Pat Blythe – The Women of Blues Revisited – Part IV – Maggie & Janis

I have “moved” Janis Joplin from my Women in Rock series to this one. When I started the “Women of ……” series, I felt she had a foot in both camps. However, the more I listen to Joplin the more I realize her feet were far more firmly planted in the blues as her voice alone attests. There have been comparisons over the years between Maggie Bell and Janis Joplin. They are reminiscent of each other and that starts with the hair. Scotland is steeped in the blues (just listen to the pipes and some of the Celtic music) but the seeds were planted, and the roots run to the core of the earth, in the U.S.’s “deep south”. Keep in mind, much of the southern U.S. became home to the Scots fleeing the oppressive English in the late 1700’s. Combine that with the African “slave” songs….mix with oppressive heat and stir….so, sometimes I wonder, who exactly influenced whom?

Pat Blythe: The Women of Blues Part Four – Maggie Bell

Pat Blythe continues her series The Women of Blues with this fourth installment on a Legendary Scottish singer….

Pat Blythe: The Women of Rock – Part 3

March 2 was the 10th anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson’s death and a picture of one of his quotes was making the rounds in Facebook. I found the subject matter rather timely! Many of us will find both the truth and the irony in what he had to say.

Pat Blythe: Women of Rock – Part 1

The impetus, for what has now become a series, was my discovery of an old vinyl record by Maggie Bell. I came across it going through one of my many purge cycles. Suicide Sal, released in 1975, was my introduction to the blues….I just didn’t know it then. I wasn’t in the habit of labeling types of music in my younger years, I just knew what I liked. Greg Simpson, who happened to be managing the now defunct Records on Wheels in London, Ontario, recommended the album, thinking I might like it. I loved it and still do. Thank you Greg!

Doug Thompson: CONFESSIONS OF A PROFESSIONAL ROCK AND ROLL INTERVIEWER – “OH YOKO, OH YOKO, MY LOVE WILL TURN YOU ON”

I’ve been gently reminded that at the end of my very first column months ago, I wrote that for my next one, I’d write about how Bobby Curtola almost got me killed In Edmonton (did that, check); how Rock and Roll Hall of Fame record producer and musician extraordinaire Quincy Jones kept me waiting (did that one too, check); and my dinner with Yoko Ono (oops, forgot to write about that, sorry).

So, here goes.