Saturday Matinee– Growlin’ and Slidin’

Oh, man. We left this one for the last minute, and on “Talk Like A Pirate Day.” Thought for sure that there be some easy pickin’s on the Utoobage, BUT NOOO.

Our first hunt was for Steve Goodman’s classic “Lincoln Park Pirates.” No dice. Then we looked for mashups of the Disney thing, only to turn up infantile garbage.  So then we hunted for the Mothership: Rum. Andrews Sisters’ Rum and Coca-Cola. Arrgh.

So we’re gonna throw the whole theme out. Screw it… the karma’s just not there. Gotta get some serious pirate jive growlin’ goin’ instead.

Tom Waits’ “Emotional Weather Report” recorded in Köln, West Germany, April 18, 1977. Waits never sings the same song the same way twice.

Howlin’ Wolf’s “Highway 49,” Washington D.C. Blues Festival, November 1970.

Speaking of Highways, Johnny Winter’s version of Hwy61 is a slide guitar classic.

Mississippi Fred McDowell, one of the greatest slide guitar players ever, playing “John Henry.”

Saturday Matinee – How We Do It

Folks, some of y’all have wondered how and why we choose videos for the Saturday Matinee Posts. Actually no one axed us, but here’s how we do it anyway.

First, we find something odd, like this one.  Then we apply advanced tublication, with links, to create a theme of sorts, and we run with it, like this:

Desert Bus Demo video. Woosk has a description of the game, and here’s a link to a related charitable fundraiser.

So now we’re lookin’ for bus in all the wrong places, and about all we find is The Who’s “Magic Bus,” one video of Roger Daltrey singing the annoying children’s song, and the Bus Boys,  featured here about a year ago.

Instead of a bus song, let’s look for a sub song instead:

Here are the Subdudes. Gris gris gumbo yaya!

Now we’re sittin’ and scratchin’ and still lookin’ for another sub song. Everybody’s already seen Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” video (including the Weird Al parody) and we find this:

Red Hot Chili Peppers, doing a Dylan/Punk/Funk mashup. Personally, I think it sucks, but it took cojones to do it, and that’s really what it’s all about.

But the theme/thread is not complete without a knot. At this point, we’re gonna take “sub” and drop one letter, leaving the letters U and B, and add the final score of a blowout soccer game.  The knot becomes obvious:

UB40‘s “Rat In The Kitchen” is a brit/reggae classic, and our post is complete.

But to be honest, sometimes we just throw up a bunch of last-minute unrelated videos and pretend that a lot of thought went into it, but you’ll never be able to tell the difference because we’re that good.

Even if you think the video posts are random, they aren’t. Around here there’s a reason for everything, even when there isn’t.

Have a great weekend. –Bunk

The Post after the Previous Post

Recorded in Liverpool, or possibly Hamburg, ca. 1960.

Saturday Matinee – The Pencil, The Multiverse, & The Echos of Nyro

School is back in session, so check these out.


The Pencil. The late Milton Friedman is one of my favorites.


2005: Dr. Michio Kaku describes the purpose of LISA, scheduled for launch in 2010(?).  Woof.  This guy’s got some amazing ideas, despite his Berkely ties.


The intelligent Homerbird describes the daily rotation of the earth in easy to understand terms.
[Found at the Presurfer.]

Speaking of Dimensions, I caught myself before I posted a 5th Dimension vid, and decided to post Laura Nyro instead since she wrote several of their hits. Because there are so few decent Laura Nyro videos on the Utoobage, here are three of her songs performed by others, including the 5thD.

Blood Sweat & Tears‘ version of  “When I Die” from 1970, live in Japan.  (Hope someone can take this semi demagnetized video tape and balance out the sound.)


Three Dog Night‘s “Eli’s Comin’.”


I secretly liked Nyro’s version of this song, too.


The Royalettes‘ “Gonna Take A Miracle.” This was not a Nyro song, although she covered the 1965 hit in 1971.

Continue reading “Saturday Matinee – The Pencil, The Multiverse, & The Echos of Nyro”

TV Time

Tacky TV

Train to Utoob City, now boarding on Platform Click.

See for yourself why every year more people buy RCA Victor than any other TV.

Remember this, in B&W television, as in color, the symbols of leadership and dependablility are the names RCA and RCA Victor.

Mark 8 – 8 years home proved performance. The Fraser $495 optional with dealer. Manufacturer’s nationally advertised price. Slightly higher some areas west, south.

What’s My Line?

That’s My Color.

The most Trusted Name in Television.

THIS is what Television was invented for.

[Image created via effmypic.com.]

Saturday Matinee – Do the Fly, Do the Freddie, Slip Away, but Stay Away from the Chick-a-Dilly

Chubby Checker‘s “Do the Fly” didn’t quite make the cut in  1963, but two years later we got this:

In 1965, “Do the Freddy” was Freddy & the Dreamers’ attempt to create a new dance craze. I’d never heard of it, so it must have been a West Coast/British Invasion thang, but F&theD’s actually DID manage to have an influence on later rockers, including the Ramones (watch DeeDee’s moves). Wait for classic dopiness at about 1:00.

Clarence Carter‘s “Slip Away” went to No.6 in 1968. From Billboard’s Top Pop Singles: “Born in 1936 in Montgomery, Alabama. Blind since age 1. Self-taught on guitar from age 11.”

And now for our Feature Length Presentation (courtesy of Hanuman) 1961’s “The Choppers.” Pay attention, parents. This could happen to YOUR KIDS, but they’ll never have such a cool soundtrack.

Saturday Matinee – Kill a ‘Dilla, Comma Song, Follow the Sun, Waiting on a Friend, Happy Boy

KillaDilla.

Jimmy Jones’ “Handy Man” cracked me up when I was a tad. I remember it as the “Comma Song.”

Del Shannon came a long way from 1961’s  “Hats Off To Larry.” This song made it to Number 9 in November 1964.

This is one of the prettiest songs the Stones ever did, not that they were ever known for pretty.

And because my computer has been reborn and hasn’t thrown up in over 24 hours, here’s a repost of  the late great Country Dick Montana & the Beat Farmers to sum up my current mental outlook.

Saturday Matinee – ’65, ’66 & ’67

Folks, we had some odd computer problems today, so we had to throw this together at the last minute.

Hello Vancouver!

1965, Doug Sahm & the Sir Douglas Quintet.

1966 Yardbirds.  That was the same year Dad bought a set of the World Book Encyclopedia. The cellophane inserts  showing frog anatomy were very cool.

1967, crappy sound, but it’s the Blues Magoos.

1967, and Stephen Stills was only 22 in this video.  I was into Big Daddy Roth and Mad Magazine.  Oh, man.  Seems like it was just February.

Saturday Matinee – Watercolor, Muffin Machines, Building Roll w/ Tosh & Stones

Full screen is cool.  [Found here.]

[Found here.]

Comment found on the Utoobage:

Wooow! It takes a certain level of 3rd world engineering to pull off a demo that is usually only possible in CARTOON PHYSICS!

[Found here.]

Classic version of Chuck Berry’s classic.

Classic verison of Bob Marley’s classic.
Yawkin’ Foo some people summertime…

Saturday Matinee – Ghosts & Vapors, Pink Dub, Midnight Animals Oil, Ramones California Sun


Ghost caught on video!
“Booo! Booo! Run for mayor somewhere else! Booo!”
[Found here. Don’t jump to a Beer Summit conclusion, there’s more to the story.]

[Found here. Welcome to Electric Pelosiland.]


No video, but the concept is great. Pink Rock Floyd Steady Dub.

Nice cover of the Animals’ 1965 hit by Midnight Oil. But here’s some trivia: The song was written by Barry Mann. (More about him here.)

Oh, yeah.