A Conversation with Dr. John on Bobby Rush and More – HuffPost 3.12.14

Mike Ragogna: Dr. John…Mac…thank you so much for the interview.

Dr. John/Mac Rebennack: No sweat.

MR: Is this the first time you’ve collaborated with Bobby Rush in a major way?

DJ: Actually, I think I did some sessions with Bobby a long time ago, but that’s a long time ago. But I didn’t sing on anything with him, I didn’t sing at all.

MR: Right. Were you in the studio with him when you were recording this together?

DJ: I think so. We was in the studio, I remember now. We were in David Talkalotsky’s studio. His name is David Torkanowsky, but I call him Talk-A-Lot-Sky.

MR: [laughs] What brought the two of you together for this recording?

DJ: Bobby’s been my partner for a long time and he’s a good guy any help I could give him to get out of doing any of the gigs in the chitlin’ circuit would be a blessing. That’s something I would feel really good about. I know he does some festivals and I know he does whatever he does, but he’s old school and real deal.

MR: Yeah. Have you been following his records like I imagine he’s been following yours for a long time?

DJ: Hey, listen, we know each other’s maneuvers.

MR: There was something special about this record, Another Murder In New Orleans, wasn’t there?

DJ: Listen, all these kids here with a piece, I’d written a line in a song on my last record about “Kids with Uzis, ice suckers, Death is a always thing.” You can’t get away from that mess. Whatever the kids got, the adults put them in their hands. They don’t know what the hell they’re doing, the kids.

MR: I think a lot of grownups don’t know what they’re doing with that stuff either.

DJ: The president of the musician’s union, he has a kid just hanging with some bad kids and that’s a wipeout course in this city. If the president of the musician’s union’s kid can get took off the count behind stuff like that it’s not a good thing.

MR: Dr. John, do you think there can be more education for kids beyond what they’re getting from the news and at home?

DJ: Listen, I was in Japan one time, and what did they show on the television when New Orleans was declared the murder capitol of the United States? They showed a TV show about that. “I’m in Japan to look at something on American-speaking TV and what I’ve got to see is that?” But back then that was in the days of the Desire and Florida projects guys who would shoot each other over nothing. It’s just a shame.

MR: Mac, may I ask you a question that may be a little more controversial than not? Do you feel that with all this discussion about second amendment rights and gun ownership and similar things does it seem like the kids are getting lost in the middle of this discussion?

DJ: Of course they get lost in the middle of this. Any time you put a piece in a kid’s hand, no matter what name you give a gun, that’s still a lethal weapon. Whether it’s the NRA or who, it’s just sad, what comes down the pike from it all.

MR: So this song is kind of a contribution to making people a little more aware about what’s going on in post-Katrina New Orleans, huh?

DJ: This thing has happened here again where there’s a lot of youngsters getting took off the count, and that’s just not cool. My youngest son was going down the street and I said, “Get off of that street.” I had to tell him two guys got took off the count on that street four or five months before that. It’s just the idea. Why you gotta tell your kids to get off a street?

MR: Yeah. Do you think they could do better with school programs keeping the kids off the street?

DJ: Listen, I give a lot of the kids credit for doing stuff like staying in school, and they’re teaching the kids music. I saw some of those kids just last night. Those kids were playing at me, and I was playing it back. That was good. That’s the way to feel. You don’t have to worry about them kids going out there and putting somebody’s lights out.

MR: So again, music is at the heart of something very positive for these kids.

DJ: Of course it is! Kids need more music in the schools. When you cut budgets, which the politicians have done over and over and over here, what are you going to do? These people don’t even accept the president’s thing about any of the money that could come in to help. That’s not cool.

MR: It’s politics over good sense, isn’t it?

DJ: Well, it’s always been that way. We live in a corrupt state. Bobby knows this, I know this, we’ve all known this for a long time. You can’t get away from it. It’s corruption and politics and that’s the basic stupidnosity of everything that goes on.

MR: At least there’s music.

DJ: Hey, listen, if we can bring something out to make people aware of certain things like music, do it. That’s the lesson that I look at. I just want to mention that doing something with Bobby Rush is something special for me.

MR: Yeah, you seem like really close brothers in some respects.

DJ: We started off working on the chitlin’ circuit, I finally got off of the chitlin’ circuit but he still spends some time doing that stuff. I don’t like to see Bobby out there doing that mess. The chitlin’ circuit was more dangerous than the bucket of blood circuit up in Missouri and Kansas. How can a circuit be more dangerous than a bucket of blood circuit? That’s really weird, and that’s creepy. We’ve been there and done that and we know where it goes and where it don’t, and that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

MR: All right. Hey Mac, I’ve got one last question for you, what is your advice for new artists?

DJ: Hey listen, if they want to play music, listen to every music. Don’t be shut down to no music. The second thing I always tell them is learn how to get paid. If they can learn how to get paid in this racket, they’ll do wonderful.

MR: It’s very important, isn’t it.

DJ: Hey, listen, it took me a lot, a lot, a lot of years to figure out how to get paid. I started doing stuff on the chitlin’ circuit, and you weren’t making no money. I remember we got to New London, Connecticut, and there was a blizzard. The guy said, “All you have to do is put your newspaper under your coat,” I thought that wasn’t gonna work. No matter how many sheets of newspaper we put under our shirts, it didn’t work. That’s life, that’s how it goes. You live, and you learn, and you better learn fast in this rag.

Transcribed By Galen Hawthorne