"Last call, drink up and crawl "straight" home."  

Again thank you all for your patronage and for making our kitchen your kitchen.  It was always a treat to read the comments, the warm reception and at times the laugh outloud humor was priceless ...We plan to be back sometime late Fall or when the weather gets cold, whichever comes first.

Johnny Cash,  "Folsom Prison Blues" initiated  by Glen and featuring Rockin' Shirley on kazoo

Cash was inspired to write this song after seeing the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951) while serving in West Germany in the United States Air Force at Landsberg, Bavaria (itself the location of a famous prison). Cash recounted how he came up with the line "But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die": "I sat with my pen in my hand, trying to think up the worst reason a person could have for killing another person, and that's what came to mind."[5]  /  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folsom_Prison_Blues

"Into the Mystic" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and featured on his 1970 album Moondance. It was also included on Morrison's 1974 live album, It's Too Late To Stop Now.

The lyrics are about a spiritual quest, typical of Morrison's work. "Bass thrums like a boat in motion, and the song comes back to water as a means of magical transformation."[2] "At the very end Van sings: too late to stop now, suggesting that the song also describes an act of love." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Mystic

Bonus track:  

Bob Dylan, "All Along the Watchtower" lead by Glen and featuring pretty much everyone in the circle that evening ")

"All Along the Watchtower" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. The song initially appeared on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding.. Different versions appear on four of Dylan's live albums.[1]

Covered by numerous artists in various genres, "All Along the Watchtower" is strongly identified with the interpretation Jimi Hendrix recorded for Electric Ladyland with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.[2] The Hendrix version, released six months after Dylan's original recording, became a Top 20 single in 1968 and was ranked 47th in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Several reviewers have pointed out that the lyrics in "All Along the Watchtower" echo lines in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5-9:

Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise ye princes, and prepare the shield./For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth./And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed./...And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.[8][9]

Heylin described Dylan's narrative technique in "Watchtower" as setting the listener up for an epic ballad with the first two verses, but then, after a brief instrumental passage, the singer cuts "to the end of the song, leaving the listener to fill in his or her own (doom-laden) blanks."[4]

Critics have described Dylan's version as a masterpiece of understatement. Andy Gill said "In Dylan's version of the song, it's the barrenness of the scenario which grips, the high haunting harmonica and simple forward motion of the riff carrying understated implications of cataclysm; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Along_the_Watchtower

Featuring  Don on keyboards and vocals
and...
Cathy, vocals & percussion
Dean on slide & cajon
Gillie, guitar, cajon and vocals 
Guitar babe, mandolin & backup vocals 
Glen,  rhythm & lead guitar, blues harp, vocals 
James on bass and vocals
Jimmy, guitar
Ray on cajon
Robin, rhythem & lead guitar  & vocals 
Roy, plugged in flute & blues harp
 Shirley, acoustic guitar & vocals 
Sue, acoustic flute 
Tony, blues harp


The Kitchen is officially closed as we sail into the Mystic :)

we'zz back for another season of fun in the kitchens of yarmouth county, Nova Scotia, Canada...   and we begin with a rousing rendition of ....

Dolly Parton, Jolene:  featuring Rockin' Shirley on vocals and guitar

"Jolene" tells the tale of a woman confronting Jolene, a stunningly beautiful woman, who she believes is trying to steal away her lover and begging her "please don't take my man." Throughout the song, the woman implores Jolene "please don't take him just because you can". According to Parton, the song was inspired by a red-headed bank clerk who flirted with her husband Carl Dean at his local bank branch around the time they were newly married. In an interview, she also revealed that Jolene's name and appearance are based on that of a young fan who came on stage for her autograph."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolene_(song)

Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance, performed by  Arden
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" is a song written by Tom Petty and recorded by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers....  Asked if the song was about drugs,[5] Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell said, "In the verse there is still the thing about an Indiana girl on an Indiana night, just when it gets to the chorus he had the presence of mind to give it a deeper meaning. My take on it is it can be whatever you want it to be. A lot of people think it's a drug reference, and if that's what you want to think, it very well could be, but it could also just be a goodbye love song." In the rest of the interview, Campbell said that the song was originally titled "Indiana Girl" and the first chorus "Hey, Indiana Girl, go out and find the world." He went on to say that their producer, Rick Rubin did not agree singing about "hey, Indiana Girl," so Rubin changed it a week later.[6]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane%27s_Last_Dance

Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty, "Stop Draggin My Heart Around" performed by Rockin' Shirley and Robin...
"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" was the first single from Stevie Nicks' debut solo album Bella Donna. The album's only song that was neither written nor co-written by Nicks, it was written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell as a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song, but Jimmy Iovine, who was also working for Stevie Nicks at the time, arranged for her to sing on it.[1] Petty sang with Nicks in the chorus and bridge, while his entire band (save Ron Blair, whose bass track was played by Donald "Duck" Dunn instead) played on the song.
The lyrics are about a woman who feels weighed down by relationships and wants to part despite a strong sentimental attachment to her lover. The melody is described by All Music as "dark and sinister",[3] probably because of the dense drumming of Stan Lynch which is the most prominent feature of the song's rhythm. Apart from the intro before the first verse and a solo following the second verse (where there is some fairly heavy riffing), however, the guitar sound is laid-back in typical Heartbreakers style. The song was originally recorded for Petty's album Hard Promises, but the producers felt the song came from a female point of view and it was left unreleased until it was agreed to be put on the Bella Donna album instead. A demo version of the song, recorded without Nicks, was eventually released on Petty's boxed set Playback in 1995."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Draggin%27_My_Heart_Around

Featuring the usual suspects:
Arden, vocals and guitar,
Cathy, vocals 
Don D on electronic drums
Gillie, guitar and vocals 
Guitar babe, mandolin & backup vocals 
Glen,  rhythm & lead guitar, blues harp, vocals 
James on bass and vocals
Robin, rhythem & lead guitar  & vocals 
Roy, plugged in flute & blues harp
 Shirley, acoustic guitar & vocals 
 Suzan, vocals and tamberiene 


The kitchen is open and the beer is out on the porch

It took a fair bit of cutting and splitting to get this set down to under 20 minutes.. first Christmas kitchen party in the new old home down by the Ocean... the number of musicians made it impossible to hook up mics so when you hear Rockin' Shirley wailing  there is not a microphone in sight :)   
Donovan, "Mellow Yellow" performed by James, Mr. Bass:

"Mellow Yellow" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer/songwriter Donovan.[6] It reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 and No. 8 in the UK in early 1967.

The song was rumoured to be about smoking dried banana skins, which was believed to be a hallucinogenic drug in the 1960s, though this aspect of bananas has since been debunked.[7] According to Donovan... the song made reference to a vibrator; an "electrical banana" as mentioned in the lyrics.[8] This definition was re-affirmed in an interview with NME magazine: "it's about being cool, laid-back, and also the electrical bananas that were appearing on the scene - which were ladies' vibrators."[9]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellow_Yellow

Stephen Stills, For What It's Worth, performed  by Arden
For What It's Worth" is a song written by Stephen Stills. It was performed by Buffalo Springfield, recorded on December 5, 1966, and released as a single in January 1967;
The song quickly became a well-known protest song    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_What_It%27s_Worth_(Buffalo_Springfield_song)

Robbie Robertson, "Up On Cripple Creek" performed by Arden
Up on Cripple Creek" was written by Band guitarist and principal songwriter Robbie Robertson, with drummer Levon Helm singing lead vocal.

Drawing upon The Band's musical roots—The American South, American rock and roll, and bluegrass/country—the song is sung from the point of view of, perhaps, a driver who goes to Lake Charles, Louisiana to stay with a local girl, Bessie, with whom he has a history. In the song, he gambles, drinks, listens to music, and spends time with "little Bessie," who takes an active role in the goings-on, while expressing her opinions, further endearing herself to the narrator. At the end of the song, after exhausting himself on the road, he talks about going home to his woman, "big mama," but is tempted to return to Bessie again. Or, he may not be cheating. Truckers also use the term, "Big Mama," to refer to their dispatcher over the CB radio. Concerns about the weather in other parts of the country and the line "this life of living on the road" suggest over-the-road trucking. At the start of the song he's hauling logs off a mountain and at the end he may be weighing options: "rolling in" to home base for a new cargo or seeing his Bessie again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_on_Cripple_Creek

J.J. Cale, The Breeze,  performed by Rockin Shirley and featuring not one, not two but three blues harps lead by Glen...

"Call Me the Breeze" is a rock song by JJ Cale. It first appeared on his 1972 debut album, Naturally, as the opening track. The song consists of a 12-bar blues guitar shuffle over the backing of an early drum machine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_Me_the_Breeze

Bonus track

 Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" performed by Cathy

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," a song written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, was introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. ..The song first appeared in a scene in Meet Me in St. Louis, in which a family is distraught by the father's plans to move to New York City for a job promotion, leaving behind their beloved home in St. Louis, Missouri, just before the long-anticipated 1904 World's Fair begins. In a scene set on Christmas Eve, Judy Garland's character, Esther, sings the song to cheer up her despondent five-year-old sister, Tootie, played by Margaret O'Brien.[6]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Yourself_a_Merry_Little_Christmas

Season Greetings from our kitchen to yours

When Rod dragged in congas you knew it was going to be a game changer.. and like the Christmas offering I tried to squeeze in as much as possible so there is a bit of nip and tuck here and there to insure that the set was under 20 minutes.... ")

The first song  on this set is a traditional blues standard, based on Jim Morrison's take on John Lee Hookers, Crawlin King Snake Blues...with lyrics  written and performed by Arden...  followed by Jim Morrison, "Riders on the Storm" also performed by Arden

"Riders on the Storm" is a song by The Doors from their 1971 album, L.A. Woman...According to band member Robby Krieger, it was inspired by the song "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend". Also, Jim Morrison mentions spree killer Billy Cook, in passing, during at least one interview. Cook killed six people, including a young family, while hitchhiking to California. In all likelihood, the Cook murders were inspiration for the song's lyric, "There's a killer on the road / His brain is squirming like a toad [...] if you give this man a ride/sweet family will die.. "
...This was the last song recorded by the members of the Doors, according to Manzarek, as well as Morrison's last recorded song to be released in his lifetime. .  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riders_on_the_Storm

Clarence "Sonny" Henry,  "Evil Ways" performed by Rockin' Shirley

Evil Ways" is a song made famous by the band Santana from their 1969 album, Santana. It was written by Clarence "Sonny" Henry and originally recorded by jazz percussionist Willie Bobo on his 1967 album, Bobo Motion. Alongside Santana's release in 1969...Released as a single in late 1969, it became Santana's first top 40 and top 10 hit in the U.S
"Evil Ways" is about a girl who is spiteful: "You've got to change your evil ways, baby/Before I stop lovin' you." She neglects her boyfriend by spending time with her friends instead of him. "You hang around, baby/with Jean and Joan and-a who-knows-who."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_Ways

Conway  Twitty, "You've Never Been this Far Before"  performed by Robin
Conway Twitty is best known for his spoken word-style of love song, but in 1973, one tune went a little too far. ‘You’ve Never Been This Far Before’ became a No. 1 hit, despite being banned by several radio stations for lines like: “I don’t know what I’m saying / As my trembling fingers touch forbidden places” and, “And as I taste your tender kisses / I can tell you’ve never been this far before.” That lyric would still give many listeners something to talk about almost 40 years later.
http://tasteofcountry.com/banned-country-songs-conway-twitty-youve-never-been-this-far-before/?trackback=tsmclip

Tito Puente, "Oye Como Va"  performed by Robin

"Oye Como Va" is a song written by Latin jazz and mambo musician Tito Puente in 1963 and popularized by Santana's rendition of the song in 1970 on their album Abraxas, helping to catapult Santana into stardom with the song reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also reached #11 on the Billboard Easy Listening survey and #32 on their R&B chart.
The fact that the phrase "Oye como va" is the title of the song and is sung somewhat separately from the phrase "mi ritmo" makes it easy to interpret the meaning as "Hey, how's it going?" However, the first sentence is actually "Oye como va mi ritmo", meaning "Listen to how my rhythm goes."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oye_Como_Va

Featuring the usual suspects:
Arden, vocals and acoustic lead guitar,
Cathy, vocals 
Gillie, acoustic guitar and vocals 
James on bass and vocals
Robin, rhythem & lead guitar  & vocals 
Roy, plugged in flute & blues harp
 Shirley, acoustic guitar & vocals 
Rod, congas, bongos and snare drum. 

Congas + New Year's Eve = first kitchen party of 2016

When all is said and done and everyone have packed up their gear and headed home and you find yourself wondering down  the rabbit hole  of quiet desporation...  .....  home to the disingaged, home to the failed idealists, home to the politically violated  ...  Home to the Blues...  
 After hours in Lower Westport was an unplugged session, (no amps, no mics) just an acoustic guitar and two voices wailing into the wee hours of the morning...  It was part of  an evening where we christened our new old kitchen down by the ocean (early September 2015) featuring Rockin Shirley and Cool Cliff who stayed on well after everyone else had gone home.

Lowell Fulson, Three O'clock  in the Morning

"3 O'Clock Blues" or "Three O'Clock Blues"[1] is a slow twelve-bar blues recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1946. When it was released in 1948, it became Fulson's first hit. When B.B. King recorded the song in 1952, it became his first hit as well as "one of the top-selling R&B records of 1952".[2]
The song lyrics start out "as an insomniac's lament, but end up with a weepy farewell more suited to a suicide note":[5]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_O%27Clock_Blues

Otis Redding and Steve Cropper, "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. It was recorded by Redding twice in 1967, including once just days before his death in a plane crash. 

In a September 1990 interview on NPR's Fresh Air, Cropper explained the origins of the song:

Otis was one of those the kind of guy who had 100 ideas. [...] He had been in San Francisco doing The Fillmore. And the story that I got he was renting boathouse or stayed at a boathouse or something and that's where he got the idea of the ships coming in the bay there. And that's about all he had: "I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again." I just took that... and I finished the lyrics. If you listen to the songs I collaborated with Otis, most of the lyrics are about him. [...] Otis didn't really write about himself but I did. Songs like "Mr. Pitiful," "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)"; they were about Otis and Otis' life. "Dock of the Bay" was exactly that: "I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay" was all about him going out to San Francisco to perform.[5]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(Sittin%27_On)_The_Dock_of_the_Bay

Sam Cook, "Bring It on Home to Me" 

"Bring It on Home to Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, released on May 8, 1962 by RCA Victor. Produced by Hugo & Luigi and arranged and conducted by René Hall, the song was the B-side to "Having a Party". The song peaked at number two on Billboard '​s Hot R&B Sides chart, and also charted at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song has become a pop standard, covered by numerous artists of different genres. It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_It_On_Home_to_Me

Big Joe Turner, "Flip, Flop and Fly" 

"Flip, Flop and Fly" is a jump blues-style song recorded by Big Joe Turner in 1955... (It)  has an arrangement similar to Big Joe Turner's 1954 #1 R&B hit "Shake, Rattle and Roll"[4] and it has been suggested that "leftover verses [from the 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' recording session] were then recycled into Turner's follow-up hit, 'Flip, Flop and Fly.'"[5] Both are up-tempo twelve-bar blues with a strong backbeat. 


After Hours in Lower Wedgeport: featuring Cool Cliff & Rockin' Shirley

Trying to do our part in keeping the February Blues at bay...

For believers: Norman Greenbaum, "Spirit in the Sky"  performed by James (Mr. Bass)

"Spirit in the Sky" is a song written and originally recorded[4] by Norman Greenbaum and released in late 1969...  

Greenbaum had previously been a member of psychedelic jug band Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band. When they split up he won a solo contract with producer Erik Jacobsen, who had previously worked successfully with The Lovin' Spoonful. He was inspired to write the song after watching Porter Wagoner on TV singing a gospel song. Greenbaum later said: "I thought, 'Yeah, I could do that,' knowing nothing about gospel music, so I sat down and wrote my own gospel song. It came easy. I wrote the words in 15 minutes."[4]

... Because of its unusual lyrics and style, the record company was initially reluctant to issue it, but was finally released as a single after two other singles from the album had poor sales. "Spirit in the Sky" became a worldwide hit, and was at the time the best-selling single ever for the Reprise label.[citation needed]

Of the song, Greenbaum observed: "It sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded. I’ve gotten letters from funeral directors telling me that it's their second-most-requested song to play at memorial services, next to 'Danny Boy'."[7]     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_in_the_Sky

...and for nonbelievers although from a mediforic/ metiphicial perspective it could work as a contemplative journey  :)

John Fogerty , "Long as I Can See the Light", performed by Rockin' Shirley.

Cosmo's Factory is the fifth studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), released by Fantasy Records in July 1970 and released as Fantasy 8402, the same month as the single release of "Lookin' Out My Back Door" b/w "Long as I Can See the Light".[1] The name of the album comes from the warehouse in Berkeley where the band rehearsed early in their career. It was dubbed "The Factory" by drummer Doug "Cosmo" Clifford, because bandleader John Fogerty made them practice there almost every day.[2] The album is regarded as the band's best in their catalogue by critics and fans.
...despite the band's infectious blend of rockabilly, folk and R&B, some peers and rock critics dismissed them as a singles band with no substance. In a 2012 cover story Uncut observed, "While San Francisco longhairs across the bridge scoffed at their commercialism, Creedence henceforth made a point of releasing double A-sides. And invariably both songs would have an uncanny knack of cutting through to all sections of the population.

In its original review, Rolling Stone opined, "It should be obvious by now that Creedence Clearwater Revival is one great rock and roll band. Cosmo's Factory, the group's fifth album, is another good reason why." AllMusic states, "On 'Long as I Can See the Light,' the record's final song, he again finds solace in home, anchored by a soulful, laid-back groove. It hits a comforting, elegiac note, the perfect way to draw Cosmo's Factory - an album made during stress and chaos, filled with raging rockers, covers, and intense jams - to a close." Amazon.com calls the album "the peak of a prolific streak."     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo%27s_Factory

Featuring the usual suspects:
Arden, vocals and acoustic lead guitar,
Cathy, vocals 
Don D on electronic drums
Gillie, acoustic guitar and vocals 
Glen, lead guitar and blue harp 
Guitar Babe, mandoline and backup vocals
James on bass and vocals
Robin, rhythem & lead guitar  & vocals 
Roy, plugged in flute & blues harp
 Shirley, acoustic guitar & vocals 
Sue, acoustic flute and backup vocals
 Suzan, vocals and tamberiene 

THE KITCHEN'S TWEEK ON "GOSPEL HOUR" FOR BELIEVERS AND NON BELIEVERS ALIKE   :)

Trying to do our part in keeping the February blues at bay...

  Joe and Audrey Allison,   "He'll Have to Go" performed by Rockin' Shirley.

"(Jim)Reeves recorded what became one of country music's biggest hits ever after listening to a version recorded by singer Billy Brown. The song, written by Joe and Audrey Allison, was inspired after the couple was having difficulty communicating by telephone. Audrey had a soft voice and was unable to speak up so her husband could adequately hear her, so Joe would have his wife place the receiver closer to her mouth.[2]

When Brown's version failed to become a hit, Reeves recorded his. It was promptly released to country radio ... as the B-side of the intended hit, "In a Mansion Stands My Love." However, "Mansion" failed to catch on, and disc jockeys began playing the B-side instead.[3] It wasn't long before the song became a huge country and pop hit; several rhythm and blues radio stations played the song, too."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He%27ll_Have_to_Go


Canned Heat , "Going Up the Country"  performed by Arden with backup from James

"Going Up the Country" (also Goin' Up the Country) is a song by the American blues-rock group Canned Heat. Called a "rural hippie anthem",[1

Canned Heat, who were early blues enthusiasts, based "Going Up the Country" on "Bull Doze Blues", recorded in 1928 by Texas bluesman Henry Thomas.[2] Thomas was from the songster tradition and had a unique sound,[3] sometimes accompanying himself on quills, an early Afro-American wind instrument similar to panpipes. He recorded "Bull Doze Blues" in Chicago on June 13, 1928, for Vocalion Records (no. 1230).

For "Going Up the Country", Canned Heat's Wilson used Thomas' melody on the quills and his basic rhythm, but arranged it for a rock setting and rewrote the lyrics. In addition to the bass and drum rhythm section, Henry Vestine supplied a "light electric rhythm guitar"[2] and multi-instrumentalist Jim Horn reproduced Thomas' quill parts on the flute.[4]

Taj Mahal and James Rachell,  She Caught the Katy: performed by James.. as people were packing up and heading home...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Caught_the_Katy

"She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule To Ride)" is a blues standard[1] written by Taj Mahal and James Rachell. The song was first recorded for Taj Mahal's 1968 album The Natch'l Blues,[2] and is one of Mahal's most famous tunes.[3] 

The "Katy" refers to the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad.[6]    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Caught_the_Katy


Kris Kristofferson, "For the Good Times"  performed by Robin...

"For the Good Times" is a song penned by Kris Kristofferson that appeared on his debut album Kristofferson. He wrote the first verse and chorus in 1968 while driving from Nashville to the Gulf of Mexico; an early recording of the song was by Bill Nash on Smash Records.[1][2]

In 1970, Ray Price recorded a version of the song which topped the U.S. country music charts[3] and was awarded "Song of the Year" by the Academy of Country Music. "For the Good Times" was Price's fifth #1 single and spent a total of nineteen weeks on the country chart.[4] "For the Good Times" crossed over onto the pop chart peaking at number eleven, becoming Ray Price's only release to hit the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.[5] Originally Price's label, Columbia Records, released the song as the "B" side of the single, but switched to promoting "For the Good Times" after Wayne Newton recorded his own version of the tune. The flip side, "Grazin' in Greener Pastures," did receive credit on the country music chart.[2]    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Good_Times_(song)

Featuring the usual suspects:
Arden, vocals and acoustic lead guitar,
Cathy, vocals 
Don D on electronic drums
Gillie, acoustic guitar and vocals 
James on bass and vocals
Robin, rhythem & lead guitar  & vocals 
Roy, plugged in flute & blues harp
Shirley, acoustic guitar & vocals 
Suzan, vocals and tambourine 


"Well the party's going downhill... and it just got started!"

It seems only fitting that we slide down the rabbit hole on the last day of February... 

Grace Slick, White Rabbit performed by Suzzane, the Tambourine Queen:

“White Rabbit” was written and performed by Grace Slick while she was still with The Great Society. When that band broke up in 1966, Slick was invited to join Jefferson Airplane to replace their departed female singer, Signe Toly Anderson, who left the band with the birth of her child. The first album Slick recorded with Jefferson Airplane was Surrealistic Pillow, and Slick provided two songs from her previous group: her own “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love”, written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick and recorded under the title "Someone to Love" by The Great Society.[4] Both songs became top ten hits[5] for Jefferson Airplane and have ever since been associated with that band.[6]

For Slick and others in the 1960s, drugs were a part of mind-expanding and social experimentation. With its enigmatic lyrics, "White Rabbit" became one of the first songs to sneak drug references past censors on the radio. Even Marty Balin, Slick's eventual rival in Jefferson Airplane, regarded the song as a "masterpiece". In interviews, Slick has related that Alice in Wonderland was often read to her as a child, and remained a vivid memory well into her adulthood.[2]...  The music combined with the song's lyrics strongly suggests the sensory distortions experienced with hallucinogens, and the song was later used in pop culture to imply or accompany just such a state.[10]    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rabbit_(Jefferson_Airplane_song)

Chuck Berry,  "Johnny be Good"    performed by Rockin Shirley

Written by Berry in 1955, the song is about a poor country boy who plays a guitar "just like ringing a bell," and who might one day have his "name in lights."[3] Berry has acknowledged that the song is partly autobiographical, and originally had "colored boy" in the lyrics, but he changed it to "country boy" to ensure radio play.[4] As well as suggesting that the guitar player is good, the title hints at autobiographic elements because Berry was born at 2520 Goode Avenue in St. Louis.[3] The song was initially inspired by Berry's piano player, Johnnie Johnson,[5][6] though developed into a song mainly about Berry himself. Though Johnnie Johnson played on many other Chuck Berry songs, it was Lafayette Leake who played piano on this song.[3]... Berry has written thirty more songs involving the character Johnny B. Goode, "Bye Bye Johnny", "Go Go Go", and "Johnny B. Blues"; and titled an album, and the nearly 19 min instrumental title track from it, as "Concerto in B. Goode".     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_B._Goode

John Fogerty, "Hot Rod Heart"  performed by James, Mr. Bass.

Hot Rod Heart came off the album Blue Moon Swamp ... the fifth solo studio album by American singer/songwriter John Fogerty, released in 1997 Guest musicians for vocal backing, the Lonesome River Band, were invited to join in on "Southern Streamline" and "Rambunctious Boy". Other vocal backing was provided by The Waters on "Blueboy" and The Fairfield Four on "A Hundred and Ten in the Shade". Luis Conte accompanied on select songs as a guest percussionist.     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_Swamp


Featuring the usual suspects:
Arden, vocals and acoustic lead guitar,
Cathy, vocals 
Don D on electronic drums
Gillie, acoustic guitar and vocals 
James on bass and vocals
John on keyborads
Robin, rhythm & lead guitar  & vocals 
Roy, plugged in flute & blues harp
Rockin' Shirley, acoustic guitar & vocals 
Suzzane, The Tambourine Queen, , vocals and tambourine 


Down the Rabbit Hole We Go    wwwweeeeeeeeeee....

We moved out of the woods and down to the ocean in July of last year and had out first jam in the new old kitchen in mid september... Friends rolled in after * in the evening and the last of the gang packed up and left around 2 in the morning... It was, for all intense and purposes a three act kitchen party.. 
Act One..  includes offerings from early, middle and the closing of the first part of the evening:

JJ Cale & Eric Clapton, "Ride the River" performed by Rockin' Shirley

"The Road to Escondido is an album by J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton. It was released on 7 November 2006. Contained on this album are the final recordings of Billy Preston, to whom the album is dedicated.... A number of high-profile musicians also agreed to work on the album, including Billy Preston, Derek Trucks, Taj Mahal, Pino Palladino, John Mayer, Steve Jordan and Doyle Bramhall II."    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Escondido

Jimmy Reeds/Mama Reed,  "Baby What You Want Me to Do"  performed by Arden and featuring Sue on acoustic flute and Tony on blues harp....

"Baby What You Want Me to Do" (sometimes called "You Got Me Running" or "You Got Me Runnin'") is a blues song that was written and recorded by Jimmy Reed in 1959....that features "Reed's unique, lazy loping style of vocals, guitar and harmonica."[2] In a 1959 review by Billboard magazine, it was called "uninhibited and swampy ... deliver[ed] freely in classic, gutbucket fashion." [3] Music critic Cub Koda describes it as "deceptively simple" and as "one of the true irreducibles [sic] of the blues, a song so basic and simple it seems like it's existed forever."[4   

Jimmy Reed received the sole credit for the song, although blues historian Gerard Herzhaft points out "like almost all of Reed's pieces and whatever the official credits are, it is an original composition by his wife, Mama Reed."[5   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_What_You_Want_Me_to_Do

Traditional folk,  "The House of the Rising Sun"; performed by Suzzane, the Tamborine Queen, and featuring Cool Cliff on fiddle and Yarmouth's very own Wailing Whistler, Dave...

"The House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans; many versions also urge a sibling to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the British rock group the Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and also in the United States, Canada and Australia.[1] The song has been described as the "first folk-rock hit".[2][3]   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Rising_Sun

Act: Two:  While the vast majority of musicians had packed up and drifted into the livingroom to feed on a spread and or out  on the porch to visit with others, Cathy, Gilles and Sue continued performing in the kitchen...

Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud , performed by Cathy

Sheeran's second studio album, x (read as "multiply"), was released worldwide on 23 June 2014. In a span of three years, Sheeran wrote more than 120 songs for the album..."Thinking Out Loud" was released on 24 September 2014 as the album's third single.... It became his second single to reach number one in the UK,[82] and spent eight weeks at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100...   

Featuring the usual suspects:
Arden, vocals and acoustic lead guitar,
Cool Cliff,  fiddle 
Cathy, vocals 
Don D on electronic drums
Gillie, acoustic guitar and vocals 
James on bass and vocals
Madeliene on keyborads
Roy, plugged in flute & blues harp
 Rockin' Shirley, acoustic guitar & vocals 
Sue, accustic flute
Suzzane, The Tamborene Queen, , vocals and tamberiene 
Yarmouth's own Wailing Whistler, Dave....



christening the new/old kitchen: in Lower Wedgeport Act 1 & Act 2  (part: 1)

When all was said and done and most everyone had packed up and left an acoustic jam broke out...  One guitar, flute, fiddle and blues harp... PS This is our next to last offering before we take our perennial six month break from the cloud.. 

ZZ Top, "Jesus Just Left Chicago" performed by Cool Cliff
 from the album,  Tres Hombres  is an American rock band that formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas... Tres Hombres (Spanish for "three men", meaning the three members of the band) is the third album by the American rock band ZZ Top. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tres_Hombres

David Wilcox, "Cheap Beer Joint" performed by Cool Cliff  

His music has been written as "deeply philosophical" and "insightful".[2][22] One music critic wrote he was a "influential acoustic guitarist ... the PBS darling of contemporary singer-songwriter folk."[22] Another critic wrote that an "eager, unapologetic sincerity flows from the heart of David Wilcox's acoustic music," and elaborated that "Wilcox uses extended metaphors and beautifully detailed imagery in lyrics that are far more compassionate and philosophic than self-absorbed ... 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wilcox_(American_musician)

Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower,  performed by rockin' Shirley
Note: Rule of thumb at a kitchen party, when you are in the middle of a song and forget the words, don't stop... just make up the words as you go  :)
Several reviewers have pointed out that the lyrics in "All Along the Watchtower" echo lines in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5-9:

The unusual structure of the narrative was remarked on by English Literature professor Christopher Ricks, who commented that "All Along the Watchtower" is an example of Dylan's audacity at manipulating chronological time: "at the conclusion of the last verse, it is as if the song bizarrely begins at last, and as if the myth began again."[11]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Along_the_Watchtower

The Rolling Stones, "Wild Horses" performed by Rockin' Shirley and featuring Cool Cliff on fiddle..

"Wild Horses" is a song by The Rolling Stones from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Rolling Stone ranked it at No. 334 in its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in 2004.

In the liner notes to the 1993 Rolling Stones compilation album Jump Back, Jagger states, "Everyone always says this was written about Marianne but I don't think it was; that was all well over by then. But I was definitely very inside this piece emotionally." Richards says, "If there is a classic way of Mick and me working together this is it. I had the riff and chorus line, Mick got stuck into the verses. Just like "Satisfaction". "Wild Horses" was about the usual thing of not wanting to be on the road, being a million miles from where you want to be."[1]
Originally recorded over a three-day period at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama during 2–4 December 1969 while Albert and David Maysles were shooting for the film that was titled Gimme Shelter, the song was not released until over a year later due to legal wranglings with the band's former label.[citation needed] Along with "Brown Sugar", it is one of the two Rolling Stones compositions from Sticky Fingers (1971) over which ABKCO Records co-owns the rights along with the Stones. It features session player Jim Dickinson on piano, Richards on electric guitar and twelve-string acoustic guitar, and Mick Taylor on acoustic guitar. Taylor uses Nashville tuning, in which the EADG strings of the acoustic guitar are strung one octave higher than in standard tuning. Ian Stewart was present at the session, but refused to perform the piano part on the track due to the prevalence of minor chords, which he disliked playing.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Horses_(The_Rolling_Stones_song

The usual suspects:

Cool Cliff on guitar and fiddle and vocals

Rockin' Shirley, on guitar and vocals

Roy on flute and blues harp   



Christening the new/old kitchen in Lower Wedgetport: Act III  (part 2)

Having some fun out in the woods when we had a hut in North Kemptville...
 Mack Rice, Ride Sally, Ride.  Performed by Rockin' Shirley
"Mustang Sally" is an R&B song written and first recorded by Mack Rice in 1965.[1,,,It gained greater popularity when Wilson Pickett covered it the following year on a single, a version that was also released on the 1966 album, The Wicked Pickett.[4

According to music historian Tom Shannon the song started as a joke when singer Della Reese wanted a new Ford Mustang. Rice called the early version "Mustang Mama" but changed the title after Aretha Franklin suggested "Mustang Sally".[5]    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang_Sally_(song)

Bob Seger, "Mainstreet", performed by Rockin Shirley
"Mainstreet" is a song written and recorded by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. It was released in April 1977 as the fourth single from the album Night Moves. The song peaked at number 24 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and has since become a staple of classic rock radio. The song also reached number-one in Canada.[1]

Seger has stated that the street he was singing about is Ann Street, just off Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he grew up. There was a pool hall there where they had girls dancing in the window and R&B bands playing on the weekends.[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstreet_(song)

Featuring the usual suspects:
Bucketman on, of course, the bucket
Cathy, vocals 
Dean on dejembe 
Gillie, acoustic guitar and vocals 
Guitar Babe on guitar and vocals
Gregg on sax
James on bass and vocals
Johnny  on keyborads
Robin on guitar and vocals
Rockin' Shirley, acoustic guitar & vocals 
Roy, plugged in flute & blues harp

FEATURING ROCKIN' SHIRLEY

My sincere apology, on the most recent uploaded set Amanda was actually singing a cover of of Sixpence None the Richer, "Kiss Me" if you follow the url below you can here a beautiful CD, Universe in a Soft Shell, of songs written and sung by Amanda... http://www.last.fm/music/Amanda+Cottreau/Universe+In+A+Soft+Shell


KITCHEN PARTY TUESDAY:  mea culpa: my apology, this is an Amanda original track

This was one of three versions of a collaboration I work on with Anju/Anja back in the late summer/early fall of last year. You can hear the original version with just blues harp on Anja's page... Harvest Moon - Neil Young, 1992 ( feat. Roy Taylor on bluesharp) by Anjù 
and the other version with just flute can be found on my page here... Harvest Moon a cover collaboration with Anju (featuring the bass flute) by Kitchen Party House Band and here is the version that combined bass flute with blues harp. Enjoy

Harvest Moon: a cover collaboration with Anju (featuring bass flute & blues harp)

I simply don't have the time to invest in listening to fellow musicians this year so I have decided to stop my pro account.... may return in 2018 if I have more to offer and more time to listen to others on the cloud.   The last 5 years were truly special, met some wonderful artists in the process and have some fond memories.  Thank you all .

Kitchen parties are part of the cultural heritage of the Maritime provinces and you will discover that every jam has its own unique personality depending on who is sitting in the circle that evening...

The Free-Wheeling Kitchen Party House Band  is made up of musicians from different disciplines that come together every now and then in Yarmouth county, Nova Scotia, Canada to have a few drinks, tell a few stories and of course to free jam into the wee hours of the morning. The only rule of thumb is that we not play the same song twice in one evening... 

All sets are played on the fly so don't be surprised if you hear someone calling out a cord change now and then... enjoy. 

We  also started up a group on soundcloud under "Kitchen party live jaming" for anyone who might have recordings of jams with friends and fellow musicians in their basement somewhere ;)

https://soundcloud.com/groups/kitchen-parties

..and you can see us performing live on Vimo

https://vimeo.com/user9940381

...and you contact moi on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/roy.j.taylor.96

Kitchen Party House Band

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