Busking rock band does Cream cover on Belfast street

boing
#21

we rented the video when I was in middle school, I was pretty blown away. although it didn’t kickstart a blues phase in me, it was a great movie with great playing. through my mom, I had already been schooled on the blues’ place in the structure of american music. I knew my mom had one of those Johnson reissues in her album collection, and in highschool, that LP made it into my crate (aside: weird to think my collection was once only one crate.)
when rewatching it maybe five years ago, I noticed in the credits that the old man’s guitar playing was done by Shuggie Otis. Otis started out as a blues man, then invented his own style, his only hit was the Brothers Johnson covering his tune “Strawberry Letter 23,” and was slept-on until David Byrne/Luka Bop records reissued him in the late 90s, which was how I discovered him. His blues material wasn’t part of the reissue, but as you heard in the movie, it’s tough stuff. and I believe the evil white boy was Steve Vai? or someone like that.

anyway, that is so awesome that this movie sparked a blues scene where you live, and itself sounds like the plot of a movie (shades of Swing Kids, in a way.)

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#22

Thanks for the info. I have to look for Mr. Otis.

I think there was a blues scene here, but it was a small niche. The movie “opened” the eyes of a part of the youth in the early 1990´s and we started to pay attention to venues and local bands.

Buskers aren´t part of out culture. I think only recently we could see some people playing for money in the streets.

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#23

I love his playing on this (even if FZ thought it was “too busy”).

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#24

oh, far out! my old roommate used to play the cd issue of apostrophe/overnight sensation on one cd a lot. I never knew that was bruce on bass but that makes total sense that zappa would headhunt him.
never a zappa head, but those two were some tight albums.

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#25

It sounds like a PS5 videogame.

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#26

Yea: the devil’s guitarist in the climactic head-cuttin’ context for Willie Brown’s soul was shredder extraordinaire Steve Vai. He also actually wrote and played the Paganini-esque “Eugene’s Trick Bag” shred bit that defeated…himself “Jack Butler”. (As if Vai couldn’t make that bend at the 22nd fret!)

IIRC, Ry Cooder played the very olde style bluesy stuff and Arlen Roth (?) coached Macchio in making it all look and sound cool.

I was watching the entire run of David Simon’s The Deuce and had no idea I was watching Ralph Macchio play a 1970s rotten NYPD cop. It’s as if he grew up er somethin’.

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#27

Not to take away from the discussion about these three talented and beautiful artists, but as other posters have mentioned, this was originally a Robert Johnson song. Robert Johnson was an American treasure, and it’s a shame he doesn’t get more recognition. If you want to know more, look here …

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#28

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