Music Night, March 16 2012

Ha ha, of course I didn’t forget about Music Night! What a silly idea!

Music Night, March 9, 2012

Gummitch has been running around so much he almost! forgot Music Night. This is a hurried choice but I make no apologies for Bonnie Raitt, age 25.

Music Night, March 2, 2012

Given her reputation as a poet, does it chap Patti Smith’s ass that her only real hit song was written by someone else? The Boss nailed it.

Music Night, February 24, 2012

Freshly spun off from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, a very different Fleetwood Mac. Hot stuff.

Music Night, February 17, 2012

Because a little bit of British strangeness should creep into your life from time to time. (Was originally looking for Pink Fairies video but they were all rubbish.)

Music Night, February 10, 2012 — Hmmm, about that contraception thing…

This video, which I’d been planning to use for about a week, suddenly became weirdly appropriate. Plus, I love this band! Oh, yeah, they are loud.

Music Night, February 3, 2012

I think Tennis is original and entertaining. You may well hate their guts. Fire back at them with a backhand in the comments. (Not sure, but the videographer might have a shoe fetish.)

Music Night, January 27, 2012

Sheesh. January is almost over already. This doesn’t seem right to me, like I’m suddenly whizzing faster and faster into old age and death. Stop! I’m still 27!

In case you’re new here, this is the part where you share favored music clips. No themes, no rules.

RIP Etta James, January 20, 2012

Born January 25, 1938. Died January 20, 2012. And lived a hell of a life in between. Jerry Wexler called her the greatest of all modern blues singers. There’s an excellent eulogy from the Sun Times here.

It was difficult finding any live performances on YouTube but here is one. I’ve also included an audio/video of one of her best songs.

Music Night, January 13, 2012

I’m back to a previous theme: music from people I had never heard of before. A fair amount of what I’ve been listening to appears to be from young people whose parents had really good vinyl collections, going back to the 80s and even the 60s. Case in point:

Music Night Already? January 6, 2011

When in doubt, throw in a Richard Thompson song. In this instance, it’s one of my favorites and it’s sung by RT and the terrific Bonnie Raitt. I love it.

Bonus below the fold, with more terrific musicians.

Music Night, December 30, 2011-Almost a new year

I considered Them the coolest band of the British Invasion, mostly ignored in later days even though their lead singer wrote the seminal rock & roll tune of the period, along with several other superb songs. The songs of their debut album stand the test of time, as does the lead singer, who has had a tremendous and highly-respected career in the years since. I don’t know if this is a great song to end 2011, but the performance is brill. No lip syncing here.

Really, don’t skip this one.

Music Night, Friday, December 23, 2011

My apologies if you were anticipating Christmas music. You’re on your own if that’s the case. This should help drown out the vile sounds of Jingle Bell Rock.

Zahara is from South Africa. (h/t DJ Mannasseh Phiri, on The World)

Music Night, December 16, 2011

More music from people I’d never heard of, although this band is a spinoff from the toxic sibling rivalry in Oasis, a band I had heard of (and not always favorably). And Manchester is pretty cool, particularly in terms of music.

 

Music Night, December 9, 2011

Gripped by the sensation of awesome power (bwahaha I can play whatever I want!!) and an equally awesome awareness that I’m not only out of the musical loop but can’t even find where the loop begins, I’m exploring music from people I’ve never heard of. You know, anyone who wasn’t even alive in the 70s. So, now it’s up to our corporate masters, who will determine which videos play for me at The Zoo.

Y’all will have to either indulge me or ignore me. Carry on.

 

Music Night, Dec. 2, 2011 We have a theme!

Mind you, it didn’t start out as a theme but rather a tribute to one of the greatest doo-wop tunes of all time. It evolved, except evolution doesn’t exist. So let’s say I intelligently designed it. Needless to say, because y’all always do, you can ignore the theme and even skip my contribution entirely. Hope you all have a great night and weekend.

More below the fold. I try to avoid music videos without visuals of the musicians, but this version of a song recorded by a zillion artists, may be my favorite.

November 25, 2011 Music Night

I’ve probably posted video of Lissie before, and honestly, I’ll do it again. I love this girl. This video was shot in someone’s back yard in Brooklyn. Someone needs to give the video operator a knock on the head or give ’em a tripod, but I still get a kick out of it. Lissie and her band are so good at what they do they need almost nothing in the way of equipment, just raw talent.

Music Night, November 18, 2011

This past Wednesday NPR presented a delightful interview with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills, who recently ended 31 years as R.E.M. The musical clips that were played reminded me of how much I love their music and have, apparently, for three decades. They seem like a natural choice to kick off Music Night — and this particular life performance has a killer bonus. Great live show.

Thanks to the time machine, this will post just as I’m sitting down to dinner at Bourbon Steak in Washington, DC, fortified with a cocktail or two and ready to dig into a serious dinner and wine. Urp.

11-11-11 Music

Morning Edition tickled me this morning with some music from All Songs Considered — songs that cause you to immediately crank the radio up to 11 when they come on. Not too surprisingly, their list and my list have few common entries. Since I’m old, my list is really long, but this one bubbled right up to the surface. Oh, and that one. I couldn’t make up my mind.

Rocking Music Night, November 4, 2012

In a continuing effort to cheer myself up (the rent’s due!!): a bit of rockabilly and a bit of 80s style. This band was never meant to play concert halls, they should have been onstage at dances!

 

Happy Birthday to Zooey

And welcome to Oregon. Apparently this will be the second La Niña winter in a row, which means colder and wetter than normal. No sunny days. Except a virtual sunny day today!

Music Night, October 28, 2011

I was more than a little shocked to learn that Tower of Power was celebrating 43 years performing (continuously), mostly because the first time I saw them they’d been together about a year. (And on a personal note, one of the finest women I ever loved, who never should have gotten away, had previously been lovers with one of the horn players — right up until she learned he was married. Cad.) There are likely hundreds of taped performances worth presenting, but I thought this one was particularly timely. And keep in mind, the song was originally released in 1975.

October 14, 2011 Music Night

For no particular reason other than: the fact that you’ve probably never heard of Miller Anderson — and he is way up at the top of my personal list of favorites. I first heard him playing lead guitar in the Keef Hartley Band (who?) in the late 60s. Guitar players don’t get old, they get better!

 

Music Night, October 7, 2011

More from Down Under. One of my favorite silly rock and roll movies is Garage Days, the title song of which introduced me to Katie Noonan. Noonan tours a lot, apparently, but never seems to make it to the States. The woman has a gorgeous voice.

Side note: a lot of Noonan’s videos begin with someone talking at length, or interviewing Katie or just blathering. Maybe it’s an Aussie thing.

 

Music Night, Sept. 30, 2011 — Happy Birthday, Frankie

I haven’t done a birthday celebration on music night for months. This one is for Frankie Lymon, who wrote one of doo-wop’s definitive songs at age 13 and died from a heroin overdose at 25. The song begins about halfway through this video clip but the glimpse into 1950s music and television in the first half is worth watching.