Just a couple of days ago, Sept. 12, was the birthday of one of America's greatest country singers, George Jones. If he hadn't have died back in 2013, Jones would have been 86 years old this week.
A belated happy birthday, Mr. Jones!
I realized it was his birthday when scrolling through my Facebook feed and stumbled onto a great post on the Bloodshot Records page.
"Like a real Possum, he keeps crawling up into our gutters and rummaging through our attic," the post said. "We can't escape George Jones no matter how hard we try. Here's a playlist of Bloodshot artists covering songs written, recorded, and made famous by No Show Jones."
I immediately wished that I'd have thought of that first. Then I went to work coming up with a variation of the idea -- George Jones covers covered by various rockers who love him.
So let's have at it!
Here are The Geraldine Fibbers, a mid '90s band featuring singer Carla Bozulich, with live versions of not one but two Jones classics, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "The Grand Tour."
Dave Edmunds teamed up with The Stray Cats for "The Race is On."
The Blasters do a blues-soaked version of "Window Up Above"
And here's one of those wonderful Bloodshot bands, The Waco Brothers with "White Lightning"
Here is duet between Keith Richards & George Jones. For years, "Say It's Not You" has been a Santa Fe Opry favorite.
Possum himself could rock when he wanted. Here's a live version of Larry Williams' "Bony Maronie."
Finally, here is the Bloodshot Spotify list that inspired this post. Several of the songs are more associated with other artists like Hank Williams and Merle Haggard, but what the heck? (I've found it's best to have your Spotify already open before you start to play.)
Little Richard with Tammy & George.
I looked but I couldn't find any Little Richard covers of Jones songs
Imagine the worst of 1970s pop music -- the wimpiest, the sappiest, the most self-indulgent Top 40 schmaltz of the Me Decade -- neatly compiled onto one loathsome but irresistible compact disc.
That was the case of a fiendishly perverse, but somehow subversive compilation on Rhino Records released just a couple of years before the end of the century: 70's Party Classics Killers I couldn't resist reviewing Party Killers in my March 27, 1998 Terrell's Tune-up column, writing with both disgust and awe:
"The last time anyone put so many wretched songs ... into such a concentrated form had to be the Circle Jerks in their "Golden Shower of Hits" medley. In fact, a couple of the songs the Jerks covered, `You're Having My Baby' and `Afternoon Delight' are here in their insidious original forms. "The result is a record far more evil than Marilyn Manson could ever come up with. You realize that by the time you hear the weird child's voice chirping `My name is Michael, I've got a nickel' in the chorus of Clint Holme's 'Playground of My Mind.' "
Behold the track list for the compilation:
1. "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando & Dawn
2. "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace
3. "Billy, Don't Be A Hero" by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
4. "(You're) Having My Baby" by Paul Anka
5. "Playground In My Mind" by Clint Holmes
6. "Feelings" by Morris Albert
7. "Sometimes When We Touch" by Dan Hill
8. "The Candy Man" by Sammy Davis, Jr.
9. "Afternoon Delight" by The Starland Vocal Band
10. "Torn Between Two Lovers" by Mary MacGregor
11. "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes
12. "Muskrat Love" by The Captain & Tennille
A good number of these artists were one-hit wonders. But what's frightening to realize is that three of these acts -- Tony Orlando & Dawn; The Starland Vocal Band and The Captain & Tennille -- all had their own tacky network TV variety shows in the 1970s,
I concluded in my review, "All in all, '70s Party Killers is so bad it's ... still bad. But sometimes bad is more fun than good."
But this douchie dozen does not represent all the achingly bad music of the '70s. The whole decade was overflowing with similarly awful pop hits. In fact, nearly 20 years have passed since Rhino unleased 70's Party Classics Killers. I believe it's time for Volume 2
So I'm going to suggest the first five tracks for this sinister sequel and I want you gentle readers to help chose the next five or six or seven tracks.
Please leave your nominees in the comments section (here or on my Facebook page), preferably with a YouTube link. Try not to repeat any that were on the original compilation. (See list above.)
Don't worry, there's probably no chance in Hell that Rhino Records or anyone else will pick up the idea. (But you never know.)
Here are my five nominees:
1 "Never Been to Me" by Charlene. My daughter Molly gets the credit (or blame) for this one.
2 "Seasons in the Sun" sung by Terry Jacks, with lyrics by Rod McKeun. (It's also important, so very important, to hear Too Much Joy's version, which includes a McKeun verse that the evil Terry Jacks, as TMJ called him, omitted.)
3) "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone. Yep, that's Pat's daughter. This is the only song here with obvious religious overtones -- though Jesus tells me that He hates crappy music.
4) "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" by Lobo. I love dogs. But this song makes me question those feelings.
5) "Sad Eyes" by Robert Johns. Poor Robert. He obviously was suffering from Bee Gees Disease. We shouldn't mock him.
So hit me with your worst shots and tell me what '70s dreck you'd include on 70's Party Classics Killers Vol. 2.
Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Dopefiend Boogie by The Cramps
One Kind Favor by Canned Heat
Goin' Underground by The Molting Vultures
Preaching the Blues by The Gun Club
In Cahoots by The Howlin' Max Messer Show
Demona by Dead Moon
Backstreet Girl by Social Distortion
Big Cluckin' Mistake by MFC Chicken
Jettisoned by Thee Oh Sees
Throbbing Gristle by The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Moon by Travel in Space
The Last Cul de Sac by The Black Lips
Days and Days by Concrete Blonde
Beautiful Child by Camper Van Beethoven
Linen for the Orphan by The Yawpers
Still Rollin' by Left Lane Cruiser
Whistlebait Baby by Lovestruck
Pretty Baby (You're So Ugly) by Ty Segall
Sunday Routine by Boss Hog
White Jesus by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
I Think I'm Going Down by Weird Omen
I Told You Once by Toad of The Short Forest
Throat Locust by TAD
No Class by Bitch Queens
Hey Cookie by The Dirtbombs
Love Gangsters by Gogol Bordello
Light as a Feather by Afghan Whigs
Part the Sea by Mission of Burma
Mystery by Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls
The Cross by Prince
Hyper Real by Negativland CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Sept. 8, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Fiesta by The Pogues
Walkin' After Midnight by Cyndi Lauper
Old Wolf by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Cry Cry Cry by Sally Timms
Ain't No Sure Thing by Bobby Bare
Guacamole by Texas Tornados
The Firebreak Line by Steve Earle
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights / Volver Volver by Billy Bacon & The Forbidden Pigs
Florida by War and Treaty
Po' Howard by Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons with Phil Wiggins
Skilly Bom II by The Imperial Rooster
Big Zombie Chivalrous Amoekons
Tiger by The Tail by The Waco Brothers
Busy City by Rhonda Vincent
Will I Ever Feel Fine by Tommy Miles & The Milestones
Match Made in Heaven by Jesse Dayton
Mysterious Mose by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
R.I.P. Don Williams (all songs by DW, unless otherwise noted)
I Believe in You
Tulsa Time by Jimmy LaFave
Good Old Boys Like Me
Amanda by Waylon Jennings
If I Needed You by Emmylou Harris & Don Williams
Time by Pozo Seco Singers
Country Boy by The Band Miracles
My Magdalene by Hazeldine
Mississippi by The Cactus Blossoms
Death Row by Chris Stapleton
Dying Breed by Lonesome Bob CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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From 1898 up through the 1950s, the 78 rpm record, usually made from shellac (beetle resin) was the major medium of recorded music. A big chunk of the artists you see featured on "Throwback Thursday" -- all those great blues, hillbilly and jazz artists of the '20s, '30s and '40s -- started out on 78s
Supposedly there were more than 3 million sides produced during the 78 era. But while the most famous and most commercially successful of those have been preserved onto modern formats, there are countless obscure old 78s out there that are in danger of being lost. After those old shellac artifacts are known to shatter in your hands without warning,
A George Blood turntable used for 78 rpm digitization of four simultaneous recordings with different needles. Fancy!
The Great 78 Project is a community project for the preservation, research and discovery of 78 rpm records. ... Already, over 20 collections have been selected by the Internet Archive for physical and digital preservation and access.
... There’s no way to predict if the digital versions of these 78s will outlast the physical items, so we are preserving both to ensure the survival of these cultural materials for future generations to study and enjoy.
And already there is plenty to enjoy. At this writing there are 30,495 songs on the project's Internet Archive home.
I'm going to post a few but I recommend you check it out yourself and get lost in the sounds of yesteryear.
Here's a little 1936 craziness from Hal O'Halloran's Hooligans: "She's Way Up Thar."
Here's one called "Jungle Boogie." No, it's not Kool & The Gang, it's The Bobby True Trio from 1948.
Country music star Roy Acuff is part of the Great 78 collection. Here's "A Sinner's Death" from 1947.
Here's a highfalutin, rootin' tootin' version of "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" by Dick Jurgins & His Orchestra (1941).
This is a 1927 record called "Hawaiian Dreams" by The Hilo Hawaiian Orchestra.
Ninety-six years ago this week, Sept. 5, 1921, an aspiring actress named Virginia Rappe suffered a ruptured bladder at a party in the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. She'd been in the company of one of the greatest comedians of the silent-movie era, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
Rappe died on Sept. 9 at the age of 25. It was the end of her life. It also was the end of Arbuckle's career.
He was arrested on charges of manslaughter and booked without bail.
According to a 2011 piece by Gilbert King for Smithsonian.com:
The Hearst papers had a field day with the story—the publisher would later say the Fatty Arbuckle scandal sold more papers than the sinking of the Lusitania. While sexually assaulting Virginia Rappe, the papers surmised, the 266-pound star had ruptured her bladder; the San Francisco Examiner ran an editorial cartoon titled “They Walked Into His Parlor,” featuring Arbuckle in the middle of a giant spider web with two liquor bottles at hand and seven women caught in the web. Rumors that he had committed sexual depravities began to swirl.
The rumors were nasty. Some assumed he crushed her with his weight during an attempted rape. Some claimed Arbuckle penetrated Rappe with an empty bottle.
Basically everyone in the country assumed Arbuckle was a big fat perv who attacked this poor girl.
But not everyone believed it. Arbuckle went to trial for Rappe's death three times. The first two trials ended in hung juries. In the last one, the jury voted to acquit the comic, taking the rare step of sending him a note of apology.
Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done to him … there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. He was manly throughout the case and told a straightforward story which we all believe. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgment of fourteen men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame. According to The Smithsonian article:
Arbuckle’s lawyers introduced medical evidence showing that Rappe had had a chronic bladder condition, and her autopsy concluded that there “were no marks of violence on the body, no signs that the girl had been attacked in any way.”
And the jury's hope that the public would take their judgement and realize Arbuckle was innocent didn't happen.
Arbuckle was banned from the movie industry for several months and basically considered box office poison. He worked behind the scenes as a director on some films under an assumed name. In 1933 he died of a heart attack.
Arbuckle's mug shot.
But one contemporary American jazzman did. Trumpet player Dave Douglas in 2005 released an album called Keystone, named for the Hollywood studio where Arbuckle filmed some of his greatest work (and yes, the namesake of The Keystone Cops.)
“Aside from liking the movies, one of the things that encouraged me to do this project was to vindicate Roscoe Arbuckle,” Douglas told Jazz Times. “I think that he really ought to be considered with Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd as one of the masters of the genre."
Keystone is a two-disc set including a CD and a DVD, The CD that contains 11 music tracks Douglas composed for Arbuckle’s films. The DVD features Arbuckle’s 1915 film Fatty and Mabel Adrift, accompanied by Douglas’ score and a music video for “Just Another Murder” that has footage from Arbuckle's 1915 film “Fatty’s Tin-Type Tangle.”
Here's "Just Another Murder."
But even after Keystone, Douglas continued playing around with music for Arbuckle's comedy shorts. This is "Moonshine" posted on Youtube by Douglas' Greenleaf label in 2008. It's the title track from his album released that year.
And here is a Keystone outtake called "Fatty's Plucky Pup."
Finally, here's Keystone in its entirety on Spotify
Last night the final two episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return aired on Showtime.
I miss it already.
And for those of you who miss it too, here is some Twin Peaks music to help ease the pain.
Let's start out with Special Agent Tammy Preston (in her guise as singer Chrysta Bell) singing "Sycamore Trees," written by Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti and originally sung by Little Jimmy Sott in The Black Lodge in the final episode of Season 2.
Here's the group Xiu Xiu, which recently recorded an entire album of Twin Peaks music, doing "Into the Night."
My favorite discovery among all the Roadhouse bands that played on The Return was The Cactus Brothers. These guys apparently worship The Everly Brothers -- and that's OK by me. I've been playing a lot of their songs in recent weeks on The Santa Fe Opry.
I also loved Rebekah Del Rio's Roadhouse song.
From the original series, James, Donna and Maddy sing "Just You." (James reprised this at The Roadhouse in The Return.)
But the singer most identified with Twin Peaks -- and rightly so -- is Julee Cruise. "The World Spins" is the song she sang in the Roadhouse (while Leland was busy killing Maddy back at the Palmer house) in the original series. She also sang it at the end of Part 17 last night. I believe this clip is from a Lynch/Badalamenti project calledIndustrial Symphony No. 1.
