RECORD RAID: Record Show in New Orleans on the 24th

These things are my brainchild and with a few more staff members and nearly THIRTY vendors this time, my baby appears to be growing up. We're back at Tulane this time, at the quad across from The Boot. Outdoor show under a huge oak tree. Dan Phillips over at HomeOfTheGroove likes it, so apparently I'm doing something right.

Check out the website and the facebook page for more. Hope to see you there!

P.S. I usually don't post my personal projects here (P.S. listen to Storm Surge of Reverb) especially if I haven't been updating lately. Wellllll I think I've got a few things...

Harry Lee - Thanks...

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to sit in on a karaoke session with the late long-term Jefferson Parish sheriff Harry Lee?

If you don't know who that is, then this will have absolutely zero worth to you, as it has no musical merit... OK instrumentation was done by seasoned New Orleans musician Carl Marshall and Harry's not even half bad but there are SO many better ways to spend your time.

Even if you are familiar with him, I'd suggest a sampling of one song and moving on, but it's pretty wonderfully cheesy. Here, try Send In the Clowns

Tough on crime but a real sap at heart! I found this at an Abita Springs garage sale a few years ago, the owner apparently didn't even know it existed. Mean to play it on WTUL on a progressive show but never had a tape player handy.

Well here ya go internet.

The whole thing

The Monks - La-do-da-da / I Remember When

No, no not those Monks with the Monk Time and the Higgle-dy Piggle-Dy, though I don't know who these Monks are. They're a garage band, apparently with a member named Steve Schmidt who signed this record and co-wrote the ballad on here I Remember When. I'm doubtful that the Wray with the other half is any sort of Wray we normally get excited over, but really this is mostly a mystery.

Let's start with the rocker, a cover of Dale Hawkins' La-Do-Da-Da with all sorts of fake concert chest-puffing

And then the slower number

I didn't want to put it before you listened so as to taint your listening experience, but there definitely is a slight warp on this. And of course, it's not exactly devoid of surface noise

The Pop-Ups - Lurking/Candy Rock

HBR is a hilariously decent label, considering it stands for "Hanna-Barbera Records". Even the cartoon cash-ins (Flintstones records etc) were extremely competent rock & roll records. WFMU's blog has a cool post about it and Spectropop has a page that includes this single, though not listenable.

This here Pop-Ups record is a double instrumental, the better of the two (I think) being the slinking shaker "Lurking", which has a Revels-ish boogie to it, including an organ solo and some honkin' sax


"Candy Rock" sounds a little more like the Routers with marching band instrumentation over a Bo Diddley beat. Fun but probably not going to make you hit eBay.


and a link to the other HBR record I posted, one of my absolute favorites

The Unnaturals live on Storm Surge of Reverb

This has been on the backburner for a while, kinda like the blog itself. I've had the Unnaturals on my show before, but wasn't able to make myself a copy. Well here they are again, a New Orleans surf & instrumental band, playing live on my radio show on August 22nd. Sound quality is rough and I can't say it was my best editing job either, but still sounds great!

7 songs:
Attack of the 50 Foot Betty
Miedo
Rumblebee
Holiday in Cambodia
Unnatural Progressions
Whiskey Surf / Misirlou
Unnatural Progressions

Also, here's the full show

Rickey and the Rockets - Wrong End / Every Minute of the Day

I love when I buy a 45 for a side that explicitly is not the side they want you to hear. So mad am I in my lust for instrumentals that I didn't get around to listening to the A-Side until I ripped it just now.

My mediocre detective work points to this likely being a Louisiana group, perhaps even Lafayette. I base this theory on other people on the Jador label, the dealer I bought it from being from Lafayette, and the possibility that this is just a confused release from Randy and the Rockets. I have a Randy 45 here and I don't see any similar names, but I can't find squat on Ricky.

Anyway, Wrong End, LABELLED Harmonica Instrumental, which I personally think is an underrated and surprisingly common form of instrumental, is a fun stompin' tune. Listen for the hidden piano back there, makes it even more fun!


The other side is a swamp pop ballad with cheesy effects on it that make me question when this was made. After all, Swamp Pop hasn't really changed much over the years, and I think a lot of swamp pop musicians would be happy to say that.

The Satellites - Bodacious / El San Juan (1967)

Bodacious screams Joe Meek and all the spacey connotations that come with that, but oddly enough if you take a look at that cover you'll see that it's produced by Bobby Vinton of all people. Apparently one of the members was friends with Bobby. In any case, a killer instrumental, one of the best I've posted on here

El San Juan is a sleepy latin-tinged surf dreamer, great in it's own right but way less Joe Meek.