Tag: Playing For Change

Saturday Matinee – Playing For Change, Kenny Brown, JT Coldfire & The Killborn Alley Blues Band

Playing For Change x Visit Mississippi. Nice variations on Robert Johnson’s classic.

Born in 1952 on Craig Air Force Base near Selma, Alabama, slide guitarist, singer and songwriter Kenny Brown plays in the North Mississippi Hill Country blues style. He was taught by some of the best, including R.L. Burnside, who claimed him as his adopted son.

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, James Thomas Uvalle (1980 – 2015) taught himself to play guitar at the age of 11. At 16 he adopted the moniker JT Coldfire and began his songwriting and performing career. He passed away suddenly at 35 years.

“The Killborn Alley Blues Band kills. Picture a deep-dish Chicago version of the Fabulous Thunderbirds back 30 years ago.”
Tom Clark, review of Tear Chicago Down, Hittin’ the Note • Issue 55, 2007.

Stock market up, stock market down, stock market up, and shake it all around. Been happening forever, seems a lot of people with TDS just began to notice. Meanwhile, the porch will open tomorrow promptly at whenever and we’ll discuss the best methods of trapping a skunk. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – Lurrie Bell & Billy Branch, Omar & The Howlers, The Andreas Diehlmann Band, and Playing For Change

Lurrie Bell and Billy Branch are two modern day blues masters. Branch is a roots blues promoter and historian with  a direct link to Willie Dixon, while Bell is the son of harpslinger and Blues Hall of Fame inductee Carey Bell. In 1977, Bell and Branch were considered members of the “New Generation of Chicago Blues” and both have made significant contributions to the genre.

Omar and The Howlers features Kent “Omar” Dykes:
“He hails from McComb, MS, a town with the distinction of being home turf for Bo Diddley. Omar started playing guitar at twelve where he took to hanging out in edge-of-town juke joints playing with Wakefield Coney and other authentic blues greats in the middle of the night when his parents were asleep.”

The Andreas Diehlmann Band is a German power trio who crank out Texas blues ala ZZ Top, with vocals to match. Diehlmann is backed by Jörg Sebald on bass and Tom Bonn on drums.

Playing For Change: Legendary multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, accompanied by Stephen Perkins, Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, and over 20 musicians and dancers from seven different countries perform a rework of the 1929 original release by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the most destructive river flooding in U.S. history.

Prayers to those who lost loved ones and were otherwise affected by Hurricane Helene, one of the largest to hit the US in recent history.  The cleanup effort required is mind boggling.

Porch time begins at porch time. See you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – The Mighty Teardrops, Eric Bibb & Robbie Robertson

The Mighty Teardrops of Vancouver cover the 19th century traditional Midnight On The Stormy Deep, first recorded by Lester McFarland & Robert A. Gardner (1926). It’s a song about cheatin’.

Born in New York, blues singer / songwriter Eric Bibb moved to Europe in 1970 and currently resides in Helsinki, Finland, with his Finnish wife Ulrika.

In 2019, Playing For Change featured Ringo Starr and The Band’s original member Robbie Robertson, along with musicians across 5 continents.

Outta time, outta gas, gotta go. See you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Russian Cyberfarm, KMAC2021, The Marcus King Band & Playing For Change

They say that Russia is a technically backward country, there are no roads, robotics do not develop, rockets do not fly, and mail goes too long. It’s bullshit.

[h/t Feral Irishman]

KMAC2021 has been around a while, does some great short videos and has close to a million fans on the Utoobage. He does some serious stuff, too.

Marcus King started learning guitar at age three or four, played professionally since he was 11. He’s a fourth-generation musician; his grandfather was a country guitarist, and his father, Marvin King, continues to perform live.

Musicians from around the globe, assembled by Playing For Change, covered the NOLA staple Iko Iko in style. It features Dr. John (in one of his last recordings), the Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, New Orleans’ favorites Ivan Neville, Donald Harrison and George Porter, Jr.

Yep. There’s some stuff alright. Have a great weekend and try not to annoy too many people on social media. See you tomorrow.

The Saturday Matinee – BLR Debate Night, Spencer Davis Group, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, and La Bamba

Just click play. It’s worth it.

Spencer Davis passed away this week at the age of 81.  What a legend.

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers (with Mick Taylor) 19 July 2003, 70th Birthday Concert. The “Father of British Blues” was born on 29 November 1933, but so what.

We started this recording on a back porch in East Los Angeles With members of Los Lobos, And Then returned to the roots of the song in Veracruz, Mexico. As we Traveled, musicians everywhere mixed the traditional and rock ‘n’ roll styles of “La Bamba” into a new Song Around The World. – Playing For Change

Guaranteed to be the best version of the traditional you’ve never heard. Have a great weekend, folks. We’re not going anywhere, so stop back here tomorrow for, you know, stuff.

 

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

https://youtu.be/MI8f6ttiGFo?t=1s

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 – Playing For Change, Rolling Stones, Steppenwolf & Meatloaf

The Stones‘ “Gimme Shelter” by multinational conglomeration Playing For Change, created by American producer Mark Johnson, is very cool. (Watch for Taj Mahal.)

I find it odd that they would choose that particular song, as it’s forever linked to a free rock festival in 1969 that ended up in tragedy at Altamont Speedway, California, much of it due to the actions of the hired “police” – Sonny Barger & The Hell’s Angels.

The event is best known for having been marred by considerable violence, including one homicide and three accidental deaths: two caused by a hit-and-run car accident and one by drowning in an irrigation canal. Four births were reported during the event. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen and then abandoned, and there was extensive property damage.

From the same year, Steppenwolf had a hit with the greatest biker song ever – “Born To Be Wild.” Okay, where do we go from here? Oh wait. I know.

That’s for José from Spain who tutored me on cryptanalysis, and recently discovered the wonderworld of Meat Loaf.

Have a great weekend folks, and be back here tomorrow for Day 3 of our 6th Glorious Year of pure awesomenecessity.