Livin': “All right, all right, all right.“
Since Wooderson has always been a patron saint of Southern Brand, it was an honor and a thrill to see the lil' Wooderson rockin' a Southern Brand "Peace & Elbow Grease" tee in the pages of People Magazine last week. Thank ya Mr. McConaughey. Check the pics at popsugar.com.
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Music: Malcolm Holcombe
An ol’ time artist from the foothills of Appalachia, Malcolm Holcombe has been makin’ music for more than 30 years now. And in the words of one reviewer, doin’ it “with a gravelly voice as worn as the tires on an old rusted out pickup truck.” Malcolm is as renowned for the stories he weaves as the voice he tells them in, with Rolling Stone critic David Fricke calling his music “a kind of blues in motion, mapping backwoods corners of the heart.” And with lyrics like “I chainsmoke and complain, goin’ broke inside,” and a history that includes severe depression and substance abuse, it’s easy to see why. Produced by Ray Kennedy and set to be released on Asheville label Echo Mountain Records on Sept. 29, Malcolm’s eighth album, “For The Mission Baby”, is being hailed by many as his finest work yet. Mandolin, dobro, a rhythm section and backing vocals can all be found on the album, which runs the route from stompin' songs like “Bigtime Blues” to the swingin' “Short Street Blues”.
Take a listen to samples from some of the songs on Malcolm’s site:
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Music: Otis Taylor
The above clip is a promo piece for Taylor's 2008 album, Recapturing the Banjo featuring Guy Davis, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb' Mo' and Don Vappie. Otis Taylor plays trance blues. Check his music out here. And you can hear his song, Ten Million Slaves, in the second half of the trailer for the new movie, Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp. Check his site out here. See him live. Buy his music.
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Livin': B.B. King’s - Memphis, TN
These pictures are from B.B. King's on Beale St.
From my honeymoon. Yeah, that's right.
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Music/Livin': B.B. King - Sweet Sixteen
I learned about B.B. King from my Grandma Pearl about 30 years ago. She used to put on his records whenever we drove up to Buffalo to visit her. She's a real cool lady. Love you Gram!
The video above is from an amazing documentary someone gave me a few years back called Lightning In A Bottle.
Here's a bit about it from Amazon.com by Sam Graham:
Part concert, part history lesson, part summit meeting, and all blues, Lightning in a Bottle puts a bright spotlight on this quintessential American music. There are some heavy hitters at work here, both behind the camera (Martin Scorsese executive produced, while the film was directed by Antoine Fuqua of Training Day and King Arthur) and especially in front of it, with a superb house band and a mind-boggling array of musicians (including B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Solomon Burke, Keb' Mo', Macy Gray, the Neville Brothers, Robert Cray, and John Fogerty, to name but a few) performing at New York's Radio City Music Hall in February, 2003. The idea was to trace the music from its beginnings; thus we get an African song (by Angelique Kidjo), some early gospel blues (the great Mavis Staples), acoustic Delta blues, and so on, right up to blues-drenched electric rock and even some rap (a riveting version of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" by Chuck D.). Virtually all of the immortals who defined the blues (Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and even Jimi Hendrix, whose fiery style is re-enacted by Buddy Guy) enter the picture, either through vintage film clips or new performances of their songs. One might wish for more insight into the influence of the blues on jazz (Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," sung here by India.Arie, is a fine song, but it's not a blues tune) or country, but overall, Lightning in a Bottle is an edifying and, most important, highly entertaining portrait of the music and its heritage.
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Livin': Recipe - Fried Alligator
Me, Billy T, and JoBro set out across Alligator Alley a while back, looking for an illusive paradise. A little backwater bar that JoBro had been to about a year earlier while wanderin' through the everglades. He talked it up pretty good, sayin that it quite possibly contained the world's greatest jukebox full-up with Waylon, Willie, Hank, Seger and of course some Skynyrd. He said the beer was colder than cold and the locals were tolerant. Good enough to get us on the road...rowdy, thirsty, mapless and hapless.
If ya never been out State Road 84 'cross the bottom of FLA, ya just ain't lived. Sun shinin' down. Heat risin' up off the asphalt. Gators to the right of us. Gators to the left. And Mescalito blarin'. We stopped once we got outside of town for some passable 'cue and some cool beer, knowin' that the day would only get better. Past Billie Swamp Safari. Past the airboat rides. Past what looked like a couple of homegrown militia compounds. Past what I can only describe as the world's only Monster '84 Camaro. Smell that? No, the other thing. That's freedom, baby.
Well we got to Chokoloskee a little after noon, lookin' to live out all our outlaw fantasies at this roadside saloon we'd heard so much about. What'd we find? Bulldozer tracks and townhomes. Yup, dreams dashed, we cursed a bit, spit a bit and kicked a few tires. But determined to make nuthin into sumthin' we found a little waterside place to grab some beers and some grub, hopin' to get the lowdown on the next best low down from the locals. Over some fried gator, conch fritters and Cerveza Pacifica, JoBro asked, "So where do they raise hell around here?" "That'd be Leebo's Rock Bottom" came the reply. Angels sang and we hightailed it on down the road lookin' for rock bottom.
We got there before they opened but the convenience store next door was happy to sell us a few tallboys and unlock the screen door to Leebo's. They even turned on the jukebox for us. Waylon, Willie, Hank, Seger & Skynyrd! Again, the angels sang. Or it may have been Willie. So we sat back at a little wooden picnic table, loaded up the jukebox, shot the shit and watched the sunset as the locals filed in.
A few hours, a few beers, a whole lotta laughs and a whole lotta lies later, we hit the road lookin' for one more stop. (Epilogue: When you're lucky enough to turn nothin' into sumthin', savor it. Don't get greedy. Two hours later standin' in a "Irish Pub" in Naples surrounded by blue hairs and blue bloods butcherin' "Brown Eyed Girl" we realized we'd pushed a little too far.)
Anyway, here's the recipe for the fried gator:
Get yourself 2 pounds of well trimmed Alligator tenderloin - cut in bite sized pieces. Some Dixie Fry. Some cookin' oil. Some black pepper. And some TABASCO® brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce.
Dust the alligator in the dry Dixie Fry, shake off the excess and deep fry in the cookin' oil (use a deep frier if you got one). Cook until just golden brown. Serve hot with Chipotle Pepper Sauce, Tartar sauce or a red horseradish cocktail type sauce. Be sure and cut them in bite sized pieces so they wont be tough and will cook quickly. Easy to make. Very tasty. Wild Boar can be substituted very nicely in this recipe.
Recipe by: LeRoy Trnavsky
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Livin': The New Official Texas State Map
DJ Stout. He's prolly pretty much my favorite designer. I used to collect the articles and covers he would design for Texas Monthly when I was in high school. This is a map he did recently for a paper company promotion. "Based on the concept of a Texas Brag Map, the poster elucidates the worldview that everything is bigger and better in the Lone Star State." "It’s part of our Texas heritage and our collective sense of humor," explains Stout. "My apologies to the other smaller, less interesting states on the map.” Check it out on the Pentagram blog.
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Music/Film: “The Hardcore Troubadour” And The Last Episode of The Wire. Ever.
Tonight's the last episode of the fifth and final season of HBO's The Wire. Best show on TV. Period. In case ya haven't seen it, Steve Earle has had a reoccurring roll as "Walon", a recovering addict who befriends "Bubbles" and becomes his sponsor. Check out this article in the New Yorker on Earle from June '07 when he was workin' on his latest album "Washington Square Serenade." Earle also did an ass-kickin' version of Tom Waits' "Way Down In A Hole" for this season. (The Song That Never Ends.) You can hear the song on Steve Earle's MySpace page. And here's a link for his upcoming shows. He also has a great show on Sirius Satellite radio on Outlaw Country (channel 63) on Saturdays at 8 p.m. Here's this week's playlist:
As Tears Go By -Marianne Faithful
Wild Horses -The Flying Burrito Bros
Satisfaction -Otis Redding
Dead Flowers -Steve Earle and the Dukes
Tumblin' Dice -Linda Ronstadt
Beast of Burden -Bette Midler
Ruby Tuesday -Melanie
Sympathy for the Devil -Bryan Ferry
Bittersweet Symphony -The Verve
19th Nervous Breakdown -Jason & The Scorchers
Street Fightin' Man -Rod Stewart
Honky Tonk Woman -Tina Turer
Sister Morphine -Marianne Faithful
Check this out:
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