Damn, never got to see em play.

At least we still have Coldplay.

Cool , I could've seen Hunter , too. But , I never got into his solo stuff that much , some of it....It was , like $40 , here. The Cynics are also playing in Chicago , next week. They can still tear the young upstarts a new one. Watch , listen , and learn. This is how it's done.

MikeL said:

For some reason, my response to this thread ended up in the costumes thread.  I don't know how that happened.

 

Anyway, I posted before that I saw Ian Hunter last night, and he put on a really good show.  He played one of my favorite Mott songs, "Roll Away The Stone," along with "All The Young Dudes" and "All The Way From Memphis."  My only complaint is that he didn't play "Once Bitten, Twice Shy."

 

Next week, I'm going to see the Cynics at the 31st Street Pub.

Nice pic. If you scroll up , you'll see that I was there , too. I could'nt believe they did the first album , first , but I guess they wanted to get it out of the way. I've seen them 4 times since they started touring the States , again , in '97, and they've always put on a great show.

But , they also , generally have only done the two "Hits" from the 1st LP , "New Rose" and "Neat , Neat , Neat". Once , when they and The The Dickies blew the "Misfits" , Agnostic Front and Balzac from Japan (Who , at least ,were better at being The Misfits than The Misfits playing that night.) off the stage , they also did "See Her Tonight".But , I was looking forward to seeing them do the first album , live , even tho' it's not the original band (It's a real band tho' , and a very good one.). Oh , well. That's my lot. Dave looks like Lionel Atwill with that moustachue. I saw him on TV A YEAR OR TWO AGO , HE REMINDED ME OF A THINNER , UHHH , straight , version of Charles Laughton. But , I think that was more his theatrical mannerisms than his appearance.  

Brian Shapiro said:

Saw The Damned for the first time last Tuesday, great show

For some reason, my response to this thread ended up in the costumes thread.  I don't know how that happened.

 

Anyway, I posted before that I saw Ian Hunter last night, and he put on a really good show.  He played one of my favorite Mott songs, "Roll Away The Stone," along with "All The Young Dudes" and "All The Way From Memphis."  My only complaint is that he didn't play "Once Bitten, Twice Shy."

 

Next week, I'm going to see the Cynics at the 31st Street Pub.

Saw The Damned for the first time last Tuesday, great show

kopper , Yeah , it says "Bloopers" on some of these , but if they're actually the real commercials , it does'nt make sense. But , I'm glad Grayzell is getting some kind of work , and maybe some notoriety , when so many of his peers are dead or unable to play out , anymore.

kopper said:

I don't think so. I think these are the actual commercials. Maybe I'm wrong, but these seem like intentional bloopers. Watch some of the others... they're all like this. Rudy starts saying something, goofs up, curses, and the dude with the hot dog & headphones on comes up laughing hysterically. Pretty unfunny, actually.

John Battles said:

It is ridiculous , but , these are the outtakes. Have'nt seen the finished commercials. This is probably the first time an obscure , Old School Rockabilly artist , such as he , has done a TV commercial since Cordell Jackson played rings around Brian Setzer in that Bud Light commercial , though Cordell was in a class of her own ,not stuck on one thing.

I don't think so. I think these are the actual commercials. Maybe I'm wrong, but these seem like intentional bloopers. Watch some of the others... they're all like this. Rudy starts saying something, goofs up, curses, and the dude with the hot dog & headphones on comes up laughing hysterically. Pretty unfunny, actually.

John Battles said:

It is ridiculous , but , these are the outtakes. Have'nt seen the finished commercials. This is probably the first time an obscure , Old School Rockabilly artist , such as he , has done a TV commercial since Cordell Jackson played rings around Brian Setzer in that Bud Light commercial , though Cordell was in a class of her own ,not stuck on one thing.

It is ridiculous , but , these are the outtakes. Have'nt seen the finished commercials. This is probably the first time an obscure , Old School Rockabilly artist , such as he , has done a TV commercial since Cordell Jackson played rings around Brian Setzer in that Bud Light commercial , though Cordell was in a class of her own ,not stuck on one thing.

That's what I needed to know! Yeah, wow... there are actually a whole bunch of them, and they're all pretty ridiculous. Like this one:

Ken said:

Pine Brothers, I think

Pine Brothers, I think

That's crazy. I mean....A Rockabilly Singer should be promoting HICCUP remedies...Or hiccup starters , maybe ? Well , we have it on good authority what does THAT.....

Might be able to find 'em online. What brand cough drops was it, do you remember?

I don't know if its a national thing or not, but after Jeopardy in Columbus they've started showing cough drop commercials featuring Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell.  How freakin' cool is that!

Thank you for posting this. I'm glad to see they're still with it.

Just posted it in the Records Reviews group:

 

 http://garagepunk.ning.com/group/recordreviews/forum/topics/terrell-s-tuneup-spook-rock

 

 

A friend of mine was talking to Mick about guitars.  Mick said he'd never take a guitar worth more than a hundred dollars on tour again.  When something happens to them, it's too painful otherwise.  I can see that.

any ones knows the model the silvertone was it has a great town with the mustang copy

In honor of Halloween, I'm going to post this column I wrote for the Santa Fe New MExican a couple of years ago about one of my favorite ghost songs. 

 

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 30, 2009


(Art by James Clark. Used with permission.)

An impressionable 12-year-old rode to the top of an Arizona hill one afternoon with an old Cowboy friend to check a windmill. A big storm was building and they needed to lock the blades down before the wind hit. When finished, they paused to watch the clouds darken and spread across the sky. As lightning flashed, the Cowboy told the boy to watch closely and he would see the devil’s herd, their eyes red and hooves flashing, stampede ahead of phantom horsemen. The Cowboy warned the youth that if he didn’t watch himself, he would someday be up there with them, chasing steers for all eternity.

Sixty years ago this frightening vision, now found on the Western Music Association Web site, was etched into the consciousness of America. “Ghost Riders in the Sky” is a perfect Halloween song for the West. It’s the only cowboy song in which “yippie-yi-yay” becomes a demonic taunt. The boy who heard the tall tale from the old cowpoke would grow up to be forest ranger/songwriter Stan Jones.


Here's a couple of "Ghost Riders" videos:

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 28, 2011

Southern Culture on the Skids has always excelled in good tasty swamp rock. The group’s latest album, Zombified — released this month just in time for the Halloween shopping rush — goes deep into the swamp, where mossy monsters dwell.

Most of the album was released in Australia back in the last century (1998) as an eight-song EP. Guitarist/singer Rick Miller and crew added a few new songs for the American version. The band calls it a “tribute to the horror and exploitation movies that populated Southern theaters and drive-ins during the ’60s and ’70s.”

Like the best SCOTS recordings, the sound here is a seamless blend of country, surf, rockabilly, garage-rock, exotica, swamp-rock, as I mentioned, and probably some secret ingredients the group will never tell.

Miller always sounds like a hip bumpkin — whether he’s singing about funny aspects of Southern life or, as on this CD, witches and zombies. Mary Huff plays the bass and sings far too infrequently while Dave Hartman drums. There are a few guests on some tunes, the most significant being Chris “Cousin Crispy” Bess on organ and Steve Grothmann on sax.

Miller wrote most of the songs, including the title track, “Devil’s Stomping Ground,” and “Eyeball You Later.”

But there are also some fine covers — a Creedence Clearwater Revival instrumental, “Sinister Purpose”; “She’s My Witch,” a cover of a song by rockabilly Kip Tyler; John D. Loudermilk’s eerie “Torture” (sung by Huff, who sounds like she’s been, well zombified); and best of all, “Primitive,” a garage-y snarler originally done by a band called The Groupies, and probably best known by its version by The Cramps.

There are more instrumentals than usual for a SCOTS album. Besides “Sinister Purpose,” there are “The Creeper” — on which Miller’s guitar dares to go delightfully obnoxious trying to summon the ghost of Link Wray, and “Swamp Thang,” which is upbeat, funky, and, naturally swampy.

One unusual song here is “Bloodsucker,” featuring an acoustic guitar and a lilting Caribbean/New Orleans arrangement. Trom-bonist Dave Wright colors this track.

Even though Zombified is perfect for Halloween spookfoolery, virtually all the songs here stand on their own and would sound just fine at a SCOTS show any time of year.

Another monstrous treat ... or is it a trick?


* Pop Up Yours by The Monsters. No, this isn’t a Halloween-themed album, but how could I not talk about a new record by The Monsters during this special season?

This Bern, Switzerland-based band has been around since 1986, fronted by Reverend Beat-Man, the owner, founder, and resident (un)holy man of Voodoo Rhythm Records. The group plays what it calls “chainsaw massacre teenage garage trash punk.” And they have these really snazzy red jackets.

The songs deal with love, lust, revenge and rage, based on simple riffs and Beat-Man’s shredded vocal chords. One of my favorites here is “Blues for Joe.” I don’t know who Joe is, but Beat-Man seems pretty upset as he screams “What you gonna do now, Joe.” Also commendable in its sweet, crazy fury is “Crawling Back to You No More.” There’s a pumped-up Bo Diddley beat at the core of the song.

The songs are mostly original, though many of the mutated, frantic Hubert Sumlin guitar riffs sound hauntingly familiar. There is one cover tune, a trashy — and I mean that in the nicest possible way — version of “Speedy’s Coming,” originally done by German metal screamers the Scorpions.

The Monsters seem to play with psychedelia on the closing track “Into the Void.” It starts with church bells and ends up with feedback and bashing drums.

It’s great that there are still Monsters on the loose.

Horrible mention: Here are a couple of recently released albums appropriate for the season.

* Halloween Album w/Sound Effects by Thee Cormans. This California band basically plays instrumental “surf” music. Titles include “Surf Shack of Doom,” “Haunted Sea,” and “Werewolves in Heels.” The sound effects are indeed bitchen.

* What Happens in Hell Stays in Hell by Nekromantix. Here are more crazed horror-soaked psychobilly sounds from this trio led by Danish expatriate Kim Nekroman, who plays a coffin-shaped standup bass. Some songs sound closer to Slayer than to Carl Perkins. “Bela Lugosi’s Star” has a cool Johnny Cash chunka-chunka beat, and “I Kissed a Ghoul” has a weird reference to the Happy Days theme.

Celebrate the Season!

* Live spookiness: I’ll be playing some of my own monster hits like “I Lost My Baby to a Satan Cult,” “Wolfboy,” and “The Thing in the Mud” on Friday, Oct. 28, at the Aztec Café’s All Hallows Hell Performance Party, along with ex-Angry Samoan Gregg Turner and his new band The Mind Parasites. It’s 7 p.m. to midnight at the Aztec (317 Aztec St.). There’s a $3 cover (cheap.)

* Radio spookiness: The 87th Annual Steve Terrell Spooktacular starts at 10 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, on KSFR-FM 101.1 and screaming on the web. Tom Adler of “Folk Remedy” is substituting for me Friday night on the Santa Fe Opry.

* Podcast spookiness: The 2011 Big Enchilada Spooktacular is scaring people all over the internet. Visit . And if you want even more creepiness, check out the GaragePunk Hideout Podcast Jukebox HERE. There's several recent shows with ghastly Halloween themes over there.

* Spotify spookiness: Hey Spotify users. There are hours and hours of haunted sounds on my monster-size Halloween Spook Rock playlist on Spotify. Get Spotify for free at www.spotify.com

Next Thursday, Nov 3rd, we've got local act The Hot Roddin' Romeo's coming in for a live performance.  We'll also be auctioning away a self-made Mad Mike record. Our station is non-profit/non-commercial, so it helps pay the station's bills.  Here's an example of one I made previously:

I don't think Eric Burdon could have been elevated to iconic status the way Jim Morrisson was , about 10 years after his death . He would have only graced magazines like "16" OR "Tiger Beat" when they were REALLY hurting for space filler. Until he started putting on the pounds ,  growing out his beard and , allegedly , introducing Lil' Jim to a Miami audience , Morrisson's looks made him quite the sex symbol in his day, but , everybody knows that. Burdon might not have been such a great looker , by comparison , but , his singing voice was pure "No blobs in the bog" animal sexuality. They were both very different , it's true , but , Burdon , as an early (White) student of The Blues was just as macho in his delivery as Morrisson. Van Morrisson.

Jim Morrisson is an icon , today , partly because he represented danger to a lot of people. And , it's true , he did get himself into a lot of brushes with the law , which he seemed to shrug off. Burdon openly admired , and dated , Black women when that was regarded as extremely dangerous , except maybe in places like France. He was a street - fightin' Geordie , and did'nt take any shit. It does'nt mean they're so alike or dissimilar as singers. Morrisson was a crooner as well as a shouter. Burdon had no time for croonin'.

I'll agree with ya on this one, but that's mainly because I was never a huge Doors fan. Actually, that's not entirely true... I thought the Doors were cool *before* I discovered all of the other great '60s bands, like the Animals, Seeds, Pretty Things, Remains, Shadows of Knight, Electric Prunes, Chocolate Watchband, 13th Floor Elevators, etc. etc. etc.

My first thought was that scream at the beginning of the Wailers' Hang Up too, but I've also always dug the nutty Alan Barnicoat screaming on this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mc8jobkKz0

 

A Gories cover wouldn't hurt, like "Thunderbird esq" or "I Think Ive Had It". Both can be fairly improvisational.