Schwinn 24, King Arthur & the Carrots (1966)Kinky Friedmanformed King Arthur & the Carrots while in college, and they recorded one 45rpm. Flip side was Beach Party Boo Boo, cover version here.
[Top image: Created from a kindergartner’s drawing of a car? Nope. It’s El Super Auto del “Potro” Rodriquez, Ingenario Popular. The owner, Alberto Rodriguez (of Deán Funes, Córdoba, Argentina) left a message in the vid comments.]
“True fun, not fake fun.” June Foray and Bill Scott were my heroes, two of the most recognizable and ubiquitous voices of my childhood. They also did the morning traffic reports as Rocky and Bullwinkle in Boston. At 02:01, Rocky and Bullwinkle introduced a Kiss song on WBCN.
Cliff Richard & The Shadows had some stiff competition – check out the Billboard Hits for 1960. Sir Richard holds the record as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its active decades (1950s–2000s). The Shadows were Richard’s backup band (1958-1968), and they reunited in 2020 to play their 1960 hit Apache.
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is a Led Zeppelin cover, named after Bron-Yr-Aur, a house in Gwynedd, Wales, and based on Waggoner’s Lad, a song by Bert Jansch that appeared on his album Nobody’s Fault But Mine. Go figure. I almost forgot – Devil In A Woodpile is awesome.
Possibly the greatest Ramones cover that’s not a Ramones cover. Green Day had some great stage moves, too. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t fit in with the other vids, but it clicks with me somehow.
Good God. It’s 2:30am. I’m outta here, see you in a few.
“We had so much fun backstage during our last jam video that Darius Rucker decided he didn’t want to be left out…so we made another!” Whole buncha peeps in that one: The Brothers Osborne, Darius Rucker and A Thousand Horses. BTW, that’s a Doc Watson song.
They say that Russia is a technically backward country, there are no roads, robotics do not develop, rockets do not fly, and mail goes too long. It’s bullshit.
Marcus King started learning guitar at age three or four, played professionally since he was 11. He’s a fourth-generation musician; his grandfather was a country guitarist, and his father, Marvin King, continues to perform live.
Oh What A Baby, The Tonettes (1958)The Tonettes (aka The Claremonts) started out in the Bronx in 1957. Sisters Diana and Sylvia Sanchez were killing time when their TV crapped out and were harmonizing by the family piano when TV repairman and aspiring music biz impresario Lou Ezzo heard them. He convinced them to cut a demo session in 1957. Classmate Josie Allen completed the trio, and they had some success in the eastern U.S.
Cajun Country Revivalin the Bunny Glade at Pickathon 2012. No idea what “the Bunny Glade” is, but it appears to be somewhere near Portland, Oregon.
The Black Keys are still around, still doing what they’re best at. This is an unusual take on the blues standard Crawlin’ King Snake (first recorded by Big Joe Williams in 1941, but it goes back decades earlier).
When Rivers Meet is a blues/roots rock 4-member “duo” from London. Good tough stuff, they got the edge. Looks like a good band to keep an ear out for.
Gotta wrap it up early but we’ll see you tomorrow for no good reason at all.
Love Of My Life, The Persuasions (2000)Frankly A Cappella: The Persuasions Sing Zappa is a tribute album released after Zappa’s death in 1993, and if you’re an FZ fan you’ll love it. In 1969 Frank Zappa heard The Persuasions singing in the background during a phone call to a record shop and promptly flew them to L.A. to record their first album Acappella (1970).
ICYMI – For those of you who use WordPress and hate the Gutenberg Editor, we’ve collected some useful hacks that allow you to revert to Classic Editor for some tasks.
[Top image: Location of the 12 trash pandas is unknown, a Tineye search sources Reddit. h/t Rightymouse.]
Kelbe Schrank‘s Dancing Manhole Cover Song is not related to the .gif in here but it is. Besides vocals and guitar, Schrank has a good hand at watercolors, too.
Feng E‘s father threatened that he’d never play LEGOs with the 5 year old again unless he learned to play ukelele. Cruel dad IMO, but the kid is amazing.
I’d heard MGMT before, but I didn’t know their name. I kind of like the sound of this one (The Monkees meet The Amboy Dukes) and the vid is quirky. Their song Time To Pretend is one of my favorites, but I get a bit choked up when I hear it.
Have a great weekend or not; it’s your choice, and we’ll be back tomorrow with a pile of stuff for you to sort through.
See See Rider, Janis Joplin (1963) Janis Joplin was 20 years old when she covered the traditional blues song. Ma Rainey was the first to record See See Rider Blues in 1924, but the music and lyrics date to the early 1900s at least. It’s my opinion that the name of the song is a misheard lyric / typo by the publisher, and that C.C. Rider is correct, that “C.C.” stands for “Chitlin’ Circuit” (or “Chitlin’ Café”).