I was sorry to hear of the recent passing of Stu Scharf, a remarkable musician and good friend. You can see his web site (while it is still up) at www.stuie.net

He was well known as a producer, composer, arranger, and New York studio musician. He had a long time partnership with the great Bob Dorough, where they produced a series of classic recordings for Spanky and Our Gang. He wrote some of their best songs, including Give A Damn, which reflected his strong interest in civil and human rights (and the stupidity of the media; many radio stations objected to the word "Damn" and tried to censor it; thankfully to no avail).

He was an exquisite jazz and traditional guitarist, playing and arranging with the Chad Mitchell Trio, and on studio recordings for some of the brightest artists of the sixties through the nineties, including Nina Simpon, Laura Nyro, Herbert Laws, Al Kooper, Carly Simon, Burt Bacharach, Pearls Before Swine, Neil Diamond, Phoebe Snow, Iand and Sylvia, and Roberta Flack.

Mostly I'm going to miss the great emails he would send me, with observations on society, human nature, and the life of the artist.

I thought something should be said to commemorate the life of this great guy. Beneath his sometimes gruff exterior, he was a humanist, civil rights activist, and all-around mensch.

I'll miss you, Stuie!

I was sorry to hear of the passing of the great Porter Wagoner, he of the  Nudie suits, pompadour of the century, and great musical integrity. He was a great performer, songwriter, and all-around entertainer. He discovered many other talented performers, most notably Dolly Parton. He was a Grand Ole Opry star since 1957, and brought Jame Brown on to the Opry Stage for the first time.

What I remember most was his extremely funky TV show on Saturday afternoons. It was down-home and as authentic as a music program ever got on TV. I saw his touring show in 1974 (his last tour with Dolly) at the cavernous Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. It wasn't a sellout, and folks on the main floor all moved close to the stage. It had the feeling of being in a rural school auditorium, filled with true believers. The music was great, no-compromise, down-home country, with few concessions to the more commercial aspects of the business. I'll always remember as an honest and thoroughly engaging performer.

How traditional was he? How many groups can you name that still had a bass player (Speck Rhodes) who filled the traditional comic relief function, with blacked-out teeth, that harks back to the days of medicine shows? He wrote many classics, like "The Green, Green Grass of Home," and stories of desperate men caught in moral dillemas, like "The Carrol County Accident."

One more missing brick in the real heart of American music, he will be missed. 

We split over creative differences. I was creative, and Porter was different.
-Dolly Parton
 

An incredible new album has been released,the original recordings that served as inspiration for the Bonzo Dog Band. It is Songs the Bonzo Dog Band Taught Us, quite an impressive collection.

If you aren't familiar with these lunatics, they were a late-sixties English group that would be the result of mixing Spike Jones and the Mothers of Invention with the British Music Hall tradition, and giving them tons of psychedelic drugs. They had origins at the same time as Monty Python, and often did joint projects.

The Bonzos spent many an hour cruising London thrift shops in search of novelty records, many of which they remade into modernized versions that retained the charm of the originals - Jollity Farm,  Hunting Tigers Out in India, Mickey's Son and Daughter, etc. They're all here. Leave it to the Brits to make some of the most unusual records ever heard, with absurd humor bordering on surrealism. Perfect material for the Dada-inspired Bonzos.

Aha, thought I, now I can find out what the original lyrics were for Ali Baba's Camel, as the Bonzo version contains what appears to be a pretty obvious drug reference.

So I eagerly out on the 1932 version by The Rhythmic Troubadours, and imagine my surprise when I heard: 

You've heard of Ali Baba, 40 thieves had he

Out for what we all want; lots of LSD!

After a few double takes, it was off to Google, where I found this simple explanation:

It should be pointed out for the benefit of younger/US/FDA readers that the
"LSD" referred to in Ali-Baba's Camel is the "pounds shillings and pence"
variety, and not any other kind you may know of. It's a scary enough song
without psychedelic side-effefects!

One of my favorite classic west coat western wing groups: The Maddox Brothers with Sister Rose. Quite the wild gang! They were as authentic as you get; very down home, great instrumentalists, a good sense of humor, and a wild and wacky, often humorous approach to music.

They were pioneers in a more modern, electric country sound, and were noted for their use of slap-back bass techniques and other effects that later turned up in early rock and roll.

They were a real family band, too. They hailed from Alabama, and moved to California's central valley in the early years of the Great Depression, working as migrant fruit pickers. They eventually settled down in Modesto, and became favorites in towns all up and down the central valley. They recorded for Columbia and Decca, with many hit records of the day (including a killer version of Woody Guthrie's Philadelphia Lawyer).

They did a daily radio show for many years on McClatchy's station KBEE in Modesto, further spreading their musi. Arhoolie has released a record of some of these transcripts, which will give you an idea of what their sound was like. Bear Family has released a pricey but very complete box set, and there are several more affordable collections. The Bear Family set has their complete Columbia output, which is a fascinating bridge between honky-tonk country and early rockabilly.

Rose was active up until her death a few years ago, and was a big influence on Merle Haggard and other Bakersfield artists.

If you aren't familiar with their music, do yourself a favor and check them out. I love them because they sound like they are having great fun while making terrific music.

Key phrase: "eeeee-haw!".

More:

• Rockabilly Hall of Fame article
• Story on cowgirls.com
• NPR series with an episode about MB&R, includes performances
  
• Analysis at honkytonks.org

While checking out the revamped ask.com, I did a search on Bonzo Dog Band, which led me to this interesting site that reviews single-malt scotches and unusual music (my kind of place). Scroll down to "Feb. 3rd" fot a review of a recent live Bonzo performance (I think this is the one preserved on the excellent 40th Anniversary DVD).

 It does as an interesting question: were these two bands joined at birth?

Wacky song (listen) that is a punked-out list of Japanese commercial cultural icons that are part of US life.

From the group SOJH. It's fun, all right!