Crossed Combs - retro, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, tiki and all that jazz.

Patrick McGoohan dies aged 80

Actor Patrick McGoohan died yesterday in Los Angeles after a short illness.

McGoohan, who was born in New York but raised in England and Ireland, came to screen prominence in ITV's early 1960s drama series Danger Man, in which he played a secret agent.

He was also considered for the lead role in the first James Bond movie, Dr No, before Sean Connery was cast.

We here at Crossed Combs will of course always remember him for Prisoner. If there ever was a cult tv series, Prisoner sure is one. We suggest you watch some episodes, book a trip to Portmeirion and above all, never forget that you're not a number - you are a free man.

Rest in peace Patrick McGoohan. Be seeing you.

dice 24 release party

Issue 24 of Dice Magazine is soon upon us. The release party is held in Austin TX, Jan 17, 7pm. Live music from Dykes on Bykes and the Black Tibetans, Danny G on the decks, free #24 magazines, items from Lowbrow Customs and Biltwell to be raffled.

Check out Dice Magazine

again with blue note

We mentioned Blue Note Records the other day. If you enjoy looking at the covers of Blue Note albums, don't miss the Vintage Vanguard website. With splendid attention to detail, they provide scans of both front and back! Also, they list personnel and recording dates. If you're into design and album artwork, it's Christmas.

Shake it Vince!

Ace Records will soon release a Vince Taylor cd called Jet Black Leather Machine. While we're looking forward to that, here's Vince having a very hard time to stand still... Enjoy.

Happy birthday Blue Note Records!

Today Blue Note Records celebrates its 70th birthday. The label was born on January 6, 1939 when a young jazz fan named Alfred Lion recorded two of his favorite boogie-woogie pianists at a New York studio. That first session (Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis - The First Day) proved to be the start of an illustrious history that continues to this day.

On the subject of Blue Note, we here at Crossed Combs are applauding the great concept Blue Note has introduced, where you get a cd and a vinyl copy as a package. As they put it, "a cd for the car or computer, and warm analog lp for the home sound system". Now ain't that nice?

Hank Williams - The Unreleased Recordings box set

Almost 60 years later, a collection of songs Hank Williams recorded for the Mother's Best Flour Company are finally available.  At the peak of his career in 1951, Hank Williams recorded 143 songs for the Mother's Best Flour Company. Hank sang with his regular studio band and recorded his hits as well as many songs he never recorded commercially anywhere else. From this amazing legacy, Time Life has released this historic 3 CD, 54 track collection drawn from the very best of the Mother's Best recordings.