Good Morning Blues........'Crazy 'Bout An Automobile'!

By 1953 and 1954, I was 12 and 13 respectively. Like so many kids in the United States, I waited impatiently for September to roll around; thus releasing all the new model cars at once into my impatient life. I read all the magazines, scrutinized all the ads and dreamt of owning most of the cars.

And then there were the songs.

The number of songs written for the illustrious automobile is far too long to elucidate here. There were songwriters whipping out cartunes from the very beginning of the production line, in every language and for every make. The Chevy Show with Dinah Shore was a huge success and I'm sure, sold millions of Chevy's. The Big Three manufacturers here in the States all hosted radio and television shows weekly during that time, blaring their theme songs to millions. "See the USA in your Chevrolet". Go little 409!

So, as usual....I picked a bunch of my favorite car songs. I hope you enjoy the show.

BTW....Find the line The Beatles used in one of their biggest hits among these songs below. It's a direct steal and an homage. Be the tenth person to write in with the correct answer and win a swell music DVD. No kidding!

John Rhys/BluePower

Playlist:

1)..."Rocket 88"........Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88's........Blind Pig
2)..."Crazy 'Bout An Automobile"........Billy Emerson........VeeJay
3)..."Cadillac Blues"........Blue By Nature V/Karen Lawrence........Shattered
4)..."No Money Down"........Chuck Berry........Chess
5)..."Seein' What I Ain't Got"........Steppin' Lazer........unreleased
6)..."Mercury Blues"........David Lindley........Rhino
7)..."Slow Down"........Larry Williams........Specialty
8)..."Hi Ballin' "........The Hula Monsters........Mega Truth
9)..."You Can't Catch Me"........Chuck Berry........Chess
10)..."Rocket 88"........Jackie Brenston And His Delta Cats........Chess
11)..."Maybelline"........Chuck Berry........Chess
12)..."Greenbacks"........Ray Charles........Atlantic
13)..."V8 Ford Blues"........Mose Allison........Atlantic
14)..."SUV"........Mem Shannon........Shanachi
15)..."Big V8"........Mark Sallings And The Famous Unknowns........Vent
16)..."Big Ass Green Van"........Bill Perry........Blind Pig
17)..."Peddle To The Metal"........Sonny Landreth........Sugar Hill

We could sure use a few more subscribers. It's totally free except for a minute of your time. All of us would "Thank You!"........ Don't worry....we rarely ever send out a newsletter.

Listen to: Crazy Bout An Automobile!

Ike Turner Tells It Like It Was....A BluePower Re-Run!

This time IKE pulls no punches. He speaks about the record companies of the fifties and sixties and their ways of doing business. He talks about JERRY WEXLER and AHMET ERTEGUN at ATLANTIC. PHIL and LEONARD CHESS of CHESS RECORDS. The BIHARI BROTHERS at MODERN and SID NATHAN from KING RECORDS. (Ike's first contract at King Records paid him 1/4 of a cent per record sold. Outrageous by today's standards.) On the other side of the coin however; Ike reminds us that these companies were the standard bearers of Black music and were responsible for the giant steps that brought Blues and Rhythm and Blues to the forefront of American popular music and that without these independent record companies and the men that ran them, these genres may have died out completely. Ike speaks out about RAP and the negative values of the genre regarding African Americans. Parts 3 and 4 of a four part series.

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Listen to Part 3 | Listen to Part 4

BluePower Re-Run....Ike Turner....The Bad Boy Of The Blues!

BluePower is proud to present Part One and Two of an exclusive interview with the inimitable IKE TURNER. Hailed as the FATHER OF ROCK AND ROLL, Turner talks of the early days on the road, his influences and of the racial parameters Black musicians had to mind in the South. In this first hour of a four hour series, John and Jeanie attempt to uncover Ike's feelings regarding many topics. We think you will be surprised to find this man is "not" the ogre of which he has been made by the media. You will find that Ike Turner was one of the most gifted popular American musicians and contributed more to the world of popular music than even the experts realize.

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Listen To Part One!

Listen To Part Two!

BluePower Presents....An Evening With Teresa Russell!

A raging Southern California guitar phenomenon .....

Described as "the most awesome Female rock guitarist...ever!" this is simply an understatement - Teresa Russell is one of the best guitarists out there: male or female.

Teresa, is the only female to ever qualify" in the top eight" for the national finals in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's lead guitar competition, Guitarmageddon. Competing with over 2000 guitarists across the country, she accomplished this by winning the West regional in Los Angeles where she received "out-of-seat-thumbs-up" kudos from such Grammy award, celebrity judges/guitarists as Steve Lukather (Toto) and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol).

Teresa started guitar lessons at age 7. She was playing teen halls, high schools and navy bases by age 9. At age 12, she was playing on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. With guitar influences such as Hendrix and Clapton, she rocked regularly at Gazzari's and the Whiskey A-Go-Go. Numerous TV appearances followed as well as writing songs for a movie called The Young Graduates. At age 14, Teresa and her band were contracted to do a six-month engagement in Mexico City, performing at the El Camino Real and El Senior Real Hotels and night clubs.
After attending Northridge University on a guitar scholarship, she hit the road to continue seasoning her rock chops in countless roadhouse bars throughout the western U.S. She later formed an all-female rock band and performed for several years on the Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe circuits.

After touring all over the world with Helen Reddy throughout the late 80's, playing live TV and major concert venues, Teresa decided to pursue projects of her own. She focused on her Blues-rock roots with an aggressive style establishing a wide-spread fan base throughout southern California.

On the recent release of her 3rd CD with Cocobilli, "Show You What Love Can Do", Teresa delivers an electrifying performance that features raging guitar solos. Her vocal style has been compared to such divas as Janis Joplin, Melissa Etheridge, and Bonnie Raitt, combining a rock-hard edge with a supple warmth that quickly distinguishes her voice as uniquely that of Teresa Russell. Joined in her virtuosity by bassist Billi Breland and drummer Coco Roussel, this popular trio can be seen performing regularly throughout Southern California.

John Rhys/BluePower.com


For more information, go to Teresa Russell

Listen now to Teresa Russell!

BluePower Re-Run....An Evening With Barry McCabe!

The strength of the Blues can be determined by the sheer amount of ground the music has covered in the last 80 years. In that time, this purely American art-form has managed to blossom in nearly every country in the world. The Blues has been transformed into nearly every language and is understood by every man and woman ever born. No one can honestly say they "have not" had the Blues at one time or another.

In this presentation, BluePower honors a man for his contributions to the Blues and Rock from the beautiful country of Ireland. Barry McCabe was born in Virginia, Co. Cavan, Ireland and has managed to travel the world bringing his music to hundreds of thousands of people. Barry's music can best be described as Rock and Blues with a Celtic twist.

This show features music from many of Barry's CDs but primarily from his new release, Beyond The Tears.

Tune in to this masterful player, writer and performer as he guides us through many stories of life and the pursuit of happiness. A true storyteller in every sense of the word, Barry McCabe gives his all to his art; to our benefit.

John Rhys/BluePower.com

The songs are:

1)...."Sunrise"....Barry McCabe/Davey Spillane
2)...."In The Dead Of Night"....Barry McCabe
3)...."Oh Well"....Barry McCabe written by Peter Green
4)...."Sheilagh"....Barry McCabe
5)...."Rollin'"....Barry McCabe
6)...."Trouble"....Barry McCabe
7)...."The Emigrant"....Barry McCabe/Davey Spillane
8)...."Talkin' Woman Blues"....Barry McCabe
9)...."Full Moon On Main Street"....Barry McCabe
10)..."Arthur"....Barry McCabe
11)..."Tempted"....Barry McCabe
Listen to....BluePower Presents....An Evening With Barry McCabe!

To Find more on Barry McCabe....Click here!

In The Beginning....The Vaudeville Years!

Vaudeville entertainment for black audiences began in 1909 with an organization called TOBA. Those four letters stood for Theater Owners Bookers Association. Often called by the black entertainers who worked the TOBA circuit: Tough On Black Artists. For many of the artists, trying times to be sure. However, it was an important cog in the machine which brought black entertainment to the rural areas and large cities in the early part of the century. TOBA had more than 100 theaters operating by the end of the 1920s.

Blues and Jazz were an important part of black entertainment in those early years and surely both idioms grew because of the fine caliber of the performers of that era and their ability to reach large audiences throughout most of the country.

Actual recordings started being made in 1914 by Victor, Columbia and Edison though the Edison company finally bowed out of the business. In 1918, the Paramount Record Company (a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company of Port Washington) came into being primarily to make recordings for folks to play on their newly purchased record players which were made by the Chair Company. Paramount is famous today for two things....they were first to record Blind Lemon Jefferson and Ma Rainey and....they made terrible quality pressings of cheap shellac. Were it not for Paramount however, many great artists would never have been heard. Business is business.

The Vaudeville Years highlights some of the dynamic female vocalists of that time, women who set the mark for all other female blues shouters to follow.

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Here's the music:

1)...."Hand Clappin' "....Red Prysock....Mercury Records
2)...."St. Louis Blues"....Bessie Smith....Columbia Records
3)...."Bo Weavil Blues"....Ma Rainey....Paramount Records
4)...."I'm A Mighty Tight Woman"....Sippie Wallace....Okeh (Columbia) Records
5)...."T.B. Blues"....Victoria Spivey....Victor Records
6)...."Coffin Blues"....Ida Cox....Paramount Records
7)...."Texas Moaner Blues"....Alberta Hunter....Paramount Records
8)...."Hand Clappin' "....Red Prysock....Mercury Records

Click here to listen to....In The Beginning....The Vaudeville Years!

Click here to go to....Red Hot Jazz.com
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Martin Luther King....A Biography!

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King accepted the pastorale of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.

In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

A Laid Back Christmas Eve....2009!

Can you believe it? Another year has passed quickly away. Where did the time go? I'll have to check my diary.
I know we lost a lot of good folks somewhere along the way this year and I surely hope they have passed this mortal coil in a positive direction.

Myself....Well I consider it lucky now if I just wake up every day and feel pretty good. I am not unique in that regard.

I did want to put a little something together for Christmas just in case a few folks would like to hear a few tunes which are not ordinarily played off the normal channels.

Please join me on this beautiful California, laid back, Christmas Eve.

Thanks for listening....John Rhys-Eddins

Here are the players and performers for this show....:)

1)...."Hand Clappin' "....Red Prysock....Mercury
2)...."Christmas Celebration"....BB King....HOB
3)...."Santa Clause Wants Some Lovin' "....Albert King....HOB
4)...."Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues"....Sonny Boy Williamson....HOB
5)...."Boogie Woogie Santa Clause"....Mabel Scott....HOB
6)...."Santa Claus, Santa Claus"....Louis Jordan....HOB
7)...."Winter Wonderland"....The Ronnie Cole Trio....Paula Records
8)...."Please Come Home For Christmas"....Charles Brown....Paula Records
9)...."Lonesome Christmas" (Pt. 1)....Lowell Fulsom....Paula Records 10)..."Lonesome Christmas" (Pt. 2)....Lowell Fulsom....Paula Records
11)..."All I Want For Christjmas Is You"....Vince Vance....Waldoxy
12)..."Merry Christmas Baby"....Charles Brown....Paula Records
13)..."Let's Make Christmas Merry Baby"....Amos Milburn....HOB
14)..."Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"....The Saint John's Choir....Savannah, Georgia
15)..."Santa"....Lightnin' Hopkins....HOB
16)..."Santa's Messin' With The Kid"....Eddie C. Campbell....HOB
17)..."White Christmas"....Sugar Boy Crawford...Paula Records
18)..."What Child Is This/Greensleeves"....The Saint John's Choir (organist unknown)

Listen to....A Laid Back Christmas Eve, 2009!

Hit Producer, Engineer And Friend, Larry Cox Passes Away!

 Pictured from left to right: John Rhys, Suzanne Ellis and Larry Cox

 The call came this morning. Larry Cox had finally succumbed to cancer. He fought the disease bravely throughout the last several years. He had mentioned that his wish was to go and that he thought he wasn't going to win the battle. His friend, Marilyn Parker, called with the news.

Larry will be remembered always for his contributions to American popular music. He had several number one records, a feat not easily achieved. He produced and engineered "Precious And Few" for Sonny Geraci and Climax and produced "Miracles" for the Jefferson Starship. Both went to number one in the charts.

Larry was a gentleman and a real human being and is already greatly missed.

Funeral arrangements are being prepared in Littlefield, Texas. Flowers and condolences may be sent to:

Marilyn Parker
311 E. 22nd. Street
Littlefield, Texas
79339

BluePower is preparing a show with a number of Larry's great productions. Stay tuned!

John Rhys
BluePower.com

BluePower CD Review....8 Ball Aitken....Rebel With A Cause!

 For months now, we at BluePower have been searching for product we could enthusiastically endorse. Though receiving plenty of product, nothing stood out as being new and exciting; that is until we heard 8 Ball Aitken's CD. After listening to it a dozen or so times, I knew I had found the product for which I had been looking.

I remembered back to when I was a young record promo man in the Deep South, hauling boxes of new product into radio stations hoping to get some airplay. In those days, good songs always received significant airplay. The CD we're playing today is what I would then call my "Ace in the hole" because it is an album of great songs. Nothing intense or heavy, just fine writing of  some good-time, heart-felt music.

Hailing from "way down under", 8 Ball Aitken has copped some of Australia's finest music awards. (Check out his website to see all.)  His playing, though straight-forward, is pure and goes to the heart of the music. 8 Ball has done his homework, the man rocks without going over the top. Something which has not been prevalent on the American music scene for some time.


Congratulations to all those involved with this product. It's a mighty fine piece of work!

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Here's the music:

1)...."Hand Clappin' "....Red Prysock....Mercury Records
2)...."Cyclone Country"....8 Ball Aitken....Phoenix Movement Records
3)...."Hands On Top Of The Wheel"....8 Ball Aitken....Phoenix Movement Records
4)...."Black Swamp Creek"....8 Ball Aitken....Phoenix Movement Records
5)...."Yellow Moon"....8 Ball Aitken....Phoenix Movement Records
6)...."The Party"....8 Ball Aitken....Phoenix Movement Records
7)...."Hand Clappin' "....Red Prysock....Mercury Records

Click here to play....8 Ball Aitken....Rebel With A Cause!

Click here to see...."Heart In Heaven And Hands On Top Of The Wheel"

Click here to go to 8 Ball Aitken's website!