Ok so I don’t know which is moving slower tonight me or the computers! I installed WordPress 3.0 first I lost all my traffic counts for today I know I had more visitors than the 4 it now lists! As for me sometimes a hard run coming after a day of field work knocks me out which is what happened tonight. Anyway I did listen to some blues today! I had put Elvin Bishop‘s new album Red Dog Speaks on the player yesterday. This morning I added The Mathematics of Love by Peter Parcek. Now I’m familiar with Elvin Bishop but Parcek is new to me, but both have been around for forty plus years! I listened to Elvin Bishop first. Now I do go back a long way with Elvin Bishop back to his sitting in for Mike Bloomfield on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper and I have his 1972 release Rock My Soul and I will admit to not being a big fan through the years. Bishop’s most memorable single is, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”, which peaked at #3 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart (and #34 in the UK charts), about his love affair with the late Jenny Villarin, the mother of his late daughter Selina Bishop.(Bishop’s daughter Selina and ex-wife Jennifer Villarin were murdered in August 2000 by Glenn Taylor Helzer, his brother Justin Helzer, and accomplice Dawn Godman) The recording featured vocalist Mickey Thomas and drummer Donny Baldwin who both later joined Jefferson Starship. But I did download his last album the Grammy nominated The Blues Rolls On and I did like that album so when Red Dog Speaks came out I downloaded it and Elvin picked up right where he left off and has produced another solid fun blues album!
Red Dog is Bishop’s 1959 Gibson ES-345 and it speaks well on this album. Bishop provides some of the vocals many more spoken rather than sung like on the opening track “Red Dog Speaks” where the star is Red Dog, well with help of course from Elvin. Other highlights for me include: “Barbecue Boogie” and instrumental track, “Blues Cruise” which is about the Legendary Blues Cruise which will be October 17th through the 24th this year. The track includes performances by features artists like Ronni Baker Brooks, Tommy Castro, Buckwheat Zydeco, John Nemeth and Roy Gaines!  “Get Your Hand Out of My Pocket” is another good track, “His Eye is on the Sparrow is another instrumental another highlight is the second to the last track another spoken track about “Clean Livin'” which is not the reason Elvin has reached the age of 68! So check out Elvin’s latest I think you’ll like it and while  your at it check out The Blues Rolls On you’ll like that one too.
Well it appears that I have run out of day and steam – so I’ll write about Peter Parcek tomorrow!
Here’s John Nemeth – Elvin and Red Dog! – only problem is I never can get the Cosby show’s cover of this song out of my head! But I don’t know this cover may replace it!