Ry Cooder and the Moula Banda Rhythm Aces - Let's Have A Ball, a film by Les Blanks

December 9, 2012 6:42 PM

Ry Cooder and the Moula Banda Rhythm Aces - Let's Have A Ball, a film by Les Blanks
This is the complete show from the Catalyst in Santa Cruz in March 1987.   Via The Iwebender Channel

Love that Maria Elena....

Let's Have A Ball
Jesus On The Mainline
How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?
Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb
Down In Mississippi
Maria Elena
Just A Little Bit
The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)
Crazy About An Automobile
Chain Gang
Down In Hollywood
Good Night Irene

Ry Cooder - guitar, vocals;
Jim Keltner - drums;
Van Dyke Parks - keyboards;
Jorge Calderon - bass;
Flaco Jimenez - accordion;
Miguel Cruiz - percussion;
Steve Douglas - sax;
George Bohannon - trombone;
Singers: Bobby King, tenor; Terry Evans, baritone; Arnold McCuller, tenor; Willie Green Jr, bass

posted by y2karl (10 comments total)

y2kari: Thank you! What pleasure!
posted by Vibrissae at 7:25 PM on December 9, 2012

Oh yay, I will have fun with this tomorrow. I foresee a late delivery on Monday morning client project #1. Thanks, y2karl!
posted by madamjujujive at 9:35 PM on December 9, 2012

What an amazing documentary that I didn't even know existed.

Van Dyke Parks spoke at my high school graduation ceremony. I wish I had known about this film back then, maybe I would have paid more attention to what he said. In any event I do remember one piece of advice he gave. A lot of people in my graduating class were wearing sunglasses (the ceremony was in the late afternoon and the platform where we all stood faced the sun).

Before VDP began speaking, the sun set behind one of the school buildings. The first thing he said was that a valuable life lesson was to never wear your sunglasses when it's no longer necessary.

If the measure of a successful graduation speech is to give the students something to remember for the rest of their lives, I can safely say that Van Dyke Parks gave the most successful graduation speech of all time, and I was there to hear it.
posted by anewnadir at 9:46 PM on December 9, 2012

Of course, I came to regret not following the inverse of VDP's proposition (wearing sunglasses is advisable when the sun is out) when I stumbled, predictably hung over, to my college graduation four years later without sunscreen or sunglasses.

That ceremony involved a speech from the president of Doctors Without Borders concerning a hands-on experience with Ebola-infested placenta, which of course I will never forget but which I do not deem to be a "successful" speech.
posted by anewnadir at 9:51 PM on December 9, 2012

Van Dyke Parks spoke at my high school graduation ceremony. I wish I had known about this film back then...

Oh, my, Van Dyke Parks is famous for things above and beyond any connection to Ry Cooder. He is a legend:

See, for example, Van Dyke Parks: return of a musical maverick or L.A. Weirdos for details...
posted by y2karl at 11:28 PM on December 9, 2012

Fantastic, thank you. Perfect for a Sunday night.
posted by mannequito at 12:08 AM on December 10, 2012

Ry Cooder is the man.

I was obsessed with trying to play the album version of "Maria Elena" note-for-note for years.

I think I finally cracked it once I realised it was a dropped D standard tuning.

Those singers are awesome, thanks for the post.

I wonder why Ry never wanted this released, which is something I thought that I once read.
posted by C.A.S. at 2:02 AM on December 10, 2012

Lets throw a nice version of Dark End Of The Street in the mix, mostly the same band. Old Grey Whistle Test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgD6E0s4mIY



Nice
posted by C.A.S. at 2:09 AM on December 10, 2012

A year before this was posted on Youtube, I spent $35 ordering a bootleg copy from some guy in Argentina. Oh well...

I'm also curious why RC didn't want it released, which is still the official line on Blank's website.

By the way, this is a great album from around the same time, featuring many of the same performers.
posted by pete_22 at 7:31 AM on December 10, 2012

Well, now I see I was drawing a blank when I added an 's' to Mr. Blank's name.
posted by y2karl at 11:08 AM on December 10, 2012