"Halloween Keeps Groaning Along" slaylist moved to 4Shared

Image: The late Jeane Dixon, auditioning for an Excedrin commercial.

My Box.net downloading bandwidth limit has been reached and won't reset until Nov. 1.

However, I've moved "Halloween Keeps Groaning Along" to 4Shared. Here's the link to that post, which includes the 4Shared link. A link to a link--how cool is that?

Lee

Ghoultide 2011--Suite (Lee Hartsfeld)

A four-movement piece (aren't I fancy?) by your blogger, all of it multi-tracked with the freeware program KRISTAL Audio Engine. You'll be hearing up to ten Casio WK-3800 tracks at a time, i.e. ten of me doing our best to play in sync with me. I had two more sections planned, but time ran out. Time can be the enemy of music composition. Newsweek, too.

I wasn't going for anything that sounded morbid or scary--in fact, I tried to maintain a happy vibe. Halloween, after all, is a fun and happy time. Unless, of course, you're attacked by a monster and torn to shreds. Then it's not so fun. Or so I've been told by certain denizens of the Beyond.

All played in real time, i.e. without step-time/sequencing. Exception: one of the effects in #3.

Click here to hear: Ghoultide 2011--Suite (Lee Hartsfeld)


1. The Haunted Clock
2. Godzilla vs. the Flying Saucers
3. Ghosts in the PC
4. Beggars' Night Rag



Lee

A Halloween classic: "Television Moon"

"Television Moon??" you ask. My reaction, exactly. Written by Albert H. Monday and sung by Diane Richards w. the Red Reese Orch. on the Avis label, Television Moon is, well, a little loony. I mean, even by MY(P)WAHE playlist standards. (Cue the shrieking violins.)

I can't possibly explain this number, so I've typed out the lyrics for you. Notice how the words of the first verse are addressed to "My Ma," and then, come the second verse, to "A charming, blushing bride." Maybe "Ma" is the Korean War pilot's nickname for his charming, blushing bride, but I'm thinking not. The words:

"Just cruising the sky in Korea, longing for the daylight to pass, I'm thinking of you, my Ma, and the day I kissed you last. It's tough over here, my Ma, in all this mud, ice, and gloom. 'Til it's over over here in Korea, I'll see you in Television Moon. I'll see you in Television Moon, flying up there in the blue. I'll see you in Television Moon, and I'll throw a kiss to you."

"The Mister Moon seems to say you will be mine some day. When you go out nights, my love, out beneath Television Moon. I'll see your picture, my love, over here in my Television Moon. I'll dream that you're by my side--a charming, blushing bride. So make your plans, my love, for a wedding some day in June. We'll be happy then, my love, underneath our Television Moon."

Possibly, we're to assume that the singer, Diane Richards, is reading a letter from her beau, or maybe two letters--the first written to the pilot's Ma, and the second to her, his charming, blushing bride. Thinking about it just gets me more confused. In time, I'll begin to doubt I even have a record called Television Moon. It's a 78, by the way, moderately worn but far from hopeless--my rip is a solid B.

Maybe I'm dreaming this entire thing. (Pinch, pinch) Hmm. Still here.

Click here to hear: Television Moon--Diane Richards (Avis 113).





























Lee

Sunday morning gospel--The Harmony Singers: Exalt His Hame

And here is the group as pictured on the back jacket, complete with a personnel list: The Harmony Singers.

From the liner notes: "The Harmony Singers originated in the spring of 1971, as a volunteer group of ladies varying in age from grandmothers to high school age. Their goal is to witness for Christ through their singing ministry. The group represents seven Mennonite churches in the Michiana area."

As much as I love these tracks, I wish Charles Gabriel's Awakening Chorus had been sung in complete four-part harmony, as written. That particular anthem is a miracle of pop-musical minimalism--nobody did more with less than Gabriel. At any rate, terrific line-up, with numbers like Hallelujah Square, I'll Meet You in the Morning, I'm Bound for the Kingdom, and a curious selection called Absent from the Body. Anyone know anything about this title? The tune is credited to Thersa Hostetler, an American Mennonite who composed other Mennonite melodies.

To the Harmony Singers: Harmony Singers--Exalt His Name.zip

AWAKENING CHORUS (Charles H. Gabriel)
EXALT HIS NAME
EARLY IN THE MORNING
FROM EVERY STORMY WIND
THE OLD ROAD (B.B. McKinney)
SEEKING FOR ME
MY LOVE SONG
THOU WILT KEEP HIM IN PERFECT PEACE
HALLELUJAH SQUARE (Ray Overholt)
ABSENT FROM THE BODY (Thersa Hostetler)
I'LL TELL THE WORLD THAT I'M A CHRISTIAN
I'M BOUND FOR THE KINGDOM (Mosie Lister)
I'LL MEET YOU IN THE MORNING (Brumley)

The Harmony Singers--Exalt His Name (Precision Audio, INc. 1363)


Lee