You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February, 2008.
will.i.am has posted another pro-Obama video on youtube.
I’m 28 years old, and Barack Obama is the only politician in my lifetime who has inspired me. I (Cousin Geoff) know I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Texas, Ohio, get out there and vote.
Buddy Miles passed away on Tuesday and the lead of his obit in The L.A. Times is that he was a California Raisin. I was shocked at the credits that this guy had. I knew that he played with Jimmy Hendrix, but I did not know he was the drummer on Sally Go Round tha roses. With reading his obit I am enthused to get some of his albums now! You can get some too, from us!
The Detroit Blue Pigs were a group of rapping Detroit policemen who went around to schools talking about fighting crime and being safe. I found their 45 today called “Fight The Crime”, so I thought I’d post it right away. With all the negative publicity they’ve been getting lately they deserve some props. My wife went to Pontiac Central high school and she remembers when they came to her elementary school and the kids went crazy. She got a big kick out of the song and I hope you do to.
I have a good friend who regularly hangs out with some Detroit police, and I’ve got nothing against them. I also know someone who is a former Detroit cop, and he had some interesting stories to tell. You guys have a crazy hard job, day in and day out, so MUCH RESPECT DETROIT POLICE! I’d like to see you cut another track to follow up this one.
listen to “Fight The Crime” on the Det Mi label, 1986:
Included in this weeks auction of Soul 45s from the 70’s & 80’s is a copy of the classic Detroit Lions theme song Another One Bites the Dust. Cousin Geoff wrote a good post about this here and included a clip of his copy. You see this time of year is what I like to call the stale period when the bread from last year is just old and nasty and you don’t want any of it. Today the news is Fernando Bryant was cut, so that leaves the Lions with 1 CB on the roster. Rumor has it that they will trade away their best defensive palyer Shaun Rogers and their best offensive player Roy Williams. Only the Lions would consider getting rid of players that just last year were considered building blocks to the future. Have faith though weary Lions fan the curse of Bobby Layne is finally over and this is the year! Matt Millen finally has learned the lessons of the past and will go undefeated the next 3 years to bring his record CLOSE to .500. And when they are on the march to the playoffs, you will be glad YOU HAVE THIS 45, SO BID NOW
Does it get any better than Magic Sam? Would Magic Sam have been more widely known and followed had he not died in his prime at age 32, and been able to capitalize on the European blues tours that followed? Here is west-side Chicago soul blues at it’s finest.
listen: Just Give Me Your Love, from the LP pictured above.
Great history of Magic Sam from Cascade Blues Association, also mentioning 1969′S Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival:
August 1969 may bring to mind the grandeur of the Woodstock Arts and Music Festival in upstate New York whenever you ask somebody with basic music knowledge to name an event of that year. It’s pretty hard to ignore an event of such magnitude which featured so many prolific artists of the day. But, in the Blues world, August 1969 also marked an extraordinary festival of its own, two weeks earlier in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival was a conglomeration of the greatest Blues musicians, past, present and future. The line-up was phenomenal: Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Big Boy Crudup, Otis Rush, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Freddy King, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, Jimmy Dawkins, Clifton Chenier, Big Joe Williams, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison and Big Mama Thornton. But, the one musician who stood tallest over the weekend may have been the least known, at least outside of Chicago.
Magic Sam was scheduled to take the stage at 3:00 p.m., Sunday afternoon. But, when his time came, he was nowhere to be found. Charlie Musselwhite, who was originally set to follow, took to the stage in his place. By the time Musselwhite finished, Sam had arrived, but with only his bassist Buffalo Bruce Barlow. Missing a drummer, he was fortunate to recruit Sam Lay to fill the void. As the three stepped to the stage, the crowd of 10,000 fans were leery of what to expect from this individual who should have been on an hour earlier. But, by the time he had finished the opening number, Freddy King’s classic instrumental, “San-Ho-Zay”, the word was out and the festival grounds were abuzz with the name of Magic Sam.
A “record” buyer from Ireland, confimed by ebay to be legit, has agreed to buy the super collection, the self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Music Collection” of over 3 million records and 300,000 CDs. The starting bid was $3,000,000 and it ended at an unbelievable $3,002,150. I thought there was no way this would sell but not only did it sell, there were about 4-5 people bidding for it!
With all that said, it appears to be quite an amazing collection. The seller and former owner has a website with more info. Wow!
Legendary Stax recording artist Isaac Hayes is playing this Saturday at the Music Center for Performing Arts in Detroit. I have much respect for Hayes’s older stuff on Stax, he really helped redefine that label’s sound, like his Hot Buttered Soul album or his work in doing the soundtrack for Shaft (at the time, he was the first African-American to win in that category, and just the third overall in history)…
Other interesting things about Hayes are that he played the chef in South Park, he’s recording a new album on Stax, but the one thing I can’t get past is that he is a Scientologist.
I think maybe I’d be more interested in seeing him perform live if he did a show based on this crazy religion. You know, with lights beaming down and aliens taking over the stage and jamming with him or something. I mean, if you’re a Scientologist, why not be like Bob Marley was to Rastafarianism? And then you could get all the Anonymous folks showing up to protest and all the Scientologist folks showing up at show - and it could be great fun.
So, c’mon Mr. Hayes - make it happen! It will be good for entertainment, and it may help us sell a few more of your records.
Here’s a record I’d like to have but I would never play.
A Robert Johnson Vocalion test pressing in NM condition.
Did anyone see the dunk contest? Dwight Howard caught an alley oop thrown from behind the backboard, jumped off two feet from well beyond the dotted, caught it with one hand, and was so far above the rim that he threw the ball down into basket. And all this while donning a Superman cape. The slow motion showed his cape flapping and his head like 3-4 feet above the rim, and he threw the ball down through the rim. It was absolutely crazy.
Found a good website for roots reggae fans, Roots Archives. I just took home my Swing Easy Studio One comp.
Our friend Al Reid, former lead singer of the Capreez, emailed me back yesterday and said he has been busy recording again. He’s good friends with Jack Scott, and will be Jack’s guest backstage this weekend at the Valentine’s Rock and Roll Spectacular at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn.
This show has quite an impressive lineup: Jack Scott, The Reflections, The Vogues, The Diamonds, and former lead singer of The Platters Sonny Turner.
I attended the blowout last year and it was fantastic. The blowout is a 4 day music festival that plays out in the city of Hamtramck (Ham-Tram-Ick for our non-Detroit readers). I attended only 2 nights last year but I had a great time. Last years opening night had more bands I was familiar with, The Muggs and The Hard Lessons in particular, so I will have to do a little more research on the bands playing at the Majestic. On Friday Carjack is playing and this is the one can’t miss show for me. The wife and I saw him play at the K.O.C. Lounge last year and it is not a live show to miss. The only negative thing is that he is playing at the same time as the Detroit Cobras. On Saturday I will be at the K.O.C. to see Scott Morgan’s Powertrane and Mitch Ryder for a Grande ole time. Beyond that I am gonna do some myspace searches and decide who I wanna go see. Here is the list of performers so you can do the same. ANYONE GOT A RECCOMENDATION?
Cousin Justin
Yes, time to put those records back on their shelf for a day and pay attention to our sweethearts.
Michael Jackson’s Thriller, reworked by artists like Wycleff, Kanye West (I heard he does Billie Jean without the bass line) and Akon, hit the stores yesterday. The album was put together in honor of the original’s 25 year anniversary. Of course, you can buy that from us here. 7 out of 9 tracks on this LP hit the Billboard top ten, including my favorite Billie Jean. What an unbelievable album. The new one intrigues me.
Dyke and the Blazers are often compared to James Brown and the JBs for obvious reasons; they both played and helped to define funk music, Brown credited with creating it. It’d be a close call to say who actually came up with funk. I’m sure it’s about as confusing and pointless as trying to figure out who came up with rock and roll. Both were recording full fledged funk in 1966, Brown with the Sings Raw Soul album and Dyke with Funky Broadway. There are a ton of similarities in their styles that are indicative of funk; the focus on rhythm, eschewing melody; slashing guitar; the often incomprehensible, chanting vocals; double sided 45s with part ones and twos of the same song. Funky Broadway was actually the first song to have the word funky in its title.
Given all the similarities, there are also plenty of differences that make Dyke and the Blazers unique. They seem like The Stooges to James Brown’s Rolling Stones. On one hand a massive, hardworking, polished and established recording artist, considered the most powerful and influential black person in America. On the other hand, you have a band that was stuck in Phoenix because they couldn’t afford to leave. The Blazers were the touring band of the O’Jays briefly and were stranded in Phoenix when a tour was abandoned and the O’Jays couldn’t afford to get them back home to Buffalo, leaving them high and dry. The bass player and singer Arlester “Dyke” Christian became the bands leader and they released Funky Broadway on the local Artco label, the single being picked up by Original Sound out of LA for national distribution (see my last post about 45s for a clip of Funky Broadway). They remained in Phoenix putting out one LP, Funky Broadway, and a bunch of great singles on Original Sound, notably Funky Bull, We Got More Soul, So Sharp, and Let a Woman Be a Woman - Let a Man Be a Man.
Dyke and the Blazers’ sound is more primitive than Brown’s. Their musicianship is great, snapping drums, punchy horns accentuating the rhythm, biting guitar, heavy bass and shuddering organ all very tight. Their singles have a totally live sound to them and apparently a lot of their singles were sections of extended 15-20 minute jams that were edited down to fit a 45. I’m guessing that not having a perfectionist like Brown running the show might have added to the loose feel of the music. Also, Dyke isn’t as skilled a vocalist as James Brown either, but like Iggy to Brown’s Mick, he lets it all go and it works.
At the height of Dyke and the Blazers’ potential, Dyke was shot dead as a result of a bar room altercation in 1971. The case was dismissed some time later as a result of “evidence indicating self-defense”.
So Sharp:
Don’t Bug Me (B Side):
Justin has just posted a smallish but nice collection of what I dub the Happy Hippie LP Batch. Condition looks to be excellent on them. Mention “Happy Hippie” to Justin and get a discount on shipping.
