Mason Reese’ Contribution to the World

Remember him?

Some folks just get better looking with age. According to Wikipuddlia:

“Mason Reese [45] is an owner of Paladar, a Pan-Latino restaurant located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He opened an establishment named “Destination Bar and Grille” located on Avenue A in the East Village.”

[Image from here.]

Saturday Matinee – Trib Cartoonists, String Bean, Doobies & Chet Atkins

1931 Cartoonists at the Trib. I love that style. [Found here.]

“Run Rabbit Run” by String Bean (aka David Akeman) the inventor of gangsta pants and sporting early metal makeup, playing with Lester Flat and Earl Scruggs. Akeman and his wife were murdered by burglars at their rural Tennessee home in 1973.

I’d forgotten about this song until I heard Bunkessa singing it. It reminds me of a high school roadtrip when Dave Borracho decided to relieve himself through the open rear window of Mike Pupshaw’s family station wagon and we learned about aerodynamics.

Chet Atkins was amazing. Here’s some chickin’ pickin’ on “Yakety Axe,” a riff on Boots Randolph’s classic, “Yakety Sax,” more commonly known as “The Benny Hill Theme Song.”

Have a good weekend, folks.

Happy Mothers Day

We’ll let you click on these for yourselves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLV0lI-5EBg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2EahleBOzg&NR=1

Meanwhile here’s one that’s  a little more appropriate:

Saturday Matinee – Gorey Castle, Stoner Records, Lion Paw Riddim, Count Basie, Ondřej Havelka

Gorey Castle Projection is awesome.

From 1979 comes this story about Rasta Records. Wonder how many stoners ruined their turntables trying to play them.

Nice groove that.

“Jumpin’ At The Woodside” was a CB tradmark, and the speed still amazes me. Here’s  a double shot of Count Basie, live from 1972.

From the Utoobage description: videoklip k písni Beat me, daddy, eight-to-the-bar, nalézt ho můžete na CD Nejlepší kusy z repertoiru Ondřeje Havelky a jeho Melody Makers. Have a great weekend, folks.

Saturday Matinee – Kooza, Fishbone, Vai, Maceo & Satchmo

Cirque du Soleil is always awesome. Gotta wait for the cool stuff in this vid. [Found at a blog whose name has a lot of t’s and w’s in it.]

Fishbone is/was just nuts. I love ’em.

Steve Vai’s “Love of God” is another awesome rock classic.


Maceo Parker’s “Cold Sweat” is a great groovejam with a great funk lineup.

Louis Armstrong is one of a handful of people that I would have liked to have met. ¡Adiós mis muchachos!

Saturday Matinee – A Baboon, The Baboons, The Guana Batz, The Aquabats, The Skatalites

How to get a baboon to tell you where the water is in the Kalahari. Amazing. [Found here.]

The logical follow up to that video is The Baboons‘ “Drinkin’ Gasoline.” (Don’t laugh, they were on Walker, Texas Ranger, and if Mr. N says they’re awesome then they ARE awesome.)

The logical follow up to that video is more Rockabilly. Here are the Guana Batz with “Streetwise.”  Following the Guana Batz we have:

The Aquabats! Here’s a live version of “Fashion Zombies.” One last one before we go:

The Skatalites‘ rock steady ska with “Lawless Street.” Have a great weekend folks, see y’all tomorrow.

18 April 1942 – The Doolittle Raid

December 31, 2009 — Jonna Doolittle Hoppes speaks about her Grandfather, General Jimmy Doolittle from her new book “Calculated Risk” and the importance of recording history for future generations at the Historic Flight Foundation’s “B-25 Grumpy Welcome Reception”. This clip includes original film footage of the crews on the historic “Doolittle Raid” of WWII, which proved to the US and the Japanese Empire that America could and would strike back.

There’s obviously more to the story than we’re able to present here. The anniversary of the Doolittle Raid deserves recognition, as it was not only unimaginably dangerous and ballsy, but very necessary to send a message to Japan, as well as to the American public. It was created, orchestrated and accomplished in a little over 4  months after the unwarranted attack on Pearl Harbor.

Military Magazine recently published a first person account of a pilot who volunteered for the mission without knowing what it was. The mission wasn’t revealed until the modified bombers had been loaded onto the U.S.S. Hornet and the Hornet was at sea. Of the pilots who volunteered, all were given opportunities to decide for themselves whether they wanted to go on, without reprimand or dishonor, and not one of them sat down.

http://www.milmag.com doesn’t have the story on line yet, but it’s a must read.

[Crossposted here.]

Saturday Matinee – Botswana Guitar, Panama Red, Panama Davis, Blues for Greasy & Stevie W.

[Found here.]

New Riders of the Purple Sage’s “Panama Red.”

Panama Eddy Davis, live in New Orleans.

“Blues for Greasy,” performed by an amazing lineup of talent from 1950: Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison: trumpet; Lester Young: Tenor Sax; Flip Phillips: Tenor Sax; Bill Harris: Trombone; Hank Jones: Piano; Ray Brown: Bass; Buddy Rich: Drums; Ella Fitzgerald: Vocals.

Sorry to switch gears so quick. Here’s Stevie Wonder’s classic “Higher Ground” live in 1973. Always take it.

Saturday Matinee – Tea Party, Neil Innes, Johnny Cash, Eddie Cochran, Weird Al

The Tea Party protesters are really getting out of hand. Here’s footage from 20 March 2010 in Washington D.C.
[Update: Oop. My mistake. Those aren’t Tea Party people.]

Neil Innes was a protester before you were a protester.

Johnny Cash’s snare drum is awesome.

Turn up the treble for this classic from Eddie Cochran.

I’m 16% behind Weird Al on this, and 84% behind him on this one:

Have a great weekend folks.

Saturday Matinee – The Tick, Phi, Ken Nordine, Bootsy & The Zappas

The Tick came and went, but lives on the Utoobage. Here’s Part 1 of my favorite 1/2 hour episode: “The Funeral.”  The next two parts are here and here.

Speaking of nature and mathema-Ticks:

The concept of Phi, graphically illustrated. [Found here.] Ken Nordine had a great take on the Fibonacci Sequence as well:

Bootsy’s New Rubber Band’s got a nice groovejam going with a left handed shredder.

Here’s a fun compilation, “Peavey Nation,” by the Sons of Zappa, featuring a cameo by Dick Clark.

Have a great Easter weekend, folks.