words & photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Paul Shaffer sits in with William Bell

It was the Ponderosa Stomp's first night to shine at Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing (Thursday, 7/16). The Stomp presented Harvey Scales, the Bobbettes, and William Bell with Memphis' Bo-Keys. The show was presented 'revue' style with all the artists performing two separate sets. Soul, Funk and Disco pioneer Harvey Scales arrived in a purple suit and then took it up a considerable notch with a lime green outfit with gold shoes and later a red suit with all the trimmings. The Bobbettes presented their unique soulful and gritty girl-doo-wop, first killing off Mr. Lee (I Shot Mr. Lee) and bringing him back to life for the original version that sounded as clean and sharp as ever. Harvey Scales delivered spastic funk, dancing across the stage like and electrified lime green Frankenstein, whipping up the crowd with his sweat towel. William Bell delivered his trademark deep Memphis soul with style and integrity, later bringing Paul Shaffer to sit in on Otis Redding's 'Hard to Handle' - a musical highlight of the evening.

On Friday, the Stomp and Lincoln Center switched gears into high octane Rockabilly with The Collins Kids (double necked guitar prodigy Larry Collins and his sister Lorrie), Carl Mann (Sam Phillips recording artist) and Joe 'Ducktail' Clay (whose insane recordings with Mikey Baker are some of the hottest ever recorded), all backed by Deke Dickerson and the Eccophonics.

On Wednesday, The Bo-Dukes played a pre-Stomp show at Southpaw with The Sweet Divines. More pictures from Thursday below...

Continue reading "Ponderosa Stomp @ Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing - night 1 pics (William Bell, Paul Shaffer, Bobbettes, more)"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Ira Kaplan, The A-Bones + Flamin' Groovies

Among the resurrected bluesmen, rockabilly cats, garage rockers and soul shouters at the eighth annual Ponderosa Stomp were various "Littles," including Little Willie Littlefield, Little Joe Washington, Lil' Buck Sinegal -- not to mention Long John Hunter and Lazy Lester. Though each of these acts that held court at the festival (held April 28 and 29 at the House of Blues in New Orleans), and several others -- including a master's class given by newly inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson -- demonstrated the breadth and width of American music, one undisputed highlight was the Wednesday reunion of the two prime forces in the Flamin' Groovies, who played a set together for the first time since 1971.

Groovies frontman Roy Loney and guitarist Cyril Jordan, who co-founded the Bay Area rock band in 1965, tore through selections from the three critically heralded LPs released before Loney's departure, with backing by Brooklyn combo the A-Bones (which featured Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan on keyboards and guitar, and, appropriately, former Flamin' Groovies Fan Club president Miriam Linna behind the drum kit). As Loney explains, "Cyril and I rehearsed in San Francisco and the A-Bones rehearsed in New York" -- yet this bicoastal convergence showed no signs of disconnect, jelling as if they were a long-estabished unit. [Spinner]

Continue reading "the 2009 Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans - Day 2 in pics (the A-Bones / Ira Kaplan / Flamin' Groovies reunion included)"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Dr. Ike

"Before Kansas City was recorded by everyone from the Beatles to Peggy Lee, the song was first released in 1952 as K.C. Loving by an obscure Houston pianist named Little Willie Littlefield.

The single became a regional hit in the Los Angeles area, where Littlefield was recording for Federal Records, but it would be up to Wilbert Harrison, Trini Lopez, James Brown and Hank Ballard to turn Kansas City into a top 25 hit on the national pop and R&B charts. Littlefield remained a fascinating, mysterious footnote to pop-music history.

The annual Ponderosa Stomp festival in New Orleans exists to bring such footnotes to life. This showcase for the semi-legends of rockabilly, blues and R&B was founded eight years ago by Ira Padnos, a local anesthesiologist and record collector who goes by the moniker of Dr. Ike and favors thrift-shop fezzes and Indian headdresses atop his unruly bush of dark curls. His extravaganza has grown from a local bar to this year's two-night stand at the French Quarter's House of Blues, with 37 sets spread out over two stages.

And so, on Tuesday, the first day of the eighth-annual Ponderosa Stomp, there was the 77-year-old Littlefield, dressed in a dark-blue brocade blazer and grinning with delight beneath his comb-over." [Jazz News]

Continue reading "the 2009 Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans - Day 1 in pics "