Somehow I missed this record when it came out, but my goodness do I love this song. The Duke and the King – Shaky.
“Shaky makes me all so shaky mama
C’mon wake me up
We go dancing however you wanna
‘Cause we were just babies
The Jackson 5 grew up so fast
C’mon baby, just come and shake that country a**”
This song will be heard often at Rancho DeNada this week.
I am re-watching the entire original Dark Shadows series as treadmill fare. I’ve watched it twice before, once as a kid when it was on the air and once when it was on the Sci-Fi Channel back in the nineties. It’s good stuff.
I have been struck this time by the complete lack in the series of any cultural references from the era. It was mostly set in the late 60s to early 7os. Other than an occasional reference to seeing an (unnamed) movie, there are virtually no references to music, film or television. In fact, I can only recall seeing a television in one scene. A woman’s boarding house room as she was terrorized by John Yaeger.
As a result, I’ve watched closely for any intentional or unintentional cultural references. I noticed a cardboard animal in David Collins’ room that said “Chicken Little was Right.” A google search didn’t turn up anything interesting. There are some interesting posters in David Collins’s room, but until today there was never a close enough shot to see what they were.
But today.
There was a scene where I could read this poster. It says Aug 29 – Sept 3. I gave google a shot, and much to my surprise and delight it turns out TO BE A CREAM POSTER!!!
Specifically, a Fillmore poster for Cream’s Aug. 29-Sept. 3, 1967 shows with the Electric Flag and the Gary Burton Quartet.
How awesome is that?
A close look shows that they removed the references to the bands and the Fillmore, but it is clearly the same poster.
Update:
There’s another Cream poster in David’s room too.
This one from Cream’s Aug. 22-27, 1967 shows with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the South Side Sound System.
Probably 75% of the music I listen to was recorded over 20 years ago. As a result, one of the issues I face is artist fatigue. One example- I used to love Creedence Clearwater Revival, but their catalog is relatively small and I am sick and tired of most of their songs.
But not all of them. There are some that still rock. Like this.
I really like good covers of good songs. I have a large (and excellent) Spotify playlist centered around cover songs.
So when I saw someone with the Grateful Dead say that this was possibly the best Friend of the Devil cover they’d ever heard, I stopped in my tracks for a listen.
This may be the first time I’ve talked about I See Hawks in L.A. But it won’t be the last time. That is one great cover. Here’s their web site.
Or just one of them. That’s the only question. Well, maybe there’s just one more question…
If I can’t trust you with a quarter, how can I trust you with my heart?
When you moved a little closer
I had no intention of saying “no sir”
Then you asked my for a quarter
That’s when it all went wrong.
Oh, there’s more.
When you said you’d never heard of John Prine
Well I knew right away you weren’t worth my time
And I’m sorry to say hon before we’d begun
We were already through.
Buy this record. Now. Amazon. Google. iTunes.
Zoe is battling Fred Eaglesmith for playlist domination on all my devices.
Hitfix has a great read about Fleetwood Mac’s excellent Rumours album, released 35 (actually 36) years ago. There is a new deluxe edition, that I’ll have to check out (here’s the Spotify link). Though my favorite Fleetwood Mac era was the earlier, unknown by most yuppies, blues era, there is no denying that Rumours is one of the best records ever made.
The quintet took a year to record “Rumours” in Sausalito, Calif. at the Record Plant. While they were in the studio, their self-titled 10th album (and the first to feature Buckingham and Nicks) was gaining traction and was a clear sign that moving from the blues-based sound of the previous efforts to a pop-oriented sound was the right move commercially. That was only confirmed with “Rumours,” which spent 31 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Along with Frampton Comes Alive, Europe ’72, At Fillmore East and Hotel California, Rumours constitutes a material part of the soundtrack to my high school years. We played the absolute heck out of those records.
In fact, Rumours (and, more importantly, Stevie Nicks) was so beloved by my crowd that some cat actually tried to stab me one night for talking it off the turntable at a party. The turntable arm was up and one side (side 2, the one with The Chain and Gold Dust Woman) had played repeatedly for hours and hours. Fortunately, another dude tackled him from behind before he could complete his honor killing.
I think we put Hotel California on after that. Only dudes in that band, and no one’s going to try to kill anybody over Don Henley.
Those who only know the Steve Miller Band from Take the Money and Run forward missed their best work and the enduring reason why (some of) their music remains on the Rancho DeNada playlist.
In 1968 the band played live at KPFA in Berkeley, California. Included in the setlist was what I believe to be their best song. The rocking Steppin’ Stone, from their 1968 record Children of the Future. You might recognize the lead singer on this track. Another guy whose far superior early work is overshadowed by his later commercial success.
Fillmore West was a historic music venue in San Francisco, California made famous by concert promoter Bill Graham. Named after Graham’s original “Fillmore” location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it stood at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue and was formerly known as both The Carousel Ballroom and El Patio.
Here’s a great version of Workingman’s Blues by New Riders of the Purple Sage from the July 2, 1971 show.
I’m really into Fred Eaglesmith these days. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, you owe it to yourself to take a listen.
That playlist is pretty much the soundtrack to my life these days.
Newsome.Org 