The 21st of December, 2012 -- Session 7, Dragon Comes to Life & The End of the World

Tiny Bradshaw provided much of the soundtrack for the session. Great R & B and jazz bandleader/composer. His "Train Kept A Rollin" was later covered by The Yardbirds and Motorhead.

Iry LeJeune --Cajun accordion master from the 40s and 50s. Died at the age of 26, while changing a tire after a dance. He was hit by a vehicle going 90 MPH and knocked into a field.

The 14th of December, 2012 -- Session 6, The Snake is Shaded and the Tongues are Reddened

    

Todays soundtrack brought to you by Riley Puckett! We can't seem to get enough of Georgia's greatest string band, The Skillet Lickers, which features mighty guitar playing by the great blind guitarist Riley Puckett. Here's a great track of Riley and mandolinist Ted Hawkins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bItaBzKric

The second half of the session's soundtrack included the great Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence singing a Christmas favorite that will make most small children wet their pants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk5ufApUArQ

The 30th of November, 2012 -- Session 5, Eagle Comes to Life

The first stage of color began with the sounds of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. This is very fine Texas Swing music by the master himself. Interestingly enough, we listened to his final recordings from the early 70s completed days before his death. 

The 23rd of November, 2012 -- Session 4, Black Shading of the Draco

We listened to How Low Can You Go?: the definitive "bull fiddle," old-time music compilation from the greatest label on earth, Dust To Digital. Afterwards Bob threw on some string band music from my all time favorite old-time band: The Skillet Lickers. Riley Puckett's 6-string imagination and the nearly parallel, supra-psychedelic fiddle stylings of Clatyon McMitchen and Gid Tanner kept my mind off the blackness being powered into my skin...well, not really.

As an old-time musician, I just love hearing Bob's stories about music. The man has seen everybody from Coltrane to James Brown.  Of particular interest today however, were his visual descriptions of musical experiences. He "sees" music while most people just hear it. Listening to him describe old 78 RPM Appalachian stringband recordings as sounding like 8-pointed stars with glimmering strands of light shooting from the points, is wizard poetry that I just can't get enough of. He told a story today about seeing John Coltrane when Bob was still a teen. He was seated two feet from Coltrane's microphone. Bob described the experience as being much more than aural. He could see snakes floating out of the saxophone...then my black shading commenced. 

Snakes, saxophones and a dragon emerging out of raw flesh.

The 14th of November, 2012 -- Session 3, Eagle Shading

Nearly two hours of Eagle shading...

Soundtrack for the session. One of the best compilations of old-time music to come out lately. 

The 2nd of November, 2012 -- Session 2, Final Outlines and Some Shading

Outlining complete and shading begins.

Soundtrack of the session. Soothing new age tones by the Mississippi Sheiks, Vance's Tennessee Breakdowners, Whistler and His Jug Band, etc.

The 20th of October, 2012 -- Session 1, Basic Outline Continued

General outline done.

Soundtrack of the session. Zydeco by one the great masters! All Hail Boozoo...

Finishing the rough outline.

Sweat production.

The master and two hours of progress.

The 20th of October, 2012 -- Session 1, Basic Outline

                                                                   The first line.

The soundtrack for the session is some of my favorite Zydeco: Boozoo Chavis!

This is what I was passing during the tattoo, a jagged beast of a kidney stone. Note the tiny crystals. 

Time for a short break.