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Ed--May 22

Will somehow stumbled upon a copy of Striking it Rich, (1972) by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks. Until I listened to it again, I'd forgotten just how much time I'd spent listening to their stuff. Never covered any of their material at the time, but the stuff OTL is playing now probably owes quite a bit to this music.



This one contains some Hicks favorites: Walking One and Only, I Scare Myself, Canned Music, and You Got to Believe, in addition to an enjoyable cover of I'm an Old Cowhand (from the Rio Grande).
While it is widely rumored that old Dan was a pretty hard guy to get along with, you gotta give it to him: he did take his music in a drastically different direction than most everyone else in the business was headed at the time. And though the cast changed quite a bit, he always put together some pretty good players to make it happen. Stalwarts in his lineup included John Girton on guitar, Jaime Leopold on bass, and Maryann Price and Naomi Ruth Eisenberg adding to Dan's vocals for a signature sound.
Those of us around Hendrix in '74 had a close encounter with Naomi Ruth when, after the Hot Licks were disbanded, she was playing as a sideperson for the late B.W. Stephenson (whom Steve really pissed off by introducing as "Cat" Stephenson at a Hendrix performance--but that's another story) . I always thought she was an okay violinist, but after listening to this again, I've upgraded my opinion of her playing. She's good.
This one holds up really well. I would recommend it, Where's the Money, or Last Train to Hicksville for anyone wanting to get a feel for the work the group did back in the early '70s.
Think I'll have another drink...

[note--June 7: I was in San Francisco this past weekend and got to catch a gypsy jazz festival up in Mill Valley. Dan played with one of the groups, Hot Club Sandwich. He played snare drum and sang. He was dry and wry, scatted quite a bit, and, like the rest of us, had put on about 70 pounds since the Hot Licks days.]

Elvin Bishop

This might sound ridiculous but I enjoyed most of the "Devil's Rejects" soundtrack thoroughly. It was a nice mixture of Buck Owens, Elvin Bishop and pretty much everything else everyone has already heard on the Joe Dirt OST. It's sometimes a bit discomforting but it seems my musical tastes are regressing rapidly. I've recently turned into a huge country music and southern rock fan. I know it's vexing to Eddie Boy that I went from Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Dave Brubeck in 5th grade to Cheap Trick and techno in 13th.
Of course everything previously stated was a serious overstatement but I don't visit blues, jazz and bluegrass as much as I used to/should. It might be my subconscious protecting my ego from getting hurt trying to pick Johnny Smith tunes or it might be that I'm too busy playing everyone's favorite cover song three times a week with the guys.
So this, my first post, will actually not be what I'm listening2 but what I'm going to make myself listen to in weeks to come. WhatIMListening2 changes every month from The Crystal Method to Kanye West to Berlioz to Dwight Yoakam to Death Cab For Cutie. This month will be the first month in my life that I will ever truly DECIDE for myself what I am going to play and listen to: Tony Rice, Dave Brubeck, Johnny Smith, etc.

Nibb High Football Rules,
WEN

Ed--May 11

Been listening to Mavis Staples' We'll Never Turn Back, a collection of "freedom songs," widely associated with the civil rights movement of the '60s. Mavis certainly takes you to church, as one would expect. But what attracts and holds me to this one is Ry Cooder produces and plays on it; and the groove is highly reminiscent of the best material he did in 70s for Reprise: Chicken Skin Music, Bop 'til you Drop, and perhaps my favorite, Paradise and Lunch. (I'm looking forward to getting my ebay turntable purchase in, so I can record some of these to CD). Her version of "Jesus on the Mainline," which Ry covered himself on Paradise and Lunch, is the first thing that's given me goose bumps in a while.

I've also been listening to Richard's Leo Johnson's Legend of Vernon McAlister. For those of us who've known Richard's work for a while, this is quite a departure from his early days where technique and innovation reigned supreme, but you had to have a telescope to find a musical theme. Well, this one has no shortage of plainly accessible themes, beginning with the concept of "Vernon" who performs the entire project on a National Duolian. A lot of it is layering of musical themes, with an icing of EBow sustained lines. Richard also played me some of his new album Who Knew Charlie Shoe?, (see photo below) another concept album, with a new character. What I heard was probably the most easily-accessible Richard Johnson ever recorded, with some very interesting percussion, added by yet another character. Go to the site, read the interview.

More obscurity, I suppose …

This week, I have been listening to an old comedy album by Albert Brooks that I had on vinyl back in the day and now have purchased on CD. It's dated but still funny. His routine on rewriting the national anthem is a classic.

While preparing a prog rock sampler of 2 CDs for my brother Vinnie to listen to at work with his new "baby hippie" crew (they look like they just left Woodstock and talk about dropping acid a lot), I have been listening to Kevin Gilbert again. Another deceased-too-young musical wizard who got the royal bad-music-biz treatment (bend over) when he was in Toy Matinee and then recorded 2 great solo CDs (one released post mortem) before shuffling off the mortal coil at 29 back in 1996. I seem to return to him often in my listening habits. I wonder how it would have been if he had lived and passed the audition to replace Phil Collins in Genesis. He was supposed to fly to England for that chance a week after he died.

Anyway, his other available work is worth checking out, if you've never delved. He did win a Grammy for writing some/most of the songs on Sheryl Crow's 1st album. He sang well; played piano, bass, guitar and drums excellently; and he even produced a Keith Emerson CD.

Finally, I'm gearing up to go see Todd Rundgren perform this Wednesday in Birmingham, AL. He's finishing up a 2-week mini-tour with Jerry Marotta (drms), John Montagna (bass) and Jesse Gress (gtr) -- all great players. No keyboards and lots of guitar hero material this tour. Next week he starts another tour as singer for the New Cars once again.

I'll report next time on how it went.