by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest) It s Music Monday and Halloween here at Good Black News! It’s your friend and selector, the groove conductor, Marlon West. I’ve returned once more during this Season of the Witch with another collection. I am just back from a screening and discussion with Ryan Coogler and part of his creative team behind SINNERS.
It was the fifth viewing for me, in whole or in part. I saw it opening day laser projected, two weeks later on 70mm IMAX, streamed it twice, once with a sista in the lower right corner offering Black ASL, and today a 70mm print projected at the Directors Guild of America s theater with a very diverse and reactive crowd early on a Sunday morning.
I was delighted to run into our GBN Editor-In-Chief Lori Lakin Hutcherson and her mother at the same screening. I came right home and started pecking a few words on this season s music collection, The Crossroads: A Blues Halloween Playlist. As any of you that enjoy my Music Monday playlist knows, I love me some Halloween. This is at least the fifth All-Hallows Eve collection I’ve done for Good Black News.
The cinematic juggernaut that is SINNERS is a good reminder of just how much the blues has dealt with scares both supernatural and real-world based. From Robert Johnson’s mythic trip the the crossroads to Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground,” the blues has provided its share of eerie moments.
Bo Diddley’s iconic ‘Who Do You Love” opens with following boasts: I walked forty-seven miles of barbed wire Used a cobra snake for a necktie Got a brand new house on the roadside Made from rattlesnake hide Got a brand new chimney made on top Made out of a human skull Oh, that’s a Halloween song, all right! Howlin’ Wolf, Koko Taylor, RL Burnside, Norma Tanega, Gary Clark Jr., and so many more purveyors of the blues are present for this Halloween collection.
Whether your plans include handing out candy to hobgoblins of all ages, chillin’ with friends, or kickin’ at home with that porch light out, here is another autumnal offer to enjoy during this Halloween Season. Please enjoy this collection, and poke around for my others too: (https://open.spotify.com/user/marlonwest) See ya next month! And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind! Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
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