Saturday Matinee – Swamp Dogg, Tamio Okuda w/ Super Chikan Johnson, and Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters

Seems like Swamp Dogg has been around forever; he’s 90 and still recording: “Every time I listen to some new music that everybody thinks is the greatest thing since hot biscuits, it’s full of Auto-Tune.” He decided to give it a go, and used it to give “a sense of  emotional detachment” on his album Love, Loss and Auto-Tune (2022).

Tamio Okuda’s Blues. (2014). The guy on jerry can guitar is Tamio Okuda, and that’s James “Super Chikan” Johnson.

Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters in 2013.

I’ll be around all day tomorrow. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – Sadeck Waff, The Mound City Blue Blowers, Bette Midler & Los Lobos

Sadeck Waff, Oxandre Peckeu et 126 performers professionnels et amateurs. Remerciements à la Neodance Academy et leurs équipes pour le casting et la gestion des danseurs.

A clip from their 1931 short film Nine O’Clock Folks, The Mound City Blue Blowers featured Red McKenzie (kazoo), Jack Bland (Vega guitar) and Frank “Josh” Billings on suitcase. YouTube video description includes Eddie Condon, but I think that’s Eddie Lang on guitar. The movie title referred to the local curfew.

Bette Midler at her peak (circa 1984) with a killer cover.

One of the most underrated bands ever: Los Lobos, from How Will the Wolf Survive , 1984.

Well, dang. Down to the wire, out of time & out of steam. See you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – The Platypus Conspiracy, Messer Chups, Tito & Tarantula and Rory Gallagher

The Platypus [h/t Gord S.]

From St. Petersburg, Russia,  Messer Chups is listed under vampire space zombie surf rock, and their version of the Bondage theme is the best I’ve heard. Recorded at Brin de Zinc (Chambery-France) 2014
Oleg Gitaracula – guitar;  Zombierella – Bass; Rockin Eugene – Drums.

Ten minutes of a bluesy Doors-ish groove. Tito and Tarantula were filmed for an episode of Texas Roadhouse Live (hosted by Kinky Friedman) in 2010. Tito Larriva played Radio Head in the movie TRUE Stories (1986) and was a founding member of The Plugz.

Rory Gallagher slides all over the place at the Montreux Jazz Festival, July 1977. Five years earlier he was crowned International Guitarist of the Year. He died in 1995 at the age of 47, from liver failure caused by prescription drugs; his grave marker is a replica of the award.

That’ll do for now. Have a great weekend, see you back here sometime tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee Halloween Edition – Rebooted, David Lynch, Tom Waits & Alabama Black Snakes

“It’s not easy for a movie-star to age – especially when you’re a stop motion animated skeleton monster. Phil, once a terrifying villain of the silver-screen, struggles to find work in modern Hollywood due to being an out-of-date special effect.”

Article with “the making of” video here.

David Lynch does the creepo.

Who needs Halloween music when you got Tom Waits.  Little kids wouldn’t come near our house once they got within earshot of Bone Machine.

Alabama Black Snakes fit in with the theme.

Gonna be some pumpkin sacrificin’ around here, even if Halloween comes on a Monday this year. Have a good one, see you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Felix Semper, The Two Man Gentlemen Band, Batmobile & Hillbilly Moon Explosion

Felix Semper‘s paper sculptures are trippy as all heck, and the reason for it is even better. [h/t Suz P.]

Andy Bean & Fuller Condon, aka The Two Man Gentlemen Band, got some damn hot licks for having such clean hands.

Batmobile was founded in 1983:
After several months of covering Elvis Presley, Johnny Burnette en Gene Vincent songs, Jeroen Haamers (vocals/guitar), Johnny Zuidhof (drums) and Eric Haamers (double bass) decide to start writing their own material.
Best part happens at 1:17.

Hillbilly Moon Explosion is done with that truck but keeps driving anyway.

Okay, that’s it for now, gotta save something for then. See you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Billy Strings, Webb Wilder, Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown

Billy Strings sings a sad ‘n purty one over a cool travel video.

“With his obvious love of British rock and Southern roadhouse, Wilder could be a kind of Tom Petty for the trailer set.” — San Francisco Chronicle
Webb Wilder IS the human cannon ball, y’all.

Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown cranks some blues rock that ain’t watered down at all. Bryant is married to Rebecca Lovell of Larkin Poe.

Interesting week. Kinda sped past in half the usual time for me and I’m trying to slow it down a tad. Not sure just how. See you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Haruka Kikuchi & the Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band, Justin Johnson w/ Will Lee, & Los Lobos

Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band, featuring Haruka Kikuchi (aka Queen of the Tailgate Trombone) in 2017.

Justin Johnson & Will Lee cover Johnny Kidd & The Pirates‘  1960 hit. “It’s like surf rock, delta blues, and psychobilly just totally working together very nicely.” – YouTube comment

Los Lobos shook up some shakes in 2007.

Lotta stuff got shook up this week, haboobs flying everywhere, but it’s over for now. Gonna have a great weekend, hope you do also, and we’ll see you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – A Band of Bees, The Hi-Jivers & The Future Shape of Sound

A Band of Bees got a bit of swampy jug band in their blood.

Nashville retro-rockers The Hi-Jivers, filmed in the Torremolinos hills of Spain during the 2020 Rockin’ Race Jamboree.
Dawna Zahn – Vocals
Austin John – Guitar
Hank Miles – Upright Bass
Jason Smay – Drums

Lord help me. I don’t think I’ve heard shakedown gospel this good since Sister Rosetta Tharpe. This is The Future Shape of Sound.

Gonna get hot again this week, maybe get wet, maybe not. See you back here tomorrow for an in-depth discussion, or maybe we’ll do something else instead.

Saturday Matinee – Alen Tkalčec, Cee Lo Green via Jaleel White & The Dead South

Alen Tkalčec gets around. Travel clips are from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Ethiopia and Slovenia.

One of the happiest break up songs ever. Amazing how Jaleel White (aka Steve Urkel) sounds exactly like Cee Lo Green in this vid from 2011.

The Dead South, always a tad quirky, brings you back down to earth with a slightly disturbing version of a happy traditional.

Have a great weekend and we’ll be back tomorrow, whenever you decide to stop by.

Saturday Matinee – Cooder, Mahal & Cooder, Duane Eddy & La Mississippi

Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, with Joachim Cooder on drums, from Get On Board, a tribute to Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. Great country blues.

Mancini’s classic by the Titan of Twang himself, Duane Eddy.

The Mississippi Blues Band formed in Buenos Aires in 1989. Renamed La Mississippi, they released their debut recording, Mbugi in 1993.

Have a great Labor Day weekend, and if you’re driving somewhere, don’t complain about the traffic – once you pull out of your driveway, you ARE the traffic. See ya tomorrow.