THROWBACK THURSDAY: Happy Birthday John Hartford

Eighty four years ago today, December 30, 1937, in New York City (New York City????!!?) a boy named John Hartford was born. His family soon moved to St. Louis, where young John grew up watching the boats along the Mississippi (he'd later work as a towboat pilot on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers) and listening to the Grand Ol' Opry on the radio.

He'd grow up to become one of the finest hillbilly instrumentalists (guitar, fiddle, mandolin), singers and songwriters of the late 20th Century. 

Most of us first became familiar with Hartford after a little song of his, having something to do with rolling up his sleeping bag, became Glen Campbell's first solo hit. Soon after that Hartford became a regular on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour as well as the short-lived Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.

Here are Hartford and Campbell performing that song on tv:

But Hartford quickly proved that he was no one-hit wonder. Though no other song of his ever became nearly as famous as "Gentle on My Mind," and his albums weren't exactly commercial smashes, in the 1970s he made some of finest country and bluegrass music around. His 1971 album Aereo-Plain, recorded with Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, Tut Taylor and Randy Scruggs should be considered a classic.

This is a later career (1999) song about New Mexico's most celebrated troubled youth:

Hartford died of cancer in 2001. His last hurrah was his appearance in the still amazing soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou? and the subsequent concert film, Down From the Mountain for which he served as MC as well as a performer:

Finally, here is my favorite Hartford song of all time, In Tall Buildings. 

Happy birthday and RIP, Gentle John.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 26, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Your Love Belongs Under a Rock by The Dirtbombs

Asking For More by The Grawks

Freaks in Uniform by Horrorpops

Naked Girl Falling Down the Stairs by The Cramps

Homemade Pie by Johnny Dowd

Gimme Germs by The Monsters

Blue Gene Vincent by Havana 3 a.m.

Snake Drive by R.L. Burnside with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

The Lowlife by Nick Curran & The Lowlifes

You're a Moron by The Control Freaks

Psychedelic Baby by Rodd & The Librettos

Killing Me by Dead Moon

Bamboo Bimbo by Devo

It'll Chew You Up and Spit You Out by Concrete Blonde

Slow Boy by Kim Gordon & J. Mascis

Acme in the Afternoon by Degurutieni

Sugar Sugar by The Barbarellatones

I Walked All Night by The Embers

Wine by James Luther Dickinson

Crypt by Night Beats

Guy Like Me by Wolfy & The Bat Cubs

Come and Have a Go If You Think You're Hard Enough by The Mekons

The Lung Song by Old Time Relijun

All My Life by Howlin' Wolf

Ol' 55 by Frank Zappa with Tom Waits

I'm Shakin' by The Blasters

Shivers Down My Spine by King Khan & The Shrines

Insurrection Blues (Chickens Come Home to Roost) by Corey Harris

Green Shirt by Elvis Costello

Distant Fingers by Patti Smith

Dreaming My Dreams With You by Waylon Jennings

Broken Butterflies by Lucinda Williams

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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WACKY WEDNESDAY: A Very Golden Throat Christmas

 

In these troubled times, it's extremely important to embrace our most cherished Christmas traditions. Such as celebrities who have no business singing crooning corny Christmas songs.

In case you forgot, here's what a Golden Throat is, ere is how I've explained it before:

Back in the '80s and '90s, when Rhino Records was actually a cool label, they released a series of albums called Golden Throats. These nutball compilations featured movie and TV stars, sports heroes and every stripe of cheesy celebrity singing ham-fisted versions of songs they had no business singing. Pop tunes, rock 'n' roll hits, country song, whatever. Nothing was sacred and nothing was safe from the Golden Throats. 

Because of the exposure from the Rhino series, some of these unintentionally hilarious songsters became notorious and ironically hip. Think William Shatner -- the Elvis of the Golden Throats! -- and his over-the-top renditions of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Mr. Tambourine Man."

So let's start off this Golden Throat Christmas Special with this turkey from Walter Brennan:

Christmas on the Ponderosa was always special when Pa Cartwright started to sing

What's Christmas without David Hasselhoff?

Et tu, Seth?

And let's go home for the holidays with the always poignant William Shatner, aided and abetted here by ... Billy Gibbons???????

Merry Christmas! And find more Golden Throat action HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 19, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Santa Claus by The Sonics

She Said Yeah by Larry Williams

Long Way Down by The Ar-Kaics

Once Upon a Time (in Your Mind) by Mal Thursday

I Didn't Know I Was Dead by Negativland

Abstract Blues by Kim Gordon & J Mascis

Grass Jeans by Kim Gordon

Get Me by Dinosaur Jr.

Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year by Tiny Tim

Out for Blood by Johnny Dowd

Too Good to Be Blue by Trixie & The Train Wrecks

Misshapen Head by The Grawks

Ride by Ty Segall

Funky But Chic by David Johansen

Faith in Love by The Lostines 

Armenia City in the Sky by Petra Haden

Little Drummer Boy by Joan Jett

Must Be Santa by Bob Dylan

Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand in the Snow) by Yoko Ono

Scumbag by Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention Yoko Ono & John Lennon

We Start the Fire by Old Time Relijun

Nail My Dick to the Wall by The Toy Trucks

Punk Rock Retirement Plan by Legendary Shack Shakers

A Poundland Christmas by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire

My Insurance Man (from Bathtubs Over Broadway)

Almost Persuaded #2 by Ben Colder

Come Closer by Honshu Wolves

Jacob's Ladder by Michael Hurley

Girls by Eleni Mandell

Give Me That Old Time Religion by Joseph Spence

Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Remembering Keely

On this day four years ago, December 16, 2017, we lost a wonderful American voice, Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, better known as Keely Smith. She was 89.

Keely, born in Norfolk, Virginia, became famous for singing in her husband Louis Prima's band. She met and began recording with Prima in 1949. They married in 1953 (and divorced in 1960.)

Onstage, besides her singing ability, Keely was best known for her hilarious deadpan expression and often appearing irritated at her husband's highly animated antics. Her obit in the New York Times says, "Her coolness amid Mr. Prima’s chaos cemented them as one of Las Vegas’s premier attractions and foreshadowed the style of Sonny & Cher in the 1960s."

I never thought of Louie and Keely in terms of Sonny & Cher, but, whatever ... Check out this 1960 clip from The Ed Sullivan Show.

I'm not sure where this performance was, but Prima & Smith's version of "That Old Black Magic" is one of their best-loved tunes.

Keely and Louie appeared in the Robert Mitchum 1958 classic Thunder Road. In this clip, Mitchum doesn't appreciate the loudmouth drunk whose obnoxious laughing nearly drowns out Keely's performance of "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey."

In the mid '60s she released Keely Smith Sings the John Lennon—Paul McCartney Songbook, a collection of Beatles tunes. Here's a swingin' version of "Please Please Me."

But this was her first solo hit, from 1957. Keely, wherever you are, we wish you love.

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Rocking Madison Avenue

Bob Dylan was a spokesman for his generation.

The Pepsi Generation.

According to Billboard, his commercial, which debuted during the 2009 Superbowl, also featured rapper Will I. Am, is "the only piece of recorded music history that features the writers of `Visions of Johanna' and `My Humps,' with the latter rapping all over the Planet Waves cut `Forever Young.' The ensuing Super Bowl ad attempts to float the similarities between the two artists, mostly in that they both wear cool sunglasses. Doing it all for the Pepsi."

And unlike Michael Jackson, Dylan didn't even have to catch his hair on fire to do it.

But this hardly was the only t.v. commercial Dylan licensed his songs for or actually appeared in ads for Victoria's Secret, Chrysler, Apple iPods, Chobani yogurt, Google, his own brand of whiskey called Heaven's Door, and probably others I'm forgetting.

And he's not alone.

The world of rock 'n' roll tends to look down at rockers prostituting their pure art for the filthy lucre of the corporate world. In the '80s, John Fogerty preached that sermon in his song "Soda Pop", as did Neil Young in "This Note's for You." I also remember, around this era, Paul Simon on Late Night With David Letterman talking about Simon & Garfunkel being approached by Midas Muffler execs pitching an ad in which "The Sounds of Silence" would be changed to "The Sounds of Midas." 

Paul & Artie didn't bite. But Dylan and many others took big bites out of the corporate apple.

Back in the mid '80s, Lou Reed tried hard to make Honda motor scooters look tough. Anthony DeCurtis wrote in his 2017 biography of Reed, wrote: 

That Reed, a serious motorcycle aficionado, would not have been caught dead riding a scooter in real life seemed beside the point. At times, he could be defensive about the ad—“Who else could make a scooter hip?” he challenged one journalist. But he also cited more pragmatic reasons for his decision, and mentioned Andy Warhol, an early mentor of the Velvet Underground, as a model for his thinking. “I can’t live in an ivory tower like people would like me to,” Reed said. “I used to watch Andy do something for TV Guide or Absolut Vodka … When our equipment broke, that’s how it got replaced. We didn’t turn around and tell Andy we can’t touch that money because it came from doing a commercial. 

But Open Culture in 2013 said "The spot made a huge splash on Madison Avenue. Its influence could be seen all over the next generation of commercials. But it didn’t sell many scooters."

The piece quotes ad man and author Randall Rothenberg's book Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign: “For all its impact on the advertising industry the Lou Reed commercial did little for Honda. Young Americans had little interest in scooters, no matter how hip they were made out to be.”

But Lou wasn't alone, shilling for Honda in the 80s. Check out Devo's contribution:

And Iggy Pop apparently had a lust for auto insurance 

But it didn't start in the '80s.

The only disappointing thing about The Rolling Stones when I saw them play in Austin last month is that they didn't perform their classic Rice Krispies jingle from the mid '60s:

And in 1967, the same year as The Who Sell Out, The Who actually sold out!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 5, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Too Cool to Dance by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

Murder City Nights by Radio Birdman

What Happens When You Turn the Devil Down by Mystery Lights

Never Look Back by Night Beats

Black Metal by Reverend Beat-Man & Izobel Garcia

Gimme Germs by The Monsters

Johnny Voodoo by Empress of Furs

Sally Was a Good Old Girl by Shocking Blue

My Bathroom by Patt Stanton Gjonola

Some Dispute Over T-Shirt Sales by Butthole Surfers

Oklahoma by P

Born Stupid by Paul Leary

Don't Want You Either by Mal Thursday

Castrati by Pocket FishRmen

Fire Engine by 13th Floor Elevators

Some Conversations You Just Don't Need to Have by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Garbageman by William Shatner

Whiskey in the Jar by The Pogues & The Dubliners

Whatcha Gonna Do (When Your Baby Leaves You) by Chuck Willis

St. James Infirmary by Billy Lee Riley

Alligator Waltz by Rockin' Sidney

Everybody Calls Me Crazy by Clifton Chenier

I Am the Walrus by Frank Zappa

Yes We Have Bananas by Louis Prima

Five Guys Named Moe by Louis Jordan

Any Else by Negativland

Monday Morning Blues by Mississippi John Hurt

Marina by Honshu Wolves

Love Me by Elvis Presley

Sweet Mama by Alto Street

Party While You Still Can by Shinyribs

I Pity the Fool by Bobby "Blue" Bland

Muriel by Eleni Mandell

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Remembering Odetta

 On this day, just 13 years ago, December 2, 2008, a very powerful voice in American folk music went silent. Odetta Holmes, who was known to the world simply by her first name, died at the age of 77.

She was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1930. According to The Washington Post:

After showing musical skill at a young age, she began classical vocal training that developed into ambition for a concert singing career. Her mother hoped she would follow the racially groundbreaking career of opera singer Marian Anderson. ...

After graduating from high school, Odetta followed her mother into work as a domestic worker. She also studied music in night classes at Los Angeles City College and found choral work in the West Coast touring company of the musical "Finian's Rainbow."

The show took her to San Francisco in 1949, and it was there that she was exposed to the folk music scene.

Odetta, who came to be known as the "Voice of the Civil Rights Movement," sang “I’m on My Way” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during Dr. Martin Luther King's March on Washington in 1963. Also in 1963, she appeared on television with President John F. Kennedy on a nationally televised civil rights special called "Dinner With the President." She marched with King for voting rights in the Selma-to-Montgomery march in 1965. 

And she played at the Thirsty Ear Festival at Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch in 2001. That's the only time I ever got to see her perform live. 

Bob Dylan said in a Playboy interview just a couple of years ago " Bob Dylan, who said, "The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta. I heard a record of hers Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues in a record store, back when you could listen to records right there in the store. Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar, a flat-top Gibson."

Here's Odetta  singing a chilling tune on Belgian TV in the '60s:

I believe this is the very first Odetta  song I ever heard back in the '60s, Woodie Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty":

Skip ahead a few decades and here's Odetta with a full band singing Lead Belly's "Jim Crow Blues" with a full band. (Trigger warning for sensitive right-wingers: This song could contain traces of Critical Race Theory. Take note and protect the children):

In the spirit of the Christmas season, this is from Odetta's appearance on the Ed Sullivan show on Christmas night in 1960:

And here is a song I vividly remember from the time I saw Odetta at the Thirsty Ear Festival in 2001. She's backed here by The Holmes Brothers. 

Let it shine!

Sunday, November 28, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

The Holygram's Song (Back from the Shadows Again) by Firesign Theatre

Journey to the Center of the Mind by The Amboy Dukes

I've Got to Get to You by Dion with Boz Scaggs

Lonely Wolf by Ray Harris

Sit Down Comedian by Dave Del Monte & The Cross-Country Boys

She's a Bad Motorcycle by Tav Falco & Panther Burns

I Appeared to The Madonna by The Devils

Man in a Suitcase by Thee Oh Sees

Shut Up and Get on the Plane by Drive By Truckers

Jungle Boogie by Frank Zappa

They Won't Let Me Forget (The Things I Can't Recall) by Legendary Shack Shakers

Can't You See Me by Divine Horsemen

Bad to the Bone by Sloks

This Foundation is Cracked by Old Time Relijun

Lubrication by The Sex Organs

Catfight by The Barbaraellatones

Night and Day by Rockin' Dopsie

ROLLING STONES TRIBUTE SET 

Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones

Under My Thumb by Social Distortion

I Met the Stones by Dinosaur Jr.

Let's Spend the Night Together by Muddy Waters

Gimme Shelter by Merry Clayton

Connection by Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos

Child of the Moon by The Fleshtones

Radio Control by Mick Jagger 

Blame it on the Stones by Kris Kristofferson

Carol by The Rolling Stones

Sweet Virginia by Jerry Lee Lewis & Keith Richards

Back on Top by Buffalo Nichols

Your Red Wagon by Paul Burch

Right Track Now by Powell St. John with Roky Erikson

True Grit by Alto Street

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Hey Annie, It's Hank Ballard's Birthday!

On this day in 1927, a baby named John Henry Kendricks was born in Detroit. He grew up to become an R&B belter named Hank Ballard, who in the early 1950s made some good old fashioned suggestive, scandalous rock 'n' roll, getting most of his well-known tunes banned on radio stations all across the land of the free.

As his page on the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame website says, "His success is a perfect representation of rock and roll appeal—it behaves so bad but it sounds so good."

Happy birthday, Hank.

Ballard died in 2003. But I had the pleasure of interviewing him by phone before a Santa Fe concert in April 1989 and then meeting him backstage before the show at the old Sweeney Convention Center. (I also got to meet Ballard's wife and manager Theresa McNeil, who was killed just a few months later in a hit-and-run crash.)

In that phone interview, Ballard talked to me about the state of music back when he recorded "Work With Me Annie."

"We was still in the Victorian Age," he said with a knowing laugh. "Man, as young as we were, we didn't think we wereb being insulting to anyone. We were just having fun."

But, as I noted in my story, Ballard wasn't claiming complete innocence. "The kids like them risque songs. They still do. ... It was a wonder that we didn't get arrested."

Ballard was born in Detroit, but, as he told me, his family moved to Alabama when he was very young, where he grew up singing in his church choir.

But another huge influence on his music, he told me, was cowboy music. "Gene Autry was my first idol," he said. "I also liked The Sons of the Pioneers. Remember `Cool Water'? Man, I still love it."

Ballard still is best known for this song, which, he told me,  was about an old girlfriend from Louisville, Kentucky. "She's a school teacher in Chicago," he told me in 1989. "She's been doing that for about 25 years. We played a gig over there and she happened to be present. I introduced her as the real Annie and people lined up to get her autograph."

Work with me here:

I guess Annie had to take maternity leave. (Though Ballard insisted that his Kentucky sweetheart did not have his baby.) 

In that 1989 interview, he told me that this next song was a rush job, recorded "at some woman's house in Washington, D.C. during a break in a gig." This version of "Annie Had a Baby" is from the wonderful old show Night Music, from around the same time I saw Ballard at Sweeney Center.

And the third part of Ballard's Annie cycle was an ode to Annie's Aunt Fannie.

"Annie" inspired a lot of 1950s singers, including Etta James, who cleaned up "Work With Me Annie" into a tune called "The Wallflower, which had the refrain, "Dance With Me Henry." Also Buddy Holly expanded on the character of Annie and put her to work on the "Midnight Shift":

And years after the Annie songs, Ballard wrote a little tune about a little dance. His version wasn't the hit one however. That distinction goes to a guy named Ernest Evans who Dick Clark reinvented as Chubby Checker:

And finally, a Ballard tribute from Ronny Elliott. As Ronny said, "I never liked Chubby Checker ..."

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 14, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Hot Smoke and Sassafras by Bubble Puppy

Where's My Pebble by NRBQ

A Question of Temperature by Balloon Farm

Whisperer by Ty Segall

Catfight by The Barbarellatones 

Tip My Canoe by Dengue Fever

Treat Her Right by Los Straitjackets with Mark Lindsay

Born With a Tail by Jesse Dayton

My Way by Sid Vicious

I Got Loaded by The Cadets

Let's Talk About Girls by The Chocolate Watchband

Over the Cliff by Old 97s

Ain't That Just Like Me by The Searchers

Stranger to Me by The Monsters

Jungle Fever by Charlie Feathers

Tapioca Tundra by The Monkees

Hoodoo Lady by Memphis Minnie

Negativland  Mini-Set

Negativeland at Meow Wolf, Santa Fe
Nov. 12, 2021

Don't Don't Get Freaked Out 

No Brain 

This is Not Normal

Create the Visitor

Feel the Pain by Dinosaur Jr.

We're Laughing by Psychedelic Aliens

I Love You So by The Chantels

Hucklebuck by The Riptones

In the Rut by Alto Street

Man Downstairs by Junior Wells

Party While You Still Can by Shinyribs

You're Just in Love by Louis Prima

Bye and Bye by Corey Harris

Time by Lindsey Buckingham

Love Letters by Ketty Lester

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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WACKY WEDNESDAY: Happy Birthday Carl Stalling!

On this day 130 years ago, a child of German immigrants was born in Lexington, Missouri. Carl Stalling would grow up to become undoubtedly the greatest creator of cartoon music in the history of film.

Stalling,  Allmusic says, was:

Stalling at work

...  the visionary behind the kaleidoscopic music beating at the heart of the classic cartoons produced under the aegis of Warner Bros. Studios during the middle of the 20th century. Frenzied and impassioned, his work broke new ground by following the visual trajectory of the on-screen action instead of the accepted rules of composition; the result -- a technique not anchored in conventional senses of time, rhythm, or thematic development -- was unprecedented in its extremism, as melody, style, and form crashed together in a glorious pile-up of sound and image. A maverick whose reach extended from pop to jazz to classical and beyond, Stalling's revolutionary cut-and-paste compositions remain a clear forerunner of the experimental music created in his wake -- in fact, it could easily be argued that he succeeded in introducing entire generations of young cartoon fanatics to the music of the avant-garde.

... Working with Warner's 50-piece orchestra under the direction of conductor Milt Franklyn, Stalling scored each cartoon in about three hours at a staggering rate of at least one a week, absorbing the influences of current pop hits, classical symphonies, and the like, and then quoting whatever seemed to fit ...

And, according to The Stephen W. Terrell (Music Web Log) "It's hard to imagine the music of Spike Jones or Frank Zappa without Carl Stalling." (Steve Terrell 2021)

Stalling learned to play piano at the age of six. By the time he was 12, he started a career as a pianist at silent movie theaters. (Silent movies depended on live musicians for their "soundtracks." I remember my grandmother telling me that as a girl in Oklahoma City she had a big crush on a clarinet player who worked in the band at her local silent movie joint. She called him "Clarinetti," but that's a whole other topic.)

But before silent movies had the opportunity to die, Stalling's career took an upward turn when, working at the Isis Movie Theater in Kansas City, he met a young filmmaker named Walt Disney who admired his work.

In 1969 interviews, (compiled and published in 1971, a year before Stalling's death) the composer told Michael Barrier, Milton Gray, and Bill Spicer that he met Disney in the early 1920s:

He used to come to the Isis Theater, where I played the organ and had my own orchestra. This was music to accompany silent movies, and I played the whole afternoon and evening. When I wasn't at the organ, I'd be conducting, or playing the piano and conducting. I had a pianist for a number of years, and then I just conducted. Walt was making short commercials at that time, and he'd have us run them for him. We got acquainted, and I had him make several song films. The End of a Perfect Day, showing a sunset…Victor Herbert's A Kiss in the Dark. The words would come on one at a time, with the music. This was before sound, of course.

Like Disney before him, Stalling, in the late 1920s, left Kansas City for Hollywood. He scored a couple of Mickey Mouse shorts for Disney. But probably his most memorable work there was his music for Disney's Silly Symphonies series. The first of these (1929) was called The Skeleton Dance. From that same interview:

The Skeleton Dance goes way back to my kid days. When I was eight or ten years old, I saw an ad in The American Boy magazine of a dancing skeleton, and I got my dad to give me a quarter so I could send for it. It turned out to be a pasteboard cut-out of a loose-jointed skeleton, slung over a six-foot cord under the arm pits. It would "dance" when kids pulled and jerked at each end of the string.

Listen to Stalling's music and shake your bones!

Stalling left full-time employment Disney Studios in 1931 to freelance for Disney and other studios. In 1936 he was hired by Warner Brothers, where he'd work for the next 20-plus years. Here's a medley of some of his early work there: 

Here's one especially appropriate for Wacky Wednesday, "Porky in Wackyland" (from 1938, along with "Dough for the Do Do" from 1949.) 

If you play this one backwards you'll hear a sinister voice saying "Elmer Fudd sucks cocks in Hell!"

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 7, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Justine by The Righteous Brothers

You Can't Hide by Al Anderson

Bulbs of Passion by Dinosaur Jr.

Woman Alone by Nots

Little Girl by John & Jackie

I Believe the Woman by Pocket FishRMen

Agile, Mobile and Hostile by The Goldstars

Bad to the Bone by Sloks

Born in a Barn by Scroat Belly

Don't Let Go by Bloodshot Bill

Rawhide by Legendary Shack Shakers

Mystery Writers by Divine Horsemen

Ice Cream Phoenix by Jefferson Airplane

Crawl by Eilen Jewell

Turncoat by Imperial Wax

Monkey Business by Eddie Hill

The Ray Charles-ton by Chubby Checker

Truckin' My Blues Away by Blind Boy Fuller

Bionic Trunk by Old Time Relijun

The Torture Never Stops by Frank Zappa

On My Way to Houston by Powell St. John & The Aliens

Broke Down by Mal Thursday

Willow Gardens by The Meat Purveyors

No More Hotdogs by Hasil Adkins

Tallahassee Lassie by The Flamin' Groovies

Merseysong by Rico Bell & The Snake Handlers

Not Long Ago by The Mekons

Cry Cry Cry by Sally Timms

Pappa Was a Rollin' Stone by Ray Wiley Hubbard & The Band of Heathens

I Pity the Fool by Bobby "Blue" Bland

The Virginian by Neko Case & Her Boyfriends

Pale Blue Eyes by The Velvet Underground

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Happy Birthday Tommy Makem

 

On this day 89 years ago, Tommy Makem, who with his pals The Clancy Brothers helped popularize traditional Irish music in the U.S. during the 1950s and '60s, was born in County Armagh in Northern Ireland.

Happy birthday, Bard of Armagh!

Makem, whose parents both were musicians, emigrated to these United States in 1955, first going to Dover, New Hampshire 

According to his obituary in The New York Times:

His uncle took him to New York in 1956 for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, at which he met two of the Clancy brothers, Paddy and Tom. He already knew Liam Clancy, who soon returned from Ireland and joined the group. After one of their first appearances, Pete Seeger, the folk singer, and Alan Lomax, the folklorist and musicologist, encouraged them. Bob Dylan, in the early days of his career, solicited songwriting tips from Mr. Makem.

Tommy, who played banjo, tin whistle and other instruments, began recording with the Clancy boys as a group for Tradition Records. Their first release together was titled The Rising of The Moon: Irish Songs of Rebellion. After an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1961, the group signed with Columbia Records.

Makem left the Clancys in the late '60s to pursue a solo career, but he always was best known as the Clancy Brother who wasn't really a Clancy Brother. In 1975 he teamed up with his old bandmate Liam Clancy to form a duo that lasted 13 years.

He died in 2007 at the age of 74.

So let's get on with the music.

Here's Tommy with the Clancys on Ed Sullivan in 1961:

Here Tommy & The Clancys perform "We Want No Irish Here" at a 1963 White House event for President John F. Kennedy:

Here's Tommy & The Clancy Brothers in 1965 on the very first episode of Pete Seeger's  television show Rainbow Quest on WNJU-TV (Channel 47), a New York City-based UHF station . Tommy sang lead on "Butcher Boy":

Finally, here's Tommy in his later years singing "Four Green Fields."

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

 

Sunday, October 31, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres 

Lil' Reapers

Coolest Little Monster by Zacherley

Devil Dance by The A-Bones

Corpse Grinder by The Meteors

The Devil's Coming by Stud Cole

Bo Meets the Monster by Bo Diddley

Haunted Horror Howl by Dave Del Monte & The Cross Country Boys

I'm in Love With A Ghost by Mal Thursday

Voodoo Stomp by The Saucer Men

Monster Blues by Dex Romweber

It's Halloween by The Shaggs

Demons are a Girl's Best Friend by Necromantix

Walk Like a Zombie by Horrorpops

Dead Man's Slide by Shouting Thomas & The Torments

Dangerous Weirdos by The Zombie Dandies

Halloween Hell by The Goldstars

Creeps Me Out by Robbie Quine

(She's My) Vampire Girl by The Groovy Ghoulies

Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man by Concrete Blonde

Haunted House Blues by Bessie Smith

Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie

You've Become a Witch by The Electric Mess

I Think of Demons by Roky Erickson

She's Wicked by The Fuzztones

Hoodoo Party by Tabby Thomas

Tombstone Rock by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers

Devil Baby by The Monsters

Voodoo Doll by Deadbolt

Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner

I Hear Voices by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

She's Fallen in Love With The Monster Man by  Screaming Lord Sutch

Halloween by Ron Haydock & The Boppers

The Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon by The Cramps

It's Your Voodoo Working by Charles Sheffield

Captain of the Creeps by Oh! Gunquit

The Vampire by T. Valentine & Daddy Long Legs

Look Out, There's a Monster Coming by The Bonzo Dog Band

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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WACKY WEDNESDAY: A Satanic Serenade by Anton LaVey

 

It almost being Halloween, what better time for some sweet, creepy calliope music from the founder of the Church of Satan?

Anton Szandor LaVey died Oct. 29, 1997 -- so we're just two days away from the 24th anniversary of that strange and mournful day.

Born Howard Stanton Levey in Chicago in 1930 (Really? What kind of Satanic priest is named "Howard"?!?!?), shortly after he was born, his family moved to the San Francisco Bay area. LaVey claimed he left high school to join the circus -- first as a roustabout, then later as a calliope player.

In 1966 he founded the Church of Satan, appointing himself as high priest.

But before you work yourself into a Satanic panic, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

LaVey presented Satanism not as the practice of evil or as the worship of an actual Antichrist but as a kind of ethical egoism. According to LaVey, traditional religions were fundamentally hypocritical and dangerously inhibited the physical tendencies and emotional needs that were vital to human life. He claimed that his brand of Satanism was inspired by his having noticed as a teenager that the men he saw at church on Sunday, praying to God for absolution, were the same ones he had seen at burlesque shows on Saturday night. LaVey’s Satanism was in fact atheistic: the opposition between God and Satan represented for him the struggle between hypocrisy and repression on the one hand and indulgence and liberation on the other. LaVey was also not a nihilist: he instructed his followers to obey the law, and he taught that indulgence in pleasure could be beneficial only if it did not harm others. 

But he always was a showman. And during his life, in addition to the books he wrote about Satanic philosophy, LaVey recorded three albums: The Satanic Mass, Satan Takes a Holiday, and Strange Music (which later was released with a slightly different tracklist as The Devil Speaks (& Plays).

As the Allmusic Guide says, "... like any good horror movie, LaVey and his music do indeed haunt and, for some, delight."

So let's start out with LaVey's delightful version of "Harlem Nocturn." This is from the 1993 documentary, Anton Szandor LaVey - Speak of the Devil. Here he also talks about his loving relationship with the calliope.

Lavey loved those gypsy love songs

A happy little ditty called "Gloomy Sunday." (Vocals by his wife, Blanche Barton. I actually wish he'd chosen Singing Sadie.)

Finally, it's time to swing your Honolulu Baby!

Happy Halloween!

LaVey with his friend Jayne Mansfield

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 24, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Big Black Witchcraft Rock by The Cramps

Wicked Waters by Benjamin Booker

That Certain Female by Charlie Feathers

Demon Death by Southern Culture on the Skids

Devil Baby by The Monsters

Mean Blue Spirit by The Dead Brothers

Not Fade Away by HeadCat

Pokin' Aroubd by Mudhoney

North to Alaska by Johnny Horton

Fixin' to Crawl by Churchwood

Help You Ann by Lyres

Psychobitches Outta Hell by Horrorpops

The Stranger in Town by John Trubee & The Ugly Janitors of America

Get Down With It by The Woggles

I'm a Mummy by The Fall

Filthy by Nick Curran & The Lowlifes

A Celebration of Bloodshot Records

All songs from Bloodshot releases

Plenty Tough and Union Made by The Waco Brothers

Way Out West by Moonshine Willie

Keep the Home Fires Burnin' by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers

Every Kind of Music But Country by Robbie Fulks

I Was Drunk by Alejandro Escovedo

Child of Mercy by The Yawpers

Ghost of Mae West by Trailer Bride

Hey Little Girl by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages

The Raven by The Flat Five

I Walked In While He Was Changing Your Mind by Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys

I'm So Lonesome Without You by Hazeldine

My Old Drunk Friend by Freakwater

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound

Bad Way to Go by Lydia Loveless

Snowbird by Sally Timms

All the Fame of Lofty Deeds by Jon Langford

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Lotsa Musical Birthdays on October 21

October 21 is the birthday of many amazing musical giants of various styles and genres. Happy birthday all!

On this day in 1915 Owen Bradley was born in Westmoreland, Tenn. He became renowned as one of country music's greatest producers in the 1950s and '60s. He was the subject of an episode in the current season of the Cocaine & Rhinestones podcast. And though he's most famous for his behind the scenes work for other artists -  Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff, Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Bill Monroe, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty etc. -- Bradley also recorded some songs under his own name. Here's one from 1949 with vocals by Jack Shook and Dottie Dillard:

John Birks Gillespie, better known as "Dizzy," was born in 1917. He was a colossus of be-bop and he did it all with a bent trumpet. Here he is in France in 1971 playing "Night in Tunisia":

Cuban singer Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, aka Celia Cruz, was born in Havana in 1925. Here she is playing in Zaire in 1974

Derek Bell, best known as the harpist for The Chieftains was born in Belfast in 1935. This is from a solo album called (I'm not kidding!!) Derek Bell Plays With Himself:

Blues rocker Elvin Bishop was born in 1942 in Glendale, California.

Erick Lee Purkhiser was born in 1946. The world later got to know him as Lux Interior of The Cramps. He was the maddest daddy!

Other musicians born on Oct. 21 include country singer Mel Street (1935); British Invader Manfred Mann (1940); soul guitarist Steve Cropper (1941); Beau Brummel singer Ron Elliot (1943 -- not to be confused with Florida rocker Ronny Elliott); weirdo rocker Julian Cope (1957); Queens of the Stone Age singer Nick Oliveri (1971) and singer songwriter Josh Ritter (1976).

Happy birthday all!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 17, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Psychotic Reaction by The Cramps

Dirt by Lou Reed

Hillbilly Zombies by Deadbolt

Lonesome, On'ry and Mean by Henry Rollins

Too Hot to Handle by Jayne Mansfield

Bug Zapper by The Control Freaks

Jumpin' Jack Flash by Alex Chilton

Lo Stregone (The Witch Doctor) by Fred Buscaglione

Last Grave by Sloks

Sad Songs by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

Nutbush City Limit by Black Diamond Heavies

Baby OK by Izobel Garcia

One Dark Day by Dave Del Monte & The Cross Country Boys

All Black and Hairy by Screaming Lord Sutch

Waxman by Ty Segall

Dragnet for Jesus by Sister Wynona Carr

Camptown Races by Freddie & The Dreamers

Stand for the Fire Demon by Roky Erickson

This Wondrous Day by The William Loveday Intention

Captain of the Creeps by Oh! Gunquit

The Boogie Disease by Doctor Ross

Infeccion by Nestter Donuts

Sneaky Jesus by Chuck E. Weiss

Only Black Man in South Dakota by Andre Williams

A Bloody Life by Reverend Tom Frost

Lonely Street by Carl Belew

Working Woman by Shinyribs

Haunted House Blues by Bessie Smith

Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself

Los Canarios by Rudy De Anda

Cerrickfergus by The Chieftains with Van Morrison

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WACKY WEDNESDAY: Freddie & The Dreamers Deep Cuts

 

Say the name "Freddie & The Dreamers" and Americans of a certain age (read: old) reflexively will start moving their arms and legs in a quasi-jumping-jack style and singing in a bad British accent, "I'm telling you now, I'm telling you right away ... " or,  "It's the thing to do, kids will envy you / Do the Freddie ..."

And this, Freddie and band have gone down in history as a two-hit wonder.

But this British invasion band, which put Manchester on the rock 'n' roll map two decades before The Fall, recorded more than 20 singles and several albums between 1963 and 1968, when the original group disbanded.

Freddie Garrity died in 2006 at the age of 69.

So this Wacky Wednesday we celebrate Freddie's less celebrated songs.

I remember seeing this one on Shindig in the mid '60s:

I remember this minor Freddie hit very fondly. I always thought it was The Dreamers' strongest tune, even though it wasn't nearly as popular as "Do the Freddie":

The first time I actually paid attention to this song was a version by The Hentchmen, with guest Jack White,  about 20 years ago. "Some Other Guy" is a Lieber and Stoller tune originally recorded by American R&B singer named Richie Barrett in 1962. Soon after that it was recorded by a British band called The Big Three, after which it became a frequent cover by Mersy Beat/British Invasion groups, including a little combo of Fab Moptops, who frequently played it on stage. 

As "Some Other Guy" shows, Freddie was hardly averse to doing cover songs. For instance here's a Stephen Foster tune:

And like Sun Ra, Freddie & The Dreamers even did an album of Disney songs. This one's super:

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

 

Sunday, October 10, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Bayou Fever / The Jellybutt of Timbuktu by King Salami & The Cumberland 3

Stoney Path by Divine Horsemen

Hide Another Round by Dinosaur Jr.

Stroll In Hell by The Goldstars

Psychedelic Freakout by The Barbarellatones

The Boss Wants to Party With You by Quintron

Bridget the Midget by Ray Stevens

Little Annie Fanny by The Kingsmen

Leave My Bed by The Routes

Toe Cutter Thumb Buster by Thee Oh Sees

Smell My Tongue by The Monsters

Fisticuffs by Primus

Oxycontin Girl by The Claypool Lennon Delirium 

Boo! by Bonzo Dog Band

Scream by Lindsey Buckingham

DESTINATION SOUNDWORLD!

All songs from Bear Family's Destination series

People from Another World by The Jive Five

That Makes It by Jayne Mansfield

Psycho Serenade by Big Jay McNeely

Lonely by Sleepy LaBeef

Fever by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards

Destination Moon by Dinah Washington

The Fang by Nervous Norvus

Delicious by Jim Backus & Friend

Rock Doc by Louis Jordan

The Night is So Lonely by Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps

Shanty Tramp by Betty Dickson

Polka Dot Dress by Southern Culture on the Skids

Living for the City by The Dirtbombs

I'm Going to Leave You Baby by Lazy Lester

How the Light Knows by Shinyribs

Come Closer by Honshu Wolves

The Observations of a Crow by Marty Stuart

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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FOLK REMEDY Playlist

Sunday, October 10, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
8 am to 10 am  Sundays Mountain Time
Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM

Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's the playlist :

Never Did No Ramblin' by The Folksmen

Last Train from Poor Valley by Norman Blake

In Tall Buildings by John Hartford

Grey Funnel Line by Peter Case

The Murder of Leo Frank by Mark Rubin

Blind Willie McTell by Bob Dylan

Poor Carrie Anne by Al Duvall

Lonesome Dove by Almeda Riddle

The Burglar Man by Bob Carpenter

The Irish Soldier and the English Lady by Neil Morris

Poor Ellen Smith by Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

Dreaming My Dreams with You by Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell

Headed South by Martha Fields

Back in Your Kitchen by Tommy Shaw

Red-Neck Hippie Romance by Bobby Bare

Asleep with Both Eyes Open by Possessed by Paul James

Saucy Sailor by Steeleye Span

Cakes and Ale by Silly Sisters

Railroad Blues by Sam McGee

Greenville Strut by Sarah & Daddy Stovepipe

They Don't Rob the Trains Anymore by Ronny Elliott

Powers and Horror by Chivalrous Amoekons

The Fame of Lofty Deeds by Jon Langford

Fear and Beer by The Mekons

That's How Every Empire Falls by John Prine

16 Miles of Chain by Tami Neilson

My Eyes by Tony Gilkyson

The Crawdad Song by The Meat Purveyors

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Bear Family's Destination Series

For my birthday last month I was lucky that both of my kids gave me generous Amazon gift certificates. And by some weird coincidence I'd just discovered that the venerated German record label Bear Family, in just the past couple of years, had released a fantastic series of CD compilations featuring wild old (mostly from the 1950s and early '60s)  R&B, rockabilly, doo-wop, country, blues and warped pop, each title beginning with the word "Destination."

For years I thought of Bear Family primarily as the source of exhaustive, 10-CD sets of obscure hillbillies, blues shouters and early rockers -- all of which sound great but would set you back hundreds of bucks. Case in point: on the label's home page at the moment they're selling a 16(!) CD box set called R&B in DC 1940-1960 , 20 hours of music and a 352-page hardcover book, all for a mere $273.04. 

But these Destination compilations are actually affordable (especially when my kids are paying), about $12 each and each disc has at least 30 tracks.

And all of them are retro delights with bitchen album art and comprehensive liner notes.

I bought all six Destination compilations

So I'm going to post a song from each of the five compilations I bought. Here's one of my favorites from Destination Forbidden Planet, which consist of Sputnik-era sci-fi themes (including a few weird old movie trailer clips). It's none other than Louis Prima, contacting intergalactic civilizations.

Similar to Destination Forbidden Planet, the Destination Moon compilation is about going to the moon, which was very much on the nation's mind in the '50s and '60s. Here's Lenny Welch, best known for his 1963 version of "Since I Fell for You," in a flight to the lunar surface.

There is no vaccination for either rocking pneumonia or the boogie woogie flu. Therefore, there are no shortages of tunes about doctors, nurses, hospitals, and medications, as Destination Health (subtitled "Doc Feelgood's Rock Therapy") proves. This song by Macy Skipper was covered by The Cramps.

We've all walked down Lonely Street at some time or another, and some of us have even been guests in that street's most famous hotel. Here's the first song from Destination Lonely Street, Gene Vincent covering the 1956 hit by country singer Carl Belew (which is the closing track on the CD)

Now let's get to the sex.

There are two volumes of Destination Lust, each stacked with breathy vocals and suggestive lyrics full of double, maybe triple, entendres. Both volumes include some sexy Golden-Throat Hollywood bombshells including Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Ann-Margret, Elke Sommer and the ever delightful Mamie Van Doren. From Volume 1, here's Mamie with "Separate the Men from the Boys."

From Volume 2, (subtitled "Chicksville USA,") here's a lesser-known singer, Pat Morrisey with a slinky little number called "Trapped in the Web of Love."

To conclude, here are a couple of Bear family promo videos for a couple of these Destinations. 

WACKY WEDNESDAY: A Wacky Birthday Salute to Les Claypool

 

Les Claypool, the bass-plucking force behind Primus and many lesser-known bands (Sausage, Holy Mackerel, The Fearless Flying Frog Brigade and others) turns 58 today.

Happy birthday, Les. I remember when I was your age. 

Unless you were completely deaf to early '90s "alternative" rock,  you already know that Primus was one of the most unique acts of the era -- a "power trio" (I bet Claypool hates that label!) that centered around the bass rather than guitar. And speaking of labels, Primus often was lumped into the "punk-funk" category along with the more popular but vastly inferior Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Besides Claypool's crazy talent (and guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander werent exactly slouches either) the main thing that set Primus apart was their humor and sense of absurdity.

So on this Wacky Wednesday, I present some of the wackiest Primus tunes.

The first song that drew me to Primus was the celebration of a murderous hillbilly called "My Name is Mud.":

On this song, Primus pays tribute to one of the finest members of the rodent kingdom, a big brown beaver:

One of my favorite Primus tunes is "Fisticuffs." Here's a live version from 2013:

Although Primus is associated with punk and funk, they've also been known to do amazing covers of country songs. Back in the '90s, they recorded a wondrous  version of Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses".  More recently (2003) they recorded and made a bitchen video for this  Charlie Daniels classic:

One of Claypool's most recent projects is his work with son of the Walrus Sean Lennon. Here's a tune from 2016, a touching tribute to a boy and his chimp:

Happy birthday, Les! Your name is never Mud on this blog.