@bdp24 - Great story! Thanks for sharing. Los Straitjackets plays in the area frequently, as Eddie Angel was born in Albany NY. Aforementioned dive bar is in Troy NY (best chicken wings in the entire area, but I'm biased) and has a small concert venue across the street called Hangar on The Hudson. Quite a few interesting acts pass through those doors - NRBQ, Commander Cody, JD McPherson, The Cactus Blossoms, etc. Not bad for a capacity of 250.
Mazzy loves Little Feat!
If you don’t (yet), her’s a primer on this great American musical institution:
https://youtu.be/Vsa3iaTKu3A?t=475
While I’m at it, here’s another. Well, 3/4th’s American anyway; Nick Lowe is English. Little Village (just a coincidence ;-) live is one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. One of the few "Super Groups" (John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, Jim Keltner) who in my book actually lives up to that title. Their single album was a disappointment, they were better as a group on John Hiatt’s fantastic Bring The Family album. Here they are on The Tonight Show, the only time I can remember in which the musical guest is given the time to perform two songs:
- ...
- 42 posts total
@palasr: Now THAT’S a hip club! NRBQ came through Portland a while back, sounding great as ever. Back when the albums were new Pete really liked the first Nick Lowe album, but I liked his second more. Dave Edmunds had become involved with Nick by then, to the benefit of both of them (Dave isn’t a songwriter, but he’s a hell of a guitarist and producer). Actually, on Dave’s second album (Subtle As A Flying Mallet) each LP side ends with a live cut, with Dave being backed by The Brinsley Schwarz Band at a club in Wales (Dave is Welsh), of which Nick was the bassist. And then Nick and Dave did Rockpile together. Now THERE was a band! The last time I saw Nick live was at The Pantages Theater in Hollywood (a great Art Deco room), with his regular (at that time) band, all English guys. The reason he engages the services of The Straitjackets now is that they and he are both on Yep Rock Records, a great label with a fantastic roster of artists. Also on the bill at the Pantages were Dann Penn & Spooner Oldham, who were just as wonderful as you may imagine. Quite a night of hearing superior songs being played and sung! |
Oh, and speaking of JD McPherson, I’ve been meaning to check him out for a while now. Seeing (and more importantly hearing) him playing lead guitar in the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss videos finally propelled me to pick up his Undivided Heart & Soul LP. Haven’t listened to it yet. I still love the clubs, which thankfully is where most of the artists I want to hear perform. That and small theaters. |
Little Feat is my all-time favorite band. Unfortunately I was never able to see them with Lowell George but saw them many times during the mid-80s Texas Twister era. Incredible musicianship and they gave you your money's worth. One of my most prized possessions is a 50 cent thrift store copy of Feets Don't Fail Me Now that is a Warner Brothers white label test pressing. It doesn't sound like anything else I own and I have over 2,000 albums. I love it so much that it has a slight Warp and I can't bring myself to have it repaired for fear of something bad happening. The Rhino reissues are intriguing but I have not bought anything on Rhino in many years because I had a run of bad luck with terrible pressings. I had to return three copies in a row of the Grateful Dead American Beauty album due to dirt pressed into the album as well as skips and pops. Perhaps their quality control is better now but for the money I am leery. |
@lordmelton you might enjoy giving this a listen from Internet Archive. A SBD boot of Little Feat Live at London's Rainbow Theatre on 1977-08-02 w/ Tower of Power. Performed 4 or 5 nights after the Newcastle shows. |
- 42 posts total