So I guess to those of you who are in N.O., this is old news, but I just the other day learned that Irvin Mayfield is considering a run for mayor. Somewhere else (I can’t recall) I read that there’s a bit of a dearth of mayoral candidates. But Irvin Mayfield? Well, I’m not there, so I can’t say. I could sort of imagine him winning — but I can also imagine a cunning candidate taking him to pieces, New Orleans-politics-style. I guess I don’t know enough about the people presently running.
I’ve mentioned Mayfield a number of times on this site. I interviewed him for a piece for the Boston Globe years ago, and I can say he certainly had, at that time, the self-confidence to run not just for mayor, but for emperor of all time and space. In any event he’s a very talented trumpeter and in the intervening years has only gotten better. Still: Could he really be the mayor? Well, presumably he’s matured, and certainly he’s lived through some difficult times — his father died in the Katrina aftermath. He’s also sort of doubled down his personal identity with and commitment to the city through various associations with public works efforts. Actually, looking back through past links here, it suddenly seems to me that whether he runs for mayor now or not, it’s only a matter of time before he transitions into public life in a formal way.
Just my two cents in the midst of a long weekend….
I am in receipt of a rather pleasing email from Barry Yeoman, from which I have learned of Still Singing The Blues, a blog chronicling the research behind and making of a radio documentary of the same name.
The actual documentary is scheduled to air in the spring of 2010. Still Singing the Blues will burrow deep into the lives of older blues and R&B musicians in New Orleans and South Louisiana. These artists, whose music forms the bedrock of American popular culture, continue to perform in the face of poverty, ill health, and a devastating hurricane.
Sounds promising to me! Readers of Letters From New Orleans who recall the chapter on jazz funerals may be particularly interested in this post.
Dedicated no notes readers will recall Koko, the clown: He’s of interest to me because he appeared in the Max Fleischer Betty Boop cartoon that featured “SJI.” But he’s of interest to Retro Thing because of his role in a five-minute cartoon that the blog says does exactly what the blockbuster 2012 wants to do — but better, more quickly, and without the bulging budget.
Koko the Clown and his dog Fitz circumnavigate the globe to find the control center for all the earth. A mischievous Fitz can’t leave well enough alone, even betraying animated “reality” to bring about a Fleischer fueled cataclysm. The last minute has some great real-world animation that folks would refer to as “Gilliam-esque” just a few decades too early. If you’ve never seen Koko, this animated end of days is one of his best silents. Who said that psychedelic insanity needs to be in color?
It’s actually fantastic. I hope you have five spare minutes to enjoy it.
Either I’m an idiot, or it’s supremely annoying that WordPress won’t let me embed this video. Or both. Anyway, here is something described as: “Monet of HARPNOTIC plays St. James Infirmary on a 23 string Celtic Lap Harp.”
But, during the early 1900s, the city of New Orleans racialized the term. In order to bring in more tourists, they needed to whiten the city. White city elites, in search of white travel dollars, needed to convince tourists that New Orleans was a safe and proper destination. Creole, then, was re-cast as a white identity and mixed-race and black people were excluded from inclusion in the category.
The current definition of creole as mixed race, that you may be familiar with today, is actually a rather recent development….
Thousands of folks turned around and headed toward the main Voodoo Stage across the field. Facing them was a black curtain spelling out “KISS” in enormous silver letters – and, on the video screen affixed to the left speaker stack, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s creepy-cool new animated video…. [of "SJI," mentioned here repeatedly.] …
Preservation Hall curates a tent on the Voodoo Fest grounds that is on the opposite side of the food booths from the main stages. Many KISS fans likely wouldn’t visit it. But thanks to the video, they got a taste of the Pres Hall crew anyway.
A fairly traditional treatment, but the sound is haunting and lovely. Enjoy.
UPDATE October 29: See the comments — seems that this is actually Josh White singing (although those are pictures of Leadbelly, I’m pretty sure.) A humiliating turn of events for no notes! Our thanks to Robert W. Harwood for setting the record straight! And apologies to all…
It occurs to me that some of you (anybody out there?) might be interested in this recent day-job article: I had a piece in the New York Times Magazine about Pandora, the Internet radio service. My interest was/is in their “Music Genome Project,” the engine that underlies what music you hear when you use the site.
On first listen, some things grab you for their off-kilter novelty. Like the story of a company that has hired a bunch of “musicologists,” who sit at computers and listen to songs, one at a time, rating them element by element, separating out what sometimes comes to hundreds of data points for a three-minute tune. The company, an Internet radio service called Pandora, is convinced that by pouring this information through a computer into an algorithm, it can guide you, the listener, to music that you like. The premise is that your favorite songs can be stripped to parts and reverse-engineered.
Anyway it’s a long piece, but if you’re interested, here it is.
A brief recap. An old Betty Boop cartoon by Max Fleischer is an astonishing and surreal piece of work, and happens to feature a Cab Calloway rendition of “St. James Infirmary.” Fleischer made several cartoons featuring jazz works. The 1933 Boop cartoon (considered a classic) features the character Koko the clown — referenced by The White Stripes in their cover of “SJI,” which throws in an extra verse that I believe must have been inspired by the vintage cartoon.
A while ago I started hearing that a new cartoon was in the works. And that it would be produced under the auspices of Preservation Hall, which has been balancing out its deep traditions with new ideas. Details emerged last month: The new animation would feature a version of “SJI” remixed by King Britt, whose work I like a lot.
So the above video is the result. I think it’s pretty great, and the animation is full of nice references and allusions that will demand a separate post … later.
P.S.: Gambit’s site also compares this cartoon to “Steamboat Willie,” here.
P.P.S.: Friend of no notes Alex Rawls has some great info and observations on this, here.
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a third version.
And now, this site: A place to collect some of the links, leads, thoughts, and suggestions relating to the song that readers (from Finland, The Netherlands, Australia, Spain, England, Sweden, Canada, and all over the U.S.) have sent me. This may lead to a fourth and significantly expanded version of the essay, some day. Also on this site: Plenty of tangents.
The most recent version of my "St. James Infirmary" essay is now a few years old. But it's still a fairly decent overview of what I know about the song, and why I'm interested in it. You can read it either in the book Letters from New Orleans (see below), or in the archives of The Gambit, the New Orleans weekly that published the piece as a book excerpt when LfNO came out.
Podcast!
In November 2007 I was invited to do an all-"SJI" episode of the outstanding Podcast The Sounds In My Head. My episode is here. Post about it (with playlist, so, you know, spoiler alert) is here.
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The Book
This site is a partial spinoff of the book Letters from New Orleans, published by the unstoppable Garrett County Press. My interest in "St. James Infirmary" is the subject of one essay in the book. All author proceeds from the book still go to post-Katrina relief efforts, so I think it's okay for me to say: You ought to buy it.
Mailing List
For (very) sporadic site updates and other news via email, visit this page.
Versions
I either own or am familiar with a bunch of versions of S.J.I. and close variations by a variety of artists. Here's a list, in progress. For now I'm concentrating on SJI, rather than its folk antecedents or any of the "Streets of Laredo" thread. Title is "St. James Infirmary" or "St. James Infirmary Blues" unless otherwise noted:
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
