TuneIn
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Tennessee Border
Posted by Greg G at 11:06 AM 0 comments
Labels: Bear Family, Country, Greg
Ezra Stoller
Columbia Records, 1953. Photo by Ezra Stoller.
If I were in NYC, I would most certainly plan on dropping by the Yossi Milo gallery in Chelsea to check out the display of architectural and industrial photographs taken by Ezra Stoller. More information about Stoller and his wonderful work can be found in this New York Times article.
Posted by Greg G at 10:24 AM 2 comments
Labels: 45s, Greg, New York City, photography
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Infamous Eye-ties: Part Deux
Posted by gene sculatti at 7:28 PM 0 comments
Champion Jack Dupree month: The OKeh Sides - Better than welfare grapefruit juice
Jack wound up his career as a boxer in Indianapolis, where he took a job as a bouncer at Sea Ferguson's Cotton Club. It was here he met Leroy Carr, who influenced Jack's New Orleans barrelhouse piano with his more uptown, nascent Chicago Blues style. It was a combination of these two styles that made up his playing for most of the rest of his career. He travelled to Chicago, where, according to the song "See My Milk Cow", he met Big Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red, and Jazz Gillum, who helped him get his first recording contract, with OKeh. He made his first recording in 1940 and is often credited with being the first New Orleans blues pianist to be recorded.
Top row: Jazz Gillum, Tampa Red, Scrapper Blackwell Bottom row: Jack Dupree, Big Bill Broonzy in front - Tampa Red's whiskey drinking dog. |
His first release was "Warehouse Man Blues," a song that combines a number of elements that would be cycled and recycled throughout his work. It's pretty funny, but it's also a striking bit of social commentary about being black and poor in a white man's world. CJD would address these issues more fully in the 60s - it was pretty much why he abandoned the United States for England and mainland Europe.
"My grandma left this morning with a basket in her hand
she going to the warehouse to see the warehouse man
she got down to the warehouse, and white folks said 'ain't no use,
the governor ain't giving away nothin' but that canned grapefruit juice.'
It's a low down dirty shame the way these projects doin.
Now Uncle Sam paid the men that bonus
You know that was mighty fine
You fill them street walkin' women up with that moonlight wine
You spent all your money, you spent it mighty fast
Now this winter breeze bout to jam you with a . . . yeah! yeah!
Don't you know the relief is closing down?
It's a low down shame the way they really do."
(Paid for) sex, booze, poverty, righteous anger at injustice, double entendre, a woman who has mother in her name that is not quite the singer's mother - it's just about all there, except for the heroin and the cabbage. And the shaking.
Jack cut enough tracks to release four records on his first date in 1940, including the utterly stompin' "Cabbage Greens" and "New Low Down Dog", an early version of "Stumbling Block", one of his best known and loved rockers.
He was back six months later for another one, when he unleashed the "Dupree Shake Dance" and a song that would have a huge influence on the sound of New Orleans rhythm and blues (and by extension rock and roll in general), "Junker Blues".
You hear a lot about the key piano professors of New Orleans, and too often Jack Dupree does not get mentioned on the list. But his rolling figures and general acceptance of all facets of human behavior are at the heart of New Orleans music. Fats Domino would take this song, remove all of the references to drugs and squalor (not easy, since that's just about all there is to the lyrics), and create "The Fat Man" in 1949, a song that's often one of those many "first rock and roll" songs you hear so much about. So, by logical extension, in this month's version of the story, rock and roll was created on a bed of needles, reefer, and cocaine. Something to keep in mind. "Junker's Blues" plays an important part in another key development in the history of rock and roll, but we'll get to that in a couple of weeks.
Jack recorded one more session for OKeh, in November of 1941. This session included another New Orleans styled r&b number, "Heavy Heart Blues", and some very cool early Chicago style blues which include the first appearance of electric guitar on his records.
His fledgling musical career was interrupted, however, by his first trip overseas, to serve time in World War II. He wouldn't pick up his musical career again until 1944.
Listen to "Warehouse Man Blues"
Posted by Mr. Soul Motion at 5:29 PM 0 comments
Labels: Big Bill Broonzy, Champion Jack Dupree, Dr. Filth, Jazz Gillum, Leroy Carr, Sea Ferguson, Tampa Red
Monday, February 4, 2013
Champion Jack Dupree made a LOT of records
The jist is that CJD made a LOT of records. He was the John Lee Hooker of barrelhouse piano (in more ways than one, since some of his best recordings are just him, his piano and his stomp). He was always happy to reinvent one or more of his Dupree specials for whoever might be willing to give him some bread. Like John Lee, he got thrown in with an awful lot of younger, white blues players in the 60s, with similar mixed results. But he made records both rockin' and righteous all his life, he tells great autobiographical stories in a lot of his songs, and he casts a shadow over the history of enough Ichiban-oriented interests to keep us amused for a month. Plus he's hilarious.
Jack Dupree was born in New Orleans in 1909 or 1910. Like Louis Armstrong, he claimed to have been born on the 4th of July, and like Armstrong, that claim has proven to be inaccurate. Also like Louis Armstrong, he was raised in New Orleans' Home for Colored Waifs, after he lost his parents in a house or store fire that may or may not have been set by the Ku Klux Klan. Jack talks about this on his song "The Death of Louis Armstrong" and makes reference to the fire in a song called .
Jack taught himself to play piano after the orphanage acquired one from the Salvation Army, and apprenticed in the juke joints with Willie Hall, also known as Drive 'Em Down, who apparently taught him one of his signature numbers, "Junker's Blues". He reminisces about Drive 'Em Down at the start of the song "Workhouse Blues", from an early 60s session for Storyville, recorded in Denmark.
In the 30s he split New Orleans for Detroit, where he became a boxer. Here he earned, either honorably or ironically, the nickname "Champion", depending on whose stories you believe. One imagines he got sick of hitting something that hit back, so he moved to Chicago at the start of the 40s and started playing the piano again.
Listen to "The Death of Louis Armstrong"
Listen to "Workhouse Blues (Talkin' Bout Drive 'Em Down)"
sorry about so many slow songs today - we'll get to boogie plenty by month's end . . .
Relative to his large body of work and the colorfulness of his life, there does not seem to be a lot of information about Champion Jack Dupree out there. He is not the subject of any biographies, and he doesn't get a lot of mention in the blues history books I've checked. Francis Davis's History of the Blues offers a useful if slightly condescending three page biographical overview.
This blog post has a great interview with CJD and will be returned to frequently this month.
Big thanks to the exhaustive Champion Jack Dupree discography here. Pretty much my only tether to reality this month.
Posted by Mr. Soul Motion at 4:52 PM 1 comments
Labels: Champion Jack Dupree, Dr. Filth, John Lee Hooker, Louis Armstrong, Meat Head Johnson
Saturday, February 2, 2013
It's FOOTBALL, Baby! (mp3 mix)
KICK OFF - Johnny Ray Gomez & the U-Neeks
FOOTBALL ROCK - Jack Hammer
KILLER McBASH - The Weird-Ohs
DO THE FOOTBALL - Acres of Grass
FOOTBALL - Mickey & the Soul Generation
IT'S FOOTBALL BABY - Stix of Dynamite
TOUCHDOWN!!!
Posted by J.R. Williams at 5:05 PM 2 comments
Friday, February 1, 2013
February is Champion Jack Dupree Month
New Orleans barrelhouser. Spyboy. Boxer. Expatriot. Mickey Baker collaborator. Babs Gonzales translator. Middle-finger-to-blues-scholars-giver. Jiver. Junker. John. Stroller/walker. Mother-in-Law hater.
February is Champion Jack Dupree month. But Jack Dupree wants us all to take the weekend off and get up to really shameful antics so we can talk about them ruminatively while we play a slow 12 bar blues and stomp our feet. Be prepared for vamps 'til Monday. Lord knows CJD knew how to vamp.
Posted by Mr. Soul Motion at 9:58 AM 1 comments
Labels: Champion Jack Dupree month, Dr. Filth
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Similar Bat-Time, Different Bat-Channel: Fiveash pulls a David Brinkley
Over the last few weeks, some, if not none, of you Rock & Soul Ichiban Radio listeners may have been wondering what happened to my live Thursday show. Well, there has been a programming shake-up on WFMU's alternate webstreams, with Ichiban returning to its roots streaming obscure bizarro world hits-that-missed from the 50s and 60s. The reasons are complicated and not particularly interesting; the upshot is that my show, starting next Thursday February 7th, will be heard at a similar bat-time and different bat-channel: 2 to 4 PM Eastern Standard Time, Thursdays on WFMU's Give The Drummer Radio stream. Some Ichiban listeners may remember our sister stream GTDR from when they saved our asses in the dark days after Hurricane Sandy. Give The Drummer Radio is similar to Ichiban in that it's a 24-hour streaming jukebox (curated by WFMU veteran Doug Schulkind from his home in Pittsburgh), but with more live programming. Click here for the full schedule.
For those of you unfamiliar with my show, the playlists to date can be found here. Expect more of the same.
Posted by Matt Fiveash at 11:00 AM 3 comments
Monday, January 28, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Get Out Of The Car (MP3)
Sammy Davis Jr. - Get Out Of The Car
In 1956, Sammy Davis Jr. headed for Broadway to headline a musical production called Mr. Wonderful, written expressly for him and giving him the opportunity to transplant his talents from the nightclubs he usually played to what is sometimes called the "legitimate stage." In any event, the other side of this 45 featured Without You, I'm Nothing, a song featured in the play. We're not going to worry about that one. Instead, here's Sammy Davis' take on Get Out Of The Car, The Treniers' irredeemably insensitive song made a bit less appalling here by adding an extra verse (invoking Sgt. Joe Friday!), in which it's made clear that the young lady in question won't have to walk back to town after all.
Why Me
Posted by Debbie D at 3:26 PM 2 comments
Labels: Debbie D, Germani Country
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Swingin' Time
Broadcast every day at 3:30 on CKLW-TV out of Windsor, Ontario Canada 1965-1968. This episode features Bob Segar & The Last Heard, Dionne Warwick and her sister, Judy Clay among others. Thanks, Freddie. Integration now, segregation never.
Posted by Debbie D at 9:59 PM 1 comments
Labels: Debbie D, Detroit, Swingin' Time
Monday, January 21, 2013
1967 Interview With Double Dynamite!!
Talkin' bout their European tour, their music and if white men can have SOUL!!
Posted by Shouting Thomas Torment at 10:11 AM 1 comments
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Do Knock the Rock: The Eternal Hipness of the Square-Biz Mind
By Gene Sculatti
Posted by gene sculatti at 1:16 PM 0 comments
I'm Gonna Hang My Britches Up (MP3)
Onie Wheeler - I'm Gonna Hang My Britches Up
Onie takes on the women's liberation movement...and throws in the towel.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
This World Is In A Hell Of A Fix!
Editor's Note: Thanks to Phil Milstein for this post and to Jim Blanchard for the comp!
I first met Jim Blanchard c.1995, when he was recommended as a possible cover artist for the song-poem compilation The Human Breakdown Of Absurdity I was then preparing. As I undertook due diligence on Jim I came away impressed not only with his brilliant illustration skills, but also with his great ear for music (or, perhaps more accurately, taste that closely matches my own) and his talent for enlightening cultural exploration. I did indeed hire him –– I’d have been a fool not to –– and 15-plus years later Jim remains a stalwart colleague and beloved friend.
He is also a superb mixtape compiler, although his comps have far too frequently been no more than privately distributed. I hope the posting here of his latest, The World Is In A Hell Of A Fix, will help break him out of his shell. The contents have been expertly culled from the fieldwork of Tom Ardolino, who was the ur-source for collector interest –– or, for that matter, any interest –– in song-poem music. When Penn Jillette purchased Ardolino’s song-poem collection outright a few years back, Jim was brought in to digitize the set. In the course of that work he kept copies of his favorite tracks for his personal listening, and his favorites from among those form today’s compilation.
I’m a tad disappointed that Jim chose to use a photograph of Gene Marshall, rather than his own drawing, to anchor the cover, although frankly his renderings, when he wants them to be, are so realistic that I’m not 100% that it’s not one. Anyway I’m comforted by the fact that the yellow he’s chosen for the background is so lurid it is unlikely to print correctly on any common desktop printer, and may cause some of them to break down completely.
Enjoy!
Posted by Debbie D at 9:15 AM 1 comments
Labels: Debbie D, Jim Blanchard, Phil Milstein
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
CAVEMAN STOMP!
Posted by Greg G at 8:35 PM 1 comments
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Musical Chairs
B.B. Kings |
Also of note, Reigning Sound have had to cancel their appearance at the Bell House this Friday for the Norton Records benefit due to illness. Watch this space for the make up show.
Reigning Sound - Straight Shooter
Posted by Debbie D at 10:48 AM 3 comments
Labels: Debbie D, Ichiban Live
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Welcome To Sam and Dave Month On Ichiban!
Posted by Debbie D at 3:32 PM 3 comments
Labels: Debbie D, Sam and Dave
Hank's Last Ride
Sixty years ago today, Hank Williams died in the back of a 1952 Cadillac headed for Canton, Ohio.
In 2003, on the 50th anniversary of Williams' death, the Nashville Tennessean published a superb article by Peter Cooper that includes everything you ever wanted to know about the fateful trip.
Posted by Greg G at 2:54 PM 1 comments
Labels: Country, Greg, Hank Williams
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Exotique Shakers
EXOTIQUE SHAKERS mix
Posted by J.R. Williams at 1:19 PM 5 comments
Friday, December 28, 2012
Debbie Does WFMU
Sweetest man I've ever known |
Posted by Debbie D at 9:28 AM 1 comments
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Havin' A Cartwright Christmas
Posted by Greg G at 1:55 PM 0 comments
Labels: Christmas, Greg, Television
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Lenny Kaye Discusses Nuggets
Lenny Kaye on the Nuggets LP, released 40 years ago: "And of course the bottom line is that all of these are great songs. They're just not genre pieces. There has been a lot of archaeological dig in the world of garage since Nuggets. But to me, what made the album initially attractive beyond any musical philosophizing was the fact that every one of these songs were great songs beyond genre."
Hat tip: Allen Larmin.
Posted by Greg G at 2:17 PM 2 comments
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Monkees Mania
Review and Photos: Jacob Blickenstaff
The Monkees, reunited with guitarist Michael Nesmith for the first time since disbanding in 1971 (not counting a few fitful UK dates in 1997), played the final show of their US tour at the Beacon Theater on December 2, 2012. The reunion with Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork came after - and possibly as a result of - the untimely death of Davy Jones last February.
Even while reverting to playful bits of vaudeville humor between songs, The Monkees mostly avoided schtick and focused on the great and under appreciated value of their music (cough, cough, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, cough). The group dug deeply into album tracks, including sections devoted to "HEAD" and lesser known tracks from "Headquarters," the self-produced album that The Monkees released to assert their autonomy as a band. This did not detract from their well-loved and exceptionally crafted hits, many of which, as Dolenz pointed out, were written by stellar talents such as Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Neil Diamond, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill, and Harry Nilsson, among others.
Embracing their innovative role within television and film, the stage setup prominently featured a continuous video projection that collaged and referenced everything from campy cash-in TV commercials to clips from the subversive, satirical film "HEAD." Video montages were used twice to pay tribute to Davy Jones, and when it was time for "Daydream Believer" (Jones' signature song) Dolenz invited a young woman from the audience to lead an audience sing-along.
Despite the absence of Davy Jones' irreplaceable charm and charisma, the concert scratched a deep itch on Monkees fans' backs, honoring the depth and creativity of their music while becoming again, for two vivid, flickering hours, the multimedia pop-culture stars they are. By embracing both their creative and pop-culture powers (as their best work always has) the concert resolved the paradox of The Monkees; born inside a cathode ray test tube, they emerged as musical artists yet remained inside the medium, reconciling the artistry and artifice with integrity in a way that no 90's boy band or American Idol has yet to do.
Set List - Beacon Theater, December 2 , 2012
Compiled by Teri Landi
Last Train To Clarksville (Micky lead vocal)
Papa Gene's Blues (Mike lead vocal)
Your Auntie Grizelda (Peter lead vocal)
She (Micky lead vocal)
Sweet Young Thing (Mike lead vocal, Micky on brushes and box)
I'm A Believer (Micky lead vocal)
I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone (Micky lead vocal)
I Wanna Be Free (Davy Jones video tribute)
HEADQUARTERS SECTION:
You Told Me (Mike lead vocal)
Sunny Girlfriend (Mike lead vocal)
You Just May Be The One (Mike lead vocal)
Mary, Mary (Micky lead vocal)
The Girl I Knew Somewhere (Micky lead vocal)
For Pete's Sake (Peter lead vocal)
Early Morning Blues And Greens (Peter lead vocal)
Randy Scouse Git (Micky lead vocal & kettle drum)
Daily Nightly (Micky lead vocal, Mike making Moog synth noises)
Tapioca Tundra (Mike lead vocal)
Goin' Down (Micky lead vocal)
HEAD SECTION:
Porpoise Song (Micky lead vocal)
Daddy's Song (Davy Jones video tribute, dance clip from movie - band synchs to Davy's vocal & original track)
Can You Dig It? (Micky lead vocal)
As We Go Along (Micky lead vocal)
Circle Sky (Mike lead vocal)
Do I Have To Do This All Over Again? (Peter lead vocal)
Davy Jones video tribute (various songs)
Daydream Believer (audience sing along with Micky)
What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round? (Mike lead vocal, Peter on banjo)
ENCORE:
Listen To The Band (Mike lead vocal)
Pleasant Valley Sunday (Micky lead vocal)
Posted by Debbie D at 3:37 PM 12 comments
Labels: Debbie D
Friday, December 14, 2012
The Human Tornado
Watch out, mister...here comes the TWISTER!
Posted by J.R. Williams at 2:11 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Tassel Twirlers
Posted by Kogar the Swinging Ape at 4:53 PM 11 comments