The T-P and NYT both site “SJI” in their nice writeups about Allen Touissaint’s new record and performances in support of it. I haven’t bought the disc yet, but will soon, and more on it later.
Archive for the ‘"St. James Infirmary"’ Category
Touissaint kudos
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Versions on May 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Calloway (again)
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", MySpace/YouTube/Etc., Versions on May 27, 2009 | 2 Comments »
On the Ed Sullivan show (noted earlier):
Dylan deconstructor
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Folk/Tradition, Musical context on May 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Some of the most interesting tips I got while researching the SJI essay came from a Dylan fanatic who had learned of the song by way of Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell.” That tune pops up on on this list of songs Dylan “didn’t write.”
As you can guess if you’ve poked around this site much, I [...]
Reflections on death, while Amstrong plays
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Non-musical context on May 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This blog has a curious entry consisting of two quotes, one from Philip Roth, and one from Jean Birnbaum, dealing with mortality; and a video of Louis Armstrong performing “SJI.” Interesting juxtaposition. Rather than reproduce the entire entry, I’ll just link to it, and let you draw your own conclusions.
Odd “SJI” reference of the week
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Non-musical context on May 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One place I tend not to expect to come across references to “SJI” is on the Freakonomics blog — particularly when they are making a point about something on the public-radio show Marketplace.
But here’s the deal. Marketplace recently changed the background music it plays when summarizing the day’s stock-market figures: They switched to a different [...]
Shepp’s “SJI,” live
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Versions on May 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I have a couple of versions of Archie Shepp performing “St. James Infirmary,” but I didn’t seem to have the one that this blogger links to. It comes from a 1985 live album, California Meeting. A particularly sultry workout, it stretches for more than seven minutes, and is lovely. (That said, the cited blogger asserts [...]
Animation in progress?
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Non-musical context on May 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This past December somebody wrote to me about an in-the-works new animation of “SJI,” to serve as a video for a performance of the tune by the present lineup of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I haven’t heard anything about that since, but this appears to be a frame from that project, which I guess [...]
Fantastic opportunity for creative “SJI” fans
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Non-musical context on April 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
From the site of Willamette Radio Workshop:
Willamette Radio Workshop is looking for original scripts for the 2009 Halloween show … The show will be 2 one-hour programs made up of about 8 original scripts all in some way inspired by the blues/jazz classic “St. James Infirmary Blues.”
No script should be longer than 15 minutes. [...]
Louvin Brothers version…
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Antecedents and Variations, Lyric deconstruction, Versions on April 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Literally since January I’ve had a half-written post about the Louvin Brothers’ “SJI” variation “Let Her Go, God Bless Her,” in my “drafts” folder. And yet I never find time to write it. Been that kind of year.
Anyway, our friend Robert W. Harwood has meanwhile stepped up with a post about that very song. Check [...]
Never find another friend like … me? (Or she? )
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Lyric deconstruction, Versions on March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Life and work are still throwing up many barriers that prevent me from spending as much time pondering “SJI” as I would like. But meanwhile, our friend and much-admired fellow-”SJI” enthusiast/scholar Robert W. Harwood has got a pretty interesting series of posts going over at his I Went Down To St. James Infirmary blog. Especially [...]
“St. James Infirmary”
[Or: The Point of this Site]
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.
Never heard "St. James Infirmary"? Start here.
The Essay
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!
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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.
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