Category: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee – Elmore James Jr., The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, George Thorogood with Albert Collins & Elmore James

Not sure what to make of this. The son of one of the greatest blues guitarists ever appeared on a Chicago children’s TV show in 2010 and lip-synched his way through the embarrassment. In the YouTube comments, his grandaughter posted her kudos:

There are a lot of Utoobage entries for Elmore James, but I couldn’t find any live video performances, so let’s go with some covers, with links to the original recordings.

In 1972, The Allman Brothers Band covered “One Way Out” (1961).

In 1980, ZZ Top covered Elmore James’ Dust My Broom (1951) which was itself a cover of Robert Johnson’s recording (1936).

In 1984, George Thorogood & Albert Collins nailed Elmore James’ Madison Blues (1960).

Great stuff that. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Bonus:

Saturday Matinee – Russian Standoff, Booker T. & The MGs, Merle Travis w/ Speedy West and Judy Hayden, & Paula Jo Taylor

“We need some untranslatable Russian Stuff.” Young Russian thugs messed with the wrong construction workers [via]. On the other hand, here’s the same crane, so the vid was probably staged for the lulz. They’re apparently in the auto reclamation business.

“Hang ‘Em High” is a musical theme composed by Dominic Frontiere for the soundtrack of the 1968 film of the same name. Though it was first covered by Hugo Montenegro, whose orchestra recorded a full album of music from the film, the tune became a hit in an R&B instrumental version by Booker T. & the M.G.’s that charted #9 Pop and #35 R&B [Quote & links via Wiki].

Merle Travis was a national treasure. Country pop is nothing compared to country swing, and check out that unusual picking style.

Heck, let’s go one more just for fun.

Have a great weekend, folks, and remember that the traffic goes back to default on Monday.

Saturday Matinee – BR5-49, The Moron Brothers & Septura

What a pretty Christmas song.
BR5-49 took their name from Hee-Haw skits featuring Junior Samples as a used car salesman who proffered BR-549 as a five-digit phone number. It was also the number of an International Trucks engine used in tractors and fire trucks and the designation meant Broad-Ring cylinder 549 cu. in. It was a powerful heavy-duty low-rev gas hog that got 3 mpg max.

Sorry, I got distracted chasing down obscure modern-day trivia. Not.

The Moron Brothers are a hoot. They sell coffee, too.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Suite (1734) as performed by Septura. They’re a brass septet from London who don’t know how to dress properly, so turn your head away and listen instead. They are very good.

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukah to all.

Saturday Matinee – Lindy Hop Showdown, The Wrecking Crew, Tommy Tedesco & The Memphis Group

Pure awesome. Girl in the stripes gets my vote [via].

“The Wrecking Crew” recorded some killer stuff, and you’ve likely never heard of them because they weren’t named  “The Wrecking Crew” until 1990. Their peak years were 1962-73 when they worked with Phil Spector. They weren’t a solid unit as the musicians came and went, but the music WAS solid, no matter who was sitting in at the time.

Tommy Tedesco, one of the greatest session musicians ever, was a member of the post-defacto-named Wrecking Crew. Tedesco was one of those rare people who, if told something was a musical instrument, could play it flawlessly.

Now about “The Memphis Group.” Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Al Jackson & Booker Jones provided the backup for some amazing recording artists, but you already knew that.

Have a great weekend, folks and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Werewolf Diskdrive, Justin Johnson & Buckethead

I really don’t know what to make of this, but it somehow seems appropriate given the fires in California. Reminds me of early Devo vids. [h/t Bunkessa]

Justin Johnson amazes me. Plays lead, rhythm, bass and chorus at the same time on a 4-string cigar box slider. One of the commenters on the Utoobage posted “I’m convinced this guy is f***ing Buckethead,” and others agreed, so let’s roll with that.

“I was eating it, and I put the mask on and then the bucket on my head. I went to the mirror. I just said, ‘Buckethead. That’s Buckethead right there.’ It was just one of those things. After that, I wanted to be that thing all the time.” –Buckethead

Yeah, that’s a hella nice jam despite the silly visual gimmicks. Brian Carroll rocks.

Then here comes this guy.

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

 

Saturday Matinee – Christopher Ameruoso, Sonia Sanchez, & The Rave-Ups.

Don’t know much about these two, but I’ll say this. Christopher Ameruoso has a nice cigar-box slide style, but he’d do better without his cutesy mugging. On the other hand, any woman who can slap a lime green stand-up bass like Sonia Sanchez gets my vote.

Serious PsychoPunkaBilly there, and Sanchez slaps the hell out of that bass. Let’s take it down a notch. I was about to post The Rave Ups’ classic “In My Gremlin” but maybe we should go with this instead.

What a great groove. The Rave-Ups were underrated and deserved more recognition IMO, but MO doesn’t count, by the way.

Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll do something different tomorrow.

P.S. To the guy who got out of his truck to tell me that my brake lights were out, THANK YOU. It explains a couple of close calls I saw in my rear view mirror…

Saturday Matinee – Christopher Ameruoso, Moccasin Creek & Preacher Jack

Not sure where the bass and drums are hiding in that vid, but the hard rock banjo is pretty awesome.

Moccasin Creek. I remember hanging with a crew like that, and they were fun as hell. We had dogs, but didn’t have a raccoon.

Gotta roll with this one. Drummer doesn’t quite have the soul to back up Preacher Jack, but it’s all good.

Have a great weekend folks, and be thankful that there are always more leftovers.

Saturday Matinee – Flight of the Irish, The Dead South & The Beat Farmers

Flight delays happen, so Daoirí Farrell, Geoff Kinsella and Robbie Walsh made the most of it.

The Dead South knows how to make a viral video. (Here’s a slightly different version.)

So The Weasel called up last weekend, said Wildcat loves The Beat Farmers, but he’d lost the bootleg CD I sent him decades ago, and decades ago I told him to go buy his own copies. I hadn’t listened to the Beat Farmers in a long while, but this is what I remember: Their albums were great and they were a fun bar band.

The audio’s good, video’s crappy and skips occasionally, but the 1984 vibe is right there. If you can’t take the whole barrage, here’s my favorite.

There you go, Weez.

Have a great weekend, see y’all back here tomorrow rain or shine.

Saturday Matinee – Nate Smith, Justin Johnson & Ry Cooder

Nate Smith jams it. Betcha can’t spot the mistake.

Seems I heard Justin Johnson before, but only accidentally. Sure, it’s a compilation vid, but that there is some righteous awesome. Reminds me of this guy:

Ry Cooder took the slide guitar and shoved it right though my temporal lobes with his 1987 album “Get Rhythm.” It’s a must-have if you like Swamp Rock.

Have a great weekend, folks. See you tomorrow when the time is right.

Saturday Matinee – Tennessee Whiskey, The Spunyboys & Fats Domino

Dad sings Chris Stapleton‘s R&B version of David Allen Coe‘s take on Linda Hargrove‘s “Tennessee Whiskey” in a parking lot. Awesome. Yeah, it went viral some time ago, but it’s still a good-un.

The Spunyboys rock.

R.I.P. Antoine Dominique “Fats” Domino Jr. [1928-2017]. He was the greatest Country/Blues/R&B/Rock and Roll crossover recording artist ever, and he influenced generations with his easily recognized voice and rolling piano style.

Have a greats weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for stuff.