[The Hoodoogang]

Buy now our CD Go Ahead 'n' Scratch! on-line and get a T-Shirt for free!

All you have to do is to visit our CD Shop, at The Hoodoogang's Webpage, and order our 2nd CD.

not forget to mention which size you wish: M, L or XL.

The offer is valid only for the first 20 bought CD's. (One T-Shirt per CD.)

So... hurry up!!!

The Hoodoogang, Belgian Blues Band.

http://www.thehoodoogang.com

[Go Ahead 'n Scratch]

our new CD is out and we love to hear what you think about it.Some songs can be heard online

[Bitter discussion: The Hoodoogang and NothinButDaB]

Pretty strange response really.

We agree and was a bit swept of our feet because of it. That's why we'd like to get other people's opinion since nobody made a fuzz about it here in Europe

[Bitter discussion: The Hoodoogang and NothinButDaB]

What do you think about this?

I think the people at that website in question have far too much time on their hands. And...what does their criticism have to do with your music?

this is what we wonder about also. They see a cover and don't even wanna listen to our music. When actually we're looking for support and promotion on our second CD, not our first.

[Bitter discussion: The Hoodoogang and NothinButDaB]

I only sended an e-mail to the american blues-site NothinButDaBlues.com, searching for promotion of our 2nd CD. This is the answer we got:

We will NOT promote your 2nd CD and we will NOT promote your band.

Additionally, regardless of the quality (or lack thereof) of your music,

we will NOT recommend you to our contacts with clubs and festivals.

We visited your website to listen to your songs and were taken aback and

strongly object to the degrading image on your Busted Sessions CD. What

were you thinking to use such a vile degrading image on your CD cover?!?

Obviously, you were NOT thinking and even more obvious, the Hoodoogang

seriously lacks moral and intellectual character!

Additionally, we previously respected comments from Bobtje Blues and

have posted their newsletters on our site for years. However, after

seeing that they recommend a CD with such of a contemptible image, we

will no longer accept their communications.

Remove us from your mailing list and do not subject us to your

despicable CD image ever again!

Thank you.

www.NothinButDaBlues.com

This is what I replied:

hello there,

if you know a little of voodoo en hoodoo then you might know that the photo on the cover of busted sessions was taken during a voodoo ceremony in Le Cap Haïtien in 2002 . What you see is a mambo queen in trance, eating mud ( Muddy Waters ) and sticking out her hand to get money from the tourist that are watching it. If you buy our cd "Busted Sessions" you would get a letter together with it. Saying that The Hoodoogang is trying to do the same as that Mambo Queen. Trying to make music and make people feel good and get a little money in return.

I hope this sortens things out, if not then I find it a pity and then I do hope that all the people that bought our CD and even gave us a positieve note for the cover, will keep on supporting us. At least we try to be original instead of most bands that always end up placing a guitar on a cover.

Sure hope you're not offended by us wearing masks on our second CD.

But one thing is sure.........our second Cd has a number titled "You Hoodooed Me"....Well we sure Hoodooed you.

Best regards,

El Grande & The Hoodoogang

This is what our guitarplayer replied :

Gentle people of NothinButDaBlues.com,

The Hoodoogang would like to apologize for offending you with some of the material contained in our website. It has never been our intention to harm anyone’s sensibility with our acts. We think that any individual deserves our apologies if offended by us. It is in our own interest to keep our name clean from eventual haters. Despite of the impoliteness contained in your words, we offer you our apologies. Please accept them.

As the direct responsible of the cover design of our CD’s, I would like to give some extra explanation on the image that caused your violent reaction. The photo was taken by my wife during a voodoo ceremony in Haiti, where she was living during her work for a humanitarian catholic organization, helping poor Haitian children. The woman shown in the snapshot is a professional voodoo witch, or mambo. As such she holds quite a high position in the local society. The image shows her during a trance.

We know it’s a shocking picture and we wanted to trigger some kind of curiosity among the viewers. We wanted them to investigate further on this kind of culture, the voodoo, on what makes people to behave this way. That’s how most people react; they ask us about what happened before the picture was taken and if these ceremonies are still common in Haiti.

Since we are not racist, neither puritan, we fail to see why this image is offending in its nature. Nevertheless, it’s for sure not intended for children or alike.

Respectfully,

Fernando Neris (The Hoodoogang)

PS: I hope you don’t mind if we post these letters on different blues forums. We want to make clear our position on this matter and also to warn other viewers of the potential shocking nature of the image.

What do you think about this?

Is the image in question really offensive?

Are they right in treating us this way?

And the worst of all, deserves Bobtje to pay for our 'sins'?

This is the cover we talk about :