Timmy Thomas Why can't we live together 1973

 Just heard this on Winchcombe Calling.

1981 by The Bad Detectives

 Digital album free download

This was an early visit to the studios by Frome's Bad Detectives. I like these songs.

 Our late friend Ivan flanked by Ed and Henry at the Elm Studios Paulton. They used the studio bass which was a Gibson hence the photo.

Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart Feat Sinead O'Connor Visions Of You 1992

 This was just on the radio. We bought this. Very good.

Sylvester You make me feel (mighty real) 1978

 Disco classic I just heard on Marc Riley. 

Ruby Johnson Weak spot 1966

 This popped up. I first heard it by the Detroit Cobras who did a fine version. Here

Brix Smith 2023 tour dates

 Here. They are playing Bristol Strange Brew on the 23rd of May. I think my daughter will be excited!

ASTEROID CITY Trailer (2023) Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson

 Celia sent me this. Looks great and if you are a Wes Anderson fan as my kids are you will love this.

Trip to Wells

 Went with my sister to Wells. Wells Museum has a room dedicated to Harry Patch.

Market day in Wells

Harry Patch

BBC Radio Documentary: Hoboing With Honeyboy.

Celebrating the original hobo, bluesman David "Honeyboy" Edwards, whose death in 2011, severed a vital link to the music, memories and imagination that infuses all blues music. American based music journalist and broadcaster Gianluca Tramontana conjures the "Wild and tangled forests, the broad, unhasting river flows, somewhere 'twixt Memphis and Tupelo", to the heart and home of Honeyboy. Honeyboy Edwards was among the first generation of pre-war Mississippi blues musicians that rambled the countryside playing juke joints, picnics, house parties: anywhere music was needed. He knew the first blues musicians to be recorded, such as Charlie Patton, and travelled with the founding fathers of blues music including Robert Johnson.

Honeyboy was one of hundreds of thousands teenagers hopping freight trains during the Great Depression. He travelled in search of work - to play music, but his weakness for gambling, wine and women often got him into trouble. After the war he settled in Chicago where his reputation as the greatest country blues musician took hold. Honeyboy's death in 2011 marked the end of an era, that lives in the hearts of music lovers around the world. His life story is mostly untold, but it's a crucial slice of American history that has been in the shadows. Tramontana hobos across the country - taking in Chicago, New York, Mississippi and the National Hobo Convention in Iowa - to understand the world and ways of a different type of American hero

The Birds (1963) trailer

 Here. This film came out 60 years ago today. Great movie. Loosely based on a Daphne du Maurier story. Wiki

Robert Jr. Lockwood.

 

Playing with Sonny Boy

One of the most underrated blues guitar players. Hear him on Spotify

From the wiki

Robert Lockwood Jr. (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006)^[1] was an American Delta blues guitarist,^[2] who recorded for Chess Records and other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only guitarist to have learned to play directly from Robert Johnson. Robert Lockwood was one of the first professional black entertainers to appear on radio in the South, on the King Biscuit Time radio show.^[3] Lockwood is known for his longtime collaboration with Sonny Boy Williamson II and for his work in the mid-1950s with Little Walter.

Read his interesting biography here. 

Lightnin' Slim - It's Mighty Crazy - 1954

 Lightnin' Slim sings and Lazy Lester on harp

Yo la Tengo performance on KEXP

 From a few days ago.

http://KEXP.ORG presents Yo La Tengo performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded February 16, 2023. Songs: Fallout Aselestine Big Day Coming This Stupid World Georgia Hubley - Drums / Vocals Ira Kaplan - Guitar / Vocals James McNew - Bass / Vocals

Hear their recent L.P. On Spotify

Bobbie Gentry Reunion 1968

 Just heard this song on the radio. 

Yo la Tengo Bristol

 This gig on the 13th of April it looks like we are going. See you there hepcats.

David 'Honeyboy' Edwards 1942

 Ace footage. Wiki on the man here

 Frome museum now but when I was younger it was the Frome literary institute or the Lit club. My Dad was a member and I went there with him a few times. You could play snooker there - my dad was in the table tennis team. It was like stepping back into the past.

Benny Spellman 10-4 Calling all cars

 Just heard this on Boss Radio 66. It's a good one. Allan Toussaint composition. Be a good one to cover. 

Roxy Music - Do the Strand 1973

 This album is fifty years old. Watch the OGWT performance of the Do the Strand. Susan bought this. 

Rolling Stones Winter 1973

 Good song for this time of year. To these ears it sounds like the Stones are doing a Van Morrison here. 

Sunnyland Slim - Highway 61 1957

 A killer diller from Cobra Records 1957 B/W It's You Baby

Sunnyland Slim (Voc/Piano),Big Walter Horton (Hca),Jimmy Rogers/Bob Woodfork (Guitar),Willie Dixon (Bass),S.P.Leary (Drums)

You’re No Good - Betty Everett 1963

 Not the first version of the song. 

Tom Hanks, DJ! How the Actor Became a Regular Guest Host on His 'Dream' N.Y.C. Radio Station

Tom Hanks and Debbie Daughtry. PHOTO: WIL CORPUS - TUNEIN

 "When Debbie [Daughtry] contacted me that she had left Ichiban and started Boss Radio 66, I knew she had created my dream station," the actor tells PEOPLE

Read here

Sharp-dressed Man ZZTop 1983

 From the Eliminator LP by ZZ Top.

ZZ Top Eliminator 1983

 40 years ago this week. Wiki.  Susan liked it and bought it. It seemed a lot of people bought it. Listen to it on Spotify here. Did you like it? 

The Blue Peter inn Polperro

 Another great Cornish pub. Webpage

King of Prussia Fowey

 I like Cornwall and Fowey is well worth a visit particularly with the Daphne du Maurier connection. This is a fine old pub. Today I borrowed a pleasant book Daphne du Maurier's Cornwall by Brett Hawthorne from the library. Some lovely photos in there.

Nappy Brown. Coal Miner 1961

 This is a great record. Give it a spin. His name does not work in the U.K.

Bath in 1727

 View of Bath (from Beechen Cliff) painted by Andrew Benjamin Lens, 1727. Thanks to David for this.

King Alfred's Tower near Bruton

 This is a folly near here. Wiki Surrounded by woodland we used to go here a lot when our kids were young. I have been up it but suffered from vertigo while up there. It was originally going to be commemorating the end of the Seven Years War but is associated with the location of Egbert's stone.

Please Please Me the Beatles 1963

 

Today 60 years ago the Beatles released their debut album. Listen to it on Spotify here

Watch a mini documentary on the recording.

Anthony Lennane remembers working at Marble Arch HMV

"I was at HMV when it was released and we spent the whole of that first day selling hundreds if not thousands of copies of the bloomin' thing.  This continued for a while."

The Book of the Medieval Knight Stephen Turnbull

 Got this today for £1! I am hoping my Grandson will later develop an interest in Knights and Castles like his Dad did. Then he can have this. Classic book. 

Ralph Mitchard

 Photo by my sister Anne. At Tucker's Grave near Radstock. The drink is their own Mother Tucker's cider which is delicious. If you haven't been to Tucker's maybe make it up there this year. You can camp there.

Incidentally I have created a new label Cider which you can use to read more about this drink. 

Great compilation

 Cobra and ABCO recordings produced by Willie Dixon. 

Rich's Cider

 While on the subject of Rich's Cider they now have a restaurant when you visit. Webpage

Near Highbridge Somerset.

Seymour Arms Witham Friary near Frome

 This is lovely country pub not far from Frome. An unusual sort of bar which gave rise to the legend that is was once a railway ticket office but I don't think that was true. They have bar skittles and sell Rich's cider. Bos introduced us to it otherwise I don't suppose we would have found it. Opposite the local cricket field it has a beer garden with a climbing frame for kids. We played there once with the Bad Detectives which fulfilled an ambition. 

Lightnin' Hopkins Backyard Boogie

 

Hank Mizell Jungle Rock rereleased 1976

 Saturday 🌙 night selection. Was a hit in the UK in 1976. Hank Mizell wiki. It was on our Youth club jukebox and I remember we used to put it on and when it was ending we would nudge the jukebox so the needle would skid back to the beginning and play it again. 

Thin Lizzy - Whiskey in the Jar (1973)

Some songs for Patrick's Day.Thin Lizzy played in Frome around this time. Was packed apparently. I was too young to go.

Raggle Taggle Gypsy/Tabhair dom do laimh - Planxty 1973

 Live at the National Stadium, Dublin 1973. Probably my favourite folk groups ever. You may need to turn this up, it's a bit on the quiet side. I was able to get Susan's parents into Planxty. We saw Liam O'Flynn at the Merlin in Frome in 1988. It was lovely. Hear the cassette of the solo album we bought here

Personality Crisis: One Night Only (2023) Official Trailer

This has just been uploaded. Been looking for this Scorsese documentary for some time. 

 PERSONALITY CRISIS: ONE NIGHT ONLY tells the definitive story of the culture-defying David Johansen, notorious ’70s glam punk lead singer of the New York Dolls. Framed around an intimate cabaret performance filmed in January 2020 at New York City’s storied Café Carlyle, PERSONALITY CRISIS: ONE NIGHT ONLY reveals Johansen’s enormous influence, transcending the walls of music as a window into the art and cultural evolution of New York City. Streaming April 14 on SHOWTIME.

The Wind That Shakes The Barley 2006 - Official Film Trailer

 Wiki on the film. I love this movie. If you haven't watched it give it a try. Susan's mother and Grandmother were from County Cork so we have visited many times.  

Van Morrison & The Chieftains Live on Irish TV 1987

 0:00 Star of the County Down 3:08 My Lagan Love 7:43 Marie's Wedding

My brother Neil got us into this. A great collaberation.

The Irish Rover - The Dubliners & The Pogues

 From The Late Late Show - Tribute to The Dubliners March 1987

This is the first performance of their hit single - The Irish Rover which reached number 8 in the UK singles charts. .

NME interviews Brix Smith

Brix Smith, 2023. Credit: Press

 Just today. Read it. Listen to the new album Valley of the Dolls on Spotify here

The 101ers Keys to your Heart

 Wiki. Joe Strummer;s band before the Clash but you knew that. I really liked this record. 101ers on Spotify. I only ever went to Stonehenge Free Festival once. Didn't see the 101ers. 

The 101ers in an early  morning performance at the Stonehenge Free Festival, 21st June 1975.

Photo by Julian Yewdall

 

Jimmy Reed You Don't Have to Go October 1954

 This was his first big hit that broke him to a wider audience. 

Little Richard film trailer "I am everything" 2023

 Thanks to Adrian for telling me about this. Looks fantastic. 

Check out the trailer for Little Richard: I Am Everything, an upcoming documentary about star Little Richard. The documentary features Mick Jagger, Billy Porter, John Waters, Tom Jones, and more. Little Richard: I Am Everything tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything. Directed by Lisa Cortés, Little Richard: I Am Everything is produced by Robert Friedman, Cortés, Liz Yale Marsh and Caryn Capotosto and Executive Produced by Dee Rees. Little Richard: I Am Everything will be available on special-one-night-only theatrical screenings on April 11, followed by additional theaters and a digital release on April 21, 2023.

Gloria - Van Morrison, John Lee Hooker 1989

 Great team up. I bought this on cassette single. 

Electric Eels Agitated recorded 1973

 Wiki. This is great proto punk from Cleveland Ohio. Not released until 1978. Listen here

6 years ago The Bad Detectives in Bath

 Pic by Shane who bought a ten inch ep. 

Dave's Comics Brighton

 My daughter CJ has been to Brighton for the weekend for a Beer and comics event which they enjoyed. They also visited this shop and were most impressed. 

Boss Radio 66 The Best of Tom Hanks

 On tune in radio. Tom Hanks is a great and knowledgeable deejay. He also has great taste. 

The Lurkers - Shadow 1977

 This band we liked. (This clip is dubbed but you get the idea.) Particularly like the first single both sides (Shadow/Love Story). The first LP is good too. We saw them at the Brillig Arts Centre in Bath. It was taken over by skinheads who were a thing at that time. We threw stink bombs into the throng of I remember.

Flying Lizards Move on Up 1980

 Bought this. Patti Palladin on vocals. Didn't like subsequent Flying Lizards stuff though.

ESG You're No Good Live at the Haçienda opening night May 1982

 This is fantastic. Never saw this before. We bought this when it came out but we didn't see them live. 

Lightnin' Slim I'm grown

 Saturday 🌙night selection from 1957. In essence a reworking of I'm a Man but Lightnin' Slim transcends this with some  wonderful added female interjections from an unidentified lady and a really swampy groove. Illustrated Lightnin' Slim discography

Black Leather Rock (from These are the Damned film 1963)

. Stars Oliver Reed and Shirley Ann-Field. Weymouth. 

My winter playlist

 Remember if you don't like it skip it!

Somerset Coalfields

 Slideshow of images.

'Let Yourself Go' Elvis Presley (Speedway) 1968

  Read the wiki on the movie.

The Crystals (Let's Dance) The Screw part 1 1963

 Just heard this on Boss Radio 66. It's a great one. Listen

Notes on YouTube say: How rare can you get? This is the first part of the notorious Philles single (Let's Dance) The Screw - Parts 1 and 2. This is just 4:30 of the nearly 10:00 both parts take up. Notice the high soprano done by Dee Dee Kenniebrew. Released in 1963 as a single then withdrawn. This was taken from a 1970's bootleg of the record. Part 2 also available (if you can stand this one!) Enjoy!

The Crystals wiki

Heaven's Gate (1980) trailer

 I was so chuffed to find this epic western in my local charity shop. Restored 2-disc DVD. Trailer. It flopped badly but we saw it at the cinema and were most taken by it. Wiki.

Had a great cast including the talented Isabelle Huppert (pictured) who was a favourite from French movies. Probably what made me want to see it at the cinema as I was a fan.

Talk in Norton

 🖤MINING AND THE SOMERSET COALFIELD🖤 -LOCAL HISTORY TALK BY SHANE GOULD.

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the closure of the last colliery in Somerset and with it the end of a long history of coal mining in the Somerset area. Shane Gould has carried out in depth research into the local industry discovering the lost remains of some of the older collieries along the way. His illustrated talk takes you through the story of local coal from the Roman times to 1973 with recent photos of some of the remains of the colliery sites that can still be seen today. This fascinating, revealing talk is one not to be missed for anyone who wants to learn about how coal mining shaped the area in which we live today, it will also be of great interest to former colliery workers and their descendants and anyone interested in history generally.

Tuesday 4th April 7:30pm Somer Centre, Midsomer Norton. £5 admission and raffle with all proceeds going to Radstock Museum.

Sparks - The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte (Official Video) - Starring Cate Blanchett

This is a great video. Song is good too.  

Laura I love onions 1966

 Just heard this.

Living for the City Stevie Wonder 1973

 

Another record the young (13 years old) me bought. wiki. I don't know when I heard it first but it made an impression on me. 

Listen

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) George Harrison 1973

 

Here is a song I had as a 13 year old.  I also had the Living in the Material World l.p. from which it came. Wiki

Dinky Simon Snorkel

 I had this for my sixth birthday in June 1966. My brother was born the day before. I remember I lost the removable firemen figures in the grass and the visiting nurse helped me find them. Not my pic. Off an auction site. Mine is long gone.

Corgi model from the Major Packs Emergency Vehicle range of toys. The Simon Snorkel fire engine was made between 1964-74, with a Bedford cab, 6 firemen, water cannon, extending and rotating boom. From here

Timmy Shaw Gonna send you back to Georgia 1964

 Great rhythm and blues toe-tapper. Here

Lightnin' Slim Rooster Blues 1960

 Not the most original of bluesmen but his stuff is enjoyable and that counts for a lot. 

I just don't understand Ann-Margret

 I love this record from 1961. Listen here

T. Rex 20th century boy 1973

 On the tv show Musik laden.Came out March 2 50 years ago. Wasn't on the Tanx album for some reason. 

Tanx T. Rex 1973

 This album is nearly 50 years old. Spotify deluxe edition here. Didn't like it at the time but I like it now. Give it a whirl. Some well made songs on there. Not a good cover I feel.

1883 trailer

Western series that looks good. 

20 years in the making: Slim Harpo documentary debuts next week

 Article on the movie here

Devo farewell gig

 Tickets went on sale this morning. My daughter and her partner have got tickets. 

Life Stinks Pere Ubu 1977

 

Here. It's an old Rocket from the Tombs song from the Modern Dance l.p. Which is a classic. On Spotify here

More Real Folk Blues Sonny Boy Williamson II

 This is a great album which I have on vinyl. Not an album as such more a compilation of sides. But very good. A lot of different styles by Sonny Boy - he was definitely not a one-trick pony!

Fromers

 The popular Frome FM music show was back last night for the first time in 6 weeks as co-presenter Ivan passed away in mud January. You can hear it on Mixcloud

Johnny Cash Ring of Fire 1968

  One of my favourites of his.