Thursday, July 17, 2014

Johnny Winter, RIP


It's not sportsy or Tickety, but it means something to me.  A moment of silence for Beaumont's own Johnny Winter, dead at 70.

Frail in recent years, he was one of my first guitar-hero crushes.  When someone put "Johnny Winter And -- Live" on the Dual turntable back in the vinyl days during a post-dinner college bridge game and those blazing, pure lines shot through that Marantz amp and JBL speakers, I was done for.  Never heard anything like it.  "Mean Town Blues," "Highway 61 Revisited," and his many incendiary versions of "Johnny B. Goode" -- sneer at traditional blues-rock if you must, but that was exciting music when it came out and it still bites.  Saw him once in Chicago, slinging that Gibson Firebird, crushing "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

At least once a day since, a phrase from one of his legendary solos from B.B. King's "It's My Own Fault" takes a swim through my head.


Just for me, raise a glass to Johnny sometime today.

50 comments:

  1. Farewell Johnny Winter. Not sure who might be in the queue for the 3 bedroom apt. He will be missed.

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  2. Right there with you, cactus. Johnny Winters, RIP.

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  3. Will he really be missed? Hey, being from Silsbee Tx, Beaumont was right down the street. I know he was a great guitarist and a good ol Texas boy, but just way too much guitar wankery! To me anyway, he falls into the 'way overrated' category, and he's certainly not alone. You can throw in Lyle Lovett too. Now, when Billy Gibbons kicks....we can talk!

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  4. Have I missed it or are the Ticket hosts not talking at all about the SportsDay Broadcasters Bracket?

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  5. Is it Circus Sirois or Cirque De Sirois? I think it is the former but often hear people refer to the brothers Sirois in the latter.

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  6. Is it Circus Sirois or Cirque De Sirois? I think it is the former but often hear people refer to the brothers Sirois in the latter.

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  7. Speaking of Cirque du Sirois, did anyone here the cross talk with BaD a couple of days ago (I know, not real specific) where one of the brothers says he benches 315lbs.? Pretty impressive.

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  8. So I could have sworn that once upon a time the Sirois brothers called their show Cirque de Sirois" (even though "du" would have been correct if it's supposed to be a take on the entertainment troupe's name)...and I thought I'd take a look at The Ticket's website to see if they used "de" or "du" there. I have my answer, along with a couple of other observations:

    1. Whether or not they used "de" in the past, they now use "du".
    2. Under the "Shows" menu dropdown, TSJ has their own menu listing, while the rest (including CdS) fall under "weekend shows".
    3. Race Week with Rich Phillips is still listed under weekend shows.
    4. Every one of the hosts' images are pretty suck-awful. Surely they can do better?

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  9. So...

    The Lee Trevino/Corby drop e-brake almost won this morning's contest despite it not even being a nominee.

    Interesting how the Musers didn't want to acknowledge it, but the Hardline did an entire segment on it yesterday afternoon.

    Does anyone know the story?

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  10. @8:12

    I think maybe they realized bringing it up just gives the competitor more exposure. The brackets are dumb when you have the Fan personalities begging for votes to help them win.

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  11. Is iOS TuneIn acting weird for anyone else? Whenever I select a saved custom stream I get a blank screen.

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  12. They're just jumping the gun a bit on TSJ. When Norm's one year contract extension is up, TSJ will be taking over 10-12. Fait accompli, that one is.

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  13. THL is doing another segment on it now and Corby said how it's such a huge moment in the Ticket's history? Only in his eyes. The world revolves around him...literally.

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  14. I thought Norm just signed a 3 year extension?

    @TheDude
    Sometime I have to re-enter the stream from The Unticket's website. Every once in awhile the stream just goes bad.

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  15. Since Lee Trevino was on with the Musers the other day, maybe they were worried that it might be taken the wrong way. Although he seems to have a sense of humor that would overcome any of that.

    But THL brought up another issue that I have with the e-brake. I think the e-brake candidates should be internal. Something that happens on MSNBC shouldn't be considered.

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  16. Whoopsie, missed the second part of T4's post. What he said.

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  17. T4
    Options buddy, options. Not all contracts are the same.

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  18. Mike did a segment on Johnny Winter. So now he's sportsy.

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  19. Are we hearing it for the third day in a row because the are mailing it in? I liked the post the other day that we still listen because every once in awhile they give us something. It feels like Jordan come back as #45. The ship seemed like it sailed yet he kept hanging on for better or worse. I imagine until the numbers slip nothing changes.

    Cirque brothers is one of my fav shows, been a big P1 from the start of them. I liked the Cowboys bit about judge night, and robot night. I wouldn't mind seeing them eventually take norms spot, TSJ = noon-3 and BADD afternoon drive once Rhyner hangs up the cleats.

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  20. "I could NEVER swim in that pool!"

    Great stuff, Danny.

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  21. I mean Davey. Danny had the comment about 12 shots of Jameson's the night before, which was equally awesome.

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  22. I don't know. Are The Orphanage becoming to the younger crowd what Heloise is to the 40something demo?

    BTW, the Tom Thumb at Mockingbird/Abrams must've had a killer deal on raw chicken because I saw Danny there about 30 seconds after he signed off Thursday night. He was surprisingly wearing a western snap shirt. I thought I overheard him tell the meat-counter lady he was in a band, but I can't be sure.

    As far as the Trevino emergency break, there are just too many drops loaded in the computer for the "Oh, SIIII!" drop to have been an accident. I think the board op is new and likeable enough that THL decided to cover his azs the next day.

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  23. @ TheDude -- Yes, my TuneIn does the same thing. I can get it to work by re-adding via the custom, but that just works until IOS dumps it from memory. I thought it was just me, glad to know I'm not alone. I'll be reaching out to TuneIn support.

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  24. It wouldn't be the first time a drop was (apparently) played by accident. Seems I've heard them say before that the board op has two screens up and one of them is displaying drops that his is anticipating he will need during the show. So it's quite likely that the "Si" drop was on the screen.

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  25. I will vouch for the fact that the OpX has been known to occasionally just randomly fire off even when no one is around it. Just very unfortunate that that particular drop was the one the arrow had come to rest on before deciding it was bored and wanted to play.

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  26. Returning to the topic for a couple of Plainsy comments:

    A friend of mine was the bassist in one of the top album and touring bands of the '70's and 80's. A name you might recognize if you're a fan of the guitar rock of that era, and whose work you've heard hundreds of times. (I think this makes me very special.) When I was corresponding with him about Johnny's passing, he noted that the Johnny Winter And guys didn't party with his band so much, with the exception of bassist Randy Jo Hobbs. He writes:

    "I remember my first impression of JW And.

    "I had followed Randy Jo Hobbs in The McCoys and learned all his bass riffs.

    "We were booked as their opening act. All of us were booked on the same hotel floor, which is what they would do; book the rock bands all on the same floor and well away of the other hotel guests.

    "JW was 4 doors down from me. Everyone just left their hotel doors open and you kind of took over the floor. I was heading to the concert, bass in tow, and passed JW's open door. Here was this skinny albino guy with long white hair and completely tattooed, only in jeans, maybe 105 lbs. Quite a sight. In the 70s tattoos were not all that common.

    "He was standing in front of the mirror and struggling with a small cocaine bottle that was lodged in his nostril. He couldn't get it out of his nose. I could see he was struggling and offered help. Although I don't know what the hell I could do. He said in a muffled voice, "My road mgr is in 708, can you get him?" I nodded and knocked on the door of 708, a few doors down. I heard 'WHAT!!??' thru the door I told him about JW, and he yelled 'AGAIN??!!, OK thanks.'

    "That was my first close up experience with JW. It was always amazing to me that those guys could play so well, yet be so hammered."

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  27. The Hardline did a Johnny Winter segment on Friday. Disappointing. Corby's reaction was predictable, and, I guess, so was Danny's. Neither had any use for him. (I don't think Corby knew who he was, and I'm not entirely sure Danny did -- certainly neither evidenced any awareness of any of his work.) Somewhat similar to the comment above about guitar wankery. Mike tried to cut through their ill-informed bullshit, but failed. (Mike seemed a little embarrassed that he was trying to give the still-warm corpse a little love.)

    Well . . . it WAS guitar wankery.

    But musical styles change. Winter did his great work thirty to forty years ago. Children, back in those days, people bought albums DEMANDING guitar wankery. (Put on "Live Cream -- Volume II for the definition of G.W., featuring one Eric Clapton.) You'd pick up an album, and if there weren't a couple of cuts in the double figures of minutes, you'd put it back in the rack.

    With flash guitarists now a dime a dozen, we've tired of that style. There are now many guitarists who play faster than Winter, but at the time there was nothing like him. (I couldn't imagine anyone speedier until I heard John McLaughlin with the Mahavishnu Orchestra on "The Inner Mounting Flame").

    It's so that he tended to fall back on a bag of tricks, but when he was working it seriously, his musicianship was astounding. Amazing slide work (almost any version of "Highway 61 Revisited," especially on "Captured Live"). And he was one of the few serious blues musicians who could absolutely rock and roll. He manages to forget the lyrics to "Johnny B. Goode" in this clip, but you get some sense of the excitement of his performances here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGEUFq7jYGI

    If you want to dip into JW, stick with the live stuff (although several of the studio albums are excellent, especially "Saints & Sinners," produced by Allen Toussaint).

    Yup, he was a guy who recorded songs with lots and lots of guitar, and he could slip into wankery -- but it was GREAT wankery.

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  28. CORRECTION: "Saints and Sinners" was produced by Rick Derringer. JW covers Toussaint's "Blinded by Love" on the album.

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  29. Re: norms deal

    he just re-upped for 2 years...TSJ is not highest on the replacement chain, CDS is.

    -Not Spittle, not Dawson, not Richie

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  30. Gordo dispatches Ralph Strangis, assuring an all-Tickets finals in the SportsDay Broadcasters Bracket.

    Tough one today - George Durham vs. Greg Miller.

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  31. So Cash is ready to dump the president/CEO gig for 10-12 middays?

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  32. Shocker...a bracket that is put on by the official business/marketing/trade partners of the Ticket features all Ticket broadcasters in finals...not saying it's not deserved, just saying that there is an agenda.

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  33. But all DFW broadcasters were in the field, so how is there an agenda? You would have a point if it were a field made up of only Ticket broadcasters. All three Musers making the Final Four was by popular vote, not by DMN agenda.

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  34. If there were only one Ticket host in the bracket, he would probably win. Because P-1s enjoy bits.

    Bits are . . . well, you know.

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  35. 3322...Plainsman, man, I didn't mean to totally disrespect JW on my above post. Sounds like you were a pretty big fan, and he certainly had some. Quite a cult following. I couldn't help but giggle when you tried to get it back on topic only to be dismissed by following post. I've just never been one to like the overplayed "wankery". A little goes a long way. Give me Jimmie Vaughn over Stevie Ray....I know...that comment could get me shot!

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  36. Hold on to your butts.

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  37. Gypo JD, oh boy. More empty teases?

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  38. Just punched out- right now- might not get back online for a while. Why? It's the Twiggy and Donovan radio show! Dear God, if I want to hear the ranting and raving of a close-minded racialist blowhard I'll find Ann Coulter on the internets.

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  39. I thought 5pm was when you were suppose to air your best content? Instead we get Corby and his off-sports, the yearly beating of the begging for Fight Night participants and now "A state of the Cowboys by Jerry Jones?" thank goodness for options, buddy.

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  40. 4:26....amen brutha!!

    It used to also be the time when Mike, in a very off-putting way would say, "Time now for a funny BIT." Back when they actually produced content.

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  41. Oh boy, another hold onto our butts message. What? Is Machine taking Ty Walker's spot or something--Ty moving to Nebraska? Wake me up when you have say something concrete Something with teeth. TC or insert __jv player doing X, unless he's taking the place of a varsity host, is not hold onto your butts worthy. Greggo being fired, BaD coming a micrometer away from leaving, that's hold onto your butts news.

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  42. @1:33 who were you referring to as a close minded racist? Twiggy? Just because she said she appreciates black love? C'mon, man, lighten up. I think she's always good for a laugh and has charisma whenever Bad has her on.

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  43. Gypo:
    PLEASE tell us that the Fan or ESPN hired Sean Bass away from the Ticket.

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  44. @242

    That's the issue. You don't think DMN would arrange things so that there would be an all ticket final four, or insure a ticket winner? As petty and pretentious as that sounds...it happens. Don't keep your head in the ticket sand too long

    -Not Spittle, Not Dawson, not Richie

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  45. 1213,
    You are a frightening individual.


    -Not Norm, not von Ludendorff, not Moltke

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  46. I disagree. A Ticket-intensive competition probably turns off a lot of readers who might otherwise participate. DMN doesn't need to court the P-1, they are a built-in audience.

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  47. Note to Dallas Morning News: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

    I heard that on some radio station.

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  48. That was the first time I ever heard Twiggy. I actually enjoyed it. I'm a white guy and I don't see anything racist at all. I love her "you been hangin round those white people too damn long"! You go Twiggy!

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