Hey all - I’ll be taking a vacation from blogging until January of 2012.

So bummed to hear the news that Clarence Clemons died. I’ve seen Springsteen and the E Street band four times and was always amazed by his presence and playing. I don’t really care for the saxophone in Rock music - but Clarence was always the exception.

Al, the guitar player in Mexican Gunfight, recently mentioned the husband and wife duo Delaney and Bonnie at practice a few nights ago which prompted me to revisit their music. Aside from the duo being name-checked in tons of music biographies I only knew the basics of their story; but after listening to a few of their albums I wound up falling down a deep D & B rabbit hole which I still haven’t resurfaced from.

If you haven’t had a chance to listen and read up on this group do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of “Delaney and Bonnie on tour with Eric Clapton” - if you’re like me you’ll want to hear more. Once you’ve gone deep try shuffling the first three Delaney and Bonnie albums with Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen AND Derek and the Domino’s live. It’s essentially the same band and the similarities are pretty fun to listen to.

The harmonies are actually pretty awesome. This is even better than the Springsteen duet.

I’ll never grow up. Great song. Great video - especially the milk part.

Thanks to my friend and band mate Al Toribio I had the opportunity to catch Robert Plant’s new project the Band of Joy at the Arlene Schnitzer concert hall this week. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I had pretty much written off Mr Plant as he floundered around trying to find his way post Led Zeppelin (i do like his first two solo albums though). As I mentioned to Al on our way to the concert I was most excited just to see a member of Zep in the flesh as I had never seen any Page / Plant / Jones solo or duo performances. Boy was I in for a surprise. As Plant took the stage I realized that he was flanked by the amazing Buddy Miller on guitar and the equally amazing Paddy Griffin on vocals. From the first note of an entirely re-worked version of “Black Dog” to the final acapella version of “Bid You Goodnight” the show was one pleasant surprise after another - executed by killer backing band. While the video above doesn’t do justice to the sound and vibe of the show I saw, I especially loved this rendition of “Tangerine.” If you get a chance to catch the tour I highly recommend it.

Been listening to Ram recently. Love this track.

How many Rolling Stones members do you have to have on stage before you can actually call the band The Rolling Stones? One could argue that on March 9th, 2011 the “Stones” played the Ambassador theater in London as a tribute to the “6th Stone” Ian Stewart. This version of the Stones included Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor. Another Mick, Mick Hucknall from Simply Red, was on hand as well as pianist Jools Holland. Apparently this performance is related to an Ian Stewart tribute album that includes the Stones WITH Bill Wyman playing a Dylan cover. Can’t wait to hear more about this show and the album project.

At a recent awards ceremony Dave Grohl was presented an award by, and subsequently jammed with, Roger Daltrey. Ol’ Rog has made rumblings about retiring now that the Who have closed for business - but given this performance of Young Man Blues I think he should phone Jimmy Page and and embark on another chapter of his career. Check out his closing vocal at about the 4:30 mark - pretty Live at Leeds-ish, no?

One of the band’s I’m in, Mexican Gunfight, has posted new material to the web site. Go get it for free and spread the files far and wide: mexicangunfight.com