Music/playlists

A friend who likes the  playlists I post occasionally on facebook suggested I make a page of them on the blog and this is it. However as I was searching for the playlists which are buried deeply in my facebook page, I kept coming across the posts I have written about singers and songs and bands over the years so now they are mixed in with the playlists. To understand: I don't hold rights to any of this music and have no permissions to use it except YouTube license. I do this blog for fun and I make no money off the music or anything else on the site. If objections arise, I will delete music where usage is questioned. I am hoping the level of appreciation and perhaps exposure to new listeners is reward enough for the artists. So what do you start a collection like this with? An account of the music that has been in my life for more than 60 years? (Hint it's mostly rock) Well, just recently a video hit me as hard as any music I have ever heard, so let's start with that and go on from there. (Be patient, with all the videos it takes a while to load.)

Eric  Clapton Luciano Pavarotti    "Mother Mary"

And now on to the rest of the music

Hang on chillins for a wild ride on a playlist

August 4, 2017
Music can mean many things to many people, some of it and them not so pretty. Take, for instance singing in the shower, alone in a moving car or in this case a lonely old Alaskan sitting at his computer with a glass of wine and a pizza in the oven on a Friday night. A lot of it occurs right where it belongs and heard only by the hopeful musician. If it should go public what we need to keep in mind is it's the thought that counts, and the effort. If the performance isn't perfect, at least some credit should be given for the attempt. This first offering is a case in point. Consider 65,000 people singing "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Bohemian Rhapsody at a Green Day concert in England.

A couple of months ago, Greg Allman of the Allman Brothers died. A friend told me she expected a southern rock playlist. At the time I could only think of the brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Since then I have found a few more and I am going to mix them in tonight. First up a a traditional southern song with a rock twist. One I couldn't help singing as a teenager. The Fendermen, "Muleskinner Blues."

There are some other versions and I will put at least one up later. 

Let's get this one out of the way early. Star Wars medley played on stringed instruments with light sabres.

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All right, that's done. I know drum solos can get tedious, unless you like the new Energizer Bunny commercial, so I will be judicious. In the last playlist I featured an 11-year-old singer who was awesome. A 14-year-old in the background was largely ignored despite her amazing drumming. Here she is now and maybe a couple more later, Sina covering "Smoke on theWater," Deep Purple.

Sorry, I couldn't resist trying this: 

Another southern rocker with an absolutely genuine deep southern song. Have I ever gotten very far without mentioning Leon Russell? Barely recognizable as a young man, doing Jambalaya. Get this, I once won a 45 of Jambalaya for spelling the word correctly in a contest on The Hound's radio show on WKBW in Buffalo, New York. From the Zanzibar, man.

George Lorenz | Biography | Hound Dog

George Lorenz Biography

HOUNDDOGLORENZ.COM

 It's too bad the bio didn't put his opening in. With background music that paused so he could give his spiel it went something like this: First a howl, then he would say "The Hound's around" then more music, then "I'm rockin' on record, dad," more music, then "from the Zanzibar, man." That's all I remember. The Zanzibar was a dance club in the center of Buffalo's African-American neighborhood. One thing it is important to note is that very early on during the birth years of rock music, The Hound promoted black musicians before they were being played regularly on other stations. Those included Frankie Lyman, "Little" Stevie Wonder and Little Richard.


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Going softer now. I've written on these playlists before about Steven Stills and Judy Collins. Here they are in a duet after all the fireworks. "Someday Soon," with Graham Nash.

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How about another southern song? A more country version of "Mule Skinner Blues" with Pete Seeger and Ramblin' Jack Elliot. Sometimes you have to listen to these songs the way they were meant originally.

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Here's sort of an introduction to the drummer Sina. The timing is cool. It's also fun to scroll down the YouTube window and read her own comments about what she is doing. This is an aside. A few years ago I came across a 16-year-old drummer who, like Sina, employed two base drums. Her sets were so energetic she needed help walking off the stage afterward because her legs were cramping. Whitesnakes' "Here I Go Again."

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Let's go back in time a ways. Do you think Elvis was the first person to record this? Big Mama Thornton "Hound Dog."

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Heading south again with the Allman Brothers from their album Hot L'Anta. Light one up if you have one.

How about a comedy break. Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick "Blowin' In The Wind."







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Here's another hard rock band from the southland. Hold onto your seats. Black Oak Arkansas "Jim Dandy."






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Here's a last one from Sina, for tonight anyway. I just figured out that's her father playing the guitar in this video. "Wipe Out"from the Surfaris.

Leaves you breathless just watching. The photo is from her website: 

Girl's got groove

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We aren't going to leave southern rock tonight without hearing from these guys. Lynyrd Skynyrd, with their classic "Freebird." Then watch out for a hard right turn. Incidentally their name comes from a basketball coach named Leonard Skinner who told band members their hair was too long.

Making that right turn now. A dear friend of mine and I have joked about the inappropriate crushes we have on people, celebrities mostly. Many of mine are female singers who have shown up on these playlists.  But despite the number of female singers I have featured, I have left out an important one, not because I don't like her but because I am not familiar with her music despite the fact she is the biggest-selling woman singer over the past 20-some years and often has a song at the top of the charts. She has had 18 number one hits and wrote 17 of those herself. A friend on Twitter is a big fan and considers herself one of the lambs, a name for Mariah Carey's most devoted followers. Sometimes I have gotten a little tired of all her tweets about the singer but I tolerate them for the friendship. Frankly I have never listened much and I probably know more about her personal life from the tabloid press than I do about her music. Then, the other night I came across her cover of one of my favorite songs and I liked it. So, let's try it here. Mariah Carey with Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is."


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As usual I like the original version better, but that's just me and doesn't take anything away from the way she performs it. She did a beautiful job with the song. Here's the original Foreigner version. Make your own choice.

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Then I explored a little more and I came across another cover Mariah did and I like that one too.
Mariah Carey,"Without You."

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Many people have covered that song and she does it beautifully, but my favorite and a cover, also, is Harry Nilssen's version.

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Now for a little history. Usually but not always we like the original version of a song. I mean who with one exception from Joe Cocker can cover the Beatles? This one is the exception. Badfinger was a band that George Harrison promoted originally. Two members of the band wrote "Without You," but then differences led to the band's breakup and later both of the authors, Pete Ham and Tom Evans, eventually committed suicide. Their song lives on in the voices of others. This is the Badfinger version. The backup music and the guitar don't quite make up for their clipped performance of the song.  Badfinger, "Without You."

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At this point I realized we need some more music from Mariah Carey. But what? So, at a loss, I asked my Twitter friend what her favorite song was that wasn't a cover. Boy, did I get an earful over that one. I mean, all I had heard so far were those two covers, but I knew she had written so much of her own music and that was explained to me very clearly. I told my friend what I was doing and she asked me if I was becoming one of Mariah's lambs. I asked if I would have to give up my Lil' Monster badge. She said I could be both. I asked her to tell me her favorite original Mariah song. This is it: "Make It Happen."

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And, this is her song "One Sweet Day," the longest-running No. 1 hit in US chart history.

One more thing about Mariah Carey. She has a five-octave range and beyond. She can hit what is called the whistler register. You have to hear it to believe it. She not only hits that off-the-chart note but can maneuver within that range. And, no, I do not have an inappropriate crush on her. Yet!  Here are some examples of her whistle register.





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Almost midnight and I guess maybe it's time to bring this one to an end. A song lingers in my mind.

Foreigner takes some grief for some sappy songs but the hell with that. This last song got me through a whole winter of a tough breakup so many years ago. (Search Key Largo on the main blog). It got kind of embarrassing because I was working on a newspaper copy desk at the time and out of the blue one night I blurted out a line from this song before I realized it was out loud. Foreigner, "Waiting for a Girl Like You."



Catching up again

July 15, 2017
It's been a while since one of these. Life got in the way of facebook for a while and a lower profile seemed to be the way to deal. But one thing I noticed was not many people have been posting music lately. Maybe it's summer and people are outdoors during leisure time, or maybe it's the heat, maybe it's the politics or maybe it's just life goes on. A death in the family today reminded me how fragile life is so in remembrance and to raise the level a little, maybe it's time to put a little music into life. I have been collecting songs knowing this day would come sooner or later. Never being orthodox about this, these first three are different versions of the same song. Worth the listen I hope. First is Zooey Deschanel with She and Him. "Unchained Melody."

The next one is a little different. You maybe have heard part of it already in an Apple commercial that's been on TV lately. Lykke Li.  'Unchained Melody" again.

Now, you might have noticed whose song they have covered. Honestly, I like listening to these but nobody and I mean nobody sang it like the Righteous Brothers. (Also I am old enough to have heard it before THAT movie.)  "Unchained Melody" yet again.

I didn't realize that version didn't have the other half of the brothers on it, so just for justice and equality, here is another song with both of them singing. Awesomesauce. "You've lost that loving feeling."













The high notes Bobby Hatfield could hit brings a connection to another singer. I heard this the other night and it reminded me this is a song I don't have on my phone. A glass of wine and a credit card took care of that. I don't think anyone has ever tried to cover this one. Minnie Riperton, "Loving You."

We often focus on the contemporary. And on these lists I often focus on the past. But look who's coming along. This young lady is 11 years old. Give the drummer a little love too. She's 14 and I have saved some videos of her for a future playlist.  "The Sound of Silence."

OK they both deserve another listen. "Go your own way." Put it on full screen. These kids are amazing. The young fellow playing the guitar is 14 also.

Not sure I can even top those kids tonight, but we could start by letting Fleetwood Mac go their own way. 

Some comments from facebook at this point in the night.

Suzy Peakall Thank you for another stellar playlist. It's been too long.

Like

 · Reply · July 15 at 9:06pm

Manage

Tim Jones This one went in a different direction in a New York minute.

Like

 · Reply · July 15 at 9:07pm

Manage

Suzy Peakall All part of the magic, my friend.

Like

 · Reply · 

1

 · July 15 at 9:07pm

I couldn't resist. I got to poking around with the videos those kids put up and came across this one. It's not on the playlist on facebook, but I liked it so much I thought it might go here. The drummer Sina covering  The Who's "Pinball Wizard." with a tribute to Who drummer Keith Moon.

OK sticking with young female singers. This is Suzi Quatro. A nickel if you recognize her. Never mind: Leather Tuscadero from the TV show "Happy Days." "If you can't give me love"

All right with all these female musicians, somehow in the back of my mind I feel like I am violating some kind of bro code. So, here's a transition.  Maria Muldar, Leon Russell, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson.

Seems like somebody cut that one short. So, moving on. I keep going back here. The first and biggest of the "girl groups" the Supremes first big hit. "Where Did Our Love Go"

Now we are heading off into random songs that caught my attention over the past few months: Starting with One toke over the line, a song Lawrence Welk totally misunderstood. "One Toke Over the Line."

I've already mentioned Leon Russell once. Here he is again. In 1971 Beatle George Harrison organized a benefit to help refugees in Bangladesh, a largely ignored part of the world. Anyone who was anybody attended and participated. Too many to mention. This is a memorable performance as introduced by George, "a couple of numbers from Leon." "Jumpin' Jack Flash and Youngblood." 

Would you believe a duet by Judy Collins and Pete Seeger? "Turn, Turn, Turn." Did you know the lyrics are based on biblical scripture? The song was written by Seeger and includes word for word passages from the first eight verses of the Third Book of Ecclesiastes. 







Why is it we don't hear more from Judy Collins these days? " In my life"  

This came up in conversation tonight, memories; first with the cover by the young girl above and then in conversation. Paul Simon with a good back story. I actually rode down a road once with a lover I was leaving and we sang this song, even made up verses.  "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"









Here's a lesser known Paul Simon song, but one that speaks to me. "The Boxer." 

Simon & Garfunkel were so good it would be difficult to pick their best song but this one would be near the top. For one it relates to my experience with Sweet Judy Blue Eyes (Yes Suzy, another one who got away) but also to a happy day driving to Anchorage when I actually hit the high note. I have NEVER hit the high note in Unchained Melody.  If you listen closely Art Garfunkel doesn't hit the high note either in this rendition. "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

One last song. Watching Mic Fleetwood and Sina (the drummer backing that 11-year-old singer) play drums earlier tonight reminded me of this story. When Peter Gabriel left Genesis, the group went looking for another lead singer. They auditioned several people but kept looking for someone they said "sounded like" (drummer) Phil Collins. Then the dawn broke and the rest is history. From their extensive library this has always been my favorite. "I don't care anymore."









Music outside the box

May 9, 2017 

If you have seen any of my playlists you probably have picked up on my enjoyment of hearing a good musician tackle a different genre and perform it wonderfully. Lady Gaga at the Oscars singing a Sound of Music medley. Eric Clapton with Pavaroti. Pentatonix doing anything. I think there are enough of them out there to try a playlist. It may take a while to find what I'm looking for so bear with me. Anyway, here's the first entry.

Bohemian Rhapsody – Pentatonix

How about Eric Clapton and Wynton Marsalis at a jazz festival?

Linda Rondstadt is so versatile, Here is one of my favorites from her Mexican phase.

I have enjoyed watching Miley Cyrus spread her wings. Here she is with a Dolly Parton favorite. Did you know Dolly Parton is her godmother?  Jolene

Linda again from the Pirates of Penzance 

OK here's an unusual one. Some duets work great, some are hilarious. Which type is this?

Going off the theme a little. I have liked every incarnation of Linda Rondstadt. This was from her alone time after Stone Ponies and I think my all-time favorite song of hers. A couple of years ago I managed to grow some black pansies and all summer when I walked outside I thought of her and this song. "Black roses, white rhythm and blues."

Talk about outside your comfort zone. This is the guy who wrote Me and Bobby McGee.  Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson "Evergreen;"

In case you don't know anything about him, here is one of his best known songs in its time. He also was a Rhodes Scholar. Look it up. He was in a great football movie with Burt Reynolds called "Semi-Tough. He also made captain in the Army as a helicopter pilot. He wrote most of what he sang:  Kris Kristofferson, " The Silver-tongued Devil and I."

Here he is with Rita Coolidge whom he married and then they divorced. He wrote this one too. "Help me make it through the night. "

 

Here's another  favorite Linda Rondstadt songs from the early years. "When will I be loved."

 
I am actually laughing. If you are following you have already heard this song once by Miley Cyrus. Now try it with the writer Dolly Parton and Pentatonix.  "Jolene" again.

 

I got way off theme there but that's how it goes some of these nights. Since we got into duets this is one of my favorites by two people who play so well off each other. JJ Cale wrote this and it was a hit for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Clapton and Cale "They call me the breeze."

Here's a great collection of musicians playing a familiar favorite.  
"Sweet home Chicago."

Fair warning. This is 8 minutes long. But it is a joy to experience the full range of Roy Clark's abilities. If that is too long for you, skip to minute 5:33 and be amazed. 
Roy Clark plays everything.

All right, last one, (unless I find something else) I posted this on my facebook page once but deserves a softer listening. Pentatonix "Imagine."

But, if that song is played, it would be blasphemous not to play it by this man. He would be 77 October 9 only 4 days before I turn 75.  John Lennon "Imagine"

The Great Margaritaville cruise finds One Particular Harbor

Party boat.

July 18, 2014

Valdez, Alaska, seldom has a hot summer day. Built tight against the Chugach Mountains, surrounded by glaciers, and fronting on the ocean, it just isn't in a place that encourages heat. But there was a day in 1987 when the temperature rose so high, our favorite harbor bartender told us to take a table out into the parking lot to enjoy the late afternoon sea breeze. She promised someone would wait on us and someone did.

So, a bunch of us gathered around that table joined by others now and then and losing a participant occasionally, but a core of about eight of us remained for the duration. Conversation covered the gamut of fishing, boats and weather and sea stories until someone brought up the fact that Jimmy Buffett was playing a concert in Anchorage in the next couple of weeks and we were stuck so far away. There's a line in a Stan Rogers song about the same sort of gathering in which he sings "… with every jar that hit the bar …" a plan grew. It was that way on that hot night in a Valdez bar's parking lot.

With every jar that hit the bar we went from lamenting the fact that we would miss the concert to we could charter the tour boat I drove, get hold of concert tickets, arrange a bus ride from the harbor on the other side of Prince William Sound to the city and then sell tickets to the concert. People were responsible for their own meals and hotel.

First thing the next morning I approached the owner of the company. It being late August the tourist business had begun its late season decline and he allowed the charter. I contacted my daughter's mother in Anchorage and she purchased about $1,200 worth of concert tickets. A friend in another tour outfit scheduled one of the company's buses to take us to and from the harbor in Whittier and then to Anchorage and back and the marketing began. A few posters and a posting on the local cable channel scanner did the trick. We sold out within four days.

In a town with no movie theaters and a name performer coming by once every couple of years, people thirst for entertainment opportunities. Our plan was to leave early in the morning, reach Whittier in early afternoon and take the bus to Anchorage in plenty of time to make the concert.  The next day we would meet in a central location, take the bus back to Whittier and the boat back to Valdez.

What could go wrong? For once, nothing at all.  We had perfect weather crossing the sound, flat glassy water, blue skies and a party going on in the boat.  The owner had installed a generator the year before and in his wildest dreams I don't think he ever expected to hear it used to keep four blenders producing margaritas all day long. With lots of music over the stereo and a calm ride, the 120-mile, six-hour trip passed happily and uneventfully.

In Whittier we secured the boat, met the bus and headed for Anchorage. And finally I could have one of those margaritas.

A few hours later we gathered in our block of seats and enjoyed the concert.  Most of us had sailed for years with Jimmy Buffett singing the sound track, so we knew the songs and finally enjoyed a live performance.

Afterward we separated again and went our personal ways, eventually to hotel rooms or friends' couches.

The next day at noon everyone showed up to meet the bus, we didn't lose a soul, and off we went to the boat for the voyage home.

The weather hadn't changed and we enjoyed another clear, flat, glassy day. Feeling so good, I took the boat to places we didn't usually go on our trips and gave the folks a real treat in seeing Prince William Sound. One fellow who had been around for many years said we had showed him places he had never even heard of.  The waterfall in Cascade Bay was one  of those.

Night fell while we were still under way and we cruised toward the harbor in the dark on a party boat with lights blazing. Maragaritas still flowed, now it was all Buffett on the stereo and people were even dancing. We entered the harbor and I found the song I wanted.  "One Particular Harbor" and played it loud enough to be heard on shore.

Right in front of the windows that overlooked the harbor from that bar I did a couple of brodies in the harbor's turning basin while the song blasted and passengers danced on the weather deck, waving to people in the bar who by then had spotted us.

When the song ended I pulled up to the dock where tour boats discharged passengers and let the partiers off, then went to our own slip with the crew. Once we had the boat secured,  we all went up to the bar where the party was still in progress and lasted well into the night. At one point the owner of another bar in town, who had been on the trip, said it had been so good, if I wanted to do another one some time he would front the money. But that was for another day.  The euphoria of the experience still had a grip and the party kept going until the last jar hit the bar.

The next morning I woke up and walked into the main cabin. I felt something out of place and it occurred to me that you know you had a good party when you walk in the next day and your floor is still sticky from spilled margaritas. It took a while to clean that boat but it was worth it.  Over all, I lost about $90 for the effort and that was worth it too.

Now almost 30 years later I run into people who were on that cruise and they still talk about it. A defining moment?  Maybe. Just plain fun? Absolutely.

PLAYLIST FOR A RAINY DAY
April 26, 2017

Is anybody up for a playlist? I sort of promised one to a friend who lives in Northern California. She is not particularly enjoying the rain that's been landing around her for the past week or so and I tried to cheer her a little by encouraging her to look for ways to enjoy herself when it's raining. I don't think it worked though and it didn't help that we'd been enjoying a sunny April in Alaska so far. So I told her I would try a rain playlist right after I finished a chore I had to do outside after dark. So, what happens? I go out to do my chore and the rain is starting here too. So it goes. One problem with rain songs is a lot of them are sad, lost loves and such, but I found a few upbeat ones, too and I will mix them. Let's start with this one. I wish they made more movies like this these days. (A hint. Try to turn off the automatic play in youtube. A lot of these songs keep playing into the next one.) 

Great movie, great song. Butch and Sundance. Song is by B.J. Thomas
















Is there any subject you can't find a doo wop song about it?  (Not quite doo wop) The Cascades, "Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain."

I did promise a sad one, and who better sing it than these two guys from my childhood.? The Everly Brothers set the standard for two-part harmony. I read once where a linguist analyzed their sound and he said despite their heavy accents, because they grew up in the same house, they spoke the same way and harmonizing became natural.
"Crying in the Rain." 

Now a crooner. Do we still have those any more? Dee Clark with "Raindrops."

I tried to tell you to learn to like the rain. I guess it takes a country singer. Eddie Rabbit, "I love a rainy night."

Does anybody remember the Eurythmics? Annie Lennox, "Here comes the rain again."

Here's another woman singer we may have forgotten. The Carpenters, Karen and her brother. "Rainy Days and Mondays."
















You had to know we weren't going to get too far before there was some hard rock. I have to admit I skipped a Clapton song I didn't care for that much. Creedence, "Have you ever seen rain."

 

                                                             Ready to revert to childhood? :D

The thing about rain, it doesn't discriminate. It rains on California, so, it rains on Georgia too. Brooke Benton, Rainy Night in Georgia.

College days harmonies. The Fortunes – "Here comes that rainy day feeling again."

Is this the most famous rain song ever? "Singing in the rain" – Gene Kelly

All right, time to get serious, we are heading into the serious part of the evening heading for the big production number at the end. Take a deep breath and come with me. First: Gordon Lightfoot: "Early Morning Rain."














As I was looking for rain songs I came across this one. I had never heard of the singer or the song but I was immediately mesmerized and lost in the music. Hope everyone else is too. Ann Peebles "I can't stand the rain"















Couldn't do a list of rain songs without this one. It fits as well today as when it was recorded in the early 60s. Let's hope it happens soon.
Bob Dylan live with an orchestra "A hard rain's gonna fall."

We've come to the last song. It is going to take some background. (First a friend suggested I should have started with this and I can see her point, but here we are.) Now, I think I am pretty tough (there are some who would argue). I mean I run around in the Alaska woods by myself and do quite fine at the age of 74. I have sailed the big ocean in small boats. I've had my successes and my failures and managed to survive both. Still you are only as tough as your next test, so we'll let that rest for now. But, given that history, I have to admit I had never heard this next song until I heard it in the background of an episode of the Gilmore Girls. Ha. I have never been easy to compartmentalize. Anyway here is the last song of the day, incidentally I just realized, it is the second playlist I have ended recently with Bette Midler. "I think it's going to rain today."

And then just when I thought it was all done that same friend suggested this as a last song.  Perfect. George Harrison, "Here comes the sun."

And then there is this from my misspent youth: Can any of you kids tell me what a rainy day woman is? Dylan again.

****

It's about that corner in Winslow, Arizona

The corner in Winslow, Arizona. Catch the truck off to the right. This photo came from my friend but names and images have been left out to protect the guilty.

Any guy who's ever hitchhiked has entertained the fantasy of being picked up by a beautiful woman in a fancy car and, as Robert Frost might have written it, she takes him places, and she takes him places.

A statue of Glenn Frey, who co-wrote
the song, was placed near the corner
in September 2016

That fantasy was memorialized in the Eagles' song "Take It Easy" with the line "Well, I'm standing   a corner in Winslow, Arizona. I'm such a fine sight to see. It's a girl, my lord, in a flat bed Ford slowing down to take a look at me." Who hasn't heard that song and that line and put himself on that corner?

So today, during a long drive, the song came up on the stereo but when the line rang out, the girl in the flatbed Ford wasn't there. Instead it was three friends in Facebook photos standing on the very same corner, two scruffy Alaskans and one beautiful Arizona woman who I'm pretty sure doesn't drive a flatbed Ford.  Wait, what? The image would not go away and the song passed without any more accompanying harmonies from me.

The thought lingered for a while. How dare reality wipe out a perfectly good fantasy, but it is probably gone forever. Like they say once you see something you can't unsee it. The song's still good, it just won't be the same any more.

And much as I love my friends, I want that girl in the flatbed Ford back. Fortunately or unfortunately I still have the four that want to own me, two that want to stone me and the one says she's a friend of mine. And, still out there, also, is "that lover who won't blow my cover;" don't you know,  "she's so hard to find."

The Eagles, "Take it easy"

A BIT OF AN AFTERTHOUGHT: Someone July 7, 2014, found this post using the search words "real teen girls naked Winslow Arizona." I'm pretty sure he didn't find what he was looking for here.

A TAYLOR MOMSEN PLAYLIST

April 14, 2017

This is an experiment, For some time now I have been posting playlists on facebook, just music that hits my 

Taylor Momsen as she is now, the lead
singer for The Pretty Reckless.

fancy of a given evening. This is an attempt to reproduce one here from tonight:
There's a joke that was going around toward the end of the era when you went to the store to buy your music. A man and his son were browsing through the albums when the man held one up and said. "oh. look, Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings." To which the son replies, " Wings?" That joke killed in the early 80s. A lot of music has gone by since then with a lot of new talent singing, but often without even realizing what the roots were. That's why the other night it was such a joy to see Taylor Momsen tweet a playlist of her favorites. If you don't know about her, you might have seen her in the TV series Gossip Girl or in the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas. These days at the age of 23 she's a bit different from those roles now standing up as the lead singer for a group called The Pretty Reckless. But, she knows where her roots are. It was so cool to see someone so young playing her favorites and some of them were mine, too, So, instead of me, tonight, this is the playlist she tweeted last week during some downtime while on tour in Germany.

Here's the first song on Taylor's list.

Janis Joplin, Me and Bobby McGee



















Yes, my young friends, there was good music even before 1970. The Doors, "Touch me"

Anyway here's one that might surprise you. Not exactly The Pretty Reckless kind of music. Bill Withers, "Use me"

 











Getting closer to The Pretty Reckless, a little different sound. The Who, "Who are you?" CSI anybody?

Here's a diversion. Doesn't it always happen? I can honestly say I had not heard of The Who until I heard this song and then saw the Woodstock movie. Bear with me. If you have never heard the rock opera Tommy, do it. "See me. feel me"

Back to Taylor Momsen and Bill Withers, 
"Ain't no Sunshine"














Do you wonder who her biggest influences might have been? Forgive the interruptions in this one. Google offered an explanation but that page came up blank. So it goes.
Led Zeppelin, "Black Dog 

This is one of my all-time favorites. Tops on the The Doors list for sure. "People are Strange 

This one knocked me over. It took me a long time to discover how good Cyndi Lauper really is; I mean beyond "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Having heard and watched some other things she has done, I have developed an appreciation for her, but I had never heard or seen this: Cyndi Lauper and Pink Floyd"The Wall."

All right that is the end of her playlist, but it just wouldn't right not to play some of Taylor Momsen's music too. So here come three of my favorites. 

The Pretty Reckless, " Heaven Knows."


The Pretty Reckless, "Why'd you bring a shotgun to the party"

Every musician worth the salt in jazz, blues, rock worlds pays some homage to the Crossroads. Here's one done by Taylor Momsen and The Pretty Reckless, "Take me down"















Well. we came to the end of Taylor's list, but I am still going strong and so I'm going to explore a little and I might put up a couple more before the night's over, probably unrelated though. Hope you enjoyed this so far.  Some time later … This one was just way too easy.
Eric Clapton, "Crossroads"

I think that's it for tonight.

Going down to the crossroads

August 15, 2013

Gary Clark Jr., "When My Train Pulls In" Crossroads 2013. 
Give it a moment to get past the warm up.

Of the people I saw, in the movie theater, I don't think any of them were younger than 35.  We were a small group anyway, probably fewer than 20, hard to tell in the dark and with most of them behind me. We'd come to see the one-night showing of Eric Clapton's 2013 Crossroads concert in Madison Square Garden.

For a while waiting for it to start I thought about young people arguing on Twitter.  Katy or Gaga?  Beliebers vs. lil Monsters. Serena vs. Demi.  Dimensioners and Swifties.  All for their own music with no idea where it came from, who influenced whom.

Then with the striking of the first note all that melted away while the music slowly immersed us.  Over it sometimes a murmur of  recognition, an understanding laugh at an insiders joke.  Sometimes a quick clap of appreciation, but mostly silence from the small crowd (hmm is that a non sequitur?) as one after another of the great blues, rock and even country, guitar players of our day came to the stage putting his particular brand on the music and the concert.

Among them were names I had never heard before.  Gary Clark Jr., Doyle Bramhill II, Quinn Sullivan, at 14, shredding with Buddy Guy.

And, the familiar names:  Eric Clapton, Guy, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Allman Brothers, every one founded in the blues and jazz origins of American popular music, some raising goose bumps they were so good.  And Booker T, oh yes, raising the memory of dancing the slop and the mashed potatoes with Doreen Pryzbos to "Green Onions" in a dance joint, circa 1962.

And, some surprises:  All I have ever heard of John Mayer was his escapades with beautiful celebrity women.  The man can bend.  An awesome performance including a duet with Keith Urban in a powerful bluesy rendition of the Beatles' "Don't Let me Down."  Now there's a new appreciation for John Mayer.  In the past we excused the excesses of the great musicians, even when those excesses killed them, but that was before social media and haters.  Mayer can play; what he does outside of that as long as no one is injured or killed, well, that's his business.  And country's Keith Urban: I always wondered what the beautiful Nicole Kidman saw in a scruffy country singer. Now I think I know.

Who hasn't heard a guitar riff that remains in memory for the rest of life?  Clapton in "Cocaine" and "Sunshine" and "Layla."   Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider."  Booker T's "Green Onions."  It's a triggered memory thing, more great riffs in mind than a listener can possibly bring to recall on demand.  Oh, yeah, Duane Eddy; "Detour" and "Rebel Rouser."  No, he wasn't there, but he is alive and still playing, now in his 70s.  And here's another one from that era: Does anyone remember Eddie Cochran's "Sumertime Blues?"

One highlight of this concert was adding a new riff. Give a good listen to Gary Clark Jr., playing "When My Train Pulls In" in the attached video.  Almost guaranteed you will have a new riff to remember. 

Clapton organizes these Crossroads concerts every three years to benefit a drug rehabilitation center he sponsors in the Caribbean.  He invites players he likes, some of them surprising. In an interview before the concert showing, Vince Gill expressed as much surprise as anyone that he was included, but once he started playing it was understandable.

There were more and more and more, exhausting, and we only saw two and a half hours of a two-day concert performed in Madison Square Garden last April.  When it ended the few of us in the audience sat and stared at credits for a long time, then slowly walked out, music ringing in our ears, but in silence ourselves.

Many, but of course not all, of the great players of today were there but, only one was really missed. 

The production carried a dedication to the memory of JJ Cale.

Playlist for the night 
a snowfall cleared it all up

November 5, 2016

What's on my mind, Facebook? After two days of trauma things turned up. Amazing what a little snow can do. And what does that bring? Playlist!!! These first two go together. The first one short to set the mood. You can turn it off after she sings. She continues to amaze.
Lady Gaga resurrects her role in a Led Zeppelin Cover Band. 

We can't go on until we hear the real thing: Led Zeppelin, Black Dog

                                                                                            

And, could we do Zeppelin without this? 
"Stairway to Heaven"












Now that you've heard that version, you need to hear this one: Heart live at the Kennedy Center honors

Changing direction and back to Gaga. She has a new album out and people may have heard a couple of songs from it, but probably not this one. I found it haunting. Hope you do: "Angel Down"

And speaking of angels: Sarah McLachlan and Pink "Angel"

Here's one I hadn't heard in a long time and it came up this week: Billy Joel "Piano man"

Then here comes another combo, the original first. It is not synched very well but it sounds fine. I hadn't realized she wrote it. Laura Nyro, "Eli's coming"












And, can you do it without the Three dog Night version? "Eli's coming" again









Don't you just love rock that had lyrics? A change of direction again and not so much. Back to the 50s: Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders "Game of love."

And another of those: John Fred and his playboy band: Judy in Disguise

All right, last one. Lyrics to interpret, and a message for today. Can your hear it?  
Bob Dylan, "I shall be free"

The sweet music

November 7, 2916

I spent most of the Eighties living on boats in the summer, running first small charters and eventually moving up to larger tourist boats. I was divorced at the time and my daughter would come in the summers and spend several weeks with me living on the boat and getting a taste of that world. In time she thrived, but at first, at the age of 6 and the first time she had left familiar surroundings for any length of time, she was unsure of herself and it took her some time to adjust. And, of course I needed some adjustment too.

I tried to make her as comfortable as possible but in the first days she had trouble falling asleep on the boat. She could never tell me why and I tried everything I could to help but nothing seemed to work until one night I hit on something we hadn't tried.

The last time I had gone into a town I had brought back a few 8-tracks because that's what kind of player was wired into the boat. One of those albums was Willie Nelson's "Stardust." One of those early nights when she had trouble falling asleep, I put that album on and played it low volume. The next time I looked in on her she was sound asleep. After that every night at bed time it was "play the sweet music, Daddy." And sweet music became the go-to bed time music through most of our years on the boats.

A few years later when she was old enough to be buying her own music she told me "Stardust" was one of the first CDs she bought. As technology changed, I have bought it in the 8-track as I said, but also in a cassette and then a CD.

Attached here are a couple of examples, the title track and "Unchained Melody;" Willie Nelson like you have never heard him before or since. Sweet music, indeed.

April 2, 2017
Hard driving women
It's been some time since I've made a playlist, just seemed irrelevant most of the time. But re-entry from the Bush has been particularly difficult this time, at least until today when the sun came out and I actually did something. All the time, hanging over my head has been the suggestion from a friend that I do one and she even suggested a song to get it going. So, here goes. Give it some time to start up because the guitar prelude isn't there. 
Grace Slick, "White Rabbit." 
Vocal only. Haunting. "Somebody to love" follows.






Moving on to a couple of TV kids you might not have heard beyond their popular shows. 
First, Sarah Hyland from Modern Family 

Next is Kaitlyn Dever who plays Eve Baxter on Last Man Standing. 

I could never get very far in a list of women singers without Lady Gaga. Watch her in this one. The Metallica singer's mic didn't work and they end up sharing one. Even if it's not your music, hang in there for the mosh pit.  Lady Gaga, Metallica: "Moth into Flame"

I came across this one today: Patti Smith had her hand in a lot of music. This was her best known composition that she performed herself.  
Patti Smith Group, "Because the night"







Now get this. Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature but chose not to attend the ceremony. This is Patti Smith representing him. It might be the most honest performance you have ever heard or seen. Patti Smith, "A hard rain's a-gonna fall"

I'm planning to stick with women tonight but just for contrast here's Bob Dylan doing it himself in 1963. 
"A hard rain's gonna fall"














OH what the hell, Leon Russell did it well too. 

















Back to the main theme, with a kind of transition. This might have been the first song I ever heard her sing. Do you recognize her friend? And maybe who it's about? Whenever I hear a voice described as clear as a bell, I think of her. 
Joan Baez, "Diamonds and Rust"









Can you mention Joan Baez without mentioning Judy Collins?  "Both sides now"

















Off the theme again. I wonder if kids today even know how to write a song about a lost love. Can you even guess who Judy is? For your edification, the fellow on the left is Steven Stills, who had a relationship with Judy Collins. This song came out after they split. She said she loved the song, but she never took him back There was a Sweet Judy Blue Eyes in my life too. "Suite Judy Blue Eyes"


Brace yourself for a Buffy Sainte-Marie concert. Who? Just listen. "Up where we belong."























The Joe Cocker, Jennifer Warnes version. 










Buffy Sainte-Marie has written and sung with an awareness since the 1960s until …  "Universal soldier"

That one became an anthem:  Done here by Donovan















… and still relevant today









Ok Ok, got carried away there. Those three women and their music influenced me during my formative years and their messages stay with me today, but perhaps it is time to lighten up a little. Here is another woman singer who influenced me in quite a different way. 
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts "I love rock and roll."







I heard her sing the theme from the Mary Tyler Moore show one night at the Alaska State Fair and I will tell you you haven't lived until you have heard Joan Jett sing "Who can turn the world on with her smile …" I couldn't find a recording but here she is with a softer song, but not so much the way she does it.  
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts:  "Crimson and Clover"

Now would you believe a duet with Miley Cyrus? They could have shown a little more of Joan and a little less of Miley.  "Crimson and Clover"

But, speaking of Miley, I have a new respect for her since: 


Here's Melanie in her prime –

Candles in the Rain.

Mary Travers, the Mary of Peter, Paul and Mary, performs one of her few solo performances: "The first time ever I saw your face"

All right, it's probably time to wind this down and I've been trying to think of a song that would do it. This is what I came up with. If you have never seen this movie look it up, "The Rose." 

'You can't always get what you want ....'

July 12, 2012

"But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need..."

Been rocking out to the Stones all day today; it seemed like the right thing to do.  Fifty years ago today, the Rolling Stones took the stage for the first time in a little pub called The Marquee Club in London, thus beginning the most epic career in the history of rock and roll.

From: Clashmusic.com

All day long as the songs played, memories of the times came to mind, helping me relive my misspent youth with the Stones often there providing the music.  At the time I liked them better than the Beatles, I think just because of the harder edge to their music, music that had lyrics that sometimes made you think, sometimes made you laugh and almost always made you want to dance or led you into other pursuits suitable to the age of the world and the age of the person.

Getting caught by a policeman while parked and making out with Heather Smith in my 1964 Corvair Spyder while a radio station played every song on the Aftermath album.

Getting an unexpected Saturday night off when we ran out of parts on the assembly line at the Chevrolet engine plant and racing home to shower and dress and head for the nearest bar with a rock and roll band.  Buffalo had a lot of those at the time. We had dressed in three-piece suits and went to one of the better ones where we met two girls and danced with them until the band quit then offered to take them home.  Home turned out to be Toronto which didn't stop us for a minute.  I abandoned my car on a side street and we drove the Queen Elizabeth Way in Bill Toth's new Chevelle, the song of the moment: "Hey you, get off of my cloud."  I remember that experience every time I hear that opening line: "I live alone in an apartment on the 99th floor of my block..."  We spent the rest of the weekend in Toronto and when I finally returned to my regular life I learned the police were looking for me.  A resident on the street where I left my car had seen me run from it and jump into my friend's. She called the police thinking it might be stolen.  The police ended up calling my parents who of course immediately imagined the worst possible scenario.

Friday night college parties that didn't really begin until I went to the stereo and played those first notes of "Satisfaction."  Years later when some poll had decided that was the greatest rock and roll song of all time, I heard an interview with Keith Richards who described how the famous guitar riff came to be.  He said he always kept a tape recorder at his bedside.  And one night he woke up with that riff in his head and played it, falling back asleep almost immediately.  When he woke up in the morning he had on the tape 15 seconds of Satisfaction and 45 minutes of himself snoring.

Then there were the parties at drive-ins where we rocked and danced until the movie started with Stones music to get us going.

This could go on.  I bet fully half the songs in their book raise some sort of memory and listening to most of them today brought a lot of those memories back. 

Also, listening today I realized what's missing in a lot of rock music today: Lyrics. Something to say.  Often it was about love, of course, but there were others too, and some mysterious and difficult to decipher.  I still haven't totally figured out this one:

Sympathy For The Devil lyrics

Songwriters: Jagger, Mick; Richards, Keith;

Please allow me to introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

I've been around for a long, long year

Stole many a man's soul and fate

I was 'round when Jesus Christ

Had his moments of doubt and pain

Made damn sure that Pilate

Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name, oh yeah

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game

I stuck around St. Petersburg

When I saw it was a time for a change

Killed the Czar and his ministers

Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank

Held a General's rank

When the Blitzkrieg raged

And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name, oh yeah

What's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched the glee

While your kings and queens

Fought for ten decades

For the Gods they made

I shouted out

"Who killed the Kennedys?"

Well after all

It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

And I laid traps for troubadours

Who get killed before they reached Bombay

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name, oh yeah

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name, oh yeah

But what's confusing you

Is just the nature of my game, ooh yeah

Just as every cop is a criminal

And all the sinners saints

As heads is tails just call me Lucifer

I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me, have some courtesy

Have some sympathy and some taste

Use all your well learned politics

Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mmm yeah

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name, mmm yeah

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, get down

Woo hoo, ah yeah, get on down, oh yeah

Tell me, baby, what's my name?

Tell me, honey, baby guess my name

Tell me, baby, what's my name?

I'll tell ya one time you're to blame

What's my name?

Tell me, baby, what's my name?

Tell me, sweetie, what's my name?

© ABKCO MUSIC INC

There are too many to pick a single favorite, but that one certainly is on the list.  In addition to the hard rock edge they could sing beautifully as well. Take  "Angie," " Ruby Tuesday," and this one which I only started listening to more closely in the past couple of years:

I love the line from that song: "I have my freedom, but I don't have much time."

I guess 50 years of good rock and roll is a lot to thank someone for, but it has been appreciated over and over again.  Mick Jagger will be 69 July 28.  That makes him less than a year younger than I am.  I am glad to have gone along for the ride.

As he approaches 70 and is still rocking, I have to wonder if  he still thinks, "what a drag it is getting old." I doubt it.

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