In case you’re living in a closet, there’s some nasty weather going on down south with a killer hurricane underway.
Led Zeppelin unapologetically ripped off Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe for one of their greatest hits.
On the other hand, this blues jam was an original.
So what’s next? Maybe a Rainy Night In Georgia.
To my friends down in Texas and Louisiana, keep safe.
I’ve never seen a single episode of “Parks & Recreation,” but this advert featuring actor Nick Offerman is mildly amusing [via]. It doesn’t go far enough IMO. Someone tell Nick that I’d be happy to outline a horror story based upon actual events.
John Edmark creates some amazing stuff using the irrational number Phi, laser cutters and strobes [via].
“Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride” is a 2006 documentary about rogue reporter Hunter S. Thompson, narrated by Nick Nolte. Thompson was an amusing unhinged journalist who set the standard for inserting himself into every story he ever covered.
Gotta have at least one music vid, and we haven’t posted any Roy Buchanan in a while, so there you go.
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, folks, and please take the time to remember what it’s all about.
Wow. I haven’t heard stuff like this since the Blues Brothers promoted it. Okay I have, but not as far as you know.
St. Paul & The Broken Bones does retro soul / R&B, with a sound that is pure Stax/Volt from the Big O days. They’re from Birmingham, not Memphis, and I’d post a direct link to their website, but it froze up my computer twice (you’ve been warned).
Let’s continue our stroll down Soul Street, shall we?
Booker T. & The M.G.’s were about as close to the center of the Soul Circuit as anyone. (Members of San Francisco’s CCR were in the wings during this performance taking notes).
Okay, let’s jam the gears. How many influences can you cover in one song?
Bunkessa volunteers at a local radio station occasionally, and The Knitts showed up to play live in-studio. The band is getting a following, have some tours lined up (and they know she has a Class B license).
Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here tomorrow for more fun stuff.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wow. What a legend. No reason for me to do a write up for someone so well known for so long, but I’ll admit this: I didn’t care for his music that much when I was young. Although I appreciated his talent and his importance in the early days of R&B / R&R, the songs sounded the same to me.
In 1972 someone gave me a copy of “The London Chuck Berry Sessions.” It impressed the hell out of me, and I became a true convert. I played that album so many times that light showed through the grooves.
Like an old song said, “If there’s a Rock and Roll heaven, it’s gotta have a helluva band. Hail, hail, indeed.
Tacky Raccoons 