Anyone heard much about a 3rd picture of RJ - supposedly holding a picture, alongside Johnny Shines (and possibly a woman too ?). Supposedly, someone will be releasing this photo next year ?
It might be mistaken for a supposed photo of RJ with his cousin or brother-in-law (or whatever)
Pete Guralnick, in Searching For Robert Johnson, describes a photograph that Mack McCormack showed him of Johnson standing with his nephew, who is in a sailor's uniform. He describes the photo extensively - two paragraphs of text - but there's no mention of either of the two holding a picture. So is there a fourth photo of Johnson?
The 3rd photo (or 4th, quite right about the McCormick photo, dj, I recall that as well) supposedly has someone reported to be Johnson holding a guitar, alongside another man who is supposedly Johnny Shines. From what I hear anyways. All unsubstantiated.
Something is niggling away in the back of my brain concerning Shines having been shown a photo which purportedly depicted he and RJ together but JS was non-commital. I think Shines died in 1992 so this would have been long before then. I suspect I'm one of the few who have absolutely no interest in the RJ "is it, isn't it" photo sagas so instantly expunged from memory.
So this implies that there's a picture of Johnny Shines from the 1930s? I didn't know that one existed. That's something I'd like to see!
Assuming that what I've reported is correct, yes. But as implied I might be way off base with this, it could be totally different artist! Where does the Vanity Fair information emanate from? Who is the "somebody" writing the feature? I can't see VF (published since late 1800s) blithely printing a RJ photo without first having provenance verified and the subjects in same "authenticated" by somebody reputable. What the hell do I care anyway. This is the last from me on this, I promise.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2007, 10:21:03 AM by Bunker Hill »
Dick Waterman mentioned the VF article and being interviewed for it, did not name the writer, and was shown the photo. The provenance was not discussed. He didn't commit to it being RJ, though did say, despite being very cynical about such things, that it could be him, but he was unsure about Johnny Shines. This was on the prewarblues list (someone forwarded the message from Waterman). He speculated that the article might come out next spring but didn't really know.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2007, 12:36:20 PM by andrew »
Whatever happened to the Nick Tosches article and the much touted never before seen Robert Johnson photo? Some comment was made that Vanity Fair was publishing it this summer '08, but a search of the VF website turns up no reference.