Here is the photographic proof, from 1974. Naval service put an end to my shoulder-length hair in early 1977. Then a recession set in. Of the hairline variety.Bev insisted I put this up. TARTA was (and remains) the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority. I lived more than a mile from high school, so I rode for free. School days only.The fuzz in my hair, of course, is an effect caused by a...
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I once had hair, and lots of it
Sunday morning gospel: The Blackwood Brothers: The Stranger of Galilee (1959)
Great slow-tempo ballads by the Blackwood Brothers, including such mega-standards as Amazing Grace, Rock of Ages, and Whispering Hope. And there's an obscure Charles H. Gabriel number called Tell Someone About Jesus. Here's hoping Mary enjoys this. And hoping that she's getting better.To the music: Blackwood Brothers--The Stranger of Galilee PLAYLISTTHE STRANGER OF GALILEE (Mrs. C.H. Morris)AM...
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Ollllld 78s--Arkansaw Traveller (1901), Mosquito Parade (1900), Le Rhone et la Saone (1908)
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Artist:Arkansaw Traveller
Not merely old, or ollld, but ollllld. As in 108 years old. 107 years old. And 100. For a total of 315 years.Together, these sounds are 315 years old. In effect, we'll be hearing recordings from the year 1694. Wow. I knew The Arkansas Traveler was old, but not that old.Now, we've heard Arkansaw (sic) Traveler/Traveller here twice, once from Len Spencer on Victor (1908) and a 1901 Columbia label...
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Ollllld 78s--Arkansaw Traveller (1901), Misquito Parade (1900), Le Rhone et la Saone (1908)
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Artist:Misquito Parade
Not merely old, or ollld, but ollllld. As in 108 years old. 107 years old. And 100. For a total of 315 years.Together, these sounds are 315 years old. In effect, we'll be hearing recordings from the year 1694. Wow. I knew The Arkansas Traveler was old, but not that old.Now, we've heard Arkansaw (sic) Traveler/Traveller here twice, once from Len Spencer on Victor (1908) and a 1901 Columbia label...
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Sunday morning gospel--The LeFevres
Fabulous Southern gospel from the LeFevres. A playlist to die for. Er... well, you know what I mean. The last time we heard Hold To God's Unchanging Hand at this blog, it was the 1929 version by Smith's Sacred Singers. And too many versions of Life's Railway to Heaven is something there's no such thing as.I Need Jesus is not the once-famous Charles H. Gabriel song, but it's nice enough, regardl...
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Christmas is almost here
I mean, in the Christmas-blogging sense. Those of us who music-blog at Christmas start the day after Thanksgiving. So this is close. As far as that goes, Christmas is in been-here mode at Big Lots, Kroger, CVS, and other sources of Christmas stuff. And I can't believe Big Lots' high prices for its cheap stuff--a new marketing strategy? The less money people have, the more they have to pay ...
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Veterans Day, 2009
Your blogger, around 1984, and an Electronic Warfare Operator 3rd Class aboard the USS Merrill (DD-976). The Merrill, sunk as a target in 2003, was the testing platform for the Tomahawk Cruise Missile. It's where I served the final ten months of my eight-year Navy stint--most of that time, we were in dry dock.And here's the weird thing. I don't believe in ESP, but... an eerie thing happened jus...
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Ain't Got a Hit--Merv Griffin (1953-ish)
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Artist:
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Track:Ain't Got a Hit
Actually, this recording is "blue" only so far as some mild cussing--the s-word and g.d.--which, as far as I know, we hear on prime-time TV these days. This is Merv Griffin, for sure, and my best guess is 1953, Columbia, and Percy Faith and His Orchestra. I suspect these lyrics have been attached to another melody--if anyone recognizes the tune, please let me know. I wouldn't be surprised if th...
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Piece on Nidal Malik Hasan
I just read a charming piece about Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter. Your job is to guess where I found it. To help you out, here are some quotes:"One wonders how and why the army failed to relieve him from active duty. One ridiculous explanation is that they had a lot invested him--his complete medical and psychiatric training. Much more likely, the army was hamstrung by the political...
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Sunday morning gospel: The Singing Millers--In the Spirit
Late last month, I featured five tracks from this LP--today, the whole album. First-rate Seventies gospel, though I can't give you an exact year. 1973-ish?"Lively, spiritual, great talent and true gospel"--this is how Eva Mae Le Fevre describes the Singing Millers in her liner notes for the LP. While that sentence doesn't quite work, series-wise, I'll go along with each part.Click here to hear:...
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Will I ever learn? Never, ever upgrade
So, AVG anti-virus asked if I wanted to upgrade to version 9--for free, no less. And, for some reason, I went ahead and did so.First sign that I had done a dumb thing: the "up"grade was being slowed down by Spyware Doctor (which I'd paid for 2 months' worth) to the point that the Internet didn't work, though don't ask me how one caused the other. So I had to get rid of Spyware Doctor. I did,...
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78s for Friday: way-old exotica
Or any day that calls out for the sounds of acoustic grooves. In this playlist, an early Veterans' Day offering with the E.T. Paull march Battle of Gettysburg, which really creates an authentic mood. Authentic to a college fight song, that is. Nothing much to do with the battle of Gettysburg, though. Paull's marches were technically competent, imo, but pretty cookie-cutter.The disc itself is to...
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Three-monster quartet
Three of my Godzilla figures were sitting on the couch in the living room, and they seemed to be swaying in song. So I snapped their image and added the necessary embellishments. Except for handlebar mustaches, which I somehow forgot.There was a fourth Godzilla, three times the size of the other three, off to the side and looking annoyed. I decided not to mess with him. So a three-monster q...
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Beggars' Night on Jupiter, more....
In an age when spelling and punctuation are things only the "spelling police" care about (or so I gather), I find myself worrying about spelling and punctuation. I guess that makes me the Spelling Police. So, do I have back-pay coming? Anyway, you'll notice I use the correct punctuation for Beggars' Night, with the apostrophe after the s, since we're talking one or more beggars. "Beggar's Night...
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Sunday morning gospel back next week
I would have had something ready, but... my Box.net downloading bandwidth had maxed out, and (now that Box is back) nothing wants to upload. Ditto for 4Shared.However, I don't know that either site is at fault.UPDATE: Software clash was the problem. My AVG update didn't like Spyware Doctor. I removed the latter, and suddenly uploads are quick and unmessy.Ya never know what's causing the late...
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Halloween 2009, Part 16!--Durward Kirby, Betty Hutton, "Spooky Spooks"
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Artist:
I think my playlist art come out nicely, but I sized it too small. I can never get that quite right. Maybe it's because I, myself, am not quite right. Ha, ha! Just kidding.Um, you're not laughing with me...?So, nine spooky 78s (from my collection, except for the Russian Symphony Orch., which was expertly ripped by Dan Gilmore from his), two songs about murder, the Kingston Trio's version of Wit...
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That's not-a MyTube, it don't belong to me!
A great post at Don Brockway's Isn't Life Terrible: The Ethical Dilemma That Is YouTube. Interesting and amusing expose.His logical and sensible proposal will never go down. Because it's logical and sensible. I like it, though.Forgive my politically incorrect subject line. I couldn't help it--ever since I first laughed my head off at Homer and Jethro's Sink the Bismarck parody and its U-boat j...
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R.I.P., Ray Browne, Part 2
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Artist:Ray Browne
Read, if you wish, the Washington Post's clueless Ray Browne obit: Professor saw the potential in studying pop culture. In contrast to the Dispatch editorial, which nailed the topic, and the NYT piece, which was fairly on target, the Post should consider studying up on the topic, at least to the point of figuring out what p.c. actually is. That would be a start.Meanwhile, the pop-culture blogos...
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Halloween 2009, Part 15--A Gift for Prophecy, The H Man, Inner Sanctum, Robot Man!!
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Artist:Inner Sanctum
Stillllll ticking (with a little coughing and hacking.) I refuse to let a mere sinus infection halt my spooky-tune posting. Actually, I'm feeling way better as we speak. I'm not fully cured, but I'm almost there, and I owe it to perseverance, plenty of sleep and liquids, and sinus irrigation. (I wonder if I can take a tax deduction for that?) No antibiotics were prescribed in the taming of this...
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