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Today’s Commercial Appeal has a story about Big Star founder Chris Bell at the 30th anniversary of his death.

Big Star was a Memphis band founded by Bell, joined by his high school friend Andy Hummel and Alex Chilton from The Box Tops (“The Letter”) and Jody Stephens.  In the early seventies, the band recorded and released two albums on the Stax subsidiary Ardent, did one tour, recorded a third that was not releasable, and then seemed to sink with little trace.

And then acquired a major cult following. The combination of well-put together pop songs (mostly by Chilton and Bell) and arrangements Chilton’s agressive, angular guitar, totally out of phase for the early 70s, had been noticed by critics and then was picked up in the 80s by both fans and musicians on the indie music scene.

There’s a brief mention in the CA story of the band being arrested for mariuanna possession in a brief tour in the 70s.  I’ve heard Chilton say from the stage in Oxford that the arrest occurred here.

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Delaney Bramlett, born in Pontotoc, Mississippi, and famous for having taught slide guitar to George Harrison, cowritten “Let It Rain” with Eric Clapton, and “Superstar” with Leon Russell, died today at 69. He’s best remembered for a duo with his then-wife Bonnie, and their hit “Only You Know and I Know.” Bramlett broke through in Los Angeles (he was in the house band at Shindig, where he met Leon Russell). When Delaney and Bonnie were touring to support Blind Faith, Eric Clapton decided to leave that band and tour with his support act, whose band was a core part of the backup on his first solo album.

One of the many labels where he recorded was Stax in Memphis.

I’m including a number of videos below. The two guys backing Delaney and Bonnie on guitar on the first one are Eric Clapton and Dave Mason (I’d forgotten how pretty Bonnie was…). The second is Delaney and Bonnie’s band (supplemented by George Harrison) backing Eric Clapton.

h/t to MKA.

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One of my favorite bits of studio talk during a recording session occurs just before take 9 of Little Richard’s recording of “Good Golly Miss Molly,” when the record engineer or producer says to Little Richard (I’m not kidding), “Could you, uh, sing, could you sing a little more relaxed.  In other words, keep the spirit, but, uh, it seems like you’re straining.”

Little Richard.  Straining.  Woooo!

History does not as far as I know record the name of this adviser. I don’t know of this snippet existing online. You’ll have to settle for a distinctly unrelaxed Mr. Penniman in the youtube clip, below, from the pilot for Shindig, filmed in July of 1964.

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There’s a video of a reunited McPhatter-less Drifters doing the song here.  It’s not embeddable, and also doesn’t sound as good as the original, so I’ll go with the animation.

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A seasonal complaint (the season here being “winter” not “holiday”) from Sonny Boy Williamson

Isn’t this a pity, ain’t this a crying shame.
It’s a pity, and God knows, it’s a crying shame.
The woman wait till it got nine below zero, and put me down for another man.

I’d given her all my loving, all my money, and everything.
All of my loving, all my money, and everything.
Here it is nine below zero, and she done put me down for another man.

Nine below zero, the little girl done put me down.
Nine below zero, and the fool done put me down.
She know I don’t have nowhere to stay because she done have messed up my last dime.

My eyes got so dim, it seemed like the dark of night.
Eyes got so dim, I felt like it was the dark of night.
All my money’s gone and the woman don’t treat me right.

What would you do, tell me, what would you do?
What would you do, you tell me what would you do?
It’s nine below zero, looks like everybody is through with you.

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The best of all Santa Claus songs.

What was he doing in his baby’s dresser drawers?

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Remember the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra? Here’s their guest soloist — enjoy, I like him a lot.

(h/t Chris Bodenner at Andrew Sullivan’s)

UPDATE: Ooo, and his daikon slide-whistle (and more in the garden sidebar):

Guy’s a genius!

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