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1997 Tamines bootleg given mainstream release

Posted in 13, lester butler with tags , , , , , on October 31, 2015 by J.J.

Lester Butler is back — sort of — on the above-board release of the long-bootlegged Tamines show from Aug. 29, 1997, at the 7th South Blues Festival in Belgium.

Live at Tamines 1997The two-disc set “Lester Butler featuring 13 Live at Tamines 1997” comes from RockBeat Records, the same folks who reissued “13 featuring Lester Butler” more than four years ago, with bonus tracks from the Tamines festival, clearly taken from the bootleg that had been circulating for a decade by then.

Here’s the back-cover info from the new release:

Lester Butler was a brilliant harmonica player. He rejuvenated the LA blues scene with his group The Red Devils. After they disbanded, Lester formed a group on Hightone Records featuring a back up band he called 13. The live intensity of this show demonstrates how adept he was singing and playing the blues. He died not long after this show from 1997. The blues was hot and Lester was on fire.

Though Amazon shows a release date of Oct. 2, our copy is already on backorder.

So though we don’t have the physical package in hand just yet, there are a few things we know already:
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Pics: 13’s day off at North Sea Feb. 1998

Posted in 13 with tags , , , , , on June 17, 2012 by J.J.

Our friend Eddie Clark provided these photos of 13 from what he said was the group’s second to last tour of the Netherlands and Belgium in February 1998. “We had left Sneek, NL and had to go way north to the Nordzee to get back to Amsterdam,” Clark wrote. “That is a massive dike we are on and the North Sea behind us.”

These photos have been posted on other sites for years, but these are all-new scans from the original hard copy pictures. It’s interesting to see what the band — Lester Butler, Alex Schultz, Mike Hightower and Clark — did on a day off.

Also note the tag on Butler’s jacket for Royal Tattoo. We’ll guess it’s this same shop in Denmark.

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Pics: 13 at Rhythm Room in Phoenix 1998

Posted in 13 with tags , , , , , , , , on March 3, 2012 by J.J.

Thanks to photographer David Horwitz in Tucson, we have these great images of 13 from the Rhythm Room in Phoenix from early 1998 (we are thinking this was April 4, 1998).

Horwitz does a great job documenting the blues scene under the imprint David Horwitz Blues Images. These photos of Lester Butler, Alex Schultz, Eddie Clark and Mike Hightower are for sale. If you’d like to use them for your site, or would like to get your own copies or prints, email Horwitz.

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Lester Butler memorials 1998

Posted in lester butler with tags , , , , on October 8, 2011 by J.J.

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Not long after Lester Butler died in May 1998, I received a package from Enrico Crivellaro, who was Butler’s touring guitarist in 13 in 1997. We had kept in touch after meeting in Kentucky and Indiana, and now he had sent along a memorial flier for Butler, along with a prayer card and short biography (the text of which became the introduction text of Jasper Heikens’ Lester Butler tribute site).

Last year, in a trove of archives sent by 13 drummer Eddie Clark, we received the backside of the memorial flier, with directions to the May 24, 1998, event, as well as a mailing for a “Bad Ass Birthday Blues Bash” for Butler on Nov. 12 and 13, 1998.

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Blue Shadows gigs 1989-90

Posted in red devils with tags , , , , on October 2, 2011 by J.J.

We are catching up with several Blue Shadows dates for the timeline section. We start with several great clippings from the Eddie Clark collection, snapshots of the late-’80s/early-’90s California blues scene. Included are an ad for the first blues hall of fame festival and a postcard for blues night at Spice, both organized by Randy Chortkoff; along with two ads from Southland Blues Magazine.

It’s quite interesting to see, during 1989 and 1990, when the Blue Shadows were promoted as featuring Dave Alvin versus as featuring Lester Butler.

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Itinerary outlines 1997 13 Europe tour

Posted in 13 with tags , , , on May 9, 2011 by J.J.

We’ve been going through thousands of photos, videos, posters, documents and ephemera given to No Fightin’ by drummer Eddie Clark. Much of it focuses on his time with 13 or his many years with William Clarke.

Over the coming months, we’ll be posting more rare inventory from the Eddie Clark collection. First up: This faxed itinerary for 13’s 1997 European tour, which came in one long sheet, like a blues scroll. Plenty of notes in the margins, including the addition of several days at two separate Chesterfield Cafe clubs, in Moscow and Madrid.

It offers a little different look at life on the road for a touring musician.

Most of these dates are already in our timeline, and we’ve corrected others based on this first-hand information.

Follow @nofightin on Twitter as we give updates on our work on the Eddie Clark collection.

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Review: Bonus tracks, new packaging highlight 13 reissue

Posted in 13 with tags , , , , , , on April 3, 2011 by J.J.

“13 featuring Lester Butler” is available again. The reissue, out March 22 on RockBeat Records, features new art, new liner notes and three bonus tracks previously available only on bootleg.

We are on record with our love of “13,” so the quality of the music is not in doubt on this reissue. Instead, let’s look at what’s new here:

BONUS TRACKS: The three “new” live cuts will be of most interest to Butler fans — though they’ve been in circulation for years. The liner notes wrongly (and incompletely) claim the songs are from the “Tamines Festival, France, 1997.” In fact, “I Wish You Would,” “Boogie Disease” and “So Mean to Me” were actually recorded Aug. 29, 1997, at the 7th South Blues Festival in Tamines, Sambreville, Belgium.

The bonus cuts show the “other” 13 — the live unit of Alex Schultz, Eddie Clark and Mike Hightower that took Europe by storm in 1997-98 with its wild, expansive blues explorations. Amazingly, the three bonus tracks clock in at more than six minutes each, making them the three longest cuts on the reissue by far. The 19 additional minutes are literally half the length of the lean, mean original album.
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Moulin DVD highlight reel

Posted in 13 with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on December 16, 2009 by J.J.

The Web site that brought us the 13 Moulin Blues DVD, www.bluesdvd.nl, now has a YouTube channel. Of interest to us: A great quality highlight reel of the 13 DVD. If you’ve been on the fence about getting this concert, watch this video and get going!

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13 rehearsal videos 1998

Posted in 13 with tags , , , , , , , , on June 11, 2009 by J.J.

Thanks to drummer Eddie Clark, much of 13’s history has been preserved on video, including excellent rehearsal videos of Lester Butler and 13 from 1998..

You should recognize these videos as the source of the “Business in the Street” clips from the 13 Moulin Blues DVD, recorded at YO! Studios, Van Nuyes, California, in March 1998.

The guitarist is Chris Masterson; in an e-mail, Clark tells nofightin.com that “Chris replaced Alex Schultz and Enrico Crivellaro and did most of the gigs in the Los Angeles area and short road trips outside of L.A. Alex Schultz was the ‘ringer’ for festivals and such, as promoters asked if Alex was in the band for those events. Hence his appearance on MBO 1998.”

Clark — who says he does not remember the bassist on this session — says he was the man who insisted on rehearsals, including three in 1998, “mostly going over old material and creating Lester’s new material. We had to make up our own parts for those new songs and try to make it fit.”

“Shake ‘Em on Down”:

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DVD review: Lester Butler at his best

Posted in 13 with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 7, 2009 by J.J.

It’s very easy in hindsight to project added significance to the DVD “Live at Moulin Blues Ospel 1998 — Lester’s Legendary Last Gig.” Every song choice, every note, every glance can take on a different meaning knowing that Butler would be dead just a week later.

The reality is he probably considered it just another gig. A great gig, a lot of fun, but a gig nonetheless.

On any level you choose to watch it, this DVD is required viewing for Lester Butler and Red Devils fans.

Long available on bootleg video, this new official version actually enhances both Butler’s myth and his reality. It shows him to be an outstanding frontman and bandleader and also, for the first time, gives a glimpse at the offstage Lester his family and close friends knew.

While the opening graphic demures, “These recordings were never meant to be published. Therefore we apologize for the poor video and sound quality,” this DVD of the May 2, 1998, concert is a significant step up from the VHS version circulating among tape-traders. The sound and picture quality is very good most times; some mixing problems mar a few otherwise fine performances.
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