I caught Paul Borelli‘s exhibit at the East Austin Studio Tour a few weekends ago and am pleased to report that he’s on a roll. His Squaresville collection is a special delight (featuring Mitch Miller in red and Lost in Space‘s Dr. Smith in yellow), as are his album cover mosaics (see the Partridges above; The Grass Roots Lovin’ Things LP is the latest), and the postage stamp series featuring unlikely subjects (see Don Knotts above). I made a special request for postage stamps of Jack Lord, Bob Barker, and the trio of Gunther Toody, Francis Muldoon, and Al Schnauser, but am happy to take it as it comes. See Paul Borelli’s website and online gallery at BorelliArt.com.
Most of the Fleetwood Mac histories make it clear that Lindsey Buckingham gobbled up new wave records during the Tusk era. I’ll bet he internalized the Vapors’ 1980 New Clear Days, because that record’s “Letter from Hiro” ends with a two-minute instrumental section that sounds an awful lot like the arrangement on Stevie Nicks’s “Gypsy.”
Today after I aired my Banana Megamix on KOOP Radio a caller rang me up and told me about “The Banana Man” who used to appear regularly on Ed Sullivan (before my time). I’ve come to find out via the Banana Man tribute site that the Ed Sullivan Banana Man (the same one who once appeared on Captain Kangaroo) was a second generation version of the original. No matter – if weirdness was his goal, he was getting it done. Like Bert once told Ernie, I don’t know if I’m emotionally secure enough for this sort of entertainment.
Did you know that Hawaii Five-O actor James MacArthur recorded a few singles? His non-charting “In-Between Years” (1961) featured vocals by the Earls, whose “remember, remember-member” would later make them doo-wop immortals. His version of Harvey and the Moonglows’ “Ten Commandments of Love” (1963) reached #94 in Billboard. Warning: Both of these are very drippy teen idol spoken word singles, but they’ll make any Five-O fan smile.
I finally got a chance to do a KOOP radio interview with Boneyard Media VIP Kendell Kardt, who blew through Austin with the hurricane last week. You can download a zip file or just stream it from here.
Kendell Kardt “International Folk Bazaar” interview, 09/09/10
Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth passed away in 1932, but his “Brejeiro” got a new lease on life when The Muppet Show debuted in 1976. I guess what this says about “Muppet Show Theme” composers Sam Pottle and Jim Henson is that they had good taste.
Bola Sete and His New Brazilian Trio – “Brejeiro” (1966) (excerpt)
The Veins – Iron Tears on Angry Cheeks (2001)
Margaret Smoot – I Cane Your Hood (1976)
The American Horns – The Chrysler-Plymouth Jingle Sessions (1977)
The Kamchatka Octet – “Risk” Music (1976)
Don Brockett – Norway My Way (1969)
Doreen Dorado – Hey, Country Music (1978)
Various Artists – Earlobe Records Presents Misdirected Gems (1981)
Casper and the Ghostly Trio – Favorite Hymns (1955)
The Frosted Five – Hot Dog Friends (1963)
B. Serious – Grammy Jammyz (2002)
Diamanda Galas – Greetings from Branson Pavillion (1993)
The White Epoxy Mongrels – Austro-Turf (1982)
Oscar Brand – Ballads for Bawdy Balletomanes (1962)
Jay Em – The Sober Interloper (1999)
Lord Pecos Pete – Jew’s Harp Zodiac (1966)
The Lonesome Larynx Ramblers – Tossed in Austin (1975)
Alan Lomax – American Avon Lady Field Recordings (1952)
The Won’t Go Homers – Sonata for Your Merlin (1980)
The Martin Yard Ensemble – Red Licorice Eruption (1983)
Yma Sumac – Guide Me Savior (1968)
The New Sufi Choir – Presents “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” (1997)
Van Morrison – Kerrville Campfire Tapes (1990)
Dale and Grace – Tacos for We Two (And You Too!) (1959)
The Eddie Peabody Coalition – KJAK Presents “The Jeffersons” Suite (1987)
Original Broadway Cast – Miss Otis Sistrunk Regrets (1956)
Horst Grimstad Combo – Mambo Trombones (1951)
Imperial Toy Company – Bubbles: A Study in High Fidelity Sound (1972)
Various Artists – The Best of “Live at Carlsbad Caverns” (2006)
Mel Torme – Sings Letters to the Editor (1985)
Jufel Frit – Ejne vergona fajnem (1986)
I got talking with Kendell Kardt about his pre-Rig days in New York City and he again made my head spin somewhat when he talked about a folk group he played in called “Forever Children” that included his friend Paul Giovanni (other members included Ronnie Gilbert, Joyce Aaron, and Mike Poznick). This is the same Paul he writes about in his private, online memoir – a guy he gave guitar lessons to and who performed, along with the aforementioned Ms. Aaron (Kendell’s girlfriend at the time), in an experimental troupe called the Open Theatre. Paul and his partner, the British playwright Peter Shaffer, eventually (and benevolently) flew Kendell out to London during an Open Theatre stint out there circa 1970 so he could reunite with Ms. Aaron.
That’s pretty much the end of Kendell’s own story with Paul, but the memory drive in my head kept clicking over the familiar-sounding name, and I remembered it was the same name listed as composer on the opening credits of the the 1973 Wicker Man cult film (performed by a group called “Magnet”). So I dug up an album cover by the group Side Show, that I since found out Giovanni had also belonged to, and Kendell said, “yes, this is Paul, second from the left.” I then told Kendell about The Wicker Man and have now replaced the long standing encyclopedia listing in my head that read “Paul Giovanni: Forgotten British folkie who composed a one-off soundtrack to a singular movie” to “Paul Giovanni: New York actor, composer, and old friend of Kendell’s who also happened to write the music for a singular movie.” Giovanni passed away in 1990, but although this New York Timesobituary makes no mention of it, that enchanting soundtrack alone will keep his memory alive and well.
(Another friend of Kendell’s, by the way, recently sent along this piece from the Guardian about a Rocky Horror-style Wicker Man singalong that just took place in London…)
I guess a better title for this post would be David Rose does Marty Paich. Rose is the composer of the theme song for Little House on the Prairie, the long-running ’70s-’80s TV drama I remember being a steady depiction of heart-wrenching pioneer misfortune. Paich is the featured arranger of Gloria Lynne’s 1963 Gloria, Marty and Strings LP. Surely the image of the Ingalls family traveling on a hilltop to their “little house” had Rose thinking about Gloria and Marty’s “Folks Who Live on the Hill” to the extent that he nabbed and reworked that opening french horn intro – even building a whole theme song around it – as a knowing wink.
Gloria Lynne – “Folks Who Live on the Hill” (1963) (excerpt)
David Rose – “Little House on the Prairie Theme” (1974) (excerpt)
Although he never got in trouble for over-borrowing from Mott the Hoople (see previous post), Rod Stewart got busted pretty quick in 1978 for using Brazilian singer-songwriter Jorge Ben’s “Taj Mahal” refrain for his “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” (with the songwriting credited to Rod Stewart and Carmine Appice). Tempers cooled, though, when Stewart announced that all proceeds for his disco-era smash would ultimately go to UNICEF. In 1978 Stewart would get in trouble again when his “Forever Young” irritated Bob Dylan, whose own “Forever Young” was an obvious influence. So the two mammoths ended up splitting the royalties, which was no compensation for those of us who were irritated by the song in general.
