Dancing Bears

Bear Stanley: Reflections on Life, LSD and DMT 

A few words of wisdom from Augustus Owsley Stanley III: 

Kind Tune of the Moment

The Temptations - Shakey Ground

The Temptations are pretty well known as likely the great Motown male vocal group, with classics like My Girl and The Way You Do the Things You Do. While listening to an extensive collection of Motown singles, which spanned over 50 CD's, their genius is evident. However, one track that wasn't included on this compilation, but rather appears on the Funk Box is Shakey Ground. The band had clearly evolved to keep up with the times, absorbing influences of the 70's funk movement, like George Clinton, Sly, Ohio Players, etc. Most people are familiar with their epic and much covered funk classic Papa Was a Rolling Stone (check Los Lobos version). But Shakey Ground brings the heavy funk. It was co-written by P-Funk guitar maestro Eddie Hazel, who plays guitar on the original:

Here's the somewhat different "disco edit:"

And a tripped out live version:

Here's a nice version by Fishbone, which includes some of the Chilli Peppers. Actually pretty good:

Bring the funk!

Freakin' at the Beacon

Allman Bros

In anticipation of their career culminating 45th anniversary and upcoming final run at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, I felt obliged to bump up this previous post, and include the above gif. Has anyone located the loving couple yet? If so, I've got free tickets for them to join me at one of the Beacon shows on 3/14 or 3/15. Bring your bandanas. One can dream. 

The recently released Live at the Beacon Theatre 1992, Play All Night, is an excellent performance of a pretty standard collection of tunes. But does it get any better than the rip roaring opening of Statesboro Blues or the Southern Gothic Psychedelia of Liz Reed? Hmm, hmm? No. It's out there on the internets.

What Deaner Was Talking About

Concerts for Hurricane Sandy

Nice download from Deaner:

Setlist:

 Dickie Betts
It’s Gonna Be a Long Night
1.0 Fuck No
Cracked Actor
Kick Out the Jams
Dragonfly
She Fucks Me
Fire on the Mountain
Piss up A Rope
Captain America
Superstar
High and Mighty
Moonage Daydream

Hurricane Sandy affected a lot of people in the NJ/NY area, some of my closest friends lost their homes and businesses as a result. There are thousands of others who I’ve never met that had it even worse, if that’s even possible. As a lifelong visitor and part-time resident of the NJ shore I felt that I should help out, the best way I know how was to hold some benefit concerts. I am blessed to be able to know and play with some of the finest musicians in the world and everyone I asked agreed to help out without hesitation. The first concert was at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ–the concert was on November 28, 2012. the show sold out well in advance and the music we made was inspired and amazing, I can’t say enough about the crowds either, everyone was so generous and turned a tragedy into a party for one special night. One year later I held another concert, this time on my home turf of Long Beach Island, NJ, this concert and auction to benefit the LBI Fall Classic, a 50 plus year old surf fishing derby which lost it’s funding directly due to Sandy. The 2nd concert was on Sunday, October 6 of 2013. this show again also sold out and featured a lot of familiar faces as well as some more friends. Sponsors came out of the woodwork to donate items to help raise even more money for the derby. Another magic night on an even bigger stage! Sadly, the struggle for my friends continues to this day, my best friend Nick Honachefsky still remains homeless almost 2 years later and the fishing community and other local residents and businesses still struggle to pick up the pieces. It may not be on the news everyday but the situation remains the same for many folks. To this end I’ve decided to make the highlights of these concerts available in a condensed version to the public–I’m also including a button to donate money to my friends if you’d like to, but you certainly don’t have to, there is no obligation on your part to do anymore, but I certainly won’t stop you if you’d like to help out. Rest assured the money will get to the right people and will be greatly appreciated. All I ask is that you please share this page and the music with others. The musicians are: Dean Ween, Guy Heller, Joe Kramer, Dave Dreiwitz, Bill Fowler, Glenn McClelland, Dave Carta, Claude Coleman, Ray Kubian, Chuck Treece, Chris Harford, Eric Slick, Scott Metzger, and Spencer Johnson. Special thanks to the great people at the Sea Shell Beach Club, Scott and Meg from the Saint, Margaret O’Brien, Jim Hutchinson, and Gabe Monago for donating their resources to us.  Follow the Paypal button to donate.

Update 2/23/14:

Deaner has a new webpage, and looks like he'll be touring and releasing material under the Dean Ween Group moniker (rather than the Mickey Melnchiodo Band, I suppose). He also did another benefit show the other night, which included a 37 minute version of Echoes. Pristine audio recording here:


Deaner also sat in with a Chicago based Ween cover band for a pair of shows over the past few months. Anxious to see him get out there and doing his thing.

Kind Tune of the Moment

Dion - A Teenager in Love

Released in 1959, A Teenager in Love shows the doo-wop influence on rock's early vocal groups. Without falling into trappings of schmaltz, melodrama, and overly saccharine wonder bread stylings so typical of the genre, Dion managed to bring something more authentic and interesting to the table. Teenager in Love ranks among the classics of the teenage love genre of the early rock era, along with like Ricky Nelson's Lonesome Town, The Beatles' Love Me Do, and The Everly Brothers' Wake Up Little Susie. While he's often classified as a 50's teen idol, his music and biography reveal something else altogether. He was on Buddy Holly and Richie Valen's fateful tour, but chose to take the bus rather than spend the excessive $36 on the plane ride. By 1960, Dion would check into rehab for heroin, an addiction he had since he was a teenager. He later went on to record more blues and folk based material, including popularizing the civil rights classic Abraham, Martin, & John. Other Dion classics include Runaround Sue, and The Wanderer, which he performed with Paul Simon at the 25th anniversary of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame concert., Simon clearly indebted to his doo-wop and pop sounds. A bit of nostalgia for a time and place that never really existed, but a clear window into the naive romanticism of a teenage boy.

Bill Fucking Murray

Ask Me Anything

How do you feel about recreational marijuana?

BillMurray

Well that's a large question, isn't it? Because you're talking about recreation, which everyone is in favor of. You are also talking about something that has been illegal for so many years, and marijuana is responsible for such a large part of the prison population, for the crime of self-medication. And it takes millions and billions of dollars by incarcerating people for this crime against oneself as best can be determined. People are realizing that the war on drugs is a failure, that the amount of money spent, you could have bought all the drugs with that much money rather than create this army of people and incarcerated people. I think the terror of marijuana was probably overstated. I don't think people are really concerned about it the way they once were. Now that we have crack and crystal and whatnot, people don't even think about marijuana anymore, it's like someone watching too many videogames in comparison. The fact that states are passing laws allowing it means that its threat has been over-exagerated. Psychologists recommend smoking marijuana rather than drinking if you are in a stressful situation. These are ancient remedies, alcohol and smoking, and they only started passing laws against them 100 years ago.