collapse

* Member Info

 
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
Bluegrass sounds better than it is. Old-time is better than it sounds - Frank Basile, on how to distinguish Oldtime music from Bluegrass

Author Topic: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas  (Read 24547 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline wreid75

  • Member
  • Posts: 250
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #90 on: April 24, 2014, 05:15:37 AM »
Fkeller, that is taking the bull by the horns and working to make something happen.  Us fence sitters should applaud  you.  Have you narrowed your focus about what you want to talk about or are you going to let Mack determine and manage the meeting?

Offline jpeters609

  • Member
  • Posts: 263
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #91 on: April 24, 2014, 07:18:49 AM »
I'm also curious how the Houston saxophone player Don Wilkerson could have been found and interviewed despite his death on 18 July 1986. Maybe there were two artists from the same town playing the same instrument during the same period, but that's rather improbable I guess.

I believe that the musician mentioned in the article is John D. "Don" Wilkerson, a singer-alto saxophonist from Houston (and not the Houston tenor sax player named Don Wilkerson who recorded for Blue Note).
Jeff

Offline Fkeller

  • Member
  • Posts: 51
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #92 on: April 24, 2014, 07:28:08 AM »
Wreid75--First off I assume we'll just be getting to know one another.   I haven't spoken with him directly yet but my wife spent 90 mins on the phone with him last night.  We've got a few things in common :).  We'll swap some stories and break the ice.  My particular interest seems to mesh with what little I've read about him:  the songster area, the pre-war, fuzzily-edged kind of stuff represented by Ragtime Henry Thomas, Papa Charlie Jackson and others.  I hope to be able to get to the point where I can volunteer to help with his work but one step at a time.  I'm up in Minnesota so that's a challenge but I don't have a day job and I can travel.  We'll see where it goes and I'll keep you posted.  I know I will learn something and that's the most I can hope for today.  But I don't know if I'll get any sleep in the next few days LOL

PS--he assigned me a little reading:  his liner notes on Ragtime Henry Thomas which can be found in online pdf format here http://ourblues.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/liner-notes-mccormick-cleaned-up-by-eb.pdf
« Last Edit: April 24, 2014, 07:29:31 AM by Fkeller »

Offline jphauser

  • Member
  • Posts: 157
  • Howdy!
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #93 on: April 25, 2014, 05:04:49 PM »
We'll see where it goes and I'll keep you posted.  I know I will learn something and that's the most I can hope for today.  But I don't know if I'll get any sleep in the next few days LOL


Hi FKeller,
At the risk of looking foolish, I'd like to make a suggestion.   

If you hit it off with Mack, you might try to get Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen involved.  He's a guitar player himself and is the man behind Seattle's EMP Museum which started out as a music museum and is still largely devoted to music.  And a blues fan too-- he was one of the producers of the PBS Martin Scorsese The Blues film series.   https://www.pbs.org/theblues/aboutfilms/producerallen.html

He does a lot of philanthropic projects and the money needed to catalog and preserve McCormick's archive would amount to a tiny drop in the bucket.

Jim H





Offline Fkeller

  • Member
  • Posts: 51
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #94 on: April 25, 2014, 05:28:06 PM »
That's a great idea!  Maybe somewhere down the road it'll come in handy.  I'll remember your idea. 

I will say I'm entirely and solely focused on having fun and learning something from him.  I hope we hit it off but I respect the work he's done and I respect the notion that he feels he's been burned more than once. I'm going in gently, I'm going in with the idea that maybe I've met a kindred spirit, and we'll see where it goes--if anywhere--from there.  I have no preconceived notion that I'll wind up being his archive help:  none at all.  If it develops, ok.  If not, I'm cool. 

Offline jphauser

  • Member
  • Posts: 157
  • Howdy!
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #95 on: April 25, 2014, 07:21:27 PM »
  If it develops, ok.  If not, I'm cool.

However it turns out, you're gonna have one heckuva story to tell.

Offline Suzy T

  • Member
  • Posts: 162
  • Howdy!
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #96 on: April 26, 2014, 06:53:18 AM »
I don't think it's funding that's in the way of preserving Mack's collection.  It's Mack himself.  Major major good juju to Fkeller for his humanitarian mission!!  I'm hoping he'll keep a journal and let us know about his adventures at some point.

Offline finn

  • Member
  • Posts: 23
  • Howdy!
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #97 on: April 26, 2014, 08:08:22 AM »
I was talking to Greil Marcus last week about the article and he said "check this out".  He brought up a photo on his phone. It's a picture of Geeshie Wiley leaning against a car,  wearing high heeled white shoes, she's dressed to the nines. I was blown away. He said they didn't use it in the article because they couldn't absolutely verify the photo.  "But it's her" he said.  It was like first seeing the newly discovered photo of Robert Johnson way back when, that "holy shit!"  feeling....

Offline poymando

  • Member
  • Posts: 73
  • Howdy!
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #98 on: April 26, 2014, 11:09:02 AM »
I was talking to Greil Marcus last week about the article and he said "check this out".  He brought up a photo on his phone. It's a picture of Geeshie Wiley leaning against a car,  wearing high heeled white shoes, she's dressed to the nines. I was blown away. He said they didn't use it in the article because they couldn't absolutely verify the photo.  "But it's her" he said.  It was like first seeing the newly discovered photo of Robert Johnson way back when, that "holy shit!"  feeling....

what was the provenance of the photo?

Offline CF

  • Member
  • Posts: 899
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #99 on: April 26, 2014, 12:12:11 PM »
If there was a legit photo of Wiley out there I would think it would have been at least mentioned by this point. Unfortunately, when it comes to historical blues images, anyone & no one is an expert. I HOPE Mr. Marcus' photo is the real thing, that would be wonderful
« Last Edit: April 26, 2014, 12:53:33 PM by cheapfeet »
Stand By If You Wanna Hear It Again . . .

Offline finn

  • Member
  • Posts: 23
  • Howdy!
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #100 on: April 26, 2014, 01:04:22 PM »
I'll find out the provenance of the photo and post back here. Greil got the image from the author of the article. He said the purpose of writing it was in the hope that folks would contact the author with much more info.  If he does get major additional information, then a book may come out of it.

Offline Shovel

  • Member
  • Posts: 159
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #101 on: April 27, 2014, 05:05:54 AM »
I'll find out the provenance of the photo and post back here. Greil got the image from the author of the article. He said the purpose of writing it was in the hope that folks would contact the author with much more info.  If he does get major additional information, then a book may come out of it.

Perhaps you should distract him or ask to borrow his phone and steal the photo and later remind him ... they have no right to keep this research to themselves ... no... not when society has decided it matters. 

Offline finn

  • Member
  • Posts: 23
  • Howdy!
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #102 on: April 27, 2014, 03:28:33 PM »
Greil comes into my bookstore fairly often.  I would have asked him then  about how the photo was discovered but someone came in to sell me used books and cut the conversation short. I think I would have thought to ask...  I was discombobulated a tad by looking at it.  My guess is the photo wasn't used in the article because of N.Y. Times policy;  the absolute verification thing.  Or maybe the author of the article is holding it back so if a book comes out of it, the photo will gin up some excitement. I will ask Greil if he'll send me the photo to my email. I wouldn't be surprised if he says he can't. It's gonna come into public view at some point;  just don't see how it can't not. Next time I see him I'll find out the background of it. 
« Last Edit: April 27, 2014, 03:34:04 PM by finn »

Offline finn

  • Member
  • Posts: 23
  • Howdy!
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #103 on: April 27, 2014, 03:55:16 PM »
I just emailed John Sullivan asking about the provenance of the photo. I hope I'm not busting  Greil, like it's existence is supposed to be a secret or something. Oh well...too late!  Hopefully John S. will reply.

Offline wreid75

  • Member
  • Posts: 250
Re: Elvie (L.V.) Thomas
« Reply #104 on: April 27, 2014, 07:49:52 PM »
Quote
Perhaps you should distract him or ask to borrow his phone and steal the photo and later remind him ... they have no right to keep this research to themselves ... no... not when society has decided it matters.

Nice try but if it could have been authenticated it would have been in the article.  It will be coming out soon.  Comparing hording research for 60 years and waiting a few months to obtain proper context is like comparing apples to beef.

 


SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal