Tag: R&B

Saturday Matinee – A Personal Protest, Miniatur Wunderland, Girl In A Coma, Bill Deal & The Rhondels

For years Tacky Raccoons has posted a small collection of Utoobage videos every weekend just for fun, entitled “The Saturday Matinee.” The videos posted are those that amuse us, and often include oddities and obscure musical relics from the past. Innocuous stuff, for sure.

We like to post ahead of time, so we linked and gave hoops to the delightful and fetching Miss Cellanea for this and this, thinking that the vids she turned up would be entertaining for folks of all ages, good manners and proper posture, i.e., those who peruse Tacky Raccoons. However, if you click on the links to those videos, you’ll see something like this:

Here are the screencaps of two vids we intended to post that have since been squelched by the Great Squelchers of the YouTube:

If anyone reading this blog is offended by the destruction of washing machines or the herding habits of sheep, DO NOT CLICK HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or especially HERE, and DO NOT enjoy the videos posted below the double-line of death.
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Yeah, so I went all caps. The YouTubers are out of line on this and they can bite me. Pass it on.

Update: Miss C has the story and forwarded new links.

Oh wow, I had no idea those were pulled! Luckily, I found replacements. Thanks for the heads up!

The guy who originally did the washing machine video was pissed that someone who copied him went viral, so that’s why that one was pulled. When I heard about it, I replaced the video at Neatorama, but neglected to update the one at Miss Cellania. The original video is here. http://youtu.be/6_PLnInsh7E

Now the sheep one is completely confuzzling. Harmful activities? That phrase isn’t even on the YouTube community guidelines page! But it’s probably a case of someone (or some group) flagging the particular copy that went viral. There are plenty of other copies. Like this one. http://youtu.be/pysET6UvN60

Official 2012 video [via]. It’s MUCH more intricate than what was shown in the  original advert. Pure awesome.


Girl In A Coma plays GoGos plays Ramones plays Ritchie Valens.

Bill Deal &The Rhondels. R&B rock steady and clogging makes for a great ending to the Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend, see you here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Etta James, Johnny Otis, Contours, Ruth Brown & Illinois Jacquet

Etta James passed away on 20 January 2012, and there aren’t many live vids out there on the Utoobage (this one’s from 1962). She was tough on the eyes, but gorgeous on the ears.

We also lost the great Johnny Otis on 17 January. Although I never saw The Johnny Otis Show on television, his 1990s radio show was great, playing old R&B and early R&R. (I spoke with him on the phone once about some trivia about The Contours.)

So here are The Contours live in 1963. I love early R&B, so we might as well continue with that theme.

Ruth Brown recorded “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” in 1953, and it’s a great example of “jump blues” that morphed, terminology-wise from “Race Records” into “Rhythm and Blues” and later into “Rock and Roll.”

According to the late Eubie Blake, the phrase “Rock and Roll” originated in the late 1800s. It described a ragtime piano style that kept the patrons of brothels moving along. (Even the name “ragtime” is bawdy, and you can connect the dots for yourselves.)

Jump Blues. From the Utoobage description:

Illinois Jacquet and his band in the “Jive Crazy” scene from the 1949 noir movie “D.O.A.” — at least, according to the movie publicity.

So that might not be Illinois Jacquet’s band, but it’s still a great scene. And that makes five jumpy and jivey vids for the Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks.

Saturday Matinee – AGW Explained, Pug Sings Batman Theme, Jackson Browne & David Lindley Rip Off Originals, The Everly Brothers Rip Off Jackson Brown & The Original Zodiacs Rocked

Okay, before some copyright dweeb tries to attack me for slander, that title is pure sarcasm. It’s a joke.

I hadn’t seen this entertaining summary, but apparently it’s been bouncing around the internest for a while.
[h/t whatever]

Here’s a Blast from the Past, and it’s exactly as I remember it.
[h/t John DiFool]

Here’s a video that I bet you’ve not seen. Jackson Browne with David Lindley, live on Buenafuente, singing a compilation of Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs’ “Stay” and “Love Is Strange,” a 1957 hit by Mickey & Sylvia.  (Note that the original version of “Stay” was the shortest song –  99 seconds – ever to become a No. 1 Hit.)

Here’s “Love Is Strange” <—-click) as performed by The Everly Brothers:

“Stay” is perhaps the greatest doowop song of all time, given the amount of doo and the wopness, all compressed into a hit that runs a minute and a half plus 9 seconds. There is only one vid on the Utoobage of the original performance, and here it is:

That makes the requisite number of five videos complete. Have a great weekend folks, and be back here tomorrow for more stuff.

Saturday Matinee – Jerry Lee Lewis, Joan Jett, The Blasters, Big Joe Turner

Great cover of Johnny O’Keefe’s “The Wild One.”  Here’s Jerry Lee Lewis’ version of “Wild Child.”

Although Iggy Pop did a great cover (here’s the instrumental track if you want to sing along), Joan Jett’s version is pretty good, and looky who shows up on the street.

Speaking of covers, here’s The Blasters’ 1981 version of Little Willie John’s “I’m Shakin’.” From the Wikipud:

Phil Alvin explained the origin of the band’s name: “I thought Joe Turner’s backup band on Atlantic records – I had these 78s – I thought they were the Blues Blasters. That ends up it was Jimmy McCracklin. I just took the ‘Blues’ off and Joe finally told me, that’s Jimmy McCracklin’s name, but you tell ‘im I gave you permission to steal it.”

Big Joe Turner was a great big band blues singer in the early days of rock and roll rhythm and blues. “Shake, Rattle and Roll” was his first big hit in 1954, but was coopted by Bill Haley & His Comets (who cleaned up the lyrics for the white folks).

That’s all for now, have a great Memorial Day Weekend, see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee: Eartha Kitt, Sharon & Binky, Willis, Eddie & Keith

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008).  She was THE Catwoman.

Sharon Jones, live in France, backed by Binky Griptite & the Dap Kings.

Willis “Gator Tail” Jackson cranks it in 1955.

Now for Something Else:

Eddie Cochran recorded this in 1959.  (Six months later he died in a car crash in England that also injured Gene Vincent and the songwriter, Sharon Sheely.)

Keith Richards’ tribute to Cochran.  Richards died of various drug overdoses and alcohol poisonings in 1967, 1970, 1972, 1983 and several other years since.  He’s still touring.

Saturday Matinee: Levi Stubbs 1936-2008

Levi Stubbs & the Four Tops, on the American TV show Hullabaloo, singing “Just Walk Away.”

From the Wikipoodle:

“Levi Stubbs was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the famed Motown R&B group The Four Tops.”

From Billboard’s Top Pop Singles:

“R&B vocal group from Detroit formed in 1953 as the Four Aims.  Consisted of Levi Stubbs (lead singer), Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson, Lawrence Payton, and Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir.  First recorded for Chess in 1956, then Red Top and Columbia, before signing with Motown in 1963.  Stubbs was the voice of Audrey II (the voracious vegetation) in the 1986 movie ‘The Little Shop of Horrors.'”

Besides being a cousin to Jackie Wilson (!) Stubbs was also the voice of Audrey II in “Little Shop of Horrors.” I never made that connection until today.

Aretha Franklin’s tribute to Levi Stubbs, after his stroke and during his fight with cancer. Hard to watch.

RIP, Mr. Stubbs.