Friday, May 14, 2010

Gene Rodgers: Old South hallucination of a cartoon world inside of a watermelon



[ source ]


Some sort of fevered fish-eyed Old South hallucination of a cartoon world inside of a watermelon complete with chickens that appear and disappear above the keyboard, a child beauty in styling shoes rocking a leg in a wheelbarrow, and backed by a nearly silent gingham-clad quartet of smiling sisters. Add to it a perfectly out-of-sync Gene Rodgers setting the piano on fire - figuratively. What is amazing here - and that's saying a lot at this point - is how Rodgers is using the piano as ebullient language, as natural as Louis Armstrong effortlessly scatting out the sounds.

For a more restrained but equally sublime Rodgers, check out this from a review of the Grade C Noir film, Shoot to Kill: http://www.lileks.com/institute/100mysteries/65.html page down for the video.