Category: Music

Saturday Matinee – Going Fishing, Rock & Bluegrass, The Flying Burrito Brothers & 1929 Elders

This is kinda cool [found here].

1971 – When Rock & Roll Met Bluegrass. It’s part of an Earl Scruggs tribute video. Click on the link to the Utoobage to see the awesome lineuup of players. “Easy Chair” is sappy as hell, and it’s one of my all-time favorite songs.

1969’s Altamont Speedway Concert was to be California’s answer to 1967’s Woodstock, but turned to disaster once the concert promoters thought it was a good idea to hire the Hell’s Angels as security. (It was as stupid as if the promoters of Burning Man had hired M-13 and the Zetas to keep the peace out in the middle of the desert).

Now THAT is important. 90 year old voices from 90 years ago. Just think of what they witnessed in their lifetimes, and think of what your grandchildren will witness in theirs.

Have a great weekend, folks, and it’s not too late to plan for a crockpot full of Bunk’s Chili for your Sunday StuporBlow Party.

 

 

Saturday Matinee – Paul Simon and Chevy Chase, Tito Larriva & Tom Waits

By the end of the week I usually have a couple of videos already in the queue, but I found I had none ready to post, so I defaulted to retro vids.

A 2011 Paul Simon performance of “Kodachrome caught my ear. The missus walked in and asked why I was listening to that sappy song. I said I needed to post something for Saturday.

“If you’re going to post a Paul Simon video, it should be You Can Call Me Al with Chevy Chase,” and she’s right. It’s a classic, and it’s also the best Paul Simon video ever.

He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl

IIRC, that was recorded about the same time that David Byrne was doing his own version of international music, like featuring Tito Larriva:

Then there’s this.
Tom Waits took Psychobilly to a new dimension in 2006.

Have a great weekend, folks, and don’t worry. Everything is gonna be all right despite what the doom mongers tell you.

Saturday Matinee – The Fabulous Bingo Brothers, Neil Innes, Cab Calloway with The Nicholas Bros. and Doug & The Slugs

The Fabulous Bingo Brothers: Eric Idle and Neil Innes ca. 1975.

“Protest Song.” I remember this parody of Bob Dylan by Neil Innes. “I suffered for my music, and now it’s your turn.”

I attempted to play that song years ago: the vocals, harmonica and guitar parts are easy, but I discovered that I can’t do any two of them at the same time. More recently I found that I can’t type transcripts from audio either, no matter how much I slow down the recordings. I guess it’s a brain fluke, or maybe it’s tied into being left-handed. I dunno, Babs…

Let’s go retro x 1943.

That there’s some incredible dancing that hurts to watch. From the UToobage description:

[It’s] a clip from the movie “Stormy Weather” (1943) featuring Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing “Jumpin Jive”. After awhile they let the Nicholas Brothers jump in and lend their feet to the action.

Doug & The Slugs (recorded 1977-1992) were a popular band from Vancouver. Founder Doug Bennett passed away in 2004, but here’s one of his last perfomances.

Have a great weekend, folks. More to come.

Harp Closet

As one of the first women members of The Cleveland Orchestra—and one of only a few women musicians in any orchestra—Alice Chalifoux (principal harpist 1931-74) faced unique challenges such as orchestra halls without women’s dressing rooms. Alice sometimes used her harp case as a backstage dressing room when the Orchestra was touring across the U.S.

[Found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Elmore James Jr., The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, George Thorogood with Albert Collins & Elmore James

Not sure what to make of this. The son of one of the greatest blues guitarists ever appeared on a Chicago children’s TV show in 2010 and lip-synched his way through the embarrassment. In the YouTube comments, his grandaughter posted her kudos:

There are a lot of Utoobage entries for Elmore James, but I couldn’t find any live video performances, so let’s go with some covers, with links to the original recordings.

In 1972, The Allman Brothers Band covered “One Way Out” (1961).

In 1980, ZZ Top covered Elmore James’ Dust My Broom (1951) which was itself a cover of Robert Johnson’s recording (1936).

In 1984, George Thorogood & Albert Collins nailed Elmore James’ Madison Blues (1960).

Great stuff that. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Bonus:

Rambling Muskrat Hot Links

A muskrat is not a rat. It’s more like a small capybara and is a resource of food and fur for humans according to Wiki, so send us your recipes and clothing patterns and we’ll post them with credit.

“Muskrat Ramble” was written by Kid Ory and first recorded by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five in 1926.

In 1965, Joseph Allen McDonald, aka Country Joe, shamelessly ripped off Kid Ory’s “Muskrat Ramble” note-for-note for his Vietnam-era protest song “Feelin’ Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag.”

“In 2003 McDonald was sued for copyright infringement over his signature song, specifically the “One, two, three, what are we fighting for?” chorus part, as derived from the 1926 early jazz classic “Muskrat Ramble“, co-written by Kid Ory. The suit was brought by Ory’s daughter Babette, who held the copyright at the time. Since decades had already passed from the time McDonald composed his song in 1965, Ory based her suit on a new version of it recorded by McDonald in 1999. The court however upheld McDonald’s laches defense, noting that Ory and her father were aware of the original version of the song, with the same questionable section, for some three decades without bringing a suit. In 2006, Ory was ordered to pay McDonald $395,000 for attorney fees and had to sell her copyrights to do so.”

[McDonald’s parents were communists and named him after Joseph Stalin according to Wiki. That explains a lot.]

From the This Shall Not Pass Department: A Heinz ketchup packet caused a New York woman to be diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. TRUE.

R.I.P. Dominic Frontiere (17 June 1931- 21 December 2017).

The Football Capital of the World.

What’s the smallest hole a mouse shrew can get through? 16.5mm in diameter according to this.

Trains [via].

Jim Flora (1914-1998) was a graphic commercial artist whose work creeped me out when I was very young.

Mambo For Cats was a 33rpm EP featuring various artists. It’s now a collectors’ item for the album cover designed by Jim Flora, and original copies are worth hundreds. Papa had a copy so when I saw the album cover recently, fireworks went off in my head, and the only song I remembered from the compilation was “Muskrat Ramble Mambo.”

[Top image found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Russian Standoff, Booker T. & The MGs, Merle Travis w/ Speedy West and Judy Hayden, & Paula Jo Taylor

“We need some untranslatable Russian Stuff.” Young Russian thugs messed with the wrong construction workers [via]. On the other hand, here’s the same crane, so the vid was probably staged for the lulz. They’re apparently in the auto reclamation business.

“Hang ‘Em High” is a musical theme composed by Dominic Frontiere for the soundtrack of the 1968 film of the same name. Though it was first covered by Hugo Montenegro, whose orchestra recorded a full album of music from the film, the tune became a hit in an R&B instrumental version by Booker T. & the M.G.’s that charted #9 Pop and #35 R&B [Quote & links via Wiki].

Merle Travis was a national treasure. Country pop is nothing compared to country swing, and check out that unusual picking style.

Heck, let’s go one more just for fun.

Have a great weekend, folks, and remember that the traffic goes back to default on Monday.

Saturday Matinee – The Best Damn Band In The Land

Congrats, OSU!

[Related post here.]

Saturday Matinee – BR5-49, The Moron Brothers & Septura

What a pretty Christmas song.
BR5-49 took their name from Hee-Haw skits featuring Junior Samples as a used car salesman who proffered BR-549 as a five-digit phone number. It was also the number of an International Trucks engine used in tractors and fire trucks and the designation meant Broad-Ring cylinder 549 cu. in. It was a powerful heavy-duty low-rev gas hog that got 3 mpg max.

Sorry, I got distracted chasing down obscure modern-day trivia. Not.

The Moron Brothers are a hoot. They sell coffee, too.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Suite (1734) as performed by Septura. They’re a brass septet from London who don’t know how to dress properly, so turn your head away and listen instead. They are very good.

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukah to all.

Saturday Matinee – Lindy Hop Showdown, The Wrecking Crew, Tommy Tedesco & The Memphis Group

Pure awesome. Girl in the stripes gets my vote [via].

“The Wrecking Crew” recorded some killer stuff, and you’ve likely never heard of them because they weren’t named  “The Wrecking Crew” until 1990. Their peak years were 1962-73 when they worked with Phil Spector. They weren’t a solid unit as the musicians came and went, but the music WAS solid, no matter who was sitting in at the time.

Tommy Tedesco, one of the greatest session musicians ever, was a member of the post-defacto-named Wrecking Crew. Tedesco was one of those rare people who, if told something was a musical instrument, could play it flawlessly.

Now about “The Memphis Group.” Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Al Jackson & Booker Jones provided the backup for some amazing recording artists, but you already knew that.

Have a great weekend, folks and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.