Retro
Rolling Stone Says “Listen to Buddy Holly Tribute”
#rockabilly by Retro
In a previous post, I told you all about second Buddy Holly covers/tribute album which is set to be released on September 6th, 2011.
You can preview the entire album right now on Rolling Stone.
As I mentioned, this is different from the Rave On Buddy Holly tribute that came out in the spring. Listen to Me: Buddy Holly is being done with the cooperation of the family, was produced by Peter Asher and features interpretations by Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, The Fray, Zooey Deschanel, Jackson Browne, Natalie Merchant, Jeff Lynne, Brian Wilson and, of interest to rockabilly fans, Imelda May.
You can pre-order it at Amazon.com.
Retro Stories on NPR and More
#rockabilly by Retro
Self-described “sartorial nerd” (that’s a new term to me, but I like it!), Natalie Alcala surveyed Elvis as an object of style in Black Book. Fun perspective on the King, as presented in the Graceland exhibit, Elvis Presley: Fashion King! (ht: Elvis.com)
NPR’s Fresh Air program re-ran a fun interview with the husband-and-wife songwriting duo, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, who’ve written songs for films and for stars such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett and Fred Astaire. You can replay the show on the site.
More NPR… sometimes it can be weeks of programming that fails to engage me, but they hit a hot streak this week. This page runs through the history of musical Porgy & Bess, showing how the “failed” musical made its way into the Great American Songbook, with examples of interpretations from Nina Simone and Miles Davis, among others. Did you know Cab Calloway even appeared in a revival on Broadway?
Finally (for today) on NPR’s Morning Edition, a segment entitled In Soda Revival, Fizzy Taste Bubbles Up From The Past turns a spotlight on the soda fountain revival. There’s a great place in South Pasadena, Fair Oaks Pharmacy, which bears the torch for this particular type of retro entertainment, but evidently, they’re not the only ones. Old fashioned soda fountain treats are making a comeback! Listen to this story about the resurgence of sarsaparilla, egg creams and acid phosphate!
Kansas City Cryers – Gotta Roam
#rockabilly by Retro
Following up on the must read interview with Chris Magee, I thought everyone might like to listen to the band Mr. BopFlix is breaking up in order to continue his journey of rockabilly auteurism – THE KANSAS CITY CRYERS.
Here’s a taste of what some on the internet have called their “first, last and best album”, Gotta Roam, currently available from Foottapping Records:
‘On That Day’ Kansas City Cryers (B.Thornton) by Bopflix
‘Gotta Roam’ Kansas City Cryers (original by Whitey Gallagher) by Bopflix
Exclusive Interview – BopFlix’s Chris Magee, Rockabilly’s Documentarian
#rockabilly by Retro
In an exclusive interview with the filmmaker Chris Magee, the man behind UK-based BopFlix Films, Retro Kustom Honkytonk learns that the reason it’s rare to see well-shot video of great rockabilly bands is that to produce such video takes dedication, skill, drive and the courage of one’s convictions. It is a rare individual who commits to documenting a relatively small subculture, such as rockabilly, as a career. Chris Magee is such an individual. Read below how a “punter”in the UK rockabilly scene with a stultifying day job became a self-employed director/producer/editor documenting the global rockabilly/roots rock scene with many music videos and nine films (and counting) to his credit.
Thanks to Chris, people across the globe can feel like they “were there” at giant UK rockabilly festivals that would be geographically impossible to attend, or be witnesses to history, such as performances by now-gone artists like Billy Lee Riley. He seems to be having a blast combining a passion for music and film. Hopefully, he’ll be at it for a long time! Rockabilly fans can help ensure that will happen:
‘Like’ BopFlix on Facebook
Buy his latest release, Rockin’ the 229 from Rollin Records.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS MAGEE/BOPFLIX FILMS
Hello, Chris! Tell us how did BopFlix get started?
Chris Magee
Hello! BopFlix started as a hobby, long before I even calling it BopFlix. After university, around 10 years ago, I was working in a pretty dull sales job, looking after advertising space for TV, and although the job was ok I was feeling pretty bored and frustrated. One year we got a small bonus and I thought I’d spend it on something half decent. Around that time, I fancied the idea of making some films – just silly stuff, nothing serious – so I got myself a good semi-pro DV camera – an XM2 – which I still use it now from time to time.
Voodoo Swing Starts Rollin’ Again
#rockabilly by Retro – 90′s Neo-Rockabilly act, Voodoo Swing is back, better than ever, with a new album, Keep On Rollin’. Watch the video (above), listen to some sample tracks (below) and then buy it from CD Baby or iTunes.
R.I.P. Honeyboy Edwards, Bluesman
(h/t: Bloodshot)
Listen 2 Buddy – 2nd Buddy Holly CD on the Way
#rockabilly by Retro
A second Buddy Holly covers/tribute album is on the way. This isn’t the McCartney and Lou Reed one, but it does have Chris Isaac doing a winsome version of Crying Waiting Hoping – watch the video!
Listen to Me: Buddy Holly comes out on September 6th, 2011, but you can pre-order it at Amazon.com. The album will feature interpretations by Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, The Fray, Zooey Deschanel, Jackson Browne, Natalie Merchant, Jeff Lynne, Brian Wilson and, of interest to rockabilly fans, Imelda May.
Confused about the dueling Buddy Holly tribute albums (each with their own surviving Beatle, no less!)? Read this Variety article to sort it all out.
Viva Rockabilly! Says the 454′s and Other Latino Rockabilly Acts
“go”, the AirTran Airways official magazine, has an article about “The Rise of Latino Rockabilly”. Personally, I’d read any publication that sang the praises of Southern California rockabilly band, The 454s. For me, The 454′s were the revelation of this year’s Hootenanny (a rockabilly/psychobilly/punk festival in Orange County ever summer). They played the tiny [...]
‘Rockin’ the 229′ Gets You Inside the UK Scene
Ever wonder what it’d be like to groove and shake the night away in merry old England? If all you know of London is the news, you’re missing out on one of the most vibrant roots rock scenes on the globe, full of some of the nicest, most dedicated scenesters, bar none! Luckily, the innovative [...]
Squee! New Tom Waits October 25th
Tom Waits is a love him or hate him proposition. So, I’m here to report that my friends, family, neighbors and even our man on the Country Music desk, Honkytonk, will all have BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW TOM WAITS TO HATE as I blast it relentlessly, all day and night, for weeks on end. His new [...]
Who’s the Young Man with the Big Beat?
RCA/Sony Legacy is releasing another giant box set to honor the King – Elvis Presley – on September 27, 2011. The Young Man with the Big Beat box set focuses on the 55th anniversary of Elvis’ breakthrough year – 1956. The 5 CD set at the heart of the box combines Elvis’ commercial releases for that [...]
Hipster Fave Films on New “Miramax eXperience” App
If you want to remember when the Los Angeles swing dance mecca The Derby wasn’t a bank (grrrr) or twist the night away with Vinnie Vega, the newly independent Miramax film studio is offering rentals of some of their older hits via a Facebook page, iPad app or Google TV. It will set you [...]
R.I.P. Jerry Leiber, Songwriter
Jerry Leiber, half of the acclaimed and prolific songwriting partnership Lieber & Stoller has passed away at the age of 78, due to cardiopulmonary failure. With his partner, Mike Stoller, Leiber brought the rough and tumble R&B he loved in his youth to the masses, often through pop artists. When a young Elvis Presley covered (and [...]
Elvis Link Explosion II
Roughly 2 minutes in to this clip of The Real Buddy Holly Story features color film of Buddy Holly’s first encounter with Elvis. See the summit of these rock ‘n’ roll pioneers in a doc produced and hosted by Paul McCartney. The entire doc is actually on YouTube, all chopped up the way they do. [...]
Elvis Link Explosion!
Elvis Week isn’t out of my system yet. Enjoy some of the Elvis-related posts I’ve collected over the last few weeks… Australians may call shopping carts “shopping trolleys” and may call the fine fast food joint Jack-in-the-Box “Hungry Jack”, but damn, do they know how to run an Elvis news site! Elvis Australia – Official [...]
Review – Steve Cropper – The Soul Man’s Return
You may not know Steve Cropper, but you’ve heard him. He handled guitar duties for Booker T. & the MG’s, a band that recorded under its own moniker (cue Green Onions) and also served as the de-facto house-band for Stax/Volt, the Memphis-based label that pioneered a distinctive “soul sound” in the 60′s and 70′s (cue [...]
Elvis Week 2011 Rundown
Today is the 34th anniversary of Elvis’ untimely demise in 1977, motivating throngs of fans to mourn his loss anew in a candlelit vigil at the gates of Graceland and prompting a prominent politician to wish the King a “happy birthday!” (Seriously, if you’re gonna pander, get an aide to wiki stuff. You can do it [...]
RKH Reads by Retro
Rolling Stone puts a spotlight on a Chuck Berry statue in his hometown of St. Louis. Fantagraphics, a graphic novel and comic book publisher with a reputation for quality, is working its magic in a series of high-end reprints of EC Comics. EC Comics were a whole list of eerie, violent and bizarre titles. These [...]
R.I.P. Annette Charles, Actress
“Cha Cha DiGregorio” is the villainous vamp who’s “lewd dancing” with John Travola during Rydell High’s “National Bandstand” broadcast complicated his pursuit of “good girl”, Olivia Newton John, in Grease. Not that we’ve ever seen the movie, clearly. Annette Charles portrayed “Cha Cha” in the 1978 film musical about teenage love and lust in 1959. On Wednesday, August [...]
NY Times Profiles Booker T. Jones
The Paper of Record saw fit to put the spotlight on the consummate soul musician, Booker T. Jones. If you don’t recognize the name, think of the instrumental song “Green Onions”, which Booker T. wrote and recorded when he was just 17. He went on to lead the “house band” at the Stax/Volt recording studio/record label in [...]
Retro Reads
Retro shares some of her favorite stories from the net! #rockabilly Read the story of George Ray’s Wildcat Drag Strip – a man, a dream, a backyard 1/4 mile track and over fifty years of rubber burnin’ mayhem. (h/t: Hot Rod Magazine Blog) Elvis, Ricky Nelson and Dale Hawkins all employed a guitar slinger extraordinaire [...]
Happy Happy Star Wars Day – May the Fourth Be With You!
This is a YouTube find that seemed appropriate for the blog. Edited together fairly ingeniously by Ivan Guerrero, this “premake”, as he calls this and other related videos, imagines what STAR WARS would look like if it was made in the 1950′s (rather than simply inspired by such films and serials).
Jack White Pays Homage to Buddy Holly – in Texas, No Less
Don’t defund NPR, they’re the only ones who give a &%$# about Americana. Yes, they really fawn over the most twee, simpering neo-folk, but they also have the most robust offering of contemporary music that sounds COUNTRY, and not like the Bon Jovi-with-banjo Nashville loves so much. End rant. Enjoy Jack White, courtesy of NPR, playing solo, [...]
Gretsch Goodies
#rockabilly Over at the Gretsch website, they’ve posted an interview focusing on Brian Setzer’s latest solo release, Instru-Mental. Setzer, of Stray Cats and Brian Setzer Orchestra fame, has a line of signature Gretsch guitars that make those pretty hollowbodies a little more rock-friendly without losing the resonance that makes them so beloved. A little out [...]
Classic Car Coloring Book – Free and Family Friendly!
Click HERE to download a free, printable coloring book to help you start instilling that love of classic cars in your little greasers and dolls. The sponsoring site, www.takeakidtoacarshow.com also has an iPhone/iPad app.
