some in Columbia, South Carolina, and some right here in Little Rock at Greg's House, where Greg Spradlin himself recorded and mixed and added guitar and bass. Try myspace.com/ nazharp for more info.
---Doug Treadway
For some time now I’ve been worried about global warming and my contribution to it and what I can do about it. I started recycling as a kid (my dad got me into it). Over the years I’ve sold tons of scrap iron, aluminum, copper, and brass to Sol Alman’s, as well as taken hundreds of discarded tires to Davis Rubber, four at a time. One lesson I remember from a geology course I took at the U of A is that Earth’s temperature changes regardless of our doings and even the magnetic poles have swapped ends over the eons. So I’m thinking ‘be aware of what you consume and how you discard your waste, wasting as little as possible, and don’t worry; be happy.’ “And the colored girls say:” Lou Reed has left us, as a result of complications from his recent liver transplant. He was my age, but partied heartier. Also gone are Tom Clancy, author of several fine novels, many of which have been made into popular movies, and Thomas Foley, a former Speaker of the House and a fervent pursuer of bipartisanship, i. e. governing. Lou Scheimer, 84, was a television producer and founder of the Filmation cartoon studio … don’t tell me you don’t know about the animated version of “Star Trek.” Our oldest living recipient of the Medal of Honor has passed at 96. Nicholas Oresko earned the honor for singlehandedly taking out two enemy machine gun positions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Speaking of the military, General Vo Nguyen Giap has died at 102. He defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and presided over the eventual victory by North Vietnam over American-supported South Vietnam twenty years and thousands of lives later, much to our chagrin. Ah, speakin’ o’ the ol’ days, remember Jackie Lomax? He was a Brit rocker promoted by the Beatles back in the day. He was 69 when he died. And baseball cards. Hiroshi Yamauchi, 85, was president of Nintendo, a company that first made millions off playing cards. Dude also owned the Seattle Mariners. Bill Sharman was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both player and coach (Boston Celtics / Los Angeles Lakers). He passed on at 87. Carolyn Cassady has passed. She was the widow of Neal Cassady, who became the (semi) fictional character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road.” Fact or fiction? What does it matter? Stanley Kauffmann remind you of anything? How about movie criticism? He was an actor, playwright, novelist, teacher, and just a general bon vivant who charmed people even when he was cutting them down to size. He was 97 when he passed from this plane. And then there’s Scott Carpenter. He passed from this plane a long time ago, aboard a rocket ship. He was one of the original seven astronauts and only the second, after John Glenn, to orbit Earth, only he did it three times. He also had a problem with his re-entry and splashed down far from the target area; taking crews forty minutes to find and release him from his capsule on the bounding main. Ever hear of “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love?” ‘Twas written by an American of Cuban descent named Oscar Hijuelos, who died recently at 62. Also passing recently was Maxine Powell, 98. She was a deportment and style maven for the stars of Motown beginning in 1964. Musician / actor Noel Harrison has passed at 79 (“Windmills of My Mind”). Marcia Wallace, the voice of Edna Krabappel for a couple hundred episodes of “The Simpsons” has passed on at 70, and sculptor Anthony Caro, one of the pioneers of using industrial materials in art, has died at 89. A couple of exceptional athletes have passed: Walt Bellamy (74) was a center for a number of NBA teams and managed a Hall of Fame career, scoring some 21,000 points; then there was Montgomery Kaluhiokalani (54), the legendary
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Hawaiian surfer known as Buttons. One of the greatest stuntmen in movies has taken his last fall. Arkansas-born Hal Needham, who was also a writer / director and close pal of Burt Reynolds, passed away in October.
SAME LOVE Earl & Them Swingin' Door This is an exceptional album. For one thing, it's dedicated to five people, one of them being Levon Helm, and the very first song sounds like something Levon would be doing. Well, it's a Robbie Robertson song, so I reckon that's as it should be. In fact, there are more cuts recalling The Band, but this is not a mere homage to one group of musicians, rather it is an homage to and recognition of a panoply of performers and creators of the soundscape of our lives. Okay, maybe just some of our lives, but still. Earl and them touch on Clarence “Frogman” Henry and the Rolling Stones, Bill Withers and John Lee Hooker and even Kim Wilson for material, in addition to Robertson, but they also infuse their choices with a spirit of old time rock 'n' roll, that blues influence slap up against hillbilly music. It's been revisited from time to time since the beginning but seldom as effectively in one collection of tunes as this one. These guys aren't imitating The Band, or John Fogerty, or Mick Jagger or anybody; they're playing music that they feel and obviously have felt for some time, paying homage not just to this artist or that band, but to the music itself. Earl Cate plays guitar and sings, as does Jason Davis; Terry Cagle drums and sings; John Davies is the bass player. They are joined on various cuts by Ernie Cate on keyboards, Jimmy Thackery on guitar, David Renko on sax, Jeff Gray on trumpet, Dawn Cate on a vocal, RJ Mischo on harmonica, and / or Timothy Grace on stride piano. The music was recorded at insomniac studios (insomniacstudio sinc@gmail.com) and you may contact www.earlandthem.com or www.facebook.com/earlandthem for further information. PACK OF LIES Naz and the Falsehoods Allie Mae Whoa! One great album followed by another. Mike Nazarenko is Naz and I heard a poor recording of him sitting in with some band a while back and was not impressed, but by billy-be-damned on his debut CD he flat blows it out. There are fourteen tracks and every one polished 'til it shines. Come to think of it there's a cover of a Johnny Shines tune. Most of the songs are Naz originals though and they sparkle with energy, just as much as any of the covers, including a Walter Jacobs tune and one by Sonny Boy Williamson 2. Anson Funderburgh produced some of the tracks and provided his excellent guitar. Bob Welsh added some fine guitar and piano work on some other tracks, and both Jeff Liberty and Elliot New slip in a bit of guitar on a couple tracks, but check this out now: some of this was recorded in Dallas, Texas, some in San Jose, California,
NIGHTFLYING.COM • 33 YEARS OF TELLING YOU WHERE TO GO • 2013
IT AIN'T ROCKET SURGERY Tyrannosaurus Chicken indie T-Chikn is Smilin' Bob Lewis and Rachel Ammons. They kick ass. This is the second album of theirs I've heard / reviewed and I swear it gets better as it goes along. These people are crazy good and sinfully funny and just so amped that you can't help but get high listening to them … imagine what they're like in person! I would be willing to say that their live shows are so lively they could bring the Grateful Dead back to life. And it's not just their energy; they are are so damnably clever and talented in such a unique way that you just can't quite get a handle on it until it's over and you're scratching your head, thinking 'what in the world did I just witness?' In my opinion it's one of the all-time great American music acts. It is also my humble opinion that you should get one of their albums (recorded at Blue Chair) or get to one of their performances. It is not the sort of music you hear every day, though it is rooted in the music the hill folk around these parts have been making every day (or night) for a long time. All the recording was done in single takes and without any studio trickery, so what you hear here is what you get live, more or less … no visuals involved in this CD of course, except the shot of the two astronauts on the back and the transcendental cover art by Da Hokmayen. I don't find any contact info, but they do thank in the liner notes those who watch them on the computer, so you should be able to hunt them down on the World Wide Web.
GO AHEAD AND SANG THE BLUES Brick Fields & The Chosen Ones indie I already knew that Rachel Fields was a torchy singer, but I did not know that she was Burger's niece until I read the liner notes of this album, the second I have reviewed in these pages. That's how I knew she could sing. And I was also acquainted with the guitar playing of Larry Brick. Thus it came as no surprise to me that this would be a good album; in fact I fully expected it and I was not disappointed: plenty of soulful singing and particularly pleasant picking, not only by Brick, but a feller named Earl Cate laid some larrupin' licks too, and RJ Mischo's harp blends right in along with keys by Matt Jenkins on top of the rhythms set forth by bassist John Davies and drummer Johnny Arredondo. All in all it's a very nice trip into the blues. Oh yeah, Barbara Raney, Rain Equine, Carrie Roberts, Jody Andrews, and Jennifer Parker do some lovely backup vocals. Brick and Fields wrote most of the songs and one of the few covers is the Burger tune “Oh Lottie Day.” BrickFieldsMusic.com is the site to find out more about this set and this great duo. MEMPHIS LOVES THE BEATLES VOLUME 4 Fried Glass Onions Inside Sounds A whole bunch of disparate artists celebrate a dozen Beatles hits. There are some really good ones, such as Eddie Dattel's version of “All My Loving” and “She's a Woman” done by Sir Charles Ponder. Nora Tucker turns in a fine rendition of “Honey Pie” and “If I Fell” by the Memphis All-Stars is very well done (I just don't care much for falsetto). “I Want You