2009

The Ballad Of Curtis Loew was originally released on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s aptly titled sophomore effort Second Helping. There is a FAQ section on Skynrd’s website that asks if there was a real Curtis Loew. Here’s the answer…

The inspiration for Curtis Loew was loosely based around the characters that lived near Ronnie’s home on Jacksonville’s Westside. The corner store in the song is based on Claude’s Midway Grocery on the corner of Plymouth and Lakeshore in Jacksonville. While there wasn’t a ‘real’ Curtis Loew, there were many Curtis Loews in the neighborhood. The actual spelling of the name came when Ed was writing the liner notes for the Second Helping album in 1974. He thought it would be funny to name this old Florida black bluesman after the Jewish Loew’s Theatre.

Looking back at last week’s Eminence Front Cover Wars, Max Creek has emerged victorious with a little help from guest guitarist Jeff Pevar.

The Contestants:

Keller Williams: Leading off this week we’ve got a short rendition from the early years of Keller Williams. Source: 1-25-1998
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/kw.mp3]

READ ON for the rest of this week’s Cover Wars contestants…

“These guys are a fun band”, Dee said as the openers – The Truth & Salvage Co. – took the stage. “You’ll probably like them”. Dee and Ron had come to town from their rural environs north of Nanaimo, British Columbia. They were following the Jackie Greene Pacific Northwest swing of his current tour.

Getting their fix, as Ron put it, of live music for the year. Sort of like Hoss and Little Joe hooking up the buckboard and heading into town for supplies. Dee and Ron drove seven hours (not counting ‘ferry time’) to get to the previous night’s show in Seattle. Another three hours and change south on I-5 (not counting an hour or so lost in the one way maze that downtown Portland can become at rush hour) to get to Thursday night’s gig at the Aladdin Theater.

Stan and Sheila, our neighbors to the right, agreed. “Really fun,” they chimed almost in unison. “Really, really fun,” Sheila added. They had journeyed from Eugene the night before to catch the Seattle show and, without getting lost, made it back south to Stumptown in time to get to the front row tonight, roughly ten hours in the car so far.

These guys were making me feel guilty for living ten minutes away and waiting for the tour to come to me. No, I take that back. Only I can make myself feel guilty. They were making me feel nostalgic for the old day’s road tripping to Seattle to see the Stones, Bowie, The Who and later on, Green River, Nirvana, Alice In Chains et al as grunge grew up three hours north.

READ ON for more about AJ’s experience at the Jackie Greene show…

…a powerfully eerie sound erupts out of the darkness, and the magician twirls his hands up, down, and side to side, before waving his digits in a fast flurry through the low-lit air. The young sorcerer walks away from his own electronic creation, slashing his arms in a bird-like fashion, until the arcing cries transcend shape, slowly fading into the demonic distance, neither appearing nor disappearing by the physical touch of a human hand.

Jimmy Page is done with his bit of sinister audio, and returns to attacking his Les Paul. Robert Plant howls at the devil on his trail and yelps for a whole lotta love, while John Paul Jones and John Bonham beat the drums en route to Valhalla without any pretension towards mercy and restraint. This ain’t your daddy’s Chicago blues, mate. This is chaos.

My initial exposure to the strange surreal sounds of the theremin was on many trips to a little midnight movie by the world’s biggest band, Led Zeppelin. The Song Remains the Same was a sledge-hammered cranium-opener for my sane and sober teenaged mind. Flash forward a few years, and one comes across a documentary based on the inventor of the instrument and this week’s Hidden Flick, Theremin – An Electronic Odyssey.

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick…

April was a good month for Miles Davis, as a slew of bands dipped into the great band leader’s songbook. This week’s SM mix features some of the best there

Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam are following up on a huge 2008 with what’s looking to be an even bigger 2009. They’ve enlisted Mr. Comes Alive himself, Peter Frampton,

Southern jammers Widespread Panic brought their Travelin’ Light touring festival  – remember that lineup? – to Berkeley, CA’s historic Greek Theatre in 1998, but the Athens-based band didn’t get to play

The McLovins boys visited the WPKN studio in Bridgeport yesterday to perform a brunch concert for the Connecticut-based radio station. Drumlovin, Axlovin and Basslovin treated the listeners to originals Purple

We’re happy to report that Relix magazine has been saved after a group of investors led by former Wetlands owner Pete Shapiro and a number of Relix staffers have acquired