But, that's not where the story starts. See, Syd Barret was sitting in the damp of his Mother's basement in the late sixties reading the back of a Blind Boy Fuller album - a record he'd pulled out of a bargain bin there in London where he lived. Syd was reading liner notes that Paul Oliver had written about Fuller and the blues scene he was describing in the Carolinas during the 1930's. Oliver'd included a short list of Piedmont blues musicians who had been working around the same time as Fuller and in that list he included Greenville, SC. blues man Pink Anderson and NC blues man Floyd Council. Syd named his band, Pink Floyd, after those two blues men. But that's not where the story starts...
The Floyd Council Memorial Project is raising money to put a gravestone on the grave of North Carolina blues man, Floyd Council. Syd Barrett named his little rock band Pink Floyd after Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. In his own time, Floyd was playing with superstars Blind Boy Fuller and Gary Davis. Everybody in America and around the world could help out by clicking on the picture and making a small contribution at the IndieGoGo we’ve been using to raise money for Floyd’s memorial…
Floyd Council’s Lookin’ For My Baby, 1937; ARC.
Me and Tad Walters back in March playing Floyd Council’s Runaway Man. This is the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh, NC. We were opening for Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin and Gaye Adegbalola.
Every time I see Tad in that suit I want a corndog or a big soft pretzel…
Lightnin’ Wells at Sound Write Recording Studio working on Pink and Mr. Floyd.
Some small part of the receipts from this show trickled over to the Floyd Council Memorial Fund. Will McFarlane played for years with Bonnie Raitt. Cool John made a record with Little Pink Anderson. Wedged in between all that wall of electric sound, I trundled out my little National and played Floyd’s Poor and Ain’t Got a Dime and heard crickets at the end…they loved Pink Anderson’s, I Got Mine.
One of the many perks at (and coming up at) the indieGoGo we’re using to raise money for the Floyd Council Memorial Project. This is a high-quality print of a drawing I did of John D. Holeman. It’s signed by both of us.
John D. remembers standing in the haze of the pig smokers down on the edge of the Hayti when he was a kid watching Blind Boy Fuller play on the sidewalk there. When shifts changed at the American Tobacco Company, the cigar rollers and cigarette packers would come pouring over Pettigew street, pick up their bottles of wine and barbecue and head home into the Hayti. Sonny Terry, Gary Davis, Bull City Red, sometimes the Trice Brothers, Brownie McGhee and Blind Boy Fuller might be sitting down there at Fayetteville and Pettigrew playing for the Mercury dimes…
That’s where John D. learned it…and we’re getting it from him…
These are pictures of Tad Walters, Lightnin’ Wells, me, and Boo Hanks in Sound Write Studio working on the Pink and Mr. Floyd record with Steve “Tooch” Tucci. There wouldn’t have been a project without all of the help and support Tooch gave us and he has a fantastic ear.
On January 28th, the RDU Rent Party will be having a “Pay As You Can” Blues and Swing Dance at the Triangle Dance Studio to raise money for the Floyd Council Memorial Project. Dancers are encouraged to dress to the nines or even come in costume. Me and Tad Walters, John D. Holeman and Lightnin’ Wells will be providing live piedmont blues…it’ll be like going to a dance in the Hayti in 1934 - maybe with less racial oppression but all of the economic woes. The address (which somehow didn’t make it onto the poster) is: Triangle Dance Studio - 2603 S. Miami Blvd. - Durham, NC.
My Dad turned me on to Blind Blake when I was a little kid. He was, without a doubt one of the finest guitar players who ever lived. He made almost a hundred records for the Paramount label and then one day he just disappeared. The record company wasn’t sure if his name was Phelps or Blake. They had his birthplace listed as Jacksonville, Florida. That’s it. Outside of the records he made for Paramount, nobody knew nothing.
Angela Mack had good help. And she found him…
When I found out, I gotta say - It was like Christmas morning. I whistled Diddy Wah Diddy (It’s a great big mystery…SOLVED!) and You Gonna Quit Me, Baby for days after finding out…
I hope they figure out a way to mark his newly discovered grave so that everybody who wants to can contribute and participate.
This is Angela Mack telling about how it happened:
Finding Arthur “Blind” Blake’s Grave
© Angela Mack 4/7/11
April 3, 2011
Alex van der Tuuk emailed me that some important information had been obtained about Blind Blake’s death. He asked if I would be willing to try to search and obtain a death certificate from Milwaukee, WI. I said that I would, especially since it is in such close proximity to me and that my schedule had freed up a bit. He emailed me the small obituary excerpt that Rob Ford had found containing the date of Arthur Blake’s death as well as his Milwaukee address.
April 4, 2011
I first drove around North 10th street in Milwaukee to try to find his home. I asked a Time Warner employee for assistance. The neighborhood was African American and largely run down. I could not find his address. I found some factories, a Baptist church, a school that had been ruined by fire, some newer built multi-unit buildings and Leinenkugel’s brewery in the area. The area is known as Bronzeville…Milwaukee’s great African American district that had a thriving music scene at one time.
Next, I tried to find his funeral home. But it didn’t seem to be in existence. Oddly, I found a Paramount sign on a building along Cherry Street where his funeral home was. I took pictures.
Then I went to the Milwaukee Courthouse and applied for a non-certified copy of Arthur Blake’s death certificate. I filled out a self-addressed envelope and they told me that it would arrive within 2 weeks. Upon Alex’s prompting, I visited the Milwaukee Historical Society to search city directories for an Arthur Blake. I began with the year that he died. He was listed in the 1934 directory as living at 1844B North 10th Ave. with Beatrice. He was listed in the 1933 directory as living with Beatrice at 621 W. Brown Street in Milwaukee. He was also listed here as a musician. Arthur Blake was also listed in the 1932 directory as living with Beatrice. His occupation was listed as an artist and living at 621 W. Brown in Milwaukee, WI. He was not listed in the 1931 or 1930 directories. I left the research library to call Alex but my cell phone would not allow me to.
I tried to obtain any other information about Blake at the Historical Society but could not find any.
When I got home, I emailed Alex immediately with the information that I dug up. He said that Beatrice was certainly a surprise. He was hopeful that Blake was listed as a “musician” and “artist”. Alex and I talked about emailing him the document once it arrived.
April 7, 2011
The death certificate from the Milwaukee Courthouse arrived much to my surprise. My initial feeling was fear. I was scared to open it. I knew that the envelope in my hands most likely contained information that would finally lead to more clues about Arthur’s life and how he died. I knew that researchers around the globe had long looked for this one particular document in my hands. It was almost like a “Holy Grail” of a document that I felt extremely humbled to open.
I hesitated for about 5 minutes and carried it around the house with uncontrollable shouts of elation and fear. My son David was home. I was trembling. I wanted to video the opening but was in too much of an excited state. I took photos of the unopened letter. Finally, I ripped the letter open by hand and took photos of the process. First thing I noticed? Cause of death. Pulmonary Tuberculosis. THAT was a surprise. Next I noticed his birthplace. New Port News, VA. Another surprise. Immediately I emailed Alex that it had arrived. My email text? “OMG OMG OMG” with a request for him to call me ASAP.
While I waited for him to contact me, I noticed that Arthur Blake’s burial place was listed as being Evergreen Cemetery. I did some Google searches and was shocked to see that there was an Evergreen Cemetery close by and just south of me in Glendale, WI. It appeared that the cemetery had been renamed as Glen Oaks Cemetery. I called the number listed online. Surprisingly, somebody answered.
“I am wondering if there is an Arthur Blake in your cemetery.”
“Can I ask what this is for?” he asked.
“I’m doing some research. Is Arthur Blake buried there?”
“Let me check the records. When did he die?”
“December 1, 1934.”
“Yes, we have an Arthur Blake here who died in 1934. His address was 1844 N. 10th Street?”
“Yes. That’s the one. I will be driving down there right now.”
I was surprised that the cemetery that Arthur Blake was buried in was so close to me! I started jumping up and down for joy, laughing and shouting, “You son of a gun!” I marveled that his cemetery was on the same road as the pressing plant and recording studio in Grafton, WI. (12th Avenue in Grafton leads into Green Bay Road otherwise known as the historic Green Bay Trail once paved by elk, Indians and recording artists.)
I got lost. My mind was in such an excited state. I forgot to write down the address of the cemetery. I just drove. Friends were calling me on my cell phone. But I declined them all. I just wanted to get to Arthur Blake’s grave as quickly as I could. Nothing else mattered.
When I got to Glendale, I noticed that the area contained a lot of African Americans. I stopped at a gas station to ask where the cemetery was. They didn’t know. I asked a lady at the gas station. She didn’t know. So I kept driving south on Green Bay Road.
Alas! There it was! I took a left and pulled in to take a picture of Glen Oaks Cemetery in Glendale, WI. I went to the office. The person manning the office was occupied for a good 5 minutes. So I took photos of my documents and inside of the office to help calm my nervous energy.
When he came to greet me, I asked if there was any documentation on Arthur Blake that I could see. He said that he already printed it out and then handed it to me. I asked for directions to the cemetery plot. Realizing that it was in a very remote part of the cemetery, I kindly asked him to lead me to it. Meanwhile, Alex called and I tried to give him as much information as possible over the phone while trying to contain myself. I told him to call me back in a half hour. Hopefully by then I could visit the grave site and give him more information.
The employee brought me to a remote part of the cemetery in the back that was obviously unkempt. He tried to help me find Blake’s grave. But we couldn’t find it. He kept insisting that it was in one place. But I pointed to the unkempt area and said, “Don’t you think he might be over there?”
“God I hope not. They’re digging a road there.”
He said that he would go back to the office to look up names nearby on the computer. He directed me to call him.
While I waited for him to drive back to the building, I quickly and frantically looked at all of the gravestones in the unkempt area. I saw a lot of “Mother so and so” and “Brother so and so” names on the stones. I saw a lot of garbage and hidden gravestones. I quickly tried to clean each one up looking for Blake’s name. NOTHING.
So I called him. “I’m at so and so’s grave right now.”
“You need to go to the next row.”
“Ok. Now I am at so and so’s grave.”
“Head north.”
We went back and forth like this for quite some time. Finally, we determined that the exact location where Blake was buried did not have a tombstone. The records at the cemetery have him listed as being a single large grave 72 Range 115. Caroline Harvey was the closest tombstone to that. She was born in 1896 and died in 1934. Just north of him in Range 114 lies Willie Mae Hess who died in 1935.
Alex called back. I stood at Arthur “Blind” Blake’s grave while talking to my world renowned Paramount research friend. It seemed fitting that we should be on the phone together at that particular moment. It was very special. Alex deserved to be a part of that moment. But with him being in the Netherlands, it was impossible for him to be there physically. He requested more clarification on Arthur’s parents. At that point, the certificate was in my car a good few blocks away. I told him that I would walk to my car, contain myself and go through the certificate information with him once again while sitting in my car.
Directly east of Blake’s unmarked grave lies a bush. Inside the bush is a forgotten tombstone, garbage and an American flag. He’s buried in the farthest back, farthest east and “forgotten part” among many other presumably African Americans. I had to tromp through the mud to get there. The cemetery dumps dirt back in that area. Many of the stones are damaged and remote hiding under trees and such.
I took photos of the unmarked grave, his neighboring deceased, my muddied feet which had collected burs as well as my expressive face.
Clearly, this has been one of the best days of my life. And I want to stress that this was a team effort between Alex van der Tuuk, Bob Eagle, Rob Ford, Eric LeBlanc and myself. We all did our part. I was just fortunate enough to be able to reel the fish in. This discovery about Blind Blake will surely be remembered throughout history and around the world. I am honored and humbled that somehow a fellow musician and music teacher got to first visit Arthur Blake’s grave. It felt very kindred. Definitely spiritual. I am truly honored and humbled. Alex is convinced that it won’t be an unmarked grave for long. Arthur “Blind” Blake is among the blues legends. And we finally found our man. AMEN to that.
