Vambo Rool, OKAY! The very underrated proto-punk Sensational Alex Harvey Band had very few early videos posted when we posted this link months ago, but they’ve been breeding ever since.
Bunky had the opportunity to see these babosos live in the ’70s, but couldn’t afford the tickets.
Yeah, I know. “This Little Piggy Went Viral.” I had Weezer in the queue since last year so I might as well post it anyway, just in case some of you hadn’t seen it. All it’s missing is the skateboarding dog.
Earle H. Hagen died this week. He was the composer (and the whistler) of the “Andy Griffith Show” theme song, among others. [Cool yet disrespectful cockatiel Utoobage linky here.]
How they make cartoons (1930).
Octopus Action video. Crabs don’t have a chance, even with a nice soundtrack.
Can’t have too many octopus videos in a single post, so here you go.
[Weezer Utoobage via the winsome and completely awesome Miss Cellanea. Others found by orchestrated accident.]
Bluegrass has its roots in northern Britain according to my ear. The chord patterns of early country music from Appalachia follow those of Scottish and Irish reels. In the immigration wave of the early 1800’s, the Scottish and Irish tended to venture southward, away from the constrictions of the north, to where they could work their own land. No wonder that early southern recordings sound similar to those of Ireland and Scotland.
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys popularized it and gave the style it’s moniker: Bluegrass. This song (video from 1956) is a tribute to Pendleton Vandiver, Monroe’s uncle. Monroe joined his uncle Pen’s band as a kid; his sound dates back to the turn of the century.
The Dillards were the Darlings clan on the Andy Griffith show. The Dillards decided that L.A. had more to offer than the Missouri Ozarks, and advertised themselves on the streets in the early 1960’s.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were influenced by the Dillards, and took Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. BoJangles” for a ride.
What I was really looking for when all this linkyness began was New Grass Revival‘s version of “Steam Powered Aeroplane,” one of the prettiest bluegrass songs I ever heard:
"Well I went away on a Steam Powered Aeroplane.
Well I went and I stayed and damn near didn't come back again.
Didn't go very fast on a steam powered aeroplane,
The wheels went around, up and down, and inside and then back again.Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by,
Can't tell if it's sunshine, if it's rain.
Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City,
On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane.Well I'd could be PILOT on the Steam Powered Aeroplane.
I'd pull that pilot wheel 'round, then back again.
And I'd wear a blue hat, YEAH, on the Steam Powered Aeroplane,
With letters go 'round the brim and then back again.
Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by,
Can't tell if it's sunshine or if it's rain.
Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City,
On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane."
Here’s the songwriter, John Hartford, with Tony Rice, Vassar Clements and others. (Yeah, his vocals don’t do justice for the song.)
Great pre-sunrise morning roadtrip music, just like Pat Metheny’s “New Chataqua Highway,” or anything by Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grappelli.
[Bunk’s compiling his roadtrip list for next month. Lemme know your favorites.]
There’s just something not quite right with “The Howlies” but they have a Southeast Asian Fan Club based in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City to give them some credibility. With some polish, this coulda been a great video, but it’s just unpolished enough to be kinda scary, and the little wolfie hats don’t help. (Bunky likes it, but not as much as this.)
Mickey Rooney rocks out with Dorothy…
The Beat Farmers‘ “Big Ugly Wheels” featuring the late great Country Dick Montana. (This one’s for Aussie Phil.)
If that one doesn’t play, here’s their excellent version of Neil Young’s “Powderfinger.”
I don’t own Leslie Gore. She owned me up until I saw her hairdo and horseface. Bunky just sealed his eyeballs shut and listened.
I remember hearing this on the battery powered transistor radio I got for Christmas that I hid under my pillow, and Skeeter Davis sounded so purty. She’s another one who had a great voice and a bad hairdo. (I’d never seen her until a few minutes ago, but I was in love with her when I was about 8.)
Then there’s k.d. lang. Just ’cause she gotta big caboose and a butch haircut doesn’t mean I don’t like her music.
And then there’s poor Baz. [Tip o’ the tarboosh to Phil. He says it’s been around for a few years, and somehow he knew that I’d like it by saying so on his Blog From Down Under.]
Speaking of Down Under, some time ago, when WordPress was revamping it’s vamps, I was unable to add the video above to this post. Found a new link for it by accident, so here it is.
Every Feature Presentation should be preceded by at least one movie trailer and a short animation. Here at TR we do things differently.
Just so you’re not disappointed with the Feature Presentation when the trailer and animation clips are so much better, here’s Annette grooving with Fishbone.
Requisite Movie Trailer clip… The Darwin Awards, coming to a DVD player near you.
Here’s a great animated short by Ivan Maximov: Provincial School.
And what the heck. Here’s a brief history of Ska. [Looks like a young Mick Jagger with Brian Jones in there after the “Flamingo” sign at 6:50.]
Great song, great ukelele… Unfortunately, the music’s in him, and it’s just screamin’ to get out of the room without waking up his parents. (‘Sokay, bro, I can’t sing and play at the same time either.)
“Have You Ever Seen Lorraine?” Here she is, twitchin’ and bitchin’ to the Ramones’ version.
But THIS is the link that set me off. The Original Creedence Clearwater Survival version, found at Casual Slack.
Noodlin’ is catchin’ de fishes widdout dem bait in tackle. Feel ‘roun’ fo de ho in de mud, reach innan grab ‘im what dere. Justin Wilson be done do dat, too. Noah fence.
There are professional noodlers, and the good ones are missing fingers because snapping turtles nest the same way. (Once they got you, turtles won’t let go.)
Then there’s this. It’s cool, too, except for that giggle at the end.
Lookee here folks… this particular post has no theme, so it makes complete sense to post a coupla completely unrelated videos here.
“The Commitments” was a very underrated movie about a bunch of Irish misfits that came together with a love for 1960’s American R&B and pulled it off before self-destructing. Put it on your “must rent” list if you’ve not seen it.
Here’s the real deal that’s too hot to handle and too cold to hold: The Wicked Wilson Pickett’s “Land of 1000 Dances.”
Otis Redding followed in Wilson’s footsteps. Here’s “Try A Little Tenderness.” Look for Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Al Jackson and Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the M.G.’s) backing him up.
Here’s a National Lampoon classic, Deteriorata, updated with a slide show. And since you were wondering, Bunk’s God is both a hairy thunderer AND a cosmic muffin.
Here at TR we like the Odd, the Unusual, and the unrecognizable green stuff in the back of the refrigerator that controls the light.
Once in a while the O and U both jump up to bite us in the crackerbockles when we least expect it. Miss Bunkessa Strutts found this gem, and while the song is not remarkable, the video is clever, as are the other videos seeping from the cranial orifices of the band known as “OKGO.”
Enough of that. Back in the middle of the plastic band war years, this one stood out. Here’s the J.Geils Band c.1983 doing a cover of the Marvelow‘s 1965 hit “I Do” with Peter Wolf and Magic Dick presiding. Hope you like it.