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Revel In Dimes ROCKS!!!! the Talkhouse 7 28 16

Last night  7-28-16 at Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, Long Island, NY
a fantastic band ‘Revel In Dimes’ blessed the stage with hot
pungent punktive bluesy rocking cosmic musicianship and humility.
Premo on the bass looks Hendrixy with his Afro, and plays near
that Jimi level on his instrument with his long fast funky exacting fingers.
My favorite rock bassist ‘of all time’ is/was, of course, Jack
Bruce of the Cream. The late great Jack Bruce, departed Earth last
year. Right now, on the strength of last night’s performing, it’s Premo.
He can do so much with his instrument, plus he plays harmonica, sings,
dances all around, makes animalistic noises that fit right in with
the extremely hard-to-resist danceable music Revel in Dimes produces.

Here’s 10 minutes of this fantastic band, starting with ‘K-i-s-s-i-n-g’

Primo singing the lead; Kia Warren right there beside him harmonizing!

Eric Simons from rural Kansas is the R.L. Burnside kine of guitarist,
but with a juicy 2016 electric fertile flow of sound, and bluesy
jazzy penetrating infiltrating satisfying seemingly ever-present
tasty licks emanating from his person/guitar/soul raising the music
to wondrous heights of beauty and rockingness. He’s one of my
favorite guitarists now. Riffs galore he supplies as each song progresses,
that ‘Little Axe’ kind of Mississippi voodoo late at night misty-rain-falling
in a quiet southern town, yet urban and contemporary futuristic, what
you will always want to hear if you love guitar and especially electric
guitar. Eric Simons. Don’t forget that name.

 

Drummer Washington Duke is great, right there in the middle, supplying
the essence of the bottom and the beat, pumping up the music, keeping it
solid and potent, especially with Premo’s bass playing off him and vice-versa,
and Simons contributing his licks and magic from the other side.

Kia Warren sings, and plays some kind of instrument that is very small and
sits on a pedestal. I never asked what it was, but I think it punctuates
and elevates and amplifies the music. Her voice is perfect, no
Alicia Keys/John Legend warbling thru and around the notes. She’s the
personable front person, focuses the energy of the venue and the band,
sings well and strongly.

It was a great night. There was a terrific version of ‘Whole Lotta Love’*
amidst the four-song start of the second set, wherein the band
let up a happy accomplished young little white woman to jauntily lead sing
and play her rhythmic baby blue guitar, while Premo/Eric/Washington played some
amazing music behind her. ‘K-i-s-s-i-n-g’ was another highlight
with Premo singing the lead and Kia harmonizing. The rhythm and sound of
this band is unique – it infiltrates your feet and body and mind. This is
a now group that you should not miss if you ever get a chance to see them,
if they come to your town, or a town you can travel to. I could definitely
see them playing the Super Bowl halftime show, their professionalism and
power suitable for them to take over any stage and blow the shorts off
everyone that loves modern music in the fortunate audience. REVEL IN DIMES!!

P.S. the band returns to the Talkhouse for your dancing listening grooving pleasure Aug 25

and Sept 16 @10 PM both nights, and will be in Montauk Aug 11.  See ’em somewhere!!

 

 

*Originally done by Led Zeppelin

30th Anniversary Chernobyl Nuclear Accident & Fukushima Spews On Into Pacific Ocean

It’s been thirty years today April 26, 2016 that the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
occurred. Life expectancy in Russia and Byelorus has dropped by 20 years since
the disaster. But 60% of the radionuclides spewed out of the damaged reactor
landed OUTSIDE the USSR, mostly in Europe. More than a million people have
died prematurely thanks to Chernobyl.

Read more

The TransPacific Partnership or TPP – The Biggest Baddest Trade Deal In History!

The TransPacific Partnership or TPP may potentially be approved by the USA this spring, 2015. It would be the biggest trade agreement in the history of the world, and also the baddest. For democracy. For sovereignty. For food safety. For the internet. For jobs. For the environment. For our health. For seniors. For people of color. But not for the banks, corporations, Wall Street, the 1%-ers, polluters, and the meters of injustice.

Carolina Chocolate Drops & Birds Of Chicago Enervate Westhampton April 3 2014

Two great parallel groups with female lead singers/multi-instrumentalists highlighted this evening of music.  The Chocolate Drops have been around for about a decade now with CD's produced by the likes of Buddy Miller and Joe Henry (and T-Bone Burnett will produce their next 2014 release) and awards including a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album 2010 'Genuine Negro Jig.'  Their energy is very high and the music eclectic and varied - - from Tom Waits to old-time black North Carolina fiddler Joe Thompson to traditional sources. Birds of Chicago terrific.

Carolina Chocolate Drops & Birds Of Chicago Enervate Westhampton April 3 2014

But 1st & foremost the Carolina Chocolate Drops really are purveyors of music that comes from slavery and the banjo, which Rhiannon Giddens informs us was the primary form of music in America for about fifty years, during the latter 19th century, including black-face minstrel performances. The banjo comes from Africa, fashioned from gourds and strings - - it arrived in the Americas in the Caribbean with slavery and then migrated north.

Hendrix New Movie Must See ‘Hear My Train Acomin’ ‘ – November 2013

Jimi Hendrix was the greatest electric guitarist EVER! You can see this in this new movie by Bob Smeaton, a Jimi Hendrix aficionado, who has apparently collected loads of footage of and about Jimi. Every moment of Jimi’s guitar playing is magic in ‘Hear My Train Acomin’,’ [which actually is a blues song about death, acomin’…] and beyond anything anyone else ever did, from the bearded boys of ZZ Top to George Harrison to Jimmy Page to Eric Clapton to Jeff Beck to Buddy Guy to Larry Coryell and Duane Allman, on and on and onward....

Tea Party Republicans Irresponsible Uncooperative, Anti-Obama Racist Mis-Steppings 10 26 2013 Hail Jesse Helms!

Now that the government shutdown is over, $24 billion dollars of taxpayer money wasted, the Tea-Party-led Republicans have decided they will not co-operate with their Congressional brethren and sisters about passing an immigration law, a jobs bill, anything that President Obama champions. We know that there has been a concerted effort from day one of Obama’s first presidency to ensure that his time in office as America’s first(?)** black chief executive would be contested, hopefully to the point of abject failure.

Fukushima Continues Lethal Radioactive Leakages Into AIR and Water, Oct 25 2013

Fukushima’s disaster goes on and on, after the initial nuclear disaster incident began on March 11, 2011. The radioactive pollution. The ridiculous idea of an ice wall surrounding the nuclear plant, that the press, including the respected but very doubtable New York Times seems to accept as salvation...quotes from three recent NY Times articles, includes quotes from Oct 25 2013 article.

’12 Years A Slave,’ ‘The Human Scale,’ ‘Tasting Menu’ Highlite Last Day of Hamptons Film Festival Oct. 14 2013

In retrospect: Best movie was 'The Rocket,' shot in Laos. Excellent. Great cinematography of the landscape of Laos, with superb Laotian actors. Enthralling classic movie to be seen again and again and again. 2nd best: 'Oh Boy' - German movie about a young man, a bit adrift in life, getting slammed in all directions as he deliberately contemplates his next step, but too often gets stepped on. Great characters, acting, humor. 'The Human Scale' as noted above. 'Tasting Menu' also noted above.