INFAMOUS UNDERWATER SET AT NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FEST '79 AMONG NOTABLES
Ironing Board Sam has been playing
music for more than half a century, whipping up a large catalog of soul
songs and blues tunes along the way. He's earned a reputation as a
singer, songwriter and acclaimed keyboardist. Thanks to a handful of
inventions, though — many of which have become staples of his live show —
Ironing Board Sam has also become one of the most colorful, charismatic
showmen in modern music. He makes his Big Legal Mess debut on October 2
with ‘Super Spirit.’ Album teaser video.
Case in point: the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1979,
when Sam played a set of soul music while submerged inside a
fluid-filled water tank. To avoid electrocution, he rigged up a safety
system that included water-tight plastic bags and a glass helmet. Check
out pics and a description of the set here.
Sam was already a local favorite by that time, having played gigs in the
Crescent City with his infamous "ironing board keyboard" — a portable
keyboard attached to an ironing board with 64 buttons that were
connected to tacks via telephone wires (and activated with a ring on his
finger). This contracption gave Sam his unique name and also predated
the keytar by at least 10 years — since the early 1960s. A young Jimi
Hendrix even climbed onstage with him during those early days and
described Sam’s wild stage show as an influence. It was the New Orleans
Jazz Fest, though, that helped elevate Sam to cult status.
As the decades went on, Ironing Board Sam continued playing shows while
also working on new inventions. His various contraptions include; the
"human jukebox" costume, wherein Sam sat inside a jukebox on Bourbon
Street and, after tourists deposited their money, played their
selections for them; a remote microphone; a clavinet rigged with guitar
strings; and a portable air-pollution control system, which was sadly
never built.
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