BLUE-ORIGINAL-COLOR-OF-SIN-REVISE

CoLors*…

•OriginalNoise.Org
the players
the bridge

“Crossroad Blues”
The Sacred Ground where the original Bluesman, Robert Johnson,* SOLD HIS SOUL TO THE DEVIL.
((( >>> )))

Ani DiFranco* (PBS)

[FROM THE TOP]

“Love In Vain“
Robert Johnson*
THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE
1936 — The scarcity of Robert Johnson recordings has, since his “discovey,” added to lore surrounding the legendary Bluesman’s life on the road. The road to Hell, filled with Wine, Women, and Song.

For a promise of fame and fortune, Johnson sold his soul to the Devil, at “The Crossroads,” where a Blues Traveler made his choice. Johnson knew his fate was in Satan’s hands … It was he who decided when, where, and how the guitar players life would end.

Other than a few long-out-of-print 78s, no records of Johnson were made until 1959, when tapes of his only two recording sessions were unearthed, edited and made into a number of vinyl LPs.

The (rare) tapes were made in 1936 (middle of the Depression). One at a small, makeshift studio in Texas, and the other, more serious session for Columbia Records in New York City.

PHOTOBOOTH (5-CENT) PORTRAIT
Growing Up With Robert Johnson (Vanity Fair)

“Sacrificial Guitar” b/ Jim Marshall
JIMI HENDRIX  EXPERIENCE @ MONTEREY POP FESTIVAL (1967)

 

“River of Song“
Ani DiFrancco*
Q&A
2003 — Starting in Chicago, Ani DiFranco embarks on a voyage, south on the Mississippi River, stopping all along the way. Small towns, high schools, street corners, juke joints, church on Sunday … wherever and whenever she found the Blues. [SHOCK & AWE]

“Homeward Strut”
Tommy Bolin*
1975 — Teaser
((( >>> )))

Jeff Beck (wiki) Blow by Blow

Jeff Beck*  and Tommy Bolin were two guitar players who stood firmly and confidently on the musical bridge between Rock N Roll and Jazz. Standing at the next-generation Crossroads, where a most dramatic collision of sound was heard. Ground Zero, the place where the Fusion between Rock and Jazz was consummated. [A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE]

Not long after Miles Davis (The Creator) had set the stage with Bitches Brew, came an explosion of new, energized, experimental, and eclectic sound taking what was considered “Pop” music into the future. A time when instrumental music pushed itself into the light, and bands like The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, and Weather Report were playing large arenas and stadiums. 

[FROM THE TOP]

Tommy Bolin*
The Crossroads (Clarksdale, Mississippi)
James Gang Miami
The Color Purple* — In 1973, Tommy Bolin was asked to join the James Gang, to replace the departing Joe Walsh, the power trio’s founder and popular guitarist. Bolin was well received, and although different, his two James Gang records, Bang and Miami, were critically acclaimed, and personally, Bolin’s musical stature continued to rise. It was also in 1973, when Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer, Billy Cobham asked Bolin to play on his first solo record. Bolin said “yes,” and with keyboardist Jan Hammer and bassist Lee Sklar, Cobham made Spectrum, today considered, along with Jeff Beck’s Blow By Blow, one of the most impactful “Fusion” records ever heard. Its anthemic groove, Stratus, covered (almost as much as “Little Wing”) by so many electric guitarist, and gone so far as Trip-Hop’s Massive Attack’s version being used in a memorably sizzling Victoria’s Secret ad. (Who would have known the “secret” was the Michael Epstein ruling class?) So, when Deep Purple came calling, Bolin was well established, but for anyone asked to fill Ritchie Blackmore’s Rock N Roll, guitar hero shoes could seem an impossible task. Musically and creatively, Bolin was up to the challenge, Come Taste The Band was, as were his James Gang contributions, different than the original guitarist (Blackmore), but was fantastic in its still virtuosic, native American, Tommy Bolin right.

“Cold and distant as the Moon, Why can’t she run like fire?”

“Savannah Woman”
Tommy Bolin*
1975 — Teaser
((( >>> )))

International Rock Awards (1989)

“Johnny B. Goode“
1989 — After receiving the “Best Newcomer” International Rock Award, Living Colour played their Hard Metal interpretation of “JOHNNY B. GOODE,” Chuck Berry‘s Rock N Roll  anthem. [VOYAGER]

 

“If Journeys Matter, then the things we do matter.”

— Vernon Reid (Living Colour guitar)*

 

“Funkanova” (Bon Voyage)
Doug Wimbish*   
Hartford, Connecticut
T’s Lounge / Jackie McLean
1976 — Wood Brass & Steel
((( >>> )))

Hartford, Connecticut @ T’s Lounge

Wood, Brass & Steel, a band named by Joe Robinson (the mobster?) who owned All Platinum Records, one of many small labels he ran with his wife Sylvia Robinson. At the time, Robinson recognized “Wood, Brass, & Steel” as the best musicians he and Sylvia had within their organization. 

*JACKIE MCLEAN
*HAROLD SARGENT
*SKIP McDONALD
*DOUG WIMBISH

[FROM THE TOP]

Wood Brass & Steel
Doug Wimbish*
1976 — “Funkanova” Soon after joining Wood, Brass & Steel (1976) Doug Wimbish wrote “Funkanova,” a Dance/Funk (fusion) tune that made it onto the playlists of New York City’s most popular nightclubs:

Dazed and Confused (film)
Philadelphia Freedom (ELTON JOHN)
Saturday Night Fever
Bee Gees
Studio 54
Paradise Garage
Larry Levan
Bernard Fowler*
I’m just a singer in THE Rock N Roll Band
David Mancuso’s Loft
The Roxy
Beat Street
Style Wars

1978 — Punk Funk
Rick James (Freak)
Ron Carter (Distinguised Gentleman)
A Tribe Called Quest Low End Theory
Gil Scott-Heron (Black Wax)
Last Poets

Hip-Hop Happens
Vanity Fair
Original Sugar Hill Rhythm Section
1979 — HIP-HOP [PLAYLIST]*
Skip McDonald (guitar)
Doug Wimbish (bass)
Keith LeBlanc (drums)
Adrian Sherwood (mix)
Tack>>Head
Bernard Fowler (vocals)
Living Colour
Little Axe

Black Jack Johnson
2000 — NYC @ The Bowery Ballroom. One of the most influential voices in Hip-Hop was that of Mos Def, a young, second generation MC out of Brooklyn who emerged, and made himself known quickly.

Doug Wimbish* and Will Calhoun* had been a bass and drum “duo,” since Doug joined Living Colour in 1992. Soon after releasing Stain in 1993, Vernon Reid disbanded Living Colour, deciding to take a step back toward his more experimental, Downtown NYC roots.

Doug and Will stayed together as Head>>Fake*, a Bass & Drum, wall-of-sound duo. Doug often called out from the stage that Head>>Fake was a “SOUND SYSTEM,” that he and Will were “JUST TWO GUYS. A NEW SOUND FOR A  NEW GERERATION.” 

Just before Living Colour’s new-millennium reunion, Will’s friend Mos Def asked if he would put a (Rock N Roll) band together to play on his next record. Will said “yes,” and made calls to the musicians he thought would best satisfy Mos’ need. First was Doug, his Living Colour and Head>>Fake mate (bass guitar). Then keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Funkadelic, P-Funk), and guitarist Dr. Know (Bad Brains) making the group whole.

Mos called the band BLACK JACK JOHNSON, as a tribute to his musical guide, MILES DAVIS.*

 

“Who Shot Ya?”
Living Colour*
2016 — Freedom Sounds
@ The National Mall (Washington D.C.)
((( >>> )))

dave.

In the long, late afternoon shadow of the Washington Monument, Living Colour closed the day (September 24, 2016) that had celebrated the long-awaited opening of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Starting the day, Barack (Hussein) Obama, in one of his last speeches as President of the United States, delivered an optimistic address, celebrating African American history, the good, the bad, and the progress.

(((VIDEO))) — Later that afternoon, the day closed with Living Colour, The Roots, and Public Enemy playing the “Freedom Sounds” stage on the west end of the National Mall, next to the Washington Monument.

“Preachin’ Blues”
Living Colour*
Home In The Shade
2016 — Hartford, Connecticut
((( >>> )))

—yZ.

[FROM THE TOP]

(((AUDIO))) “Preachin’ Blues” — Hartford, Connecticut @ Sully’s Pub/Lena’s Pizza [Wimbash 2016]
(((VIDEO)))  STEEL WHEELS TOUR 1989* — Kick Ass Rock N Roll
Rolling Stones @ The Orange Bowl (Little Havana, Miami)
Dire Straits w/ Sting
“I Want My MTV”
ROLLING STONES
Living Colour*
U2
Shuttle Landing
KODACHROME “COLUMBIA”
April 12, 1981 — Inaugural Space Shuttle (STS-1)

Keith LeBlanc
New Moves (2023) — A record of Keith’s remixed and reinterpreted Blues classics out of the Chess Records archive. Keith was a longtime friend of Marshall Chess, and had produced a similar record, Chess Moves, in 2012. Ten Years later, Keith called New Moves the best record he ever made, and that might be true. Unfortunately it was his last, before he died later that year.

(((VIDEO)))  TACK>>HEAD 
@ Sweetwater Studios

(((VIDEO))) “Station to Station” 
Earl Slick and Bernard Fowler (2016)
DAVID BOWIE (CELEBRATING)

“Fuck Off!”
Howlin’ Wolf to Lowell George
Idol Worship
1974 — Little Feat @ The Santa Monica Civic Center
((( >>> ))) 

—yZ.

[FROM THE TOP]

Howlin’ Wolf — Little Feat Lowell George Waiting for Columbus
Lowell George —  (((AUDIO))) While introducing “Apolitical Blues” in 1973 at the Santa Monica Civic Center, Lowell George told the story of his meeting his idol, Howlin’ Wolf. From the stage, he described a backstage jam session he was a part of at the Cafe A Go Go in New York City. In it, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Elvin Bishop were playing, and as George says as a joke, but viciously, “AND STEPHEN STILLS WAS WATCHING.”
All told before the real punch line, Lowell reveals Wolf’s unexpected answer to his heartfelt request (autograph) of his idol.
(((VIDEO))) Martin Scorsese “Blues” (documentary film)
(((VIDEO)))  Living Colour* (2008) Amsterdam @ Paradiso

“Politician”
Vernon Reid*
Back To The Moon* [SUMMER ’69]*
JACK BRUCE [SPECTRUM ROAD]*
2025 — Hoodoo Telemetry
((( >>> )))

—yZ.

“Up From The Skies”
(((VIDEO)))
Vernon w/ Alex Skolnick*
Jimi Hendrix*

Two days before Vernon Reid and Living Colour, at Jimmy Kimmel’s request, played “Cult of Personality” to close out his show that had included Bruce Springsteen and Jeremy Allen White who played Bruce in Deliver Me From Nowhere, the film that had just been released. The show was just days after Kimmel’s return, after ABC had cancelled him, giving in to pressure exerted by Donald Trump, who whined that Kimmel was treating him “unfairly,” in his “unfunny” monologues.

[FROM THE TOP]

“POLITICIAN” — Reaching back to his playing guitar in Jack Bruce’s band, Spectrum Road, Vernon included the Cream classic “Politician” on his second solo record, Hoodoo Telemetry.

“TRANSFORMING LIBERTY”
by Amy Sherald (New Yorker)

Back To The Moon
Artemis
APRIL 1, 2026 — After fifty five years, NASA sends men (and women) back to the Moon. (((VIDEO))) See it like a Native, including the drive north on Indian River Drive (The River Road) to the 1880s church, with a widow’s watch with a clear view of the Sacred Ground, across the Indian River Lagoon.
SPACEX (MARCH 31, 2026)
ARTEMIS (K’S BEACH)
ARTEMIS (A MOON TO REMEMBER)
ARTEMIS (IN THE SHADE)

VERNON REID 2025 — Portrait for his new Hoodoo Telemetry record.
VERNON REID HOODOO TELEMETRY (INTERVIEW #1)*
VERNON REID HOODOO TELEMETRY (INTERVIEW #2)*

“Should I Stay, Or Should I Go?” was the tune on Living Colour’s debut album, Vivid, where that paid tribute to where and from what it became. The Clash, the more sophisticated punks from London had played a legendary run at CBGB, the club Vernon Reid and his Living Colour mates called home.

SEPTEMBER 23 — A statue featuring President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein dancing, titled “In Honor of Friendship Month,” appeared on the east end of the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday morning, September 23, 2025.

The World According to Mick. After helping Living Colour secure the deal with Sony Records to make Vivid, The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger invited Vernon and the band to open for the Stones on its upcoming Steel Wheels 1989 North American Tour.

Jagger first saw Living Colour in its natural habitat, CBGB, the dirty, Downtown New York City bar, from which the Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, Television, King Missile, and the Talking Heads came from. A community that accepted all kinds of music, including Living Colour’s Fusion of Hard Rock, Metal, and Avant Punk.

Living Colour and Jimmy Kimmel, just days after the Donald Trump’s regime tried to have Kimmel removed, saying that his jokes were “not fair.” (ABC)

2000 — After making himself known in the Brooklyn underground, Mos Def, established himself more when he released the critically acclaimed Black on Both Sides in 1999. Unusual for a “rap” star, was that for his new record, Mos, recruited friend Will Calhoun to put together an honest-to-God, virtuosic band. Will’s first call was to his Living Colour and Head>>Fake mate, bassist Doug Wimbish. Doug was one of Hip-Hop’s founding fathers, the bass guitar in the Original Sugar Hill Records House Band (Rhythm Section.  After Doug, Will went to P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell, and Bad Brains guitarist Dr. Know to complete Mos’ Rock N Roll band. Mos called the group “Black Jack Johnson,” an homage to Miles Davis, a musical inspiration for all.

THE ORIGINAL COLOR OF SIN (CONT’D)
THE ORIGINAL COLOR OF SIN (PT1.)

 

CoLors*…
This is a Voyage into Sound.
inst. of change THE ELECTRIC GUITAR
the players
INSTRUMENTS OF NOISE
take it to the bridge
THE ORIGINAL COLOR OF SIN BLUE
THE ORIGINAL COLOR OF SIN. BLUE (ALT)

playlists*
ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK (TIMELINE)

JAZZIZ (THE ART OF NOISE)
JAZZIZ (ARTISTS/PHOTOGRAPHERS)
MUSIC.COM (MAGAZINE)
Original Noise Contents (PG.1)
Original Noise Contents (PG.2)

Miles Davis
The Creator
Essential Fusion
HOLY TRINITY OF ROCK
HOLY TRINITY OF JAZZ
FUSION SONGS
FUSION RECORDS
RE.COLLECTIONS

THREE DAYS (AND NIGHTS) IN MANHATTAN
Lenny White*
Joe Satriani*

Rockets, Moon Shots/
Spend it on the have nots/
Money, we make it/
Fore we see it you take it/
Oh, make me want to holler
The way they do my life/
Make me want to holler
The way they do my life …

“Inner City Blues”
Living Colour
2009 — Shade
((( War Is Never the Answer )))

—yZ.

inst. of change
THE ELECTRIC GUITAR

Living Colour*
w/ The Roots and Public Enemy
BLACK LIVES MATTER
“WE HAVE THIS HOPE …
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
MILES DAVIS
MOTOWN
MALCOLM X
STAX
CHUCK BERRY
LOUIS ARMSTRONG
ELLA FITZGERALD
ARETHA FRANKLIN
RAY CHARLES
CHUCK BERRY
NINA SIMONE
GIL SCOTT-HERON
MARVIN GAYE
JAMES BROWN
JIMI HENDRIX
“Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey”
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE
STAND!
JACKSON 5
THE SUPREMES
STEVIE WONDER
BILLY PRESTON
RUFUS
ISLEY BROTHERS
“If There’s A Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go.”
CURTIS MAYFIELD
GEORGE BENSON
BUS BOYS
MOTHERS FINEST
ICE-T
NWA
GARLAND JEFFREYS
“BUT WHITEY” b/ KEITH LEBLANC
“Keith, Keith, Keith”
“Mine Eyes Have Seen The Coming of The Klan.”
DONALD TRUMP
WHITE LIVES (ONLY) MATTER

PRINCE

“Proud Mary”
Ike & Tina Turner
1971 — Workin’ Together
((( Rollin’ On The River )))

 

1982 — Material
Bill Laswell
1983 — Beat Street
Future Shock
Herbie Hancock
1984 — MALCOLM X
No Sell Out
Keith LeBlanc
1985 — LIVE AID
We Are The World
ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST APARTHEI
Mile Davis
Stevie Van Zant
Arthur Baker
1986 — JEFF BECK
Major Malfunction
ON-U SOUND
1985 — MEETING MICK
Bernard Fowler
Bill Laswell
She’s The Boss
The Brothers of Sodom
Joe Satriani
Doug Wimbish
1986 — “Major Malfunction”
1987 — Hail! Hail! Rock N Roll
Chuck Berry
Johnny Johnson (Chuck Berry Piano)
Dan Glenn
Keith Richards
Eric Clapton
1987 — N.W.A. 
1988 — Vivid
1989 — Grammy Incident
Jethro Tull v Metallica
Space Shuttle Return (After Challenger)

Truth Be Told
Dangerous
When a group of Republican senators (including Hillary Clinton) wanted to make it a crime for anybody so “UNPATRIOTIC” that they would dare to burn an “ALL-AMERICAN” flag.
((( >>> ))) 

dave.

Sam Kinison 
What’s So Funny About Jesus?
TOM RYAN (Back To Zero)

Bill Hicks
It’s Just A Ride
A Bill Hicks biography (film), the first after his death, including interviews with Jay Leno, David Letterman, and many other comedians, family, and friends.
[WATCH IT HERE]
BILL HICKS (TRUTH BE TOLD)*
American Screamer

1990 — Time’s Up
Lollapalooza
1991 — Living Colour
A recollection of the Inaugural Lollapalooza, Jane’s Addiction party, where east, west, black, and white collided.
1990 — Time’s Up
1991 — LOLLAPALOOZA
A recollection of the Inaugural Lollapalooza, the Jane’s Addiction party, where EAST MET WEST, and BLACK MET WHITE in THE MIDDLE OF AMERICA.
Living Colour
Body Count
Bad Brains
Fishbone
Public Enemy
Lollapalooza (1991)
Biscuits (1991)
New Jack City (1991)
“New Jack Theme”
New Jack City Soundtrack
Garland Jeffreys (1991)
Don’t Call Me Buckwheat

“Hail Hail Rock N Roll”
1991 — Don’t Call Me Buckwheat
Vernon Reid
w/ Garland Jeffreys
((( Marquee Dream )))

—yZ.

1977 — THE GOLDEN RECORD
The Dreamers
In Time, Jules Verne and Carl Sagan lived a century apart, and In Space, they were worlds away. No matter their differences, both similarly spent their time on Earth looking to the stars, and dreaming of what lived in the beyond. 

Lure of The Moon
Jules Verne
From the Earth to The Moon (Novel) 1865
Around the Moon. (Sequel) 1870
From the Earth to The Moon (Novel) 1958

Contact
Carl Sagan‘s Cosmic Message In A Bottle.
Contact (Novel) 1985
Contact (Movie) 1997
When Carl Sagan curated “Sounds of Earth,” his collection of ambient sound he thought would paint and audio picture of our planet, to any other life form that might discover it as it flew out our solar system, galaxy, and beyond. To represent Rock N Roll, Sagan chose Chuck Berry‘s “Johnny B. Goode.“ 
“Father of Rock and Roll“
“Maybellene” (1955)
“Roll Over Beethoven” (1956)
“Rock and Roll Music” (1957)
“Johnny B. Goode” (1958)

When Carl Sagan, the first pop astrophysicist, was tasked with creating a playlist to represent life on planet Earth, “Johnny B. Goode” was the “sound” he chose to represent Rock N Roll. It was part of Sagan’s The Sounds of Earth, the “Golden Record” that rode aboard NASA’s exploratory satellite, Voyager.

Voyager was launched in 1977, and for Sagan, The Sounds of Earth was his Cosmic Message in a Bottle … hoping the record might be discovered by an extraterrestrial, who could listen, learn, and be interested in Planet Earth.

— Carl Sagan

“Should I Stay, Or Should I Go?”
Living Colour
1988 — Vivid
((( Voyage Begins )))

Jimmy Kimmell

dave.