Late Sixties Treasures From the Music Vaults

A number of historic Eric Clapton performances are featured in tonight's lineup."Badge" is from Cream's last album "Goodbye," but was written and performed by Eric Clapton and George Harrison,as well as Cream members Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker."Blind Faith" was a super group featuring Eric Clapton,Steve Winwood,Rick Grech and Ginger Baker that made only one album and performed only one concert,the Hyde Park,London concert excerpted here with "Presence of the Lord" written by Eric Clapton.Clapton plays again in "Tribute to Elmore" with Jimmy Page,a track from early in the two master guitarists' careers.
Perhaps most interesting of all is Clapton playing guitar with John Lennon,Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones on bass and Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience on drums.Calling themselves "The Dirty Mac," they played "Yer Blues," which is John Lennon's song from The Beatles' "White Album" for a segment of the Rolling Stones' ill-fated project "Rock And Roll Circus."The spectacle blended songs with circus performers from Sir Robert Fosset's Circus,but the Stones felt their own performance was bland and upstaged by The Who,so they shelved the show.A bootleg album of the songs was circulated,however,including "Yer Blues." The song was recorded on 11 December,1968 at InterTel video studio in Stonebridge House,Wembley,London.Glyn Johns and Jimmy Miller did the sound recording on Olympic Sound Studio's mobile studio.The video is by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg and cameraman Tony Richmond,who later worked on The Beatles' "Let It Be."
"The Dirty Mac" also played a blues jam and covered a few rock-n-roll classics,Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" and Elvis' "It's Now Or Never."
The entire "Rock And Roll Circus" footage,including "Yer Blues," was officially released in 1995.

The Rolling Stones;Avril Lavigne;Shell Houston Open

Tonight's videos include two classics and a new release.We start with The Firm's VH1 Classic video for "Satisfaction Guaranteed."The small club ambience is just right for the bluesy song and Jimmy Page's flamboyant guitar style,his British flash.Then we return to the Rolling Stones playing for 1.5 million people in Rio de Janeiro and "Start Me Up."Most interesting to me is Ronnie Wood coming out front for his guitar solo-haven't seen him do that too often.
The Stones are gearing up for the resumption of their 14 on Fire Tour following a break after the death of fashion designer L'Wren Scott,frontman Mick Jagger's girlfriend.It's been a rough period for this tight knit band,and we wish them a better than ever return.The European leg of the tour is to commence in late May.Most of the dates are already sold out,but big screens were set up in Singapore in March so those without tickets could watch the concert,so hopefully they will do that in Europe as well.
5-26 Oslo,Norway
5-29 Rock in Rio Festival,Portugal
6-1 Zurich,Switzerland
6-7 Pinkpop Festival,Landgraf,Netherlands
6-10 Berlin,Germany
6-13 Paris,France
6-16 Vienna,Austria
6-19 Dusseldorf,Germany
6-22 Rome,Italy
6-25 Madrid,Spain
6-28 TW Classic Festival,Werchter,Belgium
7-1 Stockholm,Sweden
7-3 Roskilde Festival,Denmark
The Australia-New Zealand concerts are in work.Probably they will be in October-November.
The new release is Avril Lavigne's demo of a song she wrote for Kelly Clarkson,"Breakaway."It's the first time we can hear Avril perform this composition of hers.It was a hit for Clarkson.*
The professional golf season is heating up as we approach The Masters tournament next weekend at Augusta National in Georgia.This weekend,the men are playing in the Shell Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston.After two rounds,Sergio Garcia of Spain holds the lead,having shot a 12 under par 65 on Friday.The ladies are playing in their first major of the season,the Kraft Nabisco Open at the Mission Hills Golf Club in Rancho Mirage,California.American teenager Lexi Thompson,19,and the seasoned Korean golfer Se Ri Pak,36,share the second round lead at 7 under par.

Notes on The Firm "Radioactive" with Jimmy Page

Back to DJ mode.This time it's The Firm in "Radioactive."Guitar great Jimmy Page,on the double neck,shows some British flash,a showman with the goods to back it up.It's from the 1980s,but still resonates today.
The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin veteran Page lends a brilliance with those roots in the British blues it's hard to find anymore.That's why this video won't be going away,though the following is relatively small at a few hundred thousand views.You can leave a comment,but the like has been disabled.It was actually a little difficult to find.They wanted me to watch a newer song by the same title.