Friday, June 01, 2007

Live aid, part deux

Check out this map for a lineup of all the performers at the Porchlight benefit I'm participating in tomorrow.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Live aid

On Saturday I'll be participating in Beat the Street, a musical benefit for the homeless-support agency Porchlight. The event will see local songsters stationed at corners up and down State Street, here in Madison. I will be singing all your old favorites at the sweet intersection of State and Gilman Street, in front of the Chocolate Shoppe ice cream joint.

All the music starts at 1 p.m., so come on down and throw a buck in my guitar case. It's for a good cause.
Yee haw

When I was a lad back in Nashville, in the 1980s, the rock scene cooked, and no band cooked better than the seminal cowpunk band Jason and the Scorchers. In case you missed the whole thing, here's the video for one of their best tracks, the smokin' cover of Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie."

The clip is of interest not only to music fans but also to nostalgic former denizens of the Music City like myself. The video takes place on Lower Broad, the downtown drag that now is a thriving tourist scene of great music venues and tacky Western wear stores. Back then, though, the district was seedy, even as some downtown retail outlets hung on. (They're all gone now.) Hence the shot of the old Purina store, and the one of Adult World.

But then there is Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, the storied honkytonk where the performance footage was shot. From the bugout of the "Grand Ole Opry," through the decline of the downtown and up to its revival, Tootsie's has endured. I hope it endures through much more.

At Tootsie's I once danced with a marine who then pulled a knife on a guy. Enjoy.