Year: 2014

Updated 28 July 2016. “Your blog was brilliantly written and very informative! :)” Brenhda Greenwood   @BrenhdaG    New Orleans, 2 Jan 2015 You may have read my ‘Top Ten Rock & Roll Records Preceding Rock & Roll’ post from August 2013. Far from being Ike Turner’s ‘Rocket 88’ in 1951, as Ike’s (albeit revolutionary) producer… Continue reading History that rocks: a rock & roll influence from at least 1815

UPDATED 30 JULY 2016. You know Oscar Wilde*, Marty Wilde** and Kim Wilde***. Now meet Carlos Wilde. It’s not often you associate any decent rock, blues or even credible pop music with the Iberian Peninsula, that part of western Europe encompassing Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar and some of southern France. In all of my time listening to music I… Continue reading Rock’s latest Wilde one.

Updated 29 July 2016. Grohl’s Sound City doco climaxes with Paul McCartney/Nirvana collaboration It’s taken a while, but I finally got around to watching Dave Grohl’s 2013 documentary on the unlikely Los Angeles recording studio, Sound City. I started watching it early last year but found the first ten minutes so boring I gave up. Shots of a… Continue reading Paul McCartney finds Nirvana

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”15.59375px|0px|15.59375px|0|false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.74″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”] Updated: 19 Jan 2019.   When James Brown rolled the Rolling Stones – plus the first funk record Watching HBO’s new documentary on James Brown debunked one old myth that’s been around for years, amongst many other things, and also enlightened… Continue reading Were Stones rolled by James Brown?

Updated 5 August 2016. Full transcript of Iggy’s 66-minute 2014 UK music lecture. The highlight of Britain’s 2014 Radio Festival held in Manchester a couple of years ago was Iggy Pop giving the BBC Music John Peel Lecture. The talk lasted 66 minutes, so it’s a long read. Here’s the full transcript, courtesy of the BBC.… Continue reading Iggy Pop shares his wisdom

The fabulous Cream. From left: Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton.  UPDATED 17 August 2016 “Fascinating blogs :)” @Henleyguy1, Henley on Thames, England. 19 November 2014. Two years ago, Jack Bruce died. Let’s have a look back at Jack. If you ever listened to my ‘How Blues Evolved’ broadcasts on Code Zero Radio a couple of years ago, you’ll… Continue reading Cream’s Jack Bruce really was the cream

Updated 18 September 2016 It’s good to hear that Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, has returned to the blues influences he absorbed during his London youth, with his latest album, “Tell ‘Em I’ve Gone”. The son of a Greek restaurateur and Swedish mother, Cat, or as he’s now billed, Cat Stevens/Yusuf, grew up near… Continue reading First love is the deepest: Cat Stevens goes back to the blues

London’s Garrick Theatre UPDATED OCTOBER 6, 2016. Anyone familiar with London’s West End theatre district will know the Garrick Theatre in Charing Cross Road. Yet who would know there’s a connection between David Garrick, the famous eighteenth century actor whom the theatre’s named after, and the blues? I’d venture that only rabid blues scholars or those… Continue reading When was the word ‘blues’ first written down?

UPDATED 8 OCTOBER 2016. “A good read, my friend!” Jason Vivone @ JVivone, Kansas City, 23 October 2014. I’m currently researching mid-19th century San Francisco, working on a project that has nothing to do with historic blues or rock. However, wherever I look in life, I always hope to find something relating to early blues or popular music. And… Continue reading California’s first spirituals and the daddy of all trap drummers.