Rants -- The Novelty of Noah
I have seen Noah and the Stratocats play live, twice.
Noah Wotherspoon is not your youthful superstar. He doesn't have throngs of hormone enraged chicks screaming and throwing underwear at the stage. That might happen in the "hood," but not when he performs. He doesn't have to act like a tough guy either. He doesn't have to put any of energy into affectations. He is too busy having fun. It seems as if he is having just as much fun as you are. He is just a 16-year-old guy hanging around with music lovers, doing what he does best--playing guitar with a top notch band.
Noah has long blond hair. This is a novelty. I saw Johnny Winter in 1971 in Coryville Ohio. The lights dimmed. The spotlight hit Johnny as he pulled a tie-off from his arm. Johnny dove into a blitz of speed guitar. The stage antics were supposed to lead you to believe that he had just shot up a massive dose of crystal meth. Although this stunt may have been novelty or real drug abuse, the novelty of the stage show worked. Luckily, it was some of the best guitar I have ever heard. Johnny is albino, with long blond hair. This is also novelty. I suppose all this novelty has helped his career. The man can play guitar regardless of the novelty fluff.
Check out "Blues Brothers 2000". There is some young blond guy in the movie who looks like a refugee from the "Hansons." The kid in the movie croons some lyrics like he has just ingested a quart of vinegar. This is novelty. He wants to be a great guitar player. But, he's not. American culture loves dudes with long blond hair.
Noah is only sixteen years old. This is a novelty also. How can such a young musician be so good? This can't be happening. But it is. In September, I heard a blues DJ on WAIF, Cincinnati, say "If Noah keeps playing, some day he will be a really good guitar player." He said this as if Noah wasn't a really good guitarist, because he is so young. Here Noah's novelty is getting in the way. In my opinion, he is the best.
Noah is just an amazing musician. The song that impressed me started out as a rockabilly tune. From there the band got into a Billy Cobham jazz jam and, from there, went into a Herbie Hancock "Chameleon" jam. He throws in lots of styles. It's all mixed up, like a collage. Don't worry about the getting better rap. He is perfect now. He plays guitar the way he wants. He has the gift to do anything he wants.
Don't worry about the age. Don't worry about the novelty. See him now in a small bar. See the Stratocats now, in a small Dayton bar. If Noah "gets better," I won't want to see him at a large metro-dome with 15000 other fans. I won't want to try to hear him over the screams of chicks, throwing underwear at the stage. Noah is not a 45-year-old black man.
He is not a 45-year-old methadone maniac. He is not a holder of vast real-estate holdings. Noah can play the blues. Would you rather listen to--Eric Clapton?--Eric who has the heroin and alcohol etched soul. Eric who lives behind an electric fence, so that the fans won't steal his garbage? Would you like to hear him now?
If Noah doesn't get carried away with wicked women, heroin, or Jesus, maybe he will be playing guitar in some bar when he is 45. I hope he won't have a soul etched with heroin and alcohol. That way, he will play the blues without pretense or stage antics. That's the way he does it now!
10/21/98 Dave Young cyborg@one.net