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Shuggie Otis was born into the wealthy Chicago Otises. His great-great-grandfather Hiram Q. Otis famously invented the elevator by up-ending a streetcar. Several horses died before Hiram incorporated the new electric motor into his design. "Unfortunately," Shuggie laughs today, "there were no multi-story buildings back then, so Hiram had this steel tower in the yard, car going up and down. Folks paid five cents for a ride to the top. He fleeced 'em another nickel to go down!"
It was only with the invention of the skyscraper in the eighteen-eighties that the real money began flowing in. "Folks got tired of walking up and down forty floors pretty damn quick, and anything above second story stayed empty." Soon the Otis Elevator was the most popular public transportation system in the U.S., and the rank of Elevator Pilot First Class (trained by the U.S. Air Force!) was the proud ambition of many a college boy.
The rest is history, and history, as P.T. Barnum said, is bunk.
(Can't be assed to loadup a bunch of album covers - check comments - FT3)
Freedom Flight, Here Comes, Inspiration, Wings, plus one you probably don't gots - Guitar Slim Green's Stone Down Blues, featuring th' Shugster and his Pa.
ReplyDeleteYou wants? Of course you do. But let's talk about dancing.
I was always shit at it, any type, an embarrassment to my confreres and myself. The only time I culd do it was when I was off my rocker, and strangely enough when I was in that state I rarely felt like dancing. Idiot dancing at gigs was OK (if there are no seats, and who wants seats at gigs?), but other social occasions, parties, weddings (*ulp*), where you're supposed to do it *with a gurl*, were a freaking nightmare. I don't think it's a race thing, but I'm perfectly prepared to accept the judgement that I'm just too damn white to get down. Disco clubs, the glitter ball thing, I never went, as a service to the clientele.
These days, arthritic and fuzzy-headed, I occasionally essay a few spastic steps to Trout Mask Replica (with which I am in tune), in the privacy of my luxurious abode.
You? You dancin'?
Forgot Supersession Part Deux. That's in the box, too.
DeleteConsidering life is a dance where the music always ends too soon...
ReplyDeleteI dare say that, YES...we are all dancing. That doesn't mean that we have mastered the moves. But, it does mean that many of us are dancing a much more flamboyant step...even if it's with much less agility.
Am I even in the right ballroom?
Or, still in left field?
Ooga ooga ooga chaka!
Look at the footwork!
DeleteA man wiser than myself once said: "Dance like nobody's watching"
DeleteNative Americans call me: Dances With Jazz Hands
ReplyDeleteI prefer this soubriquet to your cognomen of choice, heckchewerly.
DeleteThank you, both!
DeleteI'd forgotten that Laughter is also a dance!
I'm frugging (or is it frooging) as fast as I can every day. --Muzak McMusics
ReplyDeleteDances with Jazz Hands....classic!
ReplyDeleteMe and Ms Pmac dance constantly, especially in the kitchen. Gotta move that booty, baby!!!
This is good. I can see you two doing a line dance together, thumbs hooked in your belts.
DeleteI'm interested if youse bums ever danced/still dance, and what-type dancing it was/is.
Depends on the music. Cajun dancing a good bit (listen to a lot of zydeco). Some swing stuff. The Ms knows more dance styles and steps than I do (she was a professional for quite awhile). We signed up for flamenco lessons in Seville. If nothing else, it'll help kill any insects running around.
DeleteIt absolutely depends on the music, no Cajun in my neck of the woods, but there's those Latin rhythms and Reggae not to mention EDM.
DeleteI like blues guitar licks in non-blues contexts. I like Shuggie cos soon as he was barely old enough to step away from his daddy’s blues he did so, and made a couple of cool and funky albums. I like Farq cos he just posted some actual blues-related stuff. And I used to like dancing on Thursday nights at my local nightclub, where 3 vital elements combined …. obscure 70s funk, fresh Dartmoor mushrooms, and a girl who loved both.
ReplyDelete"obscure 70s funk, fresh Dartmoor mushrooms, and a girl who loved both."
DeleteBrilliant.
(If you don't know the Guitar Slim Green album, that's the real thing.)
I think that combination would cause many a non-dancin man to trip the light fantastic.
DeleteThanks for this bumper Shuggie post Farq, just grabbed it and lookin forward to hearing Mr. Green.
Speaking of Shuggie's father: Johnny Otis's contribution to R&B and rock and roll is immeasurable.
Delete
ReplyDeleteStrawberry Letter 23
Love, Shuggie. Guitar Slim Greene is good, too; but, if I'm listening to a skinny six slinger, I typically put on Guitar Slim and his Specialty Records masterpiece, Sufferin' Mind. If I have the hankering for fat boy blues, I go for the royalty, Earl (pronounced Oil in my hometown) King.
ReplyDeleteFor a couple of years in the 80's some great reggae bands played in our local town hall, Eek-a-mouse, Black Roots and Aswad I remember. At the back of the hall all the experienced reggae fans would smoke special 'big' home made cigarettes, the drifting fumes from these made a very white guy believe he could dance. Oh, is head-banging to heavy rock classed as dancing?, other than that, no dancing here.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if head-banging to heavy rock qualifies as dancing. A bit of air guitar thrown in, whipping your heair around. I'm pretty certain I did some of that. But it never involved the feet - apart from staggering - and I think the feet have to move if you're dancing.
DeleteDancing around is a good laugh but I've always steered well clear of Dance Crazes such as The Twist, The Bump, The Hustle and the one where you had to sit your arse on the floor and pretend to row a boat. I'm maybe hallucinating about that last one. Thanks for featuring a fellow Shug.
ReplyDeleteHis nick came from "Sugar", according to his Ma.
Deletewill dance for sugar
ReplyDeleteI have four left feet, one for each appendage. I took girls to the movies on dates.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't rowing a boat, it was much worse.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMqJJ4Fd6ZM
Bailando en el cielo con diamantes ja!ja!ja!
ReplyDeleteDancing? I'm having unclean thoughts about Mrs. Myra Nussbaum doing some pole dancing.
ReplyDeletePheromones at the YentaCON!
DeleteHere's the move...(watch closely)
Reverse pole slide,
Double heel click,
Optional thigh shimmy!!!
Ooh la la sasson!
I was quite the dancer in my younger days. Now, not a good dancer, mind you, but an enthusiastic one.
ReplyDeleteLet's just say it like this: semi-rural Ireland in, uh, whatwasit, 1996 or so, was *not* ready for my dance moves...
"Smart people don't dance" - A. Einstein
ReplyDeleteYou asking? Then no. Saw Johnny & Shuggie & 3 Tons & Big Daddy Rucker at the 100 club 1971. Brilliant.
ReplyDelete