SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS

Watching the BTS features for “Mystery Train” recently, I heard director Jim Jarmusch talk about his relationship with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, a musician I’ve never been too familiar with. This is sending me down a rabbit hole to learn more: apparently Hawkins originally wanted to be an opera singer, but that didn’t work out. He was also reluctant to start using the various stage props that gave him his later macabre, Vincent Price-esque stage presence. It’s odd that the guy who was apparently Shock Rock Patient Zero and must have inspired the image of everybody from The Cramps to Alice Cooper to The Misfits to Gwar to White Zombie… didn’t really want to. With the approach of the Halloween season-- my favorite time of year-- I will add Screamin’ Jay Hawkins to my holiday practice, with respect for his reluctance. There’s a documentary about Hawkins called “I Put A Spell On Me”, that I’m looking forward to catching. Unfortunately, the only place I can find it is YouTube; not even my public library has it.

RECENT READING: "THE BIG PAYBACK"

I recently finished reading "The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop" by Dan Chamas. A fascinating look at the economics of the genre. It's illuminating-- though often disheartening-- to know the dollars and cents behind so many deals.

The only passages that slowed down for me were the lengthy explorations of radio. The author is clearly well versed in the ins and outs of hip hop vis a vis radio, and while the relationship of the genre to that particular medium is an important one, these sections got a little tedious to navigate given the vast multitude of characters we need to keep track of.

My favorite sentence in the book: "Surprisingly, the often obstreperous DMX was up to the task."