Paco Malo, Meet BradleyQ

This evening, through some mutual friends and fans, I learned of the passing of a relatively obscure songwriter/musician whom I had never had the pleasure of listening to. Because the news of his passing was eloquently shared on a social media post, an interest was sparked, and I took the opportunity to visit his Reverbnation page. What I got there was a close-up view into the beautiful soul of BradleyQ. And as I sat there listening, it occurred to me that, aside from any prayers of sympathy I could offer to his loved ones, the best thing I could do to celebrate BradleyQ's life was to listen, and to share that listening experience with others. How serendipitous it is that I would first share it on a blog that I have attempted to maintain in memory of a personal friend of mine, and creator of Gold Coast Bluenote, Paco Malo. He was such a big fan of and supporter of the arts, and I know that one of this blog's primary missions was to explore that passionate interest. So tonight, as Paco Malo and BradleyQ meet for the first time in that quaint little cafe on the corner of Celestial Avenue and St. Peter's Way, I simultaneously celebrate both their lives with a post of my own. Paco Malo, meet BradleyQ...

Free Music Player for Myspace at ReverbNation.com

Great Music, Great Friends

  The other night, I received a rather serendipitous email from a close friend of Jim's. It tells the story behind a Gold Coast Bluenote post that dates back to 2005. I thought it would nice to share the story as a post on it's own, complete with links to the original post, as well as to the music of Alison Krauss, who's beautiful voice inspired it.

It's funny how our lives weave together disparate elements, and make them inseparable. I was listening to some tunes last night. The music got me thinking about Jim, and GCB, and that in turn made me think of you.

Here's the back story behind an old post on GCB:(http://goldcoastbluenote.blogspot.com/2006/12/all-my-answers-turned-out-to-be.html). Alison Krauss and Union Station were scheduled to play Lakeland in Dec 2005. I wanted Jim to go see them, and to cover the concert for GCB.

Why? Union Station is the tightest band I have ever seen. Every member is a master musician. Some bands sound great on an album, but just so-so live. Union Station delivers the goods live, every time. Alison Krauss was then (is still) one of the best singers in the world. And she also has the instrumental chops to play with Union Station. Jim had never seen them; I wanted to fix that.

I knew Jim was a bit tight on funds, so I bought him a ticket. As we exchanged emails, it dawned on me that he had no way to get from Tampa to Lakeland and back. In for a dime, in for a dollar. I bought another concert ticket, and a plane ticket, and arranged to fly in from NC so that Jim and I could see the show together. One of the best nights of my life, by the way.

As Jim put it

First timers think they are just going to a concert; but after they listen to these musician’s musicians, they leave the show, just having found that Yahweh cuts us sinners a break now and again.

Digging around on youtube I found a great concert recording of AK/US. It's about three years before the show we went to, but has a quite a bit of overlap with the show we attended. I saw this 2002 tour in Durham NC, and it made me a fan for life. Sometime when you have an hour or so, read Jim's post, open a cold one, and give this a spin: http://youtu.be/HKgTra0QldE

Just one thing though. The concert Jim and I went to had a different encore, as mentioned on GCB. It gave me chills. Here it is, as performed on the Leno Show:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5gmVzbjxwl4.

later bro,
drc

Steve Earle, "This City" from "Treme" (2010)

Here's Steve Earle -- as a friend wondered "why isn't this guy famous?" -- doing the track over the closing credits for season one of the acclaimed HBO series Treme'.  The track documents the Army Corp. of Engineers engineered severe flooding of my beloved New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. . For a self-proclaimed Texas hillbilly singer-songwriter, Earle covers post-flood New Orleans like he grew up in this neighborhood.

Story-songs don't get much better than This City. The story Steve weaves together is solid American history. This City will last 'til the marble crumbles in D.C.

Warren Zevon: "The Wind" (2003): 'Fending Off Death Naturally Through the Transition from Immortality'

Warren Zevon's last record was released two weeks before he died. The CD arrived in yesterday's mail.  I give this masterpiece five stars with a bullet. Nonetheless, greater minds than mine have evaluated this record. Robert Christgau has been the quintessential rock 'n' roll critict, to my mind, since I first discovered him in 1972 and way before that. Here's Christgua on Zevon's The Wind:

The Wind (Artemis, 2003) Naturally he fends off death-the-fact the way he fended off death-the-theme -- with black humor. "I'm looking for a woman with low self-esteem" is how he sums up the succor he craves, and he finishes off a painful "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" with impatient cries of "Open up, open up, open up." But "El Amor de Mi Vida," "She's Too Good for Me," "Please Stay," and "Keep Me in Your Heart" mean what their titles say. Only by hearing them can you grasp their tenderness, or understand that the absolute Spanish one seems to be for the wife he left behind, or muse that while the finale addresses his current succor provider, it also reaches out to the rest of us. Everyone who says this isn't a sentimental record is right. But it admits sentiment, hold the hygiene, and suggests that he knows more about love dying than he did when he was immortal. A-

 That's an A+ analysis, but, in my humble opinion, I disagree on Christgua's rating. This essential "facing death" record gets an A.

Disorder in the House (w/ Bruce Springsteen)

Ruben "Hurricane" Carter Passes

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

The Story: Hirsch, James (2000) 
Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter
New York: Houghton Mifflin Company

The Song:
Bob Dylan lays this travesty of justice raw
during The Rolling Thunder Revue Tour
with his song Hurricane, from the album Desire (1975).
(Above is an alternate master.)

From the Wikipedia Contributors: "Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter (May 6, 1937 – April 20, 2014) was an American middleweight boxer who was convicted of murder and later freed via a petition of habeas corpus after spending almost 20 years in prison."

Rubin Carter, Requiescat in Pace.

Carolyn Wonderland at Skipper's Smoke House: Texas Burnin', with a Cherry Red Custom Telecaster and a Lone Star Lady Singin' the Blues

Carolyn Wonderland at Skipper's Smoke House (April 8, 2014)

Carolyn blew my socks off. Carolyn was on fire, Texas style. Here's a little recent evidence:

TEXAS BURNING with Carolyn Wonderland: I Live Alone With Someone

Steve Earle Covers His Mentor's Best: "Townes" : "Pancho and Lefty" (2009)

Backstage before going on at a gig with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan explains why Townes Van Zandt's song Pancho and Lefty is a national treasure:

He's (Townes) is like a philosopher-poet. He gets to the heart of it in a quick way; gets it out. It's over, and just leaves the listener to -- think about it. 

Here Steve Earle covers this superb, truly American song.

Stephen Stills' "Manassas": "Both of Us (Bound to Lose)" (1972)

In the spring of 1972 perspective, Stephen Stills' band Manassas, Crosby and Nash, and Neil Young shared the Top Ten Billboard LP charts with three separate releases. During this record dominance by former members of the shattered supergroup, Rolling Stone found it "reassuring to know that Stills has some good music still inside him". (RS (109). Manassas stands by far as the best of what those artists released in '72. And with this record Stills expands on his original song structures.

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes established Steven Stills as a composer who could take three shorts songs about his ex-girlfriend and form an exquisite suite. On Manassas, each of the double albums four sides consist of a multi-song suite. Below is the track Both of Us (Bound to Lose) that closes the side one -- Suite: The Raven. On this track Stills not only gets to show off his harmony vocal prowess with Chris Hillman, but the song also closes with a fine latin rock movement powered by Joe Lala's percussion. Stills' deft electric lead guitar is on display throughout.

Yep, it was 1972.

(Manassas percussionist and Tampa native Joe Lala passed away this month. This one's in memory of you, Joe.)

"I Feel Alright Tonight"

Steve Earle (1996)

"I feel alright tonight!"

"Where the eagle glides ascending, there's an ancient river bending ...." --Neil Young

From 1979, a year that rock saw punk and Anglicized reggae ascending -- here, with audience reaction removed, is an acoustic track from a live collection comprising one of Neil's finest albums.

"Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" (single, 2010), Bruce Springsteen

This cover by Bruce is nowhere near new, but I still think it's worth a spin. Given the newer Christmas music dished out these days, give me Bing Crosby with The Andrews Sisters, or, in this case, Bruce Springsteen with the E Street Band on a cold December day.

Lou Reed Goes to the Otherside

Lou Reed (1942-2013)

Lou Reed, Velvet Underground Leader and Rock Pioneer, Dead at 71

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lou-reed-velvet-underground-leader-and-rock-pioneer-dead-at-71-20131027#ixzz2iwvfk8vG 

I try to focus on genre pioneers 'round here. When it comes to New York City rock 'n' roll, Lou is, was and always will be the man. Requiescat in pace.

"Heaven done called another blues singer back Home."

On this date in 1970, Heaven done called Janis Joplin back Home. Rest in Peace, Janis. 

And thanks.

Roy Orbison: "Mystery Girl" (1989) (".... Am I left to burn, and burn eternally ...")

Bono and The Edge wrote this song for Roy. It was Roy's last record (released posthumously).

"Either he's going to have to stand and fight, or take off out of here."

Joni Mitchell at her post-Blue (1971) finest, from her 1976 folk / jazz album Hejira -- Jaco Pastorius on bass on this cut, Coyote.

Dig it ladies and gentlemen!

"Methamphetamine" - Old Crow Medicine Show (redux; studio version)

Since Ronnie Van Zandt of Lynyrd Skynyrd died, I have been waiting for someone to pick up this fallen torch and run with it. Neil Young has kept the flame alive -- take the acoustic version of "Keep On Rockin' in the Free World" from his album Freedom, for example -- but now Ronnie's heirs are on the job.

Old Crow Medicine Show will. "... [r]ock You Like A Hurricane, Meth-am-pheta-meeeen" -- and this story is set in the poorest part of Appalachia, with roots down to northern Florida. You can beat the South at Appomattox, but stubborn hillbillies, crackers and rednecks (me included) just won't sign up for most of the Yankee agenda.

It's only too late if you think it is -- give a spin to "Mother's Little Helper" (Stones), "That Smell" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), "Keep on Rockin'" by Neil, and "Meth" by our young Medicine Show friends. And "Don't Forget this fact, we can't get [David Ruffin] back, Cocaine." (-- J.J. Cale classic song broken by me to honor the late Temps lead singer.

In this drug war, just who is the enemy? Eh?

"The Dude Abides."

"The Dude Abides."

"... No, I don't belong to her, I don't belong to anybody ...."

The master tapes for this formerly unreleased Dylan treasure were given to the film's director Todd Haynes, after a frustrating search, by Neil Young. Personally, that tells me something about the quality of the song. Originally an outtake from The Basement Tapes (recorded 1967; released 1975), this song appeared for the first time on the I'm Not There Soundtrack (2007). I'm relishing it.

And here's another Basement Tapes gem that shines in the film. I'd never heard this song and now it's a favorite of mine; Jim James and Calexico give us a great cover.

I may have more to say about the two disc soundtrack to Haynes' film when I've better absorbed this wall to wall AAA set of covers that were the film's starting point. For now, dig these treasures reborn.

Randy Newman: "Rider in the Rain" (1977)

Randy Newman took a shot, for a while, at being the great American songwriter / storyteller. I guess it wasn't payin' the bills so he took his talents to Hollywood. In many ways, our loss.

For example, from his 1977 album Little Criminals:

"Too Good for the Basement" Series (No. 2): Great Rock Vocalists: Peter Wolf & Co., "Nothin' But the Wheel" (2002)

[reworked and reposted; from early 2011]

Peter Wolf live at Wolftrap (2010)

____________________________________

This is one of the best crossover tracks by a great rock singer/songwriter giving us a modern country classic. Peter Wolf, former front man for The J. Geils Band -- here with another of the great rock vocalists and a first class team of studio musicians -- cutting the perfect road song for his 2002 solo album Sleepless.

One more a thing about "another of the great rock vocalists": Jagger may not have stuck around for more of the sessions for the Sleepless album than just to cutting the harmonies for Nothin' but the Wheel, but Mick certainly left his influence all over Peter's vocals on the other album cuts I've heard. But that's the way it goes when you're rollin' down the interstate looking for a back road to unwind.

And yes, the Highway 41 in Nothin' but the Wheel is the same road Dickie Betts was, in the song, 'born rollin' down' "... in the backseat of a Greyhound bus ..."

I love this song more each time I hear it. So give her a spin; eh, what do you have to lose?