Just saw Lee Rocker tonight...

....and here's a partial setlist. I didn't start actually keeping it until I realized I was seeing my 6th Stray Cats show this year. The band completely kicked all kinds of ass.

Built For Speed
(some songs I didn't write down)
Stray Cat Strut
Texarkana To Panama City
Runaway Boys
Bulletproof
That's All Right Mama
Blue Moon of Kentucky
Lonesome Tears
Honey Don't
Lost Highway
Fishnet Stockings
Gone
Miracle in Memphis
Sleepwalk
Sexy + 17
Bring It Back Again
Please Don't Touch
Rock This Town

Encore:
rockabilly instrumental
Mystery Train

Afterwards I spoke to Buzz and he said tonight was the first time they've played some of this stuff together, they were totally winging it.

It. Was. Awesome.

Cool stuff Andi

I wonder what made them do a Stray Cat heavy set? (not that I'm complaining )

Hé, Red Bandana Girl, Thanks for the setlist
Is that what you heard yesterday?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGJ68kl1iMg
I guess you took some Pics
Frenchyfab

man......

it has to be interesting to listen to some of those tunes sang by Lee....

really cool!

Frenchyfab, I take it you talked to someone at the show and they mentioned the crazy chick in the bandana? I admit it, I was rocking out far more than anyone else there

I thought Lee's "Lonesome Tears" was great - though I was dancing with a friend at the time so I wasn't watching.

Spanishdavid, Lee did a fantastic job singing, as always, but I found it extremely amusing when he couldn't remember "Johnny and Eddie and me and Jimmy and Jack" - he just shrugged and adlibbed his way through it, which was awesome!

Frenchyfab, I didn't actually take any decent photos, all I took with me was a little point and shoot. I only grabbed about 5 photos and this is the only one that came out:



jonhope, I asked Buzz about the Cats-heavy playlist and he said that coming off the Euro tour (playing to 10,000 people in Helsinki, for example!), Lee really wanted to connect the dots between his arena shows and his club shows, and that he realized that playing a bit more of the rockabilly and the Stray Cats tunes was the way to do it. I'm certainly not complaining either, though I really did want to hear "Call Me The Rocker!"

I got my friend to take a photo of Buzz and me, the only one I have even though we've known each other for many years. I had a good long chat with him, long overdue. Still the same ol' Buzz, still one of the best guitar players around, and a damn nice guy. Goin' back to the fair tonight to see Hot Rod Lincoln. Actually, it's Buzz with the Guanabatz bass player and Buddy Blue's old drummer, but hey - undoubtedly a great show anyway!

Andi wrote:

Spanishdavid, Lee did a fantastic job singing, as always, but I found it extremely amusing when he couldn't remember "Johnny and Eddie and me and Jimmy and Jack" - he just shrugged and adlibbed his way through it, which was awesome!

I bet he was trying to say "Andi and David, and me and Brophy and Buzz!!!", but he got all mixed up!!!!

Hey you crazy, loud Yank!! Looks like you been partying alot! Good on ya!
Buddy Blue...what an incredible talent! With or with out the Buddy Blue Band. He passed away I heard not long ago, real shame.
Bet Lee was top notch! Cheers Pete

What a great show seems to have been!!
I really miss some songs there, specially from Big Blue, which are really wonderful... Ain't No Way, Little Buster, Goin' Down Hard for instance... they are quite different to Lee's current style, but they would be good fun.

BTW, have a look at amazon.com and search for Lee Rocker. THere is a DVD on sale called Rock This World, which was filmed in Germany 3 years ago; however, there's nothing mentioned so far on his website

BTW I tried to post a "thanks for the great show" on Lee's message board but kept getting rejected for not answering the antispam question - but there wasn't one. Anyone else have that problem?

Andi,
I had the same problem a couple of times; what I've done was to log off and start a new topic as if you were as guest, though as you know, you'll be asked for your username and password together with the antispam question. That should do the trick!

I've had the same problem for months, and haven't posted ever since...

Frenchyfab, I take it you talked to someone at the show and they mentioned the crazy chick in the bandana? I admit it, I was rocking out far more than anyone else there

I thought Lee's "Lonesome Tears" was great - though I was dancing with a friend at the time so I wasn't watching.

Frenchyfab, I didn't actually take any decent photos, all I took with me was a little point and shoot. I only grabbed about 5 photos and this is the only one that came out:
What a coincidence! I spoke to no one from that show Andi, I remembered you said me on Tommy's Forum you would have a red bandana for the "Farewell" in Paris last September...when I arrived there were about 400 persons front of the stage.
Your pics are great but where is Dear Midnight Brophy ...Wish I have my pic with Buzz though
A bientôt Andi
Frenchyfab

Frenchyfab wrote:

What a coincidence! I spoke to no one from that show Andi, I remembered you said me on Tommy's Forum you would have a red bandana for the "Farewell" in Paris last September...when I arrived there were about 400 persons front of the stage.

Okay, that IS a big coincidence! I don't wear them all that often, and I have 'em in a dozen different colors! How funny...

Pistol Pete wrote:

Hey you crazy, loud Yank!! Looks like you been partying alot! Good on ya!
Buddy Blue...what an incredible talent! With or with out the Buddy Blue Band. He passed away I heard not long ago, real shame.

He was great, Pete, I used to play "High Fivin' White Boy" among others on my radio show back in the day - he was fun to see live too. He was also a writer and did show/music reviews for a paper in Orange County, north of San Diego. He was known for being blunt and sometimes vicious, but his writing was always extremely engaging. I specifically remember a Cab Calloway story he shared - must try to find it and post it here.

I have to admit, Lonesome Tears is one of my all-time favorite Cats covers. I like it even better than Buddy Holly's original recording. I always thought Brian's baritone voice suited the song perfectly. It's hard for me to picture Lee singing it, but I'm sure it sounded great with the dueling guitars - a highlight of Buddy's original as well.

I presume it's the Holly song from Original Cool that Lee covered - sometimes rockabillies perform the Johnny Burnette Rock-n-Roll Trio's "Lonesome Tears In My Eyes," which is an entirely different song.

Speaking of Buddies, Buddy Blue is a favorite of mine. Hell, "Fat, 40, and Flatulent" was my theme song all of last year. Although I love this message board, the Buddy Blue forum was one of the most entertaining message boards I ever visited, chiefly because Buddy himself was an integral contributor to the board. Often scathing, always hilarious, it was a pleasure to read his observations, and I frequently trolled the OC Register's website for reviews written by Buddy Siegal. I specifically remember a nice in-depth interview with Lee Rocker, who also guested on Buddy's Dipsomania album. I haven't been back to the board in a while - I hear the surviving Beat Farmers (Now the Farmers) have kinda co-opted it.

When Buddy suddenly died on the afternoon of April 2nd, 2006, the news hit the message board within 2-3 hours. That was a heart-wrenching week for me and many other Buddy fans. Some MBs might have folded in the wake of such a tragedy, but Buddy's board thrived for at least a year. Some MB members recorded a tribute album, the proceeds of which go to support their young daughter Lulu's education (she was 2 at the time of his death.) It's pretty flippin' good.

I lost track of Buddy after he left the Beat Farmers (Tales of the New West is a fantastic album). But I found him again in the early 90s with his "Dive Bar Casanovas" album, a foray into jump blues, a couple of years before the Swing Revival. I believe his cover of "It Shoulda Been Me" had me diving headlong into Ray Charles' music for several years, purchasing one of my first CD boxed sets, Ray's "Atlantic Rhythm and Blues" recordings.

But Buddy's best work wasn't always in the Jump Blues genre. That cat could rock out as well, in a Blasters/Dave Alvin way. And while the beat and the feel of the music usually grab my attention first, it was Buddy's brilliant songwriting that often drew me in. "Gun Sale at the Church" comes to mind at the moment. Just a few hours after he died, I cranked up his "No Right to Die" to deal with the shock and anger over the loss.

The albums in the late 90s / 2000s lived more in the Blues, Jump Blues, and easy-rollin' Mose Allison-influenced jazz neighborhood (see the "Sordid Lives" album.) But even in those settings, Buddy managed to make you think and make you laugh.

Time for me to go put on some Buddy Blue and "Pretend It's Okay."

Buddy-billy

Rick, yes, it was that "Lonesome Tears" that Lee covered. Haven't listened to Original Cool in ages, may have to spin that and Rock Therapy today....

....but after I listen to some Buddy Blue. I have Dipsomania, Dive Bar Casanovas and Greasy Jass. Haven't listened to any of them since my radio show ended! Listening to "Right Cross, Left Hook" as I type - man he was great!!

Buddy lived in La Mesa, where I lived from age 12-26, and just down the road from where I'm living now. Every Thursday night during the summer, La Mesa Village puts on a classic car night, sometimes with a band but always with an awful DJ spinning 50's and 60's music. My mother and I have gone the last two Thursday nights in a row, sitting at the outdoor tables at the Mexican restaurant on the corner, watching the Thunderbirds and Cadillacs rolling by and listening to the jock make a mess of Jerry Lee Lewis and The Miracles.

Right down the street from the Mexican restaurant is La Mesa's best dive bar, Pete's Place - the subject of Buddy's "Jumpin' at Pete's Place." I think I'll stop in for a beer this Thursday in honor of Buddy.

Buddy Blue's former drummer, Stinky, who as I understand it is now an official member of Hot Rod Lincoln.



Damn. I am so thrilled to be in the thick of all the great So Cal music again.

Hey, Lee Rocker played a couple of tracks on Buddy Blue's Dipsomania....(Talkin' Woman & Milky Way Blues)