Category: Videos

Saturday Matinee – Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks had an unusual sound for a band based in San Francisco at the peak of the psychedelic music era. From an obit in the New York Times 7 February 2016:

“He came to call his music “folk swing,” but that only hinted at the range of influences he synthesized. He drew from the American folk tradition but also from the Gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt, the Western swing of Bob Wills, the harmony vocals of the Andrews Sisters, the raucous humor of Fats Waller and numerous other sources.”

Hicks was still performing up until his demise at the age of 74.

THAT is the prettiest (and only) cover of Tom Waits‘ classic “The Piano Has Been Drinking” I’ve ever heard. The backup vocals are sultry, and note the subtle hat-tip at about 03:00.

Have a great weekend folks, and a long one if you’re taking advantage of a mid-week Independence Day.

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 – Jurassic Parkour, Eliane Rodrigues, Doña Oxford & The All Night Long Blues Band

Not quite Sweded, but close. [Found here.]

Brazillian concert pianist Eliane Rodrigues discovered that her piano was defective, descended into Hell, then came back smiling. She’s no prima donna.

Doña Oxford ain’t no slouch either, and her keys melt. Let’s do one more.

The All Night Long Blues Band featured Sean “Bad” Apple, Dixie Street and Martin Grant with a nice cover of Hambone Willie Newbern‘s 1929 recording “Roll and Tumble Blues.” [Harp player Martin Grant passed away in March of 2015.]

Have a great weekend, folks. See y’all back here soon.

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 – 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.

Dude was and is funny.

Here’s one of the prettiest songs George Harrison ever wrote and one of the most appropriate videos I’ve ever seen.

For some unknown reason that song always makes me tear up, and there’s something in that innocent video that hits my heart.

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