Na Na Na to Nan

"Na Na Na"  The Knife  Silent Shout
"Nadine"  Chuck Berry  Chuck Berry:  The Anthology
"Naima [alternate take]"  John Coltrane  Giant Steps
"Naked As We Came"  Iron & Wine  Our Endless Numbered Days
"Naked Cousin"  PJ Harvey  The Peel Sessions 1991 - 2004
"Naked Eye"  Luscious Jackson  Whatever: The 90s Pop & Culture Box
"Naked Eye"  The Who  Who's Next [bonus cd track]
"Names" Cat Power  You Are Free
"A Namorada [Afro Latin Edit]"  Carlinhos Brown  The Best Latin Party Album  . . . Ever
"Nan"  Booker T. Jones  Potato Hole

So it has been a long time since I wrote anything.  Not apologizing or harping on it, just saying.

An old set of songs - I think the most recent song on the list is by a 70-year old organist.  The weirdest, most dated thing about the videos is the way everyone in the Luscious Jackson video is just wandering around the airport.  If they made it now, the song would be over before anyone got their shoes back on.

I saw Booker T. with my dad not long ago.  My dad had no idea who he was, but I think he had a good time.  He and I went to see John Lee Hooker when I was about 20, and he bestowed a great collection of blues & rock records on me some time ago (He is most proud of the Chess and Checker singles). He has no reference for Stax/Volt though (or Motown or Fame or much in the way of soul at all . . . ).  So it was nice to introduce him to  someone & something I knew and appreciated and that I thought he would enjoy.  Now this is always a dicey prospect with my father because he is . . . not like other humans.  Most people can find their way through an event that someone else brings them to without feeling threatened or without needing to demonstrate their own superiority.  If they don't like something on its merits, so be it, but I think most folk can find their way to like something even if it is not something they brought to the table.  Not so my father - generally if he is not at the center of it, it is of no value, or at the very least inferior.  But I invited him, and he came.  As I said, he knows and loves Chess blues, so it is clearly the best music ever.  Everything else doesn't really exist.

So we met at this little jazz club in Cleveland and caught the early show.  Booker T. played a wide range of material - from "Green Onions" & "Hip Hug-Her" through things off Potato Hole (the album he made with the Drive-By Truckers) and newer material.  He played guitar on a couple of numbers, and even sang "All Along The Watchtower".  His backing band were all much younger, and his drummer rapped during a few songs.  I had a great time, and I think my dad enjoyed himself as well.  I was worried throughout that he was not enjoying himself, but (except for a brief moment when he was talking with the gentleman at the table behind us about Gestalt psychology . . . another issue) he was engaged and enthusiastic.  

He almost made it, too.  I almost got away through the entire evening just enjoying something someone else had done, without turning it back on himself.  After we left the club, and walked through the parking lot, as he was about to open his car door, he turns to me and says, "He is no Howlin' Wolf."

Here is a video of Booker T singing "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" With the DBTs behind him.  Awesome^3.