Otis Gibbs is a genuine and gentle soul. He has his music, he has a podcast called "Thanks For Giving A Damn" (just Otis and others sharing memories, stories, and history--nothing on the political issues of the moment), and he has planted over 7000 trees. He's doing his bit to make this a better world. Oh, and he once wrestled a bear (and lost).
Hailing from Indiana, the Alt Country/Folk artist is rarely heard getting into the political machinations of the day. You get the feeling that he feels that the outrage of the moment doesn't accomplish anything, that it's all a huge distraction from the real work that needs to be done. Not that Otis doesn't have a point of view. He clearly believes in a larger picture of social justice and the struggle of the working man. Much of his music pays tribute to ordinary everyday people trying to make it through another day or to the labor leaders of the past--the Joe Hills and Lucy Parsons of the world. Otis tells the tale of the larger picture through smaller stories.
Perhaps the best example of this is his song "Sputnik Monroe" from his most recent record "Mount Renraw". Sputnik Monroe was an actual person--a wrestling "heel" who was paid to be the guy wrestling fans would hate and root against. Monroe was a huge draw, more people paying to root against him than coming to root for his "good guy" opponents. Monroe was especially popular in Memphis and he had friends in the segregated black communities there. He was arrested repeatedly for the crime of having a beer with his black friends and he would further infuriate southern whites by being defended in court by a black lawyer. This only served to make him a bigger draw--whites coming to hate him and blacks coming to cheer him on. But the black fans were forced to sit, segregated, in the proverbial "cheap seats". One night, Sputnik refused to fight unless the promoters allowed blacks to sit wherever they wanted. And the promoters, recognizing that Sputnik was the biggest draw they had, relented. It was the first time any sporting event in the south was desegregated. This was in 1959. "Standing on the ground where King stood," Otis sings, making the point that, in his corner of the world, Sputnik had struck a true blow in the advancement of Civil Rights...and in Memphis, no less. You don't have to be larger than life to be a hero. You don't have to change the world to change the world.
Otis paints a unique but needed picture of Christmas through a series of vignettes. "Lonely Mistletoe Night" tells the story of a child being raised by a single mother who has to work double shifts to pay the bills, leaving the child contemplating the contrast of the bright colorful lights and the darkness of being alone through most of the season. There's "Carl and Mavis", about a couple so "cheap" they'd split up every year at Thanksgiving just to avoid having to buy Christmas presents for each other. Then there's "A Man Named Jesus", wherein the Savior does his best Marshall McLuhan, showing up at your door to say "You know nothing of my work".
On the other end of the spectrum, Otis offers the story of "Lloyd The Reindeer", who dropped out of reindeer school, joined the Merchant Marines, and, ultimately, gets into a knife fight with Santa. "Lookin' Like A Hippy"--comparing Santa to a hippy--is a theme that has been done before, but Otis delivers it with such genuine skepticism that his take on the theme "wins". And there's the utterly charming, no dark or deep corners at all, "Mr. Santa Claus". The version of "Once I Dreamed Of Christmas" coming November 2 closes with a cover of Woody Guthrie's "1913 Massacre" (the true story of 73 men, women and children--mostly striking miners--dying in an incident on Christmas Eve, precipitated, according to most accounts, by the mining company owners).
1. Lloyd the Reindeer 2. Lonely Mistletoe Night 3. Carl and Mavis 4. Crap for Christmas 5. Color Wheel 6. A Man Named Jesus 7. Lookin' Like a Hippie 8. Little Red Nose 9. Mr. Santa Claus 10. 1913 Massacre |
CDs of "Once I Dreamed of Christmas" sold out pretty quick back in the day. For some time, Otis had the album available for digital download purchase on Bandcamp, but it's been unavailable in any form for a while, now. Even in this shortened form, "Once I Dreamed of Christmas" is a unique and essential window on a part (or parts) of Christmas we don't often think about. It's a Christmas that's more real than the idealized fantasy most Christmas music tries to project. If you can find a copy of Otis Gibbs' "Once I Dreamed of Christmas" at a reasonable price, I'd recommend picking it up. If not, this shortened digital version could do ya. Merry Christmas. And have a crap crap crappy New Year.