REQUIEM FOR
ROOT BOY SLIM
It has been years since Root Boy Slim died (June 8, 1993), just a month before his 48th birthday. Yet, there is a fan club and a couple of web sites. People all over the country still talk about Root Boy Slim because he was one of the finest rock 'n' roll poets of all time.
The Root Boy Slim web site (linked below) features his lyrics. Once there, you can read some of the best lyrics to come out of the seventies and eighties. Humor, social satire, political commentary, and harsh realities - what more could anyone want?
I first heard about Root Boy Slim in 1978. Someone told me about the song, "Boogie Till You Puke", so I rushed out and bought the album, "Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band" on Warner Brothers. Finally, here was something I could relate to. The perfect music for crazy urban freaks who could not dig the Grateful Dead, disco, glam rock, phony pop punks, and all the other commercial bullshit. This music was real - R&B, blues, funk, rock, and jazz. Root Boy was like James Brown and the band rocked, it was relevant and hilarious.
So, on July 2, 1978, I drove up to Washington. The Annual White House Smoke-In was happening for 2 or 3 days with Root Boy scheduled to perform on the evening of July 4th to wrap the event up. I was having the time of my life. Just hours before the Root Boy show, I was standing across the street from the White House in Lafayette Park and I got into a nasty verbal exchange with a park policeman.
The next thing I know, WHAM, billy club to the head. Yeah, I used to be a radical. The cops beat the shit out of me and threw me in a 120 degree paddy wagon. I'm tripping my ass off in the paddy wagon and a cop wearing a neck tie gets in and starts punching me. Then they take me to jail and charge me with felonious assault of a federal officer, possession of dangerous explosives, and possession of marijuana.
At the jail, a smiling cop from the Hitler Youth pats his hand with a billy club and tells me, "Don't worry you'll be out of here soon. I'll see you tonight at the Root Boy Slim show." I think I had told them how urgent it was that I be released in order to see Root Boy that night. But the cop was wrong. I didn't get out of jail until the next morning. And I was pissed off. I went into court and accused the court appointed lawyer blowing the judge. They let me go, for some reason, and I blew a reefer in front of the courthouse and tried to pick a fight with a jail guard. I ended up having to go to DC about three times to deal with this federal case before the judge recommended that I stay away from the Washington.
So, to make up for that little Independence Day fiasco, I attended every Root Boy Slim show that I could for the next 15 years. I must have seen Root Boy at least 22 1/2 times. I don't know, a lot have brain cells have been destroyed. Bringing offerings of spliffs, we would go up into Root's "dressing room", usually a bathroom or stockroom, and get very blasted.
Then, after Root was ready, he would get on stage and do his thing. For a few hours all problems would go away. I always had a great time. Many great times. Sometimes after the show we would hook up with Root and party. I remember one night at the Executive Motor Hotel with Root laying on the bed while everyone was partying and periodically he would sit up, utter some revelation in a Jamaican accent, and then lay back down for a few minutes.
You would always see the same people at Root Boy shows. Different kinds of disfunctional people gathered together to make fun of the absurdity of the real world. Drug addicts, alcoholics, the mentally ill, social outcasts, hippies, rednecks, young freaks, old freaks, artists, and musicians were the biggest Root Boy fans. No matter what kind of freak you were, you fit in at a Root Boy show. People came to party and laugh without a lot of styling and profiling. Root would sing, "Dare to be fat, fat is where its at," and grotesquely obese girls would dance on stage and, for that night, they were just as cool as everyone else there.
In 1993, Root Boy passed away. He wore out after living a hard rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Shortly after his death, I heard about the Salute to Root and I knew I had to be there, to be with Root one more time. On August 28, 1993, some friends and I drove up to Washington to go to the Bayou.
The original Root salute was a thing that Root would do. He would slide his extended forefinger back and forth under his nostrils and then slide his finger back and forth across his top gum. This salute was only understood by coke snorters. But Root never condoned the use of drugs, in fact he would often say, "Don't let this happen to you," referring to himself. Nobody knew the results of hard core substance abuse better than Root Boy.
The Bayou was packed with Root's friends and family. Nearly every musician that had ever played with Root was there. The players would take turns on stage playing all of the Root Boy songs. They showed Root's 1991 video of "Hey, Mr. President", a song about the homeless. Root himself was no stranger to homelessness.
Ernie Lancaster, co-author of the Root Boy songs and a fine guitar player, drove all the way up from Orlando to be there. He said that he zoned out and ran off the road on the way up to DC, but that Root had guided him back to safety. Ron Holloway, Root's sax man for over a decade, was there and wailing. Both excellent players, Ernie and Ron have solo CDs out and have backed musicians much more well known than Root.
The old Root songs kept coming and the players would trade off on the vocal duties. The players sounded great and the crowd couldn't have been more appreciative and responsive. Ernie Lancaster spoke a few words about Root before he dedicated "The Lonliest Room in the World" to Slim. They played this one without the vocals.
It was a rare moment that I will never forget. It was freakin spooky. They played this slow ballad with so much soul that there was probably not a dry eye in the Bayou. I recall a very long silence after the end of the song. I get goose bumps just thinking about it.
So, click on the link below and visit the Scariens Salute to Root site and check out those lyrics. Marvel at the genius of Root Boy Slim. Someday, if you are lucky, you might find some Root Boy Slim vinyl at a flea market. The first five Root Boy Slim records are out of print. His last release, "Root 6", was a CD distributed by Ichiban Records.
Ellis D. Rush, Disciple of Root
