Combo Waltz performed by the Hokum Scorchers

Here is one of our Hokum Scorcher's recordings called Combo Waltz. I am playing the washboard and cups and Lou Reimuller is playing the National guitar, harmonica and kazoo. This song is based on a Memphis Jugband song from the late 20s, early 30s.

The Art of Amy Crehore

What am I listening to?

I am listening to the free cd that came with my 2009 blues calendar! It's amazingly good! If you haven't purchased a calendar yet, get this one chock full o' race record ads. Just look at this play list on the cd:

Track Listings:January to December artwork(1) Night & Day Blues • Blind Blake(2) Milk Cow Blues • Kokomo Arnold(3) Shake It and Break It • Charley Patton(4) Jesus Is A Mighty Good Leader • Skip James(5) Home Town Skiffle-Pt. 1,2 • Paramount All Stars(6) Jailhouse Fire Blues • Buddy Boy Hawkins(7) Worried Blues • Blind Lemon Jefferson (8) Cherry Ball Blues • Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie(9) Graveyard Dream Blues • Ida Cox(10) Nightmare • Elgar's Creole Orchestra (11) The Death of Blind Lemon • Rev. Emmett Dickerson(12) Death May Be Your Christmas Present • Rev. A. W. NixBonus tracks (artwork doesn't exist for these songs)(13) Sun to Sun • Blind Blake(14) The Laffing Rag • Ben Curry(15) Hot Dog • Ben Curry(16) Home Town Skiffle-Test •Paramount All Stars(17) Alchohol And Jake Blues • Tommy Johnson(18) Ridin' Horse • Tommy Johnson

NOTE: The "Paramount All Stars" includes Papa Charley Jackson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Hokum Boys, Will Ezell, & Charley Spand. (Great!)

Get your calendar and free cd here:

Blues Images

This is the kind of roots music that I play with the Hokum Scorchers.

The art and music of Amy Crehore

"Violent Love" is a Favorite Song

It's funny how many bands have done the Willie Dixon song, "Violent Love". I had no idea until I checked it out on YouTUBE and saw videos of Oingo Boingo, The Matches, Asylum Street Spankers, etc, etc. Anyhow, here's the Hokum Scorcher's 1990 version (follow link and scroll down for music player):

Violent Love Performed by The Hokum Scorchers

The Art(and Music) of Amy Crehore

Kazoos and Old Lures

Cat Kazoo with Plaid Britches

1907 Kazoo fishing lure
Rhodes Mechanical Frog lure - before 1910
Antique Lures
Electrizooka via Makezine (How to make an electric kazoo)
Tin Man Tin Toys (Cat Kazoo)
Kazoos (Kazoo in Popular Music)
Here are some links that I found while surfing around. The Hokum Scorchers always played kazoos, a popular instrument in hokum music. I like this cat kazoo that I found on a tin toy site. Kazoos come in all shapes and sizes, but the metal ones are best. Makezine blog featured an "electrizooka" that someone invented. I also found an old fishing lure called the "Kazoo". This antique mechanical frog lure is pretty cool, too.
I will actually be painting a fishing lure sometime soon. I'll tell you more about that later.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Papa Charlie Jackson 1890-1938

Papa Charlie Jackson by Amy Crehore

I can't remember exactly when I painted this portrait of Papa Charlie Jackson with his guitar banjo. We used to play some of his songs in our little Hokum Scorchers band.

'Jackson was the first really successful self accompanied performer and he has the distinction of being one of the creators of “Hokum”, a spicy form of popular song that made repeated and continual references to sex, his most popular composition being “Shake That Thing”.' read more about Jackson at Red Hot Jazz

Listen to samples of his Complete Recorded Works on Document Records at Amazon:

Papa Charlie Jackson

We especially loved to play these songs:

"I Got What it Takes, but it Breaks my Heart to Give it Away" (Vol.1)

"Your Baby Ain't Sweet Like Mine" (Vol.2)

and "Loan Me Your Heart" (Vol.3)

Listen to samples of 3 Incredible Volumes of Papa Charlie !

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Bumber By Number" Art Show, Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle

Bumber by Number is an interactive art exhibit curated by Jo David and Marlo Harris for the 2011 Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, WA. There will be a preview on Thursday from 3pm -9pm and the exhibit will be open 11 am- 8pm, 9/3/11 - 9/5/11. The theme of this special art show is paint-by-numbers. It will be located in the Seattle Center Pavillion at the Bumbershoot Festival.

For a slide show preview of altered paint-by-numbers by an impressive list of featured artists please follow this link (scroll down):

BUMBER BY NUMBER

If you are going to the festival, don't miss this art show! My band,The Hokum Scorchers, played music in Seattle at Bumbershoot and Folklife festival in the past and we always had a ton of fun.

National Kazoo Day

Here's a little ditty featuring kazoos in honor of National Kazoo Day. We recorded this in 1995. Our little band, the Hokum Scorchers used to play it at festivals such as Northwest Folklife-

Another detail of a new painting

Detail of new painting by Amy Crehore copyright 2008
Here's another quickly scanned detail of one of my new paintings, a version of "Bubble Gum Encore". It took forever to get that cat just right. Using tons of rich oil paint.
I was lazy on Sunday night and I didn't upload a new Hokum Scorchers song. Been working too hard at painting. I'll have two shows in July, one in NYC and one in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel (M Modern). I'm also going to release a new print very soon, so watch for that.
The Art of Amy Crehore

B & W Photos - So Beautiful

Be-Bop en cave, Saint-Germain-des-Près 1951 - photo by Robert Doisneau (1912-1994)

I love this photo by Robert Doisneau. Femme Femme Femme is blogging some classic B&W photos. They also just blogged my Memphis Minnie painting along with some photos of her.
I basically majored in photography and film in college and I really love the drama of black and white images! Perhaps I will upload a Memphis Minnie song (by the Hokum Scorchers) to my website music player next Sunday. Meanwhile, it looks like my music page has recently gotten "stumbled upon" which is always a nice bonus.

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Hokum Scorchers Perform "Stamps Blues"

This was inspired by the Tony Hollins 1941 version of the song. Lou and I recorded this in 1995. I'm playing the washboard and Lou is playing a vintage National guitar.

Mojo Repair Shop

Early 60's surf music, dirty blues from the 1920's-1950's, newish garage punk from Japan, The Troggs, the Shaggs, James Brown, Screaming Jay Hawkins, The Rutles (?!), Psycho-Sonic Garage Punk Blasts from the 60's, etc. This blog makes us "aware". Cool album covers. Eclectic, odd assortment of hip, humorous and dirty music choices. The Hokum Scorchers say two thumbs up for:

Mojo Repair Shop

The Art of Amy Crehore

Hokum Scorchers Playing National Brand Instruments

More information about this 1930s song and the vintage National instruments that Lou and I play can be found here !

This song was featured on boingboing's GWEEK .

The Art of Amy Crehore

2 Days Left to See "Dreamgirls and Ukes" at Thinkspace

This video was actually taken of The Hokum Scorchers on Feb 13, 2009 at Thinkspace on the opening night of my art show. I believe there are a couple more videos on YouTUBE of the rest of the performance. My solo art show will only be up for two more days, March 5 & 6th. Be sure to catch it if you are in Los Angeles. Hours: 1-6pm. 4210 Santa Monica Boulevard.

Thanks to Dinosaurs and Robots and King David Ukulele Station for recently blogging about the art in this show.

Here's a link to my Complete Art Show on FLICKR . I think I managed to pull off a really different type of art show with the help of Mr. Reimuller and the good folks at Thinkspace. I owe them all a ton of gratitude.

Back Home

The Hokum Scorchers at Thinkspace Feb 13, 2009, photo by Mark Lowrie

I spent more than a week in L.A. and it was so much fun. I think I OD'd on the Farmer's Market as I went there probably twice a day... for 8 days. My friend, Mark Lowrie, took tons of photos of the show. I intend to write more about it after I rest up a bit.

Yesterday, Juxtapoz wrote a nice re-cap.

Pop Drawer , Arrested Motion, The Rumpus, boingboing , Metromix L.A. (the newspaper version, too), Hooping Humanist, Fabulist, Uke Hunt, Format Mag, KPFK radio (Ali Lexa) were kind enough to feature my show, "Dreamgirls and Ukes", on their sites. Thanks to all! I do hope people will try to get out and see it in person if they are in the Los Angeles area. It was a lot of work, but the results were well worth it. I was extremely pleased by Thinkspace Gallery's beautiful space and wonderful people. New VIDEO on YouTube of performance Feb 13, 2009 (don't be fooled- it says 2007).

The Art of Amy Crehore

Weed Smoker's Dream by the Harlem Hamfats 1936

Such a great title for a song that I think I will use it for one of my new paintings (detail in post below). The Hokum Scorchers played "Weed Smoker's Dream" sometimes. I always liked that song! Found it on YouTUBE.

1920's Blues Artwork Calendar

It's time to start thinking about ordering your 2008 calendar with Blues ads from the 1920's. I get mine every year from John Tefteller's

BLUES IMAGES .

Only $19.95 with a free cd of 15 blues songs by different artists. Here are a couple of examples of ads from the 2005 and 2006 calendars. The Mississippi Sheiks were amazing. The Hokum Scorchers played songs by Bo Carter and the Sheiks. Have a listen to a sampler of these guys on Amazon .

The Art of Amy Crehore

P.S. This calendar is also available here for a bit of a discount

Extended Holiday SALE: Crehore Limited Edition Prints and Uke T-shirts

"Roaming Tomcat Rag" by Amy Crehore (Blues Gal Series)

Due to popular demand, I have decided to extend the sale on my website of limited edition, signed prints and Tickler Ukulele Artist T-shirts until Jan. 1, 2009. Blues Gal, Monkey Love, and Little Pierrot prints are still on sale! Free postcards come with everything and there is free shipping on the prints, plus I will include a small, signed drawing (limited one per customer).

Sadie online magazine has a brand new interview with me. Also, Inked magazine will have a feature/interview with me in their Feb. issue about my solo show, "Dreamgirls and Ukes", to be held at Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angleles, CA (opens Feb 13, 2009). Here's a Sneak peek. The Hokum Scorchers Band will play at the opening (follow the link to hear some tunes). Please order things in the next few days if you want them to be there for Xmas....otherwise, I can't guarantee it.

The Art of Amy Crehore

These items were featured on boingboing , the directory of wonderful things

My Solo Show in Los Angeles

Just a little reminder for people in Los Angeles: My solo art show, "Dreamgirls and Ukes", will be opening Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 from 7-11pm at Thinkspace Gallery. Go to the gallery website for a full preview of the show and a link to close-up photos of the ukuleles on flickr. My band, The Hokum Scorchers, will play at 9 pm. I painted a mural in the front room of the gallery this week. The show is looking great, the paintings and ukuleles are all hung. Anthony Clarkson will be showing paintings in the project room. See ya there!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Scene from Ghost World: Devil Got My Woman

I wrote a little essay about the movie Ghost World for Boing Boing's Mind Blowing Movies series.
 LINK

 Here's the scene where Enid discovers Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman" for the first time, a record she got at Seymour's yard sale.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Hokum Scorchers songs

Revisiting my L.A. solo show

It was called "Dreamgirls and Ukes". It took place at Thinkspace in L.A. in Feb 2009.

There were 15 paintings and 13 painted ukes. The Hokum Scorchers (Lou Reimuller and I)

 played music at the opening. 

Here's one of my paintings- "Monkey Love Song" (Amy Crehore).

Here's the link to all images-

LINK

The Art of Amy Crehore