Category: Videos

Saturday Matinee: Ken Nordine’s Word Jazz

Ken Nordine… the voice, the guy you’ve heard, but never knew it…

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Best of Word Jazz is available on cd via Rhino Records. Ken Nordine’s late 1950’s and early ’60’s work is bizarre. Here’s Bunk’s review [from Amazon] a few years ago:

“Late at night, toss this into your cd player, press pause.

“Turn off the lights.

“Turn on the TV. Turn off the sound. Flip to channel 3…

“Static…

“Hit play attention…

“Ken Nordine is the comforting yet oddly disturbing voice in your head that you try to ignore, but can’t; he’s the Twilight Zone for your ears.”

But don’t take my word for it. The liner notes include this gem of a description:

“Ken Nordine, yea I know that guy. I heard his voice 1000 times, he’s the guy in the bus station that says “go ahead I’ll keep an eye on your stuff for you,” and you see him the next day walking around town wearing your clothes. He broadcasts from the boiler room of the Wilmont Hotel with 50,000 watts of power. I know that voice, he’s the guy with the pitchfork in your head saying go ahead and jump, and he’s the ambulance driver who tells you you’re going to pull thru. He’s the guy in the control tower who talked you down in a storm with a hole in your fuselage and both engines on fire. I heard him barking thru the Rose Alley Carnival strobe as samurai firemen were pulling hose. Yea he’s the dispatcher with the heart of gold, the only guy up this late on the suicide hotline. Ken Nordine is the real angel sitting on the wire in the tangled matrix of cobwebs that holds the whole attic together. Yea Ken Nordine, he’s the switchboard operator at the Taft Hotel, the only place in town you can get a drink at this hour. You know Ken Nordine, he’s the lite in the icebox, he’s the blacksmith on the anvil in your ear.” –Tom Waits, 1990

For some reason, I have this subtle urge to buy 501 Jeans…

Saturday Matinee: Happy

The Beat Farmers, featuring the late Country Dick Montana singing “Happy Boy.”

A message from the makers of Happy Fun Ball.

Now for our Feature Presentation: “Happy.”

Everybody’s Heard About the Bird

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“So, what do you do for a living?”
“I ride birds. Big birds, you know? Birds that can be ridden.”
“Right. You are a bird rider. What does that really mean?”
“The bird is the word.”

“I don’t understand. Is it dangerous?”
“Yep. You can get flipped.”
“You mean the bird can flip you off?”

“The bird? Oh yeah. Ironic, huh. It happens.”

[Photo with video via l3utterfish.]

Saturday Matinee: One Domino Trashes a Town, and unrelated stuff

According to Arbroath, this was Guiness’ most expensive television advertisement to date, costing 10m pounds (about $2.1 million US bucks). Filmed in a village in Argentina, the whole town came out to watch. If our crack webminers can find a link to a “making of” video, we’ll update this post, but it’s more likely we’ll just tip a stout and be done with it.

Totally unrelated to the video above, our crack webminers turned up a video from 1970, from the Flip Wilson Show. This broadcast changed my life… or at least a good part of it.

The band appeared at Woodstock. Yes, that Woodstock, 1969. These guys played alongside Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Crosby Stills & Nash, Mountain, Arlo Guthrie, Country Joe & the Finch, Richie Havens, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, Melanie, Joan B. Depressed, Bobby Bieber and the SlimJims, Brittney Spears, etc.

Bunk was too young to attend Woodstock, but Bunk was allowed to watch TV. This is what Bunky witnessed at his grandparents house and loved it. ShaNaNa was IT.

This was Bunk’s introduction to DooWop. ShaNaNa sent me on a mission to hear the original versions by the Marcels, the Paragons, Dion, Gene Chandler, the Isley Brothers, the Zodiacs, the Del-Vikings, the Chips, the Chords, the Channels, Harvey & the Moonglows, Shep and the Limelights, the Ronnettes, the Shirelles, Leon Redbone, Led Zeppelin, Dread Zeppelin, Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Police, the Ramones, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, the Stray Cats, Frank Zappa, the Aquabats, the Skatalites, Moms Mabley and the Beat Farmers (featuring the late Country Dick Montana)… and not necessarily in that order. Oh, and I forgot the Solid Voidz featuring Big Don P.

Fill in the band(s) I might have missed in the comments section.

Saturday Matinee: 3 Shouts, then Bluto Eats It

The original “Shout” by the Isley Brothers of Blue Ash, Ohio, limp-sinking in 1959:

Then white people in the recording industry decided to like it. Joey Dee & the Starlighters had a minor hit with it in 1962. Here’s the Shangri-las’ version, from 1963(?). No wonder it didn’t make the charts:

Then it was resurrected by Otis Day & the Knights, from National Lampoon’s “Animal House” in 1978.

As a bonus, here’s your favorite “Animal House” scene:

Thanks for watching. See you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee: Halloween

Sorry to pop your bubble of modern-day belief, but Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, was NOT a celebration of Satan’s birthday. It was a pagan custom designed to keep evil spirits from taking possession of their souls. The evil dead walked on this night, searching for souls to take. The preventative antidote was to dress up as the evil spirits themselves, and thus confuse them through the night so that they could take no souls.

Then Disney came along to give 5-year-olds nightmares with this:

[Link found here.]

But wait! There’s more! Several years ago a friend emailed me this:

Lastly, Karen from SNTC reminded me of the scariest one of all.
Mary’s Back.

Saturday Matinee: Peaches En Regalia

Bunk loves this song, especially THIS version of this song. Looks like SNL footage of Frank Zappa’s 1976 entourage.

[If it doesn’t play, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwQogHWkWck%5D

Zappa’s line up back then was amazing. Might be Jean Luc-Ponty on the invisible violin; Terry Bozzio on drums; Ruth Underwood on xylophone; maybe Roy Estrada on bass. Zoot Allures era.

Any FZ fans wanna leave comments to clear this up?

Zappa was only on SNL once, and was banned for mugging too much in the skits. You can find the two other SNL/Zappa vids on the Utubage if you hunt for ’em.

“…they’re pretty good musicians, and the musicians are pretty good…”— FZ, from “Green Rosetta.” Make a muffin really betta.

[UPDATE: Something yanked the link to the video originally posted. Here’s the same video from a different source. –Bunk]

[UPDATE 2: Seems that anything posted from SNL is now verboten. I’ve added a new version of my favorite Peaches. Slightly lesser quality video, but let’s see how long this one lasts. –Bunk]

Saturday Matinee: LEON!

The music of the late 1970’s was terrible. FM radiowaves were flooded with over-produced theater/stage rock (Yes, ELP, ELO); annoying pre-packaged disco (Chic, Bee Gees, Donna Summer); run-of-the-mill commercial rock (Bob Seeger, the Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd); and New Wave/Punk (Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, the Ramones).

Okay, I’m not denying that I liked that last category. At least it was different.

But right in the middle of all this garbage was the shining star known as Leon Redbone. He came out of nowhere, playing acoustic guitar versions of 1920’s and ’30’s songs while remaining a mystery to his fans. (Some wags speculated that he was really Frank Zappa, undercover.) When I heard Mr. Redbone’s version of “Sheik of Araby” I was hooked.

Here’s Mr. Redbone with three songs, back-to-back, from about 1977.

Mr. Redbone, you are invited to Bunk’s house for mint juleps and peach cobbler any time.

Saturday Matinee: Reverse Graffiti

No vandalism here. Brazilian artist legally cleans grime for his images. The ending is a goddam shame.

[Video found at Neatorama.]

Saturday Matinee Video: Rubber Biscuit

[UPDATE: Feast of Palmer has a link to a “Rubber Biscuit” post-cursor, Sherriff & the Ravel’s “Shombolar” of 1959. Surprisingly similar… or not.]

In 1956, The Chips recorded “Rubber Biscuit” on the Josie label. An original copy of this 45rpm gem should fetch $100 plus today.

Then came The Blues Brothers. Dan Akroyd, aka “Elwood Blues,” did a fine rendition, very close to the original Chips version. He kicks it at 2 minutes into the video. If you are already familiar with this icon of American popular music, here are the lyrics as the Chips did it; otherwise, come back up here and practice after the song has burned another small greenish brown spot in the section of your brain labeled “Optional.”

RUBBER BISCUIT
The Chips: Nathaniel Epps, Charles “Kenrod” Johnson, Shedrick Lincoln, Samuel Strain Jr., Paul Fulton.

1956 Josie Records 803

Cow cow hoo-oo
Cow cow hoo-oo

Cow cow wanna dib-a-doo
Chick’n hon-a-chick-a-chick hole-a-hubba
Hell fried chuck-a-lucka wanna jubba
Hi-low ‘n-ay wanna dubba hubba
Day down sum wanna jigga-wah
Dell rown ay wanna lubba hubba
Mull an a mound chicka lubba hubba
Fay down ah wanna dip-a-zip-a-dip-a

Mm-mh, do that again!
Doo doo boooh

Cow cow lubba ‘n a-blubba lubba
Ow rown hibb’n ‘n a-hibba-lu
How low lubbin ‘n a-blubba-lubba
Hell ride ricky ticky hubba lubba
Dull ow de moun’ chicky hubba lubba
Wen down trucka lucka wanna do-uh
How low a zippin ‘n a-hubba-lu
Hell ride ricky ticky blubba-lu
Hell-o duh woody woody pecker pecker

Mm-mh, did you ever hear
of a wish sandwich?
Well that’s the kind of a sandwich
that is supposed to take
two pieces of bread
and wish you had some meat
Doo doo boooh

Cow cow lubba ‘n a-blubba lubba
Hell ride hibbin’ and zippin ‘n
How luva mail take a-lubba hubba
Hey ride wanna tak’ a-recca recca
Ho’ low take a-lubba hubba
Hey ride wanna ‘n suppa suppa
Ho’ low a mail take a-lubba hubba
Hey ride a hippin’ and a-hubbin’ no
Hi-low ‘n sum a-chicka whaa

The other day,
I ate a ricochet biscuit.
Well that’s the kind of biscuit that’s supposed to
bounce off the wall
back in your mouth.
If it don’t bounce back

– shh-mmhh-mmhh

You go hungry!
Doo doo boooh

Cow cow lubba ‘n a-blubba lubba
Hell low a sum did a-lubba goin’
Hey ride wan’ take a-lubba do
How long lon’ suppa dubba
How low a mail take a-lubba hubba
Hey ride wanna take a-lubba hubba
How low a mail take a-lubba hubba
Hey down nothin’ take a-luva do
Hey ride a sippin’ and a hubba dubba

mmmmmh, the other day
I ate a cool water sandwich
and a sunday-go-to-meeting bun.
Doo doo boooh

Cow cow lubba ‘n a-blubba lubba
Hell ride ricky ticky hubba lubba
How low a wann’ suppa do
Hey ride sippin’ and hubba lubba
Hell ride a-hubbin’ and wan’ do
Hey ride a wanna an’ recca recca
Ho’ low a mail take lubba hubba
Hey down a wann’ suppa dubba
Please ride a hubbin’ gonn’ do

What you want for nothin’
r-r-r-Rubber Biscuit!

Doo doo doo boooh
Cooow cooow oo-oooooouuuh

Review the lyrics and print ’em out so the whole family can sing along. Tough one-chord song to sing, and you won’t find the words anywhere else but here (unless you look hard elsewhere).

[Anyone who has an .mp3 file of the Chips’ original is invited to send a link, and we’ll post it and credit you here. –Bunk]

Update: THE ORIGINAL VERSION HERE!