Nearly a year ago Robert Johnson with 'Wish Upon A Star' was the Friday STAR TRACK. I said the song's riff reminded me of something but couldn't recall what it was. (You'll probably need to refresh your memory at this point > http://billblogs2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/its-1978-and-im-in-wine-bar-in.html )
Well, a few weeks back I came across this track from roughly three years previous to that Robert Johnson's release. It's that guitar riff !
During the mid 70s the radio played a lot of Nils Lofgren, mostly 'live' material that wasn't available on an official album release, only as a limited promotional record called "Back It Up !! - Nils Lofgren Live - An Authorized Bootleg".
I've found on YouTube two slightly different versions. One appears to be the original take from this bootleg LP - the other is from the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975, re-broadcast on BBC4 in a Guitar Heroes compilation show. Both worth a look… and there's that riff

The sound on the OGWT recording is not as good, but the track is longer…

Glastonbury Festival Weekend

Five days of contemporary performing arts that takes place near Pilton, Somerset. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. 

But it wasn't like this in the beginning - the very first festival in September 1970, Michael Eavis set up the Pilton Pop, Blues and Folk Festival on his farm, charging £1 to get in. Tyrannosaurus Rex headline the event after the Kinks pull out. Here's a fascinating insight from the BBC in 2015 called 6 surprising facts about the first-ever Glastonbury. Click this link: and enjoy the videos too.
This year's headliners are numerous and the BBC has lots of coverage over the weekend on it's Two and Four channels, during the evening. 
In the autumn of 1970 Tyrannosaurus Rex were on the verge of changing their name and their image. No more sitting on the floor playing wistful acoustic tunes, that I had witnessed in May of that year. Their album 'A Beard of Stars' had been released in March and indicated a move to electrics, epitomized by 'Elemental Child' and this transitional track which bridges the old and the new Marc Bolan. 'Lofty Skies'.

As per last week, here's another song that recently came on the radio - I'd definitely heard it before but that's all I knew.
No help from the DJ, so I had to search for it. Fortunately it repeats two words a lot and the chorus is quite distinctive and finding the track wasn't too difficult. Nice spilt-screen video, for Semisonic and 'Closing Time' 

This has featured in many films and tv shows and apparently is played at the end of home games by the American National League (Central) baseball team the Milwaukee Brewers > and why not indeed ? Cheers !

This week and next week's 'Star Tracks' are loosely linked by the radio.
It's now summertime (supposedly) and I'm driving the car listening to the radio and hearing tracks I like but not hearing who or what they are. Not having a digital radio in the car that tells you the song that's playing means I often don't know what I'm listening too and the DJ invariably doesn't make an announcement as the song ends. (And Shazaming on your phone whilst driving isn't an option I'm likely to chance).
Last Sunday a track came on and I thought I recognised the band - Snow Patrol ? - but didn't know the song title. So the next day I searched for it on YouTube ….

In September of last year BBC4 had a weekend's television hosted by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones > http://billblogs2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/last-weekend-was-lost-weekend.html  Of the many items screened that caught my eye one was a video of a high speed ride through the near deserted streets of Paris, dodging dust cart, pigeons and people. At the time I searched for this without any luck and then the other day I found this: 

… and while searching for that Snow Patrol track I'd heard I came across that Paris video accompanying their song 'Open Your Eyes'. Strap yourself in and enjoy the trip… but kept you eyes 'open'.

More on the radio next week >

A tribute this week to the memory of Gregg Allman who died last weekend.

An Allman Brothers quote: "I said, other people can write songs, let's see if I can. So the first 400 or 500 wound up on the floor somewhere. Then I wrote one called Melissa."

I had only recently found this clip from a special concert in 2014 'Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman'. It features Gregg singing 'Melissa' with Jackson Browne and there's a great guitar solo at the end from Jack Pearson. Simply brilliant.

More information about this concert and album release and dvd see: https://blackbirdpresents.com/all-my-friends-celebrating-the-songs-voice-of-gregg-allman-concert/