SPOILER WARNING
A late night gathering for non serious palaver that does not speak of that night’s show. Posting a spoiler will get you brollywhacked. You don’t want that to happen to you. It's a fate worse than a fate worse than death.
This Vent Hole (hereafter known as IVH), if lost or stolen will not be replaced nor will the purchase price be refunded. Violation of IVH Rules will result in expulsion without a refund. A copy of IVH Rules can be obtained from one or more members wearing tie dyed oxford shirts after submitting a written request. Admission to certain functions within the IVH may require additional innuendo, so enter at your own risk. Frivolity and silliness are highly recommended for all riders. Flame wars are expressly forbidden. Please consult your counselor, magistrate or religious functionary before usage.
WHO’S TALKING TO WHO?
Jimmy Kimmel: Emily Blunt, Kyle Chandler, Sturgill Simpson
Jimmy Fallon: Bruce Springsteen, J. Balvin, Mandy Moore
Stephen Colbert: James Corden, Fleet Foxes
Seth Meyers: Blake Shelton, Jenny Slate, My Morning Jacket, Kaz Rodriguez
James Corden: Andrew Rannells, Megan Thee Stallion
STICKS OVER MY SHOULDER
In Georgia it is said that a man who wants to learn to play guitar should take his box to the cemetery at night, sit on a grave and throw sticks over his shoulder.
The bluesmen on this album are the best I located while conducting field research for the Georgia Grassroots Music Festival from 1976 to 1979. There were few active blues singers left in the state. I would sometimes spend a week on the road without locating any bluesmen who could still play. The ones I did find, however, were quite good, still active, and boasted broad repertories. — George Mitchell, 1980
George Mitchell was the first person to record many bluesmen and women of central Georgia and the Lower Chattahoochee Valley. From the early 60’s to early 80’s, Mitchell’s field recordings captured many musicians who would not have been heard otherwise.
These songs by John Lee Ziegler (guitar, vox) with Rufus Jones (spoons) are just fantastic. Recorded in the front room of Ziegler’s home, you can hear family, neighbors and children in the background.
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John Lee Ziegler 'Used To Be Mine But Look Who Got Her Now' (late 1970s)
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John Lee Ziegler was born in 1929 in Houston County, where he still resides and works as a plumber. He started playing guitar at around age 15; his parents went to Macon to buy him a bicycle he had requested as a gift, but when they could not find the type he wanted, they bought him a guitar instead. “Well, I wasn’t too interested in it,” Ziegler recalled, “but I looked at it when they brought it back. I had a brother-in-law, Claude Milbrooks, who lived next to me, and he could play and I sort of got interested in it.” — George Mitchell, 1980
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John Lee Ziegler 'Poor Boy' (late 1970s)
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Ziegler is a left handed guitarist who plays with the bass strings at the bottom. As you can see in the pictures above, he takes a right handed guitar, strung normally but flips it to play it left handed.
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John Lee Ziegler 'If I Lose Let Me Lose' (late 1970s)
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BONUS: James Davis 'James’ Boogie' (late 1970s)
On the other side of Houston County, in Henderson, lives James Davis, a guitar player born in 1931. His father and uncle used to be well known in the area for their drum beating at social functions such as church picnics and house parties. No other instruments are used, simply a bass drum and a kettle drum. Davis always uses a drummer as an accompanist, and people in the area still refer to the music Davis plays as drum music.
Davis is probably the only country bluesman in Georgia who plays regular gigs for a black audience. Every Friday night, a large rickety room in a schoolhouse in Perry, the county seat of Houston, is transformed into a dance hall, where people of all ages gather to socialize and dance to the driving rhythm of Davis’ guitar. No admission is charged, but vodka and beer are sold for 75 cents. — George Mitchell, 1980
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All quotes from Sticks Over My Shoulder LP liner notes. Mississippi/Change Records, 2012
More on George Mitchell & his Georgia field recordings:
Blues in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley by Steve Bransford, Emory University
Hoot Your Belly by Brian Crews for Oxford American
Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart. Classic.