How well I remember the joys of music blogging....

I can't wait for those days to come back. Unfortunately, between my MAGIX software refusing to burn files and our Windstream service apparently taking a Saturday holiday, I don't know when I'll be able to return to that role.

I'll keep you (no pun intended) posted. Meanwhile, here's a picture of Bev with Savio:

I survived "Ellen"

We were at the Eye Palace (as we call it), and Bev was getting her eyes tested. The appointment was longer than usual because an intern was present, and there I was in the big waiting room, where the big-screen TV with the big sound was blasting Ellen. Of course, the only way not to blast Ellen is to mute the sound completely.

I had no idea the show was so outrageously idiotic. Ellen had advertised the program as a return to Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas, circa 1966, but I watched those shows and can't recall audience members swaying and waving their arms and yelling "WEEEEE-OOOOOOO!" every twenty seconds. Maybe I'm suffering from selective-memory syndrome.

The first ten minutes were forever. Non-stop screaming as Ellen announced this, that, and something else. My favorite part had to be this one:

Ellen: Today is Earth Day.

Audience: WEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

They could have wrapped the show up at that point and we'd have missed nothing. Just an unbroken wall of noise punctuated by blah-blah-blah and the BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM of the 80-piece Disco band Ellen employs to fill in whenever a moment of quiet threatens to kill the mood.

One thing I'm happy to report, though--during one of the audience-cams, some of the swaying and waving women looked self-conscious, possibly even embarrassed. There may be hope for our species, after all.

Hey, I can email Ellen--says so at her site. Cool. Problem is, I don't speak WEEEEEEE-OOOOOOO!! Nor do I sway to BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. So, what would I say?

"Please get off the air" might come across as unfriendly, so I think I'll skip the email.

Paul Whiteman and Polkas!

If anyone has date information for the ethnic Victor discs listed below, please let me know! I'm guessing 1928-ish (which came just before 1929-ish). Wonderful stuff--I love early polkas and obereks.

Listen for Bing Crosby on 1927's I'm in Love Again--he's the guy with the raspy voice. Singing with Bing are Jack Fulton, Chester Gaylord, Austin Young, and Al Rinker.

All of these 78s were given the MAGIX treatment by me. The Whiteman and Shilkret sides showed up at this very blog (in earlier rips) back in 2006, as did two of the polka numbers, but it looks like the other four are making their debut. Thank you, "SEARCH BLOG" function.

You have my permission to blast these on your car stereo and shout "Polka!!" I am not responsible for any fallout from said behavior, however.

Click here to hear: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE


PLAYLIST

I'M IN LOVE AGAIN (Porter; Arranged by F. Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1927.
WHEREVER YOU GO, WHATEVER YOU DO--Nat Shilkret & Victor O., Franklyn Baur, vocal, 1927.
KUJAWIAK OD ZYCHLINA--Orchiestra Ulenskiego (Victor 18-81336)
KRAKOWIAKA POLKA--Same.
WESOLA DZIEWCZYNIA--OBEREK (HAPPY GIRL)--Fr. Dukli Wiejska Banda (Victor 18-80719)
COURTLY MAZURKA--Same.
OBERTAS FROM DUKLA--Fr. Dukli Wiejsak Banda (Victor 79268)
A DARK FOREST AROUND--POLKA--Same.


Lee

Internet "debate" and its effect on the economy, or, Faith-Bashing: A History

Read this fun and exciting essay at my Rants R Us blog, also known as MY(P)WHAE Text:

Internet "debate" and its effect on the economy.





Lee

Best headline of the week

Boehner Cites Cow Farts to Explain Global Warming.

















"I... I can't live with the guilt." "Me, neither."

Brittle, fast-spinning analog sound media and the music they contain

Or, yet more 78s.

No Monday morning is complete without a playlist that includes the Who Cares Waltz, Dancing Sun-Rays, and yet another version of Ferde Grofe's Suez. Not in my opinion, anyway.

And we start with reruns of Blaze Away and Marching Through Georgia, as played by the Massed Bands of the Aldershot Command. Pretty stunning fidelity for 1932, even if the middle isn't all it could be (the bass makes up for it, though). These new rips are just what the woofer ordered.

We move from massed to mood with Paul Whiteman's Chester Hazlett playing saxophone and clarinet on To a Wild Rose (arranged by Ferde Grofe) and Hazlett's own Valse Inspiration, which isn't so much inspired as beautifully put together.

Grofe again, as the co-writer (with Peter DeRose) of Suez, as performed by (Mike) Markels' Orchestra in 1922. Followed by the flip, All Over You, as in I'm.... If it were heavy metal, we'd be forced to interpret things differently.

Next, from the Standard label (which turns out to be Columbia), 1905's Dancing Sun-Rays, featuring Edward Rubsam on bells, and 1900's Tarantelle Sicilienne, featuring George Schweinfest on piccolo. We are up to date at MY(P)WHAE. Oh, the half-second or so of talking at the start of Tarantelle was accidentally left over from the Columbia master--I had to manipulate the stylus a little to catch it. For their Standard releases, Columbia left off the performer credits, and, appropriately, they edited out the spoken intros, too. Well, mostly.

We close with the London Concert Orch. performing the Who Cares Waltz. (I love that title!) No idea on the date--the label, Isiphone, doesn't show up in any of my discographical material. 1912-ish? Dunno.

To the sounds: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

PLAYLIST

BLAZE AWAY (Holzmann)--Massed Bands of the Aldershot Command, 1932.
MARCHING TO GEORGIA (Miller)--Same.
TO A WILD ROSE (MacDowell; Arranged by Ferde Grofe)--Chester Hazlett, 1929.
VALSE INSPIRATION (Hazlett)--Same.
SUEZ (Grofe-DeRose)--Markel's Orchestra, 1922.
ALL OVER YOU (Jerry Sullivan)--Same.
DANCING SUN-RAYS--CAPRICE (No kidding!)--Edward Rubsam, Bells w. Orch., 1905.
TARANTELLE SICILIENNE--George Schweinfest, Piccolo w. Orch., 1900.
WHO CARES WALTZ--The Royal London Orch.


























Lee

Sunday morning gospel: The Looper Trio--The Holy Hills of Home

(Reposted from May 20, 2007)

Based on one LP's worth of evidence, I'd say The Looper Trio of Monterey, Tennessee never made a bad track. The liner notes tell us this was their sixth LP, and I just read someplace (on the Internet) that they made at least twelve. Guess who I'll be looking for in the thrift bins?

Think an earthier version of The Chuck Wagon Gang. Better yet, hear them. As is my new custom, I'm offering all the tracks in zip-file form.

I love the group photo (above). Lots of collectors laugh at such natural poses, but I find them refreshing. Real people, looking real. A nice break from Hollywood, fabricated rock LP covers, skinny fashion models, and all the other forces that so tragically distort our species' self-view.

A fine rendition of Over in the Glory Land, the best version I've ever heard of Jesus Is Coming Soon, and spot-on harmonizing on every band of this very well-produced LP:

The Looper Trio--The Holy Hills of Home


Tracklist (taken verbatim from jacket):

The Holy Hills of Heaven (Rambo)
Jesus Is Coming Soon (R.E. Winsett)
Over in the Glory Land
I'll Stand for Jesus (Woodrow Wilson) (That's what it says!)
Preaching by the Road Side (P.D.)
I'll Be There (Unknown)
He Brought Me In (P.D.)
My Experience with the Lord (Robert Perkins)
Prisoner of Love (Dottie Rambo)
Mercy Not Justice (P.D.)
Beyond Tomorrow (Unknown)
Old Country Baptizing (Unknown)




Lee