Thanks for the post Cystem-Phailure. Yes Fats Waller was a true pioneer and quite a terrific talent as well. One thing that I've noticed is that when I go over to Youtube to check out some of this music is that I have a hard time to leave there, I could spend all day over there  lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHnoiIvuQIw

The Safaris 1960, "Image of a Girl". "Wipe Out" was good but this has great vocals.

Thanks for the info HessianWarrior. That Youtube is one terrific place to visit.

Also I could not leave a update here today without mentioning the passing of Etta James. She had over 30 hits in her career and also won 6 Grammys. Who could forget Etta's signature song " At Last ", a great song by a great artist.   

On the touring front I recently heard that Van Halen is going on tour again soon and  David Lee Roth will be coming along as well. For us up here North of the border some dates in Canada are also planned.

Well I've just had a chance to spent a little time over on Youtube and check out some more music, lot of good tunes there. An artist that used to show up on the Tonight Show back in the days of Johnny Carson is Leon Redbone and just listening to his voice puts me in a good mood. He does a lot of Bluesy material but he also sings Folk Songs as well because he can handle quite a variety of styles. I gather that he still tours a bit but I don't think that he has really ever gotten the fame that he deserves. 

Wow, Leon Redbone!  That guy on SNL...

Thanks for posting the photo AndyClifton. For some reason I find his voice and his presence on stage very relaxing, a wonderful performer. 

Updating the touring scene again, I've recently heard that Neil Diamond is going on the road again, with some Canadian dates included. Just thinking back --- " Sweet Caroline ", " Forever In Blue Jeans ", " I Am  I Said ", " America ", " Cracklin' Rosie ", " Song Sung Blue ", " Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon ". Yes those and others as well, the fellow has had some hits. 

A rather sad item to report from the world of Popular music today. Whitney Houston has passed away at the age of 48. She had success both in singing and movies as well. 

Earlier today I was listening to CBC radio and they had a program on about the connection between Popular music and advertising. Earlier in this tread I mentioned that I'm a fan of Bob Seger and they mentioned one of his songs on this radio show. Chevy started using one of Bob Seger's songs ( Like A Rock ) to advertise pickups going back to the early 1980's. Two other songs that he had out that I liked were " Running Against The Wind " and " Old Time Rock And Roll ".  

I remember reading an article in the Detroit Free Press at the time about Chevy using Seger's Like A Rock and how happy he had been to have one of his songs contribute to a Michigan-based company.  Contrast that with how horrified Janis Joplin would have been if she could have known her step-sister would one day sell Mercedes-Benz the rights to use Joplin's song in a commercial.  

Mention of Bob Seger reminds me of Pete Seeger (imagine that!) whose arrangement of the Book of Ecclesiastes was popularized by The Byrds, as "Turn Turn Turn."

Thanks for the posts Cystem_Phailure and Javan64. Yes I had heard that Bob Seger is from the Michigan area. I luv Janis Joplin, of course the funny part of her song is that she mentions Porsche cars as well. A cute use of a song in ads was Donovan's Mellow Yellow for Margerine  lol.

One thing that I love about Youtube is all of the music that is on there. They have some interesting video clips from Pete Seeger's Cable TV show which had quite a  variety of guests appearing on that program.  

Born in Dearborn and raised in Ann Arbor, which is only about 40 miles from Detroit and definitely within the auto industry zone (although less affected than much of the region, since so much of Ann Arbor's economy is related to the University of Michigan).  Also, Seger's father, before leaving the family when Seger was 10, worked for Ford so Seger said he always felt a strong connection to the Michigan auto industry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfbBw-YMBeQ

Great biker song by Bob Seger-"Roll Me Away"

Yeah, that was another humorous twist by Joplin in the song, which has the lyric "My friends all drive Porches"-- in fact, it was Joplin herself who owned/drove a 1965 Porsche 356 Cabriolet.

I don't know, I mean I like all three, but if I had to say it would be the Beatles, or most of all, kind-of pre-beatles 50's is great as well (Buddy Holly, Elvis, Hawkins, etc.) Without them I doubt that there would be any of those bands!

Thanks Everyone for all of the posts, and also for the photo Cystem_Phailure. I guess that I could possibly put this post over to my thread on Machines. But re Porsches I guess my favourite model would be the rare 912 series. For our visitors here that haven't seen that model you may well have seen it and not known it  lol. The 912 looks virtually identical to the very early 911 series cars. However the 912 is a bit safer for amateur type drivers like myself as it only had the 4 cylinder engine ( the same basic engine as the 356 models ). The 911s of course had the more powerful and heavier 6 cyliner engines and are famous for trying to get the rear end of the car thru a turn first in any slippery conditions ( or if a driver is silly enough to reduce power once he is into a turn ). The V8 powered 948 cars were also nice but I gather that they had poor bodies on those.      

I just looked at some info on the 912-- you probably know it was produced during 2 different periods, initially from 1965-1969 (about 35,000 units produced), after which it was replaced as the low-end Porsche model by the mid-engine 914 (the 912 was rear-engine).  When 914 production ended in 1975 the 912 was brought back (designated 912E, with the "e" standing for the German "Einspritzung" which means fuel injection) for 1975 only.  The 912Es were the last air-cooled 4-cylinder Porches made.  Only about 2100 912Es were produced before the 924s entered the scene in 1976, and the 924s were produced thru 1988.  

Side note-- Robert Redford's character drove a 912 in the 2001 movie Spy Game.

Thanks for the info Cystem_Phailure, one can learn something new everyday such as the 2cnd production period for the 912 model. Regarding the little 914 model, they had a " Hot Rod " version out of that car using a small version of the Porsche 6 cyl motors. I believe they were labeled as the 914/6 but didn't sell very well, however they must have been very lively !

HessianWarrior I checked out Bob Seger's " Roll Me Away ". It is a very good song but somehow I missed it years ago when it first came out.