Rock & Roll Hoo-Ha What What

The Pop-Ups - Lurking/Candy Rock

2012-01-05T08:13:00.006-06:00

HBR is a hilariously decent label, considering it stands for "Hanna-Barbera Records". Even the cartoon cash-ins (Flintstones records etc) were extremely competent rock & roll records. WFMU's blog has a cool post about it and Spectropop has a page that includes this single, though not listenable.

This here Pop-Ups record is a double instrumental, the better of the two (I think) being the slinking shaker "Lurking", which has a Revels-ish boogie to it, including an organ solo and some honkin' sax

"Candy Rock" sounds a little more like the Routers with marching band instrumentation over a Bo Diddley beat. Fun but probably not going to make you hit eBay.

and a link to the other HBR record I posted, one of my absolute favorites

The Unnaturals live on Storm Surge of Reverb

2012-01-03T16:00:00.004-06:00

This has been on the backburner for a while, kinda like the blog itself. I've had the Unnaturals on my show before, but wasn't able to make myself a copy. Well here they are again, a New Orleans surf & instrumental band, playing live on my radio show on August 22nd. Sound quality is rough and I can't say it was my best editing job either, but still sounds great!

Download it here

7 songs:
Attack of the 50 Foot Betty
Miedo
Rumblebee
Holiday in Cambodia
Unnatural Progressions
Whiskey Surf / Misirlou
Unnatural Progressions

Also, here's the full show

Rickey and the Rockets - Wrong End / Every Minute of the Day

2011-11-22T17:59:00.003-06:00

I love when I buy a 45 for a side that explicitly is not the side they want you to hear. So mad am I in my lust for instrumentals that I didn't get around to listening to the A-Side until I ripped it just now.

My mediocre detective work points to this likely being a Louisiana group, perhaps even Lafayette. I base this theory on other people on the Jador label, the dealer I bought it from being from Lafayette, and the possibility that this is just a confused release from Randy and the Rockets. I have a Randy 45 here and I don't see any similar names, but I can't find squat on Ricky.

Anyway, Wrong End, LABELLED Harmonica Instrumental, which I personally think is an underrated and surprisingly common form of instrumental, is a fun stompin' tune. Listen for the hidden piano back there, makes it even more fun!

The other side is a swamp pop ballad with cheesy effects on it that make me question when this was made. After all, Swamp Pop hasn't really changed much over the years, and I think a lot of swamp pop musicians would be happy to say that.

The Satellites - Bodacious / El San Juan (1967)

2011-10-04T11:46:00.004-05:00

Bodacious screams Joe Meek and all the spacey connotations that come with that, but oddly enough if you take a look at that cover you'll see that it's produced by Bobby Vinton of all people. Apparently one of the members was friends with Bobby. In any case, a killer instrumental, one of the best I've posted on here

El San Juan is a sleepy latin-tinged surf dreamer, great in it's own right but way less Joe Meek.

Mody-Vation - Brother Monkey / Friends

2011-09-28T17:29:00.004-05:00

So one of my favorite 45s I've picked up recently was Mody-Vation's "Ghetto Kung-Fu" on Phil LA of Soul, a sort of dreamy, idiotic rip-off of Kung-Fu Fighting. I wanted more, and I found that there was ONE more Mody-Vation recording out there. Way out there in Germany on the Hansa label. Well, with a cover this stupid, I had to spring.

I don't know if I can say whether they quite match Ghetto Kung-Fu musically but they're fun enough. Friends might actually be my favorite of the two, reminding me of that Ween EP that came out in 2007 or so.

Brother Monkey.

and Friends

The Continentals - Pussy Cat

2011-09-20T10:22:00.004-05:00

This has gotta be the best thing I've pulled in a long time. Greasy instrumentals from Lafayette, Louisiana, covered in loud fake cat meows. As evidenced by the Crazy Cajun music (and this site here), this was a Huey Meaux joint, and from a little more internet digging it seems they're entirely separate from the Fabulous Continentals found on the Las Vegas Grind compilations, despite fitting right in.

Pussy Cat Part 1:

And Part 2:

The Casino Royales - East Coast

2011-09-15T00:48:00.006-05:00

Plain ol' 90s surf, fast and fun. I can't find a single thing about this band other than what the liner notes say, which are included so I won't say all that much more. It's off a split 7" with The Dimitri Gurevitch Quintette, which I deemed to be less of interest.

Escape to Bikini Island (strikes me as a terrible place to escape to)

Infiltration

Rendezvous in Red Bank

(pssst I got a scanner and a new sound card, this blog's posts may be rarer than they once were, but higher quality!)

Let my people podcast

2011-07-23T00:44:00.001-05:00

If I haven't made this at all clear on this blog, I'm a radio DJ and I'm very proud of my shows. I put a considerable amount of effort and thought into them and I think the result is unlike anything else found on the dial. I don't want to call it an art because “what IS art?”, but it's certainly a craft and one that many people have convinced me that I'm pretty good at.

Now let me jump ahead so that I can tie it back together: as I understand them (and there's plenty of ways to get lost), the rules of music podcasting are that you cannot give the listener any sort of reference that would allow them to pinpoint where a song within your digital file would lie, so that a listener couldn't use your source to pirate the songs you played. Furthermore, you are expected to pay royalties, likely through soundexchange. Terrestrial broadcasts (FM radio) are typically covered by sort of blanket licensing, where they pay a yearly fee that should cover the royalties that they play, albeit not accurately but that's another story. These licenses do not apply to the digital realm, and in order to be legal, music radio shows must essentially pay up twice for the same broadcast, not that anybody actually does that. If you follow the playlist guidelines and don't announce your songs, your podcast may exist for up to two weeks before it must be erased, barring extra licensing.

Copyright law has always been a cobbled mess of compromises to keep everybody in their respective industries happy, and in doing so keeping very few happy. Since the easy sharing of digital media hit the internet, these laws have been damaged, ignored and rearranged, leaving a picture in my head reminding me of the genetic mess in The Fly muttering “killllll meeeee”. I don't have a suggestion for how to fix copyright (I think it's a deluded notion altogether), but I get it and can see from different viewpoints.

Copyright is the motivation for these limiting podcasting rules, but I'm more concerned with the result. By essentially outlawing digital sharing of broadcast media, you'd might as well say “this is one American cultural force (perhaps even art) that may not be archived nor, collaterally, documented.”

Radio's impact on musical history has been oft-spoken, rarely experienced. By nature, it's nearly always local and temporary. So while we hear about Alan Freed's stake in Rock & Roll history, almost nobody has heard what that show sounds like since it was first broadcast. Let alone, you would never hear about the local DJs that had a more intimate cultural impact on their local communities, both in Rock & Roll and the many other 20^th century musical movements that history can't find the narrative for. The narrative, once again, was local, temporary, and perfunctory (though no less important), and so impact was left mostly to personal memory.

Radio deserves a more powerful legacy, as it is not only starting point of musical culture, counterculture, subculture, and unculture, but its own unique soundwaves and voicework are significant cultural forces. I can say with confidence that my own show has had significant local cultural impact, as listeners have told me time and again. But my own surf rock show was heavily motivated by a former stationmate, Rockabilly Willy on WESU. I'd wager that both of our shows were heavily influenced by the likes of Wolfman Jack. The funny thing is, my knowledge of Wolfman Jack is pieced together from small bites and text; I've never been able to get my hands on a broadcast or an archive, just as you will never hear Rockabilly Willy. Hell, I'll never hear him again either, and soon I won't be able to tell you much about it. Nevertheless, his shows changed my life.

In the information age storage is cheaper than ever and radio recordings are way less cumbersome than they were when fans hit the reel to reel trying to capture something they felt was important. I hope that we come to a sane law that allows us to capture history before it's deemed worthwhile, as that's usually the only history that's really interesting.

Alvin Cash - Cash is Back on Track \ Something on Your Mind

2011-07-09T11:17:00.005-05:00

I think I've documented my love for Alvin Cash pretty well, but oh my.

I think we've all heard terrible tracks with rock & roll stars from another era coming back and trying to rap like all the kids have been doing. But rarely do you get a CALL-OUT track. Let me list the horrors:

It's one huge, terrible bass solo
a very dissonant bass solo
He claims that he's been rapping "before rappin' was here"
He doesn't really rap any more than he ever did(n't) but now puts extra emphasis on his couplet rhymes
He specifically calls out certain rappers like Run DMC and Kool Moe Dee
He blatantly claims that he's doing it for money
He whips out "motherfucker" at the end, which just felt un-called for
Not a single "ooooh-whee", "Have mercy!" or anything!

I'm sure you can add your own. Here have a listen and think to yourself "Nooooo Alvin, don't do this!"

Alvin Cash - Cash is Back on Track

The flipside isn't miserable, it's just one of the million covers of Big Jay McNeely's "There is Something on your mind" with Shirley King jumping on to chew him out.

Judging by the other Triple T Alvin Cash single "I'm betting" which I haven't heard, this is around 1988. There's not an ounce of the danceable Alvin we know and love. Interestingly, when I look at the Something On Your Mind at just the right light, there's a tiny scratch on the wax that says "To Sweet Johnny Cash" in cursive. I couldn't get it in the picture

The Uniques - Lady's Man / Bolivar J

2011-07-02T10:36:00.003-05:00

The Uniques are a pretty fun Louisiana rock & roll/garagey group, though the more research I do the less they seem like a Louisiana band. Usually the Shreveport Paula label = Louisiana, but it seems the Uniques were formed in Arkansas, according to this website I somehow had never seen before. Interesting, considering that this was produced by Dale Hawkins, often considered a Louisiana artist despite spending the greater part of his life in Arkansas. Whatever I'll take it, I like these guys, I like their more popular single with the cover of All These Things, I like their LP Uniquely Yours though mine has a big chunk taken out of the first track. Maybe otherwise I'd upload it for y'all, until then I'll keep an eye out.

Anyway, these are both pretty upbeat, not quite KILLER but fun. Lady's Man here might be a cover? I haven't been able to find the details, I'm probably missing something obvious

I like Bolivar J a little more with its big stompin' and prominent organ. This one was definitely written by the band

blog note: sorry it's an eternity between posts, the Youtube crowd is just really on top of their game, everything's been gotten to already!

My radio show has a podcast

2011-06-02T09:28:00.003-05:00

OK I swear I have real stuff to update this blog with, but I finally went ahead and podcasted my surf & instrumental radio show. It's here.

http://worrrd.com/hunter/podcasts/SSOR.xml

This post left intentionally bare to anticipate a real update this afternoon

The Americans: Live rockabilly on WTUL!

2011-05-23T19:38:00.006-05:00

I try to keep my surf show separate from my blog unless I've got something really special for ya. And here we are! The Americans were passing through town, heard my show, and in about an hour they were tearin' it up on set. It was a short set but oh so sweet.

I'll confess to not being familiar with these guys, but from my own little private show (well, I guess shared with my listener audience (and you)) I'm a big fan. This isn't psychobilly cheese (not that I can't enjoy psychobilly cheese) it's barebones 50's style like you rarely hear people doing these days.

A few notes on the session itself:
-I like the levels, but the vocals are a little clipped. Maybe you like that even better!
-I neglected to take out my camera. That picture up there is ripped from Wikipedia
-And of course, somebody I was chatting with was telling me that surf musicians were the absolute nicest. Well, these aren't surf musicians, but goddamn do I love serving up the niche genres: super nice guys, no egos. I would almost say that the best old rockabilly is helped by big egos, but there's nothing lacking here.
-They have an impeccable sense of direction. They found their way to the studio with minimal help and despite our hallway being curtained off

Here's the three songs they played.

Real Gone Daddy

One Hand Loose

Tool Pusher

This flac file is the full continuous set. Higher quality but the terrible downside of having to listen to my excruciating blabber

Doc Jazroc - Fish & Chips \ Moody Girl

2011-05-17T20:45:00.004-05:00

Here's a weird one. Fish & Chips is a pretty simple rock & roll instrumental with upbeat females chanting "chips", one squealing "feeeeEEESH" and a guy doing the heavy vocal work by combining those two words. A sweet guitar solo at some point but overall it's a testament to how they'll put ANYTHING on a record.

Moody Girl, however, is a ballad about a moody girl. Does that sound like something you want to hear? Because I'm not going to change your mind either way

That's it. It's not that I'm feeling lazy, but that's about all I can find on this thing

Jesse Ferguson and the Outer Limits - St. Louis Blues / Water on a Drowning Man

2011-05-01T13:29:00.003-05:00

After a long silence I come back with a scratched-to-hell 45 that I know absolutely zero about? Yes, yes I do

St. Louis blues

(You Threw) Water on a Drowning Man

That is all!

Triple Shirley

2011-03-18T22:51:00.005-05:00

You totally know Shirley. The records themselves give away part of it: This is Shirley and Goodman of Shirley & Lee. Famously for "Let the Good Times Roll". WHATEVER DUDE, I really don't care about that one, it's all about

I FEEL GOOD

That New Orleans Cosimo stomp and blaring brass mix with the slightly off, thickly accented vocals into a frenzied, swirling, BEST DAMN DUET LOVE SONG EVER. They don't come out and say it, but both Shirley and Lee's goofball voices sing the ultimate love song message: That it's not about who you are or how you're loving, it's who you love and that you love 'em in a way that works for you. UNH! I'm not asking for agreement! I am demanding submission to the truth! In fact, I'm still slightly heartbroken that these songs aren't with Lee. Wasn't that TRUE LOVE in that song? IS LOVE EVEN REAL?

Oh yeah and in the disco era she also did Shame, Shame, Shame with Shirley and Company, featuring a crudely drawn Shirley with Richard Nixon on the cover. I love New Orleans.

So here we have three Shirley singles from in-between those periods. These WHIZ records cuts are late 60s or so, and slightly funkier than her Shirley and Lee Days and all produced by Hooven-Winn and sometimes Rogers. The difference is definitely noticeable, none of these have that J&M shuffle, but they're all good songs.

The earliest of these is Shirley and Alfred's "Kid Games and Nursery Rhymes", Alfred actually being Brenton Wood of Double Shot Records' Boogaloosa Louisiana song. While I like Brenton, I cannot accept him as a a replacement for her obvious true love, Lee.

and on the flipside Too Much, Too Soon

After that, you've got my favorite of the bunch, "They Put the Last Clean Shirt On Leroy Jones Today". I love that they add the Today to the end of an already excessively long title. This song appears to be Shirley posthumously defending the honor of a murder-accused Leroy Jones on the grounds that he was a good lover. My qualms with her love life aside, this really showcases Shirley's goofy style. Who is Leroy Jones? Well it's not Lee, he's a Leonard and wasn't dead by the time they made this record, nor is the New Orleans trumpeter. I don't know.

"You Care For Me" isn't nearly as absurd but a great song in it's own right

I guess "Sugar Sugar" here is the A-Side because there are TWO STARS on the label. It's a funkier version of the ol' oldies classic by the Archies. Naturally, most songs are improved by Shirley's Woman-sounding-like-a-man-imitating-a-woman voice.

And we'll finish weak with "Gonna Waltz Right Out of Your Life (1-2-3)" which is a cute song that lacks a memorable hook.

This doesn't represent the entirety of Shirley's work outside Shirley & Lee and Shirley & Company, it's not even everything on Whiz. It's what I got.

And since I can't think of where else to say it, Shirley's dead. As of 2005. I don't feel qualified to give her an obituary, especially 6 years late, but it's pretty nice that "She'll be missed" doesn't sound right. We got REKKORDZ!

M. E. Rushing and his Dynatone Piano - Let Me See Me

2011-03-05T09:53:00.003-06:00

I believe there's great virtue to enjoying the terrible things in life, and I would count M.E. Rushing's Let Me See Me among them. Despite the dinky Randy Newman sung underwater sound, it's just musical enough and dinky enough to be kind of fun, and definitely funny. Which is more than I could say about Hammond, Louisiana on the whole. Though for some reason I think Ernie Johnson of Ronn Records' "Mouth to Mouth Resuscitation" is from there. Maybe I'm wrong.

Whatever, here you go. Just the A-Side, the B-Side is just pure boring religious country that I really get into.

The Routers - Superbird / Sack of Woe

2011-02-28T23:54:00.006-06:00

Yes, it's those Routers. Or at least it is meant to be in direct lineage of those Routers. The ones that gave us Clap Clap Clapclapclap Clapclapclapclap Let's Go 10 years prior to this 1973 release. I believe both of these are from their Superbird LP, which was sort of like that one Lively Ones album where they come out of nowhere making funk music that sounds nothing like their old stuff. I don't really know that, I've never listened to it.

I also have no idea whether this featured Tommy Tedesco, Hal Blaine or any Wrecking Crew members. I do know that it's produced by Joe Saraceno and Superbird is written by Larry Duncan, like the old Routers, which is why I don't think this is a separate group. But it is a complete break to a very funk sound.

Superbird is the better of the two. Does this surprise you? They named their album after it!

Sack of Woe is a Cannonball Adderly cover, right? Well here it is, slow and funky

The Champs & The Fabulous Cyclones

2011-02-19T11:28:00.000-06:00

RE-UPPED! And since writing this article I HAVE heard a cover of the Champs' Lowdown: by the Surfin' Gorillas (great album too!)

Probably not going to re-up those other songs, but the album link has been updated

This post is going to be easy. While I'm not going to kid myself, most people checking out this blog have some interest in the forgotten art of Rock & Roll and have some sort of savvy, often more than I do, but I explain the albums all the same. The Champs, however.... I think anybody can sing along to Tequila.

This here's a split LP, though you can hardly tell by the cover. And honestly, the cover is sort of correct in doing so; The Cyclones side is far less fun, but we'll get to that later. Aside from Too Much Tequila, which got a proper 45 single treatment and was on their album Tequila these songs don't really appear anywhere else except for a rarities collection called Wing Ding (in the case of the last three songs) and a Greatest Hits collection which features Streamliner. However, these are excellent tracks, all with the signature Champs sound and with a healthy dose of humor. Club House was the immediate standout to me, and it apparently had some affect on Quintron as well since he did a loose cover on his album "These Hands of Mine". Quintron, why are you so great?

I haven't heard a direct cover of Lowdown myself, but it's got a great slow and dirty vibe to it that reminds me of this Eddie Angel song that I'd might as well throw on here

As for the Fabulous Cyclones, whose name got an even smaller typeface than their song titles on the cover, they're up against some hard competition but the LP is still worth flipping over. It's simple rock & roll instrumentals, reminding me of Joe Houston. If you wanna dance, The Cyclones will provide and you'll have a great time, but if you want something to whistle while walking down the street I'd stick with the A side. The real disappointment here is that the song Moon Journey has no sci-fi tone to it, because with the Quintron mention I would have another rare post fulfilling the Louisiana, Rock & Roll, Sci-fi trifecta in this blog's mission statement.

this album isn't the cleanest one I've got but the songs are about 97% listenable, the only pops that I found were as one song faded out. Otherwise there's sort of a fuzz going on, but the music prevails. I don't have a back cover included since it says nothign about the album, just other albums on the label. The tracklist looks like:

Side A (The Champs):

Too Much Tequila
Streamliner
Wing Ding
Club House
Lowdown

Side B (The Fabulous Cyclones):

Boogie Guitar
Rocking & Picking
Moon Journey
Blue & Mean
Gone & Out

Re-Upped! go get it here

Double Alvin Cash 45s

2011-02-15T10:53:00.005-06:00

My love of Alvin Cash is already documented and while these may have slight deviations from what's seen there, each 45 has all of the requirements for an Alvin classic

*High on danceability
*Moronic lyrical content
*Showcasing a stupid dance
*Alvin sounds like a happy dude!
*"Oooh-Wee!"
*"Awwww but you're lookin' good baby!"
*"Awwwwwww have mercy!"

and of course, the Twine still gets nods.

The earlier 45 (1965): the Penguin (Tuxedo Bird)/Un-Wind the Twine is especially close to the content of the twine time LP. Sometimes I think he just goes to the zoo and comes back with all sorts of inspiration

Alvin Cash - The Penguin (Tuxedo Bird)

Unwind the Twine is of course his umpteenth reference to his favorite dance. What rules about this track is that it seems to have a neat little marimba in the background!

Alvin Cash - Unwind the Twine

1967's Doin' the Ali Shuffle / Feel So Good is two years later but does show a little bit of a change. Ali Shuffle (MUCH different from his 1976 Dakar records release) is the more familiar of the two. Still a goofy (but killer) dance, with some of his goofiest lyrics like "I want you to float like a butterfly, baby, and I want you to sting like a bee" duhhhhh

The B-Side instrumental "Feel So Good" honestly doesn't feel so good with me. I like a lot of his earlier instrumentals but this is a little too smooth saxxy. Though I think it demonstrates a pretty good bridge to his later career (he is, after all, now with the Registers when he used to be with the Crawlers, a comment on his age)

It's worth noting that both of these were different producers than his Twine Time days (which means no more Andre Williams). Penguin and Un-Wind the Twine have Hayes, Burrage and J. Jones despite being released around the same time as songs like BARRACUDA. Ali Shuffle and Feel So Good are both produced by Eddie Silvers. I don't know much about either of these guys and I'm so close to hitting "publish post" that I think I might take care of that later.

By the way, here's a pretty good resource of Alvin

I have been lazy

2011-02-15T09:43:00.003-06:00

Actually, October 2010 sounds much more recent than I thought my last post was. Well I've been feeling motivated lately and I feel like posting again. And maybe even fixing all those broken links since my home fileserver went down. Maybe even re-ripping a few of the requested reups

The Bills live on WTUL

2010-10-13T18:35:00.003-05:00

So I had one of our two New Orleans surf bands on my radio show this past week (I've had the other one, the Unnaturals, too, but I don't have that recording). If you're not familiar with them, they had a CD with a handful of great, dirty punk-styled surf called Knife in Yer Gut. I'm pretty sure it's floating around on the internet, and I guess that's OK since they're all out of copies of it.

Well this you won't find elsewhere. Ripped straight from my radio show on a vocal mic that clearly wasn't intended for it, this is RAW AS HELL and as fun as it was in the studio. Which is to say very fun, I've seen them a bunch of times and my own little personal performance there was better than any I've seen.

Get it here

Euclid Records NOLA Opens

2010-09-02T11:02:00.004-05:00

UPDATED: Please read the bottom addendum.

Just as one of my first posts on this blog was a review of a new record store in town, I suppose my comeback will start the same way.

Euclid Records is the baby brother of the legendary St. Louis store, a must-visit if you're around there. James and Brian have been selling out of a little shack just a couple of doors down from their new digs and I'll be honest, their selection was OK, not great. It had me a little worried, but naturally I wouldn't say that unless it was followed with a "THANKFULLY I WAS WRONG"

Wait wait, first things first. It's a beautiful store. Pink and yellow on the outside, outrageous even for the bywater, but the inside is even nicer. Crazy textile-wrapped trees spring up from the center banisters, making it some sort of record swamp, and there's a nice corner with a piano, clearly allowing for an in-store performance. The walls feature some sort of lumberjack mural next to some monkeys throwing money, and naturally a bajillion show posters and big-ticket display records. And on the ceiling of the checkout corner, my $5 bill. First customer. High point was coming back from work, flipping through records and thinking about a nice soda. Then looking to my right and spying a vending machine, ready to spit me out a Mug Root Beer. Casually flippin' and sippin', feels good.

But the meat: what are the records like? Jazz is by far the most vast, though seeing that sort of description sometimes scares me; this is not a store solely for jass nuts. Not even close. The funk section can stand toe-to-toe-with-Dominoe Sound, probably a little more plentiful and sprinkled with choice reissues and impressive originals. The rock section is strong, though hardly even. A lot of great 50s twisters, some Bo Diddley originals!, psychedelic reissues... not too huge on the modern stuff, though that's something that may develop over time.

Right in the center of the store are a couple of boxes of 45s. It wasn't huge, but some really nice things in there: John Lee Hookers, Bo Diddleys!, Rene Hall's Twitchy/Flippin, Ventures picture sleeves, and I picked up a Man...or Astroman? among other things.

This is all referring to vinyl. There is a limited used CD selection with the same all-over-the-place diversity that I love about a used CD selection.

Prices... Frustratingly fair. Not "screw this"-and-leave-with-nothing high, but not "ahhh with prices like these I can't stop spending" low like Domino Sound. I rarely thought "this should be lower" --they were right about where they deserved to be. I just wanted them to be cheaper.

Weaknesses? Small world selection, I could see this neighborhood wanting a little more punk (though the Iron Rail takes care of that pretty well)

So what does this come out to? Great start, and the fact that this is 2 blocks away from me has me nearly restless, almost reconsidering moving to mid-city in a few months. Good store in a neighborhood that I could see taking to it well. I'll be recommending it to others for sure.

UPDATE:
Euclid has unsurprisingly expanded since I came when it first opened. I was there last night and, it's hard to change your opinion about certain things but, I think Euclid now has the best 45 collection of all record stores in the city. They're not cheap, but they're dense with good stuff, moreso than Jim Russell Records and while nothing will get quite as vast as JRR's collection, it's still pretty plentiful. There's a lot more funk, a lot more R&B and a lot more punk than when they opened, including a lot of modern garage to tickle my fancy, not to mention all sorts of Sundazed and Norton reissues. The things on the wall are really worth drooling over and don't pander to the clueless record buyer. For instance, a Pussy Galore bootleg.

Upon opening my impression of Euclid was pretty strong, and I knew it would be on my short list of recommendations. It's on a much shorter list now, to the point where if you had to visit one record store in the city, either Domino or Euclid will suffice.

New Orleans Record Raid July 24th

2010-06-25T09:12:00.007-05:00

UPDATE: I've noticed a couple of google hits to this page. You must be interested in the March 26th Record Raid! I decided not to have this blog mix with my record fairs, but check out the website link below or hit up "Spring Record Raid" on Facebook

I swear I've been meaning to update this blog for a while, but I've been busy with all sorts of things, one of which is another record fair! This time in downtown New Orleans

Check out the facebook event

Or the website

TWILIGHTZONE'S "BO DID IT" Marathon

2010-06-07T00:37:00.002-05:00

In case you weren't already checking out the vastly superior blog that is TWILIGHTZONE/Rideyourpony or maybe you just hadn't visited recently like me, they aren't letting Bo's deathiversary go unnoticed. They've been posting, as I type this, 23 compilations of music by or inspired by Bo Diddley. I mean goddamn!

That's
http://twilightzone-rideyourpony.blogspot.com/

George & Lee - Nobody But You \ You Were Made For Me

2010-06-04T16:03:00.004-05:00

George & Lee refer to George Davis & Lee Diamond of New Orleans. I've got a 45 of Lee or two, but really why bother? My knowledge on this one is a tiny subset of that imparted on Home of the Groove

These are mid-tempo R&B groovers. Neither of them particularly striking to me, but it's not particularly easy to obtain... not that I remember how I obtained it.

Nobody But You

You Were Made For Me

Bo Diddley 2 years gone from this earth today

2010-06-02T19:16:00.005-05:00

Upon realizing that it was June 2nd, 2 years from Bo Diddley's passing, I scribbled this picture and hopped in my car, making my way towards McComb Mississippi and in two hours (blasting nothing but Bo) I showed up at this post; nobody was there and as far as I know the placement of this marker is arbitrary outside the fact that it's in McComb. But I wanted to pay my respects SOMEWHERE.

And when it was all done I remembered that I had this blog thing (I know, you thought I'd forgotten, right?). I don't think Bo is necessarily the best in rock & roll: but he's one of them and he's my favorite. Why?

First and foremost, he taught me to do what you love and do it like you love it. He never said as much as far as I can tell, but it's what I draw from his songs and the way he delivers them. Have Guitar Will Travel I think is the best case in point, with his guitar screaming with the same amount of passion that he does throughout. He's always sincere, partially because he's not writing about anything too complex that he can't believe it or stand by it. Simple messages the he (and I, I guess) can get behind.
Perhaps as a result of bulletpoint 1: he's completely original. Yeah yeah, "the originator" and inventor of the Bo Diddley Beat. Forget that, you can identify him with a half second of his guitar sound. Nobody has sounded like Bo Diddley; everybody that tried has failed and nobody can rip him off because it's too obvious (aside from use of the Bo Diddley beat)
He appeals to the hacker side of me. I like to screw around with electronics and computers, and here's a musician that builds his own guitars, scooters, and cars.
He didn't drink or do drugs. I never have and I'd rather not write that dissertation right here, but it's cool to know that somebody that stood apart so much didn't come up with all through substance assistance.
His music sounds so Southern. Even though he grew up mostly in Chicago. Go figure.

There are a lot of people I could say these things about. Dick Dale was sober, original, passionate, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Ike Turner I could attribute some of these to but the big one

Never without his sense of humor. Despite the absurd bragging in his songs, his name is still Bo Diddley, which essentially means nobody. As much as he's singing from the heart, everything he's written is so lighthearted, but rarely a joke (excluding his riffs with Jerome). Oh yeah Frank Zappa incorporates humor... but he strikes me as a free jazz Weird Al. You can hear the smile on all of these and some of the songs are so deliberately stupid, but at the same time I had to agree when my friend called it "serious Rock & Roll". I really can't think of anybody else who managed to not separate their music from their humor in the same way and on such a consistent basis.

These are opinions and poorly evoked at that, but I wanted to write a tribute because in my book nobody will ever approach his little corner of music. He wasn't perfect (just a man amongst men you might say) and he made plenty of mistakes, but in a strange way he's been a spiritual model to me even though I have no real desire to touch an instrument.

So if you've stuck with me this far maybe you can join me in what I do every time I see this album cover. Raise your hand to the monitor, wave, and say "Hey Bo Diddley"

The Electric Underground - Guitar Explosion

2010-05-12T01:29:00.005-05:00

Get ready to FREAK OUT with this collection of mind-melting psychedelic...uh Surf Rock Songs. The titles, the 1967 date, the wording, everything about this suggests full-on-fuzzed guitar trip-outs for the NEW GENERATION but really you get some pretty mediocre covers of surf songs. I don't quite have them all picked out, but to give you the idea "Aerial Flip-Out" is "Rumble" except with less distortion than Link used. Don't make the same $15 mistake I made, there's much more exciting stuff out there that actually makes good on the promise. But if you're curious here it is

Dumb Post: Woggles 7" at 33RPM

2010-05-02T23:03:00.002-05:00

I was going through some 7"s and still had it set at 33 when I put on the Woggles "Carnivore" 7". Quick, make a cover of it and get signed to Voodoo Rhythm. I don't know if it's exactly better; I think this is some of the best work the Woggles ever put out, but it's definitely a blast and Flash Flood sounds real heavy.

The Wwoogggglleesss - Carnivore / Flash Flood

I suppose if you're REALLY looking that hard to pirate Woggles material you can get half a 7" if you download this and adjust the speed. If any Woggles see this and feel like they're getting ripped off, I'm sorry although I think this might fall under fair use. Also you rule.

Jazz & Heritage

2010-04-30T22:57:00.006-05:00

It's that magical time of year: Jazz Fest has been going since last Friday and I've been going every day taking pictures for WWOZ. I've taken a lot more than these but some highlights that might be of interest to this blog:

Classie Ballou

Grandpa Elliot

has been popular because of some youtube video. He's a New Orleans street artist but his knee slappin' and demeanor was a pretty cool way to open the day

Voices of the Wetlands

was a supergroup of sorts and very well arranged. Check these two favorite characters out

Robert "One String" Gibson

is another New Orleans street artist, but of particular interest because of all the Unitar love I spread on this blog

Campbell Brothers

Lil' buck Senegal

since Mardi Gras Indians are so fun to shoot

Creole Wild West

And some general dancing at the Fais Do-Do Stage

Apologies for the oversaturation, it didn't look that way on my laptop screen.

Let me know if there's anything you want me to catch or want to know if I did catch. You can check out a few others either shot by me or anybody else at wwoz.org

George Hudson DOUBLE DAMAGE - It's Twistin' Time / Dance Time

2010-04-27T16:37:00.006-05:00

I'd been meaning to upload it's Twistin' Time for a little while so when I pulled out my thrift store purchase of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" and found George Hudson's "Dance Time" instead (UGH, ROOKIE MISTAKE) I figured it was a sign that this must be posted.

That's not to suggest it's exactly mindblowing. These are twist records number a-billion and a-billion and one and though plenty of fun and worth it if you want another two twist records, there's not too much to make them stand out. Dance Time is the better record of the two, with a better swing and more exciting recording sound. However, if it's your thing It's Twistin' Time has a couple of pretty good organ-fueled instrumentals, where Dance Time only has one bluesy one. A whole lot of covers on these... and plenty off rip-off-might-as-well-be-covers. But who really cares?

Who is George Hudson anyway? I've been trying to get to the bottom of this and been kind of confused with what I've dug up. One site claims that his "Kings of Twist" are a supergroup including Hank Ballard, Jack Hammer, Chubby Checker and Joey Dee. If ze means that literally I don't know where that info's coming from and it seems way too sonically consistent for that to be the case. One site has said that he was a New York DJ and most of the singers, including Hoagy Lands, were uncredited.

I've even had a little trouble finding the cover for Dance Time because mine looked like this

Ugh, you got me this time, Al

Anyway, here's the full track list of these two albums

It's Twistin' Time (Capitol T-1578)

A Side:

It's Twistin' Time
Blueberry Hill
Baby Face
Lazy River
Little Twister
The Railroad Twist

B Side:

Kansas City
Doodlin' Twist
The Twist
My Blue Heaven
A Little Bit 'o Soap
I'd've Baked a Cake

Dance Time (1962 Capitol ST-1697)

A Side:

The Peppermint Twist
Shimmy Shimmy Walk
Do the Bug
Come on An' Slop
Do the New Continental
Bronx Stomp

B Side:

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
(Do the) Mashed Potatoes
The Roach
Do the Limbo
Gonna Twist Along Without Ya Now
Hully Gully Firehouse

These are zipped together here

Sunil Ganguly - Swinging Hits

2010-04-20T12:46:00.005-05:00

I'd reckon over the past year I've probably played more off of Sublime Frequency's Bollywood Steel Guitar Compilation over the radio than anything else, with a possible exception of the extremely similar Sound of Wonder. But I never really followed up on any of those artists because I figured chances of coming across their works were pretty slim. New Orleans' Domino Sound Record Shack strikes again, with this artist featured on Bollywood Steel Guitar! And it was so cheap too (cover's pretty beat up I guess (and looks like a half-assed attempt at a Boston album)).

It's not exactly tough to figure out what a surf enthusiast would enjoy about an album like this, but that's hardly to suggest that their similar. Ganguly actually plays a Hawaiian steel guitar, and a lot of this is a lot more relaxed than most surf, though a little more exciting than your average 50's Hawaiian album. Some of these are funky, some of these are really weird. The real paragon of everything that makes this great is the sixth track, Hari Om Hari, featuring frantic drums, wild steel guitar and punctuated by goofy electronic effects.

If you want to know more about Sunil Ganguly he's really not that obscure, wikipedia page and everything. There are a few MP3 downloads of his other work, a few blogs mentioning him, but as far as I could tell know way to hear this album. And man, you should, I'd post a ton of this sort of stuff if I had any idea where to find it. This one, you can find here

Frankie Freeman - Born To Raise Hell \ This Old Shack

2010-04-17T23:57:00.005-05:00

When I showed this to my friend Ben he asked "have you listened to it? It looks too good to be true". I know what he means, and I think back to 45s I bought on a gut like "Hell Yes I Cheated" by the Virginia Dare Gang on Dare Records (maybe I'm mixing two records up in my head). That sounds bad-ass! But it ended up being mopey over-twangy country

Well, it's not as 100% funky as hoped, but it's about 80% there. Totally intending to be funky with all the attitude you'd expect from a label called Ghetto, it's just not guaranteed to set the dance floor on fire. But I don't want to undersell it either: it very well could

I don't know anything about any part of this 45 and searches for "Ghetto Records" really don't help. As always, info appreciated

Born To Raise Hell

This Old Shack

Lee Allen and his Band - Down on Bourbon Street

2010-04-16T16:48:00.005-05:00

Lee Allen was a huge part of the New Orleans sound during the R&B era and backed up an absurd amount of new Orleans big names on his saxophone, and this is a sample of his instrumental outing. You can read about it all down there on the back cover or anywhere really, I just said that in case blog links wanted a blurb of this post.

I was looking for this for a while, mainly because I loved my 45 of Cat Walk/Creole Alley and had to find the LP it was put out on. Not to mention the outrageous cover, with a tasseled stripper clearly pasted on to make this look CRAZIER. As I expected, this isn't a proper full-length and was made well after the fact, what I didn't really realize after when I bought it was that almost all of these songs were on his main LP "Walkin' With Mr. Lee". So what's the point? Cat Walk/Creole Alley are in my opinion his best two songs, it has a CRAZY cover, and a much fatter (and in this case scratchier) recording than my CD copy of Walkin' With Mr. Lee, which seems to have all the fun sucked out of it. And I suppose if I post it up here, the rest of y'all won't drop $40 on this just to hear the difference. Purchasing music is good, go buy the actually available Walking With Mr Lee. In fact, do it tomorrow on Record Store Day.

If you've never heard any of this instrumental stuff, I'll give you a warning. Some of this can get very laid-back. If you want some jumpers, just follow the track titles. If it sounds jumpin' it probably is. When he's good though, I think he's one of the great examples of how the saxophone was once king in Rock & Roll, a fact now forgotten.

Go ahead and give it a spin

The Snake Charmers - Gorgon EP

2010-04-14T15:59:00.004-05:00

I can't show you the real cover of this 7", but I know I'm not the only one that sees a barebreasted human female on a cover and thinks "this is probably pretty good". Don't worry, it's included with the songs. This is a simple 7" of a trashy rock & roll band with one instrumental ("Drag"). Joe Truck has been in a couple of bands such as Chop Shop and Scarecrow and the late Paul Morden has been in The Brickbats and The Memphis Morticians.

Outstanding EP? Maybe not, but I've been digging the bands I just mentioned and I never mind a little pornography

http://www.mediafire.com/?5tdbdntn0tk

Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf Radio Show has moved timeslots

2010-04-11T17:01:00.002-05:00

Apparently the citizens like the weekly shock therapy that is my radio show, so we're moving to Mondays from 4-6PM CST. You can stream it at www.wtulneworleans.com

If you want to check out playlists I'll be posting them at surfguitar101 here

and also making updates to this facebook fanpage

I think in the past I've posted links to where I sometimes put archived shows. I think I'll keep dumping them there

Aki Aleong and his Teen Twenty - C'Mon Let's Dance

2010-04-05T16:43:00.006-05:00

The Black Sea Surfer just posted Aki Aleong's excellent 1963 surf album which pushed me to get this up here. I bought it intrigued by the monster surf instro "Body Surf" but is there more to him than that? Just look at the guy in the picture down there (and the blurb) of course there is! He looks so happy to put this album out! This 1962 album is full of dance scorchers at a high energy level. Just listen to that yell introducing "Mashed Potatoes". It makes me wanna do it! New Orleanians, dig the cover of Eddie Bo's "Popeye". There's some great instrumentals too, including "The Fly" and "Pony-Time". Seriously, this is one of the more fun twistin' albums I own. And you would hope so if he really has a 20 piece band backing him up (no, it doesn't sound that way). Then again if they're all teenagers who knows.

Go ahead and twist

The Deuce Coupes - The Shut Downs

2010-04-03T13:55:00.004-05:00

I've got to be completing my Crown Records collection by now. This is the same gist: a few instrumentals amongst some pretty good vocal tracks, backed by Jerry Cole and a whole lot of engine sounds. I can't say that any of these really stand out to me, but it's still a solid enough album. I know y'all go nuts for anything surf or drag related anyway, so it's not like anything I say about it really matters. Here, see what Pipeline magazine has to say:

For the “Shut Downs” album I was already pretty aware how it was going to sound before the needle touched down into the grooves, having previously heard to rest of the Crown hot-rod releases – and I wasn’t wrong ! Acclaimed studio sessionman Jerry Cole was once again the uncredited main force behind the long-player and his distinct single-layer vocals, coupled with his rhythmic guitar and an accompanying sax, are the most noticeable factors in all of the label’s auto releases – and in fact, such is the similarity between each offering that I’m sure many of the melodies are simply adapted and re-used accordingly (it’s just that I haven’t worked out which ones they are yet …). Yes, they sound under-produced and fairly basic … but each release does manage to stick one or two tunes in the memory bank and they’re all worth a listen – but not one after the after for sanity’s sake.
In the instance of this particular album it’s the opening number, “With My Baby”, that gets the feet tapping and makes you wonder where on earth you've heard it before (answer - Cole rewrote it and included again on the later album by the Winners - see elsewhere) whilst the subsequent track has Cole clearly thinking in Dick-Dale-mode … and that’s not a bad thing …

By the way, this is not to be confused with the Del-Fi records Deuce Coupes. In fact, I'm not entirely sure whether the artist here is The Deuce Coupes or the Shut Downs.

Anyway here's a link to it and a tracklist

Side A

With My Baby
36 Window Coupe
Two Fast Cars
Starters Nightmare (instrumental)
Oil on the Track

Side B

Body By Fisher
Turn Her On Buddy
Goin, Goin, Gone (instrumental)
Goggles Got A Hole In It
Deuce Coupes

Pete Kogos & The Counts

2010-03-23T16:36:00.008-05:00

For somebody so in love with his city I realize I don't post much New Orleans R&B. Well, that's because other people have taken care of that for me pretty thoroughly. However, I haven't seen this one around, and can't tell you much about it either, other than that the A-Side is far and away the less exciting side.

Love Me Again

Love You Like I Do

2010-03-18T19:34:00.006-05:00

RRHHWW and RockIsDeadRIP have both proclaimed their fandom of Billy Mure before, though I suspect we both feel that way for his abilities as a guitarist. Well here's the other side. This album cover and album title both give it away: this is mostly a spage-aged pop record, inventing music from other lands based on silly stereotypes, with little bad-ass rock & roll to be found.

In fact, I've saved you the trouble: this one track In A Persian Market sounds to me like Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited decades before their time

For the type of music it is, it's pretty good, but I'm posting this here more for Billy Mure completion than to knock you internet folks out. So if you're curious, check it out

Two 45s by The Gallants

2010-03-15T12:56:00.005-05:00

Everything I know about this instrumental group is right there on the 45: On a major label, produced by the monster David Axelrod and arranged by HB Barnum. What I mean is we've got H.O.T.S.H.O.T.S. on these, and you can hear them on it too.

The Man From UNCLE (written by Jerry Goldsmith)

The Vagabond (written by HB Barnum)

Von Ryan March (written by Jerry Goldsmith)

The Searcher (written by David Axelrod)

Euclid Records is opening a second storefront in New Orleans

2010-03-10T22:02:00.004-06:00

Yep, you heard me. This one is more focused on second hand than the St. Louis location (one of the best record stores I've been to) and located in the bywater.

Check it out

This was found out because they're previewing some of the goods at my record fair (see below!)

WTUL RECORD FAIR ROUND 2

2010-02-26T11:05:00.004-06:00

The November WTUL Record Fair was a success for just about everybody involved, so we're doing it again, bigger and better on March 20th. So far we're looking at about 20 vendors with room to expand (If you'd like to be among them, my e-mail is hunterking ot inbox.com. Tables are CHEAP!) We'll have old 45s, tapes, punk 7"s abound, turntables, CDs, you name it. "Admission" is free and open to anyone.

The location has changed SLIGHTLY. Still on Tulane's campus, but now next to part of their student center

(ignore the loading dock nonsense and coloring. Yes there will be signs)

Facebook event here

Dean Hightower - Twangy With A Beat

2010-02-22T17:54:00.004-06:00

While I suppose the word "Twang" has deep love in the country music realm, I immediately think of Duane Eddy, and in general it seems to me that Duane's the aim right here. But they miss the mark, really, and fall more towards a Chet Atkins sound meets George Barnes. In fact, the more active songs on here are all written by George Barnes, though they all fall into the same "am I having fun or listening to the guitar player have fun?" traps that songs under the George Barnes name tend toward.

I'm not really sure what they're talking about with the "with a beat". I mean, this isn't free jazz here, but the whole thing proceeds at a mid-paced mosey; it's much more of a hang-out than a freak-out album. Still, if you're down for hangin' out, it's a pretty decent album.

Go ahead and get it right here

Tulio Enrique Leon - Desde La Argentina

2010-02-11T13:53:00.005-06:00

There is no good reason for this to be on a rock & roll blog. I think the Gospel that post often has rock & roll spirit, this does not. The closest rock & roll parallel I can think of is Chicha Libre/Roots of Chicha Compilation, but that's a stretch. This is, as a friend of mine puts it "scrabble music". It's calm and soothing but still begs you to do a little dancing. I'm putting this up here because it flat-out owns and I can't seem to keep it on my shelf.

This translated wikipedia page seems to say that the poor Venezuelan guy went blind and the doctor suggested a piano. But he was all about the electric sounds of the organ. There's probably more info to gleam off the blurb below... if you speak Spanish. But I'm content enough with the pictures of him: fat, happy blind guy just screams "I'm gonna play some cool organ".

And here it is

SAINTS WIN \ I'VE GOT A PONY

2010-02-08T10:59:00.006-06:00

Spent last night celebrating "Lombardi Gras". Last night was nothing short of an identity change for New Orleans and I will never give that many high-fives again in my life. To New Orleans and everybody that makes it great, I love you and I hope I never have to leave.

Brandonio, this one's for you. I know you love Colts so here's one of my favorite 45s (pun not intended but pretty cool). Brought to you by the Hillbilly Bears on Hannah Barbera Records

I've Got a Pony

Believe it or not, I think a lot of us think it's time to take our "Who Dat" chants and put it on its shelf so we can dust it off for next season. Don't want to break it now, we're going to need it then. So one more good one for the internet

WHO DAT

WHO DAT INSPIRATIONAL SAINTS YOUTUBES

2010-02-07T12:30:00.002-06:00

MY BLOG I DO WHAT I WANT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_K7MZJakm4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn0IQeXxPVM&feature=related

http://www.nola.com/superbowl/index.ssf/2010/02/miami_scene_many_more_who_dats.html

OK real blog later

Chaucer Records Single... WHO DAT

2010-02-06T11:06:00.003-06:00

Here's a new low for information about a record I upload: I don't even know the band's name. The performers are listed on that 45 there and they either went to or have some affiliation with John Curtis High School in 1978. So I'll give you these nice psychedelic/piano oriented rock songs and BE ON MY WAY TO VOTE AND SHOUT WHO DAT ALL DAY LONG

Paradise

I've Waited So Long

WHO DAT?

WHO DAT SAY THEY GONNA BEAT THEM SAINTS?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The Sneakers - Whatcha Gonna Do \ I'm Goin' Back

2010-02-04T11:34:00.003-06:00

The Sneakers play pretty straightforward frattish rock & roll... which is actually somewhat rare amidst an R&B and Funk&Soul capitol. I can't tell you much beyond what you can draw from that 45 picture and these two songs, but I'd love to find out more. I like I'm Goin' Back a little more

Whatcha Gonna Do

I'm Goin' Back

No-Fi: A Live Documentation of New Orleans Surf, Punk, and Garage

2010-02-01T13:40:00.000-06:00

As a record collector I often tell people that surf didn't really hit New Orleans. That's not entirely true, but like everything else in this city, it happened way later. The Royal Pendletons are probably are longest lasting name to spring out of that (though more of a garage band than a surf band), but this compilation is a great example of a bunch of other bands that, aside from my beloved Famous Monsters, I probably wouldn't have known existed otherwise (I was in middle school or so).

Since then there have been other instro bands: off the top of my head there's currently the Bills, Unnaturals, and before those Spring Break Shark Attack (from Baton Rouge), Paradise Vendors sorta, and (soon to be reformed) The Sophisticats.

Backside for tracklisting:

And the benefit of ripping a copy from your radio station: Reviewer notes

And here ya go

Fifty Golden Voices on Booker Records

2010-01-26T12:46:00.003-06:00

If there's an easy route to New Orleans gospel collecting it's "if you see Booker Records grab it grab it grab it". Sometimes there's a hidden Charlie Jackson guitar in the background or another wonderful surprise and they can sell for who knows how much. Well, pretty sure there's no Charlie Jackson guitar on this one, and the recording's as lo-fi as Booker Records was ever known for.... especially my copy. If you think that cover looks beat up, I have the other side in the zip file: I don't know what two of the titles are.

I think for a lot of this you've got to be a pretty big gospel fan, but the last two tracks are pretty fun, so I'd say go for these and check out the full thing if you really want to.

Wasn't That A Mighty Day

I Am A Pilgrim

and of course, the full thing

It's ON: Starting with my radio show last night

2010-01-25T16:43:00.007-06:00

In case y'all didn't hear, my hometown won the NFC championship last night, launching us into an impromptu Mardi Gras. For a lot of us, we never thought a black & gold superbowl could or would happen.

So I've changed colors accordingly (perhaps a little gaudier than before) and I'm declaring a rivalry between this blog and Colt-loving Brandonio's RockIsDead RIP. Sure it's brought me a lot of hits and normally I'd say it's an excellent blog and probably the next one you should go to after this one, but I'm afraid we can't be friends*. I don't really know what this rivalry means, I'm pretty sure he gets way more hits than I do (deservedly so, he posts good stuff and way more often than I do), but I'll wield the one weapon I have: my hometown: New Orleans is unparalleled in its rock & roll, etc, history so until the Superbowl I'm going to try to stick in that mode.

So since this was some dumb idea I cooked up as I rolled out of bed today, I'll post something from my other little creative endeavor that I usually keep separate from this blog. I do a weekly surf & instrumental radio show on WTUL 91.5FM and yesterday I was doing that from 4PM-6PM, right through the 5:40 kickoff. I think it was one of my better shows and undoubtedly one of the ones where I was getting more worked up, so here ya go

Storm Surge of Reverb NFC Championship Edition (really big so you might wanna right click, save as)

*just as I declared this rivalry into existence, I will declare it immediately over after the Superbowl... WHEN WE WIN. But we can be friends again then

The Dragsters - Hey Little Cobra + Drag City

2010-01-20T14:14:00.003-06:00

And so here we have another surf/drag "budget" album, this time on Mercury Wing instead of Crown, which means possibly Davie Allan and/or Mike Curb involved rather than Jerry Cole. But the story's the same: the vocal tracks are throwaways, and the instrumentals are actually pretty great, particularly the two on side B.

For once allmusic is a little helpful on this one though mostly saying the same thing as alla this

Side A

Hey Little Cobra
Drag Strip
Ferrarri II
Go Little Tiger
Jag XKE

Side B

Drag City
Super Charger
Crazy Cobra
Hot Rod Queen
Sting Ray

Here it is. DO IT

Learn to dance while I nurse my server back to health

2010-01-02T14:17:00.002-06:00

Welp, looks like my hard drive crashed, so almost all the 45s will be down while I figure out what to do.

In the meantime, somebody on flickr posted some hints out how to do THE FRUG and all sorts of other dances. These never work as well as watching it being done, but this is the closest thing I've found

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevira/59407915/

Cal Carter - Twist Along With Cal Carter

2009-12-29T12:16:00.008-06:00

Cal Carter may not have made much of a name for himself as a solo artist, but as an arranger he's pretty prolific. I've seen his name attached to Canned Heat and Clarence Carter, though I'm not 100% it's the same guy. I do know from listening to this 45 (with Cal's name on the minit label) that Our Cal had a hand in it.

It's a good indication of what this album sounds like. Cal stuffs these worn classics so full of embellishment that they sound like new songs. It's almost got a rock & roll meets pep band thing (which is to say, sounds like the Routers) and I wouldn't be surprised if Cal has a background there.

The A-Side of this is way more exciting, despite being much more familiar songs. I was pretty pleased to find our New Orleans favorite "Mother In Law" covered, and he seems to recognize all the things that would make it a great instrumental. If you liked that Steve Garrick two posts ago, I kinda think this destroys it, though it may be a little less goofy.

This isn't a pristine rip, but it plays smoothly at least. Enjoy it!

Joel Smith & Mt. Olive B.C. Choirs - With Jesus You Can't Go Wrong

2009-12-24T21:17:00.004-06:00

What better to celebrate Big J McJeezy's birthday with than music shouting his name repeatedly? Nope, I couldn't think of any obscure rock & roll Christmas gems so here you get some excellent, high-energy, well-done Louisiana gospel (if the different locations on the 45 itself didn't give it away, Rosemont is a New Orleans label).

With Jesus You Can't Go Wrong Pt. 1

and Pt. 2

And to double celebrate, I wanna show off one of my presents to myself: This year Arhoolie released one of the most fiery gospel albums I've ever heard.

Any rock & roll fan owes themselves to listen to this. It's the raw fun type of gospel that sits easily alongside Utah Smith, Rosetta Tharpe and Charlie Jackson. I won't give you a song off that album, but check this youtube.

Steven Garrick and His Party Twisters - Come On Everybody, Let's Twist

2009-12-22T15:00:00.007-06:00

UPDATE: It's been re-upped!

This album is a cash grab. But really, before Rock & Roll became thought of as an art form (around Pet Sounds/Sgt. Peppers) it was probably more worth your while to identify what wasn't done with money as the primary focus than what was. Chubby Checker's version of the twist set a huge gravy train in motion with so many people wanting to take a ride. Plenty of groups tried to fill a niche in another dumbass dance move like The Frug. This album went straight for the honey hole, to the point where the artists' name isn't even on the front cover.

And I like their approach. Here we have 12 instrumentals that try to expand twisting to whatever ridiculous activity you may be enjoying. Chew gum to the Doublemint Twist! Do the Scientwist in your laboratory! Bullies, intimidate the puny to the Intimitwist(or is it meant for intimate situations?)

It's no surprise the album hasn't found its way into the rock & roll history books yet. That's because those books are horseshit. But also because these are pretty straightforward twistin'. No memorable hooks, though some pretty impressive use of stereo. Some of these, especially the Astrotwist, wouldn't be too out of place in a Las Vegas Grind et. al. compilation, though I wouldn't really say these are raw or raunchy... just simple, well done and enjoyable twistin' tunes.

Anywho, here you go

Reverend Bernard Avant Jr. and the St. James Gospel Choir

2009-12-18T01:58:00.005-06:00

Cover impressions: this is a seriously hip gospel choir! And it's on a Stax imprint (Gospel Truth)? 1972? Hunter, can you buy a scanner or something?

Yeah, the blog is back and will hopefully be movin' and I thought I'd kick it off with some gospel because I have plenty of it waiting to go. Don't worry, there's still plenty of capital-R-Rock-&-Roll to come, but I think this is plenty enjoyable stuff no matter what your belief set.

This album is not a raw funk masterpiece. If you want to check it out for that sort of reason, I'd go straight for "The Lord God Is On My Side". I wouldn't expect to be cutting breakbeats from it, but it's got some pretty hot little moments. Aw heck, have a listen

But there's also a pretty impressive breadth to this album. My other two favorites are the traditional gospel stomper "Save All Day" and the sweet sweet soul heartmover "God Really Cares For You". I gotta say, the vocals from Dolly Avant here are really sweet throughout, and the Reverend for which this album is named is pretty deserving as well.

This is a reasonably clean rip, though I was too lazy to do anything about some of the clipping. Still sounds good. Here, have a tracklisting.

Take a listen

Domino Sound made some dumb magazine's list of best record stores

2009-11-29T12:16:00.002-06:00

Normally I wouldn't go looking in GQ for the best record stores in the country, but I was super surprised and super delighted to see Domino Sound on their list. If you check out the record store link on the side bar, you'll see that I can hardly disagree, but I wouldn't expect one of ours, especially one so small, new and vinyl-only to make it on. Congratulations!

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/200902/gq-favorite-record-stores-slideshow#slide=20

It might be fun one day to make my own list like this because there's a of places that seem pretty worthy that I don't see mentioned much.

Speaking of things I should do, mostly situated in my new apartment, need to tweak my turntable and server situation but I've got a stack of vinyl ready to be ripped. This blog will live again

A little downtime

2009-11-06T10:09:00.002-06:00

You may notice I'm missing my background and a lot of the singles links are down. I'm moving apartments and my little server is caught in the middle, not to mention I'm still trying to scramble this record fair together. When things are nice I'll have some gospel ready for ya

The Dartells - Hot Pastrami

2009-10-30T15:28:00.004-05:00

This is a silly record. It has its slower moments such as Surf Dreams and St. James Infirmary, but the high points are undoubtedly goofy songs like "I Scream" (they are screaming for ice cream) and Hot Pastrami, not to mention other songs inspired by the culinary arts.

Who are they? The Dartells weren't exactly a sensation, though Hot Pastrami hit #11 on the pop charts back in the day... interesting when you consider the fact that it was essentially a cover of "Mashed Potatoes" (hey look! they even mention it straight off in the song!). They've been somewhat canonized into the surf craze, but it's not exactly written all over the record. There's a song called surf dreams, yeah, and there are some bare instrumentals on here, and Hot Pastrami was covered by, I believe, The Chantays, but that's about it.

I'll be honest though, while it has its fun parts, this Dartells album is a victim of pretty poor recording. It seems like there's a lot going on, but the sound is so subdued that it doesn't really get to the action that I think the band is really pumping out. This is a somewhat recognizable album that some of you may be familiar with, so you're welcome to disagree.

You can get it here

WTUL Record Fair in New Orleans November 14th

2009-10-30T11:23:00.001-05:00

I have a lot of big things up my sleeve right now which is why this blog is slow (about to resume!) but here's one of them. I'm trying to organize New Orleans' first regular record fairs in a long, long time. I know a good number of vendors (and am still looking for more) and I think this could really take off. Please spread the word and if you've got facebook, mosey over here

The Panics - Discotheque Dance Party

2009-10-06T13:32:00.008-05:00

Go ahead and judge a record by its cover, we all know that it works. You've got the band in all cases performing in red suits, a woman seemingly in her underwear, across from a man leaping and yelling, and you've got a list of song titles seemingly matched with dance moves (with the RRHHWW favorite, the frug, listed among them). Would I surprise you if I told you this was raucous frat rock?

Funky16Corners can shed a little light on the make-up and history of this band (those are indeed the same names), as can the back of the album. These are the only liner notes I can think of that plug the name of the band's manager.

This is a pretty fun album. I'm not surprised that they're not essential garack rock listening material, but I'd just as happily listen to this as The Woggles. Some of these are originals, and there's even a few decent instrumentals on it, "Hand Clappin'" making an appearance on my show this past weekend. It says "recorded live" but there's definitely been some editing here, as the crowd noise will often cut in abruptly. There's also been some editing thanks to a few little hitches on my vinyl, but it still comes out pretty listenable.

Get it here

Alvin Cash & The Registers - Twine Time

2009-10-01T12:29:00.007-05:00

Y'all are going to think I'm insane, but this is a desert island disc for me. The subject matter is stupid, the recording is muddy as hell, the cover art sure ain't much, but I'm going to have more fun on my island than yours. This is the sort of gleeful boogaloo nonsense that bypasses your frontal lobe completely and is strictly built for dance.

Normally, I don't know anything about what I post and google's not a help. This time, there's all sorts of information on Alvin Cash, and I'm not the first one to rip this record, but I haven't seen it on blogspot (his singles, on the other hand, are all over). In fact, for once the information on the back of the album is surprisingly informative: Born in St. Louis, starts a dancing troupe with his brothers, catches the ear of Andre "Bacon Fat" Williams and gets picked up on Mar-V-Lus. Twine Time shoots to the top (and sure enough, it's not hard to find covers of it), he keeps at it for a while and never gets quite the same success and, correct me if I'm wrong, never releases another LP. He also appeared in a couple of movies.

Seriously, everything on this has an addictive sort of bounce to it, and I actually kind of like the semi-nonsensical lyrics. One song is about not being able to see a hawk. One claims that a girl "shot him through the grease" and the album is packed with "awwwww but you're _____in ____, baby!"

I've heard this LP is a collectors item. I don't know, I got it off the amazon used marketplace for $20 lookin' pretty mint except for the holes in the cover, nothing claiming it's a reissue. The original Twine Time/Bump 45 (TWO SIDES OF FIRE) had a real badass Mushroom Cloud on the label, which might have been why I listened to Alvin in the first place

Listen and love it y'all

The Nitecaps - Frug

2009-09-29T09:50:00.004-05:00

The Nitecaps play that raucous saxophone-fueled kind of instrumental rock & roll that gets forgotten behind the monstrous word that is "surf". Here they've prepared a fiery lineup of covers and pun-titled songs to promote their dance move of choice and mine: The Frug. I would kill to know how to do the frug, but my dreams of having an RRHHWW reader releasing a slew of Youtube oldies-dance instructional videos are mostly abandoned, though Wikipedia hasn't forgotten this particular dance.

Anyway, this is a good one. The worst songs are still worth a hipshake and tracks like "Sassy Frug" their rendition of "You Can't Sit Down" are an outright riot.

Here's where you can get it

Quick Gonerfest wrap-up

2009-09-27T11:45:00.004-05:00

I've been in Memphis for the past few days checking out the premier Southern garage rock festival. Either you went or you didn't and I can't see why my asshole opinions would be of value either way, so I'll keep this quick and we'll get to ripping some more vinyl as soon as I get the chance

Friday

Cococoma: I have their LP with the flaming groovies-inspired album cover. Punchy, fun, pop garage. Nothing to write home about but as the first band I saw I still had fun

Magnetix: Coolest band of Friday. French duo with a dark and noisy sound. Stripped down and fun.

Ty Segall: The crowd loved him but I thought his live show was just about as boring as his newest LP. Go fig.

The Reatards: firecrackers, stage-peeing, general fuck you's to the audience (including "this guy is from vice magazine" (pointing to the guy with the camera) "he's co-opting your culture. That's not garage") I thought the music was a blast but the crowd was full of morons and, yeah, I couldn't really go along with all the shit that the festival's biggest indie-rock celebrity said. Somebody likened it to pro wrestling, and that seems about right. The same person left when Jay fought his bandmate, saying "this is all too Samuel Beckett for me". Still, at some point he took out a wad of ones and made it rain, so I made $3 from the show.

Saturday

Shitty Beach Boys: While not performing quite as apathetically as their youtube videos would suggest, it's a pretty fun gimmick to hear shitty beach boys covers. They were selling airbrushed T-shirts and sloppily painted skateboard decks after the show. That was really all that grabbed me during the day, except for cheap and tasty hot dogs.

The Intelligence: I heard these guys on a recommendation from a friend, bought their album and half-listened to it once with no desire to listen again. I actually didn't realize they were the same band as that album until day of. Seeing them live, I get the recommendation a little more. Nothing too great, but a little fat synthesizer under your garage rock with, god forbid, some legit syncopation worked out OK. Their cover of an Oh Sees song sorta made them feel like Oh Sees lite...

Davila 666: YES. Puerto Rican band on in the red was the first band to really get me moving. Meaningless, party-oriented, first pounding punk at its best. I keep trying to think of a band that captures the sort of feeling I'm talking about (it's not rare), but if I said turbonegro you'd think jokey and cheesy.

Thee Oh Sees: Big fan already and they didn't disappoint. I kind of feel like their sound on the albums is a little more restrained than it could be, but it wasn't the case for this show. Big percussive drums for some vicious stomping. Thanks to them and Davila I was wearing a wet rag by the end of the night

Compulsive Gamblers: it's hard to top an Oblivians reunion like last year and they didn't, but the (thinned out) crowd was still very appreciative. I gotta admit, I found myself mostly enjoying the songs I knew, but I think this is a band better committed to record.

Sunday

Gentleman Jesse: People were pouring out of the place with their record and I don't really blame them. They certainly weren't the roughest band at the show but they played some top-notch hook-laden pop punk.

Girls of the Gravitron: hipster shitgaze whatever, but that loud mess of noise was working pretty well for me. Looks like they only have a mostly sold out 7" though.

River City Tanlines: great straightforward rock & roll. I guess my review is as generic as everything else written about them, but I promise it was great.

Tirefire: New Orleans metal band closes the show for some reason. Sure enough,there were Tires and a lot of firecrackers. The whole thing definitely felt like a high school backyard festival full of high school idiots. In the best way.

Magic Kids: sing-songy rock that I had a bit of a soft spot for. I only got to see two songs though

Box Elders: I think their new LP Alice and Friends is all sorts of fun but in a surprising way. They didn't surprise me live too much but it was fun enough. They sealed the deal with a great cover of Teenage Kicks right at the end.

Nobunny: the whole gimmick is that the guy wears a bunny mask. Not a good gimmick to overcome the long and unfunny banter inbetween the songs. But when there was music is was loud, tight and fun.

Cheater Slicks: Maybe everybody was too tired? The place was emptier than it was for the first bands despite Cheater Slicks playing some of the dirtiest, most powerful rock & roll of the night. Those of us still there universally dug it I think. A Great closer

Larry Wilcox and his Orchestra - Tuff Saxes and Twangy Guitars

2009-09-22T10:41:00.006-05:00

Despite the title and cover, this is not a surf/drag album. It's HOT ROD JAZZ, and they actually do a pretty good job of letting you know that; the LP label has it in bigger words than anything else.

So what does that meeeaaaannnn? That means it's fun jazz. Just think of all the other goofy jazz offshoots like Spy Jazz or Crime Jazz. While I think this is actually pretty aptly named, this has more in common with Hugo Montenegro than Charles Mingus, and it's actually pretty diverse. There's a song or two that could almost pass for surf such as the opening track "Big Deuce", his rendition of "(get right down to the real) Nitty Gritty" doesn't lose its funky edge, and "Loddy Lo" is just kind of weird.

So if you're a surf fan should you go ahead and give this a shot? Yeah, I'd say so, it's still got the same sense of adventure to it. I mean, just read the back cover here (which is where you'll find a tracklisting as well)

And a note about ripping: I'd been trying for ages to cut down on my record noise. I usually rip with Shure mx97e cartridge which is pretty widely accepted as a good needle. Despite Sansui's reputation, I switched to an Onkyo reciever like my main unit in hopes that the built-in preamp on the onkyo would smooth it out better. No luck. Then in desperation I swapped in a Stanton needle I had laying around (that I had researched and found to be "not that great"). Believe it or not, here we have a rip without a monster amount of audible pops and record scratches. I feel like I've lost my trademark!

COME N GETTIT

A few things I've been listening to

2009-09-20T13:33:00.007-05:00

First of all, I got a surprise message from the French surf rock group The OK Kings, who graciously sent me a promo of their brand new album to play on my show. Phil Dirt gave it 5 stars but really, I've never dug Phil Dirt reviews, especially with his lo-fi dismissals. So here's my short review: it rips.

The OK Kings - Washout

Their Myspace is right here

Also found on Myspace: The Space Agency
This is a pretty DIY effort and their myspace looks even worse than mine, but the previews were good and my well-developed gut feelings were screaming at me so I placed an order for their first album. It was expensive to begin with and coming from the UK didn't help, but it was worth it. Fuzzy lo-fi weirdo surfy stuff that, honestly, out-psychs the new Satan's Pilgrims album (not that I don't like that album). I seem to remember finding something saying the lead guitarist went to grad school studying Indian music or something, I don't know

The Space Agency - You Make Me Nervous

Alabama Kid - Rockin' Jalopy

this was on some garage compilation somewhere. I don't know anything about it... I don't even know if it's being played at the right speed considering that there's two other Youtube videos at different speeds. I do know I listened to it on repeat for a little while

Lastly, here's some of the most kickass old-style zydeco I've heard. The only information I've been able to find so far is from a goldband records site saying he only recorded about five songs.

Thaddus Declouet - Shake it Up All Night Long

Thaddus Declouet - Lake Charles Doo-Doo-Dia

Hope we all had some fun. I'd love to hear about anything cool you've heard lately, I'm by no means some sort of guru (if you've been checking this site out often that much should be clear).

AND

Storm Surge of Reverb starts at 4PM today (2 hours from posting time) at www.wtulneworleans.com

The Ziontones - Hope Ahead

2009-09-18T20:55:00.006-05:00

A few things I like about The Ziontones:

Enthusiasm!
Clear funk influence. I mean clear as in "check out the Cissy Strut riff jacking on "Working for Jesus".
A little bit of everything: This hits funk gospel, foot-stompers, shouted sermon and even a little bit of a soulful heart jerker.
Despite its existence being pretty recognized, its lack of backstory details are as well, meaning I don't have to feel bad about my knowing nothing as usual
There's a lot of them! Look at it!

Most mentions will say that this is a great album. I think it's definitely a good album, but about 3/4 on the way to great. They've got the energy and they've got some fun bass playing, but the songs are always just shy of having the form and hooks that make a real monster. In fact, I think the most memorable track on here is the much more subdued closer "Somebody's Missing"

But I'll let you judge for yourself

The Hot Rodders - Big Hot Rod

2009-09-16T16:33:00.002-05:00

Yet another Jerry Cole/Crown Hot Rod release, but really despite the budget label I think this is a fantastic album, better than yesterday's post with The Winners and on par with some of the more established surf classics. Not only are all the instrumentals fun in some manner, but the vocal tracks are as well. In fact, I'd say that without a doubt the standout here is "Spirit of America' in which an exploitation-film-style monotone voice tells you about an 11' tall, 60' long unbeatable dragster between evil laughs. This is the weird stuff y'all, and if nothing else this is worth it for that track alone

Side A:

On the Track
Fine 39
27 tub
Super Charged
The Screamer

Side B:

Red Hot Rod
Spirit of America
Drag Shoot
Wild Willys
The Creamer

GET IT HERE

The Winners - Checkered Flag

2009-09-15T16:57:00.005-05:00

The Winners are another of the many Crown Records surf/drag budget albums that (according to this blog) had Jerry Cole behind them. I love Jerry Cole dearly and at first the word "budget" seems a little unfair for this album, as it's all pretty competent and even has some songs that I'd call a lot of fun. But when considered alongside other Crown records budget releases (I found this alongside The Hot Rodders - Big Hot Rod (probably next up on this blog) and a few others), you'll find that they recycle songs from one album to the other. They're played differently, but it's pretty funny to see them attach so many different names to "Hey Bo Diddley".

But if we take a look at what this album is, first I'd like to include the review from the flea market vendor who sold it to me (who had some pretty kickass old hot rod magazines too), "I think it's just a recording of a bunch of hot rod race track sounds". I knew he was wrong but I still thought "YESSSSSSSS". And sure enough, there's plenty of that interspersed throughout

We're looking at about half and half vocal and instrumental tracks. The vocal tracks, even though I've gained a pretty big love for hot rod vocals, are nothing special or even particularly funny. I think this album really gets fun right on the second side with "down lok", "up lok" and the real choice cut "Cops and Rodders". Three points to whoever can identify the real names of some of these, listening to all these Crown releases has kind of gotten me confused.

Side A:

Drop That Flag
Uptown Model A
Big Boss Man
Checkered Flag
Stick Shiftin

Side B:

Wind Her Up
Runnin Second
Down Lok
Up Lok
Cops and Rodders

GET IT HERE

STORM SURGE OF REVERB has Moved!

2009-09-13T12:52:00.004-05:00

To today! Sundays from 4-6PM CST every week.

www.wtulneworleans.com

this poster obviously outdated...

Playlists are still being posted at sg101

old shows are here

new actual posts coming up, it's been a rough couple of weeks

Blog's not dead

2009-08-18T09:03:00.002-05:00

I've been a little on the lazy side for a few weeks. I thought that I would post some things during the downtime as I take a little roadtrip to Colorado and back, but it looks like my fileserver's down. Hopefully that'll be back up on Friday. I've got at least two cool posts planned and some ideas after that.

Bowling Green State University Gospel Choir - Bring a Tenth of Your Worth

2009-08-07T15:49:00.005-05:00

I feel like the gospel I've been posting has been sort of skirting the real stuff. Gospel for people who don't like gospel. I like Gospel, it doesn't have to have dirty guitars and strange instrumentation, it just needs energy.

So here you have something pretty normal (not to say "boring"). I don't know much about this album and I don't know whether there's much to know. I know that it's on Savoy, so it's got enough quality to be released on a non-vanity label, which is surprising for a college choir release. Of course, I could listen and tell you that. This is choir heavy, not about crazy impassioned shouting, but a good strong choir with enough instrumental backing for it to be fun.

I'll put it this way, if you're looking for a wild gem of rock & roll hidden in a gospel sleeve, today is not your day. If you just want another gospel album and don't know where to turn, this should be a fun listen

Get it here

The Delusionaires - Destination Poon

2009-07-31T14:44:00.005-05:00

I don't really remember how I found the Delusionaires, but it was clear what I liked about them: these is crass, lo-fi surf & greasy instrumentals. They have an outdated website but their material is currently unavailable. Note that they sell just as many panties as they do T-Shirts, clearly a good indicator.

I e-mailed the site to see if I could get a legit copy of their album. No, but I was told it's been posted on a French blog with their blessing. So what's another one

http://www.4shared.com/file/105638035/9eac8d9a/The_Delusionaires_-_Destination_Poon.html

Apparently they just recently reformed and played a show somewhere on Thursday. Keep an eye out

Whoops I didn't notice

2009-07-24T16:20:00.003-05:00

This blog has existed for over a year! Since you're already disappointed that this post isn't really a download, I'll be quick: thanks to everybody that's ever dropped a comment, thanks to all the blogs that have linked back to me (Brandonio of Rock is Dead R.I.P. has been especially cool), thanks for all the kind words. This whole thing has been a very rewarding experience and has given me a lot of ideas, one of which might be something really big one day...

I didn't really think about what I wanted to do for this, so have an archive of my past surf shows (more thanks due to Steve)

Or maybe this playlist of songs on youtube I've been making when I see something cool

Rene Hall's Orchestra - Twitchy \ Flippin'

2009-07-22T12:01:00.007-05:00

EDIT: I've been beaten timewise and (unsurprisingly) info-wise on this one. Check out the Houndblog

You know what, let's dispense with the hooplah: I have zero reservations about calling Twitchy one of the best Rock & Roll instrumentals of all time. I'm not even going to talk about it just yet, I'm going to post this link and within 5 seconds you'll probably agree that it's a candidate

Twitchy
(this is not my recording. It's made its way onto a few compilation CDs that don't appear to be easily purchased. I have my own recording in the same folder if for some reason you'd prefer record noise)

So what's his deal? Thankfully, Wikipedia's on the ball with this one but if you can't be bothered to open a new window, Born in Morgan City, Louisiana, was a session musician, talent scout and even is credited with arranging Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On". And of particular interest to instrumental enthusiasts, worked with B. Bumble and the Stingers (who I have a 45 of if anybody would like to see it up here)

So to sum it up further: Louisiana born musical bad-ass and NEVER let the word "Orchestra" scare you away from a good rock & roll 45.

So what's the B-Side like? Excellent actually. It's not nearly as unique-sounding as Twitchy but it's a great sassy 50's-style rock & roll instrumental that I would probably put on here even if Twitchy weren't on the same 45

Flippin'

Quick Bobby Fuller doc

2009-07-18T19:31:00.002-05:00

Only about 6 minutes long but with cool footage and a little history. No good excuse not to watch this

The Gospelaires - Remember Me, Jesus \ Never Turn Back

2009-07-14T16:01:00.004-05:00

A lot of friends complemented me on my big gospel post from earlier, and that's good because I ain't done yet. While I'll return to Louisiana eventually, I've been really enjoying this 45 from the Dayton, Ohio group the Gospelaires. They're sorta still around, but like so many Gospel groups they're happy to keep the name with the completely different lineup.

Both sides of this are a blast. The A-Side falls a little on the sermony side, but as you'll see, this guy doesn't hold back.Note the lack of question mark. I keep reading this in my head as a snappy action hero catchphrase.
Remember Me, Jesus
There's a strange surprise in there. I have no idea what the deal is, but I'll let you hear it for yourself. I thought I'd left some sort of creepy video game open in the background on first listen.

Never Turn back doesn't really rely on gimmick and is pretty much exactly what pops into your head when you hear Gospel, at least in the good ways. Just as high energy vocal-wise but with one hell of a hip-shakin' backing.
Never Turn Back

Now if you're thinking to yourself "oh my crap, I need to see this in person", thanks to modern Youtube technology you can replicate the next closest thing: watching them from the perspective of somebody watching it on TV during an earthquake.

And lastly, note the Peacock label. It's all Gospel and has some of the most legendary gospel groups on it.

Ray Fournia with the Rocking Rebels - You Done Me Wrong \ Settle Down

2009-07-11T08:29:00.006-05:00

Google seems to have one single piece of information on this guy (and it helps): these are not the "Wild Weekend" Rocking Rebels.

So I have another mystery that maybe Google might one day solve: is Ray from New Orleans? Along the sides it mentions that Diamond Studios is of New Orleans and Biloxi...

Regardless, this is a 45 I've always wanted to put up but was never able to get a clean enough recording. While this is far from that, I got what I wanted. That is the B-Side without skipping.

The A-Side is the slow one, "You Done Me Wrong". Ray's vocals are good and strong throughout, but there's not too much going on here exciting I think.... so I just went ahead and kept the skipping towards the end.
Ray Fournia - You Done Me Wrong

THE B-SIDE HOWEVER... is not particularly inspired either, it's just different words to Money (That's what I want), but the vocals are great! It's not like we listen to Rock & Roll for originality anyway.
Ray Fournia - Settle Down

I wanna see you dance

2009-07-10T09:39:00.004-05:00

If I haven't made this clear enough already, a lot of the stuff on this blog is way past my era, so while I love songs that tell me to do the watussi etc., I wouldn't know a watussi if I saw it. I spent a lot of time scrutinizing details of the surfer's stomp to no avail, I need a visual representation.

My friend's dad (and music enthusiast) reminded me that this is why youtube exists

but even then there's a lot of misinformation with lots of little girls dancing the mashed potato they saw in the Hairspray movie

The Mashed Potato is pretty basic (and DeeDee Sharp provided a video as well, though there are backup dancers that might confuse as to what the dance really is). But what about The Jerk? The Watussi? The Surfer's Stomp?

James Brown tries to show off a few, but ends up really just showing off with no room for education

What I'm saying here is that if you know this stuff and want to go stick it on youtube, you've done us all a service and you might achieve internet celebrity status! I know, that may not sound horribly attractive, but if you're not going to do it, who will?

---

If you demand more complicated dances than these provide, I came across something the other day that's pretty cool. A local thrift store was selling 45s in little plastic grab bags, 5 for 5. You could only see what was on the outside, but I noticed a Champs single I didn't have on one side, so I bought it. Turns out San Juan \ Jalisco is a pretty boring single from later in their career, turning a little more Latin than rock & roll with less-than-exciting results. It's since been put on one of their compilations, so here's that version
The Champs - San Juan

But more excitingly, it came with somebody's instructions for what looks like a pretty complicated dance. I doubt any of you would go through the effort of performing this, but it's a cool little artifact.

click for the readable version (I'll get a scanner one day)

Buchannan & Ansel - (Meet) The Creature

2009-07-07T23:43:00.006-05:00

Today's post is stupid: a semi-sci-fi sample-ridden comedy track from Bill Buchanan & Bob Ancell. This isn't a whole lot different than his earlier "Flying Saucer"

but anything on a label called Flying Saucer records is welcome here in my book. I'll admit, it's genuinely funny too.

Both sides have been spliced together because it makes more sense that way.

Buchannan & Ancell - (Meet) The Creature

no, Sam the Sham had nothing to do with this post

Quick bits of Louisiana Gospel

2009-07-04T17:11:00.015-05:00

So I've been sorta hinting at how I want to break into Gospel a bit. I haven't really ever considered myself Christian except by birth as it clashed with my preteen love of dinosaurs, but I find it hard to take issue with the passionate hollerin' that comes out of (black) gospel music.

So for a class I decided to a do a presentation on it for my final project. I'm not exactly an expert now, but I found some pretty stomp-worthy stuff. And I'm about to give you a real quick tour. Most of this stuff is actually pretty basic and blogged about in plenty of places, but I'm willing to guess that a lot of y'all are just as dumb as I was about this stuff. I'm not attempting a full-on history lesson here, just sharing some stuff that y'all might like.

Booker records = hot: It was mostly a one-man operation, started out as rhythm and blues but went gospel after just a few. I've got a pretty good 45 of normal semi-musical sermoning off there but the real hot thing is Rev. Charlie Jackson. Think male Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I know, that's no more appealing than female SRT, but more Tharpe in any form is welcome in my book.

God's Got It
Wrapped Up And Tangled Up In Jesus

Apparently learned guitar from a cousin growing up in Alabama. His mom told him he can't play blues during the week and church music on the weekends, and in a move so un-rock&roll it's rock & roll, he listened to his mother, played only religious music and became a minister. Later he went to Louisiana and headed up a church in Amite LA.

So while he was hangin' out over there he met Elder Utah Smith. Utah's only barely Louisiana related, as he ran around touring all over the country and eventually ran his whole operation out of New Jersey. But who cares, because again Think Male Sister Rosetta Tharpe

This song is sort of his theme song because he would perform with two big ol' wings on his back. And if you couldn't tell, he liked to play LOUD. So when he would come around to middle-a-nowhere towns with no power, he would plug his amp into a car battery and perform that way.

So Mahalia Jackson is probably one of the first names you'll hear of in gospel, so I'm not going to bother finding her funkiest track. But I will prove to you that she's funky, despite how clean people try to keep her image. According to a book I was reading, she started up a fried chicken chain in competition to KFC (pure New Orleans) and was quoted saying "The Colonal says his chicken is finger lickin' good... well I think mine is tongue-lickin' good". Personally, this new light on the New Orleans gospel queen got her records back on my platter lickety-split.

And in case you've never heard of her, there's another New Orleans queen of soul.

Really, gospel is a strange genre to follow, as a lot of good albums were very locally circulated, often just among church members, and there's no real cohesive history (a good thing I think, since most rock&roll histories are incomplete and biased (though it would impossible to tell it right)). But what this means is that blind purchases really aren't such a bad thing. One such blind purchase that paid off is this weirdo.

So while this album is purchaseable purely by diner rules (i.e. if it looks that ugly, the food/album must be great), it's also worth noting the names Milton Battiste, Dejean's Olympia Brass Band, and Frank Minyard MD. (coroner!). Unfortunately, in the few weeks that I've had this album I've been irresponsible and there's a big old scratch on Frank Minyard's part and a few others, so I'll hold off on the whole album, but the best two songs are doin' fine.
Jesus What A Wonderful Child
(I Found Out It Was) the Holy Ghost
This is sitting in a strange middle ground between foot-stompin' big choral gospel, second-line music, and occasionally funk. It's fun.

I could throw a few more in there but this is already one of my longer posts and at the rate I've been making new posts I need to save material. And don't worry, I'll give you some straight rock & roll before I drop another gospel on ya. And if you want more right now, here's a youtube playlist I hastily made a few weeks ago.

Further recommendations are always ok, and hopefully I'll clean this up post-July 4th.

The Lively Ones - Bugalu Party

2009-06-11T07:54:00.006-05:00

Saw this in Domino Sound, which rarely carries anything surfy save for a Link Wray album or two. I looked at the tracklisting and thought "could it be THAT Lively Ones? Surf Rider Lively Ones?" all signs point to yes, the classic surf instro band switched gears for their last LP and played vocal soul/BUGALU covers (though at 1967, the surf craze is mostly over and that scene is just getting started, so good on 'em!)

And it ain't half bad! Oddly enough, the highlight here are the vocals, which at times remind me (very vaguely) of The Monks. Unfortunately, I realized during the ripping process that if you speed it up just a little bit, it goes from good soul album to great. However, the little orange-lit dots on the turntable confirmed that what you're hearing is more or less the correct speed.

Highlights here are some of the originals: "She Moved Me" and the sole instrumental "We Got A Thing That's In The Groove", but both sides are pretty great and it's consistent throughout.

GET IT HERE

Side 1

Bugalu Movement (Baglione)
Working in the Coal Mine (Tussiant) (their spelling, not mine)
Knock On Wood (Cropper-Floyd)
She Moved Me (Baglione)
In The Midnight Hour (Cropper-Pickett)
We Got A Thing That's In The Groove (Storball)

Side 2

You Are My Sunshine (Davis-Mitchell)
634-5789 (Cropper - Floyd)
Take It While YOu Can
I Got You (I Feel Good) (Brown)
Hold On, I'm Coming (Proter - Hayes)

The Ed Townsend Orchestra - Ed Townsend's Boogie Woogies (Part 1)

2009-06-07T09:13:00.005-05:00

We've got a simple one for you. If you want to know about Ed Townsend, it's not hard but I haven't seen much about him in this orchestral form. Well, what you get is a great dancing number with Ed only chiming in for hype purposes. The B-side had a few dings on it and would skip, so I'm keeping it off (it was more or less an more instrumental version of this mostly instrumental song). But as you'll see, it's a pretty cool song and not nearly as lovey dovey as the stuff he's recognized for writing.

The Ed Townsend Orchestra - Ed Townsend's Boogie Woogie (Part 1)

Another SSOR tomorrow... do you want to keep seeing these?

2009-06-04T00:12:00.003-05:00

I post Storm Surge of Reverb updates on my myspace, surfguitar101.com, facebook and here. While it doesn't really hurt the site in the sense that it makes it oh so much more googleable, I feel bad when half of these are radio show posts. Do people enjoy seeing these playlists or should I stick with the real posts? By the way, I've got at least two more of those comin' up.

Anyway, if you don't know the drill

NOON - 2 CST

WWW.WTULNEWORLEANS.COM

------

And the playlist:

Estrume'n'tal - vacalgada
Impala - The Scratch
Los Banditos - Kalaschnikow
Fifty Foot Combo - Dimitrius
Husky & The Sandmen - Malibu Run
Bitch Boys - The Breeze & I

Ramblin' Ambassadors - Frank Slide Song
Ramblin' Ambassadors - Hangin' tree
The Ultras - Rocket Boy
Sandy Nelson - And Then There Were Drums
The Ventures - Exploration In Terror

Messer Chups - Mr. Hyde & Mr. Hyde
The Emporers - The Breeze & I
Pandoras - Haunted Beach Party
Man...or Astroman? - Transmission from Venus
El Ray - Jack the Samurai
New Dimensions - Avalanche

Frantics - Oh yeah
Gee-Cees - Buzzsaw Twist
Johnny Guitar - Mon Du Dow
The New Dimensions - Wild Wave (Didn't mean to play that)
The Pagents - Big Daddy
Reeker - Don't Call Me Flyface

Crimson Ghosts - Where Eagles Dare
Archers - Hybrid Moments
The Staggers - Eagles Surf
Tremolo Beer Gut - OK Boys
Hangee V - Batman (the 4 of us)
Torquays - Pit Stop

The Panasonics - Kaiser Pan
The Bedwells - Karate Again
Tornadoes - Moon Dawg
Johnny Devlin - Red River Rock
Routers - Washington and Lee Swing
Scramblers - Mister Hot Rod

Lively Ones - We Got A Thing In The Groove
Cavernarios - El Bravo
Surfites - Mercurian Surf Stomp
Johnny & The Shamen - Dick Tracy
Phantom Surfers - Buy High, Sell Low
A-Bones - The Fez Man Walks

The Atlantics - The Boys
Sea Lions - Hevenu Shalom Alechem
Link Wray - Hold It
Treble Spankers - The Model

Rev. JT Bell & The Moody Family - I've Got It In My Walk \ I See The Blood

2009-06-02T12:24:00.002-05:00

I need help y'all. As I keep returning to my Sister Rosetta Tharpe album I start to feel like I want more. While I'm still investigating in my favorite manner: raiding thrift stores and buying interesting 45s, nowadays we've got blogs like this one to open us up to this sort of thing.

However, I've yet to find a good blog full of old foot-stomping Gospel. I'm afraid to delve into the whole genre, since I know a lot of it these days has a cheesy new-age production that I can't stand. I'm not much of a christian... I follow Rock &Roll, but given the amount of surf on here you could guess that lyrics don't matter much. This stuff has OOMPH though, and I'd appreciate it if somebody could point me and the rest of RRHHWW readers to a good resource for more of this sort of stuff.

Anyway, my small amount of headway into this has shown me one certain thing: this HSE label is hot. Thankfully, the Stepfather of Soul blog has already done the legwork of dredging up the information on the label, and he's got some pretty choice comments helping him out.

So what do I know about this particular 45? Zip! I know that I've Got It In My Walk is the better of the two, but not by a whole lot, and "I see the blood" makes up for it with its decidedly metal name.

I've Got It In My Walk

I See The Blood

SSOR today

2009-05-28T08:15:00.002-05:00

Surf & Instrumental Rock & Roll

Noon-2

Wtulneworleans.com

-----

here's the playlist

The The Astonettes - Space Party
Jerry Cole Martian Surf
Los Coronas - Last Wave
Ramblin' Ambassadors - Cabbage Diablo
MOAM - Joker's Wild

Johnny Devlin - Devils Rock
Herma Keil & The Keil Isles - Monkey Stomp
Bari & the Breakaways -Guitar Boogie
Avengers VI - Slaughter on 10th Ave.
Dave Myers & The Surftones - King's Surf
The Imps - That'll Get It

The Dynatones - Beneath the Surface
Ghastly Ones - Los Campiones Del Justicio
Beat Tornados - Kreml de la Kreml
The Buddies - Ski Jump
Ready Men - Disintegration (Get Ready!!)
Introducers - If I had Wheels

Crime - Instrumental Instrumental
Stef & Arno - Jesus Demoniaco
Coffin Daggers - Seduction of the innocent
Robert Johnson and the Punchdrunks - Blade Runner
Supertones - Surf Fever 2000
Surf Coasters - Chasing Shadows

Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited - Space Mission Number 12 (Lost TV Themes)
Surfites - Escapades in Space - Around the Galaxy
Tornados - Stompin' Through the Rye
Space Walkers - Tecumseh
Destination Earth - Space Cowboy Party Theme
Spacemen - Echoigo Jishi

Piltdown Men - Gargantua
Phantom Surfers - Lancelot Link Wray
Revels - Soft Top
The Haircuts\The Impossibles - Liverpool Stomp
The Chandelles - El Gato
The Shadows - Flyin' High

Untamed Youth - The Hearse (Untamed Melodies)
The Windows -Ali Baba
The Atlantics - Whitewash
The Fathoms - Riptide
The Manatees Dale's dick
Surf Sluts - The Rattler
Retrofuguetes - As Criaturas Enjauladas Do Circo Espacial De Moscou
Madeira - Undercurrents

Sandals - Theme From Endless Summer
Surfpatrouille - It's Not Unusual

Go Go With The Buddies

2009-05-26T15:39:00.007-05:00

What's this? Rock & Roll Hoo-Ha What What updated?
Yes!
And it's an LP?
Yes!
And it's not another budget album of trash?
Almost!

As the book Pop Surf Culture point out, this album was a budget-priced cash-in on the surf craze (wasn't it all a cash-in?) and it even tries to catch a few more crazes with songs about skiing, hot-rods, and motorcycles. The thing is, it actually doesn't suck at all!

I must have bought this album years ago and likely heard a trace of vocals, instantly puked all over the place, and never returned until this past week when I was contemplating whether to include it in my upcoming garage sale. Now that I'm not such a big baby, I sat through those vocals and to be honest, really kind of enjoyed them. In particular "I'll Surf Around the World", where the vocalist vastly underestimates the amount of surfer girls in the world and pledges to surf with them, and "Sickle Rider's Rule" which stands as a Smithsonian example of surf lingo overused to a comic effect.

But really, I'm holding back on the killer part: Davie Allan provides the backing tunage and the album includes some sizzling skateboarding-themed instrumentals such as "Sidewalk Surfin' Scene" and "Skateboard U.S.A.", which was covered by the Krontjong Devils on their "On Tour!!!" album.

Krontjong Devils - Skateboard USA

I have to hand it to the producer Mike Curb too - Ski Jump is an instrumental with songwriting credits going solely to him and it's just as good. Really, it's a seriously good album and none of the songs are bad. It even made me go and give my Fantastic Baggys album another try. Puked everywhere.

Side A:

Little Iddy Biddy Buddy Rider
Skateboard USA
I'll Surf Around the World
Ski Jump
Wanda On Her Honda

Side B:

Ski City USA
Sickle Rider's Rule
Sidewalk Surfin' Scene
The Surf Is In
Mean Little Monza

GET IT HERE

STORM SURGE OF REVERB NOON CST TODAY

2009-05-21T08:20:00.002-05:00

I wish that weren't so busy that I could squeeze some good music posts in between radio posts. But that's not the case so in the meantime check out www.wtulneworleans.com @ noon for some blistering instro

post show playlist:

El Ray - Volcano
THe Sentinals - Surf 'n Soul
The Sidemen - Persuaders
The Bambi Molesters - Beach Murder Mystery
The Bahareebas - Dunewalking

Al Casey - Surfin' Blue
Treblemakers - The Hearse
Lord Limey 'n the Yanks
Mysterious Tape Man - Track 1 (meant to play Asteroid. Whoops!)
Gnee Walker & His Combo - Empire City
Dave Myers & THe Surf Tones - Church Key

Tremolo Beer Gut - Last Booze Fighter
Galaxy Trio - Strip Search
Jerry Cole - Stinger
Richie Allen - Put It On
Earthworms - Fishtail
Jan & Dean - Barons, West LA
Jim Waller & The Deltas - Surfin' Wild

Johnny Thunders - Pipeline
Jonny & the Shamen - Agent 13
Royal Pendletons - Cross Firing
Gallon Drunk - Get Ready (another whoops)

Bo Diddley - Scuttle Bug
Ernie Freeman - Puddin'
Ernie Fields - In The Mood
The Bikinis - Boogie Rock & Roll
The Yellow Jackets - Chickee Town Rock

Mach Kung Fu - Fever
The Fleshtones - One Four Five
The Tiki Men - Theme From the Unknown
THe Blue Demons - East Bay
Urban Surf Kings - Snow Plow
The Volcanos - War Drums

The Atomic Mosquitos - The Liquidators
Impala - Jet Action Brunette
Swiv-o-Matics - She Dances On Bars
Switch Trout - Searchin' For My Boots
Atomic 7 - Theme From Atomic 7
The Ramblin' Ambassadors - Kamikaze

Dick Dale - Peppermint Man
Spring Break Shark Attack - Blood Ocean
Surf Teens - Surfin' Tragedy
The Shadows - Frightened City

Stories in Sound - Space Battle

SSOR Tomorrow at NOON EST

2009-05-13T17:57:00.004-05:00

So my surf show is now at a listenable time and, for the summer, a half-hour longer. In fact, I'm going to be DJing for the hour preceding SSOR, but I don't think anybody wants to listen to 3 hours of surf any more than I want to DJ it.

That's Thursday, May 14th at Noon CST @ www.wtulneworleans.com. As always, playlist will follow broadcast

Apemen - Shake Your Hoover
Preston Epps - Bongo Rock
The Tiki Men - That's The Way It Goes
Mustangs - Dartell Stomp
Virg, Murf & Prof - Way Out
Ernie Freeman - Raunchy

The Revels - Comanche
The Bikinis - Bikini
Lee Allen - Cat Walk
Irving Ashby - Big Guitar
Baby Cortez - Getting Right

Jorgen Ingmann - Apache
Guitar Gable -Guitar Rhumbo
Classie Ballou - Classie's Whip
The Dynatones - Steel Guitar Rag
Flat Duo Jets - Dexter's Lament
Teisco Del Rey - Camel Walk
Freddie King - Heads Up
The 5.6.7.8s - Green Onions
Lonnie Mack - Wham!
Chuck Berry - Berry Pickin'
Tom & Jerry - Rumble
(a break somewhere in there)

Jerry Cole & His Spacemen - Power Surf
The Chantays - Pipeline
Jon & the Nightriders - Depth Charge
The Busters - Bust Out... at 33rpm

The Busters - Bust Out at 45
Richie Allen & The Pacific Sufers - Surfer's Delight
The Super Stocks - Rendondo Beach
Urban Surf Kings - Moguls
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider

The Pyramids - Penetration
The Halibuts - Surf Drums
MOAM - Static Ding
The Volcanos - Pompeii
Ramblin' Ambassadors - Frank Slide Song
Switch Trout - COLAL

Barbwires - Thor Island Thunder
The Bills - ?
The New Dimensions - Misirlou
The Royaltones - Royal Whip
Los Straitjackets - My Heart Will Go ON

I found some more Jack Hammer

2009-05-05T18:38:00.003-05:00

Jack Hammer, the Louisiana native that split to Belgium to make some of the most outrageous twisting records in existence, is probably THEE artist that makes me catch my breath when I come across an album (all two times that's happened). So I did something I don't normally do and hit ebay for an EP. Recorded in Belgium and pressed in Israel, shipping from Israel. So I thought I would rip it for you guys butttttt

apparently there's a little bit more of our boy Jack on the internet since I'd done a good thorough search. I'd seen a few false links, but this one came through and, unfortunately for my slow blog, appears to have all the songs on this EP plus many more.

http://peb.pl/inne-utwory/308843-rapidshare-twist-collection-jack-hammer.html

I don't really mind, the truth is I love owning this EP and I'm thrilled to hear even more songs detailing extreme measures one undergoes in the name of twisting. So I thought I'd give y'all a hand and link to it.

I also came across a few more details but have since lost it. I'll post them here when I find them.

And here's my last post about Mr. Hammer

Ponderosa Stomp Night 2

2009-04-30T00:58:00.003-05:00

Thanks to a horrible night's sleep and a parental errand, I didn't get to catch the conferences in the morning.

Highlights... mostly the really quick acts.

I was pretty meh about Deke Dickerson but Joe Clay flew on stage for a mere three songs but all of them full throttle. He was swinging around the stage and singing rockabilly in the rockabilliest way out of all the stars that graced the parish stage. Apparently he disappeared for years and somebody found him driving school buses on the westbank. Well, back into obscurity he went; immediately after finishing (I just happened to be going the way he was so I watched him do it) he went off stage, through the door between stages, down the stairs and through the exit, not stopping for anybody congratulating him on a good show. You wouldn't have expected it from his grade-A performance, but that's just the way some people are.

Robert Parker was actually better than he is recorded... but I really only say this because his backing band, lil Buck & and the Top Cats (though I think they were going by something else. Buckingtons?) were loud and lively. I've always thought Robert Parker's stuff was sort of mute, so he had no trouble sounding more or less exactly as he once did. I'll give this to him though: he clearly enjoyed doing it and, even in his toned down way, played entertainer pretty well.

About this lil' Buck band. Nobody really mentioned it, but tucked away on the back at the organ was Stanley Buckwheat Zydeco Dural. He actually started out doing organ in funk bands, so it wasn't THAT much of a surprise, but it was cool to see. Anyway, he and Lil' Buck's band backed up a ton of artists in a New Orleans\Eddie Bo tribute. The standouts to me were Little Freddie King doing some pretty impressive stunts on that guitar. Much more lively than he looks. He only did one song but I'll see him tomorrow at Jazz Fest. David Batiste only did one song as well but it was the best out of this sizeable bunch. He had to kick Buckwheat off the organ but goddamn was it excused! Three times the funk, and great to watch too, spinning around as he played.

Little Willie Littlefield played again. And I saw him again. It's surprising that they give this guy so much time, but I can't condemn them, I dearly love the guy. This is the best video I could find to show you what he's like. Though you should imagine more sweat.

Wanda Jackson sort of sounded like a chipmunk now, but you'd be amazed at how fire that that chipmunk had left in her. She still growled when she wanted to and was clearly so happy to be there and, 50 years later, get the recognition she knows she deserves.

Wiley and the Checkmates were excellent from what I could tell but the truth was I'm kind of beat. I don't know whether I'm actually sick right now or just tired, but I needed to go home and recooperate since I'll be back out at Jazz Fest tomorrow burning off another layer of skin. Nope, no Lattimore Brown, no Flamin' Groovies, no ? and the Mysterians. It was a tough call but I had to do it. If any of y'all saw them or any of the other acts, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Everybody I talked to about last night didn't get to see Lady Bo, so I'd like to know whether she pulled that act out of the nosedive.

Very Quick Ponderosa Stomp Impressions

2009-04-29T03:18:00.005-05:00

Despite this being in my hometown I've done a really poor job covering the Ponderosa Stomp. I guess I've been doing serious blogging for Jazz Fest and want to sit back, learn and enjoy this sacred event even more tailored to my tastes. But I'll check in on night one (though going to bed would be a better idea)

Little Willie Littlefield was on when I came in and really got things started just right. It was a simple setup, just him and a keyboard and a mic that the kept missing when he's turn to the audience and sputter something. And I mean sputter, the old man was covering himself in his own spittle as he played and dousing himself with water in-between sets despite the main stage being a freezer the entire night. High point: "Do y'all want some boogie-woogie?" he says smiling with a set of teeth seemingly offset to the right about five teeth. He proceeds to slam on the keys with what appeared to be his right hand, left hand, and stomping foot all in a different time, and I don't think he meant it. He's slamming down on the wrong chords all over the place and oddly enough it all fit. This old dude was pure rock & roll and I cracked up the entire time while he would play some boogie woogie, then Mary Had A Little Lamb, then turn to you and go "YEAH!" and bust into something else before London Bridge (followed by another YEAH). He came on later that night and though I went out for pizza after seeing about three songs, I hear he started playing the piano by banging it with a shoe in his hand.

I was really excited for Classie Ballou after seeing him talk during the conferences. This man was busting out world-class rock & roll instrumentals like "Classie's Whip" way down in Cajun country, yet thought his interview was talking about "Syrup" music before he got it and busted out a little Wipeout. It's not that Classie couldn't play, the way it was amplified and mixed, the guitar was thin and the drums were super-huge, sounding like a bad 80's comeback album. Speaking of which, check out Classie's myspace for a good laugh. Regardless of his performance, his past work and his general character stands: this guy is an overlooked legend of Louisiana music.

Little Joe Washington knocked just about everybody out. You see, a the problem with a lot of the more ho-hum artists is that they've lost their sense of adventure. Little Joe Washington just lost all semblance of giving a shit and has turned out better for it. You have this man of mysterious age and limited teeth busting out all-over-the-place guitar solos that fall out but eventually back into time (much to the relief of his seemingly worried sidemen). Meanwhile he squeaks out typically blues lyrics while plucking and often just straight up rubbing the guitar against his teeth. Or hat. Or leg. At least half of that show was played with the guitar being "played" in some unconventional manner, but he really truly could still play guitar. After Dr. Ike came out for everybody to give him a round of applause he hopped off the front of the stage and extended his hat for tips.

Dale Hawkins, reunited with his guitarist James Burton after ~50 years, just straight out tore it up. Dale was in good spirits and damn James Burton just spits out these fiery rockabilly solos as if he were talking. Of course, he traded them off with Deke Dickerson, who despite playing with a few other acts seem to have a little more color brought out in his playing given who he was playing for.

The first few songs I saw of the Remains were pretty boring, but I hear that's what everybody thought, and then it got better. Well, instead I saw The Bo-Keys who played some very tight funk... until Dennis Coffey came out. Listen, that guy is worth a $50 ticket alone. I can't think of a good way to put it at this out, but Coffey had all the technical ability of Yngwie Maalmsteen, except it's actually listenable and he could even play nicely within the songs the Bo-Keys were playing.

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy was another oddball act, though predictably so. Imagine you typical middle-class 50-year old, kicking in the air, yelling "ARE YOU KNOCKING ON MY DOORKNOB? YOU CAN KEEP KNOCKING UNTIL YOUR KNUCKLES ARE SORE. DOODLEY-DOO! WE'RE IN THE DESERT BOYS!"

Ray Sharpe (with the A-Bones backing him up) was cute. He sort of looked like a fish and really enjoyed the little phrases he would say. I did too. He would start out songs saying "this was supposed to be my big hit... but it missed!" But he doesn't sound bitter, it sounds more like "whoopsie!". He would make us shout out "but Goodie!" after he said one of his songs were an oldie. He would end all of his songs either really drawn out or abrupt ways and "the A-Bone band by way of Brooklyn" (as he called them) were visibly really confused. But he could really bust out some great licks and more so than any other group, including the Bo-Keys, he turned the House of Blues into a sock hop.

And then Lady Bo... I was a little skeptical after the interview session. She had a very "I'm a professional, playing music since three, doing dance in Giuliard" blah blah sort of person, rather than the Rock & Roll attitude a lot of people showed. So when she takes stage, we were treated to 5 minutes of her getting the sound "just right", then screwing around to a Bo Diddley beat, a little bit of Bo Diddley medley except her guitar is running through some oscillating pedal so it sounds like a slow siren, then she wants the audience to clap the half-notes to the Bo Diddley beat. Yeah, people clapping everywhere. Second song was a slow, slow number and... I was out of there.

I'm omitting some things that I didn't catch much of or didn't have much to say about, but really it was still a pretty great night.

Dave Bartholomew - I'm Walkin' \ Going to the River

2009-04-25T20:46:00.005-05:00

So despite spending all day out at Jazz Fest blogging for them, I still feel the need to do a little something on my own blog? Why would I do this when I could be seeing Budos Band, Sharon Jones, Andre Williams, Brownout, or Grupo Fantasma right now? For one, I'm sick of trying to make the decision about which of those to go to. For two, I've got some really hot stuff burning a hole in this blog's pocket. Or something. And oddly enough, they're all localish.

If you notice the song titles and then the writing credits, these are Fats Domino songs we're talking about, but done up in a much different way. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, Dave Bartholomew is sung as the unsung hero of New Orleans R&B. The guy produced or played on half of all those big numbers you know, and yet (and I only use this as an example) my college history of rock & roll teacher said he never released his own material. Of course I was a little shit and corrected him, and I've actually linked him to my blog once so Prof. Charry, here's your proof, though "The Monkey" would be better, more popular proof. I think Dave's gotten a little more come-uppance in years past, but his stake in this city's history will likely never be properly recognized.

These are instrumentals and way further into jazz territory than the R&B originals. But when you listen to I'm Walkin' here, did you ever think Fats Domino could sound so baaaad?
I'm Walkin'

Going to the River is a little more slow and groovy with some funky keyboards thrown in. It's deservedly the B-Side but a good track nonetheless
Going to the River

WWOZ bloggin'

2009-04-24T20:23:00.003-05:00

here's a very slim version of how jazz fest has been going for me

and here are some of the extras. For the most part I've been spending only a few minutes as each thing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hunterkingnola/tags/wwoz/
I'll organize them some other time, there's still plenty to do tonight

Jazz Fest is coming, sure, so is Chicha Libre and Dengue Fever

2009-04-23T16:23:00.006-05:00

I'm going to be blogging my Jazz fest experience on the fly for WWOZ and linking to that once it's underway. For other days I'm probably going to post my gameplan, but to be honest there's not an awful lot catching my eye on Friday, so chances are I'm going to float around and see what I see.

But after all that hooplah, there's a great show at One Eyed Jacks. Chicha Libre is playing with Dengue Fever. For those unfamiliar, neither are particularly RRHHWW standard fare, but each have little touches that would appeal. OK, those touches are surf rock, but in a very obscured manner.

Chicha Libre in particular is exciting. I would have a few preview MP3s and all sorts of details, but to be honest, they've already done things better than I could have. Follow this link, listen to the entire album and read as much as you'd like. It's a little less impressive when you realize that some of these are straightforward covers from the Roots of Chicha compilation (still in print).

OK now, take that formula and apply it to Cambodia and you've got a horrible but semi-functional description of Dengue Fever. I remember getting this in at WESU while I was a music director and seeing the description. These usually read as total bullshit and the rule of thumb is the more unrelated the recommendations, the better the album. Dengue Fever read something like Yma Sumac, Link Wray and Os Mutantes. I knew it was going to be good. Well, it wasn't as good as their older albums but regardless, I'd bet they're absolutely worth seeing live. So I will.

Mediocre Surf Double Post: The New Hawks and Pat Salvador

2009-04-20T10:59:00.008-05:00

Although it's certainly nice to post really good music on this blog (and I've got some comin' down the tubes), the main thing I like about this blog is having these things up here for others to fill in the missing information on (huge thanks to the guy who dropped some Johnny Zorro knowledge recently, that's one of my favorite things on here (and my first post)). I believe that all music deserves to have that information preserved and to have some sort of internet acknowledgement of its existence. Especially if it's surf. So neither of these are particularly wonderful, but... I don't know. They're definitely kind of interesting in their own ways.

The New Hawks actually have some information about themselves here and there, but frankly I wasn't that interested. What made me appreciate this 45 was not the obvious surf covers on the B-Side but the hilariously cheesy voiceovers on

The James Bond Theme

I mean, these really aren't poorly executed, but don't have the oomph for me to want to put them on all that often. In fact, I think their cover of Walk Don't Run (with Pipeline in there too) is less boring than most renditions I've heard. But then again, I hate that song.

Walk Don't Run\Pipeline

Now Pat Salvador and the Dufrene Brothers is a little different. Really, it's a stretch to call it surf since we're talking covers of the pre-surf instro band Johnny and the Hurricanes and Santo and Johnny's classic not-really-surf song Sleepwalk. Now I have no idea when this was, but judging by the Houma Records and the name Dufrene, I'd wager these guys are coming from the Louisiana area, which explains the delivery pretty well. It's more jazzy than rockin'... and pretty cheesy
Red River Rock

Sleepwalk

Tomorrow is (among other things) International Record Store Day

2009-04-17T12:44:00.003-05:00

The whole thing seems sort of goofy, but I guess tha truth is I love record stores and never mind an excuse to visit. So I checked out their site to see who has participating and called 'em up. I get the impression that everybody just signed on to be a part of it (sounds like it didn't hurt or anything) but to give a quick rundown

Odyssey Records: I haven't been to Odyssey since I first went to check it out (impressions are on a link to the right). The guy said something about some Sony record execs dropping in, giving away some free promos.

The Mushroom: Special items in stock, specifically mentioning a Pavement live album and Sonic Youth splits. Apparently is just happens to coincide with their annual sale where you get $4.20 off anything above $15 or something like that. I asked myself "why this annual sale on April Twenny-OHHHHHhhhhhh I get it"

Skully's: Nothing special aside from sale of limited releases. He regretably told me that they wouldn't have Slayer in stock.

Jim Russel: Honestly, this was kind of a surprise. I have a real soft spot for Jim Russel Records but staying abreast on the up-and-coming isn't really their strong point. They didn't sound especially sure of what's going on but told me that there would be some special releases in store. She doesn't know what they are yet.

I'm pretty sure these are the releases they're talking about though I don't know if they each get all of them or select releases. Only one way to find out, y'all. I'm especially wondering if anybody's going to be carrying that Dengue Fever \ Chicha Libre split because I'll (hopefully) be seeing both of them in a week together.

Seriously, as goofy as this "holiday" is, I like the idea of trying to hype up local music retail.

Johnny J & The Hitmen - (Who Dat) Hound Dog \ Lookin

2009-04-14T09:28:00.005-05:00

This morning I awoke to the sight of Johnny J. (or at least I assumed it was Johnny J) standing in the doorway before me, about to kill me being a hitman and all. Granted, I hadn't even opened my eyes, I was merely jostled awake by the A\C window unit by me turning on (loud as a bomb, dumb thing). Later in the wake-up process I would invent some story about "legendary rock critic" Wanda Jackson meeting her end by jumpin off a balcony into a kiddie pool full of green dye during spring break. I took these as a sign that I should go ahead and make my Johnny J. post as soon as I reach the coherent stage of the wake-up process.

I'm not terribly familiar with Johnny J. but I've sampled a few songs while digging through vinyl at WTUL. Thankfully, he's still active and playing with this group, so I can one day go catch him and find out what the real deal is because, honestly, I've never really been too stirred up by his music. Unlike local guitar master CC Adcock, I haven't picked up a terribly distinctive style or exceptional energy from his recorded music.

However, he's probably the most consistent and faithful rockabilly revivalist in New Orleans, and that's a fact that I'll always appreciate. The bulk of what I've heard was off his album Nuclear Hayride, which I seem to remember as being pretty straightforward (though well done) rockabilly except in the 80's. Then again, it's rare that I love ANYTHING recorded in the 80's as the recording quality tends to render the music listless. See the Raybeats. Yeah I know, you all love the Raybeats, I'm terribly sorry.

Anyway, this little 7" on Roman Records (I believe his work is now on Blue Viper) doesn't really help his case by presenting us with covers, but Hound Dog has certainly got a little certain local flavor. The surprise is kind of given away by the parentheses. Anybody coming down for Jazz Fest (or the Ponderosa Stomp, god bless you) should familiarize yourself with this chant, there's a chance you might find yourself amongst people hooting the same thing.
Hound Dog
No idea what's up with the streaming right now, working on that

Lookin' doesn't employ such gimmicks but it's a pretty strong and catchy rockabilly tune. Doesn't really knock me off my feet in any manner, but doesn't offend either.
Lookin'

Johnny's got a little information about himself on his website, though the bio page reads more like a resume.

And just in case, you haven't heard, Obama named his dog after Bo Diddley

Louisiana Events Wall Calendar Found!

2009-04-11T22:21:00.004-05:00

Since the recent Gambit Weekly issue detailing all the upcoming festivals in Louisiana, I figured it would be much easier to just get a calendar to map it all out, not to mention the keep track of the mountain of music coming in for Jazz Fest etc. I had once seen a wall calendar that already had all the festivals, but nobody I talked to knew where to find them.

Until I asked the guys at Louisiana Music Factory, who had run out but gave me the answer. Google Huli and there you go. Unfortunately it doesn't increase the amount of hours in a day to 36, but some organization might be the next best thing. Thought it was worth passing along

edit: oh hey, looks like my server's down... welp, I'm in Florida and can't fix it