Saturday, August 18, 2012

Tricky Dick

In 1964, after a long search of the Mississippi Delta region by Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro, he ended up being "rediscovered" in Rochester, NY. House had been retired from the music business for many years, and was unaware of the 1960s folk blues revival and international enthusiasm regarding his early recordings. - Wikifuckingpedia
The main reason the world knows that Son House exists is Dick Waterman. "Tricky Dick" was a colorful figure of Oxford, MS when I lived there; we all had a Tricky Dick imitation – to this day, his voice makes no sense. It's part Daffy Duck, mixed with more Daffy Duck, and then a spritz of Daffy Duck on top. Every coupla weeks he'd come in and ask me to scan a buncha pictures ("Photos", as he called them) onto a floppy disc (yes this was 1996, too real for you, bitch?) I'd roll my eyes as he'd blather on and on about so and so; he'd "captured" Dylan in Newport etc, but he would slow down and get emotional when speaking of Son House, and it as only a matter of a few meetings before I realized what a big deal it was who Dick Waterman was, much less Son House. I tried to talk to him about it but he'd just get upset and start chortling; looking back, this was only 7 or 8 years after Son House's death, so maybe it was hard for him to talk about it. Also, I didn't give a shit since I was 23, so. I can't pretend to be a blues guy, although I've traveled to Robert Johnson's grave(s), but Tricky Dick will always mean something to me.

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