The Big T.N.T. Show

Today at work I was talking to this guy John, a fascinating character who has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of popular culture from the mid-sixties through the early eighties. We often rap about classic rock and roll: forgotten or under-appreciated bands from the mid-sixties, which three year period yielded the best records (this is a long-standing debate,) etc. This morning John was recalling what he remembers to be the best-ever televised performance by the Byrds. He couldn't remember what the show was called, but he did remember that the host was a TV star of the time named David McCallum:

When I got home I did a little digital digging and found that the performance came from a 1965 "concert film" called "The Big T.N.T. Show". It included performances from Donovan, Joan Baez, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, The Ronettes, The Lovin' Spoonful, Roger Miller, the Byrds and, to my surprise and delight, what is considered a seminal performance by Ike and Tina Turner. Luckily, some of this footage is available on YouTube. Seriously, check these out.

Joan Baez
Ray Charles
Donovan
Bo Diddley
The Ronettes
The Byrds
Ike & Tina

Thumbs/Website Up

The Alta Mira website is up and coming along very nicely, thanks to Robot Frank. Photo Nick posted the pictures he took of us hanging out in Tommy's yard and The EP is up and streaming. I'm heading out to get my thumb looked at and if all is well we can start practicing again sometime this week.

In non-band related news I have been listening to J. Tillman's newest record Year in the Kingdom pretty obsessively. His lyrics fit better next to the King James Version of the Bible than they do within the canon of modern indie-folk. I dig it. Thanks to Chris Barnett for sending his stuff my way.

I have decided to start a blog. If I decide to contribute to it regularly, it will likely include documentation of any projects I may be working on and indications and explanations of my current interests or obsessions. The whole thing will definitely have a strong musical theme, since most projects I work on and interests I have tend to be musical in nature. We'll see how it goes.