‘Sort ol like Jesus Christ before he got on the God trip‘
araokeking
He‘s a one-man riot of comedy, low-rent, sleazy glam-rock. BOBBY CONN gives us a phone from Chicago at 8am his time. I.'.'ords: Doug Johnstone.
Why so early in the morning, Bobby? n3. n‘ark. NI; o..." :r‘IIE"’:-‘::t.
ovum. ;. t, it i/fllr’itli’)‘: Apparently your gigs this time are °. v ' v vrx.s;ir,aii,. “rm: to some kind of ‘karaoke project’. :1 p15 It's .-."‘.e'e yOJ What’s that?
I " it ,o. 't’;.'"t Hell". 10 do I've always 'eal',‘ layer: who" tt‘r: artist '5; :i' ’2 " i: .r: . alone on a .ast. .ast sfagye. aw: Vim:- aw-
hat’s your day job? no distract/V‘s; trot" 3;.‘.(:af. 'i‘ .‘sir: are i-jr: I'iv :, . '1' ;";i'.‘:‘; nrjn! no.2. .‘4thl wood. Just pure t;r.~rsortal.t, ar‘d "‘tnr‘atr: fear. I" ;: .:':,-:' 32', of M2 Jesus Chr'st that's; what l'n‘ br "any; oxer tit-t; tune. Alsf' unen- "w y '. M.- ”‘rx: 1: ii. it‘s Cheaper. Any other similarities to the son of Will we still get your usual crowd God? interactivity? In". any; suffering” A lot of artists see the audience as; art But didn’t you once declare yourself undifferentated 'rtass t):lt. you Klt()'.‘., l'n‘ a the Antichrist in a song? people person. So like to (to out and lint: ham " the plexrxif; century. touch "em. see what they're nearing. taste mum tl‘i: "lltl‘trlUIf/(IL; was ~.-.orking out what they're drinking, smoke their ."l! in. n l“, f,ii.o;;'. You klif).‘.’ a lot of little Cigarettes and see what's in their .vallets. mus, lij .zan'. ."g to he firemen or It's a chance to wake friends. a chance to minivans? ‘.".'i:.l I tl‘outj'nt had been discover that fine line between brilliance 7"{t't\"(l. Ti"( mtfi‘ lot tins epic role In human and humiliation. I think we'll Leave it at that. ‘liflt’l".. The" it turned out. when things I Bobby Conn plays the Venue. mm: around to the year 2000. that | Edinburgh. Sat 26 Apr; King Tiit's, '.'.at;n‘t out: 9;; any of these mystical Glasgow, Sun 27Apr.
j:o.-,'<z':; thought you'd get as the Arttr'r‘nst. so set". of realised then that It .vasn't really happening.
That must’ve been a bummer.
You could do worse than check
Yt‘it‘ ' ’t “o tll()'l(}ll' ‘lt’tt th'it record wa° these om ' ' '
~ I Crazy Penis I Jamie Lideli Sienna be a trillion seller and that. as the I BIO Ym and we Roy A"ti(:hri:;t_ | .vould be vaulted onto the See "stings on page 49 for full world stage. But it just sold five or SIX- details.
thousand (:opies so I was a little short of
SHAW THING
From SS-a-night gigs and singing with Count Basie to being sampled by David Holmes and Biueboy, MARLENA SHAW is a soul diva to be reckoned with. Words: Ruth Hedges
‘ arlena Shaw. ladies and gentlemen!‘ the her 'gang-ga-ga-ga-ga-gang-ga' riff. The original is a crowd whistles and cheers, as the last few song of struggle and protest born out of the US crwl dying notes of the magnificent “Woman of rights movement. What does it mean to her? ‘The crvrl
the Ghetto' fade into the smoky bar - anyone who rights movement started waaay before the 60s. but this knows this live recording will know its Spine-tingling was probably the fomenting of a real national.
effect. This lady. born Martina Burgess in Valhalla. NY. everybody-trying-to-get-squared feeling. And so that 1944, has soul. She has it right to the core and you can was just my way of saying: “Y'all gonna treat us better. be sure she's got some stories to tell. we're gonna do better.
‘It was about 1966. I was married, had a couple of In 1977 she reCOrded the definitive version of ‘Y children and needed to make a little money.‘ Marlena Ma/Go Away Little Boy' that opens with the story of a says. ‘I was out with some friends who convinced me baaad man — inspired by ‘personal experience. Who to go up and sing a song. The guy at the place asked was this good for nothin' who had screwed Marlena me if I was working that weekend. and all I remember around? Who treated you bad, girlfriend? Marlena gives about it was getting $5 a night for three nights. I a shriek and in a round-about-way admits it was her thought I was rich!’ first husband. ‘Nobody in my family wanted this
And that was just the start for the soul/jazz singer, marriage.‘ she says. ‘Everybody said: "Are you craZj/N"
also well known for her fabulous rendition of 'California I started doing the monologue in a club. I just started Soul' (recently remixed by David Holmes). Marlena. now talking about this guy and people started laughing, and Ms Shaw, started picking up regular work at Playboy you know how clowns are. you just get worse!‘
Clubs in the mid-60$. Then she was spotted by Count I Marlena Shaw plays the Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh, Basie in 1968 and sang with him for five years. ‘By the Fri 25 Apr; Flenfrew Ferry, Glasgow, Sun 27 Apr.
time I got with Basie just about everything was happening to me. We did a European tour of 13 countries in 17 days.‘
t . . . 1968 was also the year she recorded ‘Woman of the You COUld do worse than Cheek these 0”
. . . I Lou Donaldson I Grace Jones I Cinerama Ghetto . a tune given a second burst of life over 30 See "stings on page 49 for m" details
years later with Blueboy's hit “Remember Me'. sampling