Got music?

Haven't had as much time for blogging, since its the holidaze.




But I have been storing up songs, so you're in luck.

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First, a song about Daisy's childhood. Yes, this is about MY MOTHER, and all those other mouthy beehive-hairdo white trash ladies of the 60s ... I miss yall so much. (And especially during the holidays, I always miss my mama terribly.)

In my lifetime, I have gone from embarrassment over this song (amazingly accurate, thought the 12-year-old me, how did Tom T. Hall KNOW THIS ABOUT US??????), to giggling-glee and pride, to tearful nostalgia. Its from another time. This could never happen now.

But hey, really: it used to happen. My mother was a bit more colorful in her language than ole Tom's lyrics could be in 1968.

I included a version with the lyrics:

Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley PTA



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Speaking of nostalgia, any comments I attempt on this one, would probably degenerate into blubbering... so I won't.

Cassidy - Grateful Dead



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A sentiment I have often had, about people I love... it was such a surprise to hear the same feelings come from a man.

Delightful, sweet and very honest.

I wish I was your mother - Mott the Hoople



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For you headbanging kidz, I remembered to bring the punk.

This song comes highly recommended; it once destroyed one of my friend's car speakers.

New Rose - The Damned



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Next up, a song about my husband's hometown:

Little Feat - Oh Atlanta



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Big finish!

Despite copious promises, I never have updated my old INSTRUMENTALS post, which continues to get hits from desperate music-lovers looking for the names of ancient, wordless tunes ... and so, as a consolation prize, here is a stunning instrumental tune you have probably heard many, many times, done with consummate class and finesse by Jeff Beck.

My very favorite version of the jazz classic first written and recorded by Charles Mingus in 1959.

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Jeff Beck

Blood, Sweat and Tears

I recently realized I had never posted any songs by BS&T (as they used to be called, and everyone knew the acronym too). These are two songs you won't hear on the oldies radio stations.

I never noticed there are (gasp) VIOLINS in this song. Sung and co-written by Al Kooper, who would soon depart the band, I just adored this record and listened to it every single day when I was about 13 years old. Which is probably why I never noticed the violins. The melody is lovely!

I Can't Quit Her - Blood, Sweat and Tears



And this is the Blood, Sweat and Tears most of you will remember; BEAUTIFUL BIG BRASS NOISE, headed up by singer David Clayton-Thomas.

Go Down Gamblin - Blood, Sweat and Tears

Sweet as cherry pie

Cherry Pie - Sade



Again, a tip of the hat to WPCI!

Work Song

I have never posted this before, and just realized it! My deepest apologies! Its one of my very favorite pieces of music, originally written by jazz trumpeter Nat Adderley. My parents' band also played it. Everybody played it in the 60s, at some point.

As regular readers know, I loved the late, great Mr Mike Bloomfield, and his Chicago blues-guitar sounded just phenomenal here.

Work Song - Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Shannon Hoover Sunday Jazz Workshop

Today: Purty music by Shannon and friends.

Shannon Hoover Trio

A lovely afternoon of beautiful jazz fusion with the Shannon Hoover Trio at Horizon Records.

Yes, I notice four musicians (count em, four), rather than three. So maybe a quartet? Actually, several folks were preparing to sit in, so I guess an impromptu jam session. Very nice, and somehow just perfect for Autumn.

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We are approaching the busiest time of year for retail employees, so I apologize if my appearance at the blog becomes a bit spotty. I just finished a VERY LONG week; we have one worker out on maternity leave, and I picked up the slack like a (very exhausted) trooper. It was so nice to relax with some good music today.

Thanks Shannon and compatriots!

Merl Saunders 1934-2008

Merl Saunders, photo by Bob Minkin.

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I haven't had a chance to write a formal obituary... but wanted to acknowledge the Deadhead family's loss of Merl. A friend called me at work to tell me over the weekend.

Also see Annie's wonderful post.

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Merl Saunders dies at age 74

Merl Saunders, a keyboardist best known for his collaborations with Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia, died Friday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco of complications from a stroke he had several years ago. Saunders was 74.

A musician who worked in a variety of genres in a long and varied career, Saunders played piano and keyboard but favored the Hammond B3 organ. He led his own bands and worked with an array of musicians, including the blues-oriented Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King, jazz legend Miles Davis and the jam band Phish.

He played on the Grateful Dead's 1971 album "Grateful Dead," but it was his collaborations with Garcia away from the group that earned him lasting notice. Starting in the 1970s, they worked on a variety of projects and recorded several albums together, including "Heavy Turbulence," "Fire Up" and "Live at the Keystone." Years later they released the popular New Age album "Blues From the Rainforest." Saunders later released a video chronicling his journey to the Amazon.

Garcia credited Saunders with teaching him the Great American Songbook and expanding his knowledge of harmony.

"He taught me music," Garcia said.

Saunders said their association had a "charisma and chemistry you couldn't question."

"We wouldn't play together for a couple of years, then we'd walk onstage and sound like we'd been playing together every day," Saunders told the Los Angeles Times shortly after Garcia's death in 1995. "That's called knowing. Sometimes I still play off him; I hear what he's doing, the notes he'd be playing, even though he's gone."

Resquiat in Pace, dear friend.

More at Dead.net.

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Listening to: Grateful Dead - I Know You Rider
via FoxyTunes

Artisphere!

... was this weekend in downtown Greenville. It was a veritable invasion of the artists.



Some of the performers at this year's Artisphere:

Cajun king Marc Broussard, Asheville's popular Firecracker Jazz Band, the fabulous Susan Tedeschi, teenybopper favorite Nathan Angelo, soul songbird Kellin Watson, amazing New Orleans brass-funk masters Bonerama, Spartanburg's own Shane Pruitt, Lowcountry musician Shrimp City Slim, Christian blues artist Marvin King, the voice of South Carolina soul - Wanda Johnson, Asheville improvisational foursome the Nightcrawlers, entertaining blues bands Gas House Mouse, Elliott and the Untouchables and Chicago Joe Jones (click on Joe for some great tunes!) and of course, the Carolina Ballet.

And even more...

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The Dead Air Artisphere Art award goes to my favorite artist of the festival-- Geoffrey Aaron Harris. Below are his pieces Rocket Launch, Supersonic, and my new computer desktop background, the completely irresistible Shrunken Heads of Robotica!


































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Left: The Dead Air Artisphere Music Award goes to Atlanta's bluesy Breeze Kings, who were just right for a relaxed Sunday afternoon by the river. (Click here for some good music!)

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Below, the Reedy River on the west side of the falls. I was writing last week about the extensive development on the river, and this gives you a general idea of what it looks like. This is only a small part of Artisphere, but the prettiest part!



More great photos here!

Martin Fierro 1942-2008

Left: Martin Fierro, photo by Robert Minkin, from Dead.net.

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Music fans and Deadheads everywhere have suffered a great loss, with the passing of mighty saxophonist Martin Fierro. He died of cancer yesterday, surrounded by family and friends in Marin County, California.

Martin is known to Deadheads primarily for playing flute and saxophone on the 1973 Grateful Dead album Wake of the Flood. He also played with several of Jerry Garcia's side projects, including the Legion of Mary.

Martin was born in Mexico and moved to El Paso, Texas, at the age of 10, where he played saxophone in his high school marching band. Then he heard music by Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and others, changing and rearranging his world, as the music did for so many other young people of the era. Martin's music took him to new places and new syncretic combinations; a new musical synthesis. He was a fixture in the Bay Area jam band scene of the late 60s/early 70s, sitting in with bands like Mother Earth, Sir Douglas Quintet and Quicksilver Messenger Service.


Left: Jerry Garcia birthday concert poster, from Honest Tunes. (2006)

Dead.net reports on Martin after the breakup of The Legion of Mary:

Martin had no trouble finding work following the dissolution of the Legion of Mary; indeed his tenure with Garcia was like a springboard to an expanded fan base and many new opportunities. He continued to play on and off with Merl Saunders—a lifelong friend—and he also played often with various groups led by John Cipollina, including a marathon stint in the great Bay Area jam band Zero. His association with Zero also led to an enduring musical partnership with Steve Kimock, as well. In fact, the last time I saw Martin play was with a re-formed Zero (with Kimock) at Wavy Gravy’s birthday benefit at the Regency Ballroom in SF in 2007. Over the years Martin also sat in with many other jam bands, from String Cheese Incident to Dark Star Orchestra. “I just love to play, man,” he told me, “I’ll show up and it’s, ‘Oh, Martin, you gonna play with us, right?’ And I say, ‘Well, I do happen to have a horn with me…’” he laughed.

When we spoke, he joked about how he had cheated death on numerous occasions: “The worst was a surfing accident in Hawaii [in the late ’90s]. I broke my neck and my back, man. I was dead for close to ten minutes and they brought me back, and then they thought I was brain damaged or I’d be paralyzed. The next day I played a gig with Zero!” He laughed heartily—as he often did. And whether there was a touch of exaggeration in the tale or not doesn’t matter. (He did, in fact, carry a lot of physical pain with him, from that and other episodes) But it shows his zest for life, which he retained until his final days on earth.

Another one gone too soon.

Yes.

Our prayers and Deadhead love go out to Martin and his family.

**You can share memories and leave messages and memorials at martinfierromusic.com.