LEON RUSSELL :: Mad Dogs and Englishmen + HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Leon Russell was born as Claude Russell Bridges in Lawton, Oklahoma on this day in 1942.

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

The Letter

Feelin' Alright!

Induction into The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame

Come On In My Kitchen (Concert For Bangladesh outtakes)

Jumping Jack Flash

Bob Dylan - Concert For Bangladesh Outtake - Love Minus Zero (No Limit)

 and whilst I was there I found this from Bob (with George Harrison and band with Leon Russell on bass!) playing the Madison Square Gardens as guest on George's Concert For Bangladesh!

What a beautiful performance and presumably from the earlier rehearsal . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Because . . . . . . . 

On this day in music history: August 1, 1971 - “The Concert For Bangladesh”, takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Organized by George Harrison, the benefit concert will feature Harrison along with Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Billy Preston and Ringo Starr. It is the first benefit concert of its kind, raising relief money for the people of Bangladesh (now East Pakistan) who have suffered the devastating effects of a cyclone and human rights abuses from the Pakistan Army during a war fought in the region. The two performances (an afternoon and an evening show) are filmed and recorded for later release as a theatrically released film and a three LP box set. Both raise millions for the people of Bangladesh, and “The Concert For Bangladesh” album sells over two million copies in the US alone, winning a Grammy Award for Album Of The Year in 1973. Sales of both the DVD and CD releases of the concert continue to generate relief money for the people of Bangladesh today, with the total now estimated at over $20 million. The success of this humanitarian effort provides the template for later benefits such as Live Aid and the USA For Africa Trust.

thanks as ever to Jeff Harris at his wondrous Behind The Grooves

The concert for Bangladesh means a great deal to me and always did. From it's inception and we found out what George wanted to do, we were right behind it. The album was a bonus and we bought the box set when it was released but it was watching the film in the cinema that affected us so much and it stands as a document what was to be the first charitable rock concert incorporating the power of music to try to get a message across and also to raise funds to help the less fortunate than ourselves. My father worked the last part of his working life working for Oxfam having moved us from the North to come and work for them and the Concert for Bangladesh was my brother and my way of saying we can do something too.

There has been much criticism of Bob Geldof and Bono of late for their apparent contributing to the problem and being 'non dom registered' to avoid paying tax and this divisive media trolling is less than helpful and probably does more to put people off contributing to charities than anything else IMHO. Call me when you have generated over £150 million for the starving in Africa and no, we don't always get it right but it is better than sitting on our fat derrieres and doing nothing. Attacking those that have more money than us doesn't justify our doing nothing!

George wrote 'Taxman' for a reason . . . . . . . 

On this day in music history: August 1, 1971 - “The Concert For Bangladesh”, takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Organized by George Harrison, the benefit concert will feature Harrison along with Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Billy Preston and Ringo Starr. It is the first benefit concert of its kind, raising relief money for the people of Bangladesh (now East Pakistan) who have suffered the devastating effects of a cyclone and human rights abuses from the Pakistan Army during a war fought in the region. The two performances (an afternoon and an evening show) are filmed and recorded for later release as a theatrically released film and a three LP box set. Both raise millions for the people of Bangladesh, and “The Concert For Bangladesh” album sells over two million copies in the US alone, winning a Grammy Award for Album Of The Year in 1973. Sales of both the DVD and CD releases of the concert continue to generate relief money for the people of Bangladesh today, with the total now estimated at over $20 million. The success of this humanitarian effort provides the template for later benefits such as Live Aid and the USA For Africa Trust.