Tag: video

Saturday Matinee – Fresh Guacamole, Freshlyground, Leon Russell & Friends

[h/t Bunkarina for finding this.]

“Pot Belly,” recorded in 2007 by South African band Freshlyground. Nice song with a cool video [via].

Here’s Freshlyground live with “Fire Is Low” from 2011.

Leon Russell celebrated his 71st birthday 2 April. From the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, here’s  his take on the Stones‘ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and The Coasters‘ “Young Blood.”

The event was the first-ever benefit concert of such a magnitude and featured a supergroup of performers that included George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, the band Badfinger,  Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan [Wiki].

With that, we’re out of here. Have a great weekend folks.

RIP Jane Nebel Henson 1934 – 2013

 Janehenson2
Jane Nebel Henson 1934-2013

Jane Nebel Henson passed away at the age of 78 on 2 April 2013. Although her late husband is more well known, Jane Henson was an important contributor. Married in 1959, she and Jim Henson reinvented the ancient art of puppetry and created a huge entertainment industry: The Muppets.

JimHensonJaneNebelErnie

[Jane] Nebel and [Jim] Henson met in a puppetry course at the University of Maryland, College Park, where they were both undergraduates. At the time, Nebel was a senior majoring in art education and Henson was a freshman studying to become a commercial artist. Nebel later became Henson’s puppeteering partner on the television show Sam and Friends, and the two eventually married. [via]

Prior to the creation of Sesame Street, the Hensons produced awesome entertainment for advertisers and television shows. Here are some arbitrary pre-Sesame Street selections.

Talented people are often under-appreciated until they’re gone, especially those who leave such a great legacy. RIP Jane.

Jim-Henson-and-Jane-Henson-and-Sam-and-Friends-3

Saturday Matinee – Dehydrated Peeps, Monochrome Dance, Musical Genius / Sex Symbol Earl Okin & Johnny Burnette


Just add water.

Both vids above h/t Aussie Phil

Earl Okin is almost as seductive as Leon Redbone (sorry, Earl).

Nice vid compilation of Johnny Burnette‘s version of Tiny Bradshaw‘s classic “Train Kept A Rollin'” previously featured here.

Have a great weekend folks. Whether you’re religious or not, never forget the meaning of Easter.

Saturday Matinee – Erin Go Bleaugh! To Hell with the Mnathan Nighe!

Clever cover of cover of Paul Anka’s “Lonely Boy” by Mnozil Brass [via].

Since Sunday (tomorrow) is Saint Patrick’s Day, we might as well get into the spirits.

We Have No Heads!! Jeff Donohoe (Tin Whistle/Slapped-Bass/Vocals) and Mike Grimes (Guitar/Vocals). Playing unplugged (except for the Bass). Drinkin and pukin at Jeff’s place in Albuquerque NM on Feb. 25 2009.

The Fenians were a great bar band at The Harp, and I’m glad they’ve made it to bigger venues.

Dropkick Murphys featuring Liza Graves of Civet.

What a classic to wrap up The Saturday Matinee.
Scare off the bean sídhe and have a great weekend folks.

Saturday Matinee – The Steve Gibbons Band, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox & The Carolina Chocolate Drops

The Steve Gibbons Band was cool. Anyone who could take a relatively obscure Chuck Berry song about a *ahem* novelty shop bust and get a minor hit in the 1970s was okay by me. I’d have never heard of Gibbons had I not been the 17th caller and won some albums.

Grampa Style. Scott Bradlee’s  Postmodern Jukebox cover of Macklemore‘s “Thrift Shop” is fkkn awesome. NSFK/NSFW warning on the link. [h/t to Bunkarina].

“Corn Bread and Butterbeans” by the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Why haven’t I heard of them before?

I dunno, Babs, but I do know this. It’s time to post The Saturday Matinee and be done with it. Have a great weekend, folks.

Saturday Matinee – Iguana Love, Mantis Love, Don Shaffer & Elizabeth Cotten

Henry Lizardlover, born March 27, 1954 as Henry Schifberg, is a herpetoculturist, writer, and photographer who has lived with as many as 60 lizards in his home.

Iguana love [via].

Mantis love [via].

Don Shaffer was the inspiration behind Radar O’Reilly, a character in the popular novel, movie and TV series “M*A*S*H.” It disturbs me how Hollywood co-opts and distorts the true contributions of people of merit and presents them as caricatures, as they did with Shaffer, Joe Rochefort, Adrian Cronauer, and many others.

Elizabeth Cotten had an interesting self-taught finger picking style that’s difficult to play – unless it’s played left handed on a right-handed guitar (and yes, her last name is spelled “Cotten”).

90 years old, she was still pickin’.

Playing guitar was tough enough for a lefty like me. I was never proficient on guitar or bass, and could never hold a pick; however, I knew some fakes enough to fool some folks. Learning on a re-strung guitar is probably a worse handicap for a southpaw than just flipping it over and keeping the standard tuning. That way, if there’s a guitar handy, you just pick it up and blow the right-handers away (like Jimi Hendrix did).

Wish I’d figured it out way back when. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, all on the Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend, folks.

Scientific Hot Links

You Got Snakes

Sexy People.

The Party Of The Wealthy.

Canada’s House of Common addresses a potential threat to civilization [via].

This song was a hit on pop radio in the early 1960s, and it’s enough to make you wanna puke. [Wiki: The song was composed by Ghanaian musician Guy Warren in 1956 under the original title “An African’s Prayer (Eyi Wala Dong)”.]

The New Dimensions in Testimony program is pretty awesome. More here.

“‘I now have work for 20 years,’ he exclaimed joyfully.” Disturbing true story here.

Classic list of everything blamed on Anthropogenic Global Warming Climate Change: The Warmlist.

ICYMI Department: The Institute for Centrifugal Reasearch: Gravity Is A Mistake. Must see video [via].

Searching for Twitter followers with the promise of absolutely no content, no following and no retweets.

Top image found here, caption inspired by this:

Saturday Matinee – Goats, Martha’s Birthday Party, ICR Documentary, Doc Watson & Friends

Goats. [via]

Martha’s Birthday Party. This is by the same guy behind The Perry Bible Fellowship.

Fascinating short documentary from the Institute of Centrifugal Reasearch [via].

“Bury Me Beneath the Willow” performed live at MerleFest 2002 by Doc Watson, Sara Watkins, Chris Thile, Sean Watkins & Byron House. The song is an old traditional that likely originated in the 1800s. From The Mudcat Cafe, commenter “Stewie” posted this:

Meade’s earliest printed citation for this is Sandburg’s ‘American Songbag’ (1927), the same year as the Carter Family’s recording and 4 years after the first recording by Henry Whitter in 1923. Other recordings earlier than the Carters were: Ernest Thompson (1924), George Reneau (1925), Kelly Harrell (1926), Ernest Stoneman (1926), Burnett & Rutherford (1926) and Holland Puckett (1927). [Info from Meade et alia ‘Country Music Sources’ p 197.]

Very cool. You can hear the Carter Family’s version here.

That’s a wrap for this Saturday Matinee, and have a great weekend.

Fat Tuesday – Heureux Mardi Gras!

Mardi Gras: Treme Jazz Band

New Orleans’ Treme Brass Band kicks it.

“Treme Brass Band parade down Frenchman Street, New Orleans, during the Satchmo Fest 2011 Club Strutt.”

[Top image found here. More Mardi Gras here and here.]

Saturday Matinee – Spoondog, New Orleans Zombie Report, “The Creation” & Joe Bonamassa

Spoondog is a dog with a spoon [via].

Since tomorrow is the SuperBowl, here’s how one New Orleans reporter trolled an inebriated videobomber.

“The Creation.” Awesome hand drawn animation by Thomas Meyer-Hermann & Film Bilder. ” (Comment on the Utoobage sums it up: “It’s cyriak but drawn.”)

Joe Bonamassa‘s  “Just Got Paid” at the 2009 North Sea Jazz Festival. So much groove crammed into one jam, and it’d take me too long to post all of the obvious influences. “Wheedlie-wheedlie-spoo” guitar solos turn me off because they sound silly and self-indulgent, but this ‘un is a good ‘un.

Have a great weekend folks, and I hope your team wins.