Update: Since it's Sunday night, it's slowed down a bit. We're still at 3/4 of the way to our goal and the deadline is getting uncomfortably close (Tuesday). I can't thank those of you enough who have donated, and donated whatever you could. You have made a huge difference. But we're not quite there yet and there's still a little ways left to go before we can breathe again. It's a nail-biter, I will admit. But I have faith we'll get through this crisis, and come out the other end. If you haven't made a donation yet, please consider whatever amount you can afford. I know these are tough times - this Fundraiser is proof of that right now. I need your help. We're slowly getting through this and you're making a huge difference. Thank you all for your help so far - I could not have come this far without you.

If you've just discovered Newstalgia for the first time (and you're scrolling through the 3,000+ posts since we got started in 2009), you'll notice the weekends are mostly made up of music; a lot of different kind of music. The weekends at Newstalgia are usually reserved for Popular Culture and flat-out Culture. Live rock concerts from the 1960's all the way to last week. Jazz Concerts (like this one) and a thing called Weekend Gramophone, which originally stared out as a place to play Classical 78's, but which has wound up in recent months as a sort of showcase for early radio broadcasts of some rare and seldom heard performances from the world of Classical music. The weekends at Newstalgia are rather eclectic and it sort of works that way.

Tonight it's a live concert, broadcast by NET (the forerunner to PBS) on July 5, 1970 featuring Jazz-Blues singer Joe Williams in one of his typically great concerts, but this time for a TV audience.

It's the audio-only portion of the concert that we're playing today. And if you've never heard Joe Williams before, or only casually heard about him in connection with Count Basie, now's your chance to hear why he was such a popular singer, among not only the audience, but with other singers.

Sadly, TV ran on a strict time schedule and the half hour program came to an abrupt end, just as Williams was getting ready to wrap up and truly wonderful set. So it fades out at the end.

Still, a great concert by one of the legendary figures of the Jazz-Blues contingent.

Enjoy.

The incredible talent that passes our way we never take for granted, but somehow assume they'll be around forever. I guess you could say that about Etta James.

Ironic that she and another great talent, Johnny Otis, should also leave almost on the same day. It was in the late 1960's, when Otis played regularly around Los Angeles with The Johnny Otis Show, featuring his particular galaxy of immortals like Joe Turner, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and Etta James all onstage, in one place and for one staggering performance after the next. And later in the early 1970's, periodically showing up at The Troubadour in West Hollywood or The Total Experience on Crenshaw, for a show that featured other luminaries like Bobby "Blue" Bland or B.B. King for night after night of what seemed like an embarrassment of riches - I never took them for granted, but I assumed they'd be around forever.

Life doesn't work like that.

And so Etta James isn't here anymore, and her years of failing health were some indication it wouldn't be forever. But still. . .

I ran across this concert she did in 1994 in San Francisco. Her voice maybe a little rougher around the edges, but the soul intact, the power still there. My buddy and C&L colleague Mike Finnigan, who I think is on Hammond B-3 for this show, gigged with her for a number of years and never grew tired of it. He always said what a great experience it was, and how much the audiences loved her.

That goes for a lot of us.

Thank you for all those unforgettable nights.

Update: Thanks to your incredible outpouring of support and donations, we've managed to squeak within a short distance of our goal. As I've said during this past week, I can't thank you enough, those of you who have donated. Your contributions and words of encouragement have made all the difference. No matter how small or insignificant you thought your donation was, it made all the difference in the world. Since we're just at the tail-end of the appeal - if you are still thinking about making a donation to Newstalgia, to make sure it stays running in the future, any amount will be greatly appreciated. Any amount is a huge amount - always was and always will be.

Heading over to Chicago for a taste of Blues tonight, by way of Eddie Taylor. Taylor is probably best known as working with the legendary Blues master Jimmy Reed on some of his most memorable sessions for Vee-Jay Records in the 1950's. A heavy weight artist in his own right, he recorded several singles and garnered much acclaim, including tonight's track, Gonna Love You, which he recorded in 1957.

A little down-home Blues is always good to be staring at the middle of the week with.

If the recording sounds outrageously clean, it's because it was taken from the session master tapes and sounds just like the day it was originally recorded.

Update: Still inching along slowly, with your help and your donations. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it and all the kind words that have gone with it. You're making a difference and it's huge. And that's why we can't stop now, a little less than halfway to our goal. It's crucial that every penny counts in chipping away at the potential disaster. Without your help, this whole site could go away and the archive could be lost. I don't want either of those things to happen and that's why I'm making this appeal. Any amount you're willing to donate will be deeply appreciated. We can do this, and we can make it happen. Just a little more way to go. Please help keep Newstalgia from disaster; consider any amount - but please consider an amount. We need you!

Staying with some of the "bad boys" of The British Invasion. Wildly popular and influential in their native UK, The Pretty Things were relegated to the more-or-less/ also-ran category. And it stuck with them for the better part of their careers - which was a shame because it wasn't true. The Pretty Things were true originals and, as legend has it, The Pretty Things and The Rolling Stones were very much in competition with each other even to the point of members crossing over briefly into each others bands.

With all that in mind - here is the rundown of what's up on the player tonight.

The Pretty Things - BBC Saturday Club - Jan. 8, 1966

1. Sitting All Alone
2. Midnight To Six Man
3. Buzz The Jerk
4. L.S.D.

The end of the week is coming. Play this one loud and get ready for Friday Night.

One band I don't think I've ever featured on The Roundtable are The Rolling Stones. Not for any good reason. I assumed everyone knew their material by heart and anything I added would just be redundant. But since they actually have been around for fifty years, a lot of their material has probably not been heard lately, certainly from the early albums, when they were very much influenced by Chicago Blues and the Chess Records sound.

I admit this is my favorite period of the band. And even though much of the material they recorded on those first several albums wasn't penned by Jagger-Richards, it was still very exciting to listen to at the time.

One track they did write, which I'm featuring tonight, is off their 1965 album The Rolling Stones, Now! Recorded over a period of months and at several locations, including the famous Chess Studios in Chicago and RCA Studios in Hollywood. What A Shame is off the first side of the lp and it's vintage Stones, featuring Brian Jones on Lead Guitar and Ian Stewart on Piano.

Good times.

One of my favorite bands tonight and one of my favorite tracks. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and their 1966 classic East-West, from the album of the same name.

Butterfield, for all intents and purposes, spearheaded the genre of "Blue-Eyed Chicago Blues", with their debut release in 1965 on Elektra Records. By 1966 they had gained a substantial word of mouth and FM airplay and East-West, their second album, has been considered essential by many critics as well as collectors.

Tonight it's the title track off that legendary album. East-West, all 13 minutes worth.

Sit back and enjoy.

So much of what got the British Invasion of the early 60's going was its dependence on American Soul and R&B material of the 50's and 60's for its inspiration. The Rolling Stones leaned heavily on the Chicago Blues masters. Even the Beatles in the very beginning borrowed a few numbers for their freshman outing.

The Moody Blues' very first hit, the song that got them started and paved the way for a long and healthy career came by way of tonight's track. Bessie Banks, who hasn't been heard from since the 1970's, turned out one of the memorable Soul tracks of 1964 with Go Now. With not a whole lot of changes in style or in production (maybe a few changes in harmonies and tempo here and there) they pretty much copied the original Banks track note for note.

And who could blame them? Go Now is one of the great heartbreak records of the 1960's. And Bessie Banks holds nothing back in getting her message across.

In case you haven't heard the original, and are only familiar with the Moody Blues version, here's your chance.

The evolution of Rock owes a lot to Bessie Banks, whether she realizes it or not.

Transitioning out of Mainstream Pop tonight and sliding into Blues territory with a tore-up-from-the-floor-up version of the 40's standard So Long as done by the inimitable and larger-than-life Big Maybelle.

In the early days of R&B and Doo-wop, a lot of material originally considered Standards from the 1930's and 1940's got a new lease on life by way of the new and renegade music form. Case in point - Etta James classic signature tune At Last actually began life in the early 1940's by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra as a Big Band ballad with vocals by Ray Eberle and The Modernaires. Hard to imagine now, but it's true. And with the exception of the words and the chords, the difference is night and day.

So tonight it's the legendary Big Maybelle and a track she recorded for the Savoy label with Ernie Wilkins Orchestra from a session done on April 13, 1957.

I think we'll be leaving mainstream Pop alone for a while. Get ready for the weekend.

Probably one of the hardest working, constantly touring and well respected bands of the late 1960's UK Blues Revival, Ten Years After fronted by guitar icon Alvin Lee enjoyed an international success, capped by an appearance during the 1969 Woodstock Festival that still remains one of the milestones in live Rock performances.

Tonight it's some of their live material, recorded in session at The BBC in 1967 when the band was just breaking on the scene.

Three tracks from that November 21, 1967 session:

1. I'm Going Home
2. Don't Want You Woman
3. Love Until I Die

Sadly, the sound quality of these recordings isn't as good as it could be. Probably because a lot of BBC sessions, like the master tapes for this one managed to get destroyed and all that's available are airchecks from faithful fans.

But you get an idea how high energy they were and what they were like in person if you aren't familiar with Ten Years After. If you are, you'll know after the first twenty seconds.

Here comes the weekend.

Inching towards "that day", we're switching gears a bit and going from Techno last night to Jump Blues tonight by way of Roy Milton and His Solid Senders and Christmas Time Blues, a track he cut on one blistering July in 1950.

I understand the immortal Gene Autry recorded Rudolf The Rednosed Reindeer one blistering July too. So maybe it's the weather.

At any rate, Roy Milton takes the frantic season down a few mellow pegs and puts it all in perspective.

So turn it up and enjoy.