Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/06/dr-john-the-night-tripper-rip.html
…
The one and only Dr. John, see you in the Hoodoo Voodoo!
Saw this cat perform live twice. Too bad he didn’t have 8 more lives in 'im.
See you at the hotdog stand in the sky. I’ll bring the soda pop and porkchop.
Oh.
Here go our heroes.
Watch them as they go.
=^(
I heard this number an hour ago on KEXP and I never knew it existed before. It’s just huge.
edit: it’s Dr. John and Lou Reed doing Perfect Day.
Also recently
I was introduced to Dr. John by Spiritualized, of all things, and then discovered Gris-Gris, which is a dang masterpiece.
Ouch. Too fucking soon. I’ve had him in heavy listening rotation lately, an looking forward to the next time I see him. Guess I’ll have to go down to St. James Infirmary to do that now.
Walk on gilded splinters, sir. No one could do it like you!
Brother John is gone.
fuck.
wwoz.org is playing a tribute right now
He was really into New Orleans music and was very aware that he was mining a deep vein established by his great predecessors including Allen Touissant, Huey Smith, and Professor Longhair. He helped keep the tradition alive.
So soon after Leon Redbone.
My first exposure to Dr. John was on Redbone’s classic Christmas album.
“There must have been some magic in that old silk hat he wore…”
RIP
I got to see Dr. John a few times, thankfully. On a short list of my all time favorites. This really sucks.
Thank you Mac. You were desitively bonnaroo.
The first time I remember hearing guilded splinters, I was 16 or 17 and borrowed the car to go out for one of the first times. The drinking age was still 18 in New Orleans and plenty of places didn’t enforce that. On the way home enjoying one of my first tastes of freedom as a pseudo-adult WWOZ played Walk on Guilded Splinters and it seemed like the greatest sounding thing imaginable.
I’d kind of forgotten about him until someone put on the recent “Locked Down” album at a party-- whooo-wee, crazy groovy! Good to know he still had a lot of great music in him so late in his career, and I’m thankful for what he gave us.
I used to think Dr. John had a hook hand, which freaked me out. He didn’t have a hook hand. Then I realized I was thinking of Dr. Hook (Ray Sawyer), of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. He did not have a hook hand, either. Who was it that had a hook hand?
Me too! I’ve got to go listen to that track again. That’s 17 minutes worth hearing.
Captain Hook, but he wasn’t much of a musician.
(check about 26 seconds in)
In the same film Captain Hook borrow Tom Waits’ voice to sing Little Drop of Poison.