Drawing by T.S. Avett

Drawing by T.S. Avett

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

GEEZUS NYE MiX


To All The Girls-Beastie Boys
Jig Of Life-Kate Bush
Stone Fox Chase-Area Code 615
Right Place Wrong Time-Dr. John
Country Side Of Life-Wet Willie
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window-Joe Cocker
Funk #49-James Gang
I'm Chief Kamanawanalea-The Turtles
Bad Bascomb-Black Grass
Spinning Wheel-Peggy Lee
Daughter-Pearl Jam
Home-Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Comfort & Joy

Photo by Susan Meiselas

Sleigh Ride-The Soulful Strings
Soulful Christmas-James Brown
Soul Santa-Funk Machine
Gettin Down For Xmas-Milly & Silly
Please Come Home For Christmas-Charles Brown
The Christmas Song-Nat King Cole
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)-John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Do They Know It's Christmas?-Band Aid
Merry Christmas Darling-The Carpenters 
My Favorite Things-Sy Mann
The Little Drummer Boy-Johnny Cash
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town-Merle Haggard 
What A Merry Christmas This Could Be-Willie Nelson
Blue Christmas Lights-Buck Owens
Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)-John Denver
A Christmas Gift-Pinkard & Bowden
Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy)-Duke Ellington
Jingle Bells-The Soulful Strings
Sidewalk Santa-Rotary Connection
Santa Claus Is Definitely Here To Stay-James Brown
Let's Unite The Whole World At Christmas-James Brown
Santa Claus Is A Black-Akim
Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa-De La Soul
Christmas In Hollis-Run-D.M.C.
I'm Dreaming Of A Black Christmas-Little Alfred & The Linden Black Youth Choir

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

4



I've Been Loving You Too Long-Area Code 615
Tom Cat-Muddy Waters
Wrong Time To Be Right-Cast King
Can You Feel It-Dennis Coffey
Nashville 1 A.M.-Harvey Mandel
Apache Tears-Johnny Cash
My Carolina Sunshine Girl-Merle Haggard
Country Blues-Dock Boggs
The Gallows Pole-Odetta
Down Is Up-Moondog
Charpoy-Duke Ellington
Dirty Work-Steely Dan
If You Let Me-Eddie Kendricks
The Haunting Idle-The War On Drugs
The Little One-Jimmy McGriff
We Almost Lost Detroit-Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
Jane Is A Groupee-Sly and The Family Stone
Eclipse Of The Moon-Tony Caro & John
I Always Get Caught In The Rain-Dionne Warwicke

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

3

Jay Stuckey, Pallas Athena


You Showed Me-Santo & Johnny
C Moon-Wings
Those Were The Days-Mary Hopkin
(Mama's Got A Baby Named) Te Na Na-Leon Redbone
Nothing From Nothing-Billy Preston
Scandal In Bedrock-Sharon Ridley
Sophisticated Cissy-The Meters
Handbags And Gladrags-Rod Stewart
Midnight On The Bay-The Stills-Young Band
The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want To Get OVer You)-Waylon Jennings
She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)-Gary Stewart
Excerpt from Bagavad Gita-Ashish Khan w/ Ravi Shankar
Drunk & Disorderly-Shirkers
Badi-Da-Fred Neil
The Number For Groove-Brutal Force
Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll-Vaughan Mason and Crew
Juicy Fruit-Mtume
Something For Nothing-MFSB
Just The Two Of Us-Grover Washington Jr.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Record Jungle, Los Angeles, CA



My friend and I went to Record Jungle Sunday morning just as they were opening. We were the only shoppers in the store for most of the three hours we were there. I was taken aback by the prices of the records there; LPs that would cost up to 4 times their asking price at some other stores. They had a large stock of Latin, Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz and Rock as well as a huge section of $2 LPs and 45s that I didn't even get time to look through. The owner was really friendly. You could definitely tell he had a deep love for music, vinyl and enjoyed seeing us get excited about all the stuff he had. There was also a couple turntables set up for listening which was great for checking out anything with cool cover art. If you live in the LA area, go there.

Also, Andy the owner has a Mixcloud with some great mixes of tunes from his collection.
 

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Charlie McCoy


I recently had the honor of meeting legendary Nashville musician, Charlie McCoy. Primarily known as a harmonica player, he also plays guitar, bass, keyboards, and various brass, woodwind and mallet percussion instruments. He has put out over 30 records as a frontman and played on countless others as a session musician; everyone from Elvis, Johnny Cash, & Bob Dylan to Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon.

A friend of mine came down from New York to interview Charlie for his documentary series, Liner Note Legends. We decided to put together a podcast featuring Charlie and some of the records he has been a part of.





Track list:

I Started Loving You Again-Charlie McCoy
Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line-Waylon Jennings
Jackson-Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood
It Ain't Me Babe-Johnny Cash
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You-Bob Dylan
Hangin' On-Charlie McCoy
Meanwhile Back In Abeline-Roger Miller
As I Went Out One Morning-Bob Dylan
The Partisan-Leonard Cohen
Papa Hobo-Paul Simon
Satan's Doll-Chet Atkins
Blue Velvet-Bobby Vinton
Baby-Wilma Burgess
Rose Garden-Lynn Anderson
Southern Comfort-Area Code 615
Big Boss Man-Elvis Presley
Take This Job And Shove It-Johnny Paycheck
What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)-Jerry Lee Lewis
If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)-George Jones
Goodnight Irene-Hank Wilson
Jackson-Kent Blues/Never Kill Another Man-Steve Miller Band


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

PHONOMENAL BLOODCAST


Night on Bald Mountain-Bob James
They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!-Napoleon XIV
Psycho Killer-Talking Heads
Blacula (The Stalkwalk)
Diary Of A Taxi Driver
Come With Us-David Byrne-Brian Eno
Witch-Goblin
Black Sabbath-Black Sabbath
Mary Don't Take Me On No Bad Trip-Fugi
White Rabbit-Jefferson Airplane
All Mine-Portishead
2 Cups Of Blood-Gravediggaz
Mind Playing Tricks On Me-Geto Boys
Superstition-Leon Spencer
Joe Murder-Cass McCombs
Helter Skelter-The Beatles
Vampire Blues-Neil Young
I Put A Spell On You-Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Season Of The Witch-Donovan
The Lost Soul-The Watson Family
Jump Sturdy-Dr. John, The Night Tripper
My Love's A Monster-Clea Bradford
Thriller-Michael Jackson
Intro to War Of The Worlds-Orson Welles

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Austin, TX

Friends of Sound
Friends of Sound is a modest sized record store with it's entrance down an alley behind S. Congress. Dave, the owner, is a super nice guy. I told him what I was looking for and he pulled out a ton of things for me to listen to. They had a lot of rare records there as well as a whole separate room of cheaper ($1-$3) vinyl. Everything in general is priced well. They have a great selection of soul, funk, jazz, rock, psych and funky gospel among others. Of the rare ones on display, they had a sealed David Axlerod Song of Innocence, and a self-titled Blaze Foley which I wanted badly but had to exercise restraint on buying.


Breakaway has 45's for days. Great selection of funk and soul. The more rare ones are displayed above the racks. I immediately took down some gems and started listening on one of the turntables they had set up. They had a good selection of used rock LPs at good prices and some reissues and new vinyl too. 

Antone's is a pretty much a staple of the Austin record shops. They have a good selection of of all genres; rock, blues and country especially. They even have a special section dedicated to Texas artists which I thought was pretty cool. The prices are cheap and they also have 45s, CDs and other items like T-shirts, books and posters for sale. I found a Charles Mingus w/ Eric Dolphy (feat. the original Fables of Faubus w/ vocals) record there that I have been looking for so I was pretty jazzed about that.



Wednesday, October 8, 2014

2



In All My Wildest Dreams-Joe Sample
On Thinking It Over-Sarah Vaughan
You're All I Need To Get By-Aretha Franklin
Out of the Wilderness-The Como Mamas
Detroit-Paul Humphrey and His Cool Aid Chemists
Sweet Buns and Barbecue-Houston Person
Gee-Gee-Calvin Keys
Fleurette Africaine (African Flower)-Duke Ellington
The Sounds of Basic Training-The US Army Training Center
No Other-Gene Clark
You Know You Know-The Mahavishnu Orchestra
Bowlegged Woman, Knock-Kneed Man-Bobby Rush
Out in the Woods-Leon Russell
Starry Night-Tommy McCook
Walk On By-The Zodiacs
The Loser-Derrick Harriot
Good Old Desk-Nilsson
One More Step-The Dwells
Neil Young-Little Wing


Wednesday, September 24, 2014

1


No One Else - Odyssey
Respect - Rotary Connection
Mos'scocious - Dr. John
I Walk on Guilded Splinters - Johnny Jenkins
Corinna - Taj Mahal
Plain Old Plainsman - The Easy Riders
Seeds and Stems (Again) - Commander Cody
Jim, I Wore a Tie Today - Waylon, Willie, Cash & Kris
Push & Shove - Willie Wiley
Evil Ways - Willie Bobo
Girl From the Mountain - Ghetto Brothers
Telstar - The Tornados 
Folsom Prison Blues - Gil Trythall
Hey Baby - J.J. Cale
To Each and Everyone - Gerry Rafferty 
Whenever You're Ready - The Zombies
The Man Who Sold the World - David Bowie
Soul Sister - Allen Toussaint 
Open Your Eyes - Bobby Caldwell


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Oakland, CA

Today I went to Groove Yard.


Groove Yard is a nice little record store. They have a great selection of jazz records there with a little soul and a few other genres. The owner, Rick, is a really nice guy too. I told him I was looking for some local records and he pulled out a bunch for me. I think he said his record player was being fixed so unfortunately I didn't get a chance to listen to anything; but luckily I found this:
This is my favorite Duke Ellington album ever. It was recorded after Billy Strayhorn, Duke's long-time collaborator and confidant passed away. Strayhorn wrote many classic jazz compositions and worked with Duke for decades. He was also black and openly gay in an era that was very intolerant of both to say the least. This is some of the most beautiful music ever played and I have been looking for a vinyl copy of it for years. Do yourself a favor and listen to it, Billy Strayhorn was a great American musical mind.  

Friday, September 12, 2014

San Francisco, CA

I love SF. A little burnt out and having slightly exceeded my budget in Portland, I found myself on Haight Street in proximity of a few record stores. I was pretty much forced into checking some of them out. First was Groove Merchant.
Groove Merchant is a small store with a well selected stock. Good jazz, soul and rock records. The guy there was nice and after seeing me picking through 45s asked what I was interested in. He then pulled out some records from behind the counter and gave them to me to listen to. He picked out some great funk that I had never heard before. I also picked up an old Zombies compilation which included their first two albums for $14, Odyssey and Oracle being one of my favorite all-time rock records.


Rooky's is a big store with a lot of records. Walls of 45s, tons of LPs. Dick, the owner, was very friendly and helpful. As soon as we walked in he asked what we were looking for and not in a condescending or rude way. He then started pulling out records and gave me a stack to listen to. 
Rooky's is cool because they have 4 turntables set up for listening and it really invites you to check out the music there. There was no pretentious eye-rolling bullshit, and there was a great vibe there. Just people hanging out, listening and talking about music. The prices were average- not super cheap but not overpriced either. After I bought a few things he told me that next time I come, to call in advance and that he would pull out more records he thought I would be into. 
I got a few things there, including this Marva Whitney single featuring the J.B.s, and this Funkadelic song:


Friday, September 5, 2014

Portland OR, Day 2

Today I went to Crossroads Music.
Crossroads is a big store with a lot of different collections being sold by dealers who rent out space there. The prices there vary, but are generally pretty reasonable as has been the case with almost all the stores I have been to here. They have a huge volume of music of all genres there and I was pretty tired after looking through the first quarter of the store. I picked up a few things and was on my way out when I struck up a conversation with one of the dealers there. Turns out he used to run a separate shop in town but downsized to a few tables at Crossroads. He showed me his collection, which I had quickly glossed over earlier, and pulled out some real gems. Records that I have been looking for for months as well as some funk, soul and records with breaks that have been sampled by some of my favorite hip hop producers. He was super friendly and had a deep knowledge of music. Got this super heavy funky electric Muddy Waters & this Area Code 615 album of Nashville studio musicians playing pop and soul tunes, among others.
 

Last place I hit was Little Axe Records
Little Axe is very similar to Mississippi Records. They reissue a lot of old and rare records, a lot being from abroad. They also do online distribution for Mississippi. A small store off of NE Alberta, it is very comfy and well curated. Great blues, world music, soul, funk, folk and rock. The prices were great. Really nice guy was working and we chatted about records for a little while on the front porch. Got this classic Mighty Diamonds record and this Eddie Kendricks I have been looking for.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Portland OR, Day 1

I had a blast in Portland today. It is a beautiful lush green city with great food, coffee, friendly people and lots of record stores.

First place was Jump Jump Music.
Dan is the owner and a knowledgable & helpful record guy. He has been open in the same location for over 20 years. Everything is priced well and he even gave me a deal when it was time to settle up. Not a huge mess, everything is well organized and labeled. I came out with a nice little stack of 45's including:



Another shop I always like to visit in Portland is Mississippi Records
Mississippi is a small but well curated store. They have new and used records as well as reissues, some of which they release themselves on their label. I recently got their limited reissue of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music & Abner Jay's, True Story of Abner Jay. On my visit today, I spent most of my time going through their 45's, of which I never realized they had so many. Found this Duke Reid-produced rocksteady classic there, and a new Daptone release:



Sacramento CA

Today I rode my bike to Records, a well known spot here. Not only did R. Crumb design their signage/letterhead, but also the iconic photograph from the cover of DJ Shadow's classic, Endtroducing....., was taken there. They have great records there and they are priced very reasonably. The guy working was nice and gave me a good deal. 

Monday, September 1, 2014

Las Vegas NV


Went to Record City today. Nice little store off the strip. Friendly lady.  Highlights were:

This record swings hard. As much as I love Duke, it is cool to hear Johnny Hodges playing with a different band. Really soulful stuff (as you can probably tell by the cover).
Classic record. Jimmy Smith's playing on "James & Wes" is absolutely jaw-dropping.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Flagstaff AZ

Couldn't find a proper record store today but I did pick up some things at Bookmans including this:

...which we have been using lately for exit music. "Soulful Strut" never fails to make me dance and the rest of the record is good, especially their version of "Little Green Apples". Also, I didn't realize that Eldee Young & Red Holt were in the Ramsey Lewis band that recorded The "In" Crowd & Hang On Sloopy. Young takes a fantastic bass solo on "Funky Is As Funky Does".