solo-1

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“There are cool cats and there are cool Memphis cats but no one, not
Elvis, not Jerry Lee, not even the Wolf came close to epitomizing Memphis
and cool like Jim Dickinson did. He was the Top Cat Daddy, an
inspiration, a mentor and my friend.

If you knew his music and understood his role as one of the links between
black and white culture and between blues and rock and roll, you know what
I'm talking about. If he is unfamiliar to you, now's as good time as any
to get to know him, even though he's checked out of the motel.”

--Joe Nick Patoski


For more about Jim go to
http://www.zebraranch.com
http://joenickp.blogspot.com/2009/08/james-luther-dickinson.html

Monday, November 22, 2010

"One More Silver Dollar...." The legacy continues tonight.

     In the fall of 1970 at Criteria Studio,  Jim wrote this in his memoir, The Search for Blind Lemon,  

    "The Allman Brothers were in Studio “A” working on their second Atlantic/Capricorn album.  It was really good.  (They recorded live instrumental tracks and overdubbed leads and vocals).  One of their drummers, Butch Trucks, had done his first session at Ardent on  National.  I remembered him.  I don’t think he remembered me.  Duane was super friendly, as usual, and this was the first time I met little brother, Greg, whose voice still held traces of the great John Hurley, who had trained them in Nashville.... 

     Tonight, November 22, 2010, forty years after the above story was written, Jim's greatest legacy, sons Luther and Cody Dickinson, are part of a concert in New York at the Roseland Ballroom honoring Allen Woody, as described by Kevin Johnson in no treble:

    "After bassist Allen Woody‘s untimely passing in 2000, a tribute concert called “One for Woody” was held to honor him, featuring the Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh & , ,Friends and more. Now, ten years after the original concert, a second show aptly titled “Another One for Woody” will take place to honor the fallen four-stringer and raise money for music education in schools. The concert will have Woody’s two main bands, the Allman Brothers and Gov’t Mule, headlining with The North Mississippi Allstars Duo in support. The event promises to be a night to remember, as it will also include “many special guests who were touched by Allen’s friendship, music and memory.”

    "When the Allstars first started we toured a lot with Gov't Mule," said Luther Dickinson.  "We loved it when Woody would sit in and play with us."

    Don't miss Cody's account of this gig on his blog, my mind is rambling,  http://www.codydickinson.tumblr.com/  It will touch your heart.

   The beat goes on....

Monday, November 15, 2010

11.15.41

Pour some on the floor and smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Don't let them get you.
Happy Birthday, Pops.- LAD

zxecwz hr6tfrgb- LRD

Children's Music

"I've always viewed rock and roll as children's music."
-Jim Dickinson


Cody Dickinson (3) Luther Dickinson (6)
Christmas, 1979, Arrow Crest Farm


09 Can t Beat the Kid (Part 2) by Jim Dickinson's Legacy

"You Can't Beat The Kid" Jim Dickinson, keyboards, vocals, Luther, guitar;
Cody, drums; featuring Alvin Youngblood Hart, guitar

Monday, November 1, 2010

One More for the Road

It was July 13, 1978, that afternoon in New Orleans when Jim and Keith
laughed about the fiasco in Fordyce, Arkansas (see blog below). Soon it
was time for Keith to get ready to play the New Orleans Superdome
before the largest indoor crowd ever gathered together in the United States.
Keith told us we could ride to the gig in the limousines with the band,
but it would be cooler if we could get there ourselves. He made sure
we had the highest level access passes. No problem getting there, but
inside the backstage area of the Superdome there were seven levels of
security to pass through .We made it through six of them, but the biggest,
most hostile security guard I ever saw stopped us at the seventh level.
Jim scrawled his signature skull on a scrap of paper, signed it, and handed
it to a lackey inside the chain link fence, "Give this to Keith."

Our friend, the girl who got things done, came bustling out and told
the security guard to let us in. He shook his head. She put her hands on
her hips and said, "Keith is the man. Are you going to tell the man he
can't have what he wants?"

That did it. We were backstage with the band, their ladies, and Buzz
Aldrin, the astronaut who walked on the moon. Suddenly, the musicians
were leaving for yet another secret hide-out, a small contractor's house in
the center of the fenced off area. I scurried behind them, wanting to stay
close but knowing I couldn't invade the inner sanctum. Jim sat down inside
the trailer. Keith and Jim began to play. I was alone, terrified the mean
security guard would snatch me up and throw me out. But I told myself, as
long as I can see Jim's hat, I'll be safe.  And I was.

Jim never told me what the Rolling Stones said to him that night.  Some
things are sacred.  As Jim wrote in his memoirs, The Search for Blind
Lemon, "Only the players share the truth."