Blood

It’s night time in the big city

The hotel room smells like cigarettes and cheap perfume

A woman shops for fruit in a trench coat.

I don’t know if this city’s more like Sodom or Gomorrah 

 

“Along with sweat and tears, it’s among the most popular of the bodily fluids.”

Singers and Songs

  • Little Esther
    Flesh, Blood, and Bones
  • Da Costa Woltz and the Southern Broadcasters
    Are You Washed In The Blood Of The Lamb
    “Here’s an unusual record, with an interesting story behind it…D. Woltz was in the patent medicine business and he was the mayor of Galax, Virginia in 1930 and 1931. (He) vanished into obscurity after swindling the town of Galax while he was the mayor. Lemme see now…patent medicine business, crooked mayor, swindled the town, disappeared in obscurity…of course they recorded a gospel record!”
  • Memphis Slim
    Cold Blooded Woman
    “The tale of a woman who is positively reptilian”
  • Jerry Lee Lewis
    Lust of the Blood
    “Ya know if anyone ever asks me why I do this radio show I can just play ‘em that. Jerry Lee Lewis singing Shakespeare -- that’s what this show is all about.”
  • Ike Turner
    She Made My Blood Run Cold
  • Nervous Norvus
    Transfusion
    “That record made it to number 8 on the pop charts. Imagine a record like that on the charts now. We lived in great times.”
  • Honeyboy
    Blood Stains on the Wall
    “Another great example of saying a lot by saying a little.”
  • Paul Clayton
    Go Down You Blood Red Roses
  • Danny Barker
    Blood On The Moon
  • Big Boy Groves
    Bucket Of Blood
    “Playing the organ there for ya too. Mighty fine sound…A tuneful little ditty about a violence-prone establishment.”
  • The String Kings
    Bloodshot
  • The Zion Travelers
    The Blood
  • The Mississippi Sheiks
    I’ve Got Blood In My Eyes For You
    “Walter Vinson on guitar and vocals; Lonnie Chatmon on fiddle; Sam Chatmon on guitar; and Bo Carter on guitar – don’t let the name fool you, he was also a Chatmon. I mention their names because it is important to remember that these are people. This is how they made their living. They went somewhere to record it and went many places to perform it. That’s how they got life experience to write and record more songs. Sure you can sit around your house, without ever leaving home, stick in your ear buds, and listen to it all alone. But you gotta ask yourself, what’s the next generation gonna write about? Sitting home alone, you’re not gonna write a song like this.”

Other People and Players

  • Kenny Rogers
  • Anne Boleyn
  • King Henry VIII
  • John Lee Rockefeller
  • Abraham
  • Isaac
  • God
  • The Israelites
  • Angel of Death
  • Matt Murphy
    “Slim gave a shout out to his guitar player Matt Murphy there and made played pretty nice, though he wasn’t what you’d call a “Guitar God.” They love the flashy fingers and the solos full of filigree. Be careful, these might be false gods. I hope if you’re a young guitar player, listening to this show, with your guitar in your lap, hoping to cop some licks, you’re paying attention. You don’t have to fill up every moment with a hundred notes. People like Guitar Slim only played a few notes, but every single one of those notes was like an ice pick to your heart.”
  • Lady Macbeth
  • King Duncan
  • Macbeth
  • Shakespeare
  • Iago
  • Desdemona
  • Muddy Waters
  • Elmore James
  • Rosco Gordon
  • Otis Rush
  • Tina (Turner)
  • Truman Capote
  • Harper Lee
  • Sylvester Graham
    “Dedicated his life to a battle against masturbation. He was also into healthy eating. I’m with him on the healthy eating part.”
  • W.K. Kellogg
  • Honeyboy Edwards
  • Napoleon
  • The British Army
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • Blue Lu Barker
  • Onward Brass Band
  • King Oliver
  • Sidney Bechet
  • Babe Son
  • Kid Rena
  • Benny Carter
  • Cab Calloway
  • Bill Buckner
  • Andre Escobar
  • Oscar Metenier
  • Max Maury
  • Paula Maxa
  • Mary Queen of Scots
  • George Jessel
  • Willie Nelson
  • Lord Byron
  • Winston Churchill

The Plays & Musicals

Record Labels

Places

  • New Orleans Jazz Museum
  • Havana
  • Harry’s Bar, Paris
  • St. Paul, MN
  • Paris, France
  • The Lamb and Flag
  • London
  • Colombia
  • New Orleans
  • New Bedford, MA
  • Kansas
  • England
  • Louisiana
  • Galax, Virginia

Guests

  • Billy Vera

Magazines

  • LA Times

Books and Poems

Movies and TV Shows

Recipes

  • Bob's Bloody Mary Recipe

    2/3 of a cup of tomato juice – "don’t pinch pennies here, get a good tomato juice"
    Add 2 to 3 oz of vodka – "I sometimes add 4"
    1 t of horseradish – "use freshhorsh…fresh horshwa…use fresh horshradish"
    Sprinkle a little Tabasco sauce in there
    1 t of Worcestershire Sauce – "I can say that easier than horseradish!"
    Take the juice of ½ a lime
    A little bit of salt – "I use the coarse sea salt; I like the texture"
    A little fresh ground pepper
    Then stick a celery stalk in there
    "Put on a couple of Willie Nelson records, sit for a while, and it’s good night, Martha"

Types of Sea Shanties

Bob’s Instructions for Getting Blood Stains Out of Clothing

  • 1. Wet the stain with cold water.

    2. Coat the blood stain with powdered meat tenderizer and more cold water; that makes sense – blood is found in meat and tenderizer can break it down.

    3. Rub this paste into the shirt and let it sit for about half an hour.

    4. During this half hour, consider what you have done. Then rinse, and head for Mexico.