Halloween 2009, Part 16!--Durward Kirby, Betty Hutton, "Spooky Spooks"

I think my playlist art come out nicely, but I sized it too small. I can never get that quite right. Maybe it's because I, myself, am not quite right. Ha, ha! Just kidding.

Um, you're not laughing with me...?

So, nine spooky 78s (from my collection, except for the Russian Symphony Orch., which was expertly ripped by Dan Gilmore from his), two songs about murder, the Kingston Trio's version of With Her Head Tucked..., and one song about a vengeful zombie. Can't have enough vengeful-zombie songs, I always say.

I can't get over how I made the illustration too small. But I did.

Where was I? Oh, yes.... To the music: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

SLAYLIST

MURDER, HE SAYS (Loesser-McHugh)--Betty Hutton w. Pete Rugolo O., 1951.
CRIME DOESN'T PAY--Durward Kirby and the Patriots. (Davis label)
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN (Seymour Lazar)--Chuck Miller, 1956.
GRAVEYARD BLUES--Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 1918.
AH-HA!--Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1925.
DANCING SHADOWS (Arr: Ferde Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1928.
GREENWICH WITCH (Confrey)--Zez Confrey, piano, 1922.
DANCE OF THE DEMON (E. Holst)--Victor Arden-Phil Ohman, piano duet, 1923.
IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING (Grieg)--Victor Symph. O., 1926.
WITH HER HEAD TUCKED UNDER HER ARM--Kingston Trio, 1960
SPOOKY SPOOKS (Claypoole)--Prince's Orch., 1916.
THE SNEAK (Herb Nacio Brown)--Club Royal Orch., 1922.
FUNERAL MARCH OF A MARIONETTE (Gounod)--Russian Symph. Orch., 1912.



Lee

That's not-a MyTube, it don't belong to me!

A great post at Don Brockway's Isn't Life Terrible: The Ethical Dilemma That Is YouTube. Interesting and amusing expose.

His logical and sensible proposal will never go down. Because it's logical and sensible. I like it, though.

Forgive my politically incorrect subject line. I couldn't help it--ever since I first laughed my head off at Homer and Jethro's Sink the Bismarck parody and its U-boat joke (Ship's cook: "That's not-a my boat; it don't belong to me"), I'm unable to encounter u/you titles without doing a variation on it. It's my destiny.

Feel free to subject me to German-dialect jokes.


Lee

R.I.P., Ray Browne, Part 2

Read, if you wish, the Washington Post's clueless Ray Browne obit: Professor saw the potential in studying pop culture. In contrast to the Dispatch editorial, which nailed the topic, and the NYT piece, which was fairly on target, the Post should consider studying up on the topic, at least to the point of figuring out what p.c. actually is. That would be a start.

Meanwhile, the pop-culture blogosphere is buzzing with tributes to Ray. Just kidding. But there are some, which is more than I anticipated.

Meanwhile, Joan Walsh is my new hero. Read her fabulous Salon essay about the mainstream media's 24/7 class bigotry: When Tim Russert mocked Bill Clinton--in song. To see Tim Russert actually called out in print--and at a liberal site, no less: priceless.

Halloween 2009, Part 15--A Gift for Prophecy, The H Man, Inner Sanctum, Robot Man!!

Stillllll ticking (with a little coughing and hacking.) I refuse to let a mere sinus infection halt my spooky-tune posting. Actually, I'm feeling way better as we speak. I'm not fully cured, but I'm almost there, and I owe it to perseverance, plenty of sleep and liquids, and sinus irrigation. (I wonder if I can take a tax deduction for that?) No antibiotics were prescribed in the taming of this infection.

But enough pleasant details--on to today's 13-member slaylist, the highlight of which has to (imo) be Jeane Dixon's A Gift of Prophecy, released on the Bell label in 1967 and named after her 1965 best-seller. Jeane narrates over a campy orchestra-with-choir background, greatly embellishing her 1956 Parade magazine prediction which read, "As for the 1960 election Mrs. Dixon thinks it will be dominated by labor and won by a Democrat. But he will be assassinated or die in office 'though not necessarily in his first term.'"

Not necessarily in his first term. Okay. Then, shortly before that 1960 election, Jeane went and predicted that Kennedy wouldn't (repeat: wouldn't) win. Way to go, Jeane.

Other goodies include a cover of Telstar on the famous Discount Disc label; two (2) sound-alike renditions of the Marcels' version of Blue Moon; two covers of The Thing, including a square-dance arrangement; the marvelous theatre lobby record for 1958's The H Man (My favorite line--"Terrifyingly real, as the world in which it lives!"); a better copy of Antoine De Treville's wonderful Journey Into Space (not to be confused with the 1950s TV theme recorded by Frank Weir); and other stuff.

Oh, and the singer on 1936's Hypnotized (ripped from my 78 copy) is the famous whistler Muzzy Marcellino.

Download without delay!! ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

SLAYLIST

JOURNEY INTO SPACE--Antoine De Treville Orch. TELSTAR--The Cyclones (Discount Disc PH-150) BLUE MOON--Song Hits 14 ROBOT MAN--Gayla Peevy (as Jamie Horton), 1960. A GIFT OF PROPHECY--Jeane Dixon, w. Joe Sherman, 1967. THE THING (Grean)--Cliff Holland w. Les Morgan O. (Tops 267) THE THING (Grean)--the Sundowners Band (Windsor 7106) INNER SANCTUM--Charlie Spivak and His O.; Irene Daye, vocal, 1948. THE H MAN--Columbia Pictures Theatre Lobby Spot, 1958. HYPNOTIZED--Ted Fio Rito O.; vocal: Muzzy Marcellino, 1936. BLUE MOON--Bill Burnette and the Toppers (Tops 561) THEME FROM THE BAT (L. Forbes)--The Ventures, 1964. THE JOLLY GREEN GIANT--The Chords (Hit 187)


Lee

R.I.P., Ray Browne

In case you don't know who Ray Browne was, here's an excellent editorial from our big city newspaper, published today: Historian of Pop.

And here's the New York Times' adequate obit: Ray Browne, 87, Founder of Pop-Culture Studies, Dies.

I worked at BGSU's Popular Culture Center for a year while getting my Popular Culture degree, and I got to know Ray a little bit. He seemed interested in my interest in pre-rock-and-roll pop music, which he and wife Pat preferred to other types. He was friendly, distracted, and prone to walking around shoeless at the Center. I have vague memories of visiting Ray and Pat at their home, only a few blocks from my off-campus digs.

Browne defined popular culture as "people's culture," reports AP--as "everything from the food we've always eaten to the clothes we've always worn." I personally think that it's the sheer commonness of common culture that makes it so hard for so many to quite grasp. Nothing is harder to precisely peg than something that's everywhere.

R.I.P., Ray.

Halloween 2009, Part 14: Christmas at Halloween!

From last year, my Christmas at Halloween suite--and by request, no less. This time around, though, you'll get to hear--in addition to the first, second, and third--The Fourth Noel. I realize now why I didn't include it the first time--it's an alternate version of the third one. (In case I'm not making any sense, I blame it on my lingering sinus infection, which still has me fairly woozy.)

That, and I probably wanted the suite in thirteen parts instead of fourteen. But I don't feel like re-uploading it at the moment. So, fourteen parts it is. Or thirteen, with an alternate, not-previously-released bonus track. Yeah, that sounds better!

I tried to do more than simply minor-ize the Christmas songs and carols contained in this suite--I use the whole-note scale, clashing keys, and whatever else sounded wrong for the right effects. Lots of unexpected (read: inappropriate) settings, too. I had a lot of fun composing this. The first and third parts are live at the Casio, though the first is highly edited, since I was making up each section just before I committed it to digital. I can't remember how much, if any, of this that I notated. Probably a phrase here and there.

But enough fascinating background. On to Christmas at Halloween (echo, echo):
Christmas at Halloween (Hartsfeld)

CHRISTMAS AT HALLOWEEN (Hartsfeld)--SLAYLIST

Misteltoes and Cobwebs
Santa's on His Way
Noisy Night
The Brittle Mummy Boy
The Little Train of Bethlehem
We Three Things Abhorrent Are
Call Dumb All the Faithful
Check the Halls
Door to the Weird
Desist Ye Scary Gentlemen
The First Noel
The Second Noel
The Third Noel
The Fourth Noel


Lee