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

Saturday, October 31, 2020

 If you play one thing today play THIS

JOHN LEE HOOKER

from

Floppy Boot Stomp (where else?!)



John Lee Hooker &
The Coast to Coast Blues Band

Bellestar Lounge
Colden, NY

April 4, 1979
Soundboard @320


A little shmackerel of a taster of The Boss with The Rolling Stones ( and Eric Clapton)

BOOGIE CHILLUN'!

John Prine

 Lovely set from Big O this morning all the way from Singapore . . . . . .  a John Prine and Steve Goodman set from back in 1982 when both men were in their prime. If you can avoid the plethora of filth and tired old racist sexist claptrap that is the comments section (time for it to go guys really) that's stopping people from visiting more regularly (well me for one) and I know there have been loads of objections from the old school bloggers and visitors but heck it's DREADFUL. Still avoid that and just download this . . . . . . 

JOHN PRINE

& Steve Goodman




Two much missed American treasures. When we lost the auther of one of the seminal songs about America (’City of New Orleans’ by Goodman) I was deeply saddened but amongst the Covid-19 victims to lose John too was almost too much to bear. Still can’t play too much Prine its too upsetting. . . . . this is nice

here . . .










Friday, October 30, 2020

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE!

(81)
 Saw them live and they blew my head away with the wind! . . . . . . . . . 
largely because of this, one of the greatest of all rock voices.


 Grace Slick was born as Grace Barnett Wing in Highland Park, Illinois on this day in 1939. 

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call He called Alice, when she was just small When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low Go ask Alice, I think she'll know When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead And the White Knight is talking backwards And the Red Queen's off with her head Remember what the Dormouse said Feed your head, feed your head

By Phil Konstantin - Own work, Public Domain


 "BEESWING"

So Richard Thompson announces his first autobiographical book Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice 1967-1975

Richard Thompson - RT on Facebook

 

Richard Thompson - 'Beeswing' - Rolling Stone review












Tuesday, October 27, 2020

 

Bob Dylan :: Pretty Good Stuff | Ep. 10

This is it! The tenth and final episode of Pretty Good Stuff: Dylan historian James Adams’ hour-long, monthly, program diving deep into the depths of all things Dwarf Music. Listen to the show below, and  to explore further, support our Patreon for the individual tracks and more. 

Check it out HERE Pretty Good Stuff in the Aquarium (10)

00:00 Tomorrow Is A Long Time (1987-10-17, London, England)
04:10 DJ talk over Heart Of Mine (1987-10-17, London, England)
06:42 Every Grain of Sand (1981-11-21, Lakeland FL)
11:04: Tryin’ to Get to Heaven (2000-11-19, Towson, MD)
15:57 DJ talk over Trail of the Buffalo (1991-11-20, Charlottesville, VA)
17:44 Love Minus Zero / No Limit (2005-11-27, Dublin Ireland)
22:58 Ballad of a Thin Man (1978-12-16, Hollywood, FL)
28:31 DJ talk over It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (1995-12-17, Philadelphia PA)
33:01 I Believe In You (1979-12-09, Tucson, AZ)
38:59 I’ll Remember You (2002-11-22, Fairfax, VA)
44:03 DJ talk over Mama, You Been On My Mind (1992-11-15, West Palm Beach, FL)
47:25 To Ramona (1980-12-04, Portland, OR)
51:24 DJ talk over Sugar Baby (2001-11-24, Boston, MA)
55:24 North Country Blues (1974-05-09, New York, NY)
1:00:49 Pretty Boy Floyd (1988-12-04, Oakland, CA)
1:04:25 DJ talk over Once Upon A Time (2017-11-25, New York, NY)
1:07:18 It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (CUT) (2019-12-08, Washington, DC)
1:09:41 Out

 KATE RUSBY

announces she has been chosen by the BBC 2 as one of the 50

  “Celebrating 50 amazing concerts from 50 years”



Kate Says on her Facebook page

Aww Yey so AMAZING!!!! 😃🎊 Thank you
BBC Radio 2
for including my 2012 gig live from BBC Radio Theatre for their ‘In Concert 50’ series. “Celebrating 50 amazing concerts from 50 years” Available on BBC Sounds etc. Info here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zzq37
Check out the full list of 50, I am humbled and honoured to be in such company https://www.bbc.co.uk/media.../latestnews/2020/in-concert-50


Kate Rusby Live in Concert

Kate Rusby and guests, including English folk legend Nic Jones, Scottish singer Eddi Reader and Texan folk/country singer Sarah Jarosz, perform songs from Kate's new album 20.

Tracks include: 
-Elfin Knight
-Sun Grazers
-Awkward Annie
-Unquiet Grave
-The Good Man
-Planets
-Annan Waters
-I Courted A Sailor
-Mocking Bird
-Wandering Soul
-The Wishing Wife

Duration:1 hour, 7 minutes

Eddi Reader, Jo Whiley and  'our' Kate


She's also selling a guitar!

Only Kate and her fellah Damien would adverstise selling a handmade parlour guitar on Facebook!

Hello lovelies!!! It’s taken me about 2 years to get round to it but this is a guitar I’m selling. A beautiful, custom made parlour guitar, lovingly hand built by world renowned (Yorkshire) luthier Peter Barton http://www.peterbartonguitars.co.uk/inf.../testimonials.html
Would love it to go to a good home as it’s not getting played here. If you’re interested and want more info drop us a line at info@purerecords.net 😊🌈🎃⭐️






Who Will Sing Me Lullabies - Live in Leeds               . . . . . . . . . . . .      . . . because

Emily Barker in Conversation with Mary Chapin Carpenter Wednesday 3pm

 Couple of updates from my favourite gals, . . . . . .  singers that is . . . . . . 

no.1 Emily has announced a chat with Mary Chapin Carpenter tomorrow afternoon at 3

EMILY BARKER

in conversation with

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER


Emily says:

Join me 'In Conversation' with

Mary Chapin Carpenter

this Wednesday when we talk new albums, inspiration and more, as well as sing a couple of songs and take questions from viewers.

Head to
Americana Music Association
Instagram
account at 3pm GMT / 11am EDT to tune in!
Emily
❤️

Monday, October 26, 2020

 BETTIE PAGE

from Lost Girls Blog


Bettie Page was the biggest sex symbol of the 1950s. Her pin-up spreads are iconic, her body was unreal, and she’s forever known for her trademark jet black hair with those sleek brow-sweeping bangs. Bangs that have unfortunately been imitated by cringeworthy indie hipster girls everywhere, but she has yet to be outdone by them.

Bettie pre pin-up

But what happened when the most famous sex symbol of the 1950s got tired of being ogled by dirty old men? Unfortunately, psychological decline, violence and disaster. Her later years were punctuated by schizophrenic and scary mental breakdowns.

Classic Bettie pin-up

Bettie left fetish modelling in 1959 to become a born-again Christian. She was 35 years old, in a dull marriage, and felt used and regretted her nude photos. 

Some claim that Bettie had been informed that a man had died in a bondage session which had somehow involved her photos. This was just too much.

In 1972, her life fell apart. It reads like one long rap sheet.

In January, Bettie ran wild with a .22 caliber pistol screaming about “the retribution of God” at a ministry retreat. 


In April, Bettie threatened to stab her ex-husband and children if they refused to pray in front of a portrait of Jesus. “If you take your eyes off this picture, I’ll cut your guts out!,” were her words. She was taken to a mental institution for 4 months.

In October, a cop was called to her ex-husband’s place yet again after Bettie went on a destructive rampage inside. After the officer left the car and returned, he “saw Bettie in the back seat, with her dress pulled up, panties around her knees, masturbating with a coat hanger that the officer had left.” She spent another 6 months in a mental institution.

Things were quiet for awhile until 1979, when she attacked 2 neighbours with a knife. The neighbours were forced to knock her out with a wrench. This time she spent 7 months in an institution.

The worst was yet to come. In 1982, she stabbed her landlady 20 times while yelling “God has inspired me to kill you!”



The poor landlady woke up to a possessed Bettie sitting on top of her with a foot-long serrated bread knife. Bettie stabbed her four times in the chest, narrowly missing her heart, stabbed her hand eight times, severing the top of her third finger.

When police came, they “found Bettie in the shower with her clothes on, trying to wash out the blood stains. She kept the police waiting for an hour before she dried herself off.” Afterwards, Bettie would spend 10 much-needed years back at an institution.

 

The biog Film featuring Gretchen Moll

Following these deranged incidents, Bettie managed to get the help she desperately needed for her schizophrenia, and she stopped attacking people.

Sadly, she was penniless for many years, until her son and a team of lawyers helped her profit from royalties of her likeness which were being used in the media. She signed autographs of her pin-ups in her old age, and managed to gain a semblance of stability. Bettie died of a heart attack in 2008.

Her conflicted legacy still remains to this day. Every girl obsessed with vintage glamour wants to look like Bettie. But did we really understand her?

 



- Bettie Page and the Bondage She Freed Herself From



Robert Crumb on Bettie Page:


Bettie by R Crumb

"I know quite a bit about Bettie Page, actually. I had a friend named Jeff Rund who was involved in trying to compensate her when she was old and broke and living in some trailer, in poor circumstances somewhere in the Los Angeles area, I believe. In the ’80s, some people started putting out books of photos of her and everything, and Jeff dug her up and tried to make sure she got paid for all the books, cause you know, she went crazy in the ’60s and ’70s, I think it was the ’70s, when she tried to kill somebody… 


So she was institutionalized for a while, and then she got religion. I think she just had her picture taken so much, that it drove her insane. But guess what? She had the most perfect body and the cutest face of all in that pinup era of the 1940s and 1950s. She was the gold standard. There was nobody superior to her physically.

 

Bettie with Irving Klaw

And her poses, she always looked cheerful and wholesome, she never looked sleazy. It didn’t matter if she was posing in a sadomasochistic setup with those high heel boots and whips, it always looks like it’s just a funny game to her, you know? She could have a ball-gag in her mouth and she looks like the girl next door just having fun. Isn’t this fun, playing at sadomasochism?’ [laughs]

 


She always comes off as this wholesome, lighthearted gal. But God was she healthy. Omigod!  Perfect proportions, her whole body. Can’t go wrong with Bettie Page. Every photo of her is good, she never took a bad photo. And they took thousands? tens of thousands? of photos of her. Poor woman. What a life!"



 

Bettie happier towards the end . . .