Annette Funicello [1942-2013]

Artist: Annette Funicello

LP: Hawaiiannette - Annette Sings Songs of Hawaii

Song: "Pineapple Princess"

[ listen ]

Song: "Hawaiiannette"

[ listen ]

I didn't hear the sad news last month that Annette Funicello had died until a week or so after it had happened. I still haven't seen any of her famous beach movies with Frankie Avalon, but they're certainly on my movie bucket list. Annette's cheerful 1960 Hawaii-themed LP on Disney's Buena Vista label is one of my favorite records to listen to in the springtime. A "Hawaiiannette" must be a sort of cute little half-Hawaii that you might find in an exotic restaurant in Utica, NY or somewhere, just like how a "kitchenette" is a little half-kitchen in the room of a nice motel. You can read all about the life and career of one of the most famous Mouseketeers ever on Wikipedia here and go here to find Annette's obituary in the New York Times.

Annette Funicello

[ October 22, 1942 — April 8, 2013 ]

We will miss you, Annette.

Lene Lovich

Artist: Lene Lovich

LP: 7" single

Song: "Say When"

[ listen ]

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here—busy with school stuff, work, and have been spending much of my free time weeding through my LPs in order to get rid of the ones that just don't cut the mustard anymore. Meanwhile I've missed posting about the passing of a few musical celebrities (a country legend with bad hair and a former Mouseketeer, at least) and I've found some neat stuff in my collection that I'll hopefully be posting soon. This 1979 single is one of three by Lene Lovich that I picked up last weekend at Georgetown Records after enjoying a delicious breakfast at the Square Knot Diner around the corner. When I expressed my excitement about the singles to several friends later that day, I discovered they had never ever heard of Lene Lovich. If there's one thing that September 11th, 2001 and Lene Lovich have in common, it is this: WE MUST NEVER FORGET. Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1949, Lene Lovich started out life with the wonderful and amazing name of Lili-Marlene Premilovich. When she was 13 years old, her Serbian father had health problems, so her English mother took the kids and went back to Britain. Lili-Marlene spent the next decade bouncing around Europe, doing things like going to art school, appearing as an "Oriental" dancer in a cabaret, visiting with Salvador Dali, recording screams for motion picture sountracks, and writing hit songs for Euro-disco superstar Cerrone. As Lene Lovich, she released a trio of LPs on Stiff Records in the late '70s and early '80s and the rest, as they say, is on Wikipedia. 

[ Lene Lovich ]

The Delta Rhythm Boys

Artist: The Delta Rhythm Boys

LP: Presenting The Delta Rhythm Boys

Song: "Dry Bones"

[ listen ]

Song: "Take the 'A' Train"

[ listen ]

This mid-1950s LP by The Delta Rhythm Boys is something I picked up on "clearance" at Omega Music in Dayton, Ohio a few summers ago. Formed in Langston, Oklahoma in 1934, The Delta Rhythm Boys went through numerous lineup changes over the course of their 53 years together. They were immensely popular in Scandinavia, so in 1956 The Delta Rhythm Boys relocated to Europe, where people generally have better taste in music than in the USA. Sadly, the group finally disbanded in 1987 after Lee Gaines died of cancer in Helsinki, and then Hugh Bryant, the Rhythm Boys' current baritone at the time, collapsed and died while performing at Gaines' funeral. "Dry Bones" was one of the group's most popular tunes. Simultaneously exploring issues of religion and human biology, the song features more key changes than Scandinavia's busiest locksmith on a Sunday afternoon. "Take the 'A' Train" includes some nice "choo-choo" backing vocals and lots of 'hep' talk, and the video below (not recommended for Native American audiences) presents a Delta Rhythm Boys ditty that connects to my very own part of the world—the Pacific Northwest! You can read about The Delta Rhythm Boys on Wikipedia here, and then enter the weird wild realm of Paghat the Ratgirl to learn even more.

The Delta Rhythm Boys on YouTube:

[ "Snoqualmie Jo Jo" ]

 [ Lee Gaines ]

[ Kelsey Pharr ]

[ Rene DeKnight ]

[ Carl Jones ]

[ Traverse Crawford ]

[ The Delta Rhythm Boys in 1951 ]

Eavesdroppings

Overheard when: 9:42pm on Thursday, April 18, 2013
Overheard where: On sidewalk while walking past the Streamline Tavern — 121 W. Mercer in Seattle, WA [map]
Overheard who: A trio of late-20s or early 30s bar-types (two scruffy brown-haired guys and a heavy-set blond-haired gal) who were loudly and earnestly debating something or other.
Overheard what: 
Scruffy guy #1: "He just doesn't have any personality!"
Blond gal: "I agree!" 
Scruffy guy #2: "I'm not Jewish, and I'm circumcised!"

Bob Carter

Artist: Bob Carter

LP: 7" single

Song: "Rockin' On With U-HAUL"

[ listen ]

You know your music career is about to shoot to the moon when you're asked to record a single dedicated to one of the most popular moving-van companies in America. This limited edition (thank god) single was pressed on orange colored vinyl, naturally. Find my favorite U-HAUL image search results here and here, and go here to reserve a truck today!

Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band

Artist: Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band

LP: The Best of Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band

Song: "Never Swat a Fly"

[ listen ]

Spring is here! That means colorful blossoms on the trees, birds chirping, flowers everywhere, and lots and lots of flies. Most people consider flies a nuisance, and it's true they can sometimes carry serious diseases. But before you go and swat a pesky musca domestica this season, I'd like you to pause for a second to think of how you might feel if the roles were reversed. Remember, flies have loved ones too! You can read about Jim Kweskin and his Jug Band on Wikipedia here and go here to see where they're performing on their 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour. Looks like they'll be spending most of April in Japan, where jug bands are evidently all the rage.

Mireille Mathieu

Artist: Mireille Mathieu

LP: Olympia

Song: "Monsieur Lilas"

[ listen ]

They say that March comes in like a lion and then goes out like a lamb. But in Seattle this year, March came in more like a mongoose, is currently behaving a lot like a Yorkshire Terrier, and seems likely to go out like a kangaroo. I've been weeding through my French-language albums these past few weeks and turned up this terrific 1969 LP from Mireille Mathieu. You can read all about this passionately French singer on Wikipedia here.

Patty Andrews [1918-2013]

Artist: The Andrews Sisters

LP: Near You

Song: "Sing a Tropical Song"

[ listen ]

 
I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I woke up this morning to the sad news that Patty Andrews, the last surviving sibling of the magnificent singing trio The Andrews Sisters, had died. She was 94 years old. 

My Grammie introduced me to the joys of the music of the 1940s via my sister, Sarah, when I was about 15 years old. Sarah discovered Grammie's "Those Were Our Songs: The Early '40s" Reader's Digest record set in a wooden cabinet in Grammie's living room and we just couldn't stop listening to them!

 [ Maxene, Patty, LaVerne — top to bottom ]

Along with lots of other great artists of the period, like Betty Hutton, Frankie Laine, and Ella Mae Morse, The Andrews Sisters were, of course, heavily featured in the Reader's Digest collection. Sarah and I grew to love their hits like "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy," "Rum and Coca-Cola," and "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar," but our favorite was a bouncy little number called "Ferryboat Serenade," a song that often still gets stuck in my head today.

 

 [ LaVerne, Patty, Maxene — left to right ]

Patty was the youngest of the three Andrews sisters, and was the dynamic lead vocalist of the trio. She had an energy, personality, and pizzaz that made The Andrews Sisters lots of fun to watch as well as listen to, and it gave Maxene and LaVerne, who seem to have been more reserved, a shining sun around which to orbit. Check out the wonderful clip below of The Andrews Sisters performing "(I'm Gettin') Corns For My Country" from the WWII musical HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN and you'll see what I mean. You can read all about The Andrews Sisters here and go here to read Patty Andrews' obituary in the New York Times.

The Andrews Sisters on YouTube:

[ "(I'm Gettin') Corns For My Country" ]

LaVerne Andrews
[ July 6, 1911 — May 8, 1967 ]

 

Maxene Andrews
[ January 3, 1916 — October 21, 1995 ]

Patty Andrews

[ February 16, 1918 — January 30, 2013 ]

We will miss you, Patty.

KISS

 Artist: KISS

LP: Love Gun

Song: "Then She Kissed Me"

[ listen ]

Back in the late '70s when my Grandma Bea saw that my older brother Matt had purchased a record by the band KISS, she gravely informed our entire family that the group's name stood for Knights In Satan's Service and that she couldn't believe we would allow that sort of evil into our home. I believed her, of course. But the other day I found KISS's 1977 "Love Gun" LP in my collection, and I began having doubts about the things Grandma Bea said. I mean, would Knights In the Service of Satan really do a cover of a hit song by the early '60s girl group The Crystals? It somehow just doesn't seem consistent with their mission. In any case, I first became aware of this terrific tune when Elizabeth Shue (who I strongly suspect may also be a Knight In Satan's Service) lip-synched to it in the opening credits of the popular 1987 film ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING.

Trio Shmeed

Artist: Trio Shmeed

LP: Trio Shmeed

Song: "Yodel Cha Cha"

[ listen ]

One of the best things about going through my LPs to weed out the stuff I don't want anymore is that I also always find things I had totally forgotten about or that I didn't even know I had! It's hard to imagine forgetting about something as exciting as "Yodel Cha Cha" (authentic sounds from the Swiss Alps cleverly blended with the music of aliens!), but there you have it. Singing siblings Willy, Werner, and Claire have been yodeling together since they were youngsters, when they began performing in their father's restaurant. It wasn't long before they were yodeling alongside other European superstars like Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, and the Nicholas Brothers. (I've got to learn more about the Brothers Nicholas. They look amazing!) If you understand German you can read more about Trio Shmeed here, and the liner notes from the trio's 1955 self-titled American debut LP are included below. 

[ Geschwister Schmid - aka. Trio Shmeed ]