Jazzband Redux

Here is the first of the records I've re-recorded for sharing this year.  I shared this record in my very first year of Christmas sharity, and I've brought it back in that same old tired recording ever since.  But this year, I went back and recorded it again, well, actually, I recorded another copy I've found since then that I thought looked a little better.  I didn't rescan the cover, and the front is exactly the same as the back, so that's why it isn't in there.  I did add scans for the labels, for those of you who enjoy such things.  Anyhow, this is The World's Greatest Jazzband Of Yank Lawson & Bob Haggart-Hark The Herald Angels Swing (2011 Remaster) (World Jazz WJLP 5-2, Stereo, 1972).  I know you'll enjoy this new and improved recording.

MediaFire

1. Hark The Herald Angels Swing
2. Little Drummer Boy
3. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
4. Silent Night
5. Joy To The World
6. Jingle Bells
7. White Christmas
8. I'll Be Home For Christmas
9. The Christmas Song
10. Winter Wonderland
11. Deck The Halls

Hip Christmas

I finally remembered to update my links over on the right side of the blog this morning, getting rid of some old sites that aren't around anymore and adding one that really deserves your attention.  Randy over at Hip Christmas (and before that the Christmas part of Randy's Rodeo) is a really great collection of info about Christmas songs.  While I tend to dwell on things that were released ages ago, he collects info on stuff that was released just yesterday, although he doesn't ignore the old stuff.  He's even got a few downloads hidden away if you look around.  So head on over to Hip Christmas when you get the chance, you won't regret it.  And tell him Ernie sent you.  And that he should send all his cool (err, I mean hip) music to me!

Alberghetti (Not Spaghetti)

Here's a little album that I didn't know existed before I flipped across it almost a year ago.  Anna Maria Alberghetti must have seemed like the next big thing for a while back in the 60's, but then she sort of faded from view as far as I knew.  She had a Christmas song on one of those Goodyear collections, and a few LPs with no Christmas content that I'm aware of.  This one seems to have come along pretty late in the game, 1984 to be exact, and it's not even a full LP of AMA.  The flip side is by some singer who came and went without much of a trace, Reino Moisio.  Perhaps someone out there knows more about this record than I do, and I hope they chime in with some info.  That big gold sticker on the front "The Gold Seal Christmas Classic Album" sort of makes me think this was a free promo giveaway for something or somebody, and I see copies online with other stickers along those lines.  I also suspect this could have been a vehicle attempting to launch the career of Mr. Moisio by grabbing at the coattails of Ms. Alberghetti.  Well, download it and read all the stuff on the back, search the Google and come to your own conclusions.  All I can tell you is that it's some nice Christmas music.  This is Merry Christmas From Anna Maria Alberghetti And Introducing Reino Moisio (Celebrity House TW 2001, Stereo, 1984).

MediaFire

Whoops, I forgot that I was supposed to be listing all the songs when I post these records.  I knew I was finishing up the posts too quick...

1. Ave Maria
2. My Favorite Things
3. The Little Drummer Boy
4. Medley: O Holy Night; Silent Night; We Wish You A Merry Christmas
5. Ode To Joy
6. Medley: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; Deck The Hall; Joy To The World
7. Glory To God
8. Angels We Have Heard On High
9. The Holy City
10. Reprise: Ode To Joy; Joy To The World; The Holy City

1-4: Anna Maria Alberghetti
5-10: Reino Moisio

Christmas Sisters

One of my goals this year was to record more singles.  Over the years, I've pretty much stuck to the Christmas albums, because that's what I had, it's what I could find, and they were easier.  But this year, I vowed I would get a stack of singles ready for the holiday season and share them with you.  There seems to be a much great variety of stuff on the small records, or maybe it's just new to my ears.  I think more of it is available to be shared because they are harder to find, so that's a big plus for me.  Today I've got three little records for you, two by The Lennon Sisters and one from Ruby Wright that the Lennon Sisters copied.  First up is Christmas Moon b/w Peppy The Peppermint Bear (Dot 45-16017, Mono, 1959).  I think I shared the Peppy song with you a long time ago in a Christmas And A Half post, but you probably missed it.  Here it is again with better sound, so don't miss it.  If you look close at the label, the credit is actually to Lawrence Welk Presents The Lennon Sisters.  Now that's control! Be careful, though.  This record provided 105% of your daily recommended allowance of harpsichord.  So if you're sensitive, better to only listen to one side a day.

Next up is another, earlier single from the Sisters, Let's Light The Christmas Tree b/w Merry, Merry Christmas (Brunswick 9-55044, Mono, 1957).  The orchestra is handled by George Cates, another cohort of Lawrence Welk, but at least Welk's name isn't on this one directly.  If you look closer still, you'll see both tracks are credited to Ruth Lyons, a name that should be familiar to Christmas music fans everywhere.  It turns out this this single is a side-for-side copy of another record, one directly created by Ruth.

I won't bore you with the story of how this record came to be made, but you can read all about it over at The Captain's excellent Christmas Yuleblog.  As you can see, sort of, both sides are the same as both sides of the Lennon Sisters disc.  Yes, there's a bit of title economizing on the wordy Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Xmas, which I guess also allowed them to spell out all of Christmas as well.  This record has been shared out quite a few times in many places all over the internets (including over at Lee's place just this morning...), but I wanted to do it again, just so you can compare and contrast with the Lennons above.  For the search engines, this is Let's Light The Christmas Tree b/w Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Xmas by Ruby Wright With Cliff Lash And His Orchestra And The Dick Noel Singers (Fraternity F-787, Mono,  1957).

And, if you've read all that, then you deserve to be able to download the music.  Here you go...

MediaFire

Local Christmas

Here's the first of many old reshares this year, this one first appearing at Ernie (Not Bert) in 2008.  This is an organ LP from a small town about 50 miles north of here, one of two Christmas records released by Terry Charles.  Last time I checked, the other one was available from either his website, or the website of the group that owns the organ, I don't remember which.  Perhaps I should look that up again before I share this, as it might now be off-limits.  Nope, looks like this one is still un-released. I'm not going to say too much about this LP, you can always read what I wrote back in '08 or '09.  I know these organ records aren't exactly my most popular shares, but they do have their appeals.  If this appeals to you, then please be my guest and download Terry Charles-Christmas With Terry Charles-Wurlitzer Pipe Organ (Private Pressing SYB-635/636, Stereo).

1. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
2. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
3. The First Noel
4. Angels We Have Heard On High
5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
6. As With Gladness Men Of Old
7. Angels From The Realms Of Glory
8. Joy To The World
9. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
10. Silver Bells
11. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
12. I'll Be Home For Christmas
13. Silent Night
14. O Holy Night

MediaFire

Christmas With Elvis

What better way to kick off the 2011 Christmas sharity season than with Elvis?  But since I don't want to get my humble blog closed down by RCA Victor, I'm going to have to go with Elvis, Jr. and not the boy from Tupelo.  I stumbled across this LP a few months ago at one of my regular Goodwill haunts, flipping past it the first time without the name Elvis registering, but my subconscious kicked in and made me flip back to it.  And I'm glad it did, because it's certainly something worth sharing out here.  You can check out the website of Elvis, Jr. here, but there's no mention made of this LP.  I don't know that I quite believe the story told over there, but you can read it and make up your own mind.  For me, I'll go back and listen to my gatefold copy of Elvis' Christmas Album at least twice before I listen to this one again.  But your mileage may vary.  This is Christmas Blessings From Elvis Jr (Son Records BS 003, Stereo, 1986).

MediaFire

Welcome Christmas 2011

Well, Thanksgiving is drawing to a close, although all this turkey in my belly will take a week or more to finish digesting.  And around here, the end of Thanksgiving means the beginning of Christmas, thus the Jack Davis Santa Claus above.  It's going to be a wild wacky month around here.  I've got lots of things to share, both old and new (well, newly recorded), but not a lot of time to share it in.  Work has been demanding a lot of my time lately, so I don't have as many things ready to go as I would like, and little free time to post the things I do have.  So if it seems a little thin around here this year, that's why.  If you're looking for a ton of stuff to download, check out all the stuff from last year, most of the shares on MediaFire are still good.  I'm going to try to avoid wasting my time re-posting all of those things and stick to the newer stuff or the older things that haven't been available for a while.  We'll see how that goes.  Anyhow, I don't want to blather on all night, I'll have more than enough chances to chat during the month.  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and you've got a great Christmas to look forward to.  Let's jump in!

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!  For the umpteenth year in a row, I'm celebrating the beginning of the Christmas music season by sharing a small handful of Thanksgiving songs that I've collected, including one new one this year.  Most of the things I'm sharing with you here are the same as last year, including my favorite Thanksgiving song of all, Thanksgiving Day Parade by the pseudonymous Spencer Ross.  You can read all about the reruns (and the story of who Spencer Ross really is) at my post from last year.  The new track is Thanksgiving by Charles Dorian And His Orchestra from the LP Calendar Sketches (Dot DLP-3046, Mono, 1957).  I found this one back during the Christmas in July celebration, but I've held onto it until now.  So here's the download link for the collection of six tracks.

MediaFire

Yes, just one download site this year.  Uploading to three sites took forever last year, and all of those shares were gone in a few months, except the ones on MediaFire.  So they're getting all my business this year.  Here's a list of the other tracks in the download, all the same as last year.

Thanksgiving Day Parade by Spencer Ross (Columbia 4-41532 7" 45 RPM single, Mono, 1960)
The Pete King Orchestra And Chorale-Bless This House from Songs To Celebrate (Kapp KS-3284, 1962, Stereo)
Timothy Turkey performed by Rosemarie Jun & Robert Spiro from the LP Children Sing Around The Year (Decca DL 4406, 1963, Mono) 
The Big Clown Balloons-The Merrill Stanton Voices from the LP Meredith Willson's Here's Love (Columbia Special Products CSRP 8899, 1963, Stereo)
Thanksgiving Day, from the LP Hits From The Gang Shows (Fontanta 680932TL TFL.5104, Mono) credited to Ken Jones

Thanksgiving

Is tomorrow really Thanksgiving?  It's really snuck up on me this year.  Well, I guess I knew it was coming, I've just been so busy with work lately that I haven't been able to do much preparation.  Maybe I should have tried to get Photoshop installed on this new computer sometime between June and now.  Should have got that big 11x17 scanner that I kept looking at.  But we'll see what happens.  Stay tuned and hope for the best.

Lady Of Liberty

Oh, look, there's the Statue of Liberty! Wait, this isn't New York Harbor.

Ahhh, that's better. And not quite so green.

Central Park East

OK, I guess there really isn't a Central Park East, but I was in Central Park at the wrong time of day to get a shot this nicely lit of Central Park West. This is the skyline along, I think, 5th Avenue, looking out East across the Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. (You can call her Jackie O. for short.) Is the Guggenheim in this shot?  Yes, I think it is, but only the roof, which doesn't stand out like it should.

A Surprise Gehry

I didn't have much of an itinerary when I visited NYC recently. I had a short list of places I wanted to visit, but no map or timetable to see them. One of the items on that list was a new park that runs up the West side of middle Manhattan called the High Line. It's an old railroad thoroughfare that's 2-3 stories off the ground and had been abandoned for some time. They've recently opened sections of it up as a park, and I was able to walk the whole length of it one morning. At the time, I didn't know anything about this white building that I saw from the High Line and took exactly two pictures of, but I recognized it from a picture someone showed me later on while we were discussing a lack of Frank Gehry architecture in the city. Turns out, this is one of his buildings and I didn't even know it. I believe it's called The IAC Building, and from the looks of some other pictures I've seen around the web of it, I'm looking at the wrong side. I saw at least one other Gehry building in NYC, hopefully I'll get that one thrown up here for you someday.

315 Bowery

I'm not a fashionable type person, so John Varvatos means nothing to me. But the address of this store in NYC, 315 Bowery, now that means a little something. This is the place that for many years was called CBGB's.

Still No Answer

So, the classic question, who's buried in Grant's Tomb? I'm still not sure. This is Grant's Tomb, located on the West side of Manhattan, pretty close to due West of the Apollo Theater that I just showed you, along Riverside Drive, near Columbia University. Unfortunately, it was closed while I was there, so I didn't get to see if President Ulysses S. Grant is actually buried there. I'm pretty sure he is, but I have no proof. This is not the first presidential grave I've visited, now that I think about it.

Live At The Apollo

The farthest North I went in Manhattan during my NY trip? 125th Street, Harlem, and the Apollo Theater. Didn't get a chance to go in it though, but there it is.

Busy Busy

NYC is a busy place, there's no doubt about that, but I couldn't seem to catch that on film (well, on memory card, but you get the idea). This was probably the closest I came to capturing the hustle and bustle of the city that never sleeps. The only thing that might have made this a better shot would be a blurry taxi zooming past in the foreground. I actually got that in a later shot on the next corner, but I didn't like the street scene so much in that one. This is looking north up Broadway as I approached Canal Street. I wish I had been able to geotag my photos, in a couple of years, I won't have any idea where some of these shots were taken. Love the way the Chrysler Building pokes it's spire up at the end of the street.

Back From The Big Apple

Well, I made it back from NYC yesterday. I was so tired I went straight to bed and didn't even copy my pictures over to the computer. I must have walked thirty miles in three days and four nights, but it was all worth it. I saw some amazing things, shot a little over 4000 pictures and made it home in one piece. I've got some nasty blisters on my feet, though, but I'll heal. Stay tuned for more great pictures from all over the island of Manhattan!  This is the view of lower Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry as it approaches the terminal.  Not a lot of stuff to point out here except for the new World Trade Center being built at Ground Zero, that's the building left of center with the crane on top.  It's still got a long way to go but you can see it's already getting up there.  The Staten Island Ferry docks at the short white building left of center at the waterline, and the green building next to that on the right is where the other, smaller ferries dock.  The green trees mark Battery Park, and I think the low building at dead center is the Coast Guard Station.

CSI: NY

Yes, I am headed back to NYC this weekend. And for me, CSI stands for Camera Specific Itinerary. I know, it's a stretch, but still... I've got 20-30 places I want to see, spread out all over Manhattan and a couple of spots in the other boroughs. Oh, and two places in Jersey, we'll see how that goes, though. Wish me luck, and I'll try to get some pictures up next week for your enjoyment. This shot is from my last visit in '08, looking back towards uptown from the Brooklyn Bridge. At least I think that's where I was. I need a camera that geotags...

Happy Birthday To Mom

Here's the picture you wanted me to post at the blog. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Cracked Up

Now they're saying that yesterday's earthquake in Virginia damaged the Washington Monument. I guess there's a crack somewhere near the top. That's not a good thing. And trying to fix something that's 555 feet off the ground, that's not going to be a picnic by anyone's definition.  (Look in the window on the left and you can see someone taking a picture of me taking a picture.)