Saturday night boogie!

Here are some previously-posted twelve-bar piano classics back at'cha! At'us. Whatever....

First, Flight 88, composed and performed by Rosa Linda, the person who completed Gershwin's Cuban Overture after he passed away. That abrupt ending wasn't my doing--it was the original engineer's....

Flight 88 (Linda), Rosa Linda, 1953. From 78 on the Allen label.

And here are Ferrante and Teicher, from 1952, banging the ol' 88 (er, 176) in their usual dazzling fashion:

Boogie Express, Ferrante and Teicher, 1952. Originally from a 45 EP on the Davis label. This file ripped from a Guest Star label LP.

From 1948, some nimble country boogie:

Guitar Boogie (Smith), Arthur Smith. 1948. From MGM label LP.

From 1955, some rockin' Lenny Dee boogie:

Honky Tonk Train Blues (Lewis), Lenny Dee, 1955. From a Decca LP.

Plantation Boogie (Dee), Lenny Dee, 1955. From a Decca LP.

We've traveled the entire boogie universe and back, it seems like....

Lee

The "Synthesized Speech" liner notes

If you wish to make an image larger (as in much larger), just double single-click and then place the cursor in/on the lower left-hand corner. An "expand" button will appear. Click on this, and an image-zilla will pop up! No sound effects, unfortunately....

My bad....

I meant to write, "It's HAL-arious!" What was(n't) I thinking?

The remix link, again.

One HAL of a job (by Lee Govatos).


Lee

Synthesized Speech: The Remix

Here's Lee Govatos' great remix of the Bell flexi-disc--absolutely hilarious! Thanks, Lee. (Not me, but Lee.)


The Remix



Lee

"Hot" dance, 1926 square dancing, and more!

You know, I'd promised to get the Bell flexi-disc liner notes up, and I'd better do that. I will. (Note to self: "Liner notes.")

I am thrilled by the response to my flexi-disc, and I'm glad I stuck around that shop and dickered (or dealt--I can never tell those two activities apart). And I'm not making up the 2001 soundtrack detail! Not that such a coincidence is anything remarkable. In fact, I read a Skeptical Enquirer article years ago which pointed out that coincidences are not only well within the realm of probability, they're to be expected. That is to say, an absence of coincidences would be greater cause to get spooked than a stream of them. The point is, out of the thousands of everyday details that reach our senses, a certain number are bound to coincide. It has nothing to do with magic.

Who am I kidding? It spooks me out.

And... I promise not to mention Box.net in this post. (Oops.) I mean, in the next post. It's somewhat hilarious that, as I'm getting all this new site traffic, half of my posts consist of "Box.net's down again!" Life's sense of humor, I guess!

"What's the blog about?" "Hm. Some guy complaining about his storage site, seems like...."

Here are some more 78s, starting with Singapore, which I restored with my "new" EQ. The rest are old-EQ examples. This one needs a little more at the top, though the muffled high end seems to be part of the engineering, as opposed to too much cutting on my part. This is a superbly jazzy side, if not jazz, technically:

Singapore, Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orchestra, 1918. From Columbia 78.

I don't know if Poor Buttermilk is a play on Poor Butterfly, or what. I do know that Zez Confrey had great technique. To me, this is stride piano, though I can't quite focus on the definition of that genre at the moment. Maybe the lack of glissandos sinks that label, in this case. Don't know. What I'm talking about, that is:

Poor Buttermilk (Confrey), Zez Confrey, 1921. From Brunswick 78.

And here's a very "hot" side by Frank Westphal (Sophie Tucker's second husband, reports Red Hot Jazz!)--the song is Ferde Grofe, Jimmy McHugh, and Irving Mills' Stop Your Kidding. Grofe would go on to compose the Grand Canyon Suite, McHugh would go on to write I'm in the Mood for Love, and Mills would go on to work with Duke Ellington as publisher and lyricist. (Wow....)

Stop Your Kidding (Mills, Grofe, McHugh), Frank Westphal Orchestra, 1922. From Columbia 78.
The, er... that site is slowing my other windows down, so let's close quickly with two 1926 square dance sides by Mellie Dunham. If anyone out there has been searching for 1926 square dance music, rejoice--your quest is over. Btw, I have a crank theory that "country" (as in "... music") was derived from "contra," as in "contra dance." I've been told that word corruptions don't happen that way, but I'm sticking to my theory. As Joe Friday would say, it's just a hunch. A crank hunch. (A Starsky and Hunch?):

Mountain Rangers (Contra Dance), Mellie Dunham and His Orchestra, 1926. From Victor 78.

Lady of the Lake (Contra Dance), Mellie Dunham and His Orch.. From same 78.

Too cool for words! Now, the next time someone describes any current piece of country as "old-time," refer mentally to this recording. You might decide that the modern concept of "old-time" is just that--a modern concept.

Enjoy! And if a file doesn't work, please wait a bit and try again. They always reappear, and sometimes within minutes.

Enjoy!

Lee

"I hear the train a'comin..."

Ummmm....

Brad reports that Box.net is back. Let me post some files really, really quickly.

Here's another 78 restored with/by my new-fangled EQ. It's the flip of Kelly Harrell's New River Train--this is Rovin' Gambler, one of the most frequently recorded country-style folk songs, I believe. And keep an ear out for "I hear the train a'comin...." Gee, where else have we heard that line?

Rovin' Gambler, Kelly Harrell, 1926. From Victor 78.

I ripped that one a while back with my old EQ, and the vocal was compressed and, in spots, too loud--and the surface noise overpowered things at the start. This is a vast improvement.

And here are three cowboy classics for our Saturday morning. These required little to no EQ tweaking:

Riders in the Sky (Stan Jones), Spike Jones and His City Slickers, 1949. From RCA Victor 78.

Jonesologists may know that Riders originally ended with a line about Vaughn Monroe--"I cannot stand his singing, but I wouldn't mind his dough." The ending had to be redone. I love the Johnny Comes Marching Home interpolation, which the actual melody vastly resembles, of course.

And here's the flip. And, boy, is it not P.C. I wish I didn't enjoy it so much:

Chinese Mule Train, Spike Jones and His City Slickers, with vocal by Freddy Morgan. 1950, from RCA Victor 78.

We close with Doris Day. I love this one, which is straight from the soundtrack of Calamity Jane:
The Deadwood Stage, Doris Day with orchestra under the direction of Ray Heindorf, 1954. From Columbia 78.

More to come.... I hope!


Lee

Box.net status as of 1:22 AM

"The page you are looking for is currently unavailable."

Oh, well. I had actually gotten in, and I had actually labeled three files before it went belly-up.

I don't know if that qualifies as progress or not....

I'm assuming nobody can get into nothin' right now.



Lee

Box.net isn't allowing me to do anything on it

I had wanted to, you know, post some files.

I thought that would be nice.

The site knocks me out of it every time I try to label a file. And it won't let me play anything there. And I have no other way to I.D. stuff I've uploaded, since all I have to go by is a file number.

That site hates me. I just know it! Or maybe it doesn't like my music.

Oh, well. Tomorrow is another day. (Wait a minute--it just became tomorrow.) Now I'm all confused....


Lee

How to double your visits in the space of hours

Wow--234,000+ visits recorded on my counter. Far out. And the Bell file has been downloaded 1723 times. I just wrote Box.net to see if I can upgrade (in order to expand bandwidth).

And if "Jeremiah Johnson" could e- me in regard to putting my files up on a torrent--what that means, how to do it, etc., I'd be much obliged.

Back to the real (non-cyber) world, I need to cut grass after taking care of some, shall we say, cat products inside the house. Products that were deposited where we'd prefer they not be. You've seen those "color outside the lines" car ads. Well, apparently, they have a "poop outside the box" equivalent for cats. No more TV for the cats....

In other news, I'm experimenting with a new EQ (well, several of them), and the results please me. Let me know what you think. The Whiteman file has some bursts of sound in the tom-tom as a result of too much input, but overall I think it sounds great. The Kelly Harrell (great 1926 country) is pretty worn, but I think I triumphed over the surface noise. More to come, but Box.net is a little sluggish at the moment:

New River Train, Kelly Harrell, 1926. From Victor 78.

Shanghai Dream Man (Davis/Akst, Arr. by Ferde Grofe), Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1927. From Victor 78.

The flip of New River Train is Rovin' Gambler, and the lyrics include a familiar line: "I hear the train a'comin'...." I'll have it up later today, but for now I hear the grass a-growin'. Better get (achoo!) out there.


Lee

Transfer rate limit approaching!

Just to let everyone know, my Box.net bandwidth is running out fast, probably due to my Bell flexi-disc file and no. of downloads thereof--I'll have to check transfer info at the site, if I can remember how to do so. There's an option that tells me # of downloads, anyway.

I hope nothing is draining my bandwidth beyond that!!

But just to let you know, because when the bandwidth is depleted, no more downloads for the month. (Lady Domi will probably note, "So, how is that a new situation?") Yes, when my files aren't migrating and/or simply refusing to show up, they're depleted. Life gets you coming and going. However, this month is nearly done, and my bandwidth renews with May.

However, I'll have to figure out why I've experienced this sudden, drastic loss. A hole in cyberspace, possibly.

In other news, Ben correctly guessed the model for my Birdcall Invention. Congratulations! His prize is knowing that he gave the correct answer. (This is a low-rent blog, you know.... )

Good job, Ben!

Anyhow, something tells me my bandwidth will be kaput by sundown.


Lee

HAL's father, part II

I'm going to try to get good digital images of the flexi-disc notes. Since I don't have a scanner, I might photograph each column separately to make the letters large enough to read. Which always helps. If I use a tripod, the images should be blow-up-able without detail loss.

I know it can be done, as I once took a tripod shot of a sheet music cover and was able to magnify a single letter to the point that the texture of the ink and paper were on display. Blew my mind....

Anyway, here we see the 1961 date:













And here's a closer view of the "punched" card pictured on front. Interesting (see right side): "Military Manufacturing Information Dept." Maybe that's a clue to the kind of publication this came from? I.e., a military periodical, maybe?














"Tear out and play" says the upper r.h. corner, so it was definitely included in a periodical. I asked the dealer, but she had no idea where it came from. Dang it. Not a phone book, I'm sure.

Spookiest of all, and I swear this is true--I also purchased this 1990 CD, unaware of its historical connection to the flexi-disc. I'm not making this up!
















What are the odds that this CD would have been part of the same purchase? Obviously, extraterrestrial forces guided my actions in the store.

Very, very strange. Also odd is that CBS Records would have put out an MGM soundtrack, but it's O.K. by me. I paid $4 for it, by the way. I forgot to ask if they had any monoliths sitting around....

Liner notes coming up, hopefully.


Lee

HAL's father??

Scene: a junk shop on the east side of town. Your blogger is waiting for the owner to name a price for a sound recording he found in the back in a box he wasn't supposed to go through (he hadn't known that, though). The dealer is going through every possible word combination on eBay in the hopes of finding a listing (and a price), though by now it's obvious there isn't one. Still, she searches. And searches. Lee correctly figures that she's stalling. Finally--"What's it worth to you?"

I'm willing to pay ten bucks. "Five dollars," I reply. "Ten, and it's yours." "O.K." Deal done. (I hate mind-reading dealers! Just kidding--she was quite cool. And savvy.)

And what a record. A magazine-insert 33 1/3 with three bands, lasting all of two minutes, and cooler than heck:


















So, here's the scoop: a longer version of this Bell Telephone Laboratories record was released in 1963 on a 7" 45. Which, I found out by Googling, can be heard at Otis Fodder's 365 Days Project. (Under "Computer Speech")

And a copy of the 1963 45 recently sold on eBay for $40-something.

However.... My magazine-insert record is from 1961. So there. And it seems to have a different narrator.

Explains the back of the insert: "The samples of speech on this recording were produced by an electronic digital computer. They are a by-product of a research project at Bell Telephone Laboratories to obtain a better understanding of the nature of speech."

"Each speech sound is specified on a separate punched card," it continues. A series of cards are fed into a "high-speed, general purpose computer," and the synthesized speech is recorded onto half-inch magnetic tape, after which the tape "is fed to another machine which converts the digital information to a variable magnetic sound track suitable for playing on an ordinary tape recorder playback." See? Simple as pie.

Band 1 is entitled "The computer speaking." 2 is "The computer reciting a soliloquy from Hamlet." 3 is "The computer singing." Just wait until you hear what it's singing! (Cue the 2001 title music):

Synthesized Speech--Produced by Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1961. From magazine-insert 33 1/3 RPM disc.

That was COOL.

Well, I think, anyway. And it's possible I have a less common version of an already uncommon record. Whatever. It's cool. I daresay, it's HAL-acious.

I hope you en-joyed that re-cord.


Lee

100,000 visitors! Scheduled outage! Boxnet out to lunch!

Um.... Feel free to comment. I don't bite! (Or nip. Or scratch. Unlike some cats I can name.) Let me hear from you. About anything. Such as how incredibly cute Tucker is in the yellow wagon, his tongue sticking out. He lost his teeth at a young age (everyone in his extended family of strays have/had dental issues) and that's why his kitty tongue, often as not, is on display. He's the sweetest cat who ever lived, by the way. He's one of two official greeters--cats who welcome newcomers into the brood while others are busy hissing, swatting, and otherwise acting like jerks.

Wow! 100,000, and then some! A milestone! And you... was there!

Scheduled outage at 4PM PDT. I keep forgetting what time that is in our zone. 7 PM or 8 PM. One of the two. Lots of scheduled outings lately. I'm getting paranoid.

No, just kidding. I've always been paranoid.

I need 100,000-listener music. Let me repost something--anything. Ummm....

Journey Into Space, Frank Weir's Saxophone and Orchestra, 1955. From London 45.

Round Town Girls, The Hill Billies, 1926.

Huh? The Top Kicks, 1954. From Guyden label 78.

Rock the Joint, Jimmy Preston and His Prestonians, 1949.

Little Joe from Chicago, Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, 1957. From RCA Victor LP.

Annnnnnd... it looks like Boxnet is not functioning. Oh, splendid.


Lee

100,000 visitors! (Almost)

We're about 200 away, but that number's coming. I can feel it.

Let's celebrate with some 78s, starting with possibly my favorite Paul Whiteman side ever (if I absolutely had to pick just one). I've featured this before, but I think I got a better file this time around. Arranged by the great Ferde (Grand Canyon Suite) Grofe. The instrumentation, the vocal harmonies in the choral refrain, and so on, are to die for:

Shanghai Dream Man (Davis-Akst), Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, 1927. Arranged by Ferde Grofe. From Victor 78.

The flip is almost the same arrangement, save for the fact that it's a different tune. That's where the analogy falls apart:

Fallen Leaf (An Indian Love Song) (Virginia K. Logan-Frederick Knight Logan), Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, 1927. Arranged by Grofe. From Victor 78.

Jazz historians have made such a point of putting down Ted Lewis' earliest stuff (especially his playing on it) that collectors are amazed when they hear a good early Lewis. Well, we're about to hear a great early Lewis:

12th Street Rag (Euday Louis Bowman), Ted Lewis and His Band, 1923. From Columbia 78.

I can't believe I got a decent file from that side, but I did. You should see the surface wear--and the crosscuts, a couple of which remain audible. But who knows when, or if, I'll see another copy. And, so, I saved the sound.

We close with a 1917 Earl Fuller gem, Ida! Sweet as Apple Cider. Lots of wear on this one, too, but the details shine through--such as the terrific xylophone playing. I can't think of any cider puns:

Ida! Sweet as Apple Cider (), Earl Fuller and His Rector Novelty Orchestra, 1917. From Columbia 78.

Wait, I know--we've already heard the other sider. In a previous post. Ha, ha!

After that joke, it would serve me right if the site counter started reversing....

Lee

Tucker in a wagon, the vanishing bird feeder, and more

Tucker had this expression to display when he learned that Kenneth "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year" Blackwell is leading in the governor-candidate polls over Jim "What does God expect of us?" Petro:

















Tucker's face says it all. I don't think I can add to that.

Not that I'm remotely for Petro, but I'd rather have demented bat poop from Hell in charge of the state than Blackwell. Of course, there's a good chance the Dems will win, as Ohioans are actually and truly annoyed with Republicans.

Logic would dictate that annoyance with Republicans would benefit my party. However, logic has nothing to do with Ohio. So, who knows.

Meanwhile, my blog counter is fewer than 300 counts away from 100,000 visitors (!). Holy Toledo!

And, here I am, feeling more groggy than grateful. That is to say, my elation ain't what it ought to be on account of allergies (from tree pollen) and antihistamines.

Tree pollen, indeed--boy, did the trees in our yard bloom but quick. A few days ago, I walked outside to leave seed at the north side bird feeder, and... no bird feeder! My first thought was that two guys had come during the night and hauled the thing off in a pickup truck. Then I realized it must be behind the bird cherry. And there it was. One of the great "Where did it go?" moments of all time.













The vanishing bird feeder....

However, I need to get out of my grog--I mean, 100,000 visits! Which, I realize, doesn't literally mean 100,000 (distinct, difference) people. The number could be greater (for example, if each visit were from a different group of five, computer-huddled individuals) or fewer (repeat visits of the "Nope, no new files yet" variety). Or something in between. Whatever. 100,000 is a cool number. So, I need to be awake for the moment. Unless I'm asleep.

What a journey this has been. I feel like Columbus must have felt when he reached land ("Where the hell are we?"--Columbus). That is to say, I... have no idea what I'm typing.

No, that analogy isn't right at all. I know--I feel like Edison when the light bulb lit up, its glow filling the room, and he leaned close to it and said, "Hello? Hello?"

Yeah, I think I nailed it, there.

I reported, not too long ago, that we (my foster parents and I) have 28 cats. I think that's what I said. In fact, the actual number is 23. As the vampire said, "My bat." My three cats, plus their twenty. For some reason, I thought there were more. There aren't.

You may ask questions. (Do they all have names?) Of course. (Can you remember all of their names?) Most of the time, yes. (Do they all live indoors?) Indoors and outdoors. We have a cat window. (Who's the oldest cat?) I believe that would be Remo, who's 14, I think. But don't take my memory's word for it. (Were your three cats named after famous pop singers?) Perry, Bing, and Rosemary? Yes, they were. (Do you like cats?) Duh. (What kind of animal visitors do you have out in the country?) Raccoons, deer, possums, skunks, and (dead) rabbits. And I'm not sure if the plural of "possum" has an s.

Those were good questions! Thanks. I feel less groggy now.

In yet other news, I recently wrote a reply to everyone who commented at one of my posts for this month (can't remember which one)--six or seven replies in all, and every single answer is lost to cyberspace. Or else they're out there somewhere yelling, "Helllp us!! Hellllp us!" The replies, I mean, not those who commented. (No, really--it's safe to leave a comment here. At least I haven't heard from anyone who vanished. Not that I would, probably.)

What happened was that, in my attempt to beat the scheduled Blogger maintenance for the evening in question, I didn't. It was the craziest thing--I hit the "Login and Publish" button and this page of script came up. It was some sort of failure message that repeated God-knows-how-many times. It was then I realized I'd missed the deadline. Dang it.

Here's what Tucker has to say about that:















"When software issues get you down, just hop in a yellow wagon and chill, dude."--Tucker's cyber-philosophy.


Lee

Sunday shellac attack

I had planned to have this up as a Sunday wake-up entry, but I was just too dang tired last night. Lack of sleep + allergies = too dang tired. Or it can, anyway.

The old burning-the-candle-at-both-ends routine. When I was at Bowling Green State University, one of the doctors used that cliche every time I came in. I felt like saying, "Well, I got my candles on sale at the Seconds Outlet, and they all have two wicks. I keep forgetting, and I light them both. Nearly burned the place down last time." Good way to get an antipsychotic scrip, I guess.

Well, a winning entry in the Name that Bach® contest--WFMU's very own Albert Schweitzer correctly identified the model as Bach's Invention No. 8 in F Major (BWV 779). "Whereas Bach's subject was confined to the tonic triad (or an embellishment of same), you chose the lame alternative of ascending from the tonic to the dominant for your paraphrase, which resulted in some rather awkward counterpoint. I'd rip your piece apart some more, but I feel embarrassed for you." Hey, thanks. It's always nice when a superior intellect takes pity on mine. I deleted his comment, of course.

I told you guys to hurry up. You've got to listen to Lee.

And you've got to listen to these 78s--they're great. Noisy, too, some of them. But they're 78s. And 78s are noisy. (Thanks for sharing my shellac expertise? Of course!)

We start with Happy Days in Dixie, an 1896 cakewalk by Kerry (Red Wing) Mills, written one year before his famous At a Georgia Camp Meeting, and three years before Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag. I almost didn't post this on account of the word "darkie" in the vocal refrain, but the way I see it, 1) this piece is historically important and 2) so long as numbers like Old Man River and Washboard Blues remain Great American Songbook staples, we can only assume that nobody's all that upset about Tin Pan Alley black stereotypes. Amos 'n' Andy sentiments seem to be accepted sans critical evaluation when they come from an "important" lyricist like Johnny Mercer or Ira Gershwin, so I'm not about to pick on this magnificent 1896 rag/cakewalk:

Happy Days in Dixie (Mills), Prince's Orchestra and the Peerless Quartet, 1920. From Columbia 78.

Not nearly as entertaining, but historically as important, is Abe Holzman's 1899 Smoky Mokes, recorded in or about 1920:

Smoky Mokes (Holzman), Prince's Orchestra, 1920. From same 78.

And here's ragtime on its way to becoming (or having already become) jazz--this is Mel Kaufman's More Candy. Dunno who's on the drums--Fuller himself, maybe? Middling Fuller, but ordinary Fuller is still way above average, dance-band-wise:

More Candy (Kaufman), Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orchestra, 1917.

And here are two by Art Hickman--both available on the Archeophone label, by the way, which put out two volumes of Hickman recently (to my astonishment!). They are The Hesitating Blues and Those Draftin' Blues. I think my transfers came out O.K.--the sides are moderately worn. Saxophones were big in pop music when these were made, needless to note:

The Hesitating Blues (Handy)--Art Hickman's Orchestra, 1919. From Columbia 78.

Those Draftin' Blues (Pinkard-Hickman-Williams), 1919. From same Columbia 78.

Great sides, but they don't make for repeat listening, Leethinks. The Handy piece sounds a lot like the same composer's Yellow Dog Blues. What's up with that? (Yes, I know they're both in the twelve-bar-blues form, but besides that....)

And... here is some "good ol'" country gospel music--the little-known white kind--from 1928. And from Smith's Sacred Singers. Ignore the worn-out sound at the start, which I skillfully faded into the "good" sound that follows. Someone started to play this thing with the wrong needle, the wrong soundbox, a nail, a sewing implement, or something. Luckily for us, they spared most of the grooves the same fate:

Hold to God's Unchanging Hand--Smith's Sacred Singers (1928). From an almost-completely-playable 78 on Columbia.

It's weird--1928 Columbia 78s tend to have deep, boomy bass, but that sounded like an aircheck from a transistor radio by comparison. And I didn't do anything, EQ-wise, that should have caused that. Great stuff, regardless.

We close with two extremely enjoyable 1919 dance sides, beginning with Mel Kaufman's Taxi, as joyously played by Joseph Knecht's Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra. It's probably hard not to play this one joyously:

Taxi (Mel Kaufman), Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra directed by Joseph Knecht, 1919. From Columbia 78.

The scratchy flip is 1919's version of Art Mooney's stereophonic happy banjos, except that there's only one of them, and it's in mono. And acoustical, to boot (no electric banjos in 1919). Though it sounds like four or five. However, this is Yerkes' Jazarimba Orchestra, not Yerkes' Jazabanjo Orchestra, so I guess my ears are hearing things. Wouldn't be the first time:

Cleo (Will, Callahan and Roberts), Yerkes' Jazarimba Orchestra, 1919. From same Columbia 78 as above.

Yerkes was Harry A. Yerkes, in case you're wondering. According to Brian Rust, he directed a marimba-band recording of Captain Betty. Not the one we heard, though....


Lee