eBay triumph; classic screenplays; foot-long ants

Well... the downloading bandwidth is sure going fast. There's a chance the Halloween files I've posted to date will become unavailable before the month is out. Not much I can do about that, unfortunately.

So, get 'em while you can!

I have more stuff to put up, so I'll be doing it through another service. It's not as convenient as using Box.net, but it's fairly user-friendly. I've used it before. I can't remember, at the moment, what it's called. All I know is that it's free.

And I scored a minor triumph at eBay recently. Up for bid was a Don Cherry Halloween 45 from 1958 on Columbia. I watched the bids pile up until they got past $30. It went for a little over that amount by the auction's end. Then, feeling pretty darned smart, I casually surfed on over to another 'Bay dealer and bought the same title, set-sale, for $2.50. Nya, nya, nya, nya, nyaaa. And I bought a number of other reasonably-priced 45s from the same person.

I guess the bidders hadn't noticed the other ad. Their loss, not mine!

Whether I'll be able to put it up before 'Ween, I don't know. Depends on when it gets here and how much of a hassle it is to get stuff up on the other service. Only Newsweek will tell.

Meanwhile, TCM showed two Ed Wood, Jr. films last a.m.--Plan 9 from Outer Space and Bride of the Monster. They were presented by the worst host in the history of the medium--a rocker named Rob Zombie. I actually sent an e-mail to TCM questioning their sanity. Aside from Zombie's total lack of hosting ability, there's the issue of his scholarship. Plan 9 actor Bunny Breckinridge, Zombie told us, was one of only a few experienced actors to ever appear in an Ed Wood movie. Hah?

That movie alone, in fact, features Bela Lugosi (two minutes' worth), Gregory Walcott, Lyle Talbot, Tom Keene, and Dudley Manlove, all experienced actors. Experienced actors featured by Wood in other films, besides Lugosi: Herbert Rawlinson, Johnny Carpenter, Kenne Duncan, Harvey B. Dunn, Reed Howes, and William Benedict.

In fact, one of the fun things about Wood's flicks is the number of "real" actors who got mixed up in them. Excellent research, Rob.

And great choice of hosts, TCM. Maybe Rob can take over for Robert Osborne at some point.

And... I just watched Angels with Dirty Faces, which I've only seen maybe fifteen times. Extraordinarily well done, with Cagney, Bogart, Pat O'Brien, and many of the kids who went on to become The Bowery Boys. Thanks, TCM. And I didn't think of Rob Zombie once.

I've been meaning to do a tribute to Joseph Stefano, the screenwriter of Psycho and the producer of the original Outer Limits. He died in August at the age of 84--I only found out last week. I'm glad he had a long life and glad he lived to see his script for Psycho chosen as one of the 101 Greatest Screenplays of all time by the Writers Guild of America. Interestingly, Alfred Hitchcock always played down the importance of the Pscyho script, insisting that the visual portion was the thing. Apparently, the critics weren't convinced, as Psycho's screenplay has been analyzed inside out and sideways and backwards and outside in over the decades. Hitch may not have realized what a work of art it was. Or... maybe he did, and he didn't want to share the credit for the film's success. Dunno.

Three years after Psycho, Stefano was producing, and sometimes scripting, the original Outer Limits (1963-65). He wrote the one about the foot-long ants landing in the desert in an anthill-style spaceship (that one scared me for about a month), and the one about the energy cloud that emerges when a ball of dust feeds on a vacuum cleaner's motor, and the one about the astronauts interrogated by aliens who have the power to control the five senses, and the one about the creature in the box who abducts a groom on his wedding night, and the one about the aliens who zap six city blocks to another planet. And a few others. That last one features a terrific scene in which a man, en route to work, finds himself no longer on Earth. "And how was your work day, dear?"

The episode about the out-of-control energy cloud features some of my favorite Stefano dialogue--inside the lab of a mysterious outfit called NORCO, Police Sgt. Ed Asner is being held at gunpoint along with a female scientist. The guy behind the gun (NORCO's boss) is going on about nutty stuff. Asner asks the scientist, "Is he insane?" Her reply: "I wish he were. The insane are forgivable."

Anyway, I have four or five songs by Stefano, and they will be going up at some point. R.I.P., Joseph.


Lee

FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH!!! BUWA-HA-HAAAAA!!

...is the day before Saturday the Fourteenth. Buwa-ha-haaaa!!

And, if Blogger messes me over again, I... I...

I'll cry. Not much else I can do. You'll recall I put up 20-plus links last post, only to have the post vanish when I tried to put it in Draft mode. Things like that are supposed to happen on Friday the Thirteenth, not the day before! Sheesh. Get your act together, evil spirits.

Anyway, lots of good Friday the Thirteenth stuff here, if Blogger (ahem!) will be nice enough to let me share it. Blogger's on our side, right? Right, Blogger? (I'll take Blogger's silence to mean yes.)

Ballad of James Dean, The Four Tunes, 1956.

Ben Crazy (D. Goodman and Dr. I.M.. Ill), Dickie Goodman, 1962. From Diamond label 45.

Blue Moon (Rodgers-Hart), The Marcels, 1961. From Colpix label 45.

Close the Door, Jim Lowe, 1955. From Mercury label 45.

Dance of the Demon (E. Holst), Victor Arden and Phil Ohman, 1923. From Victor 78.

Dancing Shadows (A: Grofe), Paul Whiteman and His Orch., 1928, from Victor 78.

Dark Shadows Theme (Robert Colbert), Soundtrack, 1966.

Death of an Angel, Donald Woods and the Vel-Aires (1955).

The Deserted Ballroom (Morton Gould), Elliot Everett and His Orch.

Graveyard Blues, Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orch., 1918. From Columbia 78.

Mr. Jaws, Dickie Goodman, 1975. From Cash label 45.

Buwa-ha-haaaaa!!!



Lee

Thanks, Blogger

I just copied and pasted twenty-some links, added some text, and tried to save everything in draft form.

The post vanished into thin air.

I'll try it again tomorrow. Right now, I don't feel like going through all of that again for nothing.

(Do I sound upset?)



Lee

500 LPs

That's the number of long-playing discs I hauled this evening from the basement to the upstairs soon-to-be Media Room. An armful at a time, that is.

I figured I should capitalize "Media Room" to make it sound official rather than comical. That often works.

And I have a new blog picture. Well, not new, exactly--it's from 1989, my last year at Bowling Green State University. Bev calls it my "Castro picture." I have no idea what she could mean....

















That was me.

It was cool when I could grow a beard without my skin breaking out in a rash. Those days are no more. It was fun while it lasted. I shaved my bread off for the last time around, oh... 1995. At which point, I became Beardless Lee. A.k.a. Lee Without the Beard.

People asked me questions like, "What happened to your beard?" I'd say clever things like, "I don't know--I just woke up this morning and it was gone." Ha, ha, ha. I can be quite a card.

My "Transfer Used" seems to be holding steady at Box.net, which means more stuff will be going up soon. Lots more stuff.

500 LPs' worth. (Just kidding.)

In case you're wondering, I've never smoked a cigar in my life. (See photo)


Lee

The visit

The tech's name was Steve (still is, probably), and he's a very helpful and friendly 50-something chap with an Al Franken accent. Neat guy. And I was right about my computer (figure those odds!). That is, the problem is one of insufficient RAM, as I had figured. That doesn't put me in line for the 2006 Troubleshooting Award, but it's cool to have correctly guessed the problem.

Low RAM plus lots of big-memory programs=slow performance and occasional "Your computer is low on virtual memory" messages. For about $200, my Dell's speed could be vastly improved. Since we're talking that kind of money to spiff up an ancient (three-year-old) PC, a new machine is the way to go, we decided. HP is the brand we've decided upon.

So, in three or four weeks, my Dell will be saying bye-bye. I apologize to my computer for all the mean things I've yelled at it. It was doing its best with the memory it has. All the slow-downs and time-outs were simply my Dell juggling applications. I mean, I should try that sometime.

Wait--I do. I'm a blogger and a record collector. Juggling functions is my middle name.

So.... I'll have to get the latest MAGIX software. No way I can transfer my present edition to the new computer. Even if I had a disc the size of this house to save it on, MAGIX wouldn't allow it. The License Violation Cops would hunt me across the state. Never mind that I paid for the dang thing.

And I'll have to buy the disc version of my AVG antivirus. My music and spyware programs, I already have discs for.

I'll have to clear all my music files off the Dell hard drive.

Meanwhile, the cats could care less.

Still monitoring the Box.net "Transfer Used" figure. It if holds fairly steady, I'll put more stuff up.

Life before electronic technology must have been... calmer. Not simpler, but calmer.


Lee

I got the "Transfer Used" blues, baby. Woo!

"Transfer Used" refers, I think, to downloading bandwidth. Not sure if that's the right term, but it's something Box.net (my storage site) keeps track of. And it has to do with download rate. I'm allowed so much per month, and, when it runs out, downloads stop.

And when downloads stop, the economy crashes, and aliens from the Planet Blipzorp zip on down to enslave our species and use our skies for UFO shows.

"Well, on one hand, I'm angry at the aliens for enslaving our race. On the other hand, I love those UFO shows! Those maneuvers are amazing!"--Earthling, interviewed by space beings.

Oops--got off track there. Anyway, we're about halfway through this month's "Transfer Used," which means I'm holding off on more Halloween files until I can be sure there's enough downloading bandwidth for the rest of October. At present, the site is not giving accurate download stats--all but one of my Halloween files is showing zero downloads. Which obviously can't be the case. Not if the transfer rate is higher than usual.

Aaron, at Box.net, informed me that the stats aren't working at the moment. They're working on the stats that aren't working. That works for me. As long as they're on top of things.

And I don't mean that sarcastically (me, NOT sarcastic?). Because, in spite of the occasional minor issue, Box.net has been performing superbly. Seeing as how I've been pretty up front with my complaints about the place, I figure I should rave about their service when it's good. And, so, I am. I'm especially pleased that their recent server switch didn't result in problems. They've got their act together.

As someone who doesn't even know how to reload his browser, I marvel at people who can build a complex site from scratch. And... speaking of technical issues, we have a tech heading over here right now to evaluate our computer set-up. We're moving our Dells, and he will hopefully be able to advise us in that regard.

"Advise us in that regard." Bet you can't tell I was in the military for eight years. I'm very good at bureaucracyspeak. Be vague and redundant. Be verbose if necessary. It's really pretty simple.

I'm also going to get him to upgrade the RAM on my machine--I do not trust myself to try it. Sure, I can put cards in slots, but just watch me fry the whole interior circuitry with static electricity (a tiny charge is all it takes). Or God knows what else.

I'll also let him know that my browser (Internet Explorer) keeps slowing down to nothing. Either it was damaged by my stupid Kodak software or it's fighting one of the programs presently on my hard drive. Who knows? I sure don't.

Because computers are so complicated, there are so many damn things that can go wrong with them. That's the extent of my technical understanding of PCs.

Anyway, hopefully this Dell can be saved. I'm reading scripture to it as we speak.


Lee

Halloween at MY(P)WHAE: Witches, ghosts, goblins, zombies, murderers, creatures, and other troubled individuals.

Presented by Count Bingula!













The Naughty Ghost, Jan August, 1955. From Mercury 45.

The Voodoo Man, Del-Vikings, 1957. From Mercury 45.

Which Witch Doctor (J. Neel, N. Venet), The Vogues, 1958.

Them (Hoffman-Manning), Art Carney, circa 1955. From children's LP.

Sittin' by Sittin' Bull (Jimmie Driftwood), Eddy Arnold, 1959. From RCA Victor 45.

Spooky Movies (Steve Stone), Roy Clark, 1963. From Capitol label 45.

Sweeney Todd, the Barber; Stanley Holloway, 1956. From Columbia LP.

Tennessee Hill-billy Ghost, Red Foley and the Anita Kerr Singers, 1951. From Decca 45.

The Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie), Buchanan and Ancel, 1957. From 45 on the Flying Saucer label.

Buchanan and Ancel Meet the Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie), 1957. Flip of above.

Bug-Eyed Man, The Hollywood Argyles, 1960.

The Girl Around the Corner, Lee Andrews and the Hearts, 1957. From 45 rpm reissue.

Haunted Castle (Lynn Easton), The Kingsmen, 1963. From Wand 45.

(It's a) Monsters' Holiday, Buck Owens, 1974. From Capitol 45.

Laughing Over My Grave (Stevens), Ray Stevens, 1964. From Mercury 45.

Mister Boogie Woogie, The Kiddie Kats. From children's LP.

Mr. Ghost Goes to Town, Five Jones Boys, 1936.

The Night Before Halloween, Bill Buchanan, 1962. From United Artists 45.

My Friend the Ghost, Tommy Dorsey and His Orch. featuring Gordon Polk, 1954. From Bell label vinyl 7" 78.

My Friend the Ghost, Tommy Dorsey and His Orch., featuring Gordon Polk, year unknown. A children's version released on Golden Records.

Horror Show, Sharkey Todd and His Monsters, 1959. From 45.

The Mummy (Rod McKuen), Bob McFadden and Dor, 1959. From Brunswick 45.



Lee

Pretty out there, even by Halloween-novelty standards.

That describes the sides you are about to experience. In fact, these are pretty out there by any standards. Must-hears, in other words.


















My cat, Perry, just told me to cool it with the hip talk ("must-hears"). I thought it was more like dork talk. Perry asks, what's the difference? All right, Pear--enough of that.

He's always got to be a wise-cat.

A Gift of Prophecy (Dixon-Sherman), Jeanne Dixon, with Joe Sherman, 1967. From Bell label 45.

Are You Ready for Life in Inner Space?, Written, produced, and directed by Bert Tenzer, 1964. "A Production with Full Cast and Orchestration." From 10" giveaway LP.

The Face from Outer Space (Barry-Raleigh), Jeff Barry, 1960. From RCA Victor 45. (Yes, Jeff Barry of Barry-Greenwich fame.)

He's Going to Eat Me Up, Napoleon XV Revue. (Because of a crude line near the end, be sure not to play this around the kiddies.)

Lookout Mountain (Seymour Lazar), Chuck Miller, 1956. From Mercury label 45.

The Bells, Billy Ward and His Dominoes, 1952. From Federal label 45.

Zombi, The Monotones, 1958. From Chess 45. (The Book of Love guys.)

You'll never guess where Life in Inner Space is going. Unless, of course, you've heard it before.

Remember--to download a file, merely right-click on the link and choose "Save as...."


Lee

Halloween continues at MY(P)WHAE: TV and Movie Screams!

Presented by... Perry.
















Munster Creep (Hooven-Carroll-Winn), The Munsters, 1964. From Decca 45.

The Outer Limts End Title (Dominic Frontiere), 1962. From soundtrack.

Quentin's Theme (Robert Cobert), The Charles Randolph Grean Sounde, 1969. From Ranwood LP.

Rocketship X-M Main Title (Ferde Grofe), 1950. Original soundtrack.

Dark Shadows Theme (Robert Cobert), 1966. Original soundtrack.

Jolly Green Giant (Easton), The Kingsmen, 1964. From Wand label 45.

Jolly Green Giant (Easton), The Chords, 1964. From Hit label 45.

The Martian Mutants (From Rocketship X-M; Ferde Grofe), 1950. Original soundtrack.

Shadows of the Night (Cobert-Grean), The Charles Randolph Grean Sounde, 1969. From Ranwood LP.

The Addams Family (Mizzy) Frank De Vol, 1965. From ABC-Paramount LP.

The Lurch (Gary Paxton), Ted Cassidy with the music of Gary Paxton, 1965. From Capitol 45.

Theme from The Munsters, Billy Strange, 1965. From GNP Crescendo LP.

Countdown, Launch, Into Orbit (From Rocketship X-M; Ferde Grofe), 1950. Original soundtrack.

Approaching Mars (From Rocketship X-M; Ferde Grofe), 1950. Original soundtrack.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (L. Heller-Frank De Vol), Music by De Vol, 1962. From Columbia 45.

Twilight Zone (Herrmann), Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra. Arranged by Ray Martin, 1960.

The Incredible Shrinking Man (Foster Carling-Earl E. Lawrence), Ray Anthony and His Orchestra, 1957. From Capitol 45.

The H Man, Columbia Pictures Theatre Lobby Spot, 1958. From 78. (I figured, why not link this one again in keeping with the post theme?)


Lee

Ahem....

No one has identified, or attempted to identify, the main theme used in Dickie Goodman's Suspense. In fact, I think it was the actual radio theme to a series by that name. Don't quote me. Radio buffs, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, it's a 20th-century piece. That much I'll reveal.

Here's the link, again:

Suspense (Goodman), Dickie Goodman, 1966. From Red Bird 45.

The first person to correctly answer the question receives a free dog chew toy.

No, just kidding. No prizes, save for the priceless knowledge that you were right. The greatest prize of all. Can't put a $$ tag on that.


Lee

Misirlou, Misirlou. With a love so rare and true....

Oops. I think I've got my songs confused, here.

Very recently, I put up a bunch of tracks I regard as early exotica. A 1948 version of Misirlou was in the bunch, along with another I/#I classic, Temptation. Both songs feature the Hijaz mode, which goes: 1, #1, 3, 4, 5, b6, 7, 1.

The b6, 7, 1 part is standard Arabian Nights stuff, and most musicians know it by way of the harmonic minor scale. It sounds very "wrong" by Western standards, even though we're very used to hearing it by now (2006). One of those modes.

What's cool about the Misirlou scale is that there it contains two examples of the above--i.e., two instances of a step and a half followed by a half-step. The Hijaz mode can be thought of as the harmonic minor combined with Phrgian mode. Or simply the major scale with the second and sixth flattened.

Is everyone asleep? Good. I'll instruct my assistant to lift your wallets and purses.

Anyway, Misirlou is the most famous Hijaz-mode piece out there, I think. Well, Jezebel is famous, too, and that's in the same mode. Probably a bunch of others. (Just writing out loud--sorry.)

And there's a must-hear 1930 version of Misirlou at a place called Dinosaur Gardens, along with eight other renditions, including a 1955 Cardinals recording I posted a while back. My thanks to John Tenney for linking me. Isn't the 1930 version cool, in particular? I love it. I'd guessed that any "authentic" version of the tune would keep everything on the tonic, so to speak. While I don't hear any chords, I hear the keynote being used as a pedal. To my ears, this suggests a one-chord accompaniment. As in, I/I/I/I/I/I, etc.

The writer of the post guesstimates that Misirlou was written in the late 1800s. Dunno--but I do know that such "oriental" strains were old hat by the time Gustav Holst composed his wonderful Beni Mora Suite of 1909-1910.

And we're about to hear two excerpts from Beni Mora--the perfect companions to Misirlou. We start with the first dance from the suite (3/4 of it, anyway), and, if you listen closely, you'll hear the Misirlou scale popping up after the harmony comes in, especially in those spots where (according to my Casio keyboard) E Major modulates to Dm7 (with the keynote held over). The latter chord provides the Misirlou b2.

Beni Mora (Oriental Suite; Oriental Suite)--First dance (excerpt), Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones, 1997.

The third movement features a near-Misirlou mode as one of the many details placed atop an enigmatic riff that repeats 163 times (according to the liner notes I'm reading right now)! Lots of whole-tone-scale shenanigans, too:

Beni Mora (Oriental Suite; Gustav Holst)--Finale ; same as above.

And, a hundred years from now, "oriental" modes like these will sound just as mysterious. I'm using that incorrect term in the old-fashioned sense, of course. Back when Kashmiri Song would have qualifed as "oriental." Or Cesar Cui's (coincidence?) Orientale. Or Song of India. San. The Shiek of Araby. Suez. Japanese Moon. Oriental Love Dreams.

I think we've uncovered a trend.


Lee

Box.net off until 5 AM PST.

Box.net just moved, or something. They promise to be up and running come 5 AM PST. Okey-doke.

O.K., here's an exact statement from Box.net Blog. Verbatim. Unadulterated. Unedited.

"We’re excited and relieved to finally be moving into our new datacenter later today. Sam and Jeff have been working non-stop for the past two months to make sure the move goes without a hitch. We’ll experience planned downtime this evening (Saturday) between 11PM-5AM PST. Unless the unforeseeable happens, we’ll see you on our spiffy new servers tomorrow morning!
-Aaron"

I don't know--do servers work just as well when people are sitting on them?

O.K., I'm going to attempt to upload a photo using Box.net's photo-upload feature. Cross your fingers:























Yee-ha! It worked. And isn't that a cool Halloween cat? You wouldn't even suspect it's a doggy chew toy, would you?


Lee