As previously threatened, friends of the late George Adelo have planned a musical memorial for the lawyer/guitar slinger.
The George Adelo Memorial Jam is scheduled to begin 7 pm Friday at Skylight Santa Fe.
From the event's Facebook page:
Please join us for an evening of music to celebrate the life of our dear friend George Adelo. The jam will be sign-up style. There will be a backline and house backing band: Mikey Baker-Guitar, Susan Hyde Holmes-Bass, Kirk Kadish-Keyboards, Baird Banner-Drums. Musicians please bring your instruments for plug and play set up (except drums and keys) and have 1-2 songs ready to go. We encourage collaborations, back up singing etc. Let's make a joyful noise for Georgie Angel!
Here's a video by Jim Terr of George and White Buffalo playing Santa Fe Bandstand in 2010
Sunday, Nov. 5, 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
Remember by John Lennon
Tunnel Time by Thee Oh Sees
She Was a Mau Mau by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
New Kind of Kick by The Cramps
New Thing by Skip Church
Sonic Boomerang by Bee Bee Sea
Get Straight by Lynx Lynx
Don't Play Cards with Satan by Daniel Johnston
Hail Hail, John Cale by Count Vaseline
Swamp Thing by The Meteors
96 Tears by Garland Jeffreys
Maybe Your Baby by The Dirtbombs
Foreign Body by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Crybabies Go Home by The Ghost Wolves
Turn My Head by The Molting Vultures
Boogie Tale by Laino & The Broken Seeds
Beaver Patrol by Wild Knights
Jonestown by Concrete Blonde
Rock 'n' Roll Murder by Chesterfield Kings
My Hardened Skin by The Routes
Freedom by Ty Segall
Signal by Boss Hog
Incubus by The Howlin' Max Messer Show
Skintrade by The Mekons
Exercise Man by The Dean Ween Group
Teach Me Tonight by Louis Prima & Keely Smith
Set My Soul on Fire by War & Treaty
Lips of a Loser by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
In Your Hands by Phil Hayes & The Trees
Demon in Profile by Afghan Whigs
I Can Still See by Pere Ubu CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Nov. , 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
Look at that Moon by Carl Mann
Old Wolf by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Rolling River by Joe West
Keep Your Mouth Shut by Beth Lee & The Breakups
Beth Lee Live
Right Back
You Remind Me
Wouldya Wanna
Beautiful Losers
Drivin' by Beth Lee & The Breakups
Another Bender Might Break Me by Hellbound Glory
I Don't Give a Shit by Shinyribs
Just Like Geronimo by Marlee McLeod
Long Way to Hollywood by Steve Young
Legend of Kye LaFoone by Dan Whitaker & The Shinebenders
Delilah's Barber Shop by Jonny Barber & The Rhythm Razors
I Swear I Was Lyin' by Kim Lenz
Life, Love, Death and The Meter Man by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
White Devil by Legendary Shack Shakers
Nothing in Rambling by Eilen Jewell
The Sound of Laughter by Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre
Sweet White Van by Two Tons of Steel
Lookin' for a Woman by Steve Earle
Low Down, Broke Down Fool by Paula Rhae McDonald
Sinkhole by Drive By Truckers
Chaos and Clothes by Jason Isbell
Whitehouse Road by Tyler Childers
Cocaine Cowboys by Margo Price
Time Heals by Gear Daddies
I Stole the Right to Live by Michael Hurley
Spring of '65 by Blue Mountain
Cold Black Sea by Peter Stampfel CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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Maybe someone who seemed to know what he or she was talking about told me and I believed it.
Maybe it came to me in a dream.
I don't know where I got this idea, but somewhere I heard that Frank Sinatra -- yes Frank Sinatra, dammit -- once said that the saddest song he ever heard was a strange old American song from 1895 called "The Band Played On."
Even with the magic of Google I can't verify if this is true. I can't even find any Sinatra covers of the song.
And damn, I want to believe it!
Most of the versions of this tune -- with lyrics by John F. Palmer and music by Charles B. Ward -- don't play it for the sadness. Often it's played for laughs.
But when you think about it -- it's there. While Palmer's lyrics allude to love and good times, there is tension just under the surface. Disaster is just around the corner.
The song is about this guy named Casey who's on the dance floor with a "strawberry blonde" -- "the girl he adored."
But things aren't going well for poor Casey. He's whacked out of his mind on booze or who knows what.
... his brain was so loaded it nearly exploded; The poor girl would shake with alarm.
He loves this woman but he's not sure what to do and he's only succeeding in terrifying her. But Casey is determined.
He'd ne'er leave the girl with the strawberry curls And the band played on.
Maybe she can escape his clutches after he falls on his face. Or maybe they're married and there's no way out for her
But it's obvious there will be no happy ending here for Casey or the blonde.
Of course I'm just talking about the chorus of the song. Most folks in the modern era who know the song are not familiar with the verses. But as far as I'm concerned, that's just as well. The song's power is in the image of Casey about to spin out of control as his partner hangs on, trying not to panic.
One of the first, if not the first, to record "The Band Played On" -- in 1895 -- was a singer named Dan W. Quinn (1859-1939), promoted in his day as "The King of Comic Singers" (though he could also be known as "The King of Racist Singers.")
Here's a 1941 version by a group called The Jesters
You know if the Hoosier Hot Shots covered something I'm writing about, I'm going to include it. Are you ready, Hezzie?
Here's a swinging hepcat version by a guy named Frank D'Rone
And this is a fairly recent one by Richard Thompson from a 2013 compilation of "turn-of-the-century" songs called The Beautiful Old. I love Thompson and I love this version, even though he tacks on a sappy ending, undercutting the beautiful terror of Casey's drunken waltz.
Update 11-7-17:
Sean at KSFR did some fancy Googlin' and found a Frank Sinatra fan forum that shows Ol' Blues was at least familiar with this song and apparently had performed it a couple of times.
A guy named Larry posted in 2007:
Back in the 70s I caught Frank Sinatra several times at the Westchester Premier Theater. In one show he stunned the audience by turning down the lights except for maybe a single spot light, sat on a stool, and sang the oldie "Casey Would Waltz With the Strawberry Blond". Very little, if any, accompaniment as I recall. It is one of the memories I've treasured through the years. He may have sung another song along with it but I don't remember what it was.
Another guy, Bob, responded:
Larry, it may interest you to know that Sinatra FIRST sang "The Band Played On" in a Songs By Sinatra (Old Gold Cigarettes) CBS radio show, as part of a medley with solo piano accompaniment by André Previn, September 25, 1946. The Westchester Premier Theater performance which you mention (second show of the day) occurred 30 years later TO THE DAY, on September 25, 1976, with Bill Miller doing the solo piano honors. Those are the ONLY two documented performances of this song by FS.
Unfortunately, in a later post Bob says there is no known recording of this radio show.
I did a little Googling myself and found a mention of the 1946 radio set on a German site.
September 25, 1946 Songs By Sinatra (CBS) Sponsor: Old Gold Cigarettes Ansager: Marvin Miller Orchesterleitung: Axel Stordahl Künstler: Frank Sinatra, The Pied Pipers Gäste: Sandra Gould
1. Night And Day
2. Blue Skies
3. And The Band Played On
4. I Wonder What's Become Of Sally
5. After The Ball
6. I Wonder Who Kissing Her Now
7. On The Boardwalk In Atlantic City
8. The Things We Did Last Summer
9. September Song
10. Put Your Dreams Away
Last Sunday was the 78th 79th birthday of a musician who I believe has done more to keep folk music
alive, relevant and fun as much as anyone alive. I love practically every song I've heard him sing.
Happy late birthday, Peter Stampfel!
With his most famous band, the psychedelic-folk crusaders known as The Holy Modal Rounders, as well as the various groups that followed (The Du-Tells, The Bottle Caps, The Worm All-Stars, The Ether Frolic Mob ... and let's not forget a stint with The Fugs back in the Daze), Stampfel discovered an important secret about folk music:
It sounds so much better when it sounds a little crazy.
Here's a bunch of my favorite Stampfel songs. Listen, sing along and share with your friends
Let's start off with an appearance by The Rounders on -- you bet your sweet bippy -- Rowan & Martin's Laugh In. (Yes, Laugh-In was a lot hipper than many people gave it credit for. That probably was the first time I ever saw Stampfel. Laugh In was the first place I ever heard The Legendary Stardust Cowboy too.) Too bad The Rounders never took Ruth Buzzi on the road with them.
I'm not sure why this Rounders favorite "Spring of '65" -- based on an old folk tune about drunken craziness -- works so well with The Fabulous Fury Freak Brothers. But it does.
One of the greatest records that Stampfel had anything to do with was Have Moicy!, which he recorded as The Unholy Modal Rounders along with Michael Hurley and Jeffrey Frederick. We're a day late for Halloween, but I've always loved that album's "Hoodoo Bash."
Stampfel goes disco!
I played Stampfel's version of this Stephen Foster song a few months ago when my old dog Rocco died and cried like a baby, God dammit to Hell, the same thing happened when I played it a couple of days ago.
And speaking of death, here's Stampfell covering one of Lou Reed's greatest under-appreciated songs, a sweet little meditation on mortality called "Cold Black Sea"
Sunday, Oct. 29, 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
Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner (see video at bottom of page)
Frankenstein by New York Dolls
Walking on My Grave by Dead Moon
Idol With the Glowin' Eyes by Southern Culture on the Skids
The Ghost With the Most by The Almighty Defenders
Bandstand by Tandoori Knights
Be Righteous by Mark "Porkchop" Holder
Sin Palabras by Al Hurricane
Fats' Fingers by Hakim Be
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday/ I Want to Walk You Home by Fats Domino
Can't Fool the Fat Man by Randy Newman
What a Party by Fats Domino
Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie
Mind Playing Tricks on Me by The Geto Boys
Murder in the Graveyard by Screaming Lord Sutch
(This set consists of songs from Friday's Halloween Terrell's Tune-up)
Nature's Revenge by Skinny Puppy
Season of the Witch by Vanilla Fudge
The Ballad of Dwight Fry by Alice Cooper
Brand New Girl by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
The Kindness of Strangers by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
D.O.A. by Bloodrock
... a Psychopath by Lisa Germano
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Plan from Frag 9 by Pere Ubu
Get it Boy by Travel in Space
Pretty Good for a Girl by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Digging My Grave by Wild Evel & The Trashbones
You Went Away by Phil Hayes & The Trees
Come On My Little Darlin' by The Masonics CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
David Liebe Hart is an actor, musician, painter, and alien abductee.
