Saturday Matinee – Steve ‘n’ Seagulls, Little Feat & Buddy Guy

Steve N’ Seagulls is a band from Finland that records bluegrass covers of various heavy metal groups (including AC/DC) and they’re entirely awesome.

Little Feat was (and is) an underrated band that didn’t get as much attention as they deserved, despite Jimmy Page’s endorsement. Here they are with Emmy Lou Harris and Bonnie Raitt on backup vocals playing their 1973 hit “Dixie Chicken.” Great swamp rock.  (Check out the lead-in to their 1979 album “Down On The Farm” for a grin.)

The embedded title says it all, but the vid starts late and cuts off too soon. Jimi Hendrix studied the masters, including Buddy Guy.

Buddy Guy paid tribute to complimented both Hendrix and Cream at the Byron Bay Blues Fest in April 2014.

Have a great weekend, folks, and don’t forget Yo Mama Day.

Saturday Matinee – Tito Puente, Mickey Hart & Todd Rundgren

Pure percussion by Tito Puente e Los TropiJazz All Stars. I could listen to this stuff all day.

Decades ago (in college) we attended an off-campus house party that seemed to have a live band. I asked the host about it and he replied, “That’s the Rhythm Section. They’re in the basement.” So I went downstairs and found people taking turns on vinyl trash cans, bottles, cans, buckets, with wooden dowels and spoons, and it all sounded great as it morphed, non-stop. No electronics, just stoners people grooving on impromptu syncopated rhythms.

Micky Hart‘s Planet Drum project got my ear as well. Hard to say what musical instrument came first, the bone flute or the drum. I’d guess the latter, because you can bang on anything to create a tempo, and everything else is secondary. (Vocals don’t count unless you’re talmbout Hollerin.)

Then of course there’s this RetroSka classic:

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll be back here tomorrow whether you like it or not.

Saturday Matinee – Hornet Nest Eradication Fail, Tom Sitter, Kenneth White, The Avett Brothers & The Magnetic Fields

A Peavey amp, a Gibson, Black Sabbath, a Roman Candle, a hose and a folding yard stick is no defense from hornets. The part where he says, “Hold my beer,” is missing from the video.

From Laughing Squid:

Redditor Kathy Sitter very proudly posted a video of her 93-year old grandfather Tom Sitter telling an absolutely hilarious story to a very responsive audience during The Moth in Madison StorySLAM at the High Noon Saloon in Wisconsin. The theme of the night was “Love Hurts”, so Sitter spoke about his valentines from 1933, earning him a first-ever perfect score.

Kenneth White spent over 5 years building a replica wild west village from the 1880’s right in his backyard. White built everything from scratch including a saloon, a church with beautiful stained glass windows and an old-fashioned western jail complete with a prisoner in the bed.

What a great project. [Found here.]

How ’bout some modern country?

The Avett Brothers got the licks, and they proved it at Knoxville’s Tennessee Theater in 2015.

Bunkessa ran off to see The Magnetic Fields last night. The music isn’t quite my can of beer, but the animation is fun.

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

 

Saturday Matinee – Bovine Spring, Biergarten, Man In The Woods & James Cotton (1935-2017)

Vandaag was het weer groot feest bij boer Brandsma in Bolsward! Na 5 maanden mochten de koeien weer voor het eerst naar buiten!

Springtime in the Netherlands and the cows are released from their winter shelters (via) and THIS is definitely related.

Proof that German cattle know what a Biergarten für Rinder sounds like.

This creepy short animation was a student project from 2014 [via].

We lost J. Geils recently, but I completely missed the news of one of the greatest harmonica players I ever heard. James Cotton (aka “Mr. SuperHarp”) passed away at the age of 81 on 16 March 2017 in Austin Texas. Cotton recorded “The Creeper” in 1968. It predates Richard “Magic Dick” Salwitz‘ 1971 recording of “Whammer Jammer“, falsely accredited to “Juke Joint Jimmy”.

Here’s James Cotton at his finest, and having fun with it, too.

Have a great weekend folks, be back here tomorrow for something or other.

Saturday Matinee – The Growlers, Leo Bud Welch & J. Geils

Did I post this before? I still like this song by The Growlers. It’s retro rock on many levels.

Leo “Bud” Welch is now into his eighties and only recently began his recording career. Here’s his website. Classic Delta blues mixed with the Chicago sound.

RIP John Geils.

That clip is from 1972 and features the classic J. Geils Band line up. I didn’t find out about those guys until a couple of years later when I got hooked on the sound and the fun. None of the players in his band stood out as heavy hitters individually, but as a group they kicked ass, with Danny Klein, Magic Dick Salwitz, Stephen Jo Bladd, Peter Wolf and Seth Justman. They lost me in 1980 with their move to pop rock.

Have a great weekend, folks, and remember what Easter really means tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Tool, Elvin Bishop & Lonnie Brooks

Very odd video. I like it.

Elvin Bishop goes fishin’. Guy has an amazing history, and I’m surprised he isn’t a full-fledged Rock God by now. His website www.elvinbishopmusic.com is back up and running.

We lost another great bluesman recently:
Lee Baker, Jr., aka Lonnie Brooks (1933-2017).

Lonnie Brooks was another classic bluesman with an interesting background.

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll be back here tomorrow, whether you like it or not.

Saturday Matinee – Billy Blob, Superstitions & Stevie Wonder

Clever animation from Billy Blob: Two radiation particles travel to Earth with a mission and a cool soundtrack.

Origins of some common superstitions [via]. They missed the obvious. Walking under a ladder is dangerous because you might dislodge it, or whoever’s working up top might accidentally drop something on you. I’d guess that the business about stepping on a crack likely has to do with walking on thin ice. Seven years of bad luck for breaking a mirror? Not so sure about that one.

Stevie Wonder, live at Sesame Street, 12 April 1973. What a killer groove. I liked this one even better:

Yeah. That. Head-bobbin’ trad-blues-funk at it’s best.

Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ve got more cool stuff coming soon.

Saturday Matinee – Chuck Barris & Eugene Patton, Count Basie & America Paz

Yeah, we lost another famous Chuck this week. Here’s Chuck Barris on The Gong Show featuring the late Eugene Patton, aka, Gene Gene The Dancing Machine. (If you thought I was going to post vids of The Unknown Comic, you’re mistaken, but here’s a link instead.)

GGTDM’s themesong was always Count Basie‘s 1938 hit “Jumpin’ At The Woodside,” so let’s go there. Here’s Basie’s Orchestra playing their 1937 hit “One O’Clock Jump” six years later in the movie Reveille with Beverly.

That 1943 Basie lineup likely included Buck Clayton, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Snooky Young, trumpet; Dicky Wells, trombone; Earle Warren, Buddy Tate, Don Byas, Jack Washington, saxes; Freddie Green, guitar; Jo Jones, drums. Not sure who’s on bass.

This Funk Bass Slapfest is awesome, and the girl’s smacking a six-string. I’m guessing that this how Julliard students settle their differences and go busking at the same time.

OH WAIT! THAT’S AMERICA PAZ!

Very impressive, Ms. America.

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll see you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – The Pogues, Ron Kavana & Rex McGhee

Every true Irishman knows that Saint Patrick’s Day doesn’t start at midnight. It begins at sunrise and ends at sunrise if you’re doing it right. My ancestry is Scots-Irish, which means I can drink without having to wear a kilt to play golf, and I don’t have to go to Confession afterwards.

One of The Pogues‘ classics.

Here’s another Pogues’ classic song, “Young Ned Of The Hill,” as performed by the original songwriter Ron Kavana (who didn’t write it).

This my favorite Irish Rebel Song:

Nell Flaherty’s Drake is a nice tune, but the original Broadside was pure sarcasm.

Have a great weekend, folks, and if we’re not back up on Sunday it’s due to an ongoing malware battle with a faux svchost.exe daemon.

 

Saturday Matinee – Three Minutes Till Showtime, The Ides of March, Pink Floyd & Greensky Bluegrass

It reminds me of this song. The Intermission Elf with the dancing hotdogs were scary enough when I was a kid, but this one beats them all [via].

The Ides of March perform their 1970 hit “Vehicle,” (complete with clips of the 1969 lunar landing).

Pink Floyds “One of These Days” was the first track on their 1971 album “Meddle,” performed at Earls Court London in 1994. I love that echo bass hypno jam.

Greensky Bluegrass plays “Time” from Pink Floyd‘s “Dark Side of the Moon” album, and it works.

Have a great weekend, folks. See y’all tomorrow.