Nothing to do with anything

This is my favorite part of the Woodstock movie.

Sure Michael Shrieve could have pared that drum solo back a bit, but I'm cutting him some slack just for one smile of pure 20 year old joy somewhere around :55.

This is Carlos Santana playing his Gibson SG guitar, Greg Rolle on organ, Dave Brown on bass, Chepito Areas on percussion, Mike Carabello on the conga drums, and Mike Shrieve on drums.

Santana.

Soul Sacrifice.

 I know this to be the case because I happened to have tickets for Joni Mitchell that night at Pine Knob.

You can trust me on this one when I tell you that the crowd was ready.

 Under normal circumstances, I would have never gone out and bought myself a ticket to a Joni Mitchell show but ..... there was this girl .....

 Anyway, I was completely unprepared for a band that rocked as hard as Tom Scott and the LA Express.

To this day, Court and Spark remains one of my all time favorite records.

Do what you want, but my best advice to you would be ..... crank it.

Apologies for the crap resolution, the great version of this performance has disappeared from the internet.

He bought a 57 Biscaine, he put it in a ditch.

Drank up all the rest that sonofabitch.

No real need to comment.

The Art Of Flying by Jan van Ijken.  Via Aeon, my latest favorite site.

A two minute film about “murmurations”: the mysterious flights of the Common Starling. It is unknown how the thousands of birds are able to fly in such dense swarms without colliding.

Every evening the starlings gather at dusk to perform this stunning air show.

They may have come out of Boston, but if you're a Detroiter of a certain age, you know for a fact that The J. Geils Band is ours.

I don't even know how many times I saw this band, for a while there it seemed like they were in town nearly every week.

Here is J. Geils on guitar, Seth Justman on organ and piano, Stephen Jo Bladd pounding the drums, Danny Klein on bass, the always magnificent Wooba Gooba With The Green Teeth, Peter Wolf on vocals and the great Magic Dick on his lickin' stick.

One of the surest things in the history of Rock and Roll, this is J. Geils live and at the height of their powers in 1977.

 Whammer Jammer.

"Let me hear ya Dickie."

Yeah, Yeah, I know ..... Whammer Jammer was Magic Dick's moment. But J. Geils always seemed perfectly happy in the background gluing the whole thing together.

At least that's how I remember him.

Saturday night, it's time to Rock.

There must be something about Goodbye Girl, Squeeze's first single that inspires them to tinker. They've recorded it four times in the studio, three times in a matter of months with slightly different versions of the tune for release as a UK single, a US single and an albom cut on Cool For Cats.

They've fooled with it I don't even know how many different ways in their live show. But the version you want ..... IMHO ..... is the live version recorded for the vinyl only EP, Six Squeeze Songs Crammed Into One 10" Record. Here's a very close live performance of that version.

This is Glenn Tillbrook on lead guitar and vocals along with his songwriting partner Chris Difford on rhythm guitar and backup vocals  The credits on this vid say that's Don Snow on the keyboards, but it sure looks like Paul Carrack to me. John Bentley is playing bass and Gilson Lavis is on the drums.

Squeeze

Goodbye Girl ..... the fast version.

  It's Saturday night. Time to rock.

The Head Buckaroo and I went and saw The BusBoys ... I can't remember where.

I do remember it being one of the funnest shows I have ever seen.

It was made more fun by the fact that we got there way early for a general admission show, met Kevin O'Neil wandering around up in the balcony and then watched the show from right down in front, smashed up against Brian O'Neil's Fender Rhodes piano.

  I may be prejudiced by the experience, but I can't think of many bands that have ever rocked as hard as The BusBoys, or many records I have played more than Minimum Wage Rock And Roll.

  I've waited a long time to write this post mostly because I couldn't find a video that I thought did justice to their live show.

  From Friday Night, probably best known for their unreleased for the better part of 20 years hit single The Boys Are Back In Town from the Eddie Murphey/Nick Nolte film 48 Hours, here is Brian O'Neil on vocals and keyboards, Kevin O'Neil on vocals and bass guitar, Vic Johnson on lead guitar, Mike Radi playing still more keyboards, Steve Felix on the drums and Reggie Leon doing James Brown as good or better than even James Brown did James Brown, along with a bunch of other stuff I don't even know what it is.

The Bus Boys.

KKK and Johnny Soul'd Out

Minimum Wage.

Click on the chart below and take a quick trip over to Baby Name Wizard and check out the popularity of your name in America going back to the 1880s,

You can sign up for the additional free app, Baby Name Voyager, that explores trends in baby names in more detail.

I didn't, but maybe you should. There might be something there worth knowing that could come in handy at some cocktail party someday.

You never know.

Named after the application for unemployment benefits from the United Kingdom, UB40 went on to sell over 70 million records over their 30 plus year career, during which time they have filled major concert venues on every continent and nearly every country on this earth.

If ever there was a testament to the power of simple songs with simple parts and simple arrangements played perfectly night in and night out it is UB40.

Here is the incomparable Ali Campbell on vocals and hips.  Robin Campbell playing his upside down strung, Fender Strat, left handed. Astro doing whatever it is that Astro does.  James Brown is on the drum kit and Norman Hassan is playing percussion.  Earl Falconer is playing bass guitar and Mickey Virtue the keyboards.  The back line features Brian Travers on a Yamaha WX7 breath controller to a synth, along with Henry and Patrick Tenyue on Trombone and Trumpet respectively,

UB40

Where Did I Go Wrong.

And from the same show, because I couldn't make up my mind.

Come Out To Play.

When it comes to Jerry Lee Lewis, ain't nothin' we could say here that hasn't already been said before ..... and then some.

So we'll spare you.

This vid is titled from 1964 which puts it near the recording of Jerry Lee's Live at the Star Club, Hamburg which is commonly acknowledged to stand among the greatest live records in the history of Rock and Roll.

This is Jerry Lee Lewis just beginning to move away from Rock and Roll and into Country music, performing the Hank Williams classic, You Win Again.

I've no real idea on the drummer or the rest of the band.

If forced to guess, I'm going with Dave Maine of/and the Nashville Teens.