Hump Day Music

A little more Zoot Sims. It must be fall :)

Tuesday Music

I LOVE Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. I know they went popular and then passe, but they're still grrreat!

A little Friday Music

And a little Friday humor, too :)
("a spur of the moment one, or one made up?)

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs

It doesn't get a lot better than this....

Have I ever mentioned that I met Lester Flatt when I was about 5? I still remember it pretty clearly for a memory at that age. I remember being backstage at Alpine Valley and I was wearing one of my pinafore-style dresses. He leaned over to talk to me, and I don't remember everything he said but I do remember this: his presence felt very confident, gentlemanly, and southern. He was the personality and presence of a quintessential Bluegrass master. I remember his hat, I remember that he was wearing a suit just like he wore here in this video.

Without further adoing from Ms. Jones, here are Earl and Lester performing "Hey Hey Hey " and "Flint Hill Special". Just leave 'em on while you go about your blog reading, it's good stuff.

A Bob Wills Break

Fuzz's recent post reminded me of how much I love Bob Wills. So I had to go track down some trax :)





And just because I love 'em, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Bill Monroe:

Tuesday Music

Why Tuesday? Well, Nick has Mondays.

I was talking 80's hair rock with a friend of mine the other day and we got to talking about awesome acoustic covers - and there sure are a lot of them. And let's face facts, the 12-string acoustic version of Warrant's "I Saw Red" is insanely good. Long live the rock ballad!

Yippie! It's Bruce Springsteen! Kinda....

Matt Ryan... who for about two hours a few times a week IS Bruce Springsteen, is coming to Shank Hall November 30th.

I may go with mall bangs and blue eyeshadow.

Nah... just kidding. I can only be Phel Jones

For A Good Time

Go see the Uptown Savages, and while you're at it, see Tim Cook and the Riverwesterners.

Last night, fellow blogger Ally and I headed out to see their show at Linneman's in Riverwest. If you haven't been able to see either band I'd highly recommend it. I've seen the Uptown Savages (jump swing) a few times now, and they're always good. Personally, I think they're at their best when they play Cafe Lulu in Bay View, because it's a little bigger and they seem to cut loose a little more when they play there. I had never seen local Honky Tonk legend Tim Cook, so that was a real treat. Last night's show was a great time, us girls were all out on the dance floor showing off our "We're dancing the best we can" moves.

Because you know, Rockabilly and Honky Tonkers know their steps.

I had the chance to get my pinup look on. My whole 40's thing is very different from the more Betty Page, punkabilly look. My look comes from the inside and if I tried to fit in, it just would look awkward.

Speaking of awkward. Once the Uptown Savages got to a slower song, the legend himself, Tim Cook, came over by me and asked me to dance. I took his hand and looked right at him and said, "I don't know how to dance, just lead me". And he did. It was real and it was spectacular. For those four minutes, I was dancing with the closest I've ever been to something of an idealized late 40's man. His slicked back pompadour hair, retro western outfit, and his demeanor all come together to create something that took me out of the present time and to something that somewhere, I miss.

So I tried to find a picture of Tim Cook and the Riverwesterners. Looked everywhere and even tried flickr. All I got were pages and pages of guys named Tim, cooking.

Whatever :)

For a very typical tune by the Uptown Savages, go to their myspace page and click on the song "Juiced".

Ally let's do this again! Anyone else up for dancing lessons during the week???

Now for something we hope you'll really like

Is it possible to have a better cover?

Chris Isaak is a genius :)

It's the Freakin' Weekend

Most Fridays, this here song will be going through my head.

I love acoustic versions of pop songs, especially because everyone who covers a song has something unique about the way they do it. Not sure how many acoustic covers I actually have in stock...but it's quite a few.

Who knew though, that R. Kelly's "Ignition" sounds GREAT acoustically?

Big Red Rocket of Luuuuuvvvvvvvv......

Sunday morning. It's not Monday yet.....

Nothing beats growling like a tiger, standing up on an upright bass, or even throwing it up into the air and catching it. Once will do it.

Or breaking into just a little bit of "ballroom blitz"....

Punk Friday

I still love Punk. This might mean I haven't grown up, or it could just be like any other generation who's grown up on whatever, and it just remains part of who they are.

But I do love it.... it makes me feel great when I feel great, and it can even make me feel great when I don't. It's good stuff. So on my 15 minute lunch today whereby I ran to sendik's and back, I was able to catch a few minutes of Buzz's Garage w/Lo Fi Slop Rock. Great show on WMSE, starts at noon on Fridays.

When people think of punk they think of all kinds of bands, too many to name here.

But the Ramones, well, they're still one of my favorites. Here's a little performance from way back in da day...love the way Joey sings this one1

Putting a New CD in the Changer....

A few years ago I saw the Reverend Horton Heat live at the Eagles Ballroom. I thought they sounded great. They're one of those bands that when I hear them I know it, and it sounds great every single time.

But I never owned any of their CDs.

So I did a CD swap with a friend...I'll burn some for you, hows about you burn some for me? This is something I don't do enough and I should, because music is still expensive. And no, I don't download freebies. To me the risk isn't worth it - I have no idea what those interfaces really do and where that music's been.

I now have two CDs by the Reverend Horton Heat and I don't know why I waited so darned long because they're fantastic. Nothing beats a band that isn't just a band. This music sampler was on their myspace page - I might have populated it with different selections but... carry on with it as you will :)

Today's the Big Day, You Know....

The 30th anniversary of Elvis' death.

On YouTube, I read a comment that summed it up pretty well...

"I wish he was here"

Here are a few performances I'm feelin' this morning :)


The ALWAYS wonderful "How Great Thou Art"



A song that I learned through my fanship of Marty Robbins, "You Gave Me a Mountain"



Annnd.....

This one goes out to Brother Mav!!!!!
Suspicious Minds




Still looking for peeps to hit the Ryan Pelton and the Imperials show next week. Not sure if I will don my very own Elvis suit. Yeah, I said it :)

Friday Music

Oh durh.....maybe I'm still under the weather. I meant to post the second video - which is "Story of My Life". One of the most excellent Social D songs, evah!

I am in a Social Distortion/Mike Ness kind of mood today. And when I say mood, I don't mean a moody mood. I'm finally starting to turn the corner and feel better from whatever I came down with that flattened me. Last night I even sewed a bit, which I haven't been able to focus on for about a week and a half.

But today I have my Social D cd's in the car, and all is good in the world :)



Here's Mike Ness looking like Jason Priestly, c. 1990.

The Man In Orange

A little Sunday morning treat for you all. Johnny Cash at Folsom doing my very, very favorite song ever: Orange Blossom Special

YouTube Break

Did anyone out there know that Steve Martin can play banjo? Much less in bluegrass style?

Here he is with Earl Scruggs. If you're not familiar with Earl Scruggs, he and Lester Flatt were big time bluegrass starting in the 50's. They wrote and performed the infamous theme for the Beverly Hillbillies.

Jones Fact: Lester Flatt is the first celebrity I ever met. After Santa Claus, and stuff. I was 6.




For the record, my all time favorite bluegrass album is "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" which was a studio effort hosted by the Nitty Gritty Dirt band, and featured performances with Maybelle Carter, Vassar Clements, Doc Watson, Roy Acuff, Merle Travis, it's legendary and I highly recommend it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Chet Atkins

Really. I don't know how Chet Atkins did it. He didn't need a band, because his playing sounded like two guitarists. It's magic :)

Great Shows in July

I heart seeing live music. Now that I've given up Starbucks I have a few more bucks to my name. I'm saving up for my fall road trip, but I think I have to see one or more of the following shows this summer:

7/22: Squirrel Nut Zippers at Shank Hall. I think they'd be incredible live. I don't own a single one of their CDs, but they're good. That should be a good time.

7/26: Chris Isaak at Potawatomi. The only thing that has me tentative on this one is the price tag. It's 60-70 bones to see Chris Isaak. I don't know how I can make that work. If he was $40 I'd consider it, and it breaks my heart and all, but that's probably more than I can afford. Trip or no trip. I emailed Chris about said price tag but I have this gnawing feeling that it won't get me very far.

Aug 23-25: Ryan Pelton and the Imperials. Ryan Pelton is an Elvis Impersonator and really, the resemblance and performance is uncanny. He was the "Elvis" who performed with Celine Dion on American Idol. This will be a fun night. As tempted as I would be to wear the Elvis suit I made a few years back, I will fully restrain my inner dork. Just this time though.

7/16: The Response at Tanner Paul. They have a great song called "I'm Lloyd Dobler". I might be a little old to like The Response, but I kind of have a thing for younger guys. Don't tell anyone, k?

What shows are you off to this summer?

Here's Something I Can Respect

From Reuters

Meet Bono? I'm not interested, says Canada's PM

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (Reuters) - You can stop staring hopefully at that phone, Bono. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be calling.

The Irish rock star turned poverty activist met U.S. President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit but was told Harper was too busy to talk to him.

Harper, a somewhat wooden figure regularly mocked for his lack of flair, told reporters on Thursday that meeting Bono was not a priority.

"I've got to say that meeting celebrities isn't kind of my shtick, that was the shtick of the previous guy," said Harper in a dig at his Liberal predecessor Paul Martin, who met Bono regularly.

"I hope we do it at some point but my principle focus in public policies is not kind of to meet celebrities," added the prime minister, a Conservative.

Activists say Canada is trying to block a deal to ensure that western nations live up to promises to boost aid to Africa.

For the record, though, Harper said he liked the music of Bono's band U2.

*Blogger's Note: That last line sums up how I've been feeling about most loudmouthed musicians for years - just play the damn music.