Song of the Week: “Astro Zombies,” The Misfits

Ah, an oldie but a goodie.  “Astro Zombies” by the Misfits, from 1982.  Written by Glenn Danzig and sung by Danzig and Jerry Only, the song shared a title with The Astro Zombies, a 1969 sci-fi/horror flick starring John Carradine.  Perfect for today!

Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: The Meters/Neville Brothers

Guess everyone’s talking about New Orleans today.  So in honor of the Saints in the Super Bowl, and Mardi Gras, let’s take a brief look at two albums with virtually the same title:  Fire On The Bayou by the Meters, and Fiyo On The Bayou, by the Neville Brothers.

The Meters are, of course, one of the greatest bands ever.  That they aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is one of the true injustices in this world, and proof positive that the people running that Hall are trend-chasing lackeys who are more interested in selling tickets to tourists rather than honoring and preserving the history of great music.  Formed in 1965, the original quartet included drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr. and keyboardist extraordinaire Art Neville.  They had a few R&B instrumental hits including “Cissy Strut” and “Sophisticated Cissy,” and by 1972 they were the most sought-after players in New Orleans.  Becoming the house band for Allen Toussaint’s Sansu Records, they played on hits from Dr. John (“Right Place, Wrong Time”), Labelle (“Lady Marmalade”), Ernie K-Doe and many others.

In 1974 Paul McCartney asked the Meters to play on his album Venus and Mars, then they played the album’s release party aboard the Queen Mary.  Mick Jagger was blown away by the Meters, so he invited them to tour with the Stones that year.  That leads to 1975, and the album Fire On The Bayou.  Produced by Allen Toussaint, this classic unveiled the now classic title cut as well as a new, fifth band member: little Neville brother Cyril, on vocals and percussion.  “Fire” showcases what the Meters were all about: some really tasty riffs on top of a spicy, funky little rhythm.  “Talkin’ About New Orleans” and the extended groove “Middle Of The Road” are more of the same.

But there are two cuts that stand out above the rest: “Mardi Gras Mambo” is actually a cover, the original was cut in 1953 as a country song but the next year a New Orleans band, the Hawketts, made it their own.  The Hawketts were led by then-17-year-old Art Neville, and the song became a Mardi Gras standard.  The Meters’ version substituted Neville’s keyboards for the tasty sax on the Hawketts’ record, but it rocks anyway.  And then there’s “They All Ask’d For You,” a tune with some local catchphrases and an insanely catchy melody.  The Meters claimed writing credit on it, but there’s evidence at least some part of this song has been handed down among New Orleans musicians over the years but no matter – I remember going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in 1976 or so and it was everywhere.

Song(s) of the Week: “Radio Medley” by Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen

Two of my favorites doing one kick butt medley of “Radio Silence,” “Radio Nowhere,” and “Radio Radio” on Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…

Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: ‘Zachariah’ soundtrack

I came across this record – the soundtrack for the 1971 movie Zachariah, which was billed at the time as the “first electric western.”  Do you remember that one?

This movie, I believe, was one of the strange films that came out of Hollywood after Easy Rider virtually destroyed the old-school big-studio movie model in 1969.  In the wake of that groundbreaking movie, filmmakers saw that there was a huge untapped market in the era’s youth – so you had a lot of low-budget movies with avant-garde leanings … and a lot of rock music.  It didn’t hurt that Easy Rider was kind of a western too.

So dig this: take the central idea behind Easy Rider (two buddies on the road, searching for something) and put it back in the Old West: check.  Rock music? Check.  Hey, how about putting rockers in the movie as actors?  Oh yeah, check.  While we’re at it, let’s just give them their electric guitars and let ‘em play on screen!  What????

Yeah, that’s Zachariah. The movie opens on this arid desert scene, there’s a lonely rider getting off his horse and scuffling through the dust, then – three dudes playing electric instruments!  That’s the James Gang, and that sets into motion the story of young Zachariah (played by John Rubenstein), who gets a mail-order gun and winds up shooting down some dude in the local saloon.  He and his friend Matthew (Don Johnson!) join the Crackers, a rock band who are also pitifully inept stagecoach bandits.   Zachariah and Matthew eventually set out to become big-time gunslingers, but a break in their friendship grows into a rivalry that can only have deadly consequences.

At first it’s kind of disorienting to see dudes riding around on horses then go into a saloon where Joe Walsh is tearing off a riff on his guitar.  Immediately you get the idea this is some kind of spoof, maybe some kind of thing where the people who made it were stoned (it was written by two members of the Firesign Theatre), maybe the movie was intended to be seen by audiences who were also stoned.  I remember seeing it when it came out, and even as a 16-year-0ld I thought it was pretty stupid.  But I also thought the rock music in the film was killer bee.

Who Dat?™ Geaux Saints!

Oh yeah … all those years when nobody else cared about the Saints, it was “Who Dat? Nation” and “Who Dat?” dis and “Who Dat?” dat.  Now the NFL is claiming “Who Dat” is copyrighted, or it’s a trademark, or something.  Now that the New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl, the NFL is seizing”Who Dat?” – oh wait … “Who Dat?™” – in hopes of feeding its already bloated billion-dollar enterprise.

Who Dat?™ who’s greedy?  The NFL, dat’s Who Dat?™!

In other news, our great friend and awesome photographer Art Meripol sent an e-mail yesterday: he’s on assignment in New Orleans shooting jazz clubs from about now until the middle of next week.  The Super Bowl’s on Sunday, Mardi Gras hits its fever pitch next week (or Sunday if the Saints win), and our buddy’s in the middle of it all.  Nice work if you can get it.

Anyway, the covergence of these great events is convenient … so in the interest of public service, here’s a handful of New Orleans and Louisiana swamp rock songs for your Super Bowl/Mardi Gras party.  You can find many more by going to our “Walkin’ To New Orleans” series, plus we have a handful of Saints fight songs.  Of course, there are beaucoups more Saints fight songs at the New Orleans Times-Picayune.  The Saints, the Colts and the Who are gonna tear it up this weekend … be there, square hair!  Geaux Saints!

MP3: “Party Town” by Bobby Charles

MP3: “Blueberry Hill” by Fats Domino (Live at Austin City Limits)

MP3: “The Crawl” by Guitar Junior

MP3: “Tell It Like It Is” by Eddie Bo

MP3: “Shake Your Tambourine” by the Neville Brothers (live)

MP3: “Hang ‘Em High” by the Meters

MP3: “Where There’s A Will There’s A Way” by Ernie K-Doe

MP3: “I’m A Fool To Care” by Joe Barry

MP3: “Rockin’ At Cosimo’s” by Lee Allen

MP3: “My Toot Toot” by John Fogerty w/Rockin’ Sidney

MP3: “Down South In New Orleans” by the Band w/Bobby Charles & Dr. John (live)

MP3: “Mardi Gras In New Orleans” by Professor Longhair

MP3: “Don’t Mess With My Popeye’s” by Fats Domino and Doug Kershaw

Rock Moment: The Day The Music Died

Repost: Published last year, still of interest today.

To this day, people still mourn the musical talent who died in a plane crash in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 1959.  A small airplane, carrying rock stars Buddy Holly, J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and Ritchie Valens, crashed only minutes after taking off from Mason City, Iowa, in a snowstorm.

The three had just played the “Winter Dance Party” (see yesterday’s post) and were heading to the next stop in Fargo, North Dakota.  Richardson was 28, Valens was 17, and Holly was only 22 years old.   Richardson, from Beaumont, Texas, was already a proven commodity with not only his own hits, but songs he wrote – “Running Bear” for Johnny Preston and “White Lightning” for George Jones – becoming hits as well.  Valens influenced such later acts as Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys and was the subject of a 1987 hit movie.

But perhaps the greatest loss was Buddy Holly – he was certainly one of the most original musicians ever, and a monumental talent in rock and roll.  In only two short years he had grown powerful enough to control everything he wrote and recorded and at the time of his death he was planning to produce music for other artists as well as his own.  Holly was the iconic rocker, the first to perform as the leader of his own band and the first to employ the now-standard singer/guitarist/bassist/drummer lineup.

If he had lived, perhaps Holly would have faded away or would have deteriorated like Elvis into a paunchy embarrassment playing Vegas casinos.  But I don’t think so.  You see what Buddy Holly could have been when you look at great artists who have survived and thrived over decades – artists with great integrity like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen.  Even though he had a relatively short musical career, and even though he was only 22 years old at the time of his death, and 50 years after his plane nosedived into a snowy Iowa cornfield, Buddy Holly remains one of the most important artists ever in rock and roll.

YouTube: Buddy Holly & the Crickets performing “Peggy Sue” in 1959

MP3: “That’ll Be The Day”

MP3: “Rave On”

MP3: “Oh Boy!”

MP3: “Not Fade Away”

MP3: “Everyday”

Buddy Holly’s music affected many artists who came later.  Here is a selection of some of them.  The first three come from Not Fade Away, a tribute album from 1996.  On the first track, the Hollies (Allan Clarke, Bobby Elliott, Tony Hicks and Graham Nash) add their harmonies to original tracks and vocals recorded by Holly in 1958.  On the second and third tracks, the surviving Crickets (Jerry Allison, Sonny Curtis and Joe B. Mauldin) join contemporary artists in the studio to cover Holly songs.

MP3: “Peggy Sue Got Married” by the Hollies (with Buddy Holly)

MP3: “Well … All Right” by Nancy Griffith (with the Crickets)

MP3: “Not Fade Away” by the Band (with the Crickets)

MP3: “It’s So Easy” by Linda Ronstadt

MP3: “Oh Boy!” (live) by Joe Ely

MP3: “American Pie” (live, 1971) by Don McLean

Rock Moment: February 2, 1959

Repost: This is from last year, still of interest today.

The Big Bopper

The Winter Dance Party 1959 , featuring Buddy Holly, J.P “Big Bopper” Richardson, Ritchie Valens and Dion and the Belmonts, was set to cover 24 Midwestern cities in three weeks. Touring is hard enough, but when the heating system on your bus constantly breaks down in sub-zero temperatures, people can reach their breaking point. By the time the tour pulled into Clear Lake, Iowa, on Feb. 2, 1959, Holly was fed up.

Holly came up with the idea to charter a plane to the next gig in Moorhead, Minn. Not only was he fed up with the bus, but he was running out of clothes and wanted to do some laundry. After the gig at the Surf Ballroom, Holly told the guys that there were three seats and the cost was $36 a piece. Dion couldn’t fathom spending that much money. That was rent for the month. Richardson, who had come down with the flu, couldn’t take another night on the bus, so he asked Holly bandmate Waylon Jennings for his seat. Jennings agreed. Holly then started breaking his balls by saying “I hope the bus freezes up.” Jennings countered with “I hope your plane crashes.”

Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens, the 17-year old phenom, had never been on a small plane before and asked Holly’s other bandmate, Tommy Allsup, for his seat. Allsup initially refused, but after playing a second set, decided to flip a coin for the seat. Valens called “heads” and shortly thereafter Allsup was heading for the cold bus.

Just after midnight on Feb. 3, Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper headed for the airport in Mason City, Iowa.

Tomorrow: The next day, and the next 50 years

MP3: “Come On, Let’s Go” by Ritchie Valens

MP3: “La Bamba” by Ritchie Valens

MP3: “Donna” by Ritchie Valens

MP3: “Chantilly Lace” by the Big Bopper

MP3: “The Big Bopper’s Wedding” by the Big Bopper

Beaumont Enterprise photo gallery featuring “The Big Bopper” and local radio personality Gordon Baxter delivering an on-air eulogy in 1959

Buddy Holly and the Crickets Official Website

Ritchie Valens Official Website

“Big Bopper” Official Website

Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: Badfinger

Still riffling through those records I got from my sister’s cool boyfriend, who works at an FM rock radio station.  Today we have something of interest to Beatles fans … by a group that managed to get three of the Fab Four involved with them over different points in their existence.

That’s Badfinger of course, and today’s record is Magic Christian Music, released on the Beatles’ Apple Records imprint in 1970.  Badfinger performed some of the songs in a movie, The Magic Christian, but the album isn’t an official soundtrack because the song “Something In The Air” by Thunderclap Newman that appears in the movie isn’t on the Apple label.  The real soundtrack appeared on another label, but mainly in England – so Apple put out today’s record to at least get Badfinger exposed to American audiences.

Badfinger is, of course, the British group led by singers Pete Ham and Tom Evans, who were also the group’s main songwriters.  They were called the Iveys when they were “discovered” by Mal Evans, the Beatles’ roadie and the dude who did a lot of the heavy lifting for Apple Records.  Evans signed the Iveys to a recording contract in 1968 and released a few singles to lukewarm success.  Paul McCartney was asked to write a song for the soundtrack of The Magic Christian movie, and when he did he asked the Iveys to record it.  While they were recording McCartney’s song “Come and Get It” (the session was also produced by McCartney), the group changed its name to Badfinger.

The Magic Christian was a satirical movie written by Terry Southern, also known for penning the script for Easy Rider.  It was first a novel, then the screenplay was adapted by Southern along with the film’s star Peter Sellers and two young British comedians, Graham Chapman and John Cleese (later to become famous as part of Monty Python’s Flying Circus).  Sellers played Guy Grand, an eccentric billionaire who adopts a homeless man (Ringo Starr) and together they begin playing nasty practical jokes on people.  The movie’s satiric message is that people would do just about anything for money, and each prank progressively gets wilder than the one preceding it.

Song of the Week:”Charcoal Sky,” Chip Taylor

Chip Taylor has spent a lot of time around Austin the past decade or so, but his roots go back much farther: he wrote the hits “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning” way back in the late 1960s-early 1970s.  He has a new album, Yonkers, NY, with an autobiographical look into  into the life of a young man learning about music, horses, girls and family.

Raised by a father that worked as a golf pro (although he managed to convince his youngest son for years that he was also an FBI agent) along with his two brothers, actor Jon Voight and renowned scientist Dr. Barry Voight, on the album Taylor assumes the character of young Jamie – as Taylor was known back then – and the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a young man finding his way, occasionally beset by fate, and some particularly wily siblings.

Stream the entire Yonkers, NY album here

MP3: “Bastard Brothers”

MP3: “No Dice”

Chip Taylor official website

Who Dat? Football Fever In New Orleans

Like New Orleans needs an excuse to party.  Mardi Gras will be about two weeks early, starting this weekend right after the Pro Bowl.  The New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl for the first time, and although the Vegas money is on the Indianapolis Colts you gotta like the Saints.  By the time the big game rolls around (Feb. 7 in Miami), the entire country will have been sucked into the giants Saints party.

Expect to see a line of cars heading east along Interstate 10 out of New Orleans toward Miami, like that evacuation that probably should have happened in 2005.  Mayor Ray Nagin could get on the phone to FEMA and angrily demand an emergency federal airlift of beer and liquor … no, let’s not go there.

I guess the point of this is, you gotta love the Saints.  They’re underdogs, they’re scrappers, and they represent an American city that has taken its share of abuse the past few years.  Come Super Bowl Sunday, the only person in the world who may not love the Saints deep down will be Archie Manning.  But New Orleans will always love Archie.

What else?  Are they gonna sell the Who … Dat? t-shirts?  By the way, the Who at halftime – they’ll probably tee it up with “Baba O’ Riley,” segue into “Pinball Wizard,” then “See Me, Feel Me” then wrap it up with “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”  Or maybe “Who Are You” and “I’m Free” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”  They can string about 15 songs together, like they did at Woodstock.  Who knows?  Yeah you right.

So let’s get the party started, shall we?

YouTube: Original “Who Dat?” video from 1983

MP3: “Let’s Get Fired Up” by Zigaboo Modeliste

MP3: “When The Saints Go Marching In” by Louis Armstrong

MP3: “I Like This Kind of Party” by Sam Spence (NFL Films)

MP3: “Meet De Boys On De Battlefront” by the Wild Magnolias

MP3: “They All Ask’d For You” by Milton Batiste & the Mardi Gras Big Shots

A veritable buttload of Saints fight songs from the New Orleans Times Picayune