Upgrading WordPress blogs just got a whole lot easier! If you’re a blogger using WordPress, you know how the manual upgrade process can be a bit of a challenge. The problem is not so much that it’s difficult. It’s not all that hard to do, however, since it’s a manual process, it’s got great potential for disaster if you don’t do every step exactly right.
I have more than a half dozen blogs now and upgrading them all used to be a chore. I’ve found a way to make it much easier and safer and I’ve documented that method in a free e-book that you can download here:
John The Geek’s Upgrading WordPress Guide
Enjoy!
John
If you dig guitar-driven rock with a touch of blues, you’ll enjoy Buck69‘s CD When She Whispers Your Name. This 8-piece outfit is probably a gas at a live gig blending elements of Southern and roadhouse blues-rock into a driving sound that would go great with wings and beer.
Fronted by Tom Clawson who, along with son Alex, penned 8 of the 14 tunes on this effort, Buck69 features two excellent guitar players, Alex Clawson and Buzz Anderson, who share the lead guitar duties. Each has his own style and both are featured on the last cut on the CD. Producer John Sevilla guests on lead guitar on three tracks, lending his own style to the proceedings.
The rest of the band consists of Dave Alan on drums, B J Love on keys, Todd Ovall on bass, and Pam Berger and Candice Coleman adding backing vocals. Interestingly, Berger is listed as providing “Harmonies” and Coleman as “Vocals”, but both are buried in the mix to the point where I have to wonder why they bothered. Coleman is a former “American Idol” contestant and probably has some vocal chops. Don’t get me wrong, Tom Clawson is a very capable singer. I’d just have liked to have heard Coleman featured on at least one tune for a change of pace.
The choice of tunes is pretty straightforward. No real surprises here. Clawson’s songwriting is good, solid blues-rock and the covers fit well with the overall feel of the disc. Being a huge Slim Harpo fan, I have to say I wasn’t thrilled with the bludgeoning of “King Bee”, but they’re not the first and won’t be the last to interpret that tune differently than I would. On the other end of the spectrum, the treatment of Mike Morgan and Lee McBee’s “Cold Wind” works really well along with “Sweet Spot”. Clawson’s own “Sometimes” is a highlight as are “Risk It All” and the finale “The Best Place” which is an all-out guitar jam featuring both the group’s lead axemen.
Overall, a good solid effort from a group of fine musicians. I’m looking forward to catching them live someday.
John Sawyer
Finding Justin King the other day reminded me of just how much I dug Leo Kottke back in the day. I was maybe 6 months to a year into learning how to play guitar and figuring out the mysteries of fingerpicking when I was turned on to Leo by a college housemate. At the time, Leo was playing coffeehouses and other such venues in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, so he was pretty much a local act. This was the late 60′s we’re talking about here.
Leo’s first album was on the Oblivion label, named for the Oblivion Coffee House and record store where Leo was a regular performer. I bought a copy of the album as soon as I found it. I still have it, even though I don’t have a working turntable to play it on. I actually have two copies of it. I found the second one in mint condition in a used record shop in Arlington, VA in the 80′s.
I saw Leo for the first time live in the student union at Hamline University where I was going to school at the time. This was probably 1967 or 1968. I just couldn’t imagine how a guy could sound like three or four guitars all by himself. I did my best to figure out some of his tunes, and managed to get close on parts of several of them after a lot of trial and error.
I saw Leo live again in a club in Georgetown, Washington, DC around the mid-80′s. I’ve since missed the opportunity to see him a few times. I have an old video he did which is still awesome, and I have most of his CDs plus the Oblivion albums and another one that was put out by a label in Minneapolis that apparently has a story behind it. I don’t know all the details, but I gather the label ripped him off and Leo won’t even acknowledge the existence of the album.
I’m still a huge fan after all these years. Check out the video page for some really tasty guitar playing.
John Sawyer
I admit it, I’m something of a guitar freak. I’ve played guitar for over 40 years and have always aspired to be the next Leo Kottke or Roy Buchanan or any of a number of other killer players. I love great guitar playing in almost any genre.
For years my main axe was a 12-string acoustic I built from Martin parts purchased at the Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth, PA, not far from here. I saw Leo Kottke play live at the student union at Hamline University in the late 60′s when I was a student there. The dude was brilliant then and has only gotten better with time. So, I’m a major fan of acoustic players who sound like they’ve got four hands all working at the same time.
I just discovered another acoustic player who has a really unique style. His name is Justin King and I’ve put up a page with a bunch of videos of him doing his thing. You can get to it from the Videos page. Check him out and prepare to be blown away. I was, but then I’m a guitar freak.
John Sawyer
The 2008 Blues Music Awards winners as awarded by the Blues Foundation are as follows:
1. DVD – Kenny Wayne Shepherd “10 Days Out: – Blues from the Backroads ”
2. Traditional Blues Male Artist – Hubert Sumlin
3. Traditional Blues Female Artist – Koko Taylor
4. Acoustic Artist – Bobby Rush
5. Acoustic Album Bobby Rush – Raw
6. Pinetop Perkins Piano Player – Honey Piazza
7. Instrumentalist-Guitar – Bob Margolin
8. Soul Blues Male Artist – Bobby Rush
9. Soul Blues Female Artist – Irma Thomas
10. Soul Blues Album – The Holmes Brothers – State of Grace
11. Historical Album – Epic/Legacy – Breakin’ It UP, Breakin’ it DOWN
12. Contemporary Blues Album – Tommy Castro – Painkiller
13. Contemporary Blues Female Artist – Bettye LaVette
14. Contemporary Blues Male Artist – Tab Benoit
15. Instrumentalist-Harmonica – Kim Wilson
16. Instrumentalist-Bass – Bob Stroger
17. Instrumentalist-Drums – Sam Lay
18. Instrumentalist-Horn – Deanna Bogart
19. Instrumentalist-Pedal Steel- Robert Randolph
20. Best New Artist Debut – Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy – Cotton Field to Coffee House
21. Song – “Gonna Buy Me a Mule” – Koko Taylor
22. Traditional Blues Album – Koko Taylor – Old School
23. Album – Watermelon Slim & the Workers – The Wheel Man
24. Band – Watermelon Slim & the Workers
25. B.B. King Entertainer – Tommy Castro
Congratulations to all. Let the debating begin! 
John Sawyer
