Chuck E. Weiss - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

History

Chuck E. Weiss grew up in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

, where his parents owned a record store (Record Center). Through his parents, and by spending time at the local blues bar Ebbett's Field, he met Lightnin' Hopkins

Lightnin' Hopkins

Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...

. Lightnin' was impressed with his drum playing and took him on tour, where Weiss had the opportunity to play with Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

, Howlin' Wolf

Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....

, Roger Miller

Roger Miller

Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...

, Dr. John

Dr. John

Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...

, and others.

Music

Weiss was initially featured on the 1990 album L.A. Ya Ya, a compilation of performances by Los Angeles-based blues artists.

Weiss released the album Extremely Cool in 1999, featuring extensive collaboration with Tony Gilkyson

Tony Gilkyson

Tony Gilkyson is an Los Angeles based musician. He is the son of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and Jane Gilkyson. He is the brother of guitarist Eliza Gilkyson.-Career:...

and Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, who co-produced the album for his longtime acquaintance (they met in 1974 at Ebbett's Field, where Weiss played in the house band) and appears on at least two tracks. The style is heavily reminiscent of Waits, both in composition and vocal approach. Either could have influenced the other.

Old Souls and Wolf Tickets was released in early 2002, also produced by Gilkyson, perhaps less reminiscent of Tom Waits and more redolent of Delta blues

Delta blues

The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...

acts decades older. Weiss's music includes strains of every rhythmic style from nursery rhyme

Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

s to zydeco

Zydeco

Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...

.

Weiss was the subject of Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...

's hit Chuck E.'s In Love
Chuck E.'s In Love
"Chuck E.’s In Love" is a song by American singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones. Released in 1979 on her eponymous debut album, Rickie Lee Jones from Warner Bros. Records, the song became her biggest hit, going to number 4 on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 list."Chuck E.’s In Love" is Track 1 on Side 1...

from her 1979 debut album, in which she claims "Chuck E." is in love with "the little girl who's singing this song" (though Jones says the song was fictional). At the time Jones was linked romantically to Tom Waits. All three lived in the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, in the middle of a fertile musical scene including Levi and the Rockettes, Stray Cats, Black Flag, Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

and others.

Weiss is referred to in Tom Waits titles and lyrics from the album Small Change
Small Change
Small Change is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1976 on Asylum Records. It was recorded in July 1976.-Production:Small Change was recorded, direct to 2-track stereo tape, July 15,19,20,21, and 29, 1976 at the Wally Heider Recording Studio, in Hollywood, USA under the production of Bones...

, as well as passing references on Nighthawks at the Diner
Nighthawks at the Diner
Nighthawks at the Diner is a 1975 album by Tom Waits, released on Asylum Records. The title was inspired by Edward Hopper's 1942 painting Nighthawks....

.

Weiss has also played with legendary bassist Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon

William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...

, who was quoted on the original packaging of Extremely Cool ("Ain't ya got ears son? That little Jew boy with the big old head be one of the best musicians in this town, this country even.") "Down the Road a Piece," from Old Souls & Wolf Tickets, is a 1970 recording of the two playing together.

In 1995, Weiss played washboard

Washboard

A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....

on P
P (band)
-Personnel:*Gibby Haynes - vocals*Johnny Depp - guitar, bass*Sal Jenco - percussion*Bill Carter - guitar, bass-Additional musicians:*Ruth Ellsworth-Carter - keyboards*Flea - bass*Steve Jones - guitar*Andrew Weiss - Moog, guitar*Chuck E. Weiss - washboard...

's self-titled album. The band featured Gibby Haynes

Gibby Haynes

Gibson Jerome "Gibby" Haynes is an American musician, radio personality, and painter, and the lead singer of the group Butthole Surfers.-Early life and career:...

of the Butthole Surfers

Butthole Surfers

Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...

and actor Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp

John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...

.

Weiss says his biggest musical idol is Louis Jordan

Louis Jordan

Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...

.

In 2006, Weiss released the album 23rd & Stout, an album more reminiscent of Waits's

Tom Waits

80s output, featuring an exploration of many blues and rumba styles, as well as a tribute to Sterling Holloway

Sterling Holloway

Sterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...

, entitled "Sho' Is Cold". Also featured is long time friend, and collaborator Diablo Dimes

Diablo Dimes

Diablo Dimes is a Cuban-American singer-songwriter. He has six studio releases to date, and has contributed his songs to numerous television shows, independent films, plays and musicals. Regularly tours extensively as a band leader, and solo artist...

.

Weiss has been associated with Los Angeles and Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

for years, saying he does not like to travel by airplane. Weiss played 11 years of Mondays at a club called the Central before it fell on hard times. Weiss and his friend Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp

(who was executive producer on the first track on Extremely Cool) were instrumental in resuscitating it as the Viper Room

Viper Room

The Viper Room is a nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. It was opened in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp until 2004. The club became known for being a hangout of Hollywood elite, and was the site where actor River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on...

, which later became notorious when River Phoenix

River Phoenix

River Jude Phoenix was an American film actor, musician, and teen icon. He was the oldest brother of fellow actors Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer Phoenix.Phoenix began acting at age 10 in television commercials...

died there in 1993. Extremely Cool makes reference to Canter's Kibitz Room, a small nightclub in a larger diner in Los Angeles's Fairfax District, where Weiss has also played habitually. His regular band is called The G-d Damn Liars.

A cover of "Extremely Cool" by Chuck E. Weiss will be featured on the debut Psychedelic Blues record by Morgan Hill. Currently a version of the cover exists on soundcloud.com/zachsinger.

External links

Clips of Weiss playing with Willie Dixon.
Chuck E. Weiss at IMDB
Chuck E. at PopEntertainment.com
Chuck E. Weiss: Mensch, Monkey, and Liar by Rip Rense
"Extremely Cool" cover from the Album Desert So Dry by Morgan Hill

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.