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Posts Tagged ‘Tommy James and the Shondells’

Spinning 45s :: “Crimson and Clover”

Posted in music, tagged on January 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

crimson
Since the birth of our second child… Coral and I have been in the house a lot more (for her, its even more dramatic…I go to work).

All this home time has increased the amount I watch TV but also the amount of music I’ve been listening to.  It’s been great dusting off some old records and exploring new ones.  January is also the #januaryrecordaday thing on Instagram which has given me one more excuse to engage with my music.

Last night, the goal was to post a picture of a record you have purchased form a used bin.  I chose Tommy James and The Shondells‘ 1968 hit, “Crimson and Clover.”

I love this song times infinity.

I found myself sitting on the couch spacing out and drifting off to this song.  Now it was on 45… so it would always end… that would force me to stir, get off the couch and drop the needle on the start, one more time.

Go with yourself.

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the special love I had for you… my baby blue

Posted in music, tagged , , , , on September 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Breaking bad-meth
So how about that Breaking Bad finale last night?

I was reading in Spin about one of the songs used…a sorta forgotten gem from the British group Badfinger.

One of the final scenes involved a song called “Baby Blue.”

It was a nice song. Fit the vibe.  The band themselves have a tragic story.  I think that back story adds to the gravity of the final episode of Breaking Bad.

OK… so “Baby Blue,” Blue Sky meth, I get it….but in Spin they were talking about using other blue-ish type songs on the soundtrack, like Tommy James and The Shondells‘ “Crystal Blue Persuasion.”  Now there is a 1969 song I can get behind!

It didn’t take long to find this beauty cover by Morcheeba.

and here’s the original for you. YOUTUBE

Go with yourself.

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Playing 45s // Tommy James and Teresa Brewer

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , on May 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Messing around with 45s I tracked down today, I wanted to share with you.

I am sure if I keep jamming out 45s and records as my collection grows, I’ll come up with a craftier name, but for now I present, PLAYING 45s! nice.

I just finished reading Tommy James‘ biography ‘Me, The Mob, and The Music‘ and became inspired to try and collect some of these 45s that Tommy talks about in his book.

In Victoria, there is a little used record store called Turntable in Fan Tan Alley. I didn’t think he’d actually have any original Roulette 45s… but sure enough he had a few (and said he might have more in storage) so I snapped what i could afford and brought them back to the radio station to record and share with you.

The dude also threw in a record from a label called Coral… b/c my wife’s name is Coral and I liked the label, turns out, this is a pretty romantic early 50s song too.

I hope you enjoy and thank you for taking the time to listen.

CLICK TO LISTEN: Playing 45s // Tommy James and Teresa Brewer

***

Now I’ll need like a collector album or 45 box for my budding collection of 45s!  The guy has some at Turntable but doesn’t sell.  eBay has some for alright prices… but I hate ordering stuff off eBay, I’d rather track something down in Victoria if I can and pay cash for product.  So if you have one or know of one for sale, let me know.

Go with yourself.

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History’s Mechanical Marvel!

Posted in history 101, music, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 25, 2010| 2 Comments »

Last weekend in Victoria was busy.  There was the parade, the hordes of American band nerds, the cruise ships and holidayers, personally I had a wedding to attend and DJ and then there were the kids dressed as olden tyme Victorians crossed with Mad-Max.  Steampunks.

Taking my grandparents for a stroll around Victoria I noticed some Goth looking kids all dolled up in frilly dresses and corsets.  one person commented that it might grad attire for a local highschool and we left it at that.

Later that night I was DJing at the Veneto Lounge and Miss Rosie Bitts stopped in for a cocktail and bite after a gig.  She had just performed at the Empress Hotel for Victoria’s first Steampunk Expo!

Wow, I wish I had heard of it earlier, seemed very cool.  It might be hard for me to explain here, real nerd stuff, but check out the wikipedia on Steampunk if you are curious.

While trolling the world of steampunk I discovered a story about a robot named Boilerplate.

The idea of steampunk is that is a fantasy or alternate history type of story where the technologies of the Victorian and Edwardian age either live on or information technology is “invented” at an earlier time.  Think a steam powered computer for example?

Boilerplate is the story of a robot build in 1893.  History’s Mechanical Marvel, created to end human causalities during conflicts between nations!

Watch the trailer.

When Paul Guinan created Boilerplate as an online project back in 2000, it seemed so real that many people actually believed that some mad scientist invented Boilerplate!

Check out the website.

At the top of this post is a picture of Boilerplate from the album cover of Stars’ 2008 digital ep, Sad Robots.

Neat.

I wanted to know more about Steampunk music… but what I unearthed, was… well terrible.

Some group called Abney Park… oy vey.  Super cheeseball and they seem more interested in selling brass goggles and t-shirts than crafting some unique music.

And yet the idea of what steampunk music might sound like to me is fairly intriguing.  I might stew on that a bit to hear some elements that might soundtrack a Steampunk Space Exploration!

I am sure it will include this jump-point song.

***

I do loves me some Tommy James and Shondells!  Yesterday, god bless Pol Plastino and his lovely lady Hannah.  Hannah works at Chapters and was able to track down a copy of Tommy James’ biography; Me, The Mob, and the Music.

So far so good.  There will be lots of inspiration for a new playlist to develop for my lounge sets at The Veneto.  This Wednesday night is the one year anniversary of the Rialto Hotel and the Veneto Lounge and I think I’ll base a set list on AM Top 40 radio of the early to mid-60s with some b-sides and interesting selections from Roulette Records.  I’ll need to take some notes tonight and track down some songs to mix into my standard weekend fare of Motown, Atlantic Records, Standards and Northern Soul jams.

There is a lot going on with Roulette so it might take some time to suss out the gems.

Go with yourself.

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