As I've written before, I'm very thankful that nobody was recording me that fateful night back in the late '90s, when I basically cleared out an after-hours party at Burt's Tiki Lounge in Albuquerque with my stunning karaoke rendition of "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma."
Still, I get a weird kick from watching bad karaoke videos.
So here are a few just to make your Wednesday a little wackier. (And links to more at the bottom of the page.)
To begin, I'm not sure what's going on in this one:
Had Elvis been alive in 2010, he'd have killed this guy
This version of The Champs' "Tequila" took some real talent.
Sunday, September 6, 2020 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
White Riot by The Clash
I’m Ready for the Mountain by The Fleshtones
I’m a Clown by The Lazy Eggs
Who the Heck by The A-Bones
Voodoo by Screaming’ Jay Hawkins
Don’t Send Me No Flowers, I Ain’t Dead Yet by The Reigning Sound
The First Vietnamese War by The Black Angels
Sick! Sick! Sick! By Fuzzstainz
Jinx by TAD
Looking for Somebody by Any Dirty Party
I Like Gumby by Jonathan Richman
(Background Music: 77 Sunset Strip Cha Cha by Warren Barker)
Chatman was exposed to the blues at a very young age by his family, whose
members were some of the earliest blues musicians in the Mississippi
Delta. His father Peter Chatman led a group called the Washboard Band,
which featured the influential blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes. Inspired by
Sykes, the young Chatman began to teach himself the piano and was soon
touring in juke joints and dancehalls throughout the Southeast.
Like the story of many many blues artists, Slim migrated from the South to
Chicago in the late '30s. He became cronies with other giants like Sonny Boy
Williams and Big Bill Broonzy and later the likes of Willie Dixon and Matt
"Guitar" Murphy.
He initially recorded under his father's name, and "Peter Chatman" was the name on his songwriting credits.
In the early 1960s, following his playing in the American Folk Blues
Festival a European tour of American blues greats organized by Dixon, Slim
decided to become a expatriate and move to Europe permanently.
Again, from the Memphis Music Hall of Fame:
In 1962, Memphis Slim decided to settle permanently in Paris, a city that
had captured his heart and imagination during his European tours. “Back
home I’d either be sitting around or hustling, but here I work all I want,
eat tons of great food, and keep on having fun,” he told a reporter during
this period. ... “I don’t think anything I’ve done would have been possible here if I had
stayed here,” he said during a 1976 trip to America.
He stayed in Paris until his death in 1988.
Below are some of my favorite Memphis Slim songs.
Slim recorded "Every Day I Have the Blues" in 1947, though he originally titled
it "Nobody Loves Me." Basically Slim's tune was was a reworking of the
song "Every Day I Have the Blues" by St. Louis blues pianist Pinetop Sparks, who
recorded it in 1935.) A few years after Slim's recording, blues and jazz artists
like Lowell Fulson, Joe Williams, Count Basie and B.B. King recorded and had hit
with it.
Here's his first hit single, called "Beer Drinking Woman," in which you can
hear the direct influence of underrated bluesman Jack Webb.
This is a song he did with Willie Dixon. It's called "Rub My Root."
In 1973, Slim collaborated with Canned Heat for a record called
Memphis Heat. That albumwasn't as big as the band's work
with John Lee Hooker, Hooker 'n Heat, (or as many of us wise
asses called it "Hooker in Heat"), but it's worth hearing.
"Chicago Seven" is the very first Memphis Slim recording I ever heard as a
budding blues fan back in the early '70s. KUNM used to play it regularly.
Anyone following current events should realize the tune, despite being
topical, is no less relevant today.
But my favorite Slim tune has to this one, which basically became his
signature song. Slim went back to Mother Earth in 1988, but, at the risk of sounding corny, his music is
immortal.
Tuesday, September 1, 2020 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays Mountain Time Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
Professor Bop by Babs Gonzales with Three Bips & a Bop
To Hell With Love by Annie Ross & The Low Not Quartet
Let’s Make Love Again by Bobby Rush
My Lonely Island by Nathaniel Mayer
(Background Music: Bloodhound by The Sparklers)
Dabba Dabba Dabba Du Bay by Nu Sounds
Bebopper by The Gordons
Do the Sway by The Virgos
Cheaper to Keep Her by Johnny Taylor
Family Pain by Swamp Dogg
Is That Religion by Cab Calloway
(Background Music: Swinging’ the Blues by Count Basie)
Yama Yama Pretty Mama by Richard Berry
No Man by The Diplomats of Solid Sound
Black Coffee by Sarah Vaughan
Cowboy’s Dream by Floyd Domino & MaryAnn Price
If It Ain’t Love by The Boswell Sisters
(Background Music: Back at the Chicken Shack by Reuben Wilson)
Boogie Woogie Blue Plate by Louis Jordan
Tarzan by Artie Wilson
Hide the Reefer by Kermit Ruffins
Bid ‘em In by Oscar Brown, Jr.
Monsters of the Id by Mose Allison
(Background Music: Fly Town Nose Blues by Rahsaan Roland Kirk)
Chicken Rhythm by Slam Stewart & Slim Gaillard
Wino Boogie by Don Tosti’s Pachuco Boogie Boys
The Stuff is Here by Georgia White
Ooh Poo Pa Doo by Trombone Shorty & James Andrews
Decent Woman Blues by Julia Lee
A Foo, a Little Bally Hoo by Chris Calloway
(Background Music: Bikini by Dexter Gordon)
Back in the Days of Dixieland and Bop by Harry “The Hipster” Gibson
Where or When by Frank Sinatra
Giddy Up Ding Dong by Keely Smith
The Dark End of the Street by James Carr
Everybody Knows by The Revelations featuring Tre Williams
(Background Music: Back at the Chicken Shack by Jimmy Smith)
On this latest breathtaking episode of The Big Enchilada, I take a mask from the ancient gallery and I WALK ON DOWN THE HALL ...
Remember, The Big Enchilada still is officially listed in the iTunes store. So go subscribe, if you haven't already (and please, gentle listeners, give me a five-star rating and review if you're so inclined.) Thanks.
