Triumphrat

ooobaby · 05-12-2008

Concert last Saturday was rained out, so nobody went due to absolutely miserable weather. Cold and blowing rain horizontal at 40-50 mph. I'm a little hardcore so I called and checked anyway. Well what do you know, they had to pay the bands anyway so they moved them inside. Instead of outdoors and hundreds and hundreds of people they had room for a maximum of 90 people crammed in like sardines. I wasn't going to miss a chance to see these bands, particularly the headliner, live. Called up two of the people I was supposed to have gone with and they said they'd go if I drove. Sold American, cause I was going barring a flood of biblical proportions. Turned out it was the three of us and 31 other diehards listening to Watermellon Slim and The Workers followed by get this........Canned Heat. Thought I'd died and gone to Blues/Boogie Heaven!!! Got Fito de la Palma to sign all my Canned Heat albums and a copy of his autobiography. Turns out he's been addicted to motorcycles since he was a teenager in Mexico City and his first bike was a '59 Bonneville. Since then he's been a BMW boxer fan. I think he got a kick out of signing vinyl again and played a song for me off one of the albums. Too cool for school!!!!

Old Scratcher · 05-12-2008

I know they're famous for their Boogie tunes, but my favourite Canned Heat song is Goin' Up The Country, & I especially love the live version that opens the original Woodstock movie.
I've seen them live twice. Once in 72, when they played at the Sunbury Festival (near Melbourne) & then in the mid 90's when they played at Jono's Blues Bar, here in Cairns. They were a lot older & greyer, the second time around. But could still rock hard. I'm not surprised to hear that another decade hasn't slowed them down at all.

ooobaby · 05-12-2008

Yeah, they were all grayhairs. Fito is the only original member of the band. I haven't finished his book yet, but three of the orginal members are dead, from what I assume is going to turn out to be hard living to the extreem. So far the book has been a good read. The other surviving member plays with Tom Waits. They played 'Goin Up The Country and it kicked butt and took names! Man, being on the road is a hard life and when you're a popular artist everyone wants a piece of you. I almost felt guilty asking for an autograph. The band lost millions in royalities when their manager in desperation sold the rights to their songs for $10,000 in the early seventies to raise the money for attorneys to bail them out of jail in Denver when the police had an informant/friend of the band plant drugs in their hotel room to stop them from playing at a club in Denver.

upNorth · 05-12-2008

Canned Heat was one of the first bands I listened to with the girl who would later become my wife. Great band. Their singer, Bob "the Bear" Hite died in a camper a few years ago...

TriumphTengu · 05-13-2008

"Sic em' Pigs"

denman13 · 05-13-2008

In 06 I saw DEVO at an indoor theatre in Oakland, CA. Albeit not a crammed club that holds less than 200 but still far from the stadiums they used to fill back in the 70s and 80s. They sounded great, all graying, fatter and still wearing the crazy spandex suits. They were fun sports about the fact that they just didn't care that they were older and looked rather silly in those old suits and then went on to play their middle-aged asses off. Fun stuff.

Next on my list is Peter Framton who's playing at a winery this summer. Do you feel (old) like I do?

mglemans86 · 05-13-2008

I first saw them at the Filmore East in the late 67 or 8. I'm just as gray but still have some hair. 2nd time at woodstock

ooobaby · 05-13-2008

TriumphTengu: Not their best song in my humble opinion, but indicative of the times none the less. By the way, I like your Avatar, Weasels Ripped My Flesh by Frank Zappa. Definitely an acquired taste, but a brilliant musician!

TriumphTengu · 05-13-2008

I threw up...I mean "I grew up" in El Lay and saw the band many times.
The original line up through Harvey Mandel and Walter Trout. I just always had a soft spot in my heart for "Sic' em Pigs".

Thanks for mentioning the home boys.
P.S. I'm at home after work now and drinking a brew listening to "the public service announcement" at the end of the song.
Still cracks me after all these years.

Old Scratcher · 05-13-2008

Don't want to hijack this thread away from Canned Heat adulation, but I'm a big Zappa fan too. I only saw him once, in Auckland in the mid 70's, on his Overnight Sensation Tour. But he left a lasting impression, & I don't think I've ever seen a faster, or more technically proficient guitarist.
I recently saw an old tele-movie about him teaming up with John Denver & the lead singer of Twisted Sister, in the mid '80's, to fight Tipper Gore's music censorship campaign. They certainly made strange bedfellows.