Jamaica Ska, Byron Lee & The Dragonaires (1964) Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee formed the Dragonaires while attending St. George’s College in the early 1950s. Originally playing mento Jamaican music, they expanded into calypso, soca, rock steady, reggae and ska. Their recording of Jamaica Ska was covered by Fishbone (with Annette Funicello) in the 1987 schlock comedy Back to the Beach.
Philip Sayce is a Welsh-born American / Canadian guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and performer. At 16, Sayce began playing in Toronto clubs, eventually joined Jeff Healey‘s band in 1997, and toured with him for over three years before joining Uncle Kracker. A year and a half later he was backing Melissa Etheredge… and on and on and on.
John Primer was born in 1945 to a family of dirt-poor Mississippi sharecroppers. His story is a true rags-to-riches saga, going from singing work songs and gospel, to playing diddley bow, then guitar. When he turned 18 in 1963 he moved to Chicago, busking at the legendary Maxwell Street market alongside blues superstars and others just breaking into the blues scene. The Blues Hall of Fame artist and three-time Grammy Nominee is still performing at 81 years.
[More in Wiki.]
Fleetwood Mac, the early years. “All our wealth and we can’t make a single that sounds as good as Green Manalishi“. ~John Lennon
Breaking News: Dolly Parton and Tim Curry have moved on. DJT announced a crude oil deal with Venezuela, and then pissed off the Canadians again. The US is sending aid to Nepal after the disastrous ice, mud & rock flood. Joro spiders are coming to gitcha, and our heatwave needs to move out and get a job somewhere else. There’s much more, but it can wait until quarter past porchtime. See you tomorrow.
That’s a first-generation Pontiac Vibe (2003–2008). In its basic version, the 2007 Vibe was the most fuel-efficient model of General Motors in North America. [Found here.]
Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich suspended the model house, called Pulled by the Roots, above the construction site for a new underground tram system in the southern German city of Karlsruhe. “In the modern era, we are tempted to see human innovation as inorganic and divorced from the natural world,” said Erlich. “The speed of technology and the increasingly virtual dimension in which many of us we live only encourages this tendency to separate our inventions from the earth that sustains us.”
Tatyana Shubina of St. Petersburg, Russia creates sculptures of birds, fish and other creatures out of scavenged scrap metal.
“Tatyana Shubina‘s studio is located within the Red Triangle factory complex, some of whose buildings are so dilapidated that they’re literally falling on one’s head. This crumbling industrial monster serves as both an inspiring backdrop and an excellent source of materials for Tatyana’s work.
Born in Veliky Novgorod in 1978, she studied at the Rachmaninoff Novgorod Regional College of Arts and the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia in St. Petersburg. She is a member of the St. Petersburg Union of Artists and the Polyrealism creative association. She is a laureate of the Youth Prize of the President of the Russian Federation.”
Ghost Hounds are a classic rock ‘n’ blues band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, fronted by singer, songwriter (and motivational speaker) Tré Nation.
Dom Martin was playing for free in pubs in and around Belfast, Northern Ireland, when he was “discovered” playing at a golf club by someone with indirect connections to the music industry. That was 2017, and since then he’s released four records, has won numerous UK Blues Awards, and was introduced into the UK Blues Hall of Fame.
Not to be confused with the Scottish new wave band of the same name, Cuban Heels formed in the late 1980s in the Netherlands. The band was popular at blues festivals around Europe, playing garage blues mixed with soul / gospel flavors. Inspirations cited include Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, The Red Devils, (and more recently) The Black Keys, North Mississippi All Stars and Tom Waits. They are presently on hiatus.
One of the greatest blues rock trios in history, ZZ Top lost a second one. R.I.P. Frank Beard.
News of the Week: SCOTUS ruled that the WH Ballroom construction continue; Prince Harry & Duchess Meghan are moving back to the UK; Hurricane Lala tore through Hawaii and more tropical storms are on the way. Haitians are being deported en masse for being jerks, and Sacramento jerks want to ban 70% of tires because of friction.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss paint and dogs, on the porch, at porch time o’clock. Be there.