WFMU's Beware of the Blog

WFMU Marathon Day 13: DJ Premium Samples

WFMU's fundraising Marathon is underway! Tune in through tomorrow to join in on the fun with your favorite DJs spinning their favorite hits, special co-hosts,and prize giveaways galore. We've also put together a fine batch of DJ Premiums: any of these handcrafted CDs are available for a pledge of $75 or more. Check the blog daily to sample what's available from today's DJs and don't forget to support WFMU!

Saturday 's lineup

[6 AM - 9 AM] From Jeffrey Davison's The Great Lost Trombone Album: Russell Potter - "Blue Wind Boy" [mp3]
"A collection of rare solo acoustic guitar, drawn from folk, blues, world, and contemporary stylists."

[9 AM - 11 AM] From Bob Brainen's Psychedelic Psellouts, Vol. 2: Jimmy Curtiss - "Psychedelic Situation" [mp3]
"Psychedelicious rarities of all sorts. Songs and period news snippets, plus radio ads for every conceivable product, all sold to the sound of the sitar."

[11 AM - 1 PM] From Michael Shelley's Cut That Out, Vol. 2!: Lester Sterling - "Reggae in the Wind" [mp3]
"Forty-three genre-defying #1 hits with all the cruddy saxophone solos, boring instros & dull redundancies expertly removed!"

[1 PM - 3 PM] From Rex's Ain't No Thing But a Chicken Wing: Fat Daddy Holmes - "Chicken Rock" [mp3]
"'50s/'60s R&B, Rock and Soul tributes to the best eatin' bird known to man. Includes the all-time Fool's Paradise favorite 'Mah Mah Chicken Pot Pie!'"

[3 PM - 6 PM] The Cherry Blossom Clinic with Terre T presents Bag of Cherries: Reigning Sound - "You're So Strange" [mp3]
"Volume 4 of the Cherry Blossom Clinic Sessions -- exclusive live trax from the most rocking bands on Terre's show! Plus a super-cool CBC record bag!" (CD + tote bag)

[6 PM - 9 PM] From Rob Weisberg's Golden Age of Global Sounds -- World Music 1970s: Bappi Lahiri - "Bandhan Kat Gaye" [mp3]
"Musicians worldwide plug in -- traditional styles collide with wah-wah pedals and funky grooves in a genre-busting orgy of sonic cross-fertilization."

 [9 PM - Midnight] From Daniel Blumin's Switzerland Surrounded, Neighbors Tripping!: Art and Technique - "Untitled" [mp3]
"A psychoactive collection of third-ear Eurovisionaries and the synths, tapes, guitars, and computers they rode in on. Eurovision, beware!"

[Midnight - 3 AM] Professor Dum Dum's Prescription for the Musically-Starved: Sample [mp3]
"Superbly performed songs that span a wide range of styles. Listening to the complete CD may stimulate an atrophied brain."

 [3 AM - 6 AM] From Joe McGasko's Do the 45 -- Songs from the Single File, Vol. 1: Lance Romance - "California Summertime" [mp3]
"Boffo pop, rock, soul, and new wave 45s as heard on the Surface Noise program. All songs hard-to-find/not available on CD!"

WFMU Android App v1 Released

 

Two weeks ago we kicked off the 2010 marathon by releasing v2 of the WFMU iPhone app and before we wrap things up this weekend we're pleased to announce that Android users now have an app of their own.

Version 1 of the WFMU Android app has just hit the marketplace. You can grab it here.

For our initial release we are including all of our live streams (including "Ichiban Rock n' Soul", "UbuWeb Radio" and "Do or DIY"), all of our Archives and Podcasts as well as Station News from our homepage. We will be adding playlist functionality and some other more advanced features in the coming months.

Artwork by Nick Bertozzi

One thing we learned while putting this app together is that unlike the iPhone, performance and functionality across the full spectrum of different Android phones and OS versions varies somewhat considerably.

Initially we had hoped to make use of our mobile friendly 64k AAC+V2 mp4 archives (also used by the pop-up player on our site) for this app but found that some older versions of Android do not support AAC.
To ensure compatibility for everyone, we are instead using our less mobile friendly MP3 archives and have found that your mileage over 3G may vary a bit with these.  In version 1.1 of our app we will likely allow toggling between lower bit rate mp4s (for Android 2 users) and higher bit rate mp3s (for phones that can't handle AAC or people on WIFI).

Likewise we've found that some of the sliding and tapping functionality on the app does not always behave as nicely as we'd like on the Nexus One, though research abounds that this is likely a problem with the phone itself.

In short, because we have found that performance varies quite a bit from phone to phone please let us know in the comments if there is a problem with your model and OS version.

Since launching our iPhone app we've heard from quite a few people asking for mobile apps for the Blackberry and Palm Pre. In an ideal world we'd love to be able to provide an app for listeners on every mobile platform out there but the reality is that our resources are VERY limited and it simply is not in the cards. For the Blackberry, we've heard very positive feedback about moodio.fm and Berry Tunes and for the Palm Pre we've been told that clicking the mp3 links off the homepage should allow you to listen on the phone w/o installing additional software.

WFMU Marathon Day 12: DJ Premium MP3 Samples

WFMU's fundraising Marathon is underway! Tune in through March 14th to join in on the fun with your favorite DJs spinning their favorite hits, special co-hosts,and prize giveaways galore. We've also put together a fine batch of DJ Premiums: any of these handcrafted CDs are available for a pledge of $75 or more. Check the blog daily to sample what's available from today's DJs and don't forget to support WFMU!

Friday 's lineup

[6 AM - 9 AM, web-only] From HotRod's Carnal: [mp3]
"A collection of pleasurable sounds to ease your fleshy desires."

[9 AM - Noon] From Doug's Love Your Motherlode, Vol. 1: Irma Serrano - "La Martina" [mp3]
"The mind-blowingest rarities Doug's downloaded for his MINING THE AUDIO MOTHERLODE blog posts: Soul, Samba, Psych, Salsa, Jazz, Afrobeat, Funk, Bollywood. Massive!"

[3 PM - 6 PM] From Billy Jam's Live and Original -- Best of Put the Needle on the Record Live Performances: DJ Alf & Scott Williams - "4th Floor Vibes" [mp3]
"Special highlights of exclusive original performances from a multitude of WFMU studio guests, plus select Bryce/Billy Jam transitions."

[6 PM - 7 PM] Shut Up, Weirdo's Guide to Life: "The timeless wisdom of Andy and Frangry. Don't face the meaningless void of existence without it!" (Book)

[7 PM - 8 PM] From Mr. Fine Wine's Cats Got These Cats' Tongues - 25 Mostly Wordless Obscurities: The Knights - "Tipping Strings" [mp3]
"You know those mind-blowing R&B, soul, and funk instrumentals Mr. Fine Wine is always talking over? Here they are without the talking-over."

[8 PM - 11 PM] Pseu Braun's Getting the Hook—Pseu's Thing With a Hook Takes a Bow: Miniature Tigers - "Cannibal Queen" [mp3]
"The Pop-ular summer program takes a bow celebrating a summer of love and loss showcasing Catchy and Underrated modern rock."

 [11 PM - 2 AM] From Rich Hazelton's Inflatable Squirrel Carcass Coloring Book: Vase [pdf]
"'Open your big box of crayons and hand me the salmon, baby!' 40 pages of Carcass-approved coloring FUN!" (Coloring Book)

 [2 AM - 6 AM] Nat Roe's I'm Beginning to See the Light -- Transmissions from the Netherhours:
"Proves that 'difficult' music is listenable and then slaps your face with a pop gem as thanks for your attentiveness."

[Podcast] Tale of the Twelve with Lou, Flipside, Vol. 2: Reck - "Clever" [mp3]
"More amazing and obscure B-sides that did not get played on everybody's favorite '90s electronica and dance podcast."

Free Music Archive recent highlights

it's raining musical gems at the Free Music Archive! 

 >> Percussion Lab <<
joins the FMA w/ 15 curated sets of forward-thinking electronic sounds
incl. Daedelus, Team Shadetek, Thavius Beck, Ezekiel Honig, Machinedrum...

  

   >> Burkina Electric <<  
 "Burkina Faso's first electronica band"

featuring Lukas Ligeti, Pyrolator, and the marimba lumina

 >> S.S. Records joins the FMA

>> Cyclic Bits: The Raymond Scott Variations <<
 curated by WFMU's own Ergo Phizmiz (originally broadcast on Phuj Phactory)
  feat. David Fenech, Vernon Lenoir, Satanicpornocultshop, Tracky Birthday...

>> 2010 Golden Festival highlights mix <<  
25th annual Balkan/Roma/brass festival
from the Transpacific Sound Paradise remote

   >> Welcome Karl Blau to the FMA <<
19 tracks incl. this, from Zebra (K, 2009)

Science Fiction Trivia Challenge: John Hodgman vs Patton Oswalt

Last night's Best Show w/ Tom Scharpling was the scene of an epic nerd-off: a science fiction trivia contest between John Hodgman and Patton Oswalt. If the finer points of Dr. Who, majordomos, the Last Starfighter and Alec Guiness impersonations are things that float your boat then this might just be for you.

Click here to stream the battle and if you are not already subscribed to the Best Show Podcast you can do so via itunes. Hats off to Scharpling for pulling off the highest ever fundraising total for a marathon show! Good guys win!

Photo by John Dalton

Mining the Audio Motherlode, Volume 58 (MP3s)

Give the Drummer Some's
6 Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere

Hello there friends, it's fund-raising time at WFMU, and Mining the Audio Motherlode ain't hardly too proud to beg. Your tireless Miner hasn't been sucking down lungfuls of vinyl dust—unearthing free copies of sonic wonderment—just for his health. Sure, this weekly cornucopia of musical marvels is offered up freely as a labor of love, but the past year of labor putting these posts together is surely worth a couple minutes of your love. Please take a moment and make a pledge in support of WFMU.

As with all the other glamorous stars of the WFMU firmament, the Miner is eager to get virtually adopted for the next year. So, if you're a big Mining the Audio Motherlode fan and can pledge a dollar a day ($365), go here and stake your claim. For a pledge of only $75, you will automatically get Love Your Motherlode, an all-killer, no-filler CD compilation of the hottest tracks from the the past year of Mining the Motherlode offerings. To pledge your support and get your your copy of Love Your Motherlode, go here (select One Dee-Jay Premium, then head to the DJ Premiums & Prize Warehouse to select the CD). Thanks!

Listen for the Seaweed Horn
Ndikho Xaba and the Natives  ~  "Ndikho Xaba and the Natives"
(Blog: Private Press)

Life Affirming
Various  ~  "Drums of Death"
(Blog: Killed in Cars)

Mr. Françoise Hardy
Jacques Dutronc: "Les Play Boys" &  "A Tout Berzingue"
(Blog: Bomber Blog)
[Scroll down for link | pw = bomber-blog.blogspot.com]
From the "Les Play Boys" EP: On Nous Cache Tout, On Nous Dit Rien (mp3)

I'll Have What They're Smoking
Tool Shed  ~  "Tool Shed"
(Blog: Allegory of Allergies)
From the album: The Wave (mp3)

Live from London's Antler Lounge
Various  ~  "Trojan Reggae Party Recorded Live"
(Blog: Smoke Two Joints)

Fiebre Sabado Noche
Louie Ramirez  ~  "A Different Shade of Black"
(Blog: Orgy in Rhythm)
From the album: Do It Any Way You Wanna (mp3)

Listen for music from these and other incredible finds on
Give the Drummer Some, Fridays on WFMU, 9 to Noon (ET).

Check out every installment of Mining the Audio Motherlode

We Need A Lot More Jesus And A Lot Less Rock And Roll (MP3s)

In about 1960 or so, Wayne Raney, a veteran harmonica player from Wolf Bayou, Arkansas, took a look around and concluded that the world was in pretty pathetic condition.  Rather than simply sit back and complain, however, Raney proceeded to write a song detailing his plan for getting things back on the right track. The record came out on Nashville's Starday label.

The song, We Need A Lot More Jesus (And A Lot Less Rock And Roll), was a catalog of modern ills that came with a decidedly religious recipe for correction.  Writer Colin Escott called it "gloriously anthemic" and I really can't add much to that.

It's almost too bad the song came out when it did, though; had it been written a decade later, Raney almost certainly would have worked up a verse condemning the hippie movement.

So here are the 11 versions I've unearthed.  Are there are others?  Almost certainly there are.  If you know any I'm missing, feel free leave a comment so I can continue the quest. 

No doubt, several of these recordings were made in completely in earnest, while others were made with tongue in cheek.  All of them are enjoyable, though.

Wayne Raney & The Raney Family   (2:16)  

Cowboy Copas  (2:07)

Sunshine Boys   (2:02)

Skeeter Davis   (2:23)

Gospel Quartet   (1:29)

Greenbriar Boys   (2:07)

Larry Donn   (2:14)

Dick Monda   (2:01)

The Gas Company   (2:01)

Linda Ronstadt   (2:28)

Nate Gibson & The Gashouse Gang   (1:58)   Nate's version, released in 2007 on his All The Way Home CD, is the most recent one here.  Gibson is a budding musicologist and the the author of a forthcoming book that will likely be a mandatory addition to your library:  The Starday Story - The House That Country Music Built, which University Press Of Mississippi will publish a little later this year. 

                

New Facebook app

The WFMU Marathon is into its second and final week, and you can help us meet our goal by making a pledge!

Be sure to add our new Facebook App to your profile to help us spread the word.

Attend our Marathon Event on Facebook, add #wfmuthon to any Twitter posts about the Marathon, or visit wfmu.org/2010 for a wealth of embeddable code available for you to post on your blog or website.

We can do it with your help! The Marathon ends on Sunday...

You Could Be Swinging On A Star

International House of WTF

From 1969 (thank you Craig Ferguson):

A Special Working for the Continued Prosperous Creativity of WFMU! Telecult Powers return to My Castle of Quiet tomorrow night, with Lala Harrison Ryan and Sister Jillian of The Crow Hill Gnostic Temple

The twin destinies of Telecult Powers and the My Castle of Quiet radio program seem quite naturally intertwined. I met Witchbeam at No Fun Fest in May 2009, and, after a brief but very interesting conversation, he presented me with my first Telecult Powers recording, the Double Action Reversible cassette. I had the tape rolling nice and loud a few days later, and had one of those "What the fuck is this I'm listening to? This is GREAT!" epiphanies. Roughly a month later, I returned to weekly broadcasting on WFMU after a 10+-year hiatus.

In July, Telecult Powers became the first band to play live on the Castle, and through Mister Matthews and Witchbeam, I've connected with many of the other great artists who've played on the show over the months, including Grasshopper, Slasher Risk and Todd Pendu. I was also thrilled to learn that by way of their appearance on WFMU, Telecult Powers have a feature article coming up in the next issue of Signal to Noise.

Witchbeam's wonderfully hybridacious rituals of Hoodoo and good old-fashioned LSD cosmiscity at their gigs have unquestionably benefited me personally, and I have no doubt that many other listeners, spectators and fans have been helped as well. The so-called Law of Attraction is not bullshit! In WFMU's time of need, our 2010 fundraising marathon (where things are going well, but not as super-amazingly well as we need them to be), Telecult Powers are returning to the show to work a little more magic. This time, they've brought along a real-live rock star, Lala Harrison Ryan of Excepter, as well as Sister Jillian, Witchbeam's partner in the Crow Hill Gnostic Temple.

This three-hour broadcast will also be your last chance to pick up a copy of my premium CD, I Will Live Only Within the Fraction of a Second That Is This Moment, a collection of all-new, exclusive tracks by Liturgy, Enslaved by Owls, Grasshopper, Kevin Shields, Slasher Risk, Nuit Noire, C. Lavender, Telecult Powers, Kommissar Hjuler und Frau, Two Years on Welfare, Caldera Lakes, CM, Umberto, and Jabladav—with an arresting, creeped-out, original-art insert by Caroline Teagle.

I'm gonna ask nice, and say please tune in to myself and co-host Diane Kamikaze, and donate tomorrow night (or at any time between this moment and Sunday night @ midnight, when the fundraising will "demmence.") I leave you with a description of the intended proceedings, in Witchbeam's own words. For those who wish to participate in the Temple of Pei initiation rite (rather than just listen), certain items are required. Check the My Castle of Quiet blog for further information.

Telecult Powers on the My Castle of Quiet vimeo channel

Five Points Twice: Ten Films to Watch Telecult Powers By

Gliding along on the razor's edge between mysteries and secrets, Telecult Powers will return to Wm. Berger's My Castle of Quiet on the 10th of March, during the 2010 WFMU Marathon, to perform The Modern Rites of the Golden Age of Pei. 

The individual performers of these rites will be Excepter's Lala Ryan as the queen witch Hecate, Sister Jillian of the Crow Hill Gnostic Temple as the moon goddess Diana, & will feature Telecult's Mister Matthews & Witchbeam as their hounds. You may wonder what the purpose is... Initiation? Contact? Creation? All will be revealed to those with patience, and those who donate are guaranteed psychic illuminations. 

Do you know William John Kostiak?

A few years ago, I took a chance on a completely-unknown-to-me but interesting-seeming lp without a cover on EBAY by someone named 'William John Kostiak' on a private press label out of New Jersey called 'OneSimus'.  The auction started and ended with just one bid (mine) for $10.  The dealer described the 1977 lp 'Do You Know?' as 'Rare Xian Folkrock', which I've been collecting for a little while now.  That part of the description turned out to be accurate.  What he did NOT describe was that both sides of the lp I received looked as if the vinyl had been clawed by a very large and determined mountain lion (or perhaps several dozen slightly-less determined domestic cats).  And it played like it looked.  Still what I could actually  hear during the occasional moments when the record didn't happen to be skipping was excellent: primitive non-pro acoustic guitar playing by an earnest, emotive singer with an honest, rough-edged voice.  Christian and spiritual concerns run through the album.  From what I COULD hear and salvage digitally, I knew I would love the lp--Kostiak's got such a fantastic voice that even the by-far-worst-condition record I'd ever tried to play couldn't stop me from ripping a very spotty digital version I could at least listen to without destroying my record player.  Of course I looked for another copy for a while, but could find absolutely no mention of the lp on the web at the time, despite the googleable name.  That googleable name did lead me, though, to a 'William Kostiak' who turned out to be his grandson.  The grandson passed on that I was looking for a playable copy of his album, and WIlliam himself was actually kind enough to send a great cd-r rip of the lp to me at WFMU; unfortunately, the cd-r never reached me until almost a year after I no longer had a regular show.  So, hey, William, if you see this, I thank you very much!  And here's my two favorite songs from 'Do You Know?'

05-05 Bitter Sweet

10-10 A Prayer

Oscar Night - Time to Streak!

Remember the Oscar streaker? Did you know he was an avant-garde artist that was, a few years later, brutally murdered in a San Francisco gallery? Maybe it's time you revisit this WFMU post from three years ago on the life of Robert Opel, The Oscar Streaker.

Samantha Fox and Hawkwind Recording Gimme Shelter

Not sure whether or not she was aiming to be the next Stacia, but this clip (from Midev's YT) isn't Fox's first tangling with the Space Ritualists; she also took Nik Turner's vox away from "Master of the Universe" during a 2000 live reunion of old/new members called Hawkestra (which needless to say devolved into a litigious mess afterwards trying to divide up the proceeds. Check out commentary on this segment of a BBC Hawkwind documentary). This live Stones cover was apparently played each night over house PA's to usher Oasis on stage.

New Trier West High School: "Soundtracks 1969" (MP3's)

New Trier Township High School West opened in 1965, an expansion of the well know New Trier High School (in Winnetka, IL), necessitated by the sheer number of high school age children that were part of the front end of the baby boom. The West campus, in Northfield, IL (not coincidentally, my home town from ages 1-27), only had Freshman and Sophomores that first year, and it's first graduating class was in 1968.

From its first year, and for at least 5-6 years after that, the school produced a audio yearbook, titled "Soundtracks". Having had older siblings that attended the school in those days, I have each of those albums (and a few similar ones from Winnetka's New Trier, found in rummage sales). Today's offering is from the 1969 edition of the Soundtracks album. It features, among other things, individual tracks focused on the fall student-written variety show ("Potpourri"), instrumental and vocal music performances, sports, the school musical ("Carnival"), and graduation. And it's got quite a nice cover, too. 

1.) NTW Soundtracks 1969 - Potpourri.mp3

2.) NTW Soundtracks 1969 - Four Minutes to Kill.mp3

3.) NTW Soundtracks 1969 - Music Drama Workshop.mp3

4.) NTW Soundtracks 1969 - Christmas Festival.mp3

5.) NTW Soundtracks 1969 - Carnival.mp3

6.) NTW Soundtracks 1969 - Sports.mp3

7.) NTW Soundtracks 1969 - Jazz Ensemble.mp3

8.) NTW Soundtracks 1969 - Graduation.mp3

 

Front Cover (JPG) - Back Cover (JPG) - Label Side A (JPG) - Label Side B (JPG)

The Early David Letterman 1967-1980

"Every Sunday at my house we had ... dinner early ...  and watched The Ed Sullivan Show. Whether we wanted to or not. Whether we enjoyed it or not. That was my first lesson in show business. I don't think anybody in the house particularly enjoyed it. We just watched it. Maybe that's the purpose of television. You just turn it on and watch it whether you want to or not. - David Letterman

David Letterman was an entrenched figure of nineteen seventies variety television, appearing in awful sketches and playing the part of "celebrity" on countless game shows. He trudged through various smelters of TV that could very well be classified as crimes against humanity. A small sample of his resumé contains The Gong Show, The Starland Vocal Band's variety show, Battle of the Network Stars and a cornball NBC movie-of-the-week. Without this steady onslaught of garbage his story would be a lot less interesting. A famous comedian's novice career is often the most fascinating part of their biography.¹ Letterman's early showbiz struggles included encounters with a non-believing Tom Snyder, an extremely intoxicated Ringo Starr and even one of those "very special" sitcom episodes... one that dealt with venereal disease.

This is the early David Letterman.

"The Convincer" / Industrial Safety slideshow

Again, from the depths of the Bechtel dumpster, into which poured many exciting and useful things during the time I worked in their accursed building, comes this spoken word find, "The Convincer". I recall that first I dredged out the box of slides that made up this program, extremely gory and livid color slides of industrial-related injuries, and then later I found the cassette that went with them. I've always enjoyed old-fashioned slideshow audio, with the BEEP after each paragraph, to prompt the operator to the next slide (or if you were really swanky, you had the player that would recognize the beep and run the show by itself). Eventually I got around to digitizing the contents of the cassette, although I only ever got through side one, and now after several moves the tape is gone. I did keep the incredible slides, though.
So, here now is side one of The Convincer (1960), dealing with injuries to the eye. You can be glad that I don't have the slides here at my current home- the audio descriptions are enough to fill in a mental picture, I think. Yup, eighteen mp3s of good reasons to keep your eye protection ON at all times!

01 A Warning    02 Don't Kid Yourself    03 See Through the Eye    04 Injuries You're About to See    05 Grinding Wheel    06 Chip Away    07 Hot Slag Pop    08 They Were Bothering Him    09 Nail    10 Shattered Before    11 Two By Four    12 Streetware Glasses    13 Steam Hose    14 Acid Splash    15 Chisel Head    16 Pedestal Grinder    17 Like the Ones You've Just Seen    18 Don't Let It!

Fool's Paradise With Rex

Rex is an honorary Southerner! 

Make a pledge here or call us at 800-989-9368

Chris T. Picks the Oscars 2010

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push"
Hollywood loves drama queens in "important movies".

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Like Ricky Gervais says "Play a Nazi, win an Oscar."

BEST ACTRESS: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Or Jesse James will kick Academy ass!

BEST ACTOR: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
The Dude most definitely abides.

BEST PICTURE: Avatar
Hollywood is a dream factory and Cameron keeps that factory staffed.

BEST DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Hey Cameron! Suck it!

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Ryan Bingham, The Weary Kind
Please, people! Randy Newman has enough Oscars.

BEST SUPPORTING LISTENER: You, when you pledge to WFMU during the Marathon MAKE A PLEDGE HERE

Now listen: This list is based largely on a hunch. I've seen two of these films. Guess which...

Gypsy Rose Lee Remembers Burlesque

This is a spoken word/comedy album I found (oddly enough) in a bin along with Terry Riley's In C and Cecil Taylor's 3 Phasis (all severely undervalued) at an antique mall in Binghamton, New York last year.  When LPs are a dollar or less, and the source is a 10 minute jaunt from my apartment, I inevitably start buying in bulk.  Lots of albums I know nothing about, which I generally buy because I like the title or the artwork.  Gypsy Rose Lee Remembers Burlesque (StereODDITIES, 1962) was no exception.  Recently, I was trying to weed out some of the duds from my collection, which meant listening to many things for the first time.  I anticipated chucking this one but was more than pleasantly surprised.  This is an excellent record with a rich history behind it--though for anyone who likes burlesque, the name Gypsy Rose Lee is certain to be old hat.

According to Wikipedia,

Gypsy Rose Lee was born Rose Louise Hovick in Seattle, Washington in 1911, although her mother later shaved three years off both of her daughters' ages. She was initially known by her middle name, Louise…  Louise's singing and dancing talents were insufficient to sustain the act without [her sister] June. Eventually, it became apparent that Louise could make money in burlesque, which earned her legendary status as a classy and witty strip tease artist. Her innovations were an almost casual strip style, compared to the herky-jerky styles of most burlesque strippers (she emphasized the "tease" in "striptease") and she brought a sharp sense of humor into her act as well. She became as famous for her onstage wit as for her strip style, and—changing her stage name to Gypsy Rose Lee—she became one of the biggest stars of Minsky's Burlesque, where she performed for four years.

Eventually she married up into the world of Hollywood, even fathering one of Otto Preminger's children.  In films like Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937), Battle of Broadway (1938), Stage Door Canteen (1943), and Belle of the Yukon (1944), she acted alongside such venerable personae as Victor McLaglen, Randolph Scott, Tallulah Bankhead and Katherine Hepburn; and, in B-movie thrillers like the lurid Screaming Mimi (1958), opposite less respectable actors like Phil Carey and Anita Ekberg--still, at the age of 47, trying to belt out a rather painful-sounding "Put the Blame on Mame."  She seems to have played exclusively either dancers or nightclub owners, often with jazz artists like Raymond Scott or Red Norvo providing the pulsating soundtracks.  Owing to her literary reputation as the author of The G-String Murders and Mother Finds a Body, she portrayed herself as an intellectual among strippers, an attractive notion still being "fleshed" out today in books by Chris Kraus and the latest episodes of Desperate Housewives.  Watch her rather tame appearance in Stage Door Canteen, as she lectures the audience on art and culture in a full Victorian gown while subtly removing stockings and garter.

After years of marginal status, Lee's memoirs of life in the biz were turned into the 1959 musical Gypsy, a Stephen Sondheim extravaganza with Ethel Merman playing the titular character [correction: playing Gypsy's mother].  As these things usually go, the stage show became a 1962 film with Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood; which leads me to think that this 1962 LP was most likely released in order to coincide with/capitalize off the renewed attention to Lee's autobiographical odyssey.  A true, ahem, "no rags to riches story," as the clip above phrased it.

 
The lyrics are by Eli Basse and the music by Bobby Kroll; the whole thing is produced and directed by  Fletcher Smith.  Not that these names mean anything to me.  The "adults-only" feel is similar to Belle Barth's records, though the producers are obviously having a lot more fun with the novelties of stereo technology.  The liner notes say it all: "You'll find yourself once again surrounded by the unique atmosphere that's become part of Americana.  Here in all their gaudy glory parade the Dolls of the Chorus, the baggy-pants Comics and the Sensational Strippers.  Set to the authentic sounds of the bumpy burly-beat pit orchestra, such realism has been captured that you'll swear you see the magenta spots and smell the powder and paint... and even the salami sandwiches!"  Though I'm not sure that the words "Americana" and "realism" should ever be included in the same breath without a tinge of irony.  The album has plenty of great moments, even some sad ones--particularly on side B, as Gypsy laments the disappearance of burlesque by asking passersby on the street if they share her sentiments.  Even the women are sad: "Pardon me madame, how do you feel about burlesque being closed up?"  "I think it's disgraceful and I'm going to write a nasty letter to the mayor."  "Why, madame?"  "Well, since they closed the burlesque theaters I have no idea where my husband is every night."

Gypsy Rose Lee Remembers Burlesque (StereODDITIES, 1962)

Side A
Side B