Sorry, folks, Bunk’s kinda wiped out today… had to throw this together at the last minute. I’ll be in better shape tomorrow.
The guy’s amazing.
Clever animation, via the Presurfer.
Don’t EVEN mess with Chuck.
Meade Lux Lewis was prolly the greatest boogie woogie piano man ever.
Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson were no slouches either.
Bluegrass has its roots in northern Britain according to my ear. The chord patterns of early country music from Appalachia follow those of Scottish and Irish reels. In the immigration wave of the early 1800’s, the Scottish and Irish tended to venture southward, away from the constrictions of the north, to where they could work their own land. No wonder that early southern recordings sound similar to those of Ireland and Scotland.
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys popularized it and gave the style it’s moniker: Bluegrass. This song (video from 1956) is a tribute to Pendleton Vandiver, Monroe’s uncle. Monroe joined his uncle Pen’s band as a kid; his sound dates back to the turn of the century.
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs put Bluegrass on the popular map as pickin’ speed demons.
The Dillards were the Darlings clan on the Andy Griffith show. The Dillards decided that L.A. had more to offer than the Missouri Ozarks, and advertised themselves on the streets in the early 1960’s.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were influenced by the Dillards, and took Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. BoJangles” for a ride.
What I was really looking for when all this linkyness began was New Grass Revival‘s version of “Steam Powered Aeroplane,” one of the prettiest bluegrass songs I ever heard:
"Well I went away on a Steam Powered Aeroplane. Well I went and I stayed and damn near didn't come back again. Didn't go very fast on a steam powered aeroplane, The wheels went around, up and down, and inside and then back again. Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by, Can't tell if it's sunshine, if it's rain. Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City, On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane. Well I'd could be PILOT on the Steam Powered Aeroplane. I'd pull that pilot wheel 'round, then back again. And I'd wear a blue hat, YEAH, on the Steam Powered Aeroplane, With letters go 'round the brim and then back again. Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by, Can't tell if it's sunshine or if it's rain. Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City, On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane."
Here’s the songwriter, John Hartford, with Tony Rice, Vassar Clements and others. (Yeah, his vocals don’t do justice for the song.)
Great pre-sunrise morning roadtrip music, just like Pat Metheny’s “New Chataqua Highway,” or anything by Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grappelli.
[Bunk’s compiling his roadtrip list for next month. Lemme know your favorites.]
She’s obviously tech support for Microsoft. (To be honest, I’d prolly be doing the same thing if I hadda work in a cubicle like that.)
Nancy Cartwright’s 2004 interview in Australia.
“I’m Bart Simpson, man. Who the hell are you?”
I don’t own Leslie Gore. She owned me up until I saw her hairdo and horseface. Bunky just sealed his eyeballs shut and listened.
I remember hearing this on the battery powered transistor radio I got for Christmas that I hid under my pillow, and Skeeter Davis sounded so purty. She’s another one who had a great voice and a bad hairdo. (I’d never seen her until a few minutes ago, but I was in love with her when I was about 8.)
Then there’s k.d. lang. Just ’cause she gotta big caboose and a butch haircut doesn’t mean I don’t like her music.
And then there’s poor Baz. [Tip o’ the tarboosh to Phil. He says it’s been around for a few years, and somehow he knew that I’d like it by saying so on his Blog From Down Under.]
Speaking of Down Under, some time ago, when WordPress was revamping it’s vamps, I was unable to add the video above to this post. Found a new link for it by accident, so here it is.
Noodlin’ is catchin’ de fishes widdout dem bait in tackle. Feel ‘roun’ fo de ho in de mud, reach innan grab ‘im what dere. Justin Wilson be done do dat, too. Noah fence.
There are professional noodlers, and the good ones are missing fingers because snapping turtles nest the same way. (Once they got you, turtles won’t let go.)
Then there’s this. It’s cool, too, except for that giggle at the end.
[Aussie friend Phil phound the catfish catch. Chair kick found at Arbroath.]
Lookee here folks… this particular post has no theme, so it makes complete sense to post a coupla completely unrelated videos here.
“The Commitments” was a very underrated movie about a bunch of Irish misfits that came together with a love for 1960’s American R&B and pulled it off before self-destructing. Put it on your “must rent” list if you’ve not seen it.
Here’s the real deal that’s too hot to handle and too cold to hold: The Wicked Wilson Pickett’s “Land of 1000 Dances.”
Otis Redding followed in Wilson’s footsteps. Here’s “Try A Little Tenderness.” Look for Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Al Jackson and Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the M.G.’s) backing him up.
Here’s a National Lampoon classic, Deteriorata, updated with a slide show. And since you were wondering, Bunk’s God is both a hairy thunderer AND a cosmic muffin.
Here at TR we like the Odd, the Unusual, and the unrecognizable green stuff in the back of the refrigerator that controls the light.
Once in a while the O and U both jump up to bite us in the crackerbockles when we least expect it. Miss Bunkessa Strutts found this gem, and while the song is not remarkable, the video is clever, as are the other videos seeping from the cranial orifices of the band known as “OK GO.”
Enough of that. Back in the middle of the plastic band war years, this one stood out. Here’s the J.Geils Band c.1983 doing a cover of the Marvelow‘s 1965 hit “I Do” with Peter Wolf and Magic Dick presiding. Hope you like it.
Waddlin’, waddlin’, waddlin’, Though the pond is coddlin’
Keep them duckies waddlin’, Raw Duck!
Rain and wind and weather, Hell-bent in feather,
Wishin’ my gal was by my side.
All the things I’m missin’, Good vittles, love, and kissin’,
Are waiting at the end of my ride.
Cull ’em out, pluck ’em off, pluck ’em off, cull ’em out
Cull ’em out, pluck ’em off, Raw Duck
Dress ’em up, lay ’em down, lay ’em down, baste ’em up
Make sure the oven’s preheated to 375 because no one likes
Raw Duck!
from arbroath.blogspot.co posted with vodpod
Being a duckboy is hard work. Here’s more proof:
This Duck needs no introduction:
Finally, here’s an Odd Duck. Democrat presidential candidate and zen master, Alaska’s former Senator Mike Gravel has the most bizarre political non-political ad I’ve ever seen, and it creeps me out a little:
We assume the message is “Don’t mess with Gravel. He’ll mess up your pond reflections.”
Vodpod videos no longer available. from s166.photobucket.com posted with vodpod
No Way. Can’t happen. Get outta here. [Via Snopes.]
1960 precursor to Star Trek from East Germany, according to the U-to0bage description:
Here’s a look at “the world’s largest supercomputer” in the socialist utopian future predicted by a 1960 East German science fiction film
The movie is “Der Schweigende Stern,” released in the west as “First Spaceship on Venus.”
Like other Soviet-bloc films, it forecast a utopian future in which socialist scientific advancement led the world.
In this scene, the scientists are using the supercomputer to decipher an alien message recorded on a device ejected from an alien spacecraft before it crashed.
And speaking of Star Trek, one of the funniest Saturday Night Live clips, (with William Shatner as Captain Kirk, Chevy Chase as Spock, Bill Murray as Bones, on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise after the series was canceled) should have appeared below. But NBC apparently convinced uT00B and g00ggle to drop all the video links for copyright violations. It’s as if NBC wanted to erase all evidence of the years when Saturday Night Live was actually funny.
So here’s this gem [originally scheduled for a later post]: The Dap-Kings featuring Sharon Jones. Music & video uses 1960’s technology for recording and taping this modern band with the stylings of early R&B. “Almost Aretha” is a pretty good compliment.
James Brown, aka Butane James, Mr. PleasePleasePlease, Mr. Dynamite, The Hardest Working Man In Show Business, Soul Brother No. 1 & The Godfather of Soul shows you how to do the dances you heard about, but rarely saw (at least not as good as JB could do ’em), and all within a minute and 39 seconds:
1.The Crab Dance
2.The Boogaloo
3.The Funky Chicken
4.The James Brown
5.The Mash Potato
6.The Camel Walk
7.The Robot
8. The Soul Train
I’m not sure about the name of the first dance, since it’s in JamesSpeak. Video link jumped out at me and made me get up and get on down, from Arbroath.
Tacky Raccoons 