Tag: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee Pre-Halloween Edition – Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Koffin Kats, Zombie Ghost Train, and The Ramones

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis Durham are a quirky group of siblings from London who play a mix of R&B, blues, soul, punk, rock and roll, and West Indian music.

Koffin Kats started as a Detroit bar band in 2003, hit the psychobilly circuit, released several records and changed lineups over the decades.

Zombie Ghost Train (ZGT) were formed in Sydney as a gothabilly/psychobilly/horrorpunk group in 2002. In 2008, one of Sydney’s city guides, TwoThousand, called the band, “Australia’s best kept secret… These mortuary musicians are the best thing psychobilly has seen since The Cramps.” They are now defunct.

The Ramones. In 1989, fiction author Stephen King, a huge Ramones fan, invited the Ramones to his Bangor, Maine home as they played in New England. During the visit, he handed Dee Dee Ramone a copy of his Pet Sematary novel, and the bassist retreated to the basement. One hour later, Dee Dee returned with the lyrics to “Pet Sematary“.

My favorite time of year is upon us, when the sun stays low, shadows grow long and colors become more vibrant. Perfect days to contemplate leaves and dogs while sitting you-know-where… on the porch. See you around whenever.

Saturday Matinee – HatFitz and Cara, Marc Amacher & The Thilo Wolf Big Band

HatFitz and Cara: “Aussie bluesman and Irish Songstress get married, form a band and make great music together. This shabby hill country blues oozes cool”. Guitar & Bass Magazine.

Swiss gravel-voiced guitarist Marc Amacher plays his mashup of roots blues, gospel, rock and funk – someone called it “dirty blues-rock of traditional style”.

The Thilo Wolf Big Band, the Thilo Wolf Jazz Quartet and the Thilo Wolf Groove Selection are all groups created by German pianist and composer Thilo Wolf. What a coincidence.

Had the house main water line replaced yesterday (weasels chewed up the old one) so we can shower and flush the toilets, then we had an internest downage last evening so this post was delayed a bit. The porch is open for business.

Saturday Matinee – Black Pumas, JP Soars’ Gypsy Blue Review & The Jimmy Vivino Band

Black Pumas is a psychedelic soul band based in Austin, Texas, led by singer/songwriter (and former busker) Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. Since forming the band in 2017, they’ve won critical acclaim, made numerous television appearances, and won their first Grammy in 2020 for Best New Band.

JP Soars’ Gypsy Blue Review plays an eclectic mix of blues, rock and southern soul, and features the amazing violinist Anne Harris. J.P. Soars is no slouch either – he also performs as JP Soars & The Red Hots.

The Jimmy Vivino Band: Jimmy Vivino on guitar; bassist Rick Reed; Tony Braunagel on drums; and, Luca Neroni on guitar. Vivino has played with artists including Al Kooper, Charlie Musselwhite, Michael McDonald and many others. He is best known as guitarist, arranger and music director for Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

This weekend is the annual church fair, and that means the missus is gonna fetch a bucket of vietnamese eggrolls. Stop by tomorrow at porch time o’clock and she might let you smell them. See you there.

Saturday Matinee – Guy Verlinde, The Cinelli Brothers w/ Connor Selby, Jay Hooks, and Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Belgian guitarist Guy Verlinde covers Hound Dog Taylor. He’s best known as a solo artist and as front man for The Mighty Gators and The Houserockers. There’s not much of a bio on his website other than a link to his Facebook page where there’s not much of a bio either.

Winners of the 2024 UK Blues Band of the Year, The Cinelli Brothers (Marco and Alessandro) revive 1960s – 70s vintage electric blues, R&B and soul with a modern vibe. Guest guitarist Connor Selby is no slouch either, having been named Traditional Blues Artist of the Year (2025).

In the 1990s, Texas bluesman Jay Hooks kickstarted what promised to be a successful career, but he burned out in 2005 due to unspecified personal troubles. 15 years later he began from scratch, reinventing his music and performing in bars; Hooks returned to the studio in 2024 to make his comeback official.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band – In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph 97th in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Big news this week: this year’s Super Bowl halftime show is gonna suck again, the word tardigrade offends some people, sombrero memes are racist, and I got a chair on the porch with my name on it. There are others available on a first come first sit basis, so see you there.

Saturday Matinee – Ndlovu Youth Choir, Giles Robson and JW-Jones w/ Paul Pigat & Jack de Keyzer

Ndlovu Youth Choir: “An eleven-year journey has seen an after-school programme for orphaned and vulnerable children, started by the Ndlovu Care Group, transform into an international recording and touring career. Participation does not only instil values of togetherness, a work ethic and a sense of responsibility, but it develops self-discipline, self-confidence, and leadership.” [h/t Miss Cellanea]

British harp wizard Giles Robson is one of only three UK blues artists to win a coveted Blues Music Award in Memphis. The other two are Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

“This is an amazing blues band.” – Elwood Blues
JW-Jones, with Paul Pigat and Jack de Keyzer, crack open a can of Magic Sam boogie and head for the coast. Backing them is Chris Nordquist on drums, Julian Fauth / keyboards and Suzie Vinnick / bass.

Disturbing events the past few days. Two little girls lost their daddy, and a young woman has to tell them that their daddy isn’t coming home.
Charlie Kirk expressed his opinions peacefully, rarely raising his voice in anger, and for that he was assassinated. That some soulless wretches jeer and applaud the tragedy makes me want to vomit.

The porch will be closed tomorrow…

Saturday Matinee -The Firebird Trio, Mississippi Big Beat, and The Bloyet Brothers & Lourychords

Australia’s Firebird Trio takes the heart of rock and roll and nails it to your forehead with their cover of one of Lieber & Stoller’s most recorded tunes.

Mississippi Big Beat is/was a retro-future tehno-swamp blues group out of Budapest, Hungary: Founders Andor Oláh / blues harp and Csaba Gál Boogie / acoustic guitars, vocals, with Szabolcs Máté (Sab) / sound decks, turntables, and János Fekete / beatbox, drums.

The Bloyet Brothers & Lourychords are from Redon, France, play 1970s=style blues rock, they don’t have a website or bio that I could find and I have no idea who or what Lourychords is.

Guess where I’ll be tomorrow.
Yep. Good day for a porch sit. See you there.

Saturday Matinee – The Tarbox Ramblers, Fred Wesley & The New JBs, and Taj Mahal w/ Gregg Allman, Chris Stapleton & Little Bigtown

The Tarbox Ramblers: “If the Rolling Stones had happened 10 years earlier, hailed from Memphis and been produced by Ike Turner, they might have sounded like The Tarbox Ramblers. The way the Ramblers lay down their backroads grit and raw hillbilly-rock jive, you’re unlikely to hear a more genuine blast of sandpaper rhythm and roots.” – The Boston Herald

Fred Wesley & The New JBs is comprised of: Fred Wesley / trombone, Gary Winters / trumpet, Phillip Whack / saxophone, Bruce Cox / drums, Dwayne Dolphin / bass, Reggie Ward / guitar and Peter Madsen / keyboards.

Taj Mahal, with Gregg Allman, Chris Stapleton and the members of Little Bigtown do the Elmore James‘ classic.

Hot days… warm nights… the rat in the garage couldn’t sleep so he left on his own. I’ll have the house to myself tomorrow night which means pizza for me and leftover steamed vegetables for the possum. Porch time tomorrow is at porch time o’clock. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – Igor Prado Band, Davey Knowles and Gerry Joe Weise

Igor Prado Band‘s cover of  Camille Bob’s 1965 hit. These boys from Brazil play blues, R&B and west coast swing/jump, and funk. Lefthander Igor Prado leads on guitar with brother Yuri Prado on drums, Rodrigo Mantovani on acoustic bass and Denilson Martins on baritone sax. Their website igorpradoband.com was AWOL at the time of this posting.

Playing solo or with his band Back Door Slam, award-winning songwriter and guitarist Davy Knowles plays Telecaster, American Steel and mandolin to cover various genres including classic rock, blues, and folk.

Singer, songwriter, composer, pianist and guitarist Gerry Joe Weise‘ repertoire includes classical, jazz fusion and blues. He was recently named 5th best jazz guitarist in Australia, and creates land art installations as well.

Amazing. This week we saw people protesting in support of criminals, people protesting a peace summit, and people complaining about improvements in the economy, all while Governor Pantload gripes about everyone else in order to distract from his own incompetence. Pheew.

I dunno, Babs, but I do know this. I had an appointment with my onkydoc this week, and I’ve got nothing to complain about. I’ll be on the porch tomorrow taking suggestions and requests. See you there.

Saturday Matinee – Lefthand Freddy, Yates McKendree & Carl Weathersby w/ The Alex Zayas Band

Seasoned Dutch guitarist Lefthand Freddy mixed up a hot bowl of ska-flavored blues at the Nuenen Blues’m Festival.

“Born in Nashville and raised in a recording studio, multi-instrumentalist Yates McKendree grew up hearing and playing with some of Music City’s greatest musicians. […] During Yates’s teenage years, he played on and engineered dozens of recordings in his father’s (Kevin McKendree) studio, The Rock House; most notably for Delbert McClinton and John Hiatt, who told Rolling Stone Magazine, ‘Yates was our secret ingredient.’”

Born in Mississippi but raised in Chicago, Carl Weathersby was a teenager when his father’s friend became his tutor. That man was Albert King. Weathersby played rhythm guitar in King’s band before joining up with Billy Branch & The Sons Of the Blues, aka The SOBs. Weathersby passed away in 2024 at the age of 71.

The Alex Zayas Band: Zayas’ website is down / defunct, so his story is a bit tricky to find. He was born in Barcelona and has been on tour for about 30 years playing classic blues and blues rock; his band often backs other big-name blues performers.

With everything else going on in the world, the biggest news story this week involves fluorescent phalli and women’s basketball. At least the MSM seems to be reporting on it honestly and without obvious bias, and that’s a bit of fresh air.
Speaking of fresh air, stop by tomorrow at porch time and guess what the neighborhood skunk did to the neighbor’s little yappy dog.

Saturday Matinee – Flaco Jiménez, Big George Brock & Dan Patlansky

Flaco Jiménez (1939-2025) began playing the bajo sexto at the age of seven with his father, Santiago Jiménez Sr., a pioneer of conjunto music. He later adopted the accordion after being influenced by his father as well as zydeco musician Clifton Chenier.

Big George Brock was born in Grenada, Mississippi on May 16, 1932. By the time he was eight, he was working as a sharecropper picking cotton. He moved to Mattson, Mississippin, while in his teens, met and performed with Muddy Waters. In the late 1940s he moved to Walls, Mississippi where Howlin’ Wolf hired him as a roadie and sideman, and while in Walls he jammed with Memphis Minnie at house parties.

Dan Patlansky was voted the #4 Best Guitarist in the world and (besides Joe Bonamassa!) remains the only artist in the world with two worldwide No. 1, and two worldwide No. 2 Best Blues Rock Albums as voted by Blues Rock Review USA.

Got a lotta stuff to think about getting around to planning to do one of these days, but not tomorrow because I’ve got an appointment on the porch around porch time. See you there.