Month: December 2025

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Is Albert King The Source of Clapton’s Crossroads Riff?

  By Music

Who knows Albert King’s music really well and can help me answer this question? Cream’s 1968 version of Crossroads uses the identical riff that Albert King uses in the tune For The Love of a Woman (except for the last bars) which he first recored in 1971 for the album Lovejoy. I can’t find an earlier version of that tune. But considering how often Clapton borrowed riffs and solos from King I would be surprised if King took a riff from Clapton rather the other way around. It’s not unusual for bluesmen to reuse a riff in different tunes. So does anyone know an earlier Albert King recording that uses this riff. (There is just a hint of the riff in both of Johnson’s recording of Crossroads. But his accompaniment is far more complicated, varied and subtle than the King / Riff. ) Continue reading

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RIP Steve Cropper

  By Music

RIP Steve Cropper. He made more beautiful music with fewer notes than any guitarist I ever heard. The the first Booker T and the MGs tune I ever heard was Groovin’. IIRC their cover came out not that long after the Rascals original in 67. But I liked it better. Cropper overdubbed the piano. I didn’t hear Green Onions until later. (I was 7 when it was first released.) Continue reading

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Tom Stoppard’s memory will be a blessing.

  By Art, Drama, Film, Uncategorized

I did not recall or remember or know that Tom Stoppard wrote the screenplay for Brazil with Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown. That wonderful movie was sadly prescient about where are and where we are going. I’m making a list of things I plan to do once I leave my position in, it appears now, early January. Slowly getting deep into Stoppard’s work is high on that list. Another idea I had yesterday is to do a photo essay on the stone and rock walls that keep Manyunk from tumbling into the Schuylkill. I take a different route home from PT each week to see more of them. And learning how to spell Schuylkill confidently, that is, without checking to make sure I’m right. Not to mention writing a few books. Continue reading