James Harman and Hollywood Fats - PART1

[jipes]

Fabulous band with the great Hollywood Fats thanks a lot for sharing it's awesome !

[mojogypsy]

Harman is the real deal!

[buddychump]

Great video, but can you redo it with the audio level UP?

[danball1949]

Hollow body on solid body

[gdgeo]

Hey Steve,Today is for you, and I'd like to dedicate some Holywood Fats in your honor

[dukeuke1]

James Harman IS WAY OUT Front of the pack,Alway`s has been & ALWAY`s will be !!

[phildirt3]

fats is so missed

[geestblueser]

i love it !

[woodsheddin]

Man, I've watched these two clips a dozen or more times and they never lose the edge. I don't think Fats played the same run twice in the whole damed song.

[genericgeorge]

I LIKE !

[manispellman]

Does anybody know what kinda guitar Fats is playing? It's huge, but whatta tone!

[katietheblueslady]

@manispellman its a Gibson L5, he played this gtr occasionally when he was with Harman. his main gtr was a red Gibson345 with a 335 dot neck.

[genericgeorge]

@katietheblueslady I thought he played a straight ES 335. It had block inlays

[katietheblueslady]

@genericgeorge hey there..no, he played a 345 stereo, but he took the stereo out and inverted the pickups i think it was a '62, and then in the 80's he changed the neck and put a 335 dot neck on it..i have pics of his guitar before and after...check out the HF tribute by al blake and you'll see my pic of his guuitar on a chair. i took that pic at his parents house after he passed...

[genericgeorge]

@katietheblueslady cool thanks for that. WheCan you give us a link for the tribute? cheers..

[genericgeorge]

@katietheblueslady It's all good I found it :) You're right

[bigtime94z]

Is that Willie Jay on bass?

[phildirt3]

fats was pretty awesome rip

[lazur1]

Fats played Albert & Muddy style just as well as the West Coast stuff. Incredible.

[thailow117]

@lazur1 plus, he made his mark on l.a. punkrock!

that must such a potent time, musically. same with the alvin bros and 'the blasters', highly underestimated band.

[SuperYnottony]

thanks to dowjoni for the memories

[DOWJONI]

one of the BEST BANDS I ever saw, I never missed a show, in fact I missed all the eighties music because I was at all Harmans shows LOL!!!!I LOV THE BLUES BAYBAY!

[rtblues]

killer stuff! Fats was the man!

[bhound15]

Killer!!..James and Fats are smoking!! alls i can say is WOW!...

[dunskie]

Gol Damn James Harman has been kicking motherfucking ass so hard for so long.

You are The King James!

Thanks SOO much for posting this American Treasure!!

WTF?

[spec20]

Iceman and Fats, two kings of the Cal Swing!!!!

[perroblusero]

Impresionante performance!!

muy buen material aportado!!!

Felicitaciones amigo!!

Blues Blues Blues

[bluesborn]

stuff makes me shiver and shake like a monkey in a coconut tree.These cats took their trip waaaaaay beyond imitation.You can feel the energy and love for this precious music jump right out at you.Deep.

[bluesintruder]

I would say a Fender Tweed bassman with Fender Tube Reverb and maybe a Roland Echo unit. I have a pic that shows his gear. Send me a note and I can email you. M.J.

[Bluefinger]

Hollywood Fats was known to prefer the 1x15" Tweed Pro. I can't tell if he used it in this video tho

[jayscott49]

@bluesintruder - i saw him a few times in this era and yeah, tweed bassman with a fender reverb unit.

[romeo623]

what amp is it?

[givpeace2u]

man this guy cooks whole lot of guitar history in his playing,,,,my friend was talking bout hin in the earl 80s had it done then,,,,, his name was bob h unfortanetely life in the bottle,,,,,,ended his all to brief life,,,,,but thier memory is strong thanks,,,,play on blues peoples

[blues999z]

Very Very Nice !!!

[jayscott49]

Saw Fats a bunch of times, he could really make the room spin.

[dutchomatic]

This is A+. Picked up on Mr. Mann while stationed overseas. Thanks to him and Charlie Baty and have been a changed man ever since. Rest in Peace, sir.

[hihats]

go cat!

[9jem]

one great clip with a rarley used gibson for this style of music and of course holly wood fats what could be beter

[msteeln]

YEAH!

Thanx to all involved in this footage. The camera work is terrific.

Stevie Ray and Michael Mann were the best guitar performers in the entire 80s.

[gittafiddle]

Fats was a genius guitar player, please post some more!

[lowPaycheck]

Katie & Bos BOTH saw ALOT of Fats... i saw him the first time in 84' & did see his first stint as a Blaster a year or so later... he is, without a doubt, the best player ever from the recent era ( 79' or so onward) MFM is the alltime Jefe for me & about everyone else from So Cal from this era...

[mojoelem]

This guy was unbelievable! I've just been listening to Kirk Eli Fletchers' tribute to H.Fats from his 1998 CD "I'm Here & I'm Gone". The track is called "Mr.Mann" and is a real soulful blues instrumental. Kirk has been flying the flag for Fats for yrs. It's a shame Albert King was so jealous of the attention Fats was getting.

Fats bothered Albert more than SRV did.I wonder why?

[Barnekkid]

Thanks so much for posting this as there is precious little material from this great player. This is the guitar player that was fired by Albert King.

[katietheblueslady]

this is at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach CA Mar 23, 1985. Fats is playing a Gibson L-5 he was the best!!!

[ichpick]

Were you at this show?

[katietheblueslady]

i was at this show and almost any gig Fats played in so-cal from 1980 to 1986..listen closely to part 2 and you can hear the Wild Cards yelling "go Fats" during his solo..they were the 1st band playing that night

[okiedokiestomper]

Fats is the KING in my book!!!

[AliAssaSeen]

The best the James Harman band ever sounded is with this line up. Man o man was Fats the shit!! Brilliant

[edboswell]

A legend no doubt,

"Fats" was named by Buddy Guy, and I was at AshGrove the night he was first introduced as such, Buddy said, "We played last night in my hotel room with this great cat, and I've named him Hollywood Fats, I'd like to bring him up, and I hope the name sticks". Oh, DID IT? or what? LONG LIVE FATS>>>>>>>>>>>> Buddy had a 200 foot guitar cord, and ended the gig playing outside on the street, with the rest of the band still on stage.

[titostacos]

I saw this band open for the Blasters. Or the other way around. I think...

[bluelightproductions]

Diggin' that guitar, guess that's why we're still hearin about him

[bluesintruder]

Thanx guys for all the posts and info - I will post some more!

[DAHMSS]

fats is so smooth.he was great! kid and hodges were cool too. james is a bighead asshole.

[tweedfendr]

GREAT! So that's Kid on 2nd guitar?....guess he really was a "kid" back then :)

[noe83]

Yeea Those Dangerous Gentlements!!!!! A Dream to watch, play with him life....

[rstoweone]

I met Hollywood Fats backstage at Club 88 and later got to see him at Madam Wong's in Chinatown Los Angeles. I'm still wondering how someone with such small hands could be the guitar master but he was. Kid Ramos couldn't have had a better teacher. Fats was the best!!

[muscadinewine]

woah good stuff... jumpin'

[ichpick]

THANK YOU ! This was Harman w/Hollywood 1986 (or '85) @ The Belly Up? Pretty sure about that. Fats was the absolute best! Thanks for the post. Got anymore?

[bigelvin22]

the thing about fats was -not only was he an amazing musician but he broke down the barrier between performer and audience - he made everyone feel at one with the band - in that respect one of the best showman i've ever seen - if anyone has anymore footage of their set closer "Jungle Jam" please post it -

[jwdandy2000]

Smooth & easy to listen to the beat of the down & out Blues.

Thxs. Jim Dandy

[bluesintruder]

thanks for all the great comments, BLUESPOWER! Max

[jwdandy2000]

Blues with a modern day jump: "James day & The Fish Fry".

Check'em out in Ridley park, Pa.

J W Dandy

[colne05]

Wow this is the blues done right...! I hope the English so called blues guitarists wise up to the real thing soon so i can find a true blues player over here...Great vid...Thankyou...

[juniorfats]

Some great Fats stuff,there is a slow blues on this video that is truly mind boggling. I am lucky to have grown up in Orange County in this era and had the privlidge of seeing Fats and Junior Watson many times. Truly both the founders of west coast blues guitar.

[strandwolf]

great stuff surely but also upon the foundation of an earlier generation of blues artists: peewee crayton, jimmy nolen, lowell fulson, johnny watson, ike turner, etc.

[katietheblueslady]

Fats grew up in Los Angeles playing with PeeWee, shakey jake and others...he was a musical prodigy..at 16 he went on the rode with muddy,this was before he got fired by Albert King.

[eloseddie]

James Harman.Willie J.Campbell,Bass.Steve O.Hodges, Drums.Kid Ramos,Guitar.Kiiler Lineup.Fats Played LOUD and CLEAR.Never played a note he didn't mean...

[senecashecky]

Please Sir...can I have some more!!!

[jonnytbird4789]

Didn't he back up Muddy Waters during his apperance on Midnight Special?

[wilo65]

there's a video of a young hollywood fats with a pony tail playing for muddy i don't know when but is in my favorites!! check it out

[jwdandy2000]

How & where??

[danielvalentino]

oooooooieee! That's hotter than two rats f#*@king in a wool sock!

Thanks for posting,

Valentino

[dunskie]

Those Dangerous Gentlemen

[tragocaster]

Michael Mann - A.K.A. Hollywood Fats R.I.P.

Thanks so much for posting this. Now a well known player but he's truly one of the greats. Blues guitar done right!

[bonecone]

Yeah, Thank you very much for this. James sure has slick dance moves.. :D

[ronni2297]

Man! Thank you so much for posting this! First time Ive ever seen footage of Fats!And look at James having a BALL!Excellent

[dunskie]

What a classic clip. Thanks for putting it up here.

[rabadan]

wuawhhhh!!!!

[remingtonride]

I love you.

[silkee59]

Thanks so Much its great to see the legend!

[brondeye]

thankyou, great stuff !