Old files, "Seasons Greetings," memory

On our way to our nearby Tumbleweed restaurant, I beheld this announcement on a mall store: "SEASONS GREETINGS." What? Seasons Greetings?

The nerve! I mean, the very nerve. Did they just forget the apostrophe, or what? (Rim shot)

But, seriously....

I'm never surprised by the absence of apostrophes. Apostrophes are going to be extinct come 20 years or so. If not 20 minute's. I mean, minutes.

Old files. Well, on schedule, requests for old and "broken" files are coming in. Oddly enough, none of the requests are for Christmas files. One person has written back twice. Earlier, someone asked about a particular side--will I be posting it, where it can be gotten (how would I know???), what label did it come out on, etc. I gave a complete answer. Nothing. A week later, the same email shows up. Same text, everything.

A dealer, I am not. eBay, I am most definitely not. Obliged to supply files to collectors, even if $$ is offered (what part of "no time" doesn't reach the thinking centers of some folks?), I am not. So the best--and probably the only--way to deal with this thoughtlessness is to ignore requests. My blog intro has been revised to cover the whole issue. In my next lifetime, maybe I can figure out what drives some to think I'm going to neglect the operation of my blog, esp. during Christmas, just to fetch something for them.

The "do you know where I can find a copy of..." requests are the most astonishing, really. Because I'm a blogger, I keep a tab on Net-available songs? Maybe the folks I'm hearing from are under a gypsy's curse, unable to access a search engine on their own PC without losing a first-born gerbil or something. So they have to ask me if I can please look.

It's all about them, I guess. The whole, vast blogosphere is all about their getting some mp3 file, since otherwise they'd be forced to do the unthinkable and consult a dealer, check out eBay or GEMM, or go to a record store. I can't even stand thinking of someone having to go through such human agony.

My apologies to those who don't pull this garbage. Not that the guilty parties will even be reading this. Reading takes time and eye focus.

As for memory, I refer to mine, not my computer's. Mine is way worse than my PC's, let me tell you. I've realized that the only way I can remember all the extra church stuff this season... er, Christmas... is to have an appointment book. And we're only talking about three or four things, but that's how awful my memory is. Seriously.

How did I make it through college, you ask? You tell me. I don't remember. (Loud Spike Jones segment, fade.)

Anyway, I won't let the wait-on-me types ruin this blog's Christmas. Those who don't understand what a blog is can learn on someone elses time. I mean, someone else's.

Darn that sign--its got me all apostrophe-addle'd.

Rant over. Back to music.


Lee

Christmas 2009, Part 2: Fast-spinning holiday sounds

An all-shellac sleighlist today, starting with four from Big 4 Hits. (Hence the label name, no doubt.) Big 4's country material was especially good and interesting, and so these country holiday numbers belie their cut-price-label origins. Whatever I just typed. Condition is mediocre, but I've got Rite Records material in worse shape. Boy, do I have Rite Records stuff in worse shape.

Did I mention that I h....? Oh, yeah, I did.

Next, the sole repeat in the sleighlist--the Globe Trotters' peppy (trotty?) Sleigh Ride Polka of 1941. There's a very good, professional arranger behind this, but who? I know not.

To the premieres: Around the Christmas Tree (1913) is yet another acoustical Christmas selection designated as "descriptive," which means plenty of sound effects, all produced mere inches from the recording horn, sounds like. Prince's Orchestra (who else?) did this, and it was penned by Chas. A. Prince himself. The salon-style flip side, Christmas Joy (also 1913), is played by the violin, flute, and harp trio of George Stehl, Marshall Lufsky, and Charles Schuetz, and the lovely medley includes Martin Luther's From Heaven Above (Vom Himmel Hoch--poss. my favorite Christmas tune ever) and Oh, Holy Night, which was obviously massively popular in the early sound-recording era.

Then... a rousing 1902 performance of The Jolly Coppersmith by the Columbia Band, and two scratchy but memorable (always wanted to type that) recordings of Silent Night and (you'll never guess) Oh, Holy Night. Great to hear the latter in quartet (a.k.a. quartette) form.

To the festive shellac: Christmas 2009, Part 2


SLEIGHLIST

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS--Billy Thomas (Big 4 Hits 110), 1954.
WINTER WONDERLAND--Frank Roberts, Same.
BLUE CHRISTMAS--Preston Ward, Same.
FROSTY THE SNOWMAN--Eddie Williams, Same.
SLEIGH RIDE POLKA (Bill Gale)--The Globe Trotters, 1941.
AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE (Chas. A. Prince)--Prince's O. with Mixed Quartette, 1913.
CHRISTMAS JOY (E.D. Wagner)--Stehl, Lufsky, and Schuetz, 1913.
THE JOLLY COPPERSMITH--Columbia Band, 1902.
SILENT NIGHT (TYROLESE HYMN)--Metropolitan Trio, 1909.
OH, HOLY NIGHT--Royal Dadmun and Columbia Mixed Q., 1911.


Lee

Some label shots for the previous sleighlist

Christmas 2009, Part 1--Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus visits the Emerald Planet (above).

Christmas 78s and 45s--those are what we'll be hearing today. All were ripped and edited by me--nothing from other cyber-sources. Just me and my MAGIX Cleaning Lab 14.

Wow--that sounded lonely. Anyway....

Three repeats in the bunch--the rest are "new." Things kick off with (what may be) my favorite holiday side of them all, Ruth Lyons' Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas, which I somehow left two "Merry"'s short when I titled the sound file. I guess I was in a hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. So many files to rip.

Niels W. Gade's The Christmas Tree comes from a multi-tracked 78 on the Music Appreciation label and was performed by members of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (a less vague attribution than some we've encountered). The selection was so brief, I repeated it. When I say "multi-tracked," I mean in the sense of an EP, not in the Les Paul sense. No idea on when this was made. Thirties?

No kick-off holiday playlist sleighlist is complete without Julius La Rosa singing We Need a Little Christmas. And, by the oddest coincidence, that very track shows up in the roster. You're hearing the first or second time (can't remember which) that a stylus (mine) hit this vinyl. The thing had remained sealed since 1966, until that fateful day I spotted it at Goodwill. I'll never know if it was annoyed or joyous over being unsealed.

The two Paul Whiteman Christmas sides are from a 12" 1928 Columbia 78 in virtually perfect condition. Just the mellowest, smoothest background music. On a Christmas Morning (making its annual appearance here) and Santa Claus' Workshop (a MY(P)WHAE premiere) were ripped by me from a 1926 Harmony label 78, which is credited to the Yuletide Orchestra--in reality, Prince's Orchestra, from 1911 and 1910, respectively. What a deal--two acoustical reissues for the price of an electrical-era budget 78. If you thought such rip-offs were a vinyl-era invention, guess again!

To the zip, zip, zip, zip-file: Christmas 2009, Part 1

SLEIGHLIST

MERRY, MERRY, MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS (Lyons)--Ruby Wright, 1957.
THE SANTA CLAUS MARCH--Russ Morgan O. w. Joey Alfidi, 1956.
I WILL ALWAYS BELIEVE IN SANTA CLAUS (Morgan-Melcher)--Same, 1956.
JINGLE BELLS FANTASY (Arranged by Rosario Bourdon)--Victor Salon O., circa 1948.
THE CHRISTMAS TREE (Gade)--Members of the NY Philharmonic, year unknown.
WE NEED A LITTLE CHRISTMAS--Julius La Rosa w. The Choraliers, 1966.
FROSTY THE SNOW MAN--Bud Roman and the Toppers (Tops 309).
CHRISTMAS MELODIES (Arr: Ferde Grofe)--Paul Whiteman and His O., 1928.
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT (Arr: Bill Challis)--Same, 1928.
ON A CHRISTMAS MORNING (Currie)--Yuletide Orch. (Prince's Orch.), 1911.
SANTA CLAUS' WORKSHOP--Same, 1910.


Lee

An alternative history of Thanksgiving

Huffington Post frequently makes the mistake of straying from the only subject they know anything about: politics. To maximize the error, they make sure the folks writing about a given non-politics-related topic have a background as far removed from that topic as possible. And so we have neuroscientist Dan Agin writing about the history of religion, the Constitution, and holidays, along with other cultural topics he can't find a spare five minutes to research. Busy schedule, no doubt. His Thanksgiving: Puritans, Pilgrims, and Sexual Obsession is a must-read in the sense that you must read it yourself to know for sure I'm not making it up.

Wow. We learn a lot from Dan. For one, that "the idea that the Puritans (and Pilgrims) suffered from religious persecution in England is probably a myth"! (Dan, read up on the Church of England. And King James the First.) We also learn "that what the Pilgrims and other Puritans were all about was sexual obsession"! His proof is something to behold. We wonder if Dan knows that the people he writes about were neither Bible literalists nor New-Testament-based.

In fact--and consider this a MY(P)WHAE exclusive--the Puritans were very much not Catholics. Way not very much. So, um, why would their attitude toward sex mirror the stereotypical Catholic attitude? I mean, just sayin'.

Then again, I have a few minutes with which to check out such details of history. Some others aren't so fortunate. I'm thankful that I have those few minutes with which to Google stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving! Travel, eat, and be thankful!


Lee

Strawinsky: Fire-Bird--Suite, performed by Leopold Stokowski, 1935

"Strawinsky," you ask? Yup. Igor Strawinsky. See 78 album jacket above. I kind of like that spelling.

Anyway... I burned this a couple months ago, but didn't post. Now, with holiday sleighlists five days away, this will make the perfect fill-in music. Whatever I just typed. I recently found this 78 set at Goodwill for all of approximately four bucks, and it turns out to be the 1935 Leopold Stokowski version of the Firebird, a.k.a. Fire Bird, a.k.a. Firebird. (Stop me before I a.k.a. again!)

My rip came out very nicely, I think. I didn't muffle all of the surface noise, and you'll be glad I didn't when you behold the preserved dynamic range. The final crescendo goes from very soft to loud, as crescendos are supposed to. Which is no big deal when the source is vinyl, but something to phone home about when that source is shellac. I think, anyway. Then again, I'm the sound ripper, so I reckon I'm a tad biased.

SCENE: Streets of London, midnight, lots of fog.

Police: It's the sound ripper! Hey, you! Halt!! HALT!!! (Whistle)

Reporter: What's all this, then?

Police: We caught the ripper, that's what! Caught 'im red-handed with the CD still in his 'and!

To the Strawinski:

FIRE-BIRD--SUITE (Strawinsky)--Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orch.

INTRODUCTION--DANCE OF THE FIRE-BIRD
DANCE OF THE PRINCESSES
DANCE OF KING KASTCHEI
LULLABY: FINALE

Victor Album M-291; 1935


Lee

I once had hair, and lots of it

Here is the photographic proof, from 1974. Naval service put an end to my shoulder-length hair in early 1977. Then a recession set in. Of the hairline variety.

Bev insisted I put this up. TARTA was (and remains) the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority. I lived more than a mile from high school, so I rode for free. School days only.

The fuzz in my hair, of course, is an effect caused by aging lamination. I've always wanted to type "aging lamination."


Lee

Sunday morning gospel: The Blackwood Brothers: The Stranger of Galilee (1959)

Great slow-tempo ballads by the Blackwood Brothers, including such mega-standards as Amazing Grace, Rock of Ages, and Whispering Hope. And there's an obscure Charles H. Gabriel number called Tell Someone About Jesus. Here's hoping Mary enjoys this. And hoping that she's getting better.

To the music: Blackwood Brothers--The Stranger of Galilee

PLAYLIST

THE STRANGER OF GALILEE (Mrs. C.H. Morris)
AMAZING GRACE (Newton)
TELL SOMEONE ABOUT JESUS (Snead-Gabriel)
SHALL I CRUCIFY HIM?
WHO IS THAT? (Bartlett)
THE OLD RUGGED CROSS (Bennard)
WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS
SWEET PEACE (Sumner)
Medley: THE LAST MILE OF THE WAY--WHEN I MAKE MY LAST MOVE--WHEN I TAKE MY VACATION IN HEAVEN
ROCK OF AGES
WHEN I'M ALONE (Sumner)
WHISPERING HOPE (Winner)

(RCA LPM-1892) (1959)

Lee