Tonight, Sun. Sept. 2, 2007, at 8 ET, the PBS HD channel will rebroadcast our concert video, Deacon John's Jump Blues. with replays on Sept. 4 at 3 ET and on Sept 5 at 11 ET. We staged the concert as a live version of our studio CD, both of which are available in stores and at sites like iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and other links found at www.deaconjohnsjumpblues.com. (Sorry about the shameless plug there but I do want people to hear the CD and see the concert video.) We shot it at the historic Orpheum theater in downtown New Orleans. The theater was probably built as part of the Radio/Keith/Orpheum (RKO) chain and was a relatively small house with great acoustics and architectural flourishes. The floodwaters filled the sub-basement and destroyed the wiring and floors. I think it's questionable whether it will ever be rebuilt. I hope so.
(This is a shot of Deacon taking his final bows at the concert and the fantastic parquet floor of the stage is prominent in this photograph taken by Philip Gould.) We had a great crew on this concert shoot. We used the production truck from Mark Cuban's HDNet and I had David Niles of Colossalvision NYC in the truck calling the shots. David also helped me edit the show at his production facility in lower Manhattan. He is an amazing producer, director and videographer in his own right and his contribution to the look and sound of the final version of the concert cannot be overstated. David is a pioneer in high definition video and we were fortunate that he wanted to be involved in our project...(and he loves Deac and Teedy and the music!) One of the things we talk about in the film is how pop and mainstream artists "covered" the early records and released them with great success. While Allen Toussaint points out that writers like he and Dave Bartholomew didn't mind because they got writer's royalties, the original artists versions were overwhelmed by the pop versions. I used "Piece Of My Heart," the great Bert Berns ballad, as an example because the original by Erma Franklin is a masterpiece of soulful delivery. The best known version, by Janis Joplin, is not as good. But it was a smash hit and made her an icon, while Erma Franklin remains obscure. I probably should have used the Rolling Stones cover of Irma Thomas' "Time Is On My Side," because of the New Orleans connection, but "Piece Of My Heart" is better known.
The Stones cover of "Time Is On My Side" is not nearly as good as Irma's original, but it's nothing compared to their cover of "It's All Over Now" by the Valentinos. The original "It's All Over Now" is a fabulous, syncopated, upbeat record that had the most amazing time and groove. (Search iTunes for "It's All Over Now" and you'll see what I mean.) The Stones version is...er...theatrical. Cy (A great weekend of college football and the Pac-10 got a little payback vs. the SEC with Cal outplaying and beating Tenn in Berserkley.)
