“The Internet is a lot like ancient Egypt: people writing on walls and worshipping cats.”
Archive for Big Mama Thornton
Pat Blythe: Women and the Blues…The Saga Continues
Posted in Opinion with tags Apollo Theater, Bessie Smith, Big Joe Turner, Big Mama Thornton, Bob Dylan, Bob Segarini, Bonnie Raitt, British blues bands, Buddy Tate, Clarence Williams, Darktown Scandals, DBAWIS, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Ida Cox, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Len Kunstadt, Lonnie Johnson, Luis Russell and Bob, Ma Rainey, Maggie Bell, Memphis Minnie, Muddy Wters, Okeh, Otis Spann, Paramount, Pat Blythe, Prestige Bluesvillealbum, Pual Butterfield Elvin bishop, Queen Vee Records, Raisin' Cain, RCA Victor, Sippie Wallace, Spivey Records, The Picture Taker, Uncrowned Queen of Blues, Victoria Spivey, White and Clark's Black & Tan Minstrels, Willie Dixon, Willie Dixon Roosevelt Sykes on September 16, 2015 by segarini
It’s Tuesday night and I have just been diagnosed with a severe case of bronchitis. Shit!!!! Not what I need right now. Tired and hacking up a lung or two the doc has just put me on some mighty powerful antibiotics. I take them for five days but they remain in my system for two weeks. I’m in London staying at my mom’s and seeing to a customer and their installation so I have no time to whinge. (….and Dr. T., if you’re reading this I was forced to go to a walk-in clinic by my sister which is why this is the first you’re hearing about this.) So, now that diatribe is over, on to the column….short and sweet.
Pat Blythe …and The Blues Continue – Big Mama Thornton
Posted in Opinion with tags ABC-TV, American Folks Blues Festival Tour, Apollo Theatre, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Ball and Chain, Big Mama Thornton, Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame, Bob Segarini, Cheap Thrills, Chitlin' Circuit, DBAWIS, Don Robey, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Duke-Peacock, Elvis Presley, Fund for Women Artists, Hal Holbrook, Harlem, Hound Dog, Jerry Leiber, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Otis, Juneteenth Blues Fest, Junior Parker, Little Esther Phillips, Little Richard, Los Angeles Bicentennial Blues, Ma Rainey, Memphis Minnie, Mercury Records, Mike Stoller Notable Black American Women, Monterey Fairgrounds, Monterey Pop Festival, Muddy Waters, New York City, Newport Jazz Festival, Pat Blythe, Peacock Records, Pentagram Records, R&B, Rhythm and Blues Caravan, Rolling Stone, Saved, The Big Mama Thornton Project, Third Annual Sacramento Blues Festival, Tribal Stomp, Willie Mae on August 19, 2015 by segarini
Who pops into your mind when you hear the song title “Hound Dog”? How about “Ball and Chain”? Big Mama Thornton? Probably not. However, “Hound Dog” was her biggest hit, selling more than two million copies when it was first released in 1953. “Hound Dog”reached number one on the R&B charts and made Thornton a star. However, her total compensation was the paltry sum of $500. Elvis Presley recorded it three years later and with it (for Presley) came fame and great financial reward. After meeting Big Mama, Janis Joplin recorded “Ball and Chain” with her band Big Brother and Holding Company, but it was Joplin’s famous performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 that made this song a hit (note Cass Elliot’s face in the crowd) with “bluesaphobes” everywhere, reintroducing the genre to a brand new audience and rekindling interest in Big Mama herself.
Pat Blythe: Women of Rock – Part 1
Posted in Opinion with tags a cappella, Acid Queen, acid rock, Aerosmith, Alice in Wonderland, Anthem, Arloohie Records, Autumn Records, Ball 'n' Chain, Ball and Chain, Barbra Streisand, Bard Dupont, bass, Bay-Tone Records, Believe, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Big Mama Thornton, Billboard, Billboard Hot 100, blues, Bob Segarini, Bolero, Buffy Sainte Marie, Buzzsaw, Cher, Chicago, Child in Time, Chrissie Hynde, Christopher Blythe, classical, Cod'ine, Codeine, Courtney Love, Darby Slick, Darkly Smiling, David Dalton, David Minor, DBAWIS, Death on Two Legs (dedicated to....), Deep Purple, Dick Cavett, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Don't You Want Somebody To Love, Donovan, Dreams, drums, Eric Clapton, Frank Soda and the Imps, Full Tilt Boogie Band, George Gershwin, Glenn Miller, Goddo, Grace Slick, Gram Parsons, Grammy, Grateful Dead, Greg Simpson, GTA, guitar, Harry Belafonte, Hellfield, Ian Gillan, Is that fin on your back part of the deal......shark, Janis Joplin, Jazz, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Jerry Slick, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Jett, London, Longines Symphonette Collections, Lyndon B. Johnson, Maggie Bell, Maple Blues Awards, Maurice Ravel, Mercedes Benz, Monterey Pop Festival, New York, No Protection, NYC, Ontario, opera, Pat Benatar, Pat Blythe, Patti Smith, Pearl, Peter van Gelder, Piece of My Heart, Plateau, president, Queen, Queen of Psychedelic Soul, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Records on Wheels, Richard Goldstein, Robin Hood, rock 'n roll, rock 'n roll baby, Rolling Stone Magazine, San Franscisco, saxophone, Signe Anderson, Sly Stone, Snow White, Somebody To Love, Someone To Love, Starship, Steve Tyler, Stevie Nicks, Sucide Sal, Summertime, Surrealistic Pillow, Sylvester Stewart, Texan, Texas, The Charlatans, The Great Society, The Kozmic Blues Band, the Longines Symphony Orchestra, The PictureTaker, The Queen of Psychedelic Soul, Vanity Fair, vocals, Vogue, voodoo, We Built This City, White Rabbit, Woodstock on March 25, 2015 by segarini
The impetus, for what has now become a series, was my discovery of an old vinyl record by Maggie Bell. I came across it going through one of my many purge cycles. Suicide Sal, released in 1975, was my introduction to the blues….I just didn’t know it then. I wasn’t in the habit of labeling types of music in my younger years, I just knew what I liked. Greg Simpson, who happened to be managing the now defunct Records on Wheels in London, Ontario, recommended the album, thinking I might like it. I loved it and still do. Thank you Greg!
Roxanne Tellier – Popping the Top off Covers
Posted in Opinion with tags 2 Live Crew, Al Green, Big Mama Thornton, Bob Marley, Bob Segarini, Brill Building, Bryan Ferry, Canadian, Carly Simon, Carole King, Charles Bradley, David Byrne, DBAWIS, Dirty Loops, Dolly Parton, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Foghat, Gerry Goffin, Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, Howlin’ Wolf, Jake Holmes, Jason Mraz, Jay and the Americans, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, Jose Feliciano, Justin Bieber, Kate Davis, Latin, Led Zeppelin, Levon Helm, Mambo Jimi, Meghan Trainor, Menahan Street Band, Mick Hucknall, Monkees, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, New Wave, Nine Inch Nails, NME, Patti Smith, Paul Simon, PostModern Jukebox, Punk, Radiohead, reggae, Robert Johnson, Roxanne Tellier Muddy Waters, Roxy Music, Roy Orbison's, Simply Red, ska, Smashing Pumpkins, Taj Mahal, Taylor Swift, Teddy Pendergrass, The Beatles, The Cars, The Corrs, The Cyrkle, The Diodes, The Doors, The Monkees, The Talking Heads, Thom York, UB40, Urge Overkill, Whitney Houston, Ziggy Marley on January 25, 2015 by segarini
Music’s a funny thing; sometimes a song will hide in the grooves of an album, unloved and unwanted, until someone uncovers the gem and makes it their own. A struggling songwriter may dream of the day that a megastar covers their work; in the right hands, a number one hit can make the writer a fortune in publishing.
Roxanne Tellier: The Forgotten Man
Posted in Opinion with tags Ahmet Ertegun, Aretha Franklin, Atlantic Records, Bang Records, Barbara Lewis, Ben E. King, Bert Berns, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Big Mama Thornton, Bob Segarini, Bow Wow Wow, Brill Building, Carole King, DBAWIS, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Donal Carvin, Edwin Starr, Ellen Willis, Ellie Greenwich, Erma Franklin, Ilene Berns, Janis Joplin, Jerry Ragovoy, Jerry Wexler, Jian Ghomeshi, Joel Selvin, Leiber and Stoller, Neil Diamond, Otis Redding, Phil Medley, Phil Spector, Roxanne Tellier, Signature Theatre, Solomon Burke, Sonny Franceze, The Animals, The Beatles, The Drifters, the Isley Brothers, the Jarmels, The Rolling Stones, Them, Tommy Vastola, Twist and Shout, Van Morrison, Warner Brothers, Web IV publishing on September 7, 2014 by segarini
Imagine, if you will … writing not one, not two … but literally dozens of top ten hits, for groups as diverse as The Beatles, Solomon Burke, Edwin Starr, the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin and Barbara Lewis. Yeah, that’s lightning, baby …
Roxanne Tellier: Pet Sounds
Posted in Opinion with tags Annie Lennox, Big Mama Thornton, Cat Stevens, Cats, David Bowie, DBAWIS, Dogs, Don't Believe a Word I Say, Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Harry Nilsson, Henry Gross, Iggy Pop, Jane Siberry, Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Lobo, music, Nelly Furtado, Norah Jones, Patti Page, Patty Griffin, Pets, Pink Floyd, Records, Roxanne Tellier, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Shaggs, The Stooges, Tom Waits on March 24, 2013 by segarini
“The Internet is a lot like ancient Egypt: people writing on walls and worshipping cats.” Cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, horses, hedgehogs … you name it. The supply of animal pictures seems to be limitless. And nothing can draw an “awww” out of even the most hardened grouch’s mouth quicker than the sight of a tiny, helpless, pink-mouthed baby anything. We are helpless before their innocent charms.
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 