portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

WILFUL MISSING 
New Video

"Cry for The City"

The boys and girls say: "Download 'Cry For The City': here
 'Cry For The City' is on our album 'Molehills out of Mountains', available as CD, vinyl or download: Buy The Album here

 Other songs from the album are also on Youtube in the following playlist: here
 We shot and edited this video ourselves.
 We did the filming in our Little Attic Studio."

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Bob Dylan's 71st Birthday

For Bob's 71st Big O have posted a lovely set from Denmark in 2011. Great balance and clarity, somehow not the ubiquitous 'heavy' mixes we have been used to on the Never Ending Tour of recent years. Including tracks like 'Man In Me', 'Things Have Changed', 'Boots of Spanish Leather' & 'Mississippi' as well as the expected constant choices of recent gigs like 'Highway 61', 'Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum' and 'High Water'. Dylan on fine relaxed form. Download it now!

I dedicate this and send it out to Stephen Blackman, my dear friend of 30+ years who loves Dylan more than anyone I know and who I was privileged & joyously happy to be able to go see Dylan with at the Roundhouse back in 2009. ["Man in Me' is one of his favourite tracks]

Get well soon Stevie!


Over on Big O now!

Oh I get it you want a taster? Well, y'ere t'is!
This is sent out to Stevie B and Dave 'Sealyman' Seal

Bobby - Things Have Changed, Denmark 2011

Friday, May 25, 2012


Therapist who could 'cure' gay men loses malpractice appeal

By Patrick Strudwick

 From 'i' Newspaper http://www.independent.co.uk/.


I hope this article speaks for itself.....



History was made this week. For the first time, a therapist was found guilty of malpractice after trying to “treat” a client for homosexuality to turn them straight.
For decades, mental health professionals used torturous techniques, such as chemical castration, to try and “cure” homosexuality.
As recently as the 1980s, electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) was inflicted on gay patients. More recently, a talking therapy called conversion (or reparative) therapy has been used. Now, finally, one psychotherapist – Lesley Pilkington – has been brought to account.
I made the complaint against her. In 2009, I went undercover to investigate the dark arts of conversion therapy, the premise of which is that homosexuality is the result of childhood “wounding” that must be “healed”. And so, Pilkington, a Christian, tried to find what wounded me in a bid to convert me to heterosexuality.
This involved the sinister (suggesting I’d been sexually abused as a child and praying to God to bring repressed memories to the surface), the dangerous (opining that God heals HIV and homosexuality is a mental illness) and the ludicrous (advising me to take up rugby).
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy found her guilty of “professional malpractice” last year, but she appealed. On Tuesday she lost her appeal. The appeal panel described Pilkington’s practices as “unprofessional”, “dogmatic” and “negligent”. They have suspended her.
Only if Pilkington can satisfactorily demonstrate that she has learned from her mistakes will she be reinstated. It might be tempting to laugh at some of the techniques used in conversion therapy – find me a gay man who feels less gay after being in a rugby scrum and I’ll happily renounce my homosexuality.
But, tragically, countless people in Britain and around the world know what damage this kind of “treatment” does.
A 2002 study by the clinical psychologists Shidlo and Schroeder found that 55 per cent of those who go through it are left with worsened mental health – depression, self-harm, lower self-esteem and suicide ideation. I’ve met some of these people and seen the scars. I fought this case for them.
 But even the investigation itself had wide reverberations. Victims of conversion therapy – along with therapists who used to practice it before realising their mistake – contacted me from around the world describing the years of misery they suffered. It spawned protests outside conversion therapy conference.
The British Medical Association passed a motion condemning attempts to “cure” sexual orientation and urging the NHS to investigate where it might have inadvertently paid for such “treatment”. (Pilkington, who was attached to an NHS GP surgery, claimed she had had clients referred to her for conversion therapy by the doctor. The surgery denied this).
I was delighted with the BMA’s motion and I’m delighted by the BACP’s decision. But much as this verdict is a victory for gay people, and for the credibility of psychotherapy, it exposes a gaping flaw in Britain’s response to mental illness. There is no statutory regulation of counsellors or psychotherapists. Anyone in Britain today can call themselves a therapist, without any training or experience.
I guess the only thing I take issue with is this last line and whilst it is true there are steps afoot to change this as evidenced by the latest issue of the BACP Journal. Also this process has taken a long and detailed argument, planning and getting it right. It is essential to get this right if we are to continue to not only provide the excellent service that members provide but in order that the professional be regulated appropriately.
Furthermore it does seem apposite for me to mention that genuine, ethically motivated counsellors and psychotherapist would have always recommend that a client always seek as much information as they possibly can when checking out a counsellor to see if they are members, accredited or otherwise and that they ‘fit’ with what the client may be looking for. I grant that this excellent account is about someone who was a member of the BACP but please take note of the action meted out by the BACP. They are nothing if not rigorous when taking to task practitioners who may have made such errors in practise much as the BMA does with doctors
    



Sunday, May 20, 2012

Things We Have Learned This Week

I can't resist linking to two Observer articles that caught my eye this morning.........yes still more rambling from yours truly but wait......here's examples of what seem to me as pure logic and the power that some psychiatrists have had on the world!

No 1 - Support for Michael Gove's plan to have a copy of the King James edition of the Bible comes from unlikely source. Or does it? Having actually read it, I couldn't agree more.

Richard Dawkins the arch-atheist backs Michael Gove's free Bible plan

Author of The God Delusion says providing free Bibles to state schools is justified by its impact on the English language
    Richard Dawkins
    Richard Dawkins says his support for the Bible plan is justified on the grounds of literary merit. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
    It sounds like one of the most unlikely alliances of recent years. Richard Dawkins, arch-atheist and scourge of the praying classes, has announced support for education secretary Michael Gove's plan to send free King James Bibles to every state school.
    The proposal aims to help pupils learn about the Bible's impact "on our history, language, literature and democracy" and will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the authorised version's publication, Gove said earlier this year. Church leaders have approved, but the plan has fallen foul of most non-believers. An online Guardian poll showed an 82% opposition, while the National Secular Society said the £375,000 proposal wasted money and favoured Christianity in multi-faith state schools. Nevertheless, several rich Tory party donors agreed to back the plan and the first Bibles were sent out last week, to the derision of secularists – with the exception of their most prominent and pugnacious recruit: Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and critic of all things clerical.
    As Dawkins reveals in today's Observer, support for the Bible plan is justified on the grounds of literary merit and he lists a range of biblical phrases which any cultivated English speaker will instantly recognise. These include "salt of the Earth", "through a glass darkly", and "no peace for the wicked". Dawkins states: "A native speaker of English who has not read a word of the King James Bible is verging on the barbarian."
    Rapprochement would seem to be in the air – until Dawkins's thesis is studied more closely. While Gove believes the Bible is a guide to morality, Dawkins is sure it is not. "I have heard the cynically misanthropic opinion that without the Bible as a moral compass people would show no restraint against murder, theft and mayhem. The surest way to disabuse yourself of this pernicious falsehood is to read the Bible itself," he says.
    In fact, its pages are riddled with the advocacy of murder, slavery and theft. Hence his support for Gove's plan: opening the Bible is the surest way to put young minds off its contents. From this perspective, the Dawkins-Gove alliance looks dead before it started.


No. 2   Weeping at one's mistakes is not enough! I am not likely to feel unduly sorry for Robert Spitzer the 'Gay Cure' doctor who now admits he was wrong

Dr Robert Spitzer apologises for 'fatally flawed' study, published in 2001, which claimed gay people could be 'cured' if properly motivated
  • guardian.co.uk,
  • Gay activists
    US gay and lesbian groups are likely to be delighted by Robert Spitzer's apology. 
    Photograph: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images
    One of the most influential figures in modern psychiatry has apologised to America's gays for a scientific study which supported attempts to "cure" people of their homosexuality.
    The survey, published in 2001, looked at "reparative therapy" and was hailed by religious and social conservatives in America as proof that gay people could successfully become straight if they were motivated to do so.
    But Dr Robert Spitzer has now apologised in the same academic journal that published his original study, calling it "fatally flawed". "I believe I owe the gay community an apology," his letter said. "I also apologise to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative therapy works."
    Spitzer's letter, which was leaked online before its publication in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour, is sure to cause delight among gay civil rights groups and stir up anger among social conservatives, who have used the study to combat the acceptance of homosexuality as a normal part of human society.
    Reparative therapy is popular among Christian conservative groups, which run clinics and therapy sessions at which people try to become heterosexual through counselling. Gay rights activists condemn such practices as motivated by religious faith, not science, and call them "pray away the gay" groups.
    Spitzer's study looked at the experiences of 200 people undertaking the therapy, including subjects that had been provided by religious groups. He then asked each person the same set of questions, analysing their responses to the therapy and their feelings and sexual urges afterwards. He concluded that many of them reported feelings of changes in their sexual desires from homosexual to heterosexual.
    Spitzer's stance was notorious, because in 1973 he had been instrumental in getting the American Psychiatric Association to stop classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder in its diagnostic manual: a move seen at the time as a major victory for gay rights.
    His 2001 study caused a huge stir because many people felt that it was not rigorous enough for publication. The central criticism was that Spitzer had not paid enough attention to the fact that subjects might lie about their feelings or be engaged in self-deception.
    For more than a decade Spitzer shrugged off the attacks and stood by his work, but he has now admitted that his critics were right. "I offered several (unconvincing) reasons why it was reasonable to assume that the subject's reports of change were credible and not self-deception or outright lying. But the simple fact is that there was no way to determine if the subject's accounts of change were valid," Spitzer wrote.
    In an interview with the New York Times last week, Spitzer, who is 79 and suffers from Parkinson's disease, described how he had written his letter of recantation in the middle of the night after agonising over the study's impact.
    He had also recently been visited by a gay magazine journalist, Gabriel Arana, who had described to him his own experience going through reparation therapy and how damaging it had been and how it had led to thoughts of suicide. "It's the only regret I have; the only professional one," Spitzer told the New York Times, which described him as being almost in tears as he talked about his decision to admit he was wrong.
    "In the history of psychiatry I don't know that I've ever seen a scientist write a letter saying that the data were all there but were totally misinterpreted. Who admitted that and who apologised to his readers. That's something, don't you think?" Spitzer told the newspaper.
    Gay rights group Truth Wins Out published the full text of the letter on its website and hailed the moment as a major step forward. "Spitzer's apology to the victims of 'pray away the gay' therapy … marks a watershed moment in the fight against the 'ex-gay' myth," the group said.
Now I am not a fan of psychiatry, as friends well know, but here again is evidence, should any more be needed, that they really need to seek help, largely may I recommend from the world of psychotherapy. As we counsellors and psychotherapists know from years of experience the issue around sexuality has largely been one of aiding folk towards acceptance rather than half baked formulaic 'scientific research' upon which to base policy and therapeutic treatment that sought a "cure". I note this especially in light of the 'pray away the gay' stance, once more quasi-religious dogma has much to answer to & for.

Have a great day!


If the Nanci was a bit too sweet for some....here's a sobering vid from another lifelong hero Mr John Cale

Doubtless a friend of Lyle's, I found a version of one of my favourite Nanci Griffith's songs on the ole 'toob. A favourite because of her intro here and I have the live album from which this version comes.......
Here's the lovely Nanci for a Sunday morning ("coming down"? ED)


Nanci Griffith - 'Love at The Five & Dime'

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Now you know you can rely on the Swappers Mansion to come up with something for a Saturday morning to drag you out of the pit and walk past the Ha-ha down past the dungeons and into the Main Hall to start dancing!
LYLE LOVETT
I recently caught up with the last Lyle Lovett album "Release me" [yes, THAT Release Me! it's AWESOME!] and spotted a cover of a fine fine songwriter and early hero Jesse Winchester's song "Isn't That So?" here from some Amerkan show (The View) If you like it [what do you mean "IF"?ED] buy the album, it's a doozie has a large band full version of this wonderful song and it will have you dancing around the Ha-ha in no time flat (careful you don't fall in tho'! ED) and it's full of surprises not least the title track. Enjoy!


Lyle Lovett - 'Isn't That So?' Live on the View 29/02/2012

Monday, May 14, 2012

Legendary Bassist for Booker T and The MG's dies
R.I.P Donald 'Duck' Dunn

Bass guitarist Donald “Duck” Dunn, of Booker T and the MGs, died in Tokyo on May 13, 2012. He was 70. A BBC report said that was Dunn was in Japan for a series of concerts, and had played two shows on Saturday night. His friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour, said Dunn had died in his sleep. “Today I lost my best friend,” Cropper wrote on his Facebook page. “The world has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live”. The MGs were the house band for Stax Records

Donald 'Duck' Dunn


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Self Portrait of the Day


Ooops, nearly forgot....
After that splenetic outpouring t'other day I quite forgot there's some other stuff caught my eye
Cultural items you say?
I mourn the passing of the great Maurice Sendak

I was privileged to run Blackwell's Children's Bookshop for a while and given a fantastic brief to go in and "appreciate the staff". All of whom were committed to children's literature and they introduced me to some new writers who I did not know. I knew and adored my A.A. Milne of course and my John Masefield, Roald Dahl and my Tolkien & Lewis obviously but thought my (superior?) knowledge of classics meant they were never to be matched but they introduced me to Susan Cooper who I came to adore and the work of Anne Fine, both of whom I think of as wonderments.
 I already knew my Maurice Sendak and bought my son 'Where the Wild Things Are' when he was of an age to look and read it for himself but the shop introduced me to his other illustrated works and I became smitten with his drawing style and his artistry so discovered 'Very Far Away' Higglety Pigglety Pop! and the rest of his oeuvre so that we stocked everything we could and had the loveliest stuff toys of the boy Max and his monsters all over the shop!
Great man gone!


Also I wanted to say something about the building of stuff for the Olympics this summer. Now I LIKE Anish Kapoor and we had an exhibition curated by the lovely and wonderful art historian Marco Livingstone and we got to meet Anish a fair bit but this latest 'piece' in the East end of London has left me speechless!

I have said elsewhere that architects are frustrated artist and shouldn't be allowed to vent and vaunt their hideous carbuncles on the humans beneath them from drawings on fag packets that have largely contributed nought to the 21st century but added to the stress and despair of the common man. They are largely soul destroying! But artists to have a responsibility to do better. And much much better than this monstrosity! It is literally a doodle brought to hideous life. Anish Kapoor specisalises in wondrous pieces consisting largely of organic forms covered in what appears to be beautiful primary coloured powder paint. I love them!

But this is way out of his depth turning to a material he clearly is ot comfortable with and will stand as a testimony to nought but more male posturing on the skylines of the country! (see Angel of The North) Notable here perhaps that women artists/sculptors don't so often thrust their ideas vertically into the sky like so much twisted crap!

Other than that I don't have any views on the matter.

Sorry Anish 3/10 Must Try Harder!
I for one would contribute more public money to have this doodle writ large cast into 'Orbit'

Saturday, May 12, 2012

 Things we have Learned This Week


*How did Nick Griffin of the extreme right wing & repulsive BNP get to hear the result of a case involving Rochdale's Asian community and 9 of it's population being convicted of sexually grooming & abusing as many as 47 under-age teenage girls several hours before it was publicly announced?


This nearly caused the case to collapse! It has added fuel to their defence as their lawyers appealed straight away following his tweeting the results of the convictions at about 2pm that day when it wasn't until 4pm approximately that the sentences were announced!

 The race card doesn't help anyone here and the best summary I read came from an Asian Woman reported in the "i" newspaper Jasmin Alibhai-Brown (see below)

* I guess the longer I spend on the planet the more distressed and appalled I become! There is it would seem, an escalation in violence towards women and children. At least it feels that way to me. There is a case today about the sentencing and after effects on the life of a victim who's 'boyfriend', partner, whatever, received an indefinite sentence for gouging her eyes out! 
 imprisoned her for 12 hours, strangled her until she lost consciousness and beat her so badly she was left with a broken nose and jaw. Doctors were unable to save her eyes after he tore at them with his fingers.

Men who cannot seem to express themselves in any other way other than violence are not in 'love' with the objects of their destructive attentions. This is dysfunction to the most disgusting and horrendous extreme and yet more example should any be required that we are truly de-evolving into the lowest common denominator in terms of human behaviour. More and more it seems we are witnessing men attacking women who have 'knocked them back' decided they have had enough of such distorted ego,  rejected them to such a degree that they decide they have the right to maim, disfigure or kill the object of their supposed affections. This is not love and affection this is ownership, objectification of women gone raving mad.
You have NO right to attack another human being let alone someone you purported to care for!
If you love someone set them FREE!

*There is also it seems to me an escalation in parental dysfunction towards children where there are an increasing number of filicides. This Latin word doesn't embody the distress, disquiet and horror of such crimes. Has filicide always been with us or is it actually escalating to an horrific degree? What is that compels parents to not understand the duty and normally hardwired care of their children? Show me a strength of womankind and you need to look no further than any mother who's children come under any form of threat. I would die FOR my children. Without a moment's hesitation so it applies to dad's too. My sacred duty to ensure their safety on an hourly basis until such time as they make their independent way out into the madness and it doesn't stop even then!

Police outside a house where a woman has been remanded for killing her children
So what is it that has caused so many of late to get so low and skewed a concept of parenthood that they feel they have the right to kill their own children? You don't! We don't! They have the inalienable right to life, protection, love, care and nurturing and what has caused some people not to have this hard wired into their what we might call soul, is completely beyond me?!
Intellectually I understand when I read about these regressive animalistic behaviours as I understand that paedophilia exists but I do not understand the level of dysfunction that actually creates such heinous crimes. I understand intellectually and indeed have read many academic papers and books on childhood sexual abuse, indeed been privileged to work with many survivors of such acts and yet deep down in my marrow I do not understand it!
Derby house fire a 28 year old woman and a 38 year old man have been arrested
 I don't understand how people can get so messed up they want to set fire to someone's home and kill a family.

Someone's moral compass is hurtling round and around like a spinning top but it ain't mine

I just don't understand......................


* But if I thought this was so heinous it was making my head reel, there was more this week and it nearly snuck under the wire but there has also been revealed that a penchant for ground up children's flesh is developing a market in Korea for making pills containing such product. 

So when you seek your local High Street Chinese herbalist and think this ancient wisdom must have something going for it, you know how cool Tai Chi is and there must be something in Tai Kwon Do, Chi Gong etc remind yourself not only do they believe that endangered Tiger bones ground down is good for your health but that they are capable of justifying the grinding down of dead children's flesh into handy pill popping form!


Somehow suddenly I feel like giving up!

Soylent Green anyone? 
 

Nine Asian men convicted of sexually exploiting teenage girls - Day One
Asian Grooming Report Day Two
Child sex grooming - The Asian Question
 Gang who groomed young girls
Rochdale case - comment by Jasmine Alibhai-Brown

 Five Children Die in Derby Fire
Mother charged with Killing Her Children
Chinese baby flesh capsules

Monday, May 07, 2012

Yes, yes yes, [yawn!] it's another doozie from Big O and nothin' from the Swapper's Vaults for ages now.........but they have posted a  
Rolling Stones 
set from the BBC sessions which is peerless in quality and will have you dancin' round the room in no time flat!


I love the early Stones and have pretty much everything.....up to the Mick Taylor times and then they lost me (Stones Vs. Beatles argument anyone?....heh heh. Stones post Mick Taylor argument anyone?] Still this is the band at their earliest and a reflection on quite how much MUSIC the BBC broadcast and the quality [tho mixed here] is exeptional. Beautiful and witty artwork here too

Download it here............The Rolling Stones - Baby See Sessions

Go on you know you want to [Who ARE you talking to? ED]
Just a small footnote but Big O publish some great liner notes on these and the track listing is fascinating......anybody disagree with who they list as authors to these classic blues songs?

DISC 1
Saturday Club (Brian Matthew)
Recorded Maida Vale, London : 23rd Sept. 1963 - Broadcast 26th Oct. 1963

Track 101
. Come On (Chuck Berry) - 2:03 (4.6MB)
Track 102
. Memphis Tennessee (Chuck Berry) - 2:18 (5.2MB)
Track 103
. Roll over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) - 2:16 (5.2MB)
Saturday Club (Brian Matthew)
Recorded 3rd Feb. 1964 - Broadcast 8th Feb. 1964

Track 104
. Don’t Lie To Me (Chuck Berry) - 1:43 (3.9MB)
Track 105
. You Better Move On (Arthur Alexander) - 2:36 (5.9MB)
Track 106
. I Wanna Be Your Man (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) - 1:49 (4.1MB)
Track 107
. Mona (Ellas McDaniel) - 2:11 (4.9MB)
Track 108
. Walking The Dog (Rufus Thomas) - 2:34 (5.9MB)
Track 109
. Bye Bye Johnny (Chuck Berry) - 2:11 (4.9MB)
Saturday Club
Recorded live UK: Feb.-March 1964 - Broadcast 8th March 1964

Track 110
. Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) - 2:22 (5.3MB)
Track 111
. Beautiful Delilah (Chuck Berry) - 2:14 (5.1MB)
Blues in Rhythm (Long John Baldry)
Recorded Camden Theatre: - 19th March 1964

Track 112
. Intro (519k)
Track 113
. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 (Bobby Troup) - 2:29 (5.6MB)
Track 114
. Intro (582k)
Track 115
. Cops And Robbers (Kent L. Harris) - 3:43 (8.5MB)
Track 116
. Intro (527k)
Track 117
. You Better Move On (Arthur Alexander) - 2:45 (6.3MB)
Track 118
. Intro (672k)
Track 119
. Mona (Ellas McDaniel) - 2:49 (6.4MB)
The Joe Loss Pop Show (Joe Loss)
Recorded and broadcast 10th April 1964

Track 120
. Hi-Heel Sneakers (Robert Higginbotham) - 1:56 (4.4MB)
Track 121
. Little By Little (Nanker Phelge/Phil Spector) - 2:28 (5.6MB)
Track 122
. I Just Want To Make Love To You (Willie Dixon) - 2:12 (5.0MB)
Track 123
. I’m Moving On (Hank Snow) - 2:09 (4.9MB)
Saturday Club (Brian Matthew)
Recorded 13th April 1964 - Broadcast 18th April 1964

Track 124
. I Just Want To Make Love To You (Willie Dixon) - 2:11 (5.0MB)
Track 125
. Walking The Dog (Rufus Thomas) - 3:13 (7.2MB)
Track 126
. Not Fade Away (Norman Petty/Charles Hardin Holly) - 2:04 (4.5MB)
Track 127
. Beautiful Delilah (Chuck Berry) - 2:09 (4.8MB)
Track 128
. Hi-Heel Sneakers (Robert Higginbotham) - 2:34 (5.8MB)
Track 129
. Carol (Chuck Berry) - 2:30 (5.6MB)
DISC 2
Saturday Club (Brian Matthew)
Recorded 25th May 1964 - Broadcast: 6th June 1964

Track 201
. Down In The Bottom (Willie Dixon) - 2:46 (6.2MB)
Track 202
. You Can Make It If You Try (Ted Jarrett) - 2:12 (4.9MB)
Track 203
. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 (Bobby Troup) - 2:28 (some clicks) (5.5MB)
Track 204
. Confessin’ The Blues (Walter Brown/Jay McShann) - 3:02 (6.7MB)
Track 205
. Down The Road Apiece (Don Raye) - 2:01 (4.4MB)
The Joe Loss Pop Show (Joe Loss)
Recorded and broadcast 17th July 1964

Track 206
. It’s All Over Now (Bobby & Shirley Womack) - 3:26 (8.2MB)
Track 207
. If You Need Me (Wilson Pickett/Robert Bateman) - 2:06 (4.7MB)
Track 208
. Confessin’ The Blues (Walter Brown/Jay McShann) - 2:27 (5.7MB)
Track 209
. Carol (Chuck Berry) - 2:42 (6.1MB)
Track 210
. Mona (Ellas McDaniel) - 2:58 (6.7MB)
Top Gear (Brian Matthew)
Recorded 17th July 1964 - Broadcast 23rd July 1964

Track 211
. Around And Around (Chuck Berry) - 2:45 (6.3MB)
Track 212
. If You Need Me (Wilson Pickett/Robert Bateman) - 2:02 (4.6MB)
Track 213
. I Can’t Be Satisfied (McKinley Morganfield) - 2:31 (5.6MB)
Track 214
. Crackin’ Up (Ellas McDaniel) - 2:15 (5.1MB)
Rhythm and Blues (Alexis Korner)
Recorded 8th Oct.1964 - Broadcast 31st Oct.1964

Track 215
. Ain’t That Lovin’ You (Jimmy Reed) - 1:52 (4.2MB)
Track 216
. 2120 South Michigan Avenue (Naker Phelge) - 3:48 (8.6MB)
Top Gear (Brian Matthew)
Recorded Playhouse Theatre Studios 1st March 1965 - Broadcast 6th March 1965

Track 217
. Down The Road Apiece (Don Raye) - 2:01 (4.5MB)
Track 218
. Everybody Needs Somebody (Russell/Burke/Wexler) - 3:31 (8.0MB)
Track 219
. The Last Time (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards) - 3:08 (7.0MB)
On both Yeh! Yeh!1 (Tony Hall) & Saturday Club 2 (Brian Matthew)
Recorded 20th Aug.1965 - First Broadcast 30th Aug.1965 - Second Broadcast 18th Sept.1965

Track 220
. Mercy Mercy (Don Covay/Ron Miller)1 - 2:54 (6.4MB)
Track 221
. Cry To Me (Bert Russel) - 3:06 (7.0MB)
Track 222
. Fanny Mae (Buster Brown/Robinson or Waymon Glasco)2 - 2:13 (5.0MB)
Track 223
. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards)1,2 - 3:46 (8.5MB)
Track 224
. The Spider And The Fly (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards)1,2 - 3:26 (7.3MB)
Track 225
. Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Going) (Barbara Lynn Ozen)1,2 - 1:53 (4.0MB)

Oh what's that you say? A taster? A sample track?
OK have it!
The Stones en route
Now go get the rest over at The Wondrous Big O...link above

Can you dig it?             I think you can!

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Need some uplift on a Sunday morning? Check this out........
"Toast To Freedom" 
 is dedicated to human rights activism around the world. Nearly 50 artists contributed to celebrate Amnesty International's 50th Anniversary. Toast To Freedom was written by music veterans Carl Carlton and Larry Campbell. Recorded at Levon's Helm's Woodstock studio it was to prove his last performance recording......

 More: http://www.ToastToFreedom.org On iTunes: http://smarturl.it/toasttofreedom On Amazon: http://smarturl.it/ttfamazon


Proceeds will benefit Amnesty International
 Artists include Levon Helm, Kris Kristofferson, Carly Simon, Angelique Kidjo, Ewan McGregor, Saul Hernandez, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, Eric Burdon, Taj Mahal, Florent Pagny, Marianne Faithfull, Jane Birkin, Jimmy Barnes, Rosanne Cash, Shawn Mullins, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Gentleman, among others.


The Making of..........Toast to Freedom

Thursday, May 03, 2012

HUBERT!

Yes yes I know it's Big O again and when are you going to post any more from the Swappers vaults....but this is a doozie people!

Howlin' for Hubert

Big O say: Live at The Apollo Theater, New York, NY; February 24, 2012. Very good to excellent audience recording.
Hubert Sumlin played guitar with Howlin’ Wolf and was a huge inspiration for [The Rolling Stones].
- rollingstones.com
Chicago blues/electric blues guitarist and singer Hubert Sumlin died on December 4, 2011. He was 80; and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had insisted on picking up the full expenses for Hubert’s funeral.
Mick:
Hubert was an incisive yet delicate blues player. He had a really distinctive and original tone, and was a wonderful foil for Howlin’ Wolf’s growling vocal style. On a song like “Going Down Slow” he could produce heart rending emotion, and on a piece like “Wang Dang Doodle”, an almost playful femininity. He was an inspiration to us all.
Keith:
With sorrow I received the news of Hubert’s passing. He put up a long hard fight. To me he was an uncle and a teacher, and all the guitar players must feel the same as myself. Warm, humorous and always encouraging, he was a gentleman of the first order. Miss him, yes, but we have his records. All my condolences to his family”.

UPDATE: Is there anybody out there?.........don't believe me? Don't know who Hubert is? Check these tasters here . . . .  a classic Sweet Home Chicago and a favourite song, Meet Me In The Bottom by the astonishingly gifted Derek Trucks and the wonderment that is Susan Tedeschi

Born in Chicago- Sweet Home Chicago - Ronnie Baker Brooks & Lonnie Brooks
Meet Me in The Bottom - Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi
 . . . . . . . and to paraphrase Bob Dylan and for all Forum friends out there
              "Play it Fucking Loud"!