OK, enough of the video and back to some old records – this is the stuff that your big sister or big brother had, the stuff that might have been kinda famous back in the day. Today we remember Humble Pie’s Smokin’, from 1972.
Humble Pie was, of course, the British rock band that started in 1969 with lead singer Steve Marriott (formerly of the Small Faces), bass player Greg Ridley (Spooky Tooth), 17-year-old drummer Jerry Shirley and a pretty-boy guitarist and singer named Peter Frampton. Frampton made four studio albums (and another live album) with Humble Pie before departing for a solo career in 1971.
On October 17, 1974, Willie Nelson recorded the original pilot episode of “Austin City Limits. ” At the time no one could have predicted that the fledgling music show from Austin, Texas, would still be delivering great performances decades later.
To commemorate the 35th anniversary of the first taping, Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell declared Oct. 17 “Austin City Limits Day.” The date recognized the show’s very first taping, which took place on Oct. 17, 1974 and featured the iconic Willie Nelson. To mark the honor KLRU and ACL will stream the original episode in its entirety for one month. You can watch the entire episode here.
And, on November 15, ACL will again present a very special episode with Willie Nelson, in a joint performance with Austin legends Asleep at the Wheel.
Posted in News with tags Tom Waits on October 18, 2009 by 30daysout
Tom Waits is offering a free 8-song preview of his new live album, Glitter and DoomLive. You can get it at his official website. Here’s a video preview:
A few million people in Houston were holding their breaths Thursday night for a cool front. Rock and roll legend Ian McLagan and his Bump Band arrived in advance of the front, bringing the cool to a sweltering city. Performing against the backdrop of skyscrapers and fountains, McLagan and the Bumps rocked Discovery Park with a handful of gems from the Small (and plain old) Faces and some glittering gems from McLagan’s solo career.
“Never Say Never,” the title song of the newest album, was a highlight, as was the rocker “You’re My Girl.” The Bump Band is a crack band that even leaves behind peers in Austin – McLagan’s adopted home town. Comprising “Scrappy” Jud Newcomb on guitar, bass player Jon Notarthomas and drummer Don Harvey, this awesome lineup is professional but loose, appropriate for the bandleader’s boozy-bloozy goodtime tunes.
One of our all-time favorite musicians and all-around great guy Ian McLagan brings his Bump Band to Houston for a free concert today (Oct. 15) at 6:30 p.m. in Discovery Green park. McLagan is, of course, the greatest rock keyboard player in the world who’s played on albums by the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Thin Lizzy, Robert Earl Keen, Bonnie Raitt, Rod Stewart, the Georgia Satellites and many more. He’s prominently featured on the new live James McMurtry CD/DVD, Live In Europe.
His latest album is Never Say Never, probably his best solo work. And we’re saving the best for last – “Mac” will team up with some of his old mates from the Faces on October 25 in London for a fund-raising concert. Billed as a sort-of Faces reunion, McLagan will join ex-Faces members Ron Wood (Rolling Stones) and Kenney Jones (the Who) for a show that will certainly spotlight attention on the gone-but-not-forgotten Ronnie Lane, original Faces bassist who died in 1997 from multiple sclerosis. Former Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman will fill Lane’s spot, and instead of original Faces singer Rod Stewart (who won’t be there due to prior commitments), vocals will be handled by people like Mick Hucknall (Simply Red), Melanie C, Paul Carrack (Squeeze), Lee Mead, Mark King and Mike Lindup (Level 42), Andy Fairweather Low, Kiki Dee, Chris Difford, Georgie Fame, Jan Akkerman, Albert Lee and Martin Taylor. Read more about it here.
Ian McLagan will also play a solo gig at Dallas’ Belmont Hotel on Oct. 22, and will return to Texas for a number of dates in November and December. Here is his itinerary. We hope to talk to Mac after the big Faces show, and we’ll take some photos at the show tonight.
Rusty Wier was a well-known singer/songwriter who has been a Texas hero for decades. He died last week after a long battle with cancer. He was one of the most exuberant and infectious performers I’ve ever seen, every show I saw him play was memorable. Here is a proper tribute from the Austin American Statesman. Perhaps his biggest moment was Bonnie Raitt’s cover of Wier’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance” from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. People in Texas will remember him differently, though – most likely from a hot, sweaty night of dancing and drinking in a roadhouse somewhere. Rusty Wier was a Lone Star classic.
On Sunday, we drove our daughter back to college after a weekend home. She goes to the University of Texas-San Antonio in the city’s northwest side, apparently also a newly developed area for upper-income people. Anyway, we were in a Wal-Mart (yeah) and I saw this guy plunk down three – count ’em – three copies of the new KISS album Sonic Boom.
We found the Wal-Mart’s “KISS Korner,” where you can fondle the new triple-disc CD/DVD package (12 bucks), a KISS fleece throw (10 bucks), a bag of KISS M&Ms (6 dollars) and KISS Mr. Potato Heads (10 bucks). Somewhere back in electronics they had Sonic Boom crankin’, or maybe it was the live DVD. Surely somewhere else in the store there was KISS makeup for the kiddies on Halloween and some action figures. So it should come as no surprise that Sonic Boom may well be at No. 1 or close to it on the Billboard Top 100 album charts this week.
Now the idea of rock acts signing up to be “exclusive” with Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, may be repulsive to you. It certainly was, earlier this year, for fans of Bruce Springsteen, who apologized after marketing his latest Greatest Hits only at the Mart. But it’s a natural for KISS and the band’s bassist/marketing genius Gene Simmons. He’s laughing all the way to the bank; in his case, multiple banks to hold all of his money.
You gotta hand it to him – and to bands like Foreigner, Journey, AC/DC and the Eagles – who all inked Wal-Mart exclusives and cashed in. They are managing to do what our beloved mom-and-pop record stores can’t do, and that’s move physical CDs in the age of downloading. Yeah, it’s too bad that independent record stores are dying. But it’s way too late to resuscitate the corpse. Wal-Mart didn’t kill the corner record store – we did.
When The 1969 Warner/RepriseSongbook appeared in early 1969, the liner notes said, by way of explanation, the sampler’s goal was “hopefully to win new friends for some very creative people.” People like Jethro Tull, the Pentangle, Frank Zappa, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, even Tiny Tim. Warner Bros. Records, founded in 1958, was just beginning to hoist its freak flag, and in just a few years the label’s roster would be the cream of the crop.
And so the ride began: with L.A. street freak Wild Man Fischer’s “Songs For Sale” introducing “My Sunday Feeling” by Jethro Tull. Eleven years later, the Warner Bros./Reprise Loss Leaders series ended on the sampler Troublemakers with Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols snarling, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”
Well, no. The 34 Loss Leaders samplers that appeared between 1969 and 1980 formed my musical tastes and exposed me to artists I would never have dreamed of seeking out, to people who may have been just a little too adventurous even for early-Seventies radio. I remember calling up my local AM pop station and smugly asking the DJ to play some Zappa and the Mothers, or that flip side by the Beach Boys, only to get the response, “What?” The Loss Leaders made me cooler than the disc jockey!
30 Days Out 