Friday, March 30, 2007

"There's Something in the Air" March 30, 2007

(Week 72)

Indeed, there's something on the air tonight--RADIOLA! What's in the air could be Spring, music, or a bit of dread--or perhaps all three. I'll attempt to clear the air at 8 PM EDT on WHCL-FM.

Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm – There’s Somethiug in the Air (1936) – Bluebird 78 B-6683-A
Dixie Stars – My Sweetie Turned Me Down (1925) – Columbia 78 389-D
Mose Tapiero – William Tell Overture (1912) – Columbia 78 E 1177
Jean Goldkette and his Orch. HC – So Tired (1927) – Timeless CBC 1-084 JAZZ
Paul Mills and his Merry Makers – I’m Rollin’ In Love (1928) – Cameo 78 8373
Gotham Troubadors IK – Chloe (1928) – Okeh 78 40992
Marion Harris – Tea for Two (1924) – Past CD 7075
Harry Reser's Syncopators (Tom Stacks, vo.) – Crazy Rhythm (1928) – Past CD 7075
Paul Whiteman and his Orch. (Ramona) – Are You Makin’ Any Money? (1933) – Jass J-CD-639
Golden Gate Orch. – Farewell Blues (1927) – Timeless CD CBC 1-090
Tracy-Brown’s Orchestra – Beautiful (1928) – Columbia 78 1344-D
Ipana Troubadors – Glorianna (1928) – Rivermont BSW 1143
Arthur Fields – My Dream of the Big Parade (1926) – Perfect 78 12265
Dixie Stars – New York Ain’t New York Any More (1925) – Columbia 78 389-D
Ford and Glenn – There’s a Little White House (1926) – Columbia 78 869-D
Al Gallodoro and JoAnn Chmielowski – Flat Top (2007) – Daybreak (Golden Rooster Records)
West End Jazz Band – By Special Permission of the Copyright Owners (2002) – Lecacy 2K 102
The Carpal Tunnel Kid – Impending Doom is Getting Me Down (2007) – Home Recording
Gotham Troubadors – Sunshine (1928) – Okeh 78 40992
Russo and Fiorito’s Oriole Orch. – Let’s Talk About My Sweetie (1925) – Victor 78 19989-A
Lud Gluskin and his Orch. – I Wanna Go Places and Do Things (1929) – Jazz Oracle BDW 8045
Sir Henry Lytton – If you give me your attention (1932) – Conifer CD 75605 52275 2B
Cole Porter – The Kling-Kling Bird on the Divi-Divi Tree (1935) – Koch C-7171-2H1
Noel Coward – The Stately Homes of England (1937) – Chestnut CN 1015
Totem Lodge Orch. – I Only Have Eyes For You (1934) – Montgomery Ward 78 M-4504-A
Jack Shilkret and his Orch CB – One Hamburger for Madame (1936) – Banner 78 6-06-03
Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees – The Glory of Love (1936) – Melotone 78 6-06-09
Dick Robertson and his Orch. – You’ve Got Me in the Palm of Your Hand (1932) – Varsity 78 8117
Eddie Duchin and his Orch. – What About Me? (1934) – Victor 78 24709-A
Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm – Never Gonna Dance (1936) – Bluebird 78 B-6505-B
Eddie Cantor & Phil Spitalny’s Music – Cheer Up! (1931) – Jass J-CD-639
Sam Lanin and his Troubadors – Sweet Sue–Just You (1928) – Rivermont BSW 1143

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

AL GALLODORO at the WATERVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY FRIDAY!


Al Gallodoro, the legendary reedman whom Jimmy Dorsey called "the best saxophone player who ever lived," will be playing with his quartet at 7 PM this Friday, March 23, at the Waterville Public Library (206 White Street, Waterville, NY 13480 Ph. 315 841-4651).
Performing will be Al Gallodoro, sax, bass clarinet, clarinet; JoAnn Chmielowski, piano; Harry Aceto, Bass; and Dave Perazone, Drums.

Al started playing professionally in 1926, and worked with such bandleaders as Isham Jones and Paul Whiteman through the 1930s. Today at 93, Al Gallodoro is still an incredible player. One of only 14 musicians and singers who recorded before 1940 and are still active (along with Svend Asmussen, Johnny Blowers, Lena Horne, Franz Jackson, Herb Jeffries, Lawrence Lucie, Buddy Morrow, Les Paul, George Shearing, Kay Starr, Gerald Wilson, Snooky Young and Zeke Zarchy), Gallodoro is still at 95% of his playing peak, playing phrases that sound completely impossible.

Don't pass up this rare opportunity to hear Al Gallodoro play!

Monday, March 19, 2007

THE "BIG BROADCAST" ARCHIVE IS DEAD

Thanks mostly to this Copyright crackdown, online archives of Rich Conaty's "Big Broadcast" dating back to December 2001 have been removed from the server. That's five years of great programs of salubrious, lovely 20s and 30s pop and jazz gone for--what? So the ravening RIAA/ASCAP ghouls at SoundExchange can throw their weight around? The whole purpose of this equine feces is to actively suppress our cultural heritage and prevent priceless music from being heard. (And there is no price that can be put on it.) It truly and utterly micturates me off.

By that token, I'd advise all readers of this blog to download all my RADIOLA! programs HERE before the jackals get around to killing that archive as well. Those old shows will be all you have after the Copyright Police chase me off Live365.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

THE END OF RADIOLA!?

UPDATE: Congress is likely to sit on its hands. Why did we elect these dorks?

I don't normally like to use this page for polemical essays, but I think this matter is something that concerns anyone who listens to and relies on internet radio. The Copyright Royalty Board has announced its plan to raise internet royalty rates--charging internet broadcasters on a per-song, per-listener basis. And these charges will be retroactive through the beginning of last year. This will effectively shut down all programs like RADIOLA! that operate on a tiny (or nonexistent) budget.

What is astonishing--and to my mind unjust--is that 80-year-old recordings should be subject to copyright control at all. The even more appalling fact is that all sound recordings will be kept from the Public Domain until the year 2067. Certainly no artists who recorded in the 1910s and 1920s--and very few who recorded in the 1930s--are in any position to enjoy their royalty payments. The main result of this quirk of the law is to actively suppress the music that we love.

This music clearly belongs in the Public Domain. It is not only a major part of our cultural heritage, it should enrich and inform new music as it emerges. If it utterly disappears, music will wither and become even more banal than it is now. Imagine putting Beethoven or Schubert back under copyright. What would that serve? Similarly, what purpose does it serve (besides enriching the vampires in the moribund music industry) to suppress the music of 80 years ago--music that is vital to our national culture?

I have no problem with living performers and composers demanding some measure of compensation. Yet it has been my experience that many artists are happy just to have their music promoted so they can sell recordings and get people out to their concert venues. Such avenues of exposure would be closed to the less well known and new performers as the self-referential dreck offered on radios throughout the land would prevail.

I've loved the music of the 1920s and 1930s since I was a child, once I was lucky enough to discover its existence. Everyone thought I was weird for loving it, but I knew it was best for me. It wasn't a matter of nostalgia, or of longing for some other time. The music was simply excellent, and better than anything else available to me.

I have to assume that a certain percentage of people are similarly moved, or would be if they had access to these recordings. Rather than being sequestered in a vault somewhere, or on the dusty shelves of a few record collectors, they should be freely broadcast so that they find their audience. And I have a suspicion that their audience would be immense if they were widely available. They shimmer with wit and levity, brim with deep joy, and beat with the pulse of life. And charging admission to them enriches no one except those who would keep them quiet so they can push today's mediocre crud as the real deal.

This may be a lost cause, but those are always the ones worth fighting for. Write your representative in Congress to change this wretched state of affairs, and urge for the repeal of the horrid DMCA itself. There are now so many important matters before Congress (such as the war and civil liberties) that Internet Radio seems minor in comparison. Nonetheless, it is important, personally, to millions--and the death of independent online music stations would make our already bleak lives that much more dreary.

Yes, RADIOLA! will go on--as a radio program. Those who want to hear it will have to stream WHCL on Friday nights (Hamilton College can afford the absurdly high fees) or move to the Utica, NY area and try to pick up the 320 watt station on their FM radios. (That's assuming there's no sporting event and the station is even on the air, which it frequently isn't.) And I'll try to hang in there on Live365 as long as possible. But when the RIAA types start pounding on my door, I'm not going into hock over this--not that I have anything worth pawning.

Friday, March 02, 2007

"Last Ditch Effort" March 2, 2007

(Week 71)

Owing to some weather anomalies, I didn't even know if I was going to do a program tonight. This is one of those "The Dog Ate My Playlist" shows, but it features mostly CDs that I have recently acquired. RADIOLA! begins at 8 PM ET on WHCL, but I'll be in the studio from 7 to play some classic Jean Shepherd for those who might be interested.

Stanley Holloway – The Lion and Albert (1932) – Naxos Nostalgia 8.120715
Groucho Marx and Company – Hooray for Captain Spaulding! (1930) – ASV Living Era CD AJA 5011
Mose Tapiero – William Tell Overture (1912) – Columbia 78 RPM
The Radiolans (with Willie Lewis) – Who Taught You That? (1932) – Classics 822
Willie Lewis and his Entertainers – Nagasaki (1935) – Classies 822
Isham Jones and his Orch. – The Blue Room (1934) – Hep CD 1083
Joan Crawford – How Long Will it Last? (1932) – ASV Living Era CD AJA 5011
Bing Crosby – Can’t We Be Friends? (1929) – Naxos Nostalgia 8.120697
Roane’s Pennsylvanians – Why Don’t You Get Lost (1932) – The Old Masters mb125
Arden-Ohman Orchestra – S’wonderful (1927) – RCA Victor 09026 63194-2
O Gee! O Joy! – Johnny Johnson and his Statler Pennsylvanians (1927) – RCA Victor 09026 63194-2
Jesse Stafford and his Orch. – Glorianna (1928) – The Old Masters mb122
Libby Holman – Love For Sale (1930) – Naxos Nostalgia 8.120627
Maurice Chevalier – You’ve Got That Thing (1930) – ASV Living Era CD AJA 5011
George Olsen and his Music (Fran Frey, vo.) – Pink Elephants (1933) – Obscure Novelty Songs
Al Gallodoro Quartet – L’Argentina (2004) – Infinite Gallodoro
Russ Wilson and his Nouveau-Passe Orch. – China Boy (2006) – Wondertone WGC 20061
Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks – I’d Love It (1993) – Stomp Off CD 1260
Andy Iona and the Islanders – Na Pua (1934) – The Old Masters mb132
Andy Iona and the Islanders – What A Brownskin Maiden Taught Me (1936) – The Old Masters mb132
King Radio – It’s The Rhythm They Want (1939) – Rounder CD 1077
Paul Whiteman and his Orch. –A Picture of Me Without You (1935) – Naxos Nostalgia 8.120627
Marion Harris – The Man I Love (1927) – RCA Victor 09026 63294-2
Marion Harris – Singin the Blues – (1934) – Sunbeam BXCD13
Night Club Kings – Allah’s Holiday (1930) – Sunbeam BXCD13
Paul Whiteman and his Orch. – Whiteman Stomp (1927) – Naxos Nostalgia 8.120168
Herb Wiedoeft and his Orch. – Golden Gate (1928) – The Old Masters mb122
Ernest Hare and Billy Jones – In the Little Red Schoolhouse (1922) – Archeophone ARCH 9007
Fanny Brice – Second Hand Rose (1922) – Archeophone ARCH 9007
Irving Kaufman – Yes Sir, That’s My Baby (1925) – Archeophone ARCH 5504
Stanley Holloway – Albert Comes Back (1934) – Naxos Nostalgia 8.120715
Gus Arnheim and his Orch. (Bing Crosby, vo.)– One More Time (1931) – Naxos Nostalgia 8.120697
Isham Jones and his Orch. – Sweet Sue, Just You (1934) – Hep CD 1083
Ray Starita and his Ambassadors’ Club Orch. – Wake Up! Chill’un, Wake Up! (1929) – Avid AVC539