I came across veteran busker T.T. Fingers last year on a Market Street corner. He plays a mean blues on a homemade lap steel guitar. He told me he and a friend made it one night in '87 drinking chimay and he has used it ever since. Apparently someone had stolen is previous guitar. For years he worked the busker circuit in Europe and gigged a bit too. I'm not sure how he got the name T.T. Fingers but I suspect it has something to do with him having only two fingers. That's right two fingers. Total. Take that Django! He uses the two fingers for plucking and gets around the whole fretting issue by ignoring frets altogether and strapping a slide on the end of his arm. Listen to this nice, big-hearted guy tearin' up some blues with his take on Elmore James's Dust My Broom!
Very Cool! Do he tell you how/when he lost his fingers? From the 70's pick he used to have all of them.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the kind of thing I'd ask about but I can't remember and it's not on the full recording. In the picture you refer to he's in the plaid shirt on the left playing slide, not the guy front and center.
DeleteThanks for checking in Carl. He was very nice to shoot the breeze with. Good at busking and getting an audience, but I haven't seen him for some time.
ReplyDeleteI knew him well. We did two tours in Sweden and Denmark. We made a record in Belgium called "Take a Hold" by The Frisco Blues Band. TT wrote the song. He never wanted to be famous for some reason. I wish I could find him somehow. You can find the track on YouTube if you Google it.
ReplyDeleteTT was ook te genieten INGELMUNSTER Belgie en dit tijdens een winterse avond in 1984 ?Hij buskerde toen in een af ander Brussels station en speelde er in de clubs. Hij kwam die avond aangevaren in een USA muscle car en startte alvast met een pakje friet , legde het naast zich neer en at ze om middernacht ijskoud op samen met wat flessen plaatselijke Brigand van 12 graden.
ReplyDeleteNa de show ging hij zwalpend door een winterstorm met de usa slee richting Brussel. Een avond gegrift in mijn geheugen.
Ik bezit nog enkele foto's als herinnering aan die avond waar ik nu nog van geniet.Het ga je goed TT.
TT could also be enjoyed in INGELMUNSTER Belgium on a winter evening in 1984. He then buskered in Brussels railroad station and played in the clubs. He arrived that evening in a USA muscle car and started with a pack of fries, put it aside and ate them ice cold at midnight together with some bottles of local Brigand at 12 degrees.
DeleteAfter the show he drifted through a winter storm with the usa sleigh towards Brussels. An evening etched in my memory for ever (i hope).
Today 14/07/2024 I have found the Prof.Washboard " it 's incredible" lp 1984 Buma/Stemra a mix of artists around TT Fingers in his Brussels period with Dr Harmonica,TT, Fro Miller and Red Archibald. Also on Diskogs.
DeleteHi Curt,
ReplyDeleteI guess I saw some music street vid with TT in Frisco.
By the way, did I understand properly that Bob died in Brussels ?
Loïc
I met him on Market Street in San Francisco in 1989. He gave me a demo tape which I played for some people who could perhaps promote him in Australia. They were very impressed but unfortunately no tour happened.
ReplyDeleteI saw TT play in San Francisco in 98 and was so impressed I went out and bought a guitar. I now make a living playing blues, thank you for the inspiration TT, you changed my life. Tom Walbank
ReplyDeleteFcukin A!! Great with some info on him, for sure. Hes a fcukin legend (to a select few at least)
ReplyDeleteI discovered San Francisco's Shiver in 2001 I think.. The band thx to the self-titled portastudio-/cassette recording from '72 turned CD distro'd by Rockadelic in 2000 courtesy of Don Peck who was the member in possession of the recordings. I guess in '99 or '00 he saw a potential market for rawkus retro rock, even lo-fi recordings of a for the time pretty extreme proto-punk/acid/heavy rock. And he was right, me being 16 at the time I remember that Sabbath, November, The Experience, Cream, Contact, Zep, the 60s-70s Pebbles comps and some such was having a 2nd/3rd wind late 90's/early 00's; also new bands like White Stripes, The Hives, Mando Diao and Arctic Monkeys etc. had that retro vibe and concept ready from the start, all in the 90's and having the most success in the early 00's. Not my kind of music exactly, way too beige and cute, but still a fact).
But I digress from the subject of Frank Twist (if I may assume thats his name). I always thought he was just enough of a speedfreak that he didnt have the patience to play guitar like most of us whove played for long and at a higher than demo level, that he simply couldnt stick to pump chords while in rhythm mode during vocal parts cause he was too hyped :D Also thought he was using a slideiron all the time and had rings on all fingers and made use of them but now I understand hes playing sitting slide-style. Explains a lot. And colors me even more impressed.
The 1972 recording as u probably know the sound is in dictaphone quality almost, but even if they only had one or two channels (my guess is two) they obviously filled those two with input, its recorded with at least 5-6 mics total cause the drums is on 2 or 3, the song and guitar has one each, the bass obviously has its own and theres no rewind-overlap. Would love to know the history behind the '72 session(s), and of the band. Info online is scarce. Ive deduced Peck is the only mf with some connection to the music industry post-1972, but Frank is obviously still alive and playing, very happy for that.
Overall I love the damn record. The vox, the guitar and the perc. especially but the dude on bass is great too and "carries" the chaotic guitar, TT's really painting outside the lines to such an extent one can sometimes think hes just fuckin around but the more I listen the more impressed I become.
I still have Bone Shaker and Winter Time as a default tracks on my mixtapes and in all punk/rock/doom/death-themed mp3 lists (got 350h+ hard shit + a bunch '83-'95 hiphop and dark country/bluegrass just on my damn cell phone; I dont like leaving the song versions, tags, stylizations and other details up to the streaming services). And Ill keep doing so. If Frank (or TT or whatever) have any contact info Id love to ask him a question or two.