December 2024 – Page 4 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

NRBQ – Flat Foot Flewzy

The song sounds just like the name! It’s a rocker supreme and the guitar riff to open it up lives up to the name.

My love for blogging is simple…talk to more bloggers and find more artists that I missed. I love finding new artists but I also like finding new/old artists that I missed and this one is a prime example. Dave, Christian, Obbverse, Deke, Lisa, Randy, Phil, Graham, Jeff, CB, and the list goes on and on. They all have turned me on to new artists through the years that I missed so I do want to thank all of them!

On the Carlene Carter post I did last week, CB mentioned something about her guitar player Al Anderson and he was in this band. I have heard of this band but that is about it. I thought they were an 80s band. Oh how wrong I can be. They were formed in 1965 and the NRBQ stands for New Rhythm and Blues Quintet. If you were looking for a band with an eclectic style, look no further than this band. They blend rock, pop, jazz, folk, soul, blues, and country influences.

They also have improvisational live performances and a great sense of humor. They have developed a cult following because of that and it lasts to this day. They were formed by pianist Terry Adams, guitarist Steve Ferguson, and drummer Frank Gadler, with the addition of bassist Joey Spampinato (originally Joey Spampanato) and drummer Tom Staley completing the lineup.

NRBQ released their self-titled debut album in 1969. The album featured that eclectic style I was talking about. The album has both rock-and-roll covers and avant-garde jazz elements. That’s the best way I can describe it. It’s a fun album to listen to.

The band has 24 studio albums, 14 live albums, and 15 compilation albums. Terry Adams, who formed the band, is still with them… to this day. From 1974 to 1994 the band included Adams, Al Anderson, drummer Tom Ardolino, and bassist Spampinato. They were considered the “classic” version of the band but they kept going

In 1970 they released Boppin’ The Blues and they were teamed with Carl Perkins. NRBQ blended their experimental style with the rockabilly style of Carl Perkins. I love that guitar at the beginning and the song really rocks. I couldn’t find Boppin’ The Blues but I found a highlights and rarities album from Spotify. Steve Ferguson wrote this song.

NRBQ live in Chicago in 2017 with Flat Foot Flewzy

Flat Foot Flewzy

I’m so doggone dirty
‘Cause a Flat Foot Flewzy
And I walk like a tweety bird
While I’m singing this bluesy

I got a gal named Lucy
But like to call her Lizzy
She calls her man Flewzy
And she keeps him real busy

Well, I’m Flat Foot Flewzy
It’s alright

“Mr. Flewzy won’t you tell us
About your big flat feet”
Why sure, kinda helps me
With the rock and roll beat
Come along with me
And things’ll be alright
Singing Flewzy woozy boogie
On a Saturday night

Well, I’m so doggone dirty
‘Cause a Flat Foot Flewzy
And I can walk like a tweety birdy
While I’m singing real bluesy
See NRBQ Live
Get tickets as low as $68

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NRBQ

I got a gal named Lucy
But like to call her Lizzy
She calls her man Flewzy
And shе keeps him real busy

Well, I’m Flat Foot Flewzy
It’s alright

“Wеll it’s hard to believe
That you walk like a bird”
Well I meant what I said
So I said what you heard
Come along with me
And things’ll be alright
Singing Flewzy woozy boogie
On a Saturday night

Yeah, Flat Foot Flewzy
Flat Foot Flewzy, alright
Flat Foot Flewzy, alright
Flat Foot Flewzy, alright
Flat Foot Flewzy, alright
Flat Foot Flewzy, alright
Alright
Flat Foot Flewzy, alright

December 8, 1980…

I wanted to include this early today before my posts for Sunday.

As I’ve told people before…I rarely do anniversaries…but this one I will post as long as I blog. I add something to it every year but I wish John would be alive and well at 84 years old but that didn’t happen. It brings back a lot of memories and I’m 13 all over again.

I grew up in the seventies and became a teen in the 1980s. The Beatles were not popular where I lived to say the least. One concerned mother of a friend actually called my mom warning her that I was headed toward destruction because I was listening to the Beatles at around 11 years old. No, I’m not kidding. My mom, bless her heart, told the lady that “Max knows right from wrong. You worry about your child and I’ll worry about about mine.” Ok back to December of 1980.

Damn this date. Every Dec 8th I can’t help but think of where I was when I heard. Last year’s release of the UK #1 Now and Then only heightened the anger, sadness, and confusion over what happened. I post this post every year on this date and will continue. I have updated it each year and I’ve almost rewritten it since I posted it first back in 2018…and if it’s too long now I apologize. I still feel what I felt on that date. Although to be accurate it was on December 9th that I found out…the next morning getting ready for school.

When I watched the news clips at the time I felt like an interloper because all of these fans who were sobbing grew up with Lennon in real time…I was this 13-year-old kid who was late to the party…a decade late.

It’s odd to think the Beatles had only been broken up for 10 years when this happened…to a 13-year-old at the time…that was a lifetime but in reality, it’s nothing. To put it in perspective… it’s now 2023 and 10 years ago was 2013…that doesn’t seem that long ago does it? I was only 3 years old when the Beatles broke up so I had no clue.

Since second grade (1975), I’ve been listening to the Beatles. While a lot of kids I knew listened and talked about modern music …I just couldn’t relate as much. By the time I was ten, I had read every book about The Beatles I could get my hands on. In a small middle TN town…it wasn’t too many. I was after their generation but I knew the importance of what they did…plus just great music. The more I got into them the more I learned about the Who, Stones, and the Kinks. I wanted to get my hands on every book about the music of the 1960s. Just listening to the music wasn’t enough…I wanted to know the history.

I spent that Monday night playing albums in my room. Monday night I didn’t turn the radio on…I’m glad I didn’t…The next morning I got up to go to school and the CBS morning news was on. The sound was turned down but the news was showing Beatle video clips. I was wondering why they were showing them but didn’t think much of it.

Curious, I turned the volume up and found out that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I was very angry and shocked. The bus ride to school was quiet… at school, it was quiet as well. Some teachers were affected because John was their generation. Some of my friends were shocked but some didn’t get the significance at the time and some didn’t care.

I went out and bought the White Album, Abbey Road, and Double Fantasy in late December of 1980…I can’t believe I didn’t have those two Beatles albums already…now whenever I hear any song from those albums they remind me of the winter of 80-81. I remember the call-in shows on the radio then…pre-internet… people calling to share their feelings for John or hatred for the killer.

The next few weeks I saw footage of the Beatles on specials that I had never seen before. Famous and non-famous people pouring their hearts out over the grief. Planned tributes from bands and everyone asking the same question…why?

My young mind could not process why a person would want to do this to a musician. A politician yea…I could see that…not that it’s right but this? A musician? Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and JFK were before my time. By the mid-1970s John had pretty much dropped out of sight…John and Yoko released Double Fantasy on November 17, 1980, and suddenly they were everywhere…Less than a month later John was murdered. The catchwords were Catcher in the Rye, Hawaii, handgun, and insane. The next day we were duly informed who killed John in the First, Middle, and Last name format they assign to murderers. I won’t mention his name.

I didn’t want to know his name, his career, his wife’s name, his childhood…I just wanted to know why… he says now…” attention”

I noticed a change happened after that Monday night. John Lennon was instantly turned into a saint, something he would have said was preposterous. Paul suddenly became the square and the uncool one and George and Ringo turned into just mere sidemen. Death has a way of elevating you in life. After the Anthology came out in the 90s that started to change back a little.

I called my dad a few days after it happened and he said that people were more concerned that The Beatles would never play again than the fact a man, father, and husband were shot and killed. He was right and I was among those people until he said that. Dad was never a fan…he was more Elvis, Little Richard, and country music… but he made his point. When my father passed in 2005 I thought about this conversation and knew he was teaching me again.

It was odd being into the Beatles at such a young age and after their time so to speak. While my peers were talking about all the contemporary artists at the time…all I talked about was John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I would end up comparing all the new music I heard to theirs…and that wasn’t fair at all to new music. I would think to myself…well this song (any new song at the time) wasn’t as good as Strawberry Fields and so on. I, fortunately, grew out of that but it took a while.

Below is a video of James Taylor telling how he met the killer a day before Lennon was murdered. Also, Howard Sterns broadcast the day after.

…

Katmen – When The Drinks Dried Up

The band’s name is either Kat Men or Katmen. I’ve seen it listed both ways.

CB mentioned this band in an email and I had to check it out. Pure rockabilly heaven for me. I’ve also checked out Darrel Higham’s guitar playing…he is excellent. He worked with and married Imelda May… his sound can be heard in much of her music.

The band was formed when Slim Jim Phantom and Darrel Higham decided to join forces, they were inspired by a shared love of classic rockabilly music. Phantom’s drumming style is well known for his stint in The Stray Cats, while Higham contributed his incredible guitar skills and an appreciation for rockabilly. Their music has vintage rockabilly vibes with a modern sound.

They formed in 2006 when former Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom and Imelda May guitarist Darrel Higham met during a jam session at the Oneida Casino, in Wisconsin. In 2012 they hired bassist Al Gare. This guy plays a mean standup bass like no one else I’ve seen.

Higham developed an early interest in rockabilly and 1950s rock ‘n’ roll, his influences were artists like Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, and guitarist Cliff Gallup. Higham started his professional music career in the late 1980s, performing with various rockabilly and roots bands in the UK.

This song is on their 2013 album The Katmen Cometh. Another song on that album is “We Need Elvis Back.” I HAD to include that song as well in this! Both songs are credited to the band.

…

Imelda May – Mayhem

After doing the post on Blue Harlem… I noticed both lead singers but started to listen to Imelda May. She has so many good songs that I could have flipped a coin. This song was the title cut off of her album released in 2010. The guitar riff that the lead guitarist Darrel Higham played as the intro won me over right away.

Her influences include Billie Holiday, Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent. That sounds about right after hearing her perform. A few weeks ago, CB featured this song (Johnny Got A Boom Boom) on his site. I wanted to feature that one but I figured I would try something else…give it a listen! She has collaborated with artists such as U2, Noel Gallagher, Sinéad O’Connor, and Ronnie Wood to name a few. She also has worked with producers such as Tony Visconti, Peter Asher, and T Bone Burnett.

The album Mayhem peaked at #1 in Ireland, #7 in the UK, and #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Charts. The song Mayhem peaked at #24 in Ireland in 2010. The album won Album of the Year in Ireland as well.

It would be fair to say I’m picky about female artists’ voices. I was discussing with Stewart on his UK Number Ones Blog about female pop singers. The female singers I like are Janis Joplin, Bessie Smith, Aretha Franklin, Tanya Tucker, Bonnie Tyler, and voices like that. Imelda May belongs to that group. What a voice May has and it can go from 0 to 60 in a split second.

I have quotes on this blog quite a bit…but these I really like.

Imelda May: Some people think the only way of doing well or of having a career in music is to go the X Factor route, but a lot of people lose the joy out of music by going that way, possibly because they’re so incredibly focused on other people’s ideas of success.

Imelda May: For me, rockabilly is very, very exciting music. It’s electric and kind of wild, you know? It’s ‘make your hairs stand up on the back of your neck’ kind of music.

Imelda May: I don’t tend to set out on huge world domination goals or have anything in mind. I just like to play. I like to gig a lot; I like to write music.

The below live Walking In The Sand has to be one of the best entrances ever. You have Billy Gibbins, Ronnie Wood, Johnny Depp, and Imelda May. This entrance is burned into my mind.

Mayhem

He said he didn’t even hear trains let alone the few wordsThe ladies maybe sayin’ about himShe freaks and tells her closest friendThat she’ll never love againBut she’ll never, no not everLive without him

Wouldn’t believe it, if you seen itOh, mayhem doo doo doopYeah, mayhem doo doo doopYeah, mayhem doo doo doopA lotta mayhem, woh oh oh yeah

She said he didn’t mean a thingSo she threw her diamond ringOut the window of a black cab in CamdenHe couldn’t take it, what she did,So he threw a hissy fitAnd he took it out on anyone at random

Wouldn’t believe it, if you seen itOh, mayhem doo doo doopYeah, mayhem doo doo doopYeah, mayhem doo doo doopA lotta mayhem, woh oh oh yeah

Dinning sound, lights spinning round,Some mother’s sonGotta fight or got to run run run runRun run run run run

Ten pints and then he starts a fightAnd he lands himself a nightIn a cell wearing gray pants and bruisesTwelve mates bangin’ on the door,Oh the back up vans galoreNever saw such a street full of losers

Wouldn’t believe it, if you seen itOh, mayhem doo doo doopYeah, mayhem doo doo doopYeah, mayhem doo doo doopA lotta mayhem, woh oh oh yeah

Mayhem doo doo doopYeah, mayhem doo doo doopA lotta mayhem doo doo doopA lotta mayhem oh yeah

Oh mayhem

…

Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

I want to thank Dave at A Sound Day… he wanted us to pick one song we liked that’s about reality – either a real event or a real person, and tell us about it.

As a kid riding in my sister’s car going to one of her friends at the time…I heard this and I liked it right away. It was 1976, and I was 9 years old, so my sister went out and bought the single. I wore this one out and tried to look up the real story in our encyclopedias, but unfortunately, they were published in 1967.

A song that was, unfortunately, a true story. It was written and performed by Gordon Lightfoot. The Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975.

This is a factual retelling of a shipwreck on Lake Superior in November 1975 that claimed the lives of 29 crew members. On November 10, 1975, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald broke in half and sank in Lake Superior. The storm she was caught in reported winds from 35 to 52 knots, and waves anywhere from 10 to 35 feet high.

The ship was loaded with 26,116 tons of taconite pellets at the Burlington Northern Railroad, Dock #1. Her destination was Zug Island on the Detroit River. 29 crew members perished in the sinking. The tragedy of Edmund Fitzgerald had a huge impact on maritime safety regulations. It led to changes in shipping practices on the Great Lakes, including more accurate weather forecasting, monitoring, and requirements for lifeboat drills and onboard survival equipment.

The cause of the ship’s sinking remains a subject of speculation and debate. Different theories suggest factors such as structural failure, sudden shoaling, topside damage from the storm, or water intake through damaged hatches. The U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board conducted investigations, but a definitive conclusion was never reached.

In 1976, a dive to the wreck site, located at a depth of about 530 feet, confirmed that the ship had broken in two. Later dives and sonar mapping further documented the wreck, but never gave a clear explanation for the rapid sinking.

The song released in 1976 peaked at #1 in Canada and #2 on the Billboard 100. It did peak at #1 on Cash Box. The song was on his album Summertime Dream.

Gordon Lightfoot: “The Edmund Fitzgerald really seemed to go unnoticed at that time, anything I’d seen in the newspapers or magazines were very short, brief articles, and I felt I would like to expand upon the story of the sinking of the ship itself,” “And it was quite an undertaking to do that, I went and bought all of the old newspapers, got everything in chronological order, and went ahead and did it because I already had a melody in my mind and it was from an old Irish dirge that I heard when I was about three and a half years old.”

“I think it was one of the first pieces of music that registered to me as being a piece of music,” he continued. “That’s where the melody comes from, from an old Irish folk song.”

Gordon Lightfoot: “When the story came on television, that the Edmund had foundered in Lake Superior three hours earlier, it was right on the CBC here in Canada, I came into the kitchen for a cup of coffee and saw the news and I said ‘That’s my story to go with the melody and the chords.”

For those interested…I have a bio of the event at the bottom.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on downOf the big lake, they called Gitche GumeeThe lake, it is said, never gives up her deadWhen the skies of November turn gloomyWith a load of iron ore, twenty-six thousand tons moreThan the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed emptyThat good ship and true was a bone to be chewedWhen the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American sideComing back from some mill in WisconsinAs the big freighters go, it was bigger than mostWith a crew and good captain well seasonedConcluding some terms with a couple of steel firmsWhen they left fully loaded for ClevelandAnd later that night when the ship’s bell rangCould it be the north wind they’d been feeling?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale soundAnd a wave broke over the railingAnd every man knew, as the captain did too‘Twas the witch of November come stealingThe dawn came late, and the breakfast had to waitWhen the gales of November came slashin’When afternoon came, it was freezin’ rainIn the face of a hurricane west wind

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin’“Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya”At seven p.m., a main hatchway caved in, he said“Fellas, it’s been good to know ya”The captain wired in he had water comin’ inAnd the good ship and crew was in perilAnd later that night when his lights went outta sightCame the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does anyone know where the love of God goesWhen the waves turn the minutes to hours?The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish BayIf they’d put 15 more miles behind herThey might have split up or they might have capsizedThey may have broke deep and took waterAnd all that remains is the faces and the namesOf the wives and the sons and the daughters

Lake Huron rolls, Superior singsIn the rooms of her ice-water mansionOld Michigan steams like a young man’s dreamsThe islands and bays are for sportsmenAnd farther below Lake OntarioTakes in what Lake Erie can send herAnd the iron boats go as the mariners all knowWith the gales of November remembered

In a musty old hall in Detroit, they prayedIn the Maritime Sailors’ CathedralThe church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine timesFor each man on the Edmund FitzgeraldThe legend lives on from the Chippewa on downOf the big lake, they call Gitche GumeeSuperior, they said, never gives up her deadWhen the gales of November come early

Max’s Drive-In Movie – Jurassic Park

In 1993 I went to see Jurassic Park and was blown away. I returned two more times and took my Dad to one of the showings. This movie has become part of pop culture and is considered a classic movie. It’s odd thinking of a classic movie that I saw at the theater in real-time.

I’ve always liked dinosaurs since I was a kid but on film, they never looked like I imagined. They usually were claymation or men in suits. I really like claymation a lot on most things but the dinosaurs just never looked right. I do not crave great special effects…the original Star Trek is great to me with its red beams stunning people. They were always able to convey the story and that is enough for me…but dinosaurs were not beams of light or the transporter.

When this movie was released it was shocking. It was a game-changer in so many ways and brought CGI to the forefront. Today younger people can not imagine what it was like seeing dinosaurs come to life that actually matched our imaginations. This is what we were used to.

To see a T-Rex with the new DTS surround sound in a theater was frightening…in a great way though. The most significant change was the way the dinosaurs interacted with their surroundings. This movie benefitted from the new technology…where I think the original Star Wars was not improved by Lucas’s tinkering with CGI trying to improve them.

The movie now is considered a classic for good reason. An island full of dinosaurs who terrorize people… a simple plot but extremely well done. From beginning to end this film is just an enjoyable watch. Back in 1993 when it was released these never-before-seen effects wowed audiences, and even now it still holds up with the animatronics and CGI combo to most things today. When the Brachiosaurus first appeared on the screen, the movie was sealed.

I do believe that CGI can be and has been overused at the expense of a story. In Jurassic Park, they got it right. It still stands up today but now we are so accustomed to CGI that this movie doesn’t get noticed as much…but when it was released everyone took notice and it upped the game in special effects.

Spielberg made the movie after the book Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I just read it and the movie doesn’t follow the book exactly but does keep the spirit of it. I’ve noticed that the three Jurassic Park movies used some scenes from this book as well. The book was much more bloodier than the film by a large margin.

The reason for the success other than the CGI was that Spielberg kept the plot simple. There were not 100 subplots that you had to follow. Billionaire John Hammond creates a groundbreaking theme park with live dinosaurs cloned from ancient DNA. Before the park opens, Hammond invites expert paleontologists Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler, mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm, and his grandchildren for a preview tour. However, when a greedy employee sabotages the park’s security systems, the dinosaurs escape containment, creating chaos.

The actors were good and the children didn’t over act too much at all. It was a balanced cast and a well-made film.

Quotes

John Hammond: All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.

______________________________________________

John Hammond: I don’t think you’re giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody’s ever done before…
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.

The trailer was fantastic. They showed you just enough of the dinosaurs to make you want to see the film.

…

John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Merry Christmas everyone… another year older…and a new one just begun. This had to be the first Christmas song I posted.

This is my favorite Christmas song hands down…although I was just introduced to Slade’s Christmas song a few years back, that one is a strong 2nd. This song gets me in the Christmas mood like no other. The song is highly idealistic but that is alright. It was the early seventies and the time for idealism.

In 1969 John and Yoko had rented billboard spaces in 12 major cities around the world, for the display of black-and-white posters that declared “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko”. Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message…plus John said he was sick of White Christmas.

John’s voice goes so well with this song. The song peaked at #2 in the UK charts, #38 on the Billboard 100, #10 in New Zealand, and #43 in Canada in 1971. The song did peak at #42 on the Billboard 100 in 2019.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this in their New York City hotel room and recorded it during the evening of October 28 and into the morning of the 29th, 1971 at the Record Plant in New York. It was released in the US for Christmas but didn’t chart. The next year, it was released in the UK, where it did much better, charting at #2. Eventually, the song became a Christmas classic in America, but it took a while.

Lennon originally wrote this as a protest song about the Vietnam War, and the idea “that we’re just as responsible as the man who pushes the button. As long as people imagine that somebody’s doing it to them and that they have no control, then they have no control.”

The children’s voices are the Harlem Community Choir, brought in to sing on this track. They are credited on the single along with Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band.

I think of High School when I hear this song. Our school had a Christmas poster contest and a buddy and I made a poster as a joke and wrote “So this is Christmas and what have you done another year over, and a new one just begun” and won first prize…with John’s assistance.

This didn’t appear on an album until 1975 when it was included on Lennon’s Shaved Fish singles compilation. This is one of the first Lennon albums I bought.

Happy Xmas (War is Over)

(Happy Christmas Kyoko)
(Happy Christmas Julian)

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Christmas

Moby Grape – Omaha

I did a San Francisco music week a few months ago and featured this band for the first time. I’ve been wanting to come back to them and today is the day. They came out of the San Francisco scene in the 60s along with The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and others. They were never as big as those bands but I’ve heard many of their songs that I liked.

It comes back to some bad luck and some self-sabotage. They had it all…including five members who could all write, sing and play. Record labels were lining up for them. They have since fought for decades between each other and especially their manager Matthew Katz. Other bands like Buffalo Springfield said that Moby Grape was one of the best bands from San Francisco.

One of their problems was hype. CBS was their record company and they decided it would be great to release FIVE singles at once by the band. The label was convinced that each of the 10 sides had the potential to make it to the top of the national charts. The thinking was that a shot-gun approach would ensure that at least one of the five would hit and garner maximum airplay and revenue. It failed miserably.

Nowadays an album is released and different songs are played… every song on an album can chart. That is why it’s almost impossible to compare the charts now to any other time in history before downloading. I guess CBS was ahead of their time but way too far ahead and the market wasn’t ready for it. You couldn’t just download it in 1967 with your love beads and patchouli oil…although I do like patchouli oil!

This song was one of the five singles released and it did better than the others. It did chart in the top 100 so there is that. It peaked at #88 on the Billboard 100 and #87 on the Canadian Charts in 1967. It’s a good song and I think it deserved to do better than that but with a glut of songs it was probably doomed to fail. It was on their debut album Moby Grape which peaked at #24 on the Billboard Album Charts.

They are still together with some of the original members. Peter Lewis, Jerry Miller, Bob Mosley, and Don Stevenson. Skip Spencer died in 1999 of lung cancer. His son Omar Spence is now with Moby Grape…singing his dad’s songs. There is a cult following of this band and they had the talent to do much more. This is a case of a record company really hurting them.

Omaha

Listen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friends

Listen, my friends, you thought never butListen, my friends, I’m yours foreverListen, my friends, won’t leave you ever

Now my friendsWhat’s gone down behindNo more rainFrom where we came

Listen my love, get under the covers, yeahSqueeze me real tight, all of your lovin’Into the light, beneath and above yaSo out of sight, bein’ in love!

Listen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friendsListen, my friends

…

A Charlie Brown Christmas

I will watch this show this week…it’s not Christmas without The Peanuts and watching them all dance to “Linus and Lucy.”

The Peanuts were my favorite cartoon growing up and I would never miss their Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas specials. Everyone can relate to Charlie Brown because we all lose more than we win in life. He doesn’t get to kick that football, his dog has more things than he does, and he is forever trying to get the elusive little redhead girl to notice him.

The Peanuts inhabit a kid’s world where grownups are felt but not heard. At least not in English. I’ve said this before but… Charlie Brown, one day when you grow up… I hope you end up with the little red head girl that you like so much and win just for once…for all of us.

This 1965 special has everything good about them in one show.

The gang is skating and Charlie Brown is telling Linus that despite Christmas being a happy time he is depressed. Linus tells Charlie that is normal and Lucy pipes in with “Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest.” That sums it all up.

Charlie gets to direct the Christmas play and his main job was to get a spectacular Christmas tree under Lucy’s orders. …He picks the only real tree there…more like a branch but he is sure it will do the job. Most of the gang do not agree when he comes back with the tree but Charlie persists. Linus gets up and reads from the Bible and the inflection he lends to the reading is great.

After that, you will need to watch because it will be worth it.

Aluminum Christmas trees were marketed beginning in 1958 and enjoyed fairly strong sales by eliminating pesky needles and tree sap. But the annual airings of A Charlie Brown Christmas swayed public thinking: In the special, Charlie Brown refuses to get a fake tree. Viewers began to do the same, and the product was virtually phased out by 1969. The leftovers are now collector’s items.

Actors and Actresses The early Peanuts specials made use of both untrained kids and professional actors: Peter Robbins (Charlie Brown) and Christopher Shea (Linus) were working child performers, while the rest of the cast consisted of “regular” kids coached by Melendez in the studio. When Schulz told Melendez that Snoopy couldn’t have any lines in the show—he’s a dog, and Schulz’s dogs didn’t talk—the animator decided to bark and chuff into a microphone himself, then speed up the recording to give it a more emotive quality.

Love the Christmas Dance.

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Bethel Dipper

No music, movie, or TV Show today on this post. Let’s do Americana…not the music but the places. I love older buildings that represent the style of the era they were built. What’s more Americana than a milkshake, cheeseburger, and fries?

When I grew up we had a place named Strattons that was the dairy dip downtown in our small two red light town. It was the kind of place where you walked up to the window, ordered, waited, got your food, and then either sat on a picnic table or ate in your car. I remember doing that in the mid to late 70s with my sister. It was a very 70s-looking building but in the 1980s it was torn down and rebuilt. It became a 1950s-themed restaurant which was cool…but I missed the original dairy dip. Anyway, here is a picture of it before it right before it was torn down to make room for a Walgreens. Oh, how great progress is…NOT.

Below was the 1950s-themed Strattons before Walgreens in 2010.

I was in Russellville Kentucky yesterday and I went to this establishment called The Bethel Dipper. I have been there a few times in the past and it looks really good at night with the carnival-type fluorescent lights. I like Russellville and want to move there one day. This place is kinda off the beaten path but not too much. It’s like walking into the past and I just wanted to share this.

I have tried to find the history of it but my guess is it started in the 60s. When you see the picture below take your best guess. Not only is the building really cool looking, I love the roof jetting out, but you will not believe the prices. I have the menu below the building. I asked them how they were able to keep it so cheap and they told me that they only take cash. The debit card companies wanted so much for each card swiped. They also don’t have an expensive POS system to pay monthly on. They also keep their menu simple and very good.

Strattons right before it was torn down.

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Eilen Jewell – You Wanna Give Me A Lift

I always like hearing good country music and I like older music a lot…this is a fantastic cover. Eilen Jewell covers the song while keeping the original feel but injecting some great guitar shine in this. It has an undercurrent of rockabilly mixed with country. I can’t stress enough how she can shed one style and walk into another.

Eilen Jewell combines Americana, country, folk, blues, and rockabilly in her music. Her influences included Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, and Billie Holiday. She released her debut album in 2006 called Boundary County. Her second album, Letters from Sinners & Strangers (2007), brought her wider recognition. She has made an incredible 13 albums since 2006.

This song was off her 2010 album Butcher Holler: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn. The album has 12 Lynn songs and Jewell hits the mark with the album. Now lets switch gears here…Jewell made a blues album in 2017 called Down Hearted Blues. What a change, she has a great ability to slip into one style and the next. I’ll have one from this album at the bottom of the post.

Loretta Lynn and her sister Peggy Sue Wells wrote this song. She recorded it in 1969 at the Brandley’s Barn studio in Mount Juliet Tennessee. The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard Country Charts and #4 on the Canadian Country Charts in 1970. As my readers know, I adore this woman and she was one of the most important songwriters of the 20th century.

Eileen Jewel on Loretta Lynn: At first it was really just her voice when I heard Honky Tonk Girl for the first time in a cafe in Boston. I just froze when I heard that., I just thought that’s the voice for me, that’s the essence of classic country. Then, the more I got to listen to her stuff, the more I noticed that she wrote so fearlessly. She just kept rocking the boat and was a genius, sassy songwriter.

This song is on her blues album Down Hearted Blues.

You Wanna Give Me A Lift

Well, I’m game for just about anything
But the game you’ve named I ain’t gonna play
You say you take a little drink and we’ll go for a ride on a star
You wanna give me a lift but this ol’ gal ain’t a goin’ that far

That happy pill you’re takin’ you say is a little weak
And you wanna give me one so you say I won’t go to sleep
Well your hands’re a gettin’ friendly but I know exactly where they are
You wanna give me a lift but this ol’ gal ain’t a goin’ that far

You wanna give me a lift but this ol’ gal ain’t a goin’ that far
I’m a little bit warm but that don’t mean I’m on fire
You wanna take me for a ride in the back seat of your car
You wanna give me a lift but this ol’ gal ain’t a goin’ that far

You wanna give me a lift but this ol’ gal ain’t a goin’ that far
I’m a little bit warm but that don’t mean I’m on fire
You wanna take me for a ride in the back seat of your car
You wanna give me a lift but this ol’ gal ain’t a goin’ that far

You wanna give me a lift but this ol’ gal ain’t a goin’ that far…

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