This blog is dedicated to the preservation of the world's greatest music: 1940s-70s Rhythm & Blues and Rock n' Roll. When I'm not collecting records, I'm listening to them.
Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast on "Bird" songs - "Birdland"
We like Birdland...
BIRD SONGS
This week's Friday Night Cat Fight is truly for the birds! I'm featuring a full hour of songs about "birds". You'll hear classic tunes from Les Paul & Mary Ford, The Beatles, Ersel Hickey, Leonard Cohen and many more. However, there will be NO songs about chickens or songs that refer to airplanes as "birds".
Vote for your favorite version of "We Like Birdland" as Huey Smith battles Chubby Checker on this week's "world famous" Cat Fight!
Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast on B. B. King! - 9/18/09
B. B. King
Happy 84th Birthday!
B.B. King just celebrated his 84th birthday on Wednesday, September 16th and this week I'm honoring "The King Of The Blues" with a full podcast featuring his music. I'm focusing on his entire career to demonstrate the various "periods" that B. B. has been through musically. From his strong beginnings right out of the gate on RPM Records in the early 1950s to his incredible live performance at Chicago's Regal Theater. His huge pop crossover breakthrough in 1970 to his duets with U2 and Eric Clapton. I will also feature his most recent work, "One Kind Favor", which came out in 2008.
This week's Cat Fight is between the birthday boy and Howard Tate. Listen to both versions of "Ain't Nobody Home" before you voice your choice and vote for your favorite.
Here's to the legendary B. B. King rolling on strong for many more years to come!
R.I.P - Mary Travers of Peter, Paul & Mary Dies At 72
Mary Travers
1936 - 2009
Last night, September 16th, Mary Travers of the 1960s folk revival powerhouse, Peter, Paul & Mary lost her long battle with Leukemia. She was 72 and passed away near her Connecticut home. Travers possessed one of the most distinctive female voices of the 1960s. Sometimes you couldn't tell Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey's vocals apart, but you always heard Mary. She not only added sex appeal to the '60 folk movement (Joan Baez didn't hurt either), but her voice sweetened the three-part harmony that made her group famous.
Their interpretations of other people's songs; "Blowing In The Wind" (Dylan), "Early Morning Rain" (Lightfoot), "If I Had A Hammer" (Seger) and the #1 pop smash "Leaving On A Jet Plane" (Denver) defined folk music in the 1960s. Their original songs, such as "Stewball", "Day Is Done" and "Puff The Magic Dragon" have become folk standards. Generally praised for remaining more "true" to the folk movement than many of their contemporaries (Dylan), Peter, Paul & Mary still managed to sell millions of records for Warner Brothers. They were also not above a sonic "poke" at their peers. In the Paul Stookey original, "I Dig Rock And Roll Music", the group shows that they can sing in any style and even make fun of The Mamas & The Papas and Donovan while doing so.
Peter, Paul & Mary were also passionate civil rights activists, having participated in the 1963 March On Washington, where they sang "Blowing In The Wind" and "If I Had A Hammer".
Mary's lead vocal on the classic "500 Miles" gets me every time. I can hear the sorrow and the longing in her voice. You can tell that songs touched her very deeply and she projected that depth in her desire just to be "home" and safe.
The real topper though will always be "Leaving On A Jet Plane". John Denver wrote one amazing tune, but it was Mary Travers' lead that made that song an instant classic. I remember being introduced to that song while at summer camp in VT when I was seven years old. All the girls from the girls' side of the lake would gather around the campfire and sing "Jet Plane". Needless to say, that sound and image have remained in my mind ever since. The music of Peter, Paul & Mary is dyed in the fabric of American Popular Music and it's always sad when we loose someone special. Mary Travers was someone very special. Rest in peace, Mary. I hope you made your connection and got to where you were going.
-Matt The Cat
PS- Dig this great clip of Peter, Paul & Mary performing "Leaving On A Jet Plane" with the song's author, John Denver in 1969, the year it topped the charts.
Friday Night Cat Fight - Summer Obit Tributes - 9/11/09
...Remind Me Of You
Summer
Obit
Tribute Show
This week, The Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast focuses on those who left us during the past couple of months. I've prepared little 2 song tributes to Billy Lee Riley, Johnny Carter, Sam Butera, Koko Taylor, Ellie Greenwich and Les Paul. You can read my written obits for all these great artist by clicking on my "Prowlin' With Matt The Cat" Blog.
Since we're saying goodbye to some "oldies but goodies", I decided to feature the classic tune from 1961 as this week's Cat Fight. Please decide whether you're in the West Coast camp with Little Caesar & The Romans or the East Coast brigade with Nino & The Ebb Tides and then vote at FridayNightCatFight.com.
Friday Night Cat Fight - Work Songs For Labor Day - 9/4/09
...see you when the summer's through
Work Songs
Well, it's Labor Day Weekend again and with summer at an end and work about to pick up, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of some of the jobs out there that might be harder and more uncomfortable than yours (that is if you are currently working). The feature this week is on "Work Songs" and man we've got 'em. We'll go from working in a coal mine and working on a chain gang to just trying to find a job and just getting by. We'll hear from The Isley Brothers, Nina Simone, Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris and many more. Lee Dorsey even gets 2 songs in this week's show!
Since September is here, I thought we'd vote on your favorite version of "See You In September". Listen to the songs on the podcast and vote for the one you truly dig the most.
Radio is my first love. I've wanted to be on the radio ever since the first time I understood that there was someone out there broadcasting to my little radio. I was lucky enough to land my first spot on the radio at age 13 at WBMT in Boxford, MA. I want to Emerson College solely for their stellar radio program and the chance to be on WERS in Boston and cover all six New England States. I then landed at XM Satellite Radio in Washington, DC in 2001, just before XM's launch. I look forward to the next big radio challenge heading my way. As you can see, Radio is in my blood and this is my blog.
