Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas

Here's a clip from the Trailer Park Boys' holiday special entitled "Dear Santa Clause, go fuck yourself", in which Ricky explains the true meaning of Christmas.



... and now some Christmas listening pleasures. -WARNING: the last one is by no means safe for work.










Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Liqour & Whores

Bubbles croons the Trailer Park Boys' classic "Liqour and Whores" off the TPB movie soundtrack.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Cracker Acoustic Duo

- Live at Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz, CA - April 1, 2009

Today's Date In Music History







Taped by: Todd Fleisher
Transferred by: Todd Fleisher


Disc 1
Set 1
01. Intro
02. One Fine Day
03. Sunrise In The Land Of Milk & Honey @
04. Been Around The World
05. Teen Angst
06. Guarded By Monkeys
07. Friends
08. Lonesome Johnny Blues
09. Turn On Tune In Drop Out @
10. Another Song About The Rain
11. Sweethearts #
12. All Her Favorite Fruit #$
13. Eurotrash Girl
14. Dr. Bernice

Disc 2
01. St. Cajetan
02. Crowd
Encore:
03. Big Dipper
04. Be My Love


Notes:
@ - acoustic debut
# - Greg Lisher on guitar
$ - Johnny on harmonica

(Download here)

Thanks to Cracker Acoustic Duo for allowing audience & soundboard recordings.


Previous Cracker posts


visit David Lowery's blog, 300 Songs

Sunday, March 20, 2011

He liked to say simply that he played “jazz over a funky beat.”



RIP Melvin Sparks

Melvin Sparks (March 22, 1946 – March 13, 2011) was an American soul jazz, hard bop and jazz blues guitarist. He died on March 13, 2011 from complications from diabetes.




Melvin Sparks is the Essential Guitar Player! He’s The Master Of The Groove! The Acid-Jazz Pioneer! The Originator of Soul Jazz, Old School Acid Jazz & BarbecueFunk(FUNKJAZZ)

Over the last thirty years he has played with some of Jazz’s greatest musicians: David "Fathead" Newman, Lou Donaldson, Hank Crawford, Reuben Wilson and John Patton (are amongst the many). During the 1970s, Sparks backed up Lou Donaldson on the Funk-Jazz classics "Everything I Play Is Funky" and "Hot Dog".

Sparks recorded seven albums of his own and played on over 100 other albums. As a session man for Blue Note and Prestige Records, Sparks laid his signature guitar work on many other musician’s albums without ever being in spotlight. It was during this time that Melvin defined the jazz-guitar sound of a generation.

Melvin Sparks is still a much sought-after studio player, both new and old talents seek him out now more than ever. He continues to perform with the greats of this genre such as Leon Spencer Jr., Mike Clark and Idris Mohammed and is now breaking out his legendary guitar wizardry with many younger bands and artists such as Galactic, The Greyboy Allstars, Karl Denson's Tiny Univers, Derek Trucks and Robert Walter's 20th Congress.

Melvin is geared up to show us all what he does better than anyone else. Groove hard and in the pocket. Melvin Sparks has perhaps the most inspiring and soul-energizing guitar chops on this planet or another. He is admired by many performers, and audiences old and young alike, but continues to be a hidden treasure for music fans worldwide. He is Soul-Jazzy and Funky to the core!
.

In the player below,

Melvin Sparks Band Live at Muddy River Smokehouse on May 28, 2004






Tr-01 Fire Eater
Tr-02 Alligator Boogaloo
Tr-03 Charlie Brown
Tr-04 Miss Riverside
Tr-05 Hot Dog
Tr-06 Pick up the Pieces
Tr-07 Texas Twister
Tr-08 Give Me the Night
Tr-09 Cherokee

Thursday, February 10, 2011

"Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No"

"without question the most intimidating pitcher of his era"

I've posted before of Dock Ellis and his no-hitter pitched while under the influence of LSD.
Here's a great short film by James Blagden.



The preceding video, and the following description, are from NoMasTV's channel.

In celebration of the greatest athletic achievement by a man on a psychedelic journey, No Mas and artist James Blagden proudly present the animated tale of Dock Ellis' legendary LSD no-hitter. In the past few years we've heard all too much about performance enhancing drugs from greenies to tetrahydrogestrinone, and not enough about performance inhibiting drugs. If our evaluation of the records of athletes like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds needs to be revised downwards with an asterisk, we submit that that Dock Ellis record deserves a giant exclamation point. Of the 263 no-hitters ever thrown in the Big Leagues, we can only guess how many were aided by steroids, but we can say without question that only one was ever thrown on acid.

Sadly, the great Dock Ellis died last December at 63. A year before, radio producers Donnell Alexander and Neille Ilel, had recorded an interview with Ellis in which the former Pirate right hander gave a moment by moment account of June 12, 1970, the day he no-hit the San Diego Padres. Alexander and Ilels original four minute piece appeared March 29, 2008 on NPRs Weekend America. When we stumbled across that piece this past June, Blagden and Isenberg were inspired to create a short animated film around the original audio.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

RIP Charlie Louvin


Country music legend Charlie Louvin entered into eternal rest on January 26, 2011 due to complications from his pancreatic cancer. He was 83 years old.

Born Charles Elzer Loudermilk on July 7, 1927, Charlie made it big, along with his brother Ira, as the Louvin brothers. The duo were innovators of the close-harmony style that influenced The Everly Brothers and, then later, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, Gram Parson’s version of The Byrds and The Beach Boys. Ira was notorious for drinking and reckless behavior which led Charlie to eventually fire his brother. The next year, after a period of sobriety, Ira was killed when a drunk driver struck his car.

The Louvins were famous for singing about death, tortured relationships, drinking, sin, murder, and the eviscerating emptiness of this corrupt world.

"The Louvin Brothers preached a fire-and-brimstone theology of bottomless torment and endless grace. They sneered at moral relativism and shades of grey, opting for a black-and-white worldview that separated the world cleanly into sinners and saints, the redeemed and the damned. "-Nathan Rabin

"The Louvins’ Jesus isn’t some longhaired, namby-pamby peacenik in sandals and beads preaching brotherhood and love. No, he’s a badass warrior in perpetual combat with Satan’s hordes. "







"I'm not afraid of dying," Louvin told The Associated Press a few days after the diagnosis. "We're all going to do that. And I've had 83 years of almost uninterrupted good health, so I know that's not by accident. So I've been blessed that long, and I could use a couple more."










2120 South Michigan Avenue

Here's a little Rolling Stones instrumental for ya.

"2120 South Michigan Avenue" is the street address of Chess Studios, where many of the band's R&B idols had recorded. After a disappointing first half of their inaugural American Tour, the Stones were brought to Chicago for these sessions. The first day, June 10, the Stones were thrilled by the appearance of several visitors in the studio - Buddy Guy, Chuck Berry and Willie Dixon. When the band arrived the next day, none other than Muddy Waters helped them lug guitars and amps into the studio, and stayed around to chat with the boys, who were astonished by the whole experience.



The video is "Truckdriving in Sweden". It was uploaded to YouTube by rocknsixties

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Love In Outer Space

Earlier today,I stumbled upon this cool video for "Love In Outer Space" by Sun Ra.

Save Our Suhaki


A "peaceful and poignant protest against the politically correct NCAA."


Two Fighting Sioux supporters have launched Save Our Suhaki, a tongue-in-cheek campaign ostensibly aimed at preserving the suhaki, a Russian antelope whose name is pronounced exactly like "Sioux hockey."

Get Ready For The Beaumonts!

The Beaumonts, from Lubbock, Texas, are "purveyors of genuine, no holds barred, COUNTRY music.
With an arsenal of raunchy, drug laced, honky tonk songs and an anything goes mentality the band keeps on-a preaching and their clergy keeps on-a drinking."

Their new album Get Ready For The Beaumonts is available for FREE download!

Whack fol de daddy-o There's whiskey in the... Can?!


Scottish Spirits is now producing whisky in a can!


Who knows? This trend may catch on, just as it has begun to in the world of craft beer.

Happy (Belated) New Year!

It's been nearly a month since my last post.
Please enjoy these jazz performances, as I ease myself back into blogging mode.


"Night in Tunisia"

by The Quintet (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach) at Massey Hall, Toronto 1953




... and the British acid jazz trio Red Snapper playing "Space Sickness"