SPRING 2005 ... this Spring's many joys were tinged in great sadness with the loss of HASIL ADKINS... local radio station WFMU hosted a two hour tribute to the man on the FOOL'S PARADISE show with REX on May 7. Miriam and Billy from Norton joined with Brooklyn artist Joe Coleman in spinning both hits and unissued songs and remembering some memorable moments... dancing outlaw JESCO WHITE and filmmaker JULIEN NITZBERG ("The Wild, Wild World of Hasil Adkins") called in with stories, too. It's archived so check it out when you get a chance at www.wfmu.org... NO MORE HOT DOGS by Miriam Linna Ten days ago, we lost a great one, a really great one. Hasil Adkins was found dead of a heart attack in his home in Madison, West Virginia on Tuesday, April 26, following an unsolicited attack several days earlier by a man who drove a four wheeler into him. Billy and I, along with many friends from far flung places, got the call while at the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans. We were stunned, chilled and deeply saddened at the loss of a true original, who happened to be not only a gifted man -- a genius -- but also a guiding light to so many of us. Hasil was a musician, first and foremost. Music was his calling from the time he was a child, and he lived to deliver a musical message from his heart to yours, to anyone's who happened into his path. We left driving to Hasil's funeral in West Virginia as soon as we got back to New York from Louisiana on what would have been Hasil's 69th birthday. Brooklyn artist Joe Coleman and his wife Whitney Ward accompanied us for the drive. Hasil had performed at the couple's nuptials and Hasil plays heavily into Joe's work, as is evident in his documentary REST IN PIECES and as the subject of one of his intense biographical painted portraits. The drive took us two days, as the weather was as dismal as our mood, and navigating (Billy did all the driving) the slick mountain highways and dense fog in the lesser roadways was a challenge. By day, we counted our progress by counting passing billboards for hot dogs, and semi trucks loaded with cheese, chicken and farm meats and by night watched tail lights and mile markers through flapping windshield wipers. We played Hasil's music the whole way, the happy records, the sexy records, the head-lopping records, and the heartfelt, sorrowful dirges that pull at the heartstrings with a purity and depth that few artists ever shake a stick at. The funeral was on April 30th, one of the rainest, foggiest, most mournful days on God's holy planet. I give details here now, because so many of you have asked. If details upset you, scroll on a couple of paragraphs. Otherwise, bear with me. The funeral was held at Handley Funeral Home in Danville, close to Hasil's home in Madison. It was attended by his sister Irene and her four sons and four daughters, and a couple of her grandkids. A handful of locals and a few fans seated themselves in the back pews. Hasil's long distance sweetheart Amy from Minnesota had come in with a friend, and Jim Tucci, Hasil acolyte, steady friend and road manager, had traveled from Georgia. Billy, Joe and Jim served as pallbearers, as did the dancing outlaw Jesco White and a couple of Irene's sons. The open casket service was met with such shock and grief from Irene, that she fainted several times. One of her daughters also lost consciousness. Hasil looked good, but different. A cowbo! y hat was leaning against the lid of his casket. He was wearing a new red and white striped button down shirt and as people filed up to pay their repects, they slipped in a rose wrapped in crunchy clear plastic, some CD's, and a ceramic angel figurine and one lady pinned a religious medal on his pocket. Hank Williams III had sent a beautiful floral display which featured a huge toy guitar and it was prominently displayed. The casket was closed when Pastor Garry Bowman, a Baptist minister, began the service by announcing that he didn't know Hasil, and that he only remembers meeting him once, in 1958. He began a brief, basic dust-to-dust sermon, after which the bereaved filed out through the rain into their cars, some moving into position for the headlights-on vehicular entourage to a remote cemetary in Van, WV. I could never find myself back to that location without an Indian guide, a compass and a divining rod. It was THAT remote. We drove at a snail's pace for what seemed ! forever, finally winding up a dirt road to a tiny hillock clearing, wh ere a small tent was set up over a ten foot square of astroturf. It was fairly pouring as they brought the casket out once again for final words from the pastor. The pallbearers were signalled to carry the deceased to the interment site and the family and locals returned to their cars and headed back down the hill to their homes. We stood confused for a moment. The pastor told Whitney that we "didn't have to go down there" and of course she promptly picked up her the muddy hem of her long black skirt and went stumbling down the ravine with the faithful. The pallbearers were ankle deep in yellow mud and the rain was beating viciously against the casket by the time we all reached the remote woodsy vale where Hasil's grave had been prepared. No further words were said. Two grave diggers (is their a euphemism for this profession?- if there is, tell me) kneeled in the mud to lower the casket via alternating squealing manual pulleys. It took forever. Some invisible rain ! birds chirped nearby, maybe in response to the squeaking GD's. Several times, the men realigned their mechanism, then finally satisfied, loosened the belts, set a piece of pine atop the casket and stood apart from us, soaked with rain and covered in mud, leaning against their shovels and waiting. Nobody moved for a long time. The rain kept pelting, boom-ba-boom, now against the piney wood. Rain gushed down the gullies, along the path we had trod, and a heavy mist hovered inches from the ground with a decidedly gothic demeanor. A bit further down the glade were some old gravestones. Someone remarked that Hasil's mother and father were there. The rain kept on. Eventually the small entourage began their way back up to the road, some dropping a flower or a handful of dirt onto the grave. The shovel guys looked impatient. At the top of the hill, I looked back and Jim was still there, head bowed. He would stay to help the gravediggers. The four of us scraped off mud and got back ! into the car. ...that should read "Hasil Adkins"... We rode in silence for a while. Joe spotted a KFC and suggested chicken, so we pulled in for a couple of king size buckets to bring to the wake at Irene's place, one extra crispy and one original recipe. That's it in a nutshell. At the wake, one of Hasil's four Bibles was passed around, revealing markings and notations by Hasil throughout. Memories were exchanged. Chicken was eaten. Tears mingled with occasional chirps of laughter, but only the tears relayed any real feeling. Someone in the kitchen did the Chicken Walk and a semblance of the Hunch. The rain kept on coming. It got dark fast as we left the Mountain State. Whitney got lucky and found some commemorative hot pants in a Goodwill store located right next door to the local court house where Hasil had many comings and goings, and by the second day of driving home, midway through the Pennsylvania meat-belt, we hit upon what would have been Hasil's dream-- a general store stocked with every possible variety ! of commodity meat in every possible configuration.. with free samples aplenty. We bought packages of hotdogs and local cheese and crowded back in for the last leg of the journey. It had stopped raining by the time we got back home. Clean blue skies and a hint of May. I wished it had been such a nice day for Hasil's funeral. Then again no, Hasil would have wanted the rain-- a big giant, dreary, bone crunching rain with mist and clouds and fog and flooding and gushing gullies and busted umbrellas and buckets of chicken and hot pants for everyone... Little Joe Washington takes Hasil's gitbox for a spin... (photo: RL Rejmaniak, Houston) So then, and anyway... our Norton label started with Hasil-- OUT TO HUNCH was our first LP, and HAZE'S HOUSE PARTY was our first seven incher. Billy and I had been publishing KICKS magazine, dedicated to the great unknowns and the great unlauded. Hasil had been interviewed in KICKS #3 and got written up in all subsequent issues. We originally located Hasil with the help of a great friend and R&B collector Donn Fileti, and immediately drove out to meet the Haze (as he liked to be called). We released OUT TO HUNCH, a collection of his original early home recordings and brought him to New York to play. Hasil was in prime form and wowed audiences wherever he played. Billy recorded Hasil for the first time in 1986 and continued recording and releasing Hasil material over the years. He was a very close friend and we were never out of touch with him. Over the years, Hasil traveled all over North America. He made plans to tour overseas many times but each time, when i! t got down to the wire, Hasil would not board the plane. He was, in his heart of hearts, a homeboy. Even on relatively short out of state trips, he would become despondently homesick. And he was in essence a West Virginia homeboy, and even closer to the bone, a Boone County homeboy. Hasil lived his entire life in the house where he was born, in the woods, off the beaten path, nary a dot any even a local map. His records and stage shows were one thing, but his eccentricities no doubt expanded his legend. Guns and ammo, meats of all nations, crazy dames, murderous psychopaths, and political figures peppered the everso topical subject matter of his songs, alternately endearing him to a fringier element and causing the politer country fans to step back in confusion. Despite his ability to wear many hats- to be many things to many people-- he was true to his calling. He was an entertainer, a self-made man, a gifted songwriter, a keen observer and commentator on the world as he k! new it. Haze's final show was at the Las Vegas Rockaround this past September, where he was appropriately introduced by none other than Rudy Ray Moore. Many overseas fans were seeing Haze for the first time, and may have been shocked, surprised or at the very least, amazed by him. Pounding away at his guitar and stomping on the drums, shrieking and hollering, he may have frightened some of the fainter hearts, reinforced others who'd come to quaff at the well. None of us know it would be the last time. No more hot dogs, or at the very least, too many too soon. ... AND THE WORLD KEEPS GOING ROUND... ...cover art by Bonfils... ...no, not Dick Dale the accordion player! ...hypo-luxo cum Harmon! ... The March paperback show in Mission Hills, California was a total gas for all concerned. Wheeler dealers from all parts of the globe decended on the burg to load up on some of the tuffest vintage softcovers ever issued, plus we had the opportunity to meet and greet some of the coolest orignial bigwigs in the biz. Major hurrah was hanging out with Earl Kemp (honcho del rauncho for sci-fi sleazemester William Hamling's worship-worthy Nightstand/ GreenleafBooks from the original Evanston, Illinois days throughout the San Diego reign), Robert Bonfils (ultra superb cover artist who picked up William McCauley's torch-y and ran with it, developing an original, heart stopping style for EK's massive pantheon of pulchritude), Arthur Hanno of our dearly beloved Lion Books (super suave mega-fave pub co for Norton's in-house paperback haven), Jim Harmon of VIXEN HOLLOW fame who rubbed elbows with KICKS icon Lou Kimzey, and b! oss cat Don FREAKOUT Glut! Picked up some representative 50'S TURKISH dope novels, a lusciously weird oversized BILBREW tome, GAY BUT NOT HAPPY by DICK DALE (!) and lots more gunk... so never say never-- they're OUT THERE! ...six big days in GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN (April 11th-16th) featured an astonishing 100-way-plus great rockabilly and rock n roll stars including JERRY LEE LEWIS, THE BOBBETTES (simply incredible - ask anyone who saw 'em), SONNY BURGESS (all Sun material - with a trumpet player!), ART ADAMS, IKE TURNER, THE KRAZY KATS, BARBARA LYNN and a host of class-A legends. This show marks the last time I will ever see the Crickets. If Sonny Curtis insists on performing The Mary Tyler Moore Theme to a crowd well versed in Buddy Holly's supremo majesty, well then, he's just so very very wrong. Let's not forget that Mr. Curtis was quoted as saying Bobby Fuller's I Fought The Law did nothing for him (except make him rich!) and the Clash did the best version! Oh well. It was wild to hook up with so many old pals in Green Bay and make so many new ones as well. Grabbed tons of killer 45s, too. Thanks to Phil and Ken at Oneida nation for a real cool time... and big time thanks to the world famous FANG for his help with all things Nortonian. Above and beyond, good friend! ...NEW ORLEANS was the site for two wild nights of PONDEROSA STOMP as presented by the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau! Memorable moments started right at kick-off at 4:30 Tuesday, April 26th with LARRY DE RIEUX of Chicken Session fame (dig our cool LP/CD of early Northwest rockers and instrumentals wit! h the same clucking title)... slide guitar go-dad Freddie Roulette sho ne with BO DUDLEY rompin' his hits including well-loved SHOTGUN RIDER and its boss flip COAST TO COAST... and we were off to the races with a landslide of super talents including BARRENCE WHITFIELD, JOE CLAY, H BOMB FERGUSON, DALE HAWKINS, NOKIE EDWARD OF THE VENTURES, SCOTTY MOORE, PLAS JOHNSON, LADY BO, ROY HEAD (insanely great!), BRENTON WOOD (missed his PSYCHOTIC REACTION by five minutes), HAYDEN THOMPSON (killer set - dig his great new CD), SCOTTY MOORE, EDDIE KIRKLAND, BETTY HARRIS, EDDIE BO, RAY SHARPE (always superb), EDDY CLEARWATER, PHIL "Evil Dope" PHILLIPS, ARCHIE BELL (yes, we learned how to do the Tighten Up).. Among highlights: ARCH HALL JR. letting out a slew of pitch perfect ape calls duing a lovely impromptu KONGA JOE... JIMMY LYNCH, the Funky Tramp, strutting his impervious ! good taste in grand flash menswear all over the parking lot while RUDY RAY MOORE sparkled and shone and shook his jewelled cane at unsuspecting stompers from just outside the powder room... TRAVIS WAMMACK blowing our collective mind to itty bitty bits with his immaculate guitar attack... ZAKARY THAKS delivering the goods in spades... an unrelenting barrage of great music and good times topped off with late night whipped cream and cherries from NATHANIEL MAYER and RAY SHARPE ...oh man, just go to PonderosaStomp.com and see for yourself! ...THE ROLLING STONES arrived in our fair burg to hold a press conference and play outdoors at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, May 10th.. an event which was topped off with an in person presentation of the Norton Stones trib singles series to Herr Jagger hisself. Norton press korps bureau chief JANET ST CLAIR, who had arrived in grand style at the wheel of a '72 lime green Schwinn Charger, was seriously grappled by security on first attempt to make said presentation to the energetic warbler (to which MJ reprimanded the zealous protectorates with "Take it EASY, guys!")... Ms. St Clair then tramped directly over the fence and into said press meeting and capped off a rather staid Q&A with a memorable stageside presentation of glittering Norton fare to his Satanic Majesty himself, which he wholehearted accepted and responded to with a toothy THANK YOU! What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of SATISFACTION... can you believe it! ... released four decades ago this week... time flies when you're sittin', thinkin'... HOT TIPS AND SWIVEL HIPS... A-BONES UPDATE! Watch for the Ghost Limb Films DVD edition of the cinema blockbuster I WAS A TEENAGE MUMMY due out this summer. Norton will reissue the A-Bones 1992 soundtrack recording (previously only available on vinyl) on CD with over a dozen bonus tracks! In other A-Bones news…ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY magazine picked DADDY WANTS A COLD BEER as one of the Top Ten Records of the Year --hopefully no one’s getting fired over this! Not to raise a red flag or anything, but...the A-Bones are scheduled to play in July at the Crossroad Festival in Gijon, Spain…opening for Little Richard in a bullfight arena!! Ole! ARCHIVED WFMU RADIO SHOWS! Twiddle ya knobs over to wfmu.org and dig what the boss jocks are layin' down! 2/26/05 FOOLS PARADISE SHOW WITH REX - Rex interviews Arch Hall, Jr. about his movies and music and the two discuss ape calls, pompadours, teenage monsters and Arch's upcoming performance at PONDEROSA STOMP! 2/05/05 FOOLS PARADISE SHOW WITH REX - Fortune Record label special with Billy Miller and Link Cromwell (a/k/a Lenny Kaye) Lenny and Billy play Rex two hours worth of Fortune records and Andre Wiliams calls in with a tribute to Nolan Strong! 10/30/04 MUSIC TO SPAZZ BY WITH DAVE THE SPAZZ Halloween special with Miriam from Norton and Detroit genius Nathaniel Mayer with call ins from Question Mark, Arch Hall, Jr., Ray Dennis Steckler and the Del-Aires of HORROR OF PARTY BEACH fame! 4/22/04 MUSIC TO SPAZZ BY WITH DAVE THE SPAZZ Norton honcho Billy Miller previews the FORT WORTH TEEN SCENE series with a call-in interview with Larry “Night Of The Sadist” Roquemore! ... May means NEW RELEASES in the grand tradition at Nortonville.. check out all the new footlongs, seven inchers and hip pocket discos compactos from our home page... more more more as it develops.... [ OLD NEWS ]

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