Monday, April 28, 2008

Scarlet Begonias for Everyone

Wow - 2 days in a row! This may not happen often, but being new to the blog-o-sphere I couldn't help myself.

When I first visualized this blog I thought it would be nice and easy... I thought. It occurred to me that there are thousands of other blogs out there and re-creating what was already done was just plain silly. So, I now have to take my time and research to make sure that what I decide to blog is a different take on the same point.

For instance, I thought today's blog would be a whole bit about Foamfoot, a cover band made up of Chris Robinson & Marc Ford from the Black Crowes, Jimmy Ashurst of The JuJu Hounds, Eric Bobo from Cypress Hill and Gary Louris of The Jayhawks. This show is just great Rock 'n Roll.... and then I discovered Aquariumdrunkard.com. If Foamfoot is new to you definitely check out the Aquarium's posts on the topic here.

OK - so on to today's point. Once I discovered Foamfoot would be redundant I ended up thinking about yesterday's post which led me to Jimmy Buffet and covers which led to Jimmy's cover of the Dead's Scarlet Begonias which led to Sublime's version which begged the question: Who else has covered Scarlet Begonias?

With a bit of time I was surprised that this was not covered as much as I intended. I Googled "Scarlet Begonias cover" and found the two mentioned above. I then searched archive.org and found Keller Williams, Max Creek, Phish and The Big Wu.





Keller & Phish were no surprise, but always worth the time especially if you love your Begonias. Max Creek, clocking in at over 16 minutes, is a great find and I encourage you to listen to an old friend with new ears. The Wu is nice, but not lighting my world on fire.

If you know of other Begonia covers out there let me know as I would love to hear them. If I can I will also add them to the playlist and if possible link to the mp3.

Available MP3s Found on
Archive.org:
Keller's Begonias
Max Creek Begonias
The Big Wu Begonia

Available on bt.etree.org:
Phish Begonias

Now playing: Primus - Wynona's Big Brown Beaver
via FoxyTunes

Sunday, April 27, 2008

A Resurfacing

Over the past 8 years I have attempted to be a presence in the live music world starting with EACing the Black Crowes Live @ The Joint and then FTPing it to some friendly trader and later serving that same file up on DirectConnect. Later I found myself creating CD cover art and using free websites to host and share the completed work.

A wife, three children, and a career later my love for music and desire to contribute to the community still exists; however, my focus has shifted. My days no longer allow me the opportunity to listen to complete concerts day in and day out so I now keep my ears and eyes out for lightning in a bottle, unique covers, brilliant song combinations and the ever elusive studio track that makes me say "whoa - what was that?" This blog will focus on those songs in addition to any other music I feel obligated to comment on.

So, here is my first offering to the internet. I often search bt.etree.org in search of something unique and I was drawn to Jack Johnson's Kokua Festival torrent.





I can dig on Jack occassionaly, especially if I'm drivin' on one of those beautiful west-central Florida afternoons with the perfect combination of warmth and wind... I digress.

Anyway what caught my attention about the Kokua setlist was "A Pirate Looks at 40". Turns out this was the encore from the Dave & Tim set and well, I had to to listen. I was not disappointed as it is just as much fun as the original with the right emphasis in the right places.

The full show is available here.

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Los Lobos - NFA>Bertha
via FoxyTunes