The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #7940 Message #48327
Posted By: Barry Finn
06-Dec-98 - 07:34 PM
Thread Name: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
The Fort Hill commune & Mel Lyman, were veiwed by the locals (I came out of Mission Hill, the hill across the street) as a group not to trusted but let them be & keep them at a distance as long as they don't bother the neighborhood. Mel was looked at as someone full of himself, thought he was a God & had coned a bunch to treat him like king of the hill & most felt the followers must've been blinded. Their neighborhood & the surrounding areas were some of the poorest, most drug infested & crime riddled in the city. While all us poor folk where praying for a way out, all were suspious of these middle class hippies looking to nest in what we saw as an unholy hell. As far as I can recall the community never took to them, always kept them at arms length but Mel's people never gave any reason for the locals to pit themselves against them. I caught Jim in the late 80' with the U & I band & he was as good as ever. I thought I read that he had been through here not to long ago but I can't recall how far back or who he was with. Barry