Tooth gone

It came out in pieces, and after any number of yanks. The experience was not pleasant. Turns out two of the roots were considerably curved, and in opposite directions. I was expecting quick extraction, but the Dental God had other plans, I guess.

Thanks a lot, Dental God.

Speaking of yanks, I forgot to quip to my dentist that "The yanks are coming." I've loved that pun ever since I heard it on a Little Rascals episode. Of course, that pun probably refers to multiple extractions vice one tooth that requires 20 tugs to come out.

Oddly enough, the dental assistant told me there'd be no problem with pain now that the source of the pain (the abscess) is gone. Yeah, right. Ouch, ouch, double-ouch. But pain pills are enabling me to cope. For a few hours after the extraction, it literally hurt to laugh. Opening my mouth wide enough to so much as smile caused sharp pain in my right jaw, but that pain has lessened a lot. So, as long as I don't press that portion of my face, I'm okay. But, of course, the impulse to press on it has me pressing on it. (Ouch!)

Some swelling on my right side, I'm noticing. Which reminds me--I forgot to ask the asst. if there'd be swelling. Anyway, she means well--she's just not a good communicator. The dentist himself is laconic, but he does explain things. And don't get me wrong--he's a super-nice sort. A good, honest, capable dentist, and I haven't always been that lucky.


Lee

Bird in the house

The cats are going crazy....

I opened the front door in the hopes that he or she will find his or her way out.

UPDATE:

The bird escaped, unharmed, from an upstairs window. The only thing that got knocked over was Bev's big lamp. And maybe her small hamper--I don't remember.

It didn't look like a war zone, by any means, but I'll bet the starling is describing it as such to his friends and family. ("An ARMY of cats! An army of them!!")

A happy ending, though the cats might disagree.


Lee

Lee Presents... Tunes of the Beatles!!

Low-budget Fab Four covers, all anonymous, and all of them fun. A few "gear" turns here and there, even. Most are U.K. issues, with the Beatlemania LP (Top Six TSL 1) usually going for inane price tags on eBay--except in my case (about four bucks, plus postage to the U.S.). The kind of stuff I love, but not for $69.00 to $99.00.

1964, I believe. Not for sure, but almost. It's moderately definite. Somewhat absolute.

The last two numbers on our fab-list come from the same label, Top Six ("The teenagers choice"), only a 45 rpm EP, this time. They are Bad To Me and She Loves You, the latter not the same as the Beatlemania track. Kind of odd, really. I mean, when a budget label doesn't reuse its own material.

Help!, Eleanor Rigby, and Birthday are courtesy of Columbia Record Club and Columbia House (same difference, I'm assuming). Now you know as much as I do about these....

Click here to hear: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE


FAB-LIST

I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND--From Beatlemania (Top Six TSL-1)
ALL MY LOVING--Same
SHE LOVES YOU--Same
I WANNA BE YOUR MAN--Same
LOVE ME DO--Same
PLEASE PLEASE ME--Same
FROM ME TO YOU--Same
HELP!--From Top Pop Song Hits, Vol. 2 (Columbia Rec. Club D-127) (1966)
ELEANOR RIGBY--The Candy-Pop Generation (Columbia House DS-490) (1969)
BIRTHDAY--Same
SHE LOVES YOU--From 45 rpm EP (Top Six T-6505)
BAD TO ME--Same



Lee

I get wonderful Spam

"Happy with them all" reads the subject line. The text is priceless. Quoted in full, save for the link, which has been removed for the safety of all, and which I didn't dare click on:


Can you figure that out - that is how Eric handled his meds situation

{Link}

auctorial "No, it is helpless for the first expenses deafening fact of your
settling
"No."

Glad that Eric found a way to handle his meds situation. But the deafening fact of my settling "No" is a whole other issue. I'm thinking of starting a discussion site, with the deafening fact of my settling "No" serving as the kick-off topic.

In other important news, I just won what appears to be a pristine copy of the big 1926 hit for Smith's Sacred Singers, Pictures from Life's Other Side. My two copies are less than adequate, so this is good news. I found my first copy years ago in a (where else?) Salvation Army store. At the time, I thought "other side" meant the spirit world. Wrong--it's "other side" as in, other side of town/the tracks/etc. The song dates back at least to the 1890s, and it's typical of such socially liberal ballads (Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight, Father's a Drunkard and Mother Is Dead, Only a Tramp, etc.). This song type was absorbed into country music, where it's made fun of for its allegedly maudlin and over the top character. I guess that's easier than facing the grim reality that these songs were, not too far back in our history, grim reality.

Lee

Sunday morning gospel--Smith's Sacred Singers (1926-1928)

First, let me apologize to any Internet Explorer users encountering a long break between the image and the text. I find that, when I do a proper text/image line-up on Firefox, it doesn't work for I.E., and vice versa.

I don't suppose there's a way around this problem.

And... I have yet to hear back from our tech, Steve, whom I want to diagnose whatever's going on between my sound-editing software (MAGIX Cleaning Lab 14), my PC, and/or my CD-ROM. In the meantime, I ripped today's 78s on 14 and experienced two aborted CD burns. The third, oddly enough, worked without a hitch--no freeze-up, nothing. So now we know that, whatever the issue is, it's on and off.

I think these nine files of 1926-1928 78s came out pretty well--they took some work, for sure, since only one of these discs was in above-average condition. The rest were eh to ugh. ("So, how's it look, Lee?" "Eh....") But all are listenable, and some even sound good.

As we discussed last post, it seems that anything that isn't familiar in the mass-marketed-music sense ends up with one or more of the following labels: oddball, outsider, weird, eh, and so on. But the gloriously gruff and aggressive style of Smith's Sacred Singers is straight out of Sacred Harp (a.k.a. shape-note) singing, an area of music that is anything but poorly documented. The group's Columbia label recordings were extremely popular in their day, so, again... outsider they were and are not. Then again, they don't sound like Elvis, Frank, Bing, or Beck, so....

The music of SSS screams pop culture, but that term has almost lost its meaning anymore. The main problem is the first word, whose definition has changed considerably over the past few decades. Once, everyone knew that "popular" meant just that--everyone. Everyone, in the sense of the common man and common culture. But today, no one is common. No one! Just ask them. ("Excuse me, sir. Are you common?" "Heck, no!")

This all has something to do with why people become convinced that this or that record is outside of the pop category. That's my best guess.

Really, "pop culture" has to go as a term, since, on a popular level, people don't know what popular means. So we'll have to call it something else. Schmopular, maybe.

Meanwhile, I call the following nine tracks marvelous.

Click here to reach zip file: Smith's Sacred Singers, 1926-1928.

PLAYLIST

HE WILL SET YOUR FIELDS ON FIRE
I WILL SING OF MY REDEEMER
SHOUTING ON THE HILLS
PALMS OF VICTORY (Actually, DELIVERANCE WILL COME)
THE HOME OVER THERE
MY LATEST SUN IS SINKING FAST
PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD
GOSPEL WAVES
HE BORE IT ALL

From Columbia label 78s.

I mislabeled Deliverance Will Come as Palms of Victory, which happens to be an alternate title. Oops. It's also been known by other names over the many decades since it was written. My Latest Sun is Sinking Fast is much better known as Angel Band. The words, by Rev. Jefferson Hascall, come from 1860, and were originally called The Land of Beulah. Music is by the great William B. Bradbury. In spite of it all, O Brother, Where Art Thou? credited the whole thing to "Traditional." The alternative would have involved research (an old-fashioned term for Googling).


Lee