Charles Farley
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Marcia Ball: Black and White

4/30/2012

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We saw Marcia Ball the other night at Panoply here in Huntsville.  As usual, she sounded great and was backed by a tight, talented band that really rocked the house.  Her special brand of swamp rock/blues is always fun, and no one today plays better n'orleans barrelhouse piano than Marcia herself.  So we had some fun.
But I got to thinking as I looked over the crowd and at Marcia's black and white hair, why her audience was the reverse color of her hair, i.e., mostly white with only a thin streak of black.  Why is it that most of today's popular blues bands, white or black, play to predominantly white audiences?  And why is it that certain other blues bands, mainly African American, play to predominantly black audiences?  And, further confounding, why is it that performers like Marcia Ball, who play a kind of Louisiana psuedo-Zydeco, blues, pop, country gumbo, that has traditionally been popular with all races, continue to play predominantly for white folks?
Well, I don't have the answer, any more than I have the answer to why all the races don't mix more than they do.  But I wish they would, and I wish, at least, we all would give some blues music we don't normally listen to a chance once in awhile, because a lot of rock blues (e.g., Buddy Guy, Joe Louis Walker, Microwave Dave), southern soul blues (O.B. Buchana, Johnny Rawls, Latimore), and cajun country blues (e.g., C.J. Chenier, Rosie Ledet, Marcia Ball) is damn good.  So give it a shot; try something different.  You might be pleasantly surprised.  Here's Bo Diddley and Marcia Ball:
  
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Back Home Again

4/24/2012

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More book signing on Sunday at the Cape San Blas Lighthouse and then back home on Monday.  At the Lighthouse, I heard a lot more juicy, local secrets, some of which I may have to divulge in subsequent books.  Seems as though every corner of Florida has its own Killing Mr. Watson tales. 
I listened to Christopher McDougall's book Born to Run on the way home.  If you have any interest at all in long distance running, read this.  Its hero, Micah True, just died, after the book was published, and this book gives you his complete back story, as well as everything you ever wanted to know about running.
On the trip, I also listened to the Alamama Shakes' debut album, Boys & Girls.  And surprisingly, this new band from down the road in Athens, Alabama is as good as all the hype that it has been receiving.  Not nearly as highly touted is Curtis Salgado's new album, Soul Shot, that I also listened to on my trip, but just as welcome.  It's the best thing Salgado has done in years and really hones in on the type of deep soul music that the veteran bluesman is a master of producing.   Buy 'em both!
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Cape San Blas Lighthouse

4/21/2012

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I had fun signing Secrets of San Blas yesterday at the No Name Cafe in downtown Port St. Joe--lots of good book people and local story telling.  Today I signed at the Cape San Blas Lighthouse and, among a series of passing showers, talked to a lot of book lovers and loyal lighthouse freaks.  Weirdly enough, I met a family who lives on the same street in Huntsville that I live on, only a couple blocks away, as well as other assorted admirers, of all stripes, including a club of hardcore Harley riders from Pensacola, among them: 
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Welcome to the Forgotten Coast

4/20/2012

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I'm back in Port St. Joe to sign Secrets of San Blas.  Here's a brief article that appeared on the front page of yesterday's Star,  the local rag:

'SECRETS OF SAN BLAS' AUTHOR TO VISIT LIGHTHOUSE THIS WEEKEND
On May 16, 1938, E.W. Marler, the assistant lighthouse keeper of the Cape San Blas Lighthouse was brutally murdered.  No one was ever charged with the crime.

More than 70 years later, the case remains one of North Florida's great unsolved mysteries--until now.

Charles Farley's new novel about the crime, "Secrets of San Blas," solves the murder, at least fictionally.

Farly will be visiting the novel's setting this weekend for a book signing April 21 and 22 at the Cape San Blas Lighthouse, the scene of the crime.

Farley's novel is both fast-paced and historically accurate.  While the solution to the mystery is supposition, the descriptions of the area's history, natural beauty and pre-World War II culture are not.

I'll also be signing books at the No Name Cafe in downtown Port St. Joe this afternoon, Friday, 1:00--3:00.  Hope to see you there.





































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Back From Boston

4/18/2012

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Just returned from a trip to Boston.  My wife attended a Catholic educators conference there, and the kids and I did the tourist traipse:  Children's Museum, Harvard, Science Museum, Freedom Trail, Fenway Park, and the Boston Marathon.  We also saw some great, old friends and ate at some of our favorite restuarants:  Addis Red Sea, New Shangai, Legal Seafood, Pizzeria Regina, and the Summer Shack.  It was a lot of fun, but not much in the way of books or blues, although I did finish Dennis Lehane's Moonlight Mile, which was fun since it was set in Boston.  I managed to miss Willie Clayton who was performing in West Roxbury, but plan to catch him here in Huntsville at the annual Downhome Blues Festival on Memorial Day Weekend.  Heading back to Cape San Blas tomorrow to sign books at the No Name Cafe and the Lighthouse.
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Secrets of San Blas Scenes

4/7/2012

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I was on Cape San Blas last week and visited some of the settings of my new murder mystery entitled Secrets of San Blas.  My son, Sam, a budding, 12 year-old film-maker, captured some of my visits with friendly local folks, and has posted them on YouTube.
Our first stop was at the No Name Cafe, Books & More in downtown Port St. Joe.  Barbara Radcliff the store's co-owner introduced us to a charming couple who were there having coffee:  Pat Ward Dandridge and Norman Allemore.  They remembered what Port St. Joe was like in 1938, when the Secrets of San Blas was set and pointed out where the doctor's office was, not more than a paperback's throw away from the bookstore.  Their interview is on YouTube:  Recollections on Reid Avenue Charles Farley.  Here I am in the present-day bookstore there on Reid Avenue.
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We next drove out to the Cape San Blas Lighthouse and chatted with Beverly Douds, the current keeper of the Lighthouse and the Sleeping Beauty Gift Shop.  She surmised who had actually hacked to death the assistant lighthouse keeper back in 1938.  To hear her theory, go to YouTube:  Lighthouse Interview Charles Farley.  Here I am at the top of the Lighthouse.
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The Indian Pass Raw Bar is not too far from the Lighthouse.  At the Raw Bar, old Doc Berber, the hero of Secrets of San Blas, was wacked by an oyster rake.  To find out what the Raw Bar actually was in 1938, watch my interview with the famous restaurant's current owner, Jim McNeill, at YouTube:  Indian Pass Raw Bar Charles Farley.  Here's how the Indian Pass Raw Bar looks today.
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We stayed at a great little place near Indian Pass called the Turtle Beach Inn.  It's not far from where Gator Mica, the doctor's best friend, had a camp.  My interview with the owner, Trish Petrie, is on YouTube:  Gator's Camp at Turtle Beach Charles Farley.  Here I am at the Inn, relaxing after another hard day in paradise.
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We ended up at Indian Pass where the Secrets of San Blas ends.  There, we met an artist and fisherman named Willie Brooks Williams who didn't know a thing about the murder, but a hell of a lot about painting and fishing.  Hear what he had to say on YouTube:  Indian Pass Charles Farley.  Here's a view of the Gulf of Mexico near Indian Pass.
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    Author

    Charles Farley is an author who lives and writes in Huntsville, Alabama.

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