Happy Birthday Jo Carol Pierce!

Celebrating the birthday of Austin singer/songwriter and playwright Jo Carol Pierce with a short doc and an impromptu duet. 

Monty Alexander recalls hanging with Frank, Jilly & Miles

Pianist Monty Alexander's chance encounter with Frank Sinatra in Miami led to a career-changing stint at Jilly's night club in NYC.

Writes Monty Alexander...

My family moved to Miami, Florida in 1961. The following year when I was playing at Le Bi', a Miami Beach nightclub, Frank Sinatra stopped by with his good friend Ermenigildo "Jilly" Rizzo. Rizzo owned his own club #Jilly's at 256 W. 52nd Street in NYC. It was Sinatra's primary hangout in Manhattan. Sinatra and friends were impressed and there was talk of bringing me to New York to play at Jilly's but nothing came off of that first interlude.

However, six months later in Reno, Nevada, lightning struck twice as the same chance encounter with Jilly and Frank Sinatra took place when I was playing at the Thunderbird Hotel, but this time, just a few days later, Jilly bought me an airline ticket and the next night I was a regular piano player, playing for a who's who of entertainers and musicians. 

I was nervous, but I had a great bass player, Bob Cranshaw. I don’t read music so I have to use my ears. I knew the songs of Sinatra such as "I’ve Got You Under My Skin" and "I Get a Kick Out of You", but Bob was leaning over and saying: ‘G, D, B flat’, and I pulled it off because I’m instinctive. All I know is Sinatra turned around with a big smile. That was it. He was one of those people who inspire you, he would come over and say things like: ‘Keep swinging kid’ or ‘You’re swinging’ or ‘ You’re grooving’.

I met Miles Davis at Jilly’s. Miles dug my playing and he had me come over to his place and hang out. It taught me confidence because half of the stuff is being confident so that when you play ‘that’ note on the piano or trumpet, it’s the right note, not another note, but ‘that’ note, which comes only from a sense of security, and it really helps when your heroes tell you to ‘keep going’."

At that time I thought life would end, because it couldn’t get better than this. I realized I was in very fast company. Not just in jazz, but in all the top entertainers in show business. Judy Garland is sitting at the piano bar. I look around and Sammy Davis Jr  is walking in. I played at private events at Frank Sinatra's apartment. He was a good friend. That crowd, they wanted to hang out until 6 a.m. I would keep it going until then. Miles Davis would come in. Count Basie was sitting there with Frank. That's where I met Milt Jackson. I was learning so much at this time. I was also performing at the Playboy Club. 

At Jilly’s, for the next four years, my trio with a rotating stellar cast of bassist and drummers (Ron Carter, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Al Harewood, Bob Cranshaw, Mickey Rocker, Sonny Payne, Tommy Williams, George Tucker) swung until the wee hours of the morning for Sinatra, a mix of celebrity entertainers, tough guys, thrill seekers, and more!

Check out the video clip below and Monty's trio with John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton right here. 

Happy Birthday Max Fleischer!

Remembering innovative animator Max Fleischer – who brought to life Betty Boop, Popeye & Koko The Clown – with a short doc.

 

Lost third album from Greg Ashley's Mirrors gets limited pressing

Prior to starting The Gris Gris, Greg Ashley put out a couple of twisted psych gems with The Mirrors... but one got away. 

Here's the scoop...

"Nobody gave a sh*t about my garage band in Houston, People liked my music out here. I got to meet one of heroes, Russell Quan of the Mummies, and he was a fan of my band." 

– Greg Ashley

The singer and songwriter Greg Ashley has made a name for himself both as a member of notable underground bands The Gris Gris, The Mirrors and Strate Coats, as well as a solo artist. As a fixture in the underground music scene, his musical abilities span a range of genres including garage punk, psychedelia, and folk. In addition to his own music, he works as a producer and sound engineer, previously running his own Oakland-based studio, Creamery Studio and now rebuilding his home studio in Texas.

After high school, Greg Ashley took to perusing the work of the original '60s artists, immersing himself in the Rolling Stones' bluesy early material, the Beatles' mid-period psychedelia, the crazed noise of the 13th Floor Elevators, and the fuzzy surf of the Ventures. Assimilating these influences, Ashley formed a quintet called the Mirrors and released two scruffy, all-over-the-map albums

The Mirrors were Greg Ashley’s post-Strate Coats (7” also available on Hook or Crook) and pre Gris-Gris outfit. In 2001 they self-released the “A Green Dream” LP in an edition of 500. Though hard to imagine in retrospect, in 2001 it was unlike anything else being created at the time, fusing well played, well written freaky psychedelia with with groovy ballads, tinny xylophone, feng shui recitations and occasionally a confusion that approaches the Sun City Girls. Pervading it all is an acid-drenched folky psychedelia that would make fellow Texan Roky Erickson proud. This lost 3rd Album is the missing bridge between The Mirrors and what was to come in The Gris Gris.

Get a copy of The Mirrors' Lost 3rd Album from Cardinal Fuzz via Bandcamp right here. 

Check the track list following a rare clip from The Mirrors last show, performing "Medication #2" at the Texas Psych Fest on July 26, 2002.   

 

The Mirrors - Lost 3rd Album

1. Medication #1 

2. Shaping Mary

3. How Is My Skin 

4. Gracie's Pink Pussy Cat 

5. Patient Flowers Electric 

6. Maggie, Molly & Mary 

7. Paranoia Blues 

8. She Electric 

9. Blush Sunshine 

Happy Birthday Hunter S. Thompson!

Raising a glass to writer Hunter S. Thompson with his 1967 appearance on To Tell The Truth and a couple of lucid 70s interviews. 

Watch a preview of the new Dream Syndicate documentary

Currently in the works, Beyond The Days of The Dream Syndicate should be out sometime in 2022. Check the trailer. 

Here's the scoop from Dream Syndicate HQ...

Coming in 2022. Emiel Spoelder has been working on this documentary about our band for some time now and he’s ready to take it to the finish line.  He’s looking for photos and artifacts and clips and any other items to augment what he’s put together so drop him a line if you have the goods.  In the meantime, enjoy this trailer for what’s ahead.

 

GA-20 previews Hound Dog Taylor tribute LP with "Let's Get Funky"

GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor features updates of the late great Chicago bluesman's whumpin' house rockers. 

Here's the scoop...

Hound Dog Taylor

Blues music is revered for its timelessness. The best blues – no matter how old – sounds as fresh and visceral today as it did when first recorded. The high-energy electric blues trio GA-20 – guitarist Matt Stubbs, guitarist/vocalist Pat Faherty, and drummer Tim Carman – know this well. The band’s dynamic self-penned songs sound and feel as fresh and real as the old blues they love and perform, including songs by Otis Rush, J.B. Lenoir, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells and especially their favourite, Hound Dog Taylor.

Legendary six-fingered Chicago bluesman Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor always knew how he wanted to be remembered, declaring, “When I die they’ll say, ‘he couldn’t play shit, but he sure made it sound good!’” His first full length recording in 1971 was also the first album on now world-famous Alligator Records, Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers. In fact, label president Bruce Iglauer founded Alligator for the sole purpose of recording and releasing that album.

Now, Colemine Records – working in partnership with Alligator Records – will release GA-20’s new full-length album, GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor: Try  It…You Might Like It!, featuring 10 songs written or performed by the Chicago blues legend. From the fiery first single and album opener “She’s Gone” to the blistering “Sadie” to the all-time Hound Dog classic “Give Me Back My Wig”, GA-20 deliver one electrifying track after another. 

GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor: Try it... You Might Like It! is being released by Colemine's Karma Chief subsidiary in co-operation with Alligator Records on August 20th but you can pre-order it right here. 

Watch the videos for "Let's Get Funky" and "She's Gone" below followed by a list of GA-20's upcoming tour dates which doesn't include a Toronto show but on the upside, they're splitting a bill with the amazing Ikebe Shakedown in Boston on December 17th.