Father
and Son sing the Blues
The Father-Son Musician team of Thumpin' Slide
Jones and The Lighten' Flash Kid love their
traveling life together playing juke joints,
bars, and clubs around the country. Pops, Thumpin'
Slide Jones, got his name from his trademark
guitar thumping and his fine slide guitar. Notice
the silver, metal slide on his left ring finger.
His son, Lightenin' Flash Kid received his name
from both his flashy white smile (with a hint
of gold) and his lightenin' fast and flashy
style of guitar playin'. But Lightenin' is always
happy to step aside and give his pop the thumbs
up while Pops shows off his soulful slide guitar
solos. The duo harks of a bygone days when "The
Blue" was played informally on acoustic
guitars in small informal settings where microphones
and recording equipment weren't available. Pops
and the Kid represent all the old blues musicians
whose music was never recorded but who laid
the groundwork for a host of American musical
forms.
Both dolls stand on bases of wood with distressed
planked floors complete with nails. Lightenin'
Flash is perched on a hand made wooden bar stool
with his feet resting comfortably on the floor.
This long legged guy is 16 1/2 " seated.
His head turns to the left while his right hand
gives Pops the thumbs up. In his left hand sits
the neck of the guitar.
Thumpin' Slide Jones stands leaning slightly
forward, intently to keep the beat. Pops looks
directly forward and thumps the guitar with
his right hand and presses a string with the
slide finger of his left hand. He stands 17"
tall.
Both dolls are completely sculpted-head, body,
shoes and all. They were both sculpted, then
molded, then poured out of a vinyl/wax intrinsically
colored with the flesh base color. These molds
were never used again, nor were the clothing
patterns. They were created in the early 1990's
by Ray Daub and are completely unique, never
to be reproduced again. Both mean have hand
blown German glass eyes (a beautiful hazel brown),
which are set onto their eye sockets and adorned
with tiny eyelashes. They have been painted
in layers to give a natural translucence and
coloration to the skin. Pop's shoes are the
old fashioned brown lace-up oxfords buffed to
a high shine with blacklaces. Lightenin' wears
the more modern black ankle boot also buffed
to a shine. Both men have hand applied nappy
black/gray hair. The Kid's teeth are beautifully
sculpted with a natural yellow-white coloration
with the exception of his one gold tooth. Both
have sculpted fingernails, which are painted
realistically. Eyebrows are painted on.
The beauty of these two sculptures comes from
Ray's deep reverence for the old blues musicians.
The wizened, warm face of the father contrasts
with the exuberance and cocky enthusiasm of
his son. Years of experience working with life-casts,
have helped hone Ray's kills in realistic sculpting.
(In 1989 he and I created 36 life-cast dancing
figures of people from the Caribbean Islands.
These wonderful figures traveled as an art exhibit
sponsored for the St. Louis Art Museum. The
exhibit was housed for two years in the Smithsonian
Institute.) Thumpin' Slide and Lightenin' Flash
have been sitting on my piano for years and
have become old friends. I can promise it takes
no time to bond with these two delightful performers.
The costumes, by Barbara Darling, were created
with particular detail to the scale of fabric
patterns and textures so that all the wrinkles
and folds appear real. Details such as pant
cuffs, stitched fly fronts, pleated waists,
set in waist bands, shirt plackets, cuffs with
buttons, authentic collars, lapels, belt loops,
leather trimmed suspenders, jacket vents, leather
belts with buckles abound. Whatever you can
think of that a man's real clothing would have
these two have. The shirt front plackets, sleeve
and jacket cuffs, and jacket front all have
tiny buttons. Also notice the detail on both
guitars which includes leather edged guitar
straps which button onto the knobs at each end
of the guitar. Both the musicians' ties are
made of silk.
Thanks for looking at these special gentlemen.
Blessings to all of you from me,
Mary Wimberley
