Jimmy Carl Black 1938-2008
“Lonesome Cowboy Burt” was “Harder Than Your Husband (to get along with).” Where’s my waitress?
He was one talented Mother drummer.
Speaking of Zappa’s drummers, here’s a beat-off between Chad Wackerman and Terry Bozzio, with a couple of absolutely ridiculous drum sets.
Don’t like them? Here’s Gene Krupa vs. Buddy Rich.
Don’t like them? Here’s Marky Ramone to explain it all.
Don’t like Marky Ramone?
Eh.
I don’t understand it either, but it has something to do with Spiderman and the election results.
[Image from here.]
Jaco Pastorius with John Scofield. Not sure who is on drums. Pastorius is my all time favorite bass player, (with Bootsy Collins a close second).
Willie Dixon was a classic bassman. Not sure who is on the ivories, but it’s not Eubie Blake, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons or Pete Johnson. Memphis Slim?
This has gotta be one of the greatest blues lineups in history: Willie Dixon, Memphis Slim, T-Bone Walker, Helen Hume, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and John Jackson.
Emotional Weather Report delivered by Tom Waits.
…or “Lucky Bum Gets Head From Beatle“… or “Tramp Admires Sir Paul’s Bust“… or “Abbey Road Execs Accept Hobo’s Offer For Head.” (Your choice of headlines. Way too many puns and obnoxious innuendi for this True Story, and I admit that I’m completely shameless for jumping on this one with both feet. I promise you it might not happen again.)
“The Magical Mystery Tour is over – the missing bust of Paul McCartney has been found by a rough sleeper in Reading who mistook it for a Halloween mask. Tramp Anthony Silva discovered the wax head while sleeping by dustbins near Reading railway station last Friday.
“After Anthony found the auction lot – using it as a pillow for four nights – he jumped the trains to the Abbey Road music studios in London… The mask’s authenticity was then confirmed.”
[Image and story from Arbroath.]
(Ciclk ot mkae tehm bgeigr.)
What scares me about these is that they have SOUNDS. SOUNDS that someone liked enough to purchase, so that they could hear the SOUNDS over and over again. (I completely understand wanting to have THIS compilation, and if I ever get a cell phone, the ringtone’s gonna be Leonard Emmanuel’s “Old Timey Holler.”)
[Strider has an excellent collection of crappy album covers, with commentary, here. Related TR archive post here. New crappiness from here.]
Levi Stubbs & the Four Tops, on the American TV show Hullabaloo, singing “Just Walk Away.”
From the Wikipoodle:
“Levi Stubbs was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the famed Motown R&B group The Four Tops.”
From Billboard’s Top Pop Singles:
“R&B vocal group from Detroit formed in 1953 as the Four Aims. Consisted of Levi Stubbs (lead singer), Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson, Lawrence Payton, and Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir. First recorded for Chess in 1956, then Red Top and Columbia, before signing with Motown in 1963. Stubbs was the voice of Audrey II (the voracious vegetation) in the 1986 movie ‘The Little Shop of Horrors.'”
Besides being a cousin to Jackie Wilson (!) Stubbs was also the voice of Audrey II in “Little Shop of Horrors.” I never made that connection until today.
Aretha Franklin’s tribute to Levi Stubbs, after his stroke and during his fight with cancer. Hard to watch.
RIP, Mr. Stubbs.
Good God. What a Caption Contest. Have at it.
Rock n Roll at it’s peak. Check it out, yo!
But there’s more to his story. Besides being a household word for rock n roll and gettin’ hot babes, the late Ted Cassidy played TWO parts in “The Addams Family” TV Series. Lurch was one of them… the other was “Thing.”
From the Wikipedialoids:
“Lurch (Ted Cassidy) is the household butler. Morticia and Gomez summon him by means of a bell pull in the form of a hangman’s noose, which rings the massive bell located in the mansion’s bell tower; the resulting gong shakes the entire house when the bell’s noose is pulled. When Lurch appears (usually immediately or within seconds thereafter), he responds with an extremely deep-voiced, “You rang?”
“According to IMDb, Lurch was intended to be a non-speaking part, as the Charles Addams cartoon character was silent; however, Cassidy improvised the line during his audition, and it was so well-received that it became a feature of the character. When questions are posed to him, Lurch’s primary response is a deep throaty rumbling and, at times, tremendously annoyed sound, which the family nonetheless interpret as spoken words. Superhumanly strong (he cleans the family car by simply lifting it and shaking it out like a rug), Lurch often plays the harpsichord (the music is actually played by The Addams Family composer Vic Mizzy).
“Lurch is very high-minded about visitors; when a plainclothes policeman (played by George Neise) visited the family, Lurch patted him down and regarded him suspiciously when he found his gun. Neise showed Lurch his badge, whereupon Lurch returned the gun.
“Lurch occasionally regards his employers’ activities with some dubiousness, but only as any servant might regard the idle rich, not because he does not share their macabre tastes.”
As far as the Addams Family goes, Lurch was my 2nd favorite. Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams), well, um, you know. Cassidy also appeared in several episodes of:
Star Trek;
I Dream of Jeannie;
Wild Wild West;
and The Six-Million Dollar Man (as Bigfoot).
Y’all can forget his cameo on Batman, too… or not.
Cassidy ALSO appeared in the movie “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid” in this Classic Scene.
As a completely unrelated aside, anyone curious about what the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten is up to these days? Seems he’s turned Shatner on us. Promise.
BONUS! For all of our loyal readers and supporters of Tacky Raccoons, please welcome our SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST!
Whips and boots and red jumpsuits. These are a few of my favorite thoots.
Savants, an amazing collection of stories and videos found at Neatorama.
Click on the ball and it changes color. Really. (from Phil).
Babble + Google = Gabble. In Google’s “Search Images,” type in letters/numbers at random until you end up with just one image that matches your search. Send us your best, and we’ll include them in a future post. [Paste these and see what you find, then find your own: rpfdfa; ptqdeh; ktsaxz.]
Infinity + 1 = Infinity; so Infinity – 1 = Infinity also; then
Infinity + 1 = Infinity – 1; Therefore, +1 = – 1.
Here’s proof that you can’t Google Chuck Norris.
35 Greatest Works of Reverse Graffiti here.
Mo Beever Mo Betta.
Raincoaster’s Beaver Shots. Yer on yer own.
Map of locations where album covers were photographed.
Ooh! Move over, Jimi! We’ve got The Faber Castell Experience!
Jim Woodring‘s work is a few steps beyond Advanced Tublication; his “Frank” series combines 1930’s cartooning with fever-inspired nightmares. You gotta check out “The Book of Jim.” Woodring’s an excellent (if not mildly disturbed) illustrator.
The only way (in Bunk’s amateur opinion) that he could pull this off is with a stacked 2-way stripper deck, some false shuffles, false cuts, a few flourishes, and great slight-of-hand. Ricky Jay is probably The Best card manipulator in the business. [Found via Edenborough.]
Although he and John Prine wrote the The Perfect Country Western Song, the late Steve Goodman’s greatest hit was “City of New Orleans.”
Whoop! Just found Vassar Clements and Dickie Betts on one video! Here ya go, folks. C’mon back tomorrow for more fun!
Tacky Raccoons 
