if only there was a heaven, getting to spend some time with the wicked pickett would be all the motivation i'd need to earn my ticket. junior wells, sam cooke, otis redding, erma franklin, dorothy love coates, magic sam, robert johnson and all the rest would be gravy (from a purely legalistic standpoint, it don't make a lotta sense to get my hopes too high about robert johnson but...).
yesterday i hadda coordinate transfer of components essential to the launch of a very promising new venture, a process which hung me up for nearly 4 hours longer than anticipated so i didn't learn about losing wilson til about 10pm--and then only after being told 'curtis mayfield died today'. after a lil more probing, my source--upon being informed curtis had passed some time ago--said something like 'well i know it was someone you really liked' and finally provided enuff clues that i was able to figure it out.
'really liked' is gross understatement. i've been in awe of pickett for decades. altho i realize the impossibility of assembling a list of my top ten recordings, artists or both, if i was forced to do so, he'd be represented on all three of em (the tune would be 'danger zone' a b-side release he co-wrote with steve cropper).
life wasn't easy for or on pickett. his incredible talent was both gift and curse, i guess. i can't imagine a world without 'midnight hour', '634-5789', 'mustang sally' or 'land of 1000 dances' among others, nor do i want to try.
while not all of his work was of that calibre (a consequence of someone making dubious choices when selecting material), his least is better than many others' best.
during the early to mid 80s, wilson had several encounters with the law, all of which were--i believe--alcohol related. at the time, i had a close friend (also a big fan) who lived within reasonable proximity to pickett. after learning about one of his arrests, we seriously discussed trying to arrange a meeting with wilson to see if there was anything we could do to help him retake the stage.
altho we didn't get that far, someone must have. in 1999, documentary filmmaker d.a. pennebaker ('don't look back') and director chris hegedes captured performances by pickett and a number of other legendary stax-atlantic artists (carla & rufus thomas, isaac hayes, sam moore--the sam of sam n dave fame--jerry 'iceman' butler, to name a few) on film. the finished product 'only the strong survive' was released by miramx in 2002.
it's not the film i woulda made (nothing else is either
) but then i have impossible standards. well worth the price of admission, if for nothing else, seeing and hearing pickett back in superstar mode (in the airport, his dressing room and on stage).
if i don't seem terribly bummed by wilson pickett's passing at this moment, it could be cuz it hasn't really hit me yet and/or my sorrow is offset by all the joy he brought me when he was here.
