Bits & Pieces

Another Robert Johnson revival is brewing. There's a campaign under way to raise $250,000 to restore his boyhood home in Hazelhurst, Miss., according to news reports, as well a possible movie. The movie script is by Jimmy White, who wrote the script for the Oscar-winning "Ray" and certainly had lots of rich material to work with on Johnson.

Earlier this year another structure with a strong Robert Johnson connection -- the building at 508 Park Avenue in Dallas -- was in great peril. In 1937 that warehouse was the site of Johnson's second and last recording session, which produced songs like "Love in Vain," "Hellhound on My Trail" and "Me and the Devil Blues." Johnson's first recordings had been made seven months earlier in a San Antonio hotel and those two outings did a whole lot to shape rock 'n' roll.

The Dallas building is in a derelict neighborhood and the owners filed for a demolition permit in January but apparently the building is still standing. At least there are no mentions in the Dallas media of it being torn down ...

A friend was in Santa Fe, N.M., recently and kindly thought of me while checking out the vendors on the town square. She sent me this lovely copper guitar pick, embossed with Hopi-style bears.

She may not realize it but her generosity could lead to charges of aiding and abetting a felony when I am charged with crimes against music (indictments are expected any day now).