Saturday Matinee – The Starwars Zone, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry, Johnny Johnson, Silvan Zingg & Johnny Winter

[Found here.]

Poor Keith. Just couldn’t follow directions. Johnny Johnson‘s blank stares are great.

Here’s Johnny Johnson’s version of Meade Lux Lewis‘ “Honky Tonk Train Blues.”

Here I was thinking that Pinetop Smith wrote HTTB, and the wiki proved me wrong just in time. Unfortunately there are no videos of Pinetop Smith in action, but Silvan Zingg is awesome. From Switzerland, here’s “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie.”

Now how to wrap this up…

Yep, Johnny Winter‘s “Mojo Boogie” does it. Have a great weekend, folks and be back here for more fun tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – AGW Explained, Pug Sings Batman Theme, Jackson Browne & David Lindley Rip Off Originals, The Everly Brothers Rip Off Jackson Brown & The Original Zodiacs Rocked

Okay, before some copyright dweeb tries to attack me for slander, that title is pure sarcasm. It’s a joke.

I hadn’t seen this entertaining summary, but apparently it’s been bouncing around the internest for a while.
[h/t whatever]

Here’s a Blast from the Past, and it’s exactly as I remember it.
[h/t John DiFool]

Here’s a video that I bet you’ve not seen. Jackson Browne with David Lindley, live on Buenafuente, singing a compilation of Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs’ “Stay” and “Love Is Strange,” a 1957 hit by Mickey & Sylvia.  (Note that the original version of “Stay” was the shortest song –  99 seconds – ever to become a No. 1 Hit.)

Here’s “Love Is Strange” <—-click) as performed by The Everly Brothers:

“Stay” is perhaps the greatest doowop song of all time, given the amount of doo and the wopness, all compressed into a hit that runs a minute and a half plus 9 seconds. There is only one vid on the Utoobage of the original performance, and here it is:

That makes the requisite number of five videos complete. Have a great weekend folks, and be back here tomorrow for more stuff.

The .Gif Friday Post No. 183 – Transformer


[Found here.]

Folks, I’m getting IO errors, can’t paste more .gifs into this post, so instead, here’s a linky to entertain you until I can figure out the problem over the weekend.

Saturday Matinee – Sh-Boom, Monsters, Brazil, Take Five in 4 & Reggae Hit L.A.

The Chords‘ original A Capella  version of Sh-Boom.

Nice collection of Ray Harryhausen‘s greatest hits.

If you’ve never seen Terry Gilliam‘s excellent movie Brazil this would be a good weekend to watch it. Twice.

There’s something very wrong with taking Dave Brubeck‘s classic “Take Five,” completely missing the musical pun involved (5/4 time) and turning it into a ska version (in 4/4). Aside from that blasphemy, it’s kinda fun.

Punk Funk Reggae Ska compilation, courtesy The Aggrolites. I like.

Have a great weekend folks, see you back here tomorrow for more fun.

Saturday Matinee – Foli Rhythm, Mickey Hart, Booker T & The M.G.’s, John Lee Hooker & Floyd Dixon

Pure rhythm, and it’s worth watching to the end. [Found here.]

Mickey Hart‘s Planet Drum is awesome, no matter how many drugs he took while he was with The Grateful Dead.

Booker T & The M.G.’s were the best session band in the business.

John Lee Hooker. If you don’t know who he was, you’re already lost.

Floyd Dixon. Same as above.

Have a great weekend, folks, and be back here tomorrow for more fun.

Saturday Matinee – Papa’s Day Eve

Now I don’t like to post Utoobage vids that don’t have vids, but Tom Waits’ version of  James Brown’s “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” is too great to pass up.

There aren’t many decent videos of Papa John Creach, but here he is with Hot Tuna circa 1972.

The Temptations’ classic “Papa Was A Rolling Stone.”

And Mama, I’m fighting a head cold, so that’s it for tonight. Just remember the old adage, “When Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy; and when Papa ain’t happy, nobody gives a shit.” Have a great weekend, folks, and be back here tomorrow for more fun.

STAX Stay In School

Stay in School, Don’t Be a Dropout (1967) was not a commercial release and less than 10,000 copies are known to exist in its original vinyl format.

Guess what’s in Bunk’s old vinyl collection!

This is a DJ album, distributed to R&B/Soul radio stations in urban areas. It’s got no lead-in tracks, meaning that the DJ had to pick what announcement or song he wanted to play and place the needle by hand. Stax/Volt was clever, in that the tracks of songs they were selling were preceded by public service announcements by the artists themselves.

“Hi, this is the big O, Otis Redding.
I was just standing here thinking about you,
Thought I’d write a song about you,
And dedicate it to you.
Take a listen.”

More info on this nice collectible here. Click to enlarge, check out the playlist, and read the commendation from Vice President Hubert Humphrey. There’s some great stuff on this album.

Saturday Matinee – Jerks, Avalanche, Malo, Santana & The Five Satins

Pointless vandalism. Jerks.

On a lighter note, there’s this. The Avalanche’s “Since I Left You.” I like it, not so much for the music, but the vid has a nice storyline with a clever twist at the end (h/t ryannon). The song reminded me of this grooviness:

Malo‘s 1972 hit “Suavecito.” Malo was a San Fransisco band led by Jorge Santana, Carlos’ brother. Rather than pick another sappy hit from that year (like Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling“) let’s try this:

Carlos Santana‘s “Nowhere to Run” from a 1982 concert promoted by Apple founder Steve Wozniak. Now let’s jump forward another ten years to 1992.

Or not. In 1992, Boyz II Men had a hit with a cover of “In The Still of the Night,” but I just can’t bring myself to post it, so let’s go with The Five Satins‘ original, lip synched, from 1956.

And with that we’re outta here. Have a great weekend, folks, and be back here tomorrow for more fun.

Saturday Matinee – Bunk’s Birthday, World’s Fastest Indian, Call Me Al, Steep Canyon Rangers, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings


Kudos to Amy Oops for this one, even though it’s not my birthday and I’m no one’s bitch, even if I enjoy popping balloons.


World’s fastest Indian. h/t Mongoose

Nice version of this Paul Simon song. h/t AZfederalist

Steve Martin’s Steep Canyon Rangers provide free music for those who are without it. They’re not bad at it, either.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings need no explanation. Pure retro soul, and with that, we’re out. Have a great weekend folks, and be back here tomorrow for more fun.

Saturday Matinee Roadtrip – Talking Heads, Beat Farmers, Steve Earle, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Mitchum & the Winter Bros.

Talking Heads‘ “Road to Nowhere.”

Beat Farmers‘ “Road to Ruin.” These guys were a great bar band.

Steve Earle‘s “Copperhead Road.”

Bruce Stringbean & the E Street Band‘s “Thunder Road,” in 1976.

Roger Mitchum‘s “Ballad of Thunder Road.”

Johnny & Edgar Winter, 2007, with Dylan’s classic “Highway 61 Revisited.”

The cooler’s full, the car’s gassed up, and we’re outta here. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you at the first rest stop after sunup.