Music – Tacky Raccoons

Saturday Matinee – Eric Johnson (w/ Kyle Brock & Tommy Taylor), Ana Popović, and The Sonics

Eric Johnson with Kyle Brock and Tommy Taylor in 1988. Lot of technique packed into a pretty instrumental.

Born in Serbia and now residing in the US, Ana Popović has earned seven Blues Music Award nominations and performed as the only female guitarist of the 2014 -2018 all-star Experience Hendrix lineup, a nationwide tour celebrating the music and legacy of Jimi Hendrix.

In 2015, The Sonics performed at the KEXP studio to record a set of their proto-punk garage band classics (along with some covers). Four of the five original members were there: Gerry Roslie / vocals, keyboard; Larry Parypa / Guitar; Andy Parypa / Bass; and Rob Lind / Saxophone. The entire session can be heard here and it’s pure awesome.

We had some actual weather this past week, with high winds, thunder and lightning, sheets of rain, avalanches, starvation, disease, pestilance. Now I hear that there are extra terrestrials on the way so we’ll have a surplus if we don’t waste them. I think there’s room in the shed.
See you porchtime-ish.

Heureux Mardi Gras!

Mardi Gras Day

West End Blues

Zydececo Cha Cha

Le Chanky-Chank Français

Mardi Gras In New Orleans

Beale Street Blues

Down In New Orleans

Feel Like Funkin' It Up

Sugar Foot Stomp

Pyramid Strut

That's It!

When the Saints Go Marching In

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

[Caveat: I don’t own the copyrights to any of these recordings. They are presented here for entertainment purposes only.]

Panomphaean Hot Links

Short, Fat and Ugly, Lucy Malheur (2021) Lucy Malheur is a German singer/songwriter/producer who, with very few exceptions, only publishes her own songs.

Medical panic porn.

Smooth OpeRATTor.

Mystery Pickle Jar; story here.

Moonstone [via Memo Of The Air].

Water & sewer bills: $20K [Scroll up].

Quitting flipbook [via Everlasting Blört].

Making famous faces [via Miss Cellania].

Little Miss Foamface [via Thompson, blog].

The trouble with radiators and heater cores.

How to uglify a house and become famous anyway.

IMO the Bourbon Street live webcams get better after midnight.

[Top image: Nordic sphere retreat found here, via This Isn’t Happiness.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee Pre-Mardi Gras Edition – Tuba Skinny, Dr. John, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Trad jazz band Tuba Skinny features bandleader Shaye Cohn on cornet. Performing and recording for over a decade, they’re branching out into jug band music, spirituals, country blues, string band music, ragtime, and New Orleans R&B.

Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., aka Dr. John (1941-2019), was known for his mix of jazz, blues, R&B and soul flavored with New Orleans Mardi Gras, swamp rock and a pinch of voodoo. Gitcha gris gris gumbo ya ya.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band formed in New Orleans in 1977, playing traditional jazz mixed with bebop, funk, R&B and soul, and resurrected classic Second Line rhythms.

New Orleans’ famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band was founded by Pennsylvanian Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s as a dixieland revival group, aimed at reviving the careers of the early jazz greats and preserving traditional jazz.

Nope, I didn’t forget. Here’s a story of Valentine’s Day in 1933.
While the missus is knocking down the remaining little heart-shaped confections tomorrow, I’ll be knocking back you know where.
Porch Time commences at porch time.

Tautochronous Hot Links

Moonlight Shuffle, Les Elgart & His Orchestra (1959)
After successful runs with several big bands of the 1940s, Les Elgart and his brother Larry formed their own orchestra with a distinctive brass-heavy sound. Their most recognizable recording, Bandstand Boogie, became the theme song to Dick Clark’s American Bandstand television show.

The blizzard of ’78.

Mean Joe & the kid.

Antique brass band.

Early indoctrination.

Afro-Caribbean vibes.

Masudaya Gemini X-5.

Rubber Chicken Museum.

The polar bears are doing just fine.

Bruce Lee vs. a Navy Seal instructor.

Ideal Astrobase [via Everlasting Blört].

The art of the hole [via Memo Of The Air].

New Hampshire and Maine prepare for war.

Calve’s Head dressed Turtle Fashion & other recipes
[via Thompson, blog].

Postcards of the Russo-Japan War [via Nag on the Lake].

[Top image: flipped Waffle found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – Shaggy Dogs, Monster Mike Welch & The Black Keys

Shaggy Dogs play a blues/R&B/rock/soul mix they call Fiesta Blues ‘n’ Roll. Performing and recording since the late 1990s, their album Pinball Boomers was “the most streamed French album in 2025 on the blues radio collective.”

Monster Mike Welch has been performing and recording for over 25 years. The bluesman from Boston was only 13 when Dan Akroyd gave him the nickname.

The Black Keys (Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney) have recorded their 14th studio album Peaches, due to be released in May. It was written while Auerbach was caring for his (late) father on the basis that “it would be good for Dan to have something to do.”

Lotta things we’re supposed to be outraged about these days, but most of them sound like little stampy feets and made up cuss words to me, while the real monsters are pounding on the door trying to get out of the basement. I’m not worried. I’ve got more important things to do, like getting the Superbowl Chili burbling and the corn breading. See you tomorrow, same porch time, same porch channel.

Capnomancing Hot Links

Trash, New York Dolls (1973) This seminal proto punk band took their name from the New York Doll Hospital, a doll repair shop.

Slicers.

WARNING.

Charmera.

Noted.
Also noted.

Danzica, Polonia.

Grandma’s crock.

REVENGE OF THE

Inspector Peterson.

Lisa’s missing brows.

R.I.P. Catherine O’Hara.

The Museum of Hoaxes.

Grampaw Pettibone in WWII.

I hope you never have to use it.

Animal scans [Thompson, blog].

Reckless [via The Feral Irishman].

In defence of a sheep [via Everlasting Blört].

The fate of the Waratah [via Memo Of The Air].

“A gyroscopic airfoil based on sound aerodynamic principles.”

[Top image: Dirty Dogedog found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – The True Loves, Joe Louis Walker & The Blues Rebels, and Brass Against

The True Loves are an Afro-beat funk and soul group out of Seattle. Formed in 2014 by Jabrille “Jimmy James” Williams / guitar, Bryant Moore / bass) and David McGraw / drums, they’re backed by Iván Galvez / congas, aux percussion, Gordon Brown / tenor sax, Greg Kramer / trombone, and Skerik / baritone sax. [h/t Chuck S.]

Supergroup Joe Louis Walker & The Blues Rebels, live at Zappa Tel Aviv (2013) featured Blues Hall of Fame member Joe Louis Walker / guitar & vocals, Andy Watts / guitar, Dov Hammer / harp, Ilan Hillel / bass and Alon Hillel / drums. Walker passed away in April 2025, age 75.

An amazing version of Motörhead’s classic by Brass Against, a collective led by guitarist Brad Hammonds for purposes of protesting everything you can imagine with song covers. (Fun Fact: They are banned from playing at NASCAR events and Daytona Speedway’s Rockville Festivals because of an “incident” in 2021.)

I see that the winter storm isn’t done messing with you folks east of the Mississippi and south of everything. I don’t envy you – I did my time long ago. Remember to steer in the direction of the skid, and we’ll see you on the other side. For the rest of us, heavy porchtime is expected to blow in by noon o’clock tomorrow. See you then.

Batrachivorous Hot Links

I Can’t Stop Dancing, Archie Bell & The Drells (1968)
Soul / R&B group from Houston, Texas, Archie Bell & The Drells had a string of hits in the late 60s-70s. They are best known for their 1968 dance hit Tighten Up which shot to No. 1 on the charts while Bell was recuperating from a leg injury he suffered while in the U.S. Army.

Blizzard timelapse.

Blowin’ in the wind.

Magnetic Mountain.

Because they said to.

Stations down under.
Bear down under.

Dads, kids & bicycles.

Housing the homeless.

Bedroom rollercoaster.

All-purpose storm tracker.

“How did your husband die?”

Lyrics to Hocus Pocus by Focus.

Limping devils and their vejigas.

Machines [via Everlasting Blört].

Warming up the car [Thompson, blog].

Happy blogoversary to The View from Lady Lake.

Morgan James sings Floyd [via Memo Of The Air].

[Top image: Snow couch found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – Luna Lee, Bywater Call, Alastair Greene & Danny Bryant

Born in Seoul and trained in traditional Korean music, expert Gayageum rocker Luna Lee became interested in western music while still in college. More about her here.

Bywater Call is a Toronto-based group formed by singer Meghan Parnell and guitar player Dave Barnes. They were nominees for the Southern Rock & Soul Independent Blues Awards in 2021. In 2024 they were nominated for International Blues Artist of the year (UK Blues Awards).

Born in Santa Barbara, CA, and now in Austin, TX, Alastair Greene was inspired to pursue a career in music by his grandfather, Chico Alvarez, a trumpeter in the Stan Kenton Orchestra in the 1940s-50s.

Danny Bryant was born in Hertfordshire, England, was playing professionally by 18, formed Danny Bryant’s RedEyeBand with his father, Ken Bryant, on bass. His dad retired in 2013, but the band continues on.

Hope you’re all hunkered down for the Winter Wallop – a big white frozen nasty from what I can tell. As a former Buckeye, it looks like beer and Euchre weather. As a now-spoiled west coaster, it looks more like porch time to me. I’ll be thinking about ya.