[AGL] Omar and the Howlers

[Gerry]

Omar came to town with the original Howlers back in about '78. They were from Mississippi, a 5 piece group, not bad but not distinguished. They struggled in Austin, never got any traction. It didn't take too long before most of them went home, but he stayed. His real name is Kent. I thought his last name was Dykes???

In addition to being a hell of a blues guitarist he is also quite a comedian, one of the funniest guys you will ever meet. When things were still not going well for him I once suggested that he try being a stand-up comic. He was a big man with a big beard, seldom smiled, kind of rumpled, all of which made him even funnier when took the stage. But he stayed with the blues and before long, fronting a power blues trio, he began to score (mostly out of town). I was glad to see him get it going. Did not keep up with him over the years. Is he still playing blues for a living?

This weekend I received my Netflix selection "The Doors", an Oliver Stone movie. While I can't say that I necessarily liked it a lot, I thought it was an excellent depiction of the '60's rock scene and all its weirdness. One particularly revealing sequence is a party at Andy Warhol's place. I was not a big fan of the The Doors but I thought they had some excellent tunes for the times. Morrison's life was short and wasted but at least he didn't have to reorganize the band and tour in the 21st century playing songs he had written as a teenager to keep paying the bills...
G


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Michael Eisenstadt 
  To: austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net 
  Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 7:54 AM
  Subject: [AGL] Omar and the Howlers


  listening to a set of Omar Sykes and his Howlers.
  he easily holds his own with other singers in the
  same genre.

  yet when he was at a venue on the Drag many years ago, 
  the sound volume was so loud that i wound up having
  to listen from the sidewalk.

  thanks to Internet radio i am more into music now that
  i had been when i just had the Austin stations.

  between the Columbia University student radio station
  and studio radio at Harvard (both of them non commercial 
  to boot) there is primo stuff almost 24 hours a day.

  more jazz and blues than other genres but also classical
  and ethnic like Indian. wkcr once played a 48 hour sequence
  of ragas at the exact time when they are traditionally played.
  the 2am ragas at 2am and so on. i almost cratered from
  lack of sleep, i couldnt turn it off.

  www.wkcr.org <-Columbia U

  www.whrb.org <-Harvard






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