Message From James Brown

MP3: Message From James Brown

This is a rarity: an unreleased promotional single that was probably distributed to radio stations only. There is no discographical info whatsoever (there isn't even a label on the record), but it must date from around 1967, which would be the time of national race riots that it is obviously intended to try and quell. JB had done a famous concert at Boston Garden during a severe time of unrest in '67 to 'keep people off the streets', and this little record will give you some idea of what was going through the Godfather's mind at that time, expressed in his own totally unique way! Not much more you can say about it; it speaks volumes for itself.

WFMU's Beware of the Blog: 365 Days #256 - Message From James Brown (mp3s)

Pam's House Blend

Many thanks to Mike Signorile and producer David Guggenheim for access to the audio of my segment yesterday on Mike's satellite radio show on SIRIUS OutQ 109. We tried in 20 minutes to untangle the latest GOP gay scandal involving Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC10) and a cast of characters involved in a bizarre Florida murder-suicide. It's a murky, pretty depraved mess that is crying for mainstream media to pick up. Have fun listening.

Audio: MP3

Pam's House Blend:: Audio from the Signorile show on Patrick McHenry and the latest sordid GOP gay scandal

Pianists, Lies, And Audio Tape...

The Joyce Hatto story is about more than pianists, lies, and audio tape. At its heart is failed ambition and deeply sweet revenge...

"There was a transparent poignancy to the con: Hatto had possessed genuine talent but there had been no brilliant career. The con had a genius and the revenge a sweetness, the false persona providing a balm for her failed ambition. It was also a love story, one that would have been right at home on Sunset Boulevard."

Fantasia for Piano: The New Yorker audio

Daddy Dearest

This is off an album my dad made in the 1960's called, "Chips of Wisdom" (my dad was a pretty famous ventriloquist back in the day). Ostensibly, this was an album for kids, but it was so disturbing we couldn't listen to it when we were little.

I don't know if it was the horrible subject matter, my dad's acting or the album cover, but this thing gave us the willies. We had nightmares about it.

The premise is that my dad takes his little puppet out into the woods to have some father/son chats with him. So already, the creep factor is at a 10. He proceeds to teach him all about character and wisdom, which is admirable I suppose, but he does it by telling some of the most terrible stories you've ever heard.

File this away under terrible things we used to do to our children, before we knew better. And then take just a brief moment to reflect on what my childhood must have been like.

April Winchell

WFMU's Beware of the Blog: 365 Days #252 - Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney - Chips Of Wisdom (mp3s)

(If you suspect that Winchell might have some issues with her father, you are correct.)

Come With Me, Come To The Fair

Check out this hilarious MP3 of comedian Jean Shepherd touring the It's a Small World ride and Carousel of Progress at the 1964 World's Fair. As Dan Howland notes, "In a pleasant irony, Shep delightedly and sarcastically enjoys the Carousel of Progress as only he can -- in a few years, he would provide the voice-over of the father character in an updated version of the show at Walt Disney World." MP3 Link

(via BoingBoing)

More Shepherd at the Jean Shepherd Archives

Gore Vidal: "Capote was a pathological liar."

Truthdig - Gore Vidal on 'Capote,' 'Brokeback Mountain' --and Why 'Match Point' Is the Best Picture of 2005 (with audio link)

Pauline Kael Audio and Links

The Film since World War Two - Pauline Kael 1968. Recorded: at University of California, Berkeley, 26 Apr. 1968

Kael in Concert: Circles and Squares

Pauline Kael Archives (Net Links)