Geno and the Huskies off to the Final Fur....

Will they meet the Paris Sisters?

HUSKIES movin' on to Motown....

Whew, tough win for the bastards. Kemba! Bitches on today at noon vs Cal.

Enjoyable late night at Bonterra as 'Smooth' Barry D hosted a few close friends (well, 'friends' is pushing it, but what the hell) of Johnny Gumbo. Toast: "Hide your women, children and pets 'cause Johnny Gumbo's back in town!" Don't panic, he's only here for a week! Shared a chuckle over Pool Hall Stud Mark's misadventure at Big East tourney.



Motown #1 hits - 1960s - lists
1961 "Please Mr. Postman" The Marvelettes
1963 "Fingertips--Pt. 2" Little Stevie Wonder
1964 "My Guy" Mary Wells
1964 "Where Did Our Love Go" The Supremes
1964 "Baby Love" The Supremes
1964 "Come See About Me" The Supremes
1965 "My Girl" The Temptations
1965 "Stop! In the Name of Love" The Supremes
1965 "Back in My Arms Again" The Supremes
1965 "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" Four Tops
1965 "I Hear a Symphony" The Supremes
1966 "You Can't Hurry Love" The Supremes
1966 "Reach Out I'll Be There" Four Tops
1966 "You Keep Me Hangin' On" The Supremes
1967 "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" The Supremes
1967 "The Happening" The Supremes
1968 "Love Child" Diana Ross & the Supremes
1968 "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" Marvin Gaye
1969 "I Can't Get Next to You" The Temptations
1969 "Someday We'll Be Together" Diana Ross & the Supremes

The cubes are here, the cubes are here!

The 40th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has released the coveted cubes of each day's performance schedule:
1st Weekend
Friday, April 24 - here
Saturday, April 25 - here
Sunday, April 26 - here
2nd Weekend
Thursday, April 30 - here
Friday, May 1 - here
Saturday, May 2 - here
Sunday, May 3 - here

UConn Huskies' new fight song (while all you Memphis boys go to the back of the line)...

or perhaps...

A lasting treasure or just a moment's pleasure?....

Sunday mornin' shuffle...

Mush you freakin' Huskies!
I Think Of You (Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys) Night Tide
Stuck Between Stations (The Hold Steady) Boys And Girls in America
Never Gonna Change (Drive-By Truckers) The Dirty South
I Dug Up a Diamond (Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris) All the Roadrunning
Headlights (Cat Power) Dear Sir
Face Your Fears (Ben Sidran) That's Life I Guess
Rosie's Lullaby (Norah Jones) Not Too Late
The End (The Beatles) Abbey Road
The Night We Called It a Day (Diana Krall) The Look of Love
White Riot Live Dropkick Murphys) The Singles Collection
Honey Babe Blues (Maria Muldaur) Waitress In a Donut Shop
Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby (Laura Nyro) Walk the Dog & Light the Light
I'm Tore Down (Eric Clapton) From the Cradle
Trees of the Ages/Emmie (Laura Nyro) The Loom's Desire
In This Hole (Cat Power) The Covers Record
Sure Is a Good Thing (Doug Sahm) The Return of the Formerly Brothers
Sitting Still (R.E.M.) Murmur
The Story of My Life (Marcia Ball) Let Me Play With Your Poodle
Country John (Allen Toussaint) The Allen Toussaint Collection
There She Is (Lovin' Spoonful) Daydream
Just In Time (Frank Sinatra) Come Dance With Me!
Providence Bummer (Yesterday's Children) Yesterday's Children
Me & My Chauffeur (Lucinda Williams) Ramblin'
Lose Her (The Sawtelles) special demo track
I Wonder (The Ronettes) Phil Spector Back to Mono
Banks of the Old Pontchartrain (Doug Sahm) The Return of the Formerly Brothers
Chapel of Love (Darlene Love) Phil Spector Back to Mono
On the Sunny Side of the Street (Terrance Blanchard/Cassandra Wilson) Let's Get Lost
Lay Lady Lay (Cassandra Wilson) Glamoured
Lay Down the Burden of Your Heart (Naomi Sommers) Flying Through
Joe (The Cranberries) To the Faithful Departed
Fancy Funeral (Lucinda Williams) West
Say You Will (Ben Harper & Innocent Criminals) Lifeline
Ballad of a Teenage Queen (Rodney Crowell) A Tribute to Johnny Cash
Moon Love (Nat King Cole) The Billy May Sessions
I Don't Blame You (Cat Power) You Are Free
Broken Hearted Road (Sonny Landreth) Grand Street
Tides of Time (Donna the Buffalo) Live From the American Ballroom
Wade: Hurricane Suite (Dr. John & the Lower 911) Sippiana Hurricane
To Be Alone With You (Bob Dylan) Nashville Skyline
Lover Please Kinky Friedman) Kinky Friedman
Come To Me (Otis Redding) Very Best Of

First Snooks, now Eddie Bo checks out before Jazz Fest...

Jazz pianist Eddie Bo dies at 79: report
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Eddie Bo, a New Orleans jazz pianist, singer and songwriter has died at the age of 79, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Saturday. The newspaper said Bo had died last Wednesday of a heart attack. "He was one of the last great New Orleans piano professors, kind of a bridge between Professor Longhair and Allen Toussaint," the paper quoted New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival producer Quint Davis as saying. "Everyone now has to remember to check their bucket on their own, without Eddie to tell us." Born Edwin Joseph Bocage, Bo grew up in Algiers and the 9th Ward of New Orleans, the report said.

After graduating from high school, he served in the army and then studied arranging and composing at the Grunewald School of Music, a training ground for scores of professional musicians. He fronted various bands and wrote and released singles for the Ace, Ric, Apollo and Chess labels. - complete article

Sarah B in very cool company @ SXSW...

Texas musician Doug Sahm remembered at SXSW
AUSTIN, Texas (Billboard) – With a tribute album arriving Tuesday (March 24), Tex-Mex musician Doug Sahm, who died in 1999, was the subject of two homages this week at the South by Southwest music festival and conference. A set by the Texas Tornados, one of the bands he helped to found, highlighted a two-hour show on Thursday night at the Austin club Antone's. The show featured several of the artists who contributed tracks to Vanguard's "Keep Your Soul: a Tribute to Doug Sahm," which commemorates the Texas music legend, who came to fame leading the Sir Douglas Quintet in the 1960s and '70s. Led by Sahm's son Shawn, the Tornados' portion of the concert reunited surviving band members Augie Meyers and Flaco Jiminez for a six-song romp. They played lively versions of "Who Were You Thinking Of?," "San Antone," Meyers' "(Hey Baby) Que Paso," a nod to the late Freddy Fender with a hot rendition of "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" (sung by Nunie Rubio) and Sahm's best-known hits, "She's About a Mover" and "Mendocino."

Shawn Sahm also told the crowd that he, Meyers and Jimenez have recorded a new Tornados album -- the group's first studio set since 1996's "4 Aces," which will include tracks with Freddy Fender recorded before his death in 2006. A documentary about Sahm is in the works as well. The Thursday night tribute also featured performances by Jimmie Vaughan, the Gourds, Dave Alvin, and Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles, while Jake Andrews fronted a version of "Glad for Your Sake" that featured "Keep Your Soul" co-producer Bill Bentley on drums. Doug Sahm, who was saluted as "the father of Americana music," was also honored at the Austin Music Awards on Wednesday night with a performance that featured "She's About a Mover" and Alejandro Escovedo re-creating his version of "Too Little Too Late" from the "Keep Your Soul" album. Other artists who recorded songs for the tribute compilation include Los Lobos, Delbert McClinton, Charlie Sexton, Little Willie G, Terry Allen and Joe "King" Carrasco in collaboration with the Texas Tornados.

Got any glue, my brackets are busted....

This guy can really score...

This guy I know (for the sake of anonymity we'll call him MARK) says he can get Johnny Gumbo and a friend tickets to see Regis and Kelly in New Orleans. He's is SO connected!

Random violence, I mean, songfact....

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted? by Jimmy Ruffin
This was written by Motown writers Jimmy Dean, Paul Riser, and William Witherspoon. They wrote it for The Detroit Spinners, but Ruffin convinced the Motown writers to let him try it, and they liked what they heard. Ruffin is the brother of The Temptations' David Ruffin. Originally, this contained a spoken intro. It was cut out before the song was released because Motown thought the intro would be too controversial for a black artist. The spoken into by Jimmy was later released on a British compilation which also included Jimmy's version of the song in Italian ("Se Decidi Cosi"). (thanks, David - Haverford, PA) - songacts.com

HOOPS, BABY, HOOPS

I did not know that Bob Seeger was THAT old! - Springsteen leads Seeger 90th birthday tribute

Huskies!!!!.....(no, brother Joe, not your Northeastern boys)

When Irish eyes are smiling, Tis like a morn in spring...

I've been a wild rover for many's the year
I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer
But now I'm returning with gold in great store
And I never will play the wild rover no more

And it's No, Nay, never,
No, nay never no more
Will I play the wild rover,
No never no more

I went in to an alehouse I used to frequent
And I told the landlady me money was spent
I asked her for credit, she answered me nay
Such a customer as you I can have any day
Top 'o the mornin' to ya! The Fabulous Farquahr used to do a great version of Wild Rover. Here are the Dropkick Murphys doing it (speaking of wild rovers, Johnny Gumbo is coming back to CT for a visit in a couple weeks - just a warning to hide your wives, daughters, pets and silverware):

Ten best Irish movies of all time

10 things you didn't know about Ireland

Irish rockers

White guys can't bump...

Sunday iPod Shuffle while working, waiting for selection show...

Shake Your Hips (Lou Ann Barton) Read My Lips
Moonshiner (Cat Power) Moon Pix
Dirty Work (Steely Dan) Can't Buy a Thrill
Million Miles (Bob Dylan) Time Out of Mind
People Lead (Ben Harper) Fight For Your Mind
Marcella (Beach Boys) Carl & the Passions
Dance and Boogie (The Pipettes) We Are the Pipettes
Getting Better (The Beatles) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Shaking Through (R.E.M.) Murmur
Trash City (Joe Strummer) The Future is
Don't Tell Me (Doug Sahm) The Return of the Formerly Brothers
Most of the Time (Bob Dylan) High Fidelity Soundtrack
Awake Now (Jim Lauderdale with Donna the Buffalo) Wait 'Til Spring
Japanese Waltz (Gary Burton & Friends) Departure
When She Kisses Me (Jonathan Richman) Having a Party With Jonathan Richman
Play, Fiddle, Play (Erroll Garner) The Complete Savoy Master
Whiskey in My Whiskey (The Felice Brothers) Self-Titled
Wait (The Beatles) Rubber Soul
Christmas Time Blues (Johnny Dawkins) Johnny K's Got the Blues This Christmas
David Bowie (Phish) Junta
I Got the Message (George Guitar Baker) Mojo Lady
Keep Me (The Black Keys) Rubber Factory
Blue Moon revisited (Cowboy Junkies) The Trinity Sessions
Raining in Baltimore (Counting Crows) August & Everything After
WoWoWo (Jim Lauderdale with Donna the Buffalo) Wait 'Til Spring
Behind That Locked Door (George Harrison) All Things Must Pass
Let's Have a Party (Lou Ann Barton) Read My Lips
Funky Pretty (Beach Boys) Holland
Mean Mean Man (Lou Ann Barton) Read My Lips
You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (Righteous Bros) Phil Spector-Back to Mono
The Book and the Canal (Calexico) Feast of Wire
Where the Devil Don't Stay (Drive-By Truckers) The Dirty South
Puzzles (The Yardbirds) Over Under Sideways Down
Unnecessarily Mercinary (Bonnie Raitt) Souls Alive
No Pointing Arrows (Heartless Bastards) All This Time
Close To You Alone (Stanley Cowell) Close to You Alone
Peace in Mind (Joan Armatrading) Show Some Emotion
Blind (Talking Heads) Best of Talking Heads

Eric Danton on Lucinda Williams @ Calvin Theatre 3/11/09...

Sometimes Lucinda Williams is hotter than a $2 pistol on Saturday night; sometimes she's more subdued. The veteran singer and songwriter was a little of both Tuesday at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, Mass., where her less boisterous side held sway early on in the two-hour, 22-song performance.

Not only did she start with the lower-key stuff, she front-loaded the set with older material, too, opening with "I Just Wanted to See You So Bad," from her self-titled 1988 album. Williams dug even further back, playing the twangy country-blues title track from 1980's "Happy Woman Blues," then fast-forwarding to the wry country-rocker "I Lost It" from her 1998 breakthrough, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road."
She rounded out the opening salvo with the "Pineola," from 1992's "Sweet Old World," and she sang as if the lacerating story of a friend's suicide was as fresh and painful as when she wrote it. - complete review

Set list 1. I Just Wanted to See You So Bad 2. Happy Woman Blues 3. I Lost It 4. Pineola 5. Metal Firecracker 6. Plan to Marry 7. Side of the Road 8. Blue 9. Rarity 10. Real Love 11. Little Rock Star

12. Unsuffer Me 13. Essence 14. Changed the Locks 15. Come On 16. Honey Bee 17. Joy 18. Righteously Encore 19. Motherless Children 20. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues 21. Disgusted 22. It's a Long Way to the Top

He got game update....

Great news, this guy (for the sake of anonymity we'll call him MARK) just scored two tickets to Sunday night's Big East Finals! Great work, MARK!

You make the call...

So, the Huskies are bounced from The Garden Party and you're looking for some great music on a Saturday night:

Fleetwood Mac at Mohegan Sun Arena - Overblown supergroup from 70's with no new music and missing Christine (Perfect) McVie. Oh yeah, ticket prices are $175/$150/$125

Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles at Bank Street Cafe in New London - Really cool rock/alt country band with new CD The Stars Are Out about to be released. And it's probably about $15 to get in.

Seabreeze at Smokin' With Chris in Southington - Get a early start on your St. Paddy's Day celebration and wolf down some great barbeque.

He got game? (I don't think so)...

There's this guy I know (for the sake of anonymity we'll call him MARK) who went the the game last night. Some friend gave him free tickets. Yes, THAT game! The six-overtime UConn-Syracuse instant classic at Madison Square Garden! How cool is that!

Well, this guy (for the sake of anonymity we'll call him MARK) drives down to NYC from Connecticut with his tickets to catch the evening session, first Pitt/West Virginia, then the nightcap battle between UConn-Syracuse. Nice to have great friends. What a game!

One small problem, when this guy (for the sake of anonymity we'll call him MARK) gets to MSG for the game, he finds out that, oh my, the tickets were for the AFTERNOON SESSION!

"For the record if a friend says he has tickets – I would suggest that he shows you the tickets before you get to the arena. Better yet, get new friends. Yes, I saw the game from the White Horse Pub & dinner prior at the Spotted Pig. The Pig’s ear was awesome – can not wait for Cochon in NOLA." - MARK

Barkeep, a round of Abita Ambers on this guy (for the sake of anonymity we'll call him MARK).

ANOTHER Jack White band?...

Jack White Forms New Band - The group -- called the Dead Weather -- also features members of the Kills, the Raconteurs, and Queens of the Stone Age.
Alison Mosshart, vocalist for punk minimalists the Kills, and Jack White have joined forces as the Dead Weather, a new band also featuring White's Raconteurs bandmate Jack Lawrence and Queens of the Stone Age's Dean Fertita. Mosshart will sing, Lawrence will play bass, Fertita will play guitar -- and White will be on drums and vocals. - complete article

Below, Mosshart with The Raconteurs:

Doesn't get any better than watching the Huskies and the Allman Brothers....

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – With an all-ages appeal that plays as deftly to the classic-rock crowd as it does to young jam fans and blues buffs, the Allman Brothers Band is still testing itself artistically, all while making lots of money. This is accomplished the old-fashioned way: unparalleled musicianship, a new set list every night and palatable pricing. The band pulled into the Beacon Theater on Monday for a sold-out 15-show run -- its own annual March madness, which it has been doing for the better part of 20 seasons at the storied venue.

The first two nights -- the band's 176th and 177th Beacon shows -- saw the guys all over the musical map, with Levon Helm dropping by Monday with his entire band for "The Weight" and "I Shall Be Released." Bluesman Taj Mahal lent his formidable harmonica and vocals to "Leaving Trunk" and "Statesboro Blues," among others. Members of Los Lobos added some blistering improvisation Tuesday, particularly on the off-the-rails encore "One Way Out." B.B. King and Eric Clapton are rumored to be dropping in as the run progresses. - complete article

All 15 Beacon concerts will be streamed at Moogis.com until September.

The new Litchfield Jazz Festival (now held at the Kent School) announces lineup...

Friday Night, July 31
Friends of the Festival Gala at the Morrison Gallery
Lewis Nash Quintet
Jane Monheit

Saturday, August 1
Dafnis Prieto Si o Si Quartet
Trio Da Paz with Leny Andrade
Wycliffe Gordon & Jay Leonhart Quartet
Benny Green and Bucky Pizzarelli
Bill Henderson Quartet
Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Sunday, August 2
Ted Nash Quartet - The Mancini Project
Lionel Loueke Trio
Dena DeRose Quartet featuring Claudio Roditi
Houston Person Quartet
Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band

Tramps Like Us (baby, we were born to imitate)...

Lunch with The Reet and G-Man at Route 22 Restaurant & Bar in Stamford yielded the flyer shown below hyping the Springsteen tribute band, Tramps Like Us. Flyer included the quote "If you didn't know it and you looked up...you would think it would be Bruce." -Chris 'Mad Dog" Russo. There you go!

Johnny Flynn sez check it out...

MIA Paper Planes - Apparently this song is a satire about society's perception of immigrants.

Sunday iPod...

Remember When A by The Black Keys (Attack & Release)

Jeru by Miles Davis (Birth of the Cool)

Sinkin' Soon by Norah Jones (Not Too Late)

Baby, Baby, Baby by The Jayhawks (Smile)

Polka Dot by Desmond Dekker (Desmond Dekker & the Israelites)

Light Blue by Ellis Marsalis Quartet (An Open Letter to Thelonius)

You Don't Understand Me by The Raconteurs (Consolers of the Lonely)

Wishful Thinking by Laura Cantrell (Humming by the Flowered Vine)

Where Did It Go by Jimmy Cliff (Wonderful World Beautiful People)

Devil Doll by Roy Orbison (Ooby Dooby)

Softly As a Morning Sunrise by Milt Jackson (Early Modern)

Monday Morning Blues by Ryan Hartt & the Blue Hearts (Empty Wallet)

Spring forward....but it's not yet Spring!...

Watching SNL today (taped, way past my bedtime, and I don't have to endure the so-unfunny sketches) with G-Man to hear musical guest Ray LaMontagne and, hey, that's Lucinda Williams' lead guitarist Doug Pettibone helping out! Lucinda and the boys are in Northampton, MA at the Calvin Theatre on Wednesday, but we're giving her a rest this time around. Check out Ray and Doug on SNL:

Where have you gone Dickie Robinson?....

School Closing Leaves Paying Students In Lurch
Dozens of students in Chicago found themselves victims of the economy on Thursday. With no warning, their brand-new broadcasting school shut down. Many are out thousands of dollars in tuition. It's called the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. If you've never heard of it, it's because it just opened in Chicago in October. But the school's been around since 1961. There were 26 locations in 14 states. Now, every one of those locations is closed. A competitive edge in the world of media is what the school promised when it opened its doors in the Chicago market. complete story

Dick Robinson profile

Is EVERYONE a Brooklyn singer-songwriter?...

From Rolling Stone: Lucinda Williams once called her "a folk Nina Simone." But Ana Egge is more country than that. Raised by hippies who grew wheat in North Dakota, the Brooklyn singer–songwriter crafts homespun hymns on her sixth disc to sing with your bare feet on the dashboard. "Bully of New York" recounts a sad late–night conversation between Egge and a park ranger whose hours broke up his marriage (best part: She met him while hitchhiking). Egge's rootsy pedal–steel pop recalls singers like Shawn Colvin, but her sharply observed tales of the overlooked and underpaid feel utterly of the moment.


Mar 28 2009 9:00P 68 Jay St. Bar Brooklyn, New York
Apr 10 2009 8:00P Housing Works New York, New York

Happy square root day...

Sneakin' Sally through the alley...

Hearing this Allen Toussaint song sung on Fat Tuesday by Dr Ya Ya's Gumbo Party reminded me how much I LOVE this song (and entire album) by Robert Palmer recorded with members of Little Feat and the Meters.

Guest concert review: Kennedy brothers @ Black Keys...

Daily Nuggets: The Kennedy bros migrated from The Ridge…that’s slang for Bay Ridge Brooklyn for you foreigners…migrated to Terminal 5 in Manhattan Saturday night to see the Black Keys with an opening act called The Heartless Bastards (new album “The Mountain” in stores now and singer Erika Wennerstrom delivers again)…to avoid dehydration we and some friends quenched our thirst first at Beer Shot Burger bar while watching Uconn Huskies beat Michigan Wolverines in some basketball…did you see the two white dudes on Michigan?...then we took a detour on our way to Terminal 5, doing our best Michael Phelps impression…it wasn’t our cold breath coming out our mouths…and then it was time to see two white guys play some blues… - complete review

Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles sell out...

Jeez, just look at that slick new band photo. It reeks of glossy, insincere, sex-sells pop music fluff (Binky, put a shirt on). Cool, let's hear it, guys. Album out on the 24th; already signed up for the pre-sale. Can't wait. SBBS will be at Piano's in NYC tomorrow night and at the Bank Street Cafe in New London on Saturday, March 14th.

Review - Twangville.com
First things first. The new album from Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles, The Stars Are Out (Sugar Hill) is a Rock & Roll record. The quicker we all accept that and move on, the better. The reason I implore any possibly heartbroken twangophile to quickly end their season of mourning and embrace the present is due simply to the fact that while SBBS may have temporarily amped up their rocking, they have done so without sacrificing the spark and spunk that has been a true trademark of the group’s previous releases. What we are treated to is not a modern pop-rock album of the standard variety, but a veritable tour through the previous ages of Rock & Roll, leading up to the current day and time. - complete review

Dead last week....

Snooks Eaglin - In a tan suit and his trademark sunglasses, the late Snooks Eaglin lay in a casket near the Howlin' Wolf stage Friday morning. It was the Warehouse District nightclub's first funeral. "We've had people laid out here before," noted Howlin' Wolf owner Howie Kaplan, "but they were still breathing." Given the deceased's pedigree, the venue was appropriate. (story) - Snooks w/ Meters' George Porter Jr @ Rock 'N Bowl

Antoinette K-Doe - Mrs. K-Doe, the widow of New Orleans rhythm & blues singer Ernie K-Doe and his equal in the annals of eccentricity, died of a heart attack early Mardi Gras morning. (story)

NY Times interview with Lucinda...

Country House
Interview by EDWARD LEWINE
Published: February 25, 2009

Memorable rejection: When I first came to L.A. in 1984, CBS in Nashville said I was “too rock for country,” and CBS in L.A. said I was “too country for rock.”

Favorite cover: I love Emmylou Harris’s version of my song, “Sweet Old World.” Her intonation is great.

Best concert she saw: Back in the 1960s, I saw Peter, Paul and Mary. I was at that age, about 14, and I was mesmerized.

Always with her: My glasses. I was trying to wear contacts, but they were irritating me. I have had to come to terms with wearing glasses.

Favorite guitar: The one I am playing right now. I’ve had it since 1979.It’s a Martin D-28.I don’t play it onstage. I’ve used it to write just about all the songs I’ve written since then.

Misconception about songwriting: That you have to be all messed up and strung out or something to be good at it. We’ve decided that brilliance equals madness, and that isn’t necessarily true. It’s just that the dramatic writers have the higher profile.

You get the idea....here's the complete interview