Incredible music, but they've got a beef with the blogger

Earlier this year--in fact, twelve days before my Birthday--I received a more or less positive review from a place called Metafilter (whatever that word means). More or less, they loved my music and didn't care a lot for the guy putting it up. Which I can live with. I mean, I have to.

Kári Tulinius, who recommended my blog (they meta-recommend things to one another over there), had to pretty much backtrack and apologize for leading people there (I mean, here), because by the time her fellow above-and-beyonders got to my blog, I had written posts expressing my disappointment in The Huffington Post's way of doing things (I'd started to sense that H.P. was a con), PLUS I was documenting WFMU's Beware of the Blog's latest instance of removing someone's comments because they didn't match the party line.

And I have this blasted habit of using words when I write. I like to keep things more literary than journalistic, mainly because the weblog form gives writing room in which to breathe. Why should I keep everything sounding like a Dragnet prologue when I'm neither under a deadline nor beholden to a word count? But too many words causes issues for some. Especially those who use the meta prefix. (Irony Alert, Irony Alert. Beeeep, beeep, beeep!)

Flapjax at midnite wrote: "The blogger seems to have a bit of a beef with WFMU's Beware of the Blog. Censorship issues, says he. Hmmm..." Hmmmm.

roll truck roll: "Wow. Quite the criticism of the WFMU blog there."

Blingo: "Great stuff."

Kári returned with these words: "Aww damn. Had I seen the top entry I would've held the post back a few days. Not because I think WFMU is sacrosanct, but because his fraught relationship with Beware of the Blog (and Huffington Post) is not what draws me to the site. When I started to write the post the silly picture was the top entry. Oh well. I don't see it stopping anyone from checking out the music, so no harm is done."

Glad that no harm was done! Now I can sleep at night. And, you know--it's not as if the Internet existed for such subversive self-expression as mine. Thinking outside of the box is great--just so long as you don't do it. That's the catch.

But no harm was done. The Internet is still pulsing along, or whatever it does. And Kari doesn't think WFMU is sacrosanct. Obviously. No one at MF does--which explains why they fretted and focused and rationalized over the fact I called the place for censoring comment-section critics. Makes sense. How dare I even suggest that wiping out unwanted comments is not only wrong but downright petty? What am I, some sort of moralist?

It's just that she didn't want to take up her fellow Metafilterers' time with my fraught relationship with two blogs.

The nicest words came from Jack Mottram (whose nickname, Jack_Mo, is a truncated version of his real name): "Your man has had a bit of a beef with WFMU for a while - the ongoing and incredibly tedious flood of Christian comedy posts were all to score points against a single post at WFMU. I've taken to skipping the words and just clicking the links to download the often incredible music posted."

Ongoing and tedious? I spent several weeks rounding up examples of Christian comedy. My finds included an early-1920s Homer Rodeheaver disc containing short, stand-up-style comedy bits and the monster hit Here Come the Rattlesnakes, which WFMU's "single post" had managed to overlook. Along with a couple of Christian stand-up comics of the 1960s. The points I scored were points of scholarship. The truth, in response to gibberish. The WMFU survey had Christian comedy popping up long after it really did, and as an extension of Christian ventriloquism. (Right.)

The piece was nothing but the usual ritual bashing of faith, except, in this instance, it was masquerading as a survey. Ironically, it got me interested in the topic. I wanted to see what would happen if someone actually researched it.

Anyway, I don't detect a shred of anti-Christian sentiment in Jack's words.

It's too bad I have no means of making my music files unavailable to Jack, because I would do so in a heartbeat. Nothing personal.

In the meantime, many of the gripes I aired about Huff-Po were also expressed by syndicated columnist Froma Harrop in a terrific recent piece. It's possible my points had a point. And it looks like they were ahead of the curve. Back to you, Metafilter.

No, just kidding. As much as I appreciate the plug, I would prefer they never get back to me. Please? Thanks.


Lee

Irony--It's not the iron next to Iron F.

Few tracks work less well with the week after Christmas than this 1953 Howlin' Wolf gem. Great music, but its message comes a little too late.

Click to reach the mp3 for: Hold to Your Money.




Lee

What Christmas Means, and Other Topics

From Encyclopedia Britannica Online:

Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas (“mass on Christ's day”) is of fairly recent origin. The earlier term Yule may have derived from the Germanic jol or the Anglo-Saxon geol, which referred to the feast of the winter solstice. The corresponding terms in other languages—Navidad in Spanish, Natale in Italian, Noël in French—all probably denote nativity. The German word Weihnachten denotes “hallowed night.” Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike, devoid of Christian elements, and marked by an increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts. In this secular Christmas celebration, a mythical figure named Santa Claus plays the pivotal role.

Sounds cool to me. Thank you, Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

I forgot what other topics I was going to.... um. Oh, yeah--I forgot to include the Bing Crosby-Andrews Sisters Jingle Bells outtake of 1943 in any of this year's sleighlists. So, here it is. Do check it out: Jingle Bells.

I believe it was a botched rehearsal preceding a live show, but don't quote me.

This third Christmas at Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else has been fun, and now I'm going to have to find more stuff. For next Christmas, I mean. Blogging is a full-time job, a way of life, a kind of living. We who blog are Blog. (Not Borg, but Blog.)

Tonight, I was reading a group of comments from 2004 (at which site, I don't recall), and the subject was Line Material's Christmas records. Someone reported that, because he grew up with the things, every time someone says "Merry Christmas," he's compelled to add "...from Line Material."

I have that problem, too, and simply from having featured them for three Christmases in a row.

Time to get some sleep before I start making any sense. Merry Christmas! (From Line Material.)



Lee

Merry Christmas from Line Material and MY(P)WHAE!

Here are eight of the ten Line Material titles I featured this Christmas. The other two, kindly provided by Captain OT, were Canadian editions of The Sounds of Christmas and Santa's Factoree, and I thought it might cause confusion (to me, anyway) if I included them in this zip, what with the doubled titles. So, here's a separate link for them: CLM's Sounds of Christmas and Santa's Factoree. That way, you'll have all ten titles. Unless you already have them, in which case you'll have twenty.

Thanks again to Captain OT for contributing to the cause. And Ernie, for providing the oldest title on this zip, The Magic of Christmas, and Stubbysfears, for providing the 1964 CLM holiday not-so-classic, The Story of Santa Claus. You see, what we basically have here are six (eight, counting the two CLM variations) fabulous and immaculately-produced Christmas kiddie records preceded and succeeded by mediocre efforts.

Stubbysfears warned me, by the way. I was the one who insisted he rip the file, so I take full responsibility for whatever damage I may have done to the Line Material holiday-45 reputation. (I trust it will survive a couple of blah titles.)

Yes, the playlist starts and ends on a so-so note, but the titles in between are like nothing you've ever heard or will ever hear, unless you've heard them, in which case please forget what I just said.

Here's the link to Line Material 2007

LINE MATERIAL SLEIGHLIST

The Magic of Christmas, c. 1956
Santa's Northpole Band, 1957
The Sounds of Christmas, 1958
The Kinds of Christmas, 1959
Santa's Factoree, 1960
The Day That Santa Was Sick, 1961
Let's Trim the Christmas Tree, 1962
The Story of Santa Claus, 1964

And Captain OT's two CLM editions: The Sounds of Christmas; Santa's Factoree.

Lee

Four recordings of "Carol of the Drum"

I would happily link to the Wellesley College bio of Katherine K. Davis, composer of Carol of the Drum (a.k.a. The Little Drummer Boy), but something on the page is giving my computer fits. So I'm not going to link there....

At any rate, I've told the Carol of the Drum story before--how it was stolen and retitled The Little Drummer Boy, and how the tempo was slowed down considerably for the version we all know. Or maybe I didn't mention that last part.

The first three versions featured here are fast and spirited; the last--Jack Halloran's version of 1957--features the slower, statelier treatment we're more familiar with. The famous 1958 recording by Harry Simeone was based heavily on the 1957 Halloran version.

Checking my copy of Now We Sing of Christmas, the Simeone LP on which Little Drummer Boy first appeared, I see that the label gives credit to Simeone only (!). My 45 copy of the single gives Katherine co-credit, though. But is my single an original pressing? I'm not enough of a record nerd to know.

I'd love to find out if Ms. Davis had to lay down the law to acquire that co-composer credit. For her own song, no less.

So, here are four Carol of the Drums--the first from 1952, the other three from 1957. For sixteen years the song managed to keep its original title, prior to emerging on the 1958 charts as a "new" Christmas carol. Behind the most familiar titles, we find some of the weirdest histories.

The Trapp Family Singers' beautiful, and beautifully understated 1952 version remains unmatched in this blog's book. And I recently noticed that they're singing three-part harmony over the "Pum"'s and not the two-part we're used to hearing. On that fascinating note....

Click here to reach the music: Carol of the Drum X 4


"CAROL OF THE DRUM" SLEIGHLIST

The Trapp Family Singers, 1952.
The Testor Chorus, 1957.
St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir, 1957.
The Jack Halloran Singers, 1957.




Lee