The Master's Cuts: July 2010

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Who is that man? Chuck E. Weiss

Somewhere in the midst of Tom Waits' Nighthawks At The Diner, I found a small reference to Chuck E. Weiss. It stayed at the back of my mind because, hey, ladies and gentlemen, tom waits for you. Well, ole tom described Chuck E. as:

"and I leaned up against my banister and wandered over to the Wurlitzer and I punched A-2

I was lookin' for something like Wine, Wine, Wine by the Night Caps starring Chuck E. Weiss

or High Blood Pressure by George (cryin' in the streets) Perkins

- no dice "that's life," that's what all the people say ridin' high
in April, seriously shot down in May, but I know

I'm gonna change that tune when I'm standing underneath
a buttery moon that's all melted off to one side"

Well, here I am some years later, having my first 'auto-body experience' (a Chuck E. song title) and I love the man, it is true that this 'Jew with the big ears' who spent more than a decade inside his house can sing. The same tom waits minimalistic influences are there, but to me, Chuck E. sounds like an evolutionary offshoot of the great Randy Newman. Oooh, I love this music and I am listening to it right now in the midst of a monsoon evening in a New Delhi suburb.

Just get your hands on 'Sweety-O' or 'Congo Square at Midnight' and avoid what I did, which is listen to just 'Tony Did The Boogie-woogie,' which is jive all right but a bit of a sleeper and no indication of what was to follow. Oh yea, for those keen of sight, that's Chuck E. doing a Robert Johnson pose on the cover of Extremely Cool.