23 February 2012

Download Allman Brothers Band, Cow Palace, San Francisco 12-31-73


A weird choice, I know, but I got to get Southern fried for the next few weeks. South of Louisville, south of Nashville. I got to get down to the home of the blues. I got to walk the walk that old Robert Johnson did before he had them hellhounds on his trail. I'm talking 'bout the Delta. The Motherland. The navel of the earth.

Over the next few weeks I got to be Johnny Cash kicking out the lights of the Grand Old Opry. I got to be Duane Allman screaming through Macon on his bike. I got to be on my knees at the intersection of 49 and 61 to see what the devil can do for me.

I'm talking 'bout black-eye peas and greens and cornbread and a pint glass filled to the tippity top with a corn liquor. Slide guitars and mudbugs.

I'm talking about the next installment of Preston Black's little journey. And I can't wait to see what the fuck happens.

Set the mood with a little Allman Brothers from Sugarmegs.

Allman Brothers Band
Cow Palace, San Francisco 12-31-73

101-Intro
102-Wasted Words
103-Done Somebody Wrong
104-One Way Out
105-Stormy Monday
106-Midnight Rider
107-Blue Sky
108-In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
201-Countdown To Midnight
202-Statesboro Blues
203-Southbound
204-Interlude
205-Come And Go Blues
206-Ramblin Man
207-Trouble No More
208-Jessica
209-Les Brers In A Minor Pt 1
210-Drum Solo
211-Les Brers In A Minor Pt 2
212-Les Brers In A Minor Pt 3
213-Whipping Post
214-Linda Lou - Mary Lou
215-You Upset Me - Hideaway Jam
216-Bo Diddley

21 February 2012

Download Led Zeppelin, Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 21, 1970

     I bought a slide, an old Coricidin bottle like Duane Allman used. But when I tried to get into Elmore James and Muddy Waters, I ended up with a bunch of CDs I never listened to more than once or twice. Being a white kid growing up in a patch house on the outskirts of Morgantown, West Virginia, the blues may as well have been N.W.A. or Public Enemy. I thought Jeff'd steered me wrong.
     So I started hitting record stores like Charlie Watts hit Mick Jagger after that 5am wake-up call. I knew my personal thread through the music went deeper, and I was more than just an orphan who'd been passed around like a bottle of Boone's. Music made me all too keenly aware that I could be more than my guidance counselors ever expected me to be. I had my own roots and didn't have to buy into somebody else's past or culture to feel complete. I didn't know nothing about my mom or dad, but I knew I was conceived to Led Zeppelin III and I knew when I finally kicked it, I'd kick with a guitar in my hands.

Download the show at Sugarmegs

Led Zeppelin
"Mudslide" (Pre-bootleg source) [The Diagrams Of Led Zeppelin Vol.44]
Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC, Canada March 21, 1970

Perhaps the earliest Led Zeppelin bootleg to be produced was the forty minute soundboard fragment from the first show of their fifth tour of north America: a very cool listen.
 
01 Heartbreaker
02 Organ Improv./Thank You
03 What Is & What Should Never Be
04 Communication Breakdown/Ramble On
05 We're Gonna Groove
06 Since I've Been Loving You
07 Whole Lotta Love (middle cut)

20 February 2012

Download Eddie Vedder, University Of California Berkeley, Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley, CA, April 7, 2008 (aka 2012, I'm trying not to hate you.)


So, there was about a minute way back in January when I thought I'd put together a post about my 2012 spiritual mentor/guru, kind of like I did with Joe Strummer about this time last year. Having somebody to 'emulate' felt kind of nice, like I could follow a path somebody else laid down since it sometimes felt like I was doing this in the dark. I wrote a little about Strummer's independence, especially during his time with the 101ers, when they had to use improvised mic stands and speaker cabinets because they were flat broke and how that didn't let that stop them from playing.

Don't get me wrong, I have many personal acquaintances from Seton Hill and Pennwriters who have gone down a path to publication, and I'm not trying to paint myself as a maverick, or whatever. But this is the first time I'VE done it. When I formatted my eBook there wasn't anybody to consult because nobody I knew was really doing eBooks. When it came time to get a real book cover I didn't have anybody to discuss it with because that's the kind of thing a publisher takes care of, not the writer.

So knowing that guys like Strummer made mistakes on their path made me feel like the mistakes I made were okay too.

This year I was leaning toward Eddie Vedder as a guy to 'emulate.' Pearl Jam has been around for 20 years, and they did a lot of crazy things that were motivated by a strong personal ethos. They fought Ticketmaster (and lost) and tried to organize their own shows at non-Ticketmaster venues. They ended up being a band that put their fans first, and built a very loyal following by doing so. I guess ultimately I liked that they worked hard, and that it paid off in a way that let them pursue the music they wanted to pursue.

But in the end, this is really just a post about how shitty my year has been so far. On January 3 a kid flew around a blind corner and nailed us, putting our car up on a guardrail and causing a lot of body damage. Then the following Monday my doctor called and said I had polyps in my gallbladder and I'm going to have to have that plucked out. Spent the remainder of the month in pain, afraid everything I ate was going to make me sick. 

So, Eddie, what do you say? How do I tackle this one?

On June 30, 2000, Pearl Jam was playing the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Nine fans were crushed or suffocated as the crowd surged toward the stage. The band cancelled the rest of its European Tour and retreated to America. A few months later they started a North American tour, prompting Vedder to say that "...playing, facing crowds, being together—it enabled us to start processing it."(Not that my situation is comparable, by any means.)

But it was good advice. So I'm back in the new book. Tallying a new word count. Reading and researching like I haven't done in years.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Eddie Vedder
University Of California Berkeley, Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley, CA, April 7, 2008


Walking The Cow-(Daniel Johnston)
Around The Bend
I Am Mine
Dead Man Walking
I’m Open
Man Of The Hour
Setting Forth
Guaranteed
No Ceiling
Far Behind
Rise
Millworker (James Taylor)
Goodbye
Satellite
Drifting
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (Lennon, McCartney)
Here’s To The State (Phil Ochs)
Trouble (Cat Stevens)
If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (Cat Stevens)
Parting Ways
Forever Young (Bob Dylan)
Porch
Society With Jerry Hannan (Jerry Hannan)
Growin’ Up (Bruce Springsteen)
Lukin
No More
Arc
Hard Sun With Liam Finn, Ej And Jerry Hannan (Gordon Peterson)