Mr. Google Eyes

Although little recognized to general audiences, Mr. Google Eye looms huge in the annals of New Orleans R&B — not merely did his 1st edges predate the documenting career of Body fat Domino, but lots of the city’s spirit luminaries count number him like a pivotal impact. Created Joseph Augustus on Sept 13, 1931, he obtained his formative musical encounter as an associate of the Initial Emmanuel Baptist Chapel choir, but discovered himself most deeply drawn to the blues. As a teenager, Augustus worked like a delivery son for regional restaurateur Dooky Run after, who bestowed upon him the “Google Eye” appellation because he could seldom peel his view from the eatery’s feminine clientele. Run after also sponsored an area jazz music group, and sometimes Augustus sang several numbers, gradually gaining enough money to get his very own PA program. He utilized the PA being a bargaining chip to sit down in on various other acts’ pieces, and with time earned a reliable gig at the neighborhood Downbeat Club, showing up opposite Roy Dark brown. Frequently billing himself as “Mr. Google Eye,” occasionally he made an appearance as basically “Mr. G,” a nickname conferred following a performance to get Billy Eckstine, himself Mr. E. Although Dark brown, Paul Gayten, and Annie Laurie had been the very first New Orleans R&B performers to enter the documenting studio, Augustus had not been far behind, producing his debut for the black-owned Coleman Information with 1946’s “Poppa Stoppa’s Be-Bop Blues”; he was still simply 15 yrs . old at that time, and appropriately the label proclaimed him “Mr. Google Eye — the world’s youngest blues vocalist.” “Zero Wines, No Ladies” soon adopted, and led to an endorsement cope with Monogram Wines. “Rock and roll My Spirit” was another strike, and prompted Columbia Information to get out Augustus’ Coleman agreement. His Columbia debut, “FOR YOU PERSONALLY My Like,” made an appearance in 1948, but as well late Augustus found out the invert racism that led many African American-owned record merchants to boycott the mainly white Columbia catalog. Edges including “Existence Could be a Hard Street to visit,” “Cryin’ for you personally,” and “Rock and roll My Spirit” followed as you decade converted into the next, and although Mr. Google Eye never enjoyed exactly the same industrial success as much of his contemporaries, his information sold sufficiently to aid a tour with vocalist Al Hibbler, and he also made an appearance at the renowned NEW YORK jazz membership Birdland on expenses headlined by Charlie Parker and Mls Davis. After marrying a female from Newark, NJ, Augustus resolved there circa 1951. There he befriended bandleader Johnny Otis, after that functioning A&R for the Duke/Peacock category of brands. After his agreement with Columbia expired, Augustus agreed upon with Duke, reducing edges like 1953’s “Play the overall game” in addition to composing Otis’ smash “Make sure you Forgive Me,” but some bad offers and poor economic decisions still left him broke, and in 1955 he relocated to California, functioning the LA membership circuit alongside Otis furthermore to making the casual record just like the Turn label launch “Strange Things Occurring at night,” acknowledged to Joe August. By 1960 he was back New Orleans, MCing an all-star revue in the Bourbon Road club Sho Pub. After his relationship dissolved, he started dating a white female, a romantic relationship that brought him a lot grief from law enforcement that he attemptedto break it off, of which point the girl shot him within the abdomen having a rifle. Augustus survived the assault, and even though miscegenation charges had been soon lowered, he vowed to stay as definately not Bourbon Road as possible, getting his performing profession to some halt. In 1965 Augustus lower his last record, the Allen Toussaint-produced “Everything Happens during the night,” once again billing himself as Joe August. For a long time after, he worked well like a bartender and MC, sometimes carrying out alongside Earl Ruler and Deacon John in the brand new Orleans Blues Revue.