New Year, New Podcast!

Here it is, 2013! This marks year 7 of the World of Wonder. I never thought I would make it this far! (though it did look like I wasn't going to make it through year 6) I have a bunch of items to post this coming year so don't worry, the World of Wonder is alive and well. That being said, I do think this will be the final year of the blog as my time is just getting less and less free. However, I will take this year to bring you lots of fun stuff. Starting off with the latest Podcast. Here is podcast #31. To be honest, I have no idea what is in this one as I made it way back in October. It's been sitting around waiting to be posted and I just lost track of all time with being on the road and being a dad. So, here it is. Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #31

Podcast 29!

After a few weeks of no podcasts (but of posts of other natures!), I bring you the latest and greatest podcast. This one features a lot of stuff from the likes of Wolfman Jack, Depeche Mode, Those Darn Accordions, White Stripes, Roger Miller, Martin & Lewis, Elvis Presley, Karen Carpenter and so much more. This one is a lot of fun! Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #29

Podcast 28

It appears that I am dishing out these podcasts every week! This will probably be the last one for a bit as my time is going to be limited over the next few weeks. But oh what a way to end our little run! This one is soooooooo Wacky! It features some really cool tracks and some really cool commercials and really cool "creations" and you will love it! Guaranteed! Be on the lookout for some "space themed" tunes (hence the artwork!) and a special ode to Dr. Seuss that I recorded back in 1997. This one is pretty cool if I do say so myself. See if you agree as you take a listen to Podcast #28! Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #28

Podcast #27 - Bring on The Freakshow!

Yet another Podcast comes flying out of the gates and this time it gets weird! I spun so many odd ball moments into this that it definitely earns the title of "Wacky Podcast". With some great performances from Annette Funicello, the 5, 6, 7, 8's, Thurl Ravenscroft, Elvis Presley, Lesley Gore, Aimee Mann, Mickey Katz, The Osmonds, Leonard Nimoy, Dustin Hoffman & Warren Beatty, the Maggies, Duran Duran, the Ting Tings and much much more. All held together by one of my favorite Stan Freeburg tracks. Here is Podcast #27! Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #27

Podcast 26 arrives!

I'm really enjoying doing these podcasts. It's becoming easier and easier to do them and the beauty of it is that I can work on them a little bit at a time and eventually, before I even realize it, I have a full one! This one features some great tracks from Barbi Benton, Black Sabbath, Dolly Parton, Fishbone, Barry Williams, the new Braodway cast of Evita, a live one from the Bangles, Monty Python, Cheap Trick, the Billy Nayer Show, Ween, Groucho Marx and many more. This one gets a little out there at times but hopefully manages to entertain. Also, as with the last one, this baby is ripped at 320 so the sound is huge! Here is podcast 26! Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #26

P.S. - If anyone remembers the David Bowie clip that I used to use in my podcasts of him announcing "Thursday's Child" and knows where I can get a hold of it I would love to know. I seem to have lost it somewhere and can't find it. I would love to have it and start using it again. Thanks.

Podcast 25

Hot on the heels of podcast 24 is podcast 25! Fun for all with tracks from She and Him, the Breeders, Robert Gordon, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Elvis (re-imagined as a modern day pop star), Bill Cosby, Leonard Nimoy, Tom Jones (in a repeat performance from Podcast 23), Ruth Buzzi, Neko Case, Victor Borge, the Ramones, a special clip of Micky Dolenz performing live at Epcot Center from this past May (with yours truly on the drums) and much, much more! And for all of you audiophiles, this podcast is ripped at 320 to make it the best sounding one yet! Enjoy!!!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #25

Podcast 23 Is Here!

Here's the latest podcast featuring all kinds of fun stuff! As I stated a while back, my schedule has become sooooo intensely busy that I have very little time to devote to the World of Wonder yet the podcasts are something that I can work on little by little so I will continue to do these. Thus these newer podcasts have a bit of a different feel to them. And also as I stated, they are pretty much straight forward audio clips, comedy and music without any dialogue from me. I just don't have the time. That being said, this podcast is really cool! Featuring songs from Cheap Trick, Carol King, Jame Minoudis (a friend and fellow Creamed Corn member), 'Til Tuesday (recently remastered and sounding amazing), Bill Cosby, T. Rex, Nirvana, Frank Zappa, John Travolta, Tom Jones and Jack White. With some comedy from Lawanda Page, Don Adams, Avery and Schrieber, and some cool mash-ups featuring Johnny Cash, ABBA, Van Halen and a really special performance from Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork from the Davy Jones Memorial Concert in NYC. And so much more! There's a lot packed into this one. Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #23

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello all
I've debated for the past several months about what to do with the World of Wonder. I have very little time to devote to myself let alone the blog but I didn't want to end it. I tried something new by posting an e-mail address so that people could post items to share and make it more of a public blog. A majority of e-mail that I received was spam involving me inheriting millions of dollars from foreign investors, how to land single woman over 60 and how to make my penis larger. In between those were e-mails from people asking me to repost items that are no longer available. I had one person share something but I couldn't get the link to work. So, sadly, I am abandoning that part of the blog. I enjoy working on the blog and I do welcome comments and love hearing how people enjoy it. We recently hit the 200 subscriber part. I don't want to let it go entirely but I can't commit the time to it that I once did. I toyed with shutting the blog down but the one thing that I really wanted to keep going were my podcasts. I love them and love putting them together. I feel that by continuing to do these, I can still share great pop culture audio with all of you and still manage to keep the blog running. So, from here on in, I will be posting mostly new podcasts. Occasionally I may post an album or single or a video or what have you, but the majority of new items on the blog will be new podcasts. That being said, the reason I am downsizing to just podcasts is the lack of I time that I can donate to the blog. It's easy to put a series of songs, comedy bits, commercials, etc into a "mix tape" for a podcast but it takes time to sit down and speak to you through them as well. As a result, I will pretty much not be talking through any new podcasts that I post. If I find the time and feel like telling a funny story or two, I may one day set up my microphone and add some commentary but don't be surprised if you don't hear my voice in any of the new podcasts. In addition, it also takes time for me to tell you exactly what it is that I put into the podcasts and keeping track of it is just as time consuming as going back and listening to it to find out what is in it. So, don't expect a play list on the podcasts. If there is a specific track that you are interested in knowing, send me a comment asking about it and I will do my best to let you know who and what it is. Otherwise, treat it like listening to the radio and not hearing the DJ tell you what it is. Let it be what it is meant to be; entertainment for your ears.
In regards to all of the requests to re-up any past sharities that have dead links or are no longer working - all I can say is I'm sorry. I simply do not have time to go back and re-up any of them. Once they are gone, they're gone. Odds are they are out there on-line somewhere as the "sharity blog" community is a pretty incestuous bunch and we all re-use each other's items. Again, it's nothing personal, it's just that I have no time at all to do that. I wish I could go back and re-up everything that has been taken down but it doesn't look like that will happen in the immediate future.
So, thank you for helping me keep the World of Wonder alive and hopefully we can keep it going at least a little bit longer.
That being said, here is the newest podcast. Podcast 22 delivers a lot for your money. Featuring some great songs from William Shatner, Mi Carame, Barnes and Barnes, the Police, the Monkees/Adele and a heaping portion of comedy this time around. Enjoy!



Dartman's Wacky Podcast #22

A New Podcast!!! A New Podcast!!!

After a long absence from them (and many requests) here is the latest podcast! In all fairness, this was done over the last few months and was actually almost complete before Christmas but I left it on the back burner. After all that time, I gave it the proper finishing touches but alas, did not have the time to add any spoken word sections aka dialogue from yours truly. So this time around, it's an all music podcast. It does feature some great songs from the likes of Blondie, Suzi Quatro, They Might Be Giants, The Muffs with CC Deville, The Beatles, the Kinks, Orson Bean and more. There's even a super cool phone message sent to me from a Sunoco station on the day of a snow storm (obviously a wrong number!) Here it is for your listening entertainment! Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #20

Dartman's Advent Calendar 2011: Days 10, 11 & 12

So the weekend got away from me and my computer died and etc etc etc. Hopefully that last episode of All in The Family kept you busy enough to cover. Here are the next three windows opened all at once. Enjoy!



Advent Calendar 2011 Day 10



Advent Calendar 2011 Day 11


Advent Calendar 2011 Day 12

Dartman's Advent Calendar 2011: Day 2

Here is today's surprise from our advent calendar! Each day brings a new surprise! Yesterday's was the great, Fats Waller singing "Winter Weather". What could be behind that door today? Click and find out. Enjoy!

Advent Calendar 2011 Day 2

Halloween-A-Thon 2011: Readings From The Count (Dracula/Dooku)

Christopher Lee brought the Hammer Film's version of Dracula to life and in one of the few strokes of genius that George Lucas showed in his Star Wars Prequels, Lee appeared as Count Dooku, an evil Sith Lord. He also brought his fiendish talents to the role of the villian Saruman in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. His creepiness remains intact and he can still send a chill up my spine. Here are two collections of Lee reading from various Horror writings. The first is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's works and the second a collection of various writers that is referred to as "Fireside Tales". The collection of Poe's tales were released as an audio book in the mid 80s while the "Fireside Tales" were originally broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on December 30th, 2004. Here they are for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Christopher Lee Reads Tales of Horror

Kenneth Johnson Is A Fan of "Tattered Clothing"

Received this e-mail a few days ago from Kenneth Johnson, the man behind such great television shows as the original V, the Bionic Woman and most importantly, The Incredible Hulk:

Dear Rich...
Recently I had the privlegde of hearing your song, Tattered Clothing. I thought it was both fun and poignant (not unlike our old show). It's wonderful to know that you were such a fan of The Hulk. We certainly labored to make each episode as meaningful and substantive as possible. Our largest audience was actually adults. Working with Bix and Lou was always a treat. We all cared a lot. I'm glad it impacted on you so favorably. And that it inspired you to write the cool song. It reminds me that in one of the episodes I wrote this line for Bix -- after he had awakened yet again in tattered clothing: "...I have got to get some shirts that stretch."
Thanks again for taking the time to write the song. It's great to hear that my work captured your imagination.

All the best...

Kenny

Needless to say, I am very flattered and pretty excited. If you have no idea what I am talking about then here's the scoop:



In January of last year I released the single, "Tattered Clothing". I wrote the song about 6 years ago and recorded it in various cities over the last year of the Avenue Q Tour. It features some great playing by some great players. It is an ode to the 70s television classic, "The Incredible Hulk". It is available on I-Tunes & Amazon All proceeds from the sale of this single will go to The Richard S Dart Memorial Arts Scholarship.

Monkee-ing Around The US

6/3/2011 Chastain Park Amphitheatre Atlanta, GA
6/4/2011 Ruth Eckerd Hall Clearwater, FL
6/5/2011 Pompano Beach Amphitheatre Pompano Beach, FL
6/6/2011 Florida Theatre Jacksonville, FL
6/8/2011 Innsbrook Pavilion Glen Allen, VA
6/9/2011 The Community Theatre At Mayo Center For The Performing Arts
Morristown, NJ
6/10/2011 Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT
6/11/2011 Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort Niagara Falls, ON
6/12/2011 Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort Niagara Falls, ON
6/15/2011 Lowell Memorial Auditorium Lowell, MA
6/16/2011 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
6/17/2011 NYCB Theatre At Westbury Westbury, NY
6/18/2011 Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa / Event Ctr. Atlantic City, NJ
6/19/2011 Filene Center At Wolf Trap Vienna, VA
6/20/2011 Hershey Theatre Hershey, PA
6/22/2011 Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA
6/23/2011 Fox Theatre Detroit, MI
6/24/2011 Lifestyle Communities Pavilion Columbus, OH
6/25/2011 Aronoff Center For The Arts Cincinnati, OH
6/26/2011 Murat Theatre Indianapolis, IN
6/29/2011 Genesee Theatre Waukegan, IL
6/30/2011 Star Plaza Theatre Merrillville, IN
7/1/2011 Minneapolis Zoo Minneapolis, MN
7/2/2011 Minneapolis Zoo Minneapolis, MN
7/5/2011 Paramount Theatre Denver, CO
7/8/2011 Pantages Theater Tacoma, WA
7/9/2011 Sleep Country Amphitheater Ridgefield, WA
7/10/2011 The Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
7/13/2011 Majestic Fox Theater Bakersfield, CA
7/14/2011 Chumash Casino Santa Ynez, CA
7/15/2011 Morongo Casino Resort & Spa Cabazon, CA
7/16/2011 Greek Theatre Los Angeles, CA

They're Back!!!

THE MONKEES MAY TOUR DATES

May 12th Liverpool Echo Arena

May 24th Manchester Apollo

May 15th Newcastle City Hall

May 16th Glasgow Clyde Auditorium

May 19th London Royal Albert Hall

May 20th Sheffield City Hall

May 21st Birmingham NIA Academy

May 23rd Plymouth Pavillions

May 24th Cardiff CIAgoodma

May 25th Nottingham Royal Centre

Dartman's Advent Calendar 2010: Day 6

Today we find a more modern artist behind the flap of our advent calendar. This song came up on my I-Pod the other day and I couldn't get over how great it was and how much I liked it. It's a singer-songwriter from Detroit named Rosie Thomas. Here is her take on the holiday season. Here is "Why Can't It Be Christmastime All Year". Enjoy!

Rosie Thomas - Why Can't It Be Christmastime All Year?

Breaking Bread

Here's a trailer for a new short film starring my friends, Roxanne Albee and Valerie Kairys Venet (aka Toby from The Monkees). It looks pretty funny. Just thought I would share it with you! Enjoy!

The Grandson Continues The Tradition

Shelton Hank WIlliams is known to most country fans as Hank III. The grandson of the legendary Hank Williams, Hank III is the rightful heir to the throne of king of country music. Of course, Nashville won't admit it and neither will the country music community. In typical "outlaw" fashion, Hank III has been overlooked by the powerful country music scene because he's very vocal about how pop country isn't really country and that Nashville has become too "pretty and perfect". He signed to country music label, Curb Records, as an answer to a court order that stated he wasn't a "real musician" and therefore couldn't supply child support to a child bore from a one night stand. He continued to fight with the label who wanted him to release the standard pop country that has become the norm. He refused and spent many years in court fighting his own label. During that time he started his own "F*** Curb" campaign which included t-shirts and stickers along with shouts from his band of the slogan while performing. He eventually won the right to release the music he wanted to. His last Curb record, which was released earlier this year, charted at #4 on the country music charts. Apparently, he's winning his fight. Hank spends most of his time on the road playing to packed clubs across the country. His show consists of three different sets; the country set of "outlaw country" featuring his respects to all those that came before him including his Grandfather; the "Hellbilly" set which puts a more harder, psychobilly edge on the music; and the "Assjack" set. A straight hard core death metal set. I prefer the first set above the other two but all three are done well and believe it or not, I actually enjoy it all. I was never a hard core metal fan but for some reason, I really like it when Hank III does it. See what you think when you take a listen to a show from February 27, 2004. Here's "Hank III Live at Ground Zero". Enjoy!

Hank III Live At Ground Zero 2/27/04

ELVIS MONTH 2010: The King Gets Funky

In the summer of 2002 a 1968 Elvis recording, “A Little Less Conversation”, was remixed by Dutch DJ JXL, and used by sports giant Nike as the theme song to it’s FIFA World Cup advertising campaign. In response to the renewed interest in Elvis’ music RCA released the album “Elvis - 30 Number 1 Hits” in September. It was a huge success and the August edition of the British magazine, “Record Collector” featured Elvis as it’s cover star, along with numerous articles about his life and music. One of these articles “When Elvis Found The Funk” took a look at the other hidden gems in the Presley catalogue and name checked “A Little Less Conversation” and 13 other tracks in the same genre. All of these tracks were released, some in slightly different versions from the originals, along with an additional 10 alternate recordings in a limited edition CD that came with the magazine. Here is that release for you now. Here is "When Elvis Found The Funk".

When Elvis Found The Funk

When Children's Heros Go Disco Part 3

Well, after the release of "Sesame Street Fever" and "Sesame Street Disco", we fast forward about 24 years and the world gets to see a remix album made from these records! What's that, you say? A remix album from Sesame Street? Yes, it's true. It happened like this: back when the album was a hit, the record's executive producer, Arthur Shimkin commissioned Larry Levan to do remixes of "C is for Cookie", but they remained unreleased until 2003, when a strange twist of fate occurred. Ninja Tune records was looking to license the track ‘Pinball Number Count’ for the first ‘Now, Listen’ mix CD (these were mix CDs that were released in the 90s). The Pinball song had never been released commercially and was the holy grail for Sesame Street fans and DJs alike. However, the song was not allowed to appear on the album due to worries within the Henson corporation about content on some of the rap tracks on the CD. They thought that it was an unsuitable setting for their material. Instead, Ninja Tune took it upon themselves to make a separate mix containing all Sesame Street songs. It was during a scouring of the Sesame Street archives at their NY offices that they found the unreleased mixes of "C is for Cookie" done all those years ago. As a result, a 12" single was put together with the Pinball song and several different remixes of the Cookie song as well. Here is that find for you now! Here is "Sold Steel presents Sesame Street". Enjoy!

Solid Steel presents Sesame Street