The Dell-Vikings’ “Jitterbug Mary” is an unrecobanized classic. They were my favorite doowop group. I hear this kinda stuff and it makes everything better.
My favorite doowop group was The Five Satins. Here they lipsynch for a bunch of white people.
Gene Chandler was better known for “Duke of Earl.” Here’s the Duke singing “Good Times.” Although this song is R&B, he’s my favorite doowop singer.
“Love of My Life” is one of the greatest songs ever, and Frank Zappa’s bands are my favorite doowop group. (This song is still my favorite — too bad The Ramones aren’t still around to do a Zappa tribute album.)
At 8:30PM tonight, make sure you turn all your lights on, power up your TVs and stereos, and celebrate the Technological Achievements of Humanity. Get in your cars and drive somewhere, just for the sake of it, and just for fun. Raise and lower your garage doors, and run your washing machines. Run the dryer without anything in it. Got a power mower? Crank it up. Heat up your cat’s food in the microwave. Take your dog out to Burger King. Make as many long distance telephone calls as you can. Run your dishwasher with half of the normal load, and run the other half separately. Open up your refrigerator door, and look without removing anything to eat. Do it again. Download updates for all your computer programs and email them to all your friends.
LET’S CELEBRATE AMAZING ACHIEVEMENTS FOR A CHANGE!
“But why should I do that?” you ask. I’ll tell you.
We’re fighting Global Cooling. Mostly we’re fighting Global Idiocy, but let’s call it Global Cooling for now. The feel-good crowd will never know the difference anyway.
Those folks who think that turning their electricity off for an hour will “save the planet” (or “send a message” to someone or something) are the same folks who stood outside their homes a couple of years ago with candle wax dripping over their fingers, believing that the space shuttle was gonna zoom by and take a photo of the earth lit up with peace candles. My message is:
Kid Ory was one of the greatest trombonists and band leaders of the 20th Century. One of the early jazz pioneers, his career spanned decades and influenced uncountable others. From Wikipedia:
For many years I thought King Oliver formed the band. Here’s Kid Ory’s band in 1959, playing “Muskrat Ramble,” a song he wrote in the 1920’s. [Bonus: Interview with Kid Ory.]
Satchmo got his start playing 2nd trumpet in King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, later married the piano player Lil Hardin. Here’s Louis Armstrong’s version of “Muskrat Ramble.”
Country Joe MacDonald blatantly and unashamedly ripped off Kid Ory’s tune (probably without paying royalties) and warped it into a sarcastic war protest song. Here he is in his blissfully ignorant glory (apparently without the Fish) at Woodstock 1969.
Here’s a kinda related video: Small Faces’ “Tin Soldier.” There’s a reason they had few TV appearances and I don’t think Spinal Tap could’ve topped that spastic performance. [Found via Mogadonia.]
Just sealed it. I’m going to hell for connecting Kid Ory with Spinal Tap Lego animation. I am very sorry and I promise that it won’t happen again as far as you know.
Since we can’t post SeeqPod music on WordPress yet, I dropped a small load on Amy Oops. Meanwhile, here’s a fightin’ song: The Pogues’ “Young Ned of the Hill.”
That’s a harp guitar, folks, being played by Andy McKee. This is the same Larson-Dyer version that I learned on; it was my great grandfather’s, and I still have it. It’s got a wide fretboard with 6 strings and 6 free bass strings above (hence the “harp” moniker). I’d never heard one played properly until I saw this video.
The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal. [Found via here. Related post here.]
Okay as long as we’re still talking about painting…
RamJam. Amazing one hit wonder, based upon Ledbelly’s classic.
Whoa. Meatloaf covers RamJam’s version of Ledbelly’s classic.
And, um, Tom Jones did it, too. Whoa, whoa, whooaa…
[Folks, I still got some computer glitches left over from earlier this week. I had to go into safe mode just to uninstall Microdork’s Service Pack 3. Unfortunately the uninstall takes some stuff with it that affects FireFox as well as some other applications. The computer was limping, now it’s walking. Tomorrow I hope to get it running again. Guess I gotta buy more RAM.]
A friend “let” me read his cellophane-clad mint copies of the Watchmen twenty years ago. I was amazed at the level of artwork as well as the entire concept, but the final episode sucked donkeys big time.
[Karen found and posted this here.]
This video reassures me that people like her are allowed to vote. And really now, what is oozing out of our ground?
[Video rediscovered at Wombat247.]
Weather Report was way ahead of their time jazzbo wise, or maybe they hit it at just the right time in order to get my attention. Jaco Pastorius was amazing.
Ray McKinley‘s band with “Big Boy” (featuring Imogene Lynn) and “Jive Bomber.” These appeared in a 1942 short that included “St. Louis Blues.”
Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps’ “Baby Blue” from the 1958 movie “Hot Rod Gang.” Oh yeah.
18 Minutes with Clifford Stoll, an amazing guy with a lot of things he’s not going to talk about. (This is the same guy who more recently was mocked for a Newsweek article he wrote in 1995 regarding the future of the Internest… and was wrong.) I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the inspiration for Dr. Emmet Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, in the movie “Back To The Future.” This one is mandatory viewing here, so grab a snack and a beverage and watch the whole thing.
Steely Dan was (is?) one of those bands that Bunk enjoyed listening to but never bothered to buy their albums. (Note that the band took it’s name from a stimulus package described by this guy.)
Tacky Raccoons 
