#music of mickey katz

[disease]

The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records: Volumes 1 & 2 are a series of compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1983 & 1985. They purport to compile the worst music ever recorded and feature mostly novelty songs, parodies and cover versions of popular songs, performed very poorly (though in many cases, intentionally so, either as a novelty or as a joke). The original first volume included an airsickness bag and a warning that the album 'may cause internal discomfort.' Full track lists include...

VOLUME 1 [1983]: 1. "The Crusher" (The Novas) 2. "Big Girls Don't Cry" (Edith Massey and The Eggs) 3. "I Want My Baby Back" (Jimmy Cross) 4. "I Like" (Heathen Dan) 5. "Kazooed on Klassics" (The Temple City Kazoo Orchestra) 6. "Fluffy" (Gloria Balsam) 7. "Paralyzed" (Legendary Stardust Cowboy) 8. "I Wanna Be Your Dog" (The Seven Stooges) 9. "Boogie Woogie Amputee" (Barnes and Barnes) 10. "Kinko the Clown" (Ogden Edsl) 11. "Umbassa and the Dragon" (The Turtles) 12. "Ugly" (Johnny Meeskite) 13. "Surfin' Tragedy" (The Breakers) 14. "Young at Heart" (Wild Man Fischer) [YOUTUBE: FULL ALBUM]

VOLUME 2 [1985]: 1. "Downtown" (Mrs. Miller) 2. "K'nish Doctor" (Mickey Katz) 3. "Party in My Pants" (Barnes and Barnes) 4. "Foreign Novelty Smash" (The Credibility Gap) 5. "Nag" (The Halos) 6. "Who Hid the Halibut on the Poop Deck" (Yogi Yorgesson) 7. "Goodbye Sam" (Shad O'Shea) 8. "Just a Big Ego" (Bob Rivers and Zip) 9. "Candy Rapper" (Bird & MacDonald/"Sticky Fingers") 10. "Hands" (Debbie Dawn) 11. "Baseball Card Lover" (Rockin' Richie Ray) 12. "Fudd on the Hill" (Little Roger and the Goosebumps) 13. "Split Level Head" (Napoleon XIV) 14. "Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage" (Killer Pussy) 15. "The Troggs Tapes" (The Troggs)

[jpbjazz]

LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

DON BYRON, AGENT PROVOCATEUR

"Nobody calls up Eric Clapton and says, 'Yo, Clapton, you're the white guy that plays all that black {expletive}, right? Why don't you come play at a rally?' What makes them think they can do that to me?"

- Don Byron

Né le 8 novembre 1958 à New York, Donald Byron était issu d’une famille musicale. Son père, Donald Byron Sr., était postier et jouait de la contrebasse dans des groupes de calypso. Sa mère Daisy White travaillait comme téléphoniste et était aussi pianiste. Sous l’influence de sa mère, Byron avait été initié à une musique diversifiée allant de la musique classique à la salsa et au jazz. Exposé à la musique de Dizzy Gillespie, du percussionniste cubain Machito et de Miles Davis durant ja jeunesse, Byron avait également assisté à des spectacles de ballet et de musique classique.

Même si le fait d’avoir été familiarisé avec une musique aussi éclectique l’avait aidé Byron à bâtir un style très personnel, il n’avait pas toujours pu exploiter tout son potentiel en raison de ses origines afro-américaines. Il expliquait: "Nobody wanted to believe I was capable of doing the classical stuff. I'd show up and they'd say, 'You want to play jazz.' In the classical pedagogy, I had teachers telling me my lips were too big."

Byron ayant été atteint d’asthme durant son enfance, un médecin lui avait recommandé d’apprendre à jouer d’un instrument à vent afin de développer ses capacités respiratoires. C’est ainsi qu’il avait commencé à jouer de la clarinette.

Byron avait grandi dans le sud du Bronx aux côtés de jeunes juifs qui avaient contribué à développé son intérêt pour le klezmer, la tradition musicale des Juifs ashkénazes d’Europe centrale et d’Europe de l’Est. Décrivant son intérêt pour la musique juive, Byron avait commenté: ‘’I was playing Jewish music 15 years before all of this downtown [radical Jewish culture] activity. [Klezmer] is just a music that uses clarinet; it’s just one of the musics that I play that uses clarinet. I was interested in the chord changes and the scales. There’s lots of little musics around the world where the clarinet is kind of like the lead instrument.”

Parmi les autres influences de Byron à cette époque, on remarquait Joe Henderson, Artie Shaw, Jimmy Hamilton et Tony Scott. À l’adolescence, Byron avait pris des cours de clarinette avec Joe Allard. Il avait aussi écrit des arrangements pour le groupe de son high school. George Russell avait également été un de ses professeurs durant ses études au New England Conservatory of Music de Boston où il avait décroché un baccalauréat en musique en 1984. Durant cette période, Byron avait également fait partie du Klezmer Conservatory Band dirigé par Hankus Netsky. À l’époque où il avait obtenu son diplome, Byron était d’ailleurs devenu le leader du groupe. Il avait aussi joué avec des groupes de jazz latin. Byron avait également étudié à la Manhattan School of Music de l’Université de New York.

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Byron avait quitté le Klezmer Conservatory Band en 1987 pour travailler avec de grands noms du jazz comme Reggie Workman, Hamiet Bluiett et Bill Frisell. Il avait aussi joué avec des musiciens d’avant-garde comme Craig Harris et David Murray.

En 1991, Byron avait publié un premier album comme leader intitulé Tuskegee Experiments. Le titre de l’album faisait référence à une série d’expériences médicales et psychologiques hautement discutables sur le plan éthique tentées sur des Afro-Américains en 1932. Enregistré avec Frisell et Workman, l’album comprenait des versions de "Auf Einer Burg" du compositeur classique Robert Schumann et de ‘’Mainstem’’ de Duke Ellington. Le Penguin Guide to Jazz avait qualifié l’album de chef-d’oeuvre et d’un ‘’des premiers albums les plus excitants en plus d’une décennie." 

L’album suivant de Byron, Plays the Music of Mickey Katz, avait été une surprise pour les amateurs de jazz qui ne connaissaient pas les antécédents de Byron avec la musique klezmer. Tentative de témoigner de la contribution des traditions yiddish à la culture populaire américaine, l’album avait été décrit en ces termes par Byron qui avait expliqué en entrevue: "People today think that Jewish musicians of the 20's, the generation that could have been klezmers, had the greatest attitude about their own music. But really, those cats didn't want to know... klezmer. They wanted to play jazz or symphony --anything to avoid being stereotyped by klezmer." Malheureusement, plutôt que de mieux faire accepter la culture yiddish, l’album avait eu pour résultat de l’enfermer dans certains stéréotypes. Comme Byron l’avait expliqué plus tard au cours d’une entrevue accordée au magazine Down Beat: "I run into people all the time who don't know I made anything after the Mickey Katz record. No matter how much I've done before and after, it always seems to be that stuff they want to talk about and hear. Sometimes I'm sorry I did it." 

ÉVOLUTION RÉCENTE

Peu avant la publication de l’album Music for Six Musicians en 1995, Byron avait expliqué la démarcation qui existait entre le jazz dit ‘’mainstream’’ et l’avant-garde. Comme il l’avait déclaré au cours d’une entrevue accordée au magazine New York Times:

"Me and most of the cats I hang with, we're too left-wing to be around {mainstream jazz institution Jazz At} Lincoln Center. They should be presenting the freshest, baddest stuff. I don't even exist in jazz the way these people perceive it to be.... I've gotten to the point where I can't care what other jazz cats think." L’album Music for Six Musicians était un hommage à la musique afro-cubaine qui avait marqué la jeunesse de Byron dans le Bronx. La musique latine formait d’ailleurs un volet important de la personnalité musicale de Byron. Continuant de témoigner d’une grande conscience sociale, Byron avait ouvert l’album sur un extrait du poème d’Haji Sadiq Al Sadiq "White History Month," qui contenait des affirmations comme: "You think it fair if there was a white history month? ... I picture a kind of underground railroad, Delivering us in the dead of night from the inner city to the suburbs, Yea, like right into the hands of the Klan?" 

En 1996, Byron avait fait une apparition dans le film Kansas City de Robert Altman aux côtés d’autres grands noms du jazz comme Geri Allen et James Carter. Même si le film était un hommage à la musique du début au milieu des années 1930, la bande sonore avait laissé une grande place au jazz contemporain. Selon le directeur musical Hal Willner, "If you listen to records like 'Lafayette' {by Count Basie} or 'Prince of Wails', there was as much energy as any punk-rock I've ever heard." Dans le film, Byron avait interprété un solo sur la pièce d’Eddie Durham "Pagin' the Blues."

En 1996, Byron avait d’ailleurs publié un album intitulé Bug Music dans lequel il avait rendu hommage à la fois aux compositions classiques de Duke Ellington et aux oeuvres des compositeurs John Kirby et Raymond Scott, qui avaient souvent été discrédités par les critiques malgré leur succès commercial et la complexité technique de leur musique. Comme Byron l’avait expliqué dans l’ouvrage Music and The Arts, "Even in Gunther Schuller's The Swing Era, {he says} it's not really good music.... When you look at the era those cats came up in, that was the stuff that was turning everybody out." Byron avait ajouté que le titre de l’album était inspiré d’un épisode du dessin animé The Flintstones qui comprenait une parodie des Beatles avant que la musique du groupe ne soit considérée comme acceptable par les critiques de la musique ‘’mainstream.’’

En suivant sa propre inspiration et en ignorant les préjugés subjectifs des critiques, Byron était devenu une des voix les plus intéressantes de la musique des années 1990. Dénonçant la façon stéréotypée dont les musiciens noirs étaient traités dans le cadre d’un profil publié dans le magazine New York Times, Byron avait déclaré: "Nobody calls up Eric Clapton and says, 'Yo, Clapton, you're the white guy that plays all that black {expletive}, right? Why don't you come play at a rally?' What makes them think they can do that to me?"

En 1999, lors de la promotion de son album Romance With the Unseen, Byron avait expliqué pourquoi il avait toujours eu des goûts aussi éclectiques. Byron, qui détestait les étiquettes, avait commenté:

‘’I think lots of people listen to that range of music. Ultimately, intellectually, I’m very connected to that range of idioms. The clarinet puts you in a situation that’s kind of unique. There’s no way you can play the clarinet without playing classical music, so well all have that, even some of the cats like Greg Tardy. To play as much clarinet as he plays, you can’t without going to school and studying Mozart. People are just not used to seeing black folks to do that. It just takes that involvement in that kind of music to get to a point where you can even finger some jazz.’’

Byron croyait d’ailleurs que sa jeunesse dans le Bronx l’avait préparé à manifester une grande ouverture face aux autres cultures. Il expliquait:

‘’In terms of trying to put together a poetry project {Nu Blaxploitation}, I grew up in the South Bronx (Eddie Daniels didn’t grow up in the South Bronx) so I saw Grandmaster Flash and DJ Cool Herc; these cats were all around the neighborhood, so I witnessed the beginning of {hip-hop}. My parents are of Afro-Carribean descent so we were into the calypso, and Afro-Carribean stuff and Cumbia... and my father was a jazz musician too, so we even knew some cats who were in and out of the Basie and Ellington bands. So I’m not really doing anything that I didn’t hear before I was 18. I didn’t grow up in a sheltered way, like I didn’t hear before I was 18. I didn’t grow up in a sheletered way, like ‘We’re from the Dominican Republic and we only listen to meringue’’; that’s not the way I grew up.’’

Évoquant son implication sociale et politique, Byron avait déclaré:

‘’I just have a certain politic. I think a lots of people have a polioc, but I think in the past, certainly since the Young Lions era, there hasn’t been a lot of politics in the music. But compared to what Mingus was talking about it’s not excessive, compared to what the hip hop cats are talking about, or the Last Poets, I don’t think it’s excessive. People that know me know what if we’re gonna talk for an hour, we’ll spend 20 minutes talking about stuff that I have in my pieces. When I think about putting that politic and that feeling in the music I think back to the Gary Bartz Ntu Troop. That for me was a model of how to do it, just feeling ike when you put out a thing you want to put out some kind of gestalt picture of what you are. I think we’re at a point in history where people don’t want to think about those things because it profits them to think, or at east to let you think, that all of this stuff is over and we don’t need to be talking about biases of race and gender. And it’s never over, either you want to talk about it or you don’t, so if the fact that you want to talk about it means that you’re controversial. If you read where I was coming from doing the Mickey Katz and doing Bug Music, there’s even a politic to those particular projects.’’

Membre de la Black Rock Coalition, une organisation qui affirmait que le rock n’ roll était inspiré de la musique noire, Byron avait interprété la pièce "Bli Blip" dans la compilation de la Red Hot Organization intitulée Red Hot + Indigo en 2001. Hommage à la musique de Duke Ellington, l’album avait pour but de recueillir des fonds pour prévenir et combattre le SIDA. Dans le cadre de l’album, Byron avait joué aux côtés de Bill Frisell, Joe Henry, Marc Ribot, Vernon Reid et Allen Toussaint. Dans les années 1990, Byron avait également dirigé le quintet de musique classique Semaphore. De 1996 à 1999, Byron avait aussi été directeur musical de la Brooklyn Academy of Music où il avait dirigé une série de concerts pour le Next Wave Festival et présenté en première son spectacle pour enfants intitulé Bug Music for Juniors.

De 2000 à 2005, Byron avait été artiste-en-résidence au New York's Symphony Space où il avait dirigé l’Adventurers Orchestra, lancé la série de concerts Contrasting Brilliance et tranmis sa vision de compositeurs et d’artistes comme Henry Mancini, Sly Stone, la compagnie de hip-hop Sugar Hill Records, Igor Stravinsky, Raymond Scott, Herb Alpert et le groupe Earth, Wind and Fire.

Également professeur, Byron avait enseigné la composition, l’improvisation, l’histoire de la musique, la clarinette et le saxophone à la Metropolitan State University of Denver (2015), l'Université d'Albany (2005–2009) et le Massachusetts Institute of Technologie (MIT) de 2007 à 2008. Historien du jazz reconnu, Byron avait tenté de recréer dans ses albums des moments importants de l’histoire des de la musique populaire, notamment dans le cadre d’albums comme Plays the Music of Mickey Katz (1993) et Bug Music (1996).

Don Byron a remporté de nombreux honneurs au cours de sa carrière, dont une bourse de la Fondation Guggenheim en 2007. La même année, Byron avait été nommé USA Prudential Fellow et avait décroché une bourse de United States Artists, une organisation caritative qui soutient et encourage le travail des artistes américains. En 2009, l’American Academy de Rome lui avait également décerné un Rome Prize Fellowship. La même année, la composition de Byron intitulée Seven Etudes for solo piano, qui lui avait été commandée par la pianiste Lisa Moore, lui avait valu d’être mis en nomination pour un prix Pulitzer en composition. Byron avait aussi été mis en nomination en 2005 pour un prix Grammy pour le meilleur solo de jazz instrumental pour son solo de clarinette basse sur le standard "I Want to Be Happy" tirée de l’album Ivey-Divey en 2004. Byron avait également été juge lors du 2e gala des Independent Music Awards. Élu artiste de jazz de l’année par le magazine Down Beat en 1992, Byron avait également remporté le prix de meilleur clarinettiste dans le cadre des sondages des critiques du magazine Down Beat de 1992 à 1997.

Musicien et compositeur très éclectique, Byron a travaillé dans des contextes diversifiés allant de la musique classique à la salsa, en passant par le be bop, le swing, le hip-hop, le funk, le rhythm & blues et la musique klezmer. Il s’est également produit dans plusieurs festivals de musique à travers le monde, y compris à Vienne en Autriche, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Londres en Angleterre, Monterey en Californie, en Nouvelle-Zélande et à Broadway. 

Byron a collaboré avec les plus grands noms du jazz au cours de sa carrière, de Mario Bauza au Duke Ellington Orchestra, en passant par John Hicks, Tom Cora, Bill Frisell, Vernon Reid, Marc Ribot, Cassandra Wilson, Hamiet Bluiett, Anthony Braxton, Geri Allen, Jack DeJohnette, Hal Willner, Marilyn Crispell, Reggie Workman, Craig Harris, David Murray, Leroy Jenkins, Bobby Previte, Gerry Hemingway, DD Jackson, Douglas Ewart, Brandon Ross, Ed Neumeister, Tom Pierson, Steve Coleman, Living Colour, Ralph Peterson, Uri Caine, Mandy Patinkin, Steve Lacy, les Kansas City All-Stars, les Bang On A Can All-Stars, Medeski Martin & Wood, Angelique Kidjo, Carole King, Daniel Barenboim et Salif Keita. Il a également collaboré avec l’Atlanta Symphony, Klangforum Wien (un orchestre de chambre autrichien), le guitariste auteur-compositeur Joe Henry, l’écrivain Paul Auster, la poète, bassiste et autrice-compositrice Meshell Ndegeocello et plusieurs autres.

Évoquant sa collaboration avec Jack DeJohnette, Byron avait expliqué: ‘’I like those loud, interactive drummers, all of which are coming out of Jack, even Joey Baron and Ralph Peterson - they’d all say in a heartbeat that they’re coming out of {Jack}. So it was just interesting to experience Jack firsthand.’’ Au sujet de sa collaboration de longue date avec le guitariste Bill Frisell, Byron avait ajouté: ‘’We have a sense of line that’s similar and a sense of harmony and how to attack it. I think that we’ve used all of the indefinite qualities of our instruments together in a really kind of unusual way.’’

Un des derniers projets de Byron était un duo avec le pianiste Uri Caine. Il expliquait:

‘’I’m doing this duo thing, gathering songs together that have the kind of control over harmony and the drama of lyrics that an aria from an opera has. I had to try to find some stuff that did that. There’s the obvious stuff, like the Schumann that I love, Puccini, but then I pulled in some Stevie Wonder or some L.A. and Babyface, and we’re gonna have different singers come in and guest. It’s a duo between me and Uri with a few guest singers, some Broadway, some pop, some jazz.’’

Grand amateur de musique classique, Byron appréciait particulièrement la Symphonie No 1 de John Corigliano. Il expliquait: ‘’An excellente performance, great music that actually encourages classical players to make improvisational choices without they knowing it.’’ Parmi ses autres albums de prédilection, Byron citait La Sonora Poncena, un disque de jazz afro-cubain dEdward Simon la Bikina, Musical Conquest de Mike Nichols et Elaine May et Sonny Meets Hawk, de Sonny Rollins et Coleman Hawkins.

©-2024, tous droits réservés, Les Productions de l’Imaginaire historique

SOURCES:

‘’Don Byron.’’ Wikipedia, 2023.

‘’Don Byron.’’ All About Jazz, 2023.

‘’Don Byron Biography.’’ Net Industries, 2023.

JENKINS, Williard. ‘’Don Byron: Range and Vision.’’ Jazz Times, 25 avril 2019.

[flickynightdarkness]

Christmas at Cartoon Network Villains Club (Christmas Special Dream Story)

[Rating: 10+]

[Characters: Flicky(my persona), Lord Ego, Lord Ego's imp minions, Mandark, Red Guy, Mojo Jojo, HIM, Katz(non speaking), Le Quack(non speaking), Father, Delightful Children, Cree Lincoln, Agent Trout, Jasper and Scoutmaster Lumpus]

[Inspiration from Mickey's Magical Christmas - Snowed in at the House of Mouse]

[I dreamt about spending Christmas Eve at a club made for Cartoon Network villains, however the portals to their universes were frostbitten so the host/owner of the club decided to celebrate their Christmas with a party]

Today was Christmas Eve at the Cartoon Network Villains Club, the inside is showering lots of snow across the studio and many of the rooms. Many of the Cartoon Network's villains are seated, clapping and cheering to their valuable host and club's owner; Lord Ego! "That's the end every villain and thank you very much for spending a wonderful Christmas Eve with us prideful demons. And having a safe trip to your ho, ho, homes!" says Lord Ego, joyfully at the guests! As everyone heads back to their universes, Ego was in backstage with his small imp minions. "Great work our pridefulness" says the female imp. "With everyone heading home, we can now celebrate our Christmas together my lord" says the male imp! Then their new guest Flicky came in and said, worryingly "Lord Ego, They can't go back home" "How?" asks Lord Ego "The portals to their universes appear to be frostbitten" says the receptionist imp pointing at the entrance. "Now my dear, how bad can I really be" says Lord Ego while walking past the villains until they are in front of them and they stopped and said "Oh..." The portals of the universes the villains live in are all frostbitten, meaning they are all stuck in forever. "Damn it!" says Father, facepalmed. "Well, my delightful children. Guess we couldn't go back to mansion to celebrate our Christmas" says Father, by his Delightful Children. The villains think for a minute until Lord Ego thought of something, something that can help the villains enjoy their Christmas... together! "I have an amazing idea my loyal ones!" Then Lord Ego jumps and levitates himself with a grinny smile, saying to everyone "We all can celebrate our jolly Christmas party right here" "Good one Lord Ego!" says Cree, as everyone heads back to the main studio.

Then it cuts back to the main studio all decorated festively and Christmas music playing. "Hot cocoa and cookies, comin right up fellas" one of the serving imps says, by carrying a stack of plates with white mugs of hot cocoa. Then the imps set up the tree and one of them sets the fireplace and they ask one of the villains for help "Hey Father! Would you light this baby up?" "Well... alright!" Father shrugs it, then unleashes a snap of his fingers, making into a flame, and then he releases his flame at the fireplace. Then many of the imp minions carry over the tree and decorate it with tinsels, baubles and the bright, shining star on the top! "Everything's is all decorated festively for the day, villains!" Ego responds, with joy in his villainous heart. "Hey, our Lord!" An technician imp peeks out on the studio's control room. They asked "Want me to set up the videos for them to watch to?" "Happy to, my delightful minion. Start it up!" Ego replies.

With a couple enjoying the entertainment of many videos playing, and chattering around eachother brings the year's loyal and honourable friendships with the guests

[pargolettasworld]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZV7cS9BHHs

L’dor vador.  From generation to generation.  One of the venerable genres of American Jewish music is the popular song parody -- take that great song and make it Jewish!  You had Mickey “Borscht Riders In The Sky” Katz, he of the Yinglish song genre.  You had Allan “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” Sherman, whom we heard yesterday, bringing American Jews into the upwardly mobile mainstream.*  Now, you have Country Yossi.  Composer Yossi Toiv works very much in the vein of Katz and Sherman, though he is much more performatively Orthodox than either of them.

He was born in 1949 in Brooklyn, which goes toward explaining some of the great Golden Oldies that he likes to send up.  In this case, he answers the question that I’m completely sure was at the absolute forefront of everyone’s mind.  What would Bobby Pickett’s 1962 novelty hit “Monster Mash” sound like if it were Jewish?  It turns out that it’s a fun little ditty, though there’s a spark in both Katz and Sherman’s work that I don’t quite hear in Yossi’s.  Still, it’s amusing, and there are some lovely creative moments in it.

*I’m not including the Barry Sisters here, since they didn’t really do parodies; they often did popular songs just straight-up translated into Yiddish.

[wriggling-inmy-kishkes]

Good morning!

Some Mickey Katz to start your day

[ducktracy]

162. porky and gabby (1937)

release date: may 15th, 1937

series: looney tunes

director: ub iwerks

starring: mel blanc (porky, gabby, truck driver)

a new name in the director’s guild for the first time in 9 months! feels longer, doesn’t it? ub iwerks, as in flip the frog creator and co-creator of mickey mouse iwerks, landed a very short term gig at warner bros. his warner bros gig was essentially a freelance gig as he floated around studios. he got some work to do, and leon schlesinger was able to meet his cartoon quota. he only directed 2 cartoons until one day he just up and left, leaving his unit to bob clampett. after jack king left the studio in 1936, iwerks came. bob clampett, who had been promised a position by schlesinger for quite some time, wasn’t too happy that this new guy was stepping in and taking a directorial position after HE had been promised a position for quite some time, so schlesinger appointed him to help iwerks out and to get that looney feel in the cartoons. clampett took chuck jones, bobe cannon, and manager ray katz with him. thus, when iwerks left, clampett inherited the unit. essentially, he, chuck, and bobe acted like co-directors on the iwerks films, refining them to give the films a more warner bros feel. clampett’s first entry, porky’s badtime story, was started by iwerks before he left the studio. this newly formed unit became known as the ray katz unit, separate from the leon schlesinger unit.

with a new director comes a new “star” (or not): gabby goat. gabby was warner bros’ response to donald duck. a temperamental, brash, angry sidekick to balance out the good-natured, happy go lucky, though slightly bland porky, whose personality was still up in the air. bob clampett credits cal howard for the creation of gabby, who would actually voice him in gabby’s final appearance, get rich quick porky. gabby himself only starred in three cartoons, never making it out of 1937. however, storyboards for clampett’s porky’s party (1938) DO show gabby (and petunia) starring alongside porky in the short. gabby really interests me as a character. he was so rude that his brash personality was considerably toned down by his last entry. he paved the way for daffy as a sidekick—in fact, clampett would remake porky‘s badtime story in 1944 with tick tock tuckered, daffy usurping gabby’s role in the cartoon. while gabby (and iwerks)’s stint was short, he was actually revived in the second season of wabbit/new looney tunes in 2018, voiced by bob bergen! he’s an interesting case who i like a lot, even though he doesn’t have much to show for himself.

the synopsis speaks for itself: porky and gabby are headed for a peaceful camping trip, but a variety of mishaps threaten any ounce of their enjoyment.

iris in with porky and gabby (literally) trucking their way through the rolling country side, their car brimming with camping essentials and more. a jolly motif of “gee, but you’re swell” scores quite a majority of the cartoon, and the opening scene is no exception. gabby doesn’t seem to share the same appreciation porky does for the outdoors, haughtily slumped over in his seat as porky asks “sure a swell day to go camping, isn’t it, gabby?” 

before gabby can respond, their jalopy hits a rock, which catapults all of their camping supplies up into the air. thankfully--because why else?--the supplies piles back up neatly in the trunk, recovering from the bump. that is, except for one. a frying pan smacks gabby right on the head and gives him a shiner, much to porky’s amusement. gabby, full of malice, growls “YEAH!” in porky’s face.

just then, the two get stuck behind a moving van. we hear excessive honking as their jalopy zigzags back and forth, attempting to squeeze past, but the van is too big for the small country road they’re on. gabby is the perpetrator behind the horn, doing a fleischer-esque shiver take in anger as he honks on the horn and hurls insults. “hey you! get that big crate off the road! move over, we ain’t got all day! what’s the matter with you, you deaf!? you can hear that, can’t ya!?” while gabby engages in his hotheaded rant, porky, behind the wheel, is able to pull up next to the van, where gabby now yells at the bewildered truck driver in person. “get over, ya big sheep!” 

as gabby threatens to “bounce one up [his] chin”, the truck driver pulls on a lever, attached to a hand shaped paddle. the paddle smacks gabby right in the face, causing him to spin around and dangle helplessly from the outstretched paddle as porky drives on ahead, clueless. reused from porky’s romance and from the radio show community sing, the truck driver tells gabby not to get excited. gabby retaliates in a flurry of sped up anger (the voice clip reused from porky’s romance) “EXCITED?? WHO’S EXCITED!? I’M NOT EXCITED!!!”

conveniently, the paddle dumps gabby right in a mud puddle, sparking another angry outburst, now spewing insults and mud alike. porky, still driving on his merry way, overhears gabby’s rampage and screeches to a halt, now driving in reverse. the animation in this scene and the next one is nice and rubbery, very elastic and stretchy. ub’s cartoons are hardly the most entertaining, but i do love how rubbery and tactile his animation is. a jolly underscore “gee, but you’re swell” triumphantly scores porky’s demise as he too is smacked by the passing paddle on the moving van. he’s then tossed out of the driver’s seat and splayed onto the hood of the car.

while gabby continues his muddy ranting and raving, the car conveniently runs right over gabby, halting just above him. porky looks around, befuddled, stuttering “hey, gabby! where are you?” mel’s deliveries as gabby are more than amusing as gabby growls back “where am i! where am i? now ain’t that a smart question! i’m under the car, you big fathead!” porky, unscathed by the remarks, climbs back into the driver’s seat and tells gabby he’ll pull up. he does so, running over gabby’s head in the process. more scathing remarks from gabby, with some particularly fluid and lovely animation as he jumps up and down in the mud puddle.

transition to the two back in their car, inching their way up a very steep incline. there’s some lovely synchronization between the animation and music as the car trucks its way up, the water in the engine spurting with each push up, all in time with the music. this collaboration is furthered as the score slows down, now as fatigued as the car trying to truck its way up. very clever indeed. just as they finally reach the top, the engine dies.

porky suggests pushing, much to gabby’s chagrin, making his distaste known by slamming the door as he begrudgingly exits the car. more rubbery animation as porky pulls at the bumper from the front, gabby pushing from the back, griping about how he wishes he’d stay home. “i don’t like camping, anyway!” porky manages to pull the bumper off the car entirely, just in time for gabby to get a running head start and ram into the back of the car, causing the car to topple over porky and barrel down the hill.

quite an interesting switch in angles as the duo run down the hill to catch the car, the decline turning into an incline once more, with the car slowing considerably and beginning its journey up the hill. now, porky and gabby run AWAY from the car, not towards it, as the car slides back down the hill, seeing as it can’t accelerate or decelerate on its own. predictable, yet fun to watch as porky and gabby engage in a game of cat and mouse with the car, the car ultimately barreling into them, sending the two twirling up into the air and landing neatly back in their respective seats. cartoon physics to the rescue!

a bit confusing as the car suddenly gains life again, trucking uphill, exhaust coming out of the pipe, but so be it. porky and gabby FINALLY reach their destination, the score now a rendition of “speaking of the weather” (which is the title of a frank tashlin merrie melody as well!) but, as we all know, this is only half the battle. porky triumphantly declares “well, here we are! i’ll put up the tent. you unload the car.” judging by the way porky moves and how gabby squints at him in contempt afterwards, i’d wage this as bob clampett’s animation. gabby retorts “yeah, i get all the hard work!” he struggles to untie the endless luggage piled up on the car. instead, he pulls the weight of the entire car on top of him, luggage spilling out on the ground as the car does a few barrel rolls, landing neatly right side up. gabby pokes his head out of the luggage pile, giving the audience an angry trademark Gabby Wink/Grimace. 

elsewhere, while porky’s setting up the tent, a pesky bee comes to assess the situation. i wonder if bees in cartoons are an ub iwerks thing, or just a coincidence--in porky’s badtime story, which was started by ub, there’s a scene where porky tries to swat a bee away with a pillow, hitting gabby in the process. this could have been a clampett gag, but it wasn’t included in the tick tock tuckered remake, so who’s to say. some more interesting rubbery animation combined with a shiver take as porky angrily attempts to swat the bee away, getting stung in the ass in the process. the tent collapses, pinning porky and the bee together under the same tarp. the animation is just lovely to watch as the bee swoops around in circles, the tarp leaving a trail behind. very rubbery and malleable.

gabby begrudgingly prepares the furniture when he hears porky. “gabby! gabby! get a sly fwatter--a-a--a fly swatter!” gabby mutters to himself, scouting out a fly swatter, when he hits gold. a shovel. three times as big and three times as effective! gabby’s gleeful, slightly twisted grin as he charges towards the tent wielding the shovel is priceless. he’s a little too eager to bash some sense into that bee. 

porky’s still being stung to pieces when gabby arrives. this is probably one of the funniest moments in an ub cartoon at WB, the timing is just too good: gabby hesitates, watching porky writhe around in agony under the tarp, before bashing porky’s head in. porky (rightfully) cries “OW!” and we hear silence. no movement. even better is when gabby carefully picks up the tarp and looks inside, making sure his pal is still breathing. instead, the pesky bee flies out from the tarp and stings gabby right on the nose.

more wonderfully fluid animation and speed lines as gabby now chases the bee with the shovel, cursing all along the way. ub’s flip the frog cartoons didn’t shy away from cursing (lots of “damn!”s), so i wonder if he ever thought about giving gabby a proper sailor mouth. seems likely. the bee lands on the exhaust pipe of their car, and when gabby hits the pipe with his trusty shovel, the force is enough to knock out the engine of the car, popping out of the grill.

more bob clampett animation as porky recovers, struggling to tie the tent’s rope to a stake in the ground. now, porky asks for a piece of rope, much to gabby’s chagrin. “rope... rope... i ain’t got any rope! guy’s always wantin’ something. why don’t he get his own rope? ah, here’s a piece!” sure enough, a spare piece of rope slithers out from the pile of junk by the car. treg brown’s use of a donkey braying as gabby pulls on the rope is a great touch. 

unfortunately, we see that the rope is attached to the outboard motor. gabby gives a hearty tug, and the rope is freed from the motor, which activates it. the motor flies into the air, threatening to guillotine anyone who comes in contact with the blades. gabby is knocked into a hole the motor dug into the ground, peering out of it for safety (in a very similar manner to porky poking his head out of a hole in porky’s last stand). speaking of porky, he dives into his tent for safety as the motor cuts the tarp away into pieces. 

the animation in this sequence is lovely, accented by carl stalling’s favorite “black coffee”. gabby resorts to shooting at the motor with a rifle. cartoon physics--the knockback from the rifle sends gabby flying, landing on a car horn, which catapults him forward. he shoots, he bounces, he shoots, he bounces, and so forth. one excessive shot sends him flying onto a spare mattress, the spring catapulting him into the air. gabby shoots himself down, but it’s no use. the spring gets caught on a tree branch. the motor threatens to graze gabby as he yells at porky for help (”i’m caught on a limb!”). rather, the motor runs into him, sending gabby twirling around the branch and hurtling towards the ground, the spring coming loose. it’s difficult to put into words, but it’s a lovely scene with some lovely animation. 

porky, who has now miraculously found some rope, fashions a lasso and corrals the motor. “i got it! i got it!” but, as always, there’s a catch. a loop ties around porky’s legs, the motor dragging porky along in the wild goose chase. gabby scales up between two, lanky trees for safety, the motor cutting the bottoms off and making makeshift stilts. more beautiful animation as gabby struggles to stay put. eventually, the rope attached to the motor ties the two trees together, the rope loosening from porky’s legs and sending both him and gabby toppling to the ground. 

befuddled, both investigate the eerie silence--no motor in sight. that is until the familiar sound of whirring grows louder from off screen. in a panic, the two bump into each other as they scramble to escape, both flopping to the ground just in tiem for the motor to rocket over their heads. 

all hopes of a camping trip are out the window as the two scramble into their car. the engine, which had been catapulted out the front, is now pulled inside as the two speed away, hoping to outrun the deathtrap. i LOVE the detail of porky paddling at the air as they drive away, as if his meager attempts to paddle would speed the car up even more from the motor that flies threateningly close behind them. 

meanwhile, they encounter an old friend: the moving van that gabby had harassed from before. once more does gabby berate the innocent driver (”HEY! MOVE OUTTA THE WAY, WE’RE COMIN’ THROUGH!”) as we get an interesting angle of the motor heading straight towards the audience. 

porky and gabby duck, ready to meet their demise when the motor crashes into their car, pushing the car forcefully into the moving van. a cloud of smoke as the crash ensues. the truck driver has a tire dangling from his next, much to gabby’s delight. gabby bursts into a fit of hysterical, bleating laughter, nudging a dazed porky so he can get a good look. the van driver pulls on his trusty lever, and the hand shaped paddle from before gives gabby a well deserved smack. iris out as both the van driver and even porky beam at gabby’s humiliation.

what an interesting cartoon, to say the least! there’s a lot of layers to it, while simultaneously, there aren’t at all. to put it bluntly, at surface level, this isn’t a very good cartoon. a few plotholes (like porky randomly finding a rope after he needed one, the car miraculously working again after it had died, etc--but these are mainly cases of cartoon logic, don’t take these too seriously. these are observations rather than critiques), and the plot itself is very bare-bones. this is moreso a series of mishaps rather than a cartoon with a concrete storyline.

yet, with that said, i still enjoy it. the animation is the best part of the cartoon. i’m a very detail oriented person, and not a big picture person, which serves me well and detrimentally at the same time. so, i absolutely love how fluid, bouncy, and fun the animation is in this cartoon. that’s certainly an incentive to watch it. carl stalling’s music score, as always, compliments the cartoon quite nicely. and furthermore, this cartoon has some historical significance to it. not very much, but it’s there: it’s gabby’s first cartoon. that serves as another incentive to watch--gabby isn’t too exciting of a character, but he’s so fascinating to me that i can’t help but like him. he’s like a hidden secret. porky’s first sidekick, unless you count beans, but porky was moreso beans’ sidekick rather than beans being porky’s sidekick. gabby’s pretty obscure, but someone from the simpsons was a big enough classic cartoon fan to know who he was--they make a reference to him as “disgruntled goat”. this could be a coincidence, sure, but i’m definitely thinking this is a reference, especially considering another episode referenced friz freleng’s pigs is pigs from earlier in 1937. 

in all, this isn’t a great cartoon, and you probably COULD go without watching it and be fine, but i say watch it. there’s some wonderful animation and it has some interesting history, such as ub iwerks’ first cartoon at WB and gabby’s first cartoon. check it out for yourself and see what you think!

link!

[oldshowbiz]

Ben Lessy. Danny Thomas. Judy Canova. Three giants of the American comedy stage in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Their respective careers involved three different circuits that occasionally intertwined. 

Lessy was a great comedian, well-known for his appearances at Jewish clubs and events - presenting a mixture of English and Yiddish comedy in an operatic voice. He played clubs like Billy Gray’s Band Box and the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. He was a contemporary of comedians Ben Blue, Mickey Katz and his comedy team partner Patti Moore.

Thomas was a Lebanese stand-up comic who started in Detroit, but hit it big in Chicago. It was at the Mob-run 5100 Club where he developed the “Jack Story,” a famous routine that made him a star. He went to New York and became a smash at La Martinique, a tough, upper class room not known for comedians. From there he dabbled in the dying days of radio and the last gasps of the Hollywood studio system. It was as a giant in television sitcoms that he made his millions, but nightclubs were always his habitat. He headlined the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Slapsy Maxie’s in Los Angeles, and Ciro’s in Hollywood to name a few.

Judy Canova was a cultured woman from Florida who played the part of a backwoods hick in hundreds of radio programs and Republic B-films. Her first success was on the presentation house circuit, playing in the Florida-based comedy team the Three Georgia Crackers. As a solo act she was a smash in New York, playing all the major Manhattan presentation houses of the 1940s - The Roxy, The Capitol, The Strand, The Paramount, Loew’s State, Radio City Music Hall. She informed many of the comedians who adopted hillbilly personas including Minnie Pearl. She had her own national radio sitcom featuring Mel Blanc as a co-star and the radio program made her popular in rural communities. It allowed her to do her live comedy act along the state fair circuit for decades.

Watching Ben Lessy, Danny Thomas, and Judy Canova share screen time on this episode of Make Room For Daddy, you tend to forget they were among the most important nightclub comedians of their generation, representing an era of showbiz that is gone forever.

[kimonobeat]

aiko bon “Profile Interview” Chapter 4 (3/3)

ーWhat kind of fashion did you wear outside of school?

aiko: In elementary school I was always dressed like a boy. I almost always wore jeans. I started gradually wearing girlier clothes since middle school though. I started wearing a lot of culottes and denim skirts. I used to love the clothes at BETTY’S BLUE. Then in 9th grade, I started wearing Hysteric Glamour. There was this T-shirt I used to wear that had Mickey and Minnie doing something dirty on it. (laughs) That and skinny black pants, skate shoes, and a polka dotted zip-up hoodie. I wore more ‘lolita’-ish clothes in my later high school years. Oh, and in middle school I used to go to Armani fashion shows.

ーWait, you watched Armani fashion shows in middle school? What kind of middle schooler does that? (laughs)

aiko: My older cousin took me with her because she worked in the fashion industry. Sometimes I would copy her and wear perfume. I’d put on Dior, or Chanel, or Poison, and people would tell me, “Ew, you STINK!” (laughs) My favorite fashion style in high school was mod clothing. I also loved psychedelic, hippie-looking clothing, so I used to wear dresses from thrift stores. The fashion I liked around that time had a lot to do with my favorite bands. Like, I loved THE COLLECTORS, so I wore mod clothing, y’know? I also kept my hair in a mushroom cut. Here I was wearing gigantic glasses and vintage dresses… Definitely a cringe-worthy look now. Like, just YIKES. (laughs) Now when I look back on it I just think to myself, “Well, at least I got to do the things I wanted to do. Oh well!” But not too long ago I wanted to eliminate all traces of those outfits.

ーDid you always have long hair up until you decided to chop it off for the mushroom cut?

aiko: Yeah, it was always long except for when I did the mushroom cut. My hair was sooo pretty in high school that anytime people couldn’t remember my name, they’d just call me “the girl with the pretty hair”. It was straight and black, with no split ends to be seen. You can thank my dad’s seaweed dishes for that. I had such healthy hair even though I didn’t take good care of it.

ーYou didn’t really need to do treatments or anything like that?

aiko: Nope! I went to the beauty salon about once a month though. I went to the same hair stylist my aunt went to. They cut my hair and let me pay later. I’d always tell them, “Just the ends, please.” (laughs) I didn’t do anything to take care of it but got my hair cut often.

ーHow was the coursework at your high school?

aiko: Hahaha! I… didn’t study.

ーWhat about when you had exams?

aiko: I did for those… (quietly) But that was the only time I did.

ーAnd your grades?

aiko: Eh, well, they weren’t great. Just average… No wait, a little worse than that probably. (laughs) I had a lot of points taken off. Like, less than 40%. That all depended on which subject, though.

ーSo what classes did you have GOOD grades in?

aiko: Music. I was #1 in our music class. I remembered a pretty good amount of music history, so I got 100 in that class. That and the skills tests we did put me at #1. The other person in my class tied with me for #1 was this guy named Yamamoto Poppo (Coo). We gave him the nickname “Poppo” because he was a lot like a pigeon. I was really good friends with Poppo.

ーaiko and Poppo.

aiko: Yeah, yeah. When it came to music, we had a lot in common. When everyone else was listening to bands like BOØWY, LUNA SEA, TRACY, KATZE, PRINCESS PRINCESS or JUDY AND MARY, we were like, “Hey, you heard Kaji’s new stuff yet?” We also traded each other CDs in secret, and listened to stuff like Harada Tomoyo’s albums, Spiritual Vibes, and Summer Vacation together. I also listened to indies music, something I’d been doing since I was in middle school. I didn’t have any money back then, so I just borrowed CDs from TSUTAYA to listen to. Indies artists didn’t make their music available as rentals though, which meant that I had to buy indie releases to listen to them. And of course, I listened to the radio all the time, same as always. I wasn’t in any after school clubs. I was in a band though.

ーHow many bands were you in during high school, all in all?

aiko: Just one. Oh wait, I was in another band too. The band I formed in 10th grade was entirely made up of girls. A girl named Tomo played the drums, and her older sister played the bass. Another really serious girl named Shimamoto played the guitar. She was the kind of girl who played guitar because she loved, like, B’z and Aerosmith, y’know what I mean? That band only lasted for about 3 or 4 months. We’d say, “Let’s practice!”, fumbled around for a while, then we sorta just fizzled out without even coming up with a name for our band. The real reason that band fell apart was that the bassist lost the scores of the Shonen Knife songs she had. She went through the effort of asking Shonen Knife herself but still lost them. That was too bad.

ーThe members of Shonen Knife sent you guys the band score to some of their songs themselves?

aiko: Shonen Knife wrote their contact information in their indies CDs. There was a “Contact” section that listed their personal address and phone number. (laughs) I don’t remember much, but we wrote them a letter or called them about it. “We wanna cover Shonen Knife’s songs. Would you mind giving us the sheet music?” we asked. They were gracious enough to send it to us, along with a message that said “Good luck!” I was so touched. “Wow, what nice people,” I thought to myself. And then we practiced it. Now that I think about it, the sheet music was pretty simple. They only thing they had written on it were the chords. Just, “Here’s where you strum.”

ーAnd that all-girls’ band fizzled out after only 3 or 4 months.

aiko: I started my first real band in 11th grade. We had 5 members: a guitarist, bass player, drummer, keyboard player, and me. We were all in the same grade. The keyboard and bass players were girls, and the drummer and guitarist were guys.

ーYou were the vocalist, I’m guessing?

aiko: Yup, just the vocalist, no instrument. We said, “Let’s be a band!” and that was that.

ーDid this band have a name?

aiko: Um… (laughs) Let me think. We were “The Pinsaka Knife Orchestra”. The name was based on the names of all our favorite bands. A three-piece indie girl band called The Pinkies, another band called Hanasaka who was passing out cassette tapes they hadn’t even released yet, and Shonen Knife. We covered those 3 bands a lot, so we decided to use them all in the name of our band. Then we tacked on the word ‘orchestra’ at the end, because we wanted to add a bunch more people. (laughs) Not that we needed anyone to play any other instruments; we just wanted them as members of the band. Y’know, members of the band who help us out by making copies of tickets, that sort of thing. The whole shebang sorta felt like Sharam Q. (laughs)

ーBut if you weren’t covering those bands, doesn’t that make the name kind of… wrong? (laughs)

aiko: I thought the same thing.

ーSo were you pretty similar to those 3 bands, at least?

aiko: We were completely different from them. I don’t really feel like those bands had anything to do with each other either. Shonen Knife’s a rock band, right? One of those ‘hit it and quit it’ punk rock kind of bands, y’know? Hanasaka was your average pop group, although they used similar instruments to BO GUMBOS. You see, the drummer played the bongos instead of drums. Visually they had this BO GUMBOS psychedelic vibe going on, but musically they were a pop band. The Pinkies were, what would you call them… Honestly, I only know one of their songs. I used to listen to this song of theirs that was on an indies omnibus release. It was the kind of song you’d do the monkey too, I guess? It went something like, “My cute lil’ baby~ Cha cha cha! My boyfriend’s over there, lookin’ so fine~ Cha cha cha!” (laughs) Well, our band just wanted to have some fun. We covered a lot of pop bands.

ーDid you write any original songs for this band?

aiko: Nah, none at all. No one wrote any songs so we only did covers. We covered Japanese bands like The Pinkies (which I just mentioned), Hanasaka, Shonen Knife, and THE COLLECTORS. People mistook the indies songs we covered for original songs, though, so when we performed at our school festival, we did a bunch of songs everyone already sort of knew. We knew we’d definitely draw a crowd if we performed Mr. Children or JUDY AND MARY. We performed some of Mr. Children’s songs from around the time they released the songs “Kind of Love” and “versus”. There I was, singing, “One of~ these days~ We’ll be together~” I asked the keyboard player to pitch the song up to C for me. The song’s about being in love with a girl who’s older than you. I was actually dating a guy who was younger than me at the time, and he came to see us play. Everyone swooned. (laughs) We also did JUDY AND MARY’s song “LOLITA A-GO-GO”. I wore lolita-ish clothes for it. (laughs)

ーHow long were you in The Pinsaka Knife Orchestra?

aiko: Up until just before I graduated, I think. We practiced in a studio, performed live at school festivals… It was a blast. It’s just, we were all headed down different paths. We stopped after about 2 years.

ーBy the way, when did you decide to apply to a music college?

aiko: Sometime around June of my senior year. (laughs) I didn’t really care where I went to college. I would’ve been fine with a vocational school too. I just sort of thought it would be nice to be part of a music college. When I told my dad, he said, “I ain’t lettin’ you go nowhere unless it’s a music college.” So I was like, “Really!? Guess I’ll go to a music college then!” and asked my teachers for advice just before summer in 12th grade. They said, “Really!? Well, if you don’t turn things around, you’re not gonna get in!” And yeah, that was true. I ended up doing just fine, surprisingly.

ーThere weren’t any particular subjects on the entrance exam of your music college?

aiko: Well first of all, there were the subject exams. Like, I think I did a Japanese exam. There was that, and a ‘composition’ exam where they quizzed you on music history: “Beethoven is ___”. There was also a music theory exam where they asked you questions like, “What interval is this? A minor third.”

ーWere there any practical exams in addition to the subject exams?

aiko: There were! I majored in popular music vocals, so my practical exam was singing a song. They gave you a couple of set pieces to choose from. I chose the song “Yesterday Once More”. I had another exam called ‘solfege’, where they have you transcribe a song, then sight-read the music.

ーDid you do any interviews?

aiko: Oh, I did that too. I talked pretty briskly through the whole thing: “Yes! Yes, that’s right!” But… I don’t remember a single thing I talked about. (laughs) That whole time period when I was applying to music school is a fuzzy memory to me. Honestly, I really don’t remember anything that I don’t really care about… That’s why it’s all kind of a blur to me. I sometimes forget about people too. For example, let’s say you’ve got two people, and they both get teased and bullied in the exact same way. One person might remember how they were bullied, and what people said to them down to the letter, but the other person might not remember anything at all. I guess that’s the difference between people who give a damn and people who don’t. Music school was one of those things for me. It’s not really that I didn’t care at all about music school, I just don’t remember anything about it because it was never really a goal of mine to get into a music college. Even when I was in school, it wasn’t the kind of college experience that made me feel like, “I’m in a college for music!” That’s why I don’t really remember a whole lot about it.

ーWasn’t it hard, going through all those entrance exams? Normally, students who apply to music colleges spend years preparing. You’re not supposed to study for everything a few months before.

aiko: Definitely, because of the specialized subject exams and the practical exam. I studied for those in a huge hurry starting in June. My music teacher gave me very intensive lessons. For singing lessons, I went to this place my music teacher introduced me to and told them I wanted to be a musical major. “You’re not meant for musicals,” they said, so I decided to apply for the popular music department instead. I definitely wasn’t cut out for being in musicals, that’s for sure. At the time, I couldn’t really hold out a falsetto note. “I’m definitely more of a ‘pop music’ kind of vocalist.”

ーEither way, when you decided that you wanted to go to a music school, it really meant that you wanted to sing. You didn’t want to play an instrument, or just compose music.

aiko: Right. That was already set in stone. It felt like the only option to me.

ーYou never wanted to go to a music-focused middle school or high school before you started applying to colleges?

aiko: Not one bit. It had nothing to do with music, I just didn’t really feel like going to high school. I basically went because my dad said I had to. I never felt like studying music when I was in school either, though. It never occurred to me that music was something you could study because it was everywhere: it plays on the radio, you hear it while walking around, you hear it playing in stores, you hear it on TV… So when I got accepted, it was… honestly, I had mixed feelings about it. Even my teachers said, “You don’t seem all that happy about it!” I didn’t desperately wanna go in the first place, so whenever I talked about it, all I said was, “I got in…” When I enrolled it was almost like, “I got in… So I guess I should go after all, huh…”

ーYou weren’t totally sold on studying music yet, were you?

aiko: I was, a little bit. Every time I went to singing lessons, I found myself thinking, “Wow, what IS this… ?” You know how you start off voice lessons doing that ‘ma ma ma ma ma~, ma ma ma ma ma~’ exercise? You’ve gotta practice that sort of stuff to make singing fun. I have to say though, there’s gotta be a more fun way to learn the basics. They are lessons after all, so they’re not that much fun. That was all I was doing, so after a while I thought to myself, “I don’t know about music school anymore…” The field day we did my senior year of high school was SO, SO much fun though.

ーWas that when you were the captain of the pep squad?

aiko: Yup! (laughs) Apparently the kids in my class who decided I would be captain of the pep squad got scolded by the teacher though. At that point I’d already decided to apply to music school. The teacher said, “I hope you all know by doing this that if she ruins her throat, it’s all YOUR fault!” I wasn’t even thinking about my throat. (laughs) My voice was so powerful I was actually kinda curious what would happen if I did hurt my throat. I’ve never once lost my voice, no matter how much I scream and shout.

ーDid you ever think about applying to a regular college as a back-up?

aiko: No, I didn’t. I had zero interest in going to a regular university. Everyone was always talking about how difficult it was to get into a private university in the Kinki region, which I don’t really understand. Someone would say, “Isn’t it amazing that so-and-so got into ABC University?” And I’d just have this blank look on my face. Like, “Huh?” I know about Tokyo University, of course. I know of Waseda and Keio too. I used think Doshisha was a company or something. (laughs) I honestly don’t know anything about colleges. Like, NO idea what’s so great about one university, or what the class curve is. My school was the ‘smartest’ in one of the top school districts, but I stopped there.

ーIt didn’t rub off on you at all, did it?

aiko: Not one bit. You might say they were really focused on skills. Like, “Wow, you’re really good at frisbee!” Because of that, I never really looked at the grade curves when applying to music school. My dad said, “If you’re going to school for music, that means you can only go to a music college!” I said, “What about an art school?” He said no. I probably would’ve found a bunch of other schools if I had looked at the music departments of women’s colleges.

ーIn spite of all that, it’s pretty amazing that you managed to get accepted into a music college with such little time to prepare.

aiko: No no, not at all. Everyone gets lucky every now and then! I’m sure they just went a little easy on me during the exams. (laughs) Classical music is so much harder. I basically had to practice for a couple hours every day. The school I went to had a ‘popular music vocals’ department. We were known around campus for being the ‘delinquent’s major’. They wouldn’t even let us use the opera house. “Popular music isn’t music,” they would tell us. All of the older professors refused to acknowledge pop music vocal students.

ーBut now that you’d been accepted into a music college, I bet you were thinking about having a career in music in the future, weren’t you?

aiko: I definitely did. I had sort of thought about becoming a singer before that, so I had already thought about starting my own career once I’d graduated from high school. Getting into a music college helped me make up my mind, I think. Part of me wanted to become a singer, so I definitely had the feeling that I wanted to cling to whatever would help me head towards that goal.

ーSo when you graduated, were you already hoping to work really hard towards that goal?

aiko: Sure. When I graduated from high school, one of the underclassmen said, “I’ll be sure to buy your CDs when you debut!” Everyone had written stuff like “I’ll be rooting for you when you debut as a singer. Good luck!” in the back of my graduation yearbook too. Seeing people write stuff like that to me definitely helped lock in those feelings, I guess you could say. They said those things to me like it was totally obvious too. “I’m definitely gonna buy your CDs when you debut, Aiko. Good luck to you!” And when they did, it made me think, “Geez, I have to work hard on it now!”

ーWould you say that that’s when your childhood dream of becoming a singer finally felt real to you?

aiko: Yes. It suddenly became reality between the summer of my senior year of high school and graduation. It hit me that I needed to get things going on my own. I couldn’t just wait around for it to happen.

Read more: Previous « Index » Next

[gingerradiohour]

Ginger Radio Hour #016

Show Notes May 3, 2022

Listen to archived episode.

Theme: The Borscht Belt cartoonist.

Featured: Cartoonist Bob Mankoff (pictured above on the way right) went to Catskills resorts like Brown’s in the 1950s with his parents. We'll pick through his memories of the Borscht Belt and talk more about the famous comics who entertained the guests and defined American humor. Mankoff spent 20 years as the cartoon editor of The New Yorker. He's now the president of CartoonStock, the largest cartoon archive in the universe.

Bonus: Here’s Jerry Lewis talking about the Borscht Belt and Mankoff shooting three’s on his home court. 

Playlist:

Don Byron “Sweet and Gentle” Album: Don Byron Plays The Music Of Mickey Katz 1993

The Barry Sisters “Chiribim Chiribom” Album: Their Greatest Yiddish Hits 1965

Beirut “Die Treue zum Ursprung” Album: Artifacts 2022

Mickey Katz “A Schmo Is A Schmo” Album: Borscht Riders In The Sky 2009

Hollywood Klezmer “Medley” Album: Brandeis-Bardin International Klezmer 2000

[dustedmagazine]

Don Byron & Aruán Ortiz – Random Dances and (A)tonalities (Intakt)

Don Byron and Aruán Ortiz are not the most intuitively-matched admixture of instrumentalists, at least on paper. But any assumed incongruity is perhaps more a result of their relative positioning in the creative music timeline than any disparity in approach. Ortiz is a current spotlight magnet having managed to advance an alchemy of Afro-Cuban, classical, free jazz and other idioms into an intensely dynamic and personal means of musical expression. Late last century, Byron achieved something strikingly similar in intent if not content by following his own stylistic predilections wherever they led him. Basquiat dreads, seersucker suits, offbeat haberdashery and the Borscht Belt Kelzmer of Mickey Katz reimagined were all calling cards at various junctures in the clarinetist’s career, but none of them posed as an impediment to serious musical discovery. In that last goal the two musicians are of like mind and make for an instantly inspired tandem. Recorded in a Zurich studio last December, Random Dances and (A)tonalities reveals just how tenacious and transfixing the bond between the pair became.  

Organized much like a recital, ten selections tap a spectrum of styles and audible influences. “Tete’s Blues” elliptically evokes the deceased Catalonian pianist in spirit through grand stabbing flourishes and repetitions that perforate the dialogue’s culminating end. Lurching staccato piano and drowsy, gauze-draped tenor saxophone dance on a darkly playful rendition of the Ducal “Black and Tan Fantasy.” Ortiz’s hands mirror the titular coupling in their respective tone color attacks with a Stygian left contrasting a bright and nimble right. The first of two classical-culled pieces, “Musica Callada” matches soaring clarinet with a firmament of gilded chords while the second, “Violin Partita,” almost feels like a precursor for the Byron-composed “Delphian Nuptials.” Solo clarinet negotiates the Bach bagatelle through detailed intervallic explorations while Ortiz brings spare and delicate accompaniment to the latter. Each acoustic environment feels sensuously realized and mirrors the players’ collective comfort in conversation or soliloquy.

Byron’s other original of the session, “Joe Btfsplk” pits speech-like tenor in a sparring match with scarce pedal-weighted punctuations and right hand filigrees from Ortiz. The click of keypads is audible in the crevices giving the number a quirkiness to match its enigmatic title. “Numbers” by Ortiz contrasts as an obsidian ballad organized around scattershot piano and insistent, blowsy tenor while a cogent cover of the late Geri Allen’s “Dolphy’s Dance” convenes clarinet and piano in a close embrace through a contoured scalar progression and pedal-treated block chords. “Arabesques of a Geometrical Rose” is archetypal Ortiz in both title and content and built from clean tonal contrasts, rich chordal shapes, deceptively complex compartmental design and cleverly-doled dissonance.  The duo bring the program full circle with another informal tribute, “Impressions on a Golden Theme,” which takes Benny Golson’s “Along Came Betty” as kernel for a joint improvisation that unfurls with an unhurried logic and sly sense of shared  legerdemain.

Derek Taylor

[david-was-here]

Songs of 2017

So like last year I’m listing my favorite songs of the year in no real particular order. And this year I think I listened to more music than I have ever for this entire year! So expect this to be BIG!!! The critera here is songs released in 2017, which includes singles and deep cuts, as well as songs that were released in 2016 but are hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and songs that were technically released in 2016 but are singles in 2017. Link to a playlist I made on Spotify. So without a further adieu...

Little Bubble, Cool Your Heart (feat. Dawns), Death Spiral, Up the Hudson, Work Together, I See You - the Dirty Projectors

(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano, Plastic 100°C, Kora Sings, Under, Blood on Me, Reverse Faults, Timmy’s Prayer, What Shouldn’t I Be? - Sampha

Hot Thoughts, WhisterI’lllistentohearit, Do I Have to Talk You Into It, First Caress - Spoon

Dangerous, A Violent Noise, Replica, I Dare You, A Violent Noise (Four Tet Remix), Say Something Lovely, Lips - the xx

Pure Comedy, Ballad of the Dying Man, Total Entertainment Forever, Leaving LA, WHne the God of Love Returns There’ll be Hell to Pay - Father John Misty

Avalon, Mrs. Adams, Trauma - Foxygen

In a Body Like a Grave - Japandroids

Things Are Right with You, Enter Entirely, Strange Year, Up to the Surface, Internal World - Cloud Nothings

My Old Man, This Old Dog, For the First Time, One Another, A Wolf Who Wears Sheeps Clothes, On the Level, Watching Him Fade Away - Mac DeMarco

That’s What I Like - Bruno Mars

Scared to be Lonely (feat. Dua Lupa), There for You (feat. Troye Sivan) - Martin Garrix

Call Casting, Bad and Boujee (feat. Lil Uzi Vert), Get Right Witcha, Slippery (feat. Gucci Mane), T-Shirt, Big on Big, Brown Paper Bag, Stir Fry - Migos

Nyakinyua Rise, Enigma - Jlin

Show You the Way (feat. Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins), Friend Zone, Uh Uh, Lava Lamp, Where I’m Going  - Thundercat

Thinning, Dirt, Slug, - Snail Mail

So Close - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

Doomsday, Shiver and Shake, Anything I Say to You Now, Breakdown, Outbound Train, Broken Anyway - Ryan Adams

Undercover, Keep On, Advice - Kehlani

Big for Your Boots, Cold - Stormzy

Minnesota, Country Song, Tour, Virgo - the Courtneys

BagBak, Big Fish, Love Can Be..., Homage, Crabs in a Bucket, Party People - Vince Staples

Leila 20, Nothing Feels Natural, No Big Bang, Nicki - Priests

Sleepwalker, Melting Grid, All the Land Glimmered - Julie Byrne

For You (DJ Koze Mbira Remix) - Michael Mayer and Joe Goddard

Slide (feat. Frank Ocean and Migos) Heatstroke (feat. Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, and Ariana Grande), Holiday (feat. Snoop Dogg, John Legend, and Takeoff), Feels (feat. Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, and Big Sean), Cash Out (feat. ScHoolboy Q, PartyNextDoor, and DRAM) - Calvin Harris

Love, Change, Get Free - Lana Del Rey

Green Light, Liability, Homemade Dynamite, Sober II (Melodrama), Supercut, Perfect Places, Homemade Dynamite (Remix) (feat. Khalid, Post Malone, & SZA), Sober - Lorde (really just the album Melodrama but still...)

Bleeding in the Bus - Code Orange

Not This Time, Anything Could Happen, Breathing Room - Bash & Pop

Chanel, Biking (feat. Jay-Z and Tyler, the Creator) - Frank Ocean

Third of May/Ōdaigahara, Fool’s Errand, Cassius, -, Kept Woman, One Another Ocean (January/June), Mearcstapa - Fleet Foxes

Slip Away, Otherside, Go Ahead, Wreath, Braid, Every Night, Choir, Die 4 You, Sides - Perfume Genius

Tellin’ Lies, Midwestern States, House on Fire, After the Party - the Menzingers

Shake Em Off - Syd

Pleasure, Get Not High, Get Not Low, Lost Dreams, Any Party, A Man is Not His Song, Century (feat. Jarvis Cocker) - Feist

Kinda Bonkers - Animal Collective

Free Smoke, Get it Together (feat. Black Coffee and Jorja Smith), Madiba Riddim, Passionfruit - Drake

The Heat Part 4, HUMBLE., ELEMENT., FEEL., LUST., XXX. (feat. U2), FEAR., DUCKWORTH., DNA. - Kendrick Lamar

Crazy Crazy (feat. Charli XCX & Kyary Pamyu Pamyu) - Yasutaka Nakata

Ran, Cave, Time on Her Side, Through the Roses, North Star, Ancient Water, Day Glow Fire - Future Islands

Ascension (feat. Vince Staples), Andromeda (feat. DRAM), Strobelite (feat. Peven Everett), Momentz (feat. De La Soul), Out of Body (Kilo Kish, Zebra Katz, & Imani Vonsha), Let Me Out (feat. Mavis Staples & Pusha T), Sleeping Powder, Garage palace (feat. Little Simz), Saturnz Barz (feat. Popcaan) - Gorillaz

Daisy, Animal, Exercise, Dreams of Grandeur - Wavves

This is the World of the Theater, Whiteout Conditions, Colosseums - the New Pornographers

Limerence - Yves Tumor

Seaweed, Ravens, Swims - Mount Eerie

Sugar for the Pill, Slowmo, Star Roving, Don’t Know Why, Everyone Knows, No Longer Making Time - Slowdive

Cold Cold Cold - Cage the Elephant

Don’t Take the Money, All My Heroes, Dream of Mickey Mantle, I Miss Those Days - Bleachers

Stay (feat. Alessia Cara) - Zedd

iSpy (feat. Lil Yachty) - KYLE

Sign of the Times, Two Ghosts, Sweet Creatures, Ever Since New York, From the Dining Table - Harry Styles

The Cure - Lady Gaga

FOR MY PEOPLE, TEMPTATION, RING THE ALARM (feat. Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight, & Meechy Darko), AMERIKKKAN IDOL - Joey Bada$$

‘71: I Think I’ll make Another World, ‘88 Ethan Frome, ‘92: Weird Diseases, ‘01 Have You Seen It in Snow?, ‘05: Never Again, ’66: Wonder Where I’m From, ’67: Come Back as a Cockroach, ’68: A Cat Called Dionysus, ’69: Judy Garland, ‘73L It Could Have Been Paradise, ’77: Life Ain’t Bad, ’98: Lovers’Lies, ’04: Cold-Blooded Man, ’12: You Can Never Go Back to New York, ’14: I Wish I Had Pictures - the Magnetic Fields

Broken Halos, Either Way, Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning, Millionaire, Scarecrow in the Garden - Chris Stapleton

Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe), Nightmare Logic, Waiting Around to Die - Power Trip

Minneapolis, 100 Years, Cleaning House, Cold Apartment, Alive and a Well - Vagabon

The Bus Song, 1 Billion Dogs, Take It - Jay Som

Halfway Home, Skyline, Stay Happy, Hug of Thunder, Towers and Masons, Victim Lover - Broken Social Scene

Truth, Humility, Integrity - Kamasi Washington

Want You Back, Nothing’s Wrong, Little of Your Love - HAIM

In Cold Blood, Adeline - alt-J

Hungry Ghost, the Navigator, Rican Beach, Pa’lante - Hurray for the Riff Raff!

Feel it Still (even though I grew sick of it by the end of 2017) - Portugal. the Man

French Press, Julie’s Place, Fountain of Good Fortune - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

Gone, Gone, Gone, Time Will Tell - the Feelies

Wedding in Finistere, What’s That Perfume That You Wear?, How We Met, the Long Version, How Can I Tell Him - Jens Lekman

Thinking of a Place, Holding On, Up all Night, Pain, Strangest Thing, In Chains, You Don’t have to Go - the War on Drugs

call the police, oh baby, other voices, tonite, emotional haircut, american dream - LCD Soundsystem

The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness, Day I Die, Born to Beg, Guilty Party, Carin at the Liquor Store, Turtleneck - the National

Close But Not Quite (feat. Sampha) - Everything is Recorded

Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson) - Clean Bandit

Heavydirtysoul - Twenty One Pilots

Love on the Brain - Rihanna

Wild Fire, Nouel - Laura Marling

Mildenhall - the Shins

Renato Dall’Ara (2008), Here’s to the Fourth Time!, For Whom the Belly Tolls, Hung Empty - Los Campesinos!

Yer Killin’ Me, Art School, Crash Test Rating, Strawberita, Trying 2 Fool U, I’m My Own Doctor - Remo Drive

God Bless Ohio, Window Sash Weights - Sun Kil Moon

Darling, Serve the Song, Stained Glass, White Light - Real Estate

3AM (Pull Up) (feat. MØ), Roll With Me, Boys, Backseat (feat. Carly Rae Jepsen), Femmebot (feat. Dorian Electra and Mykki Blanco), Out of My Head (feat. Alma and Tove Lo) - Charli XCX

Lucid, Anxi. (feat. Jenny Hval), Evolution, Bird - Kelly Lee Owens

Paradise, Ricochet - ANOHNI

Cut to the Feeling - Carly Rae Jepsen

Golden Cage - Nilüfer Yanya

Bad Liar - Selena Gomez

Can’t Help It - Baba Stiltz

Forever Young (feat. Diplo), Better (feat. Stefflon Don), Dirty Mouth, All Around Me (feat. YG and Kamaiyah) - Lil Yachty

Run - Foo Fighters

Everything Now, Signs of Life, Put Your Money on Me - Arcade Fire

Strangers (feat. Lauren Jauregui) - Halsey

Met Gala (feat. Offset) - Gucci Mane

J-Boy, Ti Amo, Goodbye Soleil, Tuttifrutti, Fleur de Lys - Phoenix

Hard Times, Told You So, Forgiveness, Idle Worship, Rose-Colored Boy - Paramore

Open Water, Melting, Billabong Valley, Anoxia, Doom City - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

Something Just Like This (feat. Coldplay) - the Chainsmokers (I’M SO SORRY)

You Never Loved Me, Rollercoasters - Aimee Mann

Alexys, Crushed Glass - Freddie Gibbs

The Call, Wondering, At Last, At Last - Xiu Xiu

Castle on the Hill - Ed Sheeran

Chelsea Hotel #2 - Kyle Craft

My Old Man, All the Best - Zac Brown Band

Build You Up - Kamaiyah

Praying, Let ‘Em Talk (feat. Eagles of Death Metal), Rainbow, Hunt You Down, Boots, Spaceship, Bastards - Kesha

911/Mr. Lonely (feat. Frank Ocean and Steve Lacy), Foreword (feat. Rex Orange County), Who Dat Boy (feat. A$AP Rocky), Pothole (feat. Jaden Smith), Boredom (feat. Rex Orange County and Anna of the North), I Ain’t Got Time!, November, See You Again (feat. Kali Uchis) - Tyler, the Creator

New York, Pills, Los Ageless, Happy Birthday, Johnny, Fear the Future, Slow Disco, Sugarboy - St. Vincent

Trees on Fire (feat. Amber Mark and Marco Mckinnis) - DJDS

Exhumed, Siphon, Veka, Wiseblood, Remains - Zola Jesus

Never Been Wrong, 8 Ball, Silver, Brass Beam - Waxahatchee

I Promise - Radiohead

I Don’t Wanna Die in This Town, Bad Luck Charm, She Hates Everybody - Old 97′s

In Undertow, Plimsoll Punks, Not My Baby, Lollipop (Ode to Jim), Foreget About Life - Alvvays

Cario and Southern - Son Volt

Magnolia - Playboi Carti

I Don’t Like You, Jucebox Baby - the Regrettes

Give me a Reason, Quiet - Ibibio Sound Machine

Speakerbox, Bait Face (feat. Scratchy), Laptop (feat. Manga) - Wiley

If We Were Vampires, Cumberland Gap, Anxiety, Molotov, Hope the High Road - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

One of Us - New Politics

Saunter, Urchin, Castration, Whip, Desafio - Arca

If You’re Here – Cornelius

The World’s Best American Band, Judy French, Little Silver Cross, the Satch, Party Next Door, Another Day – White Reaper

The Violence – Rise Against

G.K.A.C., I Only, Bangladesh (feat. Heems), Help (feat. Edan and Wiki), You Can Do It! (Give Up) – Your Old Droog

Nickelodeon Girls, Meme Machine, I Do It for My Hood, She’s So Nice, Uber Pussy, High School Blink193, I Will Get a Vasectomy – Pink Guy (RIP)

Sixteen, Bite Back, Leo, Barf Day, Tummy Ache – Diet Cig

Forrest, Birhtdays, Song for You, Shine – the Smith Street band

Misery, Black Rain – Creeper

Long Time, Fragments – Blondie

123, Sleepless, Your Heart, Powerplant, It Gets More Blue – Girlpool

Proud, Bobby, Witch, Judge, Powerful Man – (Sandy) Alex G

Déjà Vu, Picture That, Broken Bones – Roger Waters

The Great Debate, Lost Without You, Wandering Boy – Randy Newman

Street Power, Knuckle Up – Ho99o9

Love Galore (feat. Travi$ Scott), Drew Barrymore, Prom, Garden (Say It Like Dat), Broken Clocks, the Weekend – SZA

Shark Smile, Watering – Big Thief

Lights Out – Royal Blood

Cry of the Martyrs, the Underside of Power, Cleveland, the Cycle/the Spiral: Time to Go Down Slowly, Walk Like a Panther, Death March – Algiers

Crybaby, Tin Can – Kevin Morby

Da Next Day (feat. Big Rube), Order of Operations – Big Boi

No Halo, A Portrait Of, Disappeared, Second Letter from St. Julien, Leave the Fan On – Sorority Noise

Met me in the Street, Just Can’t Get Enough, Rank and File, Turn it Up, Milk and Honey, Pure desire, Can’t Play it Cool – Sheer Mag

Boyish, 12 Steps, The Body is a Blade – Japanese Breakfast

The Moth, Lead, SD, the Wolf – Manchester Orchestra

SHC, Static Space Lover – Foster the People

Just Like Love, Weakness, Wild Woman, All American Made – Margo Price

Dean’s Room – Allison Crutchfield

S.A.D., Bravado – Kirin J Callinan

For Cypresses, Three Rings, Systole – Grizzy Bear

War is Coming (If You Want It), Beach Life-in-Death – Car Seat Headrest

The Way You Used to Do, Domesticated Animals, Feet Don’t Fail Me – Queens of the Stone Age

Call it Dreaming, the Truest Stars We Know – Iron & Wine

Less Than, the Background World – Nine Inch Nails

Nomadm All I C is U & Me, NVR 4EVR, Holy Books – Death from Above

No Fear – DeJ Loaf

Four years and One Day, Blue Train Lines (feat. King Krule), Audition, Delta, You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure) (feat. Andrea Balency), SP12 Beat – Mount Kimbie

Delta, Feels Like Heaven, Dedicated to Bobby Jameson, Bubblegum Dreams, I Wanna Be Young, Dreamdate Narcissist, Acting (feat. Dâm-Funk), Santa’s in the Closet, Time to Live, Another Weekend, Kitchen Witch – Ariel Pink

Half-Ligth (feat. Kelly Zutrau), Gwan – Rostam

Mi Gente (Remix) (feat. Beyoncé) – J Balvin and Willy William

The Man, Run for Cover, Out of My Mind, Have All the Songs Been Written? – the Killers

Don’t Delete the Kisses, Space & Time – Wolf Alice

Righteous Woman – Torres

Prey, Say it First – Sam Smith

Lush, Daughter, Planet – Four Tet

Frontline, Take Me Apart, LMK, Onanon, Waitin – Kelela

I Wanna Be Like You, Numb – Ibeyi

You’re Dreaming, Flies on the Sun, Baby Blue – Wolf Parade

Roots Remain – Mastodon

Medicine, Flowerchild – Citizen

Up All Night, Colors, Seventh Heaven, Square One – Beck

Over Everything, Blue Cheese – Kurt Vile & Courtney Barnett

Biscuit Town, Dum Surfer, Vidual, Half Man Half Shark, the Ooz – King Krule

Processional, the Spaniards, the Long Goodbye, Half-Life of an Autodidact – William Patrick (Billy) Corgan

You Used to Say (Holy Fuck), Grand Finale, Vacation Town – the Front Bottoms

WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE, Saturnalia – Marilyn Manson

Gone, Double Helix, Want Me Around – Knuckle Puck

Laila’s Wisdom, Power (feat. Kendrick Lamar and Lance Skiiiwalker), Pay Up, Nobody (feat. Anderson .Paak, Black Thought, Moonchild) – Rapsody

In the Morning, Tinseltown Swimming in Blood, Saw You at the Hospital, A Light Travels Down the Catwalk, La Regle du Jeu – Destroyer

16 Psyche, Vex, The Culling, Scrape – Chelsea Wolfe

Little Dark Age – MGMT

Happy Hour, Weekend Woman, Mexican Fender – Weezer

Appointments, Turn Out the Lights, Sour Breath, Televangelist, Even – Julien Baker

Mustn’t Hurry, IDK About You – Fever Ray

Pills – Joji

90’s Kids, Blooming, Cloudy, Float, Straight Boy, Astral Plane – Shamir

Should I – Little Dragon

Mirage, Labyrinth – Toro Y Moi

Do U Love Me, For Y’all (feat. Jacquees), Liger (feat. Carnage)– Young Thug

Sylvia Says, Rest – Charlotte Gainsbourg

Lemon (feat. Rihanna), Voilà (feat. Gucci Mane and Wale), 1000 (feat. Future), Don’t Don’t Do It! (feat. Kendrick Lamar), Rollinem 7’s (feat. André 3000), Secret Life of Tigers, Kites (feat. Kendrick Lamar and M.I.A.) – N.E.R.D.

Jupiter, Ode from Joyce, Quintessence – Benjamin Clementine

The Gate, Body Memory, Courtship, Losses, Tabula Rasa, Claimstaker – Björk

Red Flag Day, You’re the Best Thing About Me, the Little Things That Give You Away – U2

Sky Walker (feat. Travi$ Scott), Banana Clip, Told You So – Miguel

GOLD, STAR, TRIP, SWEET, FACE, GUMMY, QUEER, SWAMP, JUNKY, BOOGIE, RENTAL, ZIPPER,JOHNNY, BLEACH, ALASKA, HOTTIE, HEAT – BROCKHAMPTON

Another Sad Love Song, Young Dumb & Broke – Khalid

Highway Tune – Greta Van Fleet

Gucci Gang – Lil Pump

We Were Beautiful, Sweet Dew Lee – Belle & Sebastian

All I can Think About is You, A L I E N S – Coldplay

Havana (feat. Young Thug) – Camila Cabello

Unforgettable (feat. Sway Lee) – French Montana

Rain in Soho, Andrew Eldritch is Moving Back to Leeds, Unicorn Tolerance, Paid in Cocaine, Abandoned Flesh – the Mountain Goats

Walk on Water (feat. Beyoncé) – Eminem

Strange or Be Forgotten – Temples

Runnin’ Outta Luck, Country Figs, Strangers Kiss (with Angel Olsen) – Alex Cameron

Tonya Harding – Sufjan Stevens

The One to Wait – CCFX

Crossifre/So Into You – Nai Palm

Still Serving – 21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin

Neon Guts (feat. Pharrell Williams), XO TOUR Llif3 – Lil Uzi Vert

Mask Off (Remix) (feat. Kendrick Lamar) – Future

Lay It on Me – Vance Joy

Perplexing Pengasus – Rae Sremmurd

Midnight – Jessie Ware

Blanket Me – Hundred Waters

The Pathways of Our Lives – Mark Barrott

Find Me – Porches

Kill Jay-Z, Smile (feat. Gloira Carter), Caught Their Eyes (feat. Frank Ocean), 4:44, Family Feud (feat. Beyoncé), Bam (feat. Damien Marley), Legacy – Jay-Z

Global (feat. Ilovemakonnen) – Lil B

[sounds10thapr1976-blog]

Onto the actual text this time, including a Contents page so you should be able to work out how long you have to wait for the articles you’re interested in.

Page 2     SOUNDS     April 10, 1976

CONTENTS

FEATURES David Bowie 12-14 Bill Bruford 16 War 17 PFM 18-19 Kate and Anna McGarrigle 19 Led Zeppelin 20 Bachman Turner Overdrive 27 Clive Davis 30 Guitar Special 32-39 Miracles 45

REGULARS News 2-4 Charts 6 Wax Fax 7 High Society 8-10 Jaws 11 Albums 20-24 Singles 40-41 Reggae 41 Fair Deal 42 Letters 44 Steppin’ Out 46-48 On The Road 49-51 New Sounds 54

SOUNDS

EDITOR Alan Lewis

DEPUTY EDITOR Alf Martin

FEATURES EDITOR Barbara Charone

SPECIAL PROJECTS Phil Sutcliffe

NEWS EDITOR Hugh Fielder

EDITORIAL Geoff Barton Dave Fudger Susanne Garrett Vivien Goldman Jonh Ingham Tony Mitchell

CONTRIBUTORS Mick Brown Giovanni Dadomo Flip Fraser Jerry Gilbert Dan Hedges Robin Katz Dave Laing John Peel

PHOTOGRAPHER Mike Putland

IN AMERICA Toby Goldstein 212 672 3166 Al Rudis Steve Rosen Ted Joseph Peter Crescenti

ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Jonathan Ward

TELEPHONE SALES MANAGER Eddie Fitzgerald

ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION Len Driver

MANAGING DIRECTOR Jack Hutton

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mike Sharman

ADVERTISEMENT DIRECTOR Peter Wilkinson

Spotlight Publications, Stoplight House, 1 Benwell Road, London N7 7AX. Telephone: 01-607 6411.

NEWSDESK

KISS MAYHEM Three attacks by the US destroyers

KISS, US kings of heavy rock in heavy make-up, are at last to play three gigs in Britain next month.

Despite the transatlantic publicity they have so far made little impact on record here but their fourth UK album ‘Destroyer’ will be released on Casablanca to coincide.

The label also plan to back up the full frontal assault on the British market with giveaways at the concerts including arm bands and Kiss masks and a TV advertising campaign.

The dates are: Manchester Free Trade Hall May 13, Birmingham Odeon 14, Hammersmith Odeon 15. The band may use their own jet-liner on the tour.

‘UNOFFICIAL’ FLOYD A PINK FLOYD single taken from ‘Wish You Were Here’ is being released in this country in a special limited edition of 10,000.

It will be ‘Have A Cigar’ b/w ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ and comes through an exclusive distribution deal arranged by Lightning Records with the Dutch company who originally released it.

The last of the official Floyd singles released in the UK was ‘Point Me At The Sky’ and they have recently again vetoed any further single releases here, though they put them out in every other record buying country, because of what they regard as the lightweight pop image of the charts here.

ALVIN, FAIRPORT IN FOOTBALL FEST BANK HOLIDAY Monday is now set to be the biggest day ever in live rock in the UK – another huge football ground festival probably starring Alvin Lee has been announced, coinciding with the Who and Co. putting the boot in at Charlton (see opposite page).

The Southend Charity Festival Committee say that contracts are expected to be signed this week for a line-up starring Alvin and Friends, Budgie, and the debut of the new Fairport Convention.

Support acts planned are The Dave Bromberg Band, Magna Carta, the Mickey Jupp Band and Crossbreed with our very own John Peel compering.

Confirmation came from the business end Alvin and the Fairports that they were likely to do the gig though it was still being negotiated – neither band’s line-up has yet been announced.

The Festival is run for the benefit of Christian Aid relief and development projects in the third world.

It starts at 11 am and runs through to 9pm at Southend United Football Ground. Tickets are now on sale from the ground in Victoria Avenue at £2 though they will be £2.50 on the day. Postal applicants should send an SAE with cheques and postal orders made out to ‘Southend Sounds ’76.’

SOME OF THESE KNIGHTS GLADYS KNIGHT And The Pips will tour Britain later this month doing two shows a night in five venues, her last visit for some time as she is pregnant.

The dates are: Bournemouth Winter Gardens April 23, Manchester Palace 24, Southport New Theatre 25, London New Victoria 27, Birmingham Odeon 30.

They will be bringing their own rhythm section and the tour coincides with the UK release of their States hit ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’.

Gladys is also starring in a movie titled ‘Pipedreams’ due for release in Britain in the autumn.

STILL NO TUBES Tubes’ record company A&M say that they cannot tour the UK in May as their new album ‘Young and Rich’ (produced by Ken Scott who worked on the Supertramp albums) will be released then and they will be touring the States to promote it.

But they have been trying to arrange a London venue to do a possible week of shows later in the year as well as provincial dates and A&M said they were “virtually certain” to come to Britain in ’76.

RECORD NEWS

JON DOES THE LOT Jon Anderson, who plays just occasional acoustic and percussion with Yes, has been a one-man band on his solo album ‘Olias Of Sunhillow’ released by Atlantic on May 7. He wrote the words and music and plays all instruments including keyboards and harp.

He will perform excerpts from it on OGWT on May 11 and get a spot in the Daily Telegraph colour supplement on the release date. Yes start a three-month tour of the States in late May.

REAL THING release a single in mid-May to tie in with their guest appearance with David Essex at Earl’s Court on May 15.

BARNEY JAMES, ex-drummer with Rick Wakeman’s English Rock Ensemble, has his first solo single out on April 9 on the Solddon label. Titled ‘All The Prizes Taken’ it’s from his album ‘Koneg – The Second Coming’ scheduled for May release.

JOHNNY TAYLOR’S US number one hit ‘ Disco Lady’ has been rush released in the UK by Columbia. Taylor is a soul black veteran who first recorded in the 50s and had a string of hits on Stax during the past decade, including the classic ‘Who’s Making Love’. He joined Epic after the recent Stax collapse.

FREDDIE MACK, who played ‘Mr ‘Superbad’ in the K-Tel TV ads for the album of the same name last year, has a single of the same name out on Contempo on April 23. It’s called ‘Mr Superbad’.

LINDA LEWIS, whose current single on Bell is a Van McCoy song ‘Baby I’m Yours’, is heading for New Orleans to record with Allen Toussaint. Later in the summer she will co-star with John Miles in a Mike Mansfield TV special.

GRAND FUNK have signed to EMI International for the world outside North America.

NANARETH’s single ‘Love Hurts’ and album ‘Hair Of The Dog’ have both gone gold in the States.

ANNE-KARINE THINGNAES, Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entry ‘Mata Hari’ is being released by DJM in the UK.

MOON WILLAIMS new single on DJM ‘Every Time I Take The Time’ will be ‘endorsed’ in radio ads by admirers including Deep Purple, The Rubettes, Angie Bowie and Biddu.

SHIRLEY BASSEY has a single called ‘Natali’ released on April 9 by United Artists. It’s taken from an Album ‘Love Life And Feeling’ out on April 23.

BONNIE DOBSON is recording a new album for Polydor and tracks so far completed include ‘Morning Dew’ (which she originally wrote) ‘A Taste Of Honey’, ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’. The album is scheduled for July release.

URIAH HEEP have finished work on their new album, ‘High And Mighty’, which is the first that the band have produced themselves. It will be released in May.

ARISTA RECORDS have taken over Haven Records in America which gives them such artists as the Righteous Brothers, Gene Redding, Willie Harry Nelson, Eve Sands, and Rob Grill and the Grassroots. The Righteous Brothers and Willie Harry Nelson have albums due for release shortly.

‘THE HAPLESS Child And Other Inscrutable Stories’ is the title of an album released by Virgin next weekend. The music is by Mike Mantler and lyrics by Edward Gorey and among those taking part are Robert Wyatt, Carla Bley, Terge Rypdal, Steve Swallow and Jack De Johnette.

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Next time: page three

[wriggling-inmy-kishkes]

If you were into that Mickey Katz you might like this too it’s some more Yiddish comedy music.

I don’t fully know what it’s about because I only like 50 words I’d guess in Yiddish. If you happen to know what this is about or have any theories please let me know.

Essen(the word) is like eat or to eat. So I’m pretty sure it’s like some kind of vacation but it seems kinda like a summer camp.

https://youtu.be/wQPEQTrG2rg

[papermoonloveslucy]

Lucy Helps Danny Thomas

S4;E7 ~ November 1, 1965

Synopsis

When Mr. Mooney hires Lucy to get some important papers signed at a TV studio, she finds herself dancing on Danny Thomas's TV show instead!

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney)

Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis) does not appear in this episode.

Guest Cast

Danny Thomas (Himself) was born Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz in 1912. His screen career began in 1947 but he was most famous for appearing on television in the long-running show “Make Room for Daddy” (1953-1964), which was shot at Desilu Studios.  When the series moved from ABC to CBS in 1957, Thomas and the cast starred in a rare TV cross-over with “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” titled “Lucy Makes Room for Danny.”  In return, Lucy and Desi turned up on Thomas's show.  Fifteen years later, Lucy and Danny did yet another cross-over when Lucy Carter of “Here's Lucy” appeared on “Make Room for Granddaddy.”  In addition, Thomas also played an aging artist on a 1973 episode of “Here's Lucy.”  Thomas is fondly remembered for founding St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He is also father to actress Marlo Thomas. He died in 1999.

Dick Patterson (Marty King) previously played himself in “Lucy and the Beauty Doctor” (S3;E24). He made his Broadway debut in David Merrick’s Vintage '60 and served as a replacement for Dick Van Dyke in the original cast of Bye Bye Birdie. He went on to appear opposite Carol Burnett in Fade Out, Fade In (1964) and his last musical was Smile (1986), a spoof of beauty pageants. Although he is billed here as playing himself, Patterson was never the host of a hidden camera show. He was in the film musicals Can’t Stop the Music (1980), Grease (1978), and Grease 2 (1982). In September 1966, Patterson and his wife Gita were seen on “Lucy Week” of the game show “Password” along with other “Lucy Show” performers. Patterson will appear in four episodes of “Here’s Lucy” - all in character roles. He died in 1999 at the age of 70.

Mickey Manners (Messenger) was born Solomon Shapiro in 1925. He was a nightclub performer who was friends with Jerry Lewis and appeared in a number of his films. He will make one appearance on “Here's Lucy” in 1969.  

Miriam Nelson (Miriam / choreographer, above left) made her Broadway debut in 1938. She eventually became a Hollywood dancer and choreographer and married fellow dancer Gene Nelson. She acted as choreographer for this episode as well as “Lucy in the Music World” (S4;E3) and “Lucy and the Golden Greek” (S4;E2).  

Larri Thomas (Sally, above right) was a dancer and actress who had appeared in the stage to screen musical transfers of Guys and Dolls (1955), The Pajama Game (1955), South Pacific (1958) and The Music Man (1962). She played 'Miss Hairdo' in “Lucy Wants a Career,” a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”  

The character is never addressed by name in the dialogue.

Sid Gould (Elevator Operator) made more than 45 appearances on “The Lucy Show,” all as background characters. He also did 40 episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Gould (born Sydney Greenfader) was Lucille Ball’s cousin by marriage to Gary Morton. Gould was married to Vanda Barra, who also appeared on “The Lucy Show” starting in 1967, as well as on “Here’s Lucy.”

Four other uncredited female dancers are part of the show.

The date this episode first aired (November 1, 1965) “The Lucy Show” was followed by an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” (which was filmed at Desilu Studios) featured Eddie Quillan and Herb Vigran, who were seen on the previous week's “Lucy Show,” “Lucy and the Countess Have a Horse Guest” (S4;E6).

At the beginning of this episode, Mr. Mooney hires Lucy as a part-time secretary. Mr. Mooney pays Lucy $14 a day.  In a few weeks, he will hire her full time.  This is the relationship that Lucy will have with Mr. Mooney (as well as with Harrison J. Carter on “Here's Lucy”) for the remainder of their screen careers.

Citing her qualifications, Lucy says she was private secretary for Mr. Miller, president of Pop Records, for a whole week.  This is a reference to “Lucy in the Music World” (S4;E3) where Lou Krugman played Miller and Mel Torme appeared as Mel Tinker.

Lucy is sent by Mr. Mooney to the TV studio where they are rehearsing “The Danny Thomas Show.”  Although this is not a real TV program, Thomas did host “The Danny Thomas Hour” for 22 episodes in 1967.  

The TV studio hallway has large black and white framed photos of TV stars: Lassie, Andy Griffith, and Jim Neighbors. In 1963, Danny Thomas served as Executive Producer for “The Andy Griffith Show,” which was shot on the Desilu backlot as was “Gomer Pyle: USMC” starring Jim Neighbors. Both were spin-offs of his show. “Lassie” aired on CBS from 1954 to 1971.

Lucy says that back in Danfield she played the lead in a play once – outside in the summer time. This means it wasn't Cleopatra, which was indoors. 

During rehearsals, Danny Thomas speaks to the unseen piano accompanist: “Wilbur? Shall we hatch it?” He is making a pun on the name of “The Lucy Show” composer Wilbur Hatch who is probably playing the piano off screen.  

“Broadway Melody” was written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed for the 1929 musical film of the same name (above). It was the first sound picture to win an Oscar.  

Like Lucy's frequent co-star Bob Hope, Danny Thomas also makes jokes about his nose.  

Lucy says she loves the way Danny Thomas says “And away we go!” which is actually Jackie Gleason's famous catch phrase. Gleason will make a wordless cameo appearance on “Here's Lucy.”  

The episode ends without knowing if Lucy ever got the important bank papers signed by the (never seen) Mr. Katz or whether she is fired, as Mr. Mooney promised she would be, for failing to get them signed and returned by 3pm.

Callbacks!

Lucy attempting to come down a staircase wearing an extremely heavy headdress is recycled directly from the “I Love Lucy” episode “Lucy Gets into Pictures” (ILL S4;E18). Lucy repeats some of the same dialogue and comic business she did in 1955.

Lucy Ricardo also messed up a chorus line of experienced dancers in “The Diet” (ILL S1;E3).

Blooper Alerts!

Mr. Mooney's office will change constantly over the next few months, getting larger and more luxurious each week until its layout is frozen in the next season.

Lucy tells Danny Thomas that this is the first show she's ever been in. She apparently has forgotten that she appeared as a singer on “Wing Ding” in “Lucy in the Music World” (S4;E3).  

“Lucy Helps Danny Thomas” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5