One Staples brand USB cable later....

Christmas 2010, Part 8--A Beginning of the End Christmas

I can't find my camera's USB cable, so I swiped the dealer's pic for this single. This is the original issue of The Beginning of the End's 1971 mega-hit, Funky Nassau, but we'll be hearing the flip side, Gee Whiz, It's Christmas.

Happiness is: 1) Discovering that the Beginning of the End recorded a Christmas side, then 2) winning that side. Sometimes Santa works through eBay.

Gee Whiz, It's Christmas--Beginning of the End, 1971.



Lee

Noel non sequiturs for the season

At (gulp) Huff-Po, theologist Rita Nakashima Brock, Ph.D., writes, "Every year some right wing Christian leader rants about the attempt to 'take Christ out of Christmas' and accuses those of us too sensitive to religious pluralism of secularizing the holiday. The ranters seem to forget that Jesus and his family were Jewish and that three Persian Zoroastrian priests, called the magi or three kings, came from the east because they saw a star (some scholars think the idea of a messiah first came from Persia because the first person called a messiah or Christ in the Bible was Cyrus, the Persian King, a Zoroastrian himself)."

Wow! Great point. Ed Wood-ready, even. Perfect for a Woodian exchange:

Officer Larry: I don't understand these people who want to take Christ out of Christmas.

Lt. Harper: Ah, but remember that Christ and his family were Jewish. And that three Persian Zoroastrian priests, called the magi or three kings, came from the east because they saw a star.

Office Larry: Yeah... I hadn't thought of that. Guess that's why you're a Detective Lieutenant and I'm still a uniformed cop.

Not to be outdone by Rita, About.com's Austin Cline explains, "Many religious conservatives say that liberals are trying to take Christianity out of Christmas, but should Christianity even be in Christmas to begin with?"

Not so much a non sequitur as a triumph of "Hah???" Gosh, should Christianity even be in Christ's Mass to begin with? Any Detective Lieutenants out there?

Next: Taking the Earth out of Earth Day, and What does the military have to do with Veterans Day?





















Hello? Hello? What's wrong with this transceiver?

It's a gun, Lieutenant.

Oh. Oops.



Lee

Christmas 2010, Part 7--Merv, Ferde, Paddy, Fiona

Merry Mervmas! We start with a blog premiere--Merv Griffin and the Fontaine Sisters singing the holiday waltz Snowflakes with the Freddy Martin Orch., 1952. This 45 rpm disc has been in my collection for years, and only because it's my sole copy--otherwise, it would have gone straight to the Celestial Dumpster. This Christmas, though, I resolved to get a file out of it. I used my 2-5 gram Stanton stylus, six grams of tracking pressure, and moderate application of MAGIX's click filter--and, viola! I mean, voila! A decent-sounding rip.

Well, it seemed exciting at the time. Anyway, two wonderful Mervmas reruns to go with Snowflakes--Christmas City and The Song of the Christmas City.

Then, as ever, Paddy Robert's Merry Christmas, You Suckers in my best rip to date. Anti-Christmas songs, of course, are part of the Christmas celebration, just as sure as "Happy Winter Solstice!" would have no meaning without "Merry Christmas!" Then, the gorgeous singing voice of Fiona Kennedy on the Bacharach-esque Father Christmas and its flip, a lovely arrangement of (what is, in my opinion) the best Xmas air ever, The Cherry Tree Carol. Then, pianist Mercy Fernandez with a Christmas medley, a Little Drummer Boy of unknown origin, label-wise; and John (Ryan's Hope) Gabriel crooning God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen in 1958 on Tops.

Annnnnnnd... a new rip of Ferde Grofe's Christmas Eve (1934), performed in 1958 by Barron Smith. Pretty amazing mono fidelity on this. Here's the sheet music image for this piece, taken from my piles o' sheet music: Christmas Eve.

To the sounds: Christmas 2010, Part 7


SLEIGHLIST

SNOWFLAKES--Merv Griffin, Fontaine Sisters, w. Freddy Martin, 1952.
CHRISTMAS CITY (Don Peterson)--Merv Griffin.
SONG OF THE CHRISTMAS CITY--Merv Griffin, Maureen Reynolds.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, YOU SUCKERS (Roberts)--Paddy Roberts, 1962.
FATHER CHRISTMAS--Fiona Kennedy.
THE CHERRY TREE CAROL--Fiona Kennedy.
CHRISTMAS EVE (Grofe, 1934)--Barron Smith, John Wanamaker organ, 1958.
MEDLEY--FELIZ NAVIDAD--JINGLE BELLS--LLEGO, LLEGO NAVIDAD--Mercy Fernandez, piano.
LITTLE DRUMMER BOY (Yulesong SY-0222)
IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR--John Gabriel, 1958.


Lee

Christmas listings at TWW

At TV Worth Watching, the amazing TV-Christmas historian Diane Werts has Christmas listings to spare:

For Better or Werts.

(A Christmas episode of T.J. Hooker???)

According to Diane, these listings are in a "facts first, frills later" state at the moment, but the trimming's on the way. (I've always wanted to type that.) Check it out! The listings cover both shows and movies.


Lee

Christmas 2010, Part 6--An Arty Christmas, or, The Little Dummer Boy in context

I can't believe we're on Part 6 already. That'll happen, I guess, once you're past Part 5. I'm already losing track of where I'm at, posting-wise. I'm pretty good at Math but lousy at counting.

(Smooth segue alert): But here's a group that's anything but lousy at singing--they are the Testor Chorus, from 1957. Very art(s)y stuff, and the selections provide the perfect historical context for understanding Carol of the Drum, that Katherine K. Davis number I write about every Christmas. Here's my original essay: Carol of the Little Drummer Boy.

This Testor Chorus performance of Drum is at least the third 1957 version I'm aware of--remember that Harry Simeone's big hit happened in 1958. Carol of the Drum/Little Drummer Boy no longer sounds like the art carol that it is, and I imagine endless radio play and kiddie-record appearances have something to do with that. But we're in luck--today's set includes similar (and similarly arty) choral Christmas numbers, beginning with Gustav Holst's 1910 Christmas Day, and on through Drum and two other Davis numbers, 1941's Swedish Dance Carol and 1951's As It Fell Upon a Night. Leo Sowerby and F. Broadus Staley round out our group of mega-talented composers.

Download: Free. Album: Around ten bucks. Hearing Carol of the Drum in the company of other 20th-century choral numbers of the same type: Priceless.

To the arty carols: Christmas 2010, Part 6--An Arty Christmas

SLEIGHLIST

CHRISTMAS DAY (Holst, 1910)
SWEDISH DANCE CAROL (Katherine K. Davis, 1941)
THE SNOW LAY ON THE GROUND (Leo Sowerby)
WHAT CAN THIS MEAN (F. Broadus Staley, 1939)
CAROL OF THE DRUM (Katherine K. Davis, 1941)
AS IT FELL UPON A NIGHT (Katherine K. Davis, 1951)

The Testor Chorus, c. by Harry T. Carlson, 1957.


Lee

Christmas 2010, Part 5--A 1966 REMC Christmas

I just remembered something: I was going to doctor this photo by filling in the center hole. I forgot. Then again, the effect is kind of cool, with all those other labels in the stack showing through. Kind of artsy, really. My main problem was getting the lettering to show up. Bet you can't tell the light source was from the left.

A Delightful Story of a Boy and Girl on Christmas Eve could have made a tight little three-minute blurb, but the writers chose instead to stretch it to ten minutes and 32 seconds. Eerily, both sides clock in at exactly 5:16 (at least on my software). For a moment, I thought I'd made two files of side one, or something.

In an earlier post, I described this disc as a Rural Electric Membership Company (REMC) "self-advertising classic." We can guess that it was handed out to employees and customers, a la Line Material. I wrote, "The REMC in question is very likely in Indianapolis (Clue: the Cranfill Advertising Agency is credited on the label. This I know because of an anonymous comment from 2005). And Randy Meyer (not the Randy portrayed on this record) informed me that narrator Jack Underwood 'did the midday show on WOWO (Fort Wayne, IN) from the early 1960s to the mid 80s. He passed away a little more than ten years ago.' Many thanks to Randy for those details."

That was my story then, and it's my story now. I hope the Cranfill link still works.

This is my newest of my two copies. I'm not sure it sounds all that much better, but it doesn't sound worse, certainly. Worth sitting through to experience the wonderful REMC jingle, sung in unison (and in Chipmunk style) at the close. There are ringtone possibilities.

To the delightful story: Christmas 2010, Part 5--REMC, 1966

UPDATE:

In the comments box, JAG wrote, "In 2003, I contributed another REMC record to the first 365 Days Project, and it's still available here:

http://www.wfmu.org/365/2003/354.shtml ."

Check it out!


Lee

Give up your silly beliefs, or we'll put up really stupid signs

This just in: The U.S. government, in response to complaints from various atheist organizations, has decided to discontinue the federal holiday of Christmas. "We listened to their side and decided they were making some great points," said an anonymous Senator. "I mean, why put an official stamp on mythology? Besides, corporations are tired of honoring holidays, and less time off means more work. Er, not that we're here to cater to the desires of business or anything like that...."

Some atheists were shocked. "Oh, my God--they took us seriously?" said Org (of atheist.org). "No, wait--I didn't mean 'Oh, my God.'"

Upon hearing the news, Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly remarked, "You mean, there actually was a war on Christmas??"

Christmas 2010, Part 4--(Almost) 18 Christmas Songs on Value Hit Parade Tunes

The sleeve says "Broadway," but the labels say "Value Hit Parade Tunes." How this company--and such a cheap one, at that--managed to make a sleeve and labels that talk (and prior to even the earliest computer chips), I'll never know. Anyway, Broadway and Value Hit Parade Tunes are, in fact, the same label, but, like nearly every other dime-store recording outfit, it/they felt the need to masquerade as two or more entities. In the hopes that people would buy two copies of the same recording(s), you ask? Yup, that's my guess, too.

(See two more non-scanned images here.)

What of the music, you ask? Is it the cheapest of the cheap? You wish. No, it's cheaper than that. The funnest tracks are the pop covers, which include Poppy the Puppy, a cover of a 1951 Gene Autry holiday number which sounds like all the others Autry recorded. Everything is credited to the Broadway/Value Hit Parade Tunes house musicians, "Popular Artists."

I'm minus one EP from the set, hence the 14 titles, instead of 18. In case you were counting.

You may feel cheap after downloading and listening to these. If so, it's not like I didn't warn you.

Click here to hear: Christmas 2010, Part 4--Value Hit Parade Tunes


SLEIGHLIST (Vocals and Orchestra by Popular Artists)

I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS
ALL AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN
POPPY THE PUPPY
ADESTE FIDELIS (O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL)
DECK THE HALL
JOY TO THE WORLD--IT CAME UPON THE MIDNIGHT CLEAR--HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING
WHITE CHRISTMAS
THE FIRST NOEL
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT
OH LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM

(Value Hit Parade Tunes 45-2010-2011-2012)


Lee

Sunday morning gospel--Clinton (Pa.) Camp Meeting Echoes 1967

I know nothing about Holiness camps or "second blessing" holiness--except what I've been reading lately on the occasion of ripping and editing this wonderful album. I do know that I love to listen to spirited singing and preaching of this type, even if my theology is, let's say, not quite as conservative as Holiness variety. Regarding the very un-high fidelity, let me quote from the jacket notes:

"PLEASE NOTE: This record is reproduced from actual camp services. It does NOT have studio quality. It DOES have camp meeting atmosphere, including Sister Jackson shouting a loud AMEN."

We're talking someone with a portable tape recorder (this was 1967, so I'm thinking reel to reel) operated by one of those external microphones with the on/off switch. You can hear everything switch off and back during one of the sermons (as the operator switched tapes, most likely). I did what I could to "push out" the audio, but everything still sounds like an AM broadcast recorded externally from a car speaker.

But what marvelous preaching and singing. Better ultra-low fidelity than none at all.

Click here to hear: Clinton Camp Meeting Echoes 1967

PLAYLIST

NARRATOR--Rev. H.E. Schmul
HE LIVES--Congregation
AMAZED--Archie Coons, piano.
WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD--Congregation
IT'S WORTH IT ALL--The Grays
CHRIST, THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH--Rev. H.E. Schmul
I'VE BEEN TO CALVARY--Choir
DEEPER, DEEPER--Congregation
OLD-TIME POWER--Orchestra
WORDLINESS--Rev. H.E. Darnell
THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY--Congregation
GOD HATH SENT A BOND--Rev. S.D. Herron
INVITATION--Rev. Glenn Griffith

(Praise Recordings 108)

Lee