Mark Wonder Northwest Reggae 2007

With the Northwest World Reggae Festival 2008 just over a week away I thought I would post some vid's from last year to tempt you just in case you were thinking of passing it up. The clip below is Mark Wonder being supported by The Escort Service Band, J. Ross Parelli, Lambsbread on trombone (The Instigators), James on sax (Reeble Jar). I apologize for forgetting the other back-up singers name.

More Blues Vids : Freddie King

If you don't know who Freddie King is, well you should. And if you like ripping blues guitar licks that will just melt you, then watch these vids, and be thankful for the advance of technology that puts stuff like this on you tube, easily available and for free. Take your history lesson, and wonder why music today just does not seem to have the same passionate soul as it once did. And give a big up to Freddie for rocking so hard!

Jesse "The Lone Cat" Fuller

I was just talking about Jesse Fuller the other day with a friend while playing a song of his on guitar on the porch. Today while poking around watching video's on YouTube I came across a few great Jesse Fuller clips that I thought would be great to share.

Jesse was an original one man band, starting his music career in the 50's when work became scarce after World War II. He penned many notable songs such as Monkey and the Engineer and Beat It On Down The Line, as well as playing a reportoire collected from years of travel across the country working different jobs since he left his birthplace down south in Georgia. Don't forget to check out the other youtube links below the embedded video. They are from a 1968 concert and are a must see!

San Francisco Bay Blues

Red River Blues 1968

John Henry 1968

Jesse Fuller Wikipedia

Sound of the City

I have been listening to a lot of old school reggae from the 70's lately. I have found lots of cool stuff that is so hard to get thanks to the internet and blogs. I would like to give a shout out to the folks over at Jah School for providing this track in one of there 7" packs a while back. The track here is Sound of the City by Joe Higgs and Jimmy Cliff, released in 1978. The late seventies were definitely a special time for reggae as this tune will attest.

Joe Higgs & Jimmy Cliff - Sound of the City

A Tribe Called Quest and the A Milli Sample

While I was reading some forums this morning I ran across some interesting information on the sample source for the popular Lil' Wayne track A Milli. And that information reminded me of a great version of one of my favorite hip hop tracks, which just happens to be hard to find for a lot of people. The track I am talking about is a remix of A Tribe Called Quest's I Left My Wallet in El Segundo by Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim. It was released on a 12" along with a couple other remixes of the same track by him. This is the infamous Vampire Mix. Most people can only find this mix on the ATCQ cd Hit's, Rarities, and Remixes.



ATCQ - I Left My Wallet In El Segundo (Vampire Mix)



The dancehall sample used at the beginning of the track was slowed way down and repeated over and over in the new song by Lil' Wayne and produced by Bangladesh. I particularly love when hip hop samples it self.