Halloween at MY(P)WHAE--Part 5! Bob and Ray, Cyril Smith, Tommy Roe, Dracula, more!

The final slaylist! (Though there may be supplemental offerings to come.) We start with Bob and Ray's five superb routines from 1958's Bob and Ray Throw a Stereo Spectacular (my copy is pictured above, masking tape and all), then proceed to Homer and Jethro's version of a British novelty hit, Don't Jump Off of the Roof, Dad, a heart-freezing, feel-bad song perfectly in keeping with the season.

And we have a number of repeats--all deserving of their return status--including Tommy Roe's Blue Ghost, the Gene Moss gem I Want to Bite Your Hand, Eddy Arnold's Sittin' By Sittin' Bull (penned by Jimmie Driftwood!), The Dominoes' Bells, and.... Hm. We've got a lot of second- and third-run jewels.

Let's talk about the "new" offerings. Una Mae Carlisle's Strange is hardly a Halloween tune, but I thought it would be a cute title to stick in the playlist. That, plus it's a superb side. This is the first thing I've heard by Una, and I'm impressed. Arthur Godfrey's version of The Thing is a very recent addition to my collection, and it's a worthy version, even if no one does it like Danny Kaye. Cyril Smith's With Her Head Tucked Under Her Arm is not the Rudy Vallee version--same singer, different (however similar) recording. I wasn't able to date the Castle label (its parents said I'm too old), but I do believe this is from the 1930s. But believing isn't knowing....

Inner Sanctum is a repeat from last year, but this copy (of the 78) is way better than the previous one. With luck, I'll find a totally noise-free copy someday, but this'll do until that find is found.

Douglas (I'm a Mummy) Byng was a mega-talented British cabaret comic who looked like Eric Idle and who sounded like a one-man Monty Python troupe. This 1963 recording is a remake of the less effective 1930s original. The Rod-McKuen-penned The Mummy sounds a little juvenile next to Byng's gem, but it has its moments. As (I think) I mentioned last year, McKuen seems to have been inspired by a ghost story called Bloody Fingers, which this closely resembles. "Dor," who is credited alongside Bob McFadden, is (guess who?) Rod himself.

Torero qualifies for slaylist inclusion because of the final verse about the men in white. And I've always wanted to type "Torero qualifies for slaylist inclusion because of the final verse about the men in white."

Now, I gotta fix the double-spacing between slaylist titles (how it happened, I know not). Then we'll be good to groan. I mean, good to go.

Click here for the music: Halloween at MY(P)WHAE, Part 5!

SLAYLIST

BOB AND RAY VISIT DR. AHKBAR AT THE CASTLE--Bob and Ray, 1958.
BOB AND RAY IN THE ROUND ROOM, 1958.
BOB AND RAY: THE THING, 1958.
BOB AND RAY IN THE LABORATORY (Rifles-Surf-Cat Fight), 1958.
BOB AND RAY: THE END, 1958.
DON'T JUMP OFF OF THE ROOF, DAD--Homer and Jethro, 1961.
WITH HER HEAD TUCKED UNDER HER ARM--Cyril Smith, year unknown.
BLUE GHOST--Tommy Roe, Jordanaires, 1962.
I WANT TO BITE YOUR HAND--Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964.
I'M A MUMMY (Harrington-Byng-Hobson)--Douglas Byng, 1963.
STRANGE (Owens-Goehr)--Una Mae Carlisle, Don Redman Orch.
THE JOLLY GREEN GIANT (Easton)--The Chords.
MR. JAWS--Dickie Goodman, 1975.
BEAR DANCE (Bartok)--National Symphony Orch., 1962.
IT'S A MONSTERS' HOLIDAY--Buck Owens, 1974.
THE THING--Arthur Godfrey with Archie Bleyer Orch. and Cho., 1950.
SITTIN' BY SITTIN' BULL (Jimmie Driftwood)--Eddy Arnold, 1959.
DEATH OF AN ANGEL--Donald Woods and the Vel-Aires, 1955.
SORCERER'S APPRENTICE--Del-Vikings, 1963.
THE VOODOO MAN (C. Quick)--Del Vikings, with Carl Stevens Orch., 1958.
INNER SANCTUM (Tinturin)--Charlie Spivak Orch., feat Irene Daye, 1948.
THE BELLS (Ward-Marks)--Billy Ward and His Dominoes, 1952.
TORERO--Julius La Rosa with Nick Perito Orch. and Cho., 1958.
BALLAD OF JAMES DEAN--Four Tunes, 1956.
SPOOK'S HOLIDAY--Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers, 1947.
THE MUMMY (Rod McKuen)--Bob McFadden and Dor, 1959.
AH-HA! (Clare-Monaco)--Paul Whiteman, 1925.
THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATER MEETS THE WITCH DOCTOR--Joe South, 1958.
IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING (Grieg)--National Symphony Orch., c. Howard Mitchell, 1962.


Enjoy! Bu-wa-ha-haa-haaaa, etc.!


Lee

"Nuance," and other deceased words

For a while, it was "problematic." Which means puzzling, open to doubt, baffling, even enigmatic. Confusing. Hard to solve.

And how is the word used? To mean "filled with problems." A problematic thing is supposedly a thing filled with problems. How did it come to mean this? Who knows?

For that matter, how the hell did "verbiage" (which means prolixity or verbosity) come to mean word choice? And why did my supervisors at my next to last company misspell it "verbage"?

Leethinks that people are ceasing to give a hoot what words mean.

This wonderful column continues at MY(P)WHAE Text.



Lee

Amen. Right on. Thank you!!!!

From the New York Times:

Representative Pete Stark, the California Democrat who is chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, told Republicans: “You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”

Amen. Right on. Thank you, Rep. Stark.

Many on the right would have him apologize, but he won't. Nor should he for speaking the truth. In fact, this was his response (courtesy of AR News):

"I have nothing but respect for our brave men and women in uniform and wish them the very best," said Stark. "But I respect neither the Commander-in-Chief who keeps them in harms way nor the chickenhawks in Congress who vote to deny children health care."

Amen. Right on. Thank you, Rep. Stark.

Meanwhile, the Huff-and-Puffington Post, which never fails to bash Democrats for allegedly not speaking up, and which recently went so far as to criticize Nancy Pelosi for (gasp!) praying, doesn't seem to care about Stark's stand. Meanwhile, they've posted a blog essay entitled "Dems' Cowardice Defies Description" (topic: the Domestic Survelliance Bill).

The Daily Kos--which, unlike Fluffington Compost, is a liberal website--was praising Stark for his comments even before the veto override vote.


Lee

Count Hartsfeldula Presents... Horrible Halloween Humor!

Cool photo, if I don't say so myself. It would be even cooler if I'd typed in the correct words--"Horrible Halloween Humor" vice "Halloween Jokes." Oops.

Oh, well, I'm only human. Except when I'm a vampire (see photo). I wasn't going for a Mardi Gras look, believe it or not--that's just how it happened.

Count Hartsfeldula looks just like me, except that he has fangs and purple hair. And he sounds like me, save for his outrageously terrible Bela Lugosi accent. In order to get my--er, his--accent exactly wrong, I wrote the words phonetically in the screept (script).

All of these bits were penned by me, and I do mean penned--with chintzy, twelve-to-a-pack ballpoints. The kind that littered the tables in my previous--and, to date, last--apartment.

And every word you'll hear in these bits (and even those you'll miss) were written down. In full. There are maybe three brief instances of ad-libbing. Otherwise, I'm reading from pieces of paper. If you notice any awkward pauses, that's me trying to read me.

All of these are reruns, albeit trimmed and enhanced with cool echo and reverb effects when such things are called for. (Or, as Count Hartsfeldula vood say, "Calt for.")

To the Horrible Halloween Jokes! Or Humor. Vaht-ever: Horrible Halloween Humor!


SLAYLIST

Horrible Halloween Jokes--Count Hartsfeldula, 2005.
The Mansion of Mystery--Lee Hartsfeld, 1998.
Count Hartsfeldula on the Supernatural--Count Hartsfeldula, 2005.
Terrible Tales of Terror--Lee Hartsfeld, 2005.
Johann Inrealmanus, Predicter of Things Yet to Come--Lee Hartsfeld, 1999.



Lee

Halloween at MY(P)WHAE, Part 4!

Greetings. Today's slaylist is an all-instrumental a-scare. I mean, affair. (Sorry--running out of puns.) Buried in this slaylist are some titles which promise scary sounds but deliver nary a shiver--Henri Rene's 1954 Madcap, for instance. It does have some fine, Lurch-style harpsichord, though. Similarly, A Kiss Before Dying is about as chilling as a rusty 1927 ice box, but it is the title tune from the 1956 suspense classic starring Robert Wagner. Whispering, a lovely but harmless standard, is played for us on an out of tune, tack-modified upright by someone called The Phantom. So, it just had to be added.

The rest range from mildly to clammily chilling. ("Clammily chilling"? Is that redundant?) In the mild camp are Ferde Grofe's 1963 Trick or Treat (Halloween Fantasy for Pizzicato Strings), commissioned by Andre Kostelanetz, and Erik Satie's Jack in the Box, as orchestrated by Darius Milhaud in 1926.

We get three versions of Charles Gounod's 1873 Funeral March of a Marionette, and only once under the correct title. They are Alfred Hitchcock Presents (as in, the theme from), March of the Marionettes, and (correct title). The third version, recorded in 1912 on the Columbia label, was restored by my cyber-friend Dan Gilmore and used with his permission.

And there are two excellent versions of Morton Gould's 1938 novelty, The Deserted Ballroom. And, oh, so much more. (I've always wanted to type "and, oh, so much more.")

To the slaylist: Halloween at MY(P)WHAE, Part 4!

SLAYLIST

THE DESERTED BALLROOM (Gould)--Mantovani and His Orch., 1955.
TRICK OR TREAT (Grofe)--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1976.
MAIN THEME FROM KING KONG (Barry)--Roger Williams, 1976.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS (Gounod)--Ralph Marterie & Marlboro Men, 1955.
DESERTED BALLROOM (Gould)--Elliot Everette Orch.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY (Mizzy)--Frank De Vol Orch., 1965.
FEAR (Main Title Theme from One Step Beyond) (Lubin)--The Ventures, 1964.
A KISS BEFORE DYING--Billy Regis Orch., 1956.
JACK IN THE BOX (Erik Satie; Orch. by Darius Milhaud)--Maurice Abravanel, Utah Symph. Orch., 1968.
MARCH OF THE MARIONETTES (Gounod)--Ray Bohr, pipe organ, 1956.
SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT (Quentin's Theme) (Cobert)--Hugo Winterhalter O., 1969 or 1970.
GRAVEYARD BLUES (Woods-Caldwell)--Earl Fuller and His Rector Novelty Orch., 1918.
SPOOKY SPOOKS (Claypoole)--Prince's Band, 1916.
BONEYARD SHUFFLE (Irving Mills-Hoagy Carmichael)--Red Nichols, Five Pennies, 1926.
DANCE OF THE DEMON (E. Holst)--Victor Arden-Phil Ohman, 1923.
FUNERAL MARCH OF A MARIONETTE (Gounod)--Russian Symphony Orch., 1912.
THE SNEAK (Herb Nacio Brown)--Club Royal Orch., 1922.
MADCAP (Harold Grant)--Henri Rene and His Orch., 1954.
WHISPERING--The Phantom, 1956.
RIDERS IN THE SKY--Melachrino Orchestra, 1958.



Lee

The Branham Family, progressive Halloween party

So... I've been invited to a progressive Halloween party. I'm thinking of coming as a Christian.

(Sound of tin cans crashing; slide trombone "slur;" fade)

That'll wig them out, for sure.

In other news, I recently heard from Ron Branham of the gospel singing group The Branham Family, who I featured on March 25th and April 1st. Ron wrote:

Saw your website. We are still ministering and singing. Glad to know that people are still enjoying our old music. My Mom passed away, and my Dad remarried. He does not travel anymore, but the rest of the group still travels almost every weekend. Check out our website. We don't have anything scheduled in your area right now. Ron Branham

Branham Family Ministries.

I told Ron it was great to hear from him, and I asked if I can quote his email at my blog. Needless to say, he gave permission. Check out the Branham Family Ministries website, which I linked to twice above. It's always wonderful to hear from artists I've featured at this blog.

Which reminds me--I have several such links to put up. That is, from people I've heard from over the months. Better late than never. My "Meaning to Do..." list has gotten awfully big, lately. But I think that's happening to a lot of us.

(No? You're perfectly organized? Yeah, well, thanks a lot.)

Read the rest of my delightful post here: How to Recognize Believers in Your Midst.



Lee

Sunday morning gospel--Doris Akers ("Miss Gospel Music") with the Harvest Time Choir

"Doris Akers' God-given skillfulness in directing our Harvest Time Choir in glorious harmony and Holy Ghost liberty will inspire you as it does us," begin the liner notes for Glad Tidings (pictured above). Inspiring is the word. Doris ("Miss Gospel Music") Akers (1923-1995) was a songwriter and performer possibly best known for her appearances with The Gaithers and for her songs Lead Me, Guide Me and Sweet, Sweet Spirit, both featured in the 1972 music documentary, Elvis on Tour. Here, she directs (from the piano) the Glad Tidings Temple's Harvest Time Choir of Vancouver, B.C. The organist is Doug Moody.

As nearly as I can determine, the Glad Tidings Temple is (or was) a Pentecostal church--Glad Tidings possibly being the denomination. Reg Layzell, who introduces Doris and the choir, was born in England but came to Canada with his family in 1907, when he was three. He became pastor of the Temple in 1948. I'm guessing about 1963 for this LP.

These excellent tracks make for some lively Sunday morning gospel.

Doris Akers, Harvest Time Choir--Glad Tidings.zip

TRACKS

1. Introduction by Paster Reg Layzell
2. Standing on the Promises
3. We've Come This Far By Faith
4. Praise God, Hallelujah
5. My Expectation
6. Sweet Jesus (D. Akers)
7. Every Time I Feel the Spirit
8. I Felt the Spirit
9. I'll Be There
10. Joy, Great Joy, To My Soul

See ya next Sunday!


Lee