This has to be my favourite pic of Alan Wilson -- co-founder, guitarist/vocalist, harmonicist, and songwriter/arranger of the greatest blues-boogie band America has ever produced, Canned Heat.It shows the tender side of "Blind Owl" -- one that was evidenced by his oneness with nature. One of our readers, who idolised the band after Woodstock, said it best: "He might have been nearly blind, but when it came to natures beauty, he was pure 20-20 perfect."
And it made me think: Suppose we all thought like Alan, and had the same concern for the natural wonder around us; suppose we all were to study the flora and fauna, the animals and aviary -- the majesty of nature as a whole -- and make a firm resolution to preserve it.
To borrow from Sam Cooke: "What A Wonderful World (This Would Be)"
Now, as you read Rebecca Winter's amazing biography, Blind Owl Blues, you not only feel as though Wilson's a friend of yours, but you also feel as if you're there ... in the Sixties again! From his birth to consummate study of the blues, to his translation of those blues with the band that he and Hite built -- all the way to his untimely death in the sleeping bag behind "Bear" Hite's house -- she draws you into each chapter, as though you're witnessing it all in person! Her descriptive prowess is amazing!
Trying to write a review of this book is like trying to describe a forest scene, tree-by-tree: every time you read it, there's something new and riveting you'll find that you'll want to explore.But you'll find a concise bio of Wilson on the site dedicated to him. Rebecca takes this bio and brings it to life in a way that many of authors only wish they could.
Believe me -- this is a book you'll cherish ... and read again and again!
Now, to order "Blind Owl Blues", just Click Here. And to help keep Alan's name and love alive, remember what his half-sister, Heidi, wrote:
"Feeling a strong need to do something for Alan, my family has recently launched alanwilsoncannedheat.com and purchased a Redwood Memorial Grove Naming in his name through the Save the Redwoods League. Donations to this memorial can be made on our site via a link to the SRWL."
C'mon, yardbirds ... do it for "Blind Owl" ... do it for our PLANET, okay??
More coming up on the flip side ...
2 comments:
I am going to buy this book.
The biggest loser in the whole sage was Henry Vestine who did not play Woodstock. If you ask any musician they would have given a lot to play there. Alan Wilson sings totally out of tune during "Going up the Country" but it does not matter as Canned Heat are one of the best acts there.
So I do not feel sorry for Alan Wilson as he is indelibly etched now in the annals of modern musical history
On another note..
September 1970 was a very very bad month!!!
First Alan Wilson then Jim Hendrix.
But there are big differences here.
If you look at the last recorded gig of Alan singing "Human Condition" then you get comments saying how "depressed" he was. NO Wrong he was never a very demonstrative performer and he looked perfectly happy to me on stage, then playing with John Lee Hooker a pinnacle of achievement. Look at Jimi at the Isle of Wight he was really fed up. He actually bangs his prize Fender Strat. on the floor at the end of the gig, the technical stuff there that night was so bad, business pressures and a lot of other stuff going on. He had many more reasons to be depressed compared to Alan.
We have to face up to facts that toxicity levels of barbiturates are so unpredictable these guys drank and it is easy to just take a "handful" of capsules, and make a big bad mistake (which they both did!!)
But they are both remembered and that is testament to them both, so there is no need to perpetuate that depression.
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