Topic: MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

[oddenda]

Dear All -

          Well, it had to happen. I have joined, under duress, the 21st Century and started a blog at [peterblowry.com]. What you will find are examples of my golden prose output, photographs, reviews dealing with blues, jazz, and folklore. Musical samples will be added later, as well as other categories of prose. This is a rare opportunity to sample something major at no cost to you! So, give it a try and enjoy!!!     

          And may the farce be with you... it's our only hope!

love & kisses,

         Peter B. Lowry

All this in my seventy-fifth year, too!!

[Parlor Picker]

I like the sound of this.

[eagle rockin daddy]

wow, thanks, this is great.  Here's a link for those who want it:

http://peterblowry.com

Mike

[Stuart]

All this in my seventy-fifth year, too!!

Better late than never, Peter! Good things are worth waiting for--you can't rush quality!

[Blues Vintage]

Site looks great. Read the Buddy Moss stuff. The guy killed his girlfriend cause he thought she had an affair.
You must have been kinda scared to meet him.

[oddenda]

We were unaware of Buddy's past at our initial meetings - he was charming and an incredible musician of great talent. It  was after Bastin's small tome was published that the proverbial hit the fan, even though Bruce did not spell out why Buddy went North to Elon College, NC. J.B. Long wanted another player after Fuller's death and remembered Buddy from his past records that he sold at the dry goods store for whom he (Long) worked. He had to bribe the parole board, then had to bribe the next as the folks he'd paid off got booted! None of this was in Bruce's book - just mention of his move to NC with NO explanation. Buddy had to stay out of GA for  a decade which is why he was not in Atlanta for the Regal sessions of McTell, Weaver, Edwards, David Wylie! Moss didn't get to go back until 1951.

In spite of that experience, I didn't quit on Buddy because he was that good. I came close to recording him twice (and was responsible for him recording a few songs for the Atlanta Historical Society's exhibition on music in Atlanta [1977: "Atlanta Black Sound: a Survey of Black Music from Atlanta During the Twentieth Century" - The Atlanta Historical Bulletin, Vol. XXI, No. 2, pp. 88-113, Atlanta,   GA.] - I did one of the articles.

One of the last times I was with Buddy was later in "my" decade and he had a number of younger Black guys there. I eventually left along with one of them (Chicago Bob, I think) who asked me, "Why the hell do you put up with that shit?!?" My reply was "Because he's that good". Buddy was his own worst enemy (not original, but apt) and he was as difficult with people of color as with the likes of me. A wasted talent - his choice.

pbl

[Bunker Hill]

Peter

Refresh my memory as to by whom and when Buddy was identified as being the guitarist shown on the cover East Coast Blues LP ( Yazoo 1013) in 1968.  Thanks.

AlanB

[ScottN]

Hi Bunker Hill,

There is a thread "Buddy Moss - prison photo & bio" that has a lot of info on it. Reply # 19 on 3/27/11 has info from Mr. Lowry on some of the ID work he did. Sorry I am not technically savvy enough to just post the link.

PS - Mr. Lowry, that for all the work you have done and are willing to share, it is very appreciated - Scott

[Stuart]

...There is a thread "Buddy Moss - prison photo & bio" that has a lot of info on it. Reply # 19 on 3/27/11 has info from Mr. Lowry on some of the ID work he did. Sorry I am not technically savvy enough to just post the link....

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=4454.0;all

Another item of possible interest:

http://jasobrecht.com/atlanta-bluesmen-buddy-moss/

[oddenda]

Alan -

          I couldn't give you chapter and verse, but it was around '75 (+/-). I noticed the cover of a Yazoo LP had that photo and the penny dropped. I took said LP South with me and showed it to a number of folks "of an age" who knew Buddy back in the day. Most indentified him immediately - some were reluctant to say one way or another (due to knowing Buddy and his temper?). Compare that photograph (shot in NE GA when Buddy was incarcerated there) by a LofC (?) photographer whose name I cannot remember who was working in that region, including in prisons wit that on my blog. Same facial features, I'd say!

pbl.

[Stefan Wirz]

... Jack Delano - you can see four photos from that session at http://www.wirz.de/music/moss.htm

[oddenda]

THANKS STEFAN!! Prevented another senior moment from myself! Got a good Moss photo I took on my blog that was published initially in BLUES & RHYTHM.

pbl

[Blues Vintage]

Apparently the dancing was not spontaneous according to this blog;

http://johnedwinmason.typepad.com/john_edwin_mason_photogra/2010/05/review-hard-luck-blues.html

The story behind the photo above, for instance, is a troubling mix of institutional racism and personal ambition.   Delano tells the tale in his memoirs, and Remsberg quotes it at some length.   A guard had ordered the prisoners to "dance for the photographer."  Delano remembered that

I was so nervous and excited by the opportunity to get these pictures that I blocked out my personal feelings.  I had only one thought in mind:  I must not fail to get these pictures!  ...It was only afterward, relaxing back in my hotel room, that the realization of what I had witnessed came upon me.  ...How humiliating it must have been for those men to be obliged to perform for me, as if they were trained animals!

Not incidentally, Remsberg is able to identify the guitar player as "the great Piedmont-style musician Buddy Moss, nearing the end of his six-year prison term...."

[Blues Vintage]

The same article has a photo of unidentified "street musicians" made by Ben Shahn (Scott's Run, West Virginia, 1935).