sotu 578 - Get Yer Ya Ya's Out! And Double your Fun.

Two for the price of one from me this week. From Hawkwind's double live album Space Ritual (and incidentally the greatest album ever made!) i bring you Sonic Attack and Time We Left This World Today - only the latter features the ukulele though ...

 
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Hi everyone. I think I've caught up with comments and playlist.
I remember seeing Jethro Tull in Sydney at the Hordern Pavillion...must have been 1971. It was after Aqualung but before Thick as a Brick. After the opening band had finished the lights dimmed and the roadies began setting up on stage. All the roadies were dressed in cloth caps and macs (raincoats). There was a bunch of roadies and they busied themselves doing what roadies do. Then suddenly while we all thought things were still being set up the opening riff from Aqualung blasts out...Da Da Da Darrrr Da along with the drum fill. Lights turn up and the band is all there and roaring. They had been dressed the same as the roadies and had been on stage amongst the roadies in the darkness waiting to roll. Great start to a great concert.
 
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It has been suggested that the second verse might be about New York socialite Edie Sedgwick, who frequented Andy Warhol's Factory at around the same time that Dylan was introduced to Warhol. Given that Warhol made Sedgwick a star and that her life was one of "fog, amphetamines and pearls" the song might have been about her. Edie is one of the women pictured on the inner sleeve of Dylan's classic "Blonde on Blonde" album (released May 16, 1966) which included the track "Just like a woman"
Sedgwick bio which is quite tragic and horrendous can be found here.
 
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Hi everyone. I think I've caught up with comments and playlist.
I remember seeing Jethro Tull in Sydney at the Hordern Pavillion...must have been 1971. It was after Aqualung but before Thick as a Brick. After the opening band had finished the lights dimmed and the roadies began setting up on stage. All the roadies were dressed in cloth caps and macs (raincoats). There was a bunch of roadies and they busied themselves doing what roadies do. Then suddenly while we all thought things were still being set up the opening riff from Aqualung blasts out...Da Da Da Darrrr Da along with the drum fill. Lights turn up and the band is all there and roaring. They had been dressed the same as the roadies and had been on stage amongst the roadies in the darkness waiting to roll. Great start to a great concert.
I saw David Bowie play a similar trick on his Glass Spider tour. A few minutes before the start time, half a dozen lighting people climbed up rope ladders to get to the spotlights above the stage. Then the band came on and started playing. Then DB came down on a rope from the lighting gantry, still wearing his road crew gear.
But unlike your experience, this show was far from great. The only other thing I can remember was a pure Spinal Tap moment, when a guitar was lowered down on wires (for no apparent reason) for the guitarist (Peter Frampton) to play a solo on. But it didn't quite come down far enough. The poor sod spent two minutes on his tip toes, frantically shouting at roadies while trying to play something like the solo we were expecting.
 
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As a 16 year old schoolboy I saw Led Zeppelin in 1972 at an outdoor concert at Sydney Showground. They were pretty much at their peak and did a two and a half hour show...although as great as he was I do remember a verrrrry long drum solo by Mr Bonham.
Here's some scratchy sound and vision of concert snippets.
 
I saw David Bowie play a similar trick on his Glass Spider tour. A few minutes before the start time, half a dozen lighting people climbed up rope ladders to get to the spotlights above the stage. Then the band came on and started playing. Then DB came down on a rope from the lighting gantry, still wearing his road crew gear.
But unlike your experience, this show was far from great. The only other thing I can remember was a pure Spinal Tap moment, when a guitar was lowered down on wires (for no apparent reason) for the guitarist (Peter Frampton) to play a solo on. But it didn't quite come down far enough. The poor sod spent two minutes on his tip toes, frantically shouting at roadies while trying to play something like the solo we were expecting.

When I saw the Glass Spider tour, I don’t recall a guitar-from-the-sky moment, but it did seem as if the costumed dancers were throwing Bowie around the stage as if he were a rag doll as he sang … making me think at least part of the show was pre-recorded and synched. Major disappointment.
 
Here's one off a double live I have in my dusty vinyl piles. Donovan in Concert from 1968. Been a bit quiet folks...I guess everyone is working on magnum opus's....opi?? :). On guitalele tuned down to G -g.
 
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Here's one for Option 3. You'll see why it fits right at the end. It's a song about unlikely things, ranging from the trivial to the impossible.



Some people think it should be East Fife 4 Forfar 5, but East Fife is my local team so I want them to win. The result has been close a couple of times, but never quite perfect...
 
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if you ever go to a seafood restaurant at The InterCONtinental Hotel please don't order The Orange Fish.
You can try Ew Ew Eels with Emu Eggs or Sardines Socks.

I wrote this for my friend Eriko whose birthday is today. I also did some sketches to illustrate the story.
It is very silly and maybe not musically pleasing but I wanted to get it out before Erik's birthday is over.

Words here:
Hey Erik! It's your birthday! Let's go and celebrate! So I took you to a seafood restaurant at InterContinental Hotel. We studied the fancy names on the menu and ordered a few dishes. Then the chef pointed to a giant tank and said: "Pick the fish you want on your plate." All the fishes in the dark water looked so sad and sluggish. Then I saw an orange fish that looked like he was asleep. I told the chef: "I want that fish. But can you please don't cook it? I want to give it to my friend as a birthday gift." The chef said" Sure you can!" and poked his hairy arm into the tank. The orange fish became alive and did a double flip. After some cursing and swearing the chef caught the orange fish, and put him in a glass bowl for us to take home. We changed our order to vegetarian and a pot of Oolong tea. Then we walked out of the restaurant and never went back again. So now Erik is the mother of Omega the orange fish. Happy Birthday to you, Erik! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you, Erik! Happy birthday to you!


Thank your for your theme, John. It pointed me to the right direction to write this song. :---)
 
Hi all,

Time for the Kinks! Ray Davies changed this one up for the live shows, including an odd introduction of band members (with snark toward his brother Dave), but it still couldn't ruin a great song. (That was up to me!) Gentrification under the microscope here.

 
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In 1972, members of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band assembled a group of traditional country musicians and produced the seminal 3 LP album, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, commonly called The Circle Album.
Maybelle Carter was one of these musicians and she recorded a song that she had recorded many times before, but always on guitar. For this recording, she used the Autoharp and left the guitar playing to Earl Scruggs.
This was the first melody I learned to pick on the guitar, but the words seemed to make no sense, so I never sang it. I've heard a few folks try to make sensible lyrics, and I have made some changes myself, but I'm still not happy with them. I have never been able to find a flower called a pale emanita.

 
In 1972, members of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band assembled a group of traditional country musicians and produced the seminal 3 LP album, Will The Circle Be Unbroken..
That album has always been a favorite of mine, as is Wildwood Flower. I play it on soprano ukulele in C, but if I played it on my baritone, it would be in G. I'll describe it for baritone, since that's what you're playing. To pick the melody notes, I found it advantageous to use two inversions of a G chord, depending if I needed the b or d melody note. The first inversion is the open G chord, dgbg. The second inversion is the barred G chord, gbdg. Try picking it in G, and you'll see what I mean.
 
another homemade song for the season. i got a new uke today 🙄 i couldn't resist the bird design bridge, and the bird on the headstock 🕊 and obviously i couldn't resist writing a little bird-themed song to celebrate, either!



at the double, in full flight,
through cold air alive with light.
beyond the clouds into the blue,
i'm flying high above you.
no slave to gravity am i,
the ties that bind you, i defy.
faster than an arrow,
how quick skips my shadow,
quicker than your eye.
listen to my cry.
a feather falling from the sky,
as i fly.
 
Been a bit quiet folks...I guess everyone is working on magnum opus's....opi?? :).
haha! I eat Magnum ice cream....
Here is the opposite of a magnum opus...
recorded during break time at work.
Such a beautiful song.
I have never listened to any or much ISB, but when I discovered their music some years ago I really love it.
From their 1968 double album Wee Tam and the Big Huge.


I think my chords are a bit dodgy... but it's good enough to let me sing it and amuse myself during break time.
 
In 1972, members of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band assembled a group of traditional country musicians and produced the seminal 3 LP album, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, commonly called The Circle Album.
Maybelle Carter was one of these musicians and she recorded a song that she had recorded many times before, but always on guitar. For this recording, she used the Autoharp and left the guitar playing to Earl Scruggs.
This was the first melody I learned to pick on the guitar, but the words seemed to make no sense, so I never sang it. I've heard a few folks try to make sensible lyrics, and I have made some changes myself, but I'm still not happy with them. I have never been able to find a flower called a pale emanita.


Enjoyed this, Jim! Another Jim (Stafford) used the WF chord progression as the basis for his hilarious “Wildwood Weed”, which is on my list of tunes should it meet future SOTU rules.
 
That album has always been a favorite of mine, as is Wildwood Flower. I play it on soprano ukulele in C, but if I played it on my baritone, it would be in G. I'll describe it for baritone, since that's what you're playing. To pick the melody notes, I found it advantageous to use two inversions of a G chord, depending if I needed the b or d melody note. The first inversion is the open G chord, dgbg. The second inversion is the barred G chord, gbdg. Try picking it in G, and you'll see what I mean.
I'm actually playing a tenor, but I must've tuned it down a bit to be able to sing it, so it's close to Bb (kind of a reverse capo). I wanted to do it quickly, with not too many takes, so I dropped the middle 8 an octave. It might sound better like this:
Middle part of wilwood flower ukulele.jpg
 
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Bring it on home Sam Cooke cover from live album ‘Live At the Harlem Square Club, 1963’
 
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