Whammer Bar Image by kenne
Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Jeff Beck, RIP 1 comment
Its Veteran’s Day, 2022 2 comments
Sgt. 1st Class Lance Amsden, platoon sergeant for the 1st Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne),
25th Infantry Division, watches as CH-47 Chinook Helicopters circle above during a dust storm at Forward Operating Base Kushamond, Afghanistan, July 17,
during preparation for an air-assault mission.
— Army Flickr Stream
On this Veteran’s Day, in honor of those who served and died, I share this song written and recorded by Tom Russell, which was also recorded by Johnny Cash.
One of the blogs I follow is So Far From Heaven. Old Jules writes about his old running buddy, Phil:
“I hadn’t thought about my old running buddy, Phil, for a while. That last blog entry got me chewing on thoughts of him. I’ll tell you a bit more about him.
Phil went to the Marine Corps as the result of being a 17-year-old driving from Temple, Texas, to Austin with a case of beer in the car. A Williamson County Sheriff’s Deputy stopped him on a tail light violation, asked for his driver’s license, and saw the case of beer. Old Phil, being a clever youth, gave the officer a Texas Drivers License with an altered date of birth so’s to keep from being arrested as a minor in possession of alcoholic beverages.”
Veteran’s Day
Well I used to hang out down at the VFW hall
And stare at the photographs up on the wall
Of the neighborhood boys that died
in the wars we’ve been through
And the hand lettered sign that said
remember Jimmy McGrew
Well Jimmy went to Nam back in 1965
But there’s a lot of men here that think
Jimmy McGrew’s still alive
Though they carved his name
on a stone in Washington DC
His brother said that stone
don’t prove a thing to me
It’s veteran’s day and the skies are gray
Leave the uniforms home cause
there ain’t gonna be a parade
But we’ll fill up a glass for the ones
that didn’t make it through
And leave a light in the window tonight
for Jimmy McGrew
Well I used to hang out down at the VFW hall
And stare at the photographs up on the wall
Of the neighborhood boys that died
in the wars we’ve been through
And the hand lettered sign that said
remember Jimmy McGrew
Well Jimmy went to Nam back in 1965
But there’s a lot of men here that think
Jimmy McGrew’s still alive
Though they carved his name
on a stone in Washington DC
His brother said that stone
don’t prove a thing to me
It’s veteran’s day and the skies are gray
Leave the uniforms home cause
there ain’t gonna be a parade
But we’ll fill up a glass for the ones
that didn’t make it through
And leave a light in the window tonight
for Jimmy McGrew
— Tom Russell
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Memphis Blues Leave a comment
Memphis Blues — Image by kenne
I was always drawn to the roots music, bluegrass, blues, early rock – Sun Records, Elvis [Presley].
And I still love that music to this day. Memphis never gets the credit.
It’s much more musically rich than Nashville ever will be.
Nashville manufactured that hokey-hillbilly image way back.
–Steve Young
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Ramsey Lewis, RIP Leave a comment
Ramsey Lewis — Getty Images
Mary Ann and I went to see the great Ramsey Lewis at Chicago’s London House in the early 70s. The Trio was the house band for a number of years. On his passing at 87, The Guardian wrote:
“The piano great tuned in to the hits of his day and played hard bop to a rock backbeat,
crossing into the mainstream and becoming one of the most sampled musicians of all time”
“I can, if necessary, play quite complicated jazz improvisations,” he once said. “But you’ve got to make sure you carry the audience with you. Most people don’t have an MA in music scholarship, they haven’t sat a jazz improvisation 101, they don’t want to hear you playing bebop inspired by Béla Bartók. You’ve got to follow the audience, and play off their energy.”
Amen! A class act when “class” meant a lot more.
— kenne
Here’s a link to a 2009 blog posting on Ramsey Lewis: https://kenneturner.com/2009/11/01/flashback-seeing-ramsey-lewis-at-the-london-house/
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All Tangled Up In Barbed Wire Leave a comment
All Tangled Up In Barbed Wire — Image by kenne
I don’t know, why I don’t
Put it out baby
We kiss and the flames
Just get higher
But yeah I know
When I hold onto you baby
I’m all tangled up in barbed wire
I get burned, I don’t learn
I’ll be back, give it time
Yeah, I know it sounds crazy
But guess I like playing with fire
— from Playing with Fire by Thomas Rhett
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Kae Is Getting More Attention Leave a comment
Kae Tempest — Photo-Artistry by kenne from a Photo by Wolfgang Tillmans
A couple of years ago, I posted: “I’m a new fan of Kae Tempest, an English spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist, and playwright — a great performer by any measure. Then, in January 2022,
I did a post on Kae’s latest book, “On Connections,” in which they extolled the importance of finding meanings in the little things.
Like most people, when I first hear about an artist, I feel like I was the one who discovered the artist.
So, I was both surprised and pleased to learn about Kae’s appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show this past Monday.
— kenne
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DeGrazia Gallery In The Sun Leave a comment
DeGrazia Gallery In The Sun — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Music comes alive
In my corner of the world
Language of the soul
— kenne
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Music Explosion Leave a comment
“Music Explosion” — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Whenever society gets too stifling
and the rules too complex,
there’s some sort of musical explosion.
— Slash
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“Well it’s bad news from Houston, Half my friends are dying. ”  Leave a comment
Mr. V (James Vaughn) of Mr. & Mrs. V on Houston’s 90.1, KPFT — HDR Image by kenne
Mike Durbin of the Moe Hansum Band — Image by kenne
The Houston Blues community is feeling the pain. Two of the communities well known personallities past away this past week. To hornor the memory of these Houston friends, I’m sharing a Diunna Greenleaf video I posted several years ago — Growing Up and Growing Old in the Fellowship of Family and Friends.
— kenne
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Chevy Bel Air Taillight Art 2 comments
1956 Chevy Bel Air Taillight — HDR Image by kenne
… A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that music
Used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while
I can still remember how that music
Used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while
… But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
With every paper I’d deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
… So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die”
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die”
— from American Pie, Pt. 1 by Don McLean
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Let’s Dance! 2 comments
Credit…Louisa Gouliamaki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Listening to NPR this morning, I learn that Greek composer and politician Mikis Theodorakis died Thursday at age 96.
Theodorakis’ music for the film Zorba the Greek became a worldwide shorthand for a seize-the-moment kind of joyfulness.
The music and the film scene still provide one of the most memorable scenes in my lifetime.
— kenne
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Just Like The White-winged Dove Leave a comment
White-winged Dove On Ocotillo — Image by kenne
Just like the white-winged dove
Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Just like the white-winged dove
Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing
Ooh, baby, ooh, said ooh
Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Just like the white-winged dove
Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing
Ooh, baby, ooh, said ooh
And the days go by, like a strand in the wind
In the web that is my own, I begin again
Said to my friend, baby (everything stopped)
Nothin’ else mattered
In the web that is my own, I begin again
Said to my friend, baby (everything stopped)
Nothin’ else mattered
He was no more than a baby then
Well, he seemed broken-hearted
Something within him
But the moment that I first laid
Eyes on him, all alone
On the edge of seventeen
Well, he seemed broken-hearted
Something within him
But the moment that I first laid
Eyes on him, all alone
On the edge of seventeen
Just like the white-winged dove
Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing
I said ooh, baby, ooh, said ooh
Just like the white-winged dove
Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing
I said ooh, baby, ooh, said ooh
Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing
I said ooh, baby, ooh, said ooh
Just like the white-winged dove
Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing
I said ooh, baby, ooh, said ooh
— from Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks
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Everybody’s Talkin’ — Metal Art Structure On The Road To Santa Fe 3 comments
Metal Art On the Road to Santa Fe — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Everybody’s talkin’ at me
I don’t hear a word they’re saying
Only the echoes of my mind
People stopping, staring
I can’t see their faces
Only the shadows of their eyes
— from Everybody’s Talkin’ by Fred Neil
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The Month Of May Fifty Years Out 1 comment
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
I can’t let this month get by without recognizing the 50th anniversary (May 21, 1971) of the release of Marvin Gaye’s
masterpiece album, What’s Going On.
“OK, let’s just get this out of the way. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On LP is a masterpiece. If it’s not in your top five
or at least within the realm of your top 10 albums of all-time, then I seriously think you need to reevaluate your list.
Not many albums give you a snapshot of the world at the time of its release and still remain very relevant decades later.
What’s Going On most certainly does.” — Terry Nelson (albumism.com)
Gaye released the single, What’s Going On, after co-writer Renaldo “Obie” Benson saw police in Berkeley, Calif.,
brutality beat anti-Vietnam War protesters. Gaye would later say, “What mattered was the message. For the first time,
I felt like I had something to say.”
The album went platinum, and Rolling Stone would place it among the greatest albums of all time.
Now fifty years out, its influences are evident today as the nation wrestles with inequality and a racial reckoning.
— kenne
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Follow Me Home 2 comments
Michael Stevenson has the blog The HOBBLEHOY.
Recently he posted a The Irish Times review of Rhiannon Gidden’s
new album with Francesco Turrisi, “They’re Calling Me Home.”
We first became aware of Giddens about 15 years ago as one of the founding members of the country,
blues, and old-time music band Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she is the lead singer, fiddle, and
banjo player. In 2008, we attended the annual Houston iFest where local and international musicians and the
“iFest New Artist of the Year,” the Carolina Chocolate Drops, were scheduled to appear.
Since then, this very talented musician and her unique artistry continue to blossom.
Carolina Chocolate Drops (April 2008) — Images by kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 