Even though Cocksucker Blues, Robert Frank’s legendary film of the Rolling Stones circa 1972, is routinely referred to as a “documentary,” that’s not quite accurate. Frank himself tips his hand right in the opening moments: “Except for the musical numbers the events depicted in this are fictitious. No representation of actual persons and events is [...]
Taken from the excellent Earl Scruggs: The Bluegrass Legend: Family and Friends — the 1972 flick that captures Scruggs and his two sons playing with the Byrds and Dylan, then taking a pilgrimage to Joan Baez’s Laurel Canyon home. Get your mind off the wintertime. words/ m garner
In December of 1978, Tom Waits recorded an episode of Austin City Limits. The now-mainstay music program was in its relative infancy – only its fourth season – and had built a solid fanbase of Americana music enthusiasts. As the ACL website notes: “…the show came in through the back door, so to speak. Terry [...]
(Videodrome is a recurring feature in which we highlight exceptional videos and/or performances.) Stop Making Sense may have the Big Suit, but if you’re looking for the pinnacle of live Talking Heads footage, I’d point you in the direction of this unbelievable show from Rome, 1980. Completing the Heads’ journey from minimalist to maximalist, it [...]
The grey curtain is starting to fall over the Upper Midwest, and in an effort to stave off winter’s cruel vibes, I’ve been spinning Desmond Dekker’s Super Best hits package. Here he is crossing through “Israelites” nine years after that song brought reggae and ska from the island to the isle, much to the mods’ [...]
In an effort to get away from the cycle of recording and touring, the Rolling Stones put together the Rock and Roll Circus in the winter of 1968, inviting along Taj Mahal, Jethro Tull (featuring Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi), Marianne Faithful, and a one-off supergroup called the Dirty Mac that was comprised of John Lennon, [...]
In his recent memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, Neil Young comes across this ancient Scopitone on YouTube. “I looked at it maybe twenty times in a row,” he writes. Why such interest in this fuzzy piece of video from the mid-60s? Because it’s a rare vision of Danny and the Memories, featuring Danny Whitten, Ralph Molina [...]
