It’s crazy how much Lily Allen looks like Linda Ronstadt in this video for “Not Fair.” I know it’s a purposeful bit of retro styling, from the set to her bangs, but still, it’s kind of weird, right?

Lily Allen

Linda Ronstadt

Apparently the fun-loving Lily’s taking an indefinite break from music to, I don’t know, open a perfume shop or something. Back away from Lindsay Lohan, Lily. Back. Away.

Linda Ronstadt.

If you’re a Jets fan this morning, you are absolutely concerned that Kellen Clemens will sabotage our season today.

Look, there is literally NO reason to believe this guy, who was given chance after chance to be the Jets QB of the future, can lead the team to a win over Tampa Bay.

Sure, the Bucs stink. And sure, the Jets have needed so many minor miracles the last few weeks from

other teams just to still have a shot at the playoffs (Eric Mangini and the Cleveland Browns, thank you for Thursday night!). And sure, they probably don’t need great QB play today to beat Tampa.

But still, I just have no faith Clemens can play a decent game. We’ll see.

****So, my wonderful wife has gotten into the spirit of Hanukkah since we’ve been together. One year when we were dating she garnished her whole apartment in Hanukkah-themed decorations as a surprise when I came over one December night. She spins a mean dreidel, and she makes great latkes, too. Anyway, Saturday she came home with latkes and some blue and white (normally black and white) cookies. Yummy.

Anyway, here’s Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah song for you, in case you haven’t heard it yet this year:

**Finally, I’m not much of a death guy. I don’t think about it too much, don’t dread it, really don’t touch on the subject much at all.

All I’ve asked my family is, when my time on Earth has passed, to play two songs at my funeral: Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” which totally got me through my freshman year of high school, and “Goodbye My Friend,” by Linda Ronstadt, which chokes me up every time I hear it (and was featured in the greatest “Wonder Years” episode ever.”

Is that so much to ask?

Here’s a little G N’ R, for the 80s music lovers among you. God this is such a great song.

Christmas is less than two weeks away and the signs of the approaching holiday are everywhere.  The Christmas decorations have been taken from the basement and put in their familiar locations.  This weekend we will get our tree, trim it with the ornaments we have collected over the years, and hang our stockings on the chimney with care.   At the office, Christmas cards are arriving and being displayed on doors, and people have started to add seasonal touches to their clothing.  Women get to wear festive sweaters and scarves; men make do with holiday ties and socks (of which I have a decent assortment).

And, of course, a big part of the holidays is the music.  As I’ve mentioned before, I love Christmas music, and it is well-represented on the Ipod in the Holiday Mix playlist, which is 293 songs and 15.8 hours long.  I like mixing up music and I’ve tried to do that with my Christmas music playlist — instrumental music with vocal, traditional carols with pop songs and James Brown, jazz-influenced treatments with the Salvation Army band, classically trained tenors with ’50s crooners and torch singers.  The first 20 songs on the Holiday Mix playlist are as follows:

Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental) —    Vince Guaraldi,   A Charlie Brown Christmas
The Christmas Song —   Linda Ronstadt,  A Merry Little Christmas
Gruber: Stille Nacht (Silent Night) —    José Carreras, Christmas Favorites From The World’s Favorite Tenors
Sleigh Ride —    Leroy Anderson,  Season’s Greetings-Disc 1-20th Century Masters The Millennium Colleion
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen —    Bing Crosby,  White Christmas
Jingle Bell Rock —   Bobby Helms, Season’s Greetings-Disc 2-20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection
O Come, O Come Emanuel –   Robert Shaw Chorale, A Festival Of Carols
The Holly & The Ivy —    Mediaeval Baebes, Mistletoe & Wine: A Seasonal Collection
Blue Christmas —    Elvis Presley, Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits
Go Tell It On The Mountain —   Mahalia Jackson,  Christmas With Mahalia Jackson
II – Redemption : Alma redemptoris —    Edward Higginbottom,  Nativitas
The Spirit Of Christmas —    Rosemary Clooney, Rosemary Clooney: White Christmas
What Child Is This? —    Oscar Peterson,  An Oscar Peterson Christmas
A Holly Jolly Christmas —    Burl Ives, Season’s Greetings-Disc 1-20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas —    The Carpenters, Christmas Portrait
O Holy Night (Cantique De Noel) —   Mormon Tabernacle Choir,  Christmas With The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Let It Snow —   Dean Martin, Christmas With Ol’ Dino
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71A – Danses Caracteristiques: Marche —    Alberto Lizzio: London Festival Orchestra, Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Swan Lake (Ballet Suites)
Feliz Navidad —    José Feliciano,  Feliz Navidad
Please Come Home For Christmas —    James Brown,  Funky Christmas

Echoes In The Wind Report:

Click here to go to EITW to check Linda Ronstadt “Love Has No Pride”, John Lennon “Mind Games”, El Chicano “Tell Her She’s Lovely”, The Band “Ain’t Got No Home”, and more.

I missed a birthday on Sunday. Didn’t even think about it until it was past. But it’s not like someone’s out there saddened or even annoyed that I forgot about him or her. My mustache doesn’t care.

It was December 6, 1973, when I headed out of Fredericia, Denmark, for a two-week hitchhiking tour through Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. To save room in my toiletries case, I left my razor and my shaving cream behind. I think the plan was to go a few weeks without shaving and then take a look in the mirror and make a decision. If what I saw wasn’t too ridiculous, I’d continue to let my beard and mustache grow.

Through misadventure – and the lack of traffic for hitchhiking, the result of an oil embargo – I ended up back in Denmark after a week instead of two. But I still foreswore shaving, waiting to see how things went. Based on photos taken on Christmas Day – not quite three weeks into the project – things weren’t going well. It almost looked as if I’d not washed my chin and upper lip for a while.

But it was so much easier not to shave, and facial foliage was in style at the time, especially among young folks. And at the very least, it meant ten minutes more of sleep some mornings. Eventually, I began trimming the beard and mustache, but I kept both until December 1975. I was in the middle of an internship at a Twin Cities television station, and I thought that losing the beard might give me a better chance of getting on the air during the last two months of the quarter; shaving off the beard might also, I thought, give me a better chance of being employed by the station after I graduated. I kept the mustache, but hey, it was 1975. Lots of guys had mustaches.

The beard came back during my days in Monticello, but only for two years, I think. I also grew a beard in during my first year of graduate school, and shaved it off as I prepared to move back to Minnesota. Finally, around Thanksgiving in 1987, I quit shaving again, and I’ve had a beard ever since.

Through all of that, the mustache has remained. I guess if there were a real moment of choice, it came in December 1975, when I shaved off my first beard. I’m not sure why I kept the mustache then, but I’ve not thought seriously about shaving it off since then.

So my mustache is thirty-six years old this week. It’s a little bit neater these days than it was during my college years or my years of scuffling in the late 1990s. My monthly visits to Tom the Barber keep both the beard and mustache trimmed, if not quite as short as the Texas Gal would like. (To be honest, I think she’d prefer to see both of them gone, but she knows that idea is a non-starter.)

So what were we listening to during the week that I set aside my razor? Here are a few selections.

A Six-Pack From The Charts (Billboard Hot 100, December 8, 1973)
“If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)” by the Staple Singers (No. 12)
“Mind Games” by John Lennon (No. 24)
“Why Me” by Kris Kristofferson (No. 34)
“Tell Her She’s Lovely” by El Chicano (No. 61)
“Ain’t Got No Home” by The Band (No. 83)
“Love Has No Pride” by Linda Ronstadt (No. 92)

The Staple Singers’ “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)” moves along in a sweet, mellow groove, as did most of the Staples’ tunes. It’s clearly derivative of their own “I’ll Take You There,” which went to No. 1 in the spring of 1972. But that didn’t seem to bother listeners a lot: “If You’re Ready” went to No. 9, giving the Staples their second Top Ten hit, and it went to No.1 on the R&B chart, just as “I’ll Take You There” had. The Staples would have two more Top 40 hits in the next two years, with the second of them – “Let’s Do It Again” – reaching No. 1 on both the Top 40 and R&B charts.

If I have my John Lennon history correct, “Mind Games” and the similarly titled album were the first bits of Lennon’s work to surface from the period he spent in California that’s come to be known as the Lost Weekend or something like that. (That’s wrong, as reader Johnny Bacardi noted. Mind Games was recorded before the Lost Weekend, and Walls and Bridges was recorded during it.) One of the Rolling Stone record guides basically said the album was the product of a musician whose music had no other purpose than to continue his career. I think it’s a little better than that. “Mind Games” went to No. 18.

Not long ago, Rolling Stone published a lengthy feature on Kris Kristofferson, an interesting portrait of the man, flaws and all. I read it, went back and listened to more of his music than I have in some time, and I came to the same judgment I did long ago: A limited actor, a limited singer and a hell of a songwriter. His “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” was one of the first songs that made me wish I could ever write anything that good. Kristofferson’s “Why Me” went to No. 16 and made it to No. 1 on the country chart.

I retain a soft spot for the Latin-tinged pop-rock of El Chicano (as well as for the music of Malo, a similar group of the time), so when the group pops up in a chart I’m examining, it’s likely the record will show up here. “Tell Her She’s Lovely” is particularly engaging to me, what with the dual guitar figure that pops up at the twelve-second mark to lead the way onward. The single barely made the Top 40, spending one week at No. 40.

The Band’s “Ain’t Got No Home” never came close to making the Top 40. Pulled from Moondog Matinee, the group’s album of covers of vintage rock ’n’ roll and R&B tunes, “Ain’t Got No Home” was a version of Clarence “Frogman” Henry’s 1957 hit that even included a vocal imitation of Henry’s frog-like croak at the 1:35 mark. The record had been in the Hot 100 for three weeks as of December 8, 1973, and had only gotten as high as No. 83. Two weeks later, “Ain’t Got No Home” peaked at No. 73 for two weeks; two weeks after that, the record was gone from the Hot 100.

The other night, catching up with the massive concert celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Texas Gal and I heard Bonnie Raitt perform “Love Has No Pride.” As Raitt sang, the Texas Gal noted that she preferred Linda Ronstadt’s version. I tend to lean toward Raitt’s 1972 version from Give It Up, but I’ll gladly acknowledge that Ronstadt did a hell of a job on the song. The single version – which this may or may not be – peaked at No. 51 in mid-January 1974. (Another version of the song that I should likely post one of these days is the 1977 recording by Libby Titus, who co-wrote the song with Eric Kaz.)

***The latest Record Shack feature article is always at WTZQ.com.

To listen to an archive of this show (in 4 parts), click here: 112809Seg1, 112809Seg2, 112809Seg3, 112809Seg4. A list of songs and artists is available under the “Playlists” tab.

SPOTLIGHT ARTIST: THE STONE PONEYS

The first time most of America heard Linda Ronstadt’s voice, it was on the 1967 hit “Different Drum” by the Stone Poneys. So you would expect that an article about the band would naturally center on Ronstadt. Not so. In fact, the center of the Stone Poneys was guitarist and songwriter Bobby Kimmel.

The story begins in Tucson, Arizona where Bobby’s family had moved when he was seven years old. Bobby’s father ran a record shop so he was exposed to many different types of music, but jazz became his passion. He was a huge fan of Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Art Blakey, and Charles Mingus and found his own muse first on the double bass and then on guitar. The guitar led him to folk music, and he began to play in the coffee houses around Tucson. Sometimes he would back up a teenaged Linda Ronstadt along with her brother and sister, collectively known as “The Three Ronstadts”.

In 1963 Bobby moved to Los Angeles to sample the folk music scene there and soon called Linda to encourage her to come west as as soon as she graduated from high school. He had hooked up with native Californian Kenny Edwards and thought that with the addition of a female voice they could land a record deal fairly quickly. When Linda arrived, they spent several months honing their sound, with some rehearsals being held in a laundromat that boasted particularly good acoustics. Finally, they played the open mic night at The Troubadour in West LA. They were a smash and were signed to Capitol Records almost immediately. Even at that early juncture, some at Capitol expressed a preference for Ronstadt as a solo artist, but producer Nick Venet convinced the label that she wasn’t ready.

The Stone Poneys’ first album was released in January of 1967 and was very much a folk recording, with over half the material written by Kimmel/Edwards. Linda only took the lead vocal on two tracks, with the emphasis instead on harmony singing a la Peter, Paul and Mary. “Sweet Summer Blue and Gold” was released as a single and died quickly. The album suffered the same fate. Discouraged, the trio disbanded for a few months but was coaxed back together by producer Venet. They quickly turned out a second strong album, Evergreen Vol.2, with a sizable chunk of the material again penned by Kimmel/Edwards.

But….the album contained the big hit “Different Drum”, which was written by Monkee Mike Nesmith. The Poneys had originally recorded the song in their folk style, but without their knowledge a more rockin’ session group had been brought in to lay down new instrumental tracks behind Ronstadt’s vocal. (You can see a video of The Stone Poneys performing the song live with the more stripped-down arrangement here.) In another instance during the recording of the album, Kimmel and Edwards weren’t even notified that a session was taking place. They found out accidentally and showed up at the studio door angry and hurt.

When you look at the two Stone Poneys albums, it is clear from the cover photos that everyone involved was aware that Linda Ronstadt was the obvious focal point of the group. But Kimmel and Edwards were gifted musicians and composers, and it was difficult for them to tolerate the speed and callousness with which they were shoved deeper and deeper into the background by the label. With the writing plainly on the wall, Edwards left The Stone Poneys. Bobby Kimmel played one tour with Linda along with some pick-up musicians, but then he went his own way as well.

In 1968, Kenny Edwards formed the group Bryndle with Wendy Waldman, Andrew Gold, and Karla Bonoff. (He still tours with Bonoff.) In 1974, he rejoined Linda Ronstadt’s band and, along with Andrew Gold, was with her through her most artistically successful period. He has also played on albums by Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Warren Zevon, Emmylou Harris, and many others.

Bobby Kimmel established the famous concert series at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica and oversaw it through the 1970s. He then toured for awhile with Doc and Merle Watson before exiting the music business for most of the next two decades. He formed the folk quartet 4 Corners around 2000, and they became the trio BK Special a few years later. They recorded a CD in 2007, with Linda Ronstadt contributing harmony vocals on a track.

On the back cover of the Evergreen Vol. 2 album, there is a blurb that urges the listener to “Catch a Stone Poney and take your mind for a ride.” The ride that the Stone Poneys themselves took was a divergent one: Linda Ronstadt’s was to super stardom while Bobby Kimmel’s and Kenny Edward’s ride took them only to the lower rungs on the ladder of commercial success. But a listen to that first Stone Poneys album and then to any of their later work demonstrates that they have remained true to their original artistic vision.

i’m sure everyone’s known about these guys for 5 billion years already but i just started getting into them and i am OBSESSED with this song right now:

a dingo ate my baby!

no, the song is not called “a dingo ate my baby” that’s just me attempting to be clever.  click the photo of the band to see an (unofficial) video of the song that is playing on repeat in my brain right now.

reasons why i enjoy cut/copy:

1. they’re australian (i’m secretly obsessed with australian accents).

2. they sound like a 2.0 version of an 80s band.  LOVES IT.

3. the tunes are good for dancing AND brooding.

in the wise words of aaron neville and linda ronstadt:  i don’t know much, but i know i love you, and that may be all i need to know.

Anyone who listens to the show on a regular basis knows that I adore Roy Orbison and this is why: First there’s the voice. It transcends generations by singing of universal longings that touch the heart. His voice sends quivers through my spine: part country, part rock and part pop, it’s a voice that reaches something approaching perfection.

Then there are the songs: a world defined by dreams yet rooted in reality, songs that teach us something about our own vulnerability. Songs of loss and desire and loneliness and, yes, songs about love.

Roy Orbison was born on April 23, 1936 in Vernon Texas,  the middle son of Orbie Lee Orbison, an oil well driller and car mechanic, and Nadine Shultz, a nurse. He was creating music as young as 6 or 7. We played interviews throughout the program, many from Roy himself and he covered his childhood, learning guitar from his father and uncle, his time at Sun Records, why he started wearing sunglasses on stage and whether he was really lonely, amongst other things. Rather than repeat all that here, let me remind you that you can listen to the Theme Park wherever you are by using your internet connection. Go to http://www.bayfm.org and press the listen button.   You should hear the show in real time via your iTunes or other media player. Theme Park airs on Tuesdays 2-4pm (that’s Sydney, Australia time).

So back to the music.  First up it was OOBIE DOOBIE, recorded with the Teen Kings in 1956. We followed with CLAUDETTE, a song about Orbson’s first wife, Claudette Frady. The track was recorded in 1958. Claudette died tragically in a motocycle accident in 1966. We followed with ONLY THE LONELY written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson and recorded by Orbison in 1960; it was his first major hit. Here he is performing in Australia in the 60’s:

Then it was a great triple play: BLUE ANGEL, I’M HURTIN’ and RUNNING SCARED. We also included the song LOVE HURTS,  originally recorded by the Everly Brothers in 1960. Roy Orbison’s version was issued as the B-side to RUNNING SCARED which was a #1 hit, in 1961. Here’s a rare clip of Roy and his band, The Candymen, taken from a Dutch Tv Show from 1965. The concert was from the Singer Concert Zaal in Laren, Holland, during their European tour.

We had to include the next three songs from the early sixties: CANDY MAN, DREAM BABY, (about the birth of his second son with Claudette)  and WORKING FOR THE MAN - a song about a Summer he worked in the Texan oil fields alongside his father.

By 1963 Orbison was touring extensively throughout the UK, Europe and Australia with The Beatles, The Stones and the Beach Boys. We played a  couple of love ballads from that  era: FALLING and IT’S OVER.

Roy also filled us in on his time, while on tour,  with the Rolling Stones and how PRETTY WOMAN influenced them to write Satisfaction. PRETTY WOMAN, of course, went on to be a big hit and was destined to become Orbison’s signature song. Here’s a great piece of kitch from the 70’s: An American TV variety show called Pink Lady and Jeff. Pink Lady was a popular singing duo from Japan brought to America for the show.  Comedian Jeff Altman was the cohost. Worth watching just to see Roy struggling to keep a straight face and also for the 70’s fashion.

I rarely dedicate a whole show to one performer. The only other time was a tribute to Michael Jackson. But, in my opinion, Orbison is one of the great rock and rollers: a forceful, yet gentle, voice capable of dynamic crescendos. He sang both heartbroken ballads and bluesy rock numbers, running up a formidable hit streak in the early Sixties. From the release of ONLY THE LONELY in 1960 to PRETTY WOMAN,  a span of four years, Orbison cracked the Top Ten nine times.

Orbison’s most memorable performances were lovelorn melodramas, in which he emoted in a brooding tremulous voice. The melancholy in his songs resonated with listeners of all ages.  IT’S OVER is one great example of that style. Another is CRYING. It was great to hear how he came to write that song and we listened to the version he re-recorded with kd lang in 1987.  It went on to win them a Grammy Award.

After his first wife Claudette’s death in 1966, Orbison threw himself into work, which included starring in the film THE FASTEST GUITAR ALIVE, and he continued to tour. In the late 1960s, however, music was very much a part of the psychedelic movement. Orbison felt lost, later saying “[I] didn’t hear a lot I could relate to so I kind of stood there like a tree where the winds blow and the seasons change, and you’re still there and you bloom again.”

During a tour of England in 1968 he received news that his home in Tennessee had burned down and his two eldest sons had died. The property was sold to Johnny Cash, who planted an orchard on it. On March 25, 1969, Orbison married his second wife, Barbara Jacobs, and they had two children of their own.

During the 70’s several artists released covers of Orbison’s songs that performed very well. LOVE HURTS was remade by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, and again by heavy metal band Nazareth and Sonny James sent ONLY THE LONELY to # 1 on the country music charts.

Linda Ronstadt covered BLUE BAYOU in 1977, which went to No. 3 and stayed on the charts for 24 weeks. And later that year, Orbison and Emmylou Harris won a Grammy Award for their duet THAT LOVIN’ YOU FEELIN’ AGAIN. WAYMORES BLUES is from the Class of 55 album with Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. While the album was in part a tribute to Elvis Presley, it was mainly a commemoration of those young performing hopefuls who came to Sun Records  in 1955 to make music in the new era o Rock and Roll.

During the 80’s Orbison participated in a number of movie soundtracks. We played two of the most prominent: LIFE FADES AWAY from the film Less Than Zero, starring Robert Downie Jnr and IN DREAMS, from the controversial film by David Lynch, BLUE VELVET.

Orbison’s return to the public eye really began in earnest in 1987 with his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the taping of a tribute concert, Black and White Night. The concert featured such disciples as Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, kd lang and Bonnie Raitt and was produced by T. Bone Burnett. Here’s a clip from the DVD. The song is UPTOWN.

It was a great pleasure to include a 7 minute interview with members of the supergroup of all supergroups: THE TRAVELLING WILBURYS: Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison. The year was 1988. We also included the song, HANDLE WITH CARE, from the album The Travelling Wilburys Vol 1.

In the same year Orbison was recording a major comeback album, Mystery Girl. It was awaiting release when Orbison suddenly died of a heart attack on December 6, 1988.  The album was finalized for release in the weeks following his death through the collaborative efforts of several artists who were all friends and admirers. The album, MYSTERY GIRL, was named after the chorus from the track SHE’S A MYSTERY TO ME, written for Orbison by U2’s Bono and The Edge.

The album was released posthumously in 1989 and would join Travelling Wilburys Vol 1 on the Billboard chart. The dual success meant that Roy Orbison joined Elvis Presley as the only two singers to simultaneously have two Top 5 albums on the Billboard chart posthumously, at that time. (This record has now been smashed by Michael Jackson who dominated the Billboard Top 10 albums when he passed away this year).

But back to Roy: Mystery Girl was extremely well received and went on to become the highest-charting album of his career. We took a listen to SHE’S A MYSTERY TO ME and YOU’VE GOT IT from that album. Rather than show a performance clip, take a look at Bono and others talking about the writing and recording process of the album. Roy sings SHE’S A MYSTERY TO ME as background to the story.

There was time for more of Roy commenting on how he would like to be remembered: “I’d just like to be remembered. If my contribution to the music scene brought someone some happiness or helped them keep things together, then that would be great.” A medley of some of Roy’s best loved tunes then closed the show: I DROVE ALL NIGHT, OH PRETTY WOMAN, LANA and HEARTBREAK RADIO.

When Elvis Presley stated that Roy Orbison is “The world’s greatest singer”, we know that he wasn’t kidding, that’s for sure.

Next week: We’re going back to THE SUMMER OF LOVE. Yes, its all love beads, incense, tambourines and the great music of the Summer of 67. Peace man.Contact me if you have any suggestions. Meanwhile, here is this week’s playlist:

Childhood – Roy Orbison Interview

Ooby Dooby - Roy Orbison Interview

Ooby Dooby  -  Roy Orbison

Claudette - Roy Orbison

Only The Lonely - Roy Orbison

Loneliness - Roy Orbison Interview

Blue Angel - Roy Orbison

I’m Hurtin’ - Roy Orbison

Running Scared - Roy Orbison

Love Hurts - Roy Orbison

Candy Man - Roy Orbison

Dream Baby – Roy Orbison

Working For The Man - Roy Orbison

Leah - Roy Orbison

Sunglasses - Roy Orbison

Mean Woman Blues - Roy Orbison

Falling - Roy Orbison

It’s Over - Roy Orbison

Oh, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison

Crying - Roy Orbison interview

Crying - Roy Orbison & kd lang

Blue Bayou - Linda Ronstadt

That Lovin’ You Feelin’ Again - Roy Orbison with Emmylou Harris

Waymore’s Blues – Roy Orbison with Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins (Class of 55)

Life Fades Away - Roy Orbison

In Dreams - Roy Orbison

Uptown - Roy Orbison

Travelling Wilburys  interview

Handle With Care -Traveling Wilburys

She’s A Mystery To Me - Roy Orbison

You Got It - Roy Orbison

Being Remembered - Roy Orbison interview

Medley: I Drove All Night/Oh, Pretty Woman/Lana/Heartbreak Radio – Roy Orbison

Next week: SUMMER OF LOVE (1967)

Terry Godbey is a freelance writer and editor in Maitland, Fla. Her poetry collection is titled Behind Every Door. Really.

(Photo below, left, shows some of Terry’s mementos)

Crash, crash, crash, it’s a gas     by Terry Godbey

The White House state-dinner crashers with reality TV dreams may be hogging the media spotlight for the moment, but a couple decades back I racked up some celebrity encounters of my own. Bodyguards … who cared? Invitations … who needed them? True, I never took my act to the nation’s capital, but I was unstoppable when it came to meeting entertainers I admired.

My backstage derring-do began in a small Winter Park, Fla., nightclub called Cheek to Cheek after a concert by one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Karla Bonoff, who was mostly known for writing songs Linda Ronstadt turned into hits. As I watched her vanish through a nearly hidden door in the stage wall, I suddenly decided I wanted to meet her.

I headed off, and my stunned husband followed. I knocked on the first door down the short hall. Bonoff opened it, looking surprised. She still carried the long-stemmed rose a fan had placed on her piano during an encore of “Rose in the Garden.” She was kind, and she brightened when we told her my husband sang one of her songs at our wedding. She signed our tickets; we chitchatted and left quickly. I didn’t want to be a pest.

The next big act we saw at Cheek to Cheek was comedian Jay Leno, before he was a late-night king. Throughout his sidesplitting show, I never once thought about pouncing, but when he finished and I saw a bouncer stationed at that same dark door, I made a break for backstage.

“Young lady, you can’t go back there,” the muscle-bound bodyguard said. We waited until he was distracted by a loud group on the other side of the stage and ran for it. Success! We knocked on that same door, but this time we were the ones surprised – by Leno’s appearance. Not just by the famous expanse of jaw, close up, but by how sweaty and pale he looked, how utterly exhausted, so opposite of the energetic entertainer who made us laugh so hard and so long our own jaws would ache for hours.

After my second Bonoff concert, I was about to knock again on her backstage door when I noticed another door, swinging open and leading outside. There, under the stars, stood Bonoff’s opening act, singer-songwriter J.D. Souther. The writer of the Ronstadt classic “Simple Man, Simple Dream” and co-writer of “New Kid in Town” needed some fresh air after the smoky nightclub. When I told him I had come to say hello to Bonoff, he sulked and asked, “What’s wrong with me?” So we talked, about his music, about poetry and lyrics, about my treasured, old Gibson guitar. When I left, he tried to direct me to Bonoff’s room, but I shook my head. I already knew the way.

Then came the kiss. During a high school friend’s visit, we drove to St. Petersburg and stayed in a beach motel. We scored free tickets to an outdoor Little Feat concert. Little Feat! One of my favorite bands, fun and funky and enhanced by the addition of Craig Fuller, a singer with a sweet, sexy, soulful voice (“Amie”) and co-founder of Pure Prairie League.

It was a humid summer night, but the musicians played with great energy for two hours, toweling off between songs. Afterward, amid the sweaty, drunken crowd and in the dark, I couldn’t see where the band went. There would be no backstage capers. So my friend and I went into a bar. A bus pulled up. Curious, I walked outside and there stood Fuller. As I dug in my purse for paper and pen, a roadie hauling sound equipment said, “Come on, Craig, give the pretty lady a kiss.” He smiled, kissed me on the lips and climbed aboard the bus with a wave. Let me assure you, swoon is a verb.

My final adventure: a John Hiatt concert in a converted railroad car. I did not intend to bust backstage in an unfamiliar venue, but friends kept daring me. Never one to back away from a challenge, I headed for the door the band had disappeared through. A burly man appeared: “Don’t even think about it.” Another effort, another rebuff, but my persistence paid off when he became caught in a crowd. I stepped inside another world: on a long table spread with white cloth lay an expanse of shrimp cocktail, crab legs, fresh fruit (some so exotic they were new to me), carafes of wine, vases of fresh flowers.

The band members looked up from filling their plates. “How did you get past our bodyguard?” one asked. “Good thing you’re not a crazy woman,” said another as he handed me a plate. They gave me their concert song list and signed it, handed over a pink guitar pick with Hiatt’s name on the front and signature on the back, asked me about myself, encouraged me to eat a little more. They told me Hiatt was changing clothes and would sign autographs and talk with fans out by the tour bus. Several shrimp and starfruit later, we filed outdoors where I spoke with Hiatt, ever the affable Everyman. He signed all the souvenirs in my arms (and would have signed my arms, too, had I asked) and threw in a hug.

My encounters happened at small venues, before stalkers and the need for elaborate security, before reality shows made celebrities of perfect fools and perfect fools of television viewers. My motives were pure. I simply wanted to meet artists whose work mattered to me and tell them so. My invitations? All those doors, just waiting to be opened.

~~~end~~~ (photos courtesy of the author; Leno photo: boston.com)

“Refine your skills to support your instincts.”

My third revelation was this: I don’t have to wait for inspiration, genius or even luck to strike me with a song. Like other songwriters I will occasionally (rarely) write a song so swiftly that it passes through me like magic. That’s a wonderful gift, and many say that this is the definition of inspiration. But I learned that a well of inspiration is within me all the time. When I’m gardening, walking the dog, watching TV, driving, or reaching for the popcorn.

First there is the writing, dipping into the well of images and feelings, and then there is the editing, when the honesty of internal critic comes to my aid. In either phase, but especially in the editing, I sometimes have to work past the frustration, just keep writing, and other times I have to walk away and allow the well to refill. I just have to be awake and listening. I have to work at the discipline of “refining my skills to support my instincts,”  something Rosanne said, quoting her friend Linda Ronstadt. It’s an incentive to keep working, keep writing.

I learned that persistence pays off. This is hard work and it’s sometimes necessary to leave a trail of bread crumbs on the way in. I will probably have to sacrifice parts of my ego that I’d just as soon keep, like my pride. But it’s worth it!

Here are some of Rosanne’s closing remarks to the group. I’ll try to remember them while I’m gardening, walking the dog, or reaching for the popcorn. And writing songs, of course.

“There’s nothing more sacred to me than songs and songwriters. To cultivate [this] kind of listening helps me to listen to my own life. To listen to the small moments that might otherwise just go right by me. But if I’m listening I’m going to get it, I’m going to get to bring something back to my life. Part of it is about not being alone, connecting with other writers. [Writing is] such a lonely experience sometimes, isolating at the very least and lonely at its worst.”

“Your responsibility is to tell the truth. Not the facts, necessarily. It could be the facts, but it’s basically the truth. That means being a truthful person. You can’t tell the truth in your work if you don’t tell the truth in your life. So I encourage you to be scrupulous in your truth ethic, with yourself — scrupulous. Even when no one’s looking — especially when no one’s looking. Just for yourself. I encourage you to wake up more every day, even if it hurts. But keep waking up, even if your heart breaks a little more every step of the way. Keep waking up. Bring it into poetry for the rest of us because our hearts are breaking a little every step along the way, too, and we need the poetry, desperately. We need the songs.”

© Patti Witten

…including
the tambourine,
of course.

Educators choose one union [Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader]

Rockwood won’t get more vaccine [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Eagles cross country program soaring [The Examiner of Independence, Mo.]

Linda Ronstadt makes a case for music education [The Kansas City Star]

Seventh Graders learn about decision-making through Junior Achievement [Southeast Missourian of Cape Girardeau, Mo.]

I am a sucker for Christmas music of all kinds. I like traditional carols sung by choirs, ’60s holiday rock ‘n roll like Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, oratorical masterpieces like the Messiah, and jazz and Big Band treatments of the Christmas standards. I’m always on the lookout for some new holiday music to add to the Ipod “holiday mix” playlist. The challenge is to find another “Christmas album” that compares to the all-time classics, like Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas or, more recently, Linda Ronstadt’s a Merry Little Christmas.

And so, I must give kudos to the Purple Raider, who long ago recommended An Oscar Peterson Christmas. I finally picked it up recently, and it has met my high expectations. It is an excellent, note-perfect jazz tribute to the holidays that has to rank up there with some of the best Christmas albums ever. Its combination of slow and fast treatments, piano and vibes, will allow for an even better mix of tunes for the days of holiday baking.

More on Christmas music later. In the meantime, as we ramp up to the holidays, An Oscar Peterson Christmas gets the Webnerhouse seal of approval.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Brown Cocktail

Friday, November 6, 2009
California Martini

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Campari Martini & the Church Lady Martini

As you can see, I’ve got a bit of catching up to do.  I was out on Thursday night at happy hour with my favorite brother at our favorite wine bar in downtown San Diego (The Grape).  For some reason (this blog, maybe?), I wasn’t in the mood for wine, so I had a dirty martini instead.  I knew I would be having another martini later and I’ve found the combining red wine with any kind of hard liquor is usually a bad idea for me.  Combining different hard liquors is also usually bad idea, too, but my head seems more tolerant of it the next day. 

My cocktail for Thursday evening was the Brown Cocktail.  Along with Sue’s comment, I’d like to know the origins of some of these names, too.  This one is 4 parts gin, 2 parts light rum, 1 part dry vermouth, and a kumquat garnish.  No luck on finding kumquats this time of year, although admittedly I didn’t look THAT hard, either – I figured I could forgo the garnish.  I have some Captain Morgan silver rum, maybe “light rum” has more of a tint to it and therefore would have made the drink slightly brown.  Or it’s named after someone named Brown.  Which brings me to the title of this post.  I find it strangely amusing that Jerry Brown is planning to run for Governor of California AGAIN.  Since he was Governor before the term limit thing was enacted, he actually can run again.  It’s kind of trippy if you’ve lived in California a long time, like, say, your whole life (save for three months that Sue and I lived in London).  I was born here in 1963.  Jerry Brown was Governor while I was in junior high, high school, and then started college – very formative years, those.  I remember Jerry Brown as this:

I especially remember him dating Linda Ronstadt, that was like cool for a politician of the time, and to me he didn’t look like one of these typical fat old white guys with no neck and three chins, which is how most of Congress usually looks to me in any given administration, ditto with any major company’s Board of Directors. 

It seemed particularly appropriate that my cocktail for the following evening was thus the California Martini – and strangely coincidental in keeping with this blog that Jerry was once photographed with the flavor-maker of a couple of Sue’s previous cocktails, the Reverend Jim Jones.

Kinda creepy if you think about it, probably one photo he wishes weren’t in his archive.  Then again, I have a lot of photos of me with ex-boyfriends that I wish had never been committed to celluloid, either.  For those of you who don’t know the story of the Jonestown Massacre (mass suicide, really), look it up on Wikipedia and educate yourselves.  Over 900 people drinking cyanide-and-sedative laced grape Flavor-Aid (actually wasn’t Kool-Aid, just tasted the same!) at one man’s directive, killed themselves in November of 1978.  I remember hearing about it in high school, and it was apparently the largest single loss of American lives leading up to September 11, 2001, which I hadn’t realized.  People often will name cult suicides like Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate in the same breath – this guy made the Heaven’s Gate group look like a bunch of pansies.  Yeeesh.  It is just this sort of cattle-minded thinking that brought us people like Hitler.  The emphasis should not just be on “question authority” anymore.  The important thing we should all learn is to question everything – creepy religions, bell-bottom jeans, cheap vodka.  You are a human being with an IQ, not a mindless sheep.

Which brings me back to cocktails.  I know you’re struggling to figure out how, but bear in mind that my train often jumps from track A to D with no visible means of switching.  It’s a gift, really.  This one was a bit harsh to the palate at first sip.  I kind of immediately stuck it into the “not a favorite” category.  I took a few more sips, and then ended up getting busy with some chores around the house and didn’t get back to the drink until I sat down again about a half hour later.  I’m not sure if by then the drink had time to warm up a bit (it had, obviously) or the flavors melded together better, but after it had sat for awhile, it actually tasted much better and was really pretty good.  Not quite a 4 star drink, but above a 3.5 star level.  Maybe the kumquat would have elevated it, I have no idea.  If I happen to run across a kumquat, I’ll make it again.  Smoother than straight gin, not as sweet as straight rum would be, and softened by the vermouth, a touch of spice to it.  Not bad and an interesting variation.

So this brings us to the dear state of California and the martini thusly named.  Would be interesting to see ol’ Jerry sworn in again after he was first Governor 30 years ago.  Makes you think of some time travel movie or someone in a coma for decades, they wake up and ask, “who’s the Governor?” and get told it’s Jerry Brown (again), they wouldn’t think they’d missed a beat, save for the fact that the dude now looks like this:

Yikes!  That would definitely be the time for a stiff drink!  Okay, I’m kidding.  All things considered, for spending that much time in politics, the guy doesn’t look bad.  After all, look at Jimmy Carter.  He aged 20 years while he was President, easily.  Now it isn’t close enough to the election for me to start really reading up on the candidates and their policies, I had my overdose of that crap during the Obama/McCain debates.  Too often most elections seem to me to boil down to the lesser of two evils.  Why anyone would even WANT to be Governor of California right now, I have no idea.  Out of control debt and unemployment and a business-hostile environment that has companies right and left picking up and moving elsewhere?  Check, please.  Maybe some folks just have a masochistic streak.  So, looking at Wikipedia at the current potential crop of candidates, we could end up with … hmmm, Jerry Brown vs. Meg Whitman (former CEO of eBay)?  Now that would be entertaining.  Maybe Meg could sell off state surplus equipment and all those old computers gathering dust somewhere without having to pay listing fees on eBay.  Yep, that’d solve the budget problems right there.  Jerry could have a for-old-times-sake fling with Linda Ronstadt now that she’s doing all those albums in Spanish and help bring in the Latino vote.  And you wonder why I drink?  It’s because I think of weird shit llike this.

The California Martini, I’m guessing (?) named for the red wine in it, given the popularity of California’s wine-growing regions, is 6 parts vodka, 1 part red wine, 1 tablespoon dark rum, 3-5 dashes of orange bitters, garnished with an orange twist.  I really have no idea why it’s named the California.  But despite the eclectic (at least to me) list of ingredients, it was a very good drink.  I give this one an easy 4 stars, perhaps a bit higher.  Very sippable, smoothed out with the wine and the touch of rum, and the orange bitters (I have blood orange bitters from BevMo) add just a hint of sweetness.  A delightful drink and a nice way to end the week on a Friday evening.  Not that my weeks are really so tough these days, being unemployed, the days kind of tend to blend together, although I did get my kids back for the week on Friday night, so to me that’s a good reason for needing a martini whether I’m working or not! 

So Saturday rolled around – soccer playoff game for the 10-year-old (they won, awesome), celebratory lunch at McDonald’s and another Happy Meal toy FAIL – honestly, Mickey D’s hasn’t had a good Happy Meal toy in about the last year or so, they’re mostly just cheap pieces of plastic that just sit there – couple of errands by Mom including putting the unemployment check in the bank that came in Saturday’s mail, always an important thing.  It was a lovely day outside but I couldn’t get the kids on the same mental track to want to do anything in terms of going to a park, the beach, etc. , or at least on the same track of things that didn’t cost Mommy a lot of money.  If they had their way, I’m sure they’d love to have me drop $80 on tokens at Peter Piper Pizza or Chuck ‘E Cheese so they could spend the afternoon playing video games while I only have a cheap beer to entertain myself.  No thanks.  So we headed home, kids decided to watch a movie and I opted for the quiet of my bedroom, the ceiling fan, and perusing a collection of mail-order catalogs that had come in the mail the past few days.  You can tell the Christmas retail season is in full swing.  Even though I’ve fallen off a lot of mailing lists in the past year, come November, they start coming hot and heavy in the mailbox.  6 catalogs today alone.  What can I say, it’s like window shopping.  And I’m a chick.  I don’t think I need to say more. 

After breaking up probably half a dozen squabbles between my two boys by dinnertime, I wasn’t quite sure what kind of martini I was in the mood for.  I had three contenders – the Campari, the Christmas Tini (similar to Sue’s previously blogged version, except with vodka), or the Church Lady Martini.  I decided on the latter – 2 parts orange juice, 2 parts dry vermouth, 4 parts gin, garnished with lemon, lime, and orange wedges – almost a liquid citrus salad or something – it sounded practically healthy.  Now I tend to associate the term “Church Lady” with Dana Carvey’s character from SNL.  Whether that is the origin for this drink’s name, I have no idea.  I doubt it.  My guess is that it looks like a simple glass of orange juice or maybe a mimosa and thus the little old churchgoing lady would feel less conspicuous drinking it, than, say, a dry martini with nothing more than an olive in it.  Not to mention the alcohol content is a bit lower.  Plus the fruit garnish makes it look festive and Sunday-brunchy. 

Well, isn't this drink SPECIAL?

Alas, to my palate it is nothing more than a screwdriver (vodka and OJ, that early adulthood drink when you don’t know any better, right up there with rum and Coke on the scale of things that now give me a headache just looking at them).  The orange juice and dry vermouth pretty much overshadow whether the base is gin or vodka, hence the similarity.  I could feel somewhat healthier for having consumed some Vitamin C in the course of this cocktail, but otherwise it really didn’t do much for me.  I give it three stars only because there was nothing offensive about it – it was a good, smooth, sippable drink.  Just nothing to write home about.  I would imagine that if Dana Carvey were mixing it up, it would probably consist of a little more kick to it, maybe some Captain Morgan 100 instead of the gin.  Now that might be worthy of consideration!

Which brings us to the final cocktail of this post, the Campari.  No, I didn’t save the best for last in this case.  I’d never had Campari before, at least to my knowledge, and after seeing their sexy Jessica Alba ad campaigns, I certainly felt more compelled to try it.  Perhaps drinking this will prompt someone to airbrush all of my photos with a thinner waistline, too!  I’d be all over that!  It certainly appears to be the sipping liqueur of the elite and the beautiful people.  The martini is comprised of 6 parts vodka, 1 part Campari, and a lime twist, definitely a gentle introduction to the concoction.  What can I say about it?  Blech.  I mean, it wasn’t bad, not like downing a mouthful of Jagermeister or anything, just not a herb/spice combo that I can really see myself taking to.  I kept trying to think of something to put in it to change the drink but really wasn’t sure what.  A couple extra drops of lime juice (which I like) helped a bit, but in general it just wasn’t the drink for me.  I’m sure there are lots of folks who like it, but I would need to try it in other combos to decide if it is truly a thumbs-up or thumbs-down mixer for me.  I know I like dirty martinis and a lot of people can’t stomach those, so I will reserve judgement and give this a 3 star rating.  Not planning to mix it up again, though.

On that note, I rest my shaker for the evening.  Back next time with either the Christmas Tini or the Citrus Martini (depends on my mood!).  Until then,

Your hostess,
Cathy

““The constant fear of a performer is to become what is reflected back at you.”

Johnny Cash and Linda Ronstadt-I Wll Never Marry

Linda Ronstadt – “New Hard Times” 1968 Live

Linda Ronstadt – “One For One” – Live from 1968

Linda Ronstadt – I Knew You When – Live

Linda Ronstadt – Long Long Time

Linda Ronstadt and Bobby Darin – Long Long Time

Linda Ronstadt – It Doesn’t Matter Anymore

Linda Ronstadt – It Doesn’t Matter Anymore

LINDA RONSTADT – Lovesick Blues (1970)

Linda Ronstadt – Tracks Of My Tears

Desperado – Linda Ronstadt

Love Has No Pride – Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt – You’re No Good

Linda Ronstadt – Silver Threads And Golden Needles (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – Love Has No Pride (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – Crazy (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – Tracks Of My Tears (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – Heat Wave (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – Someone To Lay Down Beside Me (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – The Tattler (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – Willin’ (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt－Hasten Down The Wind

Linda Ronstadt – Lose Again

Linda Ronstadt – That’ll Be The Day (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – Heart Like A Wheel (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt – Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore (1976) Offenbach, Germany

Linda Ronstadt : Love is a Rose (1977)

Linda Ronstadt – Tumbling Dice (1977 Atlanta)

LINDA RONSTADT – Blue Bayou (1977）

Linda Ronstadt & Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Hey Goodlokin’

Jackson Browne,Linda Ronstadt with Eagles – Take It Easy

Linda Ronstadt & Hoy Axton – Lion in the Winter

Linda Ronstadt & Bonnie Raitt – Blowing Away

Linda Ronstadt – Fill My Eyes

Linda Ronstadt – First Cut is the Deepest

Linda Ronstadt – First Cut is the Deepest

Linda Ronstadt – Heatwave

Linda Ronstadt – That’ll Be The Day

Linda Ronstadt – Baby You’ve Been On My Mind

Linda Ronstadt – When Will I be Loved

Linda Ronstadt-Livin’ in the U.S.A.

Linda Ronstadt – Canciones de mi padre – La Rielera(railera)

Linda Ronstadt “Frenesi”

Linda Ronstadt “Entre Abismos”

Linda La Cigarra

Linda Los Laureles

Linda La Charreada

Linda Ronstadt – “What’s New”

Linda Ronstadt & Smokey Robinson – Medley

LINDA RONSTADT – “SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME”

Linda Ronstadt “Tell Him I Said Hello”

Linda Ronstadt “Tell Him I Said Hello”

Linda Ronstadt – Someday my prince will come

“The thing you have to be prepared for is that other people don’t always dream your dream.”

Background Articles and Videos

Linda Ronstadt

“…Linda Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American popular music vocalist and entertainer whose vocal styles in a variety of genres have resonated with the general public over the course of her four-decade career. As a result, she has earned multiple Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden Globe nominations.

A singer-songwriter and record producer, she is recognized as a definitive interpreter of songs.^[1] Being one of music’s most versatile, and commercially successful female singers in U.S. history, she is recognized for her many public stages of self-reinvention and public incarnations.^[2]

With a one time standing as the Queen of Rock^[3][4] where she was bestowed the title of “highest paid woman in rock”,^[5][6] and known as the First Lady of Rock, she has more recently emerged as music matriarch and international arts advocate.^[7] Ronstadt has collaborated with more artists from a diverse spectrum of genres – including Billy Eckstine^[8] , Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jimenez, Phillip Glass, The Chieftains, Gram Parsons – than perhaps any popular music vocalist in modern U.S. history, lending her voice to over 120 albums around the world.^[9]

In total, she has released over 30 solo albums, more than 15 compilations or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt has charted thirty-eight Billboard Hot 100 singles, twenty-one of which have reached the top 40, ten of which have reached the top 10, three peaking at No. 2, the No. 1 hit, “You’re No Good.” In the UK, her single “Blue Bayou” reached the UK Top 40^[10] and the duet with Aaron Neville, “Don’t Know Much”, peaked at #2 in November 1989.^[11] In addition, she has charted thirty-six albums, ten Top 10 albums, and three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 Pop Album Charts. …”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt Johnny Carson Chat

Linda Ronstadt 2004 Interview Part One

Linda Ronstadt 2004 Interview Part Two

Linda Ronstadt interview / profile – part 1

Linda Ronstadt interview / profile – part 2

Linda Ronstadt: The Regis Interview

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Elvis Presley–Videos 

Queen–Videos 

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Rolling Stones–Videos 

Linda Ronstadt–Videos 

Diana Ross and The Supremes–Videos 

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Simon & Garfunkel–Videos

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I woke up to this on my clock radio this morning as my alarm. I woke up laughing because I never noticed how badass this song is! Wow…. it is such a passionate diss song, it borders on being hip-hop! Ok, maybe not, but she is straight up over the guy she is singing about.

I love how they have a bunch of dudes sitting in the front and they all just look BUMMED!

End of October already! It’s about time the procrastination posts start showing up on Heavy on the Seltz!

Here are some videos that fit in with my most recent playlist endeavor. Enjoy!

Dolly, Linda, Emmylou (Please note: Dolly’s nails)

Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss

Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby

Herfst. De bladeren vallen. De kale takken komen tevoorschijn. Straks kunnen we door de bomen het bos terug zien. Tijd voor een overzicht.  Een soort van inhoudsopgave van de interessantste stukjes die in de loop van de laatste twee, drie jaren op mijn blogs zijn verschenen.

Voor mijn stukjes over de elpees van Bob Dylan volstaat deze link.

Southern muziekinstrumenten

De geschiedenis en toelichtingen bij muziekinstrumenten die mee de klankkleur bepalen van Americana en rootsmuziek.

slide gitaar
steel gitaar 
Dobro’s en National Guitars
Mandoline deel 1 en deel 2
banjo deel 1 en deel 2 

Nick Drake  

Five Leaves Left 
Bryter Layter
Françoise Hardy
postuum verschenen platen  
enkele clipjes

The Beatles of de Witte Dubbel : the Beatles in 1968, in zeven delen.
- inleiding
- Rishikesh
- John Lennon
- Paul McCartney
- George Harrison
- Ringo Starr
-  de opnamen van de Witte Dubbel elpee

De hoezen van Britse Beatles elpees

De Plastic Ono Band op het Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival Festival in Toronto, 13 september 1969 

John Lennon: Rock ‘n’ Roll/Roots 

George Harrison – Delaney Bramlett 

Favoriete songs 

Donovan – Sunny Goodge Street
Bobbie Gentry – Ode To Billie Joe
Peter Jones – Kilkelly
The Animals – House Of the Rising Sun
The Beatles – In My Life
Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah en zo. 
The Rolling Stones – Wild Horses  (ook wel Gram Parsons)
Ry Cooder – Cancion Mixteca
Diversen – Delia’s Gone
Drive-By Truckers – Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife
Glenn Campbell – Guess I’m Dumb
Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street
Peter LaFarge – The Ballad Of Ira Hayes
Favoriete platen 

David Crosby – If I Only could Remember My Name
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Richard & Linda Thompson - Shoot Out the Lights 
Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue  en  Bambu
Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton & Linda Ronstadt: Trio en Trio II

Voila, urenlang lees- en luistergenot voor de lange winteravonden.