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Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:

05 Dec 98 - 08:17 PM (#48196)
Subject: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From:

JIM KWESKIN spent two nights at my home in Richmond, Va. after a "Wolftrap" performace. He had just finished a record (Jim Kweskin's "America").We had played a regular gig in the early sixties at the Club 47 Mount Auburn Just off Harvard Square. When I lost track of Jim he was very much caught up in the Mel Lyman mystique. Can anyone give me any news of Jim or (in particular) a means of finding him? Peter Stanley (Bojangles)


06 Dec 98 - 01:51 AM (#48225)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Art Thieme

Jim was teaching finger pickin' at a beat up old music shop (The Fret Shop) in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood in Dec. of '59 or '60. I played my first gig ever at a coffeehouse across the street---The Limelight. I taught beginning guitar at the store at the same time. I remember Jim playing on Ella Jenkins radio show "THE MEETIN' HOUSE" on WSBC-FM in Chicago then. He was a wonderful solo ragtime picker---songs like:San Francisco Bay Blues, The Cuckoo, Days of '49, Stacker Lee---all of which Fred Holstein and I learned and sang around for the next 4 decades. I still have a tape of Jim on Ella's radio show back then.

Later, in the 70's, Jim was a solo and I opened for him at Charlotte's Web--a grand club in Rockford, Illinois. Went hunting with him for 78 rpm records at TOAD HALL, a wonderful used book and record store in Rockford. Think I've got photos I took of that somewhere packed away. (Toad Hall is still there!) Opened for him another time at Richard Harding's club, THE QUIET KNIGHT, on Belmont & Sheffield in Chicago. Then heard of the Mel Lyman thing too. After that, no word at all... Sorry.

Art


06 Dec 98 - 10:45 AM (#48262)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Ralph Butts

Re: The Mel Lyman thing.

First heard of this here and decided to investigate, since many of my music heros were part of the Cambridge folk scene. Makes for sobering reading, though.

I found a wealth of information at:

http://www.trussel.com/f_mel.htm

.....Tiger


06 Dec 98 - 12:38 PM (#48281)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Earl

I saw Jim Kweskin in the 80s playing on the street in Harvard Square with a group called the U and I Band. They were handing out new age religious tracts.


06 Dec 98 - 12:39 PM (#48282)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Barbara

I had several friends sucked into the Mel Lyman/Avatar thing in the late sixties/early seventies, and only one of them came out of it intact. I heard thru him that it was very hard on Jim.
Fortunately for me I had the wrong sign so they didn't even try to recruit me.
You can still catch recent recordings of Maria Muldar, she's the only one of the group that I have seen still recording.
Blessings,
Barbara


06 Dec 98 - 12:53 PM (#48288)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Earl

Geoff Muldaur has a brand new CD out and Fritz Richmond is playing jug in John Sebastian's J-Band.


06 Dec 98 - 07:34 PM (#48327)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Barry Finn

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


06 Dec 98 - 10:06 PM (#48347)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: John in Brisbane

I dragged out an old vinyl of Jim Kweskin's America about a week ago to see what material might be worth posting from it. (will post Old Rugged Cross later in the day).

A few thoughts struck me as I listened:

- The whole Mel Lyman bit, including the liner notes and references to star signs is a complete mystery to me. I bought the album because it had Kweskin's name on it. Goodness knows how or why I ever picked up on his music - maybe it was the influence of the Captain Matchbox band in Melbourne in the early 70's.

- I just love the cloying sentimentality of Amelia Earhart's Last Flight, and sang it recently at a friend's wake - never seen or heard it anywhere else.

- Was wondering whatever happened to Kweskin.

- Noted that there were virtually no well known jug band songs in the DT. I'm sure there's a ton of material available for someone to enter the Great Song Posting Contest.

Regards

John


06 Dec 98 - 10:56 PM (#48352)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Barry Finn

John in Brisbane, did Jim do or write ( if he did they're not in the DT), Jug Band Music

I was down in Havanna, eating cream & banana when the heat just made me faint
I thought I was cross eyed I thought I was lost I'd began to see the pictures they'd paint
All the relatives gathered to see whats' the matter, the doctor came to see had I died
Then the doctor said to give him jug band music it seems to make him feel just fine

don't remember any more.
Another of his, I think was Wild About My Loving, which I think was also covered by John Sebastian. (this also isn't in the DT, in case someone has it). Barry


06 Dec 98 - 11:08 PM (#48353)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: John in Brisbane

Barry, only just remembered I have a Lovin Spoonful album from 1966 or 67, with a lot of songs like Wild About My Lovin' (which I think Sebastian wrote). I have the impression though that a lot old jug songs were written in the 30's - probably based on the feel of the tunes more than anything else. Not a field that I know much about, just like it, particularly live performances. In Australia Mick Conway seems to be the one person who has made his mark with this music.

Regards
John


06 Dec 98 - 11:25 PM (#48354)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: DonMeixner

Many of those tunes mentioned are rearrangements of earlier tunes that Sebastian and others played in The Even Dozen Jug Band. Songs like My Gal, Wild About My Lovin', Fishin Blues were recorded earlier in other arrangements. I don't know if Kweskin played with The EDJB or not but he and Sebastian were certainly contemporaries in the whole Village music scene in the early 60's.


07 Dec 98 - 01:21 AM (#48370)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Barbara

I always loved the JKJB's rendition of "When I was a Cowboy, out on the Western Plains" Course, I loved anything Maria Muldar (now Andretti? something like that) sang.
Blessings,
barbara


07 Dec 98 - 03:25 AM (#48375)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Bojangles

I am awed by everybody's help and have questions and perhaps a few useful remembrances. I have a reel to reel tape I recorded of a concert that Jim and I did at Boston College on 29 October 1959 to quite a sizeable crowd. The quality is what you got with a Wollensak tape recorder---not much, but at least you can hear every word. I listened to it last spring for the first time in 38 years or so. Jim sang Stagolee, San Francisco Bay, "Where are you going my little one, little one," I'm My Own Grandpa. Then together we did Crying Holy unto the Lord, I am a Pilgrim, When I lay my Burden Down. I recall wincing as he introduced the song that goes, "The shells in the Ocean shall be my Deathbed, The fish in deep waters swim over my head"as some of the most beautiful folk poetry he'd ever heard. Rolf Kahn, Rick von Schmidt, and Gino Foreman were seen as the sort of tripartite rock foundation of the folk scene around Harvard Square. The Club 47 Mt Auburn, headed by Paula Kelly, was the focal point for aspiring performers. "Rolf Kahn's Last Night at the Club 47"(In the spring of '61, I believe) brought out every performer for miles and the playing went on until the police insisted that we either leave or applaud by snapping fingers only. Several of us recorded the evening which finally broke up at about 4:00 AM Jim Kweskin's playing is well represented on that pre-jugband recording. The hour is late and I want to express my appreciation to Art Thieme, Ralph Butts, Earl( I greatly admired Fritz Richmond!), Barbara, and Barry Fin. Thank you all! Ralph Butts by listing the address of the Mel Lyman page has given me wads of data to read. In three sentences or so can anyone tell me what the commune was and what happened to it? I'll be back after some sleep and research. Peter Stanley (Bojangles)


07 Dec 98 - 03:57 AM (#48382)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: bassen

A lot of the songs recorded by JK and the Jug Band were old 30s songs, originally recorded by black jug bands. I have a couple of vinyls at home with songs like Boodle Am Rag; I'm mudcatting from work so I'd have to get the references later if you're interested.

You can find some jug band lyrics at the Jug Band Rag http://nj5.injersey.com/~jugband/. Another site for jugband music is www.jugband.org, all the mysteries of jug playing revealed! Sorry I can't do that click-here-bit yet.

bassen


07 Dec 98 - 06:23 AM (#48389)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: dwditty

AH..Cambridge. The only ones I heard of from the JKJB are Fritz Richmond and Geoff Muldaur. Geoff and Rick Von Schmidt both played (on separate occassions) at the great New Haven Health Food Supermarket concerts - yes that's right - the balcony of a super market served as the local folk venue for a time. I believe Rick lives in Westport, CT now. and Geoff in Northern CA. Last I heard, Fritz lived in Rhode Island. Geoff played with Fritz and, I think, Pierre Beauregard (harmonica). His daughter Jenny sang on a couple of tunes as well. Sam and Ann Charters were there - Sam had to remind Geoff of his aborted 1961 trip, broom in hand, to Lemon Jefferson's grave.

I think I'll go have a listen to JKJB's Garden of Joy album - it's been a while.

DW


07 Dec 98 - 06:36 AM (#48390)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au

John, Mel Lyman was the harmonica player for the band. He developed into something of a Guru and started a commune.

The book "Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers" (I forget the author) has biographies of various harmonica players and Lyman is included in case you want to read more details.

Murray


07 Dec 98 - 12:08 PM (#48425)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Earl

As far as I know, Jim Kweskin didn't write songs, or at least did not record them. "Wild About My Lovin'" was written by Jim Jackson, a Memphis musician who recorded in the 1930's (he also wrote "Grizzley Bear" which was covered by the Youngbloods in the 60's.) A lot of Kweskin's Jug Band material came from The Memphis Jug Band and Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, two great Jug Bands from the 30's.

Another great verion of "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight" was recorded by the Dirdy Birdies Jug Band. They are a New Jersey jug band who have been together since 1965 and worth checking out.


07 Dec 98 - 12:47 PM (#48427)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Allan S.

THank everyone for the information about Jim Queskin's jug band I often wondered what became of him. Now here's an other one What became of the Golden Nectar Jug Band??? with a singer called Susie-Q THey sang around the New Haven, CT. area What were their real names, And what was the name of Susie-Q?? Lets not joke about Amelia Earhart It just that she flew so high that she could never come down. Must go now and get the words to Grizzley Bear. I never did know if she did a dance called "the Grizzley Bear", or did she do a dance called"THe Grizley", bare. Allan. S


07 Dec 98 - 01:01 PM (#48429)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Allan S.

Back again. Help, cant find the words to Grizzly Bear in the the DB Does anyone have it ?? I remember Paul "Shakey" Richards singing it at U-Conn in the early 1950's


07 Dec 98 - 02:53 PM (#48443)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: DWDitty

To Allan S. - Don't know about the Golden Nectar Jug Band but Peewee Menta's Blue Lights is the current local jug band favorite - Lot of fun.


07 Dec 98 - 04:18 PM (#48451)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Will

It's interesting (frustrating?) how little information liner notes sometimes give about the early writers of some songs, like "Wild about my loving". I've got a recent Kweskin complitation from Vanguard that has the song on it. While they tell you that Geoff Muldaur sang the lead, they credit the song-writing to "Copyright control", whatever that is.

Kweskin does get joint writing credit on "My gal", along with Sebastian, Yanovsky, BooneButler, and Jacobsen (some of those names I recall from Loving Spoonful).


08 Dec 98 - 03:01 AM (#48520)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Art Thieme

I believe "Jacobson" is Eric Jacobson (banjo player) who, with Pete Childs and Dwayne Storey and Stu Ramsey, was THE KNOBLICK UPPER TEN THOUSAND---a sort of Bluegrassy-Kingston Trio-ish mix of a group in Chicago in the 60s. Made a couple LPs for Mercury Records. Later, I seem to think that Eric Jacobson was an agent for the Lovin' Spoonful and went on to write for Saturday Night Live.

Art


08 Dec 98 - 12:23 PM (#48574)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Felipa

I noticed a mention of 'Maria Muldar (now Andretti?)' Do you mean d'Amato, which was her name before she teamed up with Geoff Muldar, or has she got another surname now?


08 Dec 98 - 12:41 PM (#48575)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Joe Offer

Hi, Felipa - here's what the All-Music Guide says about Maria Muldaur:
Singer Maria Muldaur was born Maria D'Amato in New York City (Sept 12, 1943). In the 1960s, she was a member of the New York-based Even Dozen Jug Band and later of the Boston-based Jim Kweskin Jug Band, which also included her husband, Geoff Muldaur, from whom she was divorced in 1972. She found solo success with the sultry single "Midnight at the Oasis," which was featured on her debut solo album, Maria Muldaur, in 1973, and she followed with several similar albums, though her commercial success declined. In the 1980s, Muldaur began performing as a Christian artist. She continues to work the club circuit successfully while issuing records like 1994's Meet Me at Midnite and 1996's Fanning the Flames. -- William Ruhlmann, All-Music Guide
-Joe Offer-


08 Dec 98 - 02:17 PM (#48587)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Barbara

Sorry, Felipa, I should have said she was using her maiden name again and I couldn't remember exactly what it was, only that it was Italian and began with 'A'.
I have always loved what she does with "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight". Sure wish I could sing like that.
Blessings,
Barbara


08 Dec 98 - 02:25 PM (#48588)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Joe Offer

Hi, Barbara - I was wondering if she had changed her name, but Maria Muldaur was billed as "Maria Muldaur' when she appeared in Davis, CA, on 12/5. I can't say I've liked her recent recordings that I've heard - and those were under the name of Muldaur.
-Joe Offer-


08 Dec 98 - 04:17 PM (#48596)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Earl

She has certainly had an interesting career. I believe she has also appeared in a musical on Broadway and was a member of the Grateful Dead for one tour.


08 Dec 98 - 10:00 PM (#48629)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Pete Peterson

Wish somebody had some information on the original subject of this thread: whatever happend to Jim Kweskin himself? The Golden Nectar Goodtime Jug Band included such CT musical celebrities, I believe, as Stacy Phillips and Dave Howard-- will write these gents. and ask them for recollections. Some years ago Jim Rooney put together a wonderful book about the Boston folk scene called Baby, Let Me Follow You Down; which covers the lives of many of the people mentioned here through about the early 1980s, when it was written. Probably out of print but highly recommended. PETE


09 Dec 98 - 05:03 AM (#48673)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Joe Offer

Hi, Pete - The All-Music Guide say Geoff just came out with a new album, "Secret Handshake," in November 1998. Here's the review:
Geoff Muldaur, alumnus of Jim Kweskin's Jug Band and Paul Butterfield's Better Days, came back in 1998 with his first solo album in several years, and the self-assuredness that permeates it was well worth the wait. Muldaur, always an eccentric interpreter of other people's material (his version of "Brazil" pervades the soundtrack of the Terry Gilliam film with the same name), takes on a batch of his favorite old country-blues tunes and adds a couple of atmospheric originals to the mix as well. But rather than the standard, reverent solo acoustic approach, Muldaur definitely puts his own touch on each and every obscure chestnut that's here, with nary a one resembling the original version. Recorded over the course of a year in a variety of studios across the U.S.A., has assembled a first-rank cast of players including Steve Bruton on guitar, Bill Rich on bass, and Larry Thompson on drums, with Hal Ketchum, Sean Hopper, Lenny Pickett, David Grisman, Amos Garrett and John Magnie all making guest appearances. Highlights include "The Wild Ox Moan," "This World Is Not My Home," "Alberta," "Mistreated Mama" and a pair of Muldaur originals, "Got to Find Blind Lemon, Part 1" and "I Believe I'll Go Back Home." Muldaur has created something unique and original with this disc; your standard-fare white country-blues album this is not. -- Cub Koda , All-Music Guide
there isn't much biographical information, but the review is helpful.
-Joe Offer-


30 Dec 98 - 02:34 AM (#51382)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Barry Finn

Well it seems Jim is still making the rounds. I just recieved the Jan/feb schedule for Club Passim (Cambridge, Mass). Jim is doing a gig there Sun, Feb. 28. The add states, I'll quote, Jim Kweskin & Samoa with the Swinging Tenants". It doesn't say who any of the other 4 people pictured are. Barry


30 Dec 98 - 06:11 AM (#51397)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: dwditty

I picked up the Geoff Muldaur CD - Secret Handshake - and like it a lot after only a couple of listenings. While the review says that he has created something unique, I agree when considering the "white blues genre." It sounds a lot like the Geoff Muldaur I used to listen to (yes, he does his version of Chevrolet again), and it's great to hear him after all these years.


30 Dec 98 - 09:33 AM (#51419)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Earl

I agree, "Secret Handshake" is a fine recording. It's great to hear that voice again. My only complaint is he doesn't play any mandolin on it (some nice guitar, work though.)


30 Dec 98 - 11:56 AM (#51427)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Mike Billo

Geoff Muldaur will be performing at the Freight and Salvage coffee house in Berkely CA Sat Jan 16. Fritz Richmond is a regular contributor to the outstanding Jug Band Rag at http://nj5.injersey.com/~jugband/ As for Maria Muldaur I am unable to give an objective opinion of her work after having been her opening act a few years ago and witnessed her delivering the most obnoxious, arrogant prima donna routine I've ever seen. Telling everyone how unworthy they were to be in her prescence, and then going onstage and running the crowd off with a bunch of cacophonous "soul" music. Yuck!


30 Dec 98 - 02:09 PM (#51444)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Mary Ann

This year Maria Muldaur put out a children's CD of dubious appeal to children; it's more for grownup Maria fans.


09 Apr 99 - 09:05 AM (#69372)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: John in Brisbane

Refresh, as per recent discussions about Jug music.


09 Apr 99 - 02:50 PM (#69448)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Mark Roffe

Allen S.: Grizzly Bear lyrics - When I woke up this morning she was gone (2x)/I used to love to watch her dance the Grizzly Bear/I'll bet she's gone to 'Frisco to dance it there/But when I woke up this morning she was gone/Listen to me people, everybody knows it's true/The more you do for others the less they do for you/She left town and she throwed me down/Now she's gone, gone. -- this is basically the Geoff Muldar version...but Jessie Colin Young & the Youngbloods did a nice version that went into a bouncy-back-and-forth part of: She did not even (did not even, did not, did not) tell me (tell me, tell me, tell me) why (why) she had gone/she did not even (did not did not....).

Ralph Butts: thanks much for the link to Lyman stuff. Reading through it should keep me busy for a while.

A friend whose brother was involved with the Lyman family told me years ago (like 1973) that Jim Kweskin became quite weakened by some aspect of the Lyman activities, and that for a while he was know as "Squishy" within the family because he became ultra-complacent.

EDJB and Kweskin band were major influences on me in the '60's and beyond. I was fortunate to see/hear Kweskin's band play in a small club in D.C., and to meet Maria Muldar in a small store just before a gig at I think it was the Cafe a go-go in NYC. I think my heart is still somewhere in that store.

Mark


24 Oct 99 - 11:55 AM (#127477)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Stefan Wirz

On my Paul Geremia discography you'll find a list of all his LPs/CDs and a link towards his Official Homepage.


24 Oct 99 - 12:27 PM (#127489)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Stefan Wirz

Oops - last message should have been on another thread - sorry !


24 Oct 99 - 01:40 PM (#127510)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: CarlZen

I recently read (possibly in a recent issue of Dirty Linen - the one which has Sebastian's picture on the cover and an article about his newest J-Band recording which features not only Fritz Richmond but also Geoff Muldaur) that Kweskin makes his main residence LA and is still involved in the Avatar organization (the commune which Lyman started). He (they?) has a construction company and at the time of the interview he was to be in New York doing some construction work there and people were hoping to pull him out of his performance hiatus. I wish I could remember the exact source of this information. If I discover it I will post it here.

--Bill


25 Oct 99 - 11:39 AM (#127775)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Stewie

Pete Petersen,

Eric Von Schmidt and Jim Rooney's 'Baby Let Me Follow You Down' 2nd edition is still in print. I bought a copy earlier this year. It is published by University of Massachusetts Press and, as you say, is a great read - entertaining and informative.


25 Oct 99 - 11:01 PM (#128011)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: woody

Peter; For some info on Jim Kweskin try http//mh005.infi.net/~jugband/...Jim Kweskin infrequently plays at Club Passim, (formerly Club 47) in Harvard Square? Thought it was in the Beacon Hill neighborhood...but give the above URL a try. It is the on-line address of the Jugband Rag.


25 Oct 99 - 11:21 PM (#128024)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Barry Finn

Hi Woody, I don't think there's been a coffeehouse in the Beacon Hill area for at least 2 decades. Passim's has been a favorite for alot of the 60's performers, many started there or at the Club 47 as it was known before it was Passim's. During the 70's folk music was a bit scarce i& around Boston (well, relatively speaking anyway). At the time Passim's along with the Boston Folk Song Society & the one man dynamo folk music promoter, Peter Johnson (who, to those who know him has just resurfaced on the folk music scene after maybe 15 yrs) who all worked & assocated together kept the music rolling with the help of people like Jim K, Spider John, Dave Van Ronk & many of the Irish & Brittish Isle or which Peter was mostly responsible for. I think I'll start a thread on Peter. Barry


18 Oct 00 - 02:46 AM (#321588)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Stefan Wirz

Just added a Jim Kweskin discography to my 'American Music' site
Stefan


18 Oct 00 - 10:07 AM (#321747)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Pinetop Slim

A reporter doing a feature story on Fort Hill around 1969 or '70 came back with this story: "Mel Lyman said to me: I'd never sit next to you. You're so empty I'd be afraid I'd fall in."
The reporter howled with laughter after telling the story. Good way to deal with such a great insult.


18 Oct 00 - 11:01 AM (#321783)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: GUEST,The Invisible Blazoona

If you haven't visited Stefan Wirz' site (mentioned above), you should do so.

I believe it s the best collection of American Roots music links on the web IMHO.


18 Oct 00 - 11:14 AM (#321797)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: LR Mole

Gotta go teach. Back in a few hours. A quick digression: author of review above, Cub Koda (ex-Brownsville Station) has, I believe, passed away.


18 Oct 00 - 02:59 PM (#322007)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: LR Mole

Back again. Finn, here are the other two verses of Jug Band Music: I was floatin' in the ocean greased in suntan lotion when I got wiped out by a Beach Boy/ He was surfin' when he hit me but jumped off his board to get me and he dragged me by the armpits like a child's toy/ And we staggered into land with all the waiters eatin' sandwiches and tried to mooch a towel from the hoi-polloi/And the doctor... So if you ever get sickly, get Sis to run quickly to the dusty closet shelf/And pull down a washboard and play a guitar a guitar chord and do a little do- it- yourself/Call on your neighbors to put down their labors, and come and play the hardware in time/ 'Cause the doctor said give him jug band music; it seems to make him feel just fine. I recall this credited to John B. Sebastian. One more foggy question: didn't Kweskin beat the snot out of a reporter from Rolling Stone a few years ago?


05 Sep 01 - 11:39 PM (#543101)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: GUEST,Sonja

I was going to ask if someone knew this. Glad to see it's already been posted. Great song! Sonja


06 Sep 01 - 10:23 AM (#543360)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: Armen Tanzerian

- I think Jim Kweskin still lives on Fort Hill in Boston.

- If Jim performed Red River Dave's Amelia Earhart's Last Flight, he almost certainly learned it from the Greenbriar Boys, who were doing it from about 1960 on.

- Geoff Muldaur has twoCDs in print: The Secret Handshake and Password.

- Jug Band Music is obviously a modern (1960's) tune by John Sebastian.

- Club 47 (that is the full name), was located at 47 Mount Auburn Street until forced to move. They found a location owned by Harvard in a relatively modern building on Palmer Street, right in the middle of Harvard Square. There are only two or three addresses on Palmer Street, which is almost an alley, but the board of Club 47 got the City of Cambridge to renumber their location as 47 Palmer Street, so the name would still make sense. In the late 'sixties, Club 47 closed for good. After a couple of years, the location was reopened as a card and gift shop called Passim, but so many people kept asking where the music was, that the new owners started booking folk acts in the evenings. Years of serious mismanagement nearly brought Passim to extinction, until the ownership passed to a non-profit board, who renamed it Club Passim as an echo of Club 47. ("Club 47" was copyrighted some years ago.) Now, after all these years, Cambridge again has a thriving folk club in the same room that was the final incarnation of the legendary Club 47.


08 May 17 - 10:25 PM (#3854007)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin, song, Hanna
From: GUEST,Bob Feuer


08 May 17 - 10:32 PM (#3854008)
Subject: RE: Jim Kweskin of jugband fame.:
From: GUEST,Bob Feuer

Anyone have the chords and lyrics for the song "Hannah", as recorded on the Jim Kweskin Jug Band's album, "Relax Your Mind"?

"Hanna, Won't You Open That Door"


feuerbob@gmail.com