Monday, May 17, 2010

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack...

... comes from listenin' to Pandora's Ry Cooder channel and could be described as another episode in the Great 2010 Guitar Whatever Ya Wanna Call It... Mr. Roy Rogers:



I think I discovered Roy by listening to WDET in Dee-troit.  I'd bet money on it, actually.  Speakin' of WDET...


We're down to our emergency tee shirt supply, given the state of our laundry bag and available clean clothes.  This example happens to be well over 20 years old, what with me having acquired it back around 1987 or so.  I wear it rarely these days as it is thin beyond belief.  It's also something of a personal treasure as well, being a memento from Former Happy Days.  This tee was part of the swag one gets for supporting public radio, and I was a BIG supporter back in the day.  Read as: when public radio was worth supporting.  I was saddened to find DET has sunk in the metro Dee-troit radio ratings, but not all that surprised.  DET was a powerhouse back in the '80s and a veritable fount of new music... and Ann Delisi (a deejay and then programs director) was to die for.  But that's another story altogether.

9 comments:

  1. I've never heard Roy before, and I think I'm the worse of for it. A man that play a guitar without electricity is a true guitarist. Thanks for sharing that.

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  2. Buck, as one of these pacifists that have throwed in the towel on trying to win...with no dope (depending on your definition), and my former sword being hitched to Nellie while breakin' up fallow ground...

    I've got to say that Roy's video was just way cool. I mean, that pinkie finger deal he had on there, and the way he could switch in and out of it...very impressive.

    Before I go on here, I must say that Ann Delisi is certainly not hard on the eyes...and I'll bet was not so hard on the ears, either.

    That was something new to me...I mean Roy Rogers. It seems that he was actually named after that other Roy Rogers. Oh man...you have no idea how many hundreds of stories raised up in my mind when I saw that name. Well, you probably do. I might write 'em down...a couple of the Sons of the Pioneers that I met in my younger days...my Uncle who went alias as "Roy Rogers" for financial reasons...

    I'm rambling now...which means it is time to stop. Good find, Buck! Roy has got more talent in that pinkie than several US counties combined!

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  3. That was some guitar. I wasn't too keen on his singin' though.

    Did I ever mention that my grandfather played a steel guitar and sang - mostly hymns. He was very good. Music ability did not get passed down to me.

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  4. Buck, Roy Rogers is new to me. But the vid and the link convinced me that I want to learn and hear a lot more about and from him. I do like the slide.

    Lookin good in the WDET tee. Recently my view of Detroit has been very negative (the mayor shenanigans, the street violence, etc.), but your posts are beginning to change that some. As Andy mentioned, Ms. Delisi helps in that regard. I won a trip to Motor City in 1956 and was in awe of the place when I stepped off the train. And I know what you mean about Public Radio. I used to contribute to the local affiliate, but not anymore.

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  5. That you can fit into a 20-year-old T speaks well of your general level of fitness. Either that or you can't afford enough food to get fat.

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  6. BR and those of you new to RR: Glad to be of service.

    Andy: You know my tongue was firmly in my cheek on the pacifist bits, no?

    A short story about Ms. Delisi... DET had a '60s - '70s free-form FM format... which is to say long extended sets of VERY diverse music with no commercial breaks (public radio, yanno?)... and Ann was on daily from 1400 - 1600. I listened to her EVERY day at work, and called her prolly two or three times a week, as she took requests. Our conversations would last three to five minutes, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. We got to a first-name basis whereby she would greet me by name when I called.

    Flash forward... I said I contributed to DET; one of the perks for contributing at a certain level was an invitation to DET's annual cocktail party, where the station would hire out a tony club for the entire evening, open bar, hors d'ouevres, all that. A VERY nice affair, that was. So... the first time TSMP and I went to the party I sought out Ms. Delisi and introduced myself, getting a "BUCK! It's SOOO nice to finally meet you in the flesh!!", followed up with about six minutes of music conversation and back-and-forth bits about nothing much. TSMP stood by all the while, saying little. Finally TSMP sez something on the order of "I need a drink, Buck" and we walked away. She then looks at me and sez "Well, THAT was interesting. She's a very pretty girl." You had to be there to get the full implications of what I'm saying here...

    Lou: Yeah... RR should hire a vocalist. You never mentioned your grandfather's musical skills, to my knowledge. And I learned something new...

    Dan: The ten years I spent in Detroit were ten of the BEST years of my life. The weather sucked but the town had it goin' on back then, even with the decay all around you. I hear it's much worse these days. Yet I still miss it. But not the weather.

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  7. Jim: It's ALL in the genes.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.