Betty Bennett, Nobody Else But Me

I once found original copy of this LP at a flea market near Front Royal, Virginia. It was at a location known as Double Toll Gate. Dinosaur Land is near there.
http://www.dinosaurland.com/gallery.html
  The guy selling had a nice selection of original jazz from the 1950s.
This is a very rare jazz LP on Atlantic Records. Now available on CD. And now on Youtube.
See my four posts below this one for more little known songbirds of the 1950s and some stories of being a record collector looking for these rare and little known jazz LPs that the Japanese record collectors want so much.

PINKY WINTERS CAFE ALBERT, TOKYO "LIVE"

Here is another of the little known songbirds from the USA in 1940s and 1950s.
Everybody knows Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington.
But do you know Monica Lewis, and Mindy Carson and Pinky Winters, Beverly Kenney, and Betty Bennett?
The Japanese music lovers and record collectors know these singers and highly prize their music and collect the first original issues of the LPs these American songbirds put out back in the 1940s and 1950s and 1960s.

The three posts below this one have more on these little known songbirds. And a story of how I once found a large collection of their original LPs in mint condition.

Monica Lewis Tribute

See the two posts below this one for more on Monica Lewis.

The Strip 1951 Mickey Rooney Louis Armstrong Jack Teagarden Earl Fatha Hines Barney Bigard

This is the band featured in the 1951 movie called THE STRIP.
See the post below this once for more on this movie and the band and extra added atrraction of Monica Lewis.

THE STRIP (1951) Mickey Rooney Monica Lewis Louis Armstrong Barney Bigard Jack Teagarden

I watched this movie yesterday on Turner Classic Movies. I had forgotten how good the music is in this picture. Starting with Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden. Plus Earl Fatha Hines and Barney Bigard. Extra added attraction is Monica Lewis.
 Some nice scenes of LA in 1951.
Monica Lewis is one of the song birds of that era that are little known now but were very big back then. I first learned of her when I found out the Japanese Record collectors are crazy for certain female vocalists of that era.  The original LPs of these women are highly sought after by collectors of  vinyl.  I once found a whole collection of these female vocalists in an estate sale of a former disc jockey from back in the day. They were not radio station copies that had been played. They were his private collection. And they were stored in nice wooden cabinets out of the daylight so not even the covers were faded in the slightest. The vinyl was perfect and they all looked unplayed.
   Several book dealers who buy records had passed them up because they had never heard of the white female songbirds from the 1940s and 1950s. And the estate sale guy wanted 3 dollars a piece and they thought that was too high a price. Little did they know.
I bought all the collectible vinyl LPs and the Japanese buyers loved them. One told me "Such nice perfect condition". Just what they are looking for.
If I can find photos of a few of the covers I will add pictures. I think they like the album covers of these beautiful women just like they like the original records on vinyl.

The above is a Japanese CD reissue of the original cover art and the music from that LP also.

Flying Burrito Brothers - Avalon Ballroom 1969 The Gilded Palace Of Sin

This has most all of the songs from the album The Gilded Palace Of Sin. Click on youtube to see the listing of all the tracks.
But I had to really look to find an audio of the track I was looking for. It is called Hippie Boy. Popeye Phillips plays drums on this track. See below.
http://mp3lemon.org/song/331843/11_-_Flying_Burrito_Brothers_-_Hippie_Boy

Flying Burrito Brothers "Christine's Tune" Chris Ethridge R.I.P.

Chris Ethridge who was the bass player for this band and many others just passed away. He was 65 years old. He was a native of Meridian, Mississippi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Etheridge
  Two great rock and rollers passed away this past week. Levon Helm and now Chris Ethridge.
Check out the Flying Burrito Brothers album THE GILDED PALACE OF SIN for some good songs by Chris.
http://www.billboard.com/news/chris-ethridge-flying-burrito-brothers-bassist-1006854562.story

A Duncan Yo Yo Champion From 1950 Tells All

The above is a Duncan Yo-Yo pin from the 1950s.

The above is a Duncan Yo-Yo trick book from the 1950s.

This is all I have left of the trophy I won in 1950. When we moved to Kirbyville,Texas I still had the trophy which was exactly like the one pictured below except it was dated 1950 and had my name on it.

It was sitting on top of something in our living room and a dog knocked it off and it shattered on the floor. I have kept the brass plate with my name on it all these years.

Since I had not had the trophy since 1952 or so it was really a pleasant surprise to find a picture of one exatly like it via the magic of the internet. See picture below.

Click to on these pictures to enlarge them.

When I was 10 years old I won a trophy like this one. We were living in Greenwood,Ms.
I also won a few Duncan Yo Yo patches.
There was a group of 2 or 3 Filipino men who came to demonstrate Duncan Yo Yo to kids in 1950. They would go to somewhere near the school grounds and demonstrate tricks and hold contests to promote Duncan Yo Yos.
   They also had a guy who would carve pictures in the wooden yo yos. The picture were of palm trees and girls in hula skirts dancing under the palm trees.
He would then tell you "You can come back when you are 18 and I will take the skirt off".
Also he would tell us that you could pour ink in the carving to color it. Black ink was the only color I remember using.
http://www.theyoyomuseum.com/museum_view.php?action=profiles&subaction=company&company=duncan

http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/online_articles_detail.aspx?id=303

William Faulkner On Who Wrote Shakespeare

In a 1958 interview, American writer William Faulkner reflects on the relative importance of an author to a literary text. His point raises an interesting question on the nature and role of the author, and the importance of culture and history in determining artistic work:

"If I had not existed, someone else would have written me, Hemingway, Dostoevsky, all of us. Proof of that is that there are about three candidates for the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. But what is important is Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, not who wrote them, but that somebody did. The artist is of no importance. Only what he creates is important, since there is nothing new to be said. Shakespeare, Balzac, Homer have all written about the same things, and if they had lived one thousand or two thousand years longer, the publishers wouldn’t have needed anyone since."

William Faulkner
Writers at Work : The Paris Review Interviews
edited by Malcolm Cowley

http://www.apieceofmonologue.com/2010/03/william-faulkner-authors-work.html

Who We Are Part 1 - Folger Shakespeare Library

Good introduction to the Folger Library in Washington D.C.
http://www.folger.edu/index.cfm

Henry and Emily Folger Build a Library

Folger Shakespeare Library Video Sampler

There are many more videos on youtube about the Folger Theater and Library.

The First Folio: A 400 Year Obsession

Shakespeare's Birthday Party At the Folger Library

This is from 2008. Today it was raining in D.C. so everything had to be done inside.

Open House Today At The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. For Shakespeare's Birthday

This photo is from another year. This year(2012) it was raining hard in D.C. so all the events had to be inside the Folger Library and Theater.

http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=575

Sam Kostco told me about this event which happens every year at this time so we went.
Sam says they let the riff raff in free one time a year.
Lots of fun. We didn't stay for the cake. It will be served at 4pm.

WETA UK was there giving out some freebies like tea from the UK and yo yos with WETA on them, And tiny radios with ear buds.
The link below is about WETA UK.
http://www.weta.org/video/individual/WETA+UK+Promotional+Reel

Yea Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread

One of my favorites from Bob Dylan and The Band from the original basement tapes 1969.
http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/yea-heavy-and-bottle-bread

See more posts below this one for other songs from these basement tapes. And some comment on my first hearing this music.

B DYLAN/BAND Lo & Behold! From The Basement Tapes 1969

One of the best ones from the basement tapes. This is some of the music that will be listened to 100 years from now. Check the posts below for more.

Bob Dylan and the Band: Please, Mrs Henry From The Basement Tapes 1969

This is one of the best songs on the basement tapes from 1969. No video just great music.
For more from this great American music see the posts below.
This is some music that will be listened to 100 years from now.

Robbie Robertson Talks About Bob Dylan and the Basement Tapes

Inside scoop on Big Pink and the Basement Tapes by Robbie Robertson.
See the posts below this one for music from these basement tapes. And my comments on first hearing the bootlegs from the Basement of Big Pink on the radio in the summer of 1969.

Bob Dylan Tiny Montgomery With The Band From The Real Original Basement Tapes 1969

  This is one of my favorites from the original basement tapes by Bob Dylan and the Band.
In the summer of 1969 bootleg tapes of this material somehow leaked out and the alternative radio stations got hold of all the songs and started playing them on the radio.
I like many others taped them off the radio and thereby had a cassette tape of these songs.
They were great listening played on an old cassette tape recorder driving across America all the way from Washington D.C. to  Los Angeles,California and back.
This music was so popular as a bootleg that Columbia Records finally gave in a few years later and released all the material on a double album called THE BASEMENT TAPES by Bob Dylan and The Band.
Greil Marcus has written a whole book about the Basement Tapes. Surely the best thing written on the subject. THE OLD WEIRD AMERICA by Greil Marcus.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Old-Weird-America-Basement/dp/0312420439#_

Bob Dylan & The Band - Million Dollar Bash

The Band ... the Weight 1969 @ woodstock live(The Best Version) R.I.P. Levon Helm

http://www.amazon.com/Music-From-Big-Pink-Band/dp/B00004W50T

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Band

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weight

I still remember how exciting it was when MUSIC FROM BIG PINK first came out in 1968. I bought my copy at the old(closed long ago) Discount Books and Records On Conn. Ave. in Washington, D.C.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_From_Big_Pink

Levon Helm and Richard Manuel.

Broadway Musical HAIR Was A Flop In Mobile Alabma In 1972

In 1972 when I was driving a cab in Mobile I picked up a fare who was a member of the road show troupe of the broadway musical HAIR.  She wanted me to take her around to a few Goodwill thrift stores so she could look for some old sheet music. She told me she was a singer and was going to be in the cast of that nights performance of HAIR at the Mobile Auditorium. She then gave me two free tickets to come see the show.
   Rachel and I went and took our 5 year old daughter with us. She went to sleep in our arms right away.
The play did not attract many Moblians.
In fact there was almost nobody in the audience.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_(musical)
 They must have known that not many tickets had been sold and that is why they gave out some free. They told us to move down near the front near the stage.
I was surprised at how much I liked the show.
They did the whole bit of running through the aisles with little or no clothes on.
The girl who gave me the tickets ran up to us to say hello.
I enjoyed the music and the costumes(and lack of them)very much.
Apparently the production had to sue(and won)for the right to put the show on in Mobile.
http://federal-circuits.vlex.com/vid/southeastern-promotions-mobile-alabama-36759939

It is odd this show was such a failure in Mobile. Because a year later the Rolling Stones came to Mobile and sold out every seat in the larger 10,000 seat auditorium nearby.
We went to that also. I was able to drive up and get tickets with no trouble. It was one of the few if not only place the Stones played on that tour where tickets were available.
   Little Stevie Wonder was the opening act on the show that night. And for my money he and his band were better than the Rolling Stones.
  Mick Jagger came out when the Stones came on and jumped in the air and tore the crotch out of his jump suit right away.
    The Stones all had bottles of Jack Daniels Black Label sitting on their amplifiers. Except for the bass player Bill Wyman who had wine on his amp.
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-rolling-stones/1972/municipal-auditorium-mobile-al-13d6f1b9.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Civic_Center
The Stones played the large arena for 10,000 plus.
The musical HAIR played the small theater in the complex.

Why I Choose To Live In Washington D.C.

The Space Shuttle Discovery arrives in Washington D.C. today atop at 747 airplane.
Click on the photo to enlarge it. It is spectacular.

In 1953 when I was in the 7th grade we were living in Kirbyville, Texas. See my other posts on Kirbyville, Texas on this blog for more on that small town in East Texas.

It is tough being a child in the boondocks and in little towns that have names that end in burg and ville. Now and back then the larger world is visible via movies and television so that kids down on the farm no longer have to see Paree to know what they are missing.

My best friend was a boy named James Gunter. He won the Spelling Bee at our school and went on to win in the state contests and was picked to go to Washington D.C. to compete in the National Spellig Bee at the Mayflower Hotel.  He and his father stayed up all night as he memorized the dictionary.

James finished 23rd in the whole country that year. Quite an accomplishment for a 13 year old boy from a little town in East Texas.

When he came back to school the teacher had him stand up in front of the class and tell us about his trip.
 He told us the word he missed was caterwaul. Or maybe that was the word before the winning word.
  In 1953 the winning word was soubrette.
Here is a list of champions and the words they won with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scripps_National_Spelling_Bee_champions

Then he told us what he and the others kids got to do in Washington D.C.  
The part that caught my attention was when he described going to the Smithsonian Institution.
As I listened I got and more envious and jealous and green with envy as they say.
 I think I determined that moment that when I grew up I was going to Washington D.C. not only to go to the Smithsonian but to live in the D.C.area permanently. As so I have for over 45 years now.
And it is nice to have the Smithsonian right down on the Mall anytime I want to visit. And also The National Gallery Of Art and all the rest of the museums as well. And here is the best part. They are all FREE.
http://www.si.edu/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smithsonian_Institution

Here is something from today and the arrival of the Space Shuttle Discovery.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/discovery/

Space Shuttle Arrives In Washington D.C. On Its Way To Dulles Airport And The Smithsonian Air And Space Museum There

Big excitement here in Washington D.C. this morning as the Space Shuttle arrived on top of a 747 aircraft and flew around the city and over all the monuments on the Mall.

We knew it was coming and at 10am people were out looking for it.

I was in Arlington, Va. and it flew in over north Arlington. I had walked up North George Mason street to the bridge that goes over Route 66 which goes east west in and out of the city.

There was one other guy on the bridge on the other side. We were both looking around for the 747 plane.
I turned around toward the west and THERE IT WAS right over us. The 747 was flying at 1500 feet or lower. It is really something to see a 747 fly over your head at that low altitude. I yelled THERE IT IS!

At a nearby school the teachers had brought the grade school kids out on the playground to look for the plane. They all saw it and yelled and cheered.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/discovery/images.cfm

When Trumpets fade

Go to youtube to watch all of this movie about the battle in Hurtgen Forest. See two posts below this one for more on my meeting the other day a WW2 vet who fought in that terrible battle.

Oddest And Strangest Sexy LP Album Cover I Have Ever Found As A Record Collector In Over 47 Years

Click to enlarge. I think of all the hundreds of thousands of LP covers I have looked at as a record collector this is the most unusual.    This LP cover is featured in the book INCREDIBLY STRANGE MUSIC. Volume II.
This is an LP titled Gustav Holst "The Planets".  Featuring Sir Adrian Boult and The Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Academy Chorus. It is a classical music album with a bizarre sci fi soft porn album cover.

http://www.amazon.com/Re-Search-15-Incredibly-Strange/dp/0940642212/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334601885&sr=8-2

I Met A Veteran The Other Day of WW2 Who Fought In The Hurtgen Forest

I met a WW2 veteran the other day in a barbershop. He had just had his hair cut and was waiting on his son or son in law to get his cut. The old man was from West Virginia. He is 90 years old. He told me he had been shot twice in WW2. Once in the leg and the other in the thigh. He was in the battle in the Hurtgen Forest in Germany. One of the worse battles in WW2. J.D. Salinger was in that battle. And it was the main reason he was so shell shocked during and after the war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hurtgen_Forest

This guy told me that the forest was dark and full of trees. The shells hit the branches and the branches would fall on you. He carried a machine gun.

The guy next to him said he was scared. He told him we are all scared.

Shortly he looked over and the guy was bleeding from his neck. The bullet went in the top of his head and came out of his neck. Dead.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Battle_of_H%C3%BCrtgen_Forest
After the war was over in Europe they were scheduled to go to the war in the Far East. But then the bomb was dropped and the war was over and they didnt have to go.

Very nice old man. He had some really good stories.

Such as he said he fought alongside the Brits and at tea time they would stop the war and have tea.

I guess they really were "The Greatest Generation".
http://bellsouthpwp2.net/e/a/ea_herr/HuertgenForest.html

Bob Dylan -(Acne) With Ramblin Jack Elliot Does Doo Wop 1961-07-29 Hootenanny Special, WRVR, Riverside Church, New York, NY

Some teenage humor from a 20 year old Bob Dylan. 1961.
They do some corny Doo Wop.

GSA (Government Services Adminstration) Employees Chowing Down In Las Vegas At The Taxpayers Expense

Here they are at a "conference" in Las Vegas. All paid for by U.S.A. taxpayers. They no longer call these get togethers "conferences". Now they call them "training sessions".
Click to enlarge the picture and the hogs.
They are trained to always keep their snouts in the public trough.
   What goes on in Washington D.C. stays in Washington D.C.

The Cannonball Adderley Quintet And Nat Adderley Work Song

I could not locate my copy of this LP so I found it on Youtube. Just as good.
Here is some good information about this LP in the link below.
http://www.cannonball-adderley.com/329.htm

Two more songs from this LP in the two posts below this one.

The Cannonball Adderley Quintet And Nat Adderley Dat Dere

The Cannonball Adderley Quintet with Nat Adderley Them Dirty Blues

In the Jailhouse Now #2-Jimmie Rodgers From Meridian Mississippi

More posts below on Jimmie Rodgers. Scroll down for a visit to the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian Mississippi. I had an uncle who was a railroad man. I asked him what those two thumbs up seen above mean in railroad language. He said they mean "Take A Break".

Jimmie Rodgers Born In Meridian Mississippi Sings Waiting For A Train

Click on Youtube to go to Youtube and watch full screen and see many more Jimmie Rodgers songs. And others from this fine old film of him singing.  Also see posts below this one for more on Jimmie Rodgers including a trip to the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian, Mississippi.

J. Cash - Ride This Train Story 07 [Meridian, Mississippi RR 'Jimmie Ro...

Jimmie Rodgers Museum Tour Meridian Mississippi