He's No Half a Motherfucker...

Here’s something truly earth-shaking – finally some real documentation of one of the greatest African American entertainers in history, Frank Half Pint Jaxon.

the most astounding thing in that, aside from the discovery that he lived 10 years longer than previously thought, and at one time may have worked for the Pentagon, is that he is in the film Hallelujah, in a short clip doing a terrific and graceful dance. Check out that link; he was a great and hilariously salacious singer

and thanks, btw, to Brian Berger for doing all this incredible research.

just to add an annoying observation, I do feel that a performer like Jaxon helps us to understand the complexity of the history of African American music – that it ain’t all blues, and that the minstrel thing is ever-present (see also Louis and Jabbo) whether we like it or not. But it’s different here – as I told Wynton Marsalis a few years back, this is a classic example of the victimized taking control of the materials previously used to victimize them – and then making something very different out of them.