How ’bout some chaotic motion? [h/t Octopus]
Not sure what this is all about. [Found here.]
[Giant Venus Flytrap found here.]
Category: Saturday Matinee
Saturday Matinee – Las Vegas
I can’t bring myself to post anything remotely light-hearted or amusing, so we’ll leave it at this.
Please pray for the dead, their friends, their families, and especially pray for the witnesses who will remember and relive this horrific event for the rest of their lives.
Saturday Matinee – GoPro Gato, String Bean, The Blasters & Trombone Shorty
Guy fitted his cat with a GoPro to find out what it does while he’s away, and no, it doesn’t sleep [via].
Ever hear of David “String Bean” Akeman? No? Here’s a documentary of the comic/iconic speed banjo player. Video starts at 06:00 for his rendition of the traditional folk song “Li’l Liza Jane. [Related post here.]
Akeman and his wife were murdered by burglars at their rural Tennessee home in 1973. The killers took only a chain saw and some firearms and were later apprehended and convicted.
The Blasters perform “Jubilee Train” at the 1985 Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois. (Check out the impressive list of performers at the link.)
“Buckjump” by Trombone Shorty – a nice retro-funk groove to wrap things up.
Have a great weekend, folks.
Saturday Matinee – Shirley Bassey, Goldfinger, Nena & Nina Hagen with Don Rickles & Merv Griffin
Dame Shirley Bassey‘s classic “Theme to Goldfinger” as captured on film in 1965. I didn’t know she was Welsh until today.
Goldfinger‘s cover of Nena’s “99 Luftballons” is pretty good.
Nena‘s “Rette Mich” (Save Me) is from the same album as 99 Luftballons.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I once confused Nena (Gabriele Kerner of Hagen, West Germany) with Nina Hagen (Catherine Hagen of East Berlin, East Germany). Never again.
Have a great weekend, folks. More is yet to come.
Saturday Matinee – Clanadonia, Mickey Hart / Planet Drum & Joe Bonamassa with Tina Guo
How ’bout something primal? Nothing better than Scottish tribal drums and bagpipes. Clanadonia is what it is, and it’s loud. “The Last of the Glaswegians” is going to be stuck in my head for days.
Mickey Hart & Planet Drum perform “Fire On The Mountain” (24 July 1999, Rome, New York).
Amazing speed cellist Tina Guo jams it with Joe Bonamassa on “Woke Up Dreaming” at Carnegie Hall (June 2017?). Takes them a bit to get in synch, then it soars. Guo’s take on Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” is fun, too.
Have a great weekend folks.
Saturday Matinee – Rubbing Forearms, Juan Gabriel, Muddy Waters & The Diablos.
Something to do when you’re really bored. That and other illusions may be found here.
This song seems appropriate given the hurricane tragedies unfolding in the southeast US. From the vid description:
”’Quiero Creedence‘ is the Latin tribute album to Creedence Clearwater Revival. This album includes covers of CCR’s greatest songs by some of the top Latin artists from across the world including Juan Gabriel …”
Other great versions of that classic song may be found here (assuming the links are still intact).
Muddy Waters was an undervalued gem.
The [1976?] band consists of Muddy Waters on vocal/guitar, Bob Margolin guitar, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith drums, Jerry Portnoy, Harmonica and Luther “guitar” Johnson.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t find a live vid for this 1954 Detroit R&B classic. The ending is pure awesome.
There’s not much to say about the tragedy, both ongoing and pending, that hasn’t been said elsewhere. For those of you in the path of Irma with no means of escape, we pray for you. For you looters, please stay put, and move to lower ground.
Stay safe. You can replace your stuff, but you can’t replace your life.
Saturday Matinee – Wind Chimes, Samantha Fish & The Bo Keys
I found this both oddly fascinating and mildly disturbing. It’s an a/v collage from 2013 somewhere near Lake Erie, yet it’s also kind of an appropriate soundtrack for the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, and for those survivors who haven’t yet fully realized what they’ve lost.
What happens once the news crews are gone? What happens once the reality sets in that you survived the ordeal, but you’ve lost everything? Our prayers are with you.
Now about those looters and scammers…
For a long time, this was THE signature song of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and in some ways his 1956 hit was a blues parody. In January of 2014, Samantha Fish picked it up and jammed it right down our throats with no apologies. Killer version.
Loved this proto-funk theme, and I love the Bo-Keys for rocking the retro soul grooves that I grew up with.
Have a great Labor Day Weekend, folks, and we’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff than your imagination can even tolerate. Or not.
Saturday Matinee – About Hurricane Harvey
In case you’re living in a closet, there’s some nasty weather going on down south with a killer hurricane underway.
Led Zeppelin unapologetically ripped off Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe for one of their greatest hits.
On the other hand, this blues jam was an original.
So what’s next? Maybe a Rainy Night In Georgia.
To my friends down in Texas and Louisiana, keep safe.
Saturday Matinee – African Raccoons, Toni Tee and Liquid Wisdom & The Specials
Raccoons stirrin’ up sh*t.
Toni Tee & Liquid Wisdom on a bus. They play a cool variety of music (reggae, rock, funk, soul, hiphop, punkadelic) but it’s tough to find a vid with decent a/v on the Utoobage. [h/t Bunkessa – yeah she scored two hits this week; this one and the one above.]
Can’t fight corruption with con tricks;
They use the law to commit crime.
And I dread, dread to think what the future will bring,
When we’re living in gangster time.
The Specials performed their 1979 hit “Gangsters” (with Lily Allen) at the Glastonbury Festival 2007. (The music was lifted from Prince Buster‘s 1964 ska hit “Al Capone.” Have a listen.)
Have a great weekend, folks, and let’s see what happens tomorrow.
Saturday Matinee – Summertime Blues (1958 to Whatever).
From the UToobage description:
“Though Eddie Cochran was only twenty-one when he died, he left a lasting mark as a rock and roll pioneer. Cochran zeroed in on teenage angst and desire with such classics as ‘C’mon Everybody,’ ‘Something Else,’ ‘Twenty Flight Rock‘ and ‘Summertime Blues.’ A flashy stage dresser with a tough-sounding voice, Cochran epitomized the sound and the stance of the Fifties rebel rocker.”
Lotta covers of that kickass song.
1962 The Beach Boys. A 14 and a 16 year old contributed to this recording.
Ten years later, Blue Cheer broke ground in 1968 with a heavy metal version of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues,” released ten years earlier. [This guy was on the SanFran scene in 1968.]
I heard that version when I was in 6th grade, and tried to decide if I liked it or not. Took me several years before I understood what they were doing, and I decided that I liked the original better. Hell, the name of the band was a brand of LSD named after a laundry detergent.
1975 The Who – According to Wiki they’d been playing Summertime Blues since 1967 so this version is out of chronological order.
1970 T. Rex
1975 Olivia Newton-John
1978 The Rolling Stones
1982 Joan Jett. Hear The Ramones influence?
1987 Alvin & The Chipmunks
1992 Little River Band
2004 Rush
2009 The Black Keys
Cheech Marin, The Prophets, Levon Helm, Guitar Wolf, The Flying Lizards, Bobby Vee, The Crickets, Buck Owens, James Taylor, The Ventures, Dick Dale, Robert Gordon with Link Wray, Skid Row, Johnny Hallyday, Brian Setzer, MC5, Alex Chilton, and Marty Wilde have also covered the song.
Y’all can find the the other killer ccvers on your own. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.
Tacky Raccoons 