San Francisco Margo (AKA Margaret) sent me this picture. On the left you see the late great Root Boy Slim, one of life's more eccentric performers. I don't know who the guy is on his left. Root Boy played at the long-gone Psychedeli in Bethesda where Doug and I (and Margo) saw The Root many times. We also saw him at the Warner Theater downtown near the White House, and at the University of Maryland. He was a hoot, was The Root. He had many memorable songs, but Boogie Till You Puke was one of my favorites. I also liked Christmas at K-Mart, and the Rootettes were wonderful. It was a long, long time ago -- late 70s -- but amazingly the memories are still fresh. And we did. Boogie till we puked that is (or at least I puked). TMI?
Now if I can just find my Root Boy glasses I'll post a picture of them too.
7 comments:
I remember those glasses.
The unknown 'guy' standing to the left of Root Boy Slim is non other than myself.
This Polaroid image was taken by my cousin Joe Lee (Slim's long time manager and friend).
It was downstairs at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. at the "Root Boy Slim Punk Prom" on Thursday 21 October 1982.
I was chaperone to Baltimore's Edith 'Edie' Massey of John Waters film fame that night.
Maybe one day I'll share more of those unpublished/sacred images for everyone to gawk at !
Best- Jeffrey Lee
Oh...lest I forget; I to witnessed many shows at the legendary PsycheDelly in Bethesda.
It stood ground level across from Triangle Towers, home of WHFS.
A veteran of nearly forty shows during Slim's reign...
One particular night at the PsycheDelly on 31 July 1981, Slim visited the restroom only to find out there wasn't any toilet paper.
I was in there doing my business when Slim (stranded in the stall) became highly agitated and began screaming: "Someone get me some fucking toilet paper so I can wipe my lily white ass!"
Alarmed - I went to the bar and swiped several bar towels and handed them to Slim...
Moments later he took the stage and proceeded to harangue and chastise the staff for not keeping the restrooms supplied.
Then he and the band lurched into an impromtu version of "Bus Station Blues"..."you know the bus station manager didn't have no toilet paper, I just finished my first bowel movement in a week".
Such are the stellar memories and great times he afforded everyone without asking for hike in the cover charge.
Well, thanks Scarecrow for filling in some details of this picture. I know that name, Joe Lee. Did he have a record store in the DC area? Joe's Record Paradise?
And your toilet paper anecdote is... well, interesting I guess. Poor old Root. He had demons aplenty. Talent too, but more demons than is healthy for normal life.
Joe had his original "Record Paradise" at 7054 Carroll Avenue in Takoma Park. That's where you could find great deals in obscure blues and jazz, and also find Slim 'sleeping it off' on the floor in the back!
Joe and I are currently collaborating on a Slim project involving vintage 8mm film footage and hundreds of color slides I took during the 1978-1982 period.
Yeah, Carroll Avenue...that's familiar. The store was approximately where the House of Musical Traditions was located, until 6 or 7 yrs ago before it moved across the street.
Here's another odd coincidence. Last night I "had dinner" with David Einstein, former music director at WHFS, son of Jake Einstein (original owner of HFS), and brother of Damien Einstein, HFS DJ (who survived a horrible car accident in the 70s but continued to be a DJ despite a "broken" voice). Anyway, the "dinner with" DEinstein came about b/c my husband and I went to Ri Ra's in downtown Bethesda last night to hear two bands, one jazz and one classic rock, who featured old friends. The "had dinner" is in quotes b/c we sat at one of those long high bar tables for 4 hours, eating, drinking (some of us), listening to the bands, and trying to have conversations in between songs. David sat across from us and was introduced to us, to which I said (in my classic bad manners way) "Oh, David Einstein, as in brother of Damien and son of Jake?" As if David had no identity of his own. Geez. I don't know what he's doing now but he lives in Annapolis AND Bethesda so he's apparently doing OK.
Looking forward to your Slim project.
Hello Pamela...
May I extend an invitation to you and Margaret to view my "Memories of Root Boy Slim" here on Blogger.
I wrote it over a year ago, and I had it up on MySpace until a few days ago...I have since moved it here.
It's not finished yet, as I am rather lazy and need to gather more of my stuff together and scan the needed images to complete it.
Let me know what you think huh ?
Post a Comment