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Sugar Blue came to blow.

Sugar Blue at WKCR, New York 1974; Photographed by Fred Seibert

Small as the New York blues scene was (is), any kind of activity gathered up everyone in the community. So it was when Oblivion started the two years of recording of Charles Walker's "Blues from the Apple." Even though the sessions would often feature a quartet or quintet, the studio often had ten or twenty bluesman (and women) hanging around. I tried to shoot a lot of them with my Polaroid Big Shot portrait camera.

One day, master harpist Bill Dicey came up with a young guy with a floppy hat. Sugar Blue was a harmonica player himself who hung with Bill, and loved being part of the scene. He really wanted to play on one of our sessions, and kept returning week after week. I think we recorded him on a few dates, but they must be with our outtakes, since nothing made the record.

I didn't give it another thought until about five years later when all of a sudden, Sugar was the hottest thing around. Somehow or another he'd found his way into The Rolling Stones recording entourage and became the featured instrumentalist on one of their last classics, the 1978 dance floor rocker Miss You. No longer the tentative novice, Sugar was now a sure footed master.

It's great to be in on the ground floor of a new talent. When it's a bluesman who explodes pop, it's even more fun.

It all started...

The roots of Oblivion (and Tom's musical moniker) were planted in the Huntington, New York, hippie record store Tom started in 1970 with his partner Rob Witter. Kropotkin was set up as an antidote to the suburban appliance stores that sold music to go along with their record players, department stores, and the Sam Goody's of the world. Oh, and to go with the ethos of the time, it was named after the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin. Rob and Tom wanted to offer a selection that was reflective of the expansive musical thinking taking hold in coastal youth and offered everything from the obscure to the freeform FM rock. Rob was my age (born 1951), Tom was two years older. Both of them were free spirits, Tom slightly less so only in that he was already married with a six month old baby (Travis, often in a playpen at the back of the store).

Searching for like minded community, kids from 14 to 45 would gather at Kropotkin regularly for musical conversation (de rigueur in those times) or just general BS that often degenerated into a real time Howard Stern like round of phony phone calls and rank outs.

After I'd invited the guys for an interview on my college radio show (I was completely taken by the spirit of the store) Tom and I would spend more and more time discussing the possibilities of making and recording music on our own.

One day I walked in and found this poster. Tom was taking his anarchy seriously (it was some time before I found out about Tom's years in the seminary and his lifetime adherence to rigorous philosophical thought) and decided to throw his hat in the political ring. I had a good laugh at my role in his qualitifications for office.
.....
HONEST TOM POMPOSELLO
YOUR CANDIDATE FOR RECEIVER OF TAXES

Hi there! My name is Thomas (Honest Tom) Pomposello. I’d like to cordially inform all my friends that I am the Huntington Tea Party’s candidate for Receiver of Taxes in the 1971 local elections. If things are as they seem, this year promises to be one that will be full of surprises in Our Town. So may the best man lose (why should this year be any different?), and I’ll see you all at the polls.

Yours intact,
Honest Tom Pomposello

P.S.: Here are a few of my numerous qualifications - -

• I AM INDISPUTABLY THE LARGEST PERSON TO RUN FOR THE OFFICE OF RECEIVER OF TAXES IN THE LAST 40 YEARS. At 6’0” even in boots with one-half inch heels and 267½ lbs. without those same boots, it would seem that this be more than an unfounded claim. However, in the interest of fairness, upon request I can present factual data. (Actually the closest contender I suppose would be Mrs. Rosemary Bacon who held the office from 1936 - 1938; but even though she did tend a bit toward the chub, in reality she is little competition for me.)

• I AM THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO HAS THE UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT OF MISSISSIPPI FRED McDOWELL. I’m not sure what actual value this has since Fred can’t even vote for me (being an out of state resident and all that) but you’ve got to admit, it certainly does look impressive.

• I AM THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO FRED SEIBERT WOULD EVEN CONSIDER PUTTING ON HIS RADIO SHOW. I’ve been of Fred’s show three times now, twice by proxy.

• I AM THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO IS REALLY CLEAN-CUT. My mother says so.

• I AM THE ONLY CANDIDATE MATURE ENOUGH TO REMEMBER BOTH THE “RUDY KAZODEE” AND “CRUSADER RABBIT” TV SHOWS. In fact, in college I did my Honors Thesis on this very subject.

• I AM THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO IS NOT ASHAMED TO ADMIT THAT WHEN I TAKE SHOWERS, I DRAW CLOSED THE BATH CURTAINS. Perfunctory.

• I AM THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO REALLY TAKES THIS ELECTION SERIOUSLY. I need not prove this to you further - - simply re-read my above qualifications.

• I AM THE ONLY CANDIDATE WHO WOULD DELIBERATELY PUBLISH A FACT SHEET THAT IS IN ACTUALITY HALF LIES. Perhaps I should re-phrase that. I am the only candidate in this election who would ADMIT to deliberately publishing a fact sheet that is in actuality half lies.

Liner notes: "Live in New York"

These are the liner notes and credits from the from the 1st edition release of "Mississippi Fred McDowell: Live in New York" in the spring of 1972. There's an afterword by Fred, but in the main they're written by my partner/producer/bass player Tom Pomposello. Heartfelt and authentic, the piece could only be written by a 23 year old, suburban, young father, blues fanatic of Italian extraction.

In 1959 folklorist Alan Lomax ventured into northwestern Mississippi during a recording field trip of the Southern USA. He passed through the town of Como, situated between Highways 51 and 55. Lomax explained that he was from a record company and asked whether there were any local musicians that he should hear. Among the first names given was Fred McDowell. Lomax found Fred at home that evening and proceeded to record him. Fred played well into the night for Lomax (the session lasted from 8 p.m. until about 7 a.m. as Fred recalls it). When Lomax finally departed, he left Fred with promises that these recordings would bring him world repute and a great sum of money. Lomax was at least half right. Despite the fact that the payment was nominal, the recordings were greeted with abundant enthusiasm. Even though only eleven songs were released (on two Prestige LPs: Deep South-Sacred and Sinful; and Yazoo Delta-Blues and Spirituals; and two Atlantic LPs: Sounds of the South; and Roots of the Blues), the reaction was immediate. The blues world had discovered Fred McDowell.

Subsequent to the Lomax recordings things began happening and Fred found himself in the middle of a new career. There was a whole new audience anxious to hear his brand of the blues. In 1964 both Arhoolie and Testament issued solo LPs by Fred. In July of that same year Fred was a featured artist at the Newport Folk Festival (selections from his performances were issued on three separate Vanguard albums). Then, in 1965, Fred visited Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival. He was enthusiastically received wherever he played.

In 1966 he recorded a second album for Arhoolie. This contained the song that the Rolling Stones were soon to “borrow” – “You Got to Move” (incidentally, if Fred is ever paid the royalties for this song, he should earn more than he did on any of his own albums). More releases followed on Testament, Biograph, Polydor International, and Milestone.

Then in 1969 came a second tour of Europe. In Britain he recorded his first solo album using electric guitar – Mississippi Fred McDowell in London (Volumes I and II on Sire and Transatlantic). The reaction was a mixed one. Everyone loved the music. But Delta blues on an electric guitar…? One critic commented that he thought some of the “subtlety” of the acoustic bottleneck’d high E string was lost with the electrified instrument. But the new sound was so compellingly ominous that its beauty was irresistible.

More electric albums followed. Blue Thumb’s Memphis Swamp Jam featured three cuts with Fred on electric guitar and accompanied by Johnny Woods on harmonica (later a full album by the two was issued on Revival Records). Arhoolie followed suit with Fred McDowell and his Blues Boys which featured Fred accompanied by acoustic guitar, electric bass, and drums. Then came the now legendary I Do Not Pay No Rock and Roll album on Capitol. Most reviewers of contemporary music were astounded. Blues Unlimited called it “…a perfectely fine LP, beautifully recorded in stereo and and performed with the usual McDowell power and verve. Hmmm.” Rolling Stone went so far as to say: “Well, do you have to hear any more – this is one mother of a record.” I’ll never forget one of my musically naïve friends saying: “I never thought blues music could sound like that.” Still, there were some holdouts. Bob Groom, a great fan and admirer of Fred’s and the editor of Blues World magazine wrote: “…not the best McDowell LP, but nevertheless recommended to all his fans… and for the first (and I hope lat) time Fred is accompanied by a heavily electrified rhythm group.”

I never could understand such criticisms for a variety of reasons. Perhaps, though, the best reply is by Bob Groom himself who wrote in his book, The Blues Revival: “Old and new blues cannot be compared, only contrasted…” Which brings us to this album – it’s electric, it’s heavy, and most important, it’s Fred McDowell, the way he likes it, today. Viva!

– Tom Pomposello

Now I want you all to know that Honest Tom is the boy who plays bass and 2nd guitar on “Shake ‘Em on Down” with me on this album. You know he first came to me and said, “Fred, can I come up and see you, you know where you’re staying?” Well, I wasn’t doing anything up there alone and I told him to come up. When he got there, he brought three instruments with him – a guitar, a harmonica, and a bass, and he asked me to say which one he was better at. Well, I carried him over on the harmonica. Alright, I said, let’s got to the guitar. Next the bass – I said, “hold it right there baby, that’s the one.” Tom, it’s been a real pleasure to have you play with me. Roll baby.

– Fred McDowell


.....
Credits from the original release :

MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL
Live in New York
Oblivion Records
OD-1

Fred McDowell: vocals and electric bottleneck guitar
Tom Pomposello: bass guitar (2nd guitar on “Shake ‘Em On Down”)

§ Recorded on November 5, 1971, at the MacDougal Street Gaslight II, in New York City.

Produced by Fred Seibert
Executive Supervision by Richard H. Pennington, Jr.
Liner Photo: Valerie Wilmer
Logo Design: Lisa Lenovitz
Graphics: the Oblivionettes with Lisa Lenovitz
Typesetting: Bridget Deal and the Bridgettes
Thanks much to David Reitman, Steve Heller, Ruth Rock, Billy M. and Slim Langbord. Really.

Sidebar box:

If this disk is not available at your local superior record store, mail the tidy sume of $4.98 (foreign customers use I.M.O.) to:

Oblivion Records
P.O. Box X
Roslyn Heights, New York 11577

– Dealer inquiries invited –

Best of Oblivion?

My friend and colleague, Eric Homan, is a big music fan, and one day after reading my song blog asked if I'd do a theme week on the best of Oblivion. After a little hesitance --how can an owner be objective?-- I gave it a try. So, here you go, one track from each record. Did I blow it?

Nick was key.

No indie label can survive without the love and support of friends and family. In my case, that first line of sustenance came from my friend Nick Moy.

A classical music announcer at WKCR and a couple of years older than me, Nick had a razor sharp intellect, a dry martini wit, and a musical breadth that included everyone from Wolfgang Mozart to Art Blakey to Parliment. He watched at a distance while I futzed around with Oblivion's first two records and sat patiently with great advice while I prepared the third in his apartment. Things really kicked in when we became roomates in the middle of 1973.

Nick became one of the key Oblivion conseillers. From music to graphics to our stupid business 'decisions' Nick was a foil for all sorts of moments in our short history. He attended every session he could, always with words of encouragement. As a mainstream, hard bop fan he was a particularly enthusiastic champion of Joe Lee Wilson, and I've got to say we really released that session on the heels his ardor for that superior set.

We went out scouting acts together with thoughtful discussion afterward with Tom and I worrying over whether or not someone met our standards. Nick was an audiophile, and needless to say, his sonic standards influenced the ways we struggled (pretty unsuccessfully) to capture sound in a way that would satisfy his discerning ears.

And all that's to say nothing of the meals and cash he spotted me for all those years.

An independent record label recording blues and jazz wasn't as common in the 1970s as it is today. It was more expensive, technologically more primitive and complicated, and more of a passion play. And, at least the way we did, you lost money. Without a great pal like Nick Moy, Oblivion never would have gotten out of the gate. Thanks bud.

Big Shots from the Apple.

Oblivion's efforts at photography were pretty pathetic. I suppose when you've got severely limited resources something's got to go. With one exception, we either used snapshots or pretended we were doing something better when we weren't.

The most unusual results came from the Polaroid Big Shots that Roy Langbord and I had a brief infatuation with in 1974, and ended up as a bunch of the studio photography for "Blues From The Apple." The Big Shot was a portrait only camera with a fixed focal length. You needed to physically move the camera back and forth a few feet from the subject to bring it into proper focus! As was always the case with Polaroid there were a number of film options, including color, black & white, and, interestingly, black & white negative film, unusual for a consumer Polaroid.

The camera itself looked pretty unusual. Take a look at it here.

Andy Warhol made the Big Shot famous (with some) when he used it for a series of silkscreens he made in the 1970s.

A blues purist in the here and now.

Bulldogs photograph by iDream_in_Infrared's

Mississippi Fred McDowell & Honest Tom Pomposello > Bulldog Blues [Dance Remix]

Tom Pomposello was a blues purist, who didn't think the blues was pure. He sure believed in the purity of the men and women who made and listened to the blues. And sure, he thought the music performances he loved were pure. He trusted in the function, but he was flexible to the form. If you ever heard his defense of Fred McDowell playing the "country" blues on electric guitar you know what I mean. Blues was a living, breathing music, he figured. It didn't stay frozen before the advent of recording, and it shouldn't have after. It was a music that had constantly absorded all that was great from its contemporary settings, and whatever was relevant to the audience would stay.

So, it was no surprise --though it was a bit of a shock-- when Tom emailed me this track to see what I thought. Geez, I thought it was great. It's never been released anywhere, so heads up.

It sure is nothing like you've ever heard before. Try it, you'll see. A holy alliance of a legendary country blues musician and his student, mentor, and friend, the tracks were recorded in the winter of 1971 (they were, in fact, Fred's last recordings before he passed away in 1972), and overdubbed/remixed in 1998 by Tom (also his last project before he passed away in 1999) and Lenny Kravitz's partner, composer/producer/mixer Dave Baron. The 26 years between sessions is the secret sauce.

After recording Mississippi Fred McDowell's last album, Tom Pomposello asked Fred for some coaching at a demo session. Fred wanted to sing along with Tom's guitar, and Tom, nervous about his still forming skills thought he'd record them on two tracks, so decades in the future he could re-record his guitar when he might be good enough to stand next to a master. The tracks sat on the shelf while Tom built his talent, skills, and career to world class level.


When the time came to dust off the box of tape almost 30 years later, it occurred to Tom that to recreate a blues track would not add anything to anyone's life. He was as enamored as ever of Fred and wanted to continue his lifelong mission to introduce this great man to new generations. Alongside master producer Dave Baron he decided to deconstruct and rebuild the blues for the moment. Tom wiped his original guitar, and with Dave's keyboards and Tom's electric Dobro and harmonica, he lovingly rebuilt the classic blues lines interweaving with the beats and the sound of the dance floor. What better way to pay tribute to a music that was, after all, dance music at house parties throughout the Mississippi Delta in Fred's youth?

There's irony all the way through these five minutes. This was Fred McDowell's final recording. And, it was Tom Pomposello's final recording. Bulldog Blues [Dance Remix] is the lifetime of Fred and Tom's blues. Enjoy.
.....
Mississippi Fred McDowell: vocals
Honest Tom Pomposello: electric Dobro, harmonica
Dave Baron: keyboards

Produced by Tom Pomposello
Mixed by Dave Baron
1998

Marc Cohen, electric alto saxophone and tenor saxophone

From the liner notes of Friends:

Marc Cohen is from Philadelphia home of all good saxophonists. He has played with Chico Hamilton and was with Dreams for a short time. His alto saxophone is modified by an octave divider, two wah-wah pedals, a fuzz-tone, and a tape echo box. His tenor sax is quite ordinary.
....
Friends was completely Marc Cohen's record. He put together the musicians, the compositions, and altogether functioned fully as the "leader" of the date. It was only at the last second he bowed to his instincts (and, I believe, the sentiments of the era) and made it a collective album. It was much harder for us as an independent record company to promote this kind of record, but we were above all, a label oriented towards the artists' wishes.

Marc was a legend on the Columbia University campus, being their only jazzman of the time to make it in the professional world. We lost touch after Friends; we were a pretty terrible record company and didn't really know how to properly nuture relationships with the artists we released. But it made some sense when I heard he'd dropped out for ten years and studied piano, which was musically logically, given his approach to composition and playing.

Marc's completely rebuilt his reputation as an amazing musician known as Marc Copland with a sizable discography. Buy a few. If you're as knocked out by his innovation on Friends, you'll feel the same way about these discs.

Click here to listen to "5/8 Tune," one of Marc's composition's from the album.

Frank Olinsky and The Blues.

When I was four years old my parents drove up to our new house in one of the bedroom "developments" that were creating the suburbs of the 1950s and standing on a dirt hill in the backyard was the 5 years old Frank Olinsky, and a lifelong friendship began. He was already showing an awesome artistic talent and then, as teenagers, Frank was the neighborhood music freak who introduced me to records from the Monkees to the Mothers of Invention and everything in between. So Frank was an obvious choice when we needed an album cover for "Blues from the Apple."

It wasn't a particularly easy assignment. Tom Pomposello's vision of the LP was to expose what was essentially an underground music in New York, the blues. So while Charles Walker was nominally the leader of the sessions, it was actually a kind of anthology album (Charles sang on only five of the nine tracks). Frank solved the dilemma with his usual blend of grace, class, and humor, and properly represented "The Apple" of the 1970s with an eaten out apple core.

Frank went on to start a studio I hired to create the famous MTV logo and he rightfully became one of the great album cover designers. Check out his work, it's great (and his blog too, where he tells some of his best stories behind his designs).