Category: Music

Saturday Matinee – Miss Tess, J.D. McPherson & 2 DooWop Documentaries

Miss Tess & The Bon Ton Parade perform “That Oo Oo Oo” in October 2009. According to the Utoobage comments, she’s playing an electrified 1920 Weymann archtop. This is early morning roadtrip music for me. I love it.

J.D. McPherson at Sun Studios 2014. Jump to 02:30 for kickass rockabilly.

Doowop wasn’t called “Doowop” until the 60s or so, so here’s a Rhythm & Blues Documentary instead. Yeah it’s  kinda sucky, so try this:

Have a great weekend folks, and remember that this three-day weekend is not a holiday honoring BBQs and bloviating politicians.

Memorial Day honors those who gave their lives in the name of Freedom.

Saturday Matinee – Tuba Skinny with Erika Lewis, Leon Redbone, Brent Johnson & The Call Up

Tuba Skinny on a hot, steamy New Orleans day, playing James Scott’s “Climax Rag”  from 1914. Pay attention to the girl on cornet – she knows exactly how to do it right – and before you assume that the girl on bass drum is only there for eye candy, check this out:

That’s Erika Lewis & Tuba Skinny performing at The Louisiana Busker Fest in Abita Springs 21 April 2013.  BTW, the band is from Tasmania. Now, how ’bout some Leon?

Leon Redbone made his debut in 1976 with his album “On The Tracks.” Here he is on SNL, and here’s Mr. Redbone’s  home page.

Mike Imbasciani with Brent Johnson & the Call Up doing a heavy swamp rock take of Chick Willis‘ “Stoop Down Baby.”

There are enough links up there to keep you out of trouble for a few hours. Have a great weekend folks, see you back here tomorrow for more fun stuff.

[Update: Tuba Skinny is from Louisiana. Thanks to Lulu for the correction.]

1920s Jazz Band – Who were they?

Early Jazz Band Unknown

Anyone know who these guys were? I’m guessing mid-late 1920s, tried to identify the trumpet player with no luck. The clarinet/baritone sax player is the only one wearing spats, so he may be the band leader.

[Found here. Click to enlarge.]

Saturday Matinee – Mock Lobster, Mountain Of Dinosaurs & Spirit Family Revival

Mock Lobster by the Bit52s is very cool [via].

Mountain of Dinosaurs [Rasa Strautmane, USSR 1967] was an anti-soviet propaganda film. Watch it for the nuances before you read the following.

The short warns about what happens if powerful stewards meant to care for individuals actually stifle those they are charged to protect. Dinosaurs didn’t die because of climate change, the short says, but because their eggs became so thick-shelled in response to colder temperatures that the baby dinosaurs couldn’t hatch. The shells (yes, the eggshells speak) mindlessly drone that they are doing their “duty,” but by growing thicker and thicker they kill the nascent sauropods. The scene is the saddest dinosaur cartoon I’ve ever seen, and it seems to be a metaphor for the Soviet government suppressing the rights of individual citizens. Indeed, the death of dinosaurs was not only used by Americans to issue dire warnings — they are an international symbol of extinction.

Brian Switek

Heavy stuff is neither to be ignored nor swept under the rug, IMO.

So let’s lighten it up a tad instead.

The Spirit Family Reunion plays “Come On/Anna” in a bus. Nice roadtrip music, even if they play it at 11.

Have a great weekend, folks, and be sure to hug your mother on Sunday.

Saturday Matinee – Teeth, Shocking Blue & Postmodern Jukebox’ Greatest Hits Mashup

Teeth [via].

Shocking Blue had an almost invisible drummer, and here they are *ahem* playing their hit “Venus” in 1969. I never knew they were from the Netherlands until this posting.

The song’s a ripoff of “The Banjo Song” recorded circa 1963 by The Big Three (featuring a young Ellen Naomi Cohen, aka Mama Cass). They co-opted and renamed Stephen Foster’s “Oh! Susannah,” one of the most popular minstrel songs of the late 1800s. Fun facts to know and tell.

Postmodern Jukebox did a one-take mashup of their greatest covers, and it’s pure awesome.

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ve got more inane stuff in the queue.

Saturday Matinee – Carol Kaye, Tal Wilkenfeld & Jeff Beck, Jaco Pastorius, and Some Guys Jamming “Mercy Mercy Mercy.”

You’ve probably never heard OF Carol Kaye, but you have certainly heard her music, especially on bass. Pure awesome.

Tal Wilkinfeld & Jeff Beck 2009(?).

Jaco Pastorius was brilliant on bass, but had serious mental problems.

Mercy Mercy Mercy. This jam cranks, but that can’t be  Stanley Jordan on bass (or guitar, or any other instrument) despite the Utoobage description, yet someone was playing a 6-string bass…

Have a great weekend, folks. Rock on.

Saturday Matinee – Chet Atkins & Les Paul, RT & The 44s, Orquesta de Instrumentos Reciclados, and Bob Lyons

Chet Atkins & Les Paul Limehouse Blues 1978. Wait for the end – Atkins shows that he was playing a fold-up guitar.

Using instruments crafted from tin, 2×4’s and salvaged parts, RT has stated that RT N’ THE 44s was born out of “an attempt to make listenable music from junk.” [Wiki]

[h/t to Anachronistic Decay.]

Here’s a related video from La armonía del vertedero – Orquesta de Instrumentos Reciclados de Cateura de Paraguay:

My late Uncle Bunk had what he called a “BoomBass” that consisted of a cookie tin nailed to a 2×3 with a single wire on a bridge that ran up to a fretboard, with tambourine thingys on the top and a spring peg on the bottom. You played it by banging it on the floor and hitting the wire with a notched dowel.  It was also painted very nicely, and someone I know still has it.

Besides the diddley bow, my favorite instrument that began as junk salvage:  the steel pan drum.

Bob Lyons plays Jason Mraz’s reggae-ish hit on steel drums in Wellington, Florida December 2009

Have a great weekend, folks, and remember, no man can eat 50 eggs, Easter or not.

 

Saturday Matinee Bonus Track – Ray Wylie Hubbard

Almost forgot about this one, sent in by Russ via the mojo wire.  Here’s an hour and a half of Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Saturday Matinee – Lecil Travis Martin, Steve Goodman & Little Isidore

Boxcar

Boxcar Willie’s “Winds Of Yesterday” is pretty cool ol’ country.

Don’t laugh. Steve Goodman was the author of the greatest train song ever, except for the one by Tiny Bradshaw.

Not sure where we’re going with this, so let’s go retro with Little Isidor and The Inquisitors.

Have a great weekend, folks, and be careful goin’ home.

Saturday Matinee – Fireflies, Pete Daily & Red Nichols

Timelapse of fireflies by Vincent Brady [via].

Pete Daily‘s “Over The Waves” from 1951: Daily on cornet, Burt Johnson trombone, Pud Brown clarinet, Skippy Anderson piano, Len Esterdahl banjo, Bud Hatch tuba and Hugh Allison drums.

Red Nichols & His Five Pennies rocked your grandparents, assuming your grandparents were entirely cool and bitchin’. (Of course they were.)

Have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for more inanity.