Florida Rocks Again! Coverama 3

Airdates:
Wednesday August 27th from 6 to 8 p.m.

Eastern Time

WFBO 97.7 The Blizzard in Flagler Beach

Listen via Live365 at TheBlizzard.US

Playlist:

CLEFS OF LAVENDER HILL: It Won't Be Long
THE BEATLES: I Just Don't Understand
THE ALLMAN JOYS: Help!
THE FIVE MEN-ITS: The Night Before
TOM PETTY & THE HEATBREAKERS: Taxman
MOUSE & THE BOYS: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
THE RAVENS: Things We Said Today (bed)

THE BIRDWATCHERS: Blue Suede Shoes
THE ROYAL GUARDSMEN: Roadrunner
THE MONARCHS: Do You Love Me
THE NIGHTCRAWLERS: Sea of Love
DUANE ALLMAN: No Money Down
GREGG ALLMAN: Feel So Bad

THE NOBLEMEN: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
THE ECHO: Monterey
JOSHUA DYKE: Cheating
THE ANIMALS: Baby Let Me Take You Home
BOB DYLAN: Baby Let Me Follow You Down

STEVE ALAIMO: Bright Lights, Big City
RAY CHARLES: I'm Movin' On
WAYNE COCHRAN: You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover
SAM MOORE: Shop Around
CLARENCE REID: 25 Miles from Home

THE BYRDS (with GRAM PARSONS): Reputation
MOLLY HATCHET: It's All Over Now
THE OUTLAWS: Freeborn Man/Sweet Home Alabama

JOHN HIATT & MOE: Ballad of Curtis Lowe
SKY SAXON: Swamp Music
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS: Every Mother's Son
BLUES TRAVELER: Free Bird

Series Hosted by Mal Thursday

Written & Produced by JM Dobies

Co-Produced by Jeff Lemlich

THE NOBLEMEN

Geezerpalooza Photos by Pat Appelson

Here are a few photos taken by Pat Appelson at the Geezerpalooza 2008 concert at the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial Auditorium on August 9th:

Jerry Schils and Sammy Hall of the Birdwatchers

Steve Alaimo and me

Me and my Florida Rocks Again! co-producer Jeff Lemlich

Carter Ragsdale of the Montells and Sammy Hall

Me and Geekus

For more photos of this rockin' reunion concert, check out Pat's website, appelson.com

Florida Rocks Again!: Anxious Colors/Tom Dowd & The Language of Music

This week, it's two classic episodes taken from the original, one-hour version of the show that originally aired on Oldies WSOS in St. Augustine in 2004-2005: "Anxious Colors," featuring songs with colors in the title, and "Tom Dowd and the Language of Music," excerpts from Mark Moorman's brilliant documentary about the legendary engineer and producer Tom Dowd, who passed away in 2002.

Airdates:

Wednesday August 20th from 6 to 8 p.m.
Saturday August 23rd from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern

Oldies 97.7 WFBO The Blizzard in Flagler Beach

Listen via Live365 at TheBlizzard.us

Playlist:

Anxious Colors

PAINTED FACES: Anxious Color
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND: Blue Sky
DR. T & THE UNDERTAKERS: Blue Blue Feeling
TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: Blue Sunday
JIMMY BUFFETT: Brown-Eyed Girl
SAM & DAVE: Soul Sister, Brown Sugar

THE ROYAL GUARDSMEN: Jolly Green Giant
RAY CHARLES: Greenbacks
FRED NEIL: Green Rocky Road
31st OF FEBRUARY: The Greener Isle
RON & THE STARFIRES: The Grass is Greener
THE OUTLAWS: High Tides and Green Grass

WE THE PEOPLE: Love Wears Black
THE TROPICS: Black Jacket Woman
THE MAVERICKS: Blue Moon

Tom Dowd & The Language of Music

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND:

Please Don't Keep Me Wonderin'/Revival/Midnight Rider/Leave My Blues at Home

LYNYRD SKYNYRD: Gimme Back My Bullets/Searching/Crossroads/You Got That Right

DEREK & THE DOMINOS: Little Wing/Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out/Layla

Series Hosted by Mal Thursday

Written and Produced by JM Dobies

Co-Produced by Jeff Lemlich

Sponsored by Flagler Counter Heating and Air Conditioning

The Mal Thursday Show #7: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

This time around, Mal spins a bunch of tunes from various "forum comps," assembled by some of the foremost collectors of garage 45s on the planet. These homemade CD-Rs contained both super-obscure, uncollected rarities as well as well-known classics that had only been available in less than stellar sound quality on various Pebbles, Boulders, and other semi-legit compilations.

Dedicated to BossHoss, Masterbeat64, Rich Strauss and everyone who ever put one of these comps together. Presented in Living Monophonic Sound.

Available for download at GaragePunk.com and via iTunes.

Playlist:

THE REASONS WHY: Don't Be That Way
THE EPIC FIVE: I Need Your Lovin'
THE GRODES: Cry a Little Longer
THE CHOSEN FEW FROM ST. MICHAEL'S: Get It on Life
THE FUGITIVE FIVE: (I Ain't Gonna Change) My Way of Life
RANDY & THE RADIANTS: My Way of Thinking
THE PREACHERS: Stay Out of My World

THE SOUP GREENS: Like a Rolling Stone
THE TEMPOS: All I Really Want
THE YOUNG MEN: Go Away Girl
MARK FIVE: Determination
THE HUNS: Destination Lonely
ART GUY: Where You Gonna Go
THE DONNYBROOKES: You're Gonna Cry

THE SEEDS: Out of the Question
THE MOVING SIDEWALKS: Every Night a New Surprise
THE DERBY-HATVILLE: Turn Into Earth
THE PREMIERS: Get on This Plane/Come On and Dream
THE ALDERMEN: The Upper Room
THE CHILDREN: Enough of What I Need
THE ROADRUNNERS: Goodbye

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula

The BLOG! Movie of the Week is BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA, from 1966, directed by William "One Shot" Beaudine, starring Chuck Courtney as Billy the Kid and John Carradine as Dracula. This movie originally played as half of a high concept double bill with JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, another Western horror also directed by Beaudine. The script for this mess plays fast and loose with vampire mythology while also ignoring the history of the old west. For example, everybody knows that sunlight will kill a vampire, right? Well, in this picture, ol' Drac walks around during the day with no ill effects. Not that it's easy to tell whether it's day or night in this movie, as they both kinda look the same. As for the history part, it is well-known that William Bonney a/k/a Billy the Kid was gunned down at the age of 19 by his old friend Pat Garrett in 1881, but in this movie, he's alive and well, having gone straight and is now working as a ranch hand at the Double Bar B.

The character of Dracula had been portrayed in films by several noted thespians, including Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, and Christopher Lee, each of whom brought their own brand of menace to the role. In BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA, veteran character actor and notorious ham John Carradine plays the vampire as a dirty old man, a lascivious lech with a taste for young flesh. Check out the scene in the stagecoach, where he leeringly lusts after the photo of our heroine, Betty Bentley, played by the lovely Melinda Plowman. "18 and beautiful, eh?" What a filthy old creep!

Also look for Virginia Christine as Mrs. Oster, or as she was known in many a Folger's coffee commercial in the '60s and '70s, Mrs. Olsen, and a very special performance by a rubber bat on a string. Look for the prop man visibly manipulating the rubber bat on a string. He's right in the frame, and not just for a second, either. He's there as plain as day, baby. Well, that's why they called Bill Beaudine "One Shot," because he almost always printed the first take. Prop man in the shot? Print it! String clearly visible on the rubber bat? Print it!

As I mentioned, the character of Count Dracula is played by the great John Carradine, a man with over 300 motion picture and television credits, from his film debut in 1930's BRIGHT LIGHTS to his final screen appearance in 1995's BIKINI DRIVE-IN, which was released seven years after his death. His name lives on through his actor sons David Carradine, star of KILL BILL and the KUNG FU TV series; Keith Carradine, who played memorable roles in films like NASHVILLE and TROUBLE IN MIND, as well as portraying Wild Bill Hickock in the HBO series DEADWOOD; and of course, Robert Carradine, best known as Skolnick in the REVENGE OF THE NERDS movies and more recently, as Lizzie McGuire's dad. A protege of John Barrymore, John Carradine was known as "The Voice" thanks to his deep-throated baritone, and starred on the stage as well as the silver screen. He was a member in good standing of director John Ford's stock company of actors, appearing in the Ford classics STAGECOACH, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, among others. He also appeared in Grade-Z schlock like THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES, HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE, and SEX KITTENS GO TO COLLEGE. As Carradine himself once said, "I've been in some of the greatest films ever made - and a lot of crap, too."

While Chuck Courtney's Billy the Kid is pretty nondescript, Carradine's Dracula is a hoot, a crusty old vampire pursuing an age-inappropriate relationship with a tender young thing, played by the fetching Melinda Plowman. Starting out as a child actress, Plowman specialized in sweet and innocent types, usually on televison. She first worked with director William Beaudine, on the Disney serial THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SPIN AND MARTY, and also had a recurring role as Terry the babysitter on PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES. BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA was her last movie appearance, but she continued to work on the small screen in such series as GOMER PYLE, FELONY SQUAD, and THE WILD WILD WEST until 1968, when she disappeared from the face of the earth, or married a rich producer, take your pick.

BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA works equally well as a western and a horror movie, which is to say, not very well at all. However, as a comedy, it scores bigtime.

Available on DVD from, appropriately enough, Cheezy Flicks.

Ping-Backs and Other Blogs About Me

Jolie and Meredith from Viewpoints.com have chosen me as the featured viewer in their Viewpoints blog. I've written 169 reviews for the site, which I urge you to check out, especially if you've got an hour or two to kill. Speaking of killing, check out my review of The Killer Shrews!

Meanwhile, over in Deutschland, Funkwelle FM in Berlin has been featuring The Mal Thursday Show and Florida Rocks Again!, along with other tasty selections from the GaragePunk.com Podcast, on its airwaves. Thank you, Mein Herrs!

By the way, last week marked the one year anniversary of BLOG!, for what it's worth. This is my 171st post. They haven't all been tip top, but I hope you've been enjoying them.

Geezerpalooza Rocks Again!

Geezerpalooza 2008
Saturday August 9
War Memorial Auditorium
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

On Saturday night, I took a trip back in space and time to South Florida in the '60s, as several of the Miami area's top bands of the era reunited for Geezerpalooza 2008, a benefit for the Majic Children's Fund. The event was hosted by Miami radio legend Rick Shaw, legendary voice of WQAM and The Rick Shaw Show, and was headlined by the Birdwatchers, Steve Alaimo, the Montells, Dr. T & the Undertakers, the Dead End Kids, and Geekus.

The event was held at the historic Fort Lauderdale War Memorial Auditorium, scene of many a teenage dance back in the '60s, including the legendary "Florida Bandstand" shows. Organized by George Butticaz and Jim Borgmann, the concert was done first class all the way. I had the pleasure of introducing the Montells, along with my Florida Rocks Again! co-producer, Jeff Lemlich, whose book Savage Lost and website featuring "The Limestone Lounge" were the seeds from which this event grew.

Speaking of the music, Geekus opened the show with a set of '60s covers, highlighted by a rave-up of the 13th Floor Elevators' "You're Gonna Miss Me," and a version of Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On" set to Led Zeppelin's arrangement of "How Many More Times." Genius, boys. The Dead End Kids, who once ruled the roost as the house band at the Par-Tee Lounge, offered up a tight set of songs ranging from the Dell-Vikings to Steely Dan. The band was augmented by guitarslinger Harry Hann, formerly of Wayne Cochran & the CC Riders, who contributed a tasty rendition of "Black is Black."

Dr. T & the Undertakers arrived in trademark fashion, in a hearse, of course, and wore their trademark top hats and capes. At 69 years old, Dr. T a/k/aTony Asci, can still kick out the jams, whether on their classic 45 "Blue Blue Feeling," or on the Muddy Waters blues nugget "Hoochie Coochie Man." The band was anchored by Bob Usherson on bass, Billy DeMoya on drums, Bob Barbara on rhythm and Bobbby Jabo on lead guitar. My only complaint is that they didn't play "I Put a Spell on You," or their other 45s, "Times Have Changed" (which would have been thematically appropriate) or the bashing instrumental "Undertakers Theme."

The Montells, the only holdover from the first Geezerpalooza in 2005, tore the house down with a set of signature rock 'n' roll and rhythm & blues ravers. Lead singer Carter Ragsdale was in fine voice, leading the band through "Daddy Rolling Stone," "Gloria," and "Don't Bring Me Down," among others. Of all the performers, the Montells were the most authentic-sounding, true to their garage aesthetic. In addition to original members John Weatherford, George Hall, and Ragsdale, the group was rounded out by John Dalton (Evil) and Dewey Bond (Dead End Kids).

The show closed with an incredible set by the Birdwatchers, featuring original members Sammy Hall, Bobby Puccetti, and Jerry Schils, who managed to play most of their classic 45s from '66-'68, and even "Can I Do It," the number they performed in William Grefe's movie Wild Rebels. Their co-star in that movie and co-producer of their greatest recordings, Steve Alaimo, joined the band for three of his biggest hits, "Every Day I Have to Cry," "Happy," and "Melissa." Of the latter, co-written with Gregg Allman, he said that ever since AT&T featured it in a TV commercial, it has become his most lucrative composition. The closing number was a group sing-along with all the musicians on "That's What Friends Are For" - I would have preferred "Forever Young," or even better, "Louie Louie," but it was still pretty sweet.

All in all, Geezerpalooza 2008 was a home run, and helped to raise money for a very worthy cause. There was a whole lotta love in the room, and I'm glad I could be there. I'll always treasure it, both the show itself, and the after-hours hang-outs with the likes of Carter Ragsdale, Bill Hall, and Billy DeMoya. Heard some great music, some great stories, laughed a lot, and had a ball.

I wouldn't have missed it for the world.