WFMU's Beware of the Blog

An Audio Letter From a Sailor in Vietnam, to His Girl Back Home, Circa 1968 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 57) (MP3)

Here's a fascinating little piece of recording tape. It is a recording made by a man coming to the end of his service in Vietnam, to his sweetheart in America. I've dated it as 1968, which is the earliest date possible, but it could be from a bit later. 

I initially copied this into my computer as "Letter from a Soldier", but since his only reference to his actual service is to the Navy, I've referred to the speaker as a Sailor. 

Much of the tape consists of expressing potential plans for the future, words of love to his darling, praise and inspirational thoughts for her, and these are the things that I think make this tape such a find, and such a fascinating (and sweet) listen. 

But it actually seems to start mid thought, regarding his upcoming honorable discharge. While it sounds like perhaps the beginning of the tape has been lost, that doesn't appear to be the case, as the material you hear here actually begins about two minutes into the start of the tape. He mentions having contracted something called "Vericolor" (anyone know what this is???), and that this is leading to his discharge. He then mentions his plan to attend college in Colorado. 

Then, about three minutes into this 16 minute tape, he turns his attention to his girl, their relationship, and their future. Aside from a few comments, I'll let you discover the charms and surprises of this tape yourself, but I did get a kick out of how the language he uses, flowery at times, slang-filled at others, just screams out "Late 1960's". 

And that's clearly the case. He mentions having recently seen the film "Charly", which was released in 1968, and briefly sings a bit of "Dedicated to the One I Love", in a style closer to the 1967 version by the Mamas and Papas, than to the Shirelles original. Oddly, he does mention having just heard the 1965 hit "Eve of Destruction" for what seems to have been the first time, and I can't quite reconcile that with the rest of the dating here, but "Charly" clearly places this at 1968 or later.

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Unknown - Audio Letter From a Sailor in Vietnam Circa 1968 (MP3)

Sounds of Senn High School, 1960 (MP3's)

Senn High School, in the Edgewater Community of Chicago, is an imposing building that looks every moment of its 101 years old. As you drive through the surrounding area, which is filled with apartments and condos seemingly filling every available space, coming to an intersection and seeing this huge school come into sight for the first time can be quite an experience, something akin to drving through ten blocks of nearly identical bungalows, turning a corner, and finding yourself in front of the White House.

For the 1959-1960, a group of students - perhaps those involved in the Yearbook, put together an audio documentary of the school year. Other schools were, of course, starting to do the same thing around this time, and I own several of these, most of which were on 10" LP's - by the mid '60's, they tended to be full 12" LP's. But the folks at Senn limited themselves (or were limited for other reasons) to a seven inch, 33 1/3 RPM release, with five-plus minutes on one side, and seven minutes on the other. 

The record hits most of the high points featured on those longer versions produced by other schools, just in more abridged fashion - the sports teams (team final records not mentioned), band performances, prom, graduation, and, in this case, the talent show. Listening to the Talent Show highlights, it's not clear to me why they didn't, instead, just mount a full production of "West Side Story". 

Travel back in time with me now, to the school year of 1959-1960 at Senn High School!

Sounds of Senn, 1960, Side One (MP3)

Sounds of Senn, 1960, Side Two (MP3)

Record Label A-side (JPG)  | Record Label B-side (JPG)

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"A Record-Breaking Affair" (1952)

"Sally loved working in a radio station, and she loved Hugh Clancy, the station's leading disc jockey, until that fateful day when her hopes for a career and a beautiful romance crashed and shattered at her feet..."  (Sha-do-be / Shattered Shattered)

Thus spins the drama and the records in one of our three 1950s comic book offerings today, two from the 1950 comic Exciting Life Stories of Famous Stars, and the wonderfully radio-centric tale above from an issue of Cinderella Love.

A tasty trio of beautifully-drawn and romantic musical yarns on display for you right after the jump!