Corky Siegel Blog:
“My memory is a thing of the past - the future is an unopened present.”
Memoirs and revolations - one blog at a time
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I first met Sam Lay when he played with Elvin Bishop & Paul Butterfield at Big Johns in 65. To this day I've never heard such a brilliant group as that four-piece with Elvin's beautifully placed guitar licks. The whole band was being driven by Sam who was coming at you like four multi-colored locomotives.
Starring Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, Blues Legend; SAM LAY, and Indian Tabla / World Percussion Virtuoso; Kalyan Pathak.
I experienced a cathartic moment in the history of music performance I need to share. First, for some background, here's a quote that appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine when they interviewed me in 1971. I was talking about Sam Lay.
"He's the best blues drummer in the world. The best drummer of any sort I've ever heard. He has taste, he has ideas of his own. Most of my concepts of the blues are things he showed me.” - Corky Siegel 1971 Interview - Rolling Stone Magazine
THE LIBRETTO: We are living in an operetta; These are three YouTube videos - or “Scenes” inspired by a deep search for the right words.
Should old acquaintances be forgot?
I get goosebumps singing Auld Lang Syne but I never even knew what it meant.
Well I’m not the only one who didn’t understand these lyrics. Historians call this; “The song that no one knows.”
So last year as I was preparing to sing Auld Lang Syne at my Evanston NYE concert I was going to find out what it really means and sing a more literal translation. This morning I delved deeper, and as it turns out, Auld Lang Syne is a brilliant yogic treatise on how to begin the new year with a clear head and a big heart.
I was writing a book on the music biz from artist's perspective. It began as 180 pages and ended up being two pages - and now that it is completely edited - with the fluff removed - it’s just one page with four chapters a forward and an epilogue.
I was asked to host Stephan Hoskuldsson (from Iceland) as he transitioned from principal flutist with the Met to the principal flutist and soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The synchronicities that followed Stephan and I around are each astonishing stories in their own right. But I skip those to get right to some real magic for you.
Isn’t it wild that so many times when spontaneity comes unsought and sometimes unwelcomed, and just takes over, that it actually turns out to be your good friend?
The place mats were prints from Grant Wood landscapes. And I remember day after day being drawn deeply into the paintings, going into them and becoming part of them. As I gazed into my favorite place mat I would walk towards the artist's classic puffy lollipop trees and shrubs. I’d explore the little Inn or general store. I sat by the creek which ran along the stone building and watched a horse and buggy progress toward the willowy bridge. But then I was snapped back to the kitchen table as a glass of milk and a plate of bacon and eggs from Mom would obstruct my view. To this day Grant Wood renderings launch me into a nostalgic transcendence.
After more than a decade of silence the most popular Siegel-Schwall recordings (The RCA/Wooden Nickel albums) are now speaking up, with the re-release on Wounded Bird Records. Learn how we saved over $400,000, turned over our most popular albums, and had a blast doing it. ALBUMS ARE AVAILABLE HERE
So many times people come up to me and ask; "Why aren't you more famous?" Sometimes you just have to make good choices and maybe let fame and fortune suffer accordingly.
This song/video by Holly and I raises an essential question about our active relationship to humanity and nature.
Just spoke with Jesse Colin Young this morning. Remember?
"Come on People now smile on your brother, everybody get together try and love one another right now."
Siegel-Schwall's first trip to San Francisco was in the Summer of Love 1967.
The profound power and beauty of music is inherent in the dance of the ecstatic musical elements that the artist gets to rearrange to his own delight.
This is a story and a contemplation that gets pretty deep into the question of how music effects society and the difference between music and words. Don't miss this one. It even dips into politics.
Here's an official status report on Siegel-Schwall
A brilliant fan's brain fixes the lyrics in Half Asleep at the Wheel, without even knowing he did it. I had already spent 40 years trying to fix it without success.
That's me and Sugar Blue
Kindness requires thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness leads to wisdom. And there is no greater strength than wisdom in creating best strategy, based in knowledge and experience, which can easily defeat the most crazed enemies in our world - outer or inner.
After 40 years of study and experimentation I've seen the same results over and over and over, and though this is way counter-intuitive I can tell you with a completely straight face; "Expression in music is not a skill," ... and this is great news!