Tag: Rock

Saturday Matinee – Mark Hummel’s Golden State / Lone Star Revue, Henrik Freischlader & FUZZRIDER

From the website: Mark Hummel’s Golden State / Lone Star Revue is an all-star, cross-country melding of musicians from California – Mark Hummel (harp-blower, vocalist, bandleader and Grammy nominee), R.W. Grigsby (bassist) – and Texans Anson Funderburgh (guitarist and Rockets bandleader), Mike Keller (Double Trouble, Fabulous Thunderbirds) and Wes Starr (famed Austin drummer who has played with a who’s who of Texas music royalty).

German blues guitarist, singer-songwriter, producer and self-taught multi-instrumentalist from Wuppertal, Germany, Henrik Freischlader plays all flavors of the blues.

FUZZRIDER is a relatively new heavy blues super trio from Athens Greece: Jim Lord / guitars and vocals, Nick Giannoulis /  bass and Brian Velentzas / drums.

Lotta news flying around and splattering all over the pavement. No point in listing it all here, you’ve heard most of the official contradictory reports by now. Seems like tomorrow might be a good time to watch dogs from the porch and let things sort themselves out. See you there.

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.

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.

Panda falls.

Camperness.

Floridacoons.

The 2026 WSSC.

DIY garage door.

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.

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.

Saturday Matinee – The Molotovs, Platinum Moon & One Rusty Band

The Molotovs are teenage siblings Mathew and Issey Cartlidge who play in the style of 70s-80s British Mod rock mixed with punk and ska.
“When [the covid] lockdown ended we just started busking all over London and doing covers of the bands we liked and that allowed us to become a really well rehearsed unit. So when the doors opened again, we flooded into venues and got onto the gigging circuit.”

Based in Katonah, NY, Platinum Moon was formed in 2018 by classically-trained brothers Anton (guitar, violin) and Joseph Klettner (keyboards, guitar). They recruited AvA Anduze after they saw her in a YouTube video, and are backed by drummer Ethan Grosman / drums and Toby Dorfman /bass. Another group that benefitted from the Covid-19 lockdowns, they tour the eastern U.S. and Canada.

One Rusty Band is French duo Grégory Garghentini and Léa Barbier. They started out as buskers in France with Grég on electric radiator guitar and Léa on taps(!) and decided to head for the recording studio. Their third album Line After Line was listed in RollingStone Magazine‘s Top 10 Albums of 2025.

Got some big ol’ honkin’ plans for tomorrow. I call it Porch Time. See you there.

Happy New Year’s Eve 2025 – End of Year Playlist

The end of a long year deserves a playlist to bring in the new one, so here’s a compilation of tunes that tugged on my earballs in 2025. Each set is in chronological order by date of recording.

Set 1 – January, February, March & April

Set 2 – May, June, July & August

Set 3 – September, October, November & December

I omitted seasonal tunes from the Halloween and Christmas  playlists. Last year’s playlist (2024) is here, and the 2023 EoY list is here.

And one more thing:
May You Have a Happy & Prosperous New Year!

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

Christmas Eve Rock


A random selection of tunes to wrap presents by.

Bonus: Previously posted Christmas tunes can be found here.

[Caveat: No copyright infringement is intended; songs posted here are for entertainment purposes only.]

Viraginous Hot Links

Don’t Be Lonely, BoDeans (1987)
Classic guitar-driven midwestern rock-pop group BoDeans formed in 1986 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and they’re still at it.

dog.

A Truth.

Nanners.

River elk.

Alley Orb.

Leo Blues.

Snow ride.

No changes.

Rocky LaPorte.

Why two nostrils?

Hypocrisy School.

Painting with balls.

Meet Sydney Mecham.

Saw what you did there.

Iron Head’s Black Betty.

Fredrikshavn live webcam.

The howl of the arctic wolf.

Just Angus jumping around.

Signs of the the Exit [via Messy Nessy].

MIDI Slapophone [via Memo Of The Air].

Wash your marmot [via Everlasting Blört].

Yuleshards, bummocks and Schnapsidees.

Kellog’s Contraptions [via Thompson, blog].

Guadalcanal Christmas 1945 [via The View from Lady Lake].

[Top image found here, with caption:
Twice a year at Asakusa’s famous Sensoji temple an old ceremony of dancers dressed as white egrets or herons take place, once in April and once in November. The ceremony is called Shirasaginomai (白鷺の舞) and was revived in 1968 using an old scroll as a basis that had been found in the temple, depicting a ceremonial dance in 1652.]

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