Rockabilly-Online

The Burlesque Assassins is the first feature film of Canadian writer / director Jonathan Joffe, whose previous short films have earned him 20 awards and screened at over 50 festivals worldwide.

The Burlesque Assassins. Beautiful, deadly, and a vital weapon in the war against communism and tyranny that threaten our freedom.
Created during WWII by the lovers turned resistance fighters Johnny Valentine and Katarina Molotov, The Burlesque Assassins used the feminine charms of the dancehall to lure their way within killing distance of the top ranking members of the Nazi regime. Their mission, SEDUCE AND DESTROY.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Voodoo Swing rockumentary « Keep on Rollin’ » produced by SCWFilms and Electric Lotus Label received the Special Jury Award for the Best Music Video at the Long Shadow Film Festival of Phoenix, AZ.

The new festival is focused on shorts films. Its goal is to discover local filmmaker talents. It took place last November in Phoenix, AZ. The jury was notably presided by Jenna Duncan (reporter, filmmaker, poet and teacher) and Nic Wiesinger (Intermedia Art graduated student from ASU). The rockumentary “Keep on Rollin’ ” about Voodoo Swing’s new album won the Best Music Video Award.

It is a great reward for Steven Christopher Wallace, SCWFilms, and the famous AZ-based rockabilly band Voodoo Swing! Together, they hit the road in their vintage Lincoln Continental, to present the latest record “Keep on Rollin’” (Electric Lotus Label, 2011) during their 2011 South-western tour. From Tucson to Las Vegas, with his Super 8 camera, Steven captured the authenticity, the energy and the talent of musicians dedicated to their music.

Read the rest of this entry »

I always thought that my favorite cartoon The Flintstones was a fifties show. But this Hanna-Barbera Production, ran from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966. A lot of people agree that it is based on a 1955-1956 sitcom The Honeymooners. So maybe not so strange that I thought it was a fifties show after all.

My favorite episodes were the ones with Pebbles and Bambam, but most of all… the ones with music. Thanks to Youtube, I found the one with Ann Margret singing as Ann-Margrock.

Ann Margret is a Swedish-American actress, who became famous for her starring roles in Bye, Bye Birdie, and Viva Las Vegas with our very own Elvis Presley. When people think of actresses in Elvis films, Ann-Margret is almost always the first to come to mind. The on-screen chemistry between them in the movie Viva Las Vegas was real according her autobiography My Story.

Read the rest of this entry »

This time I’ve chosen a real nice dance movie. As you all know, twice a year there is the Rock ‘n’ Roll Weekender in Hemsby (UK), where they also have a jive contest.

Jive dance

On the movie you’ll see the preliminary round with several dance couples, but check out the eventual winner of the dance contest: 13 year old Salv!! You can see him dancing at the back, wearing all black with a wallet chain on his jeans.
Salv had only 10 dance lessons from Kav Kavanagh (see previous dance instruction) and then already win the jive contest. Really great!!

Kav Kavanagh

An item that can not be missing in this scene is of course the dancing.
The Rockabilly dance/Jive is very typical of this music.
Originally, the dance originated from the Lindyhop in the 30’s, at that time an African-American dance, which was danced on Swing music.
The dance was taken over by the white population and became known as the jitterbug. Later on in de 40’s known as the jive.
The jive is still very popular and jive dance classes are regularly given.
For those who don’t want to go to a dance school I’ve added this movie, so you can practice with your partner at home.
The instructor in the movie is Kav Kavanagh from London (UK) He was national and european rock ‘n’ roll en jive champion in 1984 and european rock ‘n’ roll champion in 1990.
Today he owns the dance school Jive after 5 and also he sings in his band Kav & the Kaveman.
Funny fact is that he was a dancer and choreographer in the movie Elvis on Tour!
Success in practice and check the website for more dance movies.

Last June I was at the annual D-Day rock and roll festival in Amsterdam. There were bands like THE BEL-AIRS (uk), Mars Attacks (CH), Dale Rocka & The Volcanoes (I/Sicily) The Wildgoners (F), The Be-Bops (B), Mischief! (NL). Unfortunately, one of the bandmembers of Mischief had a terrible motor accident, so their show was cancelled (he is alright now, by the way). Instead a Dutch Rockabilly trio called El Rio Trio played. The other bands were great, very authentic sound and looks. But El Rio Trio’s show was very refreshing with close harmony parts and lots of wild movement on stage. Sweet, but wild. I like that.
Writing for RBO (as we call Rockabilly-online) gives me a good excuse to catch the attention of their long, tall and handsome bassplayer: Bopper.

Bopper, tell me about the birth of your band El Rio Trio
It started after two bands Snakebite, Richards and mine,  and the Haystack Hi Tones, Hans and Rolfs, fell apart. Those were the actual bandmembers at the beginning of El Rio Trio.
After Snakebite I gave myself a one year break, after playing for years, until Richard called to tell me they needed a bass player to play a little at Hans’ garage, in North Amsterdam. That’s where our roots are: Amsterdam.

On D-day (an annual Rock and Roll festival in Amsterdam) I heard many people say that you are the best band of all the bands that day. Even the foreign ones. What makes you different?
Ik don’t think that our music is that different, but the way we present ourselves sometimes is. We often hear that it shows we have a good time on stage, and I think that is very important. The fun we have on stage is real! We play purely for ourselves and it is nice to have some people come and watch us and very nice too. 60% of the songs we play are our own, and people like that.

Read the rest of this entry »

Baby Rebbel is the “guitar-girl” and singer of a band called AS DIABATZ. She plays the acoustic- and electric- and steelguitar, and she sings. She is starting to work on some country solo projects.
Check out her myspace website:
http://www.myspace.com/babyrebbel

Here is a video of one of her projects. Such a great version of Wanda Jackson’s Funnel of Love. Baby Rebbel and Koti are the musicians of this Brazilian Two Man Band.