hello just wanting to know if there any new bands in verdun willing to play some shows this summer (all kinds of music)if so you know where to reach me im here ....ty and god love you all
THANKS for stopping by, I do my best to acknowledge when someone leaves a comment,you do not have to be a member here & everyone is welcome. Ps: This site is monitored but not actively posting on a regular basis. Mostly these are stories & some photos saved from a defunct site known as Verdun Connections which was on MSN Groups initially then on a social network called Multiply.
ReplyDeleteIt's the birthday of singer, songwriter Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter,
born in Mooringsport, Louisiana, 1888. He is known for his versions of
"Goodnight Irene" and "Rock Island Line." He was an inmate at Angola
Prison in Louisiana when a white man named Alan Lomax arrived, asking
to record any songs the prisoners knew. Lomax was traveling across the
south making field recordings for the Library of Congress. Lomax helped
him obtain a pardon and took him to New York where he was a big hit.
"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
feelings, as something separated from the rest-- a kind of optical
delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for
us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few
persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature in its beauty."
- Albert Einstein
Hi Bob, You know, I don't have even one of Richie Havens Albums......I liked
ReplyDeletethe Guy, but never purchased any of his stuff.....He was so funny back
then...I guess the thing I liked most about the Folk Artist's of that day
was, "They all seemed to be so sincere, & didn't sell out to the Commercial
Market, & they were very, very HUMBLE". They all appeared to appreciate the
audience that came to see, & hear them perform......
Norman
http://www.richiehavens.com/ Steve
ReplyDeletehttp://leadbelly.lanl.gov/leadbelly.html Huddie Ledbetter, aka Leadbelly Steve
ReplyDeleteHi Norman
ReplyDeleteSteve has posted a nice shot of Richie's most recent album (are they still called albums...I guess so). it's a good recording .... has a nice version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" on it. the CD before this one is also a keeper...it's titled "The Well".
I have had difficulty sometimes finding his CD's in some of the stores, so I ordered the one Steve has posted from Ritchie haven's website. The previous one , the Well, I bought at one of his concerts.
You're right about the attitude. Richie certanly appreciated the audience any time I saw him. and it's nice to see someone like Havens in a 200 seat club. I don't enjoy music in arenas.
Steve also has a nice shot of Leadbelly there. Well, of course, I never saw him, but I did see Odetta a few times. She is quite a musical story teller. She sang a few Leadbelly tunes and always introduced them with explanations on lyrics and background on the songs. I think of songs like "The Rock Island Line" and "BourgeoisTown".
Hey Steve, thanks for the pictures.
BobB
http://www.history-of-rock.com/domino.htm Fats Domino
ReplyDeleteSteve
Your welcome Norman. Steve
ReplyDeleteAs a teenager one of the first "45's" that I bought was "Blueberry Hill" by Fats. The cost was $0.98. It took me whole lotta chores to save that money, but in my opinion was well worth it. What a horder I am, this is one of those 45 adapters that I saved. "Why" you ask, well "Just Because" is the answer. Not sure you can read the writing but it says "45 r.p.m. adapter". Cheers.
ReplyDeleteRemember Muddy Waters?
ReplyDeleteArtist Main Steve
My husband and I still have every 45 we ever had, as well as every LP and even some old 78's...remember those? We use to play the old records and jive and of course drive our daughters crazy...hehe...lots of fun. I loved the music from those days....Dianne
ReplyDeleteRemember Jerry Steve
ReplyDeleteRemember Little Richard Steve
ReplyDeleteRemember Pat Boone and his White Bucks shoes. http://www.patboone.com/ Steve
ReplyDeleteSome great pictures of some great artists, Steve.
ReplyDeleteBobB
Steve....I loved Pat Boone when I was a teenager. Loved to dance to Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis and all the others from that era...great music....thanks for the memories...Dianne
ReplyDeletedianne
ReplyDeleteI'd still love to dance to that music. Unfortunately I have a couple of knees that object.
BobB
Hi BobB....Yeah I know what you mean.....knees, ankles...get out of breath.....but we keep moving,,,that's the main thing...Dianne
ReplyDeleteHey All these Artists that you are presently showing, I have seen them at
ReplyDeleteleast once, in Large Venue's & Small, & I'll tell you small is so very much
better........Fats was so good in the late 50's when he came to Montreal at
the Forum.......He had several hits as I remember or recall.......Now Pat
Boone I remember him from his days at Columbia University, while he was
still going to School....I'll never forget Little Richard, the first time I
ever heard of him was on the radio station CKVL right in Verdun, on the
"What was it called" "The Hit Parade Show", with I believe Leo
LaChance....Whenever Little Richard came on He lit up the whole Room, Man we
danced our selves silly.......As far as our little crowd was concerned, no
one ever could play the Guitar, the way Chuck Berry could....Everone of His
songs sounded alike, but, we enjoyed them anyway.......Maybellene was the
Greatest........Those were the days when I wore a younger man's attitude, &
we would dance all night........Does anyone in Verdun remember a dance
legend, a Girl, named "Mash Patatoes", who could out dance everyone in her
day?......Ahhhhh, those were the days......
Norman
Norman was that Dee Dee Sharp? Steve
ReplyDeleteNorman here's a link to Dee Dee Sharp. http://www.deedeesharp.com/ Steve
ReplyDeleteHappyDi and I thought I was just having spasams. Steve
ReplyDeleteI remember dancing to the Mashed Potatoes.....wow look at her today.....how old was she when she had that hit? Looks like she was 12 years old.....Dianne
ReplyDeleteSteve.....maybe you were...lol
ReplyDeleteFor the Country music fans http://www.martyrobbins.com/. Steve
ReplyDeleteDo you remember Brenda Lee?http://www.brendalee.com
ReplyDeleteSteve
Heres an oldie........Roy Orbison. Birth Name: Roy Kelton Orbison
ReplyDeleteInduction Year: 1987
Date of Birth: 4/23/1936
Place of Birth: Vernon, TX
Date of Death: 12/06/1988
Place of Death: Hendersonville, TN Steve
Carl Perkins
ReplyDeleteOn January 19, 1998 : Carl Perkins dies at the age of 65. Steve
Nat King Colehttp://www.alamhof.org/colenat.htm NATHANIEL ADAMS COLE Instruments: Piano, Vocals
ReplyDeleteDate of Birth: March 17, 1917
Place of Birth: Montgomery, Alabama
Steve
ReplyDeleteSteve. Brenda Lee is still around. Not to long ago, she was on the Wheel Of Fortune. She of course has aged a bit. That is one thing I don't understand. Everyone that I haven't seen for long while have really aged, but I haven't aged nearly as quickly. What's up with that???? Winston Allison
Haha Winston,take an old photograph of yourself and compare it to what you see in the mirror. Eeeeeeeeegggggggggaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddsssssssssssss. Steve
ReplyDeleteHi Winston, You are probably right. However, I think you need a new mirror because your eye sight is the second thing to deteriorate. Reggie Paine
ReplyDeleteok Reggie i'll bite! what's the first thing to deteriorate??
ReplyDeleteRemember Don Ho http://www.donho.com http://www.donho.com/bio.html Don was born in the little Honolulu neighborhood of Kakaako of Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, German parentage but soon moved to Kaneohe. Don's climb to today's heady heights began in a cocktail lounge in the windward Oahu town of Kaneohe called Honey's, named after his mother. After returning from the Air Force, Don took over Honey's in Kaneohe, Hawaii. "When I took it over, the place was empty," says Ho. It was packed everyday during the war years. My dad said 'Son, why don't you go make music." Ho gathered a couple of friends who knew how to play musical instruments and started a band. "I was terrible," says Ho. "So, I just played very softly." Needless to say, business boomed. Have Fun and Enjoy Steve
ReplyDeleteBetty you liked spike Jones. Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 - May 1, 1965) was a popular musician and comedian. He was born in Long Beach, California. His father was a Southern Pacific railroad agent. He got his nickname by being so thin that he was compared to a railroad Mindful Mindlessness
ReplyDeleteSpike Jones Steve
The Everly Brothers Don (born Isaac Donald Everly February 1, 1937 in Brownie, a small coal-mining town (now defunct) near Central City, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky) and Phil Everly (born Philip Everly January 19, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) are country-influenced rock and roll performers who had their greatest success in the 1950s. The Everly Brothers
ReplyDeleteIsaac Donald Everly b. Brownie, Kentucky, February 1, 1937
Philip Everly b. Chicago, Illinois, January 19, 1939
Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame짰 2001
On February 13, 1962, Don in his Marine dress uniform married movie starlet, Venetia Stevenson, in the chapel at Camp Pendleton, California. Five days later while still honeymooning in New York City, the boys made an appearance on CBS-TV's The Ed Sullivan Show in their dress uniforms. Don and Phil were released from the Marines on May 24, 1962. Three weeks earlier Warner Brothers issued "That's Old Fashion (That's the Way Love Should Be)" which became their second Top Ten single in a row. It was also their last. Wake Up Little Susie Steve
The Ink Spots http://www.group-harmony.com/ink_pics.htm
ReplyDeleteThe Platters The Platters were one of the top vocal groups of the 1950's, selling 53 million records and being among the first doo-wop groups to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Steve
ReplyDeleteHank Williams died before he turned 30. He was in a car being driven to a gig. Died in the back seat. He struggled with demons and addictions, but he was able to leave behind 700 (yes 700) songs he had written. There is a Canadian movie that is at least 25 years old...titled "Hank Williams, the show he never gave". It is a fictional account about a fictional roadhouse gig that Hank might have made that fateful New Years Eve. Starred a Canadian folkie / country guy who took the name "Sneezie Waters". Well, Sneezie nailed the role. He was Hank. Kind of typecast him for a long time, but he did Hank (and himself proud). Songs like I'm So Lonesome, You're Cheatin Heart, Cold cold Heart, Hey Good Lookin, Jumbalayah, are all testaments to Hank's writing. Forget the hat, the twang, the cowboy gear and listen to the lyrics ....
ReplyDelete"The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
and as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry"
works for me.
BobB
Sneezy Waters
ReplyDeleteSneezy Waters began his professional career in the 1960’s, and since that time he’s toured extensively in Canada (including several Arctic communities) Japan, Hong Kong, Laos, Thailand, India, Denmark, Germany, Holland, and the United States. Citing influences as far flung as Woody Guthrie, Frank Zappa, Philip Glass, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, John Lennon, Willie P. Bennett, and Ian Tamblyn, Sneezy boasts a vast repertoire and an unerring ability to interpret a song.
Off and on, from 1977 until 1990, Ottawa's Sneezy Waters literally became Hank Williams in the stage and film versions of "Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave." In the early-1980's, he recorded this terrific collection of some of the best known numbers in the Williams canon: "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry," "Jambalaya," "Hey Good Looking," etc. Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave By Sneezy Waters Steve
Thanks Steve.
ReplyDeleteThat movie will never win awards...but it pushes buttons for me.
BobB
This message has been deleted by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Rolling Stones are without a doubt the UGLIEST and probably the richest group on earth.Steve Tyler of Aerosmith could give any of them a run for the ugly title though. mpu
ReplyDeleteThis message has been deleted due to termination of membership.
ReplyDeleteBob, I am sure that the Stones don't care what anyone says about the way they look. They are laughing all the way to the bank, and all the way to wherever they take these ''ladies''. Me jealous? nah, I am very happy with my lovely wife and family, but maybe not so happy with all my bills. A few million $$$ would be nice, but I figure, I can't miss what I never had. Enough philosophy for me, I am getting a headache. mpu
ReplyDeleteThis message has been deleted due to termination of membership.
ReplyDeleteThis message has been deleted by the author.
ReplyDeleteJohn Lee Hooker http://www.johnleehooker.com/ Steve
ReplyDeleteFrankie Valli http://www.frankievalli.com/ Steve
ReplyDeletehttp://www.funky-stuff.com/jamesbrown/
ReplyDeleteSteve
OLD BANDS.....I remember BILL HALEY & THE COMETS playing at the Esquire Showbar,my brother Wayne was a huge fan upto that night. He went backstage to get Bill Haleys autograph, and good old Bill told my brother to get lost.! I think we were around 18 yrs old and drinking age was 21 at that time. Wayne got in because he knew the bouncer and I got in because my bro' new the bouncer, and I piled on lots of makeup to look older and stood on my toes. Good ole days.
ReplyDeleteSteve do you have a picture of 'The Band'?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rockabillyhall.com/BillHaley.html STEEL GUITAR: Curley Chawker, Merle Fritz, Lloyd Green, Nick Masters (Nastos), Billy Williamson. PIANO/ORGAN: David Baroni, Bill Brelli, Mike Cannon, Chalmers Davis, Johnny Grande, Ernie Henry, Hargus Robbins, Hank Thompson (Scholz), Joey Welz, Bobby Wood, Pete Wingfield. ACCORDION: Al Constantine, Johnny Grande, Dorothy Heavlow. VIOLIN-MANDOLIN: Jimmy Collett (Colletti), Bill Gray, Ben "Pop" Guthrie, Arrett "Rusty" Keefer, Jimmy Maise, Roy Perky, Brother Wayne (Wayne Wright). OTHER INSTRUMENTS: Rudy Pompilli (Pompilii), Clarinet and Flute; Loyd Green, Dobro; Dick Richards (Boccelli), Triangle; Sonny Jim Davis and Al Rappa, Trumpet; Jimmy Riddle and Wanda Hale, harmonica. BILL HALEY played: Lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, steel guitar and fiddle. Steve
ReplyDeleteWILSON PICKETT 1999 Inductee
ReplyDeleteLife Work Award for Performing Achievement Steve
I'm listening to http://www.chez106.com/ and WILSON PICKETT would of been 65 today. Steve
ReplyDeleteThis message has been deleted by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis message has been deleted by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's the birthday of jazz singer Billie Holiday, (books by this
ReplyDeleteauthor) born Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1915). She
was discovered by the jazz producer John Hammond. By the early '30s
she was touring with jazz legends like Count Basie and Lester Young,
and by the 1940s she was already being called the best jazz singer of
all time.
Billie Holiday http://www.cmgww.com/music/holiday/ Billie Holiday photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949 Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), also called Lady Day, was an American singer, generally considered one of the greatest jazz voices of all time, alongside Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. Steve
ReplyDeleteMPU. I have to agree that Paul Anka did put Ottawa on the map. At least for me. I was going to Bannantyne School when he came out with his first song. Dianna,was spposedly his school teacher and I was starting to notice lady teachers in a different way then. Getting close to puberty, I guess. Winston Allison
ReplyDeleteBillie Holiday.....met an untimely death due to alcohol and drug abuse....terrible waste of an extraordinary talent.....Dianne
ReplyDeleteOn this day in 1954, Elvis Presley recorded his first rock and roll
ReplyDeletesong and his first hit, "That's All Right, Mama." Elvis had wanted to
be a crooner, and in his first recording sessions he only sang slow
ballads. But then, in between takes, Elvis and the other musicians
started fooling around and singing a blues tune called "That's All
Right." Sam Phillips asked them to start over from the beginning and
recorded the song. He then rushed the record to the biggest DJ in
Memphis, and it became Elvis's breakout hit.
Anyone remember a very famous black vocalist from Montreal who
ReplyDeleterecorded in the 30s and 40s?
I cannot remember his friggen name.
Second Avenue.
I thought Frankie Valli did a believable acting job on The Sopranos.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for the 6th season to be released on DVD.
S.A.
It was on this day in 1957 that two teenagers named John Lennon and
ReplyDeletePaul McCartney first met at a church dance in Liverpool, England.
The biggest event in John Lennon's neighborhood every summer was a
party and dance held by St. Peter's parish church. There was a
carnival and a parade with decorated floats, and that event was held
on this day in 1957. John Lennon, with a little maneuvering, had
gotten The Quarrymen a place in the parade, playing their music from
atop one of the floats, and they also had an invitation to play at
the dance afterwards.
The float The Quarrymen played on brought up the rear of the parade,
and they attracted a large group of teenagers. One of the teenagers
was a kid from a different high school named Paul McCartney. He had
hoped to pick up girls at the church dance, and so he had ridden his
bicycle over from his neighborhood.
In the audience, Paul McCartney was impressed by John's singing, and
by the way John seemed to be challenging everyone in the room to a
fight. After the performance, Paul went over to meet this guy. Paul
and John were introduced, but they didn't hit it off until Paul
mentioned that he played guitar, and he knew how to tune one. None of
the other boys had learned how to do that yet. They'd all been forced
to ask local musicians to tune their guitars for them.
John was even more impressed that Paul knew the lyrics of recent rock
and roll songs. John could never remember lyrics, which was why he
often made up new ones while he was singing. Paul volunteered to
write out the lyrics for the song "Be Bop a Lula" for John, and the
two became fast friends. By 1959, they were calling themselves The
Beatles.
I lived on Second Ave and now in Ashburn VA Wilson Pickett just passed away last month here at his house in Ashburn. Pat
ReplyDelete"In the Midnight Hour".???????
ReplyDeleteHeyyy SLAPSHOT! In Ashburn are ya? Up near Dulles? I'm in a small town called Washington (not DC) not far from Front Royal, Virginia! Howdy neighbor!
ReplyDeleteSharon, I guess you've been to Luray Va. to hear the beautiful carillon called "The singing tower of Luray" and visit the nearby caverns. It's the world's third largest carillon. Ed
ReplyDeleteOhhh you betcha I have! It's just a 20 minute drive from our farm...lol. Been there at least 3 times in the 3 years I've been here. Seen the bells but ya know...every single time I've been there, it wasn't near the scheduled time for them to chime so I never got to hear them. I can take you thru the garden maze blind-folded now haha The caverns are totally breath-taking and I'm awed by the stalactite "organ". And you just DON'T leave Luray Cverns without buying a slice of that fudge in the shop on the site!
ReplyDeleteOne of the most profound memories I have was sitting on the grass outside the "Singing Tower" listening to music that cannot be recorded to sound authentic. We were at the seven pm performance. The Luray bells I believe are the world's third largest. Peace tower in Ottawa is second. This is measured by the total weight of the bells, not the number. They do this because so many Churches and Universities throw in a bunch of little fellows and claim to be the largest. I think the first is in Vienna. Also, to be counted by the true carilloners it has to be man operated, not electronic. Ed
ReplyDeleteAbout the Luray Caverns, Sharon, I would not suggest going through blindfolded. Remember the bottomless pit. The guide dropped a stone and we never heard it hit bottom. I wonder. Maybe it's ten feet deep with a mattress at the bottom so we don't hear the plunk. (Don't throw someone down to test this theory.) Ed
ReplyDeleteIt's the birthday of the singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, born in
ReplyDeleteOkemah, Oklahoma (1913). He wrote "This Land Is Your Land," "Pretty
Boy Floyd," "Vigilante Man," "Hobo's Lullaby," "Hard, Ain't it Hard,"
"Pastures of Plenty," "This Train is Bound for Glory," "I Got No Home
in the World Anymore," "Billy the Kid."
It's sounds wonderful, Ed. I must make a point the next time I go there, to be sure I'll be there at a scheduled chime time. It is, after all, a famous LOCAL landmark for me. Yup, I remember the bottomless pit haha, scary to think about it. I remember the first time we went and the guide was showing it to us, we had my daughter who was just 5 at the time with us. I held onto her for dear life haha
ReplyDeleteHAPPY BIRTHDAY, WOODY!!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, Woody Guthrie. I liked his song 'This Land Is Your Land' but the Quebec version never took off. Ce land est votre land, ce land est notre land. De Quebec city a le vieux choisy. De L'Acclairiecha a Plattsburg beacha. Ce land est fait pour moi et toi. Ed
ReplyDelete"Plattsburgh Beacha"???? LMAO! Does anyone remember the CANADIAN version of that song tho? Do you know who sang it and what the words are? I've tried to google it and came up empty...
ReplyDeleteThis message has been deleted by the author.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/thisland.htm (CANADIAN CHORUS)
ReplyDeleteThis land is your land,
This land is my land,
From Bonavista
To Vancouver Island,
From the Arctic Circle,
To the Great Lake waters,
This land was made for you and me.
roamed and I rambled
And I followed my footsteps
To the fir-clad forests
Of our mighty mountains
And all around me
A voice was calling,
This land was made for you and me.
I followed your low hills
And I followed your cliff rims,
Your marble canyons
And sunny bright waters.
As the fog was lifting,
A voice was saying
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun comes shining
And I am strolling,
And the wheat fields waving
And dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting
A voice was calling,
This land was made for you and me.
It's the birthday of Louis Armstrong, born in the birthplace of
ReplyDeleteAmerican jazz: New Orleans, Louisiana (1901), in a poor section of
town known as "The Battlefield." They called him Satchmo, short for
"Satchel Mouth." In 1907, Louis formed a vocal quartet with three
other boys and performed on street corners for tips. The Karnofskys,
a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, hired Louis to work on their
junk wagon. Louis purchased his first cornet with money the family
lent him.
In 1913, he was sent to a reform school as a juvenile delinquent, and
that's where he learned to play the cornet. Jazz was young then, and
Armstrong listened to pioneers like New Orleans cornetist King
Oliver, who gave Armstrong his big break by letting him play in the
Creole Jazz Band in Chicago in 1922. Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot
Seven recordings (1925-1928) are among the classics of early jazz.
Louis (he insisted it be pronounced "lewis") is the man, indeed. It is hard to find a trumpet player who hasn't been influenced by his playing. He had a hard life, struggling with colour barriers and then when he became popular he had to contend with criticisms that he was playing to the white market. But all along he was true to his art.
ReplyDeleteA famous story ... hard to say if it is urban legend or truth. Louis was flying back to the US and the then VP Richard Nixon was also on the flight. Nixon came back to see Louis and told him he was a big fan. Nixon told Louis he would do anything for him if he ever needed. Louis thanked him and said it would be a treat indeed if Nixon were to carry Louis horn for him when they disembarked. Seeing the irony in it and an opportunity to look good, Nixon agreed and did so. When Louis got home that day, he opened his trumpet case and removed from the bell of the trumpet a bag of pot (his lifelong drug of choice) that he had smuggled in with the VP's assistance.
BobB
Today, August 15, is Oscar Peterson's 81st birthday. He was born in a limestone house on Montreal's Delisle Street on August 15, 1925, the fourth of five children to his parents, Daniel and Kathleen. All of the Peterson children (Fred, Daisy, Charles, Oscar and May) were introduced to music in a good way before any of them can remember. Daisy who taught both Oscar and Oliver Jones is reputed to be an awesome musician.
ReplyDeleteHis accomplishments are too numerous to list and the list of artists he has played with is a who's who of music and jazz. I saw Oscar, the late Ray Brown and Herb Ellis in Toronto at the now defunct Bermuda Onion in the early 90's. It was a very special evening to see him in a small intimate club.
Happy Birthday Oscar!!
BobB
Oscar Peterson is currently living in Brampton, Ontario. He was shown on CTV news last month, contemplating moving out of Canada because his family is being harrassed by some racist punks. How sad that this sort of crap is still going on in such a progressive country!
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed sad. I had heard that as well.
ReplyDeleteBobB
Clarence Frogman Henry:
ReplyDelete'Ain't got no Home'.
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/Frogman.html
Remember this song from the mid fifties?
ReplyDeleteAin't got no home, ain't got no wife, ain't got no job etc. He sounded
like a frog.
Bill
I remember it well.
ReplyDeletebobB
ReplyDeleteIt's the birthday of singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen, born in
Freehold, New Jersey (1949). He was a working-class kid, his father
taking odd jobs, his mother working as a secretary to support the
family. He didn't do well in school, and people thought he was weird
because he didn't seem to have any ambition for anything. Then one
day, he saw Elvis Presley perform on TV and that inspired him to
scrape together 18 dollars to buy a battered second-hand guitar.
Springsteen was the leader of a series of hard-rock bands with names
like the Rogues, the Castiles, the Steel Mill, and Dr. Zoom and the
Sonic Boom. He played his early gigs at private parties, firemen's
balls, trailer parks, prisons, state mental hospitals, a rollerdrome,
and even a shopping center parking lot.
It's the birthday of jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, born in Hamlet,
North Carolina (1926). He played the tenor saxophone because he
believed Charlie Parker had exhausted the possibilities of the alto
saxophone. He got his big break when Miles Davis hired him in the
mid-1950s, and he played on Davis's masterpiece Kind of Blue (1959).
He had spent most of his life addicted to heroin, but just two years
before he died he finally kicked the habit and got religion. He wrote
and recorded the album A Love Supreme (1964) as a way of expressing
his new faith, and that album is now generally considered his
masterpiece.
And it's the birthday of singer Ray Charles, born Ray Charles
Robinson in Albany, Georgia (1930). They called him the "Father of
Soul." He first got national attention in the mid-1950s with his
performance of "I Got A Woman," which fused rhythm and blues, gospel,
and jazz.
Wow. Three great artists. A love Supreme was the first CD I bought. Before I had a CD player, actually. And Kind of Blue always blows my mind. I return to that time and again. It's timeless. To me it doesn't have anything that connects it to 1959. You could tell me it was from 1999 and if I didn't know better, I'd probably believe it.
ReplyDeleteBobB
And then , of course, Brother Ray. "Drown in my own Tears" is an all time favourite.
ReplyDeleteBobB
Bob I've been contempating adding these tunes to my collection. I could possibly buy each selection i like on the album separately at iTunes for 99 cents per, or the entire album from Amazon. Which would you prefer?
ReplyDeleteDo you have a LP turntable as well as a CD player, and which you think is prefered by the average professional musician sound wise?
At the local used music store the owner tells me there are music aficionados customers who hate the 'artificial' sound of the CD. They continue to buy the used LPs (which are not cheap btw). Personally I can't tell the difference, and prefer the CD.
Second Avenue.
Hi Bill
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to buying music, I still love enjoy having a CD in my hands. I use iTunes and an iPOD, but I haven't yet purchased from iTunes. That said, maybe when I do, I'll be hooked. I love wondering around a good large record store.
You mention LPs and CDs. I prefer CDs for teh clean sound and the ease of use. I have heard people say that the analog LPs area "warmer" than digital CDs. I haven't really got into comparing. I don't miss the pops and scratches of LPs. Although I do miss being able to read the liner notes on LPS. I buy a lot of jazz and some labels merely reporoduce the liner notes from the LP onto the CD if it's an old re-master. And some of those liner notes were quite lengthy (like my post). So I do need a magnifying glass.
I have a number of friends who are professionnal musicians and they have all gone digital. Even record in their living rooms now.
I have three CD Pioneed Jukeboxes taht hold 300 cd's each. The are daisy chained together and all I need to do is point my remote at the box and select the CD and track number. So, I am spoiled, I admit. But I have spent many a Saturday night just wandering through my music without getting out my sofa.
Lots of fun. So CD's it is for me.
BobB
It's the birthday of Thelonious (Sphere) Monk, who was born in Rocky
ReplyDeleteMount, North Carolina (1917) but grew up in New York City. He started
piano lessons at a young age. By age 13, he had won the weekly
amateur night contest at the Apollo Theater so many times that he was
no longer allowed to compete.
Six years later, he joined the house band at Minton's Playhouse in
Harlem, where he and Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and a few
others invented a new kind of jazz known as bebop. It involved
unusual repetition of phrases and an offbeat, angular pattern of
sound. In the '40s he started making recordings, and in the '50s he
came out with two of his most popular albums, Brilliant Corners and
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane. With these albums, he gained
international attention as a pianist and a composer.
The Thelonious Monk Quartet, which included John Coltrane, began a
hugely successful regular gig at the Five Spot. Monk played at jazz
festivals with other famous jazz legends around the country until the
1970s, when he stopped touring. His most famous compositions include
"'Round About Midnight," "Straight No Chaser," "Blue Monk," and
"Misterioso."
Poem: "Thelonious Monk" by Stephen Dobyns from Common Carnage. 짤
ReplyDeletePenguin Poets. Reprinted with permission.
Thelonious Monk
A record store on Wabash was where
I bought my first album. I was a freshman
in college and played the record in my room
over and over. I was caught by how he took
the musical phrase and seemed to find a new
way out, the next note was never the note
you thought would turn up and yet seemed
correct. Surprise in 'Round Midnight
or Sweet and Lovely. I bought the album
for Mulligan but stayed for Monk. I was
eighteen and between my present and future
was a wall so big that not even sunlight
crossed over. I felt surrounded by all
I couldn't do, as if my hopes to write,
to love, to have children, even to exist
with slight contentment were like ghosts
with the faces found on Japanese masks:
sheer mockery! I would sit on the carpet
and listen to Monk twist the scale into kinks
and curlicues. The gooseneck lamp on my desk
had a blue bulb which I thought artistic and
tinted the stacks of unread books: if Thomas
Mann depressed me, Freud depressed me more.
It seemed that Monk played with sticks attached
to his fingertips as he careened through the tune,
counting unlike any metronome. He was exotic,
his playing was hypnotic. I wish I could say
that hearing him, I grabbed my pack and soldiered
forward. Not quite. It was the surprise I liked,
the discordance and fretful change of beat,
as in Straight No Chaser, where he hammers together
a papier-m창ch챕 skyscraper, then pops seagulls
with golf balls. Racket, racket, but all of it.
music. What Monk banged out was the conviction
of innumerable directions. Years later
I felt he's been blueprint, map and education:
no streets, we bushwhacked through the underbrush;
not timid, why open your mouth if not to shout?
not scared, the only road lay straight in front;
not polite, the notes themselves were sneak attacks;
not quiet—look, can't you see the sky will soon
collapse and we must keep dancing till it cracks?
for Michael Thomas
Wow. Far out, Bill. Very nice. Monk chose his middle name of Shere so as to be as far away from a "square" as he could be. I remember having a Time magazine or Newsweek when I was a teen. Monk was featured in it. He had this massive grand piano in a small New York apartment. I thought he was way too cool. Then there was "Monk's Dance", a little shuffle he would do beside his piano at times. He was definiitely marching to a different drummer, albeit an inspired one.
ReplyDeleteBobB
It's the birthday of comedian Lenny Bruce, born Leonard Schneider in
ReplyDeletethe town of Mineola on New York's Long Island (1925). He got his
start in comedy working as an emcee for a strip club, where he told
jokes as he introduced the performers, and eventually he got his own
show. At the time, comedians told jokes methodically, with a set up
and a punch line, over and over. Bruce developed a new form of comedy
where he just stood on stage and talked about things like politics,
society, religion, and race; and he free-associated on those topics
to make people laugh. People compared his comedy to jazz.
Lenny was definitely a jazz type. That was his bag. A performer who in today's world would not have been seen as far out at all. Without Lenny, it's doubtful there would be a George Carlin today. Lenny's had some memorable "bits"; things like "Religions Inc.", "The Prison Break". I used to have some Lenny on vinyl, but I loaned it to someone and never saw it again. Don Francks, Canadian jazz singer, actor, activist does some very very good Lenny bits on occasion when he is free associating and riffing.
ReplyDeleteBobB
Bob here are some DVDs of Lenny Bruce. I will rent one b/c I know how important he was to the movements of the 50s.
ReplyDeleteHe performed apparently at the 'Hungry Eye' in San Francisco, a club I must have walked passed and never look in. Too bad.
S.A.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-4896719-6276932?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=lenny+bruce
ReplyDeleteHi Bill. Thanks for the link to the Lenny Bruce DVD's. I'll definitely check them out. That would be a kick, seeing him at the Hungy Eye. Besides the record of his "bits" as he called them, I had a book called How to talk Dirty and Influence People, Lenny's autobiography. Lost that too. Oh well, hopefully they corrupted someone else besides me.
ReplyDeleteBobB
Bob, I remember that book about Lenny. He was ahead of his time. I was working in theatre then and we did a play called Waiting for Lenny. It was a monologue done by Perry Schneiderman who was incredible. He went on to be head of the Drama department at the National Theatre School and is now Head of Drama at Ryerson. The Revue Theatre did a lot of experimental work before anyone else did in Canada! Dolly
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was an interesting book. Especially for a young innocent from Verdun. Wish I had seen the play you mentioned. All that seems so long ago, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteBobB
I have a couple of CDs of Caruso originally recorded in 1906.
ReplyDeleteIncredible voice.
S.A.
It was on this day in 1903 that the opera singer Enrico Caruso made
his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York,
appearing in ''Rigoletto.'' At that time, the New York Met was the
world's leading opera house, and Caruso made it there from a
childhood in the slums of Naples. His auto-mechanic father had tried
to get him to work in a factory, but he'd run away from home at 16
and supported himself singing at weddings and funerals.
He'd begun his career as an opera singer in 1894, at an amateur opera
house. He was paid 16 dollars for two appearances. He slowly
developed a reputation throughout Europe and around the world. But he
was still only known to opera enthusiasts when the manager of the
Metropolitan Opera in New York signed him to a five-year contract for
50 performances a season.
There was a good deal of anticipation among opera aficionados for his
American debut on this day in 1903, and most critics agreed that he
did a good job, but it wasn't a standout performance. The critic for
The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Caruso has a natural and free delivery
and his voice carries well without forcing."
But over the course of that first opera season, Caruso began to relax
and he sang better and better with each performance. By the end of
the season, audiences were going into hysterics, women jumping onto
stage.
Less than three months after his Metropolitan debut, Caruso made some
recordings for the Victor Company, and these recordings of his voice
helped transform the phonograph from a curiosity into a household
item. Caruso could be said to be the first vocal recording star.
He went on to perform 17 consecutive seasons at the Met, giving a
total of 626 performances in New York, in 37 different operas. He
gave his final performance at the Met on December 11, 1920, but he
had to leave the stage after the first act, because he was coughing
up blood. It was the final performance of his life. It turned out he
had pneumonia, which killed him a few months later.
It was on this day in 1889 that the jukebox made its debut at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. It consisted of an Edison Class M Electric Phonograph inside a freestanding oak cabinet to which were attached four stethoscope-like tubes. Each tube could be activated by depositing a coin so that four people could listen to a single recording at one time.
ReplyDeleteEventually jukeboxes changed the music business. Many early radio programs refused to play country, blues, or jazz, so it was jukeboxes that made all that music available in taverns, restaurants, diners, and army bases.
It was on this day in 1889 that the jukebox made its debut at the
ReplyDeletePalais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. It consisted of an Edison
Class M Electric Phonograph inside a freestanding oak cabinet to
which were attached four stethoscope-like tubes. Each tube could be
activated by depositing a coin so that four people could listen to a
single recording at one time.
Eventually jukeboxes changed the music business. Many early radio
programs refused to play country, blues, or jazz, so it was jukeboxes
that made all that music available in taverns, restaurants, diners,
and army bases.
It's the birthday of the singer, songwriter and actor Tom Waits,
ReplyDeleteborn in Pomona, California (1949). As a teenager, his parents moved
around a lot, and instead of making friends, Waits became obsessed
with music. He didn't listen to rock and roll like his classmates. He
was more interested in older music: George Gershwin, Irving Berlin,
Frank Sinatra, Jerome Kern, Cab Calloway, and the old Nat "King" Cole
Trio. He later said, "I ... slept right through the '60s. Never went
through an identity crisis. Never had no Jimi Hendrix posters on the
wall, never ate granola, never had any incense."
Out of high school he worked odd jobs, as a fireman, a cab driver, a
gas station attendant. He said, "[At one point] I worked in a
restaurant ... [as] dishwasher, waiter, cook, plumber, janitor —
everything. They called me Speed-O-Flash." He wasn't sure what he
wanted to do with his life until 1968, when he read On the Road by
Jack Kerouac. The book made him want to do something big, and a few
weeks later he saw a local guy he knew playing jazz at a nightclub,
and he realized that he needed to start making his own music. He
became known for lyrics that resembled beat poetry, and in his
performances, Waits played a kind of hobo wise man, singing in a
gravelly, cigarette-scarred voice that made him sound much older than
25.
Hi Bill (Secondave,biking),......... Just about 4 or 5 nights ago, I was flipping channels btwn. Leno,.Letterman & Jon Stewart...... and on Leno (I think it was) was this old looking ,almost dishevelled rubby looking guy,....that I thought seemed familiar, so I kept watching for a bit ,and no name had been mentioned,but near the end of the show as I flipped back to this channel,...it turns out it 'was' Tom Waits,....... and his band & he sounded pretty good,......but he certainly looks a lot (I'm not sure ,if I should say different.or older),.......I'll go with older,... In anycase i have a lot of his music,.and most of it I like ,...it's not for everyone,as he did do some 'off the wall,down right weird stuff too'......but that was Tom......he's no conformist,He was talking about his son at first,and how they don't have a TV,...or they don't watch TV ? something like that,.and I guess I just never have equated him as a father type,....and that's why I didn't recognize him until he actually got up and played with the group: Thanks for the post Bill,........you do keep us in touch with a lot of interesting stuff......................
ReplyDeleteHis raspy voice was playing during the end credits for the movie "sea of Love'. with Al Pacino. Good movie btw.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember this song?
ReplyDeleteYup....Mule Skinner Blues..... I think I remember it sung by Jimmy Rodgers. If anyone likes Blues, try JJ Cale. I have all of his albums, but my favourite was, and still is, "Naturally". In fact when he sings "Magnolia" I think he's singing only to me and "After Midnight"....well....ummm....you know . Cheers.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who wants to sample some of his music click on the link below. About half way down the page you will see "Listen to some samples". Cheers. http://www.amazon.com/Very-Best-J-J-Cale/dp/B000007ODL
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Pop Gosbel in red. Sorry i can't send a URL address you can click on, but you may highlite/copy/paste and it should work for you. Maybe someone can resend it as a clickable URL.
ReplyDeleteS.A.
http://www.tropicalglen.com/
Bill, here you go: http://www.tropicalglen.com/
ReplyDeleteThat www. tropicalglen.com/ is great for a good case of nostalgia. Thanks, i have logged it my Favaorites for future use. Ruth
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda.
ReplyDeleteBill
ReplyDeleteIt's the birthday of Frank Sinatra, born in Hoboken, New Jersey (1915). His mother was a midwife and a saloon owner, and she encouraged him to have big dreams as a kid. He spent a lot of his childhood sitting on the Hoboken wharves, staring at New York City, imagining how he could make a name for himself. It was his uncle who introduced him to music, and bought him a ukulele. He liked to sit on the curb at night, under a lamppost, and strum. He also liked to sing along with the player piano in his parents' saloon, and occasionally one of the men in the bar would pick him up and sit him on the piano. One day, a customer gave him a nickel for a song he sang, and he decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life getting paid to sing.
He got sidetracked for a little while when he got into the newspaper business, first working on a delivery truck and then as a copy boy. But one night he saw Bing Crosby sing in Jersey City, and that persuaded him to quit his day job and focus on music.
The first singing group he joined only let him in because he had his own car and could drive the group to gigs. The group won an amateur singing contest on a radio show with the largest call-in vote in the show's history, and they got a regular job touring with another band. Sinatra eventually began working on his own, singing in bars and roadhouses. The trumpeter for Benny Goodman saw one of Sinatra's performances, and offered to hire him as a vocalist for $75 a week. But he told Sinatra that he had to change his awful name. Sinatra said, "You want the voice, you take the name." And so he got to keep it.
But Sinatra's big breakthrough came when he joined Tommy Dorsey and his band in 1940. Their recordings of "I'll Never Smile Again," "This Love of Mine, and "Night and Day" became the best-selling records ever sold at that point in history.
Sinatra later said he learned his distinctive vocal style from the way Tommy Dorsey played trombone, sliding from note to note and then holding long pauses. But after two years with Dorsey's band, he decided to become a true solo singer. His first booking as a soloist was an eight-week run at New York's Paramount Theatre, longer than any other solo engagement at the Paramount up to that time. His press agent was so nervous about his debut that he hired a dozen girls to stand at the front of the theater to swoon and scream, but it wasn't necessary. Hundreds of other women showed up and did the same thing.
http://www.tropicalglen.com/FA-Fats.html
ReplyDeleteIt's the birthday of Bo Diddley, born Elias Bates in McComb,
ReplyDeleteMississippi (1928). As a young man he wrote songs such as "Uncle
John" and "Who Do You Love?" which became the foundation for early
rock and roll. He made a series of huge hits for Chess Records, but
by the 1970s, he was so down-and-out that he was playing one-night
jobs with garage bands for 200 dollars and the cost of a hotel room.
He told his band before every show, "This is the way it works. The
drummer should watch my hips and the bass player should watch my
shoulders."
I've always been a great fan of Bo Diddley. I especially love his duets with Eric Clapton. Man oh man, nothing like the blues! Dolly
ReplyDeleteWell the mention of Bo Diddley,.....prompted me to go down to the basement and Look through a pile of records albums (yup still got a whack of those & 45's too)............. I knew I had a fair amount of Bo's stuff,.....but I could only come up with 3 ,.(don't know where the others are now?.....) Bo Diddley ,albums were on both Chess & Checker labels,.....distributed exclusively in Canada by Quality Records.......but the actual record itself says Checker thought I'd ad my New Canadiens Sant Hat,...for authenticity............hahahaha My sister-in-law ,thought I needed that as the Host for our family Christmas Dinner,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(she made me wear it .........hahahaha) ...............anyhow on the back of the albums BoDiddley songs are poated as Ellis McDaniels,.........(that's what I had always heard as well) My brother used to frequent his shows at the Esquire ShowBar in those days........ I always like a lot of his stuff too,........as you can tell I still have all the records 50 years later,...undoubtedly rescued from my brother;s initial collection,.as I had a large collection of records ,and I guess he gave them to me (or I stole them off him.,......hahahah I prefer 'rescued them') His name at his birth in 1928 in McComb, Mississippi was Otha Ellas Bates McDaniel; he had been adopted by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, and a man named Bates. The family moved to Chicago when young Ellas was five years old. As a child he studied violin. ...........so Now we know the Rest of the Story....................hahahahaha ......for more if you like ,you can go directly to one of the many web pages available & read some stuff: http://www.tsimon.com/diddley.htm
ReplyDeleteStrangely enough these albums (the actual record) has another moniker as well, 'REO' Sorry about the size of this picture ,......I must have inadvertently changed it ,.............OOOPPPPPPs.................. there's the labels,.... now I'm wondering where are my other BoDiddley Albums...........hahahahah
ReplyDeleteAwesome Les, I think he's coming to Edmonton or was here. He just keeps going and going.... Dolly
ReplyDeleteI Remember that 'crazy' old song ,Thanks for the lyrics Ed,...... here's a clip frpm YouTube,.....the Audio being used is the song Their Coming to Take me Away haha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o7bMdAyPes click play ,.......and your away...........haha
ReplyDeleteWhen we mention famous people, do we have to mention the date they died. They all seem to have been the same age as me. Ed
ReplyDeleteHahahah Ed ,not to worry I have come across obits with my name on it,..and that's a bit weird to read.......hahahaha I have one posted on my Fridge.... but that reminds me also of those old Tombstone Epitaph's that had some humour incorporated in them,....I saw one at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in Niagara Falls,...many years ago : it was found in a cemetary in the old west "Here Lies Lester Moore, "Four Slugs from a .44 "No Les , No More" hahahaha
ReplyDeleteTOP 17 COUNTRY SONGS for 2006:
ReplyDelete17. I Hate Every Bone in her Body but Mine
16. It's Hard To Kiss the Lips at Night That Chewed My Ass out All Day Long
15. If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You
14. If The Phone Don't Ring , You'll Know It's Me
13. How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?
12. I Liked You Better Before I Got to Know You So Well
11. I Still Miss You Baby, But My Aim's Gettin' Better
10. I Wouldn't Take Her To A Dog Fight 'Cause I'm Afraid She'd Win
9. I'll Marry You Tomorrow, But Let's Honeymoon Tonight
8. I'm So Miserable Without You, It's Like You're Still Here
7. If I Had Shot You When I First Wanted To, I'd Be Out Of Prison By Now
6. My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I Sure Do Miss Him
5. She Got The Ring And I Got The Finger
4. You're The Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly
3. Her Teeth Was Stained But Her Heart Was Pure
2. She's Looking Better After Every Beer
*And the Number #1 country song is... *
1. I Ain't Never Gone To Bed With Ugly Women but I've Sure Woke Up With A Few!
Anne Murray
ReplyDeletehttp://www.greatdanepro.com/Dear Jesus/index.htm
Some of the artists of the 60's are revising their hits
ReplyDeletewith new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers.
They include:
Herman's Hermits --- Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker .
Ringo Starr --- I Get By With a Little Help From Depends.
The Bee Gees --- How Can You Mend a Broken Hip.
Bobby Darin --- Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash.
Roberta Flack--- The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face.
Johnny Nash --- I Can't See Clearly Now.
Paul Simon--- Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver.
The Commodores --- Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom.
Marvin Gaye --- Heard It Through the Grape Nuts.
Procol Harem--- A Whiter Shade of Hair.
Leo Sayer --- Yo u Make Me Feel Like Napping.
The Temptations --- Papa's Got a Kidney Stone.
Abba--- Denture Queen.
Tony Orlando --- Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall.
Helen Reddy --- I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore.
Leslie Gore--- It's My Procedure, and I'll Cry If I Want To.
And my favorite: Willie Nelson --- On the Commode Again.
Love the country songs, Bill.
ReplyDeleteBobB
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eih67rlGNhU