Tim hungry

(CHOMP, CHOMP!!) MMMMM!! GOOOOOD!!!!


Lee

Comment of the month

Left at a June, 2006 post:

can u send amazing tv themes to me

tks

pete@dsuper.net

I don't know who "u" is. If I did, I'd ask if he'd be willing to send "amazing tv themes" to pete.

Why the heck do I go to the trouble of putting this blog up? I swear to God. No profit, no recognition, nothing in it for me except the love of what I'm doing. Which is nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but every time some idiot treats this site like a free mp3 service, I'm that much closer to clicking the "Delete This Blog" button.

One of those days, you know? Even as I write this essay, I know that the guilty imbeciles aren't going to read it. They don't read. U know what i mean?

Oops--forgive the punctuation. I meant to type, u know what i mean

im sure u do.

If you're a blogger who longs to lose his or her mind, all you've got to do is think really hard about why you blog. About what you're getting out of it. That'll do it. Just focus hard on those mysteries, and you'll emerge from your trance a raving, insane thing. Works for me.

In other news, I'm hoping to have a post of "pop gospel" for tomorrow. Contrary to the idiotic myth that Christian music is, by nature, some fringe, "outsider" thing, sacred music was in fact very mainstream until the great market-to-youth movement of the late 1960s--you know, when the entertainment industry wizards decided that adult consumers can get screwed. Sacred music being old-fashioned, it was tossed out with Lawrence Welk, Hee Haw, and anything else that wasn't gear, man. If not tomorrow, the Sunday next. There'll be familiar titles--I Believe, He's Got the Whole World in Hands, Open Up Your Heart--along with those not so (He, The Note in the Bottle). Excitement City, U.S. of A.

u'll luv it.


lee

Two by Toni--"Once," "Never." (But never once?)

Two fabulous 1951 sides by Toni Arden, with Percy Faith's usual incomparable support. By ingeniously employing label dating guides, I was able to place this 78 at 1951. To determine the artists' names, I looked at the label. (Ha! And you thought I was dumb.)

Third and forth step--choosing the right playback speed and stylus type.

What a voice. At times, Toni reminds me of Barbra Streisand, though you may disagree. (Yes, you have my permission. Mine is an open-minded blog.) I conquered some hiss and distortion by discreet use of filters and with my patented "layered" EQ'ing. A VTF of 5.5 helped, too.

I know 78s. They know me. We work together.

Two of the finest pop vocal sides ever produced on this planet:

Two by Toni--"Once," Never."

PLAYLIST

Once (Russell-Spina)--Toni Arden with Percy Faith Orch., 1951.
Never (Daniel-L. Newman)--Toni Arden with Percy Faith Orch., 1951.

Yes, "TBT" at MY(P)WHAE, ripped with a VTF of 5.5.


Lee

Friday Frenzy of Sounds!

"Must... not... look... as if... I'm posing... for this... photo."--Lee

A Friday frenzy of sounds--aren't you excited? Me, too! Let's see--what to tell? Well, everything in this playlist was ripped from 45- and 33 1/3-rpm recordings, save for the two Stan Freeman titles, which come from a vinyl DJ 78. The easiest 78 rips of my career--light application of the decrackler and dehisser filters, a few edited-out pops, and... like new. Well, new in the 53-years-ago sense.

I like the Freeman sides. Great piano and interesting singing--both by Freeman, I'm guessing. The piano is him, for sure. The very musical but odd-sounding vocal is probably the reason Poor Papa received Dr. Demento airplay in 1992. (Source: The Mad Music Archive) Now you can hear it here, with the flip side as an added bonus. (Added bonuses, some might argue, being the only kind.)

The playlist continues along a jazzy and ragtimey line with Tennesee Ernie's Stack-o-Lee (featuring Joe "Fingers" Carr on the fingers--er, the old 88), Skip Martin and His Prohibitionists' Charleston, Enoch Light's Who? and Jean Goldkette and His Orchestra recreating a 1920s chart in 1959 for RCA Camden. Then there's Stepin Fetchit's weird and wonderful Jet Zoom--not an old-time jazz or ragtime number, by any means, but near-bebop big band.

And I've always wanted to type "near-bebop big band."

Fetchit's scat singing makes Cab Calloway's sound reserved, and notice how the much his inflection matches Bill Cosby's. The nonsense syllables themselves are even more like Cosby. And you heard it all here.

The remaining tracks are just as frenzy-inducing, so better rush like mad to the zip file, which you can reach by clicking manically on the following link: Friday Frenzy of Sounds!

PLAYLIST

STACK-O-Lee--Tennessee Ernie and Joe "Fingers" Carr, 1951.
JET-ZOOM-Stepin Fechit and Orch.
MY PRETTY GIRL--Jean Goldkette and His Orch., 1959.
POOR PAPA--Stan Freeman, 1954.
MY OLD HEART THROB--Stan Freeman, 1954.
ALL NIGHT LONG--Joe Houston and His Rockets, 1956.
BACKBEAT SYMPHONY--101 Strings, 1958 (?).
DRIVE IN--Richard Hayman and His Orchestra, 1953.
WHO?--Enoch Light and the Charleston All Stars, 1956.
HONKY TONK TRAIN BLUES--Lenny Dee, 1956.
THE UNTOUCHABLES--Skip Martin and His Prohibitionists, 1961.
CHARLESTON--Skip Martin and His Prohibitionists, 1961.



Lee

Dorothy Shay

I have no idea why, but I've been thinking about Dorothy Shay, "The Park Avenue Hillbilly," who started recording as such for the Columbia label in 1947. Her 1949 recording (Columbia 38418) of Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebuck reveals a singer with high-quality pipes--imagine a female Perry Como.

I just found an mp3 of this very track on-line, but the quality is pretty dreadful. I'm not even sure the right stylus was used--I suspect otherwise. Anyway, 1949 major-label 78s sound superb, as a rule, unless they've been poorly taken care of.

I don't have a copy of the side myself, else I'd put it up. I don't have anything by Ms. Shay, come to think of it. Kind of strange that I don't, but I can't have everyone, I guess. Anyway, I had no problem coming up with the info for this side. Save for finding the year of release in a 78 rpm dating guide, everything turned up via Google, through which I discovered 1) that Shay started with Columbia in 1947, 2) that the song in question was published in 1949, 3) and that Shay recorded for Capitol in 1953 and 1954.

Amazing what one can discover in the span of a few minutes, and using the most standard tools.


Lee

Great Sounds for Tuesday!--This I Know; Go to Hell; Blues in the Night; Until Yesterday; more!

A bunch of stuff ripped from vinyl for your listening pleasure. For Tuesday or any day. Any time of day, too. Or night. On any planet. In any star system. Local restrictions apply.

Kicking off our audio bash is Fred Waring's 1942 recording of Blues in the Night, which features (along with the kitchen sink) the husband-and-wife piano team of Livingston Gearhart and Virginia Morley. Livingston co-arranged. I love this. Some would call it hokey, but I don't care what they think.

And we have Nina Simone with Go to Hell, one of my all-time favorite song titles--pretty much up there with Huh? and Mothballs and Ah-ha!, song-title-wise. A good tune to go with the title, too. (Toto, too? No, unless he wants to come.)

And I had some more things to say, but they've left my mind. Or maybe my mind left them. I don't know....

To the great music for Tuesday: Great Sounds for Tuesday! (Click on link to reach zip file.)

PLAYLIST

BLUES IN THE NIGHT--Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians, 1942.
GO TO HELL--Nina Simone, 1967.
MINNEAPOLIS--Jill Corey, 1954.
BROTHER FATS--Ray Anthony and His Orch., 1951.
WINTERGREEN FOR PRESIDENT--Hugo Winterhalter Orch.
I'LL BUILD A STAIRWAY TO PARADISE--June Valli w. Joe Reisman O.
LOVE IS SWEEPING THE COUNTRY--Hugo Winterhalter O.
UNTIL YESTERDAY--Tony Bennett w. Percy Faith, 1954.
PLEASE DRIVER (ONCE AROUND THE PARK AGAIN)--Tony Bennett, Percy Faith, 1954.
THIS I KNOW-- Gisele MacKenzie w. Shorty Rogers O., 1957.
COME TO ME FOR EVERYTHING--Jill Corey w. Percy Faith O., 1955.

Lee

Cats in snow

Combine record snowfall with cats, and what do you get? Cats in snow. The cats are Cookie; Savio; Cookie; Cookie and Tommy. We see them exploring the pre-shoveled back yard. Which didn't look terribly different after I shoveled the walks.

Sixteen inches--the most in central Ohio this time of year since 1860-something. This room was here for both snowfalls--the room I'm sitting in, which was built around the 1850s. It's witnessed more weather than it cares to remember.

Since I took these shots, our neighbors have plowed out our driveway and warmer temps have melted some of the snow. Hopefully, this is the last big surprise of winter.

Knock on wood. (Knock, knock) Well, particle board with walnut veneer, anyway.


Lee

Sunday morning gospel, March 9--The Meeting in the Air

Wow. I just discovered that A.P. Carter wrote Mae Taylor Roberts' 1925 classic The Meeting in the Air. Amazing! But, after all, this is the guy who, at eight years of age, wrote Ada Blenkhorn and Howard Entwisle's Keep on the Sunny Side of Life (1899). Writing other people's songs was something an A.P. speciality. However, there's no truth to the rumor that his initials stood for "A Plagiarist."

Anyway, I'm sure you'll love the Prairie Grove Gospel Messengers' lively version of Meeting. Other top-tappin' titles include Ezekiel's Boneyard, I Came Here to Stay, and I've Found a Hiding Place (whose recording date I entered as mp3 info for the file, but where did it go?). Only two slow songs in the mix, and both are terrific--the Stuart-Hamblen-penned Until Then and The Branham Family's excellent instrumental version of Just a Closer Walk. Falling someplace in between is The Plainsmen Quartet's masterful, leisurely version of When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. Just a bunch of great stuff in this playlist. You don't have to believe to know when you're hearing great gospel music....

Click here to reach zip file: Sunday morning gospel, March 9.

PLAYLIST

The Meeting in the Air--Prairie Grove Gospel Messengers
I Came Here to Stay--Prairie Grove Gospel Messengers
Until Then (Hamblen)--Palermo Brothers, Y.F.C. Choir, 1958.
Power in the Blood--The Branham Family
When We All Get to Heaven--Plainsmen Quartet
I'll Have a New Life--Prairie Grove Gospel Messengers
Ezekiel's Bone Yard--The Tabor Family
When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder--The Plainsmen Q.
I've Found a Hiding Place--Carl Story
Just a Closer Walk--The Branham Family
Ain't Gonna Lay My Armour Down--Branham Family
Are You Washed in the Blood--The Louvin Brothers


Lee