Dust Bowl Blues

With all the heated discussion these days of man-made global warming, it seems wise to take a closer look at  the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history. This Sunday and Monday evenings, on PBS (check your local listings), documentarian extraordinaire Ken Burns is doing just that. My expectation is that this program will meet or exceed Ken Burns' habitual high standards. Anyway, I for one will be watching.

Now, I can't help but take this opportunity to share one of Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads (1940). So, without further ado, here's Dust Bowl Blues, a song that combines Woody's keen sense of social observation with his sense of humor, even in the most tragic circumstances.

Campaign Speech Closers

In yesterday's Saturday Single at Echoes in the Wind, my buddy whiteray played a numbers game with some old Top 40 charts and ran across a single that brought back some strong memories for me. So here's a moderately embarrassing story from my high school days.

When I got my first stereo in 1970, and "plugged into rock 'n' roll", one of my first albums was Abbey Road by The Beatles. The single off that record that grabbed my attention, referenced by whiteray yesterday, was Come Together (backed by Something).

Now let's jumped ahead to the spring of 1974. I'm running for student body president at my high school and faced with delivering one campaign speech just before the election wrapped up. Rock 'n' roll had grabbed my soul by then and I came up with the closing line for that speech, the hook from that Beatles single, "Come together, right now, over me."

If you're thinking right now that might not have been such a good idea, you're right. I came to the end of the speech, delivered the line, and it quite simply died in the room. I still won the election, but that speech hadn't appeared to help.

Inspired by the Echoes in the Wind post from yesterday, with a little bit of hunting I found what appears to be the original video for the song Come Together. It's a piece of pop art and a fine song I thought I'd give you a chance to check out -- for many, again. So, from the beginning of the end of the beginning of The Beatles, here's one for the ages.

Katharine Hepburn, flying Howard's plane, "Howard, there's a rather alarming mountain heading our way."

(l to r) Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), Hughes Press Agent Johnny Meyer (Adam Scott),

Errol Flynn (Jude Law) and Kathrarine Hepburn (Kate Blachett) 
at Hollywood's Coconut Grove circa 1927

Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) is a real triumph from many perspectives, but Kate Blanchett's superb portrayal of Katharine Hepburn alone makes this a "must see" film for fans of early Hollywood.

Primarily, The Aviator is the story of the sides of Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) we should know, and by and large, don't. Hughes started out as the renegade heir to the tool bit fortune behind the oil drill bit that revolutionized production in the Texas Boom era. Hughes takes his whiz kid business talent, considerable capital and fearless hubris to California, combining one passion, aviation, with a very expensive hobby, making films.

Hughes and Chief Lieutenant Noah Dietrich (John C. Reilly)

As aviation innovator, he helped steer the course of modern aviation. In making the films Hell's Angels (1930) (his aerial war epic), Scarface (1932) (his classic gangster film) and The Outlaw (1943) (his guilty pleasure effort), Hughes showed Hollywood and the Breen Office that he wouldn't be intimidated.

Though not understood at the time, all Hughes' manic bluster -- thrown primarily at commercial aviation, with plenty left for Hollywood and his splashy love life -- would ultimately cost the mogul his sanity. As he became more accomplished -- and challenged -- a combination of obsessive compulsive disorder with paranoiac fear of disease crippled Hughes' interpersonal and home life.


The hand of director Scorsese is easy to see in the attention to detail and quality of the production. Take this montage of flying sequences from the film set to a great piece of music,

Between the Roaring Twenties and the post-war 40s, Hughes helped shaped the direction and look of modern aviation. And the story well told makes one hell of a ride on film.

Kathrarine Hepburn (Kate Blachett)

Hughes defending himself before a Senate committee accusing him of being a war profiteer
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Solomon Burke: "I Gotta Be With You" (2010)

Solomon Burke was preaching in his family church by the time he was seven years old. And all these years later, you can still here the proof in his music. That early preaching was back in the late 1940s, as Burke turns 72 this month. 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Burke.

Hal David, Requiescat in Pace

Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick and Hal David

Before I got my first stereo in 1970 at the age of 13 and discovered Top 40 radio pop and rock, my only source of music was my dad's AM radio station of soft pop and too much talk. Of the few songs that grabbed me, most were written by Burt Bacharach and the late Hal David. Dionne Warwick built her career on them. Solid melodies and smart, poetic lyrics saved me until I found rock 'n' roll.

Thanks Hal.

Burt Bacharach (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) accompanying Dionne Warwick on 

I Say a Little Prayer

Meandering Musical Musings

A Guest Contributor Who Wishes to Remain Anonymous

The Go-Go's

Last week I was music surfing on Youtube, at the back of my mind was the thought that 80s music ladies were hotter than what we see today. I ran across some interesting stuff.

First up, the Bangles, tearing it up during this concert footage.

http://youtu.be/X0ShN1QTtfo

I love that they are not half naked, and there are no dancers. They just perform. But they look like they are having almost as much fun as the crowd. Some great 80s big hair. Susanna Hoffs has the eyes of an anime character.
Here she is, front and center, in a fairly recent performance, at age 52. The years have been more than kind.

http://youtu.be/5u56TSu2240

Interlude: I once heard WWE chairman Vince McMahon make the distinction between 'sports' and 'sports entertainment'. This was eye-opening, once I extended the idea to the difference between 'music' and 'music-entertainment'. I guess I prefer music. Particularly to the often vulgar antics of modern music entertainment.

Speaking of girl bands, and having fun, here are the Go-Go's, with comedian Jack Black as front man. It's big goof, and everyone is having a blast.

http://youtu.be/wQr6eweWd9Y

What's missing from the clip above is Belinda Carlisle. I mentioned that 80s ladies were hot, check this out. Belinda is dressed quite demurely in this video, and she is still impossibly hot.

Jumping back to off-beat cameo appearances in a music video, check out the driver in this one:

http://youtu.be/dWC2-MFwWr8

If you like music entertainment (guilty pleasure), there is a time and place for it. It's called Glee. Here's a clip with Heather Morris, aka HeMo. She is a world class dancer, funny, and can carry a tune.

http://youtu.be/vvzMb8M23P0

Wrapping up with the Pixies

http://youtu.be/gSQJAiJH9Qo

and Sonic Youth, just because. Below is one of the greatest covers ever recorded.

http://youtu.be/Xs9eh82buls

Only thing missing from this concert set was you, but you were here in my thoughts.

At Twenty, Little Stevie No More

When, in 1970, Stevie Wonder's self-produced (first-effort) single -- Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours -- hit, the song exploded, not only on the black charts, but on the Top 40 (pop) charts as well. Well named house band at Hitsville, U.S.A, the Funk Brothers -- with Stevie on his best released vocal -- created a  rock solid Detroit soul /funk / R&B single and a with a uniquely raw Stevie vocal. Little Stevie had grown up.

I fell in love with it.

For me, this single, as an artist profile of Wonder at Rolling Stone.com wrote calling it the perfect fusion of pop and soul, rock and funk. I'd call it the ultimate crossover record. 

The Motown magic still has me as a disciple.