John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett

I don't see as many concerts as I did when I was younger, but I do try to go to as many as I can... when I can afford them. When my wife and I heard that John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett where coming to town and performing together, well we just had to go. We had seen John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett a couple of times back in the 1990s, but hadn't had the chance to seem them since. The last album of Hiatt's that I had purchased was Crossing Muddy Water from way back in 2000, and the last Lovett album that I bought was Live In Texas from 1999. Since John had put out eight more albums, and Lyle five since then, I was a little concerned that I wouldn't know any of the songs. I shouldn't have worried, the show was great, consisting mostly of their best known songs. The show was just the two of them sitting on stage, trading songs. John would play one, and then Lyle would. In between there was some banter back and forth. My wife felt the banter was the best part of the show. Usually Lyle would start out by asking John about the song he had just played, or by saying "Oh, were doing love songs now? Is this a theme show?" or "Did you ever write a song off an idea that someone gave you?" Although most of their songs were played separately, they did collaborate on some, such as Church and Thing Called Love, mostly John adding vocals or guitar leads to Lyle's songs, although Lyle did add vocals to some of John's songs, at one point in the show Lyle said that John was working harder than he was by playing on more of Lyle's songs than vice versa. Unfortunately cameras weren't allowed in the hall, so I didn't get any footage, but here's some video from other shows.

If I Had A Boat

Thing Called Love

Although the show was fantastic, there were a couple of things that I think would have made it a better show, one is that I wish they had done more songs together, the other I didn't realize until I looked for videos on line and saw that Joe Ely had done some shows with them. Man I would have loved to have seen that. The only time I saw Joe Ely was with the Flatlanders , back in 2002.

Drive South - A nice little bit of information John gave is that for Drive South, he tunes his G string down to E for this song.

My Baby Don't Tolerate

Have a Little Faith 

And although Joe Ely wasn't at the show, I just have to add this.

Me and Billy the Kid

If you get a chance to see these guys together, I highly recommend that you go see them.

What does it mean when you wake up and had been dreaming about Husker Du?

So after getting the boys on the bus, I went back to sleep. (One of the perks of not working), and when I woke up, I had been dreaming about Husker Du. The strange thing about this is that I haven't listened to or though about Husker Du for months...maybe even years.  I tend to think that dreams are made up of junk floating around in the subconscious, but I don't know where this dream came from because as I said, I hadn't been listening to or thinking about Husker Du. For example, the day before I had been listening to Charley Patton and John Prine, with a little David Bromberg at the end of the day. The day before that, my wife was whistling Donna Summer's song On the Radio. (Which was actually the song going through my head as I was getting the boys ready for school.) So no Husker Du.
But anyway, the dream was soft of like this, I was sitting at a cafe or maybe a school lunch table, and saw a flyer talking about all this cool stuff you could get for 7 bucks; forgotten videos, secret interviews, lessons and more...all about Husker Du...weird...
So maybe it was a sign for me to post something about Husker Du. As I may have said before, in the 1980s, the Huskers were one of my favorite bands. I only got to see them once, for the Warehouse tour, but I sure listened to them a lot, I mean, I had even silkscreened t-shirts and my jean jacket with their logo...so here are some favorite songs.

Makes No Sense At All

Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely

Eight Miles High

Green Eyes

In college, I remember hearing that they were going to be on the Late Show, and staying up late to watch it on a crappy little TV. (This was before colleges had cable in the rooms, not to mention internet) Back then it was kind of strange for them to be on national TV, so this was something of an event.

How about a little reunion, probably the only one we'll ever see.

and lastly one of my favorites.., All Work And No Play

Maybe my brain was trying to tell me to dust off the old vinyl, tapes and cds and give them a listen. So thanks subconscious for the chance to revisit some favorite music, and thanks Bob, Grant and Greg for the music in the first place.

John Paul Spencer Album Release

A jazz musician is someone who puts a $5,000 horn in a $500 car and drives 50 miles for $5 gig.

Now, I'm by no means a jazz musician, but that's the joke that was going through my head as I drove the 12 plus hours out to Milwaukee to play at John Paul Spencer's Album Release.  If you have read this blog previously, you may remember in 2012, when we went to Georgia to record what would become the album, which you can now purchase here http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/johnpaulspencer .


The gig was at the Tonic Tavern, which was a nice space to play.

 

 

Opening for J.P. Spencer, was his friend Eric, who goes by the name E is for Epic. He played a great set on both 12 and 6 string guitars.

 

E is for Epic

 

After E is for Epic, we went on, and played a set consisting of J.P.'s songs and some covers of Richard Thompson, Camper Van Beethoven, Van Morrison and others.  Check out the videos at the link below. (I've been having computer issues, and can't load videos directly , but this sort of works.) The link goes to a Picasaweb page, and has two videos of E is for Epic, a couple of pics and two videos of J.P. Spencer. (the last video is approx. 30 minutes.)  Also playing with us were J.P.'s friends Martin and Leigh Ann. If you have any problems seeing the video, send me a comment. I hope you enjoy the videos.



John Paul Spencer Album Release

Todaro's Music

 

Whenever anyone asks me about buying an instrument, I always recommend Todaro's Music in Lansdowne, PA. Especially if it's a slightly offbeat instrument. Every music store has guitars and basses, and now everyone has ukuleles. You can even buy them online, but trying to find someone who knows something about instruments from off the beaten path, well... good luck. 

 Just check out Joe's selection, he's got Eastern European Instruments like the tamburitza, Middle Eastern instruments like the oud, and the baglama. If you want instruments from South America, well then Todaro's Music is the only place to go. He's got charangos, ronrocos, quenas, zamponas, bombos...the list could go on and on... (Disclaimer- I went to Bolivia on instrument buying trips with Joe a couple of times) And when I say he knows the instruments, well when we were in Bolivia, he took charango lessons from several Bolivian musicians.

Did I mention ukuleles? Well Joe has his own line of ukes made in Bolivia by the same craftsmen that make the charangos that he sells in his store. Check them out here.

 

 

Anyway, I was asked about a folk  harp once, the person wanted to see them, not just pictures on the web. Who had a couple in stock? Todaro's.

My nephew needed a tuba or sousaphone for band, who had one at a reasonable price? I'll let you figure that out. 

 

 

 

 

Nephew with Waldorf Sousaphone

 

 

Any store has your basic guitars, but if you want something a little funky, well you have a couple of options, Pawn Shops, or Todaro's Music. Check out some of the things hanging on his wall.



 



Fender Coronado (if this was a bass I would have bought it, not that the thought didn't cross my mind, but...empty wallet)

 

Possibly Japanese made, maybe a Teisco in between a Gibson, and a Strat style

Japanese Decca (Made by Teisco)in between a pointy shred guitar and a Harmony (possibly an Archtone H1214)

Check out this little beauty. a turn of the century, Bruno guitar, what is today called a parlor guitar.

 

Check out those tuners and headstock overlay!

Bruno stamp on back of headstock

Just look at that back!!

 

Another nifty item that caught my eye, a Ditson mandolin.

Martin Guitars made some instruments for Ditson.

 

Ditson mandolin in front of some middle eastern percussion

 

Ditson stamp on back of headstock.

 

Here's a view of one of the walls of instruments, you'll see some of what's in stock including classical guitars, mandolins, and electric and acoustic guitars.

Another view of the Harmony, next to a Jackson.

 

 

Here's a cool little guitar, possibly a Kay. It looks similar to one I've seen in a pic of Lightning Hopkins see here.

Cool old Bass Drum

 

Old Silvertone Mandolin

 

 

Here's some more stuff

Loar and Recording King

Palatino Electric Upright and Ashbory Bass plus banjo

 

 

Anyway, I didn't get any shots of the exotic Latin American, Eastern European or Middle Eastern Instruments, maybe on my next trip to Todaro's Music.

Ain't it funny how time slips away?

 

Time sure moves fast when you don't pay attention to it. I just realized I haven't posted anything for a while, and was wondering where the time went. I have some things in the works including a visit to Todaro's Music, a trip to the Scottish Highland Games and an album release with John Paul Spencer, so keep an eye out for them. In the meantime, here's Willie Nelson with "Funny How Time Slips Away"

 

 

Happy Birthday Ronnie

 

 

I don't usually remember musicians birthdays, (or anyone's really) but here's one I do...April 1st is Ronnie Lane's Birthday, (April 1, 1946 - June 4, 1997) so here's 43 minutes of Ronnie with the Faces from 1972 in celebration of his life and music.

  

How about some Ronnie with the Small Faces? Here's "All of Nothing"

 

 

 

How about "Sha La La La Lee"

 

 

 "You Better Believe It"

 

Ronnie and Pete - "Catmelody"



 

"Heart to Hang Onto"



Happy Birthday Ronnie!

Hound Dog

Well, since we recently got a new dog, I though I'd bring up my favorite dog related music/musician.

 

The new dog

 No, not Elvis and his cover of Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog", no not Rufus Thomas and "Walkin' the Dog", no, not Snoop Dogg, nor George Clinton's "Atomic Dog", not Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog" not even The Beatles "Hey Bulldog" or "Martha my Dear".

Who I want to talk about is the guy who said, "When I die, they'll say, 'he couldn't play shit, but he sure made it sound good!' "

Of course that means the late, great, polydactyl slide guitar player, Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor.

Hound Dog with Dog



Hound Dog's Polydactyl Hand

 

What's that you say, you're not familiar with Hound Dog Taylor? Well, get with the program man!

 Do you like blues? No I don't mean "blooze", that overproduced "Blueshammer" crap, I mean raw blues, blues played on a cheap guitar through a cheap amp using a slide sawed off of a kitchen chair leg. Don't have a bass player? Don't need one, the second guitar can play the bass parts. Drummer, sure, drumkit, well only the most basic three piece set. The sound... well great gosh 'a mighty, can you say pure unadulterated blues played with undeniable joy and rocking harder than many rock bands. All produced by three men; Hound Dog, Brewer Phillips, and Ted Harvey, playing on minimal equipment... which just shows you that it's not what you play, but how you play it.

 

 

 Complicated, well not really, original, well that depends on how you look at it, the music not so much, but Hound Dog was a complete original. Hound Dog's influences were, well...Elmore James, but he took that music and played it with passion and joy, not perfection, and when you listen to it, you can't help but get a smile on your face.
 

Hound Dog died in 1975, and only released two albums during his life, but his music still holds up today. J.B. Hutto who played a similar Elmore James style of music "inherited" Hound Dog's band The Houserockers, Hutto's nephew Lil' Ed (and the Blues Imperials) plays in a similar style. George Thorogood, who drove Hound Dog to gigs on some east coast tours, was directly influenced by Hound Dog (check out this interview), and The Black Keys also cite him as an influence. Not to mention that Alligator records was formed for the sole purpose of recording Hound Dog.

For more information on Hound Dog, check out this site
http://www.keno.org/hound_dog_taylor/hdhomepage.htm

I could keep writing the stories about Hound Dog, that he cut off the sixth finger of his right hand one drunk night, that he would wake up his bandmates with the command, "wake up and argue" that he shot Brewer Phillips during an argument... but I wasn't there, so check out some of those stories here and here, from Bruce Iglauer who was.


So let's check out some music videos...

Give Me Back My Wig

 

 

It Hurts Me Too

Talk To My Baby

The Sun Is Shining

Hound Dog with Little Walter and Koko Taylor

Hound Dog and Little Walter

 

 

Roll Your Moneymaker

 Check this out...two live sets from 1972

Enjoy!!!