New Smokestack Lightnin' Show Up And Running!

THE NEW SHOW IS UP!-Smokestack Lightnin' Blues Radio is currently web-casting for your listening pleasure its newest 3 1/2 hour Blues Special!

Synopsis: As usual we begin this edition of Smokestack Lightnin’ with our famous Top Ten Blues CDs for the week. We got an excellent set of CDs from the St. Clair label featuring 5 of the most influential blues artists of all times, so we dedicated a whole set to them. Theres a set of excellent Roots Blues, and as always theres two huge sets of all new blues received in the Ilakanickel studio in just the last couple of weeks. There’s a huge tribute to Wilson Pickett, one of the greatest soul men to ever pick up a microphone, and a nice set by request featuring obscure (but excellent) bluesman Bryan Lee to close the show.

Smokestack Lightnin’s Top Ten Blues CDs for the week of Feb. 11, 2006

#10 Mississippi Heat/Cold Cold Feelin’/One Eye Open/Delmark
#9 Big James/Ask Me ‘Bout Nothin’ But The Blues/Now You Know/self
#8 Doc Blakey/I’m Havin’ It Hard/The Blues Never Hurt So Good/IFGAM
#7 Mac Arnold/Nothin’ To Prove/Nothin’ To Prove/Plantation Productions
#6 Artie Blues Boy White/How Long Can This Go On?/Package Deal/ChillTown
#5 The John Mayer Trio/Vulture/Try!/Columbia
#4 Tail Dragger/So Easy/My Head Is Bald/Delmark
#3 Johnny Adams/Room With A View/The Great Johnny Adams Blues Album/Rounder
#2 Mannish Boys/I’m Ready/Live & In Demand/Delta Groove
#1 Smokin’Joe Kubek & Bnois King/I’m In An Awful Mood/Served Up Texas Style/Bullseye

Blues Classics From St. Clair

Lightnin’ Hopkins/Mojo Hand/Lightnin’ Hopkins/St. Clair
Big Maybelle/Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin’/Big Maybelle/St. Clair
Charles Brown/Driftin’ Blues/Charles Brown/St. Clair
Memphis Slim/Cold Blooded Woman/Memphis Slim/St. Clair
B.B. King/Every Day I Have The Blues/B.B. King/St. Clair

New Roots Blues

Otis Taylor/Feel Like Lightnin’/Below The Fold/Telarc
Eddie Martin/My Black Mama/Play The Blues With Feelin’/Blue Blood
Nathan James & Ben Hernandez/Mama Let Me Lay It On You/Make A Change Sometime/self
Elam McKnight&Keith Carter/Mama Killed A Chicken/The Last Country Store/Big Black Hand

All New Blues

The Imperial Crowns/Lil’ Death/10th Anniversary Sampler/RUF
The Bluesdusters/Petrified/Bluesdusters/Rootstone
Nathaniel Street West/Mourning Mornings/American Way/Puffin
Delta Moon/Let Tomorrow Be/Howlin’/self
Tab Benoit/Make A Good Gumbo/Voice Of The Wetlands/Ryko
Dan Treanor/Standing In The Shadows/Mercy/self
Tommy Z/I Wanna Go To Heaven/Universal Love/South Blossom
Rocky Athas Group/Stop Drop & Roll/Voo Doo Moon/Armadillo
The Derek Trucks Band/Crow Jane/Songlines/Columbia
Dr. Rage & The Uppercuts/Good Mornin’ Little School Girl/Hittin’ Wood & Diamond Hard/Absurd Machine
David Gogo/Things Are About To Change/Skeleton Key/Cordova Bay
Steve Lott/Dance Thang/West Texas Refugee/self
Little Ray & The Blues Sonics/Floyd’s Boogie/Going Back To Eunice/self
Bob Brozman/Little Tough Guy Blues/Blues Reflex/Ruf

Remembering Wilson Pickett

The Falcons Featuring Wilson Pickett/I Found A Love/The Best Of Wilson Pickett/Atlantic
Wilson Pickett/Mustanf Sally/same
Wilson Pickett/I’m A Midnight Mover/same
Wilson Pickett/99 ½ Just Won’t Do/same
Wilson Pickett/Its Harder Now/Blues In The Night/Rounder

New Blues

The Chicago Blues Reunion/Drinkin’ Wine/Chicago Blues Reunion/Out The Box
Angela Strehli&Stevie Ray Vaughan/C.O.D./Blue Highway/M.C.
Tom Principato/Tango’d Up In The Blues/Guitar Gumbo/Powerhouse
Jimmy Thackery/Its My Own Fault/The Essential Jimmy Thacker/Blind Pig
Nick Mercury & The Meteors/On The Streets/Beer Man/self
145th Street Blues Band/It’ll Come To Ya/The 145th St. Deluxe Bllues Band/self

By Request: Bryan Lee

Bryan Lee/Now I’ve Got A Woman/Six String Therapy/Justin Time
Bryan Lee/Sweet & Beautiful Lady/Crawfish lady/Justin Time
Bryan Lee/Beautician Blues/Six String Therapy/Justin Time

Close
Calvin Newborn/Lush Life/New Born/Yellow Dog

Click here To Listen To....Smokestack Lightnin'!

Greetings From Thailand!

BluePower will never fail to thank those who are considerate enough to write in to thank us for a job well done.

This message from Mr.Tucker Bishop has made our day.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Hey John,

Just wanted to send you a quick message to let you know how much I
enjoy your podcasts. I have every one on my laptop and iPod and just
can't bring myself to delete one to make room for the new ones. Guess
I will need a bigger hard disk soon. Seriously, I like your insights
into the history of the blues and also enjoy your themes - as I write
this I'm listening to "guns and God" - fantastic.

Just so you know, I'm writing from Phuket, Thailand (yes, of Asian
Tsunami fame) where it is sunny and warm and life is good - but
there's always room for the blues. Keep up the great work, please!

Tucker Bishop
___________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you Tucker. We appreciate your kind words.

John Rhys-Eddins
BluePower.com

June Pointer of the Pointer Sisters Dies!

LOS ANGELES (April 12) - June Pointer, the youngest of the singing Pointer Sisters known for the 1970s and 1980s hits "I'm So Excited," "Fire," and "Slow Hand," has died, her family said Wednesday. She was 52.

Pointer died of cancer Tuesday at Santa Monica University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center, the family said in a statement. She had been hospitalized since late February and the type of cancer wasn't disclosed.

She died "in the arms of her sisters, Ruth and Anita and her brothers, Aaron and Fritz, by her side," the family statement read. "Although her sister, Bonnie, was unable to be present, she was with her in spirit."

The Pointer Sisters began as a quartet in the early 1970s with sisters Ruth, Anita, Bonnie and June. The group became a trio when Bonnie embarked on a solo career.

The group's hits also included "He's So Shy," "Automatic" and "Jump (For My Love)."

The sisters, along with their two older brothers, grew up singing in the choir of an Oakland church where their parents were ministers.

Bonnie and June formed a singing duo and began performing in clubs around the San Francisco Bay area. Anita and Ruth later joined the group and together, they sang backup for Taj Mahal, Boz Scaggs and Elvin Bishop, among others.

Their first, self-titled album, "The Pointer Sisters," debuted in 1973 and the song "Yes We Can Can" became their first hit. They followed up with the album "That's A Plenty," which featured an eclectic mix of musical styles ranging from jazz to country and pop. They won the first of their three Grammy awards in 1974 for best country vocal performance by a group for the song "Fairytale."

Bonnie left the group in 1977, and the sisters recorded several more albums, scoring several hit songs that became identified as the soundtrack of the 1980s.

The successful 1984 album "Break Out" earned two Grammy awards for the songs "Automatic" and "Jump (For My Love)." The album's other hit song, "Neutron Dance," was prominently featured in the movie "Beverly Hills Cop."

June recorded two solo albums, and later left the trio.

Anita and Ruth still perform under the group's name. Ruth's daughter, Issa Pointer, is the trio's newest member.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
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A Master Hitmaker And Pure Gentleman....Eddie Schwartz!

I met Eddie Schwartz the first time in Hollywood in 1978. He had been signed by ATV Music who, at that time, was a major client of mine at Hollywood Central Recorders. ATV had flown Eddie into Hollywood to record a series of demos of songs he had written.

For some odd reason Eddie had one song that the powers that be at ATV absolutely "did not" want Eddie to record. That song was "Hit Me With Your Best Shot".

This interview tells the long road traveled by that tremendous hit and the results of Eddie's life from that point on.

The lesson is....If you believe in yourself, never give up.

An absolute "must' for any songwriter to hear.

John Rhys-Eddins/BluePower.com

The Music on Part One:

1)...."Hand Clappin' (Theme).... Red Prysock
2)...."Hit Me With Your Best Shot"....Eddie Schwartz (HCR-1978)
3)...."I Stand In Wonder"....Joe Cocker
4)...."The Good Catches Up"....Lawrence Gowan
5)...."All Our Tomorrows"....Eddie Schwartz
6)...."Hand Clappin'" (Theme)....Red Prysock

Listen to....A Master Hitmaker And Pure Gentleman....Eddie Schwartz!