Saturday Matinee – Page 39

Saturday Matinee – God’s Cricket Chorus, The Steve Gibbons Band, Amy Helm & Third World

God’s Cricket Chorus is awesome. I want that played at my funeral, by humans, followed by “Holiday For Strings.” played by crickets. [h/t Octopus]

Here’s Tom Waits‘ response when asked by NPR, “What is the most interesting recording you own?”

“It’s a mysteriously beautiful recording from, I am told, Robbie Robertson’s label. It’s of crickets. That’s right, crickets. The first time I heard it … I swore I was listening to the Vienna Boys Choir, or the Mormon Tabernacle choir. It has a four-part harmony. It is a swaying choral panorama. Then a voice comes in on the tape and says, “What you are listening to is the sound of crickets. The only thing that has been manipulated is that they slowed down the tape.” No effects have been added of any kind, except that they changed the speed of the tape. The sound is so haunting. I played it for Charlie Musselwhite, and he looked at me as if I pulled a Leprechaun out of my pocket.” [via]

In 1977 The Steve Gibbons Band covered Chuck Berry‘s 1969 recording of Tulane and did a decent job of it.

Amy Helm can wail, and her band jams it down your throat.

Third World‘s classic “96 Degrees In The Shade” seems appropriate given this week’s heat wave (and not for the political message).

Keep cool, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – THE Interview, Pro-Bubbles, The Blues Brothers & Junior Wells with Buddy Guy

I love this interview.

Melody Yang is a Professional Bubbler [via].

Yeah, The Blues Brothers gave it a good cover in 1979, but this one is better. Junior Wells with Buddy Guy at the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival is nothing less than killer.

Here’s Junior Wells’ original version from 1960.

Have a great weekend, folks, see you back here tomorrow whether you like it or not.

Saturday Matinee – Alt Math, Rag’n’Bone Man & Tom Waits

This is scary. The Correct Answer Is 22.

Rag’n’Bone Man‘s cover of the Stones “Gimme Shelter” is killer.

More about that talented Brit via Wiki:

Rag’n’Bone Man’s first hit single, “Human“, was released on Columbia Records in July 2016. It peaked at number one in the Official Singles Charts in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. It was certified Gold in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.

That’s is an entirely different version and a precursor to the one I’m familiar with:

Tom Waits is amazing.

Have a great weekend, folks, and for Fathers’ Day, buy your Dad a big bacon cheeseburger with fries and a pint of stout. He’ll love it, despite what your Mom says about it causing tumors in rats.

Saturday Matinee – Kmac2021, Stevie Ray Vaughan with Jeff Beck, and Don Nix with the Mar-Keys

Kmac2021 is a one-man Spinal Tap. Reminds me of the vids entitled, “What It’s Really Like To Work In A Music Store.”
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V

Okay, so where do we go from here? Goin’ Down.

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Jeff Beck covered Don Nix‘s “Going Down.”
I always thought it was a Freddie King song. So what else did Nix do? A lot.

From Wiki: Don Nix began his career playing saxophone for the Mar-Keys, which also featured Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and others. The [1961] hit instrumental single “Last Night” (composed by the band as a whole) was the first of many successful hits to Nix’s credit. […] The Mar-Keys evolved into Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

What a convergence of talent at the right time and the right place. God Bless Stax Records.

Have a soulful weekend, folks, be back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Tommy COOper, CockatOOs, TerryTOOns & Brenton WOOd

Old trick, but it’s a good ‘un. I had one that was similar – the bottles flipped from right side up to upside down using the same basic gaffe (like this). [via here.]

Attitude.

“Jazz Mad” TerryToons 1931 [via]. From Wiki:

Through much of its history, the studio [Terrytoons] was considered one of the lowest-quality houses in the field, to the point where Paul Terry noted, “Disney is the Tiffany’s in this business, and I am the Woolworth’s.” Terry’s studio had the lowest budgets and was among the slowest to adapt to new technologies such as sound (in about 1930) and Technicolor (in 1938), while its graphic style remained remarkably static for decades. Background music was entrusted to one man, Philip Scheib, and Terry’s refusal to pay royalties for popular songs forced Scheib to compose his own scores. Paul Terry took pride in producing a new cartoon every other week, regardless of the quality of the films.

In keeping with the accidental Double O Theme, here’s one more.

Alfred Jesse Smith, aka, Brenton Wood, had back-to-back hits in 1967: The Oogum Boogum Song and Gimme Little Sign. Filmed in Hacienda Heights California on “Thee Mr. Duran Show,” this video dates to pre-2006. Jump to 01:53 for the song.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, folks. Remember those we are memorializing and why.

Saturday Matinee – Allotria Jazz Band, Fats Waller, Leon Redbone & Captain Beefheart

Die Allotria Jazzband ist eine Combo, die 1969 in München gegründet wurde und dem traditionellen Jazz verpflichtet ist. [Allotria translates to Monkey Business.] “Wolverine Blues” was written and recorded by Jelly Roll Morton in 1923.

Two decades later, Fats Waller was playing the same style.

Nice lip-sync of a pretty song. According to the UToobage:
“Myra Johnson voiced-over the girl “vocalist” sitting on the piano, who, according to trumpeter Eddie Henderson, is his mother.”

In 1975, over five decades later, Leon Redbone recorded his own version (and this isn’t it. Click the link). Mr. Redbone’s music is meant for eggs and coffee and a side of toast.

That’s a version of Blind Blake‘s recording from 1929.

Captain Beefheart recorded an entirely different song called “Diddy Wah Diddy” that was later covered by The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

Whoa. I just found out that “Diddy Wah Diddy” was written by Willie Dixon and Bo Diddley, and was recorded in 1956.

Now it all makes sense.

Have a great weekend folks and be back here tomorrow for more diddy wah diddy.

Saturday Matinee – Porcapizza (aka Massimo Tortella)

Porcapizza is amazing [via].

Saturday Matinee – The Skids, Linkin Bridge & Cinco De Mayo Madrid Flash Mob

The Skids “Into The Valley” [via]. Nice Ramones influence.

Today is the start of The 2018 Kentucky Derby, and yes, it has a themesong.

Linkin Bridge‘s “My Old Kentucky Home” is killer.

Oh, and Cinco De Mayo has everything to do with selling beer in the US and nothing to do with Mexican Independence Day.

This is kinda cool. Mariachi flash mob showed up in Madrid, but Mariachis originated in Mexico not Spain. Go figure.

Have a great weekend. folks, see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Dave Allen, NYC 1911, Hormel Pepperoni, YES & The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

That’s Dave Allen (1936-2005) and that’s a 1965 VW 6-volt Beetle. It didn’t have headlights. It had glowlamps. I know because I owned one.

1911 New York City restored hand-cranked film, speed corrected and with an added soundtrack humanizes the populace a bit. A lot of interesting things happened in 1911, itemized here and here. Sheet music sales determined the popularity of songs and Scott Joplin’s rags were hot, like Treemonisha.

Hormel Pepperoni advertisement [h/t Calo]. I’m speechless. Let’s get out of here.

YES stood out a bit from the music of the 70s. Sure, they were art rock, their lyrics were inane and incomprehensible, they’ll make you out and out, but their music was killer.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band was very underrated IMO.

Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Two Ronnies, Bagpipe Rock, Jim Stafford & George Harrison

American humor cannot match that of Ronnie Corbett & Ronnie Barker [via].

Not sure who they are, but they’re a Scottish Bagpipe Rock Band.

Meanwhile, Jim Stafford is both an underrated guitarist, a talented comedian, and he had some minor hits in the 70s, and he’s still alive. Congrats.

Stafford had a number of minor hits, but I remember one in particular. I’d just lost a girlfriend, and this song seemed to make sense of it all. In retrospect it didn’t, but so what.