Daddy Stovepipe: Blues Pioneer

Daddy Stovepipe: Maxwell Street (Chicago) 1963

 

Daddy Stovepipe was born in Mobile, Alabama back in 1867. He recorded solo sides and as a duet partner with his wife, Mississippi Sarah. He began performing around 1900 in Mexico with various mariachi bands. In addition to performing in Mexico, he also played in traveling minstrel shows and was active all over the southern U.S, Arizona and was a busker for many years on Maxwell Street in Chicago. He was performing there well into his nineties. In fact, his final recordings were made on the street in 1963. Here he is performing his song, "Sundown Blues"

Rock N Roll Casey

August 22, 2024

More on Daddy Stovepipe::

All Music Guide

Wikipedia

Pizza, Ice Cream & Liquor

 Lately I have found myself doing a lot of driving around Ohio. During my travels, I pass countless Macdonalds, Pizza Huts and Wal-Marts but there are still quite a few locally owned businesses around, especially in the small towns. Pizza joints, ice cream stands and bars seem to be the most common. Here are a few worth checking out.

The Twist (Clyde, Ohio)

Pizza Rama (Green Springs, Ohio)

Twist & Shout (Monroeville, Ohio)

Camden Whiskey Bar (Camden, Ohio)

Miller’s Drive-In (Bellevue, Ohio)

The Zambonis: The world’s only all hockey rock n roll band

 I have never been a hockey fan. I don’t really know why. It has everything someone could want in a sport, it’s fast paced, takes great skill and there is often blood. Maybe it’s because I never played it as a kid. It was not a family thing, I don’t remember anyone in my house ever mentioning it. 

They say you are never too old to change and I may just become a hockey fan yet, thanks to the Zambonis. The ‘Zambonis are a rock n roll band out of Bridgeport, Connecticut that play nothing but tunes about hockey. No love songs, break up songs or car songs, just hockey songs.

Okay, so they put out a couple of songs about hockey, big deal? Right? Try seven albums and counting. They play everything from punk to ska, metal, rockabilly and even country and western.

Mainly a recording act, they do play a few gigs a year  mostly in the northeast.  Last year they played a 2:30pm gig at a library in Roxbury, Connecticut! How rock n roll is that?

They have been sanctioned by the NHL and have been commissioned to write songs for several teams. There music is available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple etc..and you can checkout there videos on YouTube. 

Zambonis Website

Casey’s Website

Upcoming Country Star’s Debut Marred By Ugly Post Concert Incident

(New York) A young and upcoming country music star named  Jim Lonesome made his performing debut earlier this week at the Bowery Electric in Lower

Manhattan. It was the 20th annual Hank O Rama Hank Williams Tribute and he rocked the capacity crowd with a rousing rendition of Hank’s “Hey, Good Looking”.

Mr. Lonesome was backed by the world famous Lonesome  Prairie Dogs featuring  the legendary Lenny Kaye on pedal steel. He also wowed the crowd with his own original interpretive country line dance now known by various names including “The Up-Down”, “Something Two Year Olds Do” and “The Lonesome Jim”.

The soon to be country superstar is a native of Parma, Ohio where he spent his youth drinking large quantities of Schafer beer, wearing baseball hats denoting his favorite musical genres, feigning ignorance of various social conventions and scrubbing clams.

Sadly, his spectacular performance was marred by an ugly incident that followed his promising debut.

Upon leaving the stage, he allegedly bumped into a nearby table knocking several patrons drinks to the ground. When questioned by authorities, he simply responded, “How was I supposed to know?” and  staggered out the door.

Mr. Lonesome’s current whereabouts are unknown. The incident is under investigation.

Casey’s Website

Donny & Marie New Year’s Eve TV Special

 Wow, some things from the past are just too weird to believe. Growing up, my oldest sister was a huge Donny Osmond fan. Our suburban household rang with a constant barrage of Osmond classics  like “One Bad Apple” & “Go Away Little Girl”.

My sister outgrew her Donny obsession about the time he started teaming up with his sister Marie. There popularity was at their peak when they made this 1976 New Year’s Eve Special. 

It’s amazing what passed for entertainment back in the seventies. This was the heyday of the variety show and the Osmonds pulled out all of the stops.

Highlights (lowlights?) include:

1. Terribly stupid jokes courtesy of Rip Taylor.

2. Fake out of control laughter by Marie upon hearing Rip Taylor’s terribly stupid jokes.

3. Donny’s over the top synthesizer solo dressed in purple sequined tuxedo & top hat.

4. The Osmond Brothers Band’s weird prog rock/ soul jam dressed in three musketeersesque pastel colored space suits.

5. A music of the 1920s song and dance medley.

6. Insane over the top audience response to all of the above.

These things could only of happened in the 1970s. It is worth checking out. If nothing else. it proves that we have evolved, at least a little, in the past fifty odd years.

Happy New Year.

-Casey Redmond

Deceased Village Antiques (McCutcheonville, Ohio)

 Driving on Ohio State Route 53 yesterday, I passed through the town of McCutchenville (population 371) where I saw this very cool holiday display courtesy of Deceased Village Antiques. (That's really their name.) An antique store with a sense of humor?  Possibly the only one in exsitence.

Music For A Lazy October Afternoon

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"Under cover of October skies".

Yesterday was an unseasonably warm day for October.  Deciding to spend some time outdoors, I stepped from my house and surveyed the activities that were taking place in my general vicinity.  My neighbors were indulging in various labors thar all seemed to end with the letters I-N-G, in other words; mowing, raking and, uhh....working.  I am by nature a rather lazy person and since there was a good chance that this could be the last warm and dry day of 2023, I opted for "hammocking" and that, to paraphrase Robert Frost, made all of the difference. 

If you are looking to indulge in some laziness today (or any day, for that matter) here is some music to help you enjoy your sloth.

NRBQ (The New Rhythm & Blues Quintet) has been around, in one form or another, since 1965. I have also been around since 1965 and though NRBQ has all the qualities I usually like in a band (catchy retro pop, stupid lyrics, weird tunes) I've never become much of a fan. However, their latest album, "Dragnet" ,is a pretty fun listen. Highlights include, "Where's My Pebble"(I have no idea what this tune is about but it rocks), "You Can't Change People", "Miss Goody Two Shoes", "The Memo Song" and the title cut. If you are looking for weirdness then "Five More Miles" and "L-O-N-E Lone-ly" should suffice.(The last two are like demented Tom Waits music.) Some of the tunes just sort of uhh….end. It's like they ran out of ideas (or time) and just decided to be done.  Regardless of how strange or weird, "Dragnet" has a laid back vibe that gives you the feeling that NRBQ isn't taking things too seriously or trying too hard which makes it perfect music for a lazy October afternoon.

This is a great early seventies singer/songwriter album and I am a sucker for seventies singer/songwriter music. Coming out in 1974, this was the begining of the end of Joel's mellow troubador period. In 1977 he would become the king of a arena rock with the release of The Stranger. Yes, Billy would go on and become a rock n roll star but in '74 he was still mining the same territory as his buddy Elton John (who would also go on to become a pretty big rock star). No real hits from this album ("The Entertainer hit #34 on the Billboard charts) but you have great tunes like "Los Angelenos", "The Great Suburban Showdown", "Roberta" and the title cut. With great lyrics, melodies and stellar keyboard work ("Root Beer Rag", "Los Angelenos") Streetlife Serenade is one of Joel's best. That being said, nobody seems to like this record very much. Even Joel himself . But it's a good album to hang out in the backyard to. 

Okay, I admit it. Peter, Paul & Mary can be hard to take. All of that earnestness makes me nervous. Plus, I am embarrassed that I like them. While wallowing in my hammock, I nervously scanned my backyard a few times to make sure none of my neighbors were within earshot of all that sincerity. It's not good for one's self esteem to like Peter, Paul & Mary, but we all have our crosses to bare. "Blowing In The Wind", "Early Morning Rain", "Jet Plane", and "Puff The Magic Dragon", what's not to like?. One of my all time favorites is the clueless, "I Dig Rock N Roll Music" which cemented their reputations as hopelessly square doofuses for eternity. (In their defense, they disliked the song so much that they allegedly never played it live.). Taking all of their dopiness into account,  what is more relaxing then mellow acoustic tunes about aeroplanes, dragons and peace?