WFMU's Beware of the Blog

365 Days #307 - Picking Up Girls Made Easy! (mp3s)

Hey there fella! Ready to make that move, but a bit shy, eh? Have no fear, picking up girls is here! Yes, in no time you too can be swarmy, gross and be that odd duck out in a social setting. Taught by super lady master Eric "you come here often" Weber circa 1975!

Check out the amazing blog Scar Stuff for more on Weber + a scan of an ad for this album and thanks to Hyde Park Records for the front and back cover images! In 2003 on 365 the Women's Clothing Store Pick Up was featured, but now you can get your groove on with the whole album (which by the way has been file shared and posted to blogs but this way it will have a permanent resting home at WFMU and UBUWEB.

And now... start seducing...

The Street Pick Up (6:00)
Love In The Library (5:11)
Single's Bar Action (6:12)
Women's Clothing Store Pick Up (6:39)
The Ballet Is A Ball (4:08)
Museum Pick Up (5:42)
Walking The Dog (5:53)
Pick Up At The Beach (5:46)

BUT HOLD ON... before you go tearing out there on these 'exercises' i'd like to share the following public service announcements from the Seventh Day Adventist Church with you...

Sexually Transmitted Diseases? (0:30)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases?? (0:30)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases??? (0:57)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases???? (1:00)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases????? (0:31)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases?????? (0:31)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases??????? (0:31)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases???????? (0:59)
Sexually Transmitted Diseases????????? (1:00)

Now who's up to performing one of the Picking Up skits in public, video it, and send it to us so we can post it to the blog?

- Contributed by: Sid Safari

365 Days #306 - Disco Sickness (mp3s)

This collection is the result of turning over rocks and finding moldy old forgotten relics of the disco craze. Disco music seemed to everywhere in the late '70s, and then seemingly vanished by the '80s, all parties waking up with a hangover and acting like these records never existed. In hindsight, it seems like a kind of mass hysteria, but it was no accident - the music business made a concerted effort to promote disco in their attempt to find a sure-fire hit-making formula, and disco records were cranked out with factory-like efficiency. It was expected that everyone - lounge singers, ethnic acts, rock'n'rollers, easy-listening band leaders, children's music makers - would make at least one token disco songs. This collection compiles a small sampling of miscellaneous album tracks, singles, and one-off studio groups. There's a lot of boring, assembly-line stuff out there, but to the dedicated record hound, the rewards for sifting through it all are ample - a collection of the best of these records is ridiculously entertaining.

MP3:
1. La Sinfonica de J.B. - Papaya (3:11)
2. Wilton Place Street Band - I Love Lucy Theme (3:52)
3. Joe Tripoli Jr - The Hustle (2:44)
4. Sesame Street Fever - Rubber Duckie (4:27)
5. In Touch - Nights On Broadway (3:48)
6. The Dragoneers - Kung Fu (2:53)
7. The Chinese Fighters - Hong Kong Lizzy (2:34)
8. Raja - Baby (3:46)
9. Larry Nored - She Works Hard For The Money (1:58)
10. The Salambos - Salambo pt.1 (3:30)
11. Hot Blood - Soul Dracula (3:57)
12. Count Floyd - Treat Her Like A Lady (3:14)
13. Myron Floren - Beer Barrel Polka (3:05)
14. Steve Dahl - D'Ya Think I'm Disco (3:38)
15. Enzo Lupo - No Se No Se (2:24)
16. Freddy Ventura - Disco Samba (6:06)
17. Mort Garson - The Unexplained (3:04)
18. Ronnie Aldrich - Close Encounters (2:55)
19. The John Keating Space Experience - Star Cluster (3:43)
20. Ramapo Valley Chorus - Disco Medley (7:12)
21. Sam Butera - Last Dance (3:15)

365 Days #305 - The Basic Principles of Kreskin's E.S.P. (mp3s)

MP3:
01 A Basic Introduction To E.S.P. (3:49)
02 The Pendulum And How To Use It (4:18)
03 Testing Your Accuracy With The Pendulum (1:54)
04 The Sex Detector (1:20)
05 The Lie Detector (2:32)
06 Brothers And Sisters (2:00)
07 The Uncanny Test (2:22)
08 How To Catch A Murderer (5:04)
09 Using Your Imagination To Test Your E.S.P. (5:04)
10 Imagination And Swallowing (2:34)
11 Setting Up The Seance For Table Tilting (1:37)
12 The Phenomenon Of Table Tilting (8:24)

Many years ago (the late 90's to be exact), I worked at Kinko's. This is where I met Hans (hi Hans!) One day Hans and I were hangin' at his pad, the "Sweat Lodge," when I began to browse his record collection. This one jumped out at me and we arranged to transfer it to MiniDisc. I am eternally grateful. I'm still not sure what to make of Kreskin. We all know that the human brain is like...umm, really smart and stuff, but is this some kind of magic? He's made a career out of "reading minds," but is this really possible? So many questions, so little time.

It seems that this album followed in the wake of a successful board game of the same name for Milton Bradley. You don't need the board game to follow the exercises here though, just a spirit of adventure and basic skills in listening and comprehension.

For those of you who choose to try some of these (especially the table-tilting), PLEASE, relay your experience via the comment section of this post. We are most eager to learn your findings.

Technical Notes: This is a digital transfer (from MiniDisc to the hard drive.) Since the nature of this recording implements no stereo spectrum, these files have been rendered in Mono, at the highest resolution possible for an MP3 (128kbps.)

- Contributed by: Spaceboy

Images: Front Cover, Back Cover
Images (alternate scans in shrink): Front Cover, Back Cover

365 Days #304 - Spooky Sound Effects (mp3s)

MP3:
Side One (15:37)
(Storm, Dog Howling, Footsteps With Chains, Goblins Laughing, Chinese Gong, Moaning Cats, Cats, Laughing Witches, Screaming, Storm, Wind, Cats, Dogs, Squeaking Door)
Side Two (18:36)
(Ghouls Glide, Skeleton Dance, Banshee Love Call, The Dracula Drag, Dinner Music For A Monster, Outer Space Sounds, Diesel Slow Frieght, Diesel Fast Passenger, Fog Horn, Siren)

Talk about a budget label classic! I was first introduced to this LP by Jack Diamond. Side 1 is pretty standard horror sounds, but Side 2 is where the magic is found! I love these remarks by a friend which pretty much sums it up:

"Side 2 of this album is unlike other Halloween sound effect records floating around in that it is all theremin! And get a load of those track titles?! It sounds as if someone let a 5 year old kid noodle around for a while. It's super scary!"

- Contributed by: B.C. Sterrett (The Lost Media Archive)

Images: Front, Back, Label A, Label B

365 Days #303 - Dick Jacobs and his Orchestra - Themes From Horror Movies (mp3s)

MP3:
01 Main Title from "THE SON OF DRACULA" (1:39)
02 Theme from "THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN" (3:16)
03 Shooting Stars from "THIS ISLAND EARTH" (2:20)
04 Treacherous Trek from "THE MOLE PEOPLE" (3:42)
05 Main Title from "THE HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN" (3:11)
06 Dracula's Feast Of Blood from "THE HORROR OF DRACULA" (2:12)
07 The Monster Attacks from "THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON" (2:29)
08 Visitors From Space from "IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE" (2:11)
09 Stalking The Creature from "THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US" (2:23)
10 Winged Death from "THE DEADLY MANTIS" (3:21)
11 Theme from "TARANTULA" (2:21)
12 Main Title from "THE HORROR OF DRACULA" (1:46)
13 Main Title from "THE REVENGE OF THE CREATURE" (1:55)
14 Main Title from "THIS ISLAND EARTH" (2:33)

A great record to play on Halloween. Every song is introduced by Bob McFadden (I'm a mummy, I dig you baby} fame. Nice and cheezy!

- Contributed by: Evil Pain Clown

Images: Front Cover, Back Cover

Media: LP
Album: Themes From Horror Movies in Ghoulish High Fidelity
Label: Coral
Catalog: CRL 757240
Date: 1959

365 Days #302 - Postojnska Jama - Diaphon Souvenir (mp3s)

MP3:
The Postojna Cave (Postojnska Jama) (5:29)

Wanna go exploring caves in Yugoslavia? Someone did in the 1970s and came back with this neat set of 12 transparencies and flexi-record (with commentary), housed in a card folder. This 'Dia-Phon Souvenir' celebrates the beautiful Postojnska Caves (now located in Slovenia) and does it's best to recreate the experience of being there in person. In the caves visitors can walk on foot or descend into the cavern on a small electric train and witness the extensive rock formations as well as seeing the Proteus Anguinus, or 'Human fish', native only to subterranean waters.

I love the spooky, slightly distorted, haunting background music with piano, woodwind, harp, strings, celesta and a gong, which sounds almost oriental, especially in conjunction with the narrator who reminds me of Mr Sulu from Star Trek (George Takei). I love the way he says 'stalag-mites and stalag-tites'. I also like the fact that there is a cave called simply 'The Lovely Cave. How cute is that?

I wonder if they still use the same music today? It would be very effective also if they piped this into the caves as the tourists walk round. It would certainly make me want to visit.

While it seems that the record was recorded in several languages, to save money on printing costs the sleeve is multilingual, thus the instructions are in mousetype. They are also very precise, use out-of-date language and are clearly designed for idiots telling users that they will need a projector to show the slides and a gramophone to play the record.

If anyone's interested to find out more there's a page on The Postojnska Caves at Wikipedia.

- Contributed by: David Noades

Image: Cover

Media: Flexidisc
Label: None
Catalogue: None
Date: 1970s

365 Days #301 - Uncle Bob's Storybook Room - Barn Owl - Your Kidney - Antarctic (mp3s)

MP3:
01 Barn Owl (8:48)
02 Your Kidney (7:55)
03 Sing-A-Long Time (0:48)
04 Suffering (5:44)
05 Storybook Room (4:46)
06 Antarctic (9:55)
07 Cleaner Wrasse (7:39)
08 Sing-A-Long Time (0:52)
09 Penny Appendix (8:06)
10 Immorality (6:35)
11 Your Fat (10:11)

If you saw a cassette labeled "Barn Owl — Your Kidney — Antarctic" at a thrift store, could YOU resist? I couldn't, and I was rewarded with 10 episodes of Uncle Bob"s Nature Corner and Storybook Room.

In the Nature Corner segments, Uncle Bob conducts educational interviews with various wonders of science (including Bruce the Barn Owl, Mr. Kidney and Aunt Arctica), all of whom sound suspiciously like Bob disguising his voice.

In 2003 on the 365 Days Project (see track #10, Immorality), Tim asked "What is God"s will for our lives?'  Heavy stuff for a kids' show, and the good Uncle makes the most of it by lecturing his young listeners about sexual morality. The exchange fills me with such perverse joy that I must take issue with Bob"s conclusion: dirty jokes can"t possibly be against the will of God. How can anyone hear this and still believe otherwise?

The Storybook Room series features Bob and his son Tim pondering age-old theological questions, aided by song and scriptural dramatization.

A quick web search tipped me off to Uncle Bob"s identity: Bob Devine, author of such titles as "Uncle Bob Talks With My Digestive System" and "Uncle Bob"s Kangaroo and Squirrel Book". His radio programs were produced by the Moody Broadcasting Network (Chicago, IL) and still appear to be airing in a few markets.

- Contributed by: Suzanne Baumann

Image: Cassette

365 Days #300 - Arch Oboler - Drop Dead! (mp3s)

MP3: [removed April 2010]
1 Introduction To Horror (2:34)
2 I'm Hungry (2:21)
3 Taking Papa Home (3:35)
4 The Dark (8:09)
5 A Day At The Dentist's (3:52)
6 The Posse (2:06)
7 Chicken Heart (7:16)
8 The Laughing Man (6:39)

I don't remember where I first saw this album cover (it must have been online), but it's one of my all-time favorites. What an expertly executed composition of imagery, color and font! Not more than a couple of months ago I was sifting through the many albums in the used section and...there it was! Do you know that feeling? Your heart starts beating fast. You calmly and quickly set the record aside so as not to attract attention. You are well on your way to becoming a vinyl junkie!

So I get this home, clean it up and here it is. I must confess, the content is not nearly as dark and sinister as I was hoping for but it still entertains in a spook-tacular way! Upon "Googling" Arch Oboler, it turns out that he enjoyed a successful career in radio as well as writing for stage and screen. One of broadcasting's top talents, he is regarded today as one of the innovators of old time radio.

Technical Notes: This record was cleaned with a Nitty Gritty and transferred directly through a Radial J-33 phono pre-amp to an M-Audio Firewire 410 soundcard. A sensible amount of noise reduction was used to eliminate, erradicate and exfoliate those pesky crackles and pops, greatly improving the overall sound. 192kbps.

Happy Halloween Everybody!

- Contributed by: Spaceboy

Images: Front Cover, Back Cover

365 Days #299 - Paul Weston & Jeffrey Berman - The Dialect of the Black American (mp3s)

MP3:
Side 1 (19:00)
Side 2 (19:35)

One of my favorite spoken word records is this 1970 public service disc produced by Western Electric for libraries and schools (an excerpt was featured on the 2003 run of 365 Days). Essentially a long essay on how American society deals with Ebonics, The Dialect of the Black American is fairly radical in its message...and very entertaining in its presentation. That one of America's biggest companies produced such a document is testament to how liberal the country had become. Decades of agitation from Labor, the Civil Rights Movement, and the New Left had brought the country to its most enlightened state since anarchists, socialists, Wobblies, and labor forced FDR into the New Deal. Two years after this record's release, the Conservative Rollback, ushered in by the election of Richard Nixon, had begun, bringing us to the mess we are in today. The thought of Citigroup, Exxon Mobil, or Walmart-Stores producing anything like The Dialect... - either in style or content - is nothing less than absurd.

Message aside, The Dialect of the Black American would be just another spoken word record if not for the presentation. Narrator (I assume) Paul K. Winston has the right voice for this record. His rich tone dashes from Standard American English to Ebonics without pause. The writing is good. And the record is funny. Some of the humor is unintended, I'm sure; however, listen to the end of the last track and you know that the writers were laughing as they came up with it. Top a great record off with a fantastic sleeve and here is one of the best spoken word records ever released.

- Contributed by: Scott Soriano

Media: LP
Album: The Dialect of the Black American
Label: Western Electric
Date: 1970

365 Days #298 - Cheese Alfred Pickles Spam: The Worst of Einstein's Creation (mp3s)

MP3:
01 Are You Blind?!! (2:24)
02 Bacon Bits (1:57)
03 Robert, Oh! Robert (1:36)
04 The Beautiful Birds (Come Here, Bird!) (2:02)
05 Touch That Skunk Bubba (2:10)
06 Who's Albert (1:44)
07 Denny's A Bad Man (2:01)
08 A Smiling Pinata (3:06)
09 Albert Is Not A Tailor (2:56)
10 Nazi Dixieland (3:32)
11 Mushroom Girl (3:37)
12 Don't Touch The Donuts (1:14)
13 Ode To The Brown Cow (3:35)
14 Richard The Dentist (4:02)
15 The Toothpaste Polka (2:40)
16 Meditate And Paint (3:04)
17 Puberty Is Fun When You're 4 (3:01)

Einstein's Creation is a bizarre oddity that defies description. It was originally conceived as a way to study for a high school English test on the book, To Kill A Mockingbird. That was the 1st song, recorded on a cheap boombox in a Highland, Indiana basement in 1992 by two freshman teenagers that didn't play sports or pick up chicks. Comprising of three key members, EC composed scatterbrained, random absurdist songs that could only come from the deep, dark never-regions of the subconscious. The lyrics are nonsensical, obnoxiously repeated and relentlessly perverted; the stuff that nightmares are made of. Yet, they struck a chord with a lot of laugh-hungry teens at Highland High craving "unlistenably bad" tracks that became the Ed Wood of home recordings. Cassettes were passed around and copied. Eventually they were distributed at flea markets, Goodwill thrift stores, and even left on park benches and bookstore shelves. As social pariahs weened off of Monty Python, Weird Al, Second City records, and, ummm, Ween, EC attempted to become as surreal as possible. They created characters and consistently referenced spam, cheese, pickles, and some guy named Alfred. It encapsulates carefree, immature youth at its very core but also uncovering potentially disturbed young minds. Don't even discuss the time that a lyric sheet was discovered by a teacher, and his reaction to what he was reading. Guidance counselors couldn't make heads or tails of it. Hearing these songs, you might get an impression that even Wesley Willis was inspired by EC considering the recurring pre-programmed Yahama keyboards.

There is an essential collection floating about on the net that has bits and pieces of EC at its very worst. Included are samples from that digital monstrosity. Appropriately titled, Cheese Alfred Pickles Spam: The Worst of Einsteins Creation, EC has to be heard to be believed. You may laugh, cringe, or simply just want to turn it off... but there's no denying that there was at least a modicum of "creativity" spewing about in the minds of bored suburban kids who wanted to scream and be as stupid as possible. They just wanted to make themselves and their friends laugh, but what it does for others, is probably a whole other story.

Einstein's Creation continues to record as adults (!) sporadically and can be found at: myspace.com/einsteinscreation

- Contributed by: James Eric

Images: Cassette Cover, Einsteins Creation

Media: Cassette
Date: 1992

365 Days #297 - Tony Weston! (mp3s)

MP3:
CLOUD ONE
Everything's Coming Up Roses (3:42)
When You Smile (2:54)
Make The World A Little Younger (3:26)
Nobody Does it Like Me (2:06)
Try To Remember (4:08)
My Way (5:26)
CLOUD TWO
Sing, Sing a Song (3:30)
The Last Red Rose In London Town (2:35)
I'd Do It All Again (3:13)
Streets Of London (4:21)
It's You (3:34)
The Greatest Performance of My Life (3:51)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Tony Weston! – Side 1 is 'Live' ( my arse!) from Norwich circa 1970 something. (There's no date on the record though the cover of Streets of London is a clue). Side 2 consists of studio stuff.

Mr Tony Weston, otherwise variously referred to as 'Mr Vitality' - 'Mr Fabulous' - 'Mr Entertainment', with props from Liberace and Noel Coward on the sleeve. . Woo!

A Cabaret Stalwart of the old school, camp as Christmas, and a total pro. Dig the crisp annunciation and the accent that lurks somewhere between the mid atlantic, a home counties drama school and the west country (?).

This is a 'live'(cough!) recording of his last gig in Norwich. I don't know if it's his last gig anywhere or just Norwich. The applause has a habit of fading at just the right time and being sort of at one remove from the intensity of the action. He stuck it on afterwards!

It's on the same label as the Maxwell Plumm album I posted a while ago. The Raven label must have been a specialist vanity pressing set-up for cabaret artists and their ilk.

A Google search came up with this link - http://archive.thisisdorset.net/2005/4/29/56290.html

It seems Tony Weston passed away in 2005. He apparently had a large following in the UK back in the 60's and my hunch about the West country accent was right. ('Hair by Raymond of Bournmouth' is a clue as well. Why were so many hairdressers called Raymonde?) I'm glad he had a fitting send off. R.I.P. Mr Vitality' if that's not a bit of a contradiction.

Mind you, he orchestrated the send off himself, which takes a lot of posthumous chutzpah... I admire him for that. Sort of ;-)

The record is signed 'To a real super lady, Sonia, thanks you for your kind words, I never forget. I love Norwich!'

I feel I have to point out that I don't actually like this record as a piece of music, (obviously I'm far too cool, highbrow and hetero for that! Oh yes... ;-) ) but as a social document, as a slice of seventies cabaret set in aspic it is superb. I hope you enjoy it 'my loves' (as our Tony would have said), or if not that, I hope you can appreciate it as a cultural artifact. ;-) I think you will like the modest way he has the theme music for Jesus Christ Superstar as his intro music, after he has given himself a big intro in the third person (as if we wouldn't notice it was him or something? ... ) and definitely don't miss the spoken intro to My Way.

- Contributed by: Jon Allen

Images: Front Cover, Back Cover, Tony!

365 Days #296 - Charles Steven Page and Unknown Artist - 3 Demo Songs Each (mp3s)

MP3:

Charles Steven Page
1. Armageddon (3:49)
2. Suddenly (3:37)
3. Did You Know That (3:12)

Unknown Artist
1. H.I. (3:31)
2. What Do I See in You? (3:03)
3. On the Ears of the Wind (2:47)

Longtime friend Brian S. gave me a copy of a cassette that he'd received from a "music industry insider" friend in Nashville. Sharing space with an assortment of prank calls were songs by three outsider artists. Two songs from this tape were included in the 2003 edition of the 365 Days project. The second Charles Steven Page song here ("Suddenly") was featured on day #076, and Alexandria Hughes Little's "New Anthem" showed up on day #061.

Taking full advantage of WFMU's generous gift of bandwidth, here's Mr. Page's complete three-song demo. He sings his original compositions a cappella, while Mr. Artist is backed by a small combo (perhaps overdubbed by himself). The vocal harmonies definitely sound like the lead vocalist singing with himself via overdub.

I won't editorialize about these obviously sincere examples of human expression, but let me just say that I wouldn't be a bit surprised if someday the name Unknown Artist is on everyone's lips.

- Contributed by: Perry Amberson

Images: Page imaginary portrait, Unknown imaginary portrait

Media: Cassette
Album: Bizarro Compilation #1
Label: Shut Yer Hole Records
Catalog: SYH 004-4
Date: 1994

365 Days #295 - Sakura and The Quests (mp3s)

MP3:
Puppet On A String EP
01 Puppet On A String (2:34)
02 Yam Yam Cha Cha (2:14)
03 My Boy Lollipop (1:58)
04 Rock 'n' Roll Yodeling Guy (2:04)
Sakura Goes Boom Boom LP
05 I Love Cowboy (3:14)
06 Stupid Cupid (3:03)
07 I Don't Care If Tomorrow Never Comes (3:03)
08 Michelle (2:45)
09 Boom Boom (3:42)
10 My Bonnie (3:08)

What could be better than a Singapore singer covering western pop songs in broken English with a fuzz-guitar backing. Here for your enjoyment is Sakura's four- track 1967 EP featuring Puppet On A String plus six superb tracks from her album Sakura Goes Boom Boom.

Sandie Shaw notoriously disowned the '60s Eurovision novelty song Puppet On A String but Sakura Teng has made it her own, and even poses a puppets (and puppeteer!) on the sleeve. And what the hell is she wearing? Presumably silver tights and baby doll dresses were all the rage in Singapore in '67. Chinese singers famously have trouble singing western lyrics so you have to admire Sakura who not only impersonates Elvis on Rock 'n' Roll Yodelling Guy but also (you've guessed it) yodells. Is there anything this woman can't do!

But save room for her take of the John Lee Hooker classic from her album Sakura Goes Boom Boom which has to be heard to be believed, and the fuzz guitar-driven cover of Connie Francis' Stupid Cupid. Sakura is backed by a band called The Quests who were seemingly the in-house band at EMI-Columbia, Singapore and also backed other singers including Rita Chao.

Note: the back of the album bears the advertising legend: 'Sakura also goes bazazz with Max Factor'!

- Contributed by: David Noades

Images: Cover (Puppet On A String), Cover (Sakura Goes Boom Boom)

Puppet On A String
Media: Single
Label: Columbia
Catalogue: ECHK-579
Year: 1967

Sakura Goes Boom Boom
Media: Album
Label: Columbia
Catalogue: 33ESX602
Year: 1967

365 Days #294 - Don Parker throws a spitball while Jeff Godwin is off his rocker (mp3s)

Oh, that rock and rollin' sin-filled music. Today on this glorious Sunday let's listen to a radio broadcast with Jeff Godwin and become acquainted with some of this music. Some of which (oh mercy) you can hear on WFMU!

And then get a hold of that snowball and break it and spew a spitball outta your mouth and (whoosh whoosh) blast that fireball with Don Parker. Spit Spit Spit! Yes friends, yes friends. SPIT!

I can't recall where on god's green grass these recordings came from. My home is a disaster area of media these days. I need to purge soon before I drown. I either downloaded these years ago or (more likely) they came from old tape trades. Which, when thinking of tape trading, I am sent into a wonderful reverie recalling such books as "Cassette Mythos" and "High Weirdness By Mail" - and those exciting quarterly issues of Factsheet Five!

MP3:
Jeff Godwin - Off His Rocker
Part 1 (13:01)
Part 2 (14:58)
Part 3 (12:52)
Part 4 (5:06)
Evangelist Don Parker - Snowball Spitball Fireball
Part 1 (21:08)
Part 2 (22:25)

- Contributed by: Sid Safari

365 Days #293 - Alberta Casey - San Diego Vokas (mp3s)

MP3:
01 Flugadi (Volare) (3:01)
02 Ponto Trans Akvo Storma (Bridge Over Troubled Water) (4:13)
03 Kisu Min Multe (Besame Mucho) (2:34)
04 Printempa Songo (Pola Kanto) (2:46)
05 Kredis Mi (Yesterday) (2:23)
06 Amas Mi Parizon (I Love Paris) (2:24)
07 Anim Kaj Koro (Anima E Core) (3:14)
08 Venu La Klaun (Send In The Clowns) (3:01)
09 Isreala Lulkanto (Isreala Popolkanto) (1:40)
10 Haj-Lili Haj-Lo (Hi Lili, Hi Lo) (2:09)
11 Rozojn Sutis Mi (Rozem Kaisu Istabinu) (2:04)
12 Aloha Oe (2:35)
13 San Diego (3:00)

A testament to the beauty of the Esperanto language as spoken by San Diego natives. The album consists of thirteen cover songs performed in Esperanto. Found at the Purple Heart thrift store (San Diego). Flugadi was featured in 2003 on the 365 Days Project.

What is Esperanto? (from the Virtual Esperanto Library):

Esperanto is a language designed to facilitate communication between people of different lands and cultures. It was first published in 1887 by Dr. L. L. Zamenhof (1859-1917) under the pseudonym "Dr. Esperanto", meaning "one who hopes", and this is the name that stuck as the name of the language itself. Esperanto is considerably easier to learn than national languages, since its design is far simpler and more regular. Also, unlike national languages, Esperanto allows communication on an equal footing between people, with neither having the usual cultural advantage favouring a native speaker. Esperanto's purpose is not to replace any other language, but to supplement them: Esperanto would be used as a neutral language when speaking with someone who doesn't know one's own language. The use of Esperanto would also protect minority languages, which would have a better chance of survival than in a world dominated by a few powerful languages.

- Contributed by: Buffy Budz

Media: LP
Album: San Diego Vokas

365 Days #292 - The Ray Belmonte Duo - Laugh It Up with Ray and Rick (mp3s)

MP3:
The Ray Belmonte Duo - Laugh It Up with Ray and Rick - Side 1 (15:30)
The Ray Belmonte Duo - Laugh It Up with Ray and Rick - Side 2 (14:56)

An early sixties Canadian lounge act. Wow! Bad jokes, one liners, musical parodies (Hello Dolly, Shanty In Shanty Town, etc.)

The Ray Belmonte Duo were seen as the up and comers, I guess that's why I have never heard of them. This is one of my favorite records that I found 7 years ago at a flea market in Snellgrove Ontario.

Enjoy! Download this!

- Contributed by: Evil Pain Clown

Images: Front Cover

Media: LP
Album: Laugh It Up with Ray and Rick
Label: Arc records
Catalog: #698

365 Days #291 - The Redcoats (mp3s)

MP3:
01 Should I Care (1:51)
02 Blue Fire (2:07)
03 Girls Girls Girls (2:13)
04 She's My Baby (2:30)
05 Blue Skies (2:27)
06 Teardrops in My Eyes (live) (3:12)
07 Lawdy Miss Clawdy (live) (3:20)
08 Tequila (live) (3:28)
09 Home By Eleven (2:12)
10 Big Name Button (live) (2:57)
11 Jelly (2:53)
12 Shake Rattle and Roll (2:40)
13 Let's Have a Party (2:26)
14 Hayride (2:40)
15 Bird Dog (2:53)
16 House of Blue Lights (2:38)
17 Lonesome Road (2:17)
18 Honky Tonk (4:16)

One of the earliest facts I ever heard about my father-in-law (at the time I first heard this fact, he was not yet my father-in-law) was that he was a drummer in the 50s and 60s for a band called the Redcoats. There was little opportunity to hear the band - all the singles that my wife owned as a child seemed to have disappeared over the years and I figured since they were a local band (from Rochester, NY) from decades ago, their music would be very hard to come by.

I have, through several sources, been able to track down the long forgotten vinyl, but most importantly, my father-in-law himself, drummer Jim Christy, came upon some old recordings the band had done, including some live ones that probably hadn't been heard since the day they were committed to tape.

There is also another sidenote in the tale of the Redcoats. Their lead singer was a guy named Steve Alaimo. At some point, Alaimo left the band behind - the band included his brother, Jimmy - and embarked on a solo career that scored him a couple hits and regular spot on "Where the Action Is" with Paul Revere and the Raiders. He never quite achieved stardom and, I believe, moved onto production work in the music industry.

My father-in-law is now a successful painter (check him out: www.jimchristy.com).

This is very rare stuff and to anyone who digs 50s rock and roll, a fun find. Enjoy!

- Contributed by: John Mitchell

Images: Fan Club

365 Days #290 - S.H. Speaks in Tongues and Buys a Coke (mp3s)

MP3:
S.H. Speaks in Tongues and Buys a Coke (7:17)

Here's another of my treasured radio memories. As the 19-year-old low man on the totem pole at WPID Radio—a 1000-watt AM station in a tiny Alabama town—it was often my lot in life to be stuck with the all-day Sunday shift. And though the station's format was country music Monday through Friday, on Sunday it was wall-to-wall Jesus. From local sunrise to local sunset WPID broadcast an assortment of live remote church services, pre-recorded religious programs, gospel music, and live-in-the-studio preachers.

S.H. was one of the latter, a diminutive fire-and-brimstone breathing, tongue-speaking man on a mission. While most of our live preachers would bring friends or family members along to help with their broadcasts, S.H. was a lone wolf. He would arrive a few minutes before air time, give me $35.00 in cash for his half-hour program, and make his way to our tiny studio. At 4:30 PM I'd introduce him, and he'd be off and running.

This day's message had to do with how the "Bride of Christ" shouldn't orta not be livin' right or something along those lines. About twenty-five minutes into the program he started speaking in tongues, and I had the foresight to hit the "Record" button on one of our ancient Teac reel-to-reel machines and catch the remainder of the show on tape. Since the studio mike was routed through the tape recorder, I also caught the audio from the studio after the broadcast ended. Listen in glorious 192 kbps dual mono as S.H. asks how much those Cokes are, and then buys himself one!

If you're a cut-to-the-chase type, you can find the tongue-speaking at 0:25 and 3:43 and the Coke-buying at 6:32.

- Contributed by: Perry Amberson

Image: Piedmont, Alabama

Media: Live Religious Broadcast
Station: WPID Radio, Piedmont, Alabama
Date: 1981

365 Days #289 - Outtakes from the 2003 365 Days Project - Part IV (mp3s)

In 2003 on the first run of the 365 Days Project there were a lot of contributions that did not make it online.  Now in 2007 we are compiling those tracks into volumes for your download.  Here we go with volume 4 in the ongoing series.

365 Days #288 - Sheena Scott (mp3s)

I love Sheena Scott. I first discovered her via her 1971 single 'My Sugar Daddy', which I rescued from a sea of mud on a rainy day at a car boot sale, attracted by her suggestive pose on the cover and her bold signature where she has signed the sleeve.

'My Sugar Daddy' proved to be a cheeky slice of burlesque fun, enhanced by Marilyn Monroe-esque squeels of delight (from her not me, I'm not quite that excited!). Since then I looked out for other Sheena records and have so far found the original Belgian single of My Sugar Daddy (where it goes under the Dutch title Kijk In Mijn Ogen, which translates as Look In My Eyes) and no less than three albums.

MP3:
Sheena Scott - 2nd Album
01 My Sugar Daddy (2:24)
02 Somebody Else Just Like You (2:14)
03 Leaving Me (3:33)
04 Please Come Back (3:07)
05 Distant Shore (2:23)
06 A Lovely Bunch Of Cocoanuts (2:05)
07 Free As A Bird (3:14)
08 You Made Me Love You (2:26)
09 Napoli (3:52)
10 Old Harry (2:13)
11 Shamrock (2:52)
12 Hey Ya Ho (3:02)
Belgian single
13 Kijk In Mijn Ogen (2:23)
From 1970 album 'Sheena Scott'
14 Casatchok (2:49)
From 1976 album 'Love Me Tonight'
15 Yodelay (2:26)