To celebrate in 2009...The Allman Brothers Band's...40th Anniversary making glorious music, and their current, annual, beloved, 3 week run from March 9, 2009-March 28, 2009 at New York's prestigious, Beacon Theater...I am posting...here...BELOW....my unedited, original...Interview....with the legendary....GREGG ALLMAN....himself,...which he graciously conducted with me, January, 2002....and which was PUBLISHED in edited form, in the October 2002 issue of "Vintage Guitar Magazine".

“Gregg Allman-The Legendary Blues Brother’s Dreams”

© Copyright By Arlene R. Weiss
© Copyright February 4, 2002 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright March 22, 2009 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

Legend, music pioneer, and amazing blue eyed soul stylist Gregg Allman can proudly lay claim to being one of the all time great, influential, landmark artists in rock history. Some thirty years ago, at a lull in America’s artistic pride when “The British Invasion” swept her by, Allman, along with his brother, guitar majesty of the pantheon, the legendary Duane Allman, came out of the pastoral southern foothills and co-founded the now mythic, Allman Brothers Band. Their brilliant, astonishing hodge podge gumbo of boogie woogie blues rock, took the world by storm and gave the country back a sense of musical pride…while taking their permanent place in the firmament of music theology.

Carving a path and setting a cornerstone benchmark of excellence that many an artist has aspired to, Gregg Allman has become a revered icon in the annals of classic rock and blues. The multi-talented singer, songwriter, musician, and exceptional guitarist has composed an esteemed repertoire of classic songs including, “Midnight Rider”, “Whipping Post”, “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More”, and of course, “Dreams”. Allman is also a virtuoso player of both the acoustic guitar and the Hammond organ and is regarded as one of the most naturally gifted, powerful, and stunningly soulful vocal interpreters of the blues.

Allman is renowned for singing out his heart and soul with resolute, contemplative, often cathartic weariness and ferocity. No stranger to a life crossed by tragic events and hardship, the pain and scars he’s accumulated in his turbulent life undeniably have informed and indeed are the very sensibility that have enriched his voice, elegiac like the call of a woeful river loon, yet sinfully rich and fat with flavor.

And although it’s a customary sight for fans to see Allman, known for his vocal and keyboard prowess, to be sitting musically at ease behind his beloved Hammond organ, Allman receives an unparalleled magnitude of admiration and adoration from fans and peers alike when he approaches center stage to eloquently strum his acoustic guitar, creating lush melodies of exquisite beauty and grace. His signature, self-penned tune, “Melissa”, never ceases to bring awe inspiring hush, culminating in cheering ovations whenever audiences are treated to his rare but truly inspired turns on the guitar.

For Allman, the acoustic guitar has been an ongoing melodic, sweet romance ever since he bought his first Silvertone guitar as a child with the money he feverishly saved from working a summer paper route. Remarkably, it was Gregg who began his musical career as a lead guitarist, even introducing big brother Duane to the six string.

Allman has also showcased his eclectic musical stylings through the years as a groundbreaking solo artist, starting with the release of 1973’s, “Laid Back”. The tasteful debut mix of swamp rock, gospel, blues, and R&B led to five subsequent solo releases and touring including 1987’s gold release, “I’m No Angel” which with its self titled number one radio hit, validated and established Allman as an artist of incomparable talent….be it with or without his fellow Allman Brothers Band members.

In 1994 The Allman Brothers, still going strong after a quarter century, were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Since then, Allman has continued releasing records and touring, simultaneously with The Allman Brothers Band and with various configurations of his own solo bands. He considers his most recent solo release, 1997’s “Searching For Simplicity” to include some of his finest work and he exuberantly points out that his guitar playing plays a more prominent role in his current solo band.

With reflective candor and wistful fondness, the one and only legend and honorable blues brother, Gregg Allman took time from currently composing new material to regale his lifetime love affair with the acoustic guitar, the blues, and music.

Arlene R. Weiss: I understand that currently you have been doing a lot of songwriting. Can you discuss some of the current songs that you’re writing, what they’re about, and what presently inspires your composing and creating process?

Gregg Allman: I haven’t been doing a lot of writing. I guess I have compared to a long period of writer’s block for awhile, trying to get my life together, stay free of the substance abuse and what have you. But it takes awhile for all of it to come back. It’s like “Dreams”. It takes you awhile to start dreaming again. We won’t go deeply into that…but now it’s starting to come back to me. I’ve written two or three new things for The Allman Brothers’ new record that I’ve written with Warren Haynes. As a matter of fact, the piano player from my band, Danny Louis, he’s been here at my house the last couple of days and he’s an excellent writer, piano player, and just has incredible chord structure. Co-writing, as I’m getting up in years, is easier work for me. One person sparks off the other one and if one person hits a brick wall, then the other one gets them through it.

AW: What instruments do you compose on?

GA: I wrote “Dreams” on a Hammond and it’s one of the few songs that I think I might have written on a Hammond. I might have written one other song on a Hammond, but that’s not something that I’ve always had inside my house. I started to go ahead and put one in my house, but they’re so big. They look pretty small on stage, but they’re huge when you put them in the house.

AW: Do you compose on the guitar?

GA: Yes. Composing on the guitar for me keeps everything simple. Whereas on a piano, I start searching for chords and I might lose my whole train of thought or lose the point I was trying to make. I’ve had more luck with the guitar because you hit certain major chords or certain basic chords, and while doing that, I usually wind up with a really nice melody….and the melody carries it. You wind up with a good melody because you have a simple chord pattern and you have to put a good melody over it.

AW: Are you currently working on new albums with both The Allman Brothers Band and your solo band?

GA: The songs usually find what slots, what bands they go into. But I’ve got a new band. It’s a nine piece band with horns. Writing for a horn band is somewhat different.

AW: Because you orchestrate it different.

GA: Exactly. We’re just writing songs, wherever they find their way. We’ve been doing pretty good. We had some real good luck last night.

AW: Let’s go back to your beginnings as a musician. What originally sparked your interest in playing the guitar and how old were you when you first began playing the guitar?

GA: I was ten years old when I first saw one. I was visiting my grandmother in the housing projects in Nashville and there was a guy who lived across the street who was mentally challenged. One day he was outside painting his car with a paintbrush (laughing), I mean every part of his car, the chrome, everything! Anyway, he was a really nice guy and I’ll never forget him. He had this old Belltone guitar sitting up on the porch by the swing. I went up there and I asked him, “What’s that?” and he said, “That’s my guitar”. I asked him if I could pick it up and hold it and he said sure. It was an old Sears Roebuck guitar. So I asked him to play it for me and he got down and played, “She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain” and I thought, “If this guy can do this, I possibly can do it myself!” So I really got entranced with the damn thing, came immediately home, got a paper route, and the rest of that summer, made enough money to buy myself a $21.95 Silvertone, Sears Roebuck guitar….without the case. It was an archtop. A friend of my mother’s made a planter out of the damn thing! Painted it black, put some gold strings on it, carved two holes in it and put a little cactus in each one. I don’t know where it is but it might be hanging on her wall!

AW: What was the very first band you were in?

GA: It was called The House Rockers And The Un-Tils-with a hyphen. It was a rhythm section and three black cats that stood in front of the band and sang. The Un-tils were Tootie, Floyd, and Elmo. Floyd Miles is now in my band.

AW: I heard that somewhere along the way, you started playing the guitar first and actually inspired Duane to play the guitar.

GA: Well I don’t know if I inspired him to do it. My guitar was there and he said, “What’s that?” I’m the one that brought a guitar home and I showed him the basic math to it. He was just a natural, really was.

AW: Since you started out as a guitar player, how and what made you expand musically into the Hammond organ, keyboards, and of course, your lead vocals, making and concentrating on them as your lead focuses as a musician?

GA: It’s just something that happened. It was on account of a need to be basis because I was a lead guitar player when we began. At that time, my brother played chords and sang. That kind of turned around. My brother went with another band. They traded guitar players. This other guy came into our band and he could just smoke me, so either I learned to play rhythm guitar and sing, or I hit the bricks! (laughing) So I started singing and I was playing rhythm guitar. Keyboards also came as a need to be basis. I didn’t get a Hammond until I joined The Allman Brothers when I was oh, twenty, twenty two years old.

AW: You’ve been acclaimed as one of the most naturally gifted and soulful of blues singers. What do you think has informed your vocals to be so inherently inflected with such purposeful and powerful emotion, interpretation, and phrasing?

GA: Well they say you don’t have to have the blues to sing the blues, but it helps if you know what they are….if you had them before. And I have gone through one whole lot….two, three lifetimes of fun and maybe one and a half of struggle and pain, or at least my share, let’s put it that way. I’ve been through my share of trouble and woe. I’m not unfamiliar to it, that’s for sure.

AW: “Melissa” is one of the most enduring and eloquent songs in the Allman Brothers song repertoire. When you perform it live, it seems to get one of the most overwhelming and emotional responses from the audience, especially when you come out from behind your Hammond to center stage to perform it on the acoustic guitar. What’s your overall feeling regarding this incredible emotional response and the popularity of the song with your fans?

GA: It was one of the first songs that I ever wrote, kept, and didn’t wind up throwing in the garbage. As a matter of fact, I didn’t show it to anybody for a couple of years after I wrote it. It wasn’t recorded until after my brother passed away. But I think the response is incredible, especially when I hear people singing along with it.

AW: What inspired you to write “Melissa” and explain your melody, chord structure, and playing technique for the acoustic guitar on the song?

GA: In 1967 I was trying to get to the end of the damn thing! (laughing) I wasn’t paying attention to how musically correct all the chords were or how sympathetic they were to each other. At that particular time in my life, I started that chord pattern….and was very lonely. There is no technique. It’s like asking me where my thoughts come from. There’s many ways to write songs. There’s different places to start. The only way I can tell you is from my end of it. I get inspired by a musical phrase or a lyrical phrase to explain a situation, only in a different way. Not necessarily a clich้, not necessarily something real prophetic, but….

AW: ….something with meaning.

GA: Right. There are words like blunderbust I guess (laughing) that just aren’t the kind of words you put in songs. You find out what flows off your own tongue from experience of singing other people's songs. You don't really know, but you get a ballpark idea of what to attempt and what not to, even though I go into it every time with wanting to do something totally different and I’m sure that’s what most writers do.

AW: How did you actually evolve into songwriting and wanting to be a songwriter?

GA: Well, it was either that, or go back to med school, because I was so sick of having to do other people’s songs if I wanted to play music. I love and still have the same depth of passion for playing music as I’ve always had, if not more, and to be able to do that, I had to play all these other compositions. Don’t get me wrong. There were some nice ones. We had a damn good repertoire. But I thought, hell, we got all these tools here. Why don’t we write our own songs? And when it didn’t happen in the first two to three weeks, I really got frustrated, I stepped back, toured a little bit, and I realized that it was something that I had to keep doing. It helps if you’re a real perfectionist, if you don’t just settle for anything. If anything, I’ve had to coach myself, sometimes nitpick my own songs too much. Even when I start a song. One of the hardest things in writing songs is the first line of the song. You might have the whole song written and still not have the first line or have one that you like. What I usually do, if I do have a first line that I wrote, that usually winds up being it or very close to it. I usually go back and use most of the original stuff that I wrote in the first draft.

AW: How much do you draw from your own personal life experiences and your emotions when you’re composing?

GA: Everything,.….because everything that touches you affects what you write. It’s not like I’m sitting down and writing for somebody else, or a children’s record or a Christmas record. I’ve never even thought of doing that.

AW: What was the impetus for writing the very inspirational “Dreams”?

GA: The Hour Glass had broken up. The members all went back east and the record label let them out of their contract, but not me. That was back in the days of cross-collatorization. They could take your writer’s rights. After the record label first signed you, they would give you say, two hundred grand and to get their money back, they could take your publishing rights. Thankfully, it is no more. But they could take your royalties, artists lost mountains of money and some of the artists were the people that needed it most too.

AW: Especially the blues artists.

GA: And most of them that needed it are dying or deceased.

AW: Like John Lee Hooker.

GA: Oh yes. He was a personal friend of mine for years. He used to call me on my Birthday and tell me he loved me. Anyway, the Hour Glass members went on back east and “Dreams” was just about what it says. I didn’t think about it at the time, that it was autobiographical, but it pretty much was. It’s where I was in my life at that time. I didn’t know what to do, except I had this urge, this passion, and now I was getting this inspiration on top of it. And so I wasn’t really at a total loss, but I was really lonely. I didn’t have anybody to do all that with….until I met my current wife, she’s very inspiring.

AW: What was the impetus for writing “Midnight Rider” not just for The Allman Brothers Band, but later on reworking it, rearranging it, and re-recording it in a completely different way for your solo band on "Laid Back"?

GA: You got it backwards. It was originally written in the arrangement recorded for my solo band. I showed it to all the Brothers and so they cut it that way on “Idlewild South”. Then the next year, 1973, when I cut “Laid Back”, that’s when I did it the original way. I finally got to do it the real swamp style that I originally heard in my head….which is identical to the record. It happened that way on two or three songs. That song came about two different ways and I like both of them.

AW: How did The Gregg Allman Washburn Signature Melissa®© model acoustic guitar come about?

GA: Washburn approached me to do that guitar. I had a little bit to do with shaping that guitar out. Also, now I’m using LR Bags which is the absolute best pickup. That’s my only pickup. My Taylor was my first introduction to it. I have this old gut string guitar that a friend of mine gave me that used to belong to Joe Passe. It’s real old, made in Spain, and I’m going to try to put one of these LR Bags pickups in it.

AW: What guitars do you use live and in the studio?

GA: I use and have used for many years, my favorite Gibson J200 as my main guitar. Then I have a Taylor. I haven’t tuned it so I use two of them. I have an old one and a new one. These new ones, now they’re putting in these LR Bags. It’s an incredible pickup. Each string has its own separate pickup. You can balance it how you want it. It has the greatest EQ. I’m not paid by them or anything. I bought this guitar for about $4400. It’s the finest acoustic guitar that I own.

AW: Can you detail/outline your rig and equipment that you use for your guitars?

GA: I use D’Addario strings. I use medium to medium light. I use a Crate acoustic amp for my acoustic guitar. I put it on something like a barstool for a platform that brings it up about level to my waist and it tilts back a little bit. It’s a very nice, splendid amp. It doesn’t have any feedback at all.

AW: As a guitarist, a songwriter, and an overall musician, what are the similarities, the differences, the challenges, and your creative goals that you are striving to achieve in creating two uniquely personal artistic statements….one as a founding member of The Allman Brothers band, and one as a solo artist with your own band?

GA: The differences with the two bands is one of them you have one head chef and the other one you get to toss everything around. It seems like it’s easier on one side, like with my solo band. It’s also getting a lot easier now that we pulled the bad tooth so to speak in The Allman Brothers. The vibe is getting beautiful, really good again, like it used to be, like it’s supposed to be. I think that you’re going to be hearing some really good stuff out of The Brothers. I was all ready to walk. I had thirty years of it and that’s enough for me. Then I realized all I had to do was pull the bad tooth. I realized shortly after that, that I have a lot more fish to fry, a lot more things to do with The Allman Brothers. So yes, I do have goals. But at the same time, I don’t play live as much. As you get older….the road….hell in 1970 we worked 306 nights.

AW: No time for a personal life or to rest.

GA: Hell no! (laughing) I always get that same basic, lame question. “How did you all make it? Where did you get your break?” Break, hell!

AW: There’s no such thing. It’s called hard dues.

GA: We got around and played everywhere. If they paid us money fine. If they didn’t fine. We made enough money to live on and we played, and we played, and we played.

AW: Slide guitar players and the music of the great blues artists such as Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Sonny Boy Williamson have always played particularly significant roles in the music of The Allman Brothers Band. Can you elaborate on their implementation in the band’s music?

GA: It’s kind of a father to son thing. When I came into the band, my background was mostly rhythm and blues, Jaimoe was from jazz, my brother was pretty much hard core blues. He got into it real deep since he started playing slide. He got in deep into the country blues, Texas blues, Chicago blues which is like Muddy Waters what have you. We put all these things together and I wouldn’t call that Southern Rock, but I would call it a progressive blues band. We leaned heavier towards the blues because the blues has a good, deep groove in it and it gets to your soul.

AW: Who are your influences?

GA: Everybody I hear. But mostly old rhythm and blues guys. My favorite singer is probably Little Milton Campbell. At the same time I love listening to Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Stanley Turrentine, jazz artists like that, but I also like listening to Woody Guthrie and Lightnin’ Hopkins. I really like Lightnin’ Hopkins.

AW: “I’m No Angel” was your biggest commercial and artistic hit as a solo artist and along with “Melissa”, it’s become your signature tune with your fans. How did you originally come by the song, why did it resonate so strongly for you, and how did that influence you to title your 1987 solo album after the song?

GA: It came in the mail, I liked it, I heard something in it, and I wanted to try it real bad. I did it with my band, and along with that, we tried eighteen other songs, and that one poked out from the rest of them.

AW: I heard that you feel that your most recent solo album, 1997’s “Seaching For Simplicity”, in your opinion represents for you, some of your finest work. Can you elaborate on that?

GA: Recording wise, I’ve evolved a lot between “Searching For Simplicity” and my last record, “Just Before The Bullets Fly” from around 1987. There were ten whole years in there. It was a long time coming. I’m itching to get back in the studio now, especially with my new band. I really look forward to it.

AW: As an artist, encompassing your many creative roles, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist, in both The Allman Brothers Band, and your solo band, which or what element of these artistic roles is the most creatively satisfying for you?

GA: Rehearsal! That’s when everything gels. When you learn a new song, it gels, it gets orgasmic! (laughing)

AW: You’ve included many talented guitar players in the many lineups of The Allman Brothers Band and your different solo bands. Let’s discuss what you feel some of these guitarists bring creatively into the band.   What about Derek Trucks?

GA: He brings some young blood and he’s a good slide player. My brother was pretty much his inspiration. He’s still a bit young but he’s good. The good thing about Derek is he’s young, he’s flexible, he’s got a real open mind. The same way with Oteil Burbridge. Both of them. They’re young, they’ve got a lot of energy, and to tell you the truth, they every now and then, give us old guys a well needed professional, proverbial kick in the butt!

AW: What about Warren Haynes?

GA: Warren’s my baby. He’s become one of the major blues players around. I’m talking about with The Allman Brothers Band of which he is, yes, a full fledged member….and of course the things he did with Government Mule. He’s done some beautiful work and we should be doing some more together.

AW: Are you considering doing more guitar playing with the band, because you’re a wonderful acoustic guitar player?

GA: If you’ve seen my band lately, I play a lot of guitar in my band.

AW: Do you prefer the acoustic guitar over the electric guitar and what’s your reason for the preference?

GA: Yes. I don’t even own an electric guitar. The reason is the volume and an acoustic doesn’t sound like a guitar. Don’t get me wrong. There’s definitely a place for lead guitars! God knows, I’ve been around enough of them. But you just can’t beat the sweet sound of an acoustic guitar, and that’s only an opinion.

AW: Exactly, like with “Melissa”. It has such an eloquent sound to it. It has its own voice so to speak.

GA: It just wouldn’t sound right with an electric!

© Copyright By Arlene R. Weiss
© Copyright February 4, 2002 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright March 22, 2009 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

VIEW HIGHLIGHTS and EXCERPTS From My May 2000, IN DEPTH INTERVIEW With AUSTIN CITY LIMITS PRODUCER TERRY LICKONA Discussing.....DOYLE BRAMHALL II!!!!.......

To celebrate.....Doyle Bramhall II's....Current, Ongoing, Spring and Summer, 2009 Arc Angels Reunion Tour both here in the US, and also with the Arc Angels opening for Eric Clapton's Spring 2009 UK Tour, including almost a 2 week night stand at London's Royal Albert Hall, with upcoming NEW Arc Angels Live and Studio CD and DVD Releases, (Editor's note and at the time I posted and wrote this, Doyle's at THAT time,  Friday, January 9, 2009 headlining, solo, performance at Antones Nightclub in Austin, Texas, USA), I am posting selected highlights and excerpts discussing Doyle Bramhall II, from my extensive, May, 2000, In Depth Interview, (Published as a 2 Part Cover Story in the September 2000 and October 2000 Issues of "Vintage Guitar Magazine"), with Terry Lickona, Producer of the PBS, Internationally Televised, Prestigious, live music showcase TV Series, Austin City Limits, which was conducted to honor and celebrate at that time, the 25th Anniversary of Austin City Limits. 
 
BELOW, Terry and I discuss, DOYLE BRAMHALL II!! 
 
At The END, is a quote from DOYLE, also from May 2000, on behalf of my interview with Terry covering ACL, regarding and discussing when Doyle performed on Austin City Limits in 1999 and its creative influence on him as an artist. 

From: "Austin City Limits®  Celebrating 25 Years of Legendary Guitarists"

by  Arlene R. Weiss

© Copyright June 5, 2000 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright January 7, 2009 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright May 12, 2009 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

       AW:  Three amazing youthful Blues prodigies, Jonny Lang....Doyle Bramhall II....and Kenny Wayne Shepherd have all brought their talents to your show.  What do you think that talents this young bring to the show’s live forum and in their performances---as opposed to seasoned veterans who, while the veterans have the talent, they still have had many more years to both endure and enjoy both the prices and the rewards of the music business and performing live?   Do you find a certain freshness and exuberant innocence to youthful performers such as these three?

      TL:  Absolutely.  I think there's something about watching an artist, especially a guitar player who is still learning their art, still learning how to create music, and growing and evolving, practically day by day.  And there's a certain rawness to their style.  At the same time, there's that innocence, exuberance; that's a great way to refer to it. 

      TL:  Yes, and it's also a part of documenting history.  How  people like Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd play when they're in their teens….where Doyle, who I think is in his 30's.  Then, hopefully, they're able to come back and do the show five or ten years from now and we're able to capture their musical growth.  To have it all on tape, in our library, rather than just waiting until they're older and more seasoned veterans.      

     AW:  I think with music, when artists have a certain celebration, love, and passion for their music, and that is extended to the audience, and the audience is in love withwhat the artists are doing….and they give that back….it's like this constant flow that goes back and forth, a continuous circle.

     TL:  And it's especially true with a hometown guitarist like Eric Johnson or Stevie Ray Vaughan or Doyle Bramhall II.  But it also works the same way with these bands like Little Feat, The Allman Brothers, and more recently, Lynyrd Skynyrd, when they came through to do the show.  It just drives the crowd wild, especially when there are two or three guitarists going at the same time on stage, as is the case with these three bands.

     AW:  You've featured unbelievable Blues artists on Austin City Limits over the years;  Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Doyle Bramhall II.  Each one of  them is quite a bit older or younger than one another, and also is from another, completely different generation, yet throughout each of their artistic careers, each one of  them have often performed live together or co-headlined on the same bill at many internationally prestigious live venues, such as Robert Cray, Doyle Bramhall II, and Buddy Guy who all have often shared the same stage.   Can you elaborate on the succession of  these different generations performing with and honoring one another, of  the joy that the older generation attains in passing the torch of  this great traditional style of  playing and form of music onto a young  Blues guitar player who loves this style of music to keep it alive, and the joy they all attain in giving that back to the audience?

     TL:  I think in Blues music, at least in Blues guitar, more than perhaps any other popular form of American music there is more of  that inheritance of style from one generation to another and the influence seems to be more present through the generations.  Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan, for example, grew up listening to people like Albert King, B.B. King, and Albert Collins and that influence is very obvious in their own style.  And  Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Doyle Bramhall II, and  people like that are picking up that style through Stevie Ray and Jimmie….and so the influence continues to flow.   Eric Clapton is another classic example of  that.  Eric Clapton has influenced so many guitar players himself, and yet he is really only a funnel for all of the older, legendary Blues guitar players who came before him.  

      AW:  With most others styles of music, a lot of  people don't look at the musical history that came before.  They think it's just this generation. But with the Blues….even when you see Interviews with Clapton and The Rolling Stones, especially, Keith Richards, they always talk about Robert Johnson, McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters), and  Blind Lemon Jefferson….and artists like that were around back in the 1920's and 1930's.

     TL:  Yes.  Think about how Clapton and other artists went back to the earliest recordings of artists long since gone.  But, there does seem to be more respect among Blues guitar players for their predecessors, for earlier generations going  back to the beginning.  And I think that's great, that that continues to this day, right on up to the new crop of  Blues guitarists in their teens.

     AW:  With Doyle Bramhall II, do you think that the music industry has pinned an awful lot of pressure as well as hopes on him, to pick up this mantle from people like Stevie Ray?

     TL:  I think so. I think there's a lot of  pressure on artists today in general.  Not only Blues guitarists, but any up and coming artist.  There's so much competition out there.  The dynamics have changed.  Except for Austin, there aren't a lot or there aren't as many live music venues in other cities around the country. The radio station's formats have become so tight, not only pop, but country, you name it, any format.  Even though there are many radio stations, it seems like fewer radio stations are willing to experiment and play younger, up and coming artists. The record labels are cutting back on their artists' rosters.  It makes it so much harder for a young musician.  I know the pressure is tremendous on somebody like Doyle.  He's had a lot of great breaks.  The fact that Doyle Bramhall II is represented by the same Management as Sheryl Crow, is a tremendous opportunity for somebody like him.  His record company has put a lot of  promotion behind him.  But these days, if a record company doesn't see results right after….(Editor's note, fact check..this particular statement by Terry reflected the professional business circumstances of Doyle Bramhall II as of May 2000)....

     AW:  Instantly….They don't follow and develop you for twenty years like a Paul Simon, or take chances like they did with him after he left Art Garfunkle.  They didn't just say, "Oh no, the formula's broken now."  Instead, they stayed with him and then he successfully went on to do many other creative things, including World music with "Graceland ".

    TL:  Right.  If  your first record doesn't sell, you might not get a second chance.

    AW:  That's it.  And I think that's terrible, because people need to be developed over the long haul and an artist….They forget the key word here, being...artist. Most people in the music business; that's just it.  They look at it as a business, but a business is when you're creating a widget or a product.  An artist, well they need to make money, that's the business part of  it, but they're still….there is no bottom line….They're an artist, and they need time.

     TL:  Your're absolutely right.

     AW:   Is there a special sense of pride, satisfaction, and joy in that, knowing that you can help launch the music careers of so many wonderful artists?

     TL:  Arlene, there's a special sense of pride in just about everything we do.  At the end of the day, or at the end of  the night, after a show's finished….you know, working on a Public Television series in Austin certainly is not the most lucrative way to make a living for any of us.  We could have long ago, gone off and found work in commercial television or somewhere where we could make a lot more money.  But the rewards that we get from doing our show, working with the caliber of artists ranging from the legends like B.B. King and Ray Charles, to the new kids like Jonny Lang and Doyle Bramhall II, and helping to discover people like Lyle Lovett and Nancy Griffith….and to give them the stage, a National stage where they can be seen by millions of people, gives us a tremendous sense of pride and satisfaction in what we do.  And that extends right down to the entire staff, everybody who works on the show seems to feel that same sense, that pride in what we do.  Being able to live and work in Austin just adds to it.  We're the big fish in the small pond here, whereas if  we  worked in Nashville or Los Angeles , we'd be one of  many, many people who do the same thing.

      "It was an honor to be a part of Austin City Limits and following in the footsteps of some of my influences and heroes."
      Doyle Bramhall II

          © Copyright June 5, 2000 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
        © Copyright January 7, 2009 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
       © Copyright May 12, 2009 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

....NOTE TO MY READERS & DOYLE BRAMHALL II FANS....

....REPUBLISHED & POSTED BELOW is MY....

 

....SECOND.....IN DEPTH INTERVIEW, which I did with DOYLE BRAMHALL II!!!!....

....It was conducted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 and originally published in the December 2003 issue of "Vintage Guitar Magazine"!!!!.....

.....(My....FIRST....In DEPTH INTERVIEW With DOYLE, which is ALSO, POSTED HERE ON MY BLOG, WITHIN THE FIRST LINK In MY OCTOBER 4, 2006 BLOG ARTICLE BELOW, was conducted on Thursday, May 31, 2001 and originally published in the September 2001 issue of "Vintage Guitar Magazine")!!!!

....The Published version of my SECOND INTERVIEW With DOYLE, was dramatically EDITED & CUT and over half of this wonderful insight into music, personally expounded upon by and from DOYLE, as well as his equally insightful discussion and fond reflections regarding his creative background and music/artistic influences, were left out of the published version.

....HERE FOR YOU, IS THE COMPLETE....UNEDITED....FULL LENGTH INTERVIEW!!!!....

....My SECOND INTERVIEW (And ARTICLE) With DOYLE BRAMHALL II!!!!....

"DOYLE BRAMHALL II - Consummate Beauty, Divine Thunder, Otherworldly Artisan"

© Copyright July 23, 2003 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

© Copyright October 30, 2006 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

 

© Copyright December 28, 2008 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

Music royalty has been a part of Doyle Bramhall II's lineage and destiny since birth. His father, Dallas, Texas blues stalwart Doyle Bramhall, has collaborated and lended his stellar songwriting, drumming, and producing talents to a celestial who's who of venerable musicians including Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Lightnin' Hopkins, The Nightcrawlers, and Double Trouble, many who often were regular houseguests at the Bramhall home during Doyle II's childhood.

The impact of growing up in a family and a region, as Doyle affectionately points out, so rich in "our American Musical Culture", witnessing firsthand the then still living legendary blues artists performing live, was undeniable and firmly set Bramhall on the musical path he has since made his own.

Doyle went from being a blues guitar child prodigy sitting in with SRV and Double Trouble, to such sterling gigs as backing up blues harpist legend Charlie Musselwhite, to a youthful stint with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, to literally spreading his musical wings as a founding member of Austin's legendary supergroup, The Arc Angels.

An artist versed in a diverse, eclectic array of music styles and an astonishing musicologist of sorts, Bramhall is relentless in his quest to push the musical envelope to both explore and craft new musical horizons.

His talent and perseverance at last have paid off with the release of his three stunning solo albums; 1996's "Doyle Bramhall II", 1999's "Jellycream", and 2001's "Welcome", each a unique, sterling showcase for his many musical gifts and evolving creative growth, which in the last few years, also brought him to the attention of mentoring, collaborative colleagues, (and fans of the left handed, upside down playing guitar virtuoso), Eric Clapton and Roger Waters, all successfully solidifying Bramhall's validation as an exceptional, accomplished artist in his own right.

Bramhall just keeps surprising all the naysayers who had him labeled and pegged solely as the once and future Texas blues guitar slinger, determined to always chart new paths along his own amazing musical journey.

Crafted songwriting and vocals are Doyle's strength, ongoing emphasis, and glittering talents which clarify that Doyle's prowess as an omnipotent, otherworldly guitarist is a parallel compliment to, and ultimately, an extension of his talents as a composer, singer/songwriter.

(One need only span his career catalog from the raptured, impassioned, "Sent By Angels", and power, thunder, and intensity of the rock driven "Living In A Dream", to the inspirational "Carry Me On"; from the blue eyed soul imbued "Marry You" and "I Wanna Be", to the sixties classic rock retro stylings of "Green Light Girl" and "Soul Shaker".) And while the blues will always hold a revered place as part of Doyle's musical essence, rock, R&B, jazz, soul, world music, all are part of Doyle's wondrous multi-textured musical fabric.

Currently, and over the course of the last year, the prolific Bramhall has involved his multifaceted artistry in a wealth of projects. Last September 2002, Doyle headlined a "one time" special reunion performance of The Arc Angels at the first ever, annual "Austin City Limits" Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

Doyle also filmed a two night stand at Austin's infamous home of the blues, Antones, Friday January 10, 2003 and Saturday January 11, 2003 for Televised Broadcast on the HDNet High Definition Television Network's music showcase program, "True Music", ) which was repeated for televised broadcast at various times throughout the day and evening, on a daily basis, for the week beginning Friday 2/14/2003).

Doyle also has been busy, creatively collaborating with a number of esteemed artists, proud to feature both his gifted songwriting and guitar virtuosity on their new records.

Doyle's talents can be heard on a bounty of new albums released throughout 2003, including B.B. King's "Reflections", Jack Casady's "Dream Factor", Lisa Marie Presley's, "To Whom It May Concern", Boyd Tinsley's "True Reflections", and on the soundtrack for the televised hit dramatic series, "Crossing Jordon". And once again, Doyle is currently back in the recording studio with Eric Clapton, working on Slowhand's new record.

As a special treat for fans of the singer, songwriter, guitarist, on July 17, 2003, Doyle launched his own, official website, www.doylebramhall2nd.com, highlighting up to the minute news, tour information, a complete discography, press, photos, a biography, and full length MP3's of Doyle's music including cuts from all three of his solo albums, from the Arc Angels album, demos, never before released tracks....with new music also to be posted for fans to preview.

Then there are the two projects which Doyle holds most dear. First, Doyle's father, Doyle Bramhall Senior, recently released his own new record, "Fitchburg Street", a loving homage to the long ago Dallas home where the two grew up and honed their musicianship. The album features Doyle's incendiary blues guitar chops along side his father's soulful vocals, honoring the great blues, soul, and R&B artists that forever inspired both father and son.

And then, there's Doyle's own labor of love, his new solo record; a current work in progress which the singer, songwriter,....and guitarist, is resolute in writing songs that will once more, affirm his ongoing evolution as an artist of many music hues and dazzling craftwork.

This genuine, contemplative, and wistful auteur, took time to discuss "Fitchburg Street", working on his new record, as well as to fondly both reflect and regale on the vast treasure of music, memories, and artists who continue to inform and inspire him, including Lightnin' Hopkins, Freddie King, and a not surprising reverential esteem and regard for several artists and personal music heroes also near and dear to this writer; Sly Stone, Donny Hathaway, and....

....(the next time you hear "Sent By Angels", listen for Bramhall's eloquent paean nod to Stevie Wonder as Doyle so sublimely and exquisitely sings at song's end, "Isn't She Lovely".)

ARLENE R. WEISS: How are you! Remember our last interview, about two years ago!

DOYLE BRAMHALL II: Yeah I do! Yes!

AW: I heard that you're doing a lot of work on a new album.

DB II: Yeah! I'm writing a lot and I'm trying to start the whole process over again.

AW: And you were just at Antones two weeks ago! How did that go?

DB II: Oh, it was good. They filmed it for some high definition television network. It's called the HDNet Direct Satellite TV Channel. I think they're airing it in about a week and a half, two weeks.

AW: I also heard about you doing the Arc Angels gig over at the "Austin City Limits" Music Festival and that it went great. I was so happy for you and the band and for "Austin City Limits", that they did that, and that you, and Charlie (Sexton), Chris (Layton), and Tommy (Shannon) were invited to play and headline it.

DB II: That happened to be a really cool event. We got together about three or four days before the show to rehearse, so I basically rehearsed every day. I did the show, so I've been very busy.

AW: How did you become creatively involved working with your father on "Fitchburg Street"?

DB II: My Dad recorded the whole record and he wanted to get me on it for a couple of songs because every time that we play together, its a very unique thing....being my father and us growing up together playing music. He invited me down to Austin to record on a couple of songs. It was all done pretty quick. I went down there and spent a couple of days in the studio. I think we cut three songs or so. Then I overdubbed a couple of guitars on some other songs. But at the time, I was doing so many different things, that that was just sort of a blur.

AW: It always seems like you're so involved with so many different creative things at the same time which I think is great. You have your hands in a lot of different projects at the same time. You're working on your own album. You're working on other people's albums. You're playing different clubs....

DB II: Things just keep coming up. I'm really glad that they do. I'm always surprised when I get a call because it's not like I'm going out and searching for it. It seems like when I'm not doing anything, that's when I get a call.

AW: What was the impetus for you, in choosing the four songs that you collaborate and play guitar on, "Dimples", "Changes" which we're going to get to because you do a blowout version of that, "Forty Four" which is a wonderful interpretation, and "That's How Strong My Love Is"? Did you actually choose those four songs to play on?

DB II: No. My Dad chose all of the songs. He had everything that he knew he wanted to put on the record. He called and said that he wanted me to play on certain songs. "Dimples", "Forty Four", and "Changes" he wanted us to do together because we had played some live shows where we did those particular renditions of those songs. So basically, he wanted to capture what we did live, in the studio and he worked out the versions that we came up with. But yeah! My Dad had it pretty much sorted out. He knew what he wanted me to play on.

AW: What creative approach and playing technique did you use in developing your own personal distinct interpretation and musical voice for each of those four songs, while still adhering faithful to the original, artistic statement and vision of the four great soul and blues artists who wrote those four songs, being John Lee Hooker, Buddy Miles, Howlin' Wolf, and Roosevelt Jamieson?

DB II: We cut those songs pretty fast, in a couple of days, and so I didn't have much time to think about it. "Forty Four" we did live, so we already had that version as well as the version of "Changes". My thing was, with a song like "Changes", I always feel that when you're doing a great song, that you either have to better the original, or you have to do it completely different and make it your own. On those songs, we didn't have much time to get into all that because we were under a time constraint where we had to get out of the studio. So we just went in and played. And then I think the uniqueness comes in the way that me and my Dad play together, so that has an innate sound to it that sets it apart from other things.

AW: Your take on Buddy Miles' "Changes" though, it's the highlight of the album. Your improvisation, precision, and virtuosity are gorgeous. It seems as if you are completely in the moment, playing on your most exuberant, personal level. Can you elaborate on your interpretation of this classic song, how you made it your own, and how and why your playing is so overwhelmed with all of these nuances? You can tell I was taken with it. It's a wonderful performance and it brings a lot to the song.

DB II: I just played the song and I wanted to try and make it as different as possible than the original. But we didn't have time to do that so we stayed to the way it was cut originally and my Dad has the Buddy Miles feel anyway, on that. He's a hard hitter and he's definitely a time keeper.

AW: You both spar off each other wonderfully.

DB II: It comes from growing up with each other. I listened to my Dad every day of my life growing up. That really comes naturally and so it's easy to play with one another. Other than that, I just plugged the guitar in and played the song and it was nothing more than what my feel is on the guitar, in the way that my fingers sound hitting the strings. Outside of that, it was simply playing with my Dad.

AW: How did you achieve the very raw, distorted, fuzzed guitar tones on "Forty Four" and "Dimples"? Did you use any specific pedals, effects, or gear?

DB II: Not really. The only thing I might have used is a Fuzz Face, but I was going through an old Plexi Marshall and I had some kind of old hollow body guitar. I can't remember what kind it was. It belongs to a friend of mine, Craig Ross, who's from Austin. He has a lot of cool guitars and he let me borrow one of his guitars. It was just an old funky hollow body guitar. I think that tone mainly comes from going through the Marshall. It was super thick and had a very warm distortion to it. It was pretty easy to do. We did a couple of takes and that was it.

AW: Both songs have this very authentic, atmospheric sound as if they were recorded on analog tape, live, one take, in a room, with one mic, just like the original recordings. They don't sound as if they were recorded digitally or in a studio. Is that how you actually did it, or did you use any particular creative or production processes?

DB II: No. But it's as live as you can get in a studio. My Dad ended up using live vocals so that was all the same take. I think there was a drum booth and everything was somewhat isolated. What might be a factor on those songs was that because I had played those songs so much growing up with my Dad, I didn't have to think about anything, so I wasn't thinking about how to do any parts and I was being as spontaneous and loose as possible on them.

AW: That's probably why it sounds so good though.

DB II: Yeah! I didn't care about the changes or sticking to anything in particular on those songs, so there was this looseness of almost like just doing whatever I wanted and that everything that I did was going to work and it ended up sounding that way, very free.

AW: Were you actually involved in the arrangement of the various lead and rhythm guitar parts, such as how you wanted the chord structures and melody lines to be constructed, the vibe, and so forth?

DB II: Not really. The only one, on "Forty Four" I came up with the rhythm guitar part, but it's nothing more than playing the song. But I obviously wasn't sticking to the original. I was playing it as we were a band.

AW: What were you main studio guitars and gear on the record?

DB II: It was the old funky hollow body guitar and a 69' Plexi Marshall, a JMP.

AW: Did you use any of your guitars, "Little Doyle" or your 63' Harmony Rocket?

DB II: I didn't bring any of that down. I went down and played the same hollow body guitar the whole time.

AW: Can you elaborate on how your Dad and his music influenced and inspired you as a guitarist, as a singer, and as a songwriter?

DB II: Well I think because I was around my Dad, and that all of the musicians that he played with, Stevie Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan and all the different Texas musicians that he was involved with were really talented musicians....and I was lucky enough to be around that growing up. They were definitely my teachers. They never showed me anything on guitar, but being around them all the time, I just absorbed it and it became so much a part of my DNA after a certain time that it's something that's completely natural for me. But my Dad is also a songwriter as well as a singer and a drummer. When I first got into music, I wanted to be a drummer and I wanted to do everything like my Dad. But after awhile, we had a lot of drummers in the family and my stepbrother ended up being the drummer in the early band that I was in. We needed a guitar player and we didn't know any guitar players that liked that kind of music. I was sort of unusual for a thirteen year old, as it was for any eleven, twelve, thirteen year old, to like the kind of music that we did. There are not too many fourteen year olds that are listening to Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters records.

AW: Are you still into funk and R&B because I remember that you like that as well, which I do too? Sly Stone and other artists in that genre?

DB II: Yeah! Those were records that I got into a little later. When I was about eighteen, I started getting into all the more funk oriented bands. But I had always been into Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. My Mom and Dad listened to a lot of records and I got into so many artists and different types of music.

AW: Do you know that when you sing, a lot of the songs that you sing, your phrasing and interpretation sounds a lot like Donny Hathaway, especially in the years when he did duets with Roberta Flack. It has that same interpretation and phrasing and it's really pretty.

DB II: Well he's my favorite singer. Nobody, nobody in my opinion, is at and of the level where he was.

AW: Well if you ever do a cover of "Back Together Again", I want to hear it!

DB II: Yeah!

AW: Do you have any particularly fond or special creative reflections and memories of actually growing up in Dallas, on Fitchburg Street itself, in a family that was so rich in its musical heritage and that generously hosted so many wonderful musicians such as Stevie Ray and Lightnin' Hopkins, and how all this impacted your musical development? Do you have any specific memories that really stand out and you think, influenced you later, down the road?

DB II: I have these images that have always been imprinted in my brain, like seeing Freddie King playing. I remember seeing Freddie King and he was 6' 3" or whatever he was, he was 6'3", he wore these gaudy outfits. I mean they weren't gaudy on him, but they would have been gaudy on anybody else. And he wore turquoise jewelry. And he played and his voice was just....He was one of those guys that could stand five feet away from the microphone, and his voice would carry almost like an opera singer. And just his presence. I always remembered Freddie King's presence.

AW: How old were you the first time that you saw him?

DB II: Oh, just when I was born. But probably four or five was the time that I could remember. There are so many people that all stick out in my memory. I didn't realize until I was much older that the musicians and people that I was seeing, were a part of our American Musical Culture. And I didn't realize until later on what I had been seeing, until I was sixteen or seventeen, and I realized, "Wow, I got to see all these people firsthand." Also, to have a different take on it hearing and seeing all the English bands that were coming out, like the Stones and Clapton, and all these people that were doing blues records. But they had their take on it. But I think that me being from Texas, having a sort of Texas take on it, was a little different, so it's a different sound as well.

AW: It's a well rounded sound.

DB II: Yeah! I grew up very near places that Lightnin' Hopkins grew up. I got to see a lot of the places and go explore all the different kinds of music. And a lot of the guys, when I was fifteen, were still around. All the....

AW: The blues artists.

DB II: The real blues artists. They hadn't passed away, so I got to see a lot of them firsthand.

AW: Did you ever get to actually see Donny Hathaway perform live?

DB II: No....no....no....But I got to feel him though....

AW: Will you be guesting on any of your father's national tour to promote "Fitchburg Street"? It would be nice if you two played together.

DB II: Yeah! I don't know! If he comes out here or if I'm down there at the time when he's playing, that would be nice. Yes.

AW: You've been quite busy working on many different projects. How did you coordinate collaborating on "Fitchburg Street" while simultaneously working on your own new record?

DB II: I flew down to Austin for a couple of days to do my Dad's record. I guess you can get a lot done in a couple of days if you set your mind to it and that's how it's been for me. Like I won't be doing anything for a couple of months and then I'll get three different calls to work on three different records at the same time. I'll go in and do them, I work really hard, and then a couple weeks later, I'm not doing anything for another couple months, and then all the records come out at the same time, so it actually seems like I'm doing a lot more than I am.

AW: How much have you actually written for your new record?

DB II: I've written alot. I don't know what songs will actually make the record because I'm trying to write the highest percentage of great songs for my new record. I don't want anything to be filler on the record.

AW: You want to raise the bar on each of your records artistically.

DB II: I'm not just putting a song out to put it on the record. I want every song to be as good as the next. I want to make my greatest record this time around.

AW: How has the music of the great blues and soul artists that you covered on "Fitchburg Street" not only inspired and influenced you in your early musical development, but you've made it a point in your career, as you grow forward with each new record, to constantly evolve and show your many different eclectic musical styles. You love the blues, but you have many different musical influences. So how did these artists become not only a major influence in your early development as an artist, but also become a significant element in your ongoing evolution as a multi-styled musician and artist, where you want to grow and spread your wings?

DB II: Well I think because my Dad, my Mom, and Stevie, and Jimmie, and all those guys were listening to different kinds of music. What we most had on, early on in the house was a lot of blues and that's what my Dad was playing. So I basically got schooled in the blues and that's what I listened to and played. I tried to emulate all these guitar players and I think that you can tell that in my guitar playing, I have most of that. That blues influence comes out in my guitar playing. More so in lead than anything else. But I think that because they were going through this whole hippie movement in the late 60's, that we were also listening to The Beatles, The Stones and a lot of the solo artists. But back then, it was a lot different because listening to Sly Stone.... Sly Stone was digging The Beatles, The Stones, and Dylan. And Hendrix was the same. There wasn't this huge gap between R&B and rock and jazz because it was.... Everybody was taking from all forms of music at that time. And I think that that's why the music from the 60's and 70's was so good. It's because everybody was sharing and being influenced by all forms of music.

AW: Yeah! There was none of this labeling and pigeonholing like you hear now. Everybody listened to every kind of music, and to everybody else.

DB II: You could listen to pop radio and hear "Everyday People". That's an amazing song and the musicianship is just otherworldly.

AW: Go treat yourself! They just put out a remastered "The Essential Sly & The Family Stone" on Epic/Legacy Records.

DB II: Oh really!? Wow! So I was listening to soul, and I was listening to R&B, and funk, and whatever. And the musicians back then, I mean what were you going to label Stevie Wonder? He wasn't an R&B artist by today's standards. He was just a great artist.

AW: He also made a lot of songs about social consciousness and raising social awareness, the signs of the times.

DB II: Which a lot of artists back then were doing anyway.

AW: And a lot more artists need to do nowadays.

DBII: Yeah! So there wasn't this huge gap between genres.

AW: I hear it in your vocals. Like what I was saying about your phrasing and when you were discussing how you were influenced by Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. My favorite song on the Arc Angels album, "Sent By Angels". The very end of the song, the last phrase when you're just improvising and you're not even singing the written lyrics, you sing, "Isn't She Lovely", and it's the way that you phrase it. It sounds like Stevie Wonder's song.

DB II: I was intentionally doing that at the time.

AW: Were you!

DB II: Yes!

AW: But it doesn't sound like you're trying to cop him or imitate him. It sounds like you. But it's gorgeous! That's my favorite part of the song! That's the best part of the song!

DB II: I didn't know anybody noticed....

AW: Well, it's fading out at the end, so you have to turn it up to hear it, and then where you're scat singing, wonderfully and beautifully, at the end, which very few people know how to do well which is the jazz, bop influence. And you're scatting at the end, afterwards, like Stevie Wonder does! And I'm like God! You've got to do that more! People label you as a guitar player, but you are just something as a singer/songwriter.

DB II: Thank you.

AW: You are! I mean you're a great guitar player too. But you're a wonderful singer, songwriter, and musician and I've always thought of you that way.

DB II: That's why I also took a lot of all these other influences later on. I was playing blues all the time, but I wasn't writing blues songs. Everything that was coming out of me was just completely new. And the songs have been influenced by.... I love the way The Beatles wrote songs, The Stones. And so I put that into my writing as well as the overall musicianship of my songs.

AW: And look how The Beatles constantly evolved. Look at their first albums with "She Loves You Yeah, Yeah" pop, and then they're going into World Music and eastern Indian influenced music like "Norwegian Wood". How far 180 is that in another artistic direction, or songs like "Revolution"?

DB II: Now it would be a different thing because nobody could get away with that because they have to label you and The Beatles would be like.... What? They're doing their eastern Indian influenced song!

AW: I know. I was going to say that, because so many artists keep trying to evolve and stretch artistically and then the next album flops not because it's not good, but because everybody says, "How come it doesn't sound like the last album? You're known as a blues singer or whatever?"

DB II: And artists run into that all the time.

AW: I know. And it's wrong. I follow the music industry and it's just terrible. And a lot of artists are revolting right now and I don't blame them. They've had it with this whole thing.

DB II: No more McDonalds! (laughing)

AW: Really! (laughing) Assembly line stuff. Well, let me know when the new album is ready because I'd love to cover it!

DB II: Yeah!

AW: And I'm sure it's going to be wonderful.

DB II: Thank you.

AW: That's about it I guess.

DB II: Well alright. I will let you know when I finish my new record.

© Copyright July 23, 2003 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

© Copyright October 30, 2006 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

© Copyright December 28, 2008 By Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved

 

""X-MEN: THE LAST STAND" DVD Has ARRIVED! VIEW 3 COOL CLIPS On MYSPACE Site! VIEW 5 RETAILERS' Prices To Get The BEST DEAL!"

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright October 3, 2006

 

AT LAST!!!! The event of fall 2006 has ARRIVED, with today's greatly anticipated, October 3, 2006 release of the DVD of "X-MEN: THE LAST STAND"!!!!

 

CLICK On The OFFICIAL DVD WEBSITE For "X-Men: The Last Stand" For XCELLENT Updated DETAILS, DOWNLOADS, & MUCH MORE!!!!

 

http://www.xmenthelaststanddvd.com/

 

....Also, the MYSPACE SITE For "X-Men: The Last Stand" has added THREE AWESOME CLIPS for you to VIEW, including....

 

....BEAST rocking in battle, ICEMAN/BOBBY putting the freeze on Pyro (OUR FAVORITE of the 3!), and DARK PHOENIX/JEAN going all Armageddon on everything!

 

....CLICK On The OFFICIAL MYSPACE WEBSITE For "X-Men: The Last Stand" To VIEW The 3 CLIPS!!!!....

 

http://www.myspace.com/xmenthelaststand

 

....Last, to HELP YOU, the FANS, here are LINKS To FIVE different retailers selling the DVD of "X-Men: The Last Stand", with their PRICES, so that YOU, the FANS, can comparison shop and get the BEST DEAL on your mutant Superheroes!....

 

....WALMART not only has one of the lowest prices, but we hear that they are INCLUDING FOR FREE, a SECOND, BONUS COLLECTOR'S DVD, (that will be officially released in a few months), that no other retailer has!!!!

 

....CLICK On The LINK BELOW For The FIVE Major RETAILERS (& Prices!) Selling The DVD Of "X-Men: The Last Stand"!!!!

 

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808490830/buyvideo

 

Sources:

http://www.xmenthelaststanddvd.com/

http://www.myspace.com/xmenthelaststand

http://movies.yahoo.com/

 

Muse News & Micro Muse October 3, 2006

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright October 3, 2006

"HUGH JACKMAN & CHRISTIAN BALE Star In "THE PRESTIGE"! VIEW TRAILERS & PHOTOS As The Two Conjure Spellbinding Magic!"

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright October 2, 2006

 

ABRACADABRA!!!!

 

This October, the film we are most looking forward to, is the mind boggling sorcery and clash of wills between two 19^th century magicians in "The Prestige"!!!!

 

....Starring the "X-MEN" film trilogy's one and only Wolverine himself, the incomparable, always dazzling actor, Hugh Jackman as Rupert Angier, and the enigmatic brooding "BATMAN BEGINS" star, actor, Christian Bale as Alfred Borden, this film looks to captivate, bewitch, and beguile!

 

....CLICK On The LINK BELOW To VIEW The TEASER TRAILER From "THE PRESTIGE"!!!!

 

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809267303/trailer

 

....CLICK On The LINK BELOW To VIEW PHOTOS From "THE PRESTIGE"!!!!

 

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809267303/photo/stills

 

....The film follows the bitter and dangerous rivalry between the two former friends, turned nemesis's, both being magicians and illusionists hell bent on topping one another as the master of illusion in Victorian England!

 

....Bales's Borden is a serious purist in the realm of creating magic, who can learn and demystify any trick with total regard for the art of wizardry. 

 

....Jackman's Angier, though more of a novice than a master of the sorcery arts, is the quintessential stage showman and upstages Borden's own pioneering and original trick, by copying it and performing it with more razzle dazzle, to greater public acclaim.

 

....The infuriated Borden and Angier's friendship fractures into a lifelong feud with the two swept up in a whirlwind battle of wits, wills, "secrets and revelations" with deadly consequences.

 

....NOTHING is what it seems, as each sets out to create the PENULTIMATE magic trick. 

 

....But, is Borden the nefarious one, or is Angier?  What is illusion?  Not only fabricated stage tricks to mesmerize an audience in stagecraft, but the stark, often complex reality and nature of the dark side of each man's heart and mind. 

 

...Is magic only a trick, or is it something very real, yet to be mastered, and which should be held accountable by its creator, to its fullest potential?

 

....This dark and ethereal film is directed by the brilliant Christopher Nolan who resurrected the legendary Comic Book Super Hero, Batman himself to new film glory in "Batman Begins" and is currently working on the sequel, "The Dark Knight", with star, Christian Bale reprising his caped crusader role, bringing Aussie actor, Heath Ledger on board as the villainous Joker!

 

....WE can't wait to see "The Prestige" and frankly, it looks to be the saving grace hit of the Fall 2006 movie season! 

 

....Bale's "Batman Begins" co-star, the most esteemed and venerable, actor, Michael Caine, as well as actress, Scarlett Johansson, "The Lord Of The Rings" Trilogy's actor, Andy Serkis (GOLLUM!), and rock star/actor DAVID BOWIE all round out the sterling cast!!!!

 

...."The Prestige" opens in theaters in nationwide release, October 20, 2006!!!!

 

Source:

http://movies.yahoo.com/

 

Muse News & Micro Muse October 2, 2006

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright October 2, 2006

"Robert Downey, Jr. CONFIRMED To STAR As "IRON MAN"!"

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright September 29, 2006

 

Super Hero and Comic book fans everywhere must be doing the high five, since the BIG, CONFIRMED announcement has hit the trade papers, aintitcoolnews.com and....

 

....DIRECTOR JON FAVREAU'S OFFICIAL MYSPACE PAGE where FAVREAU is CURRENTLY DISCUSSING several topics that Favreau, himself is PERSONALLY ANSWERING in his "IRON MAN" MOVIE GROUP FORUM....

 

....that FAVREAU and MARVEL STUDIOS have cast acclaimed, Academy Award nominee, actor, Robert Downey, Jr. in the titular role as Marvel Comics Superhero, "IRON MAN" in Favreau's upcoming, greatly anticipated, "IRON MAN", major motion picture!!!!

 

....CLICK On The LINKS BELOW To READ The HEADLINE NEWS!!!!

 

http://groups.myspace.com/ironmanmovie

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30225

http://www.superherohype.com/news/ironmannews.php?id=4755

 

We may love our action hero actors, but collaring an A List, class act like Robert Downey, Jr. to play the emotionally wounded hero, billionaire industrialist and inventor, Tony Stark is a master stroke!

 

Downey is by far the penultimate choice to play Stark, bringing his darkly enigmatic, emotional depth and cerebral intelligence to the role.  Downey is Hollywood's man for inhabiting such roles, in films that include his breakthrough Academy Award nominated role portraying the GREAT silent film star, Charlie Chaplin in "Chaplin", "A Scanner Darkly", the bravura film, "Good Night And Good Luck", and AS real life musician, writer, director, Dito Montiel in....

 

....the critically acclaimed 2006 Sundance Film Festival award winning "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints", (which premieres in limited release TODAY, September 29, 2006 and in nationwide release October 13, 2006)!!!!

 

....For those needing a refresher course to Iron Man's origins, the super powered, armor clad hero is Tony Stark's Super Hero, alter ego.  Stark, after being kidnapped by nefarious entities who attempt to force him to build a weapon of mass destruction, instead, bravely eludes his captors and builds an armored suit possessing super scientific and technical abilities, which he nobley uses for saving the world!!!!

 

.....Stark must face the demons of his past and what better way to do it than by donning his armored suit, using it's special powers to valiantly preserve justice and protect the innocent!

 

....FAVREAU raves on his "IRON MAN" GROUP FORUM on his MYSPACE page, "It is true. Robert Downey, Jr. is Tony Stark.  I am about as excited as I can be.  I saw what he can do and he is extremely enthusiastic about playing Stark.  I can say with absolute certainty, that there is no better choice.  The humor and emotional dimension he brings truly raises the bar on this project. Get ready."

 

...."IRON MAN", which will begin shooting in Los Angeles in February, 2007 is slated for release May 2, 2008!!!!

 

....The Marvel Studios Production feature film will be distributed by Paramount Motion Pictures and of course will be directed by JON FAVREAU!!!!

 

....STAY TUNED HERE and to JON FAVREAU'S MYSPACE PAGE for the LATEST BREAKING HEADLINE UPDATES on "IRON MAN"!!!!

 

Sources:

http://groups.myspace.com/ironmanmovie

http://www.aintitcool.com/

http://www.superherohype.com/

http://www.marvel.com/

© Copyright 2006 Marvel Comics/Marvel Characters/Marvel Entertainment, Inc.: All Rights Reserved

 

Muse News & Micro Muse September 29, 2006

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright September 29, 2006

""X-Men: The Last Stand" ENTER To WIN The DVD!"

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright September 27, 2006

 

With only a few more weeks until the October 3, 2006 release of "X-Men: The Last Stand" on DVD, we have some chances to ENTER to WIN the DVD, just for YOU, the FANS, courtesy of the mutant loving folks at Zap2it.com!

 

....Zap2it.com has a very nice contest for 5 lucky Grand Prize WINNERS to snag some swag!  That is, to WIN the "X-Men: The Last Stand" DVD from Fox Home Entertainment!

 

....CLICK On The LINK BELOW To ENTER To WIN The DVD Of "X-Men: The Last Stand" And To VIEW All Applicable Rules!  Contest Entries Accepted THROUGH OCTOBER 13, 2006!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!!

 

http://movies.zap2it.com/index/games/1,1146,movies-28466,00.html

 

Source:

http://movies.zap2it.com/

 

Muse News & Micro Muse September 27, 2006

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright September 27, 2006

"DOWNLOAD GREEN DAY & U2's Duet Of "The Saints Are Coming"!.....U2 & GREEN DAY Rock Joyous Reopening Celebration Of The Louisiana Superdome!"

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright September 26, 2006

 

Just a little over a year since Hurricane Katrina devastated the homes and livelihoods, but not the hearts and spirit of the people of New Orleans, the city was alive with joy last night, celebrating both the grand reopening of the Louisiana Superdome and a triumphant 23-2 victory win for their hometown football team, the Louisiana Saints, over the Atlanta Falcons!

 

....Championing the festive occasion, a sold out crowd filled the new and improved beloved sports stadium which also welcomed a host of glittering stars and celebrities, including....

 

....GREEN DAY and U2, who, after much fanfare regarding their current musical dream team stint recording a song duet in the studio together, benefiting the hurricane relief effort, had the already cheering crowd rising to the occasion with their gala, celebratory performance!

 

....The 2 super group bands, always ready to step up to the plate on behalf of social activism and causes, (both rock groups performed at last year's global benefit concert, Live 8!), performed their reworking and cover of "The Saints Are Coming", the classic 1978 song by Scottish punk band, The Skids!!!!

 

The bands were joined onstage by a New Orleans brass band with arrangements orchestrated by Pink Floyd Producer, Bob Ezrin!

 

....GREEN DAY opened the show with their elegiac hit, "Wake Me Up When September Ends"!....

 

....U2 took and carried the baton by performing the majestic and uplifting "Beautiful Day", which they also performed at Live 8 and which could not have been more befitting the day!....

 

The world's 2 biggest bands ROCKED all of New Orleans with their live musical performance together effervescing both their and the crowd's rousing enthusiasm, honoring and uplifting, in the spirit of the day as confetti fell upon and covered the fans and Superdome!

 

The 2 bands have already been enjoying collaborating together and recording "The Saints Are Coming" for U2's guitarist, The Edge's, Music Rising, a charity established to "provide replacement instruments to more than 2,000 musicians who lost theirs in the flooding."

 

The Goo Goo Dolls also joined in and performed at the rockin' party, as well as Director Spike Lee, and New Orleans natives and musical gems, Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis, who all attended the momentous celebration.

 

....To DOWNLOAD a recording of GREEN DAY and U2's "The Saints Are Coming" for 99 cents which will BENEFIT Music Rising....

 

....CLICK On The LINK BELOW!!!!

 

http://www.rhapsody.com/musicrising?mrpartner=mr

 

Sources:

http://www.nme.com/news/u2/24458

http://movies.yahoo.com/

 

Muse News & Micro Muse September 26, 2006

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright September 26, 2006

"CHANNING TATUM & JENNA DEWAN! VIEW RED CARPET PREMIERE PHOTOS For "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints"!"

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright September 25, 2006

 

Courtesy of the links below to Yahoo.com & Wireimage.com, we have posted the RED CARPET PREMIERE PHOTOS from "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints" at the film's New York GALA opening during Independent Film Week, of course showcasing....

 

...."Saints" star, CHANNING TATUM, and his lovely guest, Channing's "Step Up" co-star, JENNA DEWAN!!!!

 

....BOTH CHANNING and JENNA showed off their fashionista style, dressed in classic, elegant couture along with fellow fashionable mavens, superstar rocker, Sting, "Saints" stars, Chazz Palminteri, Shia LaBeouf, and "Saints" Writer/Director,  Dito Montiel, all dressed to IMPRESS on the RED CARPET!!!!

 

....CLICK On The LINKS BELOW To VIEW PHOTOS Of CHANNING TATUM, JENNA DEWAN & The STARS Posing On The RED CARPET At The 9/18/2006 PREMIERE Of "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints"!!!!

 

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809257663/photo/premiere/stills

http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls=1=6==212393&nbc1=1

http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=gls=1=6==211507&nbc1=1

 

"A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints" PREMIERES in theaters in NATIONAL RELEASE, Friday, September 29, 2006!!!!

 

Sources:

http://movies.yahoo.com/

http://www.wireimage.com/

 

Muse News And Micro Muse September 25, 2006

 

By Arlene R. Weiss © Copyright September 25, 2006