Busker Days: Jesse Morris - Six Pack

Some of you will recall that my very first busker recording was of Jesse Morris. He performed Cocaine Blues and after I played it back for Flipside Central and West it was decided that I should move ahead with recording and publishing local street musicians for our audience. Now although I've come across many buskers since that day (and let you all hear a good many of them) Jesse stands out as one of my favorites. And although I've seen him from time to time, I've not had the opportunity to hear him since those first days.

That all changed a week ago Tuesday. He was back and clearly many commuters were as happy as I was to see him. As promised I put forth a listener request to Jesse, Fang's The Money Will Roll Right In. Not only was Jesse very familiar with this tune but he had recently opened up for Fang at a local benefit concert. He did an excellent punk turn rockabilly version of the song for the benefit of all lucky to be making their evening journey elsewhere at that moment.

Today, however, let's hear another song he played, Black Flag's Six Pack.

Jesse can be seen around town with his band the Man Cougars doing their blend of country and punk. More of Jesse Morris and the Man Cougars can be heard at their MySpace site.

Copyrighted photo courtesy of Bill Cendak. You can see more of his photos here.

Top 5 Busker Days posts!

Not long after On The Flip-Side got started with its Songs Of The Week, I was prowling the streets and stations of San Francisco and Berkeley, looking for street musicians to record.  The first Busker Day post went up on December 3, 2008, and since then some 25+ busker posts have graced these pages.  In celebration of this blog's five years, today we look at the Top 5 clicked on Busker Days posts:

5. Nick Stillman -- Cumberland Gap [original post here] = 408 hits

4. Jesse Morris (RIP) -- True Red Blood [original post here] = 410 hits.

3. Craig Ventresco - Hoosier Sweetheart / There Ain't No Land Like Dixieland To Me [original post here] = 513 hits.

2. The Jonah Kit - Pancho and Lefty [original post here] = 540 hits.

And the number one Busker Days post, the late great Jesse Morris:

1. Jesse Morris - Six Pack [original post here] = 554 hits.

Enjoy and see you On The Flip-Side!

Busker Days: Jesse Morris "True Red Blood"

News reached me this morning that Jesse Morris passed on earlier this month. Seeing him regularly down in the BART station several years ago got me doing this whole Busker blog to begin with. This is the last recording I did of him, an original composition entitled True Red Blood. I hope you enjoy.

An article about him can be read here.

The first Jesse post can be seen here and the second one here.

The lyrics to True Red Blood can be seen in the comments section. They're really good.

Busker Days: Cocaine Blues

It had been a rather steady task for some time: log out, elevator down, hit the street, turn left, walk down Post to Montgomery BART, slide my ticket through the turnstile, get on the right train, get off at the right station, call home, then get on my bike and get on home.

One day it all changed when Johnny Cash was playing at my station. No joke!

OK, it wasn’t exactly the man in black, but to my ears it didn’t matter. This was the real deal, as if Johnny himself anointed this rough and tumble busker every day to play it right. The whole catalogue was at hand, so it seemed, from Sun to American, and he was quite a regular performer too, this prolific, pink-haired punker. I’d say two days a week I could count on him … and have to pony up. For a year and a half and more he played the hits, but he also played songs I didn’t know, so I began to wonder. Put him to the request test I thought, something a little less known. I plopped a buck in his case and asked him if he could do Train of Love, an early Cash-penned song I had been learning on my own time. No pause at all and he nails it!

One day I introduce myself and ask him - Jesse Morris is his name it turns out - for recording privileges, to which he kindly obliges. Listen here to Jesse’s kick-ass version of Cocaine Blues, a song made famous by Johnny on his At Folsom Prison live album released in May, 1968, which, Jesse kindly informed me, was written and recorded by one T.J. Arnall in 1947.

Although I haven’t seen Jesse too much lately (this was my first busker recording, by the way) and when I have seen him he is just as likely to be playing punk as he is Cash, I would be happy to make a request for you (and perhaps make a recording). What’s your request?

Busker Days: Craig Ventresco "Hoosier Sweatheart / There Ain't No Land Like Dixieland To Me"

I've been on a bit of a hiatus from keeping you all informed on the SF busker scene (from the perspective of my microcosm, of course).  I have to admit that the death of Jesse Morris, a great musician and a real good guy, is part of the reason - his absence is palpable.  Sure, having all of my field recording equipment stolen doesn't help.  Eager to get back in the game, I thought I'd dig into my archives and see what's what.

While digging around, what immediately caught my attention (and excited my ears) was the other recording I did of Craig Ventresco back in early 2011 down in Montgomery BART station.  (You can hear the first recording here.)  Today's tune is another ragtime medley, this time two songs from the early 1900s.  It starts off with Hoosier Sweatheart by Goodwin - Ashe - Baskette, published in 1927, and careens off into There Ain't No Land Like Dixieland To Me by popular songwriter Walter Donaldson (1893-1947), also published in 1927.

Enjoy Craig and the sounds of his lovely Fraulini guitar....