WFMU's Beware of the Blog

The Short Career of the 1941 Pied Piper

"By means of a secret charm to draw,  and after me so as you never saw,  all creatures living beneath the sun,  that creep or swim or fly or run.  /   And I chiefly use my charm,  on creatures that do people harm,  the mole, the newt, the toad and viper,  and people call me the Pied Piper."

So opens the first of his four cases, from the pages of Cat-Man Comics in 1941. Created and drawn by Allen Ulmer, Jr., and not to be confused with the early 1960s adversary of the Flash (shown on our right) who, although a straight-up villain, has a much lighter tone. The 1941-42 model is a 'hero' character per se - but a rather creepy one - just how I like 'em!

It seems that our protagonist, the lawyer 'Steve Prentice', has "quite a collection of flutes and rare instruments (he) picked up while touring the Orient" and uses noise to battle crime and corruption for four issues until his untimely demise. Today we'll look at all the adventures that this short-lived and strange character got to participate in - his flute playing is not well-liked by criminals and indeed even the authorities aren't too sure what to make of him either.  Let's join our crime-fighting flautist right after the jump!

After The Meal...A Feast! The Anahuac Tour 2013, with special guests Verglas; WFMU's My Castle of Quiet, 6th July 2013

This massive session was booked long before I decided that I'd be taking, at the very least, a season off from broadcasting the My Castle of Quiet program on WFMU. A somewhat different grouping of bands from the Black Twilight Circle (aka artists on the great Crepusculo Negro label) had visited the show in October 2011, and thanks to all the bands, M. from Seed Stock/Raspberry Bulbs, and the engineering/organizational skills of Diane Kamikaze Farris, that session had come off as something really special—a sprawling, but tight and ferocious bill that myself and all others involved could be very proud of.

This time, Eddie and company were returning with a slightly different selection of bands—Volahn and Arizmenda would be back; this time with the opaque, progressive death-metal of BHL (Blue Hummingbird on The Left), and the solidly composed, chunky, contemplative black metal of the much-loved Bilirubin. In the "but wait, there's more" category, also joining us would be perhaps my favorite bm band from French Canada—the great Verglas, whose outstanding tapes have enthralled and mystified me over the past few years.

So, even though by the time of the tour's arrival, I would no longer be on the air weekly, as luck would have it, in early July, before the soil had even been packed atop the coffin of MCoQ's first four years, Evan Davies would need someone to fill in two weeks in a row, perfect timing for me to air this session while it was still fresh, in a prime-time, evening slot.

The level of musicianship and compositional talent in all of the Crepusculo Negro bands is so high—these guys simply love to play, and do so with the utmost congeniality and ease, often working a round-robin where certain players workout on drums, guitar or vocals, depending on the project—such that all of these groupings defy easy categorization. Black metal is the shaky umbrella under which they all casually fall, but the sometimes limiting definitions of that genre are such that these groups bleed out over its edges (and in the case of Arizmenda, quite literally!) In each of these projects, a different player takes the lead, seemingly writing the songs and arranging the parts, etc., so what results is four very distinct voices. Each will end up in your "black metal section," but only for ease of definition, as they all reach far beyond in their way.

Verglas are another animal entirely, drawing on their own urgent, propulsive, minimalist energy, making "the succinct statement" work for them, in a way similar to some of my favorite bands of the genre—Vordr, Bone Awl, Malveillance and others—but shorter songs, and an urgent force, is where the comparisons end, as Verglas have their own character and a songbook of raw dynamite.

All in all, this was a plate-shifting session of great music by great bands, leaving your host very thrilled, and elated that such a passionate coda could be placed upon four years' worth of weekly broadcasting that was more often than not black-metal dominated.

Thanks again to Eddie, all the CN players, Diane, and the Verglas players, for making this day yet another massive Castle session to remember. Each band's set is presented here as a single, unbroken mp3. I had let this session languish in the streaming archive after leaving the weekly air, and my Summer / Fall got cluttered and busy, so I must thank you all as well, for your patience in waiting on this post.

Volahn

BHL

Arizmenda

Bilirubin

Verglas

WFMU's 2013 Record Fair - Nov 22-24!

Don't miss out on the best record shopping weekend of the year! Luxuriate in the presence of hundreds of thousands of records and CDs, great films and live music, plus tons of live WFMU broadcasts!

WFMU Record Fair
Nov 22nd - 24th (Fri - Sun)

Metropolitan Pavilion
125 W. 18th St, Manhattan

Early admission ($25): Fri 4-7pm (includes unlimited re-entry all weekend)
Regular admission ($7): Fri 7-10pm, Sat/Sun 10am-7pm

Bring in your Record Fair postcard or this coupon for $2 off admission!

Live Music:
- Shannon & the Clams: Sat 3-6pm
- Liquor Store: Sat 3-6pm
- Blowfly: Sun 1pm
- Jeffrey Lewis & the Rain: Sun 3pm

Films:
- The Mystery in Old Bathbath - a puppet movie by Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Sat 10am
- MeanEnsemble: Raymond Scott's Perfect Musical World, Sat 2pm
- Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals, Sat 4pm
- Andrew Bird: Fever Year, Sun 4:15pm
and more!

Live WFMU Broadcasts from the Record Fair include Miniature Minotaurs with Kurt Gottschalk (Fri 3-6pm), Put the Needle on the Record with Billy Jam (Fri 7-8pm), Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine (Fri 8-9pm), Michael Shelley (Sat 11am-1pm), Fool's Paradise with Rex (Sat 1-3pm), and The Cherry Blossom Clinic with Terre T (Sat 3-6pm).

Full schedule of events here.

See you at the Fair!

 

"A Boy and a Clock" - A 1950's Boy Scouts Promotional Piece (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 44) (MP3)

Today's tape contains a few minutes of fascinating narration, from some time in the 1950's. The initial material on the tape was recorded in 1953, but some time after that, someone recorded over it, capturing a brief monologue for the ages, one which I suspect people who like to manipulate sound - particularly those who play with things said in sound clips - will have a field day with. 

On the box, it's identified as "A Boy and a Clock", and as you'll hear, it is an entreaty for the listener to be aware of the boys in his life - his children, those in his extended family, in his neighborhood, and for God's sake, get them into Boy Scouts just as fast as you can. 

I suspect that if someone where selling this message today, he wouldn't choose some of the turns of phrase chosen here, but I don't think I'll say anything more about that - I'll let the gems on this tape speak for themselves.

I will mention that it takes about 30 seconds to get going, while whoever did the recording messed with different ticking sounds, before getting one that was just right. Oh, one more thing - moments before the narration begins, is it my imagination, or does someone say "damn it!"? 

Unknown - A Boy and a Clock   |   Tape Box Front Cover  |   Tape Box Back Cover

Following this monologue, the rest of the tape contains the rest of what was originally recorded on it: what I believe are performances from a high school or other amateur band, playing a variety of band pieces at a moderate level of competence. They aren't nearly interesting enough to share here...

Highlights of "Juke Box" Number One, from March 1948

Today let's look at a late product from the Funnies, Inc. comic book packaging company, founded by Lloyd Jacquet in 1939 as First Funnies Inc. One of the earliest heavy players in the budding comic book making business, and also one of the best-paying, they attracted a lot of terrific talent over the years, many of them working freelance at home, not a common practice in those days.

By the time they published the series that we'll look into today, the company was located at 500 Fifth Avenue in New York and still managed by Jacquet. There were only six issues of Juke Box produced, each one stuffed full of popular musical performers and writers, but like many post-war comics it didn't last. Once wartime paper restrictions were lifted, everyone flooded the newstands with too many comics and that generally helped to crush many comic book publishers altogether. A lot of subjects were tried out in the late 1940s, but few books held on for very long.

This first issue of Juke Box is very promising, well-drawn and written throughout, and we'll see most of it today. I plan to showcase excerpts from the other five issues in future WFMU blog posts as they are rife with interesting artists. So come along now and learn about Lindley Armstrong Jones (who he?),  the habits and interests of Duke Ellington, fight crime with Benny Goodman, pen some hits with Johnny Mercer, and much more musical excitement - all after the jump!

SPEND AN HOUR OR MORE WITH GRACE JONES

Watch the whole hour long compilation here

 

BY KOLLIN HOLTZ

Grace Jones is a Jamaican born (May 1948), New York raised (1962) model, actress and most notably, a Grammy nominated Disco pop star turned new wave/R&B artist at the peak of anti-disco sentiment. Her Androgynous style landed her on the covers of Elle, and Vogue magazine inspiring the aesthetic of many female pop stars to come. Her fashion sense and style is a rebellion against the status-quo regarding gender rolls, and what a woman’s “place” is. Through her music, clothing and attitude, she most certainly is the rebellious epitomic representation of the Pastor’s child that she claims to be.

Grace was born and raised in Spanish Town, Jamaica until the age of thirteen. While there, she was raised by her grandparents part-time while her fashion-forward seamstress mother trotted the globe behind Grace’s sermon giving Pastor of a father. Growing up, she was name called things like “Olive Oyl” after Popey the Sailor Man’s shapeless love, and “nothing-in-the-middle” for what some saw as her lack of breasts. In these early years, surrounded by familial men of the cloth with a line of bishops stretching back to her Pentecostal grand Uncle, Grace took note and issue with the well defined, strict gender roles established around her. Grace didn’t want to become her Grandmother, and speaking about her she says, “She could never say anything at all. She just lived through all that abuse in the name of religion. If she did object, my step-grandfather (who was twenty years younger than her) would dismiss her with a wave of his hand. Even though my mum was tough, my dad was scarier.”

In 1962, her parents moved her and her siblings to New York. While Grace was seen as a tad masculine, her brother was seen in the reverse. In Jamaica, he organized the church choir and played the piano. Apparently

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 70

Earcandy for your eyes

Alan Howarth playing his John Carpenter movie score contributions live at 285 Kent on Halloween.

<

After the break: Assemble X at Ace Hotel and Negativland at New School

A Wonderfully Incompetent Vanity Record (MP3's)

The Tin Pan Alley record label, of New York City (and later, of Sarasota, Florida), is known - if known at all - largely by two groups of people. First, there are doo-wop collectors and fans, who enjoy the records earliest releases, some of which have even been put together in a few anthologies one can find here and there.

Then there are those like me, who collect the much longer and broader section of Tin Pan Alley's history of releases, their song-poem output. Actually, my understanding is that even the majority of the doo-wop releases (many of them quite valuable) were actually song-poem records, but made with the involvement of some of the top talent in the doo-wop world of the day, leading to considerably better quality than might otherwise have been the case.

One thing I'd never seen before on a Tin Pan Alley record was a vanity recording - someone's own performance of his or her own song. These crop up on some of the other large song-poem labels, but judging from the American Song-Poem Music Archives Tin Pan Alley page, there was, at the time that that site stopped updating, only one confirmed vanity record on the label. I now have another, with a very similar label number to the one previously confirmed.

And it is, I must say, a doozy. Someone named Frank Geramita wrote both sides of the record, and is the credited performer on both songs, as well. The really amazing track is the one identified as the A-side, a recording so filled with incompetence it's hard to know where to start, but the obvious place is with the misspelled title, "I'm So Sad Your (sic) Gone". Then there's the first thing you'll hear, which is the recording cranking up to speed (the record similar comes to a sudden - and more rapid - shutting down at the end).

But the real fun is in listening to the guitar part which seems to have been grafted on, over the strumming and singing that make up the majority of the track. First, this track is recorded loudly enough to dominate vocal sections here and there. But more than that, it is played by someone who clearly has a rudimentary idea of how to solo, and even apparently some decent improvisory ideas, but who just as clearly was nowhere near learning the techniques necessary to pull off what he or she intended to do. Bum notes fly out in almost equal number with good ones at times, the "lead strumming" overpowers the rest of the track at other points.

Almost obscured by all the guitar weirdness is the sort of droning, ponderous nature of the song and performance, which stretches out to nearly five minutes. Be sure to listen for some very odd, and out of place ho-ho-ho-ing just before the song's sudden termination.

Frank Geramita - I'm So Sad Your Gone (MP3)  |  Single A-side Label

The flip side, "As the Time Ticks Away", should absolutely have been the A-side, to my ears. I don't like it much, but I like every aspect of it more than the flip side. While it's still very much a drone, it's a bit more lively, the vocal interplay (where it occurs) is more effective, and it's a better song than "I'm So Sad".

Frank Geramita - As the Time Ticks Away (MP3)  |  Single B-side Label

"The Mad Mamba" and "Satan's Stradivari" / Scary Pre-Code 1950s Music-Horror

"I won't book another concert for you, Devere. Neither will any agent! Audiences run from your concerts. You play music that drives them nearly mad! People can't listen to you and stay sane."

Ahhh, yes, the years before auto-tune. Step back again this week if you will into that dark place where a chance encounter with a musician or composer might lead to madness at the least, or being an accursed soul for all eternity on the outside.

In our first little yarn, as illustrated by the Atlas/Marvel companies favorite artist (in the 1950s, anyway) Joe Maneely, we will learn a wickedly popular new dance that was all the rage back in 1954 when it appeared originally. Then we will roll back to 1952 and the Fawcett Comics company to hear the soothing strains sure to  issue from "Satan's Stradivari", as expertly drawn by the stalwart Golden Age artist Sheldon Moldoff, better-known for his many fine contributions to the Batman comics family, while ghosting for many years under Bob Kane's signature. A special mention should go to the unknown colorist of this story, who did a fantastic job, it is a treat to look at!

And so, for your listening and dancing pleasure, put on your dancing shoes, adjust your earplugs and join me after the jump for some mighty cheerful (and cultural) goings-on!

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 69

Earcandy for your eyes

Pallbearer in Brooklyn at the Baby's All Right on October 19, 2013.

After the break: Sannhet at Saint Vitus and Iceage at The Acheron

WFMU's Radiovision Festival hits NYC THIS Saturday!

Don't miss out on WFMU's 3rd annual Radiovision Festival this Saturday, October 19th, at the Scholastic Auditorium (557 Broadway) in NYC! Tickets here.

Radiovision celebrates radio's future as it takes on new forms in the digital age for the medium's fans, tinkerers, and future thinkers.

This year's guests include:

FIlmmaker Adam Curtis (keynote speaker)

Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit)

Julie Klausner (comedian)

Bob Garfield (On the Media)

James Del (Gawker Media)

Tom Scharpling (WFMU)

and more!

Check out the full schedule here, and we'll see you on Saturday!

 

Help WFMU Open our Performance Space to the Public!

WFMU's Studio of Tomorrow silent campaign to raise enough money to open our 100-seat radio theater to the public is gaining steam! Help us make our goal by October 31st by making a pledge below!

Earlier this year, WFMU reclaimed the ground floor space of our building* and renovated it on a shoestring. But right now the space is just an empty room with a stage, and we now need to bring it up to code and purchase some basic audio equipment so that we can open our doors to the public and start hosting events.

*(previously, we rented it out to a business that closed shop)

Station Manager Ken explains it all in the video below:

 

And if that didn't convince you to pledge, perhaps we can entice you with our fantastic new Junk Food T-shirt ($50) or Knit Hat ($100). More swag on view here.

 

Manners Can Be Fun! (MP3's)

Here's a twelve inch 78 for children, all about why one should mind one's manners (and what those manners are), sung by Frank Luther. Each side has a set of short songs.

Side one features: 

1.) How Do You Do?  2.) We Get Up  3.) Before You Know It  4.) Towels and Clothes  5.) At the Table  6.) Listening  7.) We Say "Please"  8.) Excuse Me

Side two features: 

1.) Fair Play  2.) The Whineys  3.) Smash, Rip, Ruin  4.) Toys Belong in Boxes  5.) Animals Have Feelings  6.) Goodbye and Thank You  7.) When It Is Bedtime  8.) Having Good Manners

Frank Luther recorded in a variety of genres, but it legendary mostly for his children's records. He made some records my mother loved, particularly a couple of 78's featuring a set of songs by A. A. Milne, and those records are pretty wonderful. This one tries hard to convince the listener that, yes, "Manners Can Be Fun", but the end result seems more like lecturing then it does the explanation of something fun.

Compare with the low budget Peter Pan releases I offered up in the 365 Days project, which are just as didactic, and clearly had a quarter of the musical budget. And yet those records are a hell of a lot of fun, and as a result, they got played to death by my brother and me when we were kids. I don't perceive the same level of "fun" when I listen to this record, although it was clearly quite well loved (i.e. it's beat to hell, as you'll hear) by whoever owned it before me, so what do I know?

Frank Luther - Manners Can Be Fun, Part One

Frank Luther - Manners Can Be Fun, Part Two

Record Label Side A |  Record Label Side B

"The Spell of the Hypnotic Chord" and "Syr-Darya's Death Song"

This week the Comic Supplement swings back into the horrific and scary aspects of music, as we look at two 1950s fright books; with a tale from The Beyond #30, dated January 1955, and Web of Mystery #13, from September 1952.

 Leading the way, from the last issue of The Beyond, we'll learn about the The Spell of the Hypnotic Chord, which sounds like a charming musical lesson, as stylishly illustrated by Louis Zansky, and penned by an unknown writer.

As a cheerful follow-up to that story, we'll wind things up with a wonderfully visual and strange tale drawn by Lin Streeter and scribed by another unknown writer, with a cover by Lou Cameron.

Oh, Boy!  Death songs and hypnotic chords await us right after the jump!

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 68

Earcandy for your eyes

Death in June in Brooklyn at the Bell House on September 20, 2013.

After the break: Grails at Saint Vitus

Jimmy Driftwood's First Record (MP3)

Jimmy Driftwood (1907-1998) has been a musical hero of mine ever since the early '90's, at which point I first heard his song "Fidi Diddle Um-a Dazey" on a tape recording of a folk music radio show from 1960. That sent me back to my family's own tapes from WFMT's "The Midnight Special" folk program from the same era, and the few Driftwood songs that were heard on those tapes, including the wonderful "Rattlesnake Song". I've also always known his amazing song "He Had a Long Chain On", via the recording by Odetta. And of course, nearly everyone my age grew up knowing "The Battle of New Orleans" via the number one hit version sung by Johnny Horton in 1959. 

I find Driftwood endlessly entertaining, endearing and fascinating. His songs are catchy and direct, with good humor, and often a really upbeat view of life. Plus there's his infectious vocal style and the unique sound of his homemade guitar. An excellent, lengthy biography of Driftwood can be found here.

Just as I was discovering Jimmy Driftwood, the folks at Bear Family were releasing a box set of his entire output for RCA Victor (five albums, 1958-1962), which I happily ordered (that "Americana" box set on Bear Family remains available, and highly recommended). I later was able to find his more obscure Monument albums from the mid '60's, and a few self-released albums from the '70's. 

But until this month, I didn't know that he'd had a one-off release six years before he signed with RCA Victor, in 1952, one what appears to have a small regional label, Cardinal. I was happy to be able to put my hands on a copy shortly after finding out about this record's existence.

Each side features Driftwood in a musical setting not found on his later records. The A-side, "Grapevine News", features a few of the things I love the most about Driftwood's stuff - his humorous lyrics and singular style of singing, attached to a Western Swing track, which works quite nicely. The flip side "Precious Peace of Mind" has more of a Gospel feeling, and the lyrics have a lot in common with that genre, although there is no actual mention of Christ, God or Christianity anywhere in the lyrics. 

I think that I now own everything that Jimmy Driftwood ever released. I wish there was more. He was the real deal. 

Jimmy Driftwood with Vi Keys and the Drifters - Grapevine News (MP3)

Jimmy Driftwood with Vi Keys and the Drifters - Precious Peace of Mind (MP3)

Grapevine Label (JPG)  |  Precious Peace Label (JPG)

Youtube postings of the songs I mentioned earlier can be found with these links: 

My favorite Driftwood song, "Fidi Diddle Um-A Dazey"

The ridiculous and amazing "Rattlesnake Song"

"He Had a Long Chain On" by Odetta and by Jimmy Driftwood

Jimmy's original version of "The Battle of New Orleans"

"Beethoven" from True Comics 29, November 1943 / Plus Two More Features from 1946

Today in the Comics Supplement we find more educational material from some 'non-fiction' comic books from the 1940s, specifically the yellowed pages of True Comics and Picture News magazines.

We've talked previously at BOTB about the proprietors of True Comics here, and Picture News was helmed by editors Leigh Danenberg and Emile Gauvreau with art editor John A. Lehti assisted by Henry Cordes. More information about them seems to be hard to come by, but I did publish another piece from this comic book series here, and we'll be seeing more from that same unknown artist in todays section.

We'll lead off with Ludwig Van Beethoven and then join Picture News for stories about Benny Goodman and Captain Robert Crawford (who he?).  All of this knowledge and color pictures too - right after the jump!

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 67

Earcandy for your eyes

Death in June in Brooklyn at the Bell House on September 20, 2013.

After the break: Grails at Saint Vitus

Down by the Riverside with Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Watch the 30 minute show on Network Awesome

Before Bob Dylan, before Joni Mitchell, before Chuck Berry, heck, even before Elvis Presley, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was rockin’ it gospel with her electric guitar at a time when such a thing was unimaginable. Born in 1915, the Arkansas native began playing guitar at the age of four and performing with her mother at Southern tent revivals from the age of six. Tharpe stayed on the road until her untimely death at the age of 58, confounding critics and supporters alike with her blend of the spiritual and the secular and inspiring scores of performers along the way.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, born Rosetta Nubin, began performing for charismatic evangelical church audiences with her mother in Chicago, where she achieved fame for being such a unique child talent. Throngs of church attendees would flock to Chicago’s Church of God in Christ to witness the “the singing and guitar playing miracle,” performing hymns and dancing on the church piano. From the very beginning, 'Little Rosetta Nubin' understood the importance of a strong stage presence, something that she would carry with her throughout her performing life.

In the 1930’s, Nubin moved to New York, married for the first time, changed her name, and in 1938 was the first gospel artist signed to Decca Records. Her first singles, such as “This Train” and “Rock Me” transformed traditional gospel hymns into rollicking, rhythmic recitations. “Rock Me” was actually a spiritual called “Hide Me in Thy Bosom,” that Tharpe repurposed into a sultry and sensual seduction. Naturally, her

1971 - It's a Kellogg's Year! (MP3's)

Here's an interesting little seven inch, 33 1/3 RPM record from Kellogg's, all about their most popular products in 1971, which, they proclaim, would be "A Kellogg's Year". 

There are eight songs in total, ranging from just under a minute to just over two minutes. I suspect this was for internal use, perhaps at meetings of some sort, or to be given to the employees. I say that largely because of track three. 

Track three, "Low Noon", is easily the high point of the record. It's a parody of Johnny Cash's singing style and musical style, in which the lyrics make repeated fun of those who claim that that Frosted Flakes have little or no nutritional value. The dismissive way these complaints are handled (especially since those complaints were certainly spot-on) makes it unlikely that this was ever meant to be aired in public. I'll let you enjoy them for yourself rather than going into any more detail. 

Of the other tracks, three are instrumentals, including one which claims to be about Sugar Pops, but it's hard to tell without any lyrics (the rough edit in the middle of that one is on the record, it's not an MP3 glitch). I also get a kick out of the way that "The American Breakfast" is described - the first word in the description is "Sugar". 

Apologies for the poor sound quality, especially on side two - this record is fairly beat up. 

1.) Kellogg's - Overture (MP3)

2.) Kellogg's - The K-‘71 March (MP3)

3.) Kellogg's - Low Noon (MP3)

4.) Kellogg's - Wakin' Up (Rice Krispies) (MP3)

5.) Kellogg's - The K-‘71 March (Reprise) (MP3)

6.) Kellogg's - The American Breakfast (Corn Flakes) (MP3)

7.) Kellogg's - The Hard Rider (Sugar Pops) (MP3)

8.) Kellogg's - Finale - It’s a Kellogg’s Year (MP3)

Record A Side Label (JPG)

Record B Side Label (JPG)