Howdy Friends I am "da pictur man.... Dick Bloom" I am proud of that moniker, it was given to me by a great blues man name of “Big Jack Johnson!” I met Jack when he was play’n his fantastic Delta Blues at some friends of mine’s little bar near Gettysburg Pennsylvania name of the “School House” and let me tell ya many a less’n was both taught and lern’d at the bar and in the park’n lot particularly when Jack was teach’n em’!!!
Ol’ Jack and I became fast friends, cause I was a photographer for the local rag in Hangover Pennsylvania so I would run into the blues man in my out and abouts as my job as “da pictur man!” I got to know the big man and between sets we would many times chat outside a bar and share mary as the great stories would flow from that huge man’s ever smiling face! I recall one of the last times chatting with Jack in Hanover at a bar name of “Kclingers” where Jack and his band were fairly regular guests. Everyone that ever saw Jack perform felt his wonderful warm soul come through his fingers into his guitar!
Jack spoke the same way, with a down home feeling in every word. While we were chatting he told me he was tired and get’n too old to be on the road all the time, all he wanted to do was be at home and take the gran’ baby fish’n. He said his wife knew that when he was home he wanted to get up at the crack of dawn to go fish’n!!
His love of fish’n came through in his music such as "Catfish Blues"
Jack is the only real blues man that I ever had the pleasure of knowing as well as I did him and feel’n he was a friend! I am sorry to say that the great blues man has passed on to sing the blues for the cosmos!
Where ever Jack was he had the most friendly smile of any one known to me, I know that he is still smil’n and singing his soulful Delta music. “Dat was Jack Da Blues Man!”
As another great guitarist and lyricist Jerry Garcia sang in a “Box of Rain”;
Just a box of rain -
wind and water -
Believe it if you need it,
if you don't just pass it on
Sun and shower -
Wind and rain -
in and out the window
like a moth before a flame
It's just a box of rain
I don't know who put it there
Believe it if you need it
or leave it if you dare
But it's just a box of rain
or a ribbon for your hair
Jerry says it all here and this is the way I feel by both Jerry and Big Jacks journey into the cosmos!
Such a long long time to be gone
and a short time to be there!
Jack! May he Rest in Peace my dear compatriot the ol’ blues man!
Visit Jacks bio at Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Jack_Johnson
Get Jack’s newest CD “Katrina” http://www.bigjackjohnson.com/
"Katrina" is Big Jack's most recent recording and is his self confessed musical "tribute to the land, people and spirit of Mississippi" to which Jack draws so much of his inspiration from. From the joyful redemption party atmosphere of "Ain't Gonna Do It No More" to the traditional mandolin beauty of "Po' Cow Boogie" and "It's All Gone" to the low down lament of "Katrina" (the "meanest storm the world ever seen"..) to Lowell Fulsom's "Too Many Drivers" theme reworked as the relentless shuffle of "Red Car", this is one of Jack's strongest recordings to date! "The Cryin' Blues" and "The Laughin' Blues" explore both sides of human emotion while displaying the simple brilliance and range of the blues to convey those emotions. These two songs also illustrate Jack's uncanny ability to tap into and convey his emotions. They are a lesson in finding the blues in the everyday emotions of us all. This new recording is his first that was recorded exactly as HE wanted-- not playing to the demands or directions of a record label but instead to his own vision.
It is pure Big Jack Johnson and will have you jumping for joy!
Get Jack’s newest CD “Katrina” at:
http://www.bigjackjohnson.com/
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