This is the last of my Christmas stories for the night. I'm getting closer to declaring my other computer repaired, and as soon as I'm done there, I hope to get a new share or two up this evening. In the meantime, here is Loretta Young-The Littlest Angel and Gregory Peck-Lullaby Of Christmas (Decca DLP 8009, 1949). You can read all about this at the original post here.
Whoops, forgot I was supposed to be sharing some more spoken word stuff. Here's a great one from the past that features Burgess Meredith telling Christmas stories. Yep, that's right, The Penguin. You know you need that. So please download Burgess Meredith With Joe Reisman's Orchestra And Chorus-The E.F. MacDonald Company Presents Christmas Classics 1963 (E.F. MacDonald EFMX-63, 1963).
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My last rerun post was about Avon, so this one may as well be, also. This one comes from two years later and features the great Nelson Riddle. You can read all about it at the first time I posted it here. But first, why not download Nelson Riddle Orchestra And Chorus-Avon Wishes You A Happy Holiday And A Joyous New Year (Avon AV 10170, 1970).
UPDATE: It would appear you can download this music from iTunes now, so no more share. There's been some discussion that my rip is what iTunes has for download, but more on that later...
While the other computer is in the other room undergoing scan after scan, I figure I need to post something. And I believe last night I promised to highlight some other spoken word Christmas stuff that I've shared out over the years. This is the first one I've found, so here it is, This is a ten inch record put out by the fine folks at Avon. Side one is all sorts of tips and tricks to help you out this holiday season, 'this' being 1968. The second side is some generic Christmas music that you may or may not like, but the real draw here is the A side. So please help yourself to Avon Goes On Record-Campaign 21 (Avon, 1968).
I know I've mentioned it before, though probably not on the blog, but if you want even more Lorne Greene than the couple of his I've posted, you should head on over to Cheeze Pleeze. Scott over there is offering a series of radio spots that Lorne Greene did back in the early 80's for Christmas. It's great stuff, and it would be lost to the mists of time without his work. And that's what Christmas Sharity is all about, Charlie Brown.
Yes, it's back. No more posts for a bit while I fight this thing. I thought I had it licked last night, but I guess it's opened up some sort of hole that it's using to get back in.
Wow! This is another great new share that's really going to blow your mind. I don't normally enjoy spoken-word Christmas records (although I have shared a few, which I'll reshare tomorrow for you), but this one is far and away some of the best Christmas stories you've ever heard. I'm not very familiar with Ogden Nash, but if all of his verse is like this, he should be worshiped right up there with Dr. Seuss and Shakespeare. I've had this record in the collection for many years, but I remember the day I bought it. I know I paid more than $1 for this one, but it was so worth it. I don't know why I haven't shared it out before, but I did share that great Santa Claus on the front there one year as a Christmas In July doodle. So be sure you get this one and listen to it closely. Don't just let it play in the background while you're wrapping gifts or decorating the tree. Put it on and listen to it. Let the wordplay wash over you like a calm breeze. Oh, it's good. Go download Ogden Nash-Christmas With Ogden Nash (Caedmon TC 1323, Stereo, 1970).
1. The Christmas That Almost Wasn't
2. An Untold Adventure Of Santa Claus
3. The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus
4. A Carol For Children
5. I'm A Pleasure To Shop For
6. I Remember Yule
7. The Miraculous Countdown
8. Nutcracker Suite
9. Sugarplum Dance
10. Russian Dance
11. Arabian Dance
12. Chinese Dance
13. The Flutes
14. The Waltz Of The Flowers
How's this for a nice rerun? I don't know how much you dig through old piles of vinyl, but I do, and I always like to find these old gatefold record sleeves with the hole cut in them so you can see something on the inside. Many of Felix Slatkin's records on Liberty were like that, and this one is no exception. Only on this one, the die-cutter seems to have missed the mark, and you get a big ring of plain white around the hole that should have been cut-out more carefully. But you just care about he music, right? No problem, if you missed it the first time around in 2006, here is The Fantastic Strings Of Felix Slatkin-Season's Greetings (Liberty Premier Series LSS 14013, Stereo, 1961).
1. White Christmas
2. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. Joy To The World
5. O Holy Night
6. Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)
7. Deck The Halls
8. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
9. The First Noel
10. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
11. Away In A Manger
12. Silent Night
Oh, I shared a different cover for this one back in 2007, if you're interested.
We're running a special tonight on old downloads. You first saw these two records back in 2006, each in it's own share. Well, tonight I'm bringin' 'em back, but they're gonna have to share a post. How's about that for lazy? If you want to read all about 'em, you can go to either this post, or this post. If all you want to do is download them, then here are Saint Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Carols (Roulette SR 25097, Stereo, 1959) and Saint Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Songs-Volume 2 (Roulette SR 25142, Stereo, 1961). I'm getting back into the more religious shares here, but they're still good stuff! Whoops, almost forgot the track listings!
Volume 1:
1. The First Noel
2. Come To The Manger
3. Carol Of The Russian Children
4. Gesu Bambino
5. Jesu, Thou Dear Babe Divine
6. The March of The Kings
7. Silent Night
8. Joy To The World
9. Carol Of The Bells
10. The Sleep Of The Child, Jesus
11. That Christmas Long Ago
12. Carol Of The Drum
Volume 2:
1. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
2. The Christmas Hymn
3. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
4. The Christmas Carol Of The Indian
5. The Innkeeper's Carol
6. Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
7. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
8. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
9. Angels We Have Heard On High
10. Carol Of The Birds
11. Lo, How A Rose
12. Oh Holy Night
I figure it's time to throw a curve ball your way, so I proudly offer this Christmas album from two-time governor of Louisiana, Jimmie Davis. Yep, that's right, it's a Christmas record by a politician. If only Sarah Palin would get her recording career underway, then I might be able to top this one. Actually, Jimmie Davis was a singer before he became a politician, so I guess this really doesn't come as a big surprise. I guess his opponents used the salaciousness of his songs against him in the campaigns, but to no avail. Did I mention he served two non-consecutive terms? Now you know. This record came out the year after his final term ended, so I don't think he was actually governor during the recording sessions. About half the tunes on here are public domain songs, and the rest of them are actually written by Davis, so I'm betting you've never heard them. Oh, and a couple of them are recitations over an organ background. They're all pretty good, though, and I think you'll enjoy this. Please download Jimmie Davis-It's Christmas Time Again (Decca DL 4587, Mono, 1964). Oh, Jimmie Davis is also a member of The Country Music Hall Of Fame, so that should tell you what sort of music you're about to download.
1. It's Christmas Time Again
2. Silent Night
3. Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
4. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
5. Christmas Message
6. No Room At The Inn
7. Go Tell It On The Mountain
8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. Away In A Manger
10. A Child Was Born
11. Joy To The World
12. Gently Rock His Cradle
What better way to follow up Big Tiny Little than with Pete Fountain? No, the names don't have anything in common, nor do the musical styles, but I think you'll enjoy this one just as much. I first shared this stereo version out last year, but for a couple of years before that, I was sharing out a mono copy. I think you'll agree that the stereo sounds much better. So go download Pete Fountain-Candy Clarinet (Coral CRL 757487, Stereo, 1966).
1. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
2. Santa Claus Medley: Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, Jingle Bells
3. Winter Wonderland
4. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
5. Blue Christmas
6. Candy Clarinet
7. Jingle Bell Rock
8. I'll Be Home For Christmas
9. The Little Drummer Boy
10. Silver Bells
11. White Christmas
12. Christmas Is A-Comin' (May God Bless You)
I'm getting a late start today, what with all the trouble yesterday. Why not throw up something really great from the past? This LP is up there with the best and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. This is Christmas With Big Tiny Little (Coral CRL 757391, Stereo, 1961). I first shared out Tiny back in 2005, and he's been a perennial favorite ever since. Here's the tracklist for you, so you can see all the great tunes you're downloading.
1. Tiny's Christmas Medley
2. When Santa Claus Does The Polka
3. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
4. Sleigh Ride
5. Frosty The Snow Man
6. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
7. Silver Bells
8. Santa's Chopsticks
9. Winter Wonderland
10. Here Comes Santa Claus
11. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
12. Jumpin' Jiminy Christmas
Here it is the second day of Christmas Sharity and I haven't taken the time to properly welcome everyone to the fun! It seems like only yesterday I was wrapping up Christmas in July, and here it is Black Friday. And it's been a pretty black Friday for me indeed. I got a piece of mal-ware on the PC this morning and it took me almost all day to get rid of it. Hopefully that doesn't happen again, but if it does, you'll understand why the shares quit coming for a while. Anyhow, I've been preparing for this month since the first day of August, recording a full LP of material pretty much every single day between then and now, even managing to somehow keep that pace between trip to New York City, Charlotte, Kennedy Space Center and elsewhere. I've been blessed this year with the opportunity to travel lots of places and take some great pictures. But now I want to give a little back and share a whole pile of great albums with you that I've recorded and scanned in. The records I share out are all things that aren't available on CD, and they all come from my own personal collection and are my own personal rips. Most of them come from thrift stores here in Florida, and very few of them cost more than $1. Sometimes you can hear the low quality of the vinyl I collect, but most of the time it sounds fine. I do a little bit of noise reduction on all my shares, but sometimes you can't get rid of everything. And several titles that I really wanted to share had skips in them. I'll try to point that out in the shares, so you can skip them if that sort of thing really bothers you. All of my downloads are hosted through RapidShare. I've never had any trouble with them, but you are limited in how much you can download in a day. If you want to get everything I share and get it in a hurry, I suggest you get a month-long membership with them. It'll be worth it. I don't make any money off of that, just so you know. Most of my files are linked through a site that requires you to type in the characters you see on the screen before you can get to the download. Don't be alarmed, that's normal. And it often takes me a couple of tries to get those codes typed in correctly, so don't give up. What else do I want to share with you? Please leave me a comment if you enjoy something you download. I like comments. I feel like I've failed if a download doesn't get any comments. That tells me no one cares or enjoys it. I don't always share out the best music, but I think every LP has a little something to offer. If you really want to be nice, you might consider clicking on the ad at upper right, too. I do make a little money off that ad, and I do mean little. I think it took me 18 months to get my first check for $100. I'm not knocking it, but I'm not gonna get rich off of it, trust me. When I got that $101.01 check, I promptly went out and spent it, and $100 extra, on Christmas 45s. So you'll be hearing some of those this year. I think I've blathered on enough now. I probably don't have time to record much else, but don't hesitate to leave requests for music you'd like to hear. Just don't ask for something that's out on CD, since that's not kosher. Thanks for all your support!
Here's another great example of the old adage that you never know what's in the grooves until you drop a needle in there. I didn't know what to think of this record when I found it last year, all sealed in plastic. Usually you don't find sealed copies of records that are any good, because people tend to want to listen to them. But I like the look of the cover and bought it. Turns out, it was really good. So good that The King Of Jingaling decided to share a track off of it on his annual compilation last year. I meant to share it then, but time got away from me, but here it is for your downloading pleasure, Veo Gray And The Jodie Lyons Singers-A Christmas Happening (Agaco Records SLP-2156, Stereo).
1. Christmas Medley-O Little Town Of Bethlehem, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Angels We Have Heard On High
2. Deck The Hall
3. Jingle Bells
4. O Come, All Ye Faithful
5. O Come, O Come Immanuel
6. Rest Your Head
7. Silent Night
8. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
9. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
This year, I found a second LP that bears Veo Grey's name as well, but I'm afraid to listen to this one. It's a recording of a church choir where he's the musical director in Ocala, Florida. Maybe I'll get to it next year.
Since I just shared a track from Lorne Greene as the start of my 27 Days of Christmas collection, I wanted to point you towards this great single I first shared out a few years ago. The two tracks on here didn't show up on either his solo Christmas LP, or on the Ponderosa Christmas record. This particular copy came from Canada, but I think it was also released in the USA. This is probably my favorite version of Be A Santa! Please help yourself to Lorne Greene-Must Be Santa (RCA Victor 47-9037, 1966).
1. Must Be Santa
2. One Solitary Life
With all the hubbub today, I almost forgot that I need to get started on my annual online Christmas compilation. This makes the third year I've put together a compilation for you, one track at a time, one day at a time, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Each year it's gotten a little longer, starting out as 25 days in 2006, growing to 26 days in 2007, and stretching out to 27 days this year. Eventually, I'm going to run out of days and have to double up during the season. Anyhow, let's get this party started with a great track by the great Lorne Greene-Christmas Is A-Comin' (May God Bless You) from his great Christmas album Have A Happy Holiday (RCA Victor LPM-3410, Mono, 1965). Lorne also appeared on the LP Christmas On The Ponderosa, but I don't like that one as much as I do this one. And I've always loved this song, since I first heard The Muppets perform it on their LP with John Denver. Don't forget to come back each day between now and Christmas to get another great track for this compilation.
I knew if I looked hard enough, I could find some more singing nuns to share with you today. I shared this one out back in '06, and it hasn't seen the light of day since. So here it is again for your Christmas enjoyment. Please download and enjoy The Sisters Of Divine Providence-Christmas Mosaic-Our Greetings In Carols (Gateway GLP-9014).
1. Joy To The World; O Little Town Of Bethlehem; The First Noel
2. The Christmas Nightingale; Christmas Carol Fantasy
3. Rise Up, Shepherd, An' Foller
4. Rise Up Early
5. There's A Song
6. Sleigh Ride; Deck The Halls; Jingle Bells
7. White Christmas; Carol Of The Bells
8. Go Tell It On The Mountain
9. O Come All Ye Faithful; We Three Kings
10. Christmas Gloria
Here's another rerun of a religious nature, this one featuring Nuns! I know you've been waiting for some of that this Christmas season. But this one is quite good and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Go download The Glen Riddle Franciscans-Choral Group-Sisters Of St. Francis-We Sing Of Christmas (Private Pressing LPM-2).
1. Joy To The World-The First Noel
2. What Child Is This
3. Carol Of The Drum
4. Go Tell It On The Mountain
5. In Dulci Jubilo
6. Carol Of The Friendly Beasts
7. Silent Night
8. Ring Those Christmas Bells
9. Carols: Un Flambeau Jeanette Isabelle-Es Ist Ein' Ros' Entsprugen-Alegria Alegria!
10. I Sing Of A Maiden
11. Sleigh Ride
12. Carol Of The Shepherds
13. O Come, All Ye Faithful
Well, I've been really lucky the past few years, downloading thousands of tracks from fellow blogs at Christmas time, and I've never gotten any sort of spyware, adware, malware or virii from any of those downloads. Today, I got hit. I think it came from someone using SendSpace, which I've used before with no problem. The download got about 17% of the way done, and then Internet Explorer locked up. Once I got it restarted, I started getting strange popups. I'm still working on getting rid of it and it's a real pain. So be really careful about what you download and from where. I've never heard of anybody having a problem with the service I use, RapidShare, so around here you can relax a little, but some of these blogs aren't so careful! Let the downloader beware!
Time for another brand new share, are you ready? Nothing too exciting here, I'm afraid, just your standard church choral group doing a set of nice Christmas carols, half of which you've never heard. But it's interesting. I was on a kick for a while this year where I was trying to record all sorts of Christmas carols you'd never heard before, and most of those turned out to be foreign carols. But they don't seem to have the same impact as the songs you know, so I eventually moved on to other stuff. This is The Cardinal's Cathedral Choristers, Conductor: Very Reverend Monsignor Charles N. Meter-Carols Of The Nations (Pressed But Not Recorded By Columbia Records XCTV-9512/3, Mono). Nice cover, though. I think that's why I picked it up in the first place.
1. Roman Martyrology (Latin)
2. Stille Nacht (Austrian)
3. Angels We Have Heard (French)
4. A La Nanita Nana (Spanish)
5. Ihr Kinderlein Kommet (German)
6. Nenie Pastorale (Italian)
7. Wsrod Nocnej Ciszy (Polish)
8. O Sanctissima (Latin-Sicilian)
9. The Christ-Child's Visit (Traditional)
10. Il Est Ne, Le Divin Enfant (French)
11. Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen (German)
12. Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (Italian)
13. Lulajze Jezuniu (Polish)
14. Stars Of Glory (Irish)
15. Tyliaja Natki (Lithuanian)
16. Dormi Non Piangere (Italian)
17. Carol Of The Bells
This is a rerun from back in 2006 (and I reshared it last year, so you might have seen it then, too). I got all excited when I found this on a trip to Ohio in 2006, but oddly enough, I found a copy in my collection this year, hidden away in an area that's remained fairly well untouched since I moved in to my condo in 2004, so I evidently had a copy of this record for years and didn't know it. I've probably got an awful lot of records that I don't know I have, and that's a real shame. Anyhow, this is a record of Christmas music as performed by various schools in the Cleveland area. I've gotten plenty of comments over the past two years from people who attended the schools represented, or knew people who did. Don't think I've heard from anyone who's on the actual album yet, but I'm still hoping. Why don't you download and have a listen to Christmas In Cleveland (Delta Records Of Ohio, Processed and Pressed by Columbia, Mono, XCTV-84680/1)?
1. Bay High School Choir-Joyous Christmas Song
2. Bedford High School A Cappella Choir-Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
3. Berea High School Choir-Hallelujah (The Mount Of Olives)
4. Cathedral Latin High School Glee Club-Carol Of The Drum
5. Cleveland Heights High School Choir-O Holy Night
6. East High School Choral Club-Traditional Medley-The First Noel-Silent Night
7. Glenville High School Choral Club-16th Century Church Music-Gloria Parti-Palestrina
8. Holy Name High School Choir-Ring Christmas Bells
9. John Marshall High School Choir-Christmas Was Meant For Children
10. Lakewood High School Choir-Now Is The Carolling Season
11. Lutheran High School West Choir-Jesous Ahatonhia
12. Magnificat High School Senior Choir-Adeste Fidelis
13. Notre Dame Academy Choral Club-To The Manger
14. Our Lady Of Lourdes High School A Cappella Choir-The Sleigh (a la Russe)
15. Parma Senior High School Concert Choir-Away In A Manger
16. West High School Choral Club-Heavenly Light
And I've thrown up the back cover in case you want to look close and see there's any sign of you or your parents on there before you download it. Enjoy!
This is an LP I first shared in 2005, then again in 2006, but I didn't get a chance to remind you about it in 2007 (probably because it didn't generate a single comment either of the first two years). So I'm bringing it back this year so you'll get the chance to see what all the fuss was about. This was a record that was given out as a promotional piece to get folks to buy a new organ from the folks at Kimball. Either that, or it was given out with the purchase of said organ. I'm not really sure, but it probably comes down to a chicken or egg quandry. So if you're at all interested in an organ, why don't you go download A Kimball Christmas (KPO 82-004, Stereo, 1982).
1. Byron Melcher-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
2. John Norton-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
3. Hal Vincent-Mary's Little Boy Chile
4. Bill Ryder-Silver Bells
5. Byron Melcher-Just A Closer Walk With Thee
6. Byron Melcher-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
7. Hal Vincent-Blue Christmas
8. John Norton-Christmas Medley
9. Wade Bray-Sleighride
10. Bill Ryder-O Holy Night
Another new post for today that I felt kinda went along with the last two posts, this is Christmas as somebody thought it needed to be in the late 60's. Counter-culture (or drug culture, if you prefer) was one thing, but this is certainly another. Look at that psychedelic cover art, would you? It's far-out, man! Don't eat the brown peppermint, Rudy, and Santa done got hip! Well, this one certainly comes under the heading of interesting, that's for sure. I'd never seen it until this year, and got all excited about it. Why not download it and see what you think, instead of listening to me blather on and on about it. This is The Candy Store-Turned On Christmas (Decca DL75147, Stereo, 1969).
1. Jingle Bells
2. White Christmas
3. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
4. Winter Wonderland (Skips, I think)
5. The Little Drummer Boy
6. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
7. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
8. Silver Bells
9. Frosty The Snow Man
10. Auld Lang Syne
Update: This thing has already been downloaded 132 times? That hardly seems possible. Something odd is going on. Anyhow, PDMan pointed out a skip in Winter Wonderland. I don't know what happened there, because I pulled out the vinyl and it plays fine. But whatever. I re-recorded it and uploaded a corrected copy. The zip file above is now correct, and for those of you that already got it, here is a link to the corrected file. Sorry about that.
For this rerun from last year, I wanted to make some joke about the current poor condition of the big 3 US automakers. But this is a Christmas post, and I don't want to bring up such a depressing subject. So let me just tell you that there's some soft, non-threatening music on here that's of passing interest to collectors of such things, and of great interest to people like me who just like odd Christmas music. So give it a try. It's short and sweet. This is Christmas 1968 With The Going Thing (Private Pressing for Ford XCSV-141473, One Sided, Stereo, 1968).
1. Introduction by John Naughton
2. The Christmas Song
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
4. My Christmas Tree
5. Silent Night
6. The Christmas Waltz
That's it, just six tracks, and one of those is a spoken introduction.
This is the record I opened up with last year, so I figured if it was good enough for then, it's good enough for now. For a Salvation Army band, these guys really rock, and this was a very popular download last year. So if you somehow missed it, please help yourself and download The Joy Strings-Well Seasoned (Epic BN 26321, Stereo, 1967?)
1. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
2. Silent Night, Holy Night
3. The Little King Jesus
4. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
5. Away In A Manger
6. Mary's Little Boy Child
7. Do You Hear What I Hear?
8. The Holly And The Ivy
(There was a whole second side to this LP, but it had nothing to do with Christmas, and I didn't think it was very good. So I didn't share that half out. Sorry.)
I think I mentioned in my last post how I found a whole stack of these filmstrip soundtracks during the past year. That one was about Thanksgiving, and this one is about Christmas. So I guess that makes this my first post of the Christmas season that actually has something to do with Christmas! Why why don't you download this informative and educational recording by Maurice Copeland-How We Got Our Christmas Customs (Society For Visual Education A860-3RR (One-Sided 12" 33 RPM), Mono). Like the last one, this one is a single sided record, with plenty of beeps to tell you when to advance the film to the next frame. I'm hoping one of you will sync this recording up with some appropriate stills and post it to YouTube. I'll be happy to link to you if you do, so lemme know!
I've never had a second record that applied to Thanksgiving in any way until this year, so I'm happy to present to you my second Thanksgiving share! I stumbled across a whole stack of old records in the Salvation Army in Holly Hill (near Daytona Beach) one day when I was over there for work. Well, not just any records (although they did have plenty of those), but the soundtracks that were supposed to be played along with a filmstrip. (You remember filmstrips from school, right? Every time the soundtrack would go BEEP!, you'd flip to the next image. This was before the days of cheap video...) I knew I'd have to buy them all when I spotted the name Ken Nordine on several of them. It turned out to be only about 8 records all told, and the interesting ones didn't feature Ken at all. The first one I want to share with you is this one, which tells the story of the first Thanksgiving. Please go download Maurice Copeland-Narrator & Adele Scott-Organist as they tell the story of Squanto And The First Thanksgiving (Society For Visual Education XTAC-83759 (One Sided 12" 33 RPM), Mono). This one is really going to take you back. Back where, I don't know, but back somewhere.
As has been my tradition since the very first Christmas Share-a-thon, I like to start off the season with this Thanksgiving single. It's the catchiest little tune I know of that salutes the great tradition of a Thanksgiving Day parade. Not specifically one hosted by some big department store in particular, but just any parade in general. Of course, this was from a television production of Miracle On 34th St., and we all know what that was about. But I've said to much. For those of you who might have missed it the three previous times I've shared it on Thanksgiving Day, here is Spencer Ross-Thanksgiving Day Parade (Columbia 4-41532 7" 45 RPM single, Mono, 1960). Let the games begin!
Here are a couple of great doodles from the back of the record I just shared with you, The Blazers & The Yodelin' Guides-Track! Songs Of The Skiers (Kapp 1218, Mono, 1960). Pretty cool, eh?
I promised something new today, and here it is. The third installment of today's ski-themed post is this gem from The Blazers and The Yodelin' Guides. I think this one is the best of the three I'm throwing up today, so if you only get one of them, this might be the one. I think that you'll really get a kick out of this one, and it has a couple of songs that might even qualify as seasonal, not just skiing. Be my guest and get a copy of The Blazers & The Yodelin' Guides-Track! Songs Of The Skiers (Kapp 1218, Mono, 1960). This record was pretty beat up, so it's got quite a lot of noise on it that I couldn't do much with. And one track even has a skip in it, so if you like your vinyl clean as a whistle, perhaps you should skip this one.
1. Ski Trails
2. Winter Song
3. There's A Tavern In The Town-Vive La Compagnie
4. S.B.B. (The Swiss Railroad Song)
5. She'll Be Skiing Down The Mountain-The Man On The New Pair Of Skiis-Wham! Went The Skier
6. The Happy Wanderer
7. Hop-Sah-Sah
8. Ski, Ski, Ski
9. We're The Gang-Give A Cheer
10. The Weggis Song (This track skips at one point. Sorry...)
11. Beer Barrel Polka
12. It Happened In Sun Valley
In addition to putting up track listings for you this year, I'm trying to scan in the labels of all the new shares. Old shares aren't going to have this added bonus, but all the new ones should have scans of the A and B side labels included in the download. You'll also find scans of the front and back covers in there, but you knew that, didn't you? I try to do a good job for you.
PS-I'm aware of only one other skiing LP, but I don't have it in my collection. If you're lucky, you can still get it over at the excellent Stax-O-Wax blog. Tell her I said howdy!
Here's the second rerun of the day from two years ago, another ode to the joys of skiing. I can't say much about the pastime that I didn't cover in my previous post, so I'll just skip right to the good stuff. If you don't already have it, go download Ray Conrad-The Cotton-Pickin' Lift Tower And Other Skiing Songs (Prestige International INT 13039, Mono). This one is much better than that previous one. Here's the track listing:
1. Round-Bottomed Bogners
2. The Cotton-Pickin' Lift Tower
3. Skiing Billy (Duet With Rosalie Sorrels)
4. In The Mountains Near Alta
5. Two Cubes With A Slug Of V.O.
6. The Ski Instructor
7. The Mineshaft Song
8. The Last Ride
9. Skier's Bible School (Duet With Rosalie Sorrels)
10. Stretch Pants Lament
11. An Ounce Of Prevention
12. The Skier's Daydream
Well, here it is, the day before Thanksgiving, and I'm itching to get started with the Christmas sharity. But I've got a few albums that really aren't Christmas that I want to get out there, so I've decided to get them out of the way today. This first one is a rerun from a while back that I haven't re-highlighted in a while, and like the other records you'll get today, it deals with skiing. Now, being from Florida, skiing to me has always been something you do on liquid water, not the frozen kind. And it involves a boat, not a lift. But I guess there are some people out there who think it's fun to strap some sticks to their feet and throw themselves over the side of a snow-covered precipice. More power to them. I wish them the best of luck. I tried it once, but it didn't work out so well. Anyhow, this is a rerun from two years ago, but if you missed it then, here it is again. This is Six Family Mountain-Takin' A Ride With The Wind (National Ski Patrol NSP-1001, Stereo).
1. Takin' A Ride With The Wind
2. Snowbird
3. A Reason For Winter
4. Wrong Mountain Blues
5. Let It Shine
6. A Nice Place To Live
7. Chumley's Bus
8. Nobody In The Canyon
9. Country Mountain Shakedown
10. Vanishing Skyline
(Yes, I'm going to try to give you track-listings this year. I figure it will help the folks out there who are in search of a particular song. I don't know if that will last the whole season or not, since it adds significantly to the amount time it takes to throw up a post, but we'll see.)
I found this great set of four color doodles on the inner sleeve of a record I was scanning the cover of for the upcoming Christmas sharity marathon here at Ernie (Not Bert). The record was on Columbia, but the inner sleeve was from RCA Victor. All of the records advertised were in mono, and the highest catalog number was for a record released in 1958, so that's the date I'm gonna give you for this great doodle. The text across the top of the sleeve said POPULAR-JAZZ-ORIGINAL CAST SHOWS-MOVIE SOUND TRACKS, so you can figure out which doodle stands for what as an exercise. I've seen this artist before, but I can't find any of the other doodles I've shared to link to right this second. I think it's the pointy feet that gives it away.
I got the opportunity to go see the space shuttle Endeavor launch last night, and what a light show that was! I was worried that I wouldn't get any pictures of it, because of the wind and the 14 mile distance. That, combined with the general difficulties of shooting at night had me worried, but I wound up getting a decent shot or two. Could have been better, but I was happy to get anything. This shot is just a few seconds after launch, so you can actually see the shuttle thanks to all the reflected light coming off of the steam clouds rolling out from under the gantry. Most of the other shots once it got in the air only show flame shooting out for hundreds of feet behind the shuttle, which isn't itself visible. Biggest drawback of the trip was the ride home, and the three hour traffic jam on a section of the ride that should have only taken about 30 minutes. And that was after we waited an hour for the traffic to clear. Oh, well, that's the price you pay, I guess.
Some little rabbit told me this sculpture was back in town, but this weekend was the first chance I'd had to get down there and see for myself. Sure enough, they've brought back Unconditional Surrender by Seward Johnson to the Sarasota Bayfront. Technically, this isn't the same sculpture that was here before. The earlier one was a styrofoam model, and this one is a finished aluminum piece. It also looks a little smaller to me, but that may just be my eyes and my memory letting me down.
Don't forget to go vote today! Back in 2000, the election here in Florida was decided by less than 600 people. That's all my friends, plus all your friends, plus all the people at my cousin's wedding last month. And this election promises to be even tighter. So no excuses, just go vote!
Oh, and don't forget to buy my calendar...
Well, here they are, the next-to-final proofs of the 2009 calendars I told you about. They're going to make about three minor changes to some of the text on these, and then they're being released to print. They get printed at 24" high x 36" wide on fancy coated glossy stock that you can write on with a dry-erase marker. For those of you who didn't read my earlier post, I took the pictures on both of these, and the company I work for decided to use my shots. The photo of Liberty Enlightening the World above was taken when I was in New York for 9/11 this year, and the photo below of Cleveland after dark was from a trip up I made a couple of years ago.
I went ahead and ordered a few of these calendars for myself, and I would love to give them all away. But they weren't cheap, so if you want one, I'd be happy to sell them to you at $20 each, shipping to the US included. Just drop me a line if you're interested, and we can work something out. My email is ernie.not.bert (at) gmail.com. Supplies are limited, act now! Well, don't act right now, I haven't got any copies yet. But soon... Oh, the dry-erase pen is included! Bonus!
Here are a few Halloween-themed tracks for your enjoyment. There are only 8 (I think) here, 'cause I've been pre-occupied with another holiday that's coming up soon. But I know you'll enjoy these as much as I did. As usual, they're all from my own vinyl, recorded with love and care right here at Ernie (Not Bert) Central. The link is right here: Halloween shares 2008 Don't forget about last year's share, too! Oh, the vultures above were just outside the Saturn V Center at Cape Kennedy earlier this year. Heaven knows what they were doing there...
OK, I've got a few minutes here, so let me see what I'm actually sharing.
Johnny Puleo And His Harmonica Gang-Ghost Riders In The Sky from Western Songs (1959)
Manny Albam-That Old Black Magic from Brass On Fire (1966)
Shep Fields And His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra-Satan Takes A Holiday from One Man-Two Bands
Irene Reid-Theme From Bewitched from Room For One More (1965)
Pee Wee Hunt And His Orchestra-Boneyard Shuffle from Dixieland Detour
Arthur Winograd Conducting The Virtuoso Symphony Orchesta-Funeral March Of A Marionette from Marches For Children (1959)
Phil Harris With Orchestra Conducted by Buddy Cole-Some Little Bug from The South Shall Rise Again (1959)
Short list, but good stuff. Like I said, I've been obsessed with Christmas music for the past three months, so this is all I had on my hard drive for you.
So, 7-Eleven is having this deal where they offer you one of two coffee cups in their stores. You can get either a cup that say McCain, or you can get a cup that says Obama. You're supposed to grab the one for the candidate you support, then they post which cups they sell more of on their website, http://www.7-election.com/. Simple enough, I suppose. I'd been meaning to take a look at that website for a while, and I finally remembered to do it today. I saw the map above, where the grey states don't have 7-Elevens, the blue states are states that sell more Obama cups, and the lone red state, North Carolina, is where they sell more McCain cups. OK, that's a pretty fair representation of the way the polls are running. If you hover over each state, it gives you the actual fraction of Obama and McCain cups being sold in that state.
I sent the link to a friend in NC, giving her a hard time about her state's McCain support. Then I noticed some odd math when you hover over North Carolina. If you look close, they show North Carolina as being 59% John McCain to 51% Barack Obama. Hmmmm, so 110% of the people in North Carolina have cast their vote via cups at 7-Eleven. And they say we're bad here in Florida when it comes to voting. Now, I've seen some stores in Palm Beach County selling purple cups, so I suspect there's going to be a recount in our future...
Those of you who have been paying attention will notice that my Christmas record counter hit the 100 records mark today. That means I've recorded 100 records, many of which I hope to share with you this Christmas season. 100 was my goal, but I think I've still got a few that I want to record, and I'm sure things will come up during the season that I rush to record and share with you. Some of those are things that I wanted to listen to, and recorded them, only to find out later they are on CD, so I can't share out everything. Some of them are re-recordings of things I've shared previously, either because I found a better copy of the record or because I thought I could do a better job than I did some years ago. I've tried to be much more quality oriented this year than I have in the past, at least on certain things. I'm sure my selection of records isn't the best, but it's all at least mildly interesting. I've used a lot less noise reduction this time around, and I've been very happy with the sound I'm getting. I'm recording lots more stereo records than in past years, and I'm making sure to record mono records in mono this time, too. So I hope you're all as excited as I am about the Christmas season this year. Oh, the total number of tracks I've recorded for the season is 1336, for a total of 2.5 days of music. :)
FYI, it took me over four hours to record the one hundredth record. Five of the eighteen tracks skipped on me, but I had a spare that I was able to get four of those tracks off of. That fifth track skipped on both records, but it was in different places. I was able to splice the two of them together and get a good take for you. I can't hear the splice, and there are clicks in other places that you might think are splices, but aren't. So if I didn't tell you what I'd done, you'd never know. I was also shocked to find that noise I thought came from scratches in the record were actually in the master recording (or maybe in the stamper), since they showed up in identical waveforms on both recordings. Weird, huh?
Now if I only had all these LP covers scanned and Photoshopped...
