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HOT PICKS...

1. "The Thrilla In Manilla on HBO....I'm a fight-fan and anything concerning Muhammad Ali I watch, but this documentary is sure to shed some unfavorable light on "the Greatest" boxer of all time...Ali who had just gone from having the world on a string to losing everything from his denial to fight by not goin to Vietnam was broke and totally down on his luck...even though he was a political and social pawn for the Muslims, I understand him being a contientious objector to the war, don't agree with it, but I get it.....what I don't understand is him literally not having 2 dimes to rub together and Joe Frazier giving him money for him and his family to live on, then Joe talking promoters into giving Ali his 1st real fight after being banned from boxing the world over, THEN completely turning on Joe w/ personal attacks on Frazier and his family....this movie documents the 3rd and final fight between Frazier and Ali in the Phillipines in 1975. The fight was called after 15 rounds because these guys we're literally near death and heat exhaustion...Ali was given the title, but it's obvious that Smokin Joe was winning...a must see for any real fight fan....we will never see the likes of these two warriors again...ever.

2. Rockabilly vrs. Country?...nobody loves rockabilly music like me...I cut my teeth on it and collected so many old records that I didn't have room in my house for them anymore and had to store them in a airconditioned rental place...but the problem w/ rockabilly fans, (and I've got a few, but this one is becoming increasingly evident), is why on God's green earth don't most of them see the correlation between rockabilly and country....it's like one of the great mysteries of roots-music? it's blows my f-in mind?....if you're gonna wake up every day and put grease in your hair and wear you're 50s' uniform, than do your homework....George Jones, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Elvis, Buck Owens, Charlie Rich, etc...the list goes on and on...we're ALL country singers who at one time had rockabilly careers....sure they loved R&B, Pop and Gospel but these guys we're usually always southern country singers..."Oh, I don't really like country music....but I love rockabilly!"....I've heard this same tired ignorant bullshit statement in the US, Finland, UK, all over and it blows me away, I can't believe it...I understand not liking say a slooow Kitty Wells country song and wanting to hear some lowdown rebel shit like Joe Clay or Gene Vincent...theres' some Kitty Wells that drives me crazy too but there's real crappy rockabilly stuff too... but writing off a whole American genre that most of the original rockabilly singers started out in because of you're misconceptions about it being square or not knowing that the real stuff has NOTHING to do w/ what's coming out of Nashville is just bat-shit-crazy!....so okay young greasers, here's your very own little honky-tonk starter kit: buy any early Buck Owens & the Buckaroos music from the Capitol label and that should have enough shreddin' tele guitar, loud shuffle drums and catchy upbeat tunes about love & sex to carry you into listening to other things...well, get a divorce too....then lose your house...maybe drink too much for awhile to help compound your problems...THEN after you realize you're not gonna die in flaming car crash like Eddie Cochran did, (b/t/w...he had a country band too called the Cochran Bros.), and maybe , just maybe you'll evolve into listening to Haggard, Jones and Paycheck....cat.

3. Paul Rays Show on Sat. night in Austin...on KUT Radio in Austin, Paul Ray, (front man of the legendary Austin blues band "The Cobras" which had Stevie Ray Vaughn on guitar),has a show on Sat. nights that's about the most amazing Blues, Swing, Jump, Rockabilly and Cajun music show in the country...(& sure, there's some good ones out there on left-of-the-dial stations in Memphis, Chicago, Houston, hell, even Bob Dylans show on satelitte radio is great)...but Paul Ray plays stuff that's so far beyond any standard record collection I've ever heard anywhere...I spent alot of time back in the day rumaging thru stores tryin to find cool old vinyl that wasn't all scratched up for my record collection....most of my friends have similar copies of all the great stuff....Paul Ray has the sickest collection of any DJ...he's a treasure in Austin and the difference between him and other late night left-of-the-dial DJs' is, you'll never hear him play anything but the greatest of the greats....no new white guitar players playing penatonic rock leads w/ bad tone over blues shuffles...no new horn bands with obvious cheesey arrangements....no paint-by-numbers rockabilly bands that are just doin re-written weaker versions....his records are on the money every single time...Paul Ray is the man..check out Austins' KUT online and listen to it!

4. A Swamp Pop Journey...this movie was made by my friend C.C. Adcock and our late-great friend Tarka Cordell....it was shown @ the SXSW Film Festival and got huge repsonse and it's about the only legit documentary out there on real Cajun Swamp Pop music that rose to huge commercial heights in the 50s', 60's, and 70s'...they interview alot of the guys who are still living and talk about all the new ones coming up out of the ashes of the old...Grammy nominated Little Band Of Gold is a featured act in it and it shows the true love in all things of the Cajun culture...the food, the music, and most importantly the people....although we have been saddened by our dear friend Tarka Cordells' untimely death before the film was finished...CC Adcock has taken the film to Europe where it's being shown there in art houses and theaters....if you love Cajun music the way I do go online and get "A Swamp Pop Journey".