READIN

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

🦋 January is a good month for mixes.

I am greatly enjoying New Year's mixes from Steve of Hot Rox Avec Lying Sweet Talk and from Tim W. of The Great Whatsit. Steve's is a mix of his favorite cover versions of the past few years. Mostly new listening for me, and most of the tunes are ones I'm familiar with. I always find it exciting to hear new takes on songs I love. And Tim's is a list of new songs from this year, almost none of which I've heard before or even heard of.

Here is my contribution to the disk-jockeying fray:

Los once: Jeremy's 2011 Mix

1. "Hanohano Hawai'i" -- Sol Ho'opi'i's Novelty Trio
2. "I Wouldn't Mind Dying" -- The Carter Family
3. "I Love You Because" -- Ernie Tubb
4. "You Met Your Match" -- Stevie Wonder
5. "I Watch the Cars" -- Robyn Hitchcock
6. "Starvation Blues" -- Big Bill Broonzy
7. "Movin Day" -- The Holy Modal Rounders
8. "Little Birdie" -- The Stanley Bros.
9. "Ain't Misbehavin" -- Stéphane Grappelli
10. "Belly Full of Arms and Legs" -- Robyn Hitchcock
11. "Sikiliza" -- The Lafayette Afro Band
12. "Pretty Polly" -- B.F. Shelton
13. "Rock of Ages" -- Christian Kiefer
14. "Sing You Sinners" -- Fletcher Henderson
15. "Burning Up" -- Mutiny
16. "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" -- Bob Dylan
17. "I Know You Rider" -- The Grateful Dead
18. "Famous Blue Raincoat" -- Leonard Cohen
19. "Kanes Blues" -- The Kanek Hawai'ians

I haven't quite ironed out all the tagging issues with the mp3s of these songs. I will post a link in comments later on when I get the tape together.

posted afternoon of January 29th, 2011: 1 response
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Monday, November 22nd, 2010

🦋 (And, likely, no listeners)

Fans of the randomized mix will be happy to meet Scruss' pet robotic DJ. Every day a new autocast, randomly selected tunes from Scruss' vast library, with robotic introductions. Today's mix:

1. Ohio Town Saved From Killer Bees by Hungry Vampire Bats — Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo
2. Vorony - (Crows) — The Ukrainians
3. Forever Dudes — Still Flyin'
4. tcp d4 38 m3 irdial — The Conet Project
5. The Chameleon — Flanders and Swann
6. Farther Along — Elvis Presley
7. Head — Julian Cope
8. Josie and the Pussycats — Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly
9. Desperado — Langley Schools Music Project

posted morning of November 22nd, 2010: 1 response
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Thursday, October 28th, 2010

🦋 Me, Elsewhere

Mellow out your end of the week with the TGW 201010 mix tape I posted at The Great Whatsit. Read up on your Canadian history with the Battle for Québec post I wrote at It is time for history. Generally have a good end of the week and weekend.

posted morning of October 28th, 2010: Respond

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

🦋 Chimpin' the Blues

A few years old, but new for me: in September 2004, R. Crumb and Jerry Zolten produced a one-hour show on Penn State's wpsu-fm, spinning and chattering and nit-picking Crumb's collection of old blues and gospel records. Lots of great music and talk.

I haven't been able to find the mp3 of the show online anywhere but prx.org -- I'm not sure what the nature of that site is, they make you sign up for a free account if you want to listen, it seems benign enough though...

Track listing below the fold.

Track listing:

1. Cecil Scott and his Bright Boys, "Lawd Lawd" -- played over the title announcement
2. "Texas & Pacific Blues" by Frenchy's String Band. The melody I know from "Richland Woman Blues".
3. Macon Ed and Tampa Joe (a fiddler who might be Peg Leg Howell -- happy coincidence that yesterday's shuffle has Howell on it), "Warm Wipe Stomp"
4. Eddie Head and his family, "Down on Me"
5. Rev. J.C. Burnett & congregation, "I’ll Stand & Wring My Hands & Cry"
6. The Need More Band (Bobby Leecan and Robert Cooksey), "Washboard Cut Out"
7. "Humming Blues" -- ukulele blues by Red-Onion Joe (Joe Linthecome)
8. Lottie Kimbrough, "Rolling Log Blues" (with one or both of the Pruitt Twins on guitar)
9. Louie Lasky, "How Do You Want Your Rolling Done?"
10. Cheikha Tetma -- did not catch the song title
11. Cannon's Jug Stompers, "Walk Right In"
12. Geeshie Wiley, "Last Kind Word Blues"
13. Mississippi Jook Band, "Skippy Whippy" -- played over closing announcements

↻...done

posted evening of June 16th, 2010: 2 responses
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Sunday, June 13th, 2010

🦋 Redneck

The Apostropher's recent Holler mix tape includes Ray Wylie Hubbard's cover of "Choctaw Bingo" -- this is maybe the most affecting song on the tape, the strongest; it is a violent song, feels like getting punched in the gut.

Something else from Hubbard, here he is talking about "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother":

↻...done

posted afternoon of June 13th, 2010: 4 responses
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Saturday, June 12th, 2010

🦋 Hitchcock-heavy random 10

Nice music for listening to while translating (if that verb is not going too far). The rare kind of random selection of tunes that makes you think it ought to be saved as a playlist and distributed as a mix tape.

1. "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" performed in practice by me and John. I think this would be a really good song to cut a recording of. (edit:) We recorded a better take of Hollis Brown, a medley with "Alabama Bound" -- I have included this in the mix.
2. (edit:) I am adding a track here, though it was not in the shuffle, Ray Wylie Hubbard's version of "Choctaw Bingo".
3. Weird and entertaining dialog between Robyn Hitchcock and Grant Lee Phillips as part of their Elixirs & Remedies record, about getting Grant a bloody drink.
4. A guest appearance by Robyn on Departure Lounge's Win them back (which is almost exactly "Heart of Gold").
5. "I'm only you" from Storefront Hitchcock. Ahhh....
6. "All around the watertank" by Old and in the Way (song that belongs on the fiddle mix)
7. "(A Man's Got to Know His Limitations,) Briggs" from Obliteration Pie
8. "Wang Wang Blues" by Fletcher Henderson's orchestra.
9. Kim Rew, "The Radio Played 'Good Vibrations'"
10. "I Miss You More" by local band 13 Scotland Rd., who are totally deserving of wider attention -- check out their web site.
11. Venus 3!!! playing "Red Locust Frenzy".

Here are the files: Hitchcock-heavy random 10. Artists represented:

• Me and John (who still need a band name) (Update: We have a name! We are Mountain Station.)
• Robyn Hitchcock in various configurations
• Old and In The Way
• Fletcher Henderson and his orchestra
• Kimberley Rew (who is almost a various configuration of Robyn Hitchcock in my limited understanding)
• 13 Scotland Rd.
• (added) Ray Wiley Hubbard.

Nice!

(Realizing that the greatness of this mix tape depends on the listener not minding that almost all of the songs are by Robyn Hitchcock -- to me this seems more like a selling point than a hit against it.)

Most of the Hitchcock music represented here can be had by purchasing Olé Tarantula and Storefront Hitchcock (either of which purchases is easily justifiable on the merits).

I think a better take of "Hollis Brown" should happen this afternoon -- God willing, it will replace the one that's currently in the mix. (Done!) Another change that needs to be made to the pure random-10-ness of this mix is, "Choctaw Bingo" should be inserted between the first and second tracks.

The combination of this mix and the fiddle mix is making me think shuffling recordings of songs I am playing in with songs I am listening to, could be a really productive way to go about making music...

↻...done

posted evening of June 12th, 2010: Respond

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

🦋 Music in the fiddle

A mix with some of my favorite fiddle music, and a couple of my own performances... link and notes below the fold.

posted evening of June 5th, 2010: 2 responses
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Monday, September 28th, 2009

🦋 How come you do me like you do, do, do?

I've gotten interested in this particular 16-bar melody line that I've been hearing in a lot of old blues and jazz tunes -- it is the melody that always makes me think "They're Red Hot!" when I hear it, because Robert Johnson's song is the first one I ever heard with this structure:

I was listening to Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra playing "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?" last week and realized it's essentially the same melody -- since then I've worked out that several other songs on the records that I'm listening to regularly are built from the same elements -- here is a brief playlist of a couple others, including Tommie Bradley's hilarious "Adam and Eve" and a version by "Bogus" Ben Covington.

(And, wow! A 2000^th post ought not go unnoticed.)

posted morning of September 28th, 2009: Respond

Monday, May 11th, 2009

🦋 Monday Random 10 (plus Unfunkked 10)

Haven't done one of these posts for a while; I was inspired to by cleek.

1. "The Brave Engineer", The Carver Boys. About as Appalachian a song as I can imagine.
2. "How You Want It Done", Big Bill Broonzy. Really nice, strange-sounding guitar, I think it's a National?
3. "Mo Jo Hanna", Tami Lynn. (from an Apo mix.) -- This song ought to be on a mix tape right in front of "Polk Salad Annie".
4. "Yah! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread", Dylan and the Band. The comic book and me, just us, we caught the bus. A good candidate for favorite Basement Tapes track.
5. "Ozan Kouklé", Lafayette Afro Band. More Unfunkkedage.
6. "Doin' My Time", Flatt & Scruggs.
7. "The Wonderful City", Jimmy Rodgers. Cool, this mix is really drawing pretty deep on the breadth and depth of my music collection. (And wow, not even one Robyn Hitchcock track so far!)
8. "Honky Tonkin", Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
9. "Original Midnight Mama", Sylvia Smith.
10. "Avalon Blues", MS John Hurt.
11. Bonus track, "Pablo" by Sol Ho'opi'i and his Novelty Quartet.

posted evening of May 11th, 2009: Respond
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Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

🦋 Playlist

Thanks Jer for sending me this link! Robyn Hitchcock posted a playlist on Rhapsody a couple of years ago (October '06), which I didn't know about until today. It's got a nice mix of old and new, stuff I know and stuff I've heard of and stuff I have not.

Robyn's Picks

1. "Wang Dang Doodle," by Howlin' Wolf
2. "Say Man," by Bo Diddley
3. "Champagne Supernova," by Oasis
4. "Lucifer Sam," by Pink Floyd
5. "Finest Worksong," by R.E.M.
6. "In Liverpool," by Suzanne Vega
7. "Look At Miss Ohio," by Gillian Welch
8. "Happiness," by Grant Lee Buffalo
9. "Slow Dog," by Belly
10. "God," by John Lennon
11. "The Red Telephone," by Love
12. "Kicks," by Lou Reed
13. "The Lark in the Morning," by Steeleye Span
14. "Station To Station," by David Bowie
15. "To Turn You On," by Roxy Music
16. "Lately I've Let Things Slide," by Nick Lowe

posted evening of March 17th, 2009: Respond

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