Noted with sadness: The passing of Snooks Eaglin. Evidently he died yesterday at the age of 72 (or 73, depending on which obit you believe). The Gambit says:
Born in New Orleans in January of 1936, Eaglin lost his sight before he was two years old. The blind musician taught himself to play at the age of five, building a rhythm and blues repertoire that has been estimated at 2500+ songs. At 13, he joined his first band, the Flamingoes, which also featured a teenaged Allen Toussaint and Ernie K-Doe….
The Associated Press obit says that a heart attack was the cause of death, though he had fallen ill over the past week or so. And here’s an NPR bit.
Earlier no notes posts on Eaglin’s “SJI” here and, less substantially, here. His version is a favorite of mine, and I also included it in my “Liner Notes for an Imaginary CD,” and the all-”SJI” podcast.
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 
