The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys. Start early, play late. [via]
Steve Karla’s “Black Swamp Blues” is original and awesome, and he’s a multi-talented bastard, too.
Rory Gallagher cranks some nice fat blues to lead us into another great weekend. See y’all back here tomorrow.
Mardi Gras Indians are the Mardi Gras most people don’t see. Modern Day Indians came from a time when African Americans felt left out of the traditional Mardi Gras krewes and parades. Residents from wards around New Orleans formed their own sort of Krewe and named them after their streets or wards. The Indians created elaborate costumes and names themselves after Native Americans- as tribute to the Native American tribes’ role in freeing the slaves. They designated someone to be the Spy, the Flag boy and the Big Chief and these tribes led processions through the streets. In the past, Mardi Gras Indians were violent, but today most tribes simply act out a scene when passing other tribes. Indians do not follow any schedule or parade route and a rare thing to see on Mardi Gras.
Of course there are also a lot of beads, beer, boobs and blues:
Everyone should experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans at least once. The parades are awesome, the music is great, and there are uninhibited and inebriated college girls. There are also pickpockets, drug dealers and people who will fight you over a plastic necklace. The beer/drinks are cheap (since they deal in volume) and the streets and sidewalks flow with unmentionable liquids so you’ll need to burn your shoes afterwards. Again, everyone should experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans at least once.
[Top image and story found here; 2nd image found here. There are hidden bonuses, too – click a pic.]
We had to watch that in junior high school. We all snickered to ourselves and laughed out loud afterwards. Once school let out, we went trolling anyway:
“Hello, Mrs. Jenkins? This is Bob from Hi-Times Liquor. Your husband left his wallet and motel key on the counter.”
“You Asked For It” was an early television show that pulled in viewers by asking for requests. This one shows some old carnival gaffes, some of which are still employed.
Here’s a modern day fraud to be aware of. The Real Hustle was an interesting show. Here’s 90 minutes worth of bar bets that should keep you busy for a while.
Bob Kuban & The In-Men had their one hit in 1966 with “The Cheater” and the song fits. (Irony note: Kuban was killed by his wife’s boyfriend in 1983.) I couldn’t find a live version, but this works.
“Smiling Faces” was originally recorded by the Temptations, but was a hit with this cover by The Undisputed Truth in 1971.
That’s our collection for this episode of The Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks and we’ll see you tomorrow whether you like it or not.
For years Tacky Raccoons has posted a small collection of Utoobage videos every weekend just for fun, entitled “The Saturday Matinee.” The videos posted are those that amuse us, and often include oddities and obscure musical relics from the past. Innocuous stuff, for sure.
We like to post ahead of time, so we linked and gave hoops to the delightful and fetching Miss Cellanea for this and this, thinking that the vids she turned up would be entertaining for folks of all ages, good manners and proper posture, i.e., those who peruse Tacky Raccoons. However, if you click on the links to those videos, you’ll see something like this:
Here are the screencaps of two vids we intended to post that have since been squelched by the Great Squelchers of the YouTube:
If anyone reading this blog is offended by the destruction of washing machines or the herding habits of sheep, DO NOT CLICK HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or especially HERE, and DO NOT enjoy the videos posted below the double-line of death.
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Yeah, so I went all caps. The YouTubers are out of line on this and they can bite me. Pass it on.
Update: Miss C has the story and forwarded new links.
Oh wow, I had no idea those were pulled! Luckily, I found replacements. Thanks for the heads up!
The guy who originally did the washing machine video was pissed that someone who copied him went viral, so that’s why that one was pulled. When I heard about it, I replaced the video at Neatorama, but neglected to update the one at Miss Cellania. The original video is here. http://youtu.be/6_PLnInsh7E
Now the sheep one is completely confuzzling. Harmful activities? That phrase isn’t even on the YouTube community guidelines page! But it’s probably a case of someone (or some group) flagging the particular copy that went viral. There are plenty of other copies. Like this one. http://youtu.be/pysET6UvN60
Official 2012 video [via]. It’s MUCH more intricate than what was shown in the original advert. Pure awesome.
Bill Deal &The Rhondels. R&B rock steady and clogging makes for a great ending to the Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend, see you here tomorrow.
Mean Mary James burns through the traditional banjo standard “Cripple Creek.” Her bio is a jaw-dropper.
I don’t usually post two in a row from the same musician, but here’s Mean Mary and husband brother Frank James with “Joy,” an original song she wrote (with snippets from “Ode To Joy”).
The great Sam Chatmon plays Big Road Blues, That’s All Right & Sam’s Rag.
Boyd Rivers at the Mississippi Blues Festival 1980, introduced by Willie Dixon.
Ah, bullpoop. They’re not the greatest guitar players ever, but this is pretty good. Larry Carlton & Robben Ford jam the blues 2007.
That should do you folks for a while. Have a great weekend, see you tomorrow.
[Correction: Frank James is Mean Mary’s brother, not her husband. h/t Steven Brooke.]
Etta James passed away on 20 January 2012, and there aren’t many live vids out there on the Utoobage (this one’s from 1962). She was tough on the eyes, but gorgeous on the ears.
We also lost the great Johnny Otis on 17 January. Although I never saw The Johnny Otis Show on television, his 1990s radio show was great, playing old R&B and early R&R. (I spoke with him on the phone once about some trivia about The Contours.)
So here are The Contours live in 1963. I love early R&B, so we might as well continue with that theme.
Ruth Brown recorded “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” in 1953, and it’s a great example of “jump blues” that morphed, terminology-wise from “Race Records” into “Rhythm and Blues” and later into “Rock and Roll.”
According to the late Eubie Blake, the phrase “Rock and Roll” originated in the late 1800s. It described a ragtime piano style that kept the patrons of brothels moving along. (Even the name “ragtime” is bawdy, and you can connect the dots for yourselves.)
Jump Blues. From the Utoobage description:
Illinois Jacquet and his band in the “Jive Crazy” scene from the 1949 noir movie “D.O.A.” — at least, according to the movie publicity.
So that might not be Illinois Jacquet’s band, but it’s still a great scene. And that makes five jumpy and jivey vids for the Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks.
Nice card trick… heh. Story behind it here.
Goose! Guy shoulda wrung its neck and brought the catch home. Yum!
And after you clean it, save the goose grease.
The late Roy Buchanan tells why.
The Beat Farmers‘ “Glad ‘N Greasy” fits. Poor video from the early 80s(?) was part of a demo tape they circulated. (Two of the original members are gone: Country Dick Montana and Buddy Blue.)
The Bryan Beller Band‘s “Greasy Wheel” is a nice bit of groovy oddness. (Listen for the Zappa influence… there’s a reason for that.)
That’s five vids to make the set. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.
Home movies – the Directors’ analysis.
Very cold water is very dense. Fishing in a frozen lake in Finland. Here’s an explanation [via]:
They have inflated their BCDs (vests) with air. This will make them float up to the ‘top’. This allows them to stand on the ice upside down. If there was no ice, they would surface. You can see when they breathe, the CO2 will float to the top (bottom) of the ice and it trapped. The wheel barrow is filled with CO2 expelled (poured in from the bucket). This makes it want to float too and hence will stick to the bottom of the ice until they dump it out, which will make it loose its buoyancy and sink to the bottom…
Happy birthday to Kim Wilson, one of the greatest blues harp blowers. Saw him with his original lineup in the early 80’s, pre- Kid Ramos. Pure awesome then, pure awesome now. And just for the helluvit, here’ my favorite Zappa song to wrap it all up, “Black Napkins.”
Yeah, I may have posted that before, but so what – I like it. Have a great weekend, folks, be back here tomorrow for more fun and games.
Reminds me of The Waitresses. [Found in here. NSFK]
Tacky Raccoons 