Jodi Feinsilver - Georgy Girl

Some more musical archeology with more found personal recordings. This one doesn't bum me out nearly as much the other ones i've posted. I guess for a few reasons. First, its not really personalized to another person. No message here. No sending this back home to Ma or the family with messages, just a young girl singing one of her fave songs and having a good time. and this was 1967, and if little Jody was 10 or so she could very well still be alive and well and living. 3rd the kids in the background hooting and hollering really make this thing for. I don't know how these things were made but that has to be a playground right? or were things sets up at malls and that just kids having a time back there? 4th, man that Brooklyn? accent just kills me! Love it. anyway i have a bunch more of these things laying around in various states of decay and figure i might as well post a few of them before they just rot away over here. Enjoy or not. till the next time, Cheers!

Jodi Feinsilver - Georgy Girl

Red River Dave with Sula's Texas Rangers - Why Should I Feel Sorry For You Now - Living A Lie Over You

Saving a few more 78's from the target practice pile. Here is a pretty cool hillbily country 78 from Red River Dave. I don't know what year this is from but late 40's early 50's is a safe bet. anyone know for sure? I know that these scratchy 78's aint everybody's cup of tea, but i'm enjoying digging these out so stay tuned for more. If you aint down, move along little doggy....

Red River Dave McEnery (December 15, 1914 - January 15, 2002 was a musician and writer of topical songs. He was born in San Antonio, Texas. He got the nickname "Red River Dave" because he enjoyed singing "Red River Valley" in high school. He was the leader of The Swift Cowboys.

As a teenager, he appeared regularly on KABC radio. Dave began his career by singing, yodeling, and performing rope tricks at rodeos. In 1936, he broadcast a live singing performance from the Goodyear blimp over CBS AM radio station WQAM in Miami. His career really took off with his song "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight", broadcast in a pioneer television broadcast from the 1939 New York World's Fair. Her worked for radio station WOR (AM) in New York City. He was a radio personality in border radio for station XERF.

He worked in several westerns as a singing cowboy, including Swing in the Saddle (1944), Hidden Valley Days (1948) and Echo Ranch (1948).

And sorry for the crappy pictures.... i REALLY need to upgrade my camera.

Red River Dave with Sula's Texas Rangers - Why Should I Feel Sorry For You Now

Red River Dave with Sula's Texas Rangers - Living A Lie Over You

Arthur Hall - Honey Duke And His Uke - They're Doing The Black-bottom In Charleston Now - Hard Boiled Mama

Not sure what to make of this one. Side a just says sung by Arthur Hall but Side b says Honey Duke And His Uke. Are both sides by Honey Duke and his Uke with Just Arthur Hall singing on the a? Or is this 2 different folks on one 78? And to further add to the confusions the labels are wrong. Side a actually plays side b and side b actually plays side a.... Hard Boiled Mama sounds like Nervous Norvous.... Other than that, i know nothing about this other than its from either 1925 or 1926....

Arthur Hall - (Honey Duke And His Uke) - They're Doing The Black-bottom In Charleston Now

Honey Duke And His Uke - Hard Boiled Mama

Glen Gray And The Casa Loma Orchestra - Robin Hood

Yet

another 78 saved from the target practice pile. Recorded on December 19, 1944 here is Robin Hood from Glen Gray And The Casa Loma Orchestra.

Glen Gray And The Casa Loma Orchestra - Robin Hood

Lucky Millinder And His Orchestra - Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well

Another 78 saved from the target practice pile.... (see Wednesday's post)

This is apparently Wynonie Harris' 2nd recording....

Wiki info below:

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American rhythm and blues and swing bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful. His group was said to have been the greatest big band to play rhythm and blues,[3] and gave a break to a number of influential musicians at the dawn of the rock and roll era. He is a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

Millinder was born in Anniston, Alabama, United States and was raised in Chicago, Illinois. In the 1920s he worked in clubs, ballrooms, and theatres in Chicago as a master of ceremonies and dancer. He first fronted a band in 1931 for an RKO theater tour, and in 1932 took over leadership of Doc Crawford's orchestra in Harlem, New York City, as well as freelancing elsewhere.
In 1933, he took a band to Europe, playing residencies in Monte Carlo and Paris. He returned to New York to take over leadership of the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, which included Henry "Red" Allen, Charlie Shavers, Harry "Sweets" Edison and J.C. Higginbotham, and which had a regular slot at The Cotton Club. Around this time he also discovered singer and guitarist Rosetta Tharpe, with whom he performed for many years and first recorded with on "Trouble In Mind" in 1941.
With his own orchestra

In 1938 he teamed up with pianist Bill Doggett's group, and by 1940 had formed a completely new orchestra, which included Doggett and drummer "Panama" Francis. He established a residency at New York's Savoy Ballroom, and won a contract with Decca Records. Dizzy Gillespie was the band’s trumpeter for a while, and featured on Millinder's first charted hit, "When The Lights Go On Again (All Over The World)", which reached # 1 on the R&B chart and # 14 on the pop chart in 1942. The follow-up records "Apollo Jump" and "Sweet Slumber" were also big hits, with vocals by Trevor Bacon.
By the mid-1940s the band was drifting towards what would be known as rhythm and blues. Other band members around this time included saxophonists Bull Moose Jackson, Tab Smith and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and pianist “Sir” Charles Thompson. In 1944 Millinder recruited singer Wynonie Harris, and their recording together of "Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well" became the group’s biggest hit in 1945, staying at #1 on the R&B chart for eight weeks and also crossing over to reach #7 on the US pop chart. After Harris left for a solo career, Millinder followed up with another hit, “Shorty’s Got to Go” on which he took lead vocals. Soon afterwards, Ruth Brown became the band's singer for a short period before her own solo career took off.
In the late 1940s the band continued to remain popular and toured around all the large R&B auditoriums, although it had few chart hits for several years. In 1949 the band left Decca Records and joined first RCA Victor and then King Records, recording with singers Big John Greer and Annisteen Allen. The band’s last big hit was "I’m Waiting Just for You" with Allen in 1951, which reached #2 on the R&B chart and #19 pop.


By 1952 Millinder was working as a radio DJ as well as continuing to tour with his band, but his style was beginning to fall out of favor and the band went through many personnel changes. In 1954 he took over the leadership of the house band at the Apollo Theater for a while. He effectively retired from performing around 1955, although his final recordings were in 1960.
He became active in music publishing, and in public relations for a whiskey distillery, before dying from a liver ailment in New York City in September 1966.


Lucky Millinder And His Orchestra - Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well

Ethel Smith - Tico Tico

I have a bunch of old 78's up in the attic just sitting in boxes. Stuff i kinda poo poo'd a while back as "junk". And most if it is.... Dinah Shore and vocal crap i could really care less about. Stuff that i've just accumulated over the years. Me and the boys take a few junkers out in the backyard and shoot 'em up sometimes. They make for dandy targets. But a thread over at Waxidermy got me thinking maybe i should revisit a few of these BEFORE we shoot them to shit.....

I started with a small stack and spot played each one and yep, all of them were pretty much crap to my ears. But this one, this one sounded kinda cool. It sounded sorta "modern" with this crazy organ. And its from 1944. I know all about Hammond organs for R&R but i had no idea they were being rocked way back in the 40's. Apparently they started rockin' the electric Hammond organ back in 1934. I had no idea....

You can check the Hammond organ history HERE:

So while this isn't necessarily my cup of tea i think its actually pretty "neat" sounding for 1944. This awesome movie clip from the movie "Bathing Beauty" shows Mrs. Smith killing it on the organ.



So maybe i'll be posting up a few more 78's if i find anything else that sounds good to these ears, otherwise its to the backyard for target practice!

Ethel Smith - Tico Tico

78's & nothing but 78's..

Today the devil is playing 78's and nothing but 78's...

I don't have very many 78's because i break about everyone i've ever owned but i have a few and i was thinking today that i never give this media enough attention so today no 45's and no LP's just 78's.

Unfortunately i have no way of downloading 78's yet but here's a few ditties i've played so far while enjoying a few ice cold Pabst blue ribbons. there nothing here that a major rarity but I'm enjoying myself!

Paul Howard & his Cotton Pickers - Rootie Tootie / The Fiddler with the Patch on his Pants
Tex Williams and his Western Caravan - Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!
The Rambler Trio - Guitar Boogie
Ted Daffan's Texans - Born To Lose / No Letter Today
Peerless Quartest - The Railroad Section Gang
Louise Massey & the Westerners - Gals Don't Mean A Thing
Will Bradley Trio - Down the Road A Peice
Louis Jordan - Buzz Me / Don't Worry 'bout That Mule
Phil Harris & Orchestra - Some Little Bug
Betty Hatton - Hot Dog That Made Him Mad
Sally and Marvin Clark - Choocolate Whiskey and Vanilla Gin
Archie Bleyer - Fernando's Hideaway

and a bunch more i don't feel like typing....

Bertha Collins - Don't Forget I Love You - Just Us Two

OK, today I have something special for you all.

Now some of you may not care at all for what I’m about to lay on you but to me at least it’s very special and it is definitely some very rare stuff here. How rare? How about rare as in I own the only copies in existence? Now that may not mean that the monetary value on these is high as i highly doubt anyone would really want these but to me they are priceless.

See Bertha Collins is my Great Grandmother and what we have here are some of the songs she wrote and recorded. My Grandpa or “PeePa” as we have always called him recently gave these acetates to me and now I give them to you.

As far as I can tell and from what I’ve been told my Great Granny fancied herself a “song writer” and wrote these songs as far back as my Grandpa could remember. He was born in the 20’s and says he remembers them as far back as he can recall but there is no date listed on the acetates. As far as we know these are the only copies that exist of these two songs. She did write other songs as I have at least one hand written music sheets for a song called “Tomay” but no recording. And it looks as if only “Don’t Forget I Love You” was properly published as this is the only one that has sheet music. The sheet music has a date of 1952 but we think that is only the date it was finally “published” as I said before my Grandpa says he can remember her playing these records was he was a kid, and that was a LONG time ago.

Bertha wrote these songs and is playing the piano on the recordings but no one can remember who the male vocal accompaniment was supplied by (sorry fella) as nothing is listed on the records.

Well, I told you all this would be an eclectic ride. I guess this is where I get my modest musicianship and love of music from, genes man, genes…

Please enjoy a trip back in to my family vault with the following tracks from My Great Grandmother who I don’t ever remember meeting but whom without I would not exist…

Bertha Collins - Don't Forget I Love You

Bertha Collins - Just Us Two