summertime blues

cotton gin/ north louisiana - copyright 2006 doug duffey

well, it's too damned hot to be outside- the crops are frying in the fields- grass burned all to hell- the tin roofs so hot you could cook eggs [or make fajitas] on 'em. so... even though the acreage needs mowing... and everything needs watering... i've decided to stay inside, pray for rain, and work on music until the fall!

i've begun writing/recording new music for a solo cd. i've written about 16 new songs in 2 days- during 2 different 'writing sessions'- and plan to continue writing sessions until i have a plethora of songs to choose from; and/or maybe enough for several cds: a piano and vocal cd, and a solo piano cd. so far so good! everything seems to be flowing and i'm "going with the flow..."

my "modus operandi" has changed due to the lack of a grand piano! normally, i play and sing 'live' recording my completed/finished songs in the studio on a grand piano- usually in one or two 'takes'- [i find the energy of 1st takes is usually the best] - but considering there are NO studios left in this area with a grand piano anymore [it seems nobody used the pianos in the studios here, so they were sold because they "took up too much space"... ]- i decided to use my electric piano, minidisc recorder and laptop to record at my own pace and comfort level! all the studios are digital anyway- [and non -smoking- but, i can still smoke in my own home... for the time being]

so... for these recordings i'm only playing piano- recording whatever comes into my head and hands- going from one 'song' or idea to the next, non-stop. it's rather like meditation or therapy- or both. it's quite a departure from my normal m.o. but a pleasurable one...

i seem to be working in [primarily] blues/jazz/roots mode with some louisiana piano and southern gothic gospel thrown in... could it be the heat, the humidity, barometric pressure, tropical depression... osmosis... or all of the above?

i'll work on writing the lyrics, working out the vocals and melodies, later- then record them over the piano tracks - et voila! it isn't the same as working the old way - and i miss the organic feel/touch/response and the subtlety/nuance of a grand piano- but what the hell? it works... ahhhhhhhhhh the digital age... ahhhhhhhhhh progress... yeah yeah yeah

[c]2006 doug duffey

sorry percy has cancelled

foto: doug duffey/may 13, 2006

i had just gotten home from europe and was experiencing my week of jet lag when i got the call.
percy sledge had cancelled his performance- at the 1st zydeco and blues festival in bastrop, louisiana- due to illness. i was asked to headline the festival in his place. when i arrvied this sign was at the entrance gate.

i did "when a man loves a woman" in his stead, which got a great response.

oddly, when i was inducted into the "louisiana hall of fame" percy was to be inducted for a lifetime achievement award, or something; he didnt appear then, either.

p.s. yes, they spelled my name wrong.

live in zurich

foto:Karin Boucke

these fotos were emailed today, from last night's show (the 18th international dixie and blues festival/ zurich). so...here we are in all our funky glory! "the doug duffey international soul band" in action, onstage before 500+ very enthusiatic blues fans! we definitley rocked the house! thanks kelvin, hani, sebi, and carlos!

a big thanks to albi matter & georg tännler, jacqueline trachsel, allianz suisse, and all the sponsors and organizers for making it happen... thanks to tom and klaus (on sound and lights), and everyone who came and made the show such a success!

danke viel mal, merci beaucoup, grazie tanto Switzerland!
















lotti lehmann & doug duffey- after the show- zurich.
foto: Karin Boucke

greetings from switzerland

i flew over to perform at the international dixie and blues festival-may 4th- in zurich. i'll be performing there with my 'international soul band': kelvin bullen, hani ali, sebi niessner, and carlos cort. we did a concert the day after i arrived and "the machine" is definitely pumping! we're ready to kick ass and take names!

although this is a blues gig, anyone who knows me knows that even my blues is funky; a by-product of having been born and raised in louisiana/the mississippi delta, no doubt- but then anyone who knows anything about the blues knows that today's blues ain't nothing but soul music... just listen to any southern blues radio station; it all sounds like memphis soul from the 60s & 70s.

i'll post fotos from the show, after i get back to louisiana next week. be sure to check for upcoming dates on my website under 'news'...

the breath of scandal

foto by olivier viret/switzerland

"the breath of scandal" [doug duffey]

it seems i've smoked a thousand cigarettes/sitting in the dark with wine and regrets/haunting memory will not let me forget/ the breath of scandal on your smile.

which like expensive luxury/holds attraction for someone like me/i'm a connoisseur of lurid pageantry/and i sense it 'neath your style.

you're never too young or too old for an indiscretion/special predicaments are not impositions/only one thing is important, in this brief and damned exisitence/survival, will you survive with me?

for we'll live 'devil may care'/what concerns to us are others affairs?/social suicide may meet us somewhere/but can you dare to let go?

you're never too young or too old for an indiscretion/special predicaments are not impositions/only one thing is important, in this brief and damned exisitence/survival, will you survive with me?

it seems i've smoked a thousand cigarettes, sitting in the dark with wine and regrets/ haunting memory will not let me forget/ the breath of scandal on your smile.

[c][p]1975-2006 doug duffey music, bmi

written in Hollywood, California/circa 1970s/this song appeared on my solo cd "living the blues" - released in europe only- by DTM/EMI [out of print]. my solo work tends to be more dark and brooding [it's something about those minor piano chords that i love] -and tends to verge on the dramatic and theatrical.

i'm compiling a 'new' recycled cd from my solo sessions [recorded in monroe & new orleans, louisiana in the 80s and 90s]. there's a lot of stuff from those sessions that needs to be "out there"...

[c]2006 doug duffey

carnival time - didn't we ramble

i'm disappointed that i didn't get out for the monroe mardi gras -but i'm glad i'll be in new orleans and march in the krewe of st. ann, again. i worked in the quarter for years, so was always in the thick of it. it was also a great occasion to make fotos... like the one above.

ahhhhhhhhh... mardi gras... it's a Louisiana thing. I know it evolved from European carnival, but like we say, "we do things a little different here..." I've seen carnival in Europe and it is NOT the same as what we do!

I was a teenager when I first went to mardi gras in new orleans. It was a revelation! i hadn't realized such FUN mass insanity existed. It's been a part of my life ever since then; and over the years I've paid homage to it in several songs.

One song ["didn't we ramble"-word play on the title of the famous new orleans song "didn't he ramble"] was recorded by "razin' cain" [me, billy gregory, ricky cortes, & jay gernsbacher] -we were the "enfants terrible" of the Quarter in the late 70s. we did 100% originals and kicked butt! "our" demo version of the song wound up on billy gregory's solo lp ["it's a bluesy day"- appaloosa records]-after the band split. A record reviewer for the Times Picayune said of it, it "could only have been written by someone who has seen entirely too much of the french quarter for too long..." [paraphrased] all i can say to him is "amen! and thank you!"

DIDN'T WE RAMBLE [DOUG DUFFEY]
Someone took scissors to my spiritual cord
While I was passed out in the gutter
Got robbed by drag queens of my beads and doubloons
My only cover was a shudder

Crawled to the corner of dauphine and dumaine
I'd left a midget as a marker
Someone had kicked him down to bourbon where he
Was trying to gyp a strip out of a barker

Oh mama I'm so wasted I can't even find my hands
Mardi Gras has made a mess of me
Heaven's on Decatur Street and hell went outa town
Death's a ditch where Bacchus took a pee

Didn't we ramble didn't we roll, didn't we ramble didn't we roll, didn't we?
Didn't we ramble didn't we roll, didn't we ramble didn't we roll, didn't we?

Got tricked and treated sanctified and debauched
Spiked heels left pock marks on my brain
Fat Tuesdays looking slimmer just like my chances
of ever hoping to be sane

Lost my last dollar in a race for my life
Ate crow for lack of nothin' quicker
I'd sell my soul if I could get a good price
Or enough to buy my friends and me some liquor

Oh mama I'm so wasted I cant even find my hands
Mardi Gras has made a mess of me
Heavens on Decatur Street and hell went outa town
Death's a ditch where Bacchus took a pee

Didn't we ramble didn't we roll, didn't we ramble didn't we roll, didn't we?
Didn't we ramble didn't we roll, didn't we ramble didn't we roll, didn't we?

[c] 1976-2006 doug duffey

I wrote "carnival time in the city" in the mid 80s but didn't record it until last year. It appears on my latest cd, "changin' times". It's a mix of new orleans and cajun phrases. Only in Europe did I finally put together why certain phrases are used in Louisiana- especially south Louisiana. It's because they're direct translations from the French. Like to "make the groceries" [faire le commission] "get down out the car" [descend la voiture]- etc. wow! Anyway, I wrote the song long before that nickel dropped! The reference to "cherry bounce" is from my teenage days hanging out in church point!

CARNIVAL TIME IN THE CITY [DOUG DUFFEY]
Come here mama, quick come see
Bring the cherry bounce for you and me
Cher, y'all get down out your car
We gonna watch the parade from our front yard...oh yeah

Well its Mardi Gras day and I'm feeling
Got my parasol I'm gonna second line
Gonna have me a drink and take a toke or two
I'm gonna hit the street I'm gonna dance with you...with you

When its carnival time in the city aint no need to worry 'bout work only play
When its carnival time in the city we gonna party till the break of day, yeah Mardi Gras day

Come here mama turn the music loud
We got pots on fiyo for a rowdy crowd
Got the boudin the gumbo and the etouffe'
And nairn a care in the world cause it's Mardi gras day

When its carnival time in the city aint no need to worry 'bout work only play
When its carnival time in the city we gonna party till the break of day, yeah Mardi gras day

[c][p]1984-2006 doug duffey music, bmi

more mardi gras posts coming... after fat tuesday.

[c]2006 doug duffey

home sweet bourbon street

this is a foto taken @ the tricou house [711 bourbon street, new orleans] where i worked for quite a few years. back in the day, when i worked there [circa 1989- early 1990s] the piano was right in the front door! in this pic, i am looking out onto Bourbon Street instead of at the audience; but there was always a show going on outside.

during mardi gras it was a madhouse... jam packed and totally insane... an absolute circus! [which is why i am thinking about it- it's mardi gras time]

i have a lot of good memories from my time there. it was a great life experience. many ideas for my song lyrics were inspired by things i witnessed and heard and were incubated, in that bar. par example:

HOME SWEET BOURBON STREET [DOUG DUFFEY]
From the carnival of canal, the fast food boom-box fare
To the old oak shade of esplanade and the elegance up there
Lies a neon sleaze arcade where the out of towners meet
In a 24 hour parade down on home sweet bourbon street

Black boys tap dance for spare change, others sing the blues
They'll say "I can tell you 'bruh', where you got them shoes"
Well that’s as easy as crawfish pie, you got them on yo' feet
In the heart of new orleans down on home sweet bourbon street

If you've never been to new orleans you ain't never lived
And you ain't never seen the show like the one sin city is

Dealers, debutantes and drags, chile, you just never know
Who is who and who is what and what they’ll do for dough
'Cause anything and everything goes and no one is discreet
You can be yo' natch’l self down on home sweet bourbon street

If you've never been to new orleans you aint never lived
And you aint never seen the show like the one sin city is

Girls or boys may ask you if you want to party down
Next day you may be found face up, or down river drowned
You cant never be too careful of the folks that you might meet
Cause you could easily buy the farm down on home sweet bourbon street

[c][p]1990-2005 doug duffey music, bmi/from the doug duffey cd "changin' times"
[c]2006 doug duffey

live funk

kelvin bullen [guitar/b-voc] hani ali [drums] sebastian niessner [bass/b-voc] doug duffey [piano/voc] live @ the pink/ zermatt switzerland

i just returned to louisiana - last week- after a 6 week tour in switzerland. the band had some incredible shows and got great reviews, which led to some up-coming festival dates later this year.

we recorded almost ALL the gigs 'live' [over 30 cds of recordings] using a dat machine and some mics placed around the various stages. we did 7 nights in zermatt [sounds like a book title] @ the pink, and really stretched out.
it's all very raw, lo fi, funky and cool. we did lots of long extended psychedelic funk jams [some over 20 minutes long EACH] - and FUNK is the operative word; very "old school" JB type grooves with psychedelic blues guitar & funk piano over solid bass and drums.

i plan to go through, edit/sample in the next days/weeks/months... and eventually post clips either here or on my website. so... stay tuned.

1st blog lyrics/rectified spirit

self portrait [c]doug duffey

february 13, 2006

i've started a blog to post some of my fotos and lyrics and various other things. i've noticed that a few other blogs have posted some of my lyrics, so i will, too.

lately, i've been thinking how prophetic "RECTIFIED SPIRIT*" [1996-1997] has turned out to be- considering the current political and social climate in the U.S. Not only the title track*, but "SOMETHIN' FUNKY" "HOODOO YOU LOVE?" and "NEW ORLEANS RAIN" seem more timely than when i wrote and recorded them 10 years ago!... so for my 1st blog lyrics:

"RECTIFIED SPIRIT" [DOUG DUFFEY]

buying greasy bar-b-que down on martin luther king drive on the gospel radio some reborn psycho shouts out "He's alive!" as some old sister with a shopping cart pushes by with doom in her eyes to be downed by random gun-fire as a drive-by shooting shatters the night skies

redneck trailer trash talking on a cellular phone in the packed hard dirt yard filthy children just skin and bone beside a brand new pick-up truck the license plate says "shoot to kill" he's been downed by inability ain't nothin' left to do but to deal

i said, oh it's got to be recitified , you know, it's got to be rectified

you know that the spirit's willing but the flesh is weak but we dont listen when the spirit speaks yeah, it's got to be rectified

fascist politicians and the christian coalition,en masse shrieking about salvation how they're gonna save this nation at last from sex and drugs and rock and thugs and anyone who's different from them [like me] they want to lock us in a prison of moral communism, amen

i said oh, it's got to be rectified, you know, it's got to be rectified

people can you hear it? we need a rectified spirit

people can you hear it? we need a rectified spirit

[c][p]1996-2006 doug duffey music, bmi /from the cd "rectified spirit"