Flashlite #41

Mark MannLet me take you on a sixty minute ride down to Mississippi and Memphis TN – cradle of rock’n’roll. Of all places on this planet, Memphis is the mythical place where all the rock’n’roll crossroads meet in a very special way. We go there for a very concrete reason. I recently discovered a relatively new record label based there that nurtures new talents that are brewing in the area. The label is called Skeeter Hawk Records and to be more precise, the label is actually based in Hattiesburg MS, but that entire region from Hattiesburg up 300 miles North naturally, artistically and historically gravitates to Memphis. We check out three new names that are on the Skeeter Hawk roster. First, singer-songwriter Mark Mann whose rich talent is well documented on two of his CDs. Wide range of lyrical topics in his songs, capable band and deep understanding of all traditional rock idioms will make you keep returning to Mark’s songs. Besides Mark, Thomas Jackson and his Orchestra is another pleasant surprise on Skeeter Hawk Records. This rock and blues duet, with a little help of their friends created an interesting amalgam of traditional forms, but also some glammed up themes that you perhaps wouldn’t expect from a delta band. But then again, bold fusion of genres and ideas is hard-coded in rock’n’roll. Third band that we present here for the first time is Rooster Blues – a straight forward guitar+drum neo-blues outfit that echoes Black Keys. At least until they unplug and surprise you with their own brand of bluegrass. Does the new stuff from the area stand up to the good old Memphis crazies? Check it out in today’s podcast – between these three artists we sample a cross section of important Memphis artists covering all generations of musicians.

The Memphis Jug Band – Kokomo;
Rooster Blues – Down Is On My Way;
Thomas Jackson Orchestra – Blood Red Blues;
Lorette Velvette – Lost Part Of Me;
Lorette Velvette – Kokomo Blues;
Moloch – Gone Too Long (feat Johnny Woods);
Lee Baker & The Agitators – In ma Bag (Love me Tonite);
Jump Back Jake – Easy Answers;
Jump Back Jake – The Flood (Live);
James Luther Dickinson – The Curse Of The Alphastone;
Jim Dickinson with Chuck Prophet & The Creatures Of Habit – Pain and Drain;
Sid Selvidge – Stay in My Car;
Sid Selvidge – By Your Side;
Mark Mann – Vaeda;
Mark Mann – Zeus;
Tav Falco’s Panther Burns – Snake Drive;
Othar Turner’s Rising Star Fife and Drum Corps – Glory Hallelujah.

Flashlite #40

The Chatham SingersVery fresh show today at The Little Lighthouse! We have the new Billy Childish project The Chatham Singers which he founded together with his wife Julie. We also have new album for Neal Casal, Roots and Wings. Madeleine Peyroux, our favorite Billie Holiday sound-alike is also back with her third album so far Bare Bones. Detroit band Outrageous Cherry announced the new album with a fantastic mp3 single Get Out While You Can. Italian band Afterhours came up with a new album last year, but I just discovered it recently – so we check that out. The new LP is called I Milanesi Ammazzano Il Sabato. And we finish our new album list for this show with Black Lips’ 200 Million Thousand. Also, I played some songs by Cleveland Bill fox who I saw live last week and who blew me away with his talented performance.

Billy Childish – Caroline;
The Chatham Singers – Upside Mine;
Oblivians – Bad Man;
Reigning Sound – Find Me Now;
The Mice – Not Proud of the USA;
Bill Fox – Get Your Workingman’s Things;
Neal Casal – Back To Haunt You;
Neal Casal – I Will Weep No More;
Madeleine Peyroux – Life is Fine;
Madeleine Peyroux – Our Lady Of Pigalle;
Outrageous Cherry – Get Out While You Can;
Outrageous Cherry – Keep Everything Under Your Hat;
Alexander Spence – Keep Everything Under Your Hat;
Dewey Martin – Indian Child;
Afterhours – Riprendere Berlino;
Afterhours – Plastic;
Afterhours – Ballata per la mia piccola iena;
Black Lips – Starting Over.

Flashlite #39: In Memory of Lux Interior, John Martyn and Dewey Martin

Lux InteriorToday’s show is dedicated to three rockers that died in the last few days: Lux Interior of The Cramps, Dewey Martin of Buffalo Springfield and John Martyn. John Martyn was a singer songwriter that emerged from the British scene of the late 60s. Good friend of this radio show, Kim Simpson, introduced me to him just mere days before Martyn died, so this posthumous homage to Martyn is also his debut at the Little Lighthouse. Buffalo Springfield on the other hand, is a very well known band that sprung up careers of Neil Young and Stephen Stills. Drummer in that band was Dewey Martin who had a decent voice himself. Dewey had some solo efforts after Buffalo Springfield, but these are difficult to come across. However, the biggest rock’n’roll loss that we commemorate in this show is definitely Lux Interior. Legendary singer of The Cramps died of the heart failure on February 3rd 2009. Although he was born as an Ohio boy name Erick Purkhiser, he died as Lux Interior, who might as well been from outer space…

John Martyn – Sing a Song of Summer;
Buffalo Springfield – Burned;
The Cramps – Human Fly;
The Cramps – Green Fuzz;
The Cramps – I’m Cramped;
Buffalo Springfield – Good Time Boy;
John and Beverley Martyn – John The Baptist;
John Martyn – May You Never;
The Cramps – Natives Are Restless;
The Cramps – All Women Are Bad;
Buffalo Springfield – Leave;
Buffalo Springfield – On the Way Home;
John and Beverly Martyn – Give Us A Ring;
Buffalo Springfield – Mr. Soul;
The Cramps – Bikini Girls With Machine Guns;
The Cramps – Cornfed Dames;
The Cramps – Garbageman;
The Cramps – Can Your Pussy Do The Dog;
The Cramps – She Said;
John Martyn – Hello Train.

Flashlite #38

Margaret Doll RodToday’s show is dominated by five different versions of the legendary ska hit My Boy Lollipop. There’s absolutely no good or bad reason for that, it just happened that way. Besides that, we have the former Cosmic Cowgirl from KLSU, Kelsey Waite in her own version of Westerberg’s Dice Behind Your Shades that we dug out from Youtube. Margaret Doll Rod is also back with a new album Scintillating. Needless to say, she looks smoking hot on the cover. Also chack out the new name in today’s show, Kentucky’s Frontier Fok Nebraska.

Green on Red – Tenderloin;
You Am I – We’re Desperate;
The Saints – River Deep Mountain High;
Gentleman Jesse and His Men – Highland Crawler;
Brimstone Howl – Summer of Pain;
Frontier Folk Nebraska – City Lights;
Paul Westerberg – Dice Behind Your Shades;
Paul Westerberg – Dice Behind Your Shades (live);
Kelsey Waite – Dice Behind Your Shades;
Paul Westerberg – 5:05;
Barbie Gaye – My Boy Lollypop;
Millie Small – My Boy Lollipop;
Ljiljana Petrovic i Ansambl Bogdana Dimitrijevica – Moj decko lilihip;
Tamara Saric – Moj lilihip;
Via Talas – Lilihip;
Margaret Doll Rod – Turned On;
The Service Industry – Oh I;
The Drones – Your Acting Like It’s The End.