Author: Matt Keough

Hang On Sloopy – Polka Style!

My LP digitization project continues. After I posted a link to Hawaiian style organ music, some of my friends inquired about the availability of polka music. I have polka music. This album is part of my collection due to the extreme generosity of my eldest brother. He happened upon a cache of closeout albums and he knew they would make a wonderful gift. Thank you, Joe.

These selections are from Super Hits Dance Party by Larry Chesky and his Orchestra. No copyright is evident on the album sleeve. Based on the tracks I’d put it at about a 1973 release date.

I’ll quote the album notes:

If you want a really good time, all you need is the desire…and this album! …

The music of today is what today’s young people understand. And the timeless polka beat is what everybody understands. So Larry puts them both together in an exciting musical package.

This version of Hang On Sloopy isn’t really a full-on polka. But it is delightful none-the-less. Don’t you agree?

If you are looking for a more full-flavored polka interpretation of a hit in another genre, you are in luck. Like country music? Like polka music? You will like this polka version of Gentle On My Mind.

Glenn Campbellski couldn’t do it better.

Hawaiian Magic gets me in a skating mood

My random grab into the big record bin produced Hawaiian Magic by Ken Griffin.  This is a Columbia release from 1958. Another one of my thrift store finds, I’m virtually certain that I picked it up because it has a version of Harbor Lights, which my parents called “our song”.

What struck me most as I listened to this album was how strongly I associate organ music with roller rinks and carousels. At least Wurlitzer style organs. Pipe organs are associated with church, of course.

I’m guessing I’m among the last generation to remember skating to the sounds of this type of organ music. Walton’s Roller Rink in Mentor-on-the-Lake still played it when I was very young. Most folks my age probably remember better the disco and rock with neon lights and feathered hair at United Skates of America.

These days the only place you hear organ music is at carnivals or  amusement parks that have a merry-go-round. So grab some cotton candy or lace up your skates and enjoy some Island Magic.


An opportunistic “Salute”?

The album I pulled from my big record bin today was released in 1980 and is called A Salute to John Lennon and the Beatles Greatest Hits. It is performed by the Now Sound Orchestra.

The back cover has John Lennon (1940 – 1980) with pictures of the man at various stages of his career. (Actually I’m not even sure they are all Lennon. There is a young boy that looks more like George Harrison or even Elvis). I’m wondering if this is less a salute than an attempt to cash in on Lennon’s tragic death.

Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980. To record and release an album in less than three weeks seems unusual. I’m speculating that the album was already recorded and released as a Beatles Greatest Hits album with different cover art and was just updated and rushed to market as a “Salute to John Lennon”.

The performances on the album are basically dreadful. I’m sampling Yesterday for you. Partially because it is an instrumental and I don’t feel right about subjecting you to any of the vocals. You can play a game of “name the instrument.” There is either a harpsichord or perhaps a synthesizer or syn-clavier. I also detect a vibraphone. I can’t tell if the horn is a muted trumpet or a flugelhorn. Your guesses are welcome in the comments.

Phantom 3rd Channel!

Yes, I do like to pick up odd albums at the thrift store. And even though digitizing them is a bigger hassle than the software promised it would be, I was able to get a few more tracks captured this evening.

For your listening enjoyment and edification we’ve selected a couple of tracks from an unusual various artist album. This is not just an odd collection of hits. No, this is a demonstration record produced to accompany Admiral stereophonic devices. It is on the Decca label and consists of music by artists released by Decca.

First the announcer man will explain to you that there is a right channel, a left channel, and a PHANTOM 3rd Channel!!!!!

Sorry to cut you off, announcer man. I had no idea you were about to present several more aural examples of how you can hear things from your left channel, right channel and PHANTOM 3rd CHANNEL!!!!

Soon enough the tunes begin…a sampling of what I presume were popular artists and music of the day.

The featured selection tonight is Trumpet Cha Cha Cha by Warren Covington and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Amazon says this track was from an album released in 1958. It was re-issued in 2010 as a CD. But is it in PHANTOM 3rd CHANNEL SOUND?

Bonus Track –  It is an instrumental from Bill Haley And His Comets called Joey’s Song.

Time for school pictures

Well. Autumn is now officially here, I really don’t care what the calendar says or if it is meteorological autumn. I know that Fall has arrived because tomorrow is school picture day.

James (our kindergartner) decided today that he would like to wear a bow tie for his picture. I loved the idea. However, we have no bow ties in the house, particularly in his size that would match his shirt. Also, we’d run the risk that he would come home crying tomorrow because the other kids might be unaccustomed to a handsome young man wearing a bow tie.

If faced with a five-year-old coming home from school in tears, I promise you I will not tell him “It’s only because they are jealous.” You see, that was my mother’s usual reply after I had  a rough day in grade school. She may have actually felt that this was the root cause of kids being mean. I’ve always tended to notice that some kids just tend to be mean. One could argue that they are simply enjoying some popularity among their peers at a young age and that by the time they reach adulthood the world will be wise to them. But then we all know adults that really aren’t “over themselves” just yet.

So my hope for James is that he smiles that handsome huge grin of his and enjoys a good day. The photo above is your author in second grade. It would have been better with a bow tie.

I am not a warlock

Given the furor over the recently revealed video of Christine O’Donnell saying she dabbled in the occult, I’d like to publicly denounce my private claim that I was a warlock.

I understand how things can be misunderstood when taken out of context. I did indeed say, in my younger days, “I am a warlock.” By younger days, I do mean last week.  However, it was only because I was asked how I conjured up a butterfly from the ether.

Let me be perfectly clear. I did not conjure the butterfly. They are known to flit about quickly and the butterfly in question only appeared to have arrived magically. Therefore, my pronouncement that I was a warlock was in jest.

And speaking of things in jest.  Check out this bizarre twitter hashtag meme.

The rarity of silence

I’ve watched some of the coverage of Benedict XVI as he visited the UK these last few days. Is has been pleasant and uplifting to see the enthusiastic crowds. It seems the dire predictions of an ambivalent England were proved to be unfounded.

I was surprised not by the enthusiastic crowds, but by the absolute silence that was observed in several occasions after homilies and also Holy Communion.

It seems as though we cannot get through a moment of silence without a ‘Whoooo!” or other interruption at most public events these days. On several occasions during the Supreme Pontiff’s visit there were extended periods of still silence among 80,000 or more.

Benedict encouraged the youth assembled at Westminster to find quiet moment of reflection in their lives.

“Even amid the “busy-ness” and the stress of our daily lives, we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self.”

We all would benefit from finding both in a few moments of true still silence.

Dusting off the vinyl – Electric Moog Orchestra

I’ve owned a USB audio interface for several months now and just finally hooked it up to the laptop. Through way too many fits and starts I was able to convert some vinyl record tracks to digital files. It still isn’t interfacing 100% correctly, but we have enough to start my series of posts sharing my eclectic music collection.

Disclaimer: I’m a strong supporter of intellectual property protection. I’m thinking most of the music I’m sharing is out of print. If the copyright holders drop me a note I’ll take it down in a heartbeat.

OK – I actually remember buying the album Music From Star Wars by The Electric Moog Orchestra with my allowance money. I’m almost certain I bought it at Lawson’s in Eastlake.

It is hard to say what I like most about this album. The big note on the front cover that says “not the original soundtrack” or the back cover notes that proclaim “We think you will find this album a stunning breakthrough in electronic music.”

Here we have cut number 3 on the A side – Imperial Attack. I actually thing the bass riff sounds a little like Billie Jean.  I can’t even begin to describe the guitar part other than to say I think it sounds like a guy playing a Moog and trying to make it sound like a guitar. In space. While under attack.

My boys are Browns fans

If you are from Cleveland nobody needs to tell you that of all the major sports teams, the Browns have the most loyal fan base. For some reason every fall brown and orange apparel, flags, etc reappear as sure as the crocus in the Spring.

The boys root for the Browns with varied degrees or enthusiasm

Why? I’m not sure. The less sentimental among us might point out that the team here now is really a shadow of the glory of 1964 (or 1980 even). The original team is in…I can’t even say it. The wound is still too fresh.

In spite of that, we still care enough to root for them and carve out time every Sunday they play to turn our attention to them. And mutter under our breath when the inevitably disappoint us. It builds resiliency, being a Browns fan. You learn that you can’t abandon all hope even when there hasn’t been much good news. That may be why we are raising our boys to be Browns fans.

Thirty Dollar Thursday

As I warned you, I’m going to share some of the hidden gems in my  music collection. I’m starting you off with a tune that I could relate to much more directly in my single days when I still smoked, still went out on Thursdays and still scavenged around my pockets only to find crumpled up singles.

It is by Monkey Biscuit, the former band of the talented Rob Ervin. Check out more here >> http://www.myspace.com/highstrunglifters (High Strung Lifters was the band Rob Ervin formed after Monkey Biscuit)