Bitslap with KBC:
Playlist
from October 13, 2009
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Back in 1979, I made the decision to accept Dr Demento as my personal savior. Since then, with the help of his apostles Spike, Al, Stan and Black-Eyed Susan Brown, I have made it my mission to spread the Gospel of the Firesign and the Word of the Waller. Please join me and my fellow seekers as we find the Wisdom we crave and the Rapture we deserve. A new sermon every Tuesday (and NO collection plate!).
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Pop-up player!| Artist | Track | Year | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gene Krupa Orchestra with Anita O'Day and Roy Eldridge |
LET ME OFF UPTOWN
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Anita Belle Colton (10/18/19-11/23/06) changed her name to O’Day because it was Pig Latin for “Dough”. She seems to have developed her style of singing as a result of a botched tonsillectomy, which left her with an elongated uvula, thereby making her unable to sustain a vibrato or longer phrasing. She also hadmuch training in percussion which she took advantage of in her vocals. Sadly, she’s also noted for her longtime problems with heroin, but still lived to age 87. This was her first big hit with Krupa. | |
| Jenks 'Tex' Carmen |
YOU TELL HER CAUSE I STUTTER
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Jenkins Carmen was born in Hardinsburg KY 5/14/03. Started out in vaudeville and Chautauqua shows in his teens and later learned Hawaiian guitar from Frank Plada. Mostly noted for his lack of rhythm or good voice, but his enthusiasm made up for it. He would appear on stage dressed in Cherokee garb to point out his Cherokee ancestry (which was never verified). | |
| Jenks 'Tex' Carmen |
CAISSONS GO ROLLING ALONG
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Tex was also into realistic sound effects. | |
| Elton Britt and Rosalie Allen |
SWISS LULLABYE
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I stated (erroneously) that Britt was from England. Sorry. James Britt Baker was born in Zack AR 7/27/12. He made some 600 records (the biggest was “Chime bells”) and died 6/23/72. Next time you’re in Broad Top City, PA, look up his monument at the Cemetery. Go to eltonbtitt.com for more info and song samples. | |
| Elton Britt and Rosalie Allen |
TENNESSEE YODEL POLKA
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Rosalie Allen (7/27/24, Old Forge PA) taught herself guitar and singing and was soon a fixture on country music radio. She wound up in NYC where she had a long-running show on WOV [now WADO] until displaced by rock n roll in 1956. In her later career she made many records with Elton Britt. Here is a Soundie of her doing “Chime Bells:” http://weirdovideo.com/wv68/node/38 | |
Music behind DJ: Fats Waller |
LOVE BUG
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| Louis Jordan |
BEWARE
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Title track of the movie “Beware”, which has our hero “Lucius” Jordan recruited to save Ware College in Ohio, which has seen better days. It just happens that Lucius’ band is in town and they throw a fundraiser while uncovering shenanigans with the school’s finances. Ah, but there’s romance in the air as Louis reconnects with the lovely Annabelle (Valerie Black) and sings his way into the sunset. | |
| Louis Jordan |
LOOK OUT SISTER
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Another song from another film. This one has Louis stressing out from overwork and finds himself at a sanitarium wherein hilarity, music and romance ensue (the lovely Suzette Harbin co-stars) as Louis dreams of a dude ranch in trouble. [I’ve never seen this one]. | |
| Dick Todd, Baritone |
DON'T LET JULIA FOOL YA
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Todd was known as the Canadian Crosby, born in Montreal 8/4/14 and was a popular radio crooner well into the 50s. He put in hard time with Larry Clinton and Artie Shaw and was very active in entertaining troops in WWII. After his career wound down, he apparently worked as a stagehand on Broadway and the circus before succumbing to alcohol and is believed to have died a vagrant in the mid 70s. | |
| Dinning Sisters |
YOU LIKE EET, SHE LIKE EET
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Made up of Lucille and twins Ginger and Jean, they were apparently all gifted with perfect pitch and did many years of radio work for the likes of the Bowman Musical Milkwagon and Gary Moore’s Club Matinee. Later they were overshadowed by their little brother Mark who had a monster hit with “Teen Angel” (which was written by sister Jean and her husband). | |
| Art Mooney |
BIG BRASS BAND FROM BRAZIL
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Featuring a vocal by the Galli Sisters, this was the flip side of one of his biggest hits “I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover.” Art and his band made a career out of sing-along hits and he enjoyed life at the top of the charts well into the 60s. | |
| Upton Cook |
CHEROKEE BOOGIE
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On Royale Records (#45402) has the even better flip side “Kiss Crazy Baby” which was written by Moon Mullican & Chief William Redbird. That’s all I got… | |
| Les Brown |
DOCTOR, LAWYER, INDIAN CHIEF
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1945 | Written by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. Features the Band of Renown, which was active 1938-2001 (the year of Brown’s death). Begun at Duke University as Les Brown & His Blue Devils and stayed active after graduation. Both Tony Bennett & Doris Day got their start with Les Brown and the band is still going today under the direction of Les Brown Jr. |
| Kay Kyser [Sully Mason] |
PLAYMATE
|
Sully Mason was born in Durham NC in 1906 and was one of 6 original members of the Kay Kyser band., playing sax and adding highly energetic vocals on many songs. Also had many parts in various movies, both with and without the Kyser Band. Died in LA in 1970 of cerebral hemorrhage. | |
| Kay Kyser and Moonbeans |
ONE-ZY, TWO-ZY
|
James Kern Kyser was born June 18, 1905 in Rocky Mount NC. Graduated from UNC Chapel Hill, where his enthusiasm as a cheerleader led him to join a band being formed on campus. He later came up with the Kollege of Musical Knowledge which combined swing with a quiz show and he was off to the races from there. Right after the war, he became a devout Christian Scientist and just turned his back on music and walked away. You’ll find hundreds of Kyser soundies at YouTube. | |
| Ted Weems & His Orchestra |
CHICK CHICK CHICKEN
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Featuring tag-tem vocals by Parker Gibbs and Dusty Rhodes. Wilfred Theodore Weems led many bands in his life (1901-1963) for many record labels. During WWII, he led the Merchant Marine Band and after the war reformed his original orchestra to lukewarm success. Wound up a radio DJ in Memphis and later took a management position with Holiday Inn before dying of emphysema in Tulsa in 1963. His son led a revival band during the 60s and 70s. | |
Music behind DJ: Fats Waller |
BOO HOO
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||
| Balladeers |
COWBOY ON A POGO STICK
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You've got to be kidding ... | |
| Scotty MacGregor |
MOUSE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
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Let’s see… he’s not an actor, not a pitcher for the Orioles. Not an actress either. Or an Australian basketball player. Who the hell is Scotty McGregor anyway? I mean beside some guy who makes records for kids? Let me know. | |
| Scotty MacGregor |
CUCKOO CLOCK
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I still don't know anything about him. | |
| Chubby Newsome |
LITTLE FAT WOMAN WITH THE COCONUT HEAD
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Chubby (who did not earn her nickname, by the way: she was a beautiful svelte woman, though she reportedly had a big enough butt) was originally from Detroit and found her way to New Orleans where she worked for awhile with Paul Gayten Orchestra before just disappearing. This is from 1951 on Regal Records (#3319), the flip side of “Where’s the Money, Honey”. | |
| Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers |
UGLY CHILD
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John Hernden Mercer was born in Savannah GA in 1909 and learned music from many of the black musicians in the area. He became a prolific songwriter, writing lyrics (and some music) for over 1000 songs and received 19 Oscar nominations. His vocal stylings gave an element of race to his songs unheard of in White Bread Hollywood. In 1975, Paul McCartney tried to collaborate with Mercer, but by them Johnny was ill with an inoperable brain tumor. He died June 25, 1976 and was buried in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery. | |
| Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers |
MY SUGAR IS SO REFINED
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At one time, the Pied Pipers were eight members strong, but whittled down to four and included in their number Jo Stafford (before Paul Weston) and then by June Hutton when Jo left. At their peak, with the Dorsey band (backing Sinatra) they were Jo, Billy Wilson, Chuck Lowry and John Huddleston (Stafford’s then-husband). In a snit, Dorsey fired them and they shuffled personnel again and joined Johnny Mercer for many tracks. | |
| Johnny Ray |
SOMEBODY STOLE MY GAL
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John Alvin Ray was born in Hopewell, OR on Jan 10, 1927 of Native American extraction. As a Boy Scout, he suffered an injury that made him deaf in one ear (while horsing around, no doubt), and had to wear a hearing aid later while performing. Noted for such theatrics as squirming on the floor, crying and pounding his piano, there is no doubt he was a major influence on future rock stars and politicians. | |
| Johnny Ray |
GLAD RAG DOLL
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Ray had issues regarding his sexuality, and some arrests followed his solicitations of men. He was a devoted alcoholic and was diagnosed with cirrhosis at age 50. In Feb of 1990, he died of liver failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in LA. He is buried in Hopewell, OR, not far from his birthplace | |
| Airline Trio |
FRECKLES
|
Another of those lovable, silly double-entendre songs by these guys, of whom I know nothing. | |
| Sammy Kaye |
ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH
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Leader of one of the biggest “Sweet Bands” of the day, Kaye was a mainstay on radio, best known for his “So You Want to Lead a Band” feature, an early reality show wherein audience members would attempt to lead an orchestra while hilarity ensued. Right after Pearl Harbor, Kaye wrote “Remember Pearl Harbor” with Don Reid and of course, the rest is history. Here we have a vocal by Don Cornell and the Ensemble. | |
| Ray McKinley and His Orchestra |
CIVILIZATION [Bongo Bongo Bongo]
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Drummer, singer, bandleader writer, ham, Ray got his start in the Dallas-Ft Worth area and at various times, joined, or led the Glen Miller Band, Dorsey Brothers, Will Bradley and his own band. Later, in 1961, he joined with Johnny Desmond for a summer TV series on CBS. Here’s a clip from that show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRrAG5JGK7E (with links to others). And here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C60iYHFE2pI is another version of this song by the Andrews Sisters with Danny Kaye. | |
| Arthur Godfrey |
DON'T BRING LULU
|
Godfrey was a radio operator for the Navy in the early 20s and put that to good use in civilian life. He also played ukulele, and his down home aw-shucks nature made him the biggest star in the known universe in the 50s until the Julius LaRosa incident (Godfrey fired the surprised LaRosa on air and it started a shitstorm for him) whereupon his image began to crumble. Common knowledge is that he was a nasty, controlling, unpleasant racist at heart. He died in 1983 of emphysema, brought on by complication of radiation treatment for lung cancer. | |
Music behind DJ: Fats Waller |
SAN ANTONE
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| Joy Nichols |
WE GOT TO PUT SHOES ON WILLIE
|
Written by Jack Yellin & Sammy Fain. Joy Nichols (1925-62) was an Australian comedienne and actress who originally was part of a duo with her brother George. Later she moved to Britain where she became best known for her appearance on the BBC Radio series “Take it From Here”, set in a British radio station. She left just before the show became popular and moved to the US, where she had limited success in some small roles in Broadway productions. |
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