Category: Videos

Saturday Matinee – Brazil, The Olympics, Jackie Phelps & Jimmy Riddle, and Tuba Skinny

I was looking for a live performance of “Brazil” (perhaps by Xavier Cugat) to commemorate the Competitions of the Grecian Gods, but instead we must settle for The Theme Song to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil as performed by Geoffrey Muldaur. He was famous for marrying Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D’Amato who recorded some popular songs in 1973 about putting camels to bed, and another one about feeling her leg.

There’s no live performance for that one, so I looked for some more Olympics-themed stuff.

The Olympics sound a lot like another Lieber & Stoller product to me, but so what.

Yep. There be the Olympians of Eefin’ and Hambone, Jimmy Riddle & Jackie Phelps.

Let’s go back to Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D’Amato (aka Maria Muldaur) and the leg feeling stuff. What a sultry voice.

This version by Tuba Skinny is a bit closer to Blue Lu Barker’s 1946 original.

Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff that’s too hot to handle and too cold to hold.

Saturday Matinee – Robin Trower, Procul Harum & Clarence Gatemouth Brown

Robin Trower‘s album Bridge of Sighs was a gold record in 1974. (According to Trower, the title song was named for a racehorse that was named after il Ponte dei Sospiri).

Procul Harum in 2013(?) playing their 1967 hit “Whiter Shade of Pale,” featuring Gary Brooker, Keith Reid, Matthew Fisher, Robin Trower, Chris Copping.

Okay, the slow dance is over. Let’s crank it up.

Clarence Gatemouth Brown (1924-2005) burns through “Pressure Cooker” and “Up Jumped The Devil.” Amazing musician, and his 1981 album “Alright Again!” is one of my favorites.

Have a great weekend folks, wherever you are.

Saturday Matinee – Dinosaurs, Ted Hawkins, Playing For Change, Steve Ray Vaughan & Johnny Copeland

Dinosaurs are always fun, and this video has a great cast of relative unknowns. It’s over an hour long, but that’s just a day in dinotime.

Ted Hawkins (1936-1995) had more success in the UK than the US, although he had a local fan base in Venice Beach CA where he was a popular busker. Check out his background at the link.

[h/t Charlie L.]

This version of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” is fascinating, as it appears that all the players recorded remotely. Playing For Change is not a band, it’s an organization based in Venice California that records musicians from around the world, and is dedicated to creating and supporting music schools particularly in developing countries.

Haven’t heard any Stevie Ray Vaughan in a while, so here he is with fellow Texan Johnny Copeland, live At Montreux 1985.

Have a great weekend, folks. Stay cool.

Saturday Matinee – NASA 1961, Jason D. Williams, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, & The Yonder Mountain String Band

This magnificent feat was engineered with slide rules, and it amounted to blasting a giant bullet containing a human into the sky, then recovering both it and Alan Shepard intact [via]. Those early astronauts had big brass ones, and the creepy music made it even better. (John Glenn appears at 04:15.)

Speaking of Great Balls of Fire, here’s the next best thing to The Killer. Jason D. Williams pounds the ivories with Sticks McGhee‘s 1947 classic “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-dee-o-dee.”

Spodiodi was street slang for chipping in for a cheap bottle of fortified wine in a brown paper bag and sharing it with your buddies. Urban Dictionary says “Spodiodi” is a glass of wine spiked with bourbon. Nah.

BTW, Sticks McGhee was the brother of Brownie McGhee, who partnered with harmonica player Sonny Terry known for his harmonica whooping. “Key to the Highway” was covered by many, including what’s his name. That famous British guy. You know. That guy.

Here’s some Easy-On-The-Ear-Holes stuff from The Yonder Mountain String Band. They need some authentic whooping in my opinion. Maybe even some eefin.

Have a great weekend, folks, and be glad that you’re not in Turkey.

Saturday Matinee – USS America, Accidents & Blunders, Johnny Winter w/ Popa Chubby

Cool timelapse of USS America LHA-6 arriving in Pearl Harbor for RIMPAC 2016 (not to be confused with the aircraft carrier USS America CV-66 which was decommissioned in 1996) [via].

[Found here.] Warning: Too dark for young kids.

Here’s something a bit lighter.

Johnny Winter, with Popa Chubby, Frank Latorre & The King Bees,  at the B.B. King Blues Club in NYC on 23 February 2014.

Have a great weekend, folks.

Manikins, Watermelons & Fireworks: A Deadly Mix

Proof that manikins have no business setting off fireworks. Jump to 01:00 for the splodeys.

Don’t shoot bottle rockets at each other’s eyes or hold exploding M-80s, kids, and definitely don’t lean over a firework that’s going to shoot into the air and explode [via].

They could at least have made it more realistic and scattered some empty beer cans around. Here’s one with an appropriate soundtrack from 2010:

The manikins recovered from their injuries (several times) but they never learn from their mistakes. This one’s from 2009:

[Above videos courtesy of the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.]

Meanwhile, this guy’s got some manikin blood in him.

Yeah, the explosion turned the lights on and changed his shirt, but so what. It’s still a classic.

Be sane tomorrow, and if you can’t manage that, at least be safe.

Saturday Matinee – Big Daddy, Big Daddy and Big Daddy

Big Daddy‘s take on Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” is pure awesome. Check out their mashup of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – you’ll love it. You might even be able to find a clean download somewhere before it’s gone (hint hint nudge nudge).

Then there’s this Big Daddy I never heard of. Pure brilliance happens within the first 60 seconds. See how long you can stand it before you click on

this. The Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Mugs mug too much, but their music is retrohot.

Nice drivin’ acoustic blues by Big Daddy Wilson, live at the Bluesmoose Café 14 March 2012, featuring
Big Daddy Wilson – vocal & percussion
Roberto Morbioli – Guitar
Detlef Blanke – Bass.

Whoa Mama! There’s a long weekend coming up. Have a great one, and be back here tomorrow if only because we told you to.

Saturday Matinee – LAZAR, Ry Cooder & Black Country Communion

Unusual animation from the 1980s. It reminds me of Terry Gilliam‘s “Brazil” from the same period, and it’s apropos, given yesterday’s #Brexit vote in the UK.

Ry Cooder‘s version of Johnny Cash‘s “Get Rhythm” (from the album of the same name) is introduced by Harry Dean Stanton. Cooder’s swamp rock take of Elvis’ “All Shook Up” is killer.

PeteR recommended Black Country Communion featuring Glenn Hughes, so here he is, there they are, and here we go.

Have a great weekend, folks, and if we’re not rockin’ tomorrow we’ll be rollin’.

Miami Blows.

Miami 16 June 2016

“Dude. GTFO. That’s my spot.” Then it happened. The wind kicked up and Miami started raining furniture.

This is the incredible moment chairs and furniture where whipped into the air by ferociously high winds in Miami. Patio chairs and sun loungers can be seen flying through the sky as the fierce storm scoops them up and flings them from a high rise building in the Floridian city.

[Image & video via here.]

Saturday Matinee – Chet Atkins, Louis Armstrong, Joe MacDonald & The New Orleans Jazz Hounds

Chet Atkins‘ version of the jazz classic “Muskrat Ramble.” This is perfect early morning sunrise roadtrip music. From Wiki:

“Muskrat Ramble” is a jazz composition written by Kid Ory in 1926. It was first recorded on February 26, 1926, by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, and became the group’s most frequently recorded piece.

There’s some dispute over the authorship of the song, as Lil Hardin (pianist, composer, arranger, singer, bandleader, and the 2nd Mrs. Armstrong) may have come up with it and missed out on the credit. According to Sidney Bechet, Hardin merely renamed a song stolen by Kid Ory from Buddy Bolden (“The Old Cow Died and the Old Man Cried”). Eh… I’m not a jazz historian so we’ll leave it at that.

Satchmo in Munich 1962. I love this stuff.

Just a few years later, Joe McDonald stole the same music, renamed it, put words to it and performed it at Woodstock as an anti-Vietnam War protest song. (I didn’t realize until I scanned his bio – McDonald’s parents were communists and he was named after Joseph Stalin. Now it all makes sense.)

Yeah, we all know about the bloodshed that happened after South Vietnam got chumped, Joe, and I bet you never paid any royalties to Ory, Hardin or Armstrong either.

Okay, let’s lighten it up a tad.

Live from Tokyo, it’s The New Orleans Jazz Hounds. Recorded 14 May 2016, it features Kikuchi Haruka, Tamura Makiko, Sato Shingo. I don’t know who plays what, but it’s still a nice tribute.

Have a great weekend, folks. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.