Tag: Saturday Matinee

The Saturday Matinee – Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, Link Wray w/ Robert Gordon & Santana

Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express live at Winterland 29 November 1975, San Francisco, CA. Early jazz fusion at its best. Lineup:

Brian Auger – organ, vocals;
Jack Mills – lead guitar;
Alex Ligertwood – vocals, guitar, percussion;
Clive Chaman – bass;
Lennox Langton – congas;
Dave Dowle – drums.

Robert Gordon‘s 1977 cover of Billy Lee Riley‘s 1957 cover of Billy ‘The Kid’ Emerson‘s 1955 recording of Red Hot got a lot of radio play. Now about that legendary guitar ripper…

Link Wray‘s recording career spanned decades, 1958 to 2000, and it’s hard to pinpoint when he was really at his prime. Wray was ranked No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time bu Rolling Stone, and is considered the “Father of the Power Chord.” Other fun facts: his parents were Shawnee and Cherokee; he was a Korean War veteran; he lost a lung due to tuberculosis in 1956.

Carlos Santana‘s 1999 album Supernatural is one of my favorites. Can’t believe it came out over two decades ago.

That kinda wraps things up until tomorrow. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – Android 207, Talking Heads, Tito Larriva, Johnny Nash & Krosfyah

Android 207 is a fun stop-motion from Carrotkid (Paul Whittington). In 2007, the film received the Best Film, Best Technical and People’s Choice awards at the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival. I’ve posted it before, and it’s still one of my favorites.

Classic Talking Heads video won “Best Group Video” at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1987. I probably posted it before also – I couldn’t find a live version of …oh wait, just found one.

Tito Larriva plays Radio Head in the movie TRUE Stories (1986). Larriva was a founding member of The Plugz.

Lost another great talent this week. Johnny Nash (1940-2020) was born in Houston, Texas, but moved to Jamaica in 1965, where rocksteady was big and reggae was just beginning to gain in popularity. Video is from Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, 1968.

Krosfyah‘s single Pump Me Up (1995) was a hit in Barbados, went gold in Canada. Great Soca.

That’s a wrap, at least for now. See you tomorrow and we’ll mess with stuff.

Saturday Matinee – Andrea Motis & friends, Stéphane Grappelli w/ Bill Coleman, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks

Spanish singer and Jazz trumpeter Andrea Motis does Dizzy.

On the Saturday afternoon of the 6th Jazzing Festival, September 2019, there was a concert at the Bar Colombia in Sant Andreu town centre (a district of Barcelona, Spain) with Joan Chamorro, Andrea Motis, Carla Motis and Josep Traver plus some of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band including Joan Marti, Alba Armengou, Elia Bastida, Alba Esteban, Pablo Ruiz and Anastasia Ivanova (their guest from Moscow) here performing ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street.’

Bill Coleman (1904-1981) & Stephane Grappelli (1908-1997) ca. 1976. Great stuff for early morning forty miles to East Jesus road trips, or just sitting on the back porch watching the world go by.

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks (with the Acoustic Warriors) 1989 reunion concert on Austin City Limits. Hicks had a solid fan base, but he got into alcohol and drugs, pissed off a lot of people. Years passed before he cleaned up his act and started over. DH&HHL came onto my radar in 1978 with (what my ears heard as) “Crazy Cuzzie Iz.” Thought he was singing about a family member.

Let’s do something tomorrow. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – 2020 Cast Interviews, Big Bug, Gatemouth Brown & Roy Clark, Ry Cooder w/ Buckwheat Zydeco & Lenny Kravitz, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Well done satire, that.

Big Bug vid found here.

Clarence Gatemouth Brown & Roy Clark (with Leon Rhodes) do some serious pickin’ on Hee Haw (1979). If this ain’t roadtrip music, nothing is.

Ry Cooder, Buckwheat Zydeco and Lenny Kravitz, having some fun in New Orleans 2005.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds cover T-Bone Walker‘s The Hustle Is On (1950). Not sure of the date or location.

That’ll do for now. Gonna get some R&R and see you back here tomorrow as far as you know.

Saturday Matinee – HM Royal Marine Band, Kapua+Tatofi+Maoli, Redbone & Billy Preston

Post Horn Galop – The Bands of HM Royal Marines. Amazing post horn fanfare duel.

Hawaiians Kaipo Kapua, Josh Tatofi and Nu’u Maoli. This medley should be named “See A Minor, Effin’ G.” Those vocals are tight.

Redbone had a nice run in the 70s, Witch Queen of New Orleans being one of my favorites for the swamp-rock sound. Very underrated band IMO, even if they did wander into the pop playpen occasionally. “Come and Get Your Love” (1974) was an earful of soul.

Billy Preston sported one of the greatest ‘fros in the business, and wrote one of the best instrumental jams ever – Outta Space. This version is from 1987.

Have a great holiday weekend, have some fun despite what the scolds say, and we’ll do more stuff tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Skywatch, Fundo de Quintal OFC, Grupo Fundo de Quintal & Planet Drum

When two outcast teens hack into a ubiquitous drone delivery system to pull a prank on their neighbor, they accidentally crash-land a dangerous prototype – and find themselves entangled in a life-and-death conspiracy.

Apparently it’s scheduled to be made into a TV series produced by Seth Macfarlane [via]

“Life in the countryside is not an easy life,” says Simão, explaining how the band shaped their unique sound. “Here there is nothing, no access to singing lessons, theater, or a place to buy instruments. So we are going to beat our improvised little things.”

Fundo de Quinal OFC is a lot of head-scratching fun. [Found here. More info here.] They took their name from these guys:

Grupo Fundo de Quintal or simply Fundo de Quintal (Backyard Group, roughly) is a Samba band which appeared in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1970s. Smooth rhythms.

Mickey Hart & Planet Drum revamped the Grateful Dead classic Fire On The Mountain. If you don’t have it in your collection, get this.

Have a great weekend, folks, watch out for The Stupids, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow just for the hell of it.

 

Saturday Matinee – George Duke & Dweezil Zappa, MonoNeon & skArmy

George Duke showed up to play Zappa’s classic Uncle Remus with Dweezil Zappa‘s band in 2010. (If you like George Duke, this behind the scenes rehearsal from1978 is kinda fun. Jump to 02:50.)

Ignore the clickbait title – it’s a killer groove by MonoNeon. He’s right-handed, but plays left-handed on an upside-down right-handed bass. Dude can cover Zappa, too.

skArmy covers Save Ferris‘s cover of Dexy’s Mightnight Runners‘s Come On Eileen is a good one to wrap it up.

Have a great weekend folks, gonna do something tomorrow.

 

Saturday Matinee – Elise Trouw, Lake Street Dive, Billy Bacon & The Forbidden Pigs

Elise Trouw is kind of amazing – she’s capable on drums, vocals, guitar, piano, bass guitar and synth stuff. Pretty hyno, kind of a Wendy Carlos meets Laurie Anderson meet John Bonham thing.

Lake Street Dive (featuring Rachael Price) on a yellow couch in 2016. Price was born in Australia and grew up in Tennessee. The band formed in Boston, but it’s not clear to me where (or if) they’re anchored.

Billy Bacon & the Forbidden Pigs were a hoot in their heyday. Saw the Pigs in So. Cal in the late ’80s, and they blew me away. Bacon would climb up ON his bass and jam, or take it to the floor for a roll around, and never miss a beat.

There’s something for (almost) everyone in that mix. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow whether you like it or not.

 

 

Saturday Matinee – Erecting Trajan’s Column, The Real McKenzies & Room Full Of Blues

Trajan’s Column: ancient technology animated. Trajan was a good guy, at least as far as Roman emperors go, and was popular for his public works projects. (His cousin Hadrian succeeded him and built a famous wall to keep out Celts, Scots, Picts & other badass tribes.)

Scottish-Canadian band The Real McKenzies. Nice scenery, unfortunate animations, and echoes of the Ramones.

Beyond the best bar band in the world, Roomful of Blues has been performing since 1967 (with an impressive roster).

Have a great weekend, folks. We’ll post some stuff tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Bimpson, Rory Gallagher, Dave Alvin & The Battle Hymn Of The Republic

Bimpson (via). “Some guy taught himself 3D animation during quarantine and the result is this hilariously bizarre blog cartoon called Bimpson.” The comments on the UToobage are pretty good, too.

I just watched this at 2x speed and it’s like a whole new world of Bimpson. Bimpson goes Hyper-Bimpson. Highly recommend.

Well I played it back at 0.25x speed and it’s like a demonic Bimpson. Bimpson goes sacrificial. Whatever you do, don’t watch it repeatedly unless you want Bimpson to put a curse on your crops. It happened to me.

I went .75 and it’s was satanic enough. Every time you lower the speed, it’s like a new circle of hell.

Rory Gallagher “Shin Kicker” live at Montreux 1979.

Nice lineup: Dave Alvin sings 4th of July, with David Hidalgo, Flaco Jimenez, Pete Sears, Max Baca and Los Cenzontles, San Francisco, CA. February 16, 2017.

Happy Independence Day to all, and may this Glorious Country remain free from tyranny forever.