Box.net bandwidth

That's hard to say, isn't it? "Box.net bandwidth." It's awkward.

And it's nearly kaput. I'm allowed 50 GB of downloading bandwidth, and that figure ("transfer used") is sitting at 48.6 as I type this. Yikes.

I'd type "Houston, we have a problem," but I'd hate myself if I did. (Oops.)

Box.net is my main file-storage site, for those of you who aren't MY(P)WHAE regulars. And I'm not sure about that word--"regulars." I mean, I've been here since the first post, and I don't consider myself very regular. I'm kind of an oddball, in fact. (Shocked readers: "Noooooo!!!")

Anyway, I forgot when my monthly account kicks in--it's around the fifth of the month. Fifth, sixth. In other words, we'll be experiencing several days of no Box.net. (Not slow Box.net. No Box.net.)

After which, downloading bandwidth will resume as if it had never been exhausted. It'll be waiting there, a stupid grin on its face, all perky and eager.

Just to let everyone know. I'll be using Savefile.com in the meanwhile. And I'll be clearing out older shared files. Such as all the Halloween MP3s.

Dang, blogging is a lot of work. People just see the glamorous side, not the gritty, behind-the-scenes trials and stuff. It's... it's heck back here. Behind the computer, as it were. For one thing, the Japanese lady bugs love my big new HP screen. They keep wapping into it. Insects are idiots.

Anyway, the Halloween mp3s are going to have to go bye-bye. And if there's one thing that monsters and witches and ghosts hate, it's going "bye-bye." Even though, technically, they should be practiced experts, since most of them are, after all, dead.

Or previously deceased. Whatever.

"Say 'Bye-bye.'"--Me.
"I'll rip you to pieces!"--Wolfman.
"You are so out of here."--Me, hitting Delete key.

So, we drove to my clinic in the big city (Columbus, Ohio) to discover that my 4:15 appointment was for yesterday. Oops. I must have been less than "there" when I called Wednesday. In fact, I'm sure of it. I remember having a hard time keeping the phone up, I was so dizzy. Probably not the best time to be taking notes. ("Ohhhh-kay. 3008, fourteen o'clock. Got it!")

Anyway, even though my doc was out, another doc saw me. A doc who used to be my regular doc.

As I figured, I have a respiratory infection, and the infection is causing some airway restriction, which is giving me the unable-to-breathe, bordering-on-asthma sensation I've been enjoying for a week now. A symptom that has considerably lessened over the past 48 hours, though. This is good.

But doc wants me to go another antibiotic course. Which I will do. By the time this is over, all germs will have left my body. Which, come to think of it, would be fatal.

Correction: only the bad germs. The good ones (with the white cowboy hats) stick around while triumphal stock music plays in the background and the bad guys (the harmful bacteria) ride out of town (my body).

The dual nature of existence, or whatever: without germs, we'd be dead. With them, we serve as a host for things that eventually, um....

Well, consume us. (This is gross. Sorry.)

O.K., more Christmas sounds to come, including a folder of 78s stuck, for the moment, at Box.net. Meanwhile, here's photographic proof that Randi the Handi Elf exists:



I take that back. Blogger's not uploading images. This has happened before--I get to the end of a note, and images won't upload. However, if I upload them first thing, everything's fine. Usually.

It's as if Blogger has an unofficial upload limit or something. I don't know.

In other news, my new computer wants me to burn a rescue disc to two DVDs or 18 CD-Rs. Uhhhhh... yeah. I'll get right on it!


Lee

Elves and Santas

From "Christmas Continues at MY(P)WHAE" to "More 'Christmas Continues at MY(P)WHAE.'" That's the progression. Easy-to-miss wordplay.

Some would call it bad wordplay. They might have a point.

Anyway, this is "More 'Christmas Continues at MY(P)WHAE.'" It was the best I could do in the early a.m. as I stared at the title column for the project I'd just started at Savefile.com. Be nice to me.

My present bout o' illness isn't over yet, by the way. I see my doctor later this afternoon. Hopefully, he'll know how to pull me all the way out of this. I am feeling better, though. Sort of. No fever, and I'm eating food. Solid food. Three days without same was no fun.

Meanwhile, the wind is whipping up like a Wizard of Oz remake. But no snow in the forecast. Or ice. Two good things not to have in the forecast. Thank you, forecast.

Silver Spurs was a 1975 children's book that sells for $30-50 at eBay and elsewhere. Dunno why it fetches such dough. The publishers (Knollwood) put out a condensed (?) version of the book on their own label, with a Silver Spurs song on the flip. That's all I know. Honest. I don't know if this was included with the book, or if it appeared as a follow-up, or what.

I do know that Silver Spurs has all the excitement of a time-lapse documentary on paint-coat luster-loss . The story: In these modern times, chimneys are getting smaller, and some houses don't even have chimneys. Santa is concerned, because 1) he is fat, and 2) he needs some sort of access to people's homes so he can, of course, leave stuff for them. He has no idea how to resolve this dilemma. Silver Spurs, the world's smallest elf, comes up with a suggestion--why doesn't he (Silver Spurs) slip into each house and open it from the inside so Santa can get in? Santa is thrilled at the suggestion.

The end.

Then we meet Randi the Handi Elf via the song of the same title. (And I've always wanted to type "via the song of the same title.") I know what you're thinking--Randi, ha, ha. A randy elf. Me, too. What the heck were they thinking?

Anyway, Randy's story is about as compelling, suspenseful, and multi-layered as Silver Spurs', so keep this in mind. Check your Excitement-ometer before proceeding to be sure the needle is back in the safe zone.

We close with a 2005 encore--this time, in better sound. It's called Santa's Christmas Party, and it's all about our planet's various versions of Santa. It's quite cool. Celebrating diversity isn't as new an idea as we like to think. Bill O'Reilly would presumably be O.K. with this, since "Christmas" is mentioned throughout. Dunno.

Click on this link to hear these classics:

MORE "CHRISTMAS CONTINUES AT MY(P)WHAE".

The tracklist:

Silver Spurs; A Christmas Story (Robert Knigge), Narrated by Dr. Dwayne Jorgenson (1975). From 7" 33 1/3 single.

Silver Spurs: A Christmas Song (Betty Knigge), Vocalist: keith Lester; Voice of Santa: Dr. Dwayne Jorgensen (1975). From 7" 33 1/3 single.

Randi the Handi Elf (D. Marshall), Dan Marshall (and Tommy's Chorus). From 45 on Amlin label.

Santa's Christmas Party (Ruth White), Narrated by Kathryn Hume; Singing by Grace Lynne martin. From 7" 33 and 1/3 single.


Lee

Merry Burtmas, Part 1--"The Bell That Couldn't Jingle," The Baby Dolls, 1964

Angie, of the two-sister duo The Baby Dolls, was kind enough to send me a file of their 1964 recording of Burt Bacharach and Larry Kusik's The Bell That Couldn't Jingle. Said Angie, back in July:

"My sister and I recorded The Bell That Couldn't Jingle by Bacarach-Kusic as 'The Baby Dolls' in 1964 at Abbey Road Studios,London (we are English) I was 10 years old and my sister 12 years old. We bumped into The Beatles in the corridor as they were also recording there at the time :) We sang the song twice in the studio for the recording. I remember we laughed at the end of the song and they decided to keep it on the track. The orchestra was Geoff Love and his orchestra and the backing vocals were provided by The Ladybirds. Some great memories from my childhood, meeting the stars of the day, performing etc spring to mind each time I hear the record played...usually once at Xmas! Singing not too bad for a couple of youngsters! I have the original 7" vinyl in front of me. We were signed to EMI and recorded on the Columbia label. The B side is We're No Angels,(which we preferred) written for us by our agent Ponte-Johnson. Sorry If I've bored you with this info! lol Angie x :) "

Bored? Hardly. In fact, that was downright cool! Best of all, here's the not-all-that-common track itself an excellent-sounding file. Again, many thanks to Angie:


The Bell That Couldn't Jingle (Bacharach-Kusik), The Baby Dolls with Geoff Love and His Orchestra and The Ladybirds, 1964.

Angie continues:

"It is different I know and it WAS REALLY FUN to make, hence the laughing at the end. Geoff Love and his orchestra were really big in the UK so the style of the music and spicing up of the song is all down to him."

Pretty darned good for two takes, I'd say. Angie also sent me a cool photo of the Baby Dolls in the studio, but something has happened to the photo during Outlook Express storage--two-thirds of it is washed out, otherwise I'd include it. (Digital decay? Very odd.)

Glad to have the chance to present this Yuletide gem--and sorry to have to revert to Savefile.com, but bandwidth is rapidly evaporating at Box.net....

More to come as I slowly shake three days' worth of fever and chills.


Lee

Godzilla vs. Christmas

Great news--Fox News' Bill O'Reilly is doing his best to restart the "war on Christmas" (a "culture war battle," he calls it), an eternal struggle that revolves around the vastly important issue of whether people, during the XMas season, cry out "Happy Holidays!" or "Merry Christmas!" (I guess that saying both isn't an option.) The former is secular-progressive-radical, or something, while the latter is as traditional and wholesome as a Disney-animated slice of apple pie.

I guess Irving Berlin wasn't aware of all this in 1942, the year he wrote the excellent ditty Happy Holiday. You know, the one that appears at key points in the 1954 1942 hit movie White Christmas Holiday Inn. Bill O'Reilly was minus seven years old in 1942, so Berlin had nothing to worry about.

Anyway, I'm glad the war on Christmas is back. Why? Because it gives me an excuse to rerun my very own Godzilla vs. Christmas from last year. This skit was written by me, and it stars me, me, me, and me. Most of the music was swiped from a Peter Pan LP.

Enjoy:


Godzilla vs. Christmas (L. Hartsfeld)--Lee Hartsfeld, times 3 (2005).


Lee