Fast Fuckin’ Fannie, Butcher-Knife Totin’ Annie, Pistol Pete

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Wolf and Sunnyland were arguing on the way to a gig one night. Sunnyland ended the argument by yelling, “Hey, I didn’t tell you that when you chopped that man’s head off with a hoe!” Hubert Sumlin asked what he was talking about. Sunnyland said, “I’m just telling it like it is. The motherfucker did chop a man’s head off!” Shaken, Wolf stopped the car and walked away. Taking Hubert home that night, Wolf told him it was true; he’d killed someone. He’d gotten into a fight with a man and hit him with a hoe, slicing the top of his head off and killing him instantly. Terrified, he ran and hid in a drainage ditch while a posse hunted for him with hounds. The next day, his fellow Masons helped him aboard a passing train and he fled the scene.

"Keep Your Big Mouth Shut" very popular with the birds in Manchester

 

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To those of you who may be shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean in the near future, I offer the following advice; head for Hawaii. There, in a club in downtown Honolulu you will find one of the greatest ravers of all time, the legendary Screamin' Jay Hawkins. [Jay had by now fully recovered from his stab wound inflicted by his ex-partner, a girl called Shoutin' Pat.] "I Put A Spell On You" is the big one. Jay starts by doing a special war-dance, prowling around the stage with tambourine in one hand, and Henry in the other. Accompanied by rolling drums he stalks across stage as though looking for blood. Crash! Jay bashes Henry over the head with his tambourine and leaps back across stage. One, two, three, four, and in comes the well known "Spell" beat. Halfway through Jay leaps back with arms outstretched as a vivid green flash lights up the entire club. Jay's other self-composed song was "Alligator 'Wine," which really shook some of the younger birds - dig the opening line "Take the blood out of an alligator!" ... Tremendous ...  

"Solomon Burke loves to eat," said our man Jalacy Hawkins when asked about the King Of Rock 'n Soul during a crowded car-ride from Blackpool to Manchester. "If a chick goes out with Solomon she has to like food, all kinds of stuff. Solomon has his flat filled with hamburgers all hours of the day and night.'' Jay used to live next to Solomon in New York, so he ought to know. Jay digs chicken gumbo, by the way, and Ginny sure cooks a mean chicken gumbo! I look forward to the day when hamburger sales increase, and Solomon comes to spread some much-needed soul amongst us. Long live the King Of Rock 'n Soul!

Lotti the Body and Titty Tassel Toni toured with rhythm and blues shows

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Otis's stance on civil rights frequently jeopardized his career. An anonymous letter complaining about one of his Sentinel columns illustrates the kind of reactions his activism provoked. It read:

Dear Johnny Ignoramus Otis,

Why don't you stick with stupid rock and roll music and stop trying to solve the "race problem." There is no race problem here and radicals like you keep trying to stir up trouble so you can have something to write about. ... the government should take you and all your civil rights idiot friends and send you all to Berlin and put you on the front line. Then the Germans can take care of you mongrels the same way they took care of the Jews.

Otis devoted a 1962 column to a contrast between the Cinnamon Cinder nightclub on Sunset Strip, one of the city's most popular rock 'n' roll clubs, and the Peppermint Stick in Sherman Oaks. The Cinnamon Cinder pretended to be a private membership club in order to keep out Blacks. When whites came to the door they were signed up for club membership instantly, but when Blacks appeared they were turned away because they did not have membership cards. The Peppermint Stick, on the other hand, welcomed youths of all races. The police left the Cinnamon Cinder alone but routinely harassed the Peppermint Stick. He proposed that the activist Congress of Racial Equality broaden its repertoire from sit-ins at lunch counters and conduct a "twist-in" at the Cinnamon Cinder.