RIP Freddy Fender
I won’t pretend that I know much about Freddy Fender’s music, but I do have a few songs by his supergroup of the later years, the Texas Tornados, and have heard a few by Los Super Seven.
But it’s always sad to lose a music legend, regardless of our familiarity with them, because their work touches countless others’ lives. The song below has touched my life. My 2 year old is a music lover as it is, but it takes something special to really get her going. “Guacamole” does the job.
So in memory of Freddy Fender, take a listen to a great one by the Tornados.
The Texas Tornados (Freddy Fender, Flaco Jimenez, Augie Myers and Doug Sahm):
Guacamole(mp3)- Buy the Best of the Texas Tornados.
- Freddy Fender’s All Music profile.
1999 Tour: Prince takes the Stage
This is about the only official Prince web site online right now. Click this, take a look, and come back. http://3121.com/
Yep, it looks a little something like this, doesn’t it?
So the latest rumor surrounding the purple guy is a series of shows at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. We’ll see… it is only a 5.5 hour drive from my home, so I’m not totally against the idea, but still strange to fathom…
So let’s wrap up the March 31st Long Beach show, shall we?
Prince & the Revolution
Long Beach, CA
March 31st, 1983
The 1999 TourIntro / Controversy
Let’s Work
Do Me, Baby
D.M.S.R.
Lisa’s Solo
With You
Still Waiting
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?
Lady Cab Driver
Little Red Corvette
Dirty Mind
International Lover
1999Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
I’ve never been a Cure nut, but something about their 1987 album, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, caught my ear around that time. I was working at Camelot Music in a Racine, Wisconsin mall before I went off to college in Colorado, and I used to play the new releases I found interesting. It’s the cover that made me open it and take a listen, and I’m glad I did. It turned into one of those albums I’ll always associate with that time.. being 18 years old, still seeing the high school sweetheart, and shipping off to school out of state.
So Rhino has introduced the Cure Deluxe Reissue Series, which is made up of albums the Cure put out between 1984-1987: Kiss Me, The Top, and The Head on the Door. Each album has an extra disc of rare outtakes and demos. The extra disk didn’t do too much for me, but I can imagine how great it would be for a Cure superfan. But it was great to hear this great album remastered, and damn, I still love that cover!
The Cure: Catch (mp3)
- Buy Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me – part of the Cure Deluxe Reissues Series.
- Also reissued, buy The Top, The Head on the Door, and Blue Sunsine (a collaboration between Robert Smith, and Siouxsie & the Banshees’ bassist, Steve Severin)
- Check out the eCard.
Ahoy! It’s Tweedy’s Sunken Treasure
Looking through the promo photos of Jeff Tweedy (great pics shot by Charles Harris), I’ll guess that Jeff enjoys these photo sessions about as much as a root canal. But sit for these photos he must because the promotion machine is in full swing for his forthcoming live DVD, Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest. Judging by the really cool trailer, and the following clip – an unreleased track called “The Thanks I Get” – this is gonna be one definite must-have DVD.
I’ve enjoyed the Tweedy sounds since I picked up Mermaid Avenue when it was released in ol’ 98 (eight years ago? Huh?). Well after listening to “California Stars” and “At My Window Sad and Lonely” a few thousand times, Summerteeth came out, and all bets were off, I was hooked.
So I’ve caught Wilco a couple of times over the years, but have never had the opportunity to see a solo Tweedy show. Luckily, I’ll have this DVD in a couple of weeks to fill the void until it happens. So it goes without saying that the Ickmusic Stamp of Approval *dinggg* is firmly adhered to the glossy outer case of this upcoming DVD. Pre-order it, receive it, watch it, nurture it, and hand it down for generations to come, until your great great great great grandchild Zeldar IV picks up his ‘GuitarZozoCoder 2195’ and plays along.
Pre-order the DVD (available on October 24th).
The Time Funk Up Long Beach
Smack dab in the middle of Vanity 6 and Prince on the 1999 tour (figuratively speaking, I think), was Prince’s funky-ass pet project, The Time: Jesse Johnson, Monte Moir, Jellybean Johnson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and of course charismatic front man Morris Day. Now, rumor of course has it that the Time were dropped from the tour toward the end because Prince was tired of being upstaged. Truth, rumor? I don’t know. Who can offer insight into this great life question?? Help me people, I was 12 during this tour.
The Time were touring in support of their second (and best) release, What Time Is It?, produced, arranged and composed by Jamie Starr and his Starr Company.
Mr. Starr (yes, aka Prince) had created a monster…
The Time
Long Beach, CA
March 31st, 1983
Opening for Prince on the 1999 TourIntro
Get it Up
777-9311
Girl
Wild and Loose
Gigolos Get Lonely Too
Cool
The WalkPrince takes the stage later this week… | Vanity 6’s Set
Bruce in the land of Romeo and Juliet
The October 5th Verona show had a few tour debuts in store. “Samson & Delilah” (which I was familiar with from the Dead’s version), “Fire”, and “Valerie” (from wife Patti Scialfa’s first album and sung by Patti). Verona… “Romeo and Juliet, Samson and Delilah”. Get it? Got it? Good!
Here’s a couple of those, as well as Oct. 4th’s “Growin’ Up”.
The Italian crowds are a very spirited bunch, and believe in full crowd participation, as you’ll hear….
Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions Band:
Samson & Delilah(mp3) – October 5th, Verona
Fire(mp3) – October 5th, Verona
Growin’ Up(mp3) – October 4th, UdineSunday Video: Ten Years After at Woodstock
Alvin Lee makes some of the best guitar faces I’ve ever seen (and his playin’ ain’t half bad either)…
If you’re a music lover and you’ve never seen Woodstock – 3 Days of Peace & Music, remedy that now (or Netflix it).
Vanity 6 Open It Up
I thought we’d all jump in the time capsule back to 1983 this week, and take a listen to the “triple threat” tour, AKA Prince’s 1999 tour, also featuring the openers Vanity 6 and The Time. First up, Vanity 6.
Made up of Prince’s high school girlfriend Susan Moonsie (on the right above), Boston native Brenda Bennett (on the left), and Canadian model/actress Denise Matthews, who underwent the obligatory Prince name change to Vanity (reportedly after Prince first recommended Vagina – – classy!).
Vanity 6 wasn’t out there to impress anyone with their vocal and musical prowess, they were there to wear trashy lingerie and entertain, which they did. Backed up by The Time (on stage and on record), the music ranged from funky (Nasty Girl) to the new wave of the period (He’s So Dull).
It wasn’t long after this show that Vanity made the decision to break off from the Prince camp and go solo with a Motown record deal, as well as appearances in some quality films (The Last Dragon, anyone??, and Action Jackson, of course). Vanity’s personal life took a nose dive (no pun intended) over the coming years, as a severe cocaine addiction developed. But fear not folks, Miss Vanity found Jesus and is alive and well these days, doing her thing as Evangelist Denise Matthews.
The opening set:
Vanity 6
Long Beach, CA
March 31st, 1983
Opening for Prince on the 1999 TourMake Up
Wet Dream
Drive Me Wild
If A Girl Answers, Don’t Hang Up
Nasty GirlComing This Week: The rest of the show with The Time and Prince & the Revolution
Buy Vanity 6 (the CD’s out of print, but you can buy them used for a fee):
This Little Light of Mine, Live from Torino
With the new European tour under way, the Seeger Sessions Band has thrown another classic traditional tune into the mix: the gospel standard “This Little Light of Mine”. Perfect choice, in my opinion. The show as a whole has a spiritual revival quality to it, and the addition of this song only enhances the experience. It’s hard not to be moved when you have almost 20 musicians on stage playing this great music.
While a lot of Bruce fans ache for another E Street album and tour, I’m hoping Bruce takes his Seeger Sessions show through the U.S. just one more time. I want to experience it again, and I want my almost 3-year old to experience it this time. Such pure, unbridled M-U-S-I-C.
Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band: This Little Light of Mine (mp3) – live from Torino, Italy, Oct 2, 2006 – pick up We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions – American Land Edition
Here’s another great version of the song, with Sam Cooke tweaking it with a little soul / R&B flavor…
Sam Cooke: This Little Light of Mine (mp3) – from Sam Cooke at the Copa
Thursday Variety Hour
WordPress, the blogging software behind this blog, has a cool feature that snatches comment spam and tucks it away so I can delete it. I have a question. Who are the people that spend their days creating this stuff?? What low-life wastes of space get up in the morning and look forward to a day of carpet bombing the internet with this trash?
What the hell is hentaipowerpuff?? On second thought, I don’t wanna know. It just mystifies me that there are people that do this. Obviously $$$ is the driving force, but holy cow, what a way to make it.
Thank you. I guess I needed to get that off my chest.
So before I post another Springsteen tour update, I thought I’d spice it up a little. These songs have absolutely nothing to do with eachother. Or do they? I guess, like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, that it wouldn’t take too many steps to connect them up. Hmm, Til Tuesday, Billy Bragg & Wilco, and Boogie Down Productions. Maybe they all played the same festival in Finland one year. Entirely possible.
Boogie Down Productions:
Criminal Minded(mp3) – from Live Hardcore Worldwide.Til Tuesday:
Coming Up Close(mp3) – from Welcome Home.Billy Bragg & Wilco:
Walt Whitman’s Niece(mp3) – from Mermaid Avenue.Oh, and here’s a YouTube link to a 4 year old banging away on the drums like a pro.