Piano Concerto from "Hangover Square" (Bernard Herrmann)

I saved this to cassette several years ago from an RCA Camden LP. I don't know the year of the recording, but I'm guessing it was made around the time of the movie, which came out in 1945. Werner Janssen conducts the Janssen Symphony of Los Angeles. This might be my favorite music by Bernard Herrmann.

You'll note that this "project" only has one file. And that the project and file are the same. That pleases me, for some unknown reason.

Moody, moody music. You'll be glad I posted this. The track is 10:15, so it might take a little while to download.

Piano Concerto from Hangover Square (Bernard Herrmann), Werner Janssen conducting the Janssen Symphony of Los Angeles, mid-1940s?

"Horror was never so fascinating!" Whatever that means....



Lee

"The Deserted Ballroom," and more! Mantovani, Me, Erik Satie.

Buwa-ha-haaaaa!!!

Do I look evil, or what?

Evil and out of focus.

So, it looks like Box.net's downloading bandwidth will hold up until the end of the month, but only 'cause I've been putting stuff at Savefile.com. Anyway, it's back to Box.net for these next several tracks.

We start with two versions of Morton Gould's 1938 novelty The Deserted Ballroom, a piece more Raymond-Scott-esque than anything Scott himself ever penned. The first is by Mantovani, and I wish I knew who did the fabulous orchestration--otherwise, I'd credit him:

The Deserted Ballroom (Gould), Mantovani and His Orchestra, 1955. From the Musical Modes LP.

The Deserted Ballroom (Gould), Elliot Everett and His Orchestra. From Varsity LP.

And here's the Original Piano Quartet, from 1964, with Grieg's mega-famous In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt:

In the Hall of the Mountain King (Grieg), Original Piano Quartet, 1964. From Decca LP.

And here's my very own Godzilla Dresses Up for Halloween, the first piece I attempted on my Noteworthy Composer® software:

Godzilla Dresses Up for Halloween (Hartsfeld, 2004).

Me, again, with a sound-doctored version of my SF Sketches of 1998. You're hearing the sound of my long-gone Korg Poly-800 synth, with MAGIX effects added.

SF Sketches (In Four Parts) (Hartsfeld, 1998).

And we close with Erik Satie's masterful Jack in the Box, written for the piano in 1899 and orchestrated by Darius Milhaud later on (around 1929, I think?):

Jack in the Box (Satie, Orch: Milhaud), Utah Symphony Orch. cond. by Maurice Abravanel, 1968. From LP.

Buwa-ha-haaaaa!!!

Or is it "Muwa-ha-haaaaa!!!"? I honestly can't remember....


Lee

Sci-Fi Halloween, Part 3!

Your blogger, impersonating James Carville.

Eleven sci-fi novelties for your almost-Halloween pleasure. Comments, then music:

Journey Into Space was the title music for a British science fiction TV series of the 1950s, and it may be the best dang sci-fi title music ever. Antoine de Treville's Journey Into Space shares nothing in common except the title. And a spooky atmosphere. And lush understatement to die for. (I've always wanted to type that.) It's almost as good, really. All I remember is that I ripped it from a Crown label LP by Treville. Let me check to see if I saved the info....

Nope. Dang it.

David Rose's Men Into Space is a less memorable TV theme, but it's worth hearing, anyway. And we've got four Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman sides, all Flying Saucer follow-ups, and two of them break-ins. Of the two non-break-ins, 1957's Martian Melody is an earlier version of 1961's Martian Melodies, with a different intro. Wish I knew what it was--it's quite cool. A newsreel intro?

Henry King's Rocket Ride is from 1956, I think, but I don't have the 45 handy to check it (my records are in the process of switching rooms/floors). And I can't find it on the 'Net. I paid a buck for this someplace--a record show, maybe. Seems a sin that it went so cheap, but I never complain when that happens.

Tony Perkins' 1957 Rocket to the Moon is a terrific space novelty, and Perkins could sing, so the joys are two-fold on this one. 1953's Man from the Moon (labeled Man fromt he Moon) is great fun, too, and Annette Funicello's That Crazy Place from Outer Space is... grating. Sort of. In that Camarata-produced way. I like it, though--just the right amount of camp (as in, liberal). Note that the real title is That Crazy Place In Outer Space, but I'm just copying what Disneyland put on the 45 label.

Click on this link to hear all of these great sounds: LINK TO SCI-FI HALLOWEEN, PART 3!

The selections:

Journey into Space (Phillips), Frank Weir and His Orchestra, 1955. From London label 45.

Rocket Ride, Henry King and His Orchestra, 1956? From Fraternity label 45.

Man from the Moon, Dean Barlow and the Crickets, 1953.

Flying Saucer the 2nd, Buchanan and Goodman, 1957. From Luniverse 45.

Martian Melody, Martian Symphony Orchestra, 1957. Flip of above.

Rocket to the Moon (Gwen Davis), Tony Perkins with Shorty Rogers Orch. and Chorus, 1957. From RCA Victor 45.

Men Into Space (David Rose), Buddy Morrow and His Orch.; Arr: Ray Martin, 1959.

Journey into Space, Antoine de Treville and His Orchestra. From Crown LP.

The Flying Saucer Goes West, Buchanan and Goodman, 1958. Luniverse label 45.

Saucer Serenade, The Saucer Men, 1958. Flip of above.

That Crazy Place from Outer Space (Anthony/Camarata/White), Annette, 1958. From Disneyland 45.


Remember: in space, no one can hear you sing (along with these). So, don't worry if you're a little flat or sharp. Or, like me, both.

Lee

Happy endings

Two happy endings to report, and I'm happy for both. As I should be.

First off, it seems that Bev and I do NOT have (as we were dreading) C.diff. My foster dad, who's still recovering in a nursing home from renal failure, has it, and we thought we got it from him.

Instead, we must have a more ordinary virus. I suspect that mine is a mild stomach bug; Bev also has stomach issues, among others. But we DON'T have C.diff.

The other good news--Bingo just walked into the house. We were worried about him. He travels on the side of the road, something we don't like our cats to do, but which some of them insist on. A couple hours ago, we heard a car honk (as if at a cat or some other animal) from down our road toward the main street. (To the extent that our neck o' the country has a main street.) We thought, "Uh-oh. Bing?"

Then he failed to show up. So, first, I walked down our road, flashlight in hand--no sign of the little guy. Then I took the car and slowly cruised both ways, twice, figuring the brights would do a better job than our little flashlight. (Hopefully, no one called the sheriff to report a Ford Taurus sedan casing the area.) No sign of Bing, though I DID think I saw him for a second. The old fist-to-chest sensation. But I'd spotted a pile of brush; no cat.

So, I just got back to report the lack of a Bingo sighting. Then, three minutes later, in trots Bing. Of course.

We both lectured him on the folly of walking out where a vehicle can get him. I'm sure he took careful notes and that he'll never do it again. (Yeah, right.)













Stay out of the road, Bingo!!!


Lee

What does MY(P)WHAE have in common with Daily KOS, Crooks and Liars, and Michelle Malkin?

Answer: we all made BlogPulse's "Top Blog Posts" list yesterday last April. My "HAL's Father?" post was number 40 in this list of the "most-linked to" blog posts.

(Just found out I was looking at a page from late April, in spite of the fact that the current date was showing up. Oops.)

Wow. I'm rubbing shoulders with the big blogs. Woo!

Yet, somehow, I'm still the same humble, crazy, blue-collar liberal blogger I've always been. I still put my shoes on one at a time. On my hands.

Seriously, how cool. Blogpulse is a service of Nielsen BuzzMetrics. Wikipedia reports that Nielsen BuzzMetrics is a sister company of Nielsen Media Research, "best-known for the Nielsen Ratings, a measurement of television viewership."

TV--so yesterday. Blogs are today. Yeah!

Sorry. Got carried away. It's not often I'm on the cutting edge of anything. In this case, I accomplished it by posting a recording that was 40-plus years old.

So cool. It makes up for sharing a distinction with Michelle Malkin. Almost.



Lee

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

Savefile.com has been giving this message since early a.m. I wonder what's happening with them. I hope my Halloween files aren't responsible for this.

Just kidding, of course. Tons of people use that service. I'm guessing, anyway. Logic would dictate.

I hope they come back....

Meanwhile, we're past our hard freeze/killing frost, and the temps have dropped to December numbers. Weird. I don't know how widespread this early-winter phenomenon is, but it's downright spooky. (Could this be Rove's October Surprise?)

But at least I'm enjoying relief from allergies, right? Um.... Well, not totally. I've been sneezing since I got up. And it occurs to me someone (such as, me) needs to change the furnace filter.

That might help, sneezing-wise.

If this weather keeps up, local kids might want to use Christmas themes for their Halloween outfits--Jack Frost, Santa Claus, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowperson, etc.

Tasks. I have tasks to undertake. Chores. Duties. Must fulfill....


Lee

"The Essential Roy Orbison"

When I want a good laugh, I read the Collectors' Choice Music catalog, where I encounter collections like The Ultimate Johnny Rivers Anthology and The Definitive New Christy Minstrels. Before they became the Definitive New Christy Minstrels, they were the Almost But Not Quite Christy Minstrels, I guess.

I especially like all the Essential collections and artists--Roy Orbison, Benny Goodman, and so on. The Goodman tracks in question were chosen from the period or periods during which Benny was the essence of Benny. The Orbison tracks are the twenty or so titles determined by scientists to be vital to the continued health (and, ultimately, survival) of Roy's fans. Years ago, huge numbers of Orbison devotees were dropping dead, one after another, and it was all because they weren't taking in his essential material at least twice a week.

Hence, The Essential Roy Orbison. You thought it was simply hyperbole for its own sake, didn't you? How wrong you were.

And now for today's quote of a quote. This comes from (guess where?). It's about filmmaker, essayist, poet, agitator, and member of the Diner's Club TERAYAMA SHUJI (1936-1983), whose name, evidently, is spelled in all-caps. "EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP is his epic, sexually revolutionary and hallucinatory work from 1972 in which 'magical women act as the initiatory, yet protectively maternal sexual partners to children. The children, in revolt, have condemned their parents to death for depriving them of self-expression and sexual freedom; they create a society in which fairies and sex education are equally important and literally combinable.'--Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art (AVI)."

I like it when things are literally combinable.

Wow. Writing as a lost art. I guess this was quoted from a site. Which would make the above a quote of a quote of a quote.

But should fairies receive sex education? This is the question.

My feelings are still hurt from that crack about musicians being dumb. I know a lot of smart musicians. And they aren't dumb. So there.

For my own part, as a blogger-musician, I try to look as serious as possible in all of my blog shots. This way, I can help correct any misconceptions about musicians being less than smart.














Lee

Halloween Ain't Over Yet! Buwa-ha-haaa!

I know. Tehcnically, Halloween hasn't even begun. But why get technical?

It's Halloween season, and Halloween season is all about reversal, about turning rituals on their head. So, why not treat the pre-Halloween period as if it were the post-Halloween period?

I have no idea what in the world I just typed. But that's O.K., because it's Neewollah.

Here's the link: Halloween Ain't Over Yet! Fifteen files, no less! (I mean, fewer.) I'll list them here, but none of these titles will work as links, remember.

Bear Dance (Bartok), National Symphony Orchestra, c. by Howard Mitchell, 1961. From RCA Victor LP. Composed in 1908 and orch. in 1931. This was my favorite piece as a starting-out piano student. I didn't play it quite this fast, though....

Boneyard Shuffle (Mills-Carmichael), Red Nichols and His Five Pennies, 1926. I've loved this one since I heard it way back in... 1967? Thereabouts.

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (Mack David-Frank De Vol), Al Martino with Pete King and His Orch., 1964. Just a lovely tune. And beautifully sung. Yet, totally Halloween.

I'm a Mummy, Douglas Byng, 1963. Funnier than Dell. Not only did Byng sound and act like a Monty Python troupe member, he looked a lot like Eric Idle. A genius.

Little Blue Man (Klein-Ebb-Grean), Melody Jane. From the el-cheapo Promenade label, probably 1958. Cowritten by the great Charles Grean. I sort of consider this a sci-fi novelty, though the lyrics fail to i.d. the little guy as a Martian or anything.

Spooky Walk, MacMillan Sing and Learn Program, 1987. This delightful track comes from a kiddie LP, as I'm sure you've figured out. I love it.

The Night Walker (Vic Mizzy), Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra, 1965. Theme from the William Castle horror film, which I've seen maybe 20 minutes of, combined. The murderer turned out to be Tony's boss from I Dream of Jeannie. (Oops. Sorry. I just ruined it.)

The Quest for Bridey Murphy, Stan Freberg, 1956. I don't know who the lady is--June Foray? This was a parody of a very popular piece of pseudoscientific trash. I used to have the book, in fact--very badly written. Almost an unintentional Bob and Ray skit. Freberg didn't have to go very far out to lampoon it.

Shadows of the Night (Quentin's Theme) (Robert Cobert), Hugo Winterhalter and His World Famous Orchestra, 1969 or 1970. From a Musicor LP. I like this, though it doesn't exactly go for a spooky mood. From the TV series Dark Shadows. I grew to hate this theme, on account of it was played way too much on the show. But, years later, I can appreciate the catchy beauty of the thing.

Main Theme from King Kong (John Barry), Roger Williams, 1976. "Kong! KONG!!! KONG!!!!" Works for me.

Blue Ghost (Lagate), Tommy Roe with the Jordanaires. Terrific novelty side, with everybody's favorite Elvis-back-up group providing the vocal harmony. Bet you can't tell Roe was massively influenced by Buddy Holly.

King Kong, Wade Denning and the Port Washingtons. From the TV cartoon, which I remember not liking very much. But I love the theme song.

A Kiss Before Dying, Billy Regis and His Orchestra, 1956. Very well done, even if the trumpet gets on my nerves. From a terrific Robert Wagner suspense film directed by the Outer Limits' own Gerd Oswald. If you haven't seen it, and you get a chance to do so, do so.

The Rockin' Ghost (Steve Allen-Ira Lee), Archie Bleyer's Orch. and Chorus, 1956. Fun side.

Bug-Eyed Man, The Hollywood Argyles, 1960. Another almost-sci-fi side.


Enjoy!

Lee

Savefile.com not among the living

At the moment, at least. I'm hoping the site comes back. I'd wanted to upload some stuff to it. That was hours ago.

If it hasn't returned to life by the time you read this, my apologies.

Meanwhile, I had to shut my Dell off at the CPU because it couldn't move itself form one website to another. I realize that's asking a LOT of any computer. Geesh. Imagine the amount of memory involved. To go from one site to ANOTHER.

So, I turned it off and back on. (I'm typing this at Bev's Dell--the one that works.) The HP is here, I'm happy to say, and it will be taking my Dell's place before long, but not until we've set everything up in my new (upstairs) digs.

Replacing my Dell with a computer will be the happiest experience of my life. Someone will be buying the thing from me, and I've made it known that, without a RAM increase, the unit may as well function as a phone stand.

And it's had time to return to life. So, I guess I'll be switching back to it. As if I wanted to.

We could've been a team, me and my Dell. This nasty, hurtful divorce didn't have to happen. But it's too late now.

Its makers, as far as I'm concerned, can go to Dell.


Lee

Halloween Suite, Part 1

Mad blogger/composer Lee Hartsfeld, looking the part.

So, anyway, dig the ghostly manifestation just above my head to the left. A light reflection, you say? Ha! My camera flash was off. And the only lights turned on in the kitchen were the fluorescents on the ceiling and the 60-watt bulb burning right above me.

That, plus I was shooting into a mirror. So, there's no way that mini-blob could possibly be a light reflection. Or, say, a speck of white paint on the glass. Impossible.

No, folks, we're looking at a tiny blob from the "other side." Maybe a ghost was throwing a spitwad at me. (Gross!)

Enough of that. It's time for Part One of my Halloween Suite. I'm writing this suite as quickly as possible, which means maybe an hour per section. Just call me MusicCrafters®--Pieces in About an Hour.

(Lenscrafters® just called. They're suing me.)

And the first (ahem) movement is called Herrmannesque. After the great film composer Bernard Herrmann. I plunked this out at my Casio after hearing Herrmann's Suspense radio theme, courtesy of Howard. I figured I, too, could layer two or more keys for maximum polytonal effect.

Actually, my polytonality isn't too out there, but I've always wanted to type "for maximum polytonal effect."

I should mention that Rosie knocked the AC adaptor's plug out of my Casio while I was writing this. Her comment on my music?

The second part was composed in step-time fashion into my Dell. (The old if-something-sounds-good-save-it method.) It's called Phone Calls from the Dead, after one of the most hilarious paranormal volumes ever unleashed on humanity.

And you can hear Halloween Suite by clicking the link below. Sweet.

Halloween Suite (Lee Hartsfeld, 2006)

1. Herrmannesque
2. Phone Calls from the Dead

By the way, at this time in cyberspace, Blogger's Spell Check still doesn't recognize the word "blogger."


Lee