The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh put out a book that included a CD of excerpts from Warhol's private audio tape collection. The album is narrated by John Giorno, the poet who starred in some of Warhol's early films.*
Warhol used to carry tape recorders with him everywhere, and the Warhol museum has thousands of hours of 'em. This is but a wee sample, but a fascinating one, featuring goodies like a raw Velvet Underground jamming on "I'll be Your Mirror" with Nico, and some songs I don't recognize; Andy discussing a commissioned portrait of a guy with a hard-on that has never been exhibited in public; a campy Pope Ondine; a no-nonsense Edie Sedgewick; a Man Ray photo session; Holly Woodlawn on why it's a pain to be a drag queen; and a discussion of art featuring famous people's private parts. Yes, Mick Jagger and Studio 54 are here, but we also go shopping with Warhol at a grocery store. As Andy would say, "Oh, gee!"
The Andy Warhol Museum
The book/CD is way out of print and going for crazy sums on Amazon: $160 is a bit out of my price range. There is one (1) copy in the entire L.A. County Library system, and it's in the "closed stacks," meaning a librarian has to retrieve it for you and you can't take it out of the library. So I had to bring my wife's laptop to the library at a later date, they sat me in a special section, and I loaded in and copied the CD. Dang, the things I do for you people. Send me booze and chocolates! Remember me in your will!
*But I know Giorno for the boss albums he put out in the late '70s/'80s on his own label that featured everyone from Laurie Anderson and William Burroughs to The Butthole Surfers. Good stuff.
I think it's safe to say that, of all the thousands (millions?) of albums ever made, this is the only one of it's kind ever recorded.
From the late '70s comes this traditional bluegrass band singing most un-traditional lyrics about "Eck," which was apparently some kinda New Age offshoot of Hindu - songs like "The Sound Of The ECK" are nearly impenetrable to the uninitiated. Weird and funny as you might expect, but very well played if you're into bluegrass. Which I am not (sorry, Steve Martin), but the vocal harmonies on "River Of Light" totally rule, even as they sing things like: "Look to the light of the living Eck master, he will guide you." Probably wouldn't go over so well on "Hee Haw"...
Hindu Kush Mountain Boys Plus One
And - hey, guess what! - there's actually a new album in the works from these guys. Good karma to windy for sending us this one.
Anyone having trouble with Mediafire? Recently, they've changed things a bit. Anyway. As I originally wrote a few years ago when this album was still in print and I only posted one song from it:
There are millions of great guitar and piano players in the world, but, quick, name a great jew's harp player. The jew's harp? That thing you stick in your mouth, pluck, and go boing boing boing? With the vaguely anti-Semetic name? The same! Meet Tran Quang Hai (also spelled Tran Hai Quang), Vietnamese-born music professor, folklorist, and jew's harp hero. (Hey, if there can be guitar heroes...)
His album "Jew's Harps of the World" does indeed survey various international jew's harp styles, though it mainly features those of Vietnam. Perhaps not melodic in the traditional sense, jew's harps are nonetheless capable of producing surprisingly diverse sounds and rhythms, sometimes suggesting electronic effects like distortion, wah-wah, and phase-shifting, though, of course, it's all acoustic.
Tran Quang Hai "Jew's Harps of the World"
I'd just like to add to my original review that this album doesn't feature any other instruments besides the jew's harp. I play it at the same time as other albums. Goes with nearly anything! Boing, boing, boing...
The Musical Betts were a husband-and-wife duo who played (mostly) instrumental versions of gospel songs on such instruments as cowbells, marimba, musical saw, slide guitar, and sleigh bells. And vibraharp, which I think is like a vibraphone. Really cool stuff, but alas I know nuthin' about 'em. I do know they had at least one other album besides this one cuz Otis Fodder and Dana Countryman posted a song off it for their Cool and Strange Music Magazine comp, included here as a bonus.It's a bit odd hearing melodies played on instruments like cowbells performed not as Spike Jones-like comedic music, but in a stately, emotional manner. If Tom Waits has this album, I would not be surprised.The Musical Betts1. I'd Rather Have Jesus2. The Lords Prayer3. What A Friend We Have In Jesus4. Rock of Ages5. He Lifted Me6. Ring The Bells of Heaven7. Dwelling In Beulah Land8. Near The Cross9. Let The Lower Lights Be Burning10. Jesus Loves Me11. Church In The Wildwood12. Just As I Am13. BONUS TRACK: Grumblers
Even if only half the things said about Ray Bourbon are true, he was still one of the strangest figures in American entertainment. He:
- ran guns for Pancho Villa in drag
- was working full time as a drag queen performer as far back as 1932
- staged a media hoax claiming to have had a sex-change operation...but may have actually had the operation
- was mixed up in a Soviet gay spy caper
- put on a show featuring dogs with dyed colored fur who could urinate on cue
- was carrying a trailerful of animals when his car caught fire; when he gave his animals to a shelter for safekeeping, the animals were sold for medical experiments; Bourbon then put a hit out on the shelter owner, who was, in fact, killed, and Bourbon was sent to prison!
"Ray Bourbon had a show business career as a comedian and female impersonator that spanned over fifty years, well into an era when Gay liberation would take shape. He was perhaps the most well-known and well-traveled performer in Gay venues during the last century, but he remains largely forgotten today, his comedy both a glimpse into and a relic of another time.... His stage persona was complex and layered in many subtle ways; Ray is at once a gossipy drag queen, a bitchy diva, a butcher of sacred cows, and a keen observer of human nature. Ray would perform and record some of the same routines in the 1930’s, the ‘40’s and later in the ‘60’s; his quick patter and skills at improvisation keep the material fresh and the listener on edge."
Lots of free listening/downloading here:
15 Ray Bourbon albums
I haven't heard all of the albums linked to above, but what I have heard is plenty fun, replete with naughty double-entendre tunes like "My First Piece." Much of it replicates his low-budget nightclub show - campy, funny songs usually minimally backed by piano. These recordings range from scratchy old 78s to mid-60s hi-fi albums, but he/she keeps a pretty consistent style throughout, remaking some songs and routines several times over the years/decades.
Kudos to Randy A. Riddle aka coolcatdaddy for his extensive research and preservation work.
Happy Friday! Here's a big ol' mess o' videos sent to us by their creator Halfcast Podcast. The music is by various hapless outsider unknowns, but I do recognize Dean Milan, whose ludicrous "Do It Like A Dog" was popular on WFMU's "Incorrect Music" show way back when. This is a different, er, "tune" by him. And there's a song-poem that was featured in the "Off The Charts" documentary. Otherwise, most of these artistes were featured on the old MP3.com. I fondly recall their "Worst of The Worst" feature, where I imagine many of these songs appeared.
The funny and well-done videos are mostly collages of found-film that nicely illustrate each song's bizarre subject matter. Thanks muchly, Halfcast Podcast!
As we wrote back in '08: "David Liebe Hart believes he was abducted by aliens, hosts a public-access TV program called 'The Junior Christian Bible Story Puppet Show,' draws pictures and performs music for tips on the streets of Los Angeles, and is looking for a woman." Nothing's changed in that department - he's still lashing out at racist churches, frustrated by women, and is pleading for interstellar peace among warring alien planets. But there are some new topics on his mind, e.g.: he really likes Ellen DeGeneres "even tho you're gay," and Karen Carpenter. And I was surprised to learn that, as someone of Irish descent, I'm from the Omegan alien race. Wow!
Hart has released several albums in recent years, again with sympathetic bandleader Adam Papagan. The effortlessly enjoyable "New Songs Improvised Live: 6-05-08" is described thusly: "These songs were recorded live on the radio. David had no prior knowledge of the songs' topics. They were written up before the show, thrown into a lunch bag, and then randomly chosen before each song began. Thus, the lyrics for every track (with the exception of Love One Another and All My Friends Like Asian Girls) were entirely improvised, as was much of the instrumentation. Of course, you could never tell."
The results sometimes suggest Wesley Willis and Shooby Taylor the Human Horn backed by Half-Japanese. Oh, and he would also like to say: "I don't need to see no psychiatrist...we need to accept each other the way we are...we need to have tolerance for other people, no matter how they're different from we are." Yup. Listen for free, or purchase:
His "Monsters" collection is just over 20 minutes of punk aggression, in contrast to the mostly positive "New Songs Improvised." In a vindictive mood, he names names, calling out those who have done him wrong. And he has just about had it with you women jerking him around. Don't mess with the Hart-dawg!
The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh put out a book that included a CD of excerpts from Warhol's private audio tape collection. The album is narrated by John Giorno, the poet who starred in some of Warhol's early films.*
