Jam of the Week after thursday: champagne and reefer

first penned by the hoochie coochie man himself and performed here with the Stones.

the Stones named themselves after the Muddy Waters 1950 song Rollin’ Stone, aka Catfish Blues (and later covered by Hendrix)

here, the Stones with a Muddy Waters protégé from the early chicago blues era… 

…and don’t miss the classic SRV and Guy 25 min bootleg (in three parts) : part 1 | part 2 | part 3

get it here

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i put a spell on you

in 1956, Hawkins brought the song to a recording session attended by producer, Arnold Matson.  up to this point, Hawkins had been a traditional blues performer; emotional, but not wild.

Matson got the band drunk, resulting in the iconic shreaking and groaning we all know Hawkins for today.

soon after the song’s release, radio DJ Alan Freed offered Hawkins $300 to emerge from a coffin onstage. Hawkins accepted and soon created an outlandish stage persona in which performances began with the coffin and included gold and leopard skin costumes and notable voodoo stage props, such as his smoking skull on a stick — named Henry — and rubber snakes. 

these shock rock performances became the basis for much of rock ‘n roll thereafter - inspiring acts such as Dr. John, Alice Cooper, Eric Burdon, Warren Zevon, Black Sabbath, and Marilyn Manson.    

now, let me hear you screammmmmmm…

although Hawkins’ version did not make the charts, several later cover versions rode the wave:

• nina simone
• CCR
• jeff beck and joss stone

Shane MacGowan, Johnny Depp and friends later covered the song to support Haiti earthquake victims and donated all proceed to Concern. a charity supporting some of the poorest countries in the world… 

get this and other black music for white people here: 

a play on the 1963 cross-country chase comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World  — Brown’s Man’s World  is lost in the wilderness. lost in the bitterness. but it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.

on september 24, Brown entered an insurance seminar in augusta, georgia, armed with a shotgun and a pistol, and ordered everyone to leave. he then took off in his pickup truck and attempted to outrun police, who chased him into south carolina and then back into georgia. even after police had shot out three of his tires, Brown continued to drive on wheel rims until he ended up in a ditch six miles down the road. after the incident, Brown’s wife, Adrienne, said that he was on medication for jaw surgery and was “not in his right mind.”


without further adieu, Brown in his first show after his release from prison at the Wiltem Theater in LA…




Seal also has thoughts on a Man’s World… and along the way, somehow convinced Heidi Klum to join him in the bitterness. 




…Brown’s lyrics in this delightful tribute aren’t quite as biblically chauvenistic. 

get it here:

Neil Young hosted the annual Bridge School Benefit last weekend.

some great collaborations with the likes of arcade fire, mumford & sons, dave matthews, santana, beck, norah jones, and eddie vedder. 

really feeling the arcade fire helpless set. 

and you cannot go wrong with a throwback to young and the band. 

get it here:

bijan:

pitchfork:

Arcade Fire and Neil Young perform Young’s “Helpless” at this year’s Bridge School Benefit Concert. 

Whoa.

let’s just say, this isn’t your ordinary tyke. 

inspiration for today comes from yesterday. which makes for great music for tomorrow. 

check out the upcoming Re:Generation documentary featuring a Sonny Moore / Ray Manzarak collaboration. 



get the latest Skrillex album here:

*via spinmagazine

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*via springwater

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charles bradley - heart of gold

the song is originally one of a series of soft acoustic pieces which were written partly as a result of a back injury. 

unable to stand for long periods of time, Young could not play his electric guitar and so returned to his acoustic guitar, which he could play sitting down.

Charles Bradley is no stranger to hard times. Born in Gainesville, Florida in 1948 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Charles spent the better part of his childhood living on the streets. One of the more optimistic moments of his childhood came in 1962, when his sister took him to see James Brown at The Apollo. Brown’s energy formed a lasting impression on Charles. He went home and immediately began practicing microphone tricks with a broom attached to a string, imitating the Godfather’s every move. With his newfound inspiration came an urgent desire to get off the streets and make something of himself.
Charles made his way out of Brooklyn via Job Corps, a federal program for helping underprivileged families. His job placement took him to Bar Harbor, Maine where he learned to cook. While in Maine, he put together a band and began to pursue his passion for performing. He had his first taste of the stage when he was asked to perform for some female employees of Job Corps in Poland Springs. The ladies went wild and Charles knew that he was destined to be an entertainer. Unfortunately, his fate was put on hold when his band mates were drafted in the Vietnam War, and he was forced to find work as a chef in Wassaic, New York at a hospital for the mentally ill.

 Charles spent over 20 years in California, making his living as a chef, all the while playing music on the side. He had no regular band, but he played pick-up gigs when they came along and sat in on recording sessions to feed his musical cravings. Things seemed to be looking up for Charles, but just as he was about to put a down payment on his first house, he was laid-off from his job of 17 years. Being fired forced him to re-evaluate his life out west. Ultimately, he decided to come home to Bushwick, Brooklyn to be with his family again. Charles took every penny he had saved, loaded up a truck with the musical equipment he collected over the years, and drove back to New York. At this point, he was fed up with the tribulations of being a chef and took up work as a handyman to allow himself the flexibility to pursue his musical career.

 After nine years cooking for 3500 people a day, being harassed by local police officers, and having no musical outlet, Charles decided to leave Wassaic and head west in search of a dream. He had saved up enough money to buy a new Ford but soon realized that he couldn’t keep up with the payments; he promptly returned it to a dealer and began hitchhiking. He caught rides all the way from New York to California and up through Canada. He persevered through the dangers of the road (including one driver who confided in him that he had just killed his wife and children) and eventually landed in Alaska where he once again found work as a chef. Though the job paid well, he was not well liked by his fellow chefs, and soon made his way back to California via airplane.

Charles finally found an audience when he began making appearances in local Brooklyn clubs performing his James Brown routines under the alter ego “Black Velvet.” At 51, he was finally making a life for himself back home. His musical career was moving forward, but he was to be tested once again.

Charles awoke in his mother’s house one morning to the sounds of police sirens. He was devastated to find that his brother had been shot and killed. Life did not seem worth living anymore.

 Charles was down and out when Gabriel Roth of Daptone Records happened upon him performing his Black Velvet act at the Tarheel Lounge in Bedstuy. Roth recognized his raw talent and directly brought him into the Daptone “House of Soul” Studios for a session with the Sugarman 3. “Take It As It Comes” was Charles’ first single on Daptone and it proved him as a worthy vocalist.

Roth eventually brought Charles out to Staten Island to see Dirt Rifle and the Bullets, a young funk band playing James Brown and Meters influenced songs. Thomas Brenneck, songwriter and guitarist for the Bullets, hit it off with Charles and they began working together. They released two singles on Daptone under the name “Charles Bradley and the Bullets,” but the Bullets soon dismantled in order to form the afrobeat influenced Budos Band.

 However, Brenneck knew that Charles had something more to give and after moving to Bushwick himself, he and Charles reunited. In time, they became close friends and Charles confided his life story in Brenneck. The young producer was moved when he heard Charles tell the painful story of his brother’s death. Brenneck said, “Charles, we gotta put that story to music.” Brenneck had put together a small bedroom studio and was working on instrumentals with a new group soon to be named Menahan Street Band. His new sound was the perfect compliment for the heartfelt and troubled lyrics that sprang from Charles’ story. Brenneck had just launched Dunham Records, a division of Daptone, and would release Charles’ “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)” and “Heartaches and Pain” as its second single. A departure from his Black Velvet act, the songs showed a new side of Charles as a compelling artist in his own right and proved to be a great success. Many late night writing and recording sessions later, he and Brenneck completed their first full-length record, No Time For Dreaming. Charles always knew he was born to entertain, but in the making of this record he discovered a proclivity for songwriting as well.

 The record was a labor of love for both Charles and Brenneck. After years of working together, No Time for Dreaming is due for international release on Dunham Records. In the meantime, Charles has been touring with The Menahan Street Band and honing his passion as a singer and an entertainer. If you know Charles today, then you know one of the most loving, humble, honest and genuine human beings you will ever know. Charles Bradley spent most of his life dreaming for a better one, and now there is no more time for dreaming, just time for singing, dancing and loving.

what would you do if I sang out of tune?
would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?

Ringo eventually changed the lyric so fans would not throw tomatoes at him when he performed the song live. 

something tells me cocker would not really care.

really joe, say what you mean and mean what you say. 

and try not to let john get to you…

but i am glad to see you tone it down a little. 

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dazed and confused by the pretty lights

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