shower licks

Here is the most played track of the moment. Dan Hicks has always been part of my record collection and here is one of the best from recent years.

Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks One More Cowboy mp3
from his 2004 album "Selected Shorts", featuring contributions from Jimmy Buffett, Jim Keltner, Gibby Haynes, Van Dyke Parks and Willie Nelson. Willie does a great vocal on this happy little number.Try singing along in the shower and I bet you will feel a million dollars.. Yippi eye yippi oh !!!

happy ears

In House with Jeremy Petersen is a fantastic podcast that will have you buying a pair of hard heeled country boots and a Nudie shirt....all this years faves and J has a sexy voice as well..give it a whirl!!!
Having walked around the block I am catching up on chill out time, and admiring the Christmas tree. Have just had a look on play.com and ordered up a few Jamie Oliver DVDs the price was definitely right. He is one of my best guys of the last year. Anyone who was willing to break the scandal of a prisoner getting twice as much spent on his lunch as a school dinner deserves my vote.
Here is some music that has been making my ears very happy this past few weeks.
Dougie McLean Marching Mystery mp3

Hazel Dickens Coalmining Woman mp3

just listen to this mad Yiddish excellence yiddishe cup .Link to the album of the year.

Klezmershack.com, says :"This is the most outrageous combination of '50s Borscht Belt shtick and post-modern Jewish deconstruction I've heard in years and, boy, did we need it."
Having been to Poland and Hungary my fill for klezmer knows no bounds...i just love the frenetic ups and the blue downs. After a visit to Auschwitz these tracks take on new meanings.

grand ocean birthday

Happy Birthday Eddie.. or to give him his Sunday name Edward Louis Seversen III ...and making the grand old age of 41..go dude..
Pearl Jam Oceans live mp3

queen reggie

Took a dander up Leith Walk and again was impressed by the cosmopolitan shopping experience. Giant jumbo sausages on a roll at the 'fit' and a new Polish deli selling slightly more sophisticated sausages and full of folks from Krakow and Warsaw where there are now direct flights to Edinburgh. Across the road is a funfair and several Christmas tree outlets. African braid shops and a Chinese fish with owners who speak German...wow...20 years ago in Scotland no one had seen a red pepper let alone a pineapple.
The world is one big onion after all, here is someone who deserves to be saluted...yes...Reg Dwight..better known as
Elton John Country Comforts mp3
Fifty-eight-year-old Elton said before the ceremony that it would be "the happiest day of my life".
To celebrate here are the King and Queen of Country
George and Tammy. If they could make it work through thick and thin, then the newly weds should be aok.

George Jones and Tammy Wynette The Cermony mp3

fiddle factor

All this Christmas cheer makes me fancy a good holly and to oblige here is a couple of teuchter tracks for you to wiggle the pleats right oot o' yer kilt.

Tannahill Weavers Amish Light mp3

Liz Carroll The Rock Reel mp3

Check out some free sounds at her website

Unknown Irish Washerwoman mp3

Debbie Scott Shetland Fiddle mp3

Slainte Da Fustra Reels mp3

Just watched the X Factor and it was a hard call...voted for Journey South and Shayne. I have not heard such a fab version of 'Over the Rainbow' well done Shayne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

magic hydrants

Had a good laugh over this post that is doing the rounds and just had to share it with you all.

Christmas Carols for the psychiatrically challenged:
Schizophrenic --- Do You Hear What I Hear?
Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are
Amnesiac --- I Don't Know if I'll be Home for Christmas
Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and Fire Hydrants and ...

Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Get Me
Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder--- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll tell You Why
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells ...
Agoraphobia --- I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn't leave My House
Senile Dementia --- Walking in a Winter Wonderland Miles From My House in My Slippers and Robe
Social Anxiety Disorder --- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While I Sit Here and Hyperventilate

Greg Tannen Lucky This Time mp3

Born in Australia, raised in Toronto and New York, briefly a resident in Colorado, Ohio, and North Carolina, Greg Tannen is the son of an amateur jazz pianist and the grandson of a magician. You can download a load of mp3s from his website..a real find...check it out
He recently won the John Lennon Songwriting award in New York with 'Vegas Baby'

Bonus Ball just because it's Friday and I am in a good mood.

Stephen Bruton Teach me how to Stay mp3

free fettle blues

music music music....a biggie from way back when. Don't know why apart from the dosh why Paul Rodgers had to pretend he is Freddie Mercury..here he is in fine fettle and proving he has one of the best blues voices on the planet

Free Sail On mp3

bathtubs records and beer trucks

Well, three advent candles lit, the tree hoisted up and seemingly secure and a walk to look in neighbours windows to see who has the tackiest faabiest decorations. Up and round the corner is a house with a giant blow up Santa waving away to passerbys..excellent fun...
I went to the cinema the other day..becoming a bit of a Friday habit...particularly as the price is slightly reduced..and saw 'Mrs Henderson Presents..' with a wicked Judi Dench and an equally fine Bob Hoskyns. Check it out if you like good crisp dialogue and even a surprisingly good performance from Pop Idol Will Young.
So what to post up for the daily dose of delightful decibels?
Came across this whilst out and about in virtual space

Dr.Demento Granpa got run over by a beer truck mp3

Yes,that Dr. Demento...the man who discovered "Weird Al" Yankovic...the man who taught a whole generation "Fish Heads," "Dead Puppies" and "Existential Blues"...


Psycho Movie Theme mp3

A bit of humour of the psycho variety

After hearing that one of the patients in a mental hospital had saved another from a suicide attempt by pulling him out of a bathtub, the director reviewed the rescuer's file and called him into his office." Mr. James, your records and your heroic behavior indicate that you're ready to go home. I'm only sorry that the man you saved later killed himself with a rope around the neck."" Oh, he didn't kill himself," Mr. James replied. "I hung him up to dry."

christmas baby blue

Just watched the X Factor and am blown away as Brenda just got tanned and is no longer in the competition!! Wow..where are your ears?? I still think that Journey South are great but maybe not as marketable as Shayne. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my trash telly tonight. Put up the tree today after a bit of huffing and puffing and making the air blue. I always resist, but then give in, put on the countrry christmas toons and open the gluwien. Aldi has the best, far superior for the same price to Lidl's which is a tad sweet.
So now I have got into the Christmas mood FINALLY here is my favourite number for the season. It has to be a Bruce moment of course, there is no where else to go.

Bruce Springsteen Merry Christmas Baby live mp3

bar warsaw

Christmas is just around the proverbial corner..lots of getting out of the box and atrophied limbs to look forward too. So in eager anticipation here is a track that should keep those extremities a twitchin and a groovin throughout the whole time frame.
Having been in Warsaw recently I was aware how much here in the UK our chart music is made up pretty much of american and parochial albums. A walk round HMV will tell you the sad story, as will a look at any music channels on freeview or the like. So here is a fantastic outfit from Warsaw that will get your fat stores flying into oblivion..come on move those legs...
Recorded in 1999 it still sounds like it is freeze wrapped and straight from the fridge...clean lines and loads of flavour...

Bar Khokhba Sextet track 3 live title unknown mp3

The 25 original compositions on Bar Kokhba are dedicated to Jewish composer Boruch Karliner, who, in John Zorn's words, "established a fertile precedent opening the door to new possibilities in Jewish music." Bar Kokhba brings together six core members of the Masada family in a dynamic ensemble of strings and percussion. If you like your music to leave you drenched in a visceral viagra..these are your guys...

techno kilts

I know this is the time of 'good cheer' but it is also time to remember 'friends departed' and as I got an email through today from 'The Martyn Bennett Trust' I thought it high time for a bit of magical mental techno teuchterness.
Martyn died too young and left a short but brilliant legacy. I never saw him play live, I know he frequented the bars of Edinburgh but I must have been in the one next door.Even if you're not a big folk fan give this track a whirl..you may be runnng out to buy a kilt and sequencer...

Martyn Bennett Liberation mp3

thimble generator

Just read the sad news about Chris Whitley who has gone to the big record store in the sky. I came to his songs late in the day but have just found this fab link to his gig at Cafe Du Nord,San Francisco, CA07/24/05

I took a dander out in the rain up Leith Walk and passed a sign for 'Jumbo Bridies' only on the Walk..folks..
I also took a tumble into Cash Generator where folks off load crap cd's for very little wonga. This means they are available to the discerning public for the price of a 1976 kebab..
The racks were full of SClub7, Stephen Gately, Adam Rickett, Boyszone , 911 and East 17. Needless to say, I was not tempted to part with any cash. However, I did spend a quid on 'Greatest Hits of Rolf Harris' A little gem that has been alluding me for many aeons. Released on the magnificent Disky label and with a proper cover, I am one delighted anorak...and it now graces pride of place in my vast cd collection. However, mine is but a drop in the brine. I met someone the other day who had a collection of 80,000 albums.I didn't get a chance to ask if they could tell me the 24,356 one they acquired, that would let us know if they were indeed a serious collector or just a show off.
Left of the planet and round by the Pizza Hut tonight...no countrry just drama and angst wrapped up in a pop ribbon.

Keith West Excerpts from a Teenage Opera mp3

I wondered what this record actually sounded like for years, thanks to the net I now know and it is 'nae bad' as Arthur Askey would say when in Moncrief.

alabama exile check

Having discovered Hobotalk courtesy of Songs:Illinois I have been playing the free downloads from their site pretty much at hourly intervals. Where have I been??? They were even nominated for the Mercury Prize, must have been the day I forgot to get up. I am making up for it now though. Check them out.
Alabama 3 have also tickled my countrry ears. Again a band that kind of passed me by. Here is a techno countrry blues gospel number
Alabama 3 Ain't goin to Goa mp3

From the excellent Exile on Coldharbour Lane.
I am now off to make my tea..and enjoy the last of the weekend.

anorak waist in owl buckles

Went to see Harry Potter this morning..it was great as far as the cinema was concerned.There was only 4 of us in the house and one of them was snoring... so I didn't have the usual mobile phones going off and kids farting loudly behind.The film was sort of ok...just ok...i find Mr Potter very startled and wooden, I guess he must have been put under the petrificus totalis spell.Neville is not fantastic at dancing and Ron never gets to wrap his digits around Professor McGonagall's waist... according to the book. I know that film is different, so I am not going to criticise really..well yes I am ...oh I am well confused...after coming out the cinema and a quick look for advent candles in 'Au Naturale'. I was struggling to remember what film I had been to. However, I am not going to send a letter by owl post across the city to JK's abode pointing out these little disturbing differences. My anorak came off at the front door.
I am listening to the Verve and 'Bittersweet Symphony' following closely on the buckle straps of Marylin Manson with a rather good version of 'Sweet Dreams'.
I have been checking out what is likely to be in the Christmas stocking and seemingly these are the CD's that might tumble in. So now is the time to warn your relatives if you don't want any of the following: Eminem, Bright Eyes, Anthony and the Johnsons, Bloc Party and LCD Soundsystem. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

I also listened to Bryan..with a 'y' tonight on Radio Scotland and he had Jimmie Dale Gilmour on as his guest. So here is a track from the man himself with the Flatlanders. They never were as big as they should have been, so let's hope all you record pickers rush out and buy the Texas Troubador.
Jimmie Dale Gilmore Tonite I think I'll go Downtown mp3

warsaw halos

Back from the wonderful Krakow and Warsaw...check them out before they become the hen and stag mecca of eastern europe. I have been listening to some ....gulp...heavy metal tonight..and my feet have been bouncing off the walls. I particularly liked Iron Maiden's Run to the Hills from classic drill in the eardrum album Mark of the Beast. I would like to hear a countrry version of this album so guys if you are reading!! I think it was all the concrete and glass and freezing fog of Warsaw that has influenced my decibel surge, however I am posting one of my all time favourites tonight

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings red clay halo live mp3

This was recorded in Hickory NC in 1997 and is outrageously fabulous.