Blues from the Rush Soundtrack

September 13th, 2008 by Pete

Must be in a Bluuuues kinda mood. I’ve had the soundtrack to the movie Rush since it came out in December 1991 (Jason Patric, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Greg Allman as - what else - the drug dealer). Eric Clapton scored the movie, and contributed some extra songs too, most notably “Tears In Heaven“, written for his son Conor, who died tragically in March 1991 from falling out of his mother’s 53rd story apartment window in Manhattan. He was 4 years old.

Eric invited Buddy Guy to help out with this one - Willie Dixon’s “Don’t Know Which Way To Go”, an 11 minute immersion into everything that is great about the blues.

Buddy Guy w/ Eric Clapton - Don’t Know Which Way To Go

Buy

Posted in Blues | 3 Comments »

Clapton Joins the Bluesbreakers, Mind-Blowing Solos Ensue

September 13th, 2008 by Pete

This is from John Mayall’s 70th birthday gig a few years ago. Buddy Whittington (from the Bluesbreakers) and Eric Clapton do things to their Fender Stratocasters that mere mortals like us can only dream of. Amazing. And a trombone solo to boot!

I just finished Pattie Boyd’s autobiography, and I’m just cracking open Clapton’s. I knew that drugs and drink played a role in Eric’s life, but holy schmoly batman, that is excess!

Posted in Blues, Video | 1 Comment »

Northern Exposure: Son of Dave

August 31st, 2008 by Michael

Son of Dave is Benjamin Darvill whom you may or may not recognize as part of Crash Test Dummies. As he so succinctly puts it, he has spent the last few years bringing “the Blues kicking and howling into the 21st Century” and if this recording is any measure I’d say he’s been quite successful. Darvill is a modern day troubadour with an impressive range and razor-sharp wit. While he begs comparison to Tom Waits, his delivery as a one-man band - stomping, looping and fighting his way through the record’s eleven tracks - sets him far apart.

The leadoff track “Old Times Were Good Times” is nothing short of funky and sets the tone for the next nine cuts. Must-listen tracks like “Lover Not a Fighter”, “Hellhound” and a cover of the WAR classic “Low Rider” all make this one record not to miss.

Son of Dave - Old Times Were Good Times (MP3)

Buy 03: Amazon | iTunes

Son of Dave Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace

Posted in Blues | 2 Comments »

A Good Week for Tunes in Telluride: Steve Earle, Allison Moorer, Junior Brown, and Jonny Lang

July 10th, 2008 by Pete

Top Left: Steve Earle works his dobro hard for the Sheridan Opera House crowd.
Top Right: Jonny Lang brings the blues in Mountain Village.
Bottom Left: Junior Brown rocks his guitar / lap-steel hybrid in Mountain Village.
Bottom Right: I ponder life’s great questions with a Franziskaner in hand.

Yes, folks, life was sweet last week. My wife and I plopped the kids into the truck and drove the 9 hours from the Phoenix area to the beautiful San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. We met up with my parents, my two brothers and their families for some 4th of July fun in Telluride, Colorado.

As you can see, the music gods were smiling on me during my vacation. Among the hiking, dining, and fly fishing (3 times, 1 brown trout, and a ton of fun) were these three great events that kept the Ickmusic vibe alive….

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Posted in Blues, Funk, Rock, Steve Earle | No Comments »

Review: Friday at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival

April 28th, 2008 by Pete

When you show up to at a music festival to pick up your press credentials, and you’re handed a VIP pass with 12 free drinks ready to be punched, at a Sierra Nevada-sponsored festival, well - you just know it’s gonna be a great day. Nine hours later - after seeing and hearing the likes of Gov’t Mule, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, the subdudes, Steve Reynolds Band, and Mikel Lander, Meridith Moore & Friends – I was right, it was great.

This was my second straight year at the Friday offering of Scottsdale’s McDowell Mountain Music Festival. It’s a young festival (this was it’s 5th annual), and with the impressive lineups, the great organization, and so much room at the Westworld venue to expand, it’s going to pick up steam and continue to grow each year. So on this Friday, my partner in crime was my friend Greg. Let me take you through our day…

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Posted in Blues, Jam, Roots Rock | 1 Comment »

Canned Heat Live

February 21st, 2007 by Pete

I’ll admit to being an ignoramus about the band Canned Heat up until a few months ago. I was only familiar with two of their “hit” songs: “On the Road Again” and “Goin’ Up the Country”. Well, in my quest to expand my musical mind and historical perspective, I got a hold of this soundboard recording of a1970 concert.

Canned Heat formed in Los Angeles in 1965. Their main passion and drive came from the blues, and they were responsible for helping to revive the careers of Son House and Albert Collins. Their name comes from a 1928 Tommy Johnson song called “Canned Heat Blues”. Canned heat, AKA Sterno, is a cooking fuel basically, made up primarily of ethanol and methanol. Back in the prohibition days, people would water it down and drink it (or dip some bread into it - yum!). So there’s your canned heat lesson.

The 1970 incarnation of the band was made up of Al “Blind Owl” Wilson (guitar, harmonica, vocals - the voice behind the two songs mentioned above), Bob “The Bear” Hite (vocals, harmonica), Harvey “The Snake” Mandel (guitar), Larry “The Mole Taylor (bass), and Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra (drums).

Wilson would sadly pass away later that year in September of what an autopsy determined to be a bartituate overdose - what they ruled a sucide. He died at the age of 27. Who else died at 27? Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, D. Boon of the Minutemen, and Pigpen of the Grateful Dead. Something about 27?

Enough of the morbidity. Check out some down home 1970 blues here from Canned Heat. If you’re anal about sound quality, this may bug you. It improves as the show goes on. But damn, it’s 36 years old (like me). We may be getting older, but we’re something to behold!

It’s worth it just to hear “Blind Owl” Wilson tear it up in his guitar solos. Enjoy!

Canned Heat
June 29, 1970
Boston, MA
“Boston Tea Party”

1. I Found Love
2. Catfish Blues
3. Bullfrog Blues
4. Gonna Find a New Woman
5. Killing Floor (w/ members of Kaleidoscope)
6. Bring It On Home
7. Kaleideheat Boogie Jam w/ Kaleidoscope *

* Kaleidoscope was a California psychedelic-folk band from the 60’s, built around the nucleus of David Lindley and Chris Darrow. They join Canned Heat for the last tune. Forty minutes of blues boogie jammin’.

• Check out Canned Heat on Playboy’s After Dark show from 1969. Hef also interviews The Bear between songs, and they discuss their love of old 78rpm records.
• Canned Heat’s All Music profile.
• Check out Canned Heat on Amazon.
• Canned Heat performing “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.

Posted in Blues | 7 Comments »

Required for Music Lovers: Ten Days Out

January 31st, 2007 by Pete

Pinetop Perkins. Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. Bryan Lee. “Wild Child” Butler. “Honeyboy” Edwards. Etta Baker.

These are names that could go forgotten if not for projects like Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s new CD/DVD release, Ten Days Out. I can’t tell you how impressed I am not only with this project, but with Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Before this project was brought to my attention, I didn’t know much about what was going on with Kenny these days. I remember him when we were hearing “Blue on Black” on rock radio ten years ago, when Kenny was only 19 years old.

So how cool is this project? Kenny teamed up with former Talkin Head Jerry Harrison (producer), the rhythm section for Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble, and a film crew to take a 10-day drive through the South. They located some of the living legends of the blues, talked to them, and performed with them in different settings: living rooms, front porches, kitchens, cemetaries, and smoky clubs.

The resulting CD and DVD are intimate and wholly authentic: “What happened is what you hear,” said Shepherd, “We kept it as real as possible.”

Kenny of course is an amazing blues guitarist in his own right, and there’s plenty of Kenny on display here. But what really impressed me was his unselfishness, and his reverence for those that paved his way. What he and Harrison did with this project is important for American Blues. The DVD is a history lesson, a primer in the blues, and pays homage to some amazing talents and personalities who - let’s face it - ain’t gonna be around for long. Required viewing folks, required viewing. Kenny Wayne Shepherd has himself a new fan…

Check out the trailer here (in Quicktime):

Buy the CD / DVD Box Set of Ten Days Out for $19.97 on Amazon.

Official Site of Ten Days Out

Kenny Wayne Shepherd & B.B. King: The Thrill is Gone (Quicktime Audio) | The Thrill is Gone (Media Player Audio)

Posted in Blues | 5 Comments »

Happy Birthday to the King

January 8th, 2007 by Pete

Ickmusic sends a shout out to the skies above….Happy 72nd Birthday Elvis!

I watched King Creole a couple of times over the holidays to help prime me for my trip to New Orleans. Here’s a quality moment from the film when Elvis the bus boy jumps up on stage at the request of the film’s heavy, Maxie Fields, played by Walter Matthau. The female lead sitting next to him is Carolyn Jones, aka Morticia Addams from The Addams Family.

Happy Birthday King!

Posted in Blues | No Comments »

Mojo

October 21st, 2006 by Pete

It’s Saturday, and the question you have to ask yourself is “do I have my mojo working?”

Webster’s Dictionary defines mojo as “a magic spell, hex, or charm; broadly : magical power ; works his mojo on the tennis court“. Webster’s had to throw in the thoroughly white-bread sentence example, didn’t they?

The Wikipedia definition is a little more detailed: “a term commonly encountered in the African-American folk belief called hoodoo. A mojo is a small bag, a type of magic charm, often of red flannel cloth and tied with a drawstring, containing botanical, zoological, and/or mineral curios, petition papers, and the like. It is typically worn under clothing.”

Other names for a mojo?

gree-gree (a Bantu word typically spelled gris-gris by people in Louisiana because of the state’s francophone origins), mojo hand, conjure bag, conjure hand, toby, jomo, and nation sack. In Haiti, the usual name for this sort of charm bag among those of African descent is a wanga, oanga, or wanger.

As for the song “Got My Mojo Working”, it was written in the 50’s by Preston Foster. Many people think he wrote it for Muddy Waters, who popularized the tune, but it was actually Ann Cole who released it first. Cole was an R&B / gospel singer from the 50’s and 60’s. Since then it’s been recorded by a ton of musicians, blues and otherwise… Jimmy Smith, Conway Twitty, Pinetop Perkins, Manfred Mann, Chuck Berry, Canned Heat, and a host of others.

Here’s a few that I like….

Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown: Got My Mojo Working (mp3) - from Standing My Ground

Elvis Presley: Got My Mojo Working (mp3) - live, unkown location, date. Listen for Elvis’ F-Bomb (the MF-Bomb to be precise).

Professor Longhair: Got My Mojo Working (mp3) - from Go to the Mardi Gras

• Here’s a cool resource for all things mojo: http://www.luckymojo.com/mojo.html
• Mojo Trivia of the Day: “Mr. Mojo Risin” is an anagram of Jim Morrison. Never knew ‘dat.

Posted in Blues, Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »

Whole Lotta Love in Copenhagen

September 16th, 2006 by Pete

Today, we have rockin’ Prince, and we have blues Prince. Coming from a 2002 aftershow in Copenhagen, Denmark, the man is all over his guitar here. May I recommend that you turn this m$%#@er up loud, and enjoy?

Prince:
Whole Lotta Love (mp3) (Led Zep cover)
The Question of U (mp3)

Live from a Copenhagen aftershow, October 26, 2002 (Hit n’ Run Tour).

Buy the newly released Ultimate Prince.

The Prince Forum: Ickmusic’s new Prince forum is up & running. For you Prince freaks, get on over and register. It’s worth your while, trust me.

Posted in Blues, Miscellaneous, Prince, Rock | 2 Comments »