| The new digital jukebox at The Sevens pub on Charles Street in Boston beckons patrons to play a song, April 26, 2006. The beer-and-wine tavern with an oak bar worn smooth by decades of drinkers, had two amenities that set it apart: a real cork dart board, and arguably one best jukeboxes east of the Mississippi River. This spring came a change instep with the digital age: a new Internet-fueled jukebox with access to hundreds of thousands of songs. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) - complete article |
| I will be at the Cape next Thursday, but you have NO such excuse to miss the 6th Annual Blackeyed & Blues Festival at Bushnell Park on Thursday, June 1st featuring: Food provided by Blackeyed Sallys of course, with beer from Redhook Brewery. |
Received an email asking me to check out Boston-based Eileen Rose. Her myspace.com site has some cuts to sample, sooooo I did. I liked what I heard, especially New Penny, which had a Velvet Underground feel.
| Bob Dylan still keeps world guessing by Gary Hill (Reuters) "May you stay forever young" was his fond wish for his audience, and "He not busy being born is busy dying" his credo. At retirement age, with hundreds of songs and nearly 50 albums behind him, he is still constantly touring, with a European swing about to begin. - article |
A quick trip north for a Saturday night at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. We've been talking about getting together to see Sarah Borges up there for awhile now and we finally got schedules reasonably coordinated. We pick up brother Joe and Nancy in Somerville and meet Peter at Christopher's for some food before walking up Mass Ave, past Kay's fav spot Toad, to the Lizard, where we join up with Ron, Jan/Chris and Keith/gf. Boy, I thought Cafe Nine was intimate! Cozy little basement joint. Peter and I saw Sarah for the first time back in November at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River and I've dragged The Reet to Cafe Nine on a couple occasions with the boys and other friends; the others in our party have only heard her via her Silver City CD.| I took what I thought was a photo, but the camera was on video - the resulting two-second video below: |
Come Saturday morning
Garrett bought Broken Boy Soldiers on Tuesday. The White Stripes' Jack White collaborates with Brendan Benson (I've not liked the limited music I've heard from him) and a couple guys from The Greenhornes in a side project band (White claims it's not- see article below) called The Raconteurs. Highly anticipated, although many tracks have already been available to hear online.
Looking forward to meeting friends/family in Somerville this weekend and going to see Sarah Borges & Broken Singles, with many music guests appearing Last Waltz-style, Saturday night at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. 
Barry/Mark catch up with us at Decatur and we head for Emeril's Nola for lunch. No can do; closed. Cab over to St. Charles Avenue for lunch at Herbsaint. Excellent.
We arrive later than the previous days. You know right away, because of the rain, there won't be any sitting. Mud everywhere. Rockin' Dopsie Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters get the crowd all riled up with his high-energy singing, dancing and washboard playing.
Over to Lucy's for Bloody Marys to kick off the day, then off to Port 'O Call on Esplanade for lunch. It's very crowded as usual so we stand at the bar until spots open up. We meet a couple of Tulane grads and Glen/Paula (left with Barry and Mark), who live in New Orleans. We order up their great hamburgers, served with a baked potato, and some drinks. As we prepare to leave, a downpour hits. Glen and Paula graciously offer to drive us out to the festival, Glen pointing out some of his childhood haunts as we ride. By the time we get there, the rain ceases!
Immediately following Jazzfest, we truck on over to a private residence to a crawfish boil - 800 pounds of crawfish, potatoes, corn on the cob.....perfect. Johnnyk is given a quick lesson in crawfish eating. So much for needing dinner!
First order of business is a stop at Lucy's Retired Surfer's Bar for Bloody Marys where the legend of Johnny Gumbo was born. Jeff (yes, the same Jeff who recommended the ill-fated fish burrito to Johnnyk last year) arrives from Dallas with son, Mike, just in time to join us. Our bartender obviously had a rough night and borders on incoherent, but looks good except for the bruises on her shoulders, the origin of which she has no knowledge. She tells us she met/danced with Reggie Bush. Doesn't remember much more. Okay.
Getting hungry. We sample some of the great food booths. Everything shared for maximum efficiency; a helping is about $5. Crawfish strudle, Crawfish Monica, Cuban sandwich, Natchitoces meat pie, pheasant/quail/andouille gumbo, crawfish bread, cochen de lait po-boy (pork), Creole chicken & tasso w/ Creole rice, Creole sweet potato pone. No longer hungry!
Up early and out walking with Gumbo, who is sporting his spiffy Johnnyk-designed 2005 Jazzfest shirt.
Johnny Gumbo poses in his 'famous' piano shirt. Gumbo bought the shirt because it was so unique. At the fairgrounds, we stopped counting the shirt (and its numerous variations) at approximately 35,357. Next year, Friday of the 2nd week will officially be proclaimed Johnny Gumbo Piano Shirt Day, which will be celebrated by taking pictures of Gumbo with anyone else wearing the shirt. |
I've fallen out of palm trees many times and I can tell you it's NO JOKE! Keith, I feel your pain, bro. - article By the way, can you slide a few backstage passes my way? Thanks. |
| the heart of the festival wasn't in the visiting stars: not in Mr. Springsteen's set, or in having the Edge, U2's guitarist, jamming with the Dave Matthews Band, as he did on Saturday. Jazzfest's essence was in the gathering of a 50-woman choir from the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, which sustained $9 million in damage and now holds services for part of its congregation in Houston, part in Baton Rouge and part in New Orleans. Some choir members had not seen one another since the hurricane. They, and other performers at the festival, kept saying, "It's like a reunion." The Mahogany Brass Band was playing for its first time since the storm, and it was the first time all its members — dispersed as far as Phoenix and San Francisco — had seen one another. He started a strikingly emotional "St. James Infirmary" alone as a tearful solo trumpet dirge; when he sang the lyrics, about seeing a lover's dead body, he interjected, "My baby's New Orleans!" |
Friday, August 4th Cyrus Chestnut Trio Dionne Warwick | Saturday, August 5th Robert Glasper Terell Stafford Quintet Trio Da Paz Carol Sloane Lee Konitz Quartet Eddie Palmieri | Sunday, August 6th Eddie Marshall Ensemble Dena DeRose Trio Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes John Scofield Trio James Moody Quartet Dr. John |
You can't get there from here, but once you do, it's a great setting for a Spring Daffodil Festival! Brother Bones Jones and I obediently set out to park/shuttle (as instructed in the event info), but there was no place to park to GET the shuttle! Not to worry, we discovered a nice tavern lot at the bottom of Hubbard Park hill (thanks, Maloney's Pub!) and hiked up to the festival. This was, as it turned out, an EXCELLENT move on our part for we later observed (smugly) that it would take much longer to get a shuttle back than to walk down the hill. Not to mention the health benefits!
Christine Ohlman doesn't sneak up on you - big blond beehive, dark sunglasses, hot pink rhinestone-laced outfit, stiletto heels. And she delivers the goods. We hoof it back over the hill to grab some open lawn in front of the bandshell. George and Trish, fresh from some heavy bushpulling with Johnny Gumbo, join us. Gumbo does not. Love Christine's act. Lots of blues and blues-based rock with gritty, sexy vocals and Rebel Montez (Michael Colbath-bass, Larry Donahue-drums, Eric Fletcher-guitars) backing her up with some fire of their own. Throw in a guest harmonica and you have yourself a very interesting, enjoyable set under a cloudless sky. George astutely observes, later confirmed, that she was with the Scratch Band in the 70's. Prefacing her new song The Cradle Did Rock, she explains that she has recently returned from New Orleans, "...the cradle of American popular music", where there is a continuing need for support; she appeals to the crowd to write a check to the Red Cross (personally, I'd be wary of that organization's ability to monitor the funds given their recent track record, but I agree with the sentiment). The song itself is a good one, not falling into the trap of "We Are the World" slop. To close the show, Ohlman picks "...one of the top ten love songs of all time" and breaks into a rousing version of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away. I'm a fan - good show, Beehive Queen. 
The Turtles - Oh, pooh, you say. Well, I object, for these guys were also part of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention AND, as Flo & Eddie, graced johnnyk's album collection a couple times, so there! And the Turtles put out some very clever, catchy material. Let us hope some of their musical gifts have remained intact. The Turtles will perform at the Bandshell Stage on Saturday at 3:30pm. Eric Danton of the Courant has quite different expectations, "...for some reason, I saw the Turtles probably 15 years ago when I lived in Colorado, and they were boring then..." his blog here.
From today's NY Times about upcoming events:
Sarah and the boys (no mention of the "Broken Singles") finally took the stage just before 11:30 and played for about an hour, showcasing her Silver City stuff, but also mixing in a generous selection of songs I had not heard from her before, including a very nice Charlie Pride number. The bandsmen (Binky on bass, Rob Dulaney on drums, Mike Castellana on guitar/pedal steel) were in good form and seemed to be enjoying themselves, with Southington native Binky acknowledging Aaron's frequent "Yo, Binky!" yells after each song. Aaron and G-Man had been chatting earlier with The Binkster.
Stopped by to see what's cookin'. The counter guy was featuring Dr. John's Gris Gris (I have the LP, but not the CD), probably because The Night Tripper is to appear at the Iron Horse on Saturday night for two shows. I'm going to miss his 1st weekend show at JazzFest; going 2nd weekend (will attempt to blog it, hoping for better results than last year - no guarantees). In any event, I plan to catch Dr. John at this year's Rhythm & Roots Festival held on Labor Day Weekend at Ninigret Park in Charlestown, RI.
For those of us who can stay up later than 10pm (SHARIE, WAKE UP!), Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles will be at Cafe Nine on Friday, April 21. There will be numerous opportunities to catch her in the northeast this Spring, but Cafe Nine is a wonderful venue to see great talent at close range (although certain unnamed females dislike The Nine because people actually STAND to watch the music in the bar's very tight quarters).Over 35 All-Tournament Team: Kevin Meier Todd Meier Ray Kastner | Under 35 All-Tournament Team: Garrett Kennedy |
In case you were wondering, that slick, cool IBM commercial song is a Kinks song written by Ray Davies and originally found on their 1965 album Kinkdom. And make out a smile, though I wear a frown, And I won't take it all lying down, 'Cause once I get started I go to town. 'Cause I'm not like everybody else, I'm not like everybody else, I'm not like everybody else, I'm not like everybody else. And I don't want to ball about like everybody else, And I don't want to live my life like everybody else, And I won't say that I feel fine like everybody else, 'Cause I'm not like everybody else, I'm not like everybody else. complete lyrics |
On Saturday night, April 1st (no foolin'), Phil Guy, brother of blues legend Buddy Guy, will perform at a party to celebrate the release of his new CD, He's My Blues Brother, at our favorite Hartford nightspot Blackeyed Sally's. Eric Danton, Courant music critic, has a nice piece on the man:Do you like rock and roll that is sped up and distorted to a point that it is thrilling? Do you like the music of The Shipwrecks? Do you "not know The Shipwrecks and not go out on weeknights?" Can you name at least two "Golden Girls?" If you answered yes to most of these, you are in luck - all your favorite Shipwrecks songs are available this week in one comprehensive format at the Abbey Lounge in Cambridge! You'll be treated to old standards like... HEY FOLKS! These fans can't be wrong: "I'm not positive what the name of the band is and I play guitar in the band." - David Keegan "Guitars like hairspray through a tiki torch, bass like an interception return down the sidelines, drums like a race riot and vocals like a failed attempt to hail a cab. All in all, I could see it being entertaining...if you had been drinking."- Britt Russell, Half and Half "I saw them play the Wonderland Ballroom in Revere, Massachusetts, and on a scale of one to five - five's the better end - I scored them thus: 3 for presentation, 2 for the hair, 2 for the outfits, 3 for the love song, 2 for eye contact, 3 for "boyish" quality, 5 for the ripping guitars, 6 for irritability, 3 for dynamism, 4 for not sounding familiar, 3 for plot development, 5 for uncertainty."- Gene Shalit, Good Morning America "I was listening to these guys when I died."- Sam Kinison And hey folks - this is RISK FREE music! Join now and any costs incurred due to physical or emotional hardship will be 100% GAURANTEED REIMBURSED pending proper documentation. So what are you waiting for? JOIN NOW - Wednesday March 29th at 11PM at the Abbey Lounge in Cambridge! Short walk from Central Square T station to Inman Square, or 83 bus right to the doorstep - and you're entertained for a solid half hour - AND you will leave TOTALLY DRUNK! You don't think the spring gods are watching? You're only storing faith in early spring to reap the providence of the fantastic summer that you deserve! The Shipwrecks, This Wednesday 3/29 11PM |
