More from the vault…

5 years before Boy George…

I think at least 3 of the NY Dolls are now deceased

Doctors of Madness – one of the overlooked bridges between glam & punk

I guess Jim Skafish remains outside, and it isn’t just his nose, either

Forgotten Local Gems

Models – Two Cabs To The Toucan, et al

I think it’s the whole Cut Lunch video, actually. Love the homemade quality, and the scenes in the pub, as well as the old Cortinas etc in the car yard

Tactics – Second Language

From Canberra originally, I think. They used to play the Mona Vale a bit during the early 80s

 Pel Mel – No Word From China

I think they were from Newcastle. Triple J played this a lot during 1981

Dave Warner – Suburban Boy

Nuff said. We’ve all been there

Drop Bears – Fun Lovin

First single from the days when they were a 3 piece. Still their best song IMHO

Late night tunes: Island style

For post surfing chill-down tunes, I think a little bit of Hawaiian slack key guitar goes down a treat…

Here’s a number performed in true aloha spirit by the great Ledward Kaapana and slide guitar maestro Bob Brozman .

Gonna keep the mellow mood happening with this next standard, “Grandfather’s clock” a as played by Fran Guidry…

There’s a treasure trove of slack key on YouTube, lots of classics and heaps of covers by amazingly talented players.  See what you think of “Glass Ball Slack Key” as played by young Brittni Paiva on her ukulele.

Aloha!

Late night tunes: Blind Willie Johnson edition

I was checking out the very excellent thread on our forums called What are you listening to today? and I saw Lucky Al’s briefest of posts extolling Blind Willie Johnson…

So I went off to have a look-see, an’ heresa whut ah found fo’ y’all…

Dark was the night, cold was the ground…

Trouble soon be over. This looks like a recreation, but I reckon it’s the man’s voice and playing for sure.

Never heard of Keni Lee Burgess before, but man can he play slide! Smooth as silk and a great voice too on his rendition of Blind Willie Johnson’s Nobody’s fault but mine.

LNT: Seasick Steve

You know how it is. You’ve seen a name someplace and somehow it’s associated in your mind with “good”. Somewhere along the way I’d heard about this guy called Seasick Steve, so when I heard he was playing in Sydney, I checked youtube to see if I could find any of his clips.

There are heaps of them.

And the guy is a phenomenon. His kit is straight out of a junk yard:  a stomp box,  a trashed three-string (!)  guitar and a slide. He looks and sounds like the kinda guy you find up the back of a truck repair shop somewhere in the deep South.

But does he get on it!

Cut my wings

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Doghouse boogie

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Save me

a brief interview with Seasick Steve

LNT: Adrian Belew, Frank Zappa

Read a reveiw in the Herald about a Adrian Belew gig at the Basement. Had never heard of him (cringe) so went looking for some clips. Here are a couple I liked…

First, a great cover of Bowie’s We can be heros with Martha Wainwright sharing vocals

Most of the clips I found had pretty dodgy audio, but this one’s not too bad. It only goes for a couple minutes, but gives you a good idea of how well this guy can play…

Belew’s dexterity reminded me a little of the late great Frank Zappa

And once you’re looking at a Zappa clip, You Tube is throwing up heaps of treasures, eg Frank covering Stairway to Heaven in his inimitable way…

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LNT: Rock n’ roll No.1′s

According to our poll on your favourite music genres, the hands down winner is Rock n’ roll. I’d dearly love to know what the RealSurf audience’s all time top tunes are, but since I haven’t polled on that question, I thought it might be worth looking at what could be found in the way of lists online. And whadya know… there are a few…

American music mag Rolling Stone’s RS 500 greatest songs of all time puts Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone at number one. And they put the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction at number two.

I had a look around for a similar list of Australian rock songs and came across this entry in Wikipedia. The expert panel picked the Easy Beats timeless Friday on my Mind.

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LNT: The Goat’s special mixture

We asked the Goat (aka Roger) to come up with a list of a few tunes he likes and whadya know, they’re as eclectic and wide-ranging as his good self.

The first tune he sent me was Liza Minelli’s showstopper Life is a cabaret, from the famous Bob Fosse movie. Check it out and remind yourself how much Liza channelled her mum’s sublime voice.

And now for something completely different… La vie en rose …by Louis Armstrong. Yeah Satchmo! Great little flourish at the end too.

I reckon Carlos Santana is perfect for watching surfin’ movies. The Goat picked a couple from the fret supremo’s vast repertoire. First up is the effortless and sweetly uplifting Samba pa ti from Live in Mexico

Okay, if you had to pick the Santana number it’d be either Black Magic Woman, or this, the mighty Oye Como Va.

Now for a couple classics from the Blues Brothers… first up, is Jailhouse Rock, which seems to have been pirated from a Japanese video…

And the Goat wraps up his first late night tunes with the supremely goofy Rawhide

….

Have a tune or two you reckon we should check out for a future Late Night? Sling it our way via the form below…

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Late night tunes – number 1

I can’t claim this as an original idea. One of my favourite political blogs (Daily Kos) has been posting great music vids late at night for years (although not lately because the American elections are at fever pitch and it is a political site after all).

So anyway, a great idea is a great idea and I thought it’d be fun to see if anyone liked a RealSurf version.

I like heaps of different kinds of music (most kinds, truth be told) and I really didn’t have any idea where to start. Stormy Monday was on the wireless though and they were playing a lot of Dylan, so, one thing and another, you know how it is, I happened to recall that Mr. D had recently played DJ on a satellite radio station. One google search later, and I had some of his playlists to inspire me.

His weather theme show playlist seemed like a logical start for a surfin’ site.

First tune outta the gates was Blues legend, the great Muddy Waters playing Blow Wind Blow…

Okay, still in a bluesy mood, I veer away from the list when I see a clip with Muddy, the astounding Mike Bloomfield and harp player extraordinaire Junior Wells playing Long Distance Call

Back to Mr Dylan’s list and the greatest guitar player who ever lived, Mr Jimi Hendrix and The Wind Cries Mary

And now for something completely different, number 8 on Mr Dylan’s list, Frank Sinatra and a high-gloss studio version of Summer Wind. Say what you like, the cat could sing like no other.

I know what you’re thinking… you want to tell us about your great music find! Well here’s the form, so go for your life.

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