Category: Music

Saturday Matinee – MJ, Freedom, Rain, Smack, Frankie & Johnny & Satchmo

Okay, let’s get it out of the way.  I’m talking Michael Jackson.
Click here and here.  Done.

Freedom. Worth fighting for.

Ivan Maximov‘s “Rain Down From Above.”  (Found here. For previously posted/linked Maximov animations,  click here.)

Set up smackdown [via].  These guys show up in a couple of other videos, so I suspect it was staged.  I thought it was funny.

Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers live, 1956, and not lip-synching.  (MJ’s dad certainly took notice of Lymon’s talent and success.)  Diana Ross’ 1981 version, complete with Frankie’s eye-roll, is here.

This is bizarre.  Louis Armstrong and Johnny Cash playing a 1930’s Jimmie Rogers song.  The guy who posted this to the Utoobage added this comment:

“I would have never guessed, but Louis Armstrong was a guest on the Johnny Cash Show. This and the story about Satchmo and Jimmie Rogers show how diverse musical tastes these men had and once again that music is a great connector.
This is from episode 38, Oct., 28, 1970 and must be one of Satchmo’s last performances. He was such a great performer right to the end and the Nashville audience and Johnny just loved him.
Louis Armstrong cracks everybody up at the start of the song: ‘Let’s give it to ’em in black and white.'”

Other news. Two folks on our blogroll could use some words of encouragement.

Chiqui had a stroke, and is recuperating, although he’s lost some use of his hands.  His english is almost as bad as my spanish, but you might want to leave a comment here.  Here’s an alternate link to a (poor) spanish-to-english translation: here.

Crotchety Old Man has some other nasty maladies, but I’m sure he’d like to hear from you, too.  Click here to leave a comment.

[Updated broken link for Maximov vid}



Jeepers.

Superman & Lois Levitation

Superman is bamboozled by love.

(“Looky, Supe. Dump the cape and the SuperSocks, get some red and blue chinos. Respect yo’ sef.”  — Jimmy “Dyne-O-Mite” Olsen.)

[Image from here, via here.]

That’s A Lot of Labor

Found this headline on Drudge a few minutes ago.

Drudge1 090613

Here’s the blowup:

Drudge2 090613

That was a long ride.  Obviously the mother didn’t have the fare...

Saturday Matinee – Bruce, TXT, Robin, John Lee, and Elevators

Bruce Lee plays pingpong with nunchuck.  Awesome.

TXT Island, found at ZanyPickle.

Okay.  Back to the basics.  Here’s Robin Trower‘s “Too Rolling Stoned” from 1975.  There was a blues revival going on back then, but it was overshadowed by theatrical rock.

I was gonna jump to George Thorogood‘s classic cover of “One Bourbon…” but thought I’d look for John Lee Hooker‘s original. Found several on the Utoobage, until this jumped up:  “Hobo Blues” from 1965.  Judging by his odd fingerings, he’s got his guitar tuned to Dmajor, but that’s just a guess. (Hooker always looked to me like he’d been popped in both eyes during a bar fight.)

Since Friday the Thirteenth comes on a Saturday this month, here’s The 13th Floor Elevators, 1966.

Saturday Matinee – Powr

The Powr of One…
[via Woosk.]

Powr-ful Stuff – the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

Soul Powr – JB

Towr of Powr.

CB & FZ

vanvliet zappa_If Charlie Parker 090520

A seat at this table would have been priceless.

[Image from here by way of link from here.]

Saturday Matinee – Lokotv, Cheers, Buddy Guy & GE Smith, Kid Ramos, Flo & Eddie

Odd.  Consider it a cartoon before the main feature.

Best opening sequence for Cheers without the cloying theme song.

Buddy Guy talks about how his career began with a salami sandwich.  True rags-to-riches story. (G.E. Smith backing.)

I was prowling for some early Thunderbirds when I found a name I’d forgotten about.  Here’s Kid Ramos and Los Fabulocos cranking on “Burnin’ the Chicken” in New Braunfels, Texas, 21 March 2009.

This is the funniest version of Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”
The Turtles made a mockery of  pop love songs, but created a decent string of hits anyway. Flo and Eddie eventually joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers.  (Mrs. Strutts pointed out that Eddie dances the Freddie at the end of the clip.)

Name That Tune

no fair peeking!

[Found here. No peeking.]

Saturday Matinee – Funny Dude, A Capella, Slugs, and PF Live

Lotta truisms there;  video found in Archie’s Archives.

Don’t know who these folks are, but “Oh Gee” was a hit in 1955 by the Crows. Could be them.

The Persuasions were/are possibly the most underrated acapella group (featuring bass singer Jimmy Hayes, who Frank Zappa called “the human sub-woofer”).

“Legendary musician Frank Zappa and his wife Gail discovered The Persuasions (in a commercial sense) in 1968. At the urging and encouragement of a good friend of the Persuasions, David Dashev (who eventually became the groups producer and manager), Zappa listened to a tape of The Persuasions. Shortly after listening to the tape, Frank and Gail Zappa signed the group to their label. The Persuasions debut album ‘Straight’ was a mix of studio and live recordings released during the fall of 1970.”

(This group was featured here before, but unfortunately the videos were yanked by Utoob for seventy mental reasons.)

This is an old one from the Beeb, narrated by David Attenborough.  It’s cool, bizarre and gross at the same time, but it’s nature. I posted it just because  Thelit said her kids and their friends love this kinda stuff.  Go for it.

After the Slugs (wasn’t that a Grateful Dead tune, or maybe a Peter Sellars movie?) this may help clean your eye sockets. Other than the dopey devilpigs,  it’s all cool.

Saturday Matinee – Diesel Brown Skaggs Pops & Perkins

Diesel speaks about work, kids, farming, mafia, pirates. The Anti-Boxxy.

Alison Brown has got to be one of the best banjo pickers I’ve ever heard. Very few can play like this without the comfort of studio editing.

Here’s Ricky Skaggs on mandolin, 7 years old, with Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass.

Here’s Ricky Skaggs’ classic “Highway 40 Blues” with the seminal bluegrass backup band, the Boston Pops.

Carl Perkins was one cool rockabilly cat.  He’s got an interesting back up band in this video… too hot to handle and too cold to hold.