Old Man ZZ

I recently came into a large collection of ZZ Top albums and have been listening to little bit at a time. I counted over a dozen studio albums in their discography. Personally, I’d consider myself to be from the “Eliminator” generation — you know, the red 1933 Ford coupe, the chicks, MTV videos, etc.

The particular song for this blog entry is called “Old Man” and was on “ZZ Top’s First Album.” I never owned this record, but this track is one I’ve been replaying. I’d describe it as a dreamy or etheral slow blues.

To my ears, I hear two electric guitars on the track. I believe one is in standard tuning and I would guess the other (slide guitar) is in Open G tuning, but I could be wrong. All three members of the band share the songwriting credits on this one.

It’s interesting to see the likeness of the band on the backside of the album. It’s almost like this was before they were the ZZ Top a lot of us know and love — that is the well-known “brand” with the beards and moustache we all associate with them. You still hear the familiar bluesy guitar and mumbly vocals of Billy Gibbons. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

As the Crow Flies, Volume Two

In case you missed the award winning blog entry of Volume One, I decided to share some versions and info on a song called “Crow Jane”. The original version of the tune is credited to Piemont Blues musician Julius Daniels. One interesting thing is Daniels starts with the Crow Jane lyric and then goes into “Red River Blues”, which is opposite to the Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry version shared in Volume One.

I haven’t seen a lot of info on Julius Daniels, but I haven’t done that much research on him. In any event, I think you have to give him credit for this song. It’s been around for a while and I think it will stay around longer. Case in point… Kansas City native Samantha Fish has several versions out there including this solo slide acoustic guitar thing on a gondola.

Fish’s version contains a line about digging CJ’s grave with a silver spade, which I think is some cool imagery. Maybe she can come back to KC And do a version on the new ferris wheel downtown. Just a thought.

If you prefer more grit, cigar box guitar, or more electricity, this live version from 2017 is a safe bet.

If I ever meet Fish, I’ll have to ask her how she got turned on to this song. There are other more falsetto-ish versions by artists like Skip James and Derek Trucks. I think Nick Cave has a version of it, too.

It’s interesting how different all of these interpretations are, but the song is still blues no matter how you slice it.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

As the Crow Flies, Volume One

I can’t say I’ve been too inspired to blog this summer, but I’ve been meaning to write about this song for some time and it deserves a post. If memory serves me correctly, the first time I heard “Crow Jane” was via YouTube. One of my favorite versions is this one by Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, which also features the tune “Red River Blues” on the front end. It’s almost like Brownie’s straight ahead delivery is the setup for Sonny’s whoops.

One of my uncles had at least one of this duo’s records. They recorded tons of Piedmont Blues and old folk songs, spirituals, etc. Country blues might be the best label you could put on them. If you’d rather cut the crap and just into the whooping, there’s a a version of “Crow Jane” Sonny Terry recorded with the likes of Johnny Winter and Willie Dixon.

I suppose the song’s meaning is open to interpretation, but most versions seem to start by mentioning Crow Jane’s head is held a little higher than everyone else’s. Some of the brief amount of research I’ve done suggests Crow Jane was a murdered prostitute, but that’s a little grim. Instead, I could end by saying it has a good beat and is easy to dance to.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Redbox Over Yonder?

It’s a sad day for renters of DVDs. Redbox is closing up shop… or folding its tents…or boxes…or kiosks… or whatever. Admittedly, I can’t remember the last time I rented a DVD from Redbox or anywhere else for that matter; however, the idea of a vending machine styled movie rental unit is pretty stinking awesome.

There used to be a few different locations where I rented. A couple of Redboxes were inside McDonald’s restaurants, one was outside of a Walgreens, and one was outside of a 7-Eleven. Did Redbox target slaves to convenience like myself? It’s kind of interesting to think how specific films are forever attached to that delivery system. In its honor, I’m including two relevant songs. First, is “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix. For some reason, I thought this was a cover, but it was actually written by Jimi himself.

Second, I’m including “Man in the Box” by Alice in Chains. I think MTV overplayed the official video during the 90s so, instead, I’m including a lyrics video.

I don’t know why, but I always resist whatever is the current “trendy” thing. Listening to this song now, I can actually enjoy it. AIC lead guitarist Jerry Cantrell developed a great Wah-laden riff for this song. You can hear him singing the response vocal to lead singer Layne Staley’s call. Some might call this grunge or doom-rock. I think it works.

Getting back to Redbox, here’s what I remember: First, renting a Redbox DVD had an implication of speed — it was kind of like an ATM machine for renting films. You had to make your selection pretty quickly or the person waiting to return their videos would get aggravated. (That, and they were probably in a hurry to return their DVDs without late fees.) Second, at some point, I realized I should spend what little time I had selecting films with actors I liked. The one film I remember selecting based on my method was “Red Lights” starring the likes of Robert DeNiro, Siguourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy, and one of the Olsen Twins. I recommend this supernatural thriller.

The actual Redbox container reminds me a bit of a phone booth. Maybe I was hoping Clark Kent would pop in some time and pop out as Superman. I’d love to say more, but I need to return about a dozen DVDs to avoid late fees.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon.

Red, White, & Blue-Neck

It’s officially America’s Independence Day. BOO-YAH!! In your face, rest of the known world! We’re red, white, and blue and we kick ass. That’s just a little bit of the whole American attitude, right?

What does the 4th of July mean to me? One random memory I have from growing up American during the 1970s is not only the Bicentennial, but Red, White, & Blue brand beer. Apparently, the style of can was the original pop top with removable razor sharp tab. I wonder if we could bring those back.

For better or for worse 2024 is an election year. Ironically, I saw a political ad while previewing Ace Frehley’s Hendrix-ish take on “The Star Spangled Banner.”

I’m already tired of all of the political commercials, the disagreements of view points, but that’s part of life in the “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A.” Perhaps our elected officials could take a lesson from David Spade (aka Joe Dirt). They just need to crack open some Red, White, and Blue beer…then try to agree which fireworks are the most ‘Murican.

Good times. One thing I noticed this year is the overwhelming number of fireworks stands where I live. I’m not complaining, but I just don’t remember seeing the NUMBER of them in years past. Perhaps my memory has sustained damage from the combo of drinking beer while shooting off fireworks and listening to rock n’ roll — perhaps America’s greatest invention.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Broken Hearted Zeppelin

Do you remember where and when you first HEARD the music of Led Zeppelin? I remember seeing a poster or tapestry of the band at my cousins’ house before I actually heard them. (The red double neck Gibson guitar was a memorable image. ) My freshman year in high school, there were two guys in my class who were both absolutely fanatical about the band. As a matter of fact, I can remember walking into the school building first thing one morning, and one of those guys was singing/humming/air guitaring the riff to a song off Led Zeppelin II — “Heartbreaker.”

If you think I jumped on the bandwagon because of them, you’re wrong. I was actually quite put off by their loyalty. (For the record, one guy was kind of a big oaf who was into photography and the other had a sort denture-ish lisp. I could duplicate it really well.) In any event, I was just getting into music at that age and bought Led Zeppelin II (AKA “The Brown Bomber”) and it ROCKED. LZ II is up there on my favorite albums list. My college roommate can tell you I played that “Heartbreaker” guitar riff a lot when I was first getting started.

I read a quote from LZ lead singer Robert Plant about how “lyrics weren’t his strong suit” or something like that. I suppose some are better than others, but I find myself quoting one line from “Heartbreaker” a lot.

Then the power chords from the song kick in after that line. To me, the song is epic. Jimmy Page’s riff and solo, Plant’s wailing vocals, and the rhythm section of Jones and Bonham. All 4 band members are credited with writing thise one.

The A.O.R. (Album Oriented Rock) station I grew up listening to played this and always followed it the “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)”, but I think “Heartbreaker” stands on it own. Also, I owned the CASSETTE version of LZ II and it didn’t segue into that song.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

El Otro Azucar Moreno

I was driving around today listening to some electric guitar driven music and thinking about how some people aren’t into “electric” music. That’s just sad. I was listening to a song called “Brown Sugar”, but it’s not the one by The Rolling Stones. It’s the one by that lil old band from Texas — ZZ Top. Originally it was on “ZZ Top’s First Album” in 1971.

If you know your electric blues, you’ll hear the obvious influence of Muddy Waters’ “Catfish Blues” during the intro. “Catfish Blues” was also recorded by Jimi Hendrix. You’ll also hear a similarity to the Hendrix tune “Foxy Lady” around the 1:35-1:40 mark.

You have to give ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons credit. His guitar style may be blues-based or “derivative”, but his voice is 100% original. Their first album was recorded in Tyler, Texas with producer Bill Ham. (I heard this particular song today on ZZ Top’s “One Foot in the Blues” album.)

It’s interesting to think about how much the blues influenced many bands like not only ZZ Top, but also The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Peter Green version of Fleetwood Mac, and more. I think you may be able to hear the geographical differences between ZZ Top and the aforementioned bands in Gibbons’ singing. ZZ Top would continue to create lots more great blues-based boogie rock. By the way, “brown sugar” is a reference to the drug heroin in case you’ve never heard that.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Hoppin’ w/ Billy Jack & Bong

My last blog entry about Chuck Norris film “The Octagon” got me thinking about martial arts in film. When I was growing up, most ‘Muricans thought of martial arts all as “karate” , but that’s just slightly generic. It gets confusing in terms of countries of origin and the different names of the styles. The first time I heard of the Korean style “Hapkido” was in college when a friend of mine and I trained together in another Korean style called Tae Kwon Do. Hapkido incorporates a lot of throws and wrist locks…what people think of as self-defense as well as the “spin kick.” Its most famous portrayal on film was in the Billy Jack series of films starting Tom Laughlin. The guy who actually did all of the spin kicks, etc. was Hapkido Master Bong Soo Han.

While the pronunciation is usually “hap” it’s sometimes pronounced “hop” so I’m including Danny and the Juniors.

Getting back to the world of Hapkido, there are a couple of other things that stand out in my mind. One is the black gi/uniform that features the criss cross white stripes on it. You don’t see it in the video here, but they’re out there. I actually received some training with the wooden cane which is also a Hapkido thing. It’s truly an unassuming, defensive concept, which I think is pretty cool.

Bong Soo Han also appeared as the villain in the ridiculous film called “Kentucky Fried Movie” (1977). Perhaps I’ll blog about that one some day.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon.

The Octagon…gon…gon…gon…

What’s the definition of irony? How about seeing a commercial for the Ninja brand food processor while watching a ninja movie? Yes, it actually happened to me. The movie in question is “The Octagon” (1980) starring Perennial, ‘Murican BadAss Chuck Norris. I remember seeing the trailer for this on TV when I was a kid and it looked pretty wild. Watching it many years later is a different ball game. It’s interesting to see the old cars, big hair, etc. There’s also the whole internal monologue whispering thing.

The style of this film reminded me a little bit of 80’s TV series “The A-Team”, which came out a few years later. I think it’s mainly the production and the background music. One distracting part of the film is the supermassive hairdo of Art Hindle, who plays Norris’s friend. His hair looks like a bad mating experiment involving Shaun Cassidy and a woolly mammoth. Also, his voice reminds me of Bob Crane (aka Colonel Hogan).

You’ll see some other familiar faces like Lee Van Cleef and Gerald Okamura. Gerald O. plays the sort of ninja wrangler and trainer. There’s this whole backstory about Norris having a long lost brother who is now is sworn enemy, fight scenes, and a final showdown. One creative scene cuts between Norris having sex with some chick while his sworn enemy does a kama (sickle) workout. Freaky!

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon…zon…zon…zon!

G’day, Carlos

For some reason the song “Winning” by Santana popped into my head recently and it made me think about a couple of things. Years ago I assumed guitar wizard Carlos Santana was the lead vocalist on the song, but he wasn’t. That was a revelation. The singer was actually a guy named Alex Ligertwood. I might have also incorrectly assumed Carlos wrote the song, but he didn’t. It was written by Russ Ballard. The song itself is a lot more pop than Santana’s better known bluesy or Latin-flavored songs.

I always liked the line “what I thought was love, that must have been lust.” I guess the song is about being on a hot streak. One thing I didn’t know until today is that Aussie country dude Keith Urban also recorded the song. I don’t really dig the first 20 seconds or so of his version, but the rest is pretty true to the song.

I wonder how many Russ Ballard covers feature the banjo on the intro? Here’s Ballard’s original version.

Ballard also wrote “You Can Do Magic” and “New York Groove”, but “Winning” is a good example of how different versions of the same song may reach all of us. Ballard is English. Urban is an Aussie. Santana is a Guitar God. Maybe Santana can start his own Aussie talk show called “G’day, Carlos.”

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!