When Bob Dylan famously "went electric" at the Newport Folk Festival in July of 1965, he debuted his rock and roll self with a barnstorming version of "Maggie's Farm." Recorded and released earlier that year on Bringing It All Back Home with a band, it swings mid- tempo in the new folk-rock idiom that Dylan was very briefly moving through. When he performed it for the first time at Newport with a hard-ass band featuring Mike Bloomfield, and members of the Butterfield Blues Band, he picked up the tempo and delivered it with Bloomfield's incendiary guitar playing at [...]
Today, St. Patrick's Day, marks three years since Alex Chilton's unexpected death. In his memory, I'm posting a record, that until very recently I had never heard. Earth Man Blues by the somewhat mysterious John Byrd Band, was recorded at Ardent in 1976 and released the following year on the local Memphis label, Power Play. Alex is listed as a "Guest Singer" in a band that includes John Byrd, Haines Fullerton, Phil Gallina, Rit Ritennour. These two songs are credited to John Byrd, whomever that may be. Perhaps he in an [...]
Editors Note: Today is the 6th Anniversary of the Boogie Woogie Flu. I'd like to thank all of the talented contributors for helping me limp into another year as I continue to personally have little to say. I'm truly grateful for all the fine contributions I have received over the holidays, and today, from Michael Gonzales, an excellent piece I read in 2007 on his site Blackadelic Pop and am graciously republishing on the occasion of what would have been Elvis' 78th Birthday. Happy Birthday Elvis and long live the BWF. ********** [...]
by Andy Schwartz “Okay…so you scratch your head, you look at the guy who represents the company and he’s dead serious. Furthermore, he’s telling you all the sweet things a weary producer loves to hear: ‘Money’s no object…Get all the down cats you need…Just give ‘em soul.’ So you finish scratching your head and you reach for the nearest phone. You’re cooking, you’re really cooking! So you call Teacho Wiltshire to make the arrangements, and he says ‘okay.’ Then you get tensed up because it hits [...]
by Ariella St ok There is not much talk of fire and brimstone in Judaism, nor gruesome landscapes of eternal damnation and demonic torture. A vague concept of the afterlife was appended to the religion in later iterations, but it is not a focus nor is there much consensus of what it might entail. To the extent that hell is discussed in Jewish texts, it is often given as a state of being that one need not wait until after death to experience. Described as a feeling of [...]
"Stan Getz is bunch of nice guys " –Zoot Sims by Joe Schwab Being a teenage dope-fiend and a raging alcoholic on a bender streching out over three decades can take a toll on a man. Even with the posession of a prodigious talent, it [...]
by Sharyn Felder My father, Jerome Solon Felder (aka Doc Pomus) was a super Jew to his core, but not at all religious. His rabbi died a week before he was to be Bar Mitzvahed, which he took at once as a relief and an omen. His British mother Millie kept kosher, but practically encouraged her sons Jerome and Raoul to eat bacon outside the home, because she believed it had healing properties. The formalities of religion for him [...]
by Polly Bresnick In Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm no Good," she laments in her signature seductive contralto: I cheated myself like I knew I would. I told you, that I was trouble. You know that I'm no good. It goes without saying that rehab wasn't the answer. Friends suggested she try it, [...]
by Ben Greenman 1. How do you know that a band has Jewish roots? Maybe if they assimilate into the world around them without losing sight of the strands that resist assimilation: political expression, other immigrant cultures. Maybe if they ask more questions than they answer. Maybe if they seem like they don't have Jewish roots. 2. Michael Geoffrey Jones had a Welsh father and a Russian-Jewish mother. He spent much of his childhood with [...]
by Jesse Jarnow No matter his status as fifth, sixth, or twelfth Beatle, pretty much all involved would later acknowledge Brian Epstein's August 1967 death as the beginning of the end for the Fabs. But unlike so many other things about the Beatles--meeting the Maharishi, Paul dying, screaming teenage girls, Yoko--Brian Epstein passed into rock and roll lore [...]
by Alex Abramovich Friends of mine were marrying shiksas. Kristins, Cristinas, (both with and without the “h”), a Ceridwen in the mix. Tevya, the milkman, would not have approved. The milkman had had it tough, raising six Jewish daughters (Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze, Bielke, and Teibelin) in Tsarist/rabidly anti-Semitic Russia. We first met Tevya in 1894, in a short story by Sholem Aleichem. It was followed by other short stories, a silent film (Aleichem himself wrote the treatment) and various stage adaptations. (Click HERE to see a clip of [...]
After the Stones released their first LP, they set out for the US in the summer in 1964. They didn't exactly conquer America. On the heels of the Beatles success here before them, they arrived with no big hit record to promote and to less fanfare than they were used to back home in the UK. The first leg of their tour was marked by poor attendance and a US Television debut in which they were ridiculed by host Dean Martin on Hollywood Palace. Still, remarkable things were happening. At the San Antonio [...]
Say hey, it's opening day. Download: "Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)" mp3 by The Treniers, 1955. available on Best of the Treniers: They Rock They Roll
Rest in Peace, Boogie. "My Next Door Neighbor" mp3 by Jerry McCain and His Upstarts, 1957. available on Excello Blues: House Rockin' & Hip Shakin' "Trying To Please" mp3 by Jerry McCain and His Upstarts, 1957. out of print "That's What They Want" mp3 by Jerry McCain and [...]
Today is the second anniversary of Alex Chilton's untimely passing. Last year I posted a handful of the records that Alex covered. Today, I offer a few more of those songs that he lovingly interpreted over the years. Some you know, some you might not, all of them great. For more of these, tune into the archive of my March 14th show on WFMU's Rock 'n Soul Ichiban: HERE RIP LX Download: "Take [...]
Folks, I'm thrilled to announce that I'm now doing a weekly show on WFMU's Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban . It streams to your computer, mobile device, internet radio, as well as the tinfoil you've attached to your skull LIVE on Wednesday nights from 8-10PM EST. Or, you can listen to the ARCHIVE at your convenience anywhere, anytime. You can hear my first show from January 25th > HERE < and more as they're added weekly. I'm still working out the kinks and the mic breaks from show #1 are a little rough. [...]
by Polly Bresnick Etta James, who passed away last week, could not only sing with searing soul that simultaneously strikes fear and sorrow and strength into the hearts of anyone who hears her voice, but she also bridged the gap between R&B and Rock & Roll back when people were still impressed by that kind of feat, way back when a band of light-skinned black girls was called the "Creolettes," way back when the song title "Roll With Me Henry" was so suggestive for a fourteen-year-old girl to sing, that the title was changed for [...]
Today we celebrate five years of the Boogie Woogie Flu, and while this strange endeavor may be limping along at a limited capacity, we are, still here. And, what better way to celebrate this miraculous event than to listen to the the b-side of James Brown's 1978 smash hit, "The Spank." JB's own version of "Love Me Tender," because, after all, it's Elvis' Birthday too. Happy Birthday Elvis from all your friends in Fluville. Download: "Love Me Tender" mp3 [...]
When Howard Tate died on December 2, 2011, most obituaries for the great soul singer mentioned the name of another man who’d passed on in July of this year. Jerry Ragovoy (September 4, 1930 – July 13, 2011) was a songwriter, producer, pianist, and the studio Svengali behind Tate’s career masterpiece, the 1967 Verve album originally issued as Howard Tate and later retitled Get It While You Can . Arguably, Ragovoy never made a better album in his career. In fact, Rags didn’t make that many albums: Much of his most influential music appeared on singles released [...]
by Dave the Spazz “Don’t ever let them operate on your back. That’s how we lost Jeff Chandler.” --Don Van Vliet 1 Today’s Hanukkah’s Jew answers to the name of 1950s movie star Jeff Chandler. My Aunt Penny used to swear that Chandler was her cousin from the old neighborhood; however, his absence from any and all family functions caused some concern at the time that Aunt Penny might be full of shit. Claiming familial ties to Jeff Chandler was just schlubby enough to be true so I believed her. Aunt Penny’s son David [...]
Boogie Woogie Flu
New Diarrhea Planet – “Separations”
Sexy Track // “Devil Or Angel” // Lou Doillon
Daft Punk - Lose Yourself to Dance (Simøne Remix)
HAERTS: “All The Days”
