1960 collection of country / acoustic #blues featuring Robert Johnson, Furry Lewis, Blind Willie McTell, Bukka White, and more of the usual legendary subjects. Compiled by Sanuel Charters for RBF. Sunday listening. @vinylrecords
I fortuitously discovered this Doc Watson record just before a trip to the NC mtns, not far from the original Mast Store on the back cover. The front photo was shot at P.B. Scott’s Music Hall in Blowing Rock, which closed in the 80s. "Some of the guys put some pitchers of beer in front of Doc, and he was wondering why everyone was trying hard not to laugh. Doc was not a drinker." https://www.hcpress.com/news/how-p-b-scotts-came-to-be-an-extensive-profile-of-the-venue-written-by-one-of-the-founders.html
Today in Labor History April 15, 1894: Bessie Smith was born on this day. Many consider her the greatest blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. Her parents died when she was young. She began performing with Ma Raney to support herself. She died from a car crash at the age of 43. Edward Albee wrote a play, The Death of Bessie Smith (1959), based on the rumor that she died because a whites-only hospital wouldn’t admit her. However, she was picked up by an ambulance from the G. T. Thomas Afro-American Hospital in Clarksdale, where her right arm was amputated. She later died from her other injuries.
Italy’s far-right party proposed using AI to assign youth mandatory jobs.
“The young person will no longer be able to choose whether to work or not, but [will be] bound to accept the job offer for himself (sic), for his family and for the country, under penalty of loss of all benefits.”
Today in Labor History October 11, 1944: The Soviet Union annexed the Tuvan People's Republic, which had been an independent socialist republic for the previous 23 years. “Tuva or Bust,” (1991) is a book by Ralph Leighton about his attempt to travel to Tuva with his friend, physicist Richard Feynman. They became intrigued with getting to the remote destination in the middle of Central Asia and spent a decade trying to do it. Feynman died of cancer shortly before their visas finally arrived. The bumper sticker “Tuva or Bust” was featured in the film “Genghis Blues,” about San Francisco blues singer Paul Pena’s trip to Tuva to perform in their national Throat Singing competition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_xlbCq0WTw