Lee Garrett

Sometime in the 70’s I interviewed Lee Garrett on the Grapevine, a talk show we did at KBOA. If memory serves, Garrett –who was blind– was in town visiting his momma (or some relative). I recall him being a funny guy. Following the interview, I walked him out to the parking lot (where his driver was waiting) and he said that he could drive himself, but only at night.

I sure would like to know the Kennett connection. Can anyone out there help me with that?

Update 1/2/088: Anthony Buckley –Lee Garrett’s son– found his way to this post and confirms that there is still family in Kennett and Lee visits a couple of times a year.
Lee was recently out on tour with Stevie Wonder and has also co-written an album that’s been nominated for an upcoming Grammy (“Soul of a Man” Patrick Lamb performer and co-writer).

Music videos, guerrilla style

“As far as I know, MTV and VH1 don’t play music videos anymore; it’s all reality TV and game shows, so I don’t know if they’ll really pick up a video. To me, it’s an interesting time because you used to make a video for a million dollars with a great director. Now, you spend $10,000, if that, with no hair and makeup, and do it completely guerrilla style. For example, we did a song called “God Bless This Mess” about the war and we shot it in front of the White House and nobody stopped us. It’s really really exciting to just go out and shoot, like how Bob Dylan shot “Don’t Look Back” — it’s just a guy with a camera and you’re performing the song.”

— Sheryl Crow on using YouTube to promote her new CD

HD Radio looking for iTunes hook

“Polk Audio will announce the next generation of HD Radio tuners that will establish a direction connection between HD and iPods — and in the process bring e-commerce to HD. In an alliance with Apple, Polk’s new I-Sonic ES2 HD Radio will include an iPod docking station that features a “tagging button” which will allow listeners to buy songs they hear on HD Radio stations via iTunes. The advancement requires HD stations to encode their signals and insiders say eight radio groups have committed to encoding.” –

– INSIDE RADIO

Brad Sucks

Bradphoto200701
What was William Gibson listening to while writing Spook Country? Among others, a group called Brad Sucks. I never heard of ’em but if Mr. Gibson likes their music, I figured I’d take a listen. And liked what I heard. Brad Sucks invites you download their music for free but I clicked the iTunes link and bought the CD for ten bucks (after sampling each of the songs on the CD).

"In 2001, I started using the Internet (blogs, MP3s, P2P) to spread my music and not worrying so much about copyright violation. I’ve even been giving the source of my songs away for remixers to play with. I figured that spreading my music should be the number one goal and so far it’s worked out pretty well."

Does Brad Sucks get radio airplay? Comment if you know.

Sheryl Crow and The Usual Suspects

On her way back from Destin last weekend, Barb stopped off in Memphis to hook up with some Kennett pals and catch The Usual Suspects at B. B. King’s on historic  Beale Street.  [Photos] The Usual Suspects is a pick-up band made up of some good old Kennett boys: Wendell Crow (Sheryl’s daddy), Jim Baker, Gary Wilcoxson, Darryl Wilcoxson, Doug Carter and Ken Williams. Barb shot a little video on her Casio (she didn’t have a real good angle).

“I Got a Crush On Obama” video


I just took a look at the latest political video to go viral. The young woman featured in the “I Got a Crush On Obama” video is Amber Lee Ettinger (an actress). The real Obama Girl, the one who came up with the idea of the video, the song and the lyrics is Leah Kauffman, a 21-year-old undergraduate at Temple University in Philadelphia. When I left YouTube, the video had been viewed more than half a million times.

My first thought was, no political campaign could create something like this. My next thought was, if a campaign could create it, they wouldn’t want us to know they had. Much more effective. In this instance, I’ll probably never know. [Thanks, Jackie]

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

“For many fans, hearing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for the first time was a life-changing experience. Prior to its release in June of 1967, most of music being produced was for Top 40, AM radio play and for dance parties. Kids bought 45s and never thought of a collection of songs as a “concept album” or work of art. Sgt. Pepper’s was unlike anything anyone had heard before.”

You had to be there to appreciate “Sgt. Pepper’s” but this piece on today’s All Things Considered takes a good stab at explaining why it was a big deal. I was just finishing my first year of college when the album was released. Perfect timing.

Paul Simon: Old

The first time I heard “Peggy Sue”
I was 12 years old
Russians up in rocket ships
And the war was cold
Now many wars have come and gone
Genocide still goes on
Buddy Holly still goes on
But his catalog was sold

First time I smoked
Guess what – paranoid
First time I heard “Satisfaction”
I was young and unemployed
Down the decades every year
Summer leaves and my birthday’s here
And all my friends stand up and cheer
And say man you’re old
Getting old
Old
Getting old

We celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas day
And Buddha found Nirvana along the lotus way
About 1,500 years ago the messenger Mohamed spoke
And his wisdom like a river flowed
Through hills of gold
Wisdom is old
The Koran is old
The bible’s
Greatest story ever told

Disagreements?
Work ’em out

The human race walked the earth for 2.7 million
And we estimate the universe at 13-14 billion
When all these numbers tumble into your imagination
Consider that the lord was there before creation
God is old
We’re not old
God is old
He made the mold

Take your cloths off
Adam and eve

Mike Relm

As impressed as I was with Blue Man Group, I was even more knocked out by the wizard that opened for them. Mike Relm is harder to describe than BMG. Take 1,000 milligrams of military grade amphetamine, mix it with an arena-sized sound system and a MacBook Pro.

“Riverboat ring your bell”

“Soon, you may be able to hear the death knell for what was initially billed as “riverboat gambling” in Iowa. The Senate State Government Committee will meet tomorrow at 11:30 am in room 22 at the statehouse to take up a bill that will be another big moment in the long-running debate about gambling in Iowa. The bill would erase the requirement that those floating casino “barges” which are sitting on lakes be required to maintain the fantasy that the gambling casino is floating on water.” – O. Kay Henderson, Radio Iowa

We have a similar fantasy here in Missouri. But my favorite part of Kay’s post is the Maverick reference (AUDIO: MP3)