snooks eaglin 1936-2009

snooks eaglin died last night. i heard from my new orleans connection, mr page. i'm not sure how much press he'll pick up outside of the big easy. i guess we're all just waiting 'round to die but some are doing more than others...snooks recorded on & off for nearly fifty years, his first session was w/sugar boy crawford, who i read about nearly 30years ago in the old version of gambit, the new orleans music paper that's gone main-stream. i've convinced myself i saw him at the world-shaking, money-making, absolutely innovatin' ROCK & BOWL there in the city way back when.

forget about anything but watching him play the guitar here. he's strumming & what should sound like full chords are beautiful single note lead runs. i remember ken playing rev gary davis for me & telling me that he was doing all that he does w/two fingers. snooks is doing the same thing, strum & pick w/one finger, maybe that second one. they're moving pretty fast. they were both blind. they were both genius guitar players. i just plod along wondering why my various handicaps haven't helped me.

ANYTIME new orleans loses one of their homegrown geniuses the world should stop & take note. there aren't that many of them left. what's heartening is that being homegrown & all, they keep coming in spite of everything.

thanks mark for keeping me up on things.

this is snooks w/the utterly dapper mr george porter, founding member of the funkiest music ever played by human beings, the great new orleans group, the meters. it's not a surprise he's deferring to snooks here.