Christiern

Sorry, Larry, but am I missing something here?

I just had a call from George A. he said it was okay to post his e-mail address, so here it is: ganda3(at)verizon.net I asked him why he needed to talk to an eyewitness and all I can say is that theories kicked about here are off the mark. It is a long, involved and Schaapless thing. Anyway, I hope someone here was there and can help George with info. Thanks, Chris

Working under his actual name (Børge Rosenbaum) he originally did many of his routines (including, I believe, phonetic punctuation) in Danish. I also recall, shortly after the war (WWII, natch) that he did commercials that were shown in movie theaters--there was one for Pepsodent. We didn't have them on TV--we didn't have TV, for that matter. I think he was very funny and marveled at how well his humor aged. I wasn't wild about the "First Family" album. Stil love PDQ Bach and the Hoffnung Festival albums.

Keep it under your hat, but all is forgiven.

Ever hear the bit where they want to open a "hell" theme park and pay a guy to remain in a pit with live snakes? I remember that one, it was one of my favorite. Allan Sherman? Never found him funny. Ditto Steve Allen.

Yes, bottom left. I need my right hand to hold the dust pan.

Yes, I have a few that would qualify, but I start this thread to give us all pause... hasn't this "cover" series more than run its course? Discuss among yourselves....

The excerpts from Coyle and Sharpe's radio shows contain some priceless material.

Could be. I'll ask him.

If anyone can do that one right, Allen, it's George! A major Schaap victim, as you know.

George Avakian is looking to contact anyone who attended the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. He has asked me to post his request and furnish his e-mail address, but--given some of the kooks who have popped up here--I really hesitate to do so. Therefore, if you were there, PM me and I'll give you the e-mail contact. I don't know what this is all about, but George is always up to interesting things, so... Thanks--Chris

Anna Russell's first comedy album came earlier than the ones you mention, I think. Ditto Lord Buckley (around 1952?)

Thank you, Brownie, good to see you here again--hope you don't disappear again, but understand if you do.

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting and illuminating. I think self-parody is a universal thing, but sometimes it is taken beyond the max.

I was searching Amazon for some blues releases when this popped up as a "people also bought" item. Looks very offensive to me (at least the producers acknowledge that aspect). There is undoubtedly some historical value to this kind of material, but does that make it less insulting? Is this exploitation or exposé? Allen?

Chuck is right, Verve (and the Granz labels that preceded it) were essentially an extension of a touring concert group, JATP. The early studio recordings were pretty awful, technically--Norman did not seem too interested in the sound quality until reviewers began slamming his recordings (John Hammond and John S. Wilson were pretty harsh in the NYT). Hammond, of course used Vanguard to demonstrate how jazz audio could be made as palatable as, say, a little Mozart piece.

I have a few hundred 45s and EPs that I never play, mostly because they need attention every two or 3 minutes. So, I have decided to buy a USB turntable--nothing fancy, just something that will allow me to make transfers and program them for CD or DVD burning. There is a really inexpensive one, which probably will do the trick for my very undemanding (no Steve Hoffman ) need. Bargain Grace Then there is this one, only $30 more Has anybody here tried either of them?

Perhaps yours did, but every red, laminated Columbia 78 I ever had sounded abyssmal--and quickly grew worse.

MG: "In the same book, Otis or Leon (I forget which) Rene talked about their need in those days to recycle and melt old 78s to get material. Can't imagine those records sounded any too good, either." In the immediate post-war years, when I began to buy records (in Copenhagen) one had to turn in an old one in order to purchase a new one (This did not apply to used records) and your assumption is correct--they sounded terrible. But then, so did American Columbias, the red labels that were pressed on laminated discs--I think there was a cardboard layer, at least it looked (and sounded) that way.

I have noticed more of a racial pattern rather than a gender one. It is alarming how many of my black friends continue to smoke--that goes for the younger generation, too. They have nearly all switched to menthol cigarettes, but those are just as deadly, I understand.

I failed on my first attempt to kick the habit, but then I looked for the mildest cigarettes I could find, and switched to that brand. The next time I tried to quit, I actually succeeded--it wasn't easy, but images of people with emphysema always helped. It took quite a while before the smell of cigarettes started bothering me--in my first year or two of not smoking, I liked being around smokers, booked seats in smoking sections, etc. Now it really bothers me when people smoke in my presence. I put up with it, because I recall what it was like to be on the other side, but I find that my group of smoking friends has dwindled, considerably. Sad to say, that is partly because the cigarettes killed them, but the legion of quitters is growing. Good luck, Papsrus.

I never smoked thread, but I did quit cigarettes about 30 years ago.

Ah, this brings me back to the late 1940s, when I had just developed an interest in jazz and my grandparents gave me their old gramophone, an HMV floor model. One day, the spring broke and the music stopped--but not for long. New springs of that type could not be found and the music had become an addiction, so I figured out a way to play my records manually: I simply pushed the turntable with my right index finger--when set at 78, it could not go faster, so I just had to push it to the limit. This was a lot of work, it gave me a callus on the tip of my finger and another in its middle, from brushing against the spindle 78 times per minute. It also wore the labels of my records to a point where I often had to identify them by having committed to memory the matrix number or the special characteristics of the grooves. I specifically recall Woody Herman's "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe," which has the brass swelling up following Frances Wayne's vocal. Of course, not being able to walk away from my gramophone meant that I paid more attention to the music. I did this for two years and became very good at not hitting the tone arm in the process. A long aside, I know, but Wellman Braud still came through in a most delightful, thumpy way.

I recall Wellman Braud's bass sounding terrific in the pre-LP days. Like Chuck says, it depended on the player--I would add that a good needle also made a difference. There were people who swore by wood needles, but there was also a big difference between metal ones. Remember, too, that those of us who are old enough to have listened on that equipment are also old enough to have listened before there was anything else. So, what sounded good back then might not sound quite as good when a comparison can be made. That said, I also agree with Chuck that many allegedly enhanced reissues do not compare favorably to a good 78 pressing played on the right equipment. Remember how awful some of the early CDs sounded? Well, some still do, actually.