Tuesday Ten Trivia - The Allman Brothers Band

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This week’s Ten concentrates on the kings of southern rock (by far) who also brought a tinge of psychedelia to their act:

Duane Allman played on whose 1971 debut album (produced by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner)?

Where and when did the Allman Brothers Band record its first live album (venue and year)?

Name one of the two inspirations for the album title Eat A Peach.

Both Duane Allman and Berry Oakley died in motorcycle accidents within a year of each other. What else is coincidental about their deaths?

Chuck Leavell, Lamar Williams and Jai Johnny Johanson went on to form what band?

Duane Allman was the primary session guitarist at what studio?

TRUE or FALSE: When Gregg Allman’s personal manager was busted for drugs, Gregg testified on his behalf.

What occupation did Gregg Allman plan to pursue prior to the formation of the Allman Brothers Band?

What Muscle Shoals soulman began calling Duane Allman “Sky Man”?

Who is Elijah Blue?

Roots.

I've been spending a lot of time lately with the American roots of rock & roll music: blues and country (aka hillbilly or mountain music). I'm not talking about what passes for most blues or country today. I'm talking about the blues and country that began in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These two styles share so many commonalities, yet back then they were worlds apart simply because of skin color.

They were both the music of the downtrodden and lower-class. They sang of heartbreak and bad luck, and praised Jesus. They dreamed of having more than they'd ever have, and arriving in Heaven an equal with everyone else.

As a guitarist, I've been drawn to both of these styles equally. And because of the wonders of modern technology, I've been able to recently bolster my collection of both musical styles considerably.

There are two collections I recently picked up that deserve much praise, and many, many listens.


The first, Goin' Mad Blues, is a 200-song compilation of the real roots of American blues music. It's got the Bigs: Big Bill Broonzy, Big Joe Turner and Big Joe Williams. The Blinds: Blind Boy Fuller, Blind John Davis and Blind Willie McTell. The John Lees: John Lee Hooker and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. Leadbelly, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, "Hot Lips" Page, Lightnin' Hopkins, the one and only Robert Johnson, and many, many others. Without this music, there would be no Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin or Beatles or Who or any rock & roll. This is where it all began.


The next collection is Friends of Old Time Music: The Folk Arrival 1961 - 1965. This three-disc box set of 55 live performances (53 previously unreleased) comes from 14 concerts in New York City in the early '60s. It's a wonderful cross-section of traditional American bluegrass and folk music, with performances by legends like Fred McDowell, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, Doc Watson and Maybelle Carter (of the Carter family), as well as lesser-known artists Annie Bird, Joseph Spence, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, Ed Young and Emma Ramsay, and Jesse Fuller.

Manic Monday

New this week:

Blues:
Live: A Night At Tipitina's - Mem Shannon
Chill - John "Juke" Logan

Country:
Live From Austin, Texas - Buck Owens
Chinese Boxes - Kim Richey - You can preview songs here.
a bunch of releases in the Country Biography series (including Glen Campbell and Jim Reeves)

Folk:
Live From Austin, Texas - Kinky Friedman
Diamonds In The Asphalt - Truckstop Honeymoon

Rock:
America - a bunch of reissues
New Maps Of Hell - Bad Religion
Thin Lizzy Blues - Eric Bell
Bruce Cockburn - reissues
Three Easy Pieces - Buffalo Tom
Time On Earth - Crowded House
Family Tree - Nick Drake
Situation - Lily Frost
Noble Creatures - The Gourds
Compass Rose Bouquet - Great Lakes Myth Society
Feel - Jesse Harris
Best of The Sugar Hill Years - Reckless Kelly
Lez Zeppelin - Lez Zeppelin - Yes, it's a Zep tribute band, all female.
Runnin' Blue - Boz Scaggs
Zeitgeist - The Smashing Pumpkins
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
Spoon - The Underdog
Just Roll Tape: April 26th, 1968 - Stephen Stills
Saturday Night Fever - The Bee Gees - remastered
Else - They Might Be Giants
Tantrum - The Vacancies
Duet For Guitars #2 - M. Ward - remastered

Trolling the Underground: Dallas, Tx June 26, 2007

I've never been a Police fan. From the beginning, their music absolutely failed to reach me. I can only think of two songs that I ever liked a little, in fact. Not being a big reggae fan, either, their kinda-reggae-in-the-backbeat-but-not-
really type of sound just didn't do it for me.

Another thing that bugged me was the name "Sting." Honestly, it just struck me as silly at best, pretentious at worst. And it was the precursor to hordes of silly-ass names like "Bono" and "Slash". Am I to think that Mr. and Mrs. Edge named their son "The?"

Oddly enough, my vast collection of unofficial recordings doesn't always reflect my tastes. For one thing, I may be experimenting by downloading something I've never heard of, and that I end up not liking. Far more often, however, it's because I'm getting something for someone else. I don't like the Eagles, but I downloaded it for someone I knew would appreciate it. Ditto Soundgarden. I've even got some Cramps shows that I snagged for my neighbor, which aren't as bad as I expected, and might even grow on me. I usually end up keeping the shows, if not in CD form, then in a lossless comressed backup, in case it ever comes in handy for a trade or something. It costs relatively little to keep a few billion extra zeros and ones sitting around.

So it was that when I browsed and perused my favorite site, and saw the Police tour pop up now and again, I thought of a recent post by DangerDoll.

Now, that lady's a Police fan. She made a seven hour round trip to see the Dallas show at the American Airlines Center (which I'm certain had a much better name at some time), and you only do that if you like a band. Of course, I'm no stranger to this - I've gone from Elgin, Il. to Hamilton, Ontario to see the Grateful Dead, and from Albuquerque to Phoenix to see Peter Gabriel. The music you love is worth it, if you love it enough.

So to connect a good- sounding audience recording of the show (judging from the sample posted at the site) with the person who drove seven hours round trip to see it was as easy as making a few clicks to download it. Really, this shit is easier than calling Geico.

Now here's the really great news. It used to be that to get it to her, I would have to decompress it, burn it to CDs, print the info sheet, package it all up, get an address to send it to, and deal with getting to a Postal Service which, here in Albuquerque, seems to keep banker's hours. A lot of effort expended to get the music to one person.

No more. There is a much easier way now, that has always been at my fingertips, but is just recently learned. I can now send the recording of this entire show to as many people as would like to have it directly from my computer to yours. No burning, packaging, postage or hassle to deal with, and this method actually takes up less of my time because it's simpler and more direct. Since I don't need to mail anything, it should put to rest any myths that I'm collecting personal info. There will be a little setup for y'all to do, but only the first time. Once you've gotten yourself started, every future download is simplicity itself. And yes, this is legal.

Now, this is a strange TtU entry because usually I'm talking about the band's performance, or how it's different from the records, or whatnot, but TtU has also always been about the act of collecting itself, and the Prime Directive of sharing. As far as the band goes, I've already said it - I don't have much use for them. DangerDoll's review of the show is behind the link above, and here is another review I found laying about. I also found some photos of this show taken by someone who was right up front.

It wouldnt be a TtU, however, without a posted song, even though I'm making the entire show available. Think of it as a sample. It's one of the two songs of theirs that I've liked for at least a minute, and it's called Synchronicity II. What do you think?

Now, if you would like a copy of the entire show, just follow these simple instructions.

1. Download and install this program. Easy, free, and safe. This you will only have to do the first time.
2. Download this file. http://www.mediafire.com/?7twpmgdjyxy
   
3. Click on the file you just downloaded (you may have been given the option during the download of opening the file using utorrent - that's just as good, so go for it). The program you just downloaded and installed should pop up. If it doesn't let me know, I'll help.
4. Decide where you want the concert files to go to. The whole thing, in this case, is 784 MB. Once you choose a place on your HD for the files and okay it, the transfer will begin automatically, and the program will give you status information.
   

You may notice that you are connected to people other than myself. This is to expected, and encouraged. This is called a swarm, and the more people are in it, the faster everyone gets the music. That's why I'll ask that you not disconnect as soon as you finish, please. Stay on for a little while and help pass the data on. Remember the Prime Directive.

Once you have the files, you will see that they are in a strange file type called flac. This is called lossless compression - music files are typically large, so compressing them makes for a faster download. Lossless compression means that no wavelengths are lost in the process - the uncompressed music is identical to the original music. Some of you may have media players that will play flac files, but you can't burn them to CD without decompressing them. For those who wish to burn them or can't play flac files, decompressing is child's play. Just download this free program (the appropriate one for your OS, o'course). Drag and drop the flacs to the decoder, decide at the bottom where you want the decoded files to go, and click on "decode". Then you can burn.

I hope everyone enjoys this! Let me know what you think of the process and the show. I have downloaded over 1000 G of music, video, books, and comics using bit torrent and never had a problem caused by any of it. It has, in fact, truly thrown my musical horizons to a far more distant place. If people dig it, I'll be happy to share other shows, and since this is so simple from my viewpoint, I can easily entertain requests. I can even fulfill some of them, I'm sure.

While digging up info for this, I found that an audience video recording is out there, too. You can see part of it here. I'm not that impressed, but someone who was there might want to see it.

Assume the Position!!!!

The Steve Allen Show with Frank Zappa

In his Tuesday Trivia posting the other day, O'Tim linked to a page chock full of rock trivia. If you haven't looked at it, you should. There is something of interest to every music fan on that long, long page. A lot of things caught my eye because they were new to me - I didn't know that Carly Simon's dad was the Simon & Schuster guy, for instance. One thing caught me because it wasn't new, and I knew I could share it.



In the early 1960s, Frank Zappa appeared on Steve Allen’s TV show, performing a "bicycle concerto", plucking the spokes and blowing through the handlebars.


This I knew because I acquired that 16 minute clip over a year ago. The exact date that I have is March 14, 1963 and a clean-shaven young Zappa was the first guest on the show. Not having formed the Mothers of Invention yet, he showed a remarkable musical aptitude in his interview and a ready willingness to issue orders to Steve's band. He also demonstrated his famous sense of humor in performing a duet on bicycle with Steve. Quite simply put, you have to see this.



The quality is likely as good as it will ever be - a lot of these old shows were never kept because the television industry was a bit short-sighted in realizing it's re-run potential in the early days. The version here from YouTube is identical to what I downloaded in content and quality.

It really is amazing what's floating around out there.



1963 Frank Zappa on Steve Allen Show

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Tuesday Ten Trivia

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TRUE or FALSE?

The Carpenters were once booked for three nights as the opening act for Steppenwolf, getting fired after the first night.

Cher ended her marriage to Gregg Allman in 1979 after he had passed out in a Mexican restaurant, face first on a plate of chicken quesadillas.

The Who’s rock anthem My Generation took six weeks to break into the Top Ten on the U.S. record charts.

At a 1972 concert, Chuck Berry kicked Keith Richards off stage for playing too loud.

At the end of the Beatles’ song A Day in the Life an ultrasonic whistle was recorded by Paul McCartney for his Shetland sheepdog.

The first record to reach number one in 34 different countries was The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The music for the Procol Harum hit Whiter Shade Of Pale was written by Johann Sebastian Bach.

In many U.S. states there is a law against dancing to The Star Spangled Banner.

Ritchie Valens 1958 million-seller La Bamba is a traditional song picked up by the people of Mexico after they heard homesick African slaves singing about their village.

Al Kooper came up with the name for his new band from Winston Churchill’s quote, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”


Cheaters need not Google. The answers are located somewhere on this page:

http://www.classicbands.com/trivia2.html
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Manic Monday

A regular feature, pointing you to what's new at the indie record shops, online music purveyors, and big-box stores tomorrow. I'll even include what's coming out beyond rock music, but I will admit to being totally clueless about some genres, so I won't touch them (latin, world,classical, electronica, rap, most jazz, modern R & B)

Blues:

Beware Of The Dog; Natural Boogie- Hound Dog Taylor - reissues

Frostbite - Albert Collins - reissue

Pure Cotton - James Cotton - reissue

Still Making History - Ana Popovic

Comedy:

The Rutles - The Rutles - reissue - YES, finally a Rhino reissue with bonus tracks.

Country:

Honky Tonk Masquerade; Joe Ely - Joe Ely - reissues

Tried And True - Hanna-McEuen - Sons of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band guys release another.

Very Best Of Merle Haggard - Merle Haggard

Folk:

Hot Lunch - The Asylum Street Spankers - Don't you love their name? It's sort of acoustic blues, really.

Live At The BBC - Sandy Denny - What a voice.

Original Sandy Denny - Sandy Denny - reissued with bonus tracks.

Soundtracks:

1408

Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix

Live Free Or Die Hard

Transformers

The Pirate Queen

Talk To Me

R & B

Brecker Bros. - The Brecker Brothers - reissue

A load of Supremes reissues

Umbrella - Rhianna

Rock:

1977 - Iggy Pop

20 Greatest Hits - Climax Blues Band

Argus - Wishbone Ash -reissue

At The End Of Time: Churchscapes - Live In England & Estonia, 2006 - Robert Fripp

Beggin' - Frankie Valli

a bunch of Ozzy Japanese imports

Bright - Californias

Bonny Bunch Of Roses; Gottle O'Geer - Fairport Convention - reissues

Captain Sexy Bull - The Damned - a compilation

Choice Cuts: The Capricorn Years - Widespread Panic

Circus Diablo - Circus Diablo

Cryin' Heart Blues - Rick Danko

Dixie Chicken; Feats Don't Fail Me Now; Sailin' Shoes; The Last Record Album - Little Feat - reissues

Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse; Gorilla; Tadpoles- The Bonzo Dog Band - reissues with bonus tracks

Early Elvis - Elvis Presley

End Has a Start - Editors - with bonus tracks

Secret Weapon - MXPX

Stolen Apples - Paul Kelly

Super Tarata! - Gogol Bordello

The Lost Tracks of Danzig - Danzig - for the headbanger in you

Three Easy Pieces - Buffalo Tom - This one's the pick of the day for me!

Era Vulgaris - Queens Of The Stone Age

Flurescent Adolescent - The Arctic Monkeys

From Yesterday - 30 Seconds To Mars

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon

Hang Me Up To Dry - Cold War Kids

Illegal, Immoral and Fattening/Moving Targets - Flo & Eddie - reissues

In Your Face - Duke Squad

In The Beginning - Genesis - reissue of pre- Phil Collins era Genesis' debut.

Kingdom Of Fear - Shitdisco

Libertad - Velvet Revolver - not my thing, but somebody has to like them.

Live at the Grande Ballroom, 1968 - MC5

New Maps Of Hell - Bad Religion

Nocturnal - David Mead

Official Bootleg USA '06 - Jeff Beck

Red Hot Chili Peppers with a bunch of Japanese imports

Take Over The Breaks Over - Fall Out Boy - for your teen daughters

Tarantula - The Smashing Pumpkins

Tell Me Where It Hurts - Garbage - a single

The Detroit-Memphis Experiment - Mitch Ryder - first release on CD!

Time On Earth - Crowded House

Too-Rye-Ay - Dexys Midnight Runners - reissue featuring one of my favorite pop singles, Come On Eileen.

Twilight Of The Innocents - Ash

Uncle Dysfunktional - Happy Mondays

Well Thought Out Twinkles - Silversun Pickups

White Moth - Xavier Rudd

Better People.mp3

A bunch of Wishbone Ash reissues

Year of The Cock - Big Cock - But what about the feet; are they big, too?