Category: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee Halloween Edition – The Ramones, Sally Cruikshank & Oingo Boingo

First recorded in 1976, The Ramones‘ I Don’t Wanna Go Down To The Basement is sort of appropriate.

Sally Cruikshank‘s animations are Betty Boop on acid.
Face like a Frog (1987) includes the Cab Calloway-esque song Don’t Go In The Basement (starts at 02:26 ). In 2017, Cruikshank herself added this to the YouTube comments:

“Danny Elfman composed the track for this film. Period. Copyright mine. Then a year or two later I gave his agents permission to include it on a compilation LP, I guess put out by [David] Geffen. Now they claim I got the music from the album or something. They’re wrong. My film came first. My husband’s going to get into it with Geffen.”

“I don’t always listen to Dead Man’s Party, but when I do so do the neighbors.” – YouTube comment

Oingo Boingo was a standout band of the 1980s, combining ska, punk, jazz & rock, and Dead Man’s Party became a Halloween party standard. According to Wikipedia:

The lyric, “I hear the chauffeur coming to my door / Says there’s room for maybe just one more,” is a reference to “The Bus-Conductor,” a short story by E. F. Benson about a hearse driver, first published in The Pall Mall Magazine in 1906.

Video is from the 1986 movie Back To School. Yeah, 34 years ago…

Happy Halloween, folks!
This year I’m gonna scare half the neighborhood by NOT wearing a mask. Hope you get all the tricks you deserve and all the treats that you don’t.

[Paranoia moons previously posted here. More Halloween-related posts in the archives.]

The Saturday Matinee – BLR Debate Night, Spencer Davis Group, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, and La Bamba

Just click play. It’s worth it.

Spencer Davis passed away this week at the age of 81.  What a legend.

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers (with Mick Taylor) 19 July 2003, 70th Birthday Concert. The “Father of British Blues” was born on 29 November 1933, but so what.

We started this recording on a back porch in East Los Angeles With members of Los Lobos, And Then returned to the roots of the song in Veracruz, Mexico. As we Traveled, musicians everywhere mixed the traditional and rock ‘n’ roll styles of “La Bamba” into a new Song Around The World. – Playing For Change

Guaranteed to be the best version of the traditional you’ve never heard. Have a great weekend, folks. We’re not going anywhere, so stop back here tomorrow for, you know, stuff.

 

The Saturday Matinee – Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, Link Wray w/ Robert Gordon & Santana

Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express live at Winterland 29 November 1975, San Francisco, CA. Early jazz fusion at its best. Lineup:

Brian Auger – organ, vocals;
Jack Mills – lead guitar;
Alex Ligertwood – vocals, guitar, percussion;
Clive Chaman – bass;
Lennox Langton – congas;
Dave Dowle – drums.

Robert Gordon‘s 1977 cover of Billy Lee Riley‘s 1957 cover of Billy ‘The Kid’ Emerson‘s 1955 recording of Red Hot got a lot of radio play. Now about that legendary guitar ripper…

Link Wray‘s recording career spanned decades, 1958 to 2000, and it’s hard to pinpoint when he was really at his prime. Wray was ranked No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time bu Rolling Stone, and is considered the “Father of the Power Chord.” Other fun facts: his parents were Shawnee and Cherokee; he was a Korean War veteran; he lost a lung due to tuberculosis in 1956.

Carlos Santana‘s 1999 album Supernatural is one of my favorites. Can’t believe it came out over two decades ago.

That kinda wraps things up until tomorrow. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – Andrea Motis & friends, Stéphane Grappelli w/ Bill Coleman, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks

Spanish singer and Jazz trumpeter Andrea Motis does Dizzy.

On the Saturday afternoon of the 6th Jazzing Festival, September 2019, there was a concert at the Bar Colombia in Sant Andreu town centre (a district of Barcelona, Spain) with Joan Chamorro, Andrea Motis, Carla Motis and Josep Traver plus some of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band including Joan Marti, Alba Armengou, Elia Bastida, Alba Esteban, Pablo Ruiz and Anastasia Ivanova (their guest from Moscow) here performing ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street.’

Bill Coleman (1904-1981) & Stephane Grappelli (1908-1997) ca. 1976. Great stuff for early morning forty miles to East Jesus road trips, or just sitting on the back porch watching the world go by.

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks (with the Acoustic Warriors) 1989 reunion concert on Austin City Limits. Hicks had a solid fan base, but he got into alcohol and drugs, pissed off a lot of people. Years passed before he cleaned up his act and started over. DH&HHL came onto my radar in 1978 with (what my ears heard as) “Crazy Cuzzie Iz.” Thought he was singing about a family member.

Let’s do something tomorrow. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – Leningrad Cowboys, Eliza Doyle w/ Paula McGuigan, The Dead South & Elvin Bishop

Leningrad Cowboys are from Finland, and you’re on your own with this one. [h/t Mme. Jujujive]

Eliza Doyle on banjo, Paula McGuigan on upright bass. Amazing harmonies.

The Dead South (with Eliza Doyle) covers Roger Miller. It’s a singalong.

My uncle used to love me but she died;
A chicken ain’t chicken ’til it’s licken good and fried;
Keep on the sunny side;
My uncle used to love me but she died.

Jump to 0:50 to bypass the intro (or not).
Elvin Bishop is one underrated master of swamp rock guitar, always looks like he’s having fun with it.  He’s still performing (despite the lockdown).

Leave your masks at home, reduce your social distancing to the length of your forearm, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Poderosa AAINJALA, Rising Appalachia; Kitty, Daisy & Lewis; Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

Poderosa AAINJALA – 150 Tambores

Roughly translated from the indigenous Wuayuunaiki language of Bogotá, Colombia, AAINJAA means “to do, to elaborate, to manufacture, and to build.” More about this popular massive ensemble here.

Rising Appalachia plays roots-based music righteously. Leah Smith (aka Leah Song) plays banjo, bodhran; Chloe Smith plays guitar, fiddle, and banjo. Name of the song is Greasy Coat.

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis Durham perform Polly Put The Kettle On live at the 2012 Pickathon Pumphouse Sessions in Portland, Oregon. Kind of a quirky family group with an unknown surname from London, but they’ve got an aura of cool retro going – more about them here. This song’s a cover (written by A. Miller) but dang if I can find the original artist.

[Update: Sonny Boy Williamson recorded it as Polly Put Your Kettle On in 1947, and is credited as the writer on RCA Victor 29-2521-B.]

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats are awesome, even if some of their song patterns are a bit familiar. Wasting Time fits my mood these days.

See you tomorrow, rain or shine, and maybe we’ll do something.

Saturday Matinee – 2020 Cast Interviews, Big Bug, Gatemouth Brown & Roy Clark, Ry Cooder w/ Buckwheat Zydeco & Lenny Kravitz, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Well done satire, that.

Big Bug vid found here.

Clarence Gatemouth Brown & Roy Clark (with Leon Rhodes) do some serious pickin’ on Hee Haw (1979). If this ain’t roadtrip music, nothing is.

Ry Cooder, Buckwheat Zydeco and Lenny Kravitz, having some fun in New Orleans 2005.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds cover T-Bone Walker‘s The Hustle Is On (1950). Not sure of the date or location.

That’ll do for now. Gonna get some R&R and see you back here tomorrow as far as you know.

Saturday Matinee – HM Royal Marine Band, Kapua+Tatofi+Maoli, Redbone & Billy Preston

Post Horn Galop – The Bands of HM Royal Marines. Amazing post horn fanfare duel.

Hawaiians Kaipo Kapua, Josh Tatofi and Nu’u Maoli. This medley should be named “See A Minor, Effin’ G.” Those vocals are tight.

Redbone had a nice run in the 70s, Witch Queen of New Orleans being one of my favorites for the swamp-rock sound. Very underrated band IMO, even if they did wander into the pop playpen occasionally. “Come and Get Your Love” (1974) was an earful of soul.

Billy Preston sported one of the greatest ‘fros in the business, and wrote one of the best instrumental jams ever – Outta Space. This version is from 1987.

Have a great holiday weekend, have some fun despite what the scolds say, and we’ll do more stuff tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Skywatch, Fundo de Quintal OFC, Grupo Fundo de Quintal & Planet Drum

When two outcast teens hack into a ubiquitous drone delivery system to pull a prank on their neighbor, they accidentally crash-land a dangerous prototype – and find themselves entangled in a life-and-death conspiracy.

Apparently it’s scheduled to be made into a TV series produced by Seth Macfarlane [via]

“Life in the countryside is not an easy life,” says Simão, explaining how the band shaped their unique sound. “Here there is nothing, no access to singing lessons, theater, or a place to buy instruments. So we are going to beat our improvised little things.”

Fundo de Quinal OFC is a lot of head-scratching fun. [Found here. More info here.] They took their name from these guys:

Grupo Fundo de Quintal or simply Fundo de Quintal (Backyard Group, roughly) is a Samba band which appeared in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1970s. Smooth rhythms.

Mickey Hart & Planet Drum revamped the Grateful Dead classic Fire On The Mountain. If you don’t have it in your collection, get this.

Have a great weekend, folks, watch out for The Stupids, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow just for the hell of it.

 

Saturday Matinee – Little Remy & The Flying Rockers, Michael Kiwanuka & Willy DeVille

Little Remy & The Flying Rockers – Shadoogie (1962)
Indorock band uit Den Bosch
Ad Boeren – Drums; Rinus Huismans – Slag Gitaar; Guus Silooy – Solo Gitaar; Cees Vermeulen – Bas Gitaar.

Willy (Mink) DeVille had an unusual sound for the late ’70s scene, and Moon Martin‘s Cadillac Walk was one of my favorites. (I didn’t know that Mink DeVille was one of the original house bands at CBGB, but that explains a lot.) h/t Immortal Jukebox.

Michael Kiwanuka‘s One More Night is a cool groove with a quirky video stapled onto it. Can’t quite put my finger on what this reminds me of, but it’s a real smooth combination. Born and raised in London, Kiwanuka is the son of Ugandan parents who escaped the brutal Amin regime.

Have a great weekend, folks, stay cool and don’t let the ninnienannies get to you. Be back here tomorrow and we’ll do stuff.