Smile - It's Friday!

Score! Until I found this just the other day I'd only heard the song Freckles as sung to me by my mom and my grandfather.

Though geographically far removed from the Caribbean, Bermuda shares with the region a history of European colonization, African slavery, and the creolization of African and European cultural traditions. During the 1940s and 1950s, calypso became popular in the island's tourist hotels and clubs. Bermuda's leading calypso ensemble was the Talbot Brothers, who organized formally in 1942. In 1953 they began touring the United States each fall, appearing at clubs and colleges across the country.

In addition to touring the United States, the Talbot Brothers appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and NBC's morning Home show. Roy Talbot's "doghouse" bass, made with a packing crate and fishing line, intrigued fans.

This goes out to Blake Given and anyone else with an iPod and the right sense of humor. Please enjoy Freckles by The Talbot Brothers from their Talbot Brothers of Bermuda lp.

And as much as I've been digging the skiing and boarding of the Winter Games in Torino - especially last nights snowboard cross finals (congrats to champion Seth Wescott - he won the first Gold ever in this new event - USA-USA!) it wasn't until I played this classic that it truly felt like I was watching the Olympics.

USA-USA-USA!

Have a great weekend,

Miguel

1957: Monk & Coltrane Live at Carnegie Hall

Enjoy the opening track Monk's Mood while you're reading this and tell me my Guardian Angel's not on top of things...

True story. A really cool thing happened to me last year while I was up in New York visiting my bud Jackie. (One of the main reasons I was there was to visit Ground Zero first hand. I cried like a baby.)

It was September 9th, a perfect cool and clear Friday evening. Jackie and I had hooked up with his friend Doug and his new bride Beth for dinner and we were in a cab on our way to grab drinks somewhere else.

I sat in the front seat with the cabbie and he had this amazing Jazz playing. I asked who we were listening to. Smiling and excited he told me that it was some lost Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane recorded live in 1957 that they just found earier in the year and that we were, along with the rest of New York, hearing it for the first time.

Here's the cool part - we were stopped at a traffic light when I asked him where it was recorded and (I'll never forget this!) he pointed at Carnigie Hall just to my right and said "Right over there". "You've got to be fucking kidding me." I said. He just smiled, said "Striaght up" as he turned it up.

Do yourself a favor - go get this!

A bit more background on the recording:

This never-before heard jazz classic documents one of the most historically important working bands in all of Jazz history, a band that was both short-lived and, until now, thought to be frustratingly under-recorded. The concert, which took place at the famed New York hall on November 29, 1957, was preserved on newly-discovered tapes made by Voice of America for a later radio broadcast that were located at the Library of Congress in Washington DC earlier this year.

Monk and Coltrane had been working together for a solid four months by the time they set foot on stage at Carnegie Hall that night. By all accounts, Coltrane had been tentative early on in the Five Spot run, challenged at first by Monk’s quirky melodies and chord changes, but the 51 minutes of music captured in pristine sound quality on At Carnegie Hall, present the quartet, which was completed by bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik and drummer Shadow Wilson, at the height of their powers.

The tapes from that evening at Carnegie Hall were inadequately labeled, filed away amongst the Voice of America’s vast collection of recordings, and apparently forgotten until January 2005 when Larry Applebaum, a supervisor and jazz specialist at the Library of Congress, came upon them by accident during the routine process of digitally transferring the Library’s collection for preservation purposes. Applebaum noticed a set of tapes simply labeled “sp. Event 11/29/57 carnegie jazz concert (#1),” with one of the tapes barring the sole marking “T. Monk.” Until now, remarkably little recorded documentation of Monk’s quartet with Coltrane has been known to exist, a fact that makes this finding all the more significant.

Tracks 1-5: Early Show
Tracks 6-9: Late Show

Read more Here!

That's Right,

HMK

Look Out Race!

Here's the theme song from probably my favorite and one of the most awesomest cartoons ever! This one's a Jonny ReQuest for my buddy Parrish. (I didn't think they had TV in Childress...) Jonny Quest Main Theme from the Hanna-Barbera Pic-A-Nic Basket compilation put out by Kid Rhino in 1996.

Enjoy,

Miguel

Tiki Room Sunset

Ringo Tiki Room Sunset
Originally uploaded by H. Michael karshis.

Ringo enjoying last nights awesome sunset in front of the world famous Tiki Room.

Here's a little set of songs, a Sun Set, if you will. And I know you will, won't you?

Fasten your seat belts people. Is your iPod on? Good. Please play Theme From Take-Off (Magic Sunset) now. This is from Yoshinori Sunahara's debut effort, Pan Am: The Sound Of The '70s. Perfect.

Wow, look out the window! Check out those dudes surfing in the sunset! Sunset Surfing The Challengers.

Take Off, Eh! Canadian Sunset The Avelanches.

And then out of nowhere, like a blast of turbulance, Mega Pills from Sunset Valley.

Have a nice flight,

Migwell

Go Go Gorilla Friday

Congratulations, you made it all the way through the week!

Welcome to Friday, January 27th, 2006.

Ok y'all, this first one is sure to get you up and moving. Turn it up and dig the awesome vibes of Mambo Inn! This is from a hip little album called Doctored For Super Stereo by Peter Appleyard. And, according to the 1957 liner notes, "one of the most sought-after artist on the modern scene". You can be sure I'm looking for more.

Our second number for this fine friday is by Marisa, a one name wonder off of Ultra Chicks Vol.1 — Filles in the Garage! Just one of 72 tunes from a 3 volume compilation of obscure 60's French Pop 45s. (Bummer the cover art is not as cool as the musical offerings.) Check out Christine, dedicated to my Ultra Chick, Chrissy.

And finally, The Shandells oohh-aahh-some Gorilla! Not really sure why, but this song makes me super thirsty...

(Photo: Reagan Williamson)
And yeah, that's me in the Gorilla suit jamming to Hawaii 5-0 at the Grande re-Opening of Joe Bananas in Hong Kong.


Cheers and Go Go Gorilla!

Miguel

The 2:17 One Note Vacation

Click here.

Close your eyes.

Relax.

Friday Grooves

For the past few months I've been seriously getting back into my vinyl, mainly lost and forgotten instumentals. Here's a few gems, focusing on the keyboard, to get you chilled out and ready for the weekend. Grab yourself a cocktail and relax...

First up, is a sweet little vibe from La Ragazza Dalla Pelle di Luna, a 1971 collection of Italian soundtracks, Laguna Tropicale by Piero Umiliani.

Next, we got Money Mark's totally bitchin' Pinto's New Car from his very cool 1995 Mark's Keyboard Repair lp.

As you may or may not know, Money Mark brought the soul and funk to the Beastie Boys' Check Your Head and Ill Communication lps. Both albums demonstrated his influence, with his thick, all over the place funky organ. On his own, Money Mark creates music that is quite similar to the instrumental tracks on the two Beastie albums, although a bit grittier and jazzier. The album as a whole, has a funky fresh Jimmy Smith vibe meets lo-fi, indie rock along with variations of '60s soul-jazz. An absolute must have for anyone looking to create the ultimate Tiki Room Pub vibe.

And finally, some groovy French Pop circa 1967 Aven des Oreilles from Monique Thurbert. This is from Ultra Chicks Vol.3, Baby Pop! And yeah, all three volumes are just as sweet as this track...

Turn it up and enjoy.

Have a great weekend.

Michael

Don't Monkey With Tarzan!

Monday. Here's an awesome little tune to set the tone and get your week started right. If anybody wants to mess with you today simply say the magic words: Don't Monkey With Tarzan!
Enjoy,
Migwell

I Can Be Nothing But Nothing But Trouble

John Dufilho Video 02: I Can Be Nothing But Trouble.

40 Years Of A Charlie Brown Christmas

Commentator John Moe is 37 years old, so he's never known a time when A Charlie Brown Christmas wasn't on television. But when he went to show it to his son for the first time, 5-year-old Charlie just thought it was strange, but he did have some great questions.

Check out A Charlie Brown Christmas' and a New Generation.

Be safe and be smart!

Happy New Year Y'all

This aired on NPR's All Things Considered, December 19, 2005

We Love The Beatles!

Please give a warm welcome to The Vernons Girls singing their heartfelt, soon to be forgotten We Love The Beatles! From The Sixties Explosion, a compilation of 8 ball sixties tracks.

And prepare yourself for I Wanna Hold Your Hand by the amazing Enoch Light and His Orchestra!

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

Migwell

'Ello Beatle People!

I don't know about y'all, but this whole iPod/iTunes phenomenon thing is taking me back to the days when I first truly started to get into music. Besides the fact that it's now possible to locate, retrieve and play anything from my collection by simply typing in a few key words (providing that everything is tagged from the get-go!) and the awesomely simple but genius shuffle option, the magic button that turns my mountain of all things audio into a personal "This Is Your Life" jukebox, the iPod is taking me back to the days when I would listen to an album, start to finish, with headphones on, escape and truly experience the concept of stereophonic hi-fi listening.

Albums like Queen' A Night At The Opera, Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and obviously any Beatles album, starting with Rubber Soul, come to mind as what I call headphone albums. Everyone's both heard and heard of these albums but sadly, few people have ever really listened to them.

If your version of Magical Mystery Tour is a downloaded copy from Kazaa and you've only listened to it via your computer speakers at work, please, don't tell me you're a huge fan of the fab four. Not only are you missing the experience and soul of what I'm talking about, (not to mention stealing music!) you've never really "heard" the Beatles at all. Granted, when the Beatles we're still together and the first time most of us heard their music is was either via a crappy radio or a sub-par turntable, which worked for me - I rather hear a any Beatles song over a mono transistor than most of the kaka that's coming out today, but there is so much going on with George Martin's production and the genius of the boys themselves that it's possible to hear something you've missed or never heard before every time you throw on a Beatles album!

Getting back into to headphone listening has turned my library of stuff into a whole new world of music. A world of left and right panning, nuance and subtlety that's both lost and ignored in today's world of free crappy downloads, computer speakers and quantity over quality. As much as I dig a mono surf song coming out of a single speaker while sitting on the beach drinking a cold one, that same song, in all it's high fidelity glory on some sweet home speakers or headphones transports me to another world. They're both music to my ears.

Anyway, here's the forth and fifth Beatles Christmas recordings I promised. Do yourself a favor and check these out with some decent headphones or speakers. No talking! Just listen to them all the way through and appreciate them for what they are, gifts to their fans (albeit some what obligatory) and you're sure to get a deeper insight and understanding of the fact that sure, the Beatles were f-ing genius, but damn, they were some trippy, interesting and wicked funny dudes!

If you've never heard these before (Lucky!) you're in for a real treat. Both of these are like a Beatles Goon Show meets Monty Python. And they only get better each passing year and a drink or two...

Relax, experience and enjoy!

First, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the genius of The Beatles Fourth Christmas Record Pantomime: Everywhere It's Christmas. Recorded: November 25, 1966. Released: December 16, 1966 (Lyntone LYN 1145)

Next is The Beatles Fifth Christmas Record Christmas Time Is Here Again! Recorded: November 28, 1967. Released: December 15, 1967 (Lyntone LYN 1360)

The last two'll be up soon, go put your headphones back on and listen to Pantomime again!

O-U-T spells out,

Migwell