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Porn to lose

Clarence Reid, better known to dirty little girls and boys as Blowfly, has been offending audiences of all creeds and colors for nearly a half-century. Beginning in the late ’60s, he had a string of R&B hits for Miami’s TK Records, and wrote throughout the ’70s for Betty Wright and KC and the Sunshine Band, among others. But he’s always been best known for his side-splitting, X-rated porno-funk tunes, his scatological disco, his soul parodies (see “Shittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”), and his filthy rap tracks, which have made him a hero to everyone from Rudy Ray Moore to 2 Live Crew. Cris-crossing the country, performing in outrageous outfits to chitlin’ circuit audiences, he honed the stage show with which he now regales crowds that include the likes of Jello Biafra. His next album, Blowfly’s Punk Rock Party, brought him to South By Southwest, where our interviewer caught up with him by phone (after which point we never quite caught up with him again). Free-associating tales about his childhood in Georgia, stories of unverifiable provenance concerning Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Texas swing icon Bob Wills, forgotten record-industry shysters and cornpone showbiz crackers, klansmen and rappers, this “interview” is best understood as a performance unto itself. We’ll be honest: we attempted to transcribe this discussion several times . . . and then gave up. So think of this as an oral history project – a designation we’re sure Blowfly would have fun with. At one point he asked if the interview was being recorded, and when assured that it was, he said, “Good. Because I want the fans to know something. I’m putting a curse on you. Exactly 13 days from now, you will go to sleep and get money in the mail, being happy. Wake up exactly five o’clock in the morning, butt naked, [saying] ‘Where the fuck am I?’ Then you look up, and this skinny black boy standing over you, and it’s Michael Jackson. ‘You’re not a 13 year old white boy. You’re older than 13, now get out of my Neverland Ranch.’ And then you’re gonna scream at the top of your voice, ‘I’m gonna kick your ass, you nigger Blowfly!’”

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: ThePhoenix.com interviews Blowfly (mp3)