Dreamtime - Commentary Inspired By Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour

This Old Man - Bob Dylan

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:47:25 PDT

A nice mash-up of various video clips edited to complement Bob Dylan's rendition of the traditional children's song. Dylan recorded "This Old Man" for the 19 and 91 Disney compilation, For Our Children, released to benefit the Pediatric Aids Foundation. The original CD is out-of-print, but the song can be found on on the 2007 collection Every Child Deserves a Lifetime, or as a stand-alone mp3.

As with many children nursery rhymes and songs, the exact origins of "This Old Man" are unknown. It appears to have been based on a 19th century - and possibly much older - English song variously titled Jack Jintle,Jack Jingle, Old Joe Padlock, Old Joe Nigalock, and Old Tommy Kendall.

My name is Jack Jintle, the eldest but one,
And I can play nick-nack upon my own thumb.
With my nick-nack and pad-lock and sing a fine song,
And all the fine ladies come dancing along

According to Wikipedia, the more familiar "nick-nack, paddy-whack" lyrics first appeared in English Folk-Songs for Schools, published in 1906. In 1948 it was included by Pete Seeger and Ruth Crawford in their American Folk Songs for Children and popularized by Seeger in his recording of 19 and 53.

According to an article first printed in The Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society "nick-nack" was probably some sort of finger trick involving the rapping of knuckles. " 'Knackers' is an old name for castanets or wooden 'bones'. Strutt quotes under Fool's Dance an allusion (1649) to a person dancing the Spanish morisco with 'knackers' at his fingers (Anne Geddes Gilchrist, Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, III (2) 1937 124-5).

Various writers have speculated that the unusual "paddy-whack" is everything from a nonsense phrase invented to rhyme with "nick-nack" to a calumny against the Irish. In these politically correct times, the word is now often printed as "patty-whack." However, given the "give a dog a bone" line that follows, its most likely that "paddy-whack" is referring to a sheep or cow's nuchal ligament, a tough, elastic tendon found in the animal's neck, which when dried is still used as a dog treat to this day, and in rural areas is still known as a paddywhack.

See what you learn from reading Dreamtime?

Sources: Wikipedia; Mudcat Cafe thread on origins of "This Old Man"

K's Shoe Redux

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:50:44 PDT

Dreamtime's already received some interesting emails on our K Blows Top! post of Wednesday, including a nice note from author Peter Carlson, who wrote the book that inspired our title and article, the original (and highly recommended) K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist. Mr. Carlson writes the he's "a big fan of Dylan and his radio show" and goes on to say about the controversy over whether the shoe-banging actually happened or not...

"... it was reported in newspapers the next day by people who did see it and then K admitted in his memoirs... [But] it has become a mythic event and so it's not surprising that people deny that it happened."

We also received a lengthy and fascinating email from a correspondent who writes that he was the T.V. Director at the U.N. at the time...

"...The U.N. TV signal was fed to closed circuit monitors within the International facility, to a pool of outside subscribers, as well as an in-house instant kinescope setup, supervised by a kinescope director. From what I have been able to determine, the kinescope cameras were not rolling when the shoe incident took place...

...CBS- (or WCBS) News had nevertheless booked a daylong feed and their VTR machine(s) recorded Mr. K's parliamentary transgression. That very evening, sitting at home, I watched a Special Event broadcast on Channel 2, WCBS-TV, wherein the shoe banging was repeated several times, almost ad nauseam."

Our correspondent goes on to note that as we recorded in our post and as Peter Carlson writes in K Blows Top, all visual evidence of Khrushchev's shoe-banging - including that WCBS tape - seems to have been lost. To avoid confusion and emails , I'll again point out that the image above, which circulates on the Web as a still from the incident, is a Photoshopped fake.

Finally, our correspondent provides a correction to an error: "You report that 'Many in the Soviet delegation were embarrassed, although they all dutifully banged their shoes along with their Premier'. That is incorrect. They – and other Iron Curtain-country delegates did however bang their fists in unison w/ Mr. K. But that was during the Harold Macmillan and Dag Hammarskjold incidents, earlier in the session."

Never know what you'll get when you do a Dreamtime post. As always, I appreciate the emails, comments, and corrections. It's what makes Dreamtime a joy to write.

DylanTweets "Bob Dylan Both Ends of the Rainbow" Giveaway

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:58:07 PDT

Dreamtime has one (1) copy of the "special edition" DVD/CD documentary, "Bob Dylan 1978-1989 Both Ends of the Rainbow" that we're giving away to one of our Twittering DylanTweet followers.

Post something to the effect of "I follow @DylanTweets" to Twitter and you're automatically entered. Make sure you include the "@"

Entries end tomorrow, Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 2400 EDT. The winner will be notified by Monday the 20th.

According to the packaging, the DVD is "All Regions."

"Bob Dylan 1978-1989 Both Ends of the Rainbow" is the third documentary in a series produced by UK-based Chrome Dreams, covering one of the more problematic decades in Dylan's career. The original documentary was released in 2008. This special re-release adds an audio CD featuring various interviews with Dylan during his so-called "Gospel Years."

K Blows Top!

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:11:38 PDT

"To me, the first lesson of being subversive is, don't tell people you're being subversive." ~ Eddie Gorodetsky, The Los Angeles Times, December 10, 2000.

"I've always believed that the first rule of being subversive is not to let anybody know you're being subversive." ~ Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, "Trains (Part 1)," March 14, 2007

***

Our Host: Oh, we have a first-time caller. Am I supposed to pick up Line 1?

Lamont: Hi Bob!

Our Host: Hello, caller. What's your name?

Lamont: My name is Lamont Dween.

Our Host: Where ya calling from, Lamont?

Lamont: I'm calling from Silver Lake, California.

Our Host: Well, that's good. We're doing our California show today.

Lamont: I know you are, I've been listening.

Our Host: Uh-huh.

Lamont: I got a question and I got a request. I was wondering if you could play "Whittier Boulevard" by Thee Midniters?*

Our Host: We're going to look for that record for you. What's your question?

Lamont: Isn't there a famous Nikita Khrushchev quote about automobiles from the Cold War?

Our Host: Why, yes there is, Lamont. I believe it was in 19 and 56, during the famous kitchen debates. Nikita Khrushchev was speaking to Nixon and he said to him,

"Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will strangle your cities with traffic. We'll draw you into fighting useless wars. We'll send in developers to ravage your land and replace your individual farms with corporations. We will force your citizens into the slavery of credit card debt. We'll send gangsters into your schools to sell your children drugs. We'll replace each of your meals with empty junk food. One way or another, you'll see who comes out on top."

Our Host: Thanks for your call Lamont, and keep listening.

Our Host: Well, it wasn't any empty threat at all, almost a quarter of the land mass in Los Angeles is taken up by auto-mo-biles. This one's for you, Lamont...

[Musical Interlude - "Whittier Blvd." - Thee Midniters]

* Lest anyone think I've gone typo-blind, Thee Midniters did spell the article preceding their name with an extra "E." This was not because they were especially religious or old-fashioned, but because they were wary about having their asses sued off by another band frequently mentioned on Theme Time, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. According to Wikipedia, the conceit started a minor craze of similar misspellings among East L.A. bands, including Eddie Serrano and Thee Enchantments, Thee Headcoats, and Thee Hypnotics.

[Later in the show]

Our Host: Tex is holding up a sign. Got a caller on Line 2. He says it's Lamont? But I think we already talked to Lamont. Lamont, is that you?

Lamont: Yeah, it's me again, Lamont. Thanks for playing "Whittier Boulevard" for me.

Our Host: You're welcome.

Lamont: Boy, it's rilllly heavy what Khrushchev said.

Our Host: Yeah, wasn't it?

Lamont: I can't believe they don't teach that side of the Cold War at school.

Our Host: Well, that's the educational system at work.

Lamont: Did anyone record what Nixon's reaction was?

Our Host: You bet they did. Nixon took a step back, took a deep breath, looked Khrushchev straight in the eye with the power of millions of citizens behind him and said,

"Oh no, you won't."

Our Host: The two squared off, neither willing to give an inch. According to reports, someone banged their shoe on the table, but it's unclear which of the two.

Lamont: Wow! It's like you always say Bob, the show is not only entertaining but informational.

Our Host: Well, we try, Lamont.

Lamont: Thanks again, Bob. Keep rockin' in the free world!

Our Host: All right. ~ Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, "California," October 10, 2007

***

K Blows Top!

I recently finished Peter Carlson's wonderful book about Nikita Khrushchev's bizarro road trip across the United States in 19 and 59, K Blows Top. Whether you lived through that era or not, I highly recommend K Blows Top as a delightful history of a time that seems to get both stranger and more familiar as it recedes away from us.

During the height of the Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev wrangled an invitation to visit the U.S. from an unenthusiastic Dwight D. Eisenhower. Taking a two-week jaunt across the country, the Mighty K. insulted and was insulted by a variety of local pols, hobnobbed with Hollywood luminaries including Marilyn Monroe and Shirley MacLaine, visited farms and auto plants, and shook hands and kissed babies as if he were running for President himself. He was also barred from Disneyland, and sometimes threatened to start an atomic war when he was tired or in a bad mood.

The closest equivalent today would be if North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il suddenly appeared in New York City and set off on a whistle stop tour of America, sampling corn dogs and having a brew at the local watering hole with the boys while holding the occasional news conference to point out that he had rockets capable of hitting California and might just use them.

Washing Machines, Da! Rockets, Nyet!

K Blows Top reminded me of Our Host's equally surreal recounting of the kitchen debate during the "California" episode of Theme Time Radio Hour, a history lesson which I doubt was taught in either the Rhode Island or Minnesota school systems to producer Eddie G. or deejay, Mr. D.

For those not familiar with the background, there was indeed a kitchen debate between the two which took place three years later than Our Host stated, in 19 and 59, in a "typical American tract house" set up for a trade fair in Moscow. During the pair's tour, Nixon led Khrushchev into the model house's kitchen, extolling the benefits of its modern appliances. An unimpressed Nikki K. replied "We have such things" and, typical for the Soviet leader, decided to take Nixon's remarks as a grave insult to the Soviet people as a whole.

The two squared off on Communism versus Capitalism for several more minutes, covering everything from who built the better washing machines (point to the U.S.) to rocketry (point to the U.S.S.R,, which had recently hit the moon with an unmanned rocket. Ours, in contrast, kept blowing up), to who was making ultimatums to whom (point to no one since both sides were).

There was no discussion of the Soviets drowning our cities in consumer goods or credit card debt.

However, Nikki the K. did (kind of) make the "history is on our side" remark during a reception at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 19 and 56. The actual quote reads: "Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will dig you in." which was translated by Western reporters who knew how to write a good lead into, "We will bury you!" ("Мы вас похороним!")

Khrushchev always claimed the translation had been mangled, once relating that he had meant that America's working class would bury capitalism, another time saying that he had been referring to a Marxist joke, "a capitalist would sell the shovel to dig his own grave." But "We will bury you!" is the quote the Chairman is remembered for.

Banging of the Shoe

Khrushchev is also remembered for his "banging of the shoe" which Our Host obliquely refers to in his second conversation with Lamont. The incident - or maybe "performance" would be the better term - didn't happen in either 1956 or `59, but in October 19 and 60, and didn't involve Richard Nixon but instead the full General Assembly of the U.N.

A pugnacious K., inflamed by the Gary Powers' U-2 affair and wanting to impress Third World nations with the U.S.S.R.'s commitment to stand up against that ol' debbil imperialistic America and its running dog lackeys, flipped out when a Filipino delegate suggested that maybe the Soviets, for all their fuming about imperialistic colonialists could themselves be considered "the greatest colonial power in the world." And howza 'bout that Hungary and Czechoslavkia, anyhoo, Nikki? How do you like dem apples, huh?

Reaction: K. blows top.

"Enraged, Khrushchev jumped up again, his face beet red," Peter Carlson relates in K Blows Top. "He had something in his hand and he waved it like a club. It was his right shoe, a tan loafer. For a moment, Washington Post reporter Murrey Marder thought Khrushchev was going to throw it at the podium. But he didn't. Instead, the premier sat down and began banging the shoe on his desk. His first blows were mere taps, but then he pounded harder and harder, louder and louder. Soon the other delegates were turning around, craning their necks to see who was making such a racket."

Khrushchev never explained what had inspired him to bang the shoe, but it became a signature gesture, forever after to be associated with Nikki the K. Many in the Soviet delegation were embarrassed, although they all dutifully banged their shoes along with their Premier. The U.N. was officially outraged. The media was alternately amused and frightened in their reports, given that this, this, this seeming buffoon prone to throwing temper tantrums also had a nuclear arsenal at his disposal.

As Carlson notes, "...the phrase 'Khrushchev banging his shoe' conjures up such a vivid mental image that many Americans believe they watched the event on television." I'm one of those Americans. Even though I was only eight years old at the time, I can close my eyes and see Khrushchev - in fuzzy black-and-white - slamming that shoe on the table. What I'm actually seeing is a fantasy image, maybe brought on by the dread of being fried to a radioactive krispy kritter at the tender age of eight by this guy who looked like somebody's grandfather.

Carlson goes on to point out that not only was there no video of the banging of the shoe, there's not even a still photo of the banging. (the photo above, which circulates on the Web as from Look magazine, is a Photoshopped fake). The closest thing we have to a photo of the shoe banging is a UPI picture of the shoe quietly sitting in front of Khrushchev's U.N. nameplate.

There's some controversy about whether there even was a shoe-banging incident. In a 2003 editorial in The New York Times, William Taubman expresses doubt that it ever happened. "According to [a Times reporter], Taubman writes, "Khrushchev leaned over, took off a slip-on shoe, waved it pseudomenacingly, and put it on his desk, but he never banged his shoe." And a photographer from Life, who was covering Khushchev's visit, notes, "...I can assure you that every camera in the booth was trained on Khrushchev, waiting for him to use the shoe. He only put it on again and left. None of us missed the picture — which would have been a serious professional error. The event never occurred."

Shoe-banging or no shoe-banging? Proof is lost in the mists of history.

Speaking of the the mists of history, just what did Eddie Gorodetsky and Bob Dylan mean by their fractured retelling of the kitchen debate? It wasn't the first or the last whopper Our Host would tell on Theme Time Radio Hour. In various shows he opined that all the presidents except Jimmy Carter were Freemasons, that Alexander Dumas wrote Airport 79 - The Concorde, and made the very debatable claim that Ronald Reagan was a "friend of the black man."

As far as the Krushchev/Nixon alternate world history goes, I think it probably has something to do with the two quotes I used at the beginning of this article, as well as Eddie G.'s fondness for jokes with their punchline in the middle, exemplified by The Aristocrats and The Big Orange Head story.

Or maybe I'm just thinking too much.

The Compleat Theme Time Radio Hour Shopping List

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:15:27 PDT

July brings us another Theme Time Radio Hour compilation with one more coming in September, so it's time yet again to update our Theme Time Radio Hour shopping list, originally published in our Theme Time Radio Hour "Frequently Asked Questions" document.

Promotional CDs

A CD of the complete Baseball show was released in 2006 as part of an in-store promotion for Modern Times. The link above will take you to Amazon where various re-sellers offer the disc for prices ranging from the reasonable to the ridiculous. The disc can also be found on eBay.

Note the following caveat for either Amazon or eBay: if packaging and "original condition" are important to you, you should make sure the disc is not a CD-R copy and is in its original cardboard sleeve (with the TTRH logo on the front and playlist on the back) before purchasing.

If you liked "Friends and Neighbors" (see below) chances are you'll love "Baseball," which features among other things Your Host Bob Dylan performing Take Me Out to the Ball Game a capella.

Another promotional CD, featuring the "Friends and Neighbors" episode, is part of the "deluxe" Together Through Life package released in April 2009. The show has everything that makes TTRH special and is the perfect starting point for introducing someone to the show; quirky music, interesting facts and trivia; two emails, wife-swapping and swinging, and Our Host launching into a blistering attack on modern country music. Who could ask for more?

***

Radio Bob and Radio Bob Another 17 Brillant Tracks...are two compilations originally included as promotional CDs in editions of Uncut magazine. Featuring music only from various episodes of TTRH, the CDs are probably only of interest to collectors wanting a complete TTRH-related collection. Both compilations can be found on Amazon and eBay.

***

Commercial Compilations

As of July 2009 there were six different commercial CD compilations featuring music only from TTRH. Another compilation is scheduled for release in September 2009.

These compilations do not include Dylan's commentary or other features that made the show unique. The tracks used on the compilations are not necessarily the ones used on the show. If you're interested in the folk, jazz, swing, rockabilly and country music played on TTRH, you might like these sets. If you're looking for TTRH shows, they're not for you.

There are three "unauthorized" (unauthorized in the sense that they were not produced with the involvement of the TTRH team) sets from the Chrome Dreams/ISIS label: The Best of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour Volume 1 and Volume 2 which cover the show's first season. For reasons unknown, the U.S. Amazon store isn't carrying Volume 2, but it can be purchased at Amazon U.K. through the link above. Volume 1 can also be purchased at Amazon U.K.

Also from Chrome Dreams is The Best Of The Second Series which compiles music from the show's second season. It can also be purchased at Amazon U.K.

All three compilations are 2-CD sets.

***

Two other "unauthorized" compilations come from the German Mischief Music label. Radio Radio is a 4-CD box set released in 2008 and covers music from TTRH's first season. In late July 2009, a second "Radio, Radio" compilation is scheduled for release, Bob Dylan Radio Radio Vol. 2. As with the first, "Vol. 2" is a 4-CD set with 112 tracks. And again as with the original, "Vol.2" seems to focus entirely on Season 1 of TTRH.

***

The authorized Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan set was compiled by Ace Records U.K. under the supervision of TTRH producer Eddie Gordodetsky and Dylan factotum, Jeff Rosen. Of all the commercial compilations, Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan probably best reflects the breadth of music played on TTRH as it contains both relatively modern music, such as The White Stripes Seven Nation Army and The Clash's Tommy Gun, as well as the type of vintage cuts you'll find on the other sets.

In September 2009, Ace will be releasing another 2-CD set, Theme Time Radio Hour Season 2. As the title implies, the compilation will feature music from Season 2. Here's the blurb from the Amazon listing:

The release of Ace's first Theme Time Radio Hour compilation in February 2008 was a huge success both critically and commercially and they are very pleased to announce another double CD featuring the highlights of the second radio series 'Theme Time Radio Hour, with your host Bob Dylan." 50 tracks spanning the history of recorded music showcased in the radio show have been selected: all styles, all genres, all decades are here. Dylan s legendary eclectic taste and vast musical knowledge touches all bases.

Similarly packaged to Volume 1, this CD features a deluxe colour booklet (packaged inside a slip case) with track-by-track notes by luminaries including Al Kooper, Jerry Dammers, Fred Dellar, Charlie Gillett, Mark Lamarr and many, many more. Long-time friend of Ace Billy Bragg contributes the introduction. The double CD has a mini-booklet inside with just the track listing and credits for the quick guide for listeners to see the contents. Compiled in association with the producer of the radio show, Eddie Gorodetsky, and Dylan s manager, Jeff Rosen, this is an officially approved release and should not be confused with other compilations that are attempting to cash-in on the series.

TTRH-related Compilations

The 2008 Starbucks compilation, Artist's Choice - Bob Dylan: Music That Matters To Him is highly recommended. The CD set reflects Dylan's musical interests, "right now," as he relates in the liner notes, and the music in the compilation could easily have appeared on a TTRH playlist. The CD also has another connection to TTRH. Its liner notes state that it was produced by "Tim Ziegler," the name used by a fictitious caller during one of the Season 2 episodes who complained that Dylan had misidentified a record label. As with the "Baseball" show, if "original condition" is important to you, you'll want to ensure that you're getting the original disc including its original packaging before purchasing.

Christmas Party with Eddie G. is the only commercial release of one of TTRH writer/producer's Eddie Gorodetsky's infamous Christmas compilations. It's more Dr. Demento-oriented than a typical TTRH episode, and as its title implies, Christmas Party with Eddie G. is focused entirely on a holiday theme.

The compilation is notable to those interested in the background and origins of TTRH. The original CD was also the only release on Bob Dylan's Strikin' It Rich label, created in October of 19 and 90 with the stated goal of "releasing rare and interesting rhythm and blues material." and an early precursor of what would become the idea for TTRH, Prices for the CD, which occasionally verge on the ridiculous, have recently settled to the more reasonable.

***

There are literally dozens "Roots of Bob Dylan" compilations, including at least one using that title, all collecting music that had some influence on Bob Dylan. My personal favorite from a TTRH viewpoint is Songs from the Invisible Republic: The Music That Influenced Bob Dylan.

Invisible Republic is a 2-CD set issued by a Repertoire Records, based out of Hamburg, Germany. The 45 cuts on the set include artists as diverse as Odetta, Slim Harpo, Bing Crosby, and Curtis Mayfield. The common thread tying all together... Bob Dylan.

If you've read the various speculations and commentaries on the musical influences on the songs of "Love and Theft" and Modern Times, here's the means to listen to all their antecedents in one package: Gene Austin's The Lonesome Road; Slim Harpo's Shake Your Hips; Bing Crosby's Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day) itself the theme song for Crosby's Philco radio show; Billie Holiday's Having Myself a Time; and more, including the hard-to-find Uncle John's Bongos by Johnny & Jack, which inspired probably the most nakedly transparent music appropriation Dylan has made to date: Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.

While hard-core Dylan fans may find nothing particularly new in Invisible Republic (for example, the roots of Modern Times were thoroughly covered by the excellent Live Roots and Wounded Flowers bootleg of 2006), the chances are that you'll hear at least one surprise.

Of course, that's one of the delights of Theme Time, hearing music you've never heard before, and connecting it to other music. And it's one of the delights of Invisible Republic. If you want to listen to a Theme Time Radio Hour with the theme of "Roots," you couldn't do better for source material than Invisible Republic.

"It's Like Being Part of a Club No One Else Can Get Into" - Billy Lee Riley

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:15:29 PDT

There are about a zillion better ways to earn a living than by being a musician - or a writer, for that matter. But like writers, most musicians are musicians because that's what they do. It's not necessarily a kind life, or a financially rewarding one. One of Dreamtime's regular correspondents passes this on from "The Hound" blog on the troubles legendary rocker Billy Lee Riley is facing...

Billy Lee Riley, one of the remaining original Sun Records artists, Is in VERY bad need of help! Billy has had his share of health problems, and is now battling Stage FOUR bone cancer. Although MusiCares is helping with house payment, car and such, He and Joyce are totally out of money and can barely afford to eat. This is a CALL FOR HELP to all musicians and fans. Please remember, twenty bucks from all of us would make a HUGE difference in Billy's life! What if this was you? Let's all get together and send something today to Billy and Joyce and show them that he means alot to us. If you have a website, a facebook or myspace, please post this need for help on it! We can't save the world, but it will mean a lot in Billy Lee's life!

His Address is:

Billy Lee Riley
723 Crest Drive
Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401

Our correspondent goes on to note: "Billy Lee's work should be familiar to any casual Dylan fan; Dylan's covered him several times over the years ("Repossession Blues", "Red Hot", "Rock with Me Baby"), featured him on Theme Time ["Red Hot" on the Heat episode ~ fhb] , appeared on stage with him (in '92), & even called him his "hero".

Among Billy Lee's achievements in a long career, he was a house-guitarist at Sun; as a front man, he brought us, along with [the] great records above, rockabilly landmarks "Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll" and "Trouble Bound" and contributed one of the strangest Dylan covers ever--the harmonica instrumental version of "Like A Rolling Stone". You may disregard the somewhat snarky tone of Michael Gray's entry and understand that Billy Lee Riley never slowed down, making convincing, winning records into the 90s and continued to perform gripping shows."

Billy Lee Riley once said that being one of the last surviving Sun artists was like "...being part of a club no one else can get into." It'd be a shame to have one of the last members of that club tormented by poverty as he also battles cancer. If you can help out, please do.

Morgus the Magnificent

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:56:50 PDT

Our Host: Mac Rebennack is a New Orleans native. He's probably better known as "Dr. John." And on this record from the late Fifties he pays tribute to the local horror movie host that he used to watch, Morgus the Magnificent. He was a quintessential Mad Scientist. He was assisted by his executioner sidekick, Chopsley, and performed well-intentioned experiments that would often go wrong and blow up in his face.

[organ music]

Morgus: Who are these idiots to criticize and can't see my genius to recognize? It was I, Morgus, who performed the first organ transplant! But, being the appendix, they turned down my grant. Hah-hah!

[organ music swells]

Our Host: Here's "Morgus the Magnificent," by Dr. John, the ghoul who steals the show on TV.

~ Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, "Halloween" on "Morgus the Magnificent"

A post over at io9 on the many "Creature Feature" hosts that dominated the UHF channels from roughly the late `50s to around the early `80s got me thinking about one of the most infamous of the crew - at least in the New Orleans market - "Morgus the Magnificent," created and portrayed by New Orleans actor Sid Noel.

Under a variety of names, "Creature Features" were blocks of horror movie -- usually B or even lower-quality - programming shown on local television stations. Around the mid-1950, Hollywood realized that they were sitting on a treasure trove of retired films from the `30s and `40s that were doing nothing except turning to mush in their vaults. So they licensed the broadcast rights to local TV markets who needed something to fill late-night slots, and, in stroke of genius, only sold the films as a package. Want Frankenstein? Then you were going to get Curse of the Zombie Woman too, buddy.

Vampira essentially started the horror host genre in 1954 in Los Angeles, creating the model that ghouls from Zacherley, through Morgus, to Mistress of the Dark, Elvira would copy. Spooky garb, cheesy sets, bad jokes... even worse movies.

Outside of his other accomplishments, Morgus is noteworthy for being the first horror host to get his own film, 19 and 62's The Wacky World of Dr. Morgus, beating out Elvira by some 25-odd years, as well as being the first to be saluted by a rock-'n-roll number. 19 and 59's "Morgus the Magnificent" on the Vin label was credited to Morgus and the Three Ghouls, the "Three Ghouls" not only including Mac Rebennack (a.k.a. "Dr. John"), but also Frankie Ford and Jerry Bryne, backed by The Huey Smith Band. While he did mention the Mac Rebennack connection, Our Host missed the opportunity to note that of the other two ghouls Ford - "The New Orleans Dynamo" - would later have a mega-hit with "Sea Cruise," covering Huey Smith's original, and Jerry Bryne, Mac Rebennack's cousin, already had a hit under his belt with the 1958 rocker, "Light's Out." While Morgus is named as the leader and lead singer of the Three Ghouls, Sid Noel had nothing to do with the single outside of lending his name. "Morgus" on the recording is actually the voice of Frankie Ford.

The real "Morgus the Magnificent," Sid Noel, did go into the recording studio once, in 19 and 56, when he covered a popular novelty number, "The Flying Saucer." "Flying Saucer" was the first of a short-lived AM Radio record craze of the `50s, the so-called "break-in" record, which featured an interviewer asking questions with the responses being clips from popular songs of the day from performers such as Fats Domino, Elvis Presley and Little Richard.

"What did you think when you first saw the flying saucer?"

"Good golly, Miss Molly!"

As one might guess, the attraction of break-ins quickly waned, as many of the musicians' labels sued about the unauthorized use of their music. Sid Noel got around that problem by hiring a local band, The Hawks, who did their own version of the original numbers. In their interest of completeness, here's Dickie Goodman's and Bill Buchanan's original "The Flying Saucer" Parts 1 and 2.

Someone Ought to Wave the Flag - George M Cohan and Bob Dylan

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:01:12 PDT

Above a <1-minute audio clip of Bob Dylan and the Cowboy Band playing a snippet from George M. Cohan's Yankee Doodle Boy (more popularly known as Yankee Doodle Dandy) yesterday, July 4, in the Year of Our Lord 2000 and 9, which I will suspect will be grist for a blog post by our friend over at RightWingBob.

And below, a fascinating, if politically incorrect, 9-minute clip from the little-known The Phantom President of 19 and 32. What makes this film especially unique is that it features the original song-and-dance man and Yankee Doodle Boy born on the 4th of July - George M. Cohan - who was trying to move from a sagging theater career into film with The Phantom President.

Watch Cohan's blackface routine in this clip and it's easy to see where Jimmy Cagney got his spot-on phrasing and moves for Yankee Doodle Dandy, the movie.

Cohan would make but one more movie in 1934 (Gambling), that - like Phantom President - would meet with indifferent public reaction. He'd return to Broadway and revive his career in his last successful show, the Rodgers & Hart hit of 19 and 37, I'd Rather be Right, where he'd play a dancing FDR. Yankee Doodle Dandy, the movie, by the way, re-creates a scene from I'd Rather be Right in its opening sequence.

Stick around through the entire 9-minute clip, and you'll also catch appearances by Jimmy Durante and Sidney Toler. Toler is probably best-known for playing the lead in the equally politically incorrect Charlie Chan series. An entire generation has grown up without knowing anything about Jimmy Durante, which is their loss. The Ol' Schnozzola was a Runyonesque one-of-a-kind who for a period of time was one of the most popular performers in the U.S. I'm old enough to remember his TV show, and was always delighted as a kid when an old movie would air on one of the UHF stations and feature Durante. These days you'll still occasionally see/hear a Durante cartoon impersonation on The Simpsons or Family Guy, although I suspect most of the audience doesn't have a clue that it even is an impersonation.

Outside of not being that good - Cohan plays a surprisingly unsympathetic character - one of the reasons that The Phantom President is seldom seen anymore is the blackface, of course. As regular readers of Dreamtime know, I'm fascinated by the medicine and minstrel show genres, which have a history stretching from the 19th century to Spike Lee's Bamboozled. Blackface routines in movies of the `30s and `40s, and even somewhat unbelievably into the `50s, were more common than you might expect.

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland would appear in blackface in 1939's Babes in Arms and 19 and 41's Babes on Broadway. Jimmy Stewart in 1939 for It's a Wonderful World. Shirley Temple in 1935's The Littlest Rebel. Fred Astaire put on the cork in 1936's Swing Time. Bing Crosby appeared in blackface in 1942's Holiday Inn, the precursor to the better-known White Christmas, released in 1954, and which also included a minstrel show number, but which, happily, was not done in blackface. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin donned blackface for the original Ocean's 11, released in 19 and 60. The Black and White Minstrel Show was a popular British television series with a 20-year run into the `70s that presented traditional American "Deep South" songs - often performed in blackface.

Among Jefferson Airplane fans there's a story that Grace Slick deliberately put on blackface in 1968 for a Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour appearance, fueled by the fact that Slick closed her performance with the Black Power salute, and occasionally appeared on stage wearing a Hitler mustache. But video of the Smothers Brothers segment shows Slick looking more like she had had a very bad session at the tanning salon rather than doing a deliberate blackface turn. Slick later noted in an interview that the makeup hadn't meant to be political, more of a statement antithetical to her white-bread appearance after she had been given unsupervised access to the makeup table, but she did regret not doing the full "Al Jolson with the lips."

For obvious reasons most of the films I noted above aren't broadcast widely anymore. You can occasionally find a bootleg edition of The Phantom President on eBay. If you share my fascination in the old time minstrel shows and the very strange - and very racially insensitive, it should be noted - art of blackface, you may also be interested in a film I've mentioned before: Yes Sir, Mr. Bones, a 54-minute movie from 19 and 51, which contains the only known footage of the legendary blackface singer and comedian Emmett Miller in action.

The movie is available as 1/2 of Showtime USA, a DVD that also contains Square Dance Jubilee, featuring Spade Cooley. As a commenter noted on the Amazon page, Yes Sir, Mr. Bones is probably as close as we're likely to get to a reconstruction of an actual minstrel show, from the opening "end man" comedy routines, featuring Miller, to the "olio" including sentimental ballads performed by an "Irish Thrush," to an amazing softshoe on sand routine, to the closing burlesque numbers. The movie supposedly takes place in a show biz retirement home; a young boy wanders in and the residents - thanks to the magic of imagination - recreate a minstrel show.

If you're offended by blackface material - some of it very crude, by the way - you don't want to watch Yes Sir, Mr. Bones, as one of the audio commentaries puts it right at the beginning. If you're interested in it as a historical document - especially of Emmett Miller - you do.

On the Road with Mr. D. : The Wiyos and The Two Man Gentleman Band

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:35:29 PDT

Reportedly after impressing Bob Dylan's Brooklyn-based factotum with their latest CD, the Wiyos, a Brooklyn-based band, not the street gang, will be joining Mr. D., Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp on their barnstorming tour of ballparks around the country. The Wiyos specialize in what they call "Old Timey American music": vaudevillian ragtime blues, early swing, jugband and old time country. According to their PR kit, "The Wiyos transport listeners back to a time before TV and mass-media, to the days when music could be heard on live radio and at community dances, juke joints and house parties. The Wiyos perform acoustic whenever possible, or in front of two condenser stage microphones to preserve a performance style that is visually stimulating." All of which hints at why Mr. D. and company might find them an appropriate opening act.

Making a Theme Time Radio Hour connection any way that we can, we offer up the Wiyos above performing "Corn Bread and Butterbeans" in honor of the "Food" episode of TTRH.

According to the tour info, the Dayton, OH, Eastlake, OH and the Orange Beach, AL shows will feature another band out of New York The Two Man Gentleman Band, proudly sponsored by Kazoobie Kazoos - "We keep the World humming!"

According to their press kit, "After performing together in several dreadful rock bands, [Andy] Bean and [Fuller] Condon began playing acoustic music together in 2005 as buskers in New York City’s streets and subways. They appeared regularly on the streets for two years, during which time they entertained thousands of passersby, were featured in a documentary on street musicians, had more than a few chance encounters with celebrities, and sang themselves quite hoarse. Since taking their act on the road in 2007, The Gentlemen have embraced the lifestyle of barnstorming vaudevillians. They now play nearly 200 shows per year all across the USA..."

Seems to be a ah-hah! theme going on with the opening acts here. The Two Man Gentleman Band could also have easily found a slot during the "President's Day" special episode with this little ditty about the U.S.'s largest president, William Howard Taft.

Lucinda Williams on the Dylan Hank Williams Project

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:04:45 PDT

via: "Ramblin' The Official Fan Forum for Lucinda Williams" a March 2009 posting by one "tntracy" who apparently has access to Williams...

Many of you are already aware of Bob Dylan's Hank Williams "Lost Lyrics" project. For those that are not, Dylan acquired the rights to the "lost lyrics" that were reportedly found in Hank Williams' briefcase after his death in 1953. These were lyrics only - no music had been written for them (or at least, none that has been found). Dylan invited several songwriters & artists to pick a set of lyrics, write the music for them, then record the song for an upcoming album. Lu was asked to do one of the tracks. (Additional info can be found, here and here). I have some additional info on Lu's contribution I'd like to share w/ everyone.

Lu has written the music for and recorded a song entitled "I Am So Happy I Found You". I was so very fortunate to hear this song along with stoger in Birmingham last month when Lu played the Alabama Theater (February 27th). That night, after the show, Lu & Tom invited stoger & me onto the bus, where Tom played the song Lu recorded for us on his MacBook Pro. Needless to say, stoger & I were both blown away.

The song was beautiful and, as the title suggests, a somewhat uncharacteristically "happy" Hank Williams song. Lu did an amazing job with the vocals, but I was even more blown away by the music she wrote to accompany Hank's lyrics. I was struck by how "authentic" the music sounded - like Hank had written it himself. In fact, after the song ended, I looked across the bus at Lu in amazement and asked, "Lu, that was amazing. Did you feel like you were 'channeling' him?" I'll never forget her response. Looking down, she paused a second than said, "Yeah, I did" with the emotion very evident in her voice. It was a moment I'll never forget.

Stoger & I were also very blessed to hear a live recording of Lu performing an Emmylou Harris song, "Boulder to Birmingham", that she sang at Emmylou's induction in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Far from an easy song to sing, Lu did an amazing job on that as well. And we got to admire Lu's new engagement ring that Tom just bought when they were in New Orleans for the HOB show this tour. It is a beautiful silver (or maybe platinum - I do not recall) ring with three snakes wrapped around Lu's finger - one with a ruby eye, one with an emerald eye and one with a sapphire eye. Surrounding the snakes were sparkling diamonds. Lu told us proudly it was an antique ring from the 1920's. It was absolutely beautiful, and so very, very "Lu".

But the highlight of our time on the bus was the Hank Williams song. What an incredible moment. And how appropriate is the song's title "I Am So Happy I Found You" given Lu and Tom's relationship as symbolized by the beautiful & unique ring we admired. Lu, Tom - thank you SO much.

Stoger, your thoughts on the song? I'm sure you can put words to the moment better than I can...

Tom

P.S. Tom didn't know for sure when the Hank Williams "Lost Lyrics" CD was going to be released - he thought maybe this summer.

According to Colin Escott's "Hank Williams: The Biography" the H. Williams/L. Williams song was originally titled "I Am Happy I've Found You," dated 19 and 50.

For those keeping track, here's the incomplete tracklist as we know it right now...

Norah Jones - "How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?" written by Hank Williams in 19 and 47.

Sheryl Crow - "Angel Mine" written by Hank Williams in 19 and 47.

Lucinda Williams - "I Am Happy I've Found You," - 1950.

Jack White - "You Know That I Know" - 1947.

Willie Nelson - ?

Alan Jackson ?

Vince Gill/Rodney Crowell (with Don Helms on steel guitar) - "I Hope You Shed A Million Tears" (undated)

Bob Dylan - ?

"We Sampled His Ass" - No Sleep Till Brooklyn - The Beastie Boys

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:51:56 PDT

"When Mike D., MCA, and Ad-Rock produced Cooky Puss*, a song about their favorite Carvel ice cream cake in 19 and 83, everyone thought The Beastie Boys were just a flash in the pan.

["Hello, I'm Cookie Puss..."]

But New Yorkers are much tougher than that, and they made it through all sorts of changes in music. Here's one of their early ones, from 19 and 86 - a shout-out to one of the five boroughs, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, The Beastie Boys." ~ Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, "New York"

***
From "Boys will be boys: Beastie Boys Talk Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1" interview on Drowned in Sound.

DiS: Nas and Santigold appear on [Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1] but there’s no sign of, as previously claimed, Bob Dylan. Was that, in best Beastie Boys tradition, a cheeky fib?

Ad-Rock: Bob Dylan is guesting on ...Pt 2. He talks about us. More of a spoken word thing...

MCA: We sampled his ass.

Mike D: He has a radio show on satellite and he was speaking about Beastie Boys...

Ad-Rock: He played one of our songs and was talking about us; he’s a big fan.

Mike D: So we collaborated with that.

DiS: Is he one of your big musical heroes?

Mike D: Oh, first off, he’s one of the first b-boys, if not the first. What more to say?

Ad-Rock: Billy Joel is the fifth b-boy. That’s just a side note. Bob Dylan is one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

Mike D: When you think ‘songwriter’ you think him, Gordon Lightfoot; there’s not many others.

Ad-Rock: Carl Carlton. Carl Douglas. There’s a lot of Carls.

***

The guitar riffs and solo of No Sleep Till Brooklyn, which really should be No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn, sez the didactic Fred, are played by Slayer guitarist Kerry King, who was brought in by by Rick Rubin, writer and co-producer of the Beasties' 19 and 86 debut album, License to Ill. The song's name is a joking take on on Motörhead's No Sleep 'til Hammersmith..

"We just got signed to Def Jam, and we were in the same studio, and Rick Rubin was working with both of us. And he just came down and said, "Hey, what do you think about doing the lead down the hallway?" That was about all there was to it. It took five minutes. It might have taken two takes, because it wasn't supposed to be anything intricate. They were spoofing metal, so to speak, on "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," so I just went in and did something, out of tune in parts, and [with] feedback - was just one of those totally spur-of-the-moment things, I didn't think about it at all." - Kerry King, excerpted from The Skills to Pay the Bills by Alan Light, 2005

Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1 is slated for a September release. It remains to be seen whether Mr. D.'s sampled ass will actually appear on Pt. 2.

* I wouldn't be a good New Englander without giving a nod to Cookie Puss of Carvel ice cream fame, who Our Host gives a brief mention in his commentary on The Beastie Boys. CP is pictured to your left.

Source: BeastieMania

Pushin' Too Hard: Sky Saxon - 19 and ? - 2009

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:38:18 PDT

"Before Green Day, before Casualties, before Black Flag, before The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones. Before even The New York Dolls and The Stooges, there was The Seeds."

Having nothing to say about Michael Jackson that someone, somewhere hasn't already said, I decided to note the passing of Sky Saxon, front man for the seminal garage/proto-punk band The Seeds, who also died last Thursday in Austin, Texas of an "infection of his internal organs." As appropriate to the man of mystery that was Sky Saxon, his exact age was unknown, his birth year claimed at various times to be 1937, 1945, and 1946. Saxon was born Richard Marsh in Salt Lake City, UT, and began his career in the early '60s as a doo-wop performer, billing himself as Little Richie Marsh.

Muddy Waters once called The Seeds "America's own Rolling Stones," in his liner notes to their 1967 album, "A Full Spoon of Seedy Blues". The Seeds were lead singer and bass guitarist Sky Saxon, keyboardist Daryl Hooper, guitarist Jan Savage and drummer Rick Andridge. Pushin' Too Hard was The Seeds only national Top 40 hit, charting in 19 and 66 at #32 after its second release as a single.

By `68, the original Seeds lineup had changed, and for all intents and purposes the band had dissolved, although Saxon would front various groups under the name until the early `70s. The original Seeds would reform in 19 and 89 to headline the so-called "Summer of Love" tour.

During the early `70s, Sky Saxon joined the Yahowha religious sect, added "Sunlight" to his name, and was an occasional member of the sect's Yahowha 13 psychedelic band.

"Well, I think you could retire when you die. I don't, however, believe in death, so I guess I will retire when I leave my body. But I plan to continue writing and performing in heaven" ~ Sky Sunlight Saxon March 2009

It's Nothing to Me - The "Harry Johnson" Mystery

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:24:29 PDT

"I first heard this next record when it was on a compilation called 'God Less America,' and that's about all I know about it. Here's Harry Johnson with a song about a bar fight, 'It's Nothing To Me.'"

***

["Harry Johnson" - It's Nothing To Me]

Take your drink to the end of the bar, buddy
Let her stay there, now don't be a fool
I'd as soon have a hot seat in Sing-Sing prison
Than to sit down by her on that stool.

What's that you say?
I guess you're right... it's nothing to me.

See that man? She belongs to him, buddy
Better drink up and go while you can
I can tell by the way he looks at you, buddy
That he's sure a quick-tempered, jealous man.

What's that you say?
I guess you're right... it's nothing to me.

[gunshots]

There you are stretched out on the floor, buddy
Now you see what you made him do?
Here they come to take him off to jail, buddy
And tomorrow someone will bury you.

Oh well, that's life
Or it was... it's nothing to me.

***

"That was Harry Johnson, 'Ain't Nothing to Me.' Always enjoy a song with a story attached. It's like getting a two-for-one. And he makes a good point. Mind your own business! You don't have to get involved! You don't know the whole story! Before you go jumping in, take a moment, look at the situation. Ask yourself, 'Will I really be making this better?' I guarantee ya, nine times out of ten, the answer is, 'Nooooooo!'" ~ Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, "Nothing"

Although bobbling the title in his outro, perhaps momentarily confusing the song with The Coasters' version, "T'Ain't Nothing To Me" (more on that later), Our Host was right that there's nothing about "Harry Johnson" to be found. And that's because there was no "Harry Johnson," even though that's the name of the artist listed on the "God Less America" compilation.

The Singer

"It's Nothing To Me" is actually being performed by Sanford Clark, a rockabilly guitarist and protégé of Lee Hazlewood probably best known for his 19 and 56 hit "The Fool."

Perhaps Mr. D. was himself fooled by the "Harry Johnson" moniker, but it's more likely not, as he had played "The Fool" by Clark way back in Season 1 during the "Fools" episode, remarking at the time, "I always thought it was one of the best Elvis Presley records that Elvis never made." While Clark was in country mode for "It's Nothing To Me" and doing pure rockabilly for "The Fool," his voice is distinctive enough that it's hard to miss the connection... although to tell you the truth, I did miss it until it was pointed out to me.

Sanford Clark was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 19 and 35 but grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, which he'd claim as his hometown. Guitarist Al Casey, who gigged with Clark at various Phoenix clubs and would later back him on most of his albums, turned then-disc jockey Hazlewood on to Sanford Clark. Lee Hazlewood was looking for someone with a distinctive voice to record a song he had just written, "The Fool," and Clark fit the bill. Casey and Clark went into the studio, recorded the song, and it was originally released in May of 19 and 56 on the tiny local M.C.I. label. "The Fool" was credited to a "Naomi Ford," Lee Hazlewood's wife, probably because radio deejay Hazlewood was worried about someone pointing out that his playing a song that he had also written and produced stunk a bit of payola.

As it turned out that wasn't a concern, as the 500-copy M.C.I. release of "The Fool" sank without a trace, and Sanford Clark started delivering soda pop in the Phoenix area to keep body and soul together. Luckily, a Cleveland disc jockey thought the song deserved a second chance if it could get some decent distribution, and passed it on to Dot Records. Dot called M.C.I. in Phoenix and cut a deal with Hazlewood. Sanford Clark signed with the Dot label, which re-released "The Fool." By August 19 and 56 the song had hit Number 7 on Billboard's pop charts and sold more than 800.000 copies, proving once again that we all deserve a second chance.

Sanford Clark wouldn't release "It's Nothing To Me" until 19 and 67 when he signed with Ramco Records after an uneven career and not much luck in the music business past "The Fool." Clark cut the song as part of a session that produced 12 singles, including a remake of his hit from a decade earlier.

"It's Nothing To Me" was released as the A-side of Ramco-1987, backed with "Calling All Hearts." As with most of the singles Clark produced in his career, "It's Nothing To Me" didn't do much of anything. Although always keeping one foot in the music business, by the 1970s Clark was making his living in construction and as a blackjack gambler. Sanford Clark is now retired and living in Mayer, Arizona.

The Song

"It's Nothing To Me" has more of a Theme Time Radio Hour connection than just Sanford Clark. The song was written by one "Pat Patterson," a pen name of Leon Payne's, author of the very weird "Psycho," which Mr. D. mentioned in an aside during the "Luck" episode of TTRH, "... a song about a serial killer [that] never got a lot of airplay, but has become quite a bit of a cult favorite."

Leon Payne was a blind songwriter and singer based in San Antonio, Texas. Among country music fans, Payne is probably best remembered for the classic, "Lost Highway," recorded by Hank Williams Sr. as well as "I Love You Because," "You've Still Got A Place In My Heart," and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me."

Payne wrote hundreds of songs during his career, and apparently - like all good country music writers - had something of a soft spot for murderers, at least in song. He probably wrote "It's Nothing To Me" sometime around 19 and 56. A year later it was published by Lee Hazlewood's Gregmark Music and first recorded by yet another member of Hazlewood's Phoenix music mafia, Loy Clingman, on the Liberty Bell/Dot labels in February, 1957.

If an artist recorded "It's Nothing To Me" between the late `50s through the late `60s, you can pretty much bet that artist had some connection to Lee Hazlewood, a music impresario best-known for his work with Duane Eddy during the fifties and Nancy Sinatra in the sixties. After his first hit with Sanford Clark's "The Fool," Hazlewood would go on to produce, write, or co-author "The Theme from Peter Gunn", "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and " "Sugar Town." Hazlewood also wrote "Houston", a near-breakthrough single for Sanford Clark, until his version was overshadowed by Dean Martin's monster hit in 19 and 65.

"It's Nothing To Me" would be covered by Hazlewood acquaintance Buddy Long on the Demon label in 19 and 59, and more successfully by The Coasters in 19 and 64, who would use their comic version of the song, "T'Ain't Nothing To Me," to reclaim a slot on the pop charts after a string of unsuccessful releases.

Recorded live at the Apollo Theater in 1963, and featuring a clowning interchange between two of The Coasters, "T'Ain't Nothing To Me" would be #64 in the Hot Hundred in April `64, and climb to #20 in the R&B charts over a 10-week period. The Coasters were managed at the time by Lester Sills, Lee Hazlewood's partner and co-founder of Gregmark Publishing.

Let's see: Sanford Clark, Nancy Sinatra, The Coasters, Leon Payne... all played or mentioned on Theme Time Radio Hour. All these things tie together, as Mr. D. would say.

As well as Sanford Clark's/Harry Johnson's release in 19 and 67, "It's Nothing To Me" - sometimes under its alternate title of "Ain't Nothing To Me" - has also been covered by Jim Reeves, The Sadies, Harlan Howard, and Johnny Winter among others. It remains a staple of honky-tonks, bar, and saloons.

In an elegiac coda, Lee Hazlewood would record "It's Nothing to Me" for his final album, Cake or Death, released in 2006. Hazlewood would pass away a year later. Here's "It's Nothing to Me" as performed by Lee Hazlewood.

The Mysteries

There is more than one mystery surrounding "It's Nothing To Me." We know nothing about how Leon Payne came to write it, although like most of Payne's story songs, I suspect there's a great story behind it. According to Payne's daughter, Myrtie, he wrote "Lost Highway" when he was desperate to get back to his family after a long road trip. "Psycho" came about from the movie of the same name. Payne and his wife were both big movie fans, although with both being blind, Myrtie had to describe to them what was going on on-screen. According to Myrtie, Payne called Johnny Cash after returning home, described the "Psycho" experience to him, and sat down and wrote the serial killer song minutes after getting off the phone. I wish we had a similar story about "It's Nothing To Me."

And why is "It's Nothing To Me" credited to Harry Johnson on "God Less America" rather than to Sanford Clark? That mystery is probably easy to explain. The L.P./CD, released in the mid-90,s bordered on the semi-bootleg, compiling material both in and out of copyright, but studiously avoiding paying royalties on anything. As well as "Harry Johnson" "God Less America" also tags at least one other artist with a pseudonym to avoid eagle-eyed legal beagles. "Drunken Driver," a lubrigious a tune as the title implies, is credited to a "Grandpa Joe," although it is actually a 19 and 54 Ferlin Husky recording.

Finally we come to the mystery of the gunshots. While those were apparently included in Clark's original 19 and 67 release, I have two separate reports from people who own "Shades," a CD compilation of Clark's work, that the gunshots aren't on the version of "It's Nothing To Me" in that collection.

Maybe the Bear label, which released "Shades," used the master of "It's Nothing To Me," before the gunshots were dubbed in. Maybe there were two different versions of the song.

Maybe we'll never know.

Sources and Additional Reading/Listening: A visitor with the handle of "flotser," made exactly one post to the TTRH forum at ER, noting that "Harry Johnson" was in fact Sanford Clark - referring to him with the British spelling of "Clarke" - and then disappearing back into the aether, never to be heard from again.

"flotser" and regular ER (and sometime Dreamtime) contributor "The Great Wandu" both state that the version of "It's Nothing To Me" on the Sanford Clark compilation put together by the Bear Family label, "Shades" does not include the gunshots that can be heard before the last stanza of the song included on "God Less America." In fact, "The Great Wandu" goes further, and says that the 1967 Ramco release is also without the gunshot overdub. I'm not sure this last is correct, but having neither heard the 45 or the "Shades" compilation, I'll take the claim at face value until presented with better evidence. That leaves another mystery, of course, about how and when the gunshots came to be dubbed in, but as I said in the main article... we may never know.

Mystery of the missing gunshots aside, one thing I am certain of is that "Harry Johnson" is Sanford Clark. While I was unable to find the full track, various places on the Web have an excerpt of Clark's "It's Nothing To Me," including the Amazon page for the "Shades" compilation. You can follow the link above if you want to satisfy yourself on the subject.

"God Less America," has had an appropriately unusual history, originally released on vinyl either in 1995 or 1997 on Crypt Records by compiler Tim Warren, who a reviewer noted has "...been churning out amazing compilations under a variety of label names to avoid close, copyright-wielding eyes -- 'Sin Alley', 'Down And Out, and 'Loo-key Doo-key.'"

The bootlegger may have been himself bootlegged, as a CD version was released in 2001, but its unclear whether it was officially under the Crypt label, or someone else just using the label name. In any case, used copies of the CD can be found at Amazon, U.S. or Amazon U.K. at somewhat ridiculous prices. The tracks also sometimes float around the Web either together or separately. The L.P. occasionally appears on eBay, in fact one is being offered for sale right now through the 30th. You should be forewarned that unless you're an aficionado of rare - and weird - country-western music, you may find "God Less America" somewhat disappointing. Personally, I like it, and have churned out several Dreamtime articles thanks to that compilation. But caveat emptor.

The great honky-tonker Leon Payne doesn't get the attention he deserves, little-remembered today except for "Lost Highway" and the novelty number "Psycho." However, there is one CD compilation available of Payne's Capitol Record singles, put out - naturally - by the Bear Family label under the title, "I Love You Because." Another compilation has a Theme Time connection, "George Jones Sings The Great Songs of Leon Payne." Both sets are highly recommended, as is anything associated with Leon Payne. For a taste of Payne's music, check out his MySpace page, maintained by his daughter, Myrtie.

Most of the information about Lee Hazlewood and his connection to the various artists and versions of "It's Nothing To Me" was taken from "The Lee Hazlewood Story." I also used Hazlewood's Wikipedia entry for background.

Additional information on Sanford Clark came from a Rockabilly Hall of Fame article and Clark's MySpace page. I've emailed Clark several times to see if I could get more information on his recording of "It's Nothing To Me" - especially about those damn gunshots - but have never received a response. Unfortunately, Clark is apparently in poor health these days. We wish him the best.

The Coasters' comic turn on the song, "T'Ain't Nothing To Me" can be found on the CD compilation "Apollo Saturday Night" or as a standalone mp3 at Amazon. The song aside, "Apollo Saturday Night" is recommended for those wanting a feel at what a night at that historic theater in the early `60s was like.

More Bits and Pieces: The Hank Snow Transcript & the TTRH Archives

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:21:35 PDT

A couple of more random notes, too ephemeral for a full blog post. Lot #234, the "Bobby Zimmerman" transcript of Hank Snow's "Little Buddy" that we blogged about last month goes on the auction block today at Christie's with some other Dylan material, including a 1958 Hibbing High School yearbook with a "Bob Zimmerman" inscription, a couple of Broadsides with Dylan's autograph, and a concert handbill for the Bob Dylan & Joan Baez 1965 US Tour with art by Eric Von Schmidt, which you'll be familiar with if you have a copy of David Hajdu's Positively 4th Street.

That handbill is estimated at only $1,000-1,500, a bargain in my mind, but what do I know? Conversely, I thought the $10-15,000 estimate for the "Little Buddy" manuscript was grossly over-priced even when Christie's was claiming it as a Bob Dylan early original. I'd rather look at a piece of art than words on a page if I were collecting something. But again, what do I know?

It'll be interesting to see what the "Little Buddy" transcript will sell for. It'd be nice if an anonymous buyer from Minnesota, New York City, or Malibu picked it up for the full auction value for the benefit of Herzl Camp in Wisconsin, and then pack it away with whatever other mementos he might have from the early days.

UPDATE: The "Little Buddy" transcript auctioned off for $12,500, including buyer's premium, a nice contribution to the rehabbing of cabins at Herzl Camp.

***

Dreamtime internet pal, Patrick Crosley, better-known to the hoi polloi as "Croz" has transmorgified his namesake site once again, taking the primary content offering "Recordings of Indeterminate Origin" off-line except to members-only access, while leaving the main site up, now labeled the Theme Time Radio Hour Archive. And that's what it is, the complete recordings of Seasons 1, 2, and 3 in zip archived mp3 format. If you're interested in finding a particular show or shows - and about a 1/3 of the people who come to Dreamtime through a search engine are looking for TTRH downloads - Croz.fm will probably satisfy your desire.

Regular readers know I'm a little leery, and more than a little inconsistent, about the whole "illegal downloads" thing. If there were an "official" alternative to getting permanent copies of TTRH shows, I'd point you there. But there isn't. I know Croz, as I know many of the people who were involved in distributing TTRH over the internet, and I know he's a generous, good-hearted soul whose dedication to offering access to TTRH to the widest possible audience was often much more trouble for him than it was worth. And he still did it. As I noted in my TTRH FAQ, sites like Croz's may be the only complete record that will ever be easily accessible to researchers, scholars, and fans, especially with TTRH in its re-run twilight.

Do both yourself and Croz a favor, and read his introduction before doing any downloads, okay? I've talked before about the Tragedy of the Commons, and it would be a tragedy if greedy people drove Croz's server hamsters into overload.

Remember Me (When the Candlelights Are Gleaming)

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:30:19 PDT

"I used to know that song, I don't know... Oh," the young Bob Dylan says before breaking into Scott Wiseman's Remember Me (When the Candlelights Are Gleaming), with what seems a very uncomfortable Joan Baez providing harmony.

Remember Me was written in 19 and 39, and released by Wiseman and his wife/singing partner Myrtle Cooper under their stage names of Lulu Belle and Scotty on the Conqueror label in September 19 and 40. The song was the B-side to a now mostly forgotten Lulu Belle and Scotty tune, Did You Ever Go Sailing? proving once more Mr. D's contention on Theme Time Radio Hour that we're the poorer in these Modern Times without singles and flip sides which often held more interesting and enduring music than the A-side.

Lulu Belle and Scotty were both from North Carolina, hooking up in 19 and 33, when Scotty was 24 and Myrtle 20 and Scotty joined The National Barn Dance, the nation's most popular country music radio show during the 1930s and 1940s, broadcasting from Chicago on station WLS. Lulu Belle was already an established star on the Barn Dance, Myrtle Cooper having assumed the persona of a wisecracking, boy-crazy rube and partnered up with Red Foley in an act the audience loved, Lulu Belle and Burrhead. But Foley had recently married, and his new bride wasn't particularly enthused about his 19-year-old co-star, so Lulu Belle and the then-"Skyland Scotty" tried a few routines together. They hit it off, both with each other and the Barn Dance listeners, and by 19 and 34 they were married and known as "The Sweethearts of Country Music." The two were almost married on the air, but Scotty vetoed the idea. A few jealous girlfriends were still in the wings, and Wiseman was concerned about what would happen if they got to the "any reason why this marriage shouldn't take place" part and one of his ex-'s decided to air their dirty laundry on the air.

Remember Me was written when Lulu Belle and Scotty were starring in their own radio show, Boone Country Jamboree, airing from Cincinnati on station WLW. "In our guest room at home when I was a child there was a fancy old cup and saucer which sat on the dresser," Wiseman later recalled for Dorothy Horstman's book, Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy. "The phrase 'Remember Me' was on the cup in fancy gold lettering. We children were not allowed to touch this memento of the sentimental Gay Nineties, somehow connected with the courtship of Mother and Dad. Feeling a bit homesick and sentimental during the bustle of radio shows and road trips, I made up the song while riding in the car to personal appearance jobs."

Besides composing Remember Me, Wiseman had a hand in the classic (Good Ol') Mountain Dew, rewriting the lyrics to a melody originally composed by Bascom Lunsford. "Lulu Belle and I cut a Vocalion record of it in 1939 in Chicago," Wiseman wrote. "Roy Acuff and other Nashville singers learned it from our record and started singing it. Station WLS, where we sang for 25 years, would never allow any mention of giggle water or tobacco in those days, so we were never allowed to sing it on the National Barn Dance."

Lunsford traveled to Chicago, heard the reworked version of Mountain Dew, gave it his approval, and said, "I believe I know how to pay my bus fare back to Asheville; I'll just sell Scotty my interest in 'Mountain Dew' for $25." Wiseman would later instruct the publisher to send Lunsford 50 percent of the song;'s royalties.

Lulu Belle and Scotty's best known song is probably Have I Told You Lately I Love You? of 19 and 45, a contender as one of the first country songs to make a successful crossover into pop and covered by everyone from Hank Williams Sr., to Bob Hope, to the Andrews Sisters, to Lulu Belle's one-time partner, Red Foley. Confined to the hospital for several weeks in 19 and 44, Scotty Wiseman composed the song after Lulu Belle whispered the words in his ear. He wrote the song in one night, and sang it to Lulu Belle the next day. Gene Autry made the first recording of the song in late 1945 on Columbia, with Lulu Belle and Scotty releasing their own version on a Vogue Picture Record, patriotically displaying a serviceman embracing his love.

Another Picture, Another Thousand Words

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:34:06 PDT

Demonstrators in Imam Khomeini Square, Tehran
Photograph: Saeed Kamali Dehghan

via RightWingBob, the official BobDylan.com Twitter feed, and The Guardian.

Odds & Ends

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:43:48 PDT

A couple of bits and pieces, nothing substantial enough by itself to mandate its own post.

You'll find the "Dreamtime Podcast Episode Guide" and the "Expecting Rain Theme Time Forum" links over in the right-hand column and in the FAQ broken for the moment and possibly for the next several weeks. The Expecting Rain administrators abruptly shut down all the forums yesterday for "maintenance."

Reading between the lines, it's obvious that some of the ER forums are suffering from that disease that all online forums seem to eventually succumb to. Human self-interest always seems to triumph, even when you know you're destroying something.

It's unfortunate, we hope the ER admins. can work something out, and we wish Karl Erik the best. Expecting Rain is probably one of the best examples of why labors of love are so much better than labors for money. But this incident is also a good reminder about why you shouldn't put your trust in on-line reference sources, which have a tendency to disappear without warning. Over the past three years, I've lost valuable TTRH facts and trivia that were posted by various people at the "White Man Stew" forums (the first, and for a time, the best, on-line forum about the show) and Expecting Rain. At times when I'm doing research I think, "I should download and archive this." And, of course, I never do.

***

On a happier note, Sirius XM has released its long-promised application for the iPhone/iTouch, and if you're a user of either you can download it now, for free, at the iTunes Store. If you're an internet subscriber, either standalone or as an add-on to your Sirius XM radio subscription, the app gives you access to what the press release claims are 120 channels on your iPhone.

Ironically, the press release trumpets, "SIRIUS and XM subscribers can also listen to 100% commercial-free music featuring exclusive shows from SIRIUS XM's satellite radio service such as Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour" as well as shows including Tom Petty's Buried Treasure, Bruce Springsteen's E Street Radio, The Grateful Dead Channel, Eminem's Shade 45, Jimmy Buffett's Radio Margaritaville, "Little Steven" Van Zandt's Underground Garage and Outlaw Country channels, B.B. King's Bluesville, Willie Nelson's Willie's Place, Elvis Radio, Siriusly Sinatra, and Metropolitan Opera Radio.

I haven't tried the application yet, but comments on its page at the iTunes Store indicates most people are satisfied with it, the major complaint being that the odious Howard Stern, as well as MLB, NFL, and NASCAR programming are all unavailable, probably because of licensing issues.

Ironic, as I said, as the application probably would have opened up a whole new audience for Theme Time Radio Hour, which was, at its peak, the top music show at XM Radio according to my sources. But I guess the re-runs still will attract new listeners, probably many of whom won't even realize they are listening to repeats. The shows are in many ways timeless, designed, as one of the people I interviewed for my book said, "to live forever."

"It's Just Kind of An Accident" - Bob Bogle: 1934-2009

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:32:51 PDT

via The Washington Post

Bob Bogle, 75, whose driving, twanging electric guitar made the group he co-founded, the Ventures, the most successful instrumental band in rock-and-roll history, and whose recordings of "Walk, Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-O" propelled the group to the top of the charts in the 1960s, died June 14 in a hospital near his home in Vancouver, Wash. He had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Full obituary is here.

"Walk, Don't Run," recorded in 1960, sold more than 2 million copies and rose to No. 2 on the pop charts. The instrumental helped to launch the surfing craze of the early sixties, as well as the surf music craze itself. It was one of the pieces of music - as well as a slew of beach party movies - that inspired the young Fred to take up surfing and the beach bum way of life when his family moved from Maine to Californi-ay in the late `60s. According to the Post's obituary, Bogle learned "Walk, Don't Run" from a 1957 album by Chet Atkins. You can hear Atkin's version - an interesting comparison - in the video below.

If you're a bit younger than Mr. D. and myself, you may remember The Ventures' 19 and 69 theme music to the TV series "Hawaii Five-O" better, another instrumental which would peak at No. 4 on the charts. Over the course of their career, The Ventures released more than 250 records and over a 12-year span - from 1960 to 1972 - had 37 albums on the Billboard charts.

For one brief shining moment, The Ventures were bigger than The Beatles in the early `60s, outselling the mop-tops in Japan, and required to don Beatlesque disguises whenever they ventured out in public.

"I think our sound is unique because we're self-taught musicians, and that happens to be the way we learned how to play," Mr. Bogle said in 1998. "It wasn't something we tried for. It's just kind of an accident."

I'm Not There: One Picture/One Thousand Words

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:43:49 PDT

(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images North America)

There is a great set of pictures here of Bob Dylan and band taken during the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to Michael Douglas held at Sony Pictures Studios on June 11, 2009 in Culver City, California. The shot above of Dylan in shadow is my personal favorite, saying everything I love about the Dylan mystique.

Aficionados will note Mr. D. is on guitar, something you don't see all that often anymore. Reportedly he made a surprise appearance to play Things Have Changed, the song he was awarded the Oscar that you'll now often find perched on an amplifier case during Dylan's live shows.

The dinner will be broadcast July 19 on the "TV Land Prime" channel.

Dylan's Hank Williams Project Coming in October?

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:42:39 PDT

Add Sheryl Crow to the list of contributors to the Hank Williams' Project, which we seemingly have been blogging about for centuries. And we may even have a release date. Via The Sons of Champlin site:

James [Preston] also worked on another project involving Bob Dylan’s tribute to the late Hank Williams with Sheryl’s contribution being a tune called "Angel Mine", lyrics by Hank Williams found in a notebook of lyrics after he passed away. The Hank Williams/Bob Dylan CD will be released 10/28/08 (sic).

One assumes the "08" is a typo. On the other hand, Most of the "News" section of the site seems to be from circa late Fall 2008. As Sean says in the comments, "Let us hope so."

In Samson's Diner

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:00:49 PDT

As I've said before, one of the fun things about working on my book about Theme Time Radio Hour, Night Time in the Big City, is learning about the counterparts of the Abernathy Building, Studio B, Carl's Barber Shop, Elmo's, and more.

Are any of those places real? Tell me what "real" means, and I might have an answer for you.

I like the pictures in my mind's eye of the Abernathy and Studio B more than the reality, to tell you the truth, although it's still pretty cool to see one of the stages where the Theme Time show was produced. But the real-world doppelgänger of Samson's - pictured to your left - is everything it should be, I think. Imagination can't improve upon it.

It's rumored that the crew of Theme Time Radio Hour could often be found at the counter after a long shift in Studio B. Tex Carbone was said to especially favor the burritos.

And no, I'm not going to tell you where it was... yet. That's called a teaser.

On another note, posting here at Dreamtime is going to get sporadic during the summer, as we finish up the book. I love blogging, but items I'd normally post here are ending up there, as they should. We're not going totally away, and will continue to post as circumstances and desire allow. Stick with us. We'll make the wait worthwhile.

~ Fred, Jailbait, and the Top Cats

Have a Kindle? Want Dreamtime on it?

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:35:14 PDT

Lucky you. Now you can.

I'm experimenting with the Kindle Publishing for Blogs Beta (that's a mouthful). Dreamtime - the blog, that is - is now available for your enjoyment and edification on the Kindle. According to Amazon, Dreamtime will be "...auto-delivered wirelessly to the Kindle and updated throughout the day. [It will be] fully downloaded onto your Kindle so you can read [it]even when you're not wirelessly connected. And unlike RSS readers which often only provide headlines, blogs on Kindle contain full text content and most images."

What it won't contain is any of the videos I post here, nor any of the Dreamtime audio podcasts. Nor, just to avoid confusion, is this connected to the TTRH the book I'm writing, although I expect that to eventually end up Kindlized too at some point in the future.

However, if you have a Kindle, are a Dreamtime regular, like the idea and want to help support Your Host, Jailbait, and the Top Cats, here's another way to go about it. A Kindle subscription to Dreamtime will run you ~~$1.99~~ 99 cents per month. According to Amazon, "...It's risk free—all Kindle Blog subscriptions start with a 14-day free trial. You can cancel at any time during the free trial period. If you enjoy your subscription, do nothing and it will automatically continue at the regular monthly price."

Please note, this is an experiment. I trust Amazon after nearly a decade of being both customer and occasional seller through them. But you're dealing with them, not with me. I don't have a Kindle (it's on the Wish List), so can't personally verify what your experience reading Dreamtime on the Kindle will be. Caveat lector and all that, okay? If you have concerns or questions, feel free to let me know at dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com.

While I have your attention, keen-eyed readers will notice that the Dreamtime tag-line has slightly changed to read, "Commentary Inspired by Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour." Given that the pause button has been pushed for TTRH, the new tag better reflects what we're all about here, and, in fact, have been all about for awhile. You can still expect to see regular views on Theme Time and its episodes. We'll also be continuing with articles on Bob Dylan and his work, be it recordings, Chronicles, or whatever.

Wherever his road takes him next, we'll be tagging along... and we hope you will too.

More or Less Hudson's Bay Again: The Masked Marauders

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:06:44 PDT

A few email exchanges with my internet pal and colleague Sean over at RightWingBob about the likelihood of Mr. D. collaborating with Paul McCartney, and possibly even Ringo, got me to thinking about that other supergroup session that took place in 19 and 69, when Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Mick Jagger got together as "The Masked Marauders."

You don't know that story? Well, sit down, boys and girls, and let the ol' geezer at Dreamtime tell ya.

"It was late, I was tired," Greil Marcus later said about the genesis of The Masked Marauders. Marcus was then a Rolling Stone editor and would later go on to fame as critic and author of such works as The Old, Weird America, aka Invisible Republic.

According to Marcus, after a long, hot day at the keyboard, he had been sitting around gassing with friends about the so-called "supergroup" and "supersession" albums that were all the rage in the dog days of the late Summer of rock-n'-roll that was 19 and 69. The group got to speculating about if there were a real supersession, with John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, and whoever else was around to jam with them, what would it be like? Oldies of course. Maybe Duke of Earl? Why not? Maybe a few country classics, since Mr. D. was in his Nashville Skyline phase. Maybe a nod to contemporaries? Hey, about Dylan doing Donovan doing Dylan in an 18-minute jam version of Season of the Witch?

Things got crazy from there. Marcus wrote a fake review of The Masked Marauders double-LP (double in a nod to the Great White Wonder bootleg), creating such overheated bon mots as "Paul showcases his favorite song, 'Mammy,' and while his performance is virtually indistinguishable from Eddie Fisher's version, it is still very powerful, evocative, and indeed, stunning. And they say a white boy can’t sing the blues!" and "Produced by Al Kooper, the album was recorded with impeccable secrecy in a small town near the site of the original Hudson Bay Colony in Canada." and "...[Jagger's rendition of ] 'I Can't Get No Nookie' is an instant classic!" He signed it "T.M. Christian" in a nod to the Terry Southern novel, turned the review over to Jann Wenner, who thought it a giggle and Rolling Stone ran it straight-faced in October of 19 and 69.

And things got weirder. A lot of people thought it was real. A lot of people wanted it to be real, in-your-face jokes or not. "There's no telling some people anything," as Our Host has said more than once on Theme Time Radio Hour.

Letters and phone calls began pouring into the Rolling Stone offices from both fans and record stores wanting to know when the album would be released. Reportedly even Allen Klein (Beatles and Rolling Stones' manager) and Albert Grossman (Dylan's manager), checked in, plaintively asking Rolling Stone if they could spare them a copy of the LP. While that last part was probably untrue, given the usual state of artist/managerial relations, it was too good a story to let pass.

Knowing a joke with legs when he saw one, Marcus decided to continue with the spoof. With another Rolling Stone editor, Marcus recruited a band which recorded three of the songs cited in T.M. Christian's review: the Nashville Skyline-inspired instrumental Cow Pie, a pseudo-Jagger doing his instant classic, I Can’t Get No Nookie, and a Bob Dylan imitator gamely voicing Dook-dook- of Earl. Marcus took the tapes to a San Francisco radio station, which aired them as real cuts from The Masked Marauders... and the switchboard lighted up.

A joke is a joke, but money is money. The pranksters began looking for a label to produce a full album. Warner Bros. offered the sham supergroup a $15,000 advance, and released The Masked Marauders as a single LP in November of 19 and 69, just one short month after the Marauders were but a gleam in Greil Marcus' jaded eye. Warner even created a sub-label for The Masked Marauders, Deity, since that was the label name T.M. Christian's review had used.

The Masked Marauders, the album, sold more than 100,000 copies and spent twelve weeks on the Billboard charts, peaking at Number 114.

Most people eventually got the joke. The album's tracks only slightly matched the T.M. Christian review: no Paul McCartney singing Mammy (the mind boggles); the 18-minute Season of the Witch curtailed to 10; the voices barely resembling Jagger's and Dylan's; the last track a rant about the album being "a rip-off." Just to ensure that the purchaser was clued in - albeit after buying the L.P. - Warner even included a reprint of a Ralph Gleason column detailing that it was all just a gag.

Who were The Masked Marauders? Over the years, the pseudo-supergroup was said to be Christopher Milk, not a person, but an obscure band formed by John Mendelsohn & Surly Raph Oswald, which released one album, Some People Will Drink Anything, before Mendelsohn went on to better-paying gigs as a rock critic.

Also under suspicion was a soul group from British Columbia, Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers, apparently because of the Canadian connection and the fact that Tommy Chong, of Cheech and Chong fame, had been a one-time member.

However, Marcus finally identified The Masked Marauders as a Grateful Dead associated group, from Berkeley, CA, The Cleanliness And Godliness Skiffle Band, who described themselves as an "'acid'-influenced skiffle band. The Cleanliness And Godliness Skiffle Band would release one album under their own name, 19 and 68's Greatest Hits.

And that, kidlets, is your Saturday story of how Mr. D., Uncle Mac, and Jumpin' Gas Flash all got together in the Fall of 19 and 69 and created the superest of all supergroups, The Masked Marauders. If you want a sample of their wares, below is a Youtube video of Dylan doing Donovan doing Dylan, with help from Mick on Season of the Witch. And if that tickles you for more, you can find The Masked Marauders on disc at Amazon or on mp3.

Now take off, kiddies, ol' Gramps Dreamtime needs his nap.

David Carradine: 1936-2009

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:17:36 PDT

via The NY Times:

David Carradine, an enigmatic actor who never outran the cult status he earned in the 1970s television series “Kung Fu” — even though he went on to star as Woody Guthrie in the film “Bound for Glory” and as the title character in Quentin Tarantino’s twin thrillers, “Kill Bill” Volumes I and II — was found dead on Thursday in a hotel room in Bangkok, where he was filming a new movie. He was 72 and lived in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

The full obituary is here.

The Times obit covers Carradine's life and career, so I won't rehash it here. Just a couple of personal memories. If you haven't seen Carradine as Woody Guthrie in 19 and 76's Bound for Glory, go rent or buy the movie right now. You won't be disappointed.

There's a wonderful story about director Hal Ashby spending a full day creating an enormously complicated scene of Carradine as Woody strolling through an Okie refugee camp. Ashby wanted to get the feel of a shantytown teeming with life, and had set up a one-shot - no cuts - so that it began with a full view of the camp, zooming in past tents, cooking fires, dogs, children, and people walking past until eventually focusing in on Woody. Ashby had a wide-lens camera mounted on a crane set far back from the camp to capture the full essence.

With cameras rolling, Carradine started his walk through the camp. A clueless extra spotted him, walked up, took Carradine's hand, and said, "Hey, David, just wanted to say I'm a great admirer of your work."

"Well thanks man," Carradine replied. "But we're shooting a scene right now, you know."

I was more a fan of Carradine's later work in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues - a series I wish was on DVD - than I was of the original Kung Fu, which I thought a somewhat Johnny One-Note take on The Fugitive and Carradine an improbable Chinese, or even half-Chinese as the storyline asserted. To digress for a moment, Kung Fu is more evidence for the theory that there are really only two ideas for TV dramas. One is "main character(s) comes to town, straightens out problems, leaves town" probably first exemplified in a TV series by Wagon Train. The other idea is "main character(s) in a fixed location, straightens out problems, stays in town," probably first exemplified by Gunsmoke. Look at most TV dramas today and you can trace their lineage to one or the other of those storylines.

If you're a fan of Kung Fu you probably know the story - maybe urban legend - that Bruce Lee was briefly considered for the role thanks to his turn as Kato in The Green Hornet. It may be true. Lee's widow even asserts that the idea for Kung Fu was stolen from him. Some reports having Lee turning down the role because he felt Caine was "too subservient." Other stories have it that the producers were looking for a more serene type than Lee could provide. And Lee's heavily accented English probably also had something to do with the decision.

While it would have been kind of fun to watch Bruce Lee as Kwai Chang Caine taking names and kicking ass, Carradine made the role his own, improbable or not. One of my favorite scenes from that show is Caine serenely sitting on a rock waiting for two Indians, who are totally oblivious to his presence, to wake up.

He will be missed.

Marilyn Monroe - Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com (Fred Bals) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:48:04 PDT

"I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful." ~ Marilyn Monroe

I think I'm taking that as the new Dreamtime motto. Of course being obstinate, we'd prefer money too. Marilyn at her best, with "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" from 19 and 53's Gentleman Prefer Blondes. Our Host played T-Bone Burnett's very nice cover of the song on the "Friends and Neighbors" episode of Theme Time Radio Hour, and you can hear Marilyn's original as background during Mr. D.'s commentary.

Marilyn's birthday was this past Monday, June 1st. She would have been 83, which should give us all pause for a moment. She was 27 when she did Gentleman, earning $18,000 for the role, which Fox considered a bargain. Betty Grable, who was originally cast for Gentleman, was commanding $150,000 at the time. Fox decided to bet on a younger (and cheaper) sex bomb... and the rest, as they say, is history.

The studio wanted to dub Monroe's singing voice, thinking it too high-pitched and childish. Sanity eventually prevailed, and only the opening operatic "No, no, no" segment was dubbed with another singer's voice. Rumor has it though that the fabulous M's posterior was replaced by a body double in a least one shot when it was felt that her tail end was wagging too much. Dancing coach Gwen Verdon was brought in to instruct Monroe and co-star Jane Russell in the art of dance and sexy walk and reportedly stood in for both in several scenes when they couldn't get their bottoms to sway to director Howard Hawks' satisfaction.

Verdon would later go on to become the star of Broadway's Can-Can.

And yes, that's a "way homer."