WFMU's Beware of the Blog

You No Longer Need to Beware of the Blog

After ten fun-filled years, we're packing up shop here at WFMU's Beware of the Blog. Many thanks to the dozens of volunteer authors who put in so much time and love into their posts and articles, and thanks to the commenters and trolls who almost feel like part of our dysfunctional family. 

"Almost" is a funny word, isn't it? 

We will keep every single post up here for all of eternity, and someday, WFMU may resume online publishing. First we need to find an admin though, something we haven't had here for many years, which is part of the reason that we are shutting it down. 

Thanks everybody!

Welcome to Beware of the Blog - Enjoy Our Bountiful Feast of Goodies!

Moving the Reel to Reel Catacombs to a New Site - A Very Special Last Post - Featuring Dora Hall!!

There is pure magic to be experienced, at least when you're in luck. Here's how it starts: Turn on the reel to reel tape recorder. Take the tape out of the box. Put the empty reel on the right spindle, and the full reel on the left spindle. Wind the tape through the mechanisms - including the pinch rollers, the capstan and the rest. The tape is pressed against the heads and moves at a certain number of inches per second. Start the machine. And sometimes... if you're lucky... magic comes spilling out of the speakers. 

For over five years (of my total of 7 1/2 years of posting here), I have been sharing treasures, finds, weirdness and the indescribable from my basement reel to reel catacombs, under a series going by that title. It began in March of 2010 with this post, and ends (for this blog), with the 67th entry, which is today's post. This blog is closing in a matter of days, and there will, at that point, be no further posts, changes or ability to comment. 

Before getting to today's post, which is a true favorite of mine, I want to say that it is my intention to continue this series, perhaps on a even more frequent basis, at a new site which I have started up this week, a blog I'm calling "Inches Per Second". That site can be found here, and I have already started posting with an initial post titled "A Gaggle of Giggling Twelve Year Olds". Please stop by, if you're of a mind to, and let me know whether or not the audience is there for me to continue sharing this particular area of collecting. 

As mentioned last week, I also hope to expand my current blog, "The Wonderful and the Obscure", beyond its current focus on song-poems, and bring in some of the other, non reel wonders from my collection. 

And now, on with the countdown: 

Several times, over the years, both in the 365 days project and in my own posts, I've mentioned the wondrous, late and lamented ALS Mammoth Music Mart, which ran in Skokie, IL, for 25 years, every fall. The most magical tapes I found at that sale are the ones featuring Merigail Moreland, You can read about the ALS sale and some initial information about Merigail in this post, and read the rest of the Merigail story in this post. 

But the second most wonderful find I made at the ALS sale is one I've rarely mentioned to anyone, and for which I've only shared the actual recordings with two people that I recall. For these tapes contain the sessions for an album by everyone's favorite Vanity Singer, Dora Hall, sessions that, as far as I can tell, were never released. And that's a shame because, for once, she was backed by a small combo of crack musicians, and, for one session, an big jazz band. Here's what I saw on one of the tapes I bought: 

Not familiar with Dora Hall? Read about her here, here and here, hear her within this site here and here, and search youtube for all sorts of amazing Dora material.  

The man behind these sessions was Chicago jazzman Larry Taylor. I have previously featured multiple posts featuring Mr. Taylor, and those tapes were also found at the ALS sale - clearly someone in his family dumped all of his tapes on the good people at the ALS fundraiser, because at the same time that I found those tapes, I also found close to a dozen tapes labeled "Dora Hall Session" and "Dora - Memphis" and "D.H" Session", and "Instrumental Takes - Dora". I gave them a spin, and heard.... magic, just as described at the start of this post.

These were the session tapes - with dates on them from the Fall of 1961 - at the studio speed of 15 inches per second (a few were 7 1/2 safety copies)  and featuring multiple takes of many songs (many more repeated songs by the band on the instrumental tapes than there were on the tapes where Dora overdubbed vocals, but just in general a lot of material). The band was made up of crack jazz musicians, with much of the material having a Dixieland feel. I own a ton of Dora Hall's albums and singles, and most of it has been captured online over the years, as well. If this material was ever released, I haven't found it. And it's better than anything else I've heard from her. 

First, before we get to Dora's vocals, here is one of the instrumental tracks from the Larry Taylor group that show just how good this band could be. Sadly, this one wasn't chosen for use under a Dora Hall vocal overdub, because I adore this track. It's my favorite from the tapes, actually, over any of the vocal tracks. It is just a backing track, but I love the back and forth between the "rock and roll" (twist) verses and the swinging bridge. But most of all, the trumpet solo - which sounds like it could have come from Clifford Brown - just kills me. It's sexy as hell, smooth and full of just amazing little melodic ideas. The last two bars of that solo are otherworldly. I also can't get enough of the little hi-hat and snare shot at the 2:19 point. I'm blathering, but these are the last thing I'll be posting to Beware of the Blog, and this particular track is one of my favorite things I've ever heard roll off of a reel of tape. 

The Larry Taylor Band - Between 18th and 19th on Chestnut Street (Instrumental) (MP3)

And now, a few samples from Dora's vocal sessions - I wouldn't be opposed to putting all of this out in some manner, and if anyone out there has the means to do so, in a larger venue than a blog, feel free to contact me at the e-mail address below. But for the time being, here are a few wonderful samples. The first three tracks are with the jazz combo (the first being over a different, swing take of "18th and 19th), and the fourth is from what's labeled as the "United Session", whatever that means - the tracks on those tapes feature Dora with a full jazz ensemble. To my ears, these tapes show Dora to have considerably more talent than her subsequent covers of pop hits (or later, less well made covers of these standards) demonstrate. Or maybe it's just the first-rate quality of the band(s) involved. 

Dora Hall with the Larry Taylor Band - Between 18th and 19th on Chestnut Street (MP3)

Dora Hall with the Larry Taylor Band - Nellie Bly (MP3)

Dora Hall with the Larry Taylor Band - Shine (MP3)

Dora Hall with Orchestra - That's a Plenty (MP3)

Back of Tape Box (JPG)  | Side of Tape Box (JPG)

Why wasn't this material ever released? Who knows? - most of those involved have been gone for decades. it is curious to me that Dora Hall released mediocre and just plain lousy material for more than a decade, while this material languished somewhere in Larry Taylor's home. 

You should be able to leave comments until July 30th. After that, you can contact me via either of my blogs, or via the e-mail address below. 

[email protected]

Thanks to everyone who read, liked and/or commented on my posts for the past several years. Having the chance to be a part of this blog has been one of the best things to have happened in my life. 

Bob Purse

"Juke Box Comics" - One Last Wallow

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to the stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never.  In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony."

William Henry Channing

"We are the music-makers, / And we are the dreamers of dreams, / Wandering by lone sea-breakers, / And sitting by desolate streams; / World-losers and world-forsakers, / On whom the pale moon gleams: / Yet we are the movers and shakers / Of the world forever, it seems."

Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy

"A man is like a phonograph with half-a-dozen records. You soon get tired of them all; and yet you have to sit at table whilst he reels them off to every new visitor."

George Bernard Shaw

{ Drew Dobbs / aka "Listener Mindwrecker" } : What an irony that when I first began to blog here (in January 2009) I had just completed a move across country that required leaving behind three-quarters of my record collection, so that I began to run out of amazing material rather more quickly than I would have liked, and eventually switched over altogether into this comic book-related series. Thanks again to Otis Fodder, who ushered me into the honorable position of bi-weekly blogging at BOTB. It IS often all in who you know. This will apparently be the next-to-last post of mine here and so I'm going to pour a lot into these last two (or perhaps I'll squeeze in an extra one), as far as content. Since I am always prepping future blog posts well in advance, there is a pile of sort-of-related things left to present here, and it will be a little bit of a jumble sale.

Today, we'll be going through the rest of the six-issue run of "Juke Box Comics" (we have presented some bits from the first two issues here before) from the late 1940s and combing out the best from those lovely books, as well as one small piece in a similar vein from "True Comics" #75.

A lot of fun stuff awaits -- right after the jump!

Pot, Rock and Revolution - Another Reactionary Filmstrip Soundtrack (MP3's)

First off, I want to thank everyone for reading, liking and commenting on my posts on this blog over the years. When I first joined the original 365 Days project (2003), and then the subsequent WFMU hosted 2007 sequel, I had no idea that I'd be invited to start posting on my own early in 2008, starting with this post, let alone that this experience would inspire me to turn my own blog into a song-poem-palooza, or that I'd still be posting here 7 1/2 years later.

All that is in advance of saying that this is my next to last post, because, as you may have heard, the blog is being put to sleep at the end of the month. All posts will remain, but no new ones will appear. This will be my next to last post - the last will be a very special reel to reel tape feature, along with an announcement of a site where I will continue to share reel treasures. For now, I will say that it is my plan and expectation to continue to share vinyl wonders through an expansion of my own blog, adding to the weekly song-poem postings with regular postings of more of the sorts of things that I've been sharing here for the better part of the decade. Starting in August, those posts will appear at my site, "The Wonderful and the Obscure".

Today, however, we have a sequel to a post I made in May, regarding a filmstrip soundtrack for a screed against the people behind a textbook called "Land of the Free". Almost immediately after making that posting, it received a comment from a person who had found another record, apparently from the same organization (who had apparently changed their name to "Constructive Action, Inc.) in the ensuing years, this time trying to scare middle class parents half to death with scary tales of marijuana use and rock and roll.

In listening to this album, I'm reminded of the saying that you are entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts. Plenty of the "facts" quoted here seem completely made up, none more than the statement that 40-50% of the young people who were smoking marijuana at that time, would be on heroin within 18 months. That's the most outlandish, but it's hardly the only time the narrator flies off the deep end - he also all but accuses Mick Jagger (who he repeatedly calls "Jaggard") of being to blame for the Manson family murders. It's also always good to base one's views of marijuana on the laws and cultures of such places as Egypt and Morocco.

Oh, but the opinions here, and the leaps of logic made from them, are even more fun. The entire youth subculture is the fault of a few hundred nihilistic students at Berkeley. The major networks and record labels should be charged with treason for creating and promoting what would otherwise be a non-existent "Generation Gap". Once you've had sex while high, regular sex is so disappointing, you have to keep getting high, then seek ever higher highs, until you simply can't function - and this happens to everyone who smokes marijuana. The cartoon cover of the "Yellow Submarine" album (which, by the way, the Beatles had little to do with) shows that John Lennon is a Satanist. And I'm sure the Smothers Brothers will be surprised to find out that their popular and controversial show was apparently on NBC. After all those years of conflict with CBS - they were fighting the wrong people!!!

This thing is ridiculous, but it sure is entertaining. And a huge thank you to Chester for making me aware of this album, and even more for sharing it with me and letting me post it. 

Constructive Action, Inc. - Pot Rock Revolution, Side One (MP3)

Constructive Action, Inc. - Pot Rock Revolution, Side Two (MP3)

Album Cover Sticker (JPG)  |  Record Label Side One (JPG)

Comments can be left below through the 30th, after which they can be sent to [email protected]

Bob

"Lucky Fights It Through" and Other Romantic Encounters

"When Joey put that trumpet to his lips, he blew against the walls of love and hate and every personal feeling I had for him ... And my heart came tumbling down!"

--- And from another story:

"Lucky Jordan was a tophand cowpuncher. He knew steers and horses. He knew the tricks of sticking on a wild bronc's arching back, the loop of a lariat in midair, the thrill of diving towards the curving horns of a brahma bull inside the rodeo arena. But there were some things Lucky didn't know. On the subject of women, he wasn't so wise. So this is Lucky's story and it opens on the graze ground of his little mill iron ranch, over a branding iron fire ... "

Yessir, romance is in the air today at BOTB's Comic Supplement!  We're back with a passel of cool stories and art, including work by two giants in the comic book field: Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Kirby!

Let's learn a few love tricks from the true-life entanglements and foibles presented in our tales today - join us right after the jump!