His Cat, Bull

Interesting detail discovered in an online obituary:

He was preceded in death by his parents; grandparents; and his cat, Bull.

Lou Dobbs' Horse

How would you like to be Lou Dobbs' horse?

Whatever horse he rides, he rides it hard and kicks it till it's dead. Then he sits on the saddle and kicks it till someone finally tells him, "Lou, it's dead. Time to get off."

In A Very Social Mood

Somehow I got very mellow tonight. The activities I've been a part of, I've been very social, nice, commiserative. (Is that really a word? I can't believe the spell check didn't flag it.)

I even posted around six or seven things on Facebook today, and my daily average is somewhere around ... none.

To say this with a negative spin, I'm destined to crash tomorrow. (Probably not really. I'm not bipolar. I'm heteropolar. Ah ha! The spell check didn't like that word!

What If You Drank A Gallon Of Bubbles?

I've been watching the Three Stooges, the latest volume, which takes us up into 1952.

There's a couple episodes, maybe not on the latest volume, but certainly there's one episode there, in which the Stooges ingest some soap. Shemp thinks a box of soap is soup, because in the episode he can't read well.

The soup is served and it tastes a lot like soap. And one other thing gives evidence that it's soap. The Stooges have some very unnatural closeups and shots from the side belching out soap bubbles. Sometimes they come out one at a time, but on the side shots especially they come out as though there was a bubble machine on the side of their heads away from the camera and their mouths are simply open.

You can buy bubble mix for very cheap. I don't know if you could use it for washing dishes, but if you could you could save some money, because it's so cheap.

I wonder if any kid has ever drank a whole bunch of it. And what happens? It'd probably kill you if you drank a whole bottle, one of the big bottles.

Dbkundalini Androids

Something I used to see in Superman comics always appealed to me, that he had a closet full of Superman androids. These looked just like Superman and he used them for various missions in outer space or maybe just around the house.

Whenever there's something I don't want to do -- or somewhere I need to go that I don't want to go to -- I think how I wish I could just send one of my androids.

But there aren't any. There's just me. So I end up going.

Disappointing The Dog

I was in a big hurry. I've had a busy day. I exercised faster. I ate faster. I was in and out, taking a quickie shower, etc.

Then when 8:30 got here I was going to be the nicest guy in town and take my dog to the park. She's used to going but today's been so oppressively busy that I didn't have a spare minute to do it. But at 8:30 we were going to go.

So I said the usual, "Do you want to go to the park?", which she understands by conditioning. She jumps in the air about 2 feet (she's a small dog, about 16 lbs.)

Then I discovered that my key was lost. That shot the whole thing, and after a while, of course, she could tell something was wrong, since I was acting frantic, and didn't bug me about it. Somehow she knew the whole thing was off. Which made me feel almost as badly as losing the keys.

Tomorrow will be looser and freer. I'll make it up to her.

Targeting Baucus

I personally am sick and tired of Democratic traitors. You expect a lot of corruption and special interests out of the Republicans. But we've had health care reform as a part of our platform and agenda for decades.

Montana Senator Max Baucus is an obstructionist and needs to change his ways. I'm glad to see some of the progressive interest groups are trying to kick him in the butt to do the right thing.

We elected President Obama to get some things done, including good health care reform. C'mon, Baucus, get with the program.

Famous On Facebook

I wonder how much a drag it is to be famous and on Facebook.

I saw an article somewhere today that said Bill Gates got off Facebook because 10,000 people wanted to be his friend. So I guess it would have its downside.

At Facebook I'm "friends" with a semi-famous guy, well known from records in the '60s. He's never personally addressed me nor I him. But I see what he posts and how it plays to a larger audience. Immediately 27 people will have "liked it." 27 others are quick with their "Attaboy" for whatever he says or does.

Maybe he doesn't know anything other than being famous like this by now. But I can see it being ... not that fun.

I, on the other hand, post on there that I went to the farmer's market, or something, and no one likes it and there are no "attaboys," or maybe someone from my family will say something (who cares?). And I kind of like it that way. There's not a whole bunch of people trying to glom on to me for my precious attention their way.

Candy Cane Sugary Plum

I just heard a Christmas song in July, "Candy Cane Sugary Plum" as recorded by Danny & the Juniors.

It's a cheerful little thing with some Chipmunks effects in the mix, and singing in rounds to boot. I don't know that I'll make it part of my normal holiday playlist, but could be.

For a hot day in July, though, it sounded good ... and out of place.

Help, I Can't See

I've had the sun inconveniently right in my face, right in my eyes numerous times in the last few days.

It's getting to be a headache. The sun is about three inches across, max, so it seems like it would would statistically rare, given all the rest of the sky we have, for it to be directly in your eyes, especially when you're trying to avoid it.

But whether it's the actual ball of flame or an unfortunate reflection that hits me just the wrong way, there it is, front and center, demanding direct face time, boom, in my eyes.

Today was the last straw. I was sitting in a room with the blinds open, thinking I'd get some light and fresh air, when a big truck pulls into a parking space. And wouldn't you know it, the sun hits the guy's windshield direct and it's aimed right at my eyes.

I said it was the last straw. I shut the blinds. If that's the way it wants to be, I'm sorry, keep your distance.

Went To Harry Potter

I went to the new Harry Potter movie the other day.

I liked it even though I don't know all the ins and outs of Harry Potter. I haven't read any of the books, but I've seen all the movies ... once.

Since then I've had someone who's completely in the know explain to me some of the details, which makes it make better sense, including what relation Snape has in all this, whether he's a good guy or bad guy.

By the way, I love seeing Snape on the screen. That's a completely great looking guy, not just for the part but in general.

And Dumbledore. What a fantastic beard, and I love the beard cincher. I don't have a beard but if I did I'd want one to the max. Nothing small and trim, nothing like a Van Dyke like we used to see in movie magazines. But one that made ZZ Top look essentially clean shaven. I would want a beard like Dumbledore. That'd do something for your personality.

Things I'm not sure about, what made Tom Riddle so out and out evil and so out and out powerful. It seems like the wizards along the way would've kept him in check a little better. And why Snape being the Half-Blood Prince was a big deal. He says, "I'm the Half Blood Prince," and that's it.

As far as his book, the potions textbook with all the added notes, that's the kind of book to get ahold of! Ever since I've been thinking of my own private library stash (heh heh) having all kinds of hidden meanings and things that only the most astute reader (experimenter) could discern and note. It's all a daydream.

Jindal Passes Out Stimulus Money

Bobby Jindal, Republican governor of Louisiana, and a hypocrite, is passing out money from the stimulus package, which, we shall recall, he vehemently opposed. It seems to be a fleeting memory in my mind that he was going to refuse it all together.

Look at the full story, which I have no need to summarize.

The bottom line is this: Jindal was against the stimulus before he was for it. And now he's even taking partial credit for the money!

Leftover Spaghetti

Leftover spaghetti is better than you might assume.

I remember we used to like it when I was a kid. At some point though it turned disgusting, because it was never quite as juicy or loose as that first time. It gets mushy if prepared in a certain way, the way we always prepared it. And that is with the sauce all mixed in with the pasta.

The key to making decent leftovers is to keep the sauce away from the pasta. As soon as it's cooked and you've used what you want, put the rest in sealed containers. And don't let them mix. Then when the parts are reheated, as I do, it tastes very close to fresh.

I normally hate leftovers. But these are actually good. And it saves money not tossing the leftover spaghetti. I could've gone out and spent several bucks on dinner tonight, but no, I remembered I had the leftover spaghetti from a couple days ago. That's another thing, you don't want to keep it too long.

Impressive Freddy Cannon Site

I got this scan or photo of a Freddy Cannon LP from an impressive website about Freddy.

The website has lots of pictures of Freddy's albums and singles, with some good GIFs of record labels.

I have just a few 45s by Freddy and one LP. I used to have the "Action" LP but I don't know what happened to it precisely. Probably sold it.

I have "Palisades Park" (Swan S-4106-P) [oh, I have two of those, didn't know that]; "Tallahassee Lassie" (Swan S4031-A); "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" (Swan S-4043-A); and, "For Me and My Gal" (Swan S 4083-F). Some of these are in fairly poor condition.

According to the website, Freddy's mom was one of the writers of "Tallahassee Lassie."

The LP I have is the one pictured, "Happy Shades of Blue." All the songs have "Blue" in the title. I just heard it for the first time yesterday and some of it today. I don't know, I'm not that impressed. I think time has left this kind of record way behind. But I have MP3s of the LP now, so maybe I'll listen to them again. That's the idea after all.

I definitely like Freddy's big hits though!

By the way, this "Blue" LP is still available on CD as a two-fer with "The Explosive Freddy Cannon."

Harry Potter

It looks like I might be going to Harry Potter tonight. I'm not a big fan and don't watch the DVDs. I've seen the movies the first and only time and that's it.

But we go to these because there are bigger fans than I.

I keep hearing this is the best one of the series. So that's at least some encouragement.

Control-Alt-Delete Katrina

I think it'd be a positive thing to cut down on hurricanes. There might be a downside to it but I don't know what it'd be.

According to this article, Bill Gates has an invention in the works to pump cold water from the ocean's bottom to change conditions at the surface, thereby killing hurricanes in the cradle.

It sounds ambitious. It's dreaming on a huge scale.

But I hope that it's something that works without a lot of flaws. If it's anything like Internet Explorer, look for one disaster after another. Someone will load a virus into the hurricane killer and we'll have hurricanes in Arizona. And if it works like my computer, the operator will be pushing the ESC key till he's blue in the face and it won't ever accomplish anything.

Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels

I got an interesting book today at the thrift store, "A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits." It's written by Carol K. Mack and Dinah Mack. Published by Owl Books, 1999.

It's all about the various devils, demons and fairies worldwide. Lots of interesting line drawings of them.

Just glancing through it looks like two or three pages per being. 296 pages.

It's A Matter Of Time

All my chores have overrun my life. It seems like that. They definitely take my time.

To mow the yard, over a half hour right there. No way to make it faster unless I was running. If I had one of those robot mowers that's always out there munching, of course it would go haywire and would be eating the neighbor's field. So I mow on!

Then the dishes. Then the catbox. Then the dog out for the last time today, which I haven't done yet, now that I think of it. Then the garbage. Then some exercises. Then get a little cleaned up (from mowing the yard). Then to bed. The day's shot right there.

Too much time gets chewed up.

Underwater Dream

I had an uncomfortable dream last night (this morning actually, before waking up). I was having fears about breathing and difficulty breathing, since I was underwater for sections of it.

Even when I got up and was sitting in the chair, I was wondering about my breathing and wasn't as comfortable as normal.

In this dream there was some underwater attraction. You got a breathing apparatus, like with skin diving, a mouthpiece, etc., and went down some stairs. Then going up some stairs, a long distance, you were in the midst of water and would be expected to breathe with the device. The idea as I foresaw it was to keep going up the stairs, then to have to make a return trip down, before being able to go back up the stairs that were out of water.

At times I was underwater and using the device, and the dream alternated where sometimes I wasn't underwater. The attraction was lights shining on underwater things, arranged displays, etc., that would be a beautiful sight.

I was very worried about the person with me, who was at one point out of sight going up the stairs and I lost her. I kept worrying about water getting in my mouth and in her mouth, and drowning. I was thinking, What if you cough under water? Or just open your mouth a bit? There were lots of problems.

I woke up and didn't want to go back to sleep because this was such an uncomfortable thing. Then like I said, it was troublesome just to remember. My breathing felt weird till I forgot the whole thing.

The Plate Spinning Song -- Part 3

In a continuing series, this being Part 3, I report on the song "Sabre Dance" by Khachaturian.

In Part 1 I said I had it on a CD called "Caravan," songs of the Silk Road, something like that. And in Part 2 that is is on an LP by a group called Ekseption.

Today, Part 3, I got an LP by Ferrante and Teicher called "Popular Classics" and it's the first track. "Sabre Dance," it says, "from the Gayne Ballet." That's the first I've heard of the Gayne Ballet. But I'm assuming that in amongst the ballet dancers there's another guy spinning plates.

For this song is the universal theme song for plate spinners everywhere! You can't be out there spinning plates to some of the other tracks on this album, like "Jamaican Rhumba" and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." Is that "Jesus" without the "S," or some other person, like "Jesu and the Pussycats"?

I have probably owned Ferrante and Teicher albums before, like when you buy a box of albums somewhere for five bucks or everything on the table for 10 bucks. But I believe this is the first time I ever bought one on purpose. I guess I just associate it with old fogey music. But now that I'm an old fogey, it's time to go back and catch up on what I've been missing.

Ferrante and Teicher each play a separate piano, and their recordings are of the blend of the two, both appearing to be speed demons when it comes to the ivories. I never knew or thought about their first names until today, but it says here they're Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher, and they're lifelong friends. Since getting this album I looked at their website, and it says they recorded 148 original record albums. That explains why I've seen a million over them over the years.

The weird thing about their discography is that I don't see this album listed. It says in the small print that "Popular Classics" was formerly released on Westminster Records as "Ferrante and Teicher." And on their discography there's mentions of Westminster but not of an album with that name.

This particular issue is the mono release, ABC-Paramount Records, ABC-437. The "stereo" version of the album is a "Technically Augmented Stereo" record, which just means electronically simulated stereo. At least I didn't get that. The number for the fake stereo issue is T.A. Stereo-ABCS-437.

The tracks are 13. 1) Sabre Dance (from the Gayne Ballet), Khachaturian; 2) Habanera, Ravel; 3) Ritual First Dance (from El Amor Brujo), Falla; 4) Reverie, Debussy; 5) Jamaican Rhumba, A. Benjamin; 6) Tango in D Major, Op. 165, No. 2, Albeniz; 7) American Fantasy (Ferrante & Teicher). Then side 2: 1) Waltz in C Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2; 2) Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (from Cantata No. 147), Bach; 3) Toccata (from Sonata No. 6 in A Major), Paradies; 4) Liebestraum No. 3, Liszt; 5) Valse (from Suite for Two Pianos, Op. 15), Arensky; 6) Slavonic Dance in C Major, Op. 46, No. 1, Dvorak.

Huh? Do I get any points for typing all that?

Unfortunately for my enjoyment of this record, even though it looks like it's in great shape, there's some kind of vinyl anomaly when you get toward the end of Side 1. So it's playing fine but you can hear a kind of Wow or Wump when the needle hits that patch each time around. I will probably copy off my plate spinning song and let it go at that.

NOTE: If anyone can tell me how to take a picture of a record cover or CD cover so it comes out looking FLAT, please let me know.

Falling Asleep

I had a terrible time falling asleep last night. That's unusual for me, who usually doze off in a flash. 10 minutes or something.

But the more I thought about it and worried about it last night, the worse it got. So I go to bed at 9:30 and I was still awake around 11:15. Since I get up at 5:30 everyday that meant I lost nearly two hours sleeping. So I'm tired now.

I felt like taking a nap all day, being a little crabby. But I kept resisting and did successfully resist. Now I know I'll sleep well tonight. It's not going to be 10 minutes, I'm thinking. But of course I don't want to jinx myself.

There's still some tasks to do ... take the dog out, a few dishes, the garbage out, clean the cat box, all that fun stuff ... but I can get it accomplished pretty fast.

Serious Cleaning

I did some serious cleaning in my computer room here. It's been so bogged down with junk, crap piled as deep as it will go.

I reorganized some of it. Spent several hours on it. It's still kind of a mess but it's a lot better than it was. I can see there's a floor in this room, which had been a rumor for years.

Now I have everything basically up against the wall and piled up. A lot of garbage papers were thrown out and bills/statements, that kind of stuff, put in a shred basket. I had a few boxes of records and little stacks of 45s that I hadn't seen for a while. I was happy to see those under there.

I have a picture program I use all the time, a Microsoft thing called PictureMe! It's on my computers but I keep wondering where the original discs are, in case I need to reinstall it somewhere. I never come across them. I've looked through the basement, various places.

Then I found them deep in a drawer, which to be honest I'm sure I looked in before. There are five discs and at first I could only find four. Which wouldn't do me any good, but a little more systematic digging and I found the fifth.

It's hot in here, and with that many layers of miscellaneous floor crap, there was a lot of hairballs, fuzz, dust bunnies, etc. Pretty soon, I had it on my nose, my forehead, my chin, and it was itching like crazy. I might have been like one of those animals that goes plum loco, except I knew where the sink was. It got worse as I approached the sink, like there was some psychological thing about to send me over the edge, being very frantic. But I got it washed off.

I've done what I'm going to do for the day on it. It's not 100% but it's many times better than what it was. What an extraordinary mess!

Yellow Balloon

I've always liked this record, "Yellow Balloon" by The Yellow Balloon. I remember reading an article about it one time in a music magazine, maybe Goldmine, something like that.

There's probably more information about it online, as to the producer's actual name, etc., and circumstances of the session. I remember there was a rumor that one of the guys from "My Three Sons" (which I didn't watch) had something to do with it.

It's one of the prettiest songs I remember. There's another version of it by Jan and Dean on a Columbia Records 45.

A very happy sound. Taking its place in the pantheon of great Yellows, "Mellow Yellow" and "Yellow Balloon," and of course "Old Yeller."

Mighty Like A Broad

That's a strong looking leg on the cover model, possibly an actual burlesque stripper. Tough looking, as might be hinted at by track 3 on side 2, "Mighty Like a Broad."

This is a record album I have, and I see other references to it online, including a nice album cover photo by some other guy on Flickr. I took my own pictures of it so I could get a good close up of that tough looking foot and leg.

A couple comments. I'm interested in the quotation marks on the performer's name. On the front he's "Bald" Bill Hagan and his Trocaderons, but on the back he's "Bald Bill" Hagan and his Trocaderons. Slight difference. The second song is called "Frotic Fantasy." I've never heard the word so that might be a misprint.

As for the album, it's on the Somerset label, album SF-27200 stereo. Somerset albums, as far as I know, were budget records, like Diplomat or Spin-o-Rama. But I don't know much about the subject. If you ever see the old "Hit" Records, they're usually no name artists. Of course I don't know how big "Bald Bill" Hagan was, but I'm thinking small scale.

Some of the other albums listed, though, have name artists, Ray Charles Singers, Dolly Parton, and Jim Reeves. But for the most part, they're Polka Party, Gold Award Hits of '67, More Tijuana Hits, etc.

The stereo on this album is really good. And the sound quality is really clear and nice. My copy's in pretty good condition. The cover's getting shot around the edges, but the music plays clean.

The songs are burlesque in quality, and a good mixture of moods. I don't remember much about each track. They're kind of generic, but still quite invigorating listening. I know when I started listening to the LP I was fully dressed, but by the end ... well, I won't say what I was down to, but I did really notice it when the air conditioner kicked on.

The tracks are Vampin' and Campin', Frotic Fantasy, Party Time, Koochie Galore, Frankie and Johnny. Then side 2: G-String Twist, Fascination, Mighty Like a Broad, Cha Bump, Girdles Aweigh.

Manufactured by Alshire International, Burbank, California.

Hendrix In The Morning

I usually start every day with some quiet time, but when there's a pronounced, definite, and persistent bio/spiritual trough, like biorythms gone batty, of course I have to do something else.

Today I turned to one of the most spiritual sounding artists, Jimi Hendrix. I made my Electric Ladyland LP MP3s, not tracks just sides. Side 3 is best for this, leading to side 4.

But now I'm writing this, so I'm somewhat distracted. It's extremely difficult to write on an iPod keyboard.

These Boots Are Make For Walkin'

I heard some of this album a couple times today. I was also mildly familiar with it from having the LP over the years. The one I have is mono, which I transferred over to my iPod. I was listening to it while taking the dog out to do her business at the park. So I could've been singing, "These bags were made for scoopin', and that's just what they'll do..."

I heard that song a couple times, the title song, and the best Nancy tune on the LP. It was a big hit. The others have a cool vibe to them, almost a detachment from Nancy. I like some of the arrangements, then her voice is in there to surround everything.

She claims to care but you have to think her overall attitude toward the "boy" in the songs is best reflected in her "Boots" song. "I'm going to walk all over you."

One of the Beatles' absolutely worst songs is on the LP, "Run For Your Life." I believe John said of this song in his Rolling Stone interviews that it was a toss-off bit of nothing. And I've certainly always believed that. Crummy song.

Nancy does some interesting things with it, though it is disconcerting to hear, "Run for your life if you can, little boy..." then she even says, "Baby boy," I believe. Goo goo gaa gaa. The original lady gaa gaa.

How about the liner notes? You ought to get a copy of the liner notes, if they're still legal to read.

It starts off mentioning the "Lesson in Love," and says, "How should I sing this?" "Like a 16 year old girl who's been dating a 40 year old man, but it's all over now." That might explain some of the strange tone throughout! And that kind of line would certainly turn heads now!

Interesting album.

A Musical Hallmark Card

I got my first ever musical, flickering picture Hallmark card today that someone sent me.

I've seen them at the store but haven't paid much attention to them. I've played a couple but figured, I'm not going to be buying those. When I get cards for people, which does happen, I go for the lesser priced ones, not the rock bottom cheap ones, but a respectable one in the middle range.

But this one came in the mail to me and it's very cute. It has a flickering picture, rock it back and forth, and there's a hamster dressed up like a cowboy. The tune is the famous "Hamster Dance" tune from You Tube. A very good song. But it only plays 30 seconds or so of it.

I wonder how long the battery will last. If I put this in a box and take it out in 20 years will it still play?

Popsicles

Today is a day for popsicles, watermelon, and ice cream!

(It was when I sat down to write this originally, before someone from my family called, chewed me out, then hung up on me. Then messaged me with more nasty. It's amazing how a call from the blue can be a mood killer.)

Palin's Latest Prattle

Sarah (Worthless) Palin gave her talk yesterday. She gave up, called it quits on the job she wanted up there in Alaska, being the governor. Just walked away, said no mas. Can't handle it. Blithering idiot. Completely incompetent.

Somehow she thinks the path to the White House is to demonstrate how utterly erratic she is. Her speech defines blather. She thinks she's some kind of savior for the nation, which is a laugh. She can't even handle Alaska. She's a quitter.

Now today she's back, of course, needing to rebut criticism. She can't take criticism. They say she's very thin skinned. And that seems about right. She seems to think the media is picking on her in a special way, because, the reasoning goes, many other people have left their office for a higher calling. Like Barack Obama, let's say, he quit being senator in order to be president. Or Hillary Clinton, she quit being a senator in order to be secretary of state.

But see the progression there? They didn't just run for an office, then when it got hot doing the job step away and quit. They were upwardly mobile in their service. See? Obama didn't quit being a senator to be dog catcher in Wasilla. Hillary isn't on the city council.

Palin already has an image as a fruitcake. This won't help.

Sarah Palin Says Bye Bye

I see there's some big news today. Sarah (Worthless) Palin is resigning while still in her first term as Alaska's governor. It is this record of service that will endear her to presidential voters in 2012 [coffee spit LOL].

It seems she doesn't like negative attacks. And everyone knows presidents never get that. So it'd be a natural thing for her to be president and have everyone love her.

Personally, to me, it sounds like political suicide. But then again, virtually everything she's done since coming to prominence last year has seemed to me like political suicide. I mean, who can't see she's nothing but dumb?

So bye bye to Sarah (Worthless) Palin. I'm sure it's not the last we'll hear of her. But, hey, we can hope.

Hustling Around

It's my bedtime. But I had to hustle around to get necessary chores done. I almost waited too long. I did the dishes in record time. Hope they're clean!

Took the dog to the park twice today so she's pretty well emptied out. So when I took her out after the dishes it was really perfunctory. One quick pee's enough.

This was written via my iPod Touch with the BlogPress app. It works darned good. I recommend it and I have no financial interest in saying so.

Soulful Shrimp Workers 1953

Here's an unusual recording I've been carrying around for some years. I'm posting a link if you'd like to hear an MP3 of it.

Shrimp Song - Shrimp Workers

It would appear that WAGA radio of Atlanta was at the SeaPak Shrimp Company of St. Simons, Georgia, on December 10, 1953.

The shrimp workers very soulfully sing parts of two songs, with an announcer occasionally telling us what's going on.

At the end, as indicated on the label, Les Henrickson, apparently a guy from the radio station, is talking. His piece is very short and cut off quickly.

The record is one-sided and 12 inch, 33 rpm. I did some pop fixing on this and adjusted the volume in one place. The word "Georgia" was about one and a half times the volume of everything else.

Going To Watch Three Stooges

I am about done for the day. One of the last things I do in the course of the day is watch the Three Stooges. I can't believe what geniuses those guys were. Really make me laugh. And that's worth something to the world, isn't it?

Messing With BlogPress

Some good, some bad. Took a while to access my blogs. Now I need to delete the stupid signature line for the second time.

The Cowsills

With my new "direct to MP3" record player I recorded three of The Cowsills' LPs yesterday.

I did this pretty much with the sound turned off because I had other official duties that I couldn't be distracted from. This is what makes me nervous, that a couple years ago, with my old unreliable record player there was a skip on one of the tracks. But I don't remember which one.

So now the tracks are on my iPod and I'm thinking I'm eventually going to come across that skip ... if it's there. This new record player does skip at some of the same spots as my old one did, meaning, I guess, that it's conclusive that there are issues at those spots on the record. But for other records it makes it through. I'm hoping that it made it through the skip on the Cowsills LP.

I've always liked The Cowsills' sound but for the most part didn't have the LPs originally when they were popular. So I only knew the singles at the time. But getting at least these three over the years and hearing them, there's a lot of sweetness and joy in the tracks. I like all that sunshine pop stuff. And you can tell they were also trying to stretch, reach for new stuff. They're worth getting.

The records I have are "The Cowsills," which leads off with "The Rain, The Park and Other Things"; "We Can Fly" and "Captain Sad and His Ship of Fools." The title tune to "We Can Fly" is one of the most wonderful things I've ever heard. "Captain Sad," of which I'm no expert but I have heard it a time or two, is what I was referring to that they were trying to stretch. Even the liner notes suggests this, with their 'audience growing with them,' that sort of thing. The title sounds vaguely like "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" or "Their Satanic Majesties Request" or "Major Happy's Up and Coming Once Upon A Good Time Band," that kind of effort.

I didn't have the sound off on this one but I was in another room, so I wasn't hearing it well yesterday. There was one track that sounded like a sore thumb, "The Fantasy World of Harry Faversham." I'm going to have to study that one out. The weird voice on it didn't appeal to me through the wall.

I read a little about The Cowsills at their website. Actually back when the hurricane happened, which killed one of the brothers. Then they were having a benefit for another brother, who, I see, since has also died. Plus their mom and dad have passed on.

They're still putting out an occasional record. And they have one at CD Baby (also at Amazon) that has a terrible title, something like "The Cocaine Drain Album," and it says it was dubbed off a single existing acetate. So I don't know what the problem was there. Since I believe in multiple backups and copies of everything. How could someone make an entire album and not have a tape?

I'd love to have all the Cowsills' albums on CD. And I see some are available or have been available. One of them, though, is like $155 at Amazon. I don't think so.