Playlist: December 26, 2012

Rev. J.M. Gates, Did You Spend Christmas Day in Jail?
The Youngsters, Christmas in Jail
Leroy Carr, Christmas In Jail (Ain't That A Pain)
Doug Legacy and the Legends of the West, Christmas in Prison
Jimmy McCracklin, Christmas Time Pt.1
Bob Dylan, Christmas Island

The Orioles, What Are You Doing New Years Eve
Slim Jenkins, Black Coffee and Burnt Toast
     Mon 12/31 @ Local Edition
Quinn DeVeaux & The Blue Beat Review, All Night Long
Gaucho, Deep Night
     Mon 12/31 @ Bimbo's 365 Club
Brass Menažeri, Doppio Macchiato
     Mon 12/31 @ Ashkenaz
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Backatown
     Sat-Mon 12/29-31 @ The Fillmore
Con Brio, The Battle of San Francisco (live)
     Fri 12/28 @ Main Street Brewery
     Sat 12/29 @ Disco Volante
     Mon 12/31 @ Boom Boom Room
Tommy Castro & The Painkillers, Greedy
     Fri 12/28 @ Moe's Alley
     Mon 12/31 @ Mystic Theater
Kim Nalley, Goin' To New York
     Wed-Mon 12/26-31 @ Rrazz Room
Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Winter Wonderland
     Sat 12/29 @ Speisekammer
     Sun 12/30 @ Club Fox
     Mon 12/31 @ Chez Spencer

Robert Randolph & The Family Band, I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama
     Sat 12/29 @ The Independent
Elvin Bishop, Get Your Hand Out Of My Pocket
     Sat 12/29 @ Center For The Arts
John Németh, Magic Touch (live)
     Sun 12/30 @ Biscuits and Blues
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, The Legend of Taco Cobbler
     Fri 12/28 @ Biscuits and Blues
John Lee Hooker Jr,  Listen to the Music
     Mon 12/31 @ Biscuits and Blues

Joe Louis Walker, Ten More Shows To Play (live)
Cab Calloway, Corrine Corrina
Johnny Otis Orchestra, Happy New Year, Baby
Staples Singers, Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas
Odetta, Livin' With the Blues
Donna Summer, I Feel Love
Tom Waits, New Year's Eve

Playlist: December 19, 2012

Christmas Jug Band, Dirty Claus Rag
     Fri-Sat 12/21-22 @ Sweetwater Music Hall
Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, He Is Great (A New Song)
     Mon 12/24 @ Slim's
Hot Club of San Francisco, Baby, It's Cold Outside
     Thu 12/20 @ Yoshi's Oakland
Gaucho, Tico Tico
     Thu 12/20 @ Yoshi's Oakland
Bob Dylan, Must Be Santa

Special in-studio guests: Slim Jenkins

     Sat 12/22 @ Cafe du Nord: Vagabond Lovers Club 
     Mon 12/31 @ Local Edition 

Funky Bug (in-studio)
Devil Blues (in-studio)
Old Joe's Hittin' The Jug (in-studio)
Varetta Dillard, That's Why I Cry
The Cues, Why
Devil Eyes (in-studio)
Coal Miner (in-studio)
Buttermilk Baby (in-studio)
You Know Yeah (in-studio)

Professor Longhair, Mess Around / Hey Now Baby
Professor Longhair, Tipitina
Irma Thomas, Same Old Blues
Hugh Laurie, Tipitina
Allen Toussaint, Egyptian Fantasy

Gary US Bonds, Christmas Is On
     from the new album Christmas is ON!
David Gogo, Let's Get a Real Tree
     from the new album Christmas With The Blues
Fathead, Santa's Drunk
     from the new album Santa's Got Mojo 2 - An Electro-Fi Christmas Blues Celebration
Fats Waller, Swingin' Them Jingle Bells
Blind Lemon Jefferson, Christmas Eve Blues
Jimmy Witherspoon, How I Hate To See Xmas Come Around
Big Joe Turner, Christmas Date Boogie
Rev. A.W. Nix, Begin a New Life On Christmas Day - Part 1

Playlist: December 12, 2012

Speckled Red, The Dirty Dozen No. 2
Kokomo Arnold, The Twelves (The Dirty Dozens)
Tin Cup Serenade, Christmastime in San Francisco
     Thu 12/13 @ Rite Spot Cafe
Christmas Jug Band, Jug Band Romance
     Fri 12/14 @ Freight & Salvage
     Sat 12/15 @ Raven Theater
     Sun 12/16 @ Don Quixote's International Music Hall
Jeremiah Lockwood, Ethan Miller, and Luther Dickinson, Dreidel
     Sat 12/15 @ Brick & Mortar: 'Twas the Last Night of Hanukkah

Special in-studio guests: Lavay Smith & Chris Siebert

     Thu 12/13 @ Yoshi's Oakland: The Magic of Duke Ellington

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues
Ella Fitzgerald, Caravan
Ella Fitzgerald, Bli-Blip
Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra, That's The Blues, Old Man
Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra, Kissing Bug
The Harlem Footwarmers, Rockin' In Rhythm
Duke Ellington, What Can A Poor Fellow Do?
Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

Howell Devine, Train
     Sat 12/15 @ The New Parish
     Tue 12/18 @ Biscuits and Blues
California Honeydrops, When It Was Wrong (live)
     Thu 12/13 @ Palms Playhouse
     Fri 12/14 @ Mystic Theatre
     Sat 12/15 @ The New Parish
Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ruby, Are You Mad At Your Man?
John Németh, You're An Angel (live)
Joe Louis Walker, Movin' On
Paula Harris, Turn On The Naughty
Tim & Nicki Bluhm, Reno, Nevada
     Sat 12/15 @ Uptown Theatre
Maria Muldaur, I Am Not Alone
     Sat-Sun 12/15-16 @ Rrazz Room
Big Mama Thornton, Hound Dog (Take 1)
Kinky Friedman, We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You
     Sun 12/16 @ Moe's Alley
     Tue 12/18 @ Cafe du Nord

Playlist: December 5, 2012

Dave Brubeck, Lullaby
Jay McShann & Dave Brubeck, Mission Ranch Blues
     Dave Brubeck (1920-2012)
Taj Mahal, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
     Sat 12/08 @ Uptown Theatre
     Sun 12/09 @ Center For The Arts
Slim Jenkins, Your Voodoo Workin'
     Sun 12/09 @ Amnesia
Meshugga Beach Party, Hot Rod Hanukkah
     Tue 12/11 @ Yoshi's Oakland

Special in-studio guest: David Katznelson, The Idelsohn Society

     Sat 12/15 @ Brick & Mortar: 'Twas the Last Night of Hanukkah

Ray Brenner and Barry E. Blitzer, The Problem 
Jeremiah Lockwood, Ethan Miller, and Luther Dickinson, Dreidel
Woody Guthrie, Hanukkah Dance
Theo Bikel, Sweetest Dreams Be Thine
The Ames Brothers, I Got A Cold For Christmas
Mickey Katz, Grandma's Dreidel
Cantor David Putterman, Rock Of Ages
Temple B'Nai Abraham Children's Choir, Svivon Sov Sov Sov
The Ramones,  Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonite)
     from the new album 'Twas the Night Before Hanukkah: The Musical Battle Between Christmas and the Festival of Lights

Sonny Boy Williamson, Santa Claus
Sonny Boy Williamson, V-8 Ford / Stormy Monday
Bob Dylan, Don't Start Me Talkin'
Tom Waits, Satisfied
Little Richard, Rip It Up
Ruth Brown, R.B. Blues
Karina Denike, I Never Cared
     Fri 12/07 @ Club Deluxe
Awna Teixeira, Little Piggy
     Thu 12/06 @ Golden State Theatre
     Sat 12/08 @ Poplar Playhouse
The Tragically Hip, Boots or Hearts
     Mon 12/10 @ The Fillmore
Luther Dickinson, Death Comes On Wings of Crepe

The Vocal Art of Bob Dylan

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by Chloe Veltman for an episode of her KALW program VoiceBox. The subject was "The Many Voices of Bob Dylan," an idea that grew out of a conversation at the PRPD conference in Las Vegas a couple of months ago. Although it was my first time as a feature-interview subject (not to mention the first time putting my years of Dylan scholarship on public display), it didn't turn out half bad. The episode aired last week, but you can stream it here:

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Inside The National Recording Registry: Love, "Forever Changes"

A radio feature I produced about the 1967 album Forever Changes by the L.A. group Love airs nationally this weekend on PRI's Studio 360:

I began this project with what felt like less skin in the game than last year's feature on Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica (Tom Waits interview, anyone?), though in both cases I was only peripherally familiar with most of the music at the outset. The production journey was significantly shorter than last year, but at the end of the day similarly enlivening. Here's more information from Studio 360's website:

The year 1967 saw the release of two psychedelic pop masterpieces — one globally famous (the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper), the other nearly forgotten: Forever Changes, by Love. Sometimes referred to as Arthur Lee’s Love, it was one of the first mixed-race bands — “still to this day, you don’t see many bands like that,” notes Maria McKee, the younger sister of Love member Bryan McLean. “If we had been an all-black group,” recalls guitarist Johnny Echols, “we would have been typecast as a blues group or an R&B group, and we didn’t want that.” 

Like Sgt. Pepper, Forever Changes was an eclectic record that mixed different '60s elements with symphonic ambitions, including fully orchestrated horn and string sections. McLean and Arthur Lee — both dead now — wrote and sang lead, McLean bringing the folk-rock influence he had acquired as a road manager for The Byrds. But Forever Changes made little impression at the time. Its undercurrent of darkness and paranoia may not have suited the Summer of Love, and it was certainly overshadowed by the Beatles’ great watershed. 

But it was in Britain that Forever Changes found its audience, as Maria McKee saw firsthand many years later. “When I was in my band [1980s country rock group] Lone Justice and we performed the first time in London, that was pretty much all anybody wanted to talk about — Love.”  As a new generation of American musicians and fans of ‘freak folk’ has rediscovered the lesser-known 1960s, Forever Changes’ reputation continues to rise. 

The record was selected for the National Recording Registry in 2012. Telling its story are Johnny Echols, Maria McKee, and the record’s producer, Bruce Botnick.