The Peach Orchard vs the steam shovel
It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as John Henry, but the song that was the Peach Orchard met it’s demise courtesy of the Norfolk Southern railway, the property owners. It was railway adjacent, and essentially nothing to them, but they tore it down because the lawyers said they should. Nola.com has the scoop. What did the New Orleans locals get for their trouble? Some leftover ramps from a Red Bull demo and a D.I.Y. hangover. Faster than you can say “hair of the dog,” a new spot is born. Pleasureside is it’s name, and unless I’m mistaken, it’s essentially right next door to the old spot. Even John Henry’s balls weren’t that big!
– Thanks to Joey O’Mahoney for the tip.
Don’t know if you ever went much on the Gun Club, but if you’ve ever wondered why Jeffrey Lee’s cover of “John Hardy” is somewhat conflagrated with the lyrics of “John Henry”, the steel drivin’ man, it would seem that it’s just a straight cover of a Doug Sahm version, and god knows why Sahm mashed them up. But the Sir Douglas Quintet, in all its Tex-Mexness, appears to have been a huge influence on Jeffrey Lee’s half Mexican all Texican self, if that, and the 1964 TV performance of “She’s about a mover” on Youtube, are any indication….
This has been… the rest of the shtory….
Oh, and Gun Club’s “Jack On Fire” remains the quintessential song about New Orleans.
Skate don’t hate, motherfucker.
Love Gun Club. Who has ever heard them and not loved them? I’m going to investigate Doug Sahm.
Just watch that performance of “She’s about a mover” (which I’m sure you’ve heard) by the Sir Douglas Quintet on youtube, and I think you’ll see that he musta been an influence on Jeffrey Lee, beyond providing the “John Hardy”/Henry fodder. But hey, was there some performance piece entitled “A White Trash Interpretation of ‘1984’” on your blog yesterday?
*The “Jukebox Classics” performance that someone posted on Youtube June 7, 2007, with the dancers in the background, is the one that put me in mind of Jeffrey Lee… not the performance with the fake castles in the background.
so theres no info on where this is?