Bluebear's Music Vault

Shadowfax

2011-03-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

Back in the early 1980's I discovered an independent recording label based out of Palo Alto, California. Originally a folk music studio founded by Will Akerman and his wife at the time Anne Robinson the label would evolve into what came to be labeled New Age. I immediately fell in love with many of the artists such as Mark Isham, Michael Hedges, The Turtle Island String Quartet and tonight's featured group Shadowfax.

Named after Gandalf's horse from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the band was founded in 1972. Lead by Chuck Greenberg on Lyricon and other woodwinds they blended numerous musical genres into their signature sound. Over the years, until Chuck's death from a heart attack in 1995, they released a number of albums and gave numerous concerts to there fans.

Tonight I start with a half dozen live performances, opening with a short introduction by Chuck Greenberg and then follow with a number of fan generated slide shows with backed by album tracks. So sit back, relax and let the music take you to another place...

Wiki

Click here to view individual playlist entries

The SupeShow

2011-02-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

While attending Wisconsin State University, Steven's Point, in the late 1960's early 1970's, Friday and Saturday nights were spent at the two beer bars out in the woods north of campus and just north of the city limits. I no longer recall the names of the places, one was a sprawling single story structure rather L shaped with the bar in one leg of the L and the dance floor and stage in the other area. The bar across the street was built like an old barn with a loft.

At the time the statewide drinking age for beer was 18 and for wine and liqueur it was 21. However individual municipalities were allowed to set their own limits for the beer bars and in Steven's point it was 21. Needless to say, on every major road leading out of town there were several beer bars just outside the city limits. These two bars were the closest to campus and only one other bar had live music on the weekends, but it was a fair distance away on the south east side of town.

Local bands plied their stuff on those evenings as we downed pitchers of Point Special, the local brew, or some other cheap brand such as Pabst or Miller. The music was loud and raw, the dance floor was packed and the next morning was a painful haze, yet we persisted!

From a peek at Google Earth I see those bars no longer exist, the area where they were having been consumed by the campus with new buildings and sports fields, but tonight's featured performances bring back those memories of the bands and beer of my youth. Raw and rough around the edges, full of energy and a roaring good time. After all isn't that what Rock & Roll is all about? Makes me want to be 18 again!

Several weeks ago I received a comment at my YouTube channel from a guy from Vancouver calling himself SupeMan. He hosts a YouTube channel called theSupeShow and features videos of various bands at local bars, many with Supe taking to the stage in the lead vocal spot. He's the guy hiding in his hair!

Here then is SupeMan and some of his friends...

theSupeShow

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Gary MooreIn Memoriam

2011-02-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

Born in Belfast, Ireland in 1952, Gary Moore picked up the guitar at age eight and by his teen years began playing with the band Skid Row. This was not the glam-metal band of the same name. His association with Phil Lynott from Skid Row lead him to several stints with the Irish band Thin Lizzy after Phil moved to that band.

Mentored by Peter Green of the early Fleetwod, Mac Gary began to develop his own style of blues guitar. He eventually bought Peter Green's Les Paul guitar which became his powerhouse instrument.

Over the years, besides his solo career, he has also performed with Peter Green and likes of B.B. King, George Harrison, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, Jim Capaldi, and Gregg Lake as well as a short time with the band Colosseum II.

In my humble opinion Gary was equal to or even better than the the likes of Eric Clapton and other guitar greats of the time and much under-appreciated.

Gary passed away this past week in his sleep of a suspected heart attack. Tonight I bring you a collection of his live performances over the years.

Bio
Wiki

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Tim Buckley

2011-02-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

Those were the days, care free with no responsibilities other than to myself. Riding in my 1963 Ford Falcon van, cruising Hwy 1 and the high Sierra, cassette deck blasting Tim Buckley, with me singing along at the top of my lungs as I searched the next place to explore. My dog Pepper, the Horse Terrier, was always at my side riding shotgun on our excursions. I called her a horse terrier because I got her at the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Animal Shelter when she was approximately 4 weeks old. They told me she was an eight week old terrier mix, but when I got her home she couldn't even eat or drink. I had to bottle feed her for four weeks before she was weened, at which time she was larger than any terrier I had seen. When mature she weighed in at 135lbs. and would stand up, put her front feet on my shoulders and look me straight in the eye. (I'm 6'5" tall). The best bet for her true lineage was a Great Dane - Golden Lab mix.

Anyway, I digress.

Tonight's artist is one of my favorites but was taken from us much too soon. Dead of a heroine overdose at the age of 28.

Initially Tim's style was in the folk and folk rock genre, but over time it evolved into jazz and avant-garde. Sometimes it was difficult to access, but nevertheless it showcased his incredible vocal range.

Tonight I open with a number of live performances followed by other audio samples featuring slide shows and static photos.

Tim Buckley Archives - Official site of his Estate
Biographies
Wiki

Click here to view individual playlist entries

The Beach Boys

2011-01-29T16:28:00.000-08:00

When I was in eighth grade, the local AM station began playing songs from this new surfer band in the way the stations did back then. Over and over again, never letting the song end before injecting the next commercial over it. While I liked it a t first, I soon tired of Surfin and would change the channel when it came on. Then my friend bought the album Surfin Safari and I instantly fell in love with the song Summertime Blues, an Eddie Cochran piece.

It kind of went that way over the years that followed, I would like one or two pieces on each album but would be mildly irritated by other songs. Then in 1966, first with the issuing of Sloop John B and the subsequent release of Brian Wilson's masterpiece Pet Sounds, I finally found them frequently on my turntable.

After that I was off to college and my musical tastes took a huge turn with the likes of Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendix, Frank Zappa and the Grateful Dead. Needless to say, the Beach Boys became relegated to the back of the stack.

So tonight I revive those olden days of high school dances and AM radio stations and bring you The Beach Boys.

Website of current band
Wiki
Myspace
History

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Don Kirshner - Thanks for all you've done

2011-01-22T10:58:00.000-08:00

Well this totally sucks folks! YouTube has taken down all of the Don Kirshner Rock Concert videos rendering this show useless. Sorry about that! I hope you caught it before it went down.

Update 2/9/11 - Some of the videos have now been magically restored - I'll be looking for new links to fill in the blanks.

During the '70s hardly a week went by that my friends and I sat down to watch Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. The show featured live performances of all the greatest bands of the day.

In his early years Don started off writing songs for Bobby Darin, although none became hits. During that time he also met Connie Francis while doing TV commercials with Darin.

In 1958, at age 21, he teamed up with Al Nevins to form Aldon Music. Soon afterwards they were producing songs for Neil Sedaka and Connie Francis. Eventually they formed their own independent recording company producing teen hits. He also hired such greats as Carol King and Barry Mann as song writers and produced the hits of Carol King, Neil Diamond and Bobby Darin among others and discovered the rock band Kansas.

Eventually he was asked to produce music for the TV show The Monkees and after that the animated show The Archies.

Don is perhaps best know for his ground breaking TV show In Concert With Don Kirshner which with its long format live performances was a refreshing break from the over-practiced, lip-synced music shows of the time.

Don passed away earlier this week. In memory tonight I bring you a selection of performances from Don's show running the gamut from ABBA to The Ramones, from Return to Forever to Johnny Winter and everyone in between, finishing with none other than The Monkees and a surprise ending.

Bio
Wiki

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Genesis

2011-01-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

After work, second shift, at the Kohler Company I would return home to my house in Sheboygan and go upstairs to party with my roommate Gregg and some friends, all of whom worked second shift at various locations. On the turntable the usual finds were Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes and tonight's feature, Genesis.

This was in the early 70's while Peter Gabriel was still with the band. In keeping with my trend to lose interest as bands began to acquire pop status, so too I lost interest in them when Peter left. Not that they didn't create some good music with Phil Collins in the lead singer position, but I still feel they were most creative with Peter at the helm. My interest instead followed Peter in his early solo career, waning as he also became popular.

Therefore the videos I have selected for this evening feature those from Peter Gabriel's tenure.

Website - Primarily links to the sites of individual band members.
Bio
Wiki

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Led Zeppelin

2011-01-02T13:55:00.000-08:00

So, I've finally gotten around to this band. I don't know why it took me so long to get to them. I was blown away the first time I heard them and have been a fan ever since. I did lose some interest in their later works, preferring their early blues/rock fusion sound, but still found nuggets in their later works.
Perhaps the following can explain them better than I can:

After the [Yardbirds] break-up, Jimmy Page was left with little more than a series of concert obligations. He started jamming with John Paul Jones, a session player, who had collaborated with likes of the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits and Dusty Springfield. The duo discussed forming a new group, but ended up delaying their plans to back Donovan on his Hurdy Gurdy LP.

After hearing of Pages' intention of starting a new band, vocalist Terry Reid suggested he hear Robert Plant. When Page got a chance to check Plant out, Jimmy not only ended up liking his voice, but also his stage presence. Plant, in turn, suggested they recruit John Bonham, the drummer of his old Birmingham group, Band of Joy. The foursome clicked so nicely that they toured Scandinavia during October 1968 under the name the New Yardbirds.

By 1969 the group changed their name to Led Zeppelin, recorded, and released their first self-titled album. Within two months the album reached Billboard's Top Ten.

......

The group broke up after the tragic death of drummer John Bonham. He died from what is medically termed as asphyxiation: inhaling his own vomit during sleep after a drinking binge. His hard-hitting style has so integral to the bands sound that the remaining members decided to call it quits. Without Bonham there could be no Led Zeppelin.

The mighty Zeppelin has experimented with several musical styles over the bands reign. Their sound began with Blues and thunderous Heavy Metal, softened to mystical Folk and tumbled into the realm of Funk, Psychedelic Rock, and the fusion and integration of all these styles.
[source]

Website
Bio
Wiki

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Gianni Bardaro

2010-12-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

After a short delay I am here this evening to jazz things up a bit with another musician who asked to be friends through YouTube. Gianni Bardaro, composer and musician grew up in Italy and later moved throughout Europe studying the Jazz Saxophone while winning much acclaim as a band leader as well as a sideman to various other musicians.

So sit back and enjoy a change of pace here with this too short list of jazz musings of Gianni Bardaro.

Website
YouTube Channel
Myspace
Bio

Click here to view individual playlist entries

In Memoriam Captain Beefheart

2010-12-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

My record collection consists of many early obscure albums of various artists. To a great extent I shied away from the Pop Culture stuff and tended to lose interest in bands once they claimed commercial success. Don Van Vliet was no exception.

It was 1969 and I was at a friend's house when he brought out an album with a pink cover featuring a person with an odd hat and a fish mask. The title was Trout Mask Replica, although the fish looked more like a Koi. The artist called himself Captain Beefheart. My friend informed me that the album was produced by Frank Zappa, another favorite of mine, therefore I was eager to hear it.

Upon the first play I was dazed and confused by the seemingly chaotic nature, similar to some of The Mother's of Invention's works, but even further out there. Upon subsequent listenings it grew on me as the chaos gave way to the complexity of it.

Van Vliet's style was a blend of Blues, Rock, Experimental and Psychedelic with vocals sung in his unmistakable gravely voice and is considered to have "greatly influenced" New Wave artists such as David Byrne of Talking Heads, Blondie, Devo and The B-52s.

Tom Waits' shift in artistic direction, starting with 1983's Swordfishtrombones, was, Waits claims, a result of his wife Kathleen Brennan introducing him to Van Vliet's music. "Once you've heard Beefheart," said Waits, "it's hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood."

Captain Beefheart and Magic Band went on to record a number of albums which, although gaining critical acclaim, never gained a large following or commercial success.
Performing with various configurations of the Magic Band through 1982, he left the music scene to concentrate on his artwork.

The Captain passed away yesterday at the age of 69 due to complications from multiple sclerosis. May he rest in peace...

Tonight I bring you a collection of his live performances followed by a documentary on his life and works and then wrap it up with a 14 minute performance with Frank Zappa. A song which I used to visualize as pertaining to the mid-evil days but now realize speaks of our current government as well - The Torture Never Stops.

Website
Bio
Myspace
Wiki

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Matt Gresham

2010-12-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

A several months ago I received a friend invite through YouTube from an Australian musician by the name of Matt Gresham. I took a cruise over to his YouTube channel and was impressed by his song "Jack & Jill" which he was running on his channel at the time. So I added Matt as a friend at my channel and tonight I bring you a selection of tunes from Matt. Please bear with Matt as he performs at a number of rather rowdy bars!

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Matt's YouTube Channel
Bio
MySpace

Tommy Emmanuel

2010-12-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was cruising through the channel guide looking for anything on the TV worthwhile of my time. I came across a PBS pledge drive show featuring an artist I had never heard of. I figured it was worth at least a few minutes of sitting through their begging for funds while waiting to see what this artist was all about.

To make a long story short, when he opened with the percussive guitar piece titled Mombasa,I was immediately blown away and hooked! I stayed for the entire show, suffering through the pledge drive drivel. It was well worth it!

Tonight I bring you Tommy Emmanuel from Australia. The first five selections are from his early years when he played electric guitar with a band. The sixth piece is Mombasa, the number that swept me off my feet. Mombasa and the rest of the show are all from his acoustic catalog.

Tommy's Website
Bio
MySpace
Wiki

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T10:42:00.000-08:00

[click photo]

After taking the summer off here at the Vault, I've returned with music to celebrate this Thanksgiving Holiday. Today I honor not Columbus nor the Pilgrims, but rather those who lived on this great land before the Illegal Immigrants arrived.

This is a collection of Native American music, most with modern interpretations accompanied by various slide shows. After you have stuffed yourself with turkey sit back and drift off to what once was the beauty this land offered.

Be sure to click either the photo or link above for an eye-opening look at this day we celebrate.

Click this to view individual playlist entries

Ode to the Gulf Coast

2010-05-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight I pay tribute to the folks living on and near the Gulf Coast in their battle against the oil being poured into the Gulf of Mexico, their marshes and upon their beaches.
Still struggling to recover from the damages done by Hurricane Katrina, they are now faced with the specter of a dying ocean, loss of wages and jobs due to the pollution of the the fishing and shrimping grounds of which 19% are currently closed.

I begin with a sampling of Cajun and Zydeco music and then I'll take you down to New Orleans for a sampling of New Orleans Jazz and Blues as performed by various street musicians.

Robbie Robertson

2010-04-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

One Saturday afternoon in 1968 I went downstairs at Steiner Hall, my dorm at WSU - Stevens Point, to visit my friend Ray. Ray brought out a new album he had bought titled Music from Big Pink. It was by a group with the odd name of The Band and featured a painting by Bob Dylan on the front and the title in big block letters with picture of a pink house on the back.

Before the first song, Dylan's wrenching Tears of Rage, was over, I was hooked. The sound was raw and rough, a departure from the highly polished works popular at the time. The guitar work of Robbie Robertson was my main draw.

Over the years, after The Band gave us their Last Waltz, I seem to have lost track of Robbie. I can no longer afford to cruise record stores as I used to and radio is pathetic, so I was unaware of his recent works.

Then a couple weeks ago my friend 99 featured one of his videos at her site and I was once again hooked!

Tonight I begin with a number of his works from Robbie Robertson and The Red Road Ensemble's Music for the Native Americans followby a number of Robbie's works with the band and other works over the years.

Tonight's show is dedicated to my friend, the eminent Agent 99.

Robbie's Website - coming soon
Robbie's Myspace
The Band Website
Wiki
Bio

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2010-04-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

New features at the Vault:

[click helicopter ]

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Gil Scott-Heron

2010-04-02T17:48:00.001-07:00

Born in Chicago, 1949, Gil Scott-Heron's parents divorced and he was sent to live with his grandmother in Tennessee. Soon racial tensions at school caused him to move back with his mother who had moved to the Bronx and later to the Chelsea neighborhood.
By the age of 13 he had already written a book of poetry and later wrote a novel entitled "The Vulture" after leaving college.
He released his first album 'New Black Poet: Small Talk at 125th and Lennox' in 1970. It contained the spoken word song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" - a response to the Governments interference with the media at the time. (My how things have changed!)
Gil followed it the next year with "Pieces of Man" featuring John Coltrane and Lady Day and a more toned down political slant.

Gil's spoken word pieces are often attributed as the origin of Rap.

Tonight I first bring you a one hour documentary on Gil followed by a number of his works.

Enjoy.

Website
MySpace
Wiki

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The Blues

2010-03-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

Update 1/22/11 - I found that this collection was fairly decimated by removed videos at YouTube. I've restored as many as possible and added a few new ones. Enjoy

Tonight I bring you a collection of The Blues, 60 songs to keep you going all night.
Starting with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee on an old show titled Rainbow Quest hosted by Pete Seeger. Mississippi John Hurt also makes an appearance on the show.

From there we move to Chicago for some hits by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Siegal Schwall Blues Band, also a number of Michael Bloomfield songs with Electric Flag and the Bloomfield, Kooper, Stills Supersession.

Next we hop the Atlantic, or fly over the pole if you wish, to England for the British take on things with Savoy Brown, Cream, Blind Faith, John Mayall and Jimmy Hendrix.

Finally we return stateside for some Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

I've tried to find live versions as much as possible although a few only have slide shows but are worth it for the music. Obviously this is only a sampling of the many great blues performers out there. Enjoy!

[click this]

[be sure to click this also!]

Eddie From Ohio

2010-02-12T18:38:00.000-08:00

A year or so ago, while browsing the list of bands at the Internet Archives my eye was caught by an unusual name. I sampled their music and fell in love with them immediately. Downloaded to my mp3 player I listen to them as I ride my bike and they are one of the mp3 CD's in my truck stereo.

I wasn't able to find a large selection of videos at YouTube, but here is a baker's dozen to give you a sampling of their music.
From Virginia, I bring you Eddie From Ohio!

Website
Facebook
Wiki
Internet Archive free downloads of live shows.

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Donna the Buffalo

2009-11-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

This band from upstate New York has been playing for 20 years now, bringing their eclectic collection of influences ranging from reggae to country and rock to zydeco, all with a helping of good old fiddle music, to crowds at music festivals around the world. This band is one a a growing number of bands which allow fans to video tape and record their concerts. Many of their concerts are available at Internet Archives for free downloading, all are authorized by the band.

Tonight I bring you a couple dozen selections, a cross section of their works.

Website
MySpace
Bio
Wiki
At Internet Archives - Free, band authorized, concert downloads.

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Norton BuffaloGone to the Valley of the Moon

2009-11-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

When I started this blog, little did I think I would be using it to say farewell to my favorite musicians. Here again tonight I have assembled a collection of one such performer:

Norton Buffalo, harmonica maestro with a sweet, sweet voice. A long time member of the Steve Miller Band, Norton also worked with many other artists and headed his own band, performing on over 180 record albums. He also teamed with and was good friends with slide guitar maestro Roy Rogers.

Norton passed away last Sunday of cancer at the age of 58. A great loss to us all.

In his memory, I have assembled a collection featuring a number of videos from an early performance with other songs with Roy Rogers and the Steve Miller Band. The last few videos are recent and express my feelings at his passing.

Website - not updated at this moment.
Bio
MySpace
Wiki

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Timothy Leary's DeadNo No-No He's Outside Looking In

2009-10-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

Grab your orange barrels, micro dots, window panes, buttons or 'shrooms and come along on a trip back through the 60's psychedelia!

Beware the brown acid!

Artists in order of performance:
Moody Blues, Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, United States of America, Electric Prunes, Lollipop Shop, Pink Floyd, Hunger, Hawkwind, Mystic Siva, Rare Earth, Cynara, Mark Bolan, Hat & Tie, Flower Power, Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Focus, Yardbirds, Jefferson Airplane, Beacon Street Union, Ultimate Spinach, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Crazy World of Arthur Brown,Tomorrow, Uriah Heep, Al Kooper Steven Stills Mike Bloomfield.

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Happy Birthday John

2009-10-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

[click photo]

Richard Thompson

2009-10-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

A founding member of Fairport Convention at the age of 17, Richard Thompson grew up in post WWII London in a musically rich environment. He excelled at guitar in high school and was noticed by American Producer Joe Boyd while playing with Fairport in the Soho district. Joe arraigned the band's first recording contract which produced the album Fairport Convention
in June of 1968.

Richard wrote and played for the band as it transformed from folk to folk-rock and worked on the first five studio albums before leaving the group to pursue a solo career which continues today.

Tonight I bring you 30 songs from Richard spanning his solo career and highlighting his magnificent guitar playing which at times sounds like two guitars at once, finishing with a heart-wrenching version of Hearbreak Hotel with Shawn Colvin and John Cale.

For those interested in more information on Richard be sure to see Solitary Life - a documentary on Richards history.

Website
Bio
Wiki
Richard Thompson WinAmp Page with a huge collection of videos

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In Memoriam - Mary Travers 1936-2009

2009-09-17T15:30:00.001-07:00

[click picture]

I am deeply saddened by the loss of this most beautiful person. She will always be fondly remembered by me as if I knew her in person. Having played the music of PP&M for all these years it's as if there is some sort of connection.

So in Mary's memory I have reconstituted my previous PP&M show with updated song list and in the embedr format.

Mary we miss you!

Originally posted 8/23/08:

With subjects ranging from anti-war protest songs to songs of the human condition as well as comedy and children’s songs this trio rose to the top of the folk movement of the 60’s and early 70’s.

Founded in 1961 by Albert Grossman as a Folk Supergroup they released their first album the following year, quickly gaining a large following.

After salvaging an old record player from the dump, replacing a few obviously burned out resistors an one vacuum tube I headed down to the used record store. The first two albums I bought were Peter Paul & Mary’s first album titled simply “Peter, Paul and Mary” and Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changing”.

That was about 1965 and indeed things were A Changing!

After collecting several more of their first albums I bought the music books to go with them. With the records, the music books and an old f-hole Harmony guitar I taught myself how to play. I spent many hours playing along with the records and then without them. Eventually, in college, I was part of a folk group called Blue Laughter. We were together for about a year and a half and toured the college campuses around Wisconsin during that time, also giving shows at retirement homes and care centers. But as so often happens in bands, the ego problems of the founder got in the way and we broke up about a month before we were supposed to go tryout for a USO tour to Vietnam.

Alas, I stray, so here is tonight’s show, centered on their works from the early sixties through the mid eighties. But you won’t find any lost flowers or dope smoking dragons here! (I lied!)

PP&Website

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Fela Kuti

2009-08-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

Born in Abeokuta, Nigeria on October 15th, 1938 as Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti this musician later changed his name to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, his middle name meaning "he who carries death in his pouch".
His first band, Koola Lobitos was formed in 1963 a large Jazz ensemble, combining the aspects of Jazz, Funk and African rhythms, the band had many configurations over the years. After an American tour in 1969 the band's name was changed to Afrika 70 with whom he recorded albums with Ginger Baker of Cream fame and Bobby Gass (Tench) formerly of the Jeff Beck Group during the early seventies. In 1981 he again changed the band's name to Egypt 80.
In his lifetime he put his mark on over 70 record albums.

As a human rights revolutionary he started his own political party, Movement Of The People, in protest of the kleptocracy in Nigeria. A staunch Polygamist he had his own compound called the

Kalakuta Republic in Lagos

where he declared independence from Nigeria and lived with his uncountable number of wives suffering constant harassment by the government.

A sufferer of AIDS Fela passed away August 2nd 1997 of heart failure.

Tonight I bring you two full concert performances from Fela, enjoy.

Unofficial Website
Wiki
MySpace Tribute Site

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Three Dog Night

2009-07-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

As the story goes, indigenous Australians would lay down in a cavity in the ground while hugging a dingo. On colder nights it would take two dingos and three on the coldest nights.

Tonight's show is another tribute my my internet friend Big Dan who reminded me of this band and how much their music filled the air around me back in the late 60's. Listening to these videos as I was gathering them sent me down memory row!

Using the name Redwood they recorded some with Brian Wilson in 1967. Then changing their name to Three Dog Night after the afore mentioned legend, they landed a contract with Dunhill Records and their long successful run began.

Still performing today after a number of reincarnations they are still on a tour in 2009 and released their first studio album in over 30 years in 2007.

Tonight I start with a 1970's version of perhaps their most recognizable song followed by a number of 60's and 70's hits. I apologize for some of the video qualities of the early shows, but they are the best versions I could find - but then it's the music that matters.

Finishing up are a number of videos from their recent tours ending were it started with Mama's advice. Oh, there is a very special Encore as well!

Website
MySpace
Bio
Wiki

Fixing Cars

2009-07-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

[image BB2]

Since I've spent the last two weekends working on broken cars instead of presenting you with new video shows, today I bring you songs about cars and of course some videos by The Cars.

We start off with a video depicting me and my wife's car and ends with the reason I work on my own cars. Sandwiched in between is a little something for everyone from many different genres.

So grab your wrenches and engine code readers, sit back and enjoy.

The B-52s

2009-06-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

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Formed in 1976 as a New Wave Rock band this Athens Georgia group evolved into the "Ulitimate Party Band", blending the New Wave stylings with beat driven dance music. Whimsical in their late '50s - early 60's hairdos and clothes as well as their lyrics, they always make you feel upbeat.
They have recently released a new album titled "Funplex" and are currently on tour in th U.S. and Australia this winter.

Tonight I start with their work from the '70s and '80s and finish with several videos of there new work. Get on your dancing shoes!

Website
MySpace
Wiki

Lisa Lynne & Andreas Vollenweider

2009-06-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight I bring you the unique sounds of the Celtic Harp. Ranging from peaceful wanderings to upbeat rock influenced interpretations it has been used in a wide variety instances.

First up tonight is Lisa Lynne. Lisa began her performing career in various rock bands playing guitar, mandolin and introducing the Celtic harp into the mix. Later she directed her efforts mainly to the harp and its more classic usage. She has worked with the City of Hope National Cancer Center in Los Angeles as musician-in-residence integrating music into the treatment programs and later formed her own recording company “Lavender Sky Music”.

Following Lisa is Andreas Vollenweider. Andreas’ style is more energetic, bordering on jazz and rock but keeping a classical edge to it. Playing an electrified harp of his own design, this Swiss musician has sold over ten million albums in his twenty year career.
A follower of Mahatma Gandhi, Andreas is an outspoken Pacifist and critic of the Iraq war.

Tonight I begin with a number of contemporary pieces by Lisa. Then I pick up the pace with two of Lisa’s early works. The first of those is a 1983 performance on a local TV station music show where she performs in a band called Brazil. This band was formed with several musicians she met at a Renaissance Fair. (Check out the hairdos!) The second piece is her graduation performance at Musicians Institute in Hollywood California in 1989.

Andreas then picks up with a number of works from throughout his career finishing with several of Andreas’ tunes someone has set to scenes from the movie Whale Rider – the story of the coming of age of a young Maori girl.

Lisa Lynne
Website
MySpace
Wiki

Andreas Wollenweider
Website
Wiki
MySpace (Unofficial)

Derek Trucks Band

2009-05-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

Named after the Eric Clapton/Duane Allman band Derek and the Dominoes, Derek Trucks picked up a cheap guitar at the age of nine and by the age 11 was performing on stage with his uncle Butch Tucks, drummer for the Allman Brothers Band. Derek went on to form his own band by the time he was 12.

At the age of twelve he also began sitting in with such greats as Buddy Guy and the Allman Brothers. After touring with the Allmans for a number of years he finally became an official member in 1999 and still performs with them as well as with his own band.

Master of the slide guitar Derek was named by Rolling Stone magazine as the youngest player to reach the 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" at the number 81 position.

Tonight I start the show with a couple of videos from when he was 11 followed by a short interview then some numbers from when he was 15. After that there is no particular order. Also included are several pieces performed with his wife Susan Tedeschi.

Crank it up to 11 and groove on some delicious blues in the brand spankin’ new video player!

[clicking on the video will take you to the video's YouTube page]

Website
Bio
MySpace
Wiki
At Internet Archives

2009-05-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

................NOW FEATURING!...............

NEW PLAYER!
(Conversion from Splashcast underway -
older shows will update as time allows.)

NEW LARGER FORMAT
[ht/Agent 99]

DIRECT LINKING TO YOUTUBE!
(Click main image in new video player)

OTHER VIDEO SOURCES!
(Researching - send your suggestions)
...................................................................................................
SPLASHCAST DEMISE - OLDER VIDEOS BROKEN

[click to read all about it]

The Rosenberg Trio

2009-05-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

Today I'm taking the quick and easy way out. Just one video this week, but it is an entire concert. The Rosenberg trio is comprised of three Dutch musicians, brothers Nous'che and Nonnie Rosenberg and their cousin Stochelo Rosenberg. Their Gypsy Jazz stylings are heavily influenced by Django Reinhardt. In this show they are joined by Bireli Lagrene and Christian Escoude.

Website
Bio
MySpace
Wiki

Video at Google

The Residents

2009-05-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

This band has been around for over 35 years yet I only recently came across them. Certainly it has to do with the ridiculous way that American radio stations choose their playlists. Music like this would never make it on the air. Quirky, odd, strange? I don’t exactly know how to peg it, but this stuff is great!

Tonight the show begins with a documentary hosted by Penn and Teller. Once the initial biographical information is presented this documentary contains many of their videos and much music with occasional biographical comments.
Following the documentary is a 2003 concert from Oslo in four parts, a number of other live performances then culminating in a couple of animated videos.
I dedicate this to my good friend, the illustrious, incorruptible, esteemed, flying swine tracking flu finder, Agent 99

Now - Access videos at YouTube directly by clicking on video

The Rolling Stones

2009-04-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Since last week, I featured the Beatles, this week I bring you another headliner of the 1960’s British Invasion. The bad boys of rock, with their music based heavily in the blues, introduced an air of sex and sin to the forefront of the music scene. Mick Jagger's stage antics and attire make Elvis Presley look like a choir boy!

The other night my 18 year old daughter and I were watching a Stones' concert on TV. Mick was wearing a football uniform, the pants of which were laughingly stuffed. Her comparisons to how the pants look on football players had me rolling on the floor laughing. Her final conclusion was that he needed to get some new pants.

Tonight’s show is dedicated to my wife’s friend, a Rolling Stone fanatic, who noted the lack of Stones here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones

Now - Access videos at YouTube directly by clicking on video

The Beatles

2009-04-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

UNFORTUNATELY EMI RECORDS HAS CAUSED YOUTUBE TO REMOVE THE BEATLES CATALOG. THEREFORE I REGRET THAT THIS SHOW IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

This will not set well with my blogging buddy Big Dan, a huge Beatles fan.

Website

MySpace

Wiki

Internet Beatles Album – fan site

The Beatles Ultimate Experience – online data base

Videos no longer available

Strawberry Fields Forever

I Want To Hold Your Hand

Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds

Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End

I Saw Her Standing There

Money

All My Loving

I’ve Got A Feeling

I’m Happy to Dance With You

Your Mother Should Know

Twist and Shout

I’m a Loser

Act Naturally => Ticket to Ride

‘Til There Was You

Magical Mystery Tour

Kansas City => I’m a Loser => Boys

Robert Fripp

2009-04-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

Ever since the first time I heard King Crimson I have been a huge fan of Robert Fripp.
Listed as one of the top guitarists, his Avant-garde, cutting edge, progressive styling was music to my heart.

Beginning his career with a backup group called The League of Gentlemen, he performed behind many American singers who were touring Europe. Soon he formed a band with Michael and Pete Giles, releasing one album under the name of Giles, Giles & Fripp. After the release of The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp, Fripp and Michael Giles (drums, percussion) were joined by Ian McDonald (flute, clarinet, sax, vibe, keyboards, mellotron, vocals), Gregg Lake (bass guitar, lead vocals) forming King Crimson, releasing their first album, In the Court of the Crimson King, in 1969

Over the ensuing years, until the band was disbanded for the first time in 1974, King Crimson saw many changes in personnel, but Robert Fripp was the mainstay in the band.

Robert has also worked with other artists such as Brian Eno, Darryl Hall (Hall & Oates), Andy Summers (The Police), David Syvian (the band Japan) and Peter Gabriel (early Genesis and solo carrier).

Along with his progressive rock and jazz work Robert also has another forte, Frippertronics. Using tape looping and other electronic effects he produces ambient soundscapes which can take you drifting off into space. He is also know as a gifted speaker.

Tonight, after this long break waiting for Splashcast to settle down, I bring you the sounds of Robert Fripp, in chronological order [kind of]. The show is divided into two parts tonight – the first being his rock styling and the second Frippertronics

Now - Access videos at YouTube directly by clicking on video

Eye Candy

2009-04-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Bluebear's Favorites

2009-04-10T16:00:00.000-07:00

Radio Players

2009-04-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

RADIO PLAYERS

From

.....Live Music Archives.....

SARAH BORGES & the BROKEN SINGLES

Beachland Tavern on 01/14/2010

...............................................

THE GRATEFUL DEAD

FURTHER: Live at Memorial Coliseum on 03-08-2010

2009-04-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

New features at the Vault:

The lists of previous shows have been modified. The "Latest Format" videos are either YouTube or EmbedR Playlists and are in working order. Occasionally YouTube pulls a video and the player may need intervention to get past the missing video. Let me know if you find such broken links and I will remove the bad link.

The "Older Format" video shows are individual videos on one page and do not stream.

SplashCast formatted shows no longer play, however most of them contain links to the videos they were based on therefore I'm keeping the list on the sidebar. My plan is to gradually recreate these shows in the newer formats.

Finally the Wolfgang's Vault player has been removed due to the fact that they began requiring registration at their site making the links redirect to their sign in page.

I am looking for another player to take its place.
.

Update - Shows newly revived from SplashCast:

Alan Parsons' Liberty Concert, Comedy

Shows whose artists works have been pulled from YouTube:

Allman Brothers, Babe Ruth, Colosseum & Blodwyn Pig, Badfinger, Bob Dylan

.

Previous Concerts from Wolfgang's Vault

2009-03-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

.........................................................

Jimmy Hendrix - Winterland 10/10/1968 - Late Show

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Fillmore East 03/06/1970 - Early Show

..............................................................

OOPS - I thought this was working until I tried it when I wasn't logged in at Wolfgang's site.

If you follow the link below, register, and log in - this works. It's free and they don't span you beyond a weekly email with the weeks featured videos.

In the meantime I'm looking for something else to put here.

Broken

2009-03-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

Currently SplashCast is broken. If you see anything at all where the video is supposed to be, you will receive a message saying the video is no longer available. This is occurring with the videos in the SplashCast format. There seems to be a problem with SplashCast and a format change at YouTube.

The newest videos in the YouTube Playlist format and the older YouTube collections are still working.

Stay tuned....

Donovan

2009-03-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Tonight I take you on a trip back to the Summer of Love with the musings of this Scottish born minstrel and to his resurgence of late. I have fond memories of these songs playing out of my stereo on warm summer evenings.

His songs, although silly at times, were an expression of life at the time. They spoke of love and peace during a tumultuous time.

Recently, as noted on his rather minimal website, he has decided come back into the public view and has just wrapped up a tour.

Tonight I present Donovan Leitch…

Website

Bio

Wiki

Direct links to the individual videos:

Reflection on a Summer’s Day

Ballad of a Crystal Man

Guinevere

Cosmic Wheels / Maria Magenta / The Pee Song / Mellow Yellow

There is a Mountain

Season of the Witch 20

Two Lovers

Time is on the Run – with Jennifer Warnes

I Love My Shirt – with The Smothers Brothers

Those Were the Days – with The Smothers Brothers

Lassie Lay Down

The Actor

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

The Illusion

Josie

Donna Donna

Wear Your Love Like Heaven

Alison Krauss

2009-02-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

This lady has perhaps the most beautiful voice in music these days. Be it Country or Blue Grass, Irish or Spirituals, Classical or Rock she can sure deliver. I fell in love with her voice the first time I heard her. She is also one heck of a fiddle player too!

Here is a collection of her works beginning with some of her Country and Blue grass pieces followed by excursions into to other genre. Then I offer a short documentary on the production of her recent collaboration with Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant followed by a number of fan videos from their concert tour this past fall.

Website

Bio

Wiki

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Website

Direct links to the individual videos:
Sawing on the Strings

When You Say Nothing At All

The Lucky One

Missing You – with John Waite

Baby Now That I Found You

Cluck Old Hen – with Sierra Hull

The Boxer - with Shawn Colvin & Jerry Douglas

Molly Ban – with The Chieftains

Slumber My Darling – with Yo Yo Ma

The Wexford Carol – with Yo Yo Ma

Behind the scenes, Robert Plant and Alison Krause – Raising Sand

The Battle of Evermore

Please Read the Letter

Trampled Rose

Black Country Woman

When the Levee Breaks

Black Dog

I’m In the Mood

Killing the Blues

Joni Mitchell

2009-02-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

Hailed by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the greatest song writers ever, Canadian songstress Joni Mitchell is indeed my favorite female performer.

With a start in the ‘60s folk scene she has had a long prolific carrier exploring not only the folk genre but jazz and rock as well. Whether singing a capella or accompanying herself on dulcimer or guitar, her sweet voice delivers songs of life and heartfelt tribulations. Although probably best known for her music she considers herself a painter first and musician second.

Tonight I offer a collection of live performances ranging from solo performances, collaborations with other artists and her full band. At the end is an interview from 2007 in which she discusses several of her projects of that time.

Website

Bio

Wiki

Direct links to the individual videos:

Long Black Veil – with Johnny Cash

The Fiddle and the Drum

Magdalene Laundries

Chelsea Morning

Raised on Robbery

Edith and the Kingpin

Just Like This Train

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Shadows and Light – with The Persuasions

Why do Fools fall in Love – with The Persuasions

Harry’s House

The Gallery

Trouble Man

Furry Sings the Blues

Goodbye Blue Sky – with Pink Floyd

How Do You Stop

Moon at the Window

Interview

SplashCast Reprieve

2009-02-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

SplashCast, after an overwhelming response from its users, has relented. Although they will not be issuing any more new free memberships, they are preserving the free membership of those currently registered with the site.
Therefore I will not have to convert the existing videos in the SplashCast format. I will continue using the YouTube playlist format here due to its ease of use, but I will continue with SplashCast at my other blogs.

John Butler Trio

2009-02-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

Born in Torrance, California, John moved to Australia at the age of eleven. At the age of 16 he began to learn guitar and was rewarded with his grandfathers 1930s dobro.

By the middle of his first year at Perth’s Curtain University he released a cassette tape of his music. Studying to be an art teacher, he dropped out after the first year to pursue a career in music.

If it has strings, this guy can play it. A blend of acoustic and electric roots/jam these guys can really put on a show.

Tonight I start with all but 3 songs from their concert at Federation Square, Melbourne April 5th 2007 and finish with a number of other finds.

Direct links to the individual videos:
Introduction

Groovin’ Slowly – Fatherhood Festival

Devil Running – Perth Concert Hall

Treat Yo Mama – Wave Aid

Message in a Bottle

What You Want – Live Harmony in Bohn

Satisfy – Wercher Belgium

Wrong Way Going Down a One Way Road – Unlisted Venue

Good as Gone – Unlisted Venue

Get Up Stand Up – Unlisted Venue

Take – Studio 22

Oldman - au Grand Rex

Company Sin – Sydney Opera House

Caroline – Berlin

Nowhere Man – Rivera Theater, Chicago

Satisfy – Coachella, CA.

Home is where the Heart is

Splashcast Demise

2009-02-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

Today, when I signed in to SplashCast to start a new show, I was greeted with the message that SplashCast was discontinuing the service I have been using for the last 13 months. I don't have time to download all of the shows I've created in that time period so I'm afraid they will be lost.

I will try to restore them if I can find another suitable service. In the meantime I'm afraid all of the shows in the "New Format" will be going dark.

PLEASE lend a hand - go to SplashCast and put in your 2 cents worth in the comment section at the bottom of this article!

Beyond that I'm not sure how I will continue this website. Posting individual videos as I did early on proved cumbersome for my viewers with slow connections as the page loading time was extensive. That is where SplashCast shined.

Ironic that I should find this on the 50th anniversary of The Day The Music Died!

Update: 2/4/09 My dear friend Agent 99 has given me a solution to this dilemma so I will continue this endeavor with the Youtube Playlist format. An example can be found here

Update #2: 2/5/09 It looks like Big Dan and I got SplashCast to reconsider. They are now giving us at least a 90 day reprieve with the possibility of a subscription type service. This should give me time to convert the SplashCast shows to the Youtube format without any interruptions or blackouts.

Radiohead

2009-01-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

Tonight I offer up something for all the head bangers out there.
Originally formed under the name On Friday while they were in high school in 1985 these guys from Oxfordshire England played local gigs until they went off to college.
Upon graduation they regrouped and joining the indie scene began performing again and started recording demos which soon caught the eyes of various record labels.

In 1991 bass guitarist Collin Greenwood met EMI representative Keith Wozencroft at the record shop where Greenwood worked. This lead to a six album contract late that year.

At the request of EMI the band changed its name to Radiohead as inspired by the title song of the Talking Heads True Stories album.

Here then is Radiohead, live in Glastonbury, 2003.

Website

MySpace

Wiki

Full Concert with download link

Jesse Colin Young

2009-01-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

First, with the Youngbloods, and later as a solo artist, Jesse Colin Young has had a long productive career. With his heartfelt lyrics and sweet tenor voice he has produced over 20 albums, half of which were in the 70’s and 80’s.

Tonight I offer a collection of the few live performances I could find plus a number of slide shows utilizing the recorded music. I begin with several live performances of the Youngbloods followed by a number of Jesse’s live performances. The last half are slide shows ending with the song Get Together backing a slide show of the current condition – as poignant today as it was in 1967 when it was first released.

Website

MySpace

Wiki

Direct links to the individual videos:

The Youngbloods

Jesse Colin Young

When the Sun Goes Down

Darkness, Darkness

Little Grass Shack

4 in the Morning

Slide Shows

Euphoria Youngbloods

Reason to Believe Youngbloods

World Liberty ConcertAlan Parsons & Friends

2009-01-03T13:03:00.000-08:00

The World Liberty Concert was held on 8 May 1995 and commemorated the 50th anniversary of VE-Day, the liberation of Europe. The venue for the concert was Arnhem, the Netherlands, near the John Frost bridge, the bridge immortalized in the film `A Bridge Too Far'. The idea for the WLC was conceived by 25 year old Dutchman Arno Geul, who, at an early stage, decided Alan Parsons was the perfect Musical Director for the show. Apart from (not entirely live) performances of the Alan Parsons Band (with Chris Thompson and Mick Mullins on vocals), Candy Dulfer (sax), Art Garfunkel, UB40 and many others (including an 80 piece orchestra and a local choir), the show consists of military parades, airshows and a narration by Walter Cronkite, the legendary war correspondent and later news anchorman. The Alan Parsons Band performed a number of well-known songs (Sirius/Breakaway, Old and Wise, The Gold Bug, Sirius/Eye in the Sky) plus some new material commissioned for the show (among which White Dawn) and also accompanied Dulfer, Joe Cocker and Art Garfunkel on their segments. The show was televised live in 40 countries, was attended by approximately 85.000 people and is about two hours long.

For this evening's show I have collected what I could find from the concert and have tried to assemble it in something resembling chronological order. Being unable to find a set list of the show I had to take my best guess with the videos which had no narration. The only full version of the concert I could find was a Torrent download, but at 4 GB it was far too large for Splashcast.

Alan Parsons

Website

Bio

Wiki

Alan Parsons’ Project

Website

Bio

Wiki

Direct links to the individual videos:

Overture

Let the Healing Begin – Joe Cocker

Sirius => Breakaway

The Gold Bug

True Colors – Cindy Lauper

Julia Says – Wet Wet Wet

Love is All Around – Wet Wet Wet

I Can’t Make You Love Me – Candy Dulfer

Old and Wise

White Dawn

Sirius => Eye in the Sky

Bridge Over Troubled Water – Art Garfunkel

You’re the Voice

Roy Rogers & Norton Buffalo

2008-12-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

Master of the slide guitar Roy Rogers and harmonica virtuoso Norton Buffalo are tonight’s featured artists.
I open with Roy tearing up the blues with his unique style and voice. In the middle are a few videos of Roy and Norton together, closing with Norton bring his versions of the blues and rock.

Both artists are from the San Francisco Bay area and can be found at local venues throughout the area when they are not touring.

Roy has been awarded six Grammys as producer of albums by Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and John Lee Hooker. He has toured with John Lee Hooker and his own band The Delta Rhythm Kings as well as having released eight solo albums.

Norton has been a longstanding member of the Steve Miller Band and has recorded on over 175 albums with artists ranging from Bonnie Raitt to the Marshal Tucker band and even Hawaiian Slack Key guitarist George Kahumoku Jr. with their collaboration awarded Hawaiian Slack Key Album of the year.

Norton Buffalo Website

Bio

Myspace

Wiki

Direct links to the individual videos:

ROY ROGERS

Shake Your Money Maker

Look Over Yonders Wall

Intro Slide Instrumental

Outro Slide Instrumental

Tip Walk

Boogie Chillen – with John Lee Hooker

Stranger Blues – with Shana Morrison

ROY & NORTON

Legends of the Blues

Is It Love?

Terraplane Blues

Ain't no Bread in the Breadbox

NORTON BUFFFALO

The Odds Are Against Us

Talk Like That

Long Hard Road

I Don't Want To Love Nobody But You

Nobody Wants Me

Little Girl

I'm Taking Chances

I Put My Trust In You

Ain't No Room In My Heart

KT Tunstall

2008-12-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

Having given up on radio and rarely listening, I once and a while miss a new young and upcoming musician who is actually good!

I know they are out there somewhere, but with the ratings driven radio programming issued by only a few rating services it is far and few between and painfully abhorring waiting around for them.

Therefore I’m sure I am missing at least a few.

Last evening, scrolling through the dreadfully boring cable networks I ran across an hour long performance of tonight’s artist and was rather impressed. This gal’s got it!

While researching the videos for this evening I found that indeed I had seen her before at the 2007 Live Earth concert and at the Bob Dylan Tribute, but I guess I misplaced her in the crowd of other more familiar artists.

Tonight I open with KT’s initial appearance on the Jools Hooland show in the UK and finish with a couple of rockers from the Dylan Tribute.

Direct links to the individual videos:

Black Horse & The Cherry Tree

Other Side of the World

Walk Like an Egyptian

This Wheels On Fire – with Billy Bragg

Country Joe McDonald

2008-11-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

Vietnam veteran Joe McDonald and his band The Fish penned what was to become the anthem song of the Anti-War crusade of the time. With its four letter audience participation chant, I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag was an immediate hit at Woodstock.

The group's name is derived from leftist politics; "Country Joe" was a popular name for Joseph Stalin in the 1940s, while "the fish" refers to Mao Zedong's statement that the true revolutionary must "swim among the people as a fish." The group began with the nucleus of "Country Joe" McDonald (lead vocals) and Barry "The Fish" Melton (lead guitar), recording and performing for the "Teach-In" protests against the Vietnam War in 1965.

Since the days with the Fish, Joe has maintained his political edge and anti-war message while also delving into the blues and other similar musical genres. He has also written a tribute piece and song to Florence Nightingale as well the song Save The Whales, which wraps a sailing jig around the sounds of whale songs.

Opening tonight’s show is a set of three songs taped at the Bitter End followed by several 60’s performances. There was nothing to be found in the time period between 1969 and 2003 in the form of live performances so a number of fan produced videos and slide shows are used to fill out the program. Finally a number of recent solo and backstage performances close out the show, including Support the Troops, his recent ode to the troops in Iraq, and his penny flute tribute to George W. Bush which he titled Yankee Doodle is no Fool.

Be sure to visit Joe’s website at the link below - It contains a wealth of information regarding his activities and current causes.

Country Joe’s Place – Official Website

Click here to view individual playlist entries

Miriam Makeba - In Memoriam

2008-11-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

A vocal opponent of South African Apartheid, Miriam Makeba was refused entrance back into her homeland of South Africa. She had been labeled a revolutionary by the government after she appeared in the anti-apartheid documentary "Come Back Africa". She spent thirty years in exile before returning.

Miriam passed away this week shortly after performing a concert in Italy at the age of 76.
The world has lost an angel.

This evening’s show begins with a report of her death followed by a 40 minute documentary on the years of Apartheid featuring Miriam and her fellow performers.

The documentary is followed by a number of her live performances.

Near the end is another short documentary of her return to Guinea and performing some of her songs – unfortunately the audio and video are out of sinc in that one.

The show ends with one of her last performances and a fitting song for the end.

Thanks Miriam – you will be missed!

Biography

Wiki

Obituary

Direct links to the individual videos:

Introduction

The years of South African Apartheid – pt. 1

The years of South African Apartheid – pt. 2

The years of South African Apartheid – pt. 3

The years of South African Apartheid – pt. 4
Pata Pata

South African Freedom Song – with Hugh Masekela

Under African Skies – with Paul Simon

Miriam’s Return Trip to Guinea – pt. 1

Miriam’s Return Trip to Guinea – pt. 2

Africa is Where My Heart Lies

When I’ve Passed On

Michael Bloomfield

2008-11-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Born in Chicago in 1943 Michael Bloomfield took an early interest in the Chicago Blues scene. He came to know and play with many of the blues legends of the time and was instrumental in the Chicago Blues Revival of the mid to late ‘60s.

During that time he even owned a small blues club called The Fickle Pickle. (My cousin snuck me in there once when I was visiting her, I was 17 at the time.)

Michael joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and chose to stay with Butterfield when asked to play for Bob Dylan.

Tonight’s opening number features Michael tearing it up with Dylan at the 1965 Newport Blues Festival. Although only briefly seen in the shadows, his high energy guitar licks provide a high energy beat.

After leaving the Butterfield Blues Band he formed a band called Electric Flag with friends Barry Goldberg and Nick Gravenites as well as a number of other well known performers producing only one album A Long Time Coming in 1968 before Michael left the band.

Shortly after Michael worked with Al Kooper on an album called Super Session but was only able to complete one side of the album due to insomnia, with Stephen Stills finishing out the second side.

Over the ensuing years he played as a session musician for other performers and did some solo work but a heroin addiction became the focus of his life.

In 1981 Michael was found in his car, slumped over, dead of a heroin overdose.

Tonight I end with an audio track Blues for Michael, an ode to Michael by Country Joe McDonald.

(Not many live performances were available, so I open with the live ones and finish with audio slide shows.)

Official Website – Family run

Direct links to the individual videos:

Live Performances

Maggie’s Farm – backing up Bob Dylan

Drinkin’ Wine – with Electric Flag

Stop – with Al Kooper

Long Distance Call – with Muddy Waters & Junior Wells

Messin with the Kid – with Junior Wells & Nick Gravenites

Born in Chicago – with Paul Butterfield Blues Band & Son House

Rattle, Rock & Roll – with Fabio Treves

Driftin’ Blues – with Paul Butterfield Bands

Audio with Slide Shows

Season of the Witch – with Al Kooper

Albert’s Shuffle - with Al Kooper

Blues for Nothing – with Al Kooper

Killing Floor – with Electric Flag

Sitting in Circles – with Electric Flag

Going Down Slow – with Electric Flag

Got My Mojo Working – with Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Walking Blues – with Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Work Song – with Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Two Trains Running – with Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Quicksilver Messenger Service

2008-10-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

Quicksilver was born during the '60s music explosion and was instrumental in the San Francisco Sound of the era. Founded by Dino Valenti, John Cipollina, David Freiberg , Jim Murray, and Casey Sonoban in 1964, their first recording, released in 1968, featured Cipollina, Duncan, and Freiberg with Greg Elmore, who joined the band in '65.

The band toured the Bay Area extensively in the mid to late sixties and were featured on bills with the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

Tonight's show consists of a collection of live performances with fan made slide shows and static images. Unfortunately there was a dearth of live performances available. I've finished off with several videos of performances by the currently reconstituted band.

Direct links to the individual videos:
*** Slide Shows

Dino’s Song

What About Me ***

Fresh Air

Shady Grove ***

Pride of Man ***

Mona

Subway

Maiden of the Cancer Moon ***

Mojo

Edward

Play My Guitar ***

Gold and Silver ***

Joseph’s Coat ***

Don't Cry My Lady Love ***

The Truth ***

Codeine ***

Who Do You Love / When You Love ***

Fire Brothers ***

What About Me ***

Mona ‘07

Fresh Air ‘08

Pride of Man ‘08

Bubba Jeans ‘08

Hightailing it to Mexico.

2008-10-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

For the next week I will be talking a hiatus in Cabo San Lucas therefore I will leave you with this little teaser making you wish you were here with me. The vault will return to normal operation in two weeks providing the two hurricanes I am about to encounter on the trip allow my timely return. One is visiting near there now, the other is due midweek.

Direct links to the individual videos:

Mexican Radio

Mexicali Blues – Ratdog

The Seashores Of Old Mexico – George Strait

Mariachi

Cielito Lindo Huasteco – Mariachi Vargas

Violin Huapango – Mariachi Vargas

Cancion del Mariachi – Antonio Banderas

Farruca – Carlos Montoya

Bolero Maorquie - Carlos Montoya

Castillos de España – Andre Segovia

Variations On A Theme From W.A. Mozart, Opus 9 - Andrés Segovia

Entre dos aguas - Paco de Lucia

Mediterranean Sundance - Paco de Lucia, John Mclauglin y Al Di Meola

Rica Y Apretadita - A.B. Quintanilla III

Ten Paciencia – Thalia

Nuestro Amor – RBD

Enredame - Fonseca

Mexico - Les Humphries Singers

Sea of Cortez Wildlife

David Bromberg

2008-10-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Having gained prominence as a session guitarist in the '60s for folk and country legends such as Bob Dylan and Jerry Jeff Walker, David Bromberg embarked on a solo career with his 1971 self-titled debut. Weaving through bluegrass, folk, blues and rockabilly, Bromberg established himself as a talented songwriter to complement his reputation as a master instrumentalist.
Bromberg's early albums featured noteworthy guests such as George Harrison, Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh, and his unique blues style prominently featured brass sections to create a sound that would later be coined "hillbilly jazz." Bromberg accumulated an impressive solo discography through the '70s and '80s, as he continued to work in the studio for renowned artists such as Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson and The Eagles.

Beginning in the early '80s, Bromberg gradually left the live music scene to spend additional time with his family and explore his interest in collecting, dealing and repairing violins. [Source]

A fine instrumentalist, David can sure belt out the soul wrenching blues, but also has a tendency to interject some good tongue-in-check humor into the mix.

Tonight I bring you a selection of David’s live performances. Included are a number of performances with guitarist Jorma Kaukauna of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna fame as well as a couple of fan produced slide shows. Don’t miss the NPR link below, some more fine tunes there.

David Bromberg Website

Biography

Wiki

NPR Interview and performance

David Bromberg Fine Violins

Direct links to the individual videos:

Demon in Disguise – John Sebastian harp

I Know You Rider – With Hot Tuna

Try Me One More Time

The Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues

Send Me to the Electric Chair

Don’t Put That Thing on Me

I’ll Never be Your Fool

Welcome To The World of Fools

Hesitation Blues – with Jorma Kaukonen

Candyman – with Jorma Kaukonen

Police Dog Blues – With Jorma Kaukonen

Keep on Truckin – With Jorma Kaukonen

Long Tall Mama – With Jorma Kaukonen

Key To The Highway – With Jorma Kaukonen

How Long Blues – With Jorma Kaukonen

Whinin' Boy Blues – With Jorma Kaukonen

Water Song – With Jorma Kaukonen

Good Shepherd – With Jorma Kaukonen

The Sky Is Crying – With Jorma Kaukonen

Suffer to Sing the Blues

The Holdup

Black Mountian Rag – with Arlo Guthrie and John McCuen

Babe Ruth, Colosseum & Blodwyn Pig

2008-09-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight I bring you three bands from deep in my archives.
All three were launched into relative obscurity in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
I must admit that obscurity is the underlying theme of my record collection. When a band made the pop chart I would move on to someone new. There are some exceptions, but you won’t find any Boston, Poison, or other glamor bands, but you will find Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies.

Here then are three British bands that rocked my pad back then. (Some of the Colosseum material is from more recent reunions.)

First at bat tonight is Babe Ruth, followed by Colosseum with Blodwyn Pig third.
There’s sure to be some hits tonight!

Misc. Discography & Review

Blodwyn Pig Website

My Space

Wiki

[click to view playlist]

.

Isle of Wight Music Festival 1970Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors

2008-09-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Time to fire up the Time Machine for a nostalgic trip to the isle.
Tonight’s show begins with the entire performance of Jimi Hendrix at the 1970 Isle of Wight Music Festival, followed by parts of the Who’s performance with The Doors wrapping up the encore. In future shows I will be featuring other artists who performed here.

Isle of Wight 1970 - Wiki

Bio – at above link – flash page – unable to direct link.

Wiki

Direct links to the individual videos:

JIMI HENDRIX

THE WHO

Summertime Blues => My Generation

Naked Eye

I’m Free

THE DOORS

Break on Through

When the Music’s Over

The End

In Memoriam - Richard Wright 1943-2008

2008-09-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

This morning I received the news that Keyboardist Richard Wright, a founding member of Pink Floyd has lost his battle with cancer.

Tonight in this special edition of Saturday Night Music Videos I offer a collection of musical pieces composed either by Richard alone or in collaboration with other members of Pink Floyd. First up is a collection of his solo works including several performances with fellow Pink Floyd member David Gilmour. These are followed by some early Pink Floyd numbers he composed or collaborated on. This early Floyd period seems to be Richard's most prolific with the band.

Wrapping it up are several more recent tunes he collaborated on, finishing with perhaps my favorite Pink Floyd tune "Echoes". (Check here to find out why)

Richard Wright Biography

Direct links to the individual videos:

Night of a Thousand Furry Toys

Breakthrough – with David Gilmour

Wearing the Inside Out – with David Gilmour

Comfortably Numb – with David Gilmour

Main Theme – Pink Floyd

Mud Men – Pink Floyd

Love Scene – Pink Floyd

More Blues – Pink Floyd

Party sequence – Pink Floyd

Paintbox – Pink Floyd

Remember a Day – Pink Floyd

See-Saw – Pink Floyd

Stay – Pink Floyd

Summer ’68 – Pink Floyd

Any Color You Like – Pink Floyd

Burning Bridges – Pink Floyd

Time – Pink Floyd

Shine On You Crazy Diamond – Pink Floyd

Poles Apart – Pink Floyd

Cluster One – Pink Floyd

Keep Talking – Pink Floyd

Echoes – Pink Floyd

There's Horsflies in the Honkytonk up on Nickel Creek

2008-09-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight I’m pleased to bring you a 3’fer of great “Bluegrass Fusion” bands.
None of them had an abundance of videos, so here is a little of each.

First up is The Horseflies. Whether it is the driving rhythm of “Human Fly” or the haunting vocals of “Drunkard’s Lone Child", these folks are fantastic! If I were fortunate enough to be in a band this is the music I would be playing. For more Horseflies, go to the radio player in my sidebar for a full concert. I promise they won’t bite.

Following the flies is Honkytonk Homeslice, including relics of the band “String Cheese”, masters of tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a fixture on the music festival tour circuit. These folks put a light hearted spin on the genre.

Finally I offer up Nickel Creek with an introductory documentary on the band including clips of their childhood performances. They claim they are not a bluegrass band, rather they use bluegrass in their own style of music. Currently they have temporarily disbanded to pursue other outlets.

The closing song of the series, House Carpenter, is one of the songs in my repertoire in case someday I am in a band.

I found both The Horseflies and Honkytonk Homeslice at Live Music Archives where they have a number of concerts that you can download free and legal. See the links below the video to access them.

All three of these bands are packed into my mp3 player for enjoyment on my nightly bicycle rides.

LINKS:

HORSEFLIES

At Live Music Archives

HONKYTONK HOMESLICE

At Live Music Archives

NICKLE CREEK

Direct links to the individual videos:

THE HORSEFLIES

Human Fly

Drunkard's Lone Child

Roadkill

You’re Not a Genius

Drunkard's Lone Child

HONKYTONK HOMESLICE

I Fell in Love at the Honkytonk Bluegrass Journey

Black Clouds

Good Times ‘Round the Bend

En Fuego – with New Monsoon

Stagger Lee – with New Monsoon

NICKEL CREEK

The Lighthouse's Tale

Michael Hedges

2008-09-06T14:54:00.001-07:00

A founding member of Windham Hill Records, Michael Hedges played music which ran the gamut from Ambient to New age and Rock to Classic without ever using a standard tuning on his instruments.

An incredible player he was a master of the six and twelve string guitars as well as the Harp Guitar. He was renowned for his style of picking with both hands, intertwining melodies and rhythms in an outstanding performance.

Tragically Michael was killed in an automobile accident around December first 1997 at the age of 43. His car was found at the bottom of a ravine in Mendocino County by a highway crew on Dec. 2nd.

Here is a selection of his wonderful music followed by a ten minute interview featuring some of his performances.

Unofficial Website

Fan Site @ Myspace

Wiki

Michael Hedges at Bluebear’s Pandora Radio*

*To listen to Pandora Radio go to http://www.pandora.com/ and join. It's free and you create your own radio stations.
Once you get started, clicking on the above link will add the show to your list.
(Sorry, I had hoped it would be available to anyone, but it has been reported to not be so.)

Direct links to the individual videos:

Because It's There

Aerial Boundaries

All Along the Watchtower

Cello Suite #1 in G Major (Bach)

Ragamuffin

Hawkcircle – Guest appearance with fellow Windham Hill artist Will Ackerman

The Naked Stalk=>Jealous Tunnel=>About Face

Theme to "Doodles" – With Leo Kottke

Eight Miles High– With Leo Kottke

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Michael Hedges Interview

Labor Day Honoring the Working Class Heroes

2008-08-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

On this Labor Day holiday I offer up a collection of live performances and slide shows honoring the working class heroes!

Direct links to the individual videos:

Balled of James Larkin - Christy Moore

Which Side Are You On - Pete Seeger

Springhill Mining Disaster – U2

Joe Hill – Phil Ochs

1913 Massacre - Woody Guthrie

North Country Blues – Bob Dylan

There is Power In The Union – Utah Phillips

The Union Maid – Pete Seeger

Solidarity Forever – Pete Seeger

Union Song – The Night Watchman (Tom Morello)

Song from a Cotton Field – Bessie Brown

Cotton – Sam Lightnin’ Hopkins

Working Class Man – Jimmy Barnes

Working Class Hero – John Lennon

Working Man Blues - The Ranchhands

Talking Merchant Marine - Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Pastures of Plenty - Ramblin' Jack Elliot

Deportees - Arlo Guthrie & Emmylou Harrris

Linin' Track - Loki the Trickster

John Henry - Mississippi John Hurt

Railroad Worksong - Notting Hibillies

Go to Sea Once More - Roger McGuinn

We Shall Overcome – Joan Baez

Peter Paul & Mary

2008-08-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

With subjects ranging from anti-war protest songs to songs of the human condition as well as comedy and children’s songs this trio rose to the top of the folk movement of the 60’s and early 70’s.

Founded in 1961 by Albert Grossman as a Folk Supergroup they released their first album the following year, quickly gaining a large following.

After salvaging an old record player from the dump, replacing a few obviously burned out resistors an one vacuum tube I headed down to the used record store. The first two albums I bought were Peter Paul & Mary’s first album titled simply “Peter, Paul and Mary” and Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changing”.

That was about 1965 and indeed things were A Changing!

After collecting several more of their first albums I bought the music books to go with them. With the records, the music books and an old f-hole Harmony guitar I taught myself how to play. I spent many hours playing along with the records and then without them. Eventually, in college, I was part of a folk group called Blue Laughter. We were together for about a year and a half and toured the college campuses around Wisconsin during that time, also giving shows at retirement homes and care centers. But as so often happens in bands, the ego problems of the founder got in the way and we broke up about a month before we were supposed to go tryout for a USO tour to Vietnam.

Alas, I stray, so here is tonight’s show, centered on their works from the early sixties through the mid eighties. But you won’t find any lost flowers or dope smoking dragons here!

PP&M Website

Wiki

Direct links to the individual videos:

Go Tell It On A Mountain

The Times They Are A Changing

Blowing The Wind => Give Peace a Chance

Don't Think, Twice It's All Right

For Loving Me

Come And Go With Me

San Francisco Bay Blues

Hangman

When the Ship Comes In

Too Much of Nothing

Early In The Morning

Moments of Soft Persuasion

The House Song

Well, Well, Well

Hurry Sundown

There But For Fortune

Hymn – Paul Solo

Greenland Whale Fisheries

I Dig Rock And Roll Music

Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

Weave Me The Sunshine

The Wedding Song

Battle of the Folk Bands

with Donovan and the Smothers Brothers

Day Is Done

Oh all right, they already slipped in a snippet, so here…

Where Have All the Flowers Gone

Puff the Magic Dragon

ELVIS IS IN THE HOUSE!

2008-08-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight,on the 30th anniversary of his death from drug abuse and heart disease, we travel back to 1973 and hop a plane to Hawaii for the Aloha Concert by The King.

So get out your grass skirts, grab a Mai Tia and enjoy an evening with Elvis Presley!

Elvis the King Website

The Early Years

Wiki

World Music Quest

2008-08-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

I am looking to do a show featuring artists from around the world. I'm particularly interested in artists using indigenous instruments and stylings.

If you have a favorite artist or group that fits this description please send me a link to their videos or even the name so I can include them in the show.

Leave your requests in the comments below or email to blubear2@gmail.com with "World Music" as the subject line.

FRANK ZAPPA Sorry, this one's not for the kiddies.

2008-08-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

Composer, orchestral director, singer and guitarist extraordinaire, Frank Zappa rose out of the southern California area to become one of the most prolific rock artists of his time.

A satirist, his music was often biting and irreverent, pushing the bounds of the censorship within the music industry. Meticulous rhythm changes and tearing guitar solos were a mark of his works.

Amongst the many band members who worked with him over the years, many have gone on to successful careers of their own. Such well known musicians such as Jean Luc Ponty, Steve Via and the duo Flo and Eddie (also of the Turtles) have performed with Frank over the years.

Unfortunately in 1993 prostate cancer took him from us long before his time.

Tonight I offer a two part show. Think of it as one of those fold-out double albums. The first part, a documentary, has the narration in German, but the narration is only a minor part. In this documentary Frank talks (in English) about his views on government, the music industry, free speech and life in general. Also in the documentary section is an appearance on the TV show “Crossfire” in which he faces off with Right Wing pundit Robert Novak on the subject of obscenity.

The second part of the show is a sampling of his live performances from over the years in no particular order. At the end of the music section are several silly things found while compiling the show.

The Documentary:

The Music:

Frank Zappa Website
Zapa Radio
Wiki

Direct links to the individual videos:

More Trouble Every Day

San Berdino

Watermelon In Easter Hay

RDNZL

Whippin’ Post

You Are What You Is

The Illinois Enema Bandit

The Torture Never Stops pt.1

The Torture Never Stops pt.2

In The Sky

The Black Page

When The Lie's So Big => Planet Of The Baritone Women

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk

St. Etienne

Sharleena

Suicide Chump

Chunga's Revenge => Keep It Greasy

Joe's Garage

Camarillo Brillo => Muffin Man

Frank Zappa on David Letterman, 10-31-83

Zappa on "The Monkees"

Zappa On The Steve Allen Show pt.1

Zappa On The Steve Allen Show pt.2

Zappa On The Steve Allen Show pt.3

Zappa On The Steve Allen Show pt.4

Frank Zappa Commercial For General Electric

Zappa on Make Me Laugh

Don't Eat The Yellow Snow

Bob Dylan

2008-08-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

Poet and singer, Bob Dylan rose out of the 1960’s folk scene to become one of the top spokesmen of the time for the downtrodden and wronged. His songs have been performed and recorded by many artists over the years.
Mocked by my parents who said he couldn’t sing, he was one of my favorite artists and got the most play on my record player. They just couldn’t grasp that the message was in the words, not the nasal resonance.
I would play my guitar and sing along but they would only ask why I played such depressing songs. Sheesh!
Starting off tonight with a number of songs from the mid 60’s, we will then move on to performances from the 1976 Rolling Thunder Review tour.
After that we explore progressively newer performances finishing with collaborations between Bob and other popular artists.

Bob's Website
Wiki
Expecting Rain - News about Dylan and other related artists.
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan - A Martin Scorsese Picture

Direct links to the individual videos:
Blowin' In the Wind

Only a Pawn in Their Game

Mr. Tambourine Man

Girl From The North Country

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

It Ain't Me Babe

It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

Just Like A Woman

Subterranean Homesick Blues

To Ramona

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

She Belongs To Me

Like A Rolling Stone

One Too Many Mornings

Desolation Row

Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Visions Of Johanna

Simple Twist of Fate

One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)

Oh Sister

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Lay Lady Lay

Shelter From The Storm

Knockin' on Heaven's Door

Maggie's Farm

Mozambique

Idiot Wind

Shelter From the Storm

When I Paint My Masterpiece

I Pity the Poor Immigrant

Forever Young

What Can I Do For You

It Takes a Lot to Laugh

Highway 61 Revisited

It’s All Over Now Baby Blue

The Times They Are A-Changin

It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

I Believe in You

Everybody Must Get Stoned

Dark Eyes – with Patti Smith

One Too Many Mornings – with Johnny Cash

Girl from the North Country – with Johnny Cash

Like A Rolling Stone – with Tom Petty

Just Like A Woman – with Tom Petty

Knocking on Heaven’s Door – with Tom Petty

All Along the Watchtower – with Richard Thompson

If Not For You – with George Harrison

Queen Jane Approximately – with the Grateful Dead

It’s All Over Now Baby Blue – with the Grateful Dead

Blowin' In The Wind – with Keith Richards and Ron Wood

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright – with Eric Clapton

Crossroads – with Eric Clapton

I shall be released – with Elvis Costello

Sounds of Silence – with Paul Simon

My Back Pages – with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Neil Young, Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty

Bob Dylan Dharma & Greg

I'VE BEEN HACKED

2008-08-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

SPLASHCAST VIDEOS HACKED -
VIDEOS EITHER FAIL TO LOAD OR REDIRECT TO A FALSE LINK
PLEASE BEAR WITH ME UNTIL I CAN RESOLVE THIS SITUATION

Update 3:38 PM: Link functionality has been restored.

Savoy Brown

2008-07-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Founded in the mid 60’s, tonight’s band was one of the last British blues bands to hit the scene. Although never reaching hit status in England they were well received in America.
The band has seen many personnel changes over the years with guitarist Kim Simmonds being the one constant member. Three of the original members left early on to form Foghat while other members also went on to other bands.

Unfortunately I was unable to find any videos of their early performances so…

Tonight we’ll start off with two live performances from 1995 and then move on to 2005 through the present.

Later, Eric Cartman will present the introduction to the second portion of the show. This portion is comprised of tracks off their 1960’s and ‘70’s albums with various fan generated slide shows.

Savoy Brown/Kim Simmonds Website

Wiki

Streaming Radio

Bio

Direct links to the individual videos:

Too Much Of Good Things

Baby Please

When It Rains

Where's Your Heart Gone

I Don't Remember You Baby

Street Corner Talking

Monday Morning Blues

As Long As I Got You

You Don’t Do A Thing For Me

Stay While the Night Is Young

Keep On Rolling

Jack The Toad

Needle And Spoon

Let it Rock (Rock and Roll on the Radio)

When I Was A Young Boy

Pink Floyd

2008-07-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am again having to take the trip to my daughter's camp so I will leave you with this short but sweet show originally televised in 1970 on KQED in San Francisco.

Pink Floyd Website

Wishbone Ash

2008-07-12T13:47:00.001-07:00

In light of the smoke filled air for the last week due to the over 300 fires in northern California it’s only fitting that I bring you this band tonight.

Founded in the 1960’s and still performing today this British band is a founder of and one of the few remaining guitar-duo power bands. Although various members have come and gone the band has kept the music coming all these years. The current band bearing the original name is now headed up by one of the founding members Andy Powell, while another version of the band is headed up by founding member, Martin Turner.

So here tonight, reminiscent of the hillsides around here, Wishbone Ash!

Andy Powell’s Wishbone Ash

Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash

Wiki

Last-fm Radio featuring Wishbone Ash

A Tribute

Direct links to the individual videos:

Where Were You Tomorrow

Blind Eye / Lady Whiskey

Cosmic Jazz

Lost Cause in Paradise

Real Guitars Have Wings

Why Dont We Live on TV

Sleep's Eternal Slave

Driving a wedge

Powerbright Revolution

Lullaby

Visting Friends

2008-07-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

I am away visiting my friend Jonathan. I will return next weekend.

Steely Dan

2008-06-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight’s show is by special request of Big Dan. This band is also one of my favorites.

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met in college in 1967 and began playing in local bands. Later moving to Brooklyn they released their first album in 1972. They toured briefly but soon retired to working only in the studio accompanied by a host of studio musicians. With six album releases in the ‘70s they broke up in the ‘80s but reformed in the ‘90s and began touring again.

Their blend of jazz, rock and pop sound equally well today as when they first hit the airwaves.

I’ll open tonight with a look had how they mold their music in the studio with a breakdown of their hit song Peg. Finally, I’ve left you a little piece of eye candy for your enjoyment at the end.

Enough from me, I’ll let these ladies tell you what it’s all about:

Direct links to the individual videos:

Janie Runaway and Josie

Home at Last

Cubano Chant - introduction

Godwhacker

Things I Miss the Most

Parker's Band

Do it Again

Rikki Don't Lose That Number

The Caves of Altamira

Time Out of Mind

Black Friday

Glamour Profession

Everyone's Gone To The Movies

East St Louis Toodle-OO

I.G.Y

Do It Again – Reprise

Bodhisattva

Phish The Bluegrass Sessions

2008-06-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the Youtube poster says it best: This has already been called the "Holy Grail" of Phish Videos.
The Rev. Jeff Mosier (Blueground Undergrass) was contracted by Phish in the Fall of 1994, to help them learn Bluegrass. They flew him to Michigan and Gordon picked him up in a limo, and they had their first lesson on 11-14-94, same night as Grand Rapids.

Phish - The Bluegrass Sessions

Phish Official Website

Seasick Steve

2008-06-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

Although his styling may be rather one dimensional, this guy can really lay it down.
I first became aware of him when I was putting together the Green Man Festival video in the post before this one.

Master of bayou-boogie-hobo-blues, he uses whatever he can find to deliver his message. His instruments range from an electric guitar with only three strings and the pickup duct taped, to a couple of tin cans, a van door handle, Christmas decorations and one string mounted on a 2x4. Not much to work with, but he can sure make them sing.

Headed for the Royal Albert Hall October 1st, he brings audiences stories of life on the down-side with a pounding beat from his Mississippi Drum Machine – a wooden box with a Mississippi license plate on the front.

This evening I’ll start you off with a short interview followed by a collection of his performances. Closing things out is an 18 minute movie and an encore to wrap it up.

Tonight I invite you to an evening with SEASICK STEVE!

Seasick Steve’s Website

MySpace

Wiki

Seasick Steve on Streaming Radio

Hobo-low Forum

An interview

Direct links to the individual videos:

A brief interview

Doghouse Boogie

Cut My Wings

Save Me - on the 1 string diddley bo’

A Long Way From Home Movie pt. 1

A Long Way From Home Movie pt. 2.

Encore – Doghouse Boogie reprise

The Green Man Festival

2008-06-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when I opened my email, I found a letter from Mirjam in the U.K.
Mirjam is involved in a music festival called The Green Man Festival to be held this August 15th - 17th in the Glanusk Park Estate near Crickhowell in Powys, Mid Wales.

Getting older, I look at the festival band lists and find I know few of the bands. This festival has three names that stand out to me - perhaps the biggest is Pentangle who have reformed with all the original artists for this show and a concert tour. Richard Thompson is also on top of my list and the Drive-by Truckers are pretty darn good too.

As for the bands I don't know, Mirjam and her cohorts have solved that problem too. There is a radio player at the website with selections from what seems to be all of the artists.

Having seen the Vault, Mirjam has invited me to the show and asked that I spread the word about it.

Unfortunately, due to the melting of the polar ice shield, my only possible land route is blocked and I won't be able to attend.

However, in spreading the word, I invite all my listeners to check out the Green Man Festival website and be sure to go to the show and report back to me if you have the means.

The really cool thing at their site is that you can post a video of your favorite band or your own band, and then people can vote on the bands. Those with the most votes will be added to the show.

So go LISTEN at the Green Man Radio Player.
Sign up a BAND
And go VOTE
(To vote you must REGISTER - 30 seconds tops, plus a chance to win tickets)

Greenman Festivals Past

Thanks Mirjam!

BB2

The Human Condition

2008-05-31T13:29:00.000-07:00

Over the years music has been used to express the human condition. Ranging from working conditions and politics to war and human tragedies, events through history have left their mark in song. Minstrels have often taken the lead in delivering these messages of solidarity against oppression to the populace.

Tonight I bring you a collection of these songs.

Direct links to the individual videos:

Springhill Mining Disaster – U2

Working Man - Rita MacNeil

Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot

There is Power In The Union – U. Utah Phillips

Daddy What’s a Train? – U. Utah Phillips

Wreck Of The Old 97 - Roy Acuff

Buy A Gun For Your Son - Tom Paxton

Who Speaks For Me - Tom Paxton

Ramblin' Boy - Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger

Which Side are You On – Pete Seeger

Solidarity Forever - Pete Seeger

Waist Deep In The Big Muddy - Pete Seeger

Union Maid - Pete Seeger & Arlo Guthrie

City of New Orleans - Arlo Guthrie

Deportees - Arlo Guthrie and Emmylou Harrris

Hobo’s Lulabye – Woody Guthrie

Pastures Of Plenty – Woody Guthrie

House Of The Rising Sun - Woody Guthrie

Blowin' Down The Road - Woody Guthrie

House Un-American Blues Activity Dream - Mimi & Dick Farina

I Ain’t Marching Anymore - Phil Ochs

Joe Hill – Phil Ochs

What are you fighting for? – Phil Ochs

One More Parade - They Might Be Giants:

Universal Soldier – Donovan

A Soldier’s Dream – Donovan

Oh, Freedom - Joan Baez

What have they done to the Rain – Searchers

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall - Bob Dylan

The Times They Are A Changin' - Bob Dylan

Masters Of War - Bob Dylan

It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) - Bob Dylan

Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan

Desolation Row - Bob Dylan

Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Joan Baez

U. Utah Phillips In Memoriam

2008-05-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Updated 5/28/08 - Added Democracy Now Video
[Photo - Christopher Dunn]

With this Saturday’s post nearly completed I learned of the passing of one of my favorite folk singers and song writers. Born the son of union organizers, Bruce Duncan Phillips took the name U. Utah Phillips from the state of Utah where he settled after life riding the rails.

Hobo, folk singer, anarchist, social reformer and a man of the people, Utah passed away this past Friday, just days after his 73^rd birthday.

Story teller extraordinaire, Utah wrote songs about the troubles of the working man and railed against the government that kept them down. He describes an Anarchist as “someone who doesn’t need the police to tell him what to do”.

He even ran for President, but never voted. He professed that one votes with their body – it is the good deeds that one does for others that is your vote.

Being a fairly short distance from here I was able to see him on a number of occasions and it was always a treat.

Coincidently my original post was about the Human Condition and Utah was one of the featured artists. That program has been shelved for a later date and instead I have assembled this tribute to one of the great American Folk Artists. The first sequence is from one of Utah’s many local performances in his hometown of Nevada City, California where he joins a group of local musicians. This is followed by his show at the Strawberry Music Festival – Both shows are from the spring of 2007.

Below the videos is the official press release from his family

Democracy Now program from 5/27/08 featuring an hour long interview with Utah from 2004.

Rest in peace Utah, you deserve it for you’ve served us well!

Press Release for immediate release Saturday May 24, 2008

Contact:

Molly Fisk, 530.277.4686 molly@mollyfisk.com

Jordan Fisher Smith 530.277.3087 jordanfs@gv.net

“Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp Utah Phillips Dead at 73”

Nevada City, California

Utah Phillips, a seminal figure in American folk music who performed extensively and tirelessly for audiences on two continents for 38 years, died Friday of congestive heart failure in Nevada City, California a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains where he lived for the last 21 years with his wife, Joanna Robinson, a freelance editor.

Born Bruce Duncan Phillips on May 15, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of labor organizers. Whether through this early influence or an early life that was not always tranquil or easy, by his twenties Phillips demonstrated a lifelong concern with the living conditions of working people. He was a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as “the Wobblies,” an organizational artifact of early twentieth-century labor struggles that has seen renewed interest and growth in membership in the last decade, not in small part due to his efforts to popularize it.

Phillips served as an Army private during the Korean War, an experience he would later refer to as the turning point of his life. Deeply affected by the devastation and human misery he had witnessed, upon his return to the United States he began drifting, riding freight trains around the country. His struggle would be familiar today, when the difficulties of returning combat veterans are more widely understood, but in the late fifties Phillips was left to work them out for himself. Destitute and drinking, Phillips got off a freight train in Salt Lake City and wound up at the Joe Hill House, a homeless shelter operated by the anarchist Ammon Hennacy, a member of the Catholic Worker movement and associate of Dorothy Day.

Phillips credited Hennacy and other social reformers he referred to as his “elders” with having provided a philosophical framework around which he later constructed songs and stories he intended as a template his audiences could employ to understand their own political and working lives. They were often hilarious, sometimes sad, but never shallow.

“He made me understand that music must be more than cotton candy for the ears,” said John McCutcheon, a nationally-known folksinger and close friend.

In the creation of his performing persona and work, Phillips drew from influences as diverse as Borscht Belt comedian Myron Cohen, folksingers Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and Country stars Hank Williams and T. Texas Tyler.

A stint as an archivist for the State of Utah in the 1960s taught Phillips the discipline of historical research; beneath the simplest and most folksy of his songs was a rigorous attention to detail and a strong and carefully-crafted narrative structure. He was a voracious reader in a surprising variety of fields.

Meanwhile, Phillips was working at Hennacy’s Joe Hill house. In 1968 he ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. The race was won by a Republican candidate, and Phillips was seen by some Democrats as having split the vote. He subsequently lost his job with the State of Utah, a process he described as “blacklisting.”

Phillips left Utah for Saratoga Springs, New York, where he was welcomed into a lively community of folk performers centered at the Caffé Lena, operated by Lena Spencer.

“It was the coffeehouse, the place to perform. Everybody went there. She fed everybody,” said John “Che” Greenwood, a fellow performer and friend.

Over the span of the nearly four decades that followed, Phillips worked in what he referred to as “the Trade,” developing an audience of hundreds of thousands and performing in large and small cities throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. His performing partners included Rosalie Sorrels, Kate Wolf, John McCutcheon and Ani DiFranco.

“He was like an alchemist,” said Sorrels, “He took the stories of working people and railroad bums and he built them into work that was influenced by writers like Thomas Wolfe, but then he gave it back, he put it in language so the people whom the songs and stories were about still had them, still owned them. He didn’t believe in stealing culture from the people it was about."

A single from Phillips’s first record, “Moose Turd Pie,” a rollicking story about working on a railroad track gang, saw extensive airplay in 1973. From then on, Phillips had work on the road. His extensive writing and recording career included two albums with Ani DiFranco which earned a Grammy nomination. Phillips’s songs were performed and recorded by Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Tom Waits, Joe Ely and others. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Folk Alliance in 1997.

Phillips, something of a perfectionist, claimed that he never lost his stage fright before performances. He didn’t want to lose it, he said; it kept him improving.

Phillips began suffering from the effects of chronic heart disease in 2004, and as his illness kept him off the road at times, he started a nationally syndicated folk-music radio show, “Loafer’s Glory,” produced at KVMR-FM and started a homeless shelter in his rural home county, where down-on-their-luck men and women were sleeping under the manzanita brush at the edge of town. Hospitality House opened in 2005 and continues to house 25 to 30 guests a night. In this way, Phillips returned to the work of his mentor Hennacy in the last four years of his life.

Phillips died at home, in bed, in his sleep, next to his wife. He is survived by his son Duncan and daughter-in-law Bobette of Salt Lake City, son Brendan of Olympia, Washington; daughter Morrigan Belle of Washington, D.C.; stepson Nicholas Tomb of Monterrey, California; stepson and daughter-in-law Ian Durfee and Mary Creasey of Davis, California; brothers David Phillips of Fairfield, California, Ed Phillips of Cleveland, Ohio and Stuart Cohen of Los Angeles; sister Deborah Cohen of Lisbon, Portugal; and a grandchild, Brendan. He was preceded in death by his father Edwin Phillips and mother Kathleen, and his stepfather, Syd Cohen.

The family requests memorial donations to Hospitality House, P.O. Box 3223, Grass Valley, California 95945 (530) 271-7144 www.hospitalityhouseshelter.org

Jordan Fisher Smith and Molly Fisk

The U. Utah Phillips Website.

Wiki

List of Links

Folk Alliance 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award

Utahs’s Blog – With a message from Utah a week before his passing.

An Interview with Utah

[Photo - Christopher Dunn]

SplashCast Demise

2008-05-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

SPLASHCAST DEMISE

This past Sunday evening, when I checked my email before going to bed, I found:

The Letter

Most of the videos linked here were created using the SplashCast interface. They were built of links to YouTube videos assembled into a player which had the ability to play the videos sequentially.
SplashCast has yet to answer my question of what will happen to my videos, but I figure they will be lost after June 1st.

This has hit the Video Vault hard. This will leave about 50 of my shows dead. I will leave the posts up as I try and find another means of making these presentations. At some point I started listing the direct links to the videos so you can access them that way.
I thought YouTube playlists would be the answer, but if the player gets to a broken link it just stops without ever skipping to the next video without human intervention.

Check back occasionally as I try and find a new format.

BB2

UPDATE 6/7/09:

I have recently found a new service called EmbedR which is very similar to Spalshcast in that it can assemble the links into a stream. I have begun using the player for my new shows and over time I will convert the old shows into the new format.

UPDATE 5/08/09:

From time to time the SplashCast videos come back to life, you may get lucky, or you may get a black box where the video should be.

[Actual date of post 5/24/09]