Abraham Butler and the Venice Beach Drum Orchestra play "House of the Rising Sun"

Abraham Butler leads the Venice Beach Drum Orchestra
Sunday November 27, 2011

video copyright (c) 2011,2012
William Schaeffer

Abraham Butler, [also sometime spelled Ibrihim] and wife Diane, are legends at Venice Beach and have been leading, by example, a generous, non-corporate, artistic lifestyle for decades. A dynamic force for free expression and fairness, Abraham has been championing populist art and music and the rights of the disenfranchised at the grassroots level of the heart and the street.

This video is of their rendition of "House of the Rising Sun" The performance was unbelievable. The audio recording does not do it justice. The band rocked. The unstable camera is due to the fact that I could not keep myself from dancing to the music. Foolishly, I thought that I could dance AND hold the camera still. Silly me. When you hear the music you will understand.

Hearing Abraham Butler and the Venice Beach Drum Orchestra jamming on the Beach is one of the highlights of living in Los Angeles and visiting Venice.

http://www.venicebeachdrumorchestra.com/

House of the Rising Sun

"There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one

My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new blue jeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans

Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's on a drunk

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun

Well, I got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I'm goin' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain

Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one."

- Alan Price, Nicholas Skorsky, Jean DeScarno, Jean-Claude Petit

" Don't nobody know what I'm talkin' about
I've got my own life to live
I'm the one that's gonna die when it's time for me to die
So let me live my life the way I want to
Yeah, sing on brother, play on drummer"
- Jimi Hendrix from "If 6 was 9"

Shot on Samsung Full HD