Of all the blues artists I admire, I think Muddy is #1.  I keep going back to his music again and again, and it speaks to my soul deeply.

This is one of my favorites.  It resonates with my bummed-out, Ecclesiastes, neo-orthodox side.

My brother and I used to hang out in a room that our family called “the room.”  The room was converted from a garage to a sort of family entertainment room.  We thought it was awesome.  One entire wall was (and still is) bookshelves.  Though our parents hardly ever drank there was a bar with stemmed glasses hanging above.  The stereo was installed in the bookshelves and large speakers were mounted in the corners.

Here are some YouTube videos of a few of the songs on heavy rotation from our 45 collection.  (45s, for you whippersnappers out there, were 7″ vinyl records, often referred to as “singles,” because there was a single song on each side.  The record spun at 45 revolutions per minute, hence the name 45).

Level 42 – Something About You.  (embedding disabled). You are probably all familiar with this song.  It was possibly the first song to make me take notice of the bass guitar, and Mark King still makes me want to be a better bassist.

Chris De Burgh – Don’t Pay the Ferryman.  (embedding disabled).  I liked the creepiness of this song and video.  This song is the reason I can forgive De Burgh for “The Lady In Red.”

Re-Flex – The Politics of Dancing.  I bought this 45 because Re-Flex opened for the Police when I saw them at SIU Arena on the Synchronicity tour.  This song reminds me of The Fixx.

Martin Briley – The Salt In My Tears.  A great break-up song if I ever heard one.

And another familiar one to play us out.  SCIENCE!

My brother Scott’s favorite band of all time is the U2.  I love the U2.  I enjoy listening to the U2 on the CDs and looking them up on the YouTubes.  His Friday Five this week is his favorite U2 songs, and I have to agree with his list; it’s a good one.

U2 aren’t my favorite band, but they are way, way up there.  Ask me my favorite U2 song and the answer might change from day to day, but the answer I’ll give you most often is the live version of Bad from the Wide Awake in America EP.  The original version from The Unforgettable Fire is great, but there was always something about that live version that got to me.  There’s a little extra drama, a little more energy, and something just special about this live version.  In hindsight I think it shows a band transitioning from ordinary greatness toward greatness of historical proportion.  They were clearly reaching for a peak and hungry for something great.

In my mind they reached their peak with Achtung Baby.  That CD still sounds like it could be their new one.  It’s as fresh and exciting now as it was on its release date.  Everything since (and I will include what I think are their weakest efforts, Zooropa and Pop) has been great, but Achtung was epic.

For now, though, enjoy my favorite version of my favorite U2 song.

A few years ago I picked up “Reckless” by Luther Allison.  I think I had heard one track on the radio and I went, “Oh YEEEEEAH I gotta get that!”  I wasn’t disappointed.  I loaned it to a friend and described it to him as “simply the blues as they ought to be played.”  He gave it a listen and agreed.

Here’s Luther from 1985 (if there’s any doubt about that date, check out the ultra-awesome headless Steinberger bass!)

Enjoy the ferocious twang of the mighty Albert “Iceman” Collins

“Slow, medium-tempo kind of real burning bluegrass songs that this band plays so well.”  Emmylou Harris’ crystalline voice, Sam Bush’s driving mandolin, with Roy Huskey Jr. holding down the bottom, oh good GRIEF this is good.

Walls of Time

I’ve got Emmy on the brain today, mostly because we hit a Barnes & Noble this week and heard part of her new album and part of Jakob Dylan’s new one – both due to be released tomorrow.  I want ‘em both.

Emmylou Harris can do no wrong.  Musically, I mean.  She is always vital and vibrant, ahead of the trends.  She’s made music for years and years with hardly a misstep.  She will go down in music history as one of the all-time greats alongside folks like Ray Charles.

Random acts of kindness, going the extra mile, you call it what you want. I call it a glimpse of the Kingdom of God – a little vision of the way the world is supposed to be; the way God intends it. Here’s a moment of true grace.

from sports.espn.go.com posted with vodpod

The Jayhawks’ cover of Grand Funk Railroad’s “Bad Time.”  I like the Jayhawks’ version better than the original, but then again I like the Jayhawks better than Grand Funk – so no surprise there!

Johnny Winter – Bad Girl Blues.  Man I love the sound of that National Steel Guitar.  And I love blues songs that are basically dirty jokes.

Tom Petty – Yer So Bad.  I haven’t posted enough Petty, who is one of my all time faves, in my Friday Fives.  This video features the late Charlie Rocket, formerly of Saturday Night Live.

Johnny Cash – Bad News.  This song is a little weird.  I can’t tell if that laugh is sinister or high or both.  Love the Dobro, though.

Clapton – Bad Love.  Love the Robin Trower-esque wah guitar in the intro.  But Clapton is always awesome.

(Edited because Bad Love and Yer So Bad could not be embedded.  They are now linked.)

Man, if this is typical of Boston Legal I may just have to start watching.  Oh, that our pastors had enough guts to speak such hard truths.

Early this morning I was awakened by something like the rumble and roll of nearby thunder.  I heard things rattling on the dresser and in the house.  Since I had not yet had my coffee I didn’t take it too seriously.  I knew thunderstorms were in the forecast for today and I just figured it was thunder and I missed the crack.  But it lasted a bit too long.  I soon discovered that it had also awakened my wife and my daughter.

So we done had ourselves an earthquake.  Even felt an aftershock late this morning.  I sure hope I’m not asked about what sin caused this one at our next Residence in Ministry retreat.

The epicenter was near West Salem, Illinois which is located about fifty miles east of Salem, Illinois.  (Go figure that one out!)  We’re also about fifty miles from the epicenter as well.

My brother wrote up a Friday Five of “shakin’” songs, and I’ll play along.  Five songs tangentially related to earthquakes!

• Howlin’ Wolf – Shake For Me Many of you may be familiar with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s cover of this one, but the Wolf is classic.
  
• The Cars – Shake it Up Okay, I’m a child of the 80s.  Sue me.
  
• Link Wray – Rumble Who knew that major chords could sound so menacing?
  
• Brother Ray – Shake a Tailfeather (with the Blues Brothers)  I love this scene.  Okay, I love the whole movie.
• Los Lobos – Shakin’ Shakin’ Shakes.

By the Light of the Moon was the first Los Lobos tape I bought (we bought tapes in those days!)  I immediately fell in love with the Wolves.  They combined rock, country, soul, western swing, blues, and traditional Mexican music into a wonderful musical stew; not to mention that Cesar Rosas and David Hidalgo are just monster guitarists.