Riffs 2007
| 2/1/2007 |
| Immaculately Tasty Buckley Bytes |
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You cats and kitties that want to cool your lobes with a bit of The Lord can turn your antennae to a swingin' E-stablishment called "emusic" for some tasty bytes of "a most immaculately hip aristocrat." But keep this in your wigs, Your Graces, you are only going to be hearing 30 seconds or so of each routine. Kind of like getting to smell the herb but it never quite makes it round the circle to you. Special thanks to eagle eye Prince Chris Bursey for hipping us to this sweet appetizer. LINKS | |
| 2/8/2007 |
| New Riffs Riff |
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The Riffs section has gotten a little facelift. The new look features a column thumbnail of illustrations for each of the articles. Just click on a thumbnail (or use the right and left arrows) and make your way, mainline style, to a given article. | |
| 2/13/2007 |
| Digital Hipsters |
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Swingers all, dig the latest twist of the pixel when you get with the Lord Buckley scene at YouTube.com. Lately a beautiful garden of Buckley riffs has blossomed online. Watch Jason Eisenberg and David Amram lay down riffs right and tight. Dig the UK's Bob Sinfield as he conjures the Carpenter Kitty, and dig the Lord himself on Groucho's "You Bet Your Life." It's a gasser at 72 dp swingin' i ! So steer, beloveds, to Thy browser and focus Thy peepers on the large charge! LINKS | |
| 3/9/2007 |
| Report From The Fields: Crocodile Style |
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Regals and Swingers and all Hipheads that remain curious enough to stay on the current page of recent history, will want to click to flip to the Snap, Snap, Snap'n section here at LBC to dig a recent Crocodile City scene. Veteran Buckley interpretor Prince John Hostetter, with no little effort, conjured His Lordship at Daytona Beach Community College as part of a tribute to several local musicians. Prince John sent along some of photographer Bill Thames' pics and laid a charming handful of semantic units on us, thus: February 6, 2007 LINKS Click here to dig the pics [not an active link] | |
| 3/17/2007 |
| C Note Plus - The Seacoast of Bohemia |
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You cats and kitties finding your sweet selves in or near Gotham City on Saturday April 7 in the year of Our Lordship Two Thousand and Leapin' Seven, should drop all else and make the scene at The Bowery Poetry Club for Buckley biographer Oliver Trager's jumpin' celebration of Lord Buckley's 101st birthday "The Seacoast of Bohemia." Named for a legendary Second City Chicago gig featuring three equally legendary hipster performers: Lord Buckley, Del Close and Severn Darden, this years celebration of His Lordship's one hundred and first natal day swing should prove to be a fine successor to the 2006 Centennial blowout bash and a half. Host and performer Oliver Trager will be joined by a Governor Slugwell style parade of veteran Buckley interpretors including Tom Calagna, Steven Ben Israel, Richard Corey, and Jason Eisenberg. Add to this a roster of ever so hip musicians including David Amram, John DeWitt, Kevin Twigg, Marc Greene and Steven Skollar and you've got yourself a truly swingin' and truly hip event. A special feature of the night will be the screening of an excerpt from "Doc" a documentary film by Immy Humes about another legend: her father, Harold "Doc" Humes. Bowery Poetry Club proprietor Bob Holman has proclaimed,
Hosted, as always, by the king of the Buckleyheads, Sir Oliver Trager, this jumpin' jive soiree will fill the Bowery Poetry Club with such hipness, such celebration, and such joy that the club may come off it's foundation (levity is, after all, the antidote to gravity.) Sir Oliver Trager's Lord Buckley Birthday Bash The Bowery Poetry Club LINKS | ||||
| 3/25/2007 |
| Buckley 101 |
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He's been called Tuolumne's Mark Twain, but few living in the area have actually heard his work. Buckley 101, an introduction to the work of Lord Buckley, will explore the rhythm and structure of Buckley's Jazz monologues through an evening of storytelling and song. Marking the 101st anniversary of this native son's birth, the program will be held Thursday, April 5, at the Tuolumne City Memorial Museum. "He had all the hallmarks of a true American humorist," said museum docent David Allen Simerely, who is helping organize the event. Simerley points out that Buckley's account of his run in with a bear in the story God's Own Drunk is in the same storytelling tradition as Twain's Jumping Frog. Both stories also happen to be set in the Mother Lode. Buckley and Twain are known for their original American voice. Another trait in common is their use of a persona, an alter ego that defined their work. Author Sam Clemens became Mark Twain. Comedian Dick Buckley became the Lord of Flip Manor. And like Mark Twain, Lord Buckley helped reinterpret our country's values during an era of dramatic social change. "For Twain, it was the Civil War era. For Buckley, World War II," Simerley said. "But many of the issues they dealt with are still with us today." Buckley thought people should be judged by their character and not by their position in society. He railed against those he called the "greedheads" and the accumulation of wealth and power into a few hands. Buckley believed it was the Everyman who "held the whole world in gear" and believed in a America where everyone is created "level in front." The museum is located at Carter and Bat Streets in Tuolumne. The program will begin at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Admission is free. | |
| 4/2/2007 |
| Broder - Buckley...the Bendin' End ! |
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Oh, beloveds, the Good Lord is with us again. Stage and screen master Jake Broder is bringing his slyly subtle incarnative live show "Lord Buckley in Los Angeles" back to Hollywood's MBar for three shows in April and May in this year of Our Lord two thousand and leapin' seven! Called "the cooliest act in town" by the Los Angeles Times, Critics Choice and delivering, as The New Yorker magazine declares, "moments of mind-bending exhilaration" Broder's Buckley takes you back (Way back, Jack!), to a '50s lounge, a red velvet affair that smells of whiskey and Brill Cream, of Aqua Velva and Taboo. It's a place His Lordship would have dug deeply from in front. Broder and his buddy cats John Keefe, Derek Yellin, Ryan Feves and Mark Sanfelippo invite you to steep yourself in the ancient mystical secret teachings of laughter that Lord Buckley understood so very, very well. Sir Jake and crew will guide you up to fence of the pounce of Now. And before you know it, you'll leap clean over that fence and head due North, East, West and South all at the same time. You will not regret your abandon for a moment. So, all you hip cats and kitties take that red pen in hand and mark the calendar with the appropriate squiggles, dates, dots and dashes and make the scene to end all scenes. Lord Buckley in Los Angeles Starring Jake Broder SAT APRIL 21, FRI April 27 & SAT MAY 5 @ 8pm with John Keefe, Derek Yellin, Ryan Feves & Mark Sanfelippo Produced by Amy Phillips MBAR 1253 N. Vine St, HOLLYWOOD, CA 90038 323 856 0036 VALET & STREET PARKING ON SITE TICKETS $15 PLUS DINNER ($10 MINIMUM) LINKS video of Lord Buckley in Los Angeles (QT file, 13 MB) [not an active link] A PDF for the show [not an active link] MBar [not an active link] | |
| 4/8/2007 |
| Play Me Some Dreamtime, My Dear Prince |
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The Marquis De Roger Mexico, that intrepid Lord Buckley documentarian, has hipped LBC to a swingin' Semantic and Lobe Podcast celebrating His Lordship's Century Plus One Natal Day Swing. There is a website called "Dreamtime", a particular storyteller cat tagged Fred Bals and a segment called "Episode 32 - Dig Infinity! A Passion Play in 4 Acts" You cats and kitties that dig the modern flip and yaw of techology will be gassed by the combination of text and audio events happening on the virtual page right before your very own peepers. There is a direct link to the MPR3 file of the program. Dig that jive! So if Your Grace twists the antennae of Your Considerable Attention to the following coordinates you can dig the riff. Many thanks to the Marquis for, once again, enlightening the populance. LINKS | |
| 8/31/2007 |
| His Lordship Stomps On The Afterburners |
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The issue of a new Lord Buckley recording is a rare and sweet occurance. It is also the occasion for celebration. Thus we hip Thee to a new sampling of hip wax straight from the gate and set on the plate. Crown Prince Richard Buckley Jr., through his BMG Records is offering "Jet Ride" in both CD and downloadable forms at CDBay.com and on the ever hip and with it iTunes. There are several recordings that will be new to most Buckleyphiles including "Leviathan", Satellite Blip Flip and the title track "Jet Ride." "Jet Ride" is the tremendously funny and highly imaginative narrative of His Lordship's first (and only) ride in a US Air Force fighter jet. Other tracks on the album are gleaned from previously issued recordings. LINKS CDBaby.com [not an active link] | |
| 9/16/2007 |
| Jake Takes LA For A Beauty Spin |
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A tasty treat is in store for those in the Los Angeles area as veteran Lord Buckley interpreter Jake Broder, returns to MBar for two appearances in September 2007. Beloved hipsters, swing with your mark on the day sheet for Monday, September 17th and Friday, September 21st as Broder Beauty Spins everyone who makes the scene. Jake Broder as Lord Buckley Mon Sept 17 and FRI SEPT 21 @ 8pm MBAR LINKS Dig the Press Release [not an active link] Dig the PDF [not an active link] See Jake Broder at MBar hipping the populance (QT 13.5 mbs) [not an active link] | |
| 9/30/2007 |
| The Rebellious Duke of Topanga Canyon Bob Dewitt 1913 - 2007 |
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Those of you hip to the mad scene that was The Church of the Living Swing will be brought down by the sad news that His Lordship's dear buddy cat and artistic coconspirator Bob DeWitt has laid down his brush and swung it up to the Higher Beat Flip. Bob was a real estate agent and his wife Doi owned and ran a restaurant in the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles when Lord Buckley came into their lives. Dewitt and Buckley immediately took to each other and Bob was quickly dubbed "The Rebellious Duke of Topanga." A 1999 interview with Michael Monteleone reveals the origins of Bob's Royal Court name:
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| 9/30/2007 |
| Lord Buckley Runs Wild |
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My swingin' cats and kitties, let me hip Thee, tonight The Lord appears at The Artist's Quarter, a musician owned and operated jazz pad in St. Paul, Minnesota. Davis Wilson, the club's greeter is featured September 30th at 8PM in "Lord Buckley Runs Wild". On the same bill is the Dean Granros Trio. LBC only just found out about this gig so we no more information at this time. But if you in those jumpin' northern climes and are mood to hear The Lord's sweet words tune that GPS to the following coordinates and have yourself a ball: Lord Buckley Runs Wild The Artists' Quarter LINKS A web link for "Lord Buckley Runs Wild" [not an active link] | |
| 9/30/2007 |
| The Invasion of Scotland |
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My royal cats and kitties the formal invasion of Scotland has commenced. His Lordship, in full formal regalia, briskly sheparded to the Poe Dee Um by comedy writer and broadcaster Bob Sinfield, has hit the boards in the land of Bobby Burns at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival with "An Audience With Lord Buckley." Translating freely and jazzily from and to the very heart of the hippest acoustic riffs attributed to The Great Master, Sinfield flipped the populance on it's lobes delivering the Gospel in cut, double, triple and hiptuple time continued! In an August 22, 2007 article in The Herald reviewer Neil Cooper writes of the performance, "Pretty fly for a white guy, and something which Sinfield tackles with boundless aplomb in this fantastical and devoted run-through some of the great man's finest works." The run is over, beloveds, but not the buzz. Click on the links to dig a little deeper. LINKS The Herald Review [not an active link] A Festival interview with Bob Sinfield [not an active link] | |
| 10/8/2007 |
| Red, White or Blue Charles B. Griffith 1930 - 2007 |
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Beloveds, I hoist a satchel filled to overflowing with sad drag on to the table in front of Thee. Prince Charles B. Griffith, late of His Lordship's Royal Court is now late of this swingin' sphere. Griffith known to the planet as the writer of many Roger Corman films including the original "Little Shop of Horrors", "Bucket of Blood", "The Wild Angels", "Attack of the Crab Monsters" and "Rock All Night", a film that was suppose to (but didn't) feature Lord Buckley, took a cab on September 28, 2007 in San Diego, California. He did not say where he was headed. Charles B. Griffith was a very bright and eager young hipster breaking into the business as a screenwriter when he encountered His Lordship at actor Mel Welles apartment in Hollywood in the 1950's. Griffith remembered that first meeting in a June 2000 interview with Michael Monteleone and Roger Mexico in Punta Banda, Baja:
Griffith became a bemused member of the Royal Court and even contributed to Buckley's famous reworking of "The Gettysburg Address":
Upon hearing of Prince Charles' flip documentarian Roger Mexico said, "I fondly remember our time with him and how invigorated and alive he was around the camera. And I'm reminded of something Scottish Poet Thomas Campbell wrote: 'To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.'" Charles B. Griffith was a kind man, an incisive thinker, had one of the greatest laughs and was very hip to the mother lode vein of irony that embraces this mad modern world of ours. LBC bows deeply before the beautiful and uplifting spirit of this real tight stud (Red, white or blue.) LINKS LINKS COMING SOON | |||||||
| 10/21/2007 |
| Valse Triste Paula Banks 1920 - 2007 |
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Royal swingers, mystic flippers and finger poppin' cats and kitties, can you hear that distant, muffled dirge in three quarter time? Sadly we report the passing, on March 5, 2007, of Paula Banks. Foster child, young adventurer, call girl, poet and unrepentent dissector of life and love. She swung through her 87 years with the verve and grace of a very hip angel from on High. In her memoir, published online, she writes that, as a teenager in the mid '30s, she once saw a man onstage in Chicago:
This brief but intense encounter produced a sweet child filled with love named Fred. The birth of Fred Buckley when Paula was 17 was just the opening riff in a life filled with adventure, exploration, love, contemplation and action. Lady Paula remained friends with His Lordship all his life. According to Fred, Lord Buckley would come for a week long visit once a year bearing gifts for the young lad. Fred didn't know Buckley was his father until he was fifteen or sixteen years old. Paula also was considered a family member and was good friends with Lady Elizabeth Buckley and the Princess Laurie and Prince Richard. On a personal note, I once met Lady Paula in Punta Banda, in Baja California, on my way to an interview with Charles B. Griffith. She was a small woman with a gentle but intense presence. She was gracious in receiving us and talked freely of her time with Lord Buckley. The gleam in her eye was unmistakable. Those eyes spoke of mischief and wisdow, a very dynamic combination. For a great read of Lady Paula's life please click on the link to the left. Her online memoirs reveal a keen eye and ear and a marvelous sense of humor as she comments on the fifteen ring circus that is life. LINKS Dig Paula's Chronicle [not an active link] Paula's Send Off [not an active link] | ||||||||||||||||
| 10/27/2007 |
| Report From The Field: Bod Dewitt Memorial |
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Your Graces will no doubt dig the following missive from the keen hand and eye of historian and performer David Simerley as he reports on the memorial concert held for Lord Buckley's true buddy cat Bob Dewitt (the Rebellious Duke of Topanga Canyon) on in Mariposa, California on Sunday, September 30, 2007. He and his wife Juliet traveled from their home in Sonora, California to Mariposa to make the scene. David's lively narrative proves that the spirit, if not the frame of The Rebellious Duke stomps on. And be sure to lay your peepers on Abe Perlstein's great photos of the event. (See link to the left under photo)
LINKS View Abe Perlstein's photos of Bob Dewitt [not an active link] | ||||
| 11/10/2007 |
| The Mighty Norman Has Flipped Out Norman Mailer 1923 - 2007 |
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There is no joy in Wordville, Beloveds, the Mighty Norman has flipped out. Norman Mailer, novelist, essayist, film director, political activist and arguably Lord Buckley highest profile heckler ever has vacated the narrative and moved into that literary device commonly known as the Epilogue. Some have described Mailer as a volcano of the written word. He covered the action on so many subjects: war, race, religion, politics, crime and culture that the wig, muttering incomprehensively, quickly switches to the key of incredulity. His books include "The Naked and The Dead", "The Executioner's Song", "The Prisoner of Sex", and "Marilyn: A Biography." He also helped found The Village Voice. In hip circles he is perhaps best known for his 1957 essay "The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster" a meditation in 5/4 discussing the influence of "Negro" culture on the young, urban white male:
The essay goes on in an attempt to define the undefinable. When reading this next quote, it is natural to want to conjur an image in motion of His Lordship in full Hip Semantic sermon mode:
It was mentioned above that Mailer heckled Lord Buckley. The story comes from composer and Buckley accompanist David Amram who was with His Lordship the night before Buckley himself swooped the satellite. Buckley, sans Cabaret Card, was performing at one of George Plimpton's famous literary gatherings. Buckley's went along just fine until he somehow earned the hydroxyl compound soaked Norman Mailer's vocal displeasure. Uncharacteristically, but ever so gracefully, Buckley backed down and left the party with David Amram and Doc Humes in tow. The next day Buckley died. Coincidentally, and not without a touch of novelistic irony, Mailer was a member of the Citizen's Emergency Committee that was agitating to get Buckley's Caberet Card reinstated. Mailer leaves in his considerable wake the vapours of six marriages, nine children, a gross or two of books, essays, and films and enough stories to keep doctoral students happy for three generations to come. LINKS LINK COMING SOON | |||||||