baby”. After injuring his arm he went back to his first profession.
Wallace wrote over 40 songs with her brothers to record for Okeh records early on with big names of the day backing her including Louis Armstrong. She resumed her career in the 1960s and was awarded a Grammy in 1982.
Richard Trice was a Piedmont blues singer/ guitarist who never left his native central NC. He and Brother Willie befriended Blind Boy Fuller who helped them get into recording, backing him and doing their own songs backing each other.
As Rich Trice, he recorded “Come On Baby” and “Trembling Bed Spring Blues”. As Little Boy Fuller he recorded a number of songs for Savoy, but only “Shake Your Stuff” and “Lazy Bug Blues” were released. He later gave up the blues to join a gospel group.
These brothers played with Blind Boy Fuller. “Willie” is the correct spelling. Both played in the Piedmont Blues style.
Fuller was from Wadesboro, NC and played around Chapel Hill and Durham. He was the most popular Piedmont blues artist of the day. On a later album of sides he listed Pink Anderson as someone he’d played with along with Floyd Council. Sid Barrett had that album and picked the first names of those two bluesmen for his band’s name.
Broonzy was born in 1903 in either Mississippi or Arkansas as one of 17 children from the same parents. The year has been disputed. At 10, he made a fiddle he could play with his uncle doing spirituals at gatherings. His army recruitment has also been scrutinized, but we know he relocated to Chicago in 1920. After giving up the violin, he picked up guitar, learning from minstrel show performer Papa Charlie Jackon. He played in clubs into the 1930s, changing from country to blues and wrote his first instrumental, “Saturday Night Rub”.
When Robert Johnson died, his place in “From Spirituals To Swing” show at Carnegie Hall in 1938 was filled by Broonzy. (For Johnson’s part a victrola was put on stage and the records “Preachin’ Blues” and “Walkin’ Blues”were played to the audience)
Recordings followed on Paramount and Bluebird. By 1940 a song was recorded by Charlie Segar that when Broonzy recorded his version in 1941, it became the standard arrangement. “Key To The Highway” was a hit and was later covered many times. Broonzy became part of the Folk scene that traveled to Europe in the 1950s and eventually went worldwide. He was a huge influence to the later skiffle movement musicians in Britain including John Lennon. Back home after an outdoor gig with Pete Seeger that was broadcast, he became a teacher at the Old Town School of Folk Music in 1956. He died in 1958 from throat cancer.
Most know Memphis Minnie’s song “When The Levee Breaks”, a true story her husband Kansas Joe McCoy and she recorded in 1929 about the great Mississippi flood of 1927. Minnie was a 12-string guitarist who recorded many sides on her own.
A cousin of John Lee Hooker, and protege of Robert Nighthawk, Jr., Earl was considered the “blues guitarist’s guitarist”, known for his slide work, sometimes on a double neck. His best known original instrumental is “Blue Guitar”. He played with many including Junior Wells on ” Messin’ With The Kid” and Muddy Waters on “You Need Love” and “You Shook Me” (first one used by Led Zeppelin for “Whole Lotta Love”, second covered by them and Jeff Beck) He took to the road with his Roadmasters band, sometimes without a booking, hoping to land a gig wherever he landed. B.B.King listed him as one his top 10 favorite guitarists.
Born in Grenada County, Mississippi in 1936, Samuel Gene Maghett relocated to Chicago in 1956 and was given his moniker by his friend and bass player. He recorded for Cobra records from 1957-’59 where bassist/songwriter and producer Willie Dixon moonlighted from Chess. Dixon praised him for his unique guitar style and high voice that was unmistakable. “All Your Love” and “Easy Baby” were his most known tunes. After spending six months in prison for desertion from the draft, his “Feeling Good (Gonna Boogie)” became a hit. He signed with Delmark records in 1967 and toured internationally with harpist Charlie Musselwhite. His big breakthrough was at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969, but he didn’t make it to the end of the year, dying from a heart attack in December.
From a musical family, Luther Tucker was a protege of, as he called him, “Mr. Robert Lockwood, Jr.” who taught him minor and diminished chords to play rhythm guitar behind him. Lockwood became his guardian while he was 16, so he could go on the road. He learned to read music and even played bass strings on a tuned down guitar before the Fender bass was invented. They backed Sonny Boy Williamson II, Little Walter, and did classic sides by Muddy Waters, Howling’ Wolf and others.Tucker moved to the west coast in the late ’60s to play with the James Cotton band. Then he did a residence in Austin, TX with John Lee Hooker’s band and started The Luther Tucker Band, singing and playing blues and soul. He moved to San Francisco and played clubs there through the ’70s. He only recorded two albums, one incomplete, before dying at 57. His body was shipped to Chicago and buried in an unmarked grave until a benefit concert was held for a headstone.
John Hurt, from Mississippi, made recordings in the late 1920s that never got the recognition they deserved until he was resurrected in the early 1960s with the folk movement. He recorded songs he’d done in the past and others in his home with great clarity that brought him new fame in his later years.
Both of these slide guitarists were known for their approach. Hudson Whittaker aka Tampa Red had a single string slide style. Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor played a cheap Japanese Tiesco del Ray guitar, wearing a metal slide on the fifth finger on his six fingered hand. (See comments for a picture of his left hand, both had six fingers)
While Red was more precise, Taylor was loud and crowd pleasing with his danceable band The Houserockers. He loved being around people as his nickname suggests.
Blind Lemon Jefferson (Lemon Henry Jefferson) was born blind in Loutchman, Texas in 1893 and became regarded as one of the most popular blues and gospel singers of the 1920s. He was called the Father of the Texas Blues. He had a unique style with a high voice that had younger blues artists refrain from copying because it was hard to imitate.
As a street musician, he played in East Texas towns on street corners til 4am. He met Leadbelly in the early 1910s in Dallas developing in the Deep Ellum section there. He then met T-Bone Walker in 1917 and taught him some basics on the guitar in exchange for services as a guide.He was taken to Chicago to enter the recording world in December 1925. His first sides were gospel, but his second session produced the hits, “Booster Blues” and “Dry Southern Blues”. Overall he recorded about 100 songs, mostly on Paramount, and most in poor quality. In 1926 he re-recorded those two songs with better equipment. When he moved to Okeh the next year and put out “Matchbook Blues” and “Black Snake Moan” on the flip side, it became a hit, but he had to return to Paramount under contract. Soon “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean” became a hit.
Jefferson’s death has different stories. One was a jealous lover poisoned his coffee, another said he had a heart attack while being attacked by a dog, still another had him killed and robbed of his royalty check by his guide at the train station in Chicago. Most likely he had a heart attack during a snow storm that left him disoriented in December 1929. His body was shipped back to Texas and put in an unmarked grave until 1967 when a historical marker was erected. Since 2007, the area has been renamed after him and has been kept tidy.
Gatemouth Brown played fiddle and a leather pick guarded Fender Esquire electric guitar with his long fingers. A bit of western swing thrown into his style. I saw him at JJ’s in Greenville in the early 1980s. My girlfriend presented him with a freshly picked bouquet of flowers. Brown proceeded to remove the rings from his hand before humbly accepting the gift. (Alan B)
The Singing Brakeman or Blue Yodeler, also known as The Father Of Country Music. David misspelled his last name, leaving out the “d” in Rodgers. A popular recording artist, he developed tuberculosis at the age of 27, but kept going until it got difficult to perform. Shows were cancelled and he had to sit and then lay down to record his last sides. He collapsed on a street and passed at the age of 35 in 1933.
Otis Rush played guitar left-handed, but strung his strings as a right handed player would and curled his little finger of his picking hand under the low E string that was at the bottom instead of the top. He got a certain sound that way, reminiscent of Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, called West Side Chicago Blues.
Born in Mississippi in 1934, he relocated to Chicago where his first big hits were on Cobra records, penned by Willie Dixon.
“I Can’t Quit You, Baby”(covered by Led Zeppelin) became his signature song in 1956. “All My Love” and “Double Trouble” followed. After Cobra closed in 1959, he tried other labels with sides here and there like Chess, Duke, and Vanguard.
In 1969 he released “Mourning In The Morning” on Cotillion with help from Mike Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites, using the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, AL doing a mixture of blues, rock, and soul.
In 1971 he recorded an album in San Francisco for Capitol, but it wasn’t released until he bought the masters and put it out on a small Japanese label in 1976. Bullfrog Records picked it up in the US and it’s considered one of his best: “Right Place, Wrong Time”. After a stint at Delmark in the ’70s, he retired for awhile.
His comeback in 1985 was a live album from the San Francisco Blues Festival, “Tops”. His first studio albums in 16 years, “Ain’t Enough Coming”, and “Any Place I’m Going” landed him a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues in 1999. He stopped recording except being included on a few tribute albums and a few festivals. He was honored at the 2016 Chicago Blues Festival, but he was too ill to perform.
One of the original Delta blues artists who taught a young Howlin’ Wolf some guitar chords.
David Larson 2000 Calendar & Bio Pics
In 1999, David was working pretty fulltime at the Habitat Re-Store, and a stack of bright white 1 ft. square chipboard panels came in. David started designing images on them with Sharpie marker, a concentric frame of his art deco style with an interesting natural figure in the middle. After I had seen several of them, I told him if he finished 12 of them, we would publish a calendar. Everybody was going nuts over Y2K, from millennial prophecy to worldwide mainframe crashes from two missing digits, and I thought we could make something of that. The result was a monochrome calendar that sold very poorly with two exceptions: to friends at Paper Plant events and to customers at Habitat, who received a very deep discount. (and David got all the money). Nevertheless, the calendar has become a wonderful way to save and send a nice sample of David’s work.
I remember this as a wonderful and well-attended event at our house on Person Street. Many Larson laughs heard at this event!
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My favorite feature of the project was the bio sketches that David did (or had already done) which we used to illustrate their noted birthdate in the calendar. David regularly did this kind of work, using a photo, and turned them into stickers which he shared with friends. A spread of calendar pics in followed by some of this work.
The final image is David Larson, born 12/3/55.
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Posada prep
Posada finalPortrait of Jose Guadalupe Posada, Mexican political illustrator who used lithography to produce his works. A favorite of David’s, using skulls and skeletons in his figures, he influenced his Day Of The Dead pieces. Transparency and detailed image for the 2000 calendar.
Born in 1852, Posada was able to set up his own lithography workshop and became a teacher of the craft in 1883 after his success from periodicals and newspapers publishing his works. A flood had him relocate to Mexico City in 1888 where he worked for La Patria Ilustrada, then joined a publishing firm where he created book covers, cartoons, and illustrations depicting various current events, using satire. From the beginning of the Mexican revolution in 1910 until his death in 1913, he worked tirelessly in the press honing his printmaking craft with features in the magazine El Jicote.
from David N
from Evan W
from Evan W
from Evan W
from Art D
from Mary R – Tolouse Lautrec
Sasser Street charcoal
from Alan Bowling, de facto executor of David’s art.
MUSA exhibit opens, taintradio features, Raleigh’s post-industrial art scene cooks
MUSA is a “post-industrial art exhibit” whose content will relate more or less directly to the venue: a dormant furniture factory across from Humble Pie in downtown Raleigh. An art show in this space really resonates for me, because I have such fond memories of the crucial employment and quirky stories that arose from my artist friends’ work there in the 1980s. The owners made annual trips to Asia for antiques and prints, but the majority of the stock was furniture that was “aged” – whipped with chains and other abuse, or modified otherwise – before wholesaling to Neiman Marcus. Bill and Otho were enlightened and tolerant employers to several good friends, and I’ve always appreciated it.
Now Otho is offering the space, which ceased business in 2002, to Carter Hubbard and Sarah Botwick, two art entrepreneurs who hope
I mentioned this show in July and bemoaned the Flash software used to present the website, which actually looks quite nice, but presents minor navigation issues and major Google search issues, because all of the info appears to be insulated from the web-crawlers. Now the site has a large amount of info and lots of artwork examples, most of which present some kind of connection to industrial themes. The work is also integrated into the factory space, including one series that explores the history of the paint in the room in which it is situated. The dying pastime of pigeon-keeping, the dying art of hat-making, Latino work portraits, and the use of trees all form a part of a broad set of responses to technological change and its implications for work.
Location: 320 South Harrington Street, Raleigh, NC
Web Address: www.musanc.com
Opening Reception: “First Friday”, October 2, 2009 6-9pm
Reg. Hours: Monday – Thursday, 11-5, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 1-7pm
“Invisible Sounds” – site-specific live music prior to the screening of “With These Hands” Q&A to follow, Oct. 10, 6pm
Exhibition Dates: October 2-18, 2009
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taintradio, poised to survive the “post music industry age,” sends word it will present another feature at Marsh Woodwinds. The internet radio venture has added several new shows to its weekly cycle, including Philadelphia-based Jeff Duperon’s Congo Square. Feature info below.
taintradio.org & Marsh Woodwinds presents guitarist/composer Eugene Chadbourne concert & live webcast on October 3rd.Avant-garde multi-instrumentalist and composer Eugene Chadbourne brings his unique anarchic blend of jazz, punk, country, improv and noise to Marsh Woodwinds, 707 N. Person Street in Raleigh, NC on Saturday, October 3rd at 8pm. The concert is a presentation of the taintradio/Marsh Woodwinds concert series, and will be broadcast live on the Web to listeners worldwide at www.taintradio.org. Tickets are $10 at the door, and free refreshments will be served.It’s been nearly 5 years since the Greensboro-based Chadbourne has performed in Raleigh, and we are delighted to add this date to his fall touring schedule, which includes Berlin, Vienna and Istanbul.Chadbourne has been a major presence in improv, punk and jazz circles for over 30 years, including work with John Zorn, Charlie Haden, The Violent Femmes, Billy Bragg, Tony Trischka, The Red Clay Ramblers, Marc Ribot, Jimmy Carl Black and many others. Relentlessly eclectic and experimental, Chadbourne writes and plays a wide range of music, from free jazz interpretations of classic honky-tonk country to transcriptions of Bach for banjo and his infamous invention, the electric rake. Chadbourne’s dozens of solo and collaborative albums add up to one of the most consistently challenging and rewarding bodies of work you’ll find in experimental music.This is a rare chance to hear this musical legend in an intimate venue on Saturday, October 3rd.************
SparkCon expanded and upgraded its arts event this year, taking over Fayetteville Street with 13 different “…sparks” at 24 venues, intensely focused on the 1st two blocks of Fayetteville. From Raleigh’s emerging status as the East Coast’s gaming industry hub to the latest creation from uliveandyouburn, this street festival helps to brand Raleigh as a city of designers and 21st century entrepreneurs.
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And as a final note, we head toward the “post newspaper industry age” in the company of Raleigh Public Record, whose detailed candidate profiles and “Sunshine” public record posts are demonstrating the validity and value of Charles Pardo’s vision of 21st century journalism.
My nature column at RPR will return as soon as some of my excess pies get cooked!
Bain Music and Media
The Bain Project has garnered its fair share of attention and brought together an amazing array of artistic and journalistic support. It also crossed and melded artistic media in an extraordinary fashion. The installation itself captured sights, sounds, smells and memories in a unique way, and a fitting emblem of this is the Bain Music Project cd, which will certainly stand the test of time as a valuable record of the Bain Project experience and a fascinating album of boundary-pushing music in its own right.
The cd offers short interview excerpts with a former Bain employee, mixed with cuts of local bands recording inside the Bain space. The remaining pieces constitute primary Bain Project work by Lee Moore, whose maternal condition precluded extensive on-site participation. Lee and her husband (and longtime musical partner) David Crawford put together some amazing sets of sounds as Le Machine, and also did me the great honor of building cut # 12 with an old water-based poem of mine. I recorded it with Jen Coon, and then Lee put it over ocean sounds and her newborn baby’s heartbeat! I could never have dreamed that a piece of my writing would have such a stunning setting. Thank you Lee.
I enjoy every track of the cd, especially Crowmeat Bob’s highly Bain-ful sounds and Xopher Thurston’s string interpretation of Dana Raymond’s pipe symphonies, but am totally un-equipped to remark on the local popular music. I just know my 20 year old daughter was thrilled to see me on the same album as the Rosebuds! I also know that the cd cover is masterful and fits so well with the project, thanks to Ladye Jane of New Raleigh fame. New Raleigh published the cd, and was a tremendous support to the Bain Project overall, including provision of the Bain website.
Starting from the website, let’s trace the main branchings of media and online response to the project.
NPR
May 09 “State of Things” interview with Dana Raymond, Marty Baird Sarah Powers and JenCoon
SpokenWord.org archived radio link
New Raleigh
Volunteer call hosted by New Raleigh
January 09 Missing Plaque Mystery
February 09 Music Fundraiser
March 09 David Millsaps essay
May 09 Ladye Jane’s Q & A
May 09 State of Things alert with links to Sarah and Dana
May 09 Toxic Lead Alert with Bain concerns
Independent Weekly
March 09 Music Fundraiser guide
April 09 Indie Blog article
May 09 Calendar listing
May 09 Site and project description by Hobert Thompson
May 09 Indie blog Q & A with organizer Daniel Kelly and others
NandO
May 09 Art to suit city’s fluid identity
NC Museum of Art
May 09 blog interview with Museum staffers Jen Coon & Stacey Kirby
NCSU
DESIGNlife news with listing of the numerous alumni involved
Bain credits
Blog Reactions
30 Threads feature
Raleighwood,NC John & Clydes visit with informative links
Queen of the Pavement – huge and lovely pics
Digital Photo Project with another, and one more – nice photos and text by Kevin Greene
almost two weeks – wonderful blend of Bain and life
a weed is just a flower out of place – just one nice photo but who can resists that title?
Bain poster critique – proof post-Boomers do not read 🙂 actually a nice post
not to mention
youtube Triangle Rock excerpt
353 Flickr results
Mike Legeros’ Firefighting blog listing
The following excerpt from an email sent out by SWCAC Chair Mary Bell Pate for the Caraleigh neighborhood.
The Bain Project, located in the SW CAC area, is all about the E. B. Bain Waterworks/Water Plant that once was the source of water for Raleigh and now is on the Historic Register. What was a beautiful Art Deco building had been ignored since it was “de-commissioned” as our water plant and now needs massive amounts of money for restoration. Empire Properties came to the rescue by buying the Bain and saving it from total destruction. Within the next few years a street will connect South Wilmington and South Saunders Streets (needed for years as an efficient cross-access between the two streets) and will go right by the Bain.
With lots of help from many people the Bain Project will become another outstanding asset for Raleigh and especially for our southwest part of Raleigh. Right now it needs your interest and participation in events designed to create awareness of this beautiful, old building opposite the Eliza Pool Park. From time to time I will be giving updates on Bain Project activities and encouraging your participation.
and last but not least
National Park Service Bain site page
Artists survey pre-installation site
If you’ve made it this far I’ll remind you that here at Raleigh Rambles ALL my work to document and preserve the Bain Project is organized and referenced on my Bain Page. The list above grew out of a reference post on the Bain Project website, which has obviously been a rock for me in this project. We can all thank Daniel Kelly for conceiving of and effecting this project, and I personally appreciated his encouragement as I participated in and documented the project.
Bain Project Performance
The Bain Project installation weekends are over, but the reverberations of this grand, all-enveloping art event will echo for a very long time. Not since David Ira Wood’s multimedia theatre event “X” (in Thompson Theatre in 1970 when “multimedia” had just been coined) has Raleigh been blessed with such a massive infusion of cool. And to think – Bread & Puppet comes next weekend!! Raleigh, Raleigh.
I’m still reeling from the sights, sounds and interactions of Bain. Huge crowds included many like me who visited several times. You couldn’t possibly see everything in one pass, and I kept running into wonderful reunions as well as Bain participants, who were amazingly present and available throughout the building. One thing I didn’t catch til near the end were the sound performances in the main hall of tanks. Below are links to two 30 second clips of the performance.
The Call for Performance
Shrieking Pipes Video
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Banging Pipes Video
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Though one of the best parts of the Bain installation was the seamless and credit-less array of work, Dana Raymond should be credited with leadership in the sound project above. I will be posting more special features of the Bain Project as I gather my thoughts for a central review. Stay tuned for Marty’s yellow room, four-day views of the ball floor and the watershed map, Tim’s magic lab, my urban explorer interview about Bain, and much more! It will all be referenced on my Bain Page.
raleighrambles.com
portrait by Guillermo Velasco
Raleigh Rambles 