Topic: Possible Bluesman sighting in York Beach Maine

[Shovel]

Removed at request of owner.

[jostber]

Thanks for posting this. Here's a postcard from some of the same location from 1913.

[Stuart]

Thanks for posting the photos. Since York Beach was / is a tourist and vacation destination, my guess is that he came north to entertain and make some $$ during the tourist season. Back in the day people would come up from the southern states to work in the hotels, restaurants, etc. that were open only during the summer months and needed extra seasonal employees.

I agree--it would be great to know his story--and in addition, I'm sure he had many interesting stories to tell.

[wreid75]

I hope Randy Meadows sees this, he has a nice collection of pics that he has found over the years.  Might be any one of the many musicians that never get the ink that RJ gets which to me would be even more exciting.  I am kind of over RJ at the moment and after hearing what has happened to Macks research since he died is a little soul crushing so I am done with RJ for now.  Personal hang up but I digress.  Hope you can add a name and music to the face.

[jostber]

Here is an even earlier picture postcard from this location from 1905:



Article:

https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/1990/page/3245/display

[tinpanallygurl]

Thank god we don't wear those kinds of dresses anymore.  There is no way they were comfortable in all of that layered clothes except maybe in winter.

[arg6442]

I hope Randy Meadows sees this, he has a nice collection of pics that he has found over the years.  Might be any one of the many musicians that never get the ink that RJ gets which to me would be even more exciting.  I am kind of over RJ at the moment and after hearing what has happened to Macks research since he died is a little soul crushing so I am done with RJ for now.  Personal hang up but I digress.  Hope you can add a name and music to the face.

wow I must be a little behind the times, what's going to happen to his research

[Mr.OMuck]

http://atlantichouseinn.com


http://www.amazon.com/Maines-Visible-Black-History-Chronicle/dp/0884482758


There were, of course Black Mainers........


There is an Old York Historical Society.
http://www.oldyork.org


Seems to me that there should be some handed down memory of this person from someone. Mainers in these coastal towns seem to have a working collective memory going back generations.

[Mr.OMuck]

Just sent off to the York Historical society...

[/size]Dear Ms. Gomes,[/color]
I wonder if you can help me to identify the Black Musician in this photo (attached). He is standing a ways in front of the Atlantic Hotel and the photo appears to be from the twenties. Knowing Maine as I do (30 summers on Deer Isle) I know that Mainers generally have amazing multi generational memories often handed down verbally. A character that looked like this and probably played music for tips on the street would certainly have made an impression. Knowing how interested in music many Mainers are, I'd bet more than one local person watched long and hard to pick up some guitar licks from this fellow.
I'd appreciate it if you could poke around a bit and perhaps show the photo to some of your more senior, senior citizens to see if we can shake any memories loose.
I belong to an online forum which studies old Blues and other early African American music and we are all interested in this person's identity. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
 Phil Allen

[Stuart]

Phil:

There are a couple of books in the "Images of America" series that might yield some clues:

http://www.amazon.com/Old-York-Beach-Images-America/dp/0738512621

http://www.amazon.com/Old-York-Beach-Volume-America/dp/0738562866

https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Navigation/Series/APSeries/Images-of-America

[waxwing]

Wouldn't be surprising if the picture was in one of those books, Mr OM. And it might jog a memory or two if you described him as a one man band as he seems to have a harmonica on a rack.

But what really has me wondering are the trappings he has on the guitar under his right arm. You can see the neck heel pretty clearly but then there seems to be a contraption far more elaborate that a capo over the part of the fretboard close to the body. Also there are some sort of gizmos attached to the head of the guitar, which you can see the shadow of on the ground. Very bizarre.

Wax

[Mr.OMuck]

Looking at this photo in photoshop under high magnification I'm not confident that there hasn't already ben some restoration work done on this photo, because that whole arm is decidedly different from the rest of the picture. That may account for the confused shapes around the guitar head. Also the guys head is appearing to be weirdly unattached and of a different light and texture than the rest of the picture, so the whole thing may be a fake. Winters in Maine are long.

[onewent]

Hi Wax, I noticed the exact same thing with the guitar.  To me, it appears the guitar has been modified with the neck cut off and a shorter neck (mandolin?) attached, but it's really hard to see.  Or some type of mechanical 'autoharp' thingy ...?  I also appears to have what looks like a large ribbon hanging at the end. ?? Tom

[Mr.OMuck]

I also thought it might be a cut off guitar neck with either a mandolin neck grafted on or perhaps even a clarinet. There were also combination guitar, mandolin instruments around, in the mode of Harp guitar type instruments. More likely its a home customized one off.

[Lastfirstface]

It looks to me like three-in-a-row slot head tuners with a capo at about the third fret and a large object tied to the headstock.