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Flanfire (Duggan Flanakin) is bringing LIFE to Austin music -- and telling the world how sweet it is!
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Gotta LOVE LZ!
So I was at the Papa Mali Christmas wing-ding for the Austin Food Bank and ran into LZ Love and she handed me her latest -- a collaboration with slide guitarist (and blues historian) Lightning Red simply called "Gut Bucket Blues." Said she and Red would be doing some gigs starting in January to promote the new CD (Artz Rib House on January 11th and at Dan Electro's in Houston on January 13th are among them). So I took it home and tossed it into the CD player .... and ..... well, you've got two LZ originals and five by Red, plus LZ's take on Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" and a cool duet on Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me To Do."
If by chance you are one of those who has not heard either (or both) of these A-list artists, you could check them out on KBLJ-FM on Loris Lowe's late-night show on January 2 or hang out at Maria's Taco X-Press on any given Sunday (but not every Sunday) ...
LZ is beautiful inside and out and mysterious besides -- she has that aura of one who walks with the angels (maybe because, like soul sister Ruthie Foster, she too put down her career to take care of her late mother during a late-life illness). In her younger days in San Francisco, LZ was a backup singer to Mary Wells, Joan Armatrading, Billy Preston, Luther Vandross, and many others and is a longtime collaborator with Tommy Castro and Michael Fronti. God blessed Austin when LZ and a couple of her musical mates moved here in 2003 (just after she had restarted her solo career in San Fran with a BIG BANG!) .. and LZ blessed God and Austin by joining up with the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers on many occasions before starting up her own Hippie Gospel Sunday Extravaganza which will be at Maria's two Sundays in January.
Lightning Red is a homegrown Texas whiteboy blues man (well, he got here from Chicago as early as he could!) who has literally lived the blues -- complete with stolen guitars, burned-down clubs, and soured record deals -- and even moved to Maine a few years back to escape the insanity of a town with thousands of musicians and virtually no music business (which means record companies, publishers, and such). He has wowed audiences for decades both here and abroad -- and maybe it was the lack of good salsa that moved him back to Austin (or maybe it was just the vision of recording and playing with LZ Love). In HIS early days he was playing with Luther Allison and listening to Junior Wells (long before LZ was singing with Mary Wells but maybe about the time LZ was a 5-year-old gospel singer in her mother's church).
But back to Papa Mali and Ruta Maya. Now I totally missed Guy Forsyth (except for watching him cut a rug on the dance floor), but Papa had as special guests such notables as Cyril Neville and the lovely Meagan Tubb. The highlight of the evening, though, had to be when Papa got Leeann Atherton up to sing "Oh Happy Day," and up onto the stage jumped a couple of the Gospel Silvertones (who had been on earlier) PLUS LZ Love AND Ruthie Foster AND Shelley King .... and I think maybe half of the Angel Choir came down from heaven to join in on the action .... ONE reason it was NOT a night to be taking notes (my usual pattern) was the presence of some red-hot gumbo and red beans and rice that even Papa Mali was more than happy to munch on (he being quite a chef in his own right and no fan of feaux Louisiana food). The Harmonizers closed out the evening's festivities (man, that Nick Connelly can SING!) -- and while the music and fellowship were both great, the best part of the evening was recognizing that once again Austin's father of many years played a part in raising lots of money for those truly in need during this holiday season.
OKAY -- to finish off the week in preparation for the Day of JOY!, I could not resist a visit to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar on Christmas Eve. Not that I had any money to spend on the beautiful stuff up for sale (including stuff from my artist friends Daryl Howard and Terrell Powell) -- but it was the Hot Greezy Gonzo Posse show on the Dillo Stage and THAT was a once-in-a-lifetime event NOTTOBEMISSED!
Take a strong dose of Greezy Wheels -- Cleve and Sweet Mary plus sister Lissa and keyboardist David Roach (Kai's dad for you younger guys) -- add in Gonzo Bob Livingston on bass (and singing about the middle ages and I do NOT mean ancient history), Paul Pearcy on percussion, Tony Airoldi on guitar, and the amazing Mary Ann Price on percussion and vocals -- and THEN toss in the incredibly gorgeous Barbara Kooyman and the former Red Elvis Zhenya Rock (playing his little balalaika very very fast), and you have the makings of some rumble in the jungle music that does not even require mushrooms (or the equivalent thereof) to take you on a trip into, well, your inner childhood!
Whether it was the original Hot Lick gal (Mary Ann) singing old cowboy songs or stunning the crowd with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" or Bob Livingston telling the story of "Good King Wencelas" and singing even the verses no one remembers or Barbara K and Lissa singing a duet or just the instrumental jam times with Zhenya, Sweet Mary on fiddle, David Roach on mouth harp or whatever, Tony on guitar, and even Cleve himself playing the slide guitar .... the huge crowd gathered round just beamed! Cleve told me that even the practices for this gig were a lot of fun -- improved, no doubt, by the homemade cookies he would pass around. And then, to one up his own practices, Cleve passed around a huge batch of homemade cookies (by one of the band's pals) to the entire audience!
Now for the BEST NEWS of all -- the Greezys have yet another new recording in the hopper -- will be out maybe February, maybe March (who knows where the time goes?) ... Word is it is to be called "String Theory."
Now to get ready for the New Year's Long Weekend!!!!!
So I was at the Papa Mali Christmas wing-ding for the Austin Food Bank and ran into LZ Love and she handed me her latest -- a collaboration with slide guitarist (and blues historian) Lightning Red simply called "Gut Bucket Blues." Said she and Red would be doing some gigs starting in January to promote the new CD (Artz Rib House on January 11th and at Dan Electro's in Houston on January 13th are among them). So I took it home and tossed it into the CD player .... and ..... well, you've got two LZ originals and five by Red, plus LZ's take on Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" and a cool duet on Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me To Do."
If by chance you are one of those who has not heard either (or both) of these A-list artists, you could check them out on KBLJ-FM on Loris Lowe's late-night show on January 2 or hang out at Maria's Taco X-Press on any given Sunday (but not every Sunday) ...
LZ is beautiful inside and out and mysterious besides -- she has that aura of one who walks with the angels (maybe because, like soul sister Ruthie Foster, she too put down her career to take care of her late mother during a late-life illness). In her younger days in San Francisco, LZ was a backup singer to Mary Wells, Joan Armatrading, Billy Preston, Luther Vandross, and many others and is a longtime collaborator with Tommy Castro and Michael Fronti. God blessed Austin when LZ and a couple of her musical mates moved here in 2003 (just after she had restarted her solo career in San Fran with a BIG BANG!) .. and LZ blessed God and Austin by joining up with the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers on many occasions before starting up her own Hippie Gospel Sunday Extravaganza which will be at Maria's two Sundays in January.
Lightning Red is a homegrown Texas whiteboy blues man (well, he got here from Chicago as early as he could!) who has literally lived the blues -- complete with stolen guitars, burned-down clubs, and soured record deals -- and even moved to Maine a few years back to escape the insanity of a town with thousands of musicians and virtually no music business (which means record companies, publishers, and such). He has wowed audiences for decades both here and abroad -- and maybe it was the lack of good salsa that moved him back to Austin (or maybe it was just the vision of recording and playing with LZ Love). In HIS early days he was playing with Luther Allison and listening to Junior Wells (long before LZ was singing with Mary Wells but maybe about the time LZ was a 5-year-old gospel singer in her mother's church).
But back to Papa Mali and Ruta Maya. Now I totally missed Guy Forsyth (except for watching him cut a rug on the dance floor), but Papa had as special guests such notables as Cyril Neville and the lovely Meagan Tubb. The highlight of the evening, though, had to be when Papa got Leeann Atherton up to sing "Oh Happy Day," and up onto the stage jumped a couple of the Gospel Silvertones (who had been on earlier) PLUS LZ Love AND Ruthie Foster AND Shelley King .... and I think maybe half of the Angel Choir came down from heaven to join in on the action .... ONE reason it was NOT a night to be taking notes (my usual pattern) was the presence of some red-hot gumbo and red beans and rice that even Papa Mali was more than happy to munch on (he being quite a chef in his own right and no fan of feaux Louisiana food). The Harmonizers closed out the evening's festivities (man, that Nick Connelly can SING!) -- and while the music and fellowship were both great, the best part of the evening was recognizing that once again Austin's father of many years played a part in raising lots of money for those truly in need during this holiday season.
OKAY -- to finish off the week in preparation for the Day of JOY!, I could not resist a visit to the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar on Christmas Eve. Not that I had any money to spend on the beautiful stuff up for sale (including stuff from my artist friends Daryl Howard and Terrell Powell) -- but it was the Hot Greezy Gonzo Posse show on the Dillo Stage and THAT was a once-in-a-lifetime event NOTTOBEMISSED!
Take a strong dose of Greezy Wheels -- Cleve and Sweet Mary plus sister Lissa and keyboardist David Roach (Kai's dad for you younger guys) -- add in Gonzo Bob Livingston on bass (and singing about the middle ages and I do NOT mean ancient history), Paul Pearcy on percussion, Tony Airoldi on guitar, and the amazing Mary Ann Price on percussion and vocals -- and THEN toss in the incredibly gorgeous Barbara Kooyman and the former Red Elvis Zhenya Rock (playing his little balalaika very very fast), and you have the makings of some rumble in the jungle music that does not even require mushrooms (or the equivalent thereof) to take you on a trip into, well, your inner childhood!
Whether it was the original Hot Lick gal (Mary Ann) singing old cowboy songs or stunning the crowd with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" or Bob Livingston telling the story of "Good King Wencelas" and singing even the verses no one remembers or Barbara K and Lissa singing a duet or just the instrumental jam times with Zhenya, Sweet Mary on fiddle, David Roach on mouth harp or whatever, Tony on guitar, and even Cleve himself playing the slide guitar .... the huge crowd gathered round just beamed! Cleve told me that even the practices for this gig were a lot of fun -- improved, no doubt, by the homemade cookies he would pass around. And then, to one up his own practices, Cleve passed around a huge batch of homemade cookies (by one of the band's pals) to the entire audience!
Now for the BEST NEWS of all -- the Greezys have yet another new recording in the hopper -- will be out maybe February, maybe March (who knows where the time goes?) ... Word is it is to be called "String Theory."
Now to get ready for the New Year's Long Weekend!!!!!
