The Countertop Chronicles

Merry Clayton doing the song she made famous for the Rolling Stones

Oh, a storm is threat’ning
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away

War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away

Ooh, see the fire is sweepin’
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad dog
lost its way

War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away

Rape, murder!
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away

Rape, murder!
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away

Rape, murder!
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away

The floods is threat’ning
My very life today
Gimme, get me to shelter
Or I’m gonna fade away

War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
I tell you love, sister, it’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away
Kiss away, kiss away

Howard Stern had another great interview today, this time with one of his all time favorite musicians, Steven Stills.

While not as fluid and dynamic as his other interviews tend to be (Stills basically answered questions, but offered little more and the back and forth was limited, he also made clear real early on that he is painfully shy and that he started losing his hearing when he was 9) it was still fascinating to hear him discuss music, the history of CSN&Y, his stories of growing up in Florida, running around with Duane Allman and Jimi Hendix and performed a bunch of songs.

Anyway, it reminded me that I always wanted to pick up his relatively recent release Roll Tape – a demo he made one night in April 1968 that he assumed was long destroyed.

As Wikipedia points describes it

Stephen Stills was at a Judy Collins session in 1968, and when she was finished, Stills reserved a studio and recorded a tape of new songs. Stills left the masters in the studio, and they were almost discarded when the facility closed in 1978. Musician Joe Colasurdo, who was rehearsing there at the time, was told by the owner that he could cart off any tapes he wanted to before they cleared the place out. After seeing Stills’ names on several of the boxes, Colasurdo kept them safe until he could find a reel-to-reel machine to play them on.

Joe began attempting to get the masters safely back into Stills’ hands, an undertaking that took 25 years. In 2003, he was connected to Graham Nash after happening to meet a close friend of his. Nash received the tapes, passed them on to Stephen, encouraging him to release them.

I’ll just add that Crosby Stills & Nash wasn’t formed until July of 1968 when Graham Nash happened to meet David Crosby and Stephen Still’s at a party at Mama Cass Elliots place.

It is fantastic. The sound quality is unreal, and the songs on it – which became the foundation of CSN – are fantastic. Suite Judy Blue Eyes and Wooden Ships in particular really stand out.

Chinatown Shuffle

Lyrics and Music: Ron McKernan

Take it, you can have it
What I got baby I can’t hold
If you find the secret
Tell me how to build a mold

And I can’t handle your problems
So don’t try to handle mine
Get yourself a shotgun a pocket full of shells
And we can while away the time

Look up at the wall, do it right
If you make a mistake, you’re gonna pay for it twice
But if you need it, got to have it
Get yourself a shotgun and bring it back home

Look up at the wall, you know you gotta crawl
Before you start crawling get ready to fall
And if you fall in my direction
Don’t expect no help at all

Get it right, do it nice
But if you make a mistake you’re gonna pay for it twice
But if you need it, gotta have it
Get yourself a shotgun and bring it back home

Look up the walls
You know you gotta crawl
But if you start calling you’re ready to fall
And if you fall in my direction
Don’t expect no help at all
Don’t expect no help at all
Don’t expect no help at all
And if you fall in my direction
Don’t expect no help at all

It’s been awhile since we spent a Monday Morning listening to the Dead and talking guns, but this picture I stumbled upon motivated me to find a tune worthy of posting.

Mister Charlie
Lyrics by Ron “Pigpen” McKernan

I take a little powder
I take a little salt
I put it in my shotgun
and I go walking out

Chuba-chuba
Wooley-booley
Looking high
Looking low
Gonna scare you up and shoot you
Cause Mr. Charlie told me so

I won’t take you life
Won’t even take a limb
Just unload my shotgun
and take a little skin

Chuba-chuba
Wooley-booley
Looking high
Looking low
Gonna scare you up and shoot you
Cause Mr. Charlie told me so

Well you take a silver dollar
Take a silver dime
Mix em both together
in some alligator wine

I can hear the drums
Voo-doo all night long
Mr. Charlie tellin me
I can’t do nothin wrong

Chuba-chuba
Wooley-booley
Looking high
Looking low
Gonna scare you up and shoot you
Cause Mr. Charlie told me so

Now Mr. Charlie told me
Thought you’d like to know
Give you a little warning
before I let you go

Chuba-chuba
Wooley-booley
Lookin high
Lookin low
Gonna scare you up and shoot you
Cause Mr. Charlie told me so

Unfortunatly, I couldn’t find a good you tube of the Dead, but I’m sure you can groove just as well to Phil & Friends!

Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Sorry, but I’ve had little inspiration to blog for some time, as you can probably tell. Perhpas I should take a break. Or not. Or just say, watch your feeds. I’ll be back, I’ll be moved at some point.

I just don’t know when.

In the meantime, enjoy some Viola Lee Blues

Check out the 2nd Set

Dead, at their zenith in the magic of Red Rocks.

Starting with Bobby’s “I’m moving to Australia” at 8:29 of Ship of Fools and then BOOOM

Estimated Prophet -> The Other One -> Eyes of the World

An insane mind melting experience.

It seems, that in addition to being a guitar god, Eric Clapton also fancies himself something of a gun nut. Luckily for some rich folks, his collection has grown too big and he needs to sell some guns off to make room for others.

Clapton has claimed that his passion has gotten out of hand in much the same way his guitar collection did. “It’s following the same pattern as when I collected guitars, cars and watches. I start out with a fairly broad spectrum, get obsessed and engulfed and finally narrow the collection down. I built a gunroom that can house a certain amount of guns and now I have to clear the decks for the new guns I have on order.”

Oh to have his problems.

And I think this comment, sums it up nicely

O-shit- Clapton is even cooler than I thought.

But enough of that, here’s some pictures (and yes, thats Eric playing guitar in the engraving)

I’ve been really lax in the blogging.
No excuses. Well, yes. There is. Three or four.

As I’ve stated, life gets in the way sometimes. And to quote Uncle, I do this for me not you.
That said, I also got a face book page recently. Its under my real name, and I’ve been posting a bunch there. Its strange, most of the folks I am linked to are from high school and college. And a couple from DC. I started posting a bunch of political stuff there – cause thats what interests me, but then realized I didn’t want to do that. In my line of work, having folks know your political thoughts isn’t good for business. Sure there are Republicans and Democrats in DC, but I’m neither. I offended (and am offended by) both. But, I’ve got this handy little Facebook link on my Firefox toolbar, and it makes it easy.

Any one know if one exists for Wordpress??

The other things are really work. And at night (or in my little free time when I’m not at work or with the wire and kids), as I come to terms with the looming Obama I’m loading ammo. I’ve loaded about a 1000 rounds this week. 80 rounds of 280 Remington. 200 rounds of 7.62×39. 500 rounds of .45 ACP. And 100 rounds of .45 Colt

In the meantime, groove to this. It may be the single best Fire On The Mountain ever. Can’t help but put a smile on my face when I listen to it (and I’ve played it at least 20 times this week)

Jerry is grooving. And Carlos Santana just shreds.

And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don’t mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There’s no reason for it, you’ve gotta go sometime.

If you can hear this whispering you are dying.

I never said I was frightened of dying.

RIP, Richard Wright

Dave Stewart is a mad genius

Not only did he come out with a line of harmonically tuned vibrators – and played Somewhere Over The Rainbow with them on the Howard Stern show (you can listen here) –

but he has totally re-done the Eurythmics songs with full orchestration to replace the synthesizers.

Check it out. It blew me away

Here’s the video for the original Sweat Dreams. WHen this song came out – at the fawn of the MTV age, it was a musical revolution

You can also see him in the video for Tom Petty’s Don’t Come Around Here No More, a song Dave wrote (about the night Stevie Nicks broke up a long relationship with Joe Walsh and he ended up sleeping with her) on an album he produced. He’s on the giant mushroom at the start.

Getting ready for shotgunning season around here. Doves and Resident Goose open up Labor Day weekend, Teal is September 15. Dogs back down to training this week for a month, while I’ll be stepping up the skeet shooting in preparation.

This was played once, in an acoustic set on 12 July 1970, and is also on Pigpen’s “home tapes” (which is where the lyrics below are taken from).

Bring Me My Shotgun
Words and Music by Lightnin’ Hopkins

Go, bring me my shotgun, bring me back some shells
Why don’t you just bring me my shotgun
Bring me back about a pocket full of shells
Well you know if I don’t get myself a little competition
You know there’s gonna be some trouble ’round here

Well you know my mama told me, when I left my door
She said, “you gonna have bad luck, son, don’t care where you go”
So why don’t you bring me my shotgun
Bring me back a pocket full of shells
Well you know if I don’t get myself a little competition
You know there’s gonna be some trouble ’round here

Early in the morning when the sun gonna rise
She’s laying there rolling them old bloodshot eyes
In the morning bring me my shotgun
Well, I can stand any mess for a while
But I can’t stand it for very long

Woke up this morning
Found out some [jack strap?] had gone took my room
Woke up this morning
Found out some [jack strap?] had gone took my room
Yeah you know he took along with it my woman
That [jack strap?] going to meet his doom

That’s why I say bring me my shotgun, boy
I want you to bring me back some shells
I said why don’t you bring me my shotgun
Bring me back a pocket full of shells
You know if I don’t get myself some good competition
There’s gonna be some trouble ’round her

This time with Eric Clapton on the Unplugged album (this one is hot!)

I really do need to run into another Rock Star . . . maybe I’ll blog about my Eric Clapton story some time . . . but I warn you, the Chuck Leavell posts will come back this winter after I go hunting down at his farm.

The Allman Brothers Band
1973 – Macon, Georgia

With Chuck Leavell

I posted about him playing with the Second Amendments the other night. Most of the press, and attention to him, focused on his role as the touring keyboardist for the Rolling Stones. Of course, he was pretty damn rocking long before that . . . coming on originally for the Brothers and Sister’s album taking the place (on piano) of the departed Duane Allman in the Allman Brothers. Here he is talking about how they came up with Jessica from that album

Of course, one could argue (one will argue) that from an American perspective, Jessica is really why Rock and Roll was invented.

Lyrics?? Who needs lyrics. This is the Allman Brothers were talking about!!!

Of course, there is a second part to this post . . . .and thats to quote this NY Times article on Chuck and how he incorporates hunting as an active part of the management of his land.

For Mr. Leavell, hunting is an integral part of responsible land stewardship. Voracious herds of deer need constant thinning, and hunters, like tree huggers, he points out, are important allies in the battle for land preservation.

Stick that in a hippy Vegan the next time they attack you for hunting.

For Tam

I couldn’t agree more

When The Levee Breaks
Words and Music by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie

If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break, (X2)
When The Levee Breaks I’ll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, (X2)
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don’t it make you feel bad
When you’re tryin’ to find your way home,
You don’t know which way to go?
If you’re goin’ down South
They go no work to do,
If you don’t know about Chicago.

Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
Now, cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned, (X2)
Thinkin’ about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago… Going to Chicago… Sorry but I can’t take you…
Going down… going down now… going down….