Saturday, January 28, 2012

Tuneweek, 01-28-2012: Ukes Galore



Shameless Self Promotion: My band Awed Ducks will play a featured 30-minute set at around 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, at Panama Red Coffeehouse at the Vallejo Ferry Terminal, 289 Mare Island Way, Vallejo, CA (poster above with full bill).
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Let's close the first month of the New Year with a quick survey of the world of ukulele. UkeToob has a selection of recent vids.

No ukulele mention would be complete without including Jake Shimabukuro, who's probably done more than anyone recently to lift the jumping flea to new heights of musical respectability. He's best known for his version of George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps, but here he does his own tune, Let's Dance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZxrlDU1RyE 
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Ledward Kaapana is primarily known as a slack-key guitarist, but also sparkles on uke:
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I especially like James Hill and Gerald Ross:
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Here's Ross's version of Poinciana, in case you missed it:
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And Hill's Ode to A Frozen Boot:
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And let's also take The A Train with a U-Bass:
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Aaron Keim, False Hearted Lover, from his two-chord songbook, vol 2:
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Outstanding music by the David Wax Museum:
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And always remember: Happiness Is A Warm Gun:
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Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink's new Ukulele playlist:
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Gianni and Sarah, I'll Drink to That:
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Don't know who Roxypuzzlepatch is, but I like her cover of the Grateful Dead's Tennessee Jed:
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Postscripts on Etta James and Johnny Otis: 
A rerun of a 1990s Terry Gross interview with Etta was featured on Friday's Fresh Air:
And Joel Selvin wrote a nice piece in the San Francisco Chronicle on Johnny:
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Gone But Not Forgot:
Dick Kniss, bassist for Peter, Paul & Mary and John Denver co-writer, 74:
Larry Butler, Kenny Rogers's producer, 69:
John Levy, bassist and talent manager, 99:
Gerre Hancock, church organist, 77:
Winston Riley, Jamaican music producer, 68:
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Keep on Musicking!
Bob Loomis
In Loving Memory of Shannon Christine Loomis, 1967-2010


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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Tuneweek, 01-21-2012: RIP Etta James, Johnny Otis

A week of two major losses for the music world: Etta James and Johnny Otis. They were major figures in my teen-age years. I began listening to Otis's band and radio show in Los Angeles around 1954 or '55, right when the two were connecting professionally and recorded together, and when Etta had the R&B hit Roll With Me Henry. Those were formative years musically. Otis's and KFOX disc jockey colleague Hunter Hancock's shows provided a door into the then still separate world of rhythm and blues, where most artists were African American, and into Chuck Berry's rock and roll before such artists began to commonly be played on mainstream stations. Radio (AM radio, not FM!) was king in those days, and a hit single could jump start a major career, or simply a regional hit, since there was no Internet then. 

No one knew it in 1954 but the arrival of rock and roll in mainstream radio meant the rapid fade of bland white pop singers like Georgia Gibbs who covered Roll With Me Henry (removing the word "roll," which was considered too suggestive in those distant, dark ages). By 1957 and '58 artists like Berry began crossing over into mainstream radio.

Etta James died Friday at age 73. Here are two obituaries, one from the New York Times, one from Associated Press via the San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/arts/music/etta-james-singer-dies-at-73.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/20/national/a083558S31.DTL&ao=2
Her son Donto describes her passing:http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Entertainment/20120121/etta-james-death-son-20120121/
Music:
Roll With Me Henry (1955):
At Last (an early version):
I'd Rather Go Blind:
Something's Got A Hold On Me:
I Just Want To Make Love to You:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUgvVAFFzN8

Otis, a fine bandleader and hitmaker in his own right (e.g., Willie and The Hand Jive), died Tuesday at age 90. He had a Saturday morning show on KPFA-FM for some time and was also an artist and club owner in Sebastopol, CA.
The Los Angeles Tines obituary:http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-johnny-otis-20120119,0,2183487.story
The New York Times obituary:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/arts/music/johnny-otis-musician-dies-at-90.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries
An appreciation by Dave Alvin (of the Blasters):http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2012/01/johnny-otis-obituary-dave-alvin-appreciation.html
Music:
Harlem Noctune in 1945 was Johnny's first big hit. It was the theme song for another KFOX show, Sleepy Stein's jazz slot that started at 10 p.m. after Hunter Hancock's show:
Here's Hand Jive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEeeGMpM_Nk
With Marci Lee, Telephone Baby:
With son Shuggie Otis and Roy Buchanan on guitar for Sweet Home Chicago:
Also Gone But Not Forgot:
Harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt, 83:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/arts/music/gustav-leonhardt-harpsichordist-dies-at-83.html?ref=obituaries

Jimmy Castor, master of many genres, 71:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/arts/music/jimmy-castor-musician-who-mastered-many-genres-dies-at-71.html?ref=obituaries
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Shameless Self Promotion: I'll be one of around 15 performers at an open mic Upstairs at First Street Cafe, 440 First Street, Benicia, CA, tonight. The show starts at 7, and each performer gets 15 minutes. I'm on second, if all goes as planned. Thanks to Debbie Kuhl Wendt for organizing and emceeing these! Excellent talent and no cover charge. Hope to see you there. 
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That's all for this week, keep on musicking!
Bob Loomis
In Loving Memory of Shannon Christine Loomis, 1967-2010


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Saturday, January 14, 2012

Tuneweek, 01-14-2012: Pickin' 'n' Grinnin'


A few live shows worth seeing in our area:  
Bill Evans, banjo virtuoso, will perform at 7:30 tonight in a benefit for the Contra Costa Food Bank at the 2nd Saturday Concert Series, 260 Walnut Avenue, Walnut Creek, CA. Tickets are $12 at the door. On Feb. 11 Jim Nunally and Dix Bruce will perform in the series. Samples of his music:

Martinez's own Hopeful Romantics play at 8 p.m. tonight Upstairs at the First Street Cafe, 440 First Street, Benicia, CA, at 8 p.m. No cover charge and a great Americana band! Samples of their music:

T-Shirt Tuxedo, with our younger grandson, Norris Turnnidge, plays at a 6 to 10 p.m. rock show at Devil's Lounge, next door to Toot's Tavern, 627 2nd Avenue, Crockett, CA. Tickets are $5. Also playing will be Back Door Bang and Only for Tomorrow.
Sample of T-Shirt Tuxedo:
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The Blues Foundation's nominees for the 33rd Blues Music Awards:
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And this very instructive vid on white spirituals and black spirituals:

Today's featured artist, one of the most astounding flatpickers on the planet, David Grier, here talking about playing and playing Beaumont Rag:
Be sure to check out the links down the right side of the page, including the other artists!
Hot band, with David ... Old Dangerfield:
More David Grier, with Luke Munday:
Roy Curry, David Grier, Clay Hess and Justin Carbone at the IBMA guitar workshop 2008 in Nashville:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IjRTMSivgu4
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Not too shabby pickin' here by Ricky Skaggs and Albert Lee:
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Another fine flatpicker, Robert Bowlin:
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And from Betsy Rome on the flatpicking guitar e-mail list:
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Bob Harris, besides being a great
recording engineer, he was Vassar Clements' playing partner for the last
years of Vassar's life. Bob gets great tone, clarity & speed out of a
guitar. Here he is at Grey Fox masters guitar workshop in 2010, "New
Camptown Races" with Josh Williams and Tony Watt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DnSUwsIpXgug
Here he is with Vassar, in Bob's studio. Guitar enters around 1:50:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DKbqcqC8_7n8
Also, in the holiday spirit, here's a video he wrote with his wife, singerLucy Clark, "Jersey Bada Bing Christmas", a hilarious send-up, New Jersey-style:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DNQaf3MVL9Ls
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Here's Bryan Kimsey's vid of a Martin guitar "before" he modifies it ... I'll try to remember to post the follow-up "after" vid when he posts it after completing the work:
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Last but not least, this article by David Thom in Bluegrass Today on fiddler/mandolinist Ed Neff, with a video link:
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Two new live music venues will be opening in Marin County. First, Sweetwater Music Hall:
And, Terrapin Crossroads:
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GONE BUT NOT FORGOT:
Tom Ardolino, NRBQ drummer, 56:

Alex Weissenberg, fire-and-ice pianist, 82:

Ruth Fernandez, Puerto Rico singer and senator, 92:
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That's all for this week, keep on Musicking (and GO NINERS!),
Bob Loomis
In Loving Memory of Shannon Christine Loomis, 1967-2010
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Saturday, January 07, 2012

Tuneweek, 01-07-2012: Temporary Adios to Crooked Still


Learned this week that one of our favorite bands, Crooked Still, is taking the rest of 2012 off to allow members a chance to pursue other interests (and, I imagine, recover from playing together constantly for the past 10 years). Here's hoping they regroup in 2013, and here's one of our favorite songs by them (with links to more down the right side of this page):

Their Web page:
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Happy Birthday (Friday) to Earl Scruggs, generally considered the deviser of Scruggs three-finger banjo playing that helped make bluegrass bluegrass, had his 80th birthday Friday. Herewith a fantastic version of Scruggs on Foggy Mountain Breakdown, a tune he wrote, played here with Steve Martin, Marty Stuart, Jerry Douglas, Vince Gill, and other luminaries:
More Scruggs:
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Shameless Self-Promo: I'll be playing and singing from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Pinole (CA) Farmers Market, Pear and Fernandez streets in Pinole. Drop by and say hi if you're in the neighborhood!
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Gone But Not Forgot:
Fred Milano, original member of Dion and The Belmonts, 72:

Barbara Lea, cabaret singer, 82:
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That's all for this week, keep on musicking!
Bob Loomis
In Loving Memory of Shannon Christine Loomis, 1967-2010


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