Saturday Matinee – God’s Cricket Chorus, The Steve Gibbons Band, Amy Helm & Third World

God’s Cricket Chorus is awesome. I want that played at my funeral, by humans, followed by “Holiday For Strings.” played by crickets. [h/t Octopus]

Here’s Tom Waits‘ response when asked by NPR, “What is the most interesting recording you own?”

“It’s a mysteriously beautiful recording from, I am told, Robbie Robertson’s label. It’s of crickets. That’s right, crickets. The first time I heard it … I swore I was listening to the Vienna Boys Choir, or the Mormon Tabernacle choir. It has a four-part harmony. It is a swaying choral panorama. Then a voice comes in on the tape and says, “What you are listening to is the sound of crickets. The only thing that has been manipulated is that they slowed down the tape.” No effects have been added of any kind, except that they changed the speed of the tape. The sound is so haunting. I played it for Charlie Musselwhite, and he looked at me as if I pulled a Leprechaun out of my pocket.” [via]

In 1977 The Steve Gibbons Band covered Chuck Berry‘s 1969 recording of Tulane and did a decent job of it.

Amy Helm can wail, and her band jams it down your throat.

Third World‘s classic “96 Degrees In The Shade” seems appropriate given this week’s heat wave (and not for the political message).

Keep cool, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – THE Interview, Pro-Bubbles, The Blues Brothers & Junior Wells with Buddy Guy

I love this interview.

Melody Yang is a Professional Bubbler [via].

Yeah, The Blues Brothers gave it a good cover in 1979, but this one is better. Junior Wells with Buddy Guy at the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival is nothing less than killer.

Here’s Junior Wells’ original version from 1960.

Have a great weekend, folks, see you back here tomorrow whether you like it or not.

Saturday Matinee – Alt Math, Rag’n’Bone Man & Tom Waits

This is scary. The Correct Answer Is 22.

Rag’n’Bone Man‘s cover of the Stones “Gimme Shelter” is killer.

More about that talented Brit via Wiki:

Rag’n’Bone Man’s first hit single, “Human“, was released on Columbia Records in July 2016. It peaked at number one in the Official Singles Charts in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. It was certified Gold in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.

That’s is an entirely different version and a precursor to the one I’m familiar with:

Tom Waits is amazing.

Have a great weekend, folks, and for Fathers’ Day, buy your Dad a big bacon cheeseburger with fries and a pint of stout. He’ll love it, despite what your Mom says about it causing tumors in rats.

Saturday Matinee – Jurassic Parkour, Eliane Rodrigues, Doña Oxford & The All Night Long Blues Band

Not quite Sweded, but close. [Found here.]

Brazillian concert pianist Eliane Rodrigues discovered that her piano was defective, descended into Hell, then came back smiling. She’s no prima donna.

Doña Oxford ain’t no slouch either, and her keys melt. Let’s do one more.

The All Night Long Blues Band featured Sean “Bad” Apple, Dixie Street and Martin Grant with a nice cover of Hambone Willie Newbern‘s 1929 recording “Roll and Tumble Blues.” [Harp player Martin Grant passed away in March of 2015.]

Have a great weekend, folks. See y’all back here soon.

Saturday Matinee – Kmac2021, Stevie Ray Vaughan with Jeff Beck, and Don Nix with the Mar-Keys

Kmac2021 is a one-man Spinal Tap. Reminds me of the vids entitled, “What It’s Really Like To Work In A Music Store.”
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V

Okay, so where do we go from here? Goin’ Down.

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Jeff Beck covered Don Nix‘s “Going Down.”
I always thought it was a Freddie King song. So what else did Nix do? A lot.

From Wiki: Don Nix began his career playing saxophone for the Mar-Keys, which also featured Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and others. The [1961] hit instrumental single “Last Night” (composed by the band as a whole) was the first of many successful hits to Nix’s credit. […] The Mar-Keys evolved into Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

What a convergence of talent at the right time and the right place. God Bless Stax Records.

Have a soulful weekend, folks, be back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Porcapizza (aka Massimo Tortella)

Porcapizza is amazing [via].

Saturday Matinee – The Skids, Linkin Bridge & Cinco De Mayo Madrid Flash Mob

The Skids “Into The Valley” [via]. Nice Ramones influence.

Today is the start of The 2018 Kentucky Derby, and yes, it has a themesong.

Linkin Bridge‘s “My Old Kentucky Home” is killer.

Oh, and Cinco De Mayo has everything to do with selling beer in the US and nothing to do with Mexican Independence Day.

This is kinda cool. Mariachi flash mob showed up in Madrid, but Mariachis originated in Mexico not Spain. Go figure.

Have a great weekend. folks, see you back here tomorrow.

 

Saturday Matinee – Dave Allen, NYC 1911, Hormel Pepperoni, YES & The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

That’s Dave Allen (1936-2005) and that’s a 1965 VW 6-volt Beetle. It didn’t have headlights. It had glowlamps. I know because I owned one.

1911 New York City restored hand-cranked film, speed corrected and with an added soundtrack humanizes the populace a bit. A lot of interesting things happened in 1911, itemized here and here. Sheet music sales determined the popularity of songs and Scott Joplin’s rags were hot, like Treemonisha.

Hormel Pepperoni advertisement [h/t Calo]. I’m speechless. Let’s get out of here.

YES stood out a bit from the music of the 70s. Sure, they were art rock, their lyrics were inane and incomprehensible, they’ll make you out and out, but their music was killer.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band was very underrated IMO.

Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Grand Funk, Todd Rundgren, Sarah Collins & The Joanna Connor Band

Yeah. Found here. Grand Funk Railroad released “We’re an American Band” in 1973, It was produced by a 25 year old named Todd Rundgren and it went gold.

Many of his own recordings were catchy pop (and somewhat sappy) love songs and covers of the same IMO, but I liked them.  I liked them especially because the pretty coeds would stay around longer when Todd Rundgren was spinning at 33rpm. Then in 1983 he wrote and performed one of the best ska tunes ever – Bang The Drum All Day. (As a resident of Hawaii, he later recorded “Bang The Uke All Day.)

Sarah Collins‘ vocal overdub of The Specials‘ 1979 cover of Dandy Livingstone‘s 1967 rocksteady song Rudy, A Message to You makes me smile, but we can’t close out with that one. Sorry, Sarah.

DO NOT BYPASS THE INTRO.
Joanna Connor covers Son House‘ classic “Walkin’ Blues.” She pats your head, then smacks you twice before you realize what happened. Pure awesome.

Have a great weekend, folks, see you soon.

Saturday Matinee – Live From NorWay, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fishbone & The Allman Brothers Band

LIVE CAM: Train Engineer’s Cab View in Norway [click here for local time]. Not sure which line this is, where it’s headed, or if it’s running above the Arctic Circle. Check it out in full screen view and I’ll see you back here in a couple of days.

Someday, I suppose I’ll go to Norwegia and ride that train. Meanwhile, I’ll listen to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones from 1993.

Or maybe I’ll roll with Fishbone, one of the tightest ska/rock/funk bands I ever heard. Those guys won me over a long time ago. (Check out this 1987 live version. Sound quality sucks, but the energy is killer.)

Let’s turn it down a bit with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower.” The Allman Brothers Band in 2011 always found a nice groove (presumed band lineup here).

Have a great Easter/Passover/Seder weekend, folks. See you soon.