Welcome to Frank Pozen's Big Bad Blog. A lot of folks have been asking me to update them about my recovery. So I thought I would start a blog primarily to do that but also to talk about other topics of interest including the wrestling business and whatever else I can think of. I plan to update this on a regular basis so check back and leave a comment if you wish.
Salsa Celtica is a salsa band that happens to be from Scotland. Anyone expecting them to be a salsa version of Red Hot Chilli Pipers will be disappointed because they are a standard salsa band with occasional use of bagpipes and other Celtic instruments. Trumpeter Toby Shippey was playing Edinburgh clubs when he got the idea to form a salsa band. He visited Cuba to investigate further. When he returned, he formed Salsa Celtica and they self released a couple of albums. They toured England, Scotland and Ireland and also played the US folk festival circuit. For the 2003 album El Agua de La Vida, Salsa Celtica signed with the Celtic music label Greentrax with Compass handling US distribution. They do not record traditional salsa. Shippey writes most of the songs with co-writers. He wrote El Sol de la Noche with jazz pianist Roland Perrin who plays on the song. The album was produced by Jim Sutherland. The lead singer is Cuban Ricardo Fernandez Pompa. The other lead singer is Venezuelan Lino Rocha. This album is available on CD. Shippey has another band called Grupo Magnetico. They had a residency in Edinburgh and released an album in 2018. Salsa Celtica released an album last year. So they are still around but my guess is band membership is very fluid. Here's Salsa Celtica performing El Sol de la Noche at the Helsinki Festival Aug. 30, 2014.
Melissa "Lizzo" Jefferson is a hip hop singer songwriter known for her heft. She's a big girl. Do I think that's a factor in her success? Oh, probably. At least she looks different because her music is not that distinctive. One thing is for sure. She knows how to use TikTok. The 2017 single Truth Hurts was her first #1 single. She was born Apr. 27, 1988 in Detroit. Her family moved to Houston when she was 11 years old. She trained as a classical flutist until she got into rap in high school. She was given the nickname Lizzo based on the Jay-Z song Izzo. She studied classical music at the University of Houston and played flute and sang for the jazz band Ellypseas. When that didn't go anywhere, Lizzo moved to Minneapolis and formed several bands including Lizzo & the Larva Ink, Chalice who released the 2012 album We Are the Chalice and Grrrl Prty. She self released the 2013 album Lizzobangers. That album got positive reviews and Lizzo toured to support it. Virgin re-released it in 2014. She appeared on an episode of Late Night with David Letterman. She released the 2015 album Big Grrrl Small World. After the music press also reviewed that album positively, she signed with producer Ricky Reed's new label Nice Life with Atlantic Records distribution. Reed had successfully produced Jason Derulo. So now she's getting somewhere. Lizzo released the 2016 EP Coconut Oil and the single Good as Hell reached #3 0n the Billboard Hot 100. This was followed by Lizzo's acting debut in the 2019 film Hustlers. Next was the 2019 album Cuz I Love You and her first #1 hit Truth Hurts. That song wasn't on the album. It was released as a single and it appeared in the Netflix film Someone Great. That film was popular with teens and they spread the song virally on TikTok. Like most of the songs on Cuz I Love You, Lizzo wrote and produced with Reed and co-writers. It appears that Atlantic pulled the original album and the Deluxe Edition is the only version available. She scored another #1 hit with the 2022 single About That Time from the album Special. But the album didn't sell as well as Cuz I Love You. Lizzo's new album Bitch is being released today. We'll see how that goes. Things seem to go well when she posts stuff on TikTok. Here's the video for Truth Hurts by Lizzo.
R&B singer songwriter Muni Long released her debut album in 2009. She finally had success with a couple of top 20 pop hits including the 2023 single Made for Me. If she was in her 20s, I would say she has star potential. But she's 37 and I doubt that her label DefJam can be patient with her development. She was born Priscilla Renea Hamilton Sept. 14, 1988 in Gifford, FL which is a Vero Beach suburb. She was raised by her grandparents as her father was in the US Navy. She was in the church choir as a child. After she started posting videos on YouTube, She appeared on the MTV game show Say what? Karaoke!. Priscilla signed with Capitol Records in 2009 and the album Jukebox was released. Benny Blanco was one of the producers. After the album didn't sell, she left Capitol and started writing songs for others. Among the songs she co-wrote was the 2014 single Somethin' Bad for Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood which was nominated for a Grammy. Then she released the 2018 album Coloured on the indie label Thirty Tigers. When that went nowhere, Priscilla changed her name to Muni Long (pronounced "money long"). Then she started her own label and released a couple of EPs. She got a record deal with DefJam in 2022. She told Vogue that she created a "fashion identity" with a celebrity stylist. She released an album which was a re-release of her EPs. The single Hrs. and Hrs. was a top twenty hit. Then she released the 2024 album Revenge. The single Made for Me reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Muni wrote and produced with co-writers. Made for Me was written and produced by Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri and Jordan XL Orvosh. Christopher "Tricky" Stewart produced several songs. So she's working with big name producers. It remains to be seen where Muni Long goes from here. She was on tour for all of 2025. Now I would think she would record a new album. Even if Muni Long doesn't become a big star, she has potential as a songwriter and producer. The stardom window is closing. Here's the video for Made for Me by Muni Long.
Iain Matthews is a British singer songwriter who started out in the 60s with the legendary British folk band Fairport Convention and attempted to cross over to pop in the 70s. He was mostly unsuccessful except when he scored a top 20 hit with the 1978 single Shake It. You may have seen it play over the opening credits for the 1980 film Little Darlings. Unfortunately, there is no soundtrack album for that film. He was born Ian Matthews MacDonald June 16, 1946 in Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, England. He changed his name to Ian Mathews in 1968 to avoid confusion with Ian McDonald of King Crimson. Matthews' family moved to Scunthorpe when he was 12 years old. Matthews left school at age 16 and worked as an apprentice sign painter while he played in local bands. He moved to London in 1965 and was in the surf rock band Pyramid. They released one single on Deram Records. In 1967, he was brought into Fairport Convention by bassist Ashley Hutchings. He appeared on a couple of albums. But Hutchings and producer Joe Boyd decided that he didn't fit in the band. He signed with UNI/Decca and released the 1970 album Matthews Southern Comfort. Fairport Convention veterans Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings and Simon Nicol played on the album. The veteran songwriting team of Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley produced under the pseudonym of Steve Barlby. They managed Matthews. Mathews wanted to turn it into a band. Marc Ellington suggested Matthews check out the band Harsh Reality who were about to be dropped by Philips Records. The base of that band became Matthews Southern Comfort. They topped the British carts with their cover of Woodstock. But Matthews Southern Comfort only lasted a year as most of the band hated the country influenced sound. After recording a couple of solo albums, Matthews moved to Los Angeles to join the band Plainsong. They recorded one album for Elektra and split up. Matthews bounced around including working with former Monkee Michael Nesmith. But nothing clicked until the 1978 single Shake It reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's from the 1978 album Stealin' Home. After failure first at Elektra then Columbia, he signed with producer Sandy Roberton's label Rockburgh Records. They were distributed in the US by the Canadian label Mushroom Records. Heart was on that label. Roberton produced the 1978 album Stealin' Home. Matthews wrote most of the songs. But Shake It was written by Terence Boylan and he recorded it on his 1977 album Terence Boylan. Matthews heard the song on the radio and got more info about it and recorded it. Former King Crimson saxophonist Mel Collins played the sax solo. Shake It also played over the opening credits of the 1980 film Little Darlings. But there was no soundtrack album as back in those days, film producers used songs without acquiring the rights to use it. That's why it took forever for some films to show up on home video. The producers had to replace some songs. You can get Shake It on this Varese comp. Since then Matthews has bounced all over the place. His memoir was published in 2019. He last released an album in 2017. Here Shake It by Iain Matthews as it appeared in the opening credits of the 1980 film Little Darlings.
Album:Madstock...The Continuing Adventures of Bubblecar Fish
This 1990 cover of The Beatles classic Strawberry Fields Forever was a top five hit in England. It was the only hit single from the only album by the British duo Candy Flip. They are from Stoke-on-Trent, England and were part of the Madchester music scene of the late 80s. Danny Spencer and Ric Peet were already doing remixes when they decided to form a duo. At first, they called themselves Yin Yang then changed it to Candy Flip which is a drug reference. Other than Strawberry Fields Forever, all the songs on the 1991 album Madstock were written and produced either by Peet or Spencer and his brother Kelvin Andrews. Spencer is the singer. First Strawberry Fields Forever was a hit on the Madchester rave scene. Then it reached #3 on the British Singles chart and it was a hit across Europe. It got so big that Candy Flip had to sign with Atlantic Records to keep up with the demand. The main sample is the drum beat from James Brown's Funky Drummer. They released a few more singles from the album but none of them did well. So I guess Strawberry Fields Forever was a fluke hit. Madstock is available as a digital download. Peet and Spencer never recorded again as Candy Flip. Peet produced the bands The Charlatans and Six by Seven. Spencer formed the remix duo Sure Is Pure with his brother Kelvin Andrews and they did remixes of Sister Sledge's back catalog. Sometimes they work together. But this is the kind of music they make today. Candy Flip could have been famous. But I don't think Peet and Spencer wanted that. Here's the video for Strawberry Fields Forever by Candy Flip.
Posting videos on YouTube got singer songwriter Charlie Puth a record deal. The 2017 single Attention is one of his two big hits. Since then he hasn't had the same success. So it makes me wonder if Puth will have long term success or is just a flash in the pan. We'll see. He was born in the New York City suburb of Rumson, NJ on Dec. 2,1991. His mother is a teacher and his father is a real estate agent. His mother started teaching him piano at age four. He started studying jazz at age ten and participated in a summer youth jazz band at Count Basie's theater Cool School in Red Bank, NJ. While in high School. Puth attended Manhattan School of Music followed by Berklee in Boston where he majored in music production and engineering. Puth started his own YouTube channel in 2009. He self released a 2010 EP The Otto Tunes. At the time, he posted a lot of covers. One of those covers was of Adele's Someone Like You with Emily Luther. Ellen Degeneres liked it enough sign both to her label eleveneleven with Warner Bros. distribution. Puth appeared on Ellen's show a couple of times. But when it came time to record an album, eleveneleven disappeared. I think that happens a lot with vanity labels as it turns out to be more work than they thought. Puth returned to self releasing until in 2015, he signed with Artist Partner Group (APG) with Atlantic distribution. APG is owned by former Warners A&R exec Mike Caren. When Puth signed with APG, all his previous recordings were removed from iTunes. His debut single was Marvin Gaye in 2015. It featured Meghan Trainor who was hot at the time. It reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the British charts. Then the single See You Again by Wiz Khalifa featuring Puth topped the charts worldwide. Puth's 2016 album One Track Mind was certified 2XPlatinum. Attention was the first single from the 2017 album Voicenotes. It reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. This is his biggest US hit. Puth wrote and produced the album with Jacob Kasher and Richard Goransson. Both guys have produced other similar pop artists The album was certified Platinum. Puth's subsequent albums and singles haven't done as well. And as I said, it makes me wonder if he will have long term success. I think Puth was wondering too. He was recording an album in 2019. A couple of singles were released. Puth didn't like any of the songs so he scrapped the album. He may have a future as a producer as he wrote and produced the 2021 #1 hit Stay by Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber. He has been trying things to promote himself. But each subsequent album has decreased in sales. He also did the phony reality show The Charlie Puth Show on Roku in 2024. It looks like he is putting off the decision to continue as a recording artist or be a producer. We'll see what he does Here's the video for Attention by Charlie Puth.
Blitzen Trapper is an indie band that became successful as an album and touring band after the 2007 album Wild Mountain Nation was favorably reviewed by the music press. Their music is a mix of several styles most notably the 70s country rock of New Riders of the Purple Sage and progressive rock. They record for their own label and have used several distributors. Blitzen Trapper is from Portland, OR. led by Eric Earley. He is lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. At first the band was called Garmonbozia which is a Twin Peaks reference. They weren't going to be able to call themselves that for copyright reasons so the name was changed to Blitzen Trapper. The other original members were Erik Menteer and Marty Marquis on guitar, Drew Loughery on keyboards, Michael Van Pelt on bass and Brian Adrian Koch on drums. Early and Koch are the only original members still in Blitzen Trapper. They recorded as Garmonbozia from 2000-03 and changed their name to Blitzen Trapper which is a reference to Earley's seventh grade girlfriend. They started their own label. Their first couple of albums had more country influences. For the 2007 album Wild Mountain Nation, Earley signed with the major indie label Sub Pop and he decided to go with a more mainstream sound. The album got a rave review from Pitchfork. And Rolling Stone called Blitzen Trapper "the best Grateful Dead knockoff in forever". Earley wrote and produced the album. The album is available as a digital download. They recorded four albums for Sub Pop followed by albums for Vagrant and Yep Roc. All three are major indie labels. Blitzen Trapper released their latest album in 2024. I suppose Blitzen Trapper could sign with a major label if they wanted. But that might backfire with their current fanbase. Blitzen Trapper is not on tour but they are playing a few shows in August. Here's Blitzen Trapper performing Sci-Fi Kid at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco Feb. 28,2008.
