SOUNDTRACK: BOOKER T. JONES-Tiny Desk Concert #125 (May 2, 2011).
Booker T. Jones is the Booker T from Booker T. & the M.G.’s whose classic “Green Onions” is one of my favorite instrumentals ever (and probably why I enjoy the Hammond sound so much).
And he plays it here. He says he wrote it when he was 17 years old (in 1962)–a senior in high school. And he still enjoys playing it.
They did some furniture moving to get the desk-sized Hammond B3 organ and its sturdy wooden Leslie speaker cabinet to where Bob’s desk normally goes, and it is worth it. Booker T. even gives a brief lesson about “crawling” on the organ and what drew him to it in the first place when he was ten years old.
After playing “Green Onions,” he switches sounds on the organ to play a wonderfully menacing version of “Born Under a Bad Sign” (a song he also wrote). It’s so very different on the organ–and I much prefer this version to the familiar one.
The final song is called “Down in Memphis.” It was a new song in 2011 but it is the song I like the least. There’s nothing bad about it–it’s just kind of plain and simple. It’s more of him singing (about Memphis, which doesn’t mean much to me) and less of his organ playing. But that’s okay. His voice is still amazing.
I’m all about that Hammond.
[READ: January 21, 2016] Mermin: Book Three
After waiting nearly three years between books one and two, I waited one day between books two and three. I actually assumed that this series was a trilogy, but I have learned that there is a part four already out.
Book three opens up in the Kingdom of Mer. Mermin is a little boy (uh, fish, uh, whatever) and he is having a really hard time learning to control the sea. He should be able to use his thoughts to make the water move. But he stomps out in frustration.
Then we jump back to the present where our gang (Pete, Toby and his sister Claire and Penny) along with Mermin and Benni are being driven in a ship to Mer. And Mak is driving the ship (I don’t think I knew that my favorite walking whale had a name).
Their back home “plan” for heading to the sea involved having Randy tell everyone that they were away camping. Of course, Randy is a bad kid and can’t be trusted, so it should come as no surprise to see that he stowed away on the ship (we never actually find out what happened back home). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 