In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Mark Knopfler, former guitarist and lead singer of Dire Straits, on the red guitar of his youth that launched his love of rock (go here). Mark was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne in England. His early heroes were Chuck Berry and Hank Marvin, both of whom wielded a red guitar.
Here's Marvin, seated, playing his best-known hit, Apache in 1960...
Here's Marvin playing a James Bond medley...
Here's Mark Knopfler in 1978 with Dire Straits singing their big hit, Sultans of Swing...
SiriusXM. For those who missed my appearance on SiriusXM's Feedback (channel 106) last week to discuss the history of Heart and my WSJ column on the band's hit, Barracuda, here's the entire hour-long show...
Rare album? If you can't find a copy of a rare album, chances are you'll find it at Discogs.com. Last week I mentioned that Manny Albam's album, The Soul of the City, was impossible to find. There are copies at Discogs.com. So next time you're stuck, have a look there. And thanks to all the readers who emailed to alert.
Royal Albert Hall. Last week, Tom Shaker in London sent along the following email:
Hi Marc. I went to the Mark Knopfler concert at Royal Albert Hall Wednesday night. Lo and behold, there was your wonderful book, Anatomy of a Song, in the gift shop! With only a handful of titles to choose from, you were in good company. I recommended it to a few browsers. Thought you might like to see it (above).
George Russell. Last week, Milan Simich sent along a link to a killer YouTube audio upload of George Russell at the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival. Russell's group featured Russell (p), Don Ellis (tp), David Baker (tb), John Gilmore (ts), Steve Swallow (b), Pete LaRoca (d) and Sheila Jordan (voc). They performed The Outer View, Stratosphunk, Volupte and You Are My Sunshine. Go here...
Louis Stewart. After my post last week of two Wes Montgomery video clips, I received the following email from Oliver Dowling in Dublin, Ireland:
Hi Marc. Fantastic videos of Wes Montgomery. They reminded me of the late guitar legend Louis Stewart. Louis did not use a mobile phone and laptop nor did he drive a car. It was my job to put a lot of your video recommendations on DVD for him so he could watch them on a recently purchased player. I also printed out your posts so he could read them. I miss our talks an hour or two before his gigs, with him sipping a pint of Guinness with a Paddy whiskey chaser. He had some great stories to tell and was a big fan of Montgomery.
Here's the magnificent Louis Stewart in action...
What the heck. Here's Al Wilson singing Show and Tell in 1974 on Soul Train...
Oddball album cover of the week.
This one isn't odd as much as it is just funny.