Welcome to the Holiday/Year End edition of BLUES JUNCTION. Like many of us I’m happy to say goodbye to 2016.

The year started out pretty bad and ended with a disaster which was our national election. I’ve been told that I shouldn’t discuss politics here at the JUNCTION. To that I say, too damn bad. If you don’t like it go somewhere else. In my view these things should be discussed as this is who we are as Americans and members of the human race. You are welcome to read my thoughts on all of this in an editorial entitled, A Few Thoughts on our National Election.

For whatever reason, death seems to be unusually hungry this year. It seems as if one musical icon after another has left this mortal coil and all at the same time. From Merle Haggard to David Bowie, Prince to Leon Russell, it has been a rough one. I can’t keep up with all of this so I don’t even try. However, on November 15th of this year we lost Mose Allison. Like many of you, he is one of my favorites. Read my appreciation of this unique artist.

It was two years ago this month that I interviewed the man who was universally referred to as the greatest blues drummer in the world, Richard Innes. In that piece Richard discussed a man with whom he played for many years. His name is Larry Taylor. Taylor has spent a lifetime in the world of music. His bass has put him on the largest stages in the world. He has played with some true musical icons. I urge you to take a few moments and read an interview I conducted with the one and only Larry “The Mole” Taylor.

I received a CD in the mail last month which I ordered from the Santa of Santa Cruz, Charlie Lange, via his Bluebeat Music website. It was from a Ukrainian harmonica player named Konstantin Kolesnichenko. That CD entitled Hypnotized! was right up my alley. Konstantin reached out to me. He wanted me to have a copy. I told him that I just got off the phone with Charlie and ordered the CD. When I heard the music, I knew I had to talk to this kindred spirit from the other side of the world.  Konstantin told me that he reads one or two interviews from the archive section of our site every night before he goes to sleep. Now he will be able to read the interview I conducted with him as he's featured in our Monthly Artist Spotlight.

It is that time of year so let’s go over some of the special holiday features we have lined up for you. First off our popular Re-Visited feature takes a look at one of my favorite Christmas albums of all time. It is called Blues, Mistletoe and Santa’s Little Helper. It is now over twenty years old and comes from the halcyon days of the 90’s blues revival via Black Top Records. Black Top Records is long gone of course and this CD has been long out of print. What helped to make this release an exciting event was the fact that none of the tracks on this album had been previously issued in any format and 20 years later that is still the case. This album has never been re-issued. There are only a handful left and after that they are gone...for good.

However, BLUES JUNCTION is making this album available to our readers as a premium thank you gift for a $20.00 donation. You will get same day, free shipping. This is a first come, first served offer as limited quantities are available. Just click the Paypal button at the bottom of this feature or the review itself.

The brand new CD comes in a jewel box with a six panel insert which includes track by track detailed, comprehensive recording information and original album artwork. This is one special disc, get it while you can!

People love lists and we have a holiday special lined up for you. I welcome you to check out my list of the best Christmas albums of all time…or at least my favorites from our CD library here at the JUNCTION. So remember this holiday season that you don’t want no MP3 under your tree and no Pandora anywhere near your menorah.

It wouldn’t be a holiday spectacular without my favorite interview of all time. That, of course, is with the internationally beloved figure, Santa Claus. His Cringleness is a swell fella and a real straight shooter, which is what we like around here.

I probably don’t need to remind you that on December 25^th, 2016, we observe the 10th anniversary of the passing of James Brown. So to my fellow Funkalogians I say unto you...Happy Funkmas. For those who are not familiar with Funkmas and the holiday trappings surrounding this celebration, you can go to the Archive section of our site and read about it in a piece I wrote a few years ago simply entitled Funkmas.

In the days after this past election I, like so many of you, kind of walked around in an absolute fog. Nothing in our history prepared us for such a blow. We have entered uncharted waters. What the future holds is anybody’s guess. There are no more experts.

I couldn’t write and I couldn’t read. I could however listen to music. I was having thoughts as to my own worth. I felt writing about music was so trivial given the gravity of world affairs and the fall of one of the great countries of the world, my own beloved United States. Yet, I had the answer right there all along, the music. It is getting me through this disaster.

So I’ll keep doing what I do, which is primarily comment on the quintessential American art form, blues music. I’ve often pointed out that our music is this nation’s most beloved and enduring export. It is music that grew from our country’s most barbaric institution, slavery. It grew from the sanctified Baptist Church. It grew up in beer bars, pool halls and juke joints. It was heard in nightclubs and dance halls. It is now played everywhere. It didn’t come from Americans and it didn’t come from Africans. It came from a people who can only be described as African-American. It was their gift to the world. What musicians do with this gift is up to them. However, if they play it with the respect that it deserves you will read about it here at BLUES JUNCTION.

Thanks always to you, our thoughtful readers, for your kind words of encouragement and support. I can’t begin to tell you how much that means to me. For those of you who have made donations to the cause, an extra debt of gratitude is owed to you...and probably a t-shirt.  

You understand, as I do, that this music deserves better than the treatment it gets from those who use it as a platform to elevate their own agendas. It deserves better than the childish grandstanding that has become the hallmark of blues journalism. Thanks to you, we are still here doing our thing.

Blues music may not have the commercial viability that other forms of entertainment enjoy. That doesn’t mean it is without value. That doesn’t mean it is without beauty. That doesn’t mean it should be turned into something that suits one’s own lack of understanding of this music or one’s lack of talent to play it. Blues is a beautiful language that speaks to a culture that gave us this music in the first place.  

It just isn’t for everybody. If you can live with that fact, than you don’t suffer from the acute insecurity that plagues that other parallel blues universe. You have found the right place. Welcome to BLUES JUNCTION. I’m glad to know you.

However you choose to celebrate, I hope all of you have a rewarding and fulfilling holiday season. Until we meet again, be well and be in touch.

-David Mac

p.s. If you want to give the perfect gift to the blues fan in your life check out two of our favorites, Bluebeat Music and Mojo King Music.  We're sure you'll find something for everyone on your list.



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