ENTERTAINMENT
January 10, 1990 | By David Hinckley, New York Daily News
As important as Muddy Waters' music was in postwar America, relatively few people will soak up all his genius the first time through. The rewards for staying with it, however, are vast. "The Chess Box," a beautifully produced, well-annotated, six-album, three-CD box set (MCA), is as close as anyone will come to presenting a capsule history of Muddy Waters. It includes 72 tracks, from "Gypsy Woman" in 1947 through the early '70s. Along the way it picks up a few obscurities - the unreleased "Good Looking Woman" from 1948, plus some alternate takes - but mostly it sticks to the core of Waters' music, classic blues like "Rolling Stone," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," "Forty Days and Forty Nights," "Got My Mojo Workin," "She's Nineteen Years Old," "Mannish Boy" and "Hoochie Coochie Man. " Ironically, this is where the uninitiated may get confused.
SPORTS
October 18, 1990 | By Ray Didinger, Daily News Sports Writer
Welcome to another season of dirtysomething, the NFC East miniseries in which the Washington Redskins critique the Eagles' brand of football. In yesterday's installment, several Redskins discussed the Eagles' latest prime-time performance, a 32-24 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Specifically, the Redskins addressed safety Andre Waters's controversial knee shots on Minnesota quarterback Rich Gannon that are currently under review by NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "I thought it was outrageous," defensive tackle Tim Johnson said.
ENTERTAINMENT
November 16, 1989 | By John Milward, Special to The Inquirer
Muddy Waters had a face that was as majestic as the blues. It was defined by high cheekbones, a broad nose and eyes that always held a twinkle. His mouth, topped by a suave, meticulously groomed mustache, was small, except when he smiled, when it seemed big enough to swallow you whole. It was a face whose dignified presence insisted that an exclamation point be put on a line from his song "Mannish Blues": "Ain't that a man!" Blues is often a bad dream, with artists dying young, broke or unappreciated - sometimes all three.
NEWS
September 13, 1992 | By Georgia Ashby, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
The sound of his electric guitar rang out over Wembley Soccer Stadium, and as 69-year-old Jimmy Rogers began to sing a song he had composed, "Walkin' By Myself," his audience sang along. As a guest performer at the Rolling Stones blues tribute in June, Rogers provided the English crowd with authentic postwar Chicago blues, a combination of tender Mississippi Delta blues and aggressive Chicago rhythm. It was the sound that he helped develop in the 1950s when he played with legendary bluesman Muddy Waters.
NEWS
July 8, 2012 | Inquirer Staff Report
1. b. Muddy Waters. 2. c. Ron Wood. 3. a. "Come On. " 4. d. Aftermath. 5. b. Their Satanic Majesties Request. 6. c. Brian Jones. 7. a. Gimme Shelter. 8. d. Andy Warhol. 9. b. She's the Boss. 10. d. Keith Richards.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 24, 2009 | By Nick Cristiano INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Like James Brown, Sam & Dave made great records, but they were even more dynamic on stage, where their galvanic showmanship revealed another, essential dimension of their artistry. That's what makes Sam & Dave: The Original Soul Men such a treat. This two-hour documentary tells the story of Sam Moore and Dave Prater through interviews with Moore himself (Prater was killed in a 1988 car crash), former Stax Records chief Al Bell, and bandleader Paul Shaffer, who notes, "Sam and Dave were two preachers on stage, preaching the gospel of soul.
NEWS
February 28, 2002 | By Nathaniel Friedman FOR THE INQUIRER
Two Buddy Guys shared the Keswick Theatre stage Tuesday night. Both wore overalls, a plaid work shirt, and sneakers, grinned luridly, and wrenched live-wire solos out of a gloriously tacky, black-and-white polka-dot guitar. But while one - the blues maverick, whose high-energy performances have long been the stuff of legend - made an admirable showing, the night was dominated by his underwhelming double. For most of his distended set, the 65-year-old Guy enacted a ritual that was affirming, rather than genuinely moving.
ENTERTAINMENT
December 5, 2008 | By Carrie Rickey, Inquirer Movie Critic
In 1950, as the blues, gospel and jazz cross-pollinated but before Detroit's Motown, before Memphis' Sun and Stax - and well before Philadelphia International Records - there was Chicago's Chess label. Those of a certain age fondly remember its logo, a silhouette of a king chess piece flanked by those of bishop and knight. Martin, who made her film debut in 1994 with the raucously funny I Like It Like That , wrote and directed this ensemble drama with music and narrative enough for five features.
NEWS
December 16, 2011 | By A.D. Amorosi, For The Inquirer
Texas guitarist Johnny Winter has had an epic career. The 67-year-old wizard has, since his 1969 start, released top-selling blues albums; produced, recorded, and toured alongside Muddy Waters (their 1977 efforts Hard Again and Nothin' But the Blues are holy books in the blues bible); and had songs written specifically for him by John Lennon and the Rolling Stones' Jagger & Richards team. His career also has had its dark side, with Winter battling serious heroin addiction and suicidal depression, both since conquered.
NEWS
March 9, 2009 | By A.D. Amorosi FOR THE INQUIRER
There's a Muddy Waters song that goes "the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll. " All that was fine until that baby had a slew of grandchildren and somehow spawned the garage rock wrecking crew that is the Black Lips. This all-boy Atlanta quartet - capable of mashing-up blues, doo-wop, country, and psychedelic noise within their rough-hewn punk at the drop of a dime - is notoriously messy. They're famous for on-stage nudity, barfing, and the discharging of other fluids.