Category: Retro & Vintage

Saturday Matinee – Swamp Rock, Ben E. King, Boz & Anson

I love this. Swamp rock with the most bizarre low budget video I’ve run across (found here) and it’s not even Cajun.

The video for The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band‘s new song Clap Your Hands was shot in one day in a barn in Indiana. All of the dancers, artists, freaks, weirdos, cowboys, kids, donkeys, bunko steerers, chickens, and regular folks, who are all Hoosiers, all volunteered their time and talent because they believed in the song and the band. The video was directed/produced by the acclaimed music video producer Kevin Custer (Lil Wayne, Soldja Boy, Flogging Molly) who remarked the day of the shoot, it would have cost a fortune to get all of these props back in NYC. To which The Rev. Peyton replied, These arent props they are just crap you find in a barn!

Ben E. King‘s great song as performed by a variety of performers. [Tip o’ the Tarboosh to Leeuna for posting it.]

Cbullitt tossed this one into the comments section a few days ago, and now I have new respect for Boz Scaggs. Here he is with Anson Funderburgh and an allstar lineup, including Blue Lou Marini.

Have a big ‘ol honkin’ great weekend folks.

Jeannie’s Bottle

Her pad wasn’t cool, but Barbara Eden was hot.

Just like Elizabeth Montgomery in “Bewitched,” “I Dream Of Jeannie” gave a lot of teenage boys fodder for late night fireside hypothetical discussions.

[Image found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Laurie, Suzanne & Joanne

The always odd Laurie Anderson can’t pronounce the Espaniel worth a Me Air Duh, but she’s entertaining in her own way.

I was gonna segue into Suzanne Vega, but I forgot how depressing her songs were. So then I looked for Suzy Bogguss, and remembered that I’d already covered her on an earlier Saturday Matinee Post.

So I’m thinking of Suzanne songs and decided to  go with Michael Nesmith’s “Joanne”  because it rhymes. But there are no decent vids on the Utoobage that do justice for the ex-Monkee’s greatest hit, except for this:

Meanwhile, here’s Joanne’s greatest hit. Have a great weekend folks.

Saturday Matinee – American Dialects, W.C. Clark & the Fabulous Thunderbirds

American regional dialects are curious, and when I hear one I haven’t heard in a while I try to identify where the speaker grew up. If you listen closely, you can hear the ancestral accents and phrasing as well: English to the north, Scottish and Irish to the south. As for me, I have no accent, but Mrs. Strutts says I do… I sound a lot like central Ohio mixed with some faint Texan stuff. (Here’s a simple online test if you’re curious what accent mix you have.)

W.C. Clark backed by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and featuring Angela Strehli is an awesome mix of Texas blues. Never heard of W.C. Clark? Try this:

Yep, that’s Stevie Ray Vaughan with W.C. Clark. Next question?

Oh. I understand now.

Visual aids are so important to the presentation.

[Found here.]

Bertha Dlugi’s Contribution to the World

Bertha Dlugi’s invention, patented in 1959, was intended for parakeets and other birds that are allowed to fly freely about the house. “It is … a general object of the present invention to provide a garment to be worn by birds for receiving their excremental discharge to prevent it from being deposited on household furnishings when the bird is at liberty in the home and thereby avoid the consequent unsanitary condition.”

[Image and description from here. Crossposted here.]

Saturday Matinee – Hambone & Hoodlin’, John Mayall & Captain Beefheart

“Learn that you’ll be goodndave.” Now google “eefing.”

Although Jimmy Riddle was one of the last great Eeefers, the Nashville R&B TV show “Night Train” once featured Joe Perkins‘ “Little Eeefin’ Annie.” Jimmy Riddle was the background “eeefer,” and Perkins lip synched it.

Later on, Jimmy Riddle explained it. [Related post, featuring the Hambone Boys, here.] Now, let’s clear the air a tad, with this:

Yep, that’s the great John Mayall. He kicks it at about 1:50 in. Not exactly hambone or hoodlin’ but he’s got it down. Have a great weekend, folks, see you tomorrow.

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Whoa, hold the presses. Just found this excellent clip of  Captain Beefheart’s venture into R&B. Now we’re rollin’. Dim the lights, last song, slow dance, ladies’ choice.

Miss Aluminum Flex-i-Duct 1961

Not sure, but I think that’s Pee Wee Herman’s mother.

[Image from here.]

International Towel Day

If you don’t know what this is all about, ask Mr. Google.

Saturday Matinee – Fartin’ Dancin’ Dogs, Howlin’ Wolf, CTA, RLJ,


My dog used to fart, look at me and leave, but of course that’s exactly what I did to him. Dogs are goofy, but they’re not stupid.


TechnoDog is techno.

Howlin’ Wolf, linked from here. He sang HARD.

Wowie zowie. Chicago Transit Authority, live in Japan in 1972 with crappy video gimmicks. Chicago was talented and underrated, but at least they brought horns back into rock and roll.  Later on, they became just another run-of-the-mill sappy woosband. Instead of this excellent jam…

…we ended up with “If you leave me now you’ll leave the very best part of me — oooOOOOhhno, baby please don’t go” garbage. Fuldkommen Gak.


Ricki Lee Jones got me going in the early 80’s with such a sultry sleazy hip coolness. She could have had me cheap. Hell, she could have had me quack. She could have had me, but she threw it all away, and I never looked back.