Things have been busy, crazy, and very hectic at LOUIE Central. I haven’t spent a lot of time on the LOUIE project lately, but I have been busy. A few weeks ago, Chris Gaffney passed away, I’ve been inspired to cut some footage from the Johnny Paycheck tribute that took place on March 19, 2003, which also happened to be a very sad day in American history. I intended to shoot the concert with three broadcast cameras, but experienced some problems when a freak accident occurred with one of the cameras. I was able to continue shooting with the help of a friend that had a little consumer camera, but after the show was over, I put the tapes away, intending to cut something as I got the time to do so.
With the death of Chris Gaffney, I was inspired to return to this project, and I’ve been having fun assembling this material. I don’t have anyone paying me to edit this, and I don’t know if any of this will ever be seen outside of YouTube, but it sure feels good to work on this stuff. The music of Johnny Paycheck, as interpreted by Chris Gaffney, Dave Alvin, Red Meat, Dave Gonzales, and a handful of other musicians, is truly some of the greatest traditional American country music I’ve ever heard. Here’s a couple of clips I assembled this week from this show….
Chris Gaffney joins Smelley Kelley and Red Meat to sing “Take This Job and Shove It.”
Chris Gaffney, backed by Red Meat, tackles “Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets”
In the midst of sorting through my video archives, I also found another unfinished project that I felt was worth sharing. A few years ago, there was a tribute concert in San Francisco for the Replacements, one of my all-time favorite rock and roll bands. John Doe, a fantastic singer-songwriter with X, the Knitters and the Pleasure Barons (all of which featured Dave Alvin one time or another), performed a great rendition of “I Will Dare,” one of the great songs written by Paul Westerberg. The audio on this video is mediocre, but I felt like posting it to YouTube for the hell of it. Eventually, as I get the new improved soundboard recordings from that show, I may post more performances to YouTube.
One of the little surprises I got via YouTube was a nice little quote I’m going to share. Someone by the name of taoistcowboy123 left me this nice little comment on one of my YouTube clips:
“Thanks for posting. A friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.”
Sometimes, that’s the sort of thing that really makes it all worthwhile.
My thanks in return for those that pay attention.