Category: Music

Batrachivorous Hot Links

I Can’t Stop Dancing, Archie Bell & The Drells (1968)
 Soul / R&B group from Houston, Texas, Archie Bell & The Drells had a string of hits in the late 60s-70s. They are best known for their 1968 dance hit Tighten Up which shot to No. 1 on the charts while Bell was recuperating from a leg injury he suffered while in the U.S. Army.

AiDA.

Poor Luna.

Interference.

Don’t do this.

Two seasons.

One small step.

Downtown Troy.

Blizzard timelapse.

Blowin’ in the wind.

Magnetic Mountain.

Because they said to.

Stations down under.
Bear down under.

Dads, kids & bicycles.

Housing the homeless.

Bedroom rollercoaster.

All-purpose storm tracker.

“How did your husband die?”

Lyrics to Hocus Pocus by Focus.

Limping devils and their vejigas.

Machines [via Everlasting Blört].

Warming up the car [Thompson, blog].

Happy blogoversary to The View from Lady Lake.

Morgan James sings Floyd [via Memo Of The Air].

[Top image: Snow couch found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – Luna Lee, Bywater Call, Alastair Greene & Danny Bryant

Born in Seoul and trained in traditional Korean music, expert Gayageum rocker Luna Lee became interested in western music while still in college. More about her here.

Bywater Call is a Toronto-based group formed by singer Meghan Parnell and guitar player Dave Barnes. They were nominees for the Southern Rock & Soul Independent Blues Awards in 2021. In 2024 they were nominated for International Blues Artist of the year (UK Blues Awards).

Born in Santa Barbara, CA, and now in Austin, TX, Alastair Greene was inspired to pursue a career in music by his grandfather, Chico Alvarez, a trumpeter in the Stan Kenton Orchestra in the 1940s-50s.

Danny Bryant was born in Hertfordshire, England, was playing professionally by 18, formed Danny Bryant’s RedEyeBand with his father, Ken Bryant, on bass. His dad retired in 2013, but the band continues on.

Hope you’re all hunkered down for the Winter Wallop – a big white frozen nasty from what I can tell. As a former Buckeye, it looks like beer and Euchre weather. As a now-spoiled west coaster, it looks more like porch time to me. I’ll be thinking about ya.

Advesperating Hot Links

Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Halloween, Chicago, circa 1950

Slow Down, Larry Williams (1958)
From Wiki: “Lawrence Eugene Williams (May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm & blues and rock & roll singer, songwriter, and pianist from New Orleans. He is best known for writing and recording some rock & roll classics from 1957 to 1959 for Specialty Records, including Bony Moronie, Short Fat Fannie, Slow Down, Dizzy Miss Lizzy (1958), Bad Boy and She Said Yeah (1959).”

Chili.

90 years.

A little fire.

All that time.

Bang – Zoom.

New ringtone.

+Zoom -Zoom.

Dave’s not here.

The Boney Fjord.

Josephine Baker.

Rolling with Grok.

Meet the Hoppers.

Hidden Melbourne.

Acoustic Weapons.
Example.

You know, the drills.

An hour of Appalachia.

Missing Fish & Yemana.

The Sierpinski Triangle.

Mining without machines.

The Great Chicxulub Tsunami.

Trolling Valheim [via Neatorama].

Dentalheads [via Everlasting Blört].

Remembering Jonathan and Darlene.

Two cats, two theremins [Thompson, blog].

Try these for openers  [via Memo Of The Air].

[Top image: Street fighter ca. 1950 (colorized) found in here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – The Molotovs, Platinum Moon & One Rusty Band

The Molotovs are teenage siblings Mathew and Issey Cartlidge who play in the style of 70s-80s British Mod rock mixed with punk and ska.
“When [the covid] lockdown ended we just started busking all over London and doing covers of the bands we liked and that allowed us to become a really well rehearsed unit. So when the doors opened again, we flooded into venues and got onto the gigging circuit.”

Based in Katonah, NY, Platinum Moon was formed in 2018 by classically-trained brothers Anton (guitar, violin) and Joseph Klettner (keyboards, guitar). They recruited AvA Anduze after they saw her in a YouTube video, and are backed by drummer Ethan Grosman / drums and Toby Dorfman /bass. Another group that benefitted from the Covid-19 lockdowns, they tour the eastern U.S. and Canada.

One Rusty Band is French duo Grégory Garghentini and Léa Barbier. They started out as buskers in France with Grég on electric radiator guitar and Léa on taps(!) and decided to head for the recording studio. Their third album Line After Line was listed in RollingStone Magazine‘s Top 10 Albums of 2025.

Got some big ol’ honkin’ plans for tomorrow. I call it Porch Time. See you there.

Uropygium Hot Links

Can I Change My Mind, Tyrone Davis (1968)
In the 1950s, Davis was a popular R&B singer in the Chicago area, began recording in the late 1960s. A DJ friend in Houston played the the B-side of one of his singles on the air, and Can I Change My Mind made both the Billboard R&B and Top Pop charts. It eventually sold more than 1 million copies and his career took off. (In 1969, Joyce Jones recorded Help Me Make Up My Mind as an answer song.)

Ye’s eggs.

“IT’S A MENU!”

Squash happens.

The US of Alcohol.

Situation acrobat.

Cool infrared pics.

The hat relay of 2017.

They was a-wrasslin’.

The Curse of Peter Pan.

The ghost of Miles Davis.

“A top climate scientist…”

When the internet goes down.

It was a dark and balmy night.

Happy tractor hood ornament.

The many worlds interpretation.

Happy Bloggleversary, Miz Beth!

Shoplifter [via Everlasting Blört].

Antarctica poop [Thompson, blog].

ALIEN concept sketch [via Bits & Pieces].

Magnetic distraction  [via Memo Of The Air].

Flicks in the Public Domain [via Neatorama].

VERY COOL interactive tessellation generator [via Nag on the Lake].

[Top image found here. That’s Cricket, a baby rhesus macaque who lives at the Safari Zoological Park in Caney, Kansas.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – Curtis Salgado, Mike Benjamin & The Bend In The Road Band, and Billy Branch & The Sons Of Blues

Curtis Salgado began with The Nighthawks, later joined The Robert Cray Band, led Roomful of Blues, inspired the Blues Brothers and formed Curtis Salgado & The Stilettos.

Mike Benjamin & The Bend In The Road Band perform a blend of Americana, New Orleans funk, Delta blues and classic rock. Benjamin began as a Boston busker, moved to the New York club scene, became a session musician (vocals/guitar), and recorded hundreds of national commercials from Coca-Cola and Clorox to Budweiser.

Billy Branch & The Sons Of Blues
A three-time Grammy nominee, Branch is a roots blues promoter and historian with a direct link to Willie Dixon. He’s considered to be a member of the “New Generation of Chicago Blues”.

Seems we’ve entered dropping jaw season early this year. It’s more than just a clean up on Aisle 3 – the whole damn parking lot is a mess and the two lane is backed up all the way to Paducah. On the plus side, our stray tom likes his new box on the stoop, and the porch will be open by the time you show up. See you then.

Oneirocriticising Hot Links

Pressure Drop, Toots and the Maytals (live ska version 2004)

It’s a song about revenge, but in the form of karma: If you do bad things to innocent people, then bad things will happen to you. The title was a phrase I used to say. If someone done me wrong, rather than fight them like a warrior, I’d say: ‘The pressure’s going to drop on you.’— Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert

67.

Utopia.

After effects.

Drum rotation.

Accidental GTA.

Let it evaporate.

Playing with ants.

Stuff in your body.

Sudden realization.

Third-hand smoke?

Crusing with Zero G.

The 11th day of Xmas.

Aloka and the Monks.

Parking with a dusting.

Domesticating monkeys.

Never miss the good parts.

2025 Recap [Thompson, blog].

First get a dead tree, then light it.

Impossible Maps [via Bits & Pieces].

Magic jacket [via Everlasting Blört].

David Byrne’s Reasons to be Cheerful.

Addams’ auditions  [via Memo Of The Air].

Yeah, it’s stupid, but you’re gonna watch it anyway.

Killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests and torture.

[Top image dates to June 2009, found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – Tom Waits, Masa Takumi & The Nimmo Brothers

From FB: Tom Waits on Everything and Nothing
In September 1988, fresh off the release of his concert film Big Time, Waits sat down with music journalist Chris Roberts in a London recording studio. Captured on a rare cassette recording amidst ambient studio noise, Waits takes us on a journey from Stonehenge and the streets of New York to a surreal Hawaiian nightmare.

Grammy winner Masa Takumi (a.k.a. Masanori Takumi) is a Japanese artist, composer, songwriter and producer. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, he learned trumpet at 8 years old, and by high school was playing drums, guitar, bass and piano.

In 1995 guitarists Stevie Nimmo and his brother Alan formed The Nimmo Brothers band in Glasgow. Performing here with Matt Beable on bass and Craig Bacon on drums.

Hope everyone survived the New Year’s festivities. We didn’t have as many fireworks or sirens as in previous years, and I take that as a good omen.
Porch season starts tomorrow and I plan to attend, rain or shinola.

Happy New Year’s Eve 2025 – End of Year Playlist

The end of a long year deserves a playlist to bring in the new one, so here’s a compilation of tunes that tugged on my earballs in 2025. Each set is in chronological order by date of recording.

Set 1 – January, February, March & April

Set 2 – May, June, July & August

Set 3 – September, October, November & December

I omitted seasonal tunes from the Halloween and Christmas  playlists. Last year’s playlist (2024) is here, and the 2023 EoY list is here.

And one more thing:
May You Have a Happy & Prosperous New Year!

[Caveat: I don’t own the copyrights to any of these recordings. They are presented here for entertainment purposes only.]

Corvifobic Hot Links

Moonlight Serenade, The Volcanics (2013)
A warning from this blue-sweater-clad retro surf rock band from So Cal:
Squares beware, if you hang ten on their nose they’ll hang five in your face.

Shelter.

Hot town.

Hornblower.

Campertime.

Frau Perchta.

Great service.

Hair Dysphoria.

A gift from Dad.

R.I.P. Joan Wytte.

75 year old homer.

Coniferous cuisine.

Keepin’ the faith, baby.

Caring for pet bloodworms.

The 12 Days of Monochrome.

The days of dangerous living.

Drama on Google Street View.

Van Wolfwinkle’s pet portraits.

Berry Bars [via Memo Of The Air].

The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004.

Santa on the Interstate [via Everlasting Blört].

Stayin’ Alive in the 16th Century [via Memo Of The Air].

[Top image: Resting Schnabelperchta found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.