Sometimes, like when I read news items like this one, I think that perhaps it's a bit too easy to get your day in court. At least, it is if you're rich and famous.

J.K. Rowling, one of all too few people who are celebrities for writing books, is the plaintiff in this case. Evidently, her level of celebrity is insufficient, and she needs to pretend that she's got the same problems that the likes of Britney and Paris have.

Her complaint is that while she was walking her 20 month old son down a public street in a baby buggy, one of those paparazi types took the lad's picture. He didn't muscle through any bodyguards, cause a nuisance, or badger them, though.... he took the pic from a considerable distance with a telephoto lens. The charge? He violated little whatsizname's privacy.

Now, I have, on many occasions, supported the celebrity's right to privacy. I do not think that making a movie or releasing a CD gives everyone in the world carte blanch to riffle through your garbage, camp outside your house, or take photos of every shit you take. I also think that people who need to see pictures of that shit because "I bought the CD so she owes me" are, on the whole, pathetic wastes of precious, precious oxygen. When someone like Sean Penn whallops a photog, I can easily see the point that the photog in question may have earned the whallop.

However, this is J.K. Rowling. She is famous, but not THAT famous. I recognize the name, but wouldn't know her if I saw her in a restaurant. People would not be interested in that little boy forever, especially if she really DOES stop writing those books. If people are still interested in this kid at his current age of four, it's most likely because of this court case.

Secondly, she was on a public street. There are three reasons to roll your baby down a public street. The first is to get the child some fresh air. The second is to get yourself out of the house for a bit, and get some fresh air and exercise for yourself. The third - and least admitted to - reason is to show the baby off a bit. I know, I've seen the blog posts about the stupid questions and things people say, but still, what mom doesn't love being told how beautiful her baby is? Let's be honest - mothers eat that up like a starving bear with a fresh salmon. Now, call me old fashioned, but a public street is not where I go for privacy. And the photographer, according to the article, kept his distance. He didn't impede their progress down the street, didn't bother them, didn't pop a flash off in the kid's face. He took a photo from a distance of a baby being walked down a public street. How does that violate privacy? No, he didn't ask permission, but really - what celebs even expect that anymore when they're in public? How many - like Britney- would consider it a major victory just to have these guys back off a little and take their shots from a distance, instead of trying to crawl up her cooch for a money shot?

And as far as privacy itself goes, whose are we really talking about? The kid's? A 20 month old doesn't need privacy. In fact, I would venture to assert that no one who hasn't been toilet trained yet needs privacy at all. In fact, they need near constant attention. They really don't do well when left to themselves. And now that he's reached the ripe old age of 4 years, I'm betting he still doesn't understand the loss of privacy he evidently suffers from, or how his mother is fighting for him.

No, I think Ms. Rowling is really pitching this fit for herself, but the question is "why?" She's more famous than most authors can ever hope to be in this age of lightning-fast media and video games. Yet, she can still walk down the street without being mobbed by photographers getting in her face and impeding her movement.

For someone in her line of work, isn't that close to being the best of both worlds?

Before I present this month's proctological hopefuls, I'd just like to state that YES, I know the biggest asshole in the universe last month was the president. Starting with plucking Scooter Libby out of prison and continuing with ordering his minions to defy congressional subpoenas, the Asshole-in-Chief has proven once again that he not only doesn't care about being a good president, he also doesn't care about being a good American. He is not below, however, because he was the winner for last year, and if he were still eligible, well, when would he ever lose???????

So with reasonable fanfare, here's the assholes for July!

Judith Leekin - You aren't even a human being. (7)

Jon Bon Jovi - Yeah, it's all about the washed-up has beens.

Alberto Gonzales - Always a bridesmaid. (2)

Michael Vick - You aren't looking too human these days, either. (4)

Lara Madden - That stage name was not an accident, or a funny joke. (1)

Daniel Ellis - You forgot "asshole".

There were a few more, but one is going to get his own post because he's not so much an asshole as a disgusting pig. Another one was more of a criminal than an asshole upon reflection, although it is easy to be both (see Judith and Michael). The other was Tony Snow, and hell, "asshole" is his job description.

I will now leave the jury to deliberate.

Okay, I really don't understand all this stuff yet, but I think I did it. I was pointed to the Blogdrive help page for RSS feeds, which of course was vague, but better than the norm from them. They gave me a couple things to add to my address and told me to post those links in my sidebar, which I have done - it's beneath my links and above the Asshole of the Year.

So, does it work??????????????????????????

 

 

 

Just imagine - for a few brief moments, he'll understand how he makes most of us feel.

The age of "stealth recording", or "sneaking a tape rig into a show to record it" as it's sometimes called, started in the late 60's. That's when the recorders thamselves first became small and portable enough, although not so small that a lot of stealth wasn't required. I once heard about a stalwart early Pink Floyd archivist who would mount a reel-to-reel deck under the seat of a wheelchair. He not only got to record, he got preferential seating.

To get music from before this time, however, pretty much relies on studio outtakes that were never used and radio programs. That latter is a rich source of info, not only for the rock and folk of the 60s but also the jazz of the fifties. Because of jazz's mainstream popularity, it becomes easy to get unofficial recordings of many of the old time masters of the form, such as Miles, Coltrane, Dizzy, Monk, even old Satchmo himself.

It's not so easy to find the original blues masters, though. It wasn't as mainstream as jazz, to begin with. Blues was looked down upon in many circles as a lower class type of music. Some, like the great W.C. Handy's father, called it "the Devil's music". It simply didn't have the radio presence that the horn blowers and romantic crooners had.


And even when there was a bluesman on the radio, he either wasn't being recorded, or whatever recordings made were not saved. This partly derives from the fact that jazz retained it's popularity for a much longer time and thus benefitted from the advances that made recording easier and cheaper, but also from the fact that the blues just wasn't considered as important. So it is highly unlikely that I'll ever find any recordings from the heydey of folks like Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Professor Longhair, or Sonny Boy Williamson, as much as I do long to.

A great thing happened, however, 30 years after that heydey. A lot of young people who grew up on old blues records became professional musicians themselves. They ushered in a folk music revival that not only brought back many of the names above, but paved the way for the next wave of greats - names like BB King, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor and Taj Mahal. And those old timers that were still around and able to play got a second chance. So while the golden years may be (thus far) out of my reach, I can find live recordings from the twilight years of such luminaries as Professor Longhair, Howlin' Wolf, Son House, and today's feature, the magnificent Lightnin' Hopkins.

Now, I learn about blues the old fashioned way...... by listening to as much as I can, and not being afraid to look under a few rocks. I first heard Lightnin' Hopkins when I got one of those bargain-basement "Blues Classics" boxed sets. You know the type - great price, about five CDs that have way too little music on them and issued by a record label that existed just long enough to get the package made and into distribution. I got it mainly because I had never heard Hopkins play, although having to get the other discs, by the likes of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, didn't hurt my feelings any.




This is classic delta style blues, straight from the source. While played on an electric guitar with a rhythm section, instead of solo and acoustic as the blues was born, it is still obviously the genuine article. Then again, like I said, it's the source. Sam Hopkins (1912 - 1982) cut his teeth playing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (whose name later inspired the band name Jefferson Airplane) at the tender age of 8. He was a blues man from then on. He picked up the name "Lightnin'" when his agent paired him with pianist Wilson "Thunder" Smith. I have no idea whatever happened to Thunder, but Lightnin' made his way into blues history.

This is from one of his latter shows, at Ebbet's Field on April 24, 1974. This was the last year that Lightnin' made a signifigant number of appearances, slowing down considerably on both performing and recording due to poor health. He's still got some licks, though, and it sends chills down my spine to think of what he must have sounded like live in his heydey. This is a delicious sounding copy, coming as it does from a local radio station's recording of the show.



While he does do some rockin' in this show, you'll have to download it to hear that. I'm featuring a nice, smooth, mellow rendering of the classic Rock Me, and you just click right here to listen to it.

To get the whole thing, which fits easily onto one disc, just read the instructions at the bottom of this post, but on step two you download this file instead of that one. It's easy as pie. My e-mail is on the sidebar if you have any questions or problems.