Musical Interlude -- Wade in the Water -- Judy Henske

Cherish is a word.

Yes, we love Judy Henske here, and we thank Hip Hop Republican for featuring her on this week's play list for the New York City Hurricane, or as we call Irene in this family, Hurricane Ikie.

Surprised Henske hasn't appeared on Boom3 before, must have posted her over on the FaceBook thing, not here. We know Miss Henske because she appears in every Burke novel by Andrew Vachss, well, every one but one, don't think Burke plays her songs in Terminal. Burke does play Henske's Wade in the Water in Blossom, and that's the only time he also plays Patti LaBelle, with her Bluebelles. What more proof could there be of Burke's flawless taste -- LaBelle and Henske in the 60's.

 
Prowling around, usually in NYC, on some child-saving mission or another, Burke is always sliding a tape into his car's player, usually a Henske tape. Refined tastes or no, one of the least complicated heroes in literature Burke is not a character we've recommended to many, brutal as Vachss's Burke stories can be. Hey, most of our delicate friends can't take the truth like Burke delivers it. 

We saw Miss Henske at a little coffee house, Java Joes, in Ocean Beach, California, just a few blocks from the OB Muir Street compound, a few years ago, probably 1999, when we still lived at the beach. Perfect night. That was her loving husband accompanying her on the keyboards, Jerry Yester, I think, formerly of The Association. Small world.

 

Left OB in 2000. What was I thinking?

Signage We Don't Get Tired Of

Patti LaBelle.
It's true. 

And we always seem to find the sign. 

Both coasts -- and here in the middle. 

By the way, the band, security, John Stanley and Miss LaBelle were kind enough to allow me to sit through the afternoon rehearsal. Ninety-some minutes of perfection.

Next up: the show itself.

Musical Interlude, Say My Name

It's Starting

Musical Interlude