New Version: The Outsiders featuring Maddie Ruthless

Via friend of no notes Alex Rawls and his colleagues at Offbeat:

“St James Infirmary” by Jeremy “Mojo” Phipps and the Outsiders feat. Maddie Ruthless on the latest CD Looters 2011.

Billed as “St James Infirmary (Dub) by Jeremy Phipps and the Outsiders feat. Maddie Ruthless,” it sounds more ska/reggae than dub to me, but I’m not exactly an expert. (Feel free to set me straight in the comments.) Anyway, Ruthless has a nice voice and the vibe, whatever its proper label, is excellent. Worth a listen!

Do you “like” SJI?

I’m amused to see that a Facebook page for SJI has emerged. (I had nothing to do with it, for the record!)

It’s basically just a Wikipedia entry, but so far 46 people “like” it.

The real no notes mailing list

This morning I posted a bit about bringing back the no notes mailing list using a different service.

Right after that I came to grips with a major problem with the different service and realized I couldn’t use it. So I deleted the post. But some people saw the post — probably in their RSS readers. Maybe you see it right now? IGNORE IT! I BEG you!

If you do want to join the no notes mailing list, do it here.

Nice & noted

This is pretty cool: Virtual Memories/Gil Roth names LfNO among his “favorite nonfiction books of the decade” just ended! The full list of fiction and nonfiction titles, with concise commentary, is here.

 

Mother In Law requiem

Pic by Steve Witchbeam/WFMU blog; click it for more.

E told me several weeks ago she’d read that the Mother In Law Lounge (a setting explored in LfNO) was closing. There’s a nice batch of pictures of the exterior on the WFMU blog, here.  Steve Witchbeam writes:

Under the impression it was still a happening venue I headed over there with Crow Hill Gnostic Temple’s Sister Jillian to check it out Saturday afternoon. It was weird, even though the outside is covered with vibrant, beautiful and exquisite murals it seemed like the life was gone. We took some pics (below!), hung out and moved on. Sunday afternoon we happened to bump into a person featured on one of the murals, the world class puppet mistress Miss Pussycat, and she informed us we missed the last show there by just a week.

Mr. Witchbeam also points to this (brief) interview with Daniel Fuselier, the artist who painted the Lounge’s murals.

“SJI” back-to-back live by Preservation Hall and friends

Here’s an entertaining, if incomplete, snippet of video from Voodoo Fest, via Brooklyn Vegan. It’s a double version of “SJI” performed by Preservation Hall, with assists from My Morning Jacket members. The clip starts fairly deep into version one, with guest vocals by Jim James, who as noted here previously does a turn on the most recent Preservation Hall record. “James sang it straight, as a bluesy dirge,” writes Alison Fensterstock. “Once he concluded, [My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick] Hallahan grabbed a pair of sticks and joined drummer Joe Lastie for a hot, swung-out version.” That happens at about the two-minute mark on this video. The transition is really fun.

Fensterstock again:

Hall vocalist Clint Maedgen scorched the mic; plenty of cowbell and tambourine gave the number a street-parade, Mardi Gras Indian feel (sort of like Wardell Quezergue’s famous production of the Dixie Cups’ “Iko Iko,” which, legend has it, utilized ashtrays and water glasses for its unforgettably clanky percussion.)

After the song, the band second-lined out and into the crowd, then returned to the stage for a closing version of Leadbelly’s “Goodnight Irene.”

Unfortunately, the clip ends well before the song does — but she’s right, this second version is superhot. And while we don’t get to see the band head into the crowd, there are some very amusing shots of fully Halloweened-out audience members dancing.

Going down to the “Insane Asylum”

I was listening to Sound Opinions’ recent episode of “scary” songs (Halloween-connected and otherwise), and was interested to hear a Willie Dixon/Koko Taylor tune, “Insane Asylum.” Check the opening lyrics:

I went out to the insane asylum
And I found my baby out there
I said please come back to me darlin’
What in the world are you doin’ here?

Then the little girl raised up her head
Tears was streamin’ down from her eyes
And these are the things
That the little girl said ….

Full lyrics after the jump, or you can hear it here:

The hosts made no mention of “SJI,” and of course it isn’t really a cover, but I think the reference point is pretty clear.

The Detroit Cobras also covered it:

Those lyrics in full: