Baybeh, i got thuh blues....

[AndyC]

Figured I'd resurrect this thread, having recently found a really cool album by a Canadian blues band, McKenna Mendelson Mainline. It's their debut album from 1969, "Stink."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8vGR167-64&feature=youtube_gdata

I took a bit of an interest in MMM a couple of years ago, when I met the Mendelson part of the band. Joe Mendelson (who flipped his first and last names around years ago), doesn't live too far from here. He was part of the Toronto art scene for quite a while (about 20 years ago, he got some press for a portrait of prime minister Brian Mulroney as an ass with half-glasses), but inherited some money a few years back and purchased a cabin back in the woods. The property has hand-painted KEEP OUT signs and everything. I got to interview him in his home once. Hospitable guy, although very opinionated and quirky as hell. I liked him immediately.

Besides vocals and playing multiple instruments, Joe composed most of the music. As I write this, I'm listening to a catchy little tune called "Don't Give Me No Goose for Christmas, Grandma."

Amazon carries Stink and a couple of other albums, although I didn't go looking for it there. I was fortunate enough to run across a second-hand CD in a store. The band broke up fairly soon after their initial success, so they didn't release very many recordings.

MMM's Wikipedia page is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKenna_Mendelson_Mainline

[Trevor]

I'm not sleeping well at the moment and I may be a bit punchy from the lack of sleep but this post really made me laugh.  No disrespect intended but just the idea that someone would release an album called Stink made me LOL.

Figured I'd resurrect this thread, having recently found a really cool album by a Canadian blues band, McKenna Mendelson Mainline. It's their debut album from 1969, "Stink."

Seeing as how I was almost three then, I may have had a hand in that. 

Amazon carries Stink and a couple of other albums, although I didn't go looking for it there.

I'm glad: I got all the stink you need right here. 

[Newt]

Joe Mendelson (who flipped his first and last names around years ago).

Mendelson Joe!  That name brings back such memories.  Some of our friends were huge fans - we all ended up meeting him.

[AndyC]

Joe Mendelson (who flipped his first and last names around years ago).

Mendelson Joe!  That name brings back such memories.  Some of our friends were huge fans - we all ended up meeting him.

Were they fans of his painting, his music or his politics?

He was one of the first people I interviewed for the paper here, maybe four years ago. As soon as I found out he was living in the area I said "I've got to meet this guy." Best part of working for a small newspaper is you get to meet the most colourful, eccentric people. For a self-described misanthrope, he was much nicer and more polite than I'd expected. Mind you, I mainly knew of him from his rants on CityTV in the early 90s. Spent a couple of hours drinking tea and talking about what he was working on at the time, some of his background, and going off on lots of tangents about things like Catholic priests, how psychopaths are running the world and the nature of hypocrisy in general. Probably the second most interesting interview I did in the two years I worked there, and the only time I ever needed a tape recorder.

[Newt]

Joe Mendelson (who flipped his first and last names around years ago).

Mendelson Joe!  That name brings back such memories.  Some of our friends were huge fans - we all ended up meeting him.

Were they fans of his painting, his music or his politics?

He was one of the first people I interviewed for the paper here, maybe four years ago. As soon as I found out he was living in the area I said "I've got to meet this guy." Best part of working for a small newspaper is you get to meet the most colourful, eccentric people. For a self-described misanthrope, he was much nicer and more polite than I'd expected. Mind you, I mainly knew of him from his rants on CityTV in the early 90s. Spent a couple of hours drinking tea and talking about what he was working on at the time, some of his background, and going off on lots of tangents about things like Catholic priests, how psychopaths are running the world and the nature of hypocrisy in general. Probably the second most interesting interview I did in the two years I worked there, and the only time I ever needed a tape recorder.

Music, to start with.  This was way back, late 70's - early 80's?

Your interview experience sounds very, very cool. 

[Flick James]

Oh boy, here we go. I'm sure I'll p**s a few people off here. With rare exceptions, I don't like blues artists that aren't black. Jazz and rock and roll have both been admirably adapted by white artists, but IMHO blues is best left to those that invented it. Sorry if it offends, but white boy blues grates on my nerves. Stevie Ray Vaughn is alright, but I'll take the likes of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Albert Collins, and John Lee Hooker any day of the week. I can't tell you anything specific about why this is. I imagine part of it is that I used to work at a Guitar Center and just had enough of middle-aged suburban white men coming in after work and wanking on blues riffs and licks for hours at high volume. I'd rather get a root canal.

Signed,
White guy who prefers black blues.

[Rev. Powell]

Oh boy, here we go. I'm sure I'll p**s a few people off here. With rare exceptions, I don't like blues artists that aren't black. Jazz and rock and roll have both been admirably adapted by white artists, but IMHO blues is best left to those that invented it. Sorry if it offends, but white boy blues grates on my nerves. Stevie Ray Vaughn is alright, but I'll take the likes of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Albert Collins, and John Lee Hooker any day of the week. I can't tell you anything specific about why this is. I imagine part of it is that I used to work at a Guitar Center and just had enough of middle-aged suburban white men coming in after work and wanking on blues riffs and licks for hours at high volume. I'd rather get a root canal.

Signed,
White guy who prefers black blues.

In generl, I agree, but Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin both come to mind as white musicians who could sing/play the blues.  In a more traditional blues vein, Charlie Musselwhite ain't bad.  I like Mike Bloomfield too---he doesn't ever really try to sound "black."