Category: Entertainment

Song Of The Day – Remembering Sweet Joe Russell

 

 

The Persuasions
The Persuasions (Photo credit: cisc1970)

 

Sweet Joe Russell died on May 5.  Best known as a singer for The Persuasions, Joe recorded 22 albums with the group.  Strange as it sounds, frank Zappa discovered them and was responsible for their first recording.  The group was a capella and recorded songs by such diverse people as Elvis Presley and The Grateful Dead.  The clip here covers The Everly Brothers tune, “Dream” and an old gospel song “Somewhere To Lay My Head”.  Love this era of music.  Very diverse and very fresh, at the time.

 

The Persuasions

 

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Trivia Question of the Day

What was the first album released on CD?

The last Question answered

Q: Who was the first British musician to have a #1 single in the USA.

A: Mr Acker Bilt.  He topped the charts in 1962 with “Stranger On The Shore”

Stranger On The Shore

 

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Adam Yauch

Adam Yauch, Bestie Boys at Brixton Academy - 0...
Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys at Brixton Academy – 05/09/07 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A bit late, but have to comment on a pioneer.  Like them or not The Beastie Boys have had a huge impact on modern music.  Adam Yauch was a huge talent and will be missed greatly.

Intergalactic

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Lloyd Brevett

Lloyd Brevett
Lloyd Brevett (Photo credit: rudijamikko)

Lloyd Brevett, a founding member of The Skatalites, passed away on May 3 in Jamaica.  He was 80.  With the band, he played double bass and also produced 2 of their albums.   Ska was his passion, and he traveled the world playing his music with the band.  The attached is a live version of “Peanut Vendor”.  As I always say, live music is the best way to listen to anyone, and this song will take you deep into summer.

Peanut Vendor

Trivia Question of the Day

Who was the first musical guest on Saturday Night Live?

The last Question answered

Q. Who was the first American pop band to tour the Soviet Union?

A. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Fishin’ In The Dark

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Charles Pitts

Trivia at the end of the post.

Skip Pitts
Skip Pitts (Photo credit: Paul Lowry)

On May 1, music lost a true giant, Charles Pitts.  He was 65 and suffered from cancer.  Charles was a renowned soul and blues guitarist.  His major accomplishments included playing with Al Green and Cyndi Lauper on their Grammy nominated albums, a session player at Stax Records, and his time with Isaac Hayes.  He played with Hayes for 30 years and created the wah-wah at the beginning of the “Theme from Shaft“.  Other credits include backing Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, Gene Chandler and the Isley Brothers (he created the riff in It’s Your Thing).  An outstanding career.  His legacy will stay with us forever.

Theme From Shaft

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It’s Your Thing

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Trivia Question of the Day

What was the first “rock” double album?

The last Question answered

Q. What was the first double album?

A: Benny Goodman‘s “Live At Carnegie Hall” in 1938.

English: Benny Goodman in concert 1971
English: Benny Goodman in concert 1971 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The winner (although admitting it was googled) is A Gripping Life.  She has a terrific blog with a mix of movies and music and miscellany.

Sing Sing Sing

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Edith Bliss

Divisional Trivia trophy
This will have to do until I find a better one

Trivia Question of the Day

What was the first foreign song to hit #1 on the Billboard Pop Chart?

The last Question answered

Who was the first singer to refuse a Grammy?

Sinead O’Connor in 1990.  Strange person, great singer.  Lizziecracked is the first holder of the Trivia Championship Trophy, and will hold until I post the answer to the new question.  Lizziecracked runs a great blog that everyone, contrary to belief, should try at home, called Running Naked With Scissors.

Edith Bliss

Australian singer Edith Bliss passed away on May 3.  She was 52, far to young.  Edith had a couple of hits in 1979 and 1980, including “If It’s Love You Want”, her biggest hit.  She ended her singing career in 1980 and became a reporter.  In 2006 she appeared on Wheel of Fortune.

“If It’s Love You Want”

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Billy Bryans

William “Billy” Bryans passed away on April 23.  He was 62.  Billy played drums for many bands including Raffi and the Downchild Blues Band.  He is best know as one of the founders of the Parachute Club.  He was widely known as a producer, making records with the above artists and Lillian Allen.  He was also a promoter and an accomplished songwriter.

Parachute Club on WordPress

Rise Up

 

 

 

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Chris Ethridge

The Gilded Palace of Sin. Flying Burrito Broth...
The Gilded Palace of Sin. Flying Burrito Brothers 1969 LP (Photo credit: sludgegulper)

Another part of music history has passed on.  Chris Ethridge, bass player, passed away on April 23.  He was 65.  He was suffering with pancreatic cancer Check out this list of players and bands he worked with, but first, note that he was the bassist for The Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman.  These guys pretty much created the country-rock genre of music.  Chris wrote several songs with the band.

The List

Judy Collins, Leon Russell, Johnny Winter, Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Paul Kantner, The Doors and the list goes on.

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Lazy Day

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Tommy Marth

The Killers - Hove 2009
The Killers – Hove 2009 (Photo credit: NRK P3)

The Song Of The Day will dedicate this post to Tommy Marth, saxophonist extraordinaire.  Tommy died of his own hand on April 23.  He was 33.  His work is most often associated “The Killers” who he played with during 2008 and 2009.  He also appeared on their albums, “Sam’s Town” and “Day & Age“.  This is a live version of Joy Ride.

Joy Ride

 

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Joe Muranyi

Jazz clarinetist Joe Muranyi. : Muranyi speaki...
Jazz clarinetist Joe Muranyi. : Muranyi speaking at Satchmo Summerfest in New Orleans. Lousy photo taken at wrong stop for the light uploaded because no better free licensed photo of subject found. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Song of the Day dedicates this post to Joe Muranyi.  He passed away on April 20 at the age of  84.  Joe was a jazz player, who specialized in the clarinet and was also a vocalist.  His career was highlighted by a stint (1967-71) with the Louis Armstrong All-Stars, where he played clarinet.  He was also a producer, a critic and created liner notes for many albums.  The attached song is from 2008.

Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans

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Song Of The Day – Remembering Greg Ham

Yamaha YAS-25 Alto Saxophone

 

For those of you who know my blog, I do tributes to recently departed musicians.  As of this posting, I will be integrating these tributes into the Song Of The Day format that I have been using.  This should reduce some of my spamming in your in-boxes.

As most of you now know, one of the original members of Men At Work, Greg Ham, passed away on April 19.  Exceptionally talented, he played saxophone, flute, organ, synthesizer and piano.  He also contributed with his songwriting skills to the success of 80’s favorite, Men At Work.  One of their most enduring songs is “Who Can It Be Now“, which featured Greg Ham on saxophone.

“Who Can It Be Now”

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