Shiny Penny Band Live at the Original Sagebrush Cantina, Tucson, Arizona (October 18, 2015) — Video by kenne
Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Shiny Penny Band Live At The Original Sagebrush Cantina Leave a comment
Shiny Penny at the Original Sagebrush Cantina 3 comments
Dean Schimmelpfennig — Images by kenne
The band Shiny Penny is currently on a tour that will keep them on the road through the end of the year, and last night they played here in Tucson at the Original Sagebrush Cantina.
We have been listening to their music for a while now and live the sound of Shiny Penny. Most of us who love live music know what it’s like to fall in love with the sound and end up being very disappointed with their live performance — not the case with Shiny Penny. This entertaining band grabs you with the first tune, and you are in for a real ride through to the last.
I have some video from last night that I will be editing and post at a later date.
Next stop, San Diego — Follow Shiny Penny on Facebook.
Here’s their latest video, just out October 23, 2018.
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Grunge Guitar Art Leave a comment
Grunge Guitar Art by kenne
“The genuine artist is never ‘true to life.’ He sees what is real, but not as we are normally aware of it. We do not go storming through life like actors in a play. Art is never real life.”
I
The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.
They said, “You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are.”
The man replied, “Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar.”
And they said then, “But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,
A tune upon the blue guitar
Of things exactly as they are.”
II
I cannot bring a world quite round,
Although I patch it as I can.
I sing a hero’s head, large eye
And bearded bronze, but not a man,
Although I patch him as I can
And reach through him almost to man.
If to serenade almost to man
Is to miss, by that, things as they are,
Say it is the serenade
Of a man that plays a blue guitar.
— from The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens
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Just A Little Country Blues 1 comment
Hayes Carll, Heritage Place, Conroe, Texas (August 2, 2007) — Computer art by kenne
“I’m gonna holler and I’m gonna scream
I’m gonna get me some mescaline
She brings me roses and a place to lean
A drunken poets dream”
— Hayes Carll
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Walk A Mile In My Shoes Leave a comment
Images by kenne
If I could be you
And you could be me
For just one hour
If we could find a way
To get inside
Each other’s mind, mmm
If you could see you
Through your eyes
Instead of your ego
I believe you’d be
Surprised to see
That you’d been blind, mmm
Walk a mile in my shoes
Walk a mile in my shoes
Hey, before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Walk a mile in my shoes
Now your whole world
You see around you
Is just a reflection
And the law of karma
Says you’re gonna reap
Just what you sow, yes you will
So unless
You’ve lived a life of
Total perfection
You’d better be careful
Of every stone
That you should throw, yeah
And yet we spend the day
Throwing stones
At one another
‘Cause I don’t think
Or wear my hair
The same way you do, mmm
Well I may be
Common people
But I’m your brother
And when you strike out
And try to hurt me
It’s a-hurtin’ you, lord have mercy
Walk a mile in my shoes
Walk a mile in my shoes
Hey, before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Walk a mile in my shoes
There are people
On reservations
And out in the ghettos
And brother there
But for the grace of God
Go you and I, yeah, yeah
If I only
Had the wings
Of a little angel
Don’t you know I’d fly
To the top of the mountain
And then I’d cry
Walk a mile in my shoes
Walk a mile in my shoes
Hey, before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Better walk a mile in my shoes
Walk a mile in my shoes
Walk a mile in my shoes
Uh, before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Walk a mile in my shoes, yeah
Walk a mile in my shoes
— Joe South
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Round About Midnight 1 comment
A.J. Murphy, September 2002 — Image by kenne
Round About Midnight
by Bob Kaufman
Jazz radio on a midnight kick,
Round about Midnight.
Sitting on the bed,
With a jazz type chick
Round about Midnight,
Piano laughter, in my ears,
Round about Midnight.
Stirring up laughter, dying tears,
Round about Midnight.
Soft blue voices, muted grins,
Excited voices, Father’s sins,
Round about Midnight.
Come on baby, take off your clothes,
Round about Midnight
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Darkness, My Old Friend 1 comment
Darkness My Old Friend — Image by kenne
Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
— from The Sound of Silence by Paul Simon
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Guitar Love 2 comments
“Guitar Love” — Image by kenne
Guitar Love
On a clear desert night
bright stars showcase
the sky above —
empty martini glass,
the Bose sound
of SRV guitar licks
penetrates the night air,
watching
Live at Montreux ’85 video
on my MacBook Air.
— kenne
“SRV” Image by kenne
You know,
there is something I’ve learned,
all we have,
ever,
is to give each other our love —
if we forget that
we lose everything we’ve got.
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A Blast From The Past 3 comments
“A Blast From The Past” Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, December 2003 — Image by kenne
Sadly, several of those playing in this Ken & Mary’s Blues Project house concert are no longer with us — those were the days with some of the best blues ever coming out of east Texas.
In the piney woods
Rhythm and lots of the blues
Jamming through the night.
kenne
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Fat Tuesday 3 comments
Street Music In The French Quarter — Computer Art by kenne
Street celebrating
Party all day through the night
Fat Tuesday closure.
— kenne
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You Are My Valentine Leave a comment
Fairy Duster (February 9, 2015) — Image by kenne
If there were no words, no way to speak
I would still hear you
If there were no tears, no way to feel inside
I’ve still feel for you
And even if the sun refused to shine
Even if romance ran out of rhyme
You would still have my heart until the end of time
You’re all I need my love, my valentine
All of my life
I have been waiting for all you give to me
You’ve opened my eyes
And shown me how to love unselfishly
I’ve dreamed of this a thousand times before
In my dreams I couldn’t love you more
I will give you my heart until the end of time
You’re all I need my love, my valentine
La la la la la la
And even if the sun refused to shine
Even if romance ran out of rhyme
You would still have my heart until the end of time
‘Cause all I need is you, my valentine
Oh, you’re all I need my love, my valentine
— Jim Brickman & Martina McBride
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Jonn Del Toro Richardson Is “The Real Deal” 2 comments
Houston Legend, Earl Gilliam and Jonn Richardson at the Big East, (February 15, 2009) — Image by kenne
Lately I have been listening to an Otis Taylor CD. Coincidentally, my friend Jonn Del Toro Richardson posts on Facebook a Otis Taylor, Gary Moore & Jonn Richardson video from 2006 — karma!
I’ve followed the musical career of Jonn over the last decade. The Blues world has a lot of great Bluesmen, but few as good, yet not recognized as Jonn. Yes, among Blues musicians Jonn is admired for his talent, but for many Blues fans he is under the radar. For years Jonn has toured with better known musicians, and collaborated on releasing CDs, but no solo CD — it’s time for his own CD!
Now there’s an opportunity to help Jonn reach his funding goal to produce his first solo album. Click here for more information.
Here are three of videos of Jonn I have done — yes, he is the “REAL DEAL!”
IBC Blues Jam, 2010
The Real Deal with Rich DelGrosso at Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, 2011
Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy @ Rhythm & Roots Concert Series In Tucson, 2012 — Jonn and Diunna bring it on home in this video!
WE LOVE YOU, JONN!
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Give Me An Angel That Flies From Montgomery — In Memory Of Lindy Ricketts 4 comments
Linda Ricketts with Michael McDougal at the Montgomery County Literacy Volunteers Annual Spelling Bee Fund Raiser
(May 18, 2004) — Image by kenne
There’s a song written by John Prine titled, “Angel from Montgomery.” The people of Montgomery County had that angle and her name is Linda Ricketts. Linda was an angel because she was one of those rare people who found her voice by adopting and embracing communities and filiations, which in turn Inspired her to inhale the memory of acts never experienced. These acts were the work of an angel who served countless people and organizations by giving without conditions the one gift worth more than any, her time. She was a volunteer’s volunteer!
If we believe that “becoming is superior to being,” then the process of becoming is that of “gathering up the fragments”, so that we as individuals, communities and organizations may become whole. Linda was able to see the fragments around her and gather them. Whatever was broken, missing, disconnected or lost, Linda worked to create new connections resulting in bright mosaics made from the gathered fragments.
The historic, colloquial, genesis of the title words in the song, “Angel from Montgomery” are not about our angel from Montgomery county, but have to do with her husband being pardoned from a death sentence by the governor of Alabama. You hope from Death Row that the governor will be your Angel and send a pardon your way from his home in Montgomery. So the old woman in the John Prine song is singing about becoming a pardon from the humdrum humility of her loveless life. I share it here for its beauty and humble, but profound chorus of gathered fragments.
Those of us who love Linda are blessed with her beautiful mosaics made from gather fragments — broken; colorful; unique; that will forever be “beneficial to all concerned.”
I count Linda among my most loved friends.
kenne
Angel from Montgomery
I am an old woman named after my mother
My old man is another child that’s grown old
If dreams were lightning thunder was desire
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom’ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go
When I was a young girl well, I had me a cowboy
He weren’t much to look at, just free rambling man
But that was a long time and no matter how I try
The years just flow by like a broken down dam.
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom’ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go
There’s flies in the kitchen I can hear ’em there buzzing
And I ain’t done nothing since I woke up today.
How the hell can a person go to work in the morning
And come home in the evening and have nothing to say.
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom’ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go
— John Prine
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Winds of Change — “The Hidden Hand Deals Just One Round” Leave a comment
The Winds of Change — Image by kenne
On this Music Sunday, one of my favorite songs from the early 80’s.
“Winds Of Change”
Walk softly through the desert sands
Careful where you tread
Underfoot are the visions lost
Sleeping not yet dead
Hang on – Winds starting to howl
Hang on – The beast is on the prowl
Hang on – Can you hear the strange cry
Winds of change are blowing by
Mountains crumble and cities fall
Don’t come to an end
Just lie scattered on the desert floor
Waiting for the wind
[Chorus]
You got your life planned carefully
But you left out one detail
The hidden hand deals just one round
And the winds of change prevail
[Chorus]
Walk softly through the desert sand
Old dreams lead the way
Nothing new in the sands of time
Just changes every day
Hang on – It’s starting again
Hang on – There’s no shelter from the wind
Hang on – Like a fire from the sky
Winds of change are blowing by
— Jefferson Airship
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Coltrane — “A Love Supreme” 2 comments
“Desert Coltrane” — Image by Joy
Some years ago on one of our trips to New Orleans, Joy and I were walking in the French Quarter and decided to go in a resale store. That’s when I saw the John Coltrane t-shirt I’m wearing in above photo by Joy. The t-shirt has faded over the years, but I still wear it often to live music events, also just when I feel like it. Okay, so I set it up for this posting, which I had planned on in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Coltrane’s, “A Love Supreme.”
In my teen years and early twenties I often would go to sleep listening to jazz on late-night Chicago radio. I still listen to a lot of radio, especially NPR where you can still find good jazz music. About ten days ago, I listened to and NPR story, 50 Years Of John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’. (A Love Supreme was recorded December 9, 1964.)
“I call it a sacred day for music fans, not just jazz fans. For people across musical boundaries and cultures — for Carlos Santana, Bono, Joni Mitchell, Steve Reich, Bootsy Collins, Gil Scott-Heron — hearing A Love Supreme was a revelation.” — Arun Rath
Many generations have and will continue to be influenced by the music of John Coltrane. If you let your soul listen you can hear his bluesy sound in the words and music of poets, singer-song writers and musicians:
Flirt with me don’t keep hurtin’ me
Don’t cause me pain
Be my lover don’t play no game
Just play me John Coltrane
— from Righteously by Lucinda Williams
#####
So, catch the blues train,
ride the drum beat’s edge,
see tomorrow’s vision,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Locomotion,
a blues riff ,
Coltrane changes,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
— from somewhere around the bend by kenne
“People had channeled emotions into music before. But no one had ever played the blues like this.
It’s the same message we get from the blues: Even in struggle and suffering, we sing, because life is a blessing. As much as Coltrane made his saxophone cry — for his suffering, and the world’s — in A Love Supreme he’s telling us that the most important voice to raise is one of gratitude to the creator for the gift of life.” — Arun Rath
