Re: The Gram Parsons Tribute Concert
i just got a copy of Coal porters - The Gram parsosn tribute concert cd for my radio show. Track list: (Sweet) mental revenge Did Gram Parsons ever cover this? I know it's an old Mel Tillis cut that Clarence White and Gene Parsons just flat tore up on Nashville West. And how come Gene Parsons has never gotten the credit that he deserves? Inventer of the B-Bender, Member of the Byrds, Member of Nashville West, Member of a bunch of other stuff. He's definately in that Chris Hillman catagory of great yet underrated and under appreciated sidemen. The Flying Burrito Bros played it live, and Sid and the Long Ryders learnt Gram's arrangement from a bootleg when they recorded the song on "Native Sons". Phil. -- Phil Dennison ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Coal Porters (aka the Bootleg Burritos) UK tour in April Sid Griffin website http://130.159.56.1/pd/SidHome.html
Re: The Hank Dogs/Gram Parsons tribute video
They were on the bill at Sid Griffin's Gram Parsons tribute show at the Garage here last autumn and performed, if memory serves,"Hot Burritto 1". The word is that the show's coming out on video quite soon. It's definitely worth seeing as an example of how do these things properly. There was also Peter Bruntnell doing "Kiss The Children", and Larry Love from Alabama 3 deconstructing "In My Hour Of Darkness", aside from Sid and the Porters. Nick West Bucketfull Of Brains PO Box 11301, London WC1H 8HF 44(0)171 916 4661 (phone/fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Coal Porters set from that night last September is out on CD this month on Prima Records, with a video to follow in a month or two. I don't know of any plans by anyone else to release material by the other acts on the bill. Phil Dennison ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Sid Griffin website - http://130.159.56.1/pd/SidHome.html
UK country audience
There seem to be two distinct audiences for country music in the UK. One is a network of Country Western Clubs where the acts are mostly local bands playing covers of country classics, and the patrons like to dress up in cowboy/girl outfits with spurs and guns etc. Quick draw contests are common, as are enactments of the American Trilogy, complete with saluting the flag etc. To my eyes and ears, all very bizarre. A band playing their own material, or any kind of alternative brand of country would not be welcome in these very conservative places I think. Those venues are therefore not really an option for touring rootsy or alternative country acts, and so they tend to play at more mainstream rock or indie venues. An alternative to this is that some areas have strong folk/roots clubs or gigs, promoted largely as a spare time activity. For simplicity of PA etc, these often concentrate on acoustic acts, usually solo or duos. I lived in the West Midlands for a time and a club called Acoustic Roots put on a show every month ot two with acts like Butch Hancock, Guy Clark or John Stewart. These tend to be advertised by mailing lists, and I was frequently surprised by the number of people who would turn up to see these acts at a village hall in the middle of nowhere. I now live in Glasgow and John Barclay Thomson of Goldrush Records promote similar fine shows in Perth. The mailing list and "brand loyalty" is important in drawing the audience, as sometimes the same acts will play to a much smaller audience in a club in Glasgow, a much bigger city. The small promoters with a loyal audience no longer have to really describe the musical genre, as the audience will trust them to a large extent, whereas the mainstream clubs will be more likely to describe an act as country, which may backfire. Once a band gather a following, like BR5-49 or Joe Ely, then they can do well in the small rock venues, but it is hard for lesser known acts to draw people if you mention the word "country" in advertising. This is just prejudice as a lot people will enjoy country rock bands if you can get them to get past the c-word and go. I'm not sure exactly where line dancing fits into the above. In some areas it is promoted more as a keep-fit activity for middle aged people in church halls, and the music is almost irrelevant. It can be prevalent in the CW clubs though too, I think. Sorry for being so verbose, Phil. -- Phil Dennison ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: There must be an answer to this one...
I've been noting Joe Gracey's sterling defence of the Mac (I've got one too), but I wonder if it's the fault of this machine (an LC 520) that I when I get the Digest all Mike Hays' and Buddy Rocket's posts come twice - one in English and one in complete, utter, and total gibberish. The English ones are usually thoughtful and/or amusing; the others are a pain in the butt 'cos you've gotta scroll through them, and they're always MUCH longer than the English version. Is there a computer whiz who can explain, in English, why this is so and what, if anything, I can do about it. Cheers, Richard NP Ian Tyson, Lost Herd. The answer is that there is nothing you can do, the fault lies with the poster of the message. Some mail systems, like Outlook Express, seem to be configured by default to send an html language version of messages in addition to the normal plain text version. This can be reset by selecting "plain text only" somewhere in the configuration. Although a waste of bandwidth, the html version can be easily ignored in a single message as it will appear as an attachment. But with the digest everything gets combined into one long message so we have to scroll past them each time. Phil. -- Phil Dennison ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: WOW! (from Alex)
Oh, and the other thing is, we found this great CD shop today... as in they're Alt Country section was about the size of their Pop music section. Anyway, we came across that Lucinda williams CD that was stolen for cheep. I got this email from the boy, who is in London. Alt.country the size of Pop? Can this be true? You English P2ers know?. Is it only outside the U.S that one can find this stuff in retail shops? There do seem to be more shops in the UK stocking US indie releases at sensible prices now, I think Direct Distribution do well at putting things like Bloodshot CDs in the stores. Even Tower had a promotion on these about a year ago. I recently picked up the Wandering Eyes and Kate Wolf tribute compilations at UK prices. That shop does sound good though, any more details on location? Phil Dennison ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
