The Three B's

#263-For Archive: www.oaklanddupree@substack.com

Nope! Not Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach, but the Three B’s of Blues, Bloomfield, Butterfield, and Bishop …guitarist Michael Bloomfield, harmonica playing singer Paul Butterfield, and guitarist singer Elvin Bishop. That trio formed the core of the fabulous Paul Butterfield Blues Band who came out of Chicago in 1965 to bring tough Chicago Blues music to the masses of mostly white youth like yours truly. I had already seen Muddy Waters Blues Band , in October 1966 at Fillmore Auditorium and it was a life changing moment for this writer. I was primed and ready for Butterfield and wore out their records. The three B’s had been schooled by the Blues masters: Muddy Waters, Otis Spann , Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells, Little Smokey Smothers, Big Joe Williams, Elmore James, James Cotton, and so many more… playing Chicago Blues in the South Side of Chicago, music that mostly came up from rural Mississippi and got electrified and toughened up in the Northern urban setting on Lake Michigan. The three B’s and pals Charlie Musselwhite and Nick Gravenites studied that musical idiom with unbridled passion as teens and young men in their twenties, unafraid of going into African American saloons and nightclubs to glean all the musical knowledge available… A couple weeks ago I was listening to a 1981 Dan McCloskey interview with Mike Bloomfield, recorded just two days before he died of a heroin overdose and Mike expounded on musical matters in a lucid, intelligent and articulate manner. Radio blues guy Tom Mazzolini mentioned a biography on Bloomfield : Guitar King; Michael Bloomfield’s Life In The Blues (2019) by David Dann. I got that 600 some page book from the library and dove in . I’m 550 pages into it now , and that’s where I’ve been the past two weeks, readers. Blues harp man Mark Hummel, a champion of Blues music, said he didn’t want it to end and I know exactly what Mark meant. This book, filled with technical musical terms about keys, octaves, chord progressions, turnarounds, guitars and amplifiers etc. also tells Mike Bloomfield’s life story in vivid well researched detail. a fascinating read for me, as I consider Bloomfield a guitar genius and expert musicologist who died much too early. I’ve got a lot of company with that opinion. Michael was a tortured soul, who like the fictional Hamlet, just wanted to sleep. His brilliant mind was so active, he battled insomnia all his life and sought relief from weed and smack. I never really conversed with Mike, as young me was in complete awe of his greatness as a guitarist and too shy to approach him. Mike was a gregarious, friendly cat who engaged in conversation with all who spoke to him. Mike considered himself an artist and loathed the music business and all its star-making hype and product selling machinations. Once when my partner Herbie Herbert was manning my phone, Bloomfield called to hype a musician to play in Berkeley’s Provo Park ,which I was booking at the time. It might have been the late guitarist Frank Biner., a real good guy who died from a sudden heart attack

Author Dann is so accurate in detail, except for referring to “Winterland Ballroom” a misnomer perpetrated by an English band who recorded there. Dann also constantly called it “the Winterland” another foreign phrase to San Franciscans . Winterland , at Post and Steiner in San Francisco, was an ancient arena , used in the thirties and forties for ice hockey and boxing , and was razed in 1985. It was always known to us as Winterland Arena or just plain “ Winterland ”. Promoter Bill Graham made it the site of hundreds of fabulous musical productions and I spent many, many blissful nights in that venue. I can still see the neon Belfast sparkling water clock high up on the wall, though audiences in Winterland were often too stoned to care about such a concept as time…Mike Bloomfield played countless times in the arena with various musical aggregations, Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag, and Mike Bloomfield and Friends and more, jamming there often. though he was most comfortable hanging in his Mill Valley house reading , watching TV ,and listening to records. He was in financial debt to Albert Grossman ,his manager and was constantly being called upon by Grossman to fly places to gig or produce recording sessions, such as his brilliant work producing Blues harp man James Cotton’s records , Janis Joplin’s solo LP ,and film soundtracks ( The Trip, Steelyard Blues, Medium Cool). The IRS was also a hellhound on his trail. Bloomfield was a master of most guitar styles, besides blues. He first achieved notoriety playing with Bob Dylan on Highway 61 Revisited, and the hit single Like A Rolling Stone and gigging live with Dylan at his electric set at Newport Folk Festival which turned the folkie world upside down. He helped boost the Butterfield band to fame, then quit and formed The Electric Flag ,an American Music Band with a horn section and several heroin habits. They debuted to acclaim at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and were promptly upstaged by Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Ravi Shankar. Mike sat in rapt attention to absorb the Indian Raga master on his sitar accompanied by tabla.

As a blues singer/harp player ( Oakland Dupree) I have been influenced and inspired by the Three B’s of Blues over my life. I have performed the Electric Flag arrangement of Wine, Wine, Wine, countless times over the last fifty years most recently with Johnny Stallion’s Wasted Rangers, I have mimicked Paul Butterfield’s interpretation of the classics Drifting Blues ( Oakland’s late Charles Brown) and Walking Blues( Son House) and sung Elvin Bishop’s Stealin’ Watermelons with my 70’s bar band The Howlin Wolves… The book Guitar King took me back to relive those times of the 60’s and seventies and all the illustrious folks and true legends I’ve met , worked with, and conversed with, either briefly or at length over multiple times…being as this blog is the Life And Times of OD, I will do a rundown : I worked for promoters Bill Graham, Freddie Herrera and Blues harpist extraordinaire Charlie Musselwhite as his driver /merch guy. As a 20 year old band manager (Frumious Bandersnatch) I was counseled by Jazz and Pop critic Ralph J. Gleason and Quicksilver Messenger Service manager Ron Polte who was a tough Chicago guy and good pals with Mike Bloomfields and Nick “The Greek: Gravenites. Mentioned also in the book were the following people I had interactions with to enrich my life: Sam “ Lightning ”Hopkins the marvelous Texas Bluesman, Terry Haggerty, Sons of Champlin guitarist and cannabis and wild mushroom expert, excellent photographer Jim Marshall who I last ran into on my job at Greenblatt’s Hollywood where Jim purchased our last bottle of Bush Pilot whiskey, Paul Butterfield, who would come and hang at the bar I was tending at The Stone SF, accompanied by bassist Bobby Vega, Elvin Bishop who I’ve seen dozens of times over the years, most recently at Rancho Nicasio where he lives nearby growing veggies and composing guitar blues and stuff, producer David Rubinson, actor Michael J. Pollard, Steve Miller, Carlos Santana, his bass player David Brown, Albert King , B.B. King , Freddie King ( as Bill Graham’s gofer I bought a pint of Cutty Sark Scotch, which Freddie quaffed before hitting the stage , he died at 44). Maria Muldaur, Harvey Mandel, , Sam Andrew ( Janis Joplin guitarist), Howard Wales, Jerry Garcia, Baron Leo De Gar Kulka the recording engineer at Coast Recorders, Luther Tucker a great Chicago blues guitarist with James Cotton who died far too young, Taj Mahal ,a great gregarious fellow and excellent Bluesman. I acted in a play with his brother Winston Williams , an Oaktown teacher. When I told Winston I loved Taj, he said “ I knew you would” Snooky Flowers , a baritone sax man with Janis and sometimes photographer who took a Polaroid of James Brown and myself while James was autographing my Live at the Apollo LP jacket…coincidentally rocker Greg Kihn ,who passed yesterday, also had Mr. Brown autograph the same record album cover…So, all those people were mentioned in Dann’s biography of Mike Bloomfield Guitar King and I realized in reading the bio how blessed and enriched my life has been by crossing paths with all those fab personalities. Wonderful book!

Short Stuff: “ Bipping ” is new term for me, it’s taking pieces of hard porcelain to break car windows for theft, an epidemic for years in San Francisco. The cops don’t even show up , but tell tourists to come to the station and fill out a report. Now SFPD has drones to monitor the bipping and hopefully make busts… Guv Newsom of California wants “results” , a trite overused term in playwriting and screenwriting usually uttered by a crime boss or top cop when demanding action from underlings… Newsom is referring to homelessness and rousting the street people and passing retail theft laws… with 24 Billion (with a B!) spent on homelessness you’d think housing would have been constructed ,social services in place, and food served for ALL unhoused in this state, but the perplexing problem persists.. Methinks homelessness and those who deal with it are an industry that swallows vast sums and has produced little “results”…Speaking of politics, I like Minnesota Guv Walz very much, good choice! He had a drunk driving many years ago and owned up to it, quit his coaching gig and volunteered to resign from teaching. He also then quit drinking. Later his handlers put a spin on the bust about hearing problems, typical obfuscating political bullshit, that Trumpers will mine, no doubt…Frankly, of the four running for Prez/VP Walz is the only one I admire… Harris’ brother in law ,Tony West, is the top attorney for Uber ,which tells me all I need to know. West seems cut from the same bolt of cloth as the corrupt Eric Holder, another uber shyster. I will vote for Kamala, but I never bought her. She is a very far cry from Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama, in my book , but if she defeats Trump and retires his ass and silences Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan, that’s good enough…SMART is light rail ( Sonoma Marin rapid transit) that I never rode on till last week. It’s free for Seniors now, no tickets, no bullshit , you just board and ride. I rode up to Petaluma and back from San Rafael for lunch with pals Sam the bartender, Tom the former jet pilot and Paul the head honcho of Marin Joe’s, my fave restaurant. We went to a place called Wild Goat Bistro and it was humming on a Wednesday lunch, in fact so was Petaluma for that matter, a rarity these Post Pandemic days. The food at Wild Goat was excellent as was the service. Paul, a well practiced raconteur regaled us with tales of his youth, cars, and the restaurant biz. We laughed and laughed. It was a wonderful outing enjoyed by all attending. As for the ride, it was like riding virgin BART. The seats and upholstery clean , air conditioned cars and views of marshland , pastures and grazing land unseen from Highway 101 . Visually pleasing Sonoma and Marin back country views. SMART runs from Larkspur Landing up to Sonoma County Airport with more stops planned. For us codgers, the price is right !

Augustus Vidiocy: Easy Rider (1969) Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda on choppers from LA to NOLA for Mardi Gras after scoring cash on a cocaine deal with all the delights and horrors of 1968 America along the way. Hopper directed this landmark film. Saw it first run at the Lark Theater on Larkin in SF , now a Korean church. Twenty five years ago discussed the picture with Peter Fonda when he came into Greenblatt’s. Peter said when he delivered the line “…dig …they’re gonna make it…” he knew it was bullshit. The late Fonda ,after chatting with us bought a six pack of Guinness Stout and left the store…Five Easy Pieces (1970) Bob Rafelson directing Jack Nicholson, who won acclaim for his role in Easy Rider, in a moody piece about a pianist who is a restless, irritable, and discontent horndog. Sally Struthers plays a bimbo that wildly screws Jack’s character. Got to know Sally, a very nice person, and Rafelson a little bit while in Hollywood ,working for Greenblatt’s…Ironweed (1987) Fast forward 17 years here’s Jack Nicholson with Meryl Streep in a tour de force performance for both actors playing haunted down and outers in 1938 Albany New York. the story comes from Pulitzer ( PULL-it sir ! ) winning novelist William Kennedy who used Albany as his palette. It’s an outstanding film, directed by the late Hector Babenco with nice support from Tom Waits Fred Gwynne and Nathan Lane. It’s a powerful yet gloomy depiction of alcoholism and hopelessness laced with a little humor… Torn Curtain( 1966) Alfred Hitchcock’s cold war suspense film starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews with nice Euro photography . What more could you ask for ?…The Long Game(2023) Cheech Marin and Dennis Quaid and a talented cast of young actors in the true tale of high school golf played by Chicanos on the Texas Mexico border in the 1950’s. The picture tries hard to uplift , detailing the racist obstacles the kids faced. I liked it!…Out Of The Fog (1941) Entertaining Film Noir with John Garfield as an unlikeable crook and Ida Lupino the good gal drawn to his big shot persona. Directed by Anatole Litvak and adapted from a stage play by Robert Rossen, Thomas Mitchell and John Qualen ,two outstanding character actors, steal this lightweight picture BTW Lupino went on to become a pioneering female director and producer…The Train Robbers (1973) A John Wayne Western , that he mailed in . A subdued Ann-Margret is eye candy… ho hum…The Housemaid (1960) This is a highly esteemed film buff’s movie from Korea that is actually quite insane. The Housemaid is a film making exercise that has achieved vaunted cult status. A happily married music teacher with two kids and one on the way , begins giving gov’t sponsored music classes at a factory and several women swoon and are utterly infatuated by the guy , in fact one commits suicide over the unrequited love…But Wait ! it gets darker and stranger ! another women comes to his house to be a live-in maid and shortly murder and mayhem follow ,as the housemaid turns out to be a she-devil who uses the chump teacher as a sex slave, then out of the blue, the film maker gives it a comic twist ending. It’s as bizarre a motion picture as you could imagine. Certainly not for everyone…Dinner At Eight ( 1933) A classic stage play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber comes to the screen with two Barrymores , John and Lionel, blustery Wallace Beery, sexy Jean Harlow and comic master Marie Dressler in a depression era wit fest. Such a rich treat to enjoy . Saw the play performed by ACT once starring Jean Stapleton (dingbat Edith on All In The Family) and the play was so superbly written it couldn’t be fucked up….Streamers : 1968 -A documentary series from CNN/MAX that details all the negative aspects , socially and politically from that turbulent year. Vietnam War footage galore, the fall from grace of LBJ and rise of Nixon and Humphrey …Mayor Dailey and his Chicago PD Gestapo spilling gallons of blood into the streets as the Democrats convened… hardly any recognition of the music and Peace movement other than the strife and violence involved with protesting . all the assassinations detailed. Even Reagan rears his ugly head as California Governor, trying to move up the Republican ladder , but it was Tricky Dick’s time. Glad I didn’t own a TV in ‘68. Too busy making love not war. Watching this Doc series is like witnessing the proverbial trainwreck… 3 Body Problem ( Netflix 2024) Are you ready for Chinese Sci -Fi? This series by Benioff and Weiss the guys that excelled with Game of Thrones, along with Alexander Woo, bring a wild and wacky concept by creator Liu Cixin to the TV screen. It’s so far out and complex I had to go to Wikipedia to figure the plot . Good production values and they even added Sam Tarly from GOT(John Bradley) playing a wiseacre Limey, and Jonathan Pryce as well. It holds one’s interest I’ll say, even if you can’t understand it without Wiki reference.

Songs of the Day:

Another Country + Easy Rider- The Electric Flag :An American Music Band

Work Song : Cannonball Adderly

I’ve Got A Mind To Give Up Living- Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Sunshine Special -Elvin Bishop

I Don’t Love You Anymore- Jimmy Norman

Mellow Down Easy -Little Walter

Got My Mojo Working-Muddy Waters

The Creeper- James Cotton

(all on You Tube)