WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Johnny Cash and Friends Present: Singing Rice-Ipes (MP3's)

Here's a little little seven inch flexidisc, titled "Singing Rice-Ipes", containing seven songs about all of the wonderful things you can make with rice, featuring Johnny Cash, among others, singing brief ditties in support of Riviana foods (here spelled "Rivianna"), makers of Minute Rice and a number of other rice prodects. This disc came along with an album, released by Columbia Special Products, titled "Nashville Chowdown", and also came with a list of seven recipes ("Rice-Ipes"), one for each of the dishes described in the seven songs. Neither the album nor the recipe sheet made their way to my collection, unfortunately.

I am not much of a fan of the country music made in this era (this was released in 1970, and my interest in country dies out with the decline of Roger Miller's career, a few years earlier), and admit up front that I only recognize Johnny Cash, who is the lead singer on three of these tracks. Presumably, the other four tracks also feature Columbia Records talent - feel free to chime in with the names of these vocalists. 

(ADDENDUM 7/9/15 - As pointed out by a couple of listeners (and as something I actually wondered about, but did not add to my original text), it appears that this is not actually Johnny Cash (or other famous singers), but rather, impersonators. Why Columbia would risk alienating the stars on their own label is a mystery to me, but this appears to be the case.)

Some of these items sound darn tasty, although I find the idea of making pancakes with rice really unpleasant.

All but one of the songs song run well under two minutes, most under 90 seconds. The first four songs are on side one, and the other three on side two (which is in considerably worse shape than side one - I did my best with the surface noise). 

1.) Houston Hash (MP3)

2.) Sunnyside Rice (MP3)

3.) Cripple Creek Casserole (MP3)

4.) Texarkana_Rice (MP3)

5.) Blue Ridge Flap-Jacks (MP3)

6.) Skillet Gumbo (MP3)

7.) Hopping John (MP3)

Record A-Side Label (JPG)   |   Record B-Side Label (JPG)

Seeing Color TV for the First Time - A Tape from 1966 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume 66) (MP3)

I'm not quite old enough to clearly remember the point at which my family got a color TV, and suddenly not everything was in black-and-white. But my guess is that anyone a couple of years older than me or more (I'm about to turn 55) has a clear memory of that moment. 

Here, then, is a tape from my own family's home-recorded collection (a large set of tapes by the way, one which no doubt set me on the road to collection those made by other families). 

The tape dates from the first week of August, 1966 (the ability to date it so closely will be mentioned below), and features me older brother recording with a friend of his. This was his common practice, and became mine, with my friends, as I grew a little older. My brother (Bill) is heard here at 12 years old, his friend about the same. We'd had a color TV for some time, but the friend (Steve) had apparently yet to see TV in color. 

Essentially, this tape captures segments of about six minutes of broadcasting (with much cut due to the recorder being turned off and on), including bits of a game show, a newscast and commercials, as well as what anyone seeing TV in color for the first time in 1966 would want to see most, the NBC Peacock. 

If you can get past the constant noise from handling of the microphone, and the various inanities and noises made by 12 year old boys, this is a neat little time capsule in just under four minutes. 

Some specific highlights: 

    - at 0:13: "Ooh, it's a color TV? I wanna see a color TV"

    - at 0:29 (and again at 1:02): Moments from the original incarnation of "The Match Game"

    - at 039: an ad for New Era Potato Chips and a subsequent discussion of them by the boys

    - at 1:27: the original Match Game theme (aka "A Swingin' Safari"). An indelible, wonderful tune and record, and still my favorite game show theme song ever. 

    - at 2:01: easily my favorite moment here - a comment in response to a "Girl from U.N.C.L.E." ad. 

    - at 2.06: Bill expresses his absolute hatred for the show "Occasional Wife". His strong reaction is odd, given that the show won't debut for another five weeks. 

    - starting at 2:34: here's a neat discussion, with regard to something I'd forgotten. The UHF channels (at least those in Chicago), didn't necessarily have shows that ran hour-to-hour. If a show ended at 2:40, the channel went dead until the next show started at 3 PM. Steve wants to see a UHF channel in color, but neither Chicago UHF station seems to be broadcasting. There is a weak signal from Indiana (Bill says we also could get Milwaukee), but it's mostly just sound. The Chicago stations will likely start up again at 3, but Bill wants to get back to NBC for the peacock. 

    - at 3:12: "that's Nancy Dickerson?" Also, whoever is reporting is talking about the recent University of Texas Tower Shootings of August 1st, which give us an approximate date for this tape. 

    - at 3:36: at last, the NBC Peacock. 

I hope you enjoy this neat little nugget of television history, as experienced in the suburbs of Chicago. 

Bill and Steve: Seeing Color TV for the First Time (JPG)