IN-STRA-MEN-TOLLS

This happens more often than you would expect. I saw a photo of Freddie King and thought "I need to hear 'San-Ho-Zay' again". Then, just minutes ago, I ran into some Freddie King's stuff including, yep, "San-Ho-Zay".

So, without blabbing further, here's a few by King, including "Hideaway" that was covered by John Mayall's Clapton-era Bluesbreakers in 1966. On last thing I gotta add: I love King's way of dealing with songs that he either can't spell or can't remember how to pronounce. To wit, San Jose (a city in California) becomes "San-Ho-Zay", and "sensation" becomes "Sen-Sa-Shun". I guess it beats "Untitled Instrumental".

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Freddy King - The Stumble mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy King - San-Ho-Zay mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Sen-Sa-Shun mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Untitled Instrumental mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Hideaway mp3 at Internet Archive
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers - Hideaway mp3 at Internet Archive

LOCK DOWN THEATER NIGHT 8

This should kill more than a few hours. These were first posted here five years ago, but it's worth a bookmark, especially not knowing how long the stay at home orders last. Without just repeating what was said when I first posted these, I'm just slapping a new title on the post. Here's what I said back then:

Dude looks pretty square doesn't he? Assuming you don't know who Hoss Allen is, if someone were to tell you that he hosted a syndicated TV show you'd probably think it would be fairly tepid, right? Wrong. He hosted The !!!! Beat, a 1966 music series with insanely solid line-ups of soul, R & B and blues artists all performing in the studio, most in front of a live band. The list of performers includes (prepare to drool here) Etta James, the Bar Kays, Louis Jordan, Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Freddie King, Willie Mitchell, Barbara Lynn, Sam and Dave, the Mighty Hannibal, Joe Tex, and on and on. Yeah, budget a night or two, get a six pack, and for fuck sake, turn off that phone.

Seriously you guys, this is insanity. For just a couple teasers of what can be found in random samplings, click here for Barbara Lynn doing "What I'd Say", with Clarence Gatemouth Brown on guitar. (Oh yeah, that's another thing. Brown was part of the house band! Holy shit and what not!) And one more quick one before you leave, click here for a goosebump inducing clip of Etta James doing "Only Time Will Tell". Those two are just completely random. Here's some links to entire shows, but there's lots more at Youtube.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The !!!! Beat, Vol 4 Show #15 at YouTube Louis Jordan and the Tympani Five (five songs) and Freddy King (two songs, one with Clarence Gatemouth Brown)
The !!!! Beat, Vol 6 # Show 26 at YouTube Otis Redding (guest host!), Percy Sledge, the Bar Kays, Sam and Dave, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, and more.
The !!!! Beat, Vol 1 # Show 2 at YouTube Joe Tex, Etta James, Little Milton, Gatemouth Brown, and more.
The !!!! Beat - More episodes (over fifteen) at YouTube

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

After hearing the Wailers' cover of Freddie King's "San-Ho-Zay" yesterday, I went looking for King's original and was only able to find it at YouTube. Fine, fair enough. I did happen to run across a version that's from the soundtrack to "Innermost Limits of Pure Fun". The film, by George Greenough, is pure seventies, the stoner surf flick that set the bar. Likewise, the soundtrack is pure seventies, and also stoner.

The big surprise is something else entirely. While the song is still "San-Ho-Zay", the reason for liking this version surpasses the reasons for the other versions combined. Any version. Because my faith in the future of music has been restored. It is the young guitarist at the top of this post, a girl named Kara, playing "San-Ho-Zay". After playing the main licks several times, she takes a lead, and then goes into a rhythm thing. She's all of nine years old. Her look at the end of it is priceless, a mix of pride for getting the good parts down, and embarrassment for kind of stumbling towards the end. Hoping against hope that she stuck with it, I clicked on the uploader's name to see if young guitarist Kara kept soldiering on. Apparently the uploader, one Guitarslinger32269, is a guitar teacher because there are tons of videos of students of all ages playing this song or that. I didn't sample many of them because I wanted to first see if this particular student kept with it. Watch the end of that video first video below and you'll see why. That look. Guess what? She did stick with it. There's another video of her playing another Freddie King song, "Hideaway", posted earlier this year, a year after the other clip. She got better, and a little more confident. This girl is going places, I tell you. She's got heart, determination, and stick-with-it-ness. I like that in a future guitar hero. Quote Guitarlinger32269, "This young lady has awesome potential, and is truly special". Here, here, my man Guitarslinger 33269! Here, here!

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Freddie King - San-Ho-Zay (streaming) at YouTube
The Farm - San-Ho-Zay mp3 at Aguarium Drunkard Go there to get it and a few other songs.
Watch:
Kara - San-Ho-Zay at YouTube April 2014
Kara - Hideaway at YouTube March 2015 
12/20/15: This just in: Kara's teacher let me know that she does another Freddie King song, uploaded just yesterday:
Kara - The Stumble at YouTube December 20, 2015
Visit:
Guitarslinger 32269's student guitarists at YouTube The teacher's channel

IF THAT'S YOUR STORY

Back in the sixties, there were a few years there that everyone was cashing in on the surf craze. Freddy King Goes Surfing was one such release. The thought of Freddy King actually paddling out is what gets me. Here's a zipped download of the whole Freddy King Goes Surfing LP. It's not surf music, but it is a set of tasty regular King-type instrumentals. It's supposed to be live, though the audience sounds canned. It's worth the few extra steps to hear it. There's a couple other single songs down there too, for those who don't want to hassle with it; an instrumental and a swingin' vocal number. Both are solid.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Freddy King - Sen-Sa-Shun mp3 at Honey Where You Been So Long?
Freddy King - Now I've Got a Woman mp3 at The Soul Girl
LP rip:
Freddy King Goes Surfing LP rip (via Mediafire) at Black Sea Surfer