#james cotton

[musickickztoo]

James Cotton *July 1, 1935

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Los Lobos - “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy”

Often thought of as the quintessential Mexican-American band - which on one level they are - Los Lobos are also very much a blues band. And one so highly regarded, the group gets its own 45-rpm single on the forthcoming Antone’s 50th Allstars - 50 Years of the Blues.

Sharing company with, among others, Albert Collins, Gary Clark Jr., Otis Rush, Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall II, Ruthie Foster, Pinetop Perkins and James Cotton, Los Lobos present themselves as authentic as any blues act on the Willie Dixon-penned stomper.

With Cesar Rosas wailing at the mic and Steve Berlin blowing sax like natch’al born Chicagoans, the band from East L.A. are temporary South Siders on this studio version of a song that all-too rarely makes it to the stage.

And when Rosas and David Hidalgo get their respective six strings in a tangle, Los Lobos’ seemingly unlikely inclusion - on a seven-inch standalone no less - on a various-artists boxset devoted to the blues suddenly makes perfect sense.

Antone’s 50th Allstars - 50 Years of the Blues is due Aug. 22.

Grade card: Los Lobos - “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy” - A

6/25/25

[thecrossroads]

Muddy Waters and James Cotton (1963)

[rah909]

[bestfrozentreats2]

Bonnie MacLean

"One of the GREAT Artists of the Psychedelic sixties left this worldly plane with the passing of Bonnie MacLean on February the 4th, 2020 in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

During the early days of the Fillmore, Bonnie was the most "present" member of the staff. She collected tickets, passed out handbills, blew up balloons and counted money for Fillmore productions. Impressed with her lettering skill on the upcoming attractions chalkboards, Bill Graham (who she later married 1967-1975), surprised her with an easel and art supplies for Christmas, 1967, and her poster artist career was launched. Untrained in graphic arts, her early style evolved into ornate, Medieval-Gothic designs. Faces in her posters wore trance-like stares, steady and serene, and evoke the detached spirituality of the sixties.

Bonnie continued creating artwork to the end.... She will certainly be remembered as one of the True Pioneers of our Psychedelic Poster past."

--Rusty Goldman

[jazzandothersounds-blog]

James Cotton & Jimmy Rogers.

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork, late 1966.

“[On] April, 3, 1966, [Peter] Tork opened for blues legend Muddy Waters at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. [...] [Tork] remembers the 1966 nightclub show well. ‘I learned a valuable lesson there,’ he said in an interview from his home in Connecticut. ‘Folks came to hear Muddy Waters sing the blues. The opening act should play the blues.’ Tork, 64, said he played pop music until the last song, when he played a blues number. Afterward, Waters’ famous harmonica player, James Cotton, came up to him and said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me you did the blues? I would have come up and played the harp with you!’ Tork realized he missed the opportunity of a lifetime to play with Cotton, as well as to give the audience members what they came for.” - Toledo Blade, July 2008

“In a casual conversation with Monkee Peter Tork recently, I discovered that not only did he perform at Hollywood’s Troubadour, but I was actually at his opening there, April 3, 1966. Unfortunately, while Pete was making his début, I was backstage interviewing Muddy Waters, who was headlining! However, I did find the review of the show in the April 4 ‘Daily Variety,’ which described Peter as ‘a youthful folkster with a rock look.’ (Little did they know!) Though the overall program including Peter’s spot, was called excellent, he himself was declared ‘less successful and apparently new. He’s uneven, shows vocal insecurities in ballads, but hits a nice stride in what he calls a terror song, “Broken In The Dust Again,” and in a social message, “I Truly Understand.”’” - Tracy Thomas, NME, March 18, 1967

[musicboys]

James Cotton, 1965.