Friday, June 17, 2005


June of 2005
My son, Christopher[16], with one of his play pretties

HEY YA'LL:
For the life of me, I don't understand why Christopher gets off so much on scaring people with varmints. Maybe he gets it from his Uncle Bill who used to ride around with a gator in his trunk.
{Wow, that reminds me: I used to do the same thing with eastern diamondback rattlesnakes}

Anyway, Christopher is teaching Canoeing Merit Badge to the campers at the Black Warrior Boy Scout Council's Camp Horne this summer. Saturday he got to take a canoe ride down Hurricane Creek during that gully washer Arlene delivered us[I warned him beforehand about the barbed wire he'd encounter if he got throwed out in the flood and the boy really made me proud when he told me he used one of my old cheating techniques to help a little one armed boy get his Canoeing Merit Badge. He showed this little Korean boy how he could use his nub to pin the paddle against the rail of the canoe and push out so he could perform the required J stroke]


This week he'll use his MasterCard to buy his plane ticket to Minnesota for his two week adventure in July on the Boundary Waters Canoe Trail. http://www.ntier.org/
http://www.ely.org/

Guess my boy is finally growing up.
best,
roberto http://rockpilgrimage.blogspot.com


From:
"Al Kooper"
To:
robertoreg2003@yahoo.com
Subject:
Al Kooper's Update June 2005
Date:
Mon, 13 Jun 2005 07:51:40 -0700


JOE BILLY Singing his 1969 hit CHERRY HILL PARK at Bull Shoals Theatre in August '04 courtesy of http://bullshoalstheater.com/billy-joe-royal/
Click here to see more of Billy Joe Royal and listen to "Down In The Boondocks", "Cherry Hill Park" and others http://bullshoalstheater.com/billy-joe-royal/
"Joe Billy is one of the best guys around.
You've never known a person so unencumbered with celebrity.
Loves a good joke, or story, and is the type of guy that wishes well of everyone,and was an inspiration to me.Not just for how he could sing but for how he treated people."

Rockin' Rodney Justo


EMORY GORDY
Read Emory's bio at http://tonysheridan.com/html/tcb.html

"Emory Gordy was a really good musician. Known as a bassist ( note I didn't say bass player) he was the guy that The Candymen would hire to play piano whenever Dean Daughtry was required to go away for 2 weeks active duty because he was in the National Guard.
He could really pick up stuff quick and then all he had to do was follow the stop,pause, soft, loud,or start, hand signals.
He used to tell me that we paid more than any group he'd worked with. Of course that ended when he went to work with Neil Diamond.
When Nix refers to him as ARS first bass player I think that he's referring to the fact that Paul got mad during the recording of the first album and kinda' quit, so we had to use Emory on Another man's woman and maybe another song.
I think that he's the only one that got paid anything."

RODNEY JUSTO

Atlanta Studio Pioneer Richardson Dies http://www.prosoundnews.com/stories/2003/april/0430.2.shtml
Stuart, FL (April 30, 2003)--Legendary Atlanta studio pioneer, Bob Richardson, died in Stuart, FL on April 15, 2003. Prior to his retirement in 1992, Richardson's career had embraced the whole of modern recording history.
As an aspiring engineer in the 1950s, Richardson taped regional bands in his North Carolina basement. In 1966, he recorded the Swingin' Medallions' fraternity anthem, "Double Shot (of My Baby's Love)." Beginning in 1972, Richardson's Atlanta studio, Mastersound, became one of the first American studios to have full console automation, multiple 24-track synchronization, and Quadraphonic mixing capability, making it a haven for such R&B titans as Issac Hayes.
Born in Charlotte, NC in 1927, Richardson was a professional musician by age 14, playing upright bass around his hometown during the World War II years. He worked briefly for National Shirt Shops, and Richardson always credited his youthful background in retail for the business skills he would require to survive in the music industry. As district sales manager for Columbia Records, Richardson's frequent visits to Nashville recording facilities compelled him to build his own studio in his Charlotte home in 1958. Using an Ampex 300 tape deck, he scored a modest success with the Delacardos' "On the Beach" in 1962.
As a regional rep for Mercury Records in the early '60s, Richardson visited an Atlanta photo session for Ray "Ahab the Arab" Stevens, where he first met music publisher Bill Lowery. Sensing a solid opportunity, Richardson relocated to Atlanta and became partners with Lowery in the early Mastersound studio, located in an old suburban schoolhouse. Richardson was soon engineering hits for the performers associated with the Lowery publishing and production company. In 1965, he tracked Billy Joe Royal's classic, "Down in the Boondocks," and, later, the Classics IV 1967 chart-toppers, "Spooky" and "Stormy."
These were the days before the mass manufacture of recording consoles; Mastersound used a custom board designed by the inventor, Jeep Harned, who would presently establish an international reputation as the sole owner of MCI, builders of modern studio gear. Richardson and Harned formed a lifelong association that would only end with Harned's recent death on March 13, one month in advance of Richardson's passing.
In the early 1970s, Richardson built the new Mastersound studio in midtown Atlanta, which he managed with his wife, Babs. Lou Bradley, the renowned Nashville engineer/producer, comments, "Bob had a dream to build and own a recording studio, and he did. He was a bulldog."
Richardson's sharp entrepreneurial instincts provided a motivation that kept him well in advance of technological developments. The Mastersound facility was designed by Tom Hidley and George Augspurger, known for their innovative blueprint at Westlake Studio in Los Angeles. Harned installed one of the early automated consoles on the East Coast. Later, when Mastersound became one of the first (and few) Quadrophonic studios in America, Harned retrofitted his deck with special panning and bussing capabilities.
Richardson always saw the need to provide his clients with state-of-the-art gear and quality sound engineers, like Lou Bradley and Joe Neil, whose experimentation he approved. Neil, who joined Mastersound in 1974, successfully modified a video synchronizer in a trailblazing attempt to lock together two 24-track tape machines. Mastersound also became the first Atlanta studio to offer post-production technology for film, even installing a projector booth that doubled as a vocal chamber.
Under Richardson's direction, Mastersound continued to stay on the cutting edge of the era's technology, installing one of the first Solid State Logic (SSL) consoles in America. Mastersound was the first Atlanta studio to purchase a digital multitrack recorder. At the time of his award in 1987, Richardson was the only studio owner and engineer to be inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

"Poor Bob Richardson.
We worked him so hard once, that he was kinda punchy, and he was so scared that he was going to accidentally erase,or screw something up, he just refused to work any more.
We didn't quite get how someone could just say" I'm tired and can't go any more" but we softened up, when he explained that he had too much respect for us and our work to not be at his best
As far as Lou Bradley goes, he was always a very positive and steady force.
He went on to a VERY responsible position in Nashville.I wish that we would have stayed in touch
I think that I saw him there when I was putting the strings on a Beaverteeth album........OK Nix when's his birthday ?
When you guys see Joe Billy tell him Hi for me.

RODNEY JUSTO


FREDDY WELLER
Read Freddy's bio at http://www.gatalent.com/Acts/Freddy_Weller/freddy_weller.html



<The Movers on 123Records. They are:Birmingham/Leave Me LooseHello L.A. (Bye Bye Birmingham)/Hey You Hey Me>>THE MOVERS were indeed a real band, from New Port Richey, Florida. Theywere originally known as the Intruders, but changed their name due to the Intruders soul group. The Movers can be seen backing Billy Joe Royal in the movie "Mondo Daytona", later reissued with the title "Weekend Rebellion"(with a totally unrelated, comes-out-of-nowhere clip of Grand Funk Railroaddoing "Paranoid"!).And just to drive Gary crazy... let me mention that NOONEY RICKETT (himagain!) also recorded a version of "Birmingham".JEFF
http://limestonerecords.com

Thursday, June 16, 2005

MANY THANKS GO OUT TO HANS VAN RYSWYK FOR THE JOY{ALLMAN JOY?} HE HAS GIVEN TO US!
http://www.abbdiscography.com/index3.html


http://www.wtbc1230.com/
Tuscaloosa's own, Bill Connell, at Ft. Brandon Armory on University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa with the Allman Joys. Notice the tie & the Allman Joys sign in the background.



Left to right[promo photo for the release of "Spoonfull"]Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Bill Connell & Bob Keller


A "Thank You Note" from the Allman Joys to WTBC signed by Bill Connell
http://www.wtbc1230.com


http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/allman.htm
From:
rollingmotion
To:
"robert register"
Subject:
Re: Hey, Bill Connell- HANS Fixed The Allman Joys Chronology and Now INGEMAR Needs Pete Carr's Help!
Date:
Thu, 16 Jun 2005 19:10:07 +0000

I can't believe it! After almost 40 years, someone's gettin' closer to crediting the correct musicians at the appropriate times.

Thanks, I had just about convinced myself that my playing and recording with The Allman Joys was all a dream since my name never appears in any of the documentations or on the albums (Early Allmans & Dreams). I'm in some of the pictures, but someone else was always credited in print.

Bill Connell


...and now a little bit of Southern humor from one of the guys from the neighborhood in Dothan where I grew up, William Wheatley http://www.wheatleyus.com/pages/672346/index.htm


Subject:
FW: (no subject)
Date:
Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:27:59 -0400


The North has coffee houses, The South has Waffle Houses.
The North has dating services, The South has family reunions.
The North has double last names, The South has double first names.
The North has Cream of Wheat, The South has grits.
The North has green salads, The South has collard greens.
The North has lobsters, The South has crawdads.
INFORMATION FOR NORTHERNERS MOVING SOUTH :
In the South: If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along
shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store .....do not buy food at this store.
Remember, "y'all" is singular, "all y'all" is plural, and "all y'all's" is plural possessive.
Get used to hearing "You ain't from round here, are ya" ?
Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.
Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either.
The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective "big'ol," truck or big'ol" boy.
Most Northerners begin their Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.
The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.
Be advised that "He needed killin" is a valid defense here.
If you hear a Southerner exclaim, "Hey, y'all, watch this," you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll
ever say.
If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local
grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.
Do not be surprised to find that 10-year-olds own their own shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim.
In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.
AND REMEMBER:
If you do settle in the South and bear children, don't think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens in
the oven, we wouldn't call 'em biscuits.
Have a good day! Send this to four people that ain't related to you, and I reckon your life will turn into a country music song.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

From :
Ingemar Pijnenburg
Reply-To :
i.pijnenburg@fm.ru.nl
Sent :
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 12:17 PM
To :
'robert register'
CC :
robertoreg@gmail.com, robertoreg@hotmail.com, 'abbdiscography' info@www.abbdiscography.com

Hi Robert,
I was browsing through your archives at http://robertoreg.blogspot.com/ and I was wondering if you have any email correspondence with Pete Carr on the subject of the Taj Mahal show in LA that was attended by Pete Carr and Duane Allman and where Duane saw Jesse Ed Davis playing slide guitar ? Do you by any chance know on what date this show was ?
Thanks in advance !
All the best,
Ingemar Pynenburg, Editor of http://www.abbdiscography.com/chronology.htm
Arnhem, The Netherlands

The ARNHEM Flag
P.S. Hans Van Ryswyk updated the family tree webpage at
http://www.abbdiscography.com/familytree.htm
Bill Connell is mentioned now as drummer for Allman Joys 2 and Allman Joys 3. If you have any corrections or additional information Hans Van Ryswyk is the editor of this webpage.

THE OFFICIAL TAJ MAHAL WEBSITE
http://www.taj-mo-roots.com/

http://www.skypilotclub.com/taj.html
TAJ MAHAL PLAYING AT THE MCDONALD THEATRE IN EUGENE, OREGON ON SATURDAY NIGHT, APRIL 2,2005

Here's what CAPN SKYP [a.k.a. Ken Babbs] had to say about seeing his old pal, Taj Mahal backstage at the McDonald last April:


I've known Taj quite a few years but only get to see him on occasion, last one being a few years back here at the McDonald when the place opened for music venues after it went kaplooey as a movie theater. I got to tak to him in the dressing room last night just before he went on. He was sitting, hunched over his guitar, noodling. I stood in front of him but he didn't look up. Then Andy Vertal, behind me, said, hey, Babbs, and Taj's head popped up and he yelled, B-B-B-B-BABBS!

He stood up and we did the hugshake and rapped about the book, Last Go Round, that Kesey and I first wrote as a screenplay with Kesey wanting Taj to play the part of George Fletcher, even stuck in a scene of Fletcher playing the dobro. "Hey, dig this," Taj said, and began singing: "You ride the broncos and you bite the dust, at the Pendleton rodeo-oh-oh, at the Pendleton, rodeo," and I picked up on it and joined in.

http://www.ffbooks.co.uk/n5/n29139.htm

I had brought a hard back copy of the book with me and asked Taj if anyone had ever given him one and he said no he'd never seen it so I had the honor of presenting it to him.

I no sooner signed it than the manager yelled, it's time, and Taj took off for the stage.

He played nonstop for two hours, all the familiar songs and new songs and songs from the islands and from Zanzibar, a great bass player and drummer with him, everybody was up out of their seats dancing, welcome back to Eugene, Taj Mahal

-- Capn skyp


http://www.angelfire.com/tn/LSkynyrd/allman1.html
One good thing that did happen during the band's stay in Los Angeles was that Duane started to play slide guitar. There are several conflicting, though not necessarily contradictory, accounts of how it happened, but they all concur on one fact: that it was Georgia guitarist Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues" that Duane first learned to play slide on.
"I know exactly how Duane got into bottleneck," said bassist Pete Carr, who roomed with Duane while he was in Hour Glass.
"We were in L.A. and saw Taj Mahal playing in a club. Jesse Ed Davis was with him, and they did 'Statesboro Blues.' Jesse played slide guitar and really turned Duane on."

http://www.coastweb.de/ftp/slowhand/text_info/article027.txt
Pete Carr was Duane's roommate while they were in the Hour Glass together,and remembers the night Duane decided to learn slide guitar.About 1968 I started playing bass with the Hour Glass...We came to MuscleShoals in '68 and did two or three blues tunes that are on the "DuaneAllman: An Anthology" albums.When I started playing with Duane, I thought he was great. ..When I firstmet him in '65, he ..brought back a distortion box that he got from the guysin the Blues Magoos.I know exactly how Duane got into bottleneck. We were in LA and saw TajMahal playing in a club. Jesse Ed Davis was with him, and they did"Statesboro Blues"...Jesse played slide guitar and really turned Duane on -bam! He started playing bottleneck..Anytime Duane would see something new,if he liked it, he'd get into it. Both Gregg and Duane were really, reallyinfluenced by any person that impressed them. ..The band started doing "Statesboro Blues," and Duane started playingbottleneck about as much as anything. He'd sit around the apartment andpractice. At first he played in regular tuning, and later on he played indifferent ones. ..The Hour Glass just wasn't happening in LA. Me and Duane had an apartment inHollywood, and Gregg lived next door...Me and Duane drove a van back toFlorida and went down to Miami to do sessions. ..Duane agreed to let PhilWalden be his manager, and they started to put together the Allman Brotherstogether.

http://bluestalk.com/message-board-forum/about1950.html
Duane's first slide was a Cordicidian bottle,because that's what held the cough medicine Gregg gave him.Duane was sick in bed in LA in '68 with Gregg,and Gregg brought him some Cordicidian cough medicine and the new Taj Mahal album.When Gregg came back later that day,Duane was using the Cordicidian bottle for a slide,and trying to learn Jesse Ed Davis' licks on Taj's version of Statesboro Blues.Duane used the Cordicidan bottles exclusively for electric slide.For acoustic slide,he used a chrome slide.



from Alberto Guizzetti of Lavagna, Italy http://www.hendrixguitars.com/DuaneAllman.htm

Quando i due fratelli iniziarono ad essere coinvolti con i loro primi gruppi, Duane fu profondamente influenzato da Jeff Beck ie gli Yardbirds. Quando Duane e Gregg formarono gli Allman Joys, iniziarono a suonare per degli ingaggi di lavoro piu' distanti rispetto alla loro citta natale. A New York , essi incontrarono i Blues Magoos che rappresentarono una notevole influenza per Duane. Egli acquisto' il suo primo effetto distorsore da uno dei membri dei Blues Magoos.Duane inizio' a suonare slide quando era con gli Hour Glass, in California. Secondo Peter Carr, il quale suonava il basso con gli Hour Glass e che fu compagno di stanza di Duane a Los Angeles, Duane decise di imparare a suonare slide guitar dopo aver sentito Ry Cooder suonare "Stateboro Blues" di Blind Willie McTell, assieme a Taj Mahal, in un locale di Los Angeles. Duane amava usare il suo slide per imitare i licks di armonica che sentiva nei dischi di Little Walter, Slim Harpo e Sonny Boy Williamson.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005


http://havanajournal.com/
The Mobile Register [my great-great uncle John Forsyth Register is named after the editor of the Mobile Register in the 1850s,John Forsyth, & Leonia, Florida in Holmes County is named after Uncle John's first wife]
Cuba summit meets for final day despite storm soaking area
Attendance was cut nearly in half
Sunday, June 12, 2005
By KATY WILLIS
Staff Reporter
Despite the imminent landfall of Tropical Storm Arlene, the second day of the National Summit on Cuba met in Mobile on Saturday morning to address the influence of religion and culture on the relationship between Cuba and America.

"It'd be a shame if we couldn't utilize what we have here," said Lissa Winneman, an event organizer from the World Policy Institute, which sponsored the summit.

Attendance at the summit was cut nearly in half; organizers had expected 100 people, but 50 or fewer were present. The audience squeezed into the Players Lounge of the Riverview Plaza, the hotel where summit speakers and organizers were staying. {HOORAY, HOORAY, HOORAY- WHEN ARE YOU RETARDED FIDELISTAS GONNA GO AWAY?!!!!}


The original schedule ran from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and included an invocation by Mobile Catholic Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb, presentations and panel discussions by 10 participants and a tour of Mobile, including several landmarks and museums.

An abrogated tour and historical session stayed on the schedule, but many participants had either already left town in the face of the storm or were cut from the morning program, which ran from 10 a.m. until noon. Only two of the originally planned presenters spoke during that time. {PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION!!!!}

Joan Campbell Brown, former general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ of the USA and a negotiator in the Elian Gonzales case, spoke first. In a talk titled "Behind the Elian Story," she charged American journalists with "never having been interested in the full story." The impact, she said, was to "present ordinary Americans with an ordinary Cuban family.

"That humanized Cuba," said Brown, who for many years was an advocate to Castro of the Cuban churches and a promoter of "solidarity" between churches in the two countries.

"I think that without the 75-year relationship and the trust built up between churches in Cuba and America, Elian would still be here," Brown said. {MS. BROWN, MY JESUS WOULD TAKE HIS BELT OFF AND WHIP YOUR TAIL!!!!}

She told stories about her time in Cuba negotiating with Castro and the American government to bring Elian back to his "strong, connected" Cuban family. She called the move to give Elian American citizenship "insane."

Brown also remembered the visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba in 1998 -- the first faith-related event to be permitted air time on Cuban broadcasting in more than thirty years. "He had challenges for both countries, America and Cuba, which neither country has met," she said.


Nell Johnston, elder of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, described her parish's outreach efforts to other Protestant parishes in Cuba. She painted a picture of an active network of prayer and assistance to the poor.

Johnston also spoke about a warming of the religious atmosphere in Cuba, which, she said, was once "discouraging" of Christianity but has become more tolerant in recent years. She outlined the history and explained that many pre-1992 restrictions of the once-atheist, now-secular state had been relaxed. {HUH...DUH, what is this brain-dead knucklehead talking about? She got too much money & time on her aristocratic hands!}

"It used to be that you couldn't advertise for a church or its charities in any way," Johnston said. "Now, many churches have signs on the street. The state is offering to cooperate, even asking the churches' help for services that it used to provide."

Though trade policy and the embargo of Cuba were not a focus of Saturday morning's discussions, it certainly remained in the background. The summit itself is part of an effort to thaw that longstanding policy.

Robert Schaefer, a founding member of the Society Mobile-La Habana and a political science professor at the University of Mobile, had been slated to participate in a panel on historical ties between the Gulf Coast and Cuba, but that panel was cut.

Talking in the lobby of the hotel during the lunch break, Schaefer said, "Maintaining the embargo is the perfect way to prevent democracy from growing in Cuba."['splain that to me academic shithead http://academicshithead.blogspot.com
cause dat don't compute- Folks are put in HELL HOLE prisons for having libraries and getting to the Internet!}

George Fowler, vice-president and general counsel of the Cuban-American National Foundation, did not attend the summit, but he called the Register from New Orleans to express "the more conservative view" of U.S.-Cuban relations. Fowler grew up in Cuba, immigrated to America and, in 1995, worked on the Elian Gonzales case.

He called Castro's style of government "morally reprehensible" and said he was concerned that the summit's portrayals of the situation in Cuba would minimize or ignore Castro's human-rights violations.

"Castro has destroyed and divided a very prosperous nation," Fowler said. "The people of Cuba are effectively his slaves; they have no civil liberties, no freedom of speech, no freedom of press." Fowler concluded that Castro's regime "holds the Cuban people at the point of a gun" and that "the only one who benefits from trade with Cuba is Castro."

The summit has also come under some criticism because of ties to the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association, a nonprofit organization.

According to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, USCTA leaders have jeopardized their organization's claims to neutrality and nonprofit status.

A statement by the USCTEC alleges that some members of USCTA leadership have been engaged in political lobbying and commercial consultation in conjunction with their organization.[EXPOSE THEM MY BROTHERS & SEND THEM HOME TO NURSE ON THEIR TRUST FUNDS....as well as their faculty salaries]

Monday, June 13, 2005


June of 2005
My son, Christopher[16], with one of his play pretties

HEY YA'LL:
For the life of me, I don't understand why Christopher gets off so much on scaring people with varmints. Maybe he gets it from his Uncle Bill who used to ride around with a gator in his trunk.
{Wow, that reminds me: I used to do the same thing with eastern diamondback rattlesnakes}

Anyway, Christopher is teaching Canoeing Merit Badge to the campers at the Black Warrior Boy Scout Council's Camp Horne this summer. Saturday he got to take a canoe ride down Hurricane Creek during that gully washer Arlene delivered us[I warned him beforehand about the barbed wire he'd encounter if he got throwed out in the flood and the boy really made me proud when he told me he used one of my old cheating techniques to help a little one armed boy get his Canoeing Merit Badge. He showed this little Korean boy how he could use his nub to pin the paddle against the rail of the canoe and push out so he could perform the required J stroke]


This week he'll use his MasterCard to buy his plane ticket to Minnesota for his two week adventure in July on the Boundary Waters Canoe Trail. http://www.ntier.org/
http://www.ely.org/

Guess my boy is finally growing up.
best,
roberto http://rockpilgrimage.blogspot.com
P.S.
Looks like we're gonna have more opportunities to see Uncle Al Kooper this summer. Check out the AL KOOPER UPDATE:


From:
"Al Kooper"
To:
robertoreg2003@yahoo.com
Subject:
Al Kooper's Update June 2005
Date:
Mon, 13 Jun 2005 07:51:40 -0700

ALKOOPER.COM
UPDATE - JUNE 3RD - 2005
Thanks to all who initially plundered our brand new webstore. From the email we’ve gotten, everyone seems pleased. If you are ordering from outside the USA, please inquire about shipping individually before placing your order by requesting the rates for whatever pieces you are ordering at alsbigdeal@alkooper.comThe bracelets are doing well, but won’t be up there much longer so if you have any interest, please move fast. Due to many requests, we will have a woman’s version up there within the next month, also for a short time. The new album will be for sale starting July 12th. All copies of Black Coffee will be autographed when purchased from the website. Cost will be $14.95 plus shipping and handling. Due to restrictions, all Japanese orders cannot be shipped until July 27th. For those in the know, it will also be available on iTunes July 12th to be downloaded at probably a cheaper rate, albeit without the sharp packaging and snazzy booklet with Andrew Loog Oldham’s liner notes.The first single will be “My Hands Are Tied.” An edited singles version will be sent to radio and iTunes early. It will NOT be for sale in stores.On July 7th, my radio show on Radio Caroline, barring unforeseen difficulties, will consist of a two hour special on the making of the new album, Black Coffee. Demos and cover versions will be unveiled, and it’ll be a great way to be introduced to the album prior to it’s actual release . That’s July 7th - www.radiocaroline.co.uk and click on Listen Live at 6PM EST. By July 12th, the lyrics will be uploaded to the LYRICS section of the website (under WORDS)The New York Times will be running a profile piece, either July3rd or 10th, in the Arts Section in it’s Sunday Edition. The piece was written by Peter Applebome. On July 12th, starting at about 1PM, there will be a short interview on CNN Headline News that will run all day from that point on. There will be upcoming stories in Goldmine, No Depression and Boston Magazine (natch!) so keep your eyes open for those. MOJO will run a record review two issues from now. Andrew Oldham writes an appreciation of the I Stand Alone in the latest Uncut Magazine (UK). I will be on Dave Marsh’s radio show Sunday July 10th at 10 AM-12noon. My performance with the Funky Faculty at BB King’s July 13th in NYC will be recorded and aired later on. Details will follow in a future Update.
We are doing our best to get out there and I’d like to thank Howard Gabriel and Mark Pucci for their over-the-top assistance in attaining these goals.I am flying to Tokyo on July 18th for a week to do TV radio and press interviews in advance of the Japanese July 27th release date.There will be no live shows during that week. Hope to bump into many of my Japanese fans while I’m plundering Tower Records in my spare time !!! Inspired by The Yoshida Brothers and Agatsuma, I am also hoping to purchase a shamisen (three-stringed fretless Japanese instrument) to add to my playing arsenal. It would sound incredible alongside my mandolin. BTW, there is quite a bit of mandolin on the new album. It’s become a large part of the 2005 Kooper sound.May was a buoyant month for downloads on iTunes. Two entire albums got downloaded which is rare for me. Nikka Costa’s new album has some great arrangements and singing. Her late dad, Don Costa, did the arrangements on cover versions of my songs by Keely Smith and Tommy Sands back in the early sixties!
-Al Kooper
iTUNES DOWNLOADS / MAY 2005
Eternal Songs Entire Album AgatsumaCan’tneverdidnothin’ Entire Album Nikka CostaLove Dream 4:31 Bobby ValentinoMy Angel (Never Leave You) 4:45 Bobby ValentinoI Have a Ghost, Now What? 7:34 Jaga JazzistMikado 6:05 Jaga JazzistTrue Love Ways ((Stereo)) 2:50 Buddy HollyWalk, Don't Run 3:19 Johnny SmithDr. King, the Peaceful Warrior 2:32 Archie SheppHey, Little Suzie (The Cause of All That) 3:43 Billy GilmanAngkor Wat 6:25 The Gil Evans OrchestraBarry's Tune 3:43 The Gil Evans OrchestraShine 3:42 Jim BoggiaShine It All Around 4:05 Robert Plant and the Strange SensationFruits of My Labor (Live) 5:04 Lucinda WilliamsBlue (Live) 4:22 Lucinda WilliamsAre You Down (Live) 6:29 Lucinda WilliamsThose Three Days (Live) 5:02 Lucinda WilliamsSilence 3:26 Kate EarlNo One Else's Problem 2:39 Kevin DevineSuperstition 3:23 Old School Freight TrainThat Goose On My Grave 3:48 Quantic Soul OrchestraWhen Did You Leave Heaven? 2:53 Renée Fleming & Bill FrisellWhere Love Goes 3:42 The Robot Ate MeMoney's Too Tight to Mention 3:35 Ten from TenHey! 2:51 Thunderbolt Patterson w/ Ross the BossKing of the Road 2:38 Thunderbolt Patterson w/ Ross the BossI'll Make It Alright 3:07 The Beautiful Zion ChoirWhat Would You Do 3:39 The Rance Allen GroupWe Are All On Drugs 3:34 WeezerThey Sold Me Out 3:13 Van MorrisonJust Like Greta 6:27 Van MorrisonDo You Right 3:37 Kyle RiabkoGiant Steps 5:13 Cadillac JonesInto You 5:04 KemBlackberry Wine 3:27 Kenny "Blue Boss" WayneWalking the Long Miles Home 4:01 Richard ThompsonMr. Rebound 3:30 Richard ThompsonSong for You 4:26 Rick BraunClap Your Hands 4:16 RiZenHe Knows 7:30 RiZenReplacement Driver 4:55 Saxon ShoreSpare Tissue 5:24 UluRollin' 3:51 UluSlow Walk 2:41 Sil AustinOut of Exile 4:48 AudioslaveBe Yourself 4:41 AudioslaveLibertango 4:12 Astor PiazzollaMr. Fats 8:04 Dave Brubeck QuartetI Want You Back (Z-Trip Remix) 4:37 Jackson 5That's What's Goin' Down 3:20 Jeremy GregoryAlive 4:04 Daniel LemmaHigher Ground (Single Version) 3:54 Daniel LemmaLaura 2:56 George ShearingMiddle 3:25 IntangibleWinter Song 3:55 IntangibleTake Me Home 4:02 Jeff GolubDeath Came a Knockin' (Travelin' Shoes) 3:22 Ruthie FosterBlack Coffee 5:02 The Swingin' Swamis