When the Queen Smiles At Me I Go To Rio

Following up with the last post of The Partridge Family Bootleg, I bring you another bootleg. This time it's a real band playing a live concert. It's Queen rocking like only they could in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was part of a huge rock festival that still goes on to this day called Cidade do Rock. This particular performance comes from January 18, 1985. There never was and has never been a band like Queen and they were truly amazing. Hear for yourself as you listen to "Queen - Rock In Rio". Enjoy!

Queen - Rock In Rio

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 30!!!

Sorry for the long absence. I've been incredibly busy so I haven't had a lot of time for posting. But today, I am posting! And not just any old post, but the 30th Podcast! I can't believe I'm on Podcast #30. This one, if I dare say, is awesome! Starting off with one of my favorite songs sung by my good friend, Leon Dewain, followed by a wide variety of clips from Tears For Fears, Mark Pender, Flickerstick, Talking Heads, Winterpills, the Flintstones, Wild Man Fisher, Van Halen, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Flock of Seagulls and much, much more! Great listening material for home, office, car, bus, train or anywhere! Here is Podcast 30. Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #30

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

Bob Crane's Concentration Drum Camp

Whatever your opinion of Bob Crane, I always had a big respect for the man. He started out as a musician before becoming a DJ and then eventually a gigantic television star. His musical venture into percussion put him into some of the same symphonies that I have had the pleasure of working in as well. It's not surprising that his love for music continued well after his fame from "Hogan's Heroes".In 1966, Bob Crane released an album as a result of his affiliation with the television series:"The Funny Side of TV". The record is a crazy mixture of instrumental big-band renditions of television themes with Crane's drum kit high in the mix. Add to that some brief skits, one-liners, and Crane's comedy monologues. Some of the jokes are pretty funny, from Crane's improbable reading of cast members on "Theme from 'Thursday Night at the Movies'" to his ridiculous sendup of Candid Camera. As you might expect, Crane performs the theme from Hogan's Heroes along with themes from F Troop, My Three Sons, Get Smart, and other shows of the day. Crane received assistance from big-name arrangers such as Sid Feller, Ernie Freeman, and Stu Phillips (who also produced), and some of his Hogan's Heroes co-stars posed for the cover photo even though they do not appear on the album. Here is that album for you now! Enjoy!

Bob Crane Plays The Funny Side of TV

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 24!

Here is yet another brand new Podcast from the World of Wonder! Right in the heat of the summer comes this jam packed podcast full of clips from the likes of Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Muffs, Elvis, Art Carney, Herman's Hermits, Steve Martin, Fishbone, Sonny and Cher and more! This one is a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #24

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

John Linnell Tours The States

I've always been a They Might Be Giants fan. And I mean always. I wasn't one of the people who found out about them through their "hits" when their album, "Flood", hit the charts. By that time, I had known about the duo of John Linnell and John Flansburgh for a couple of years already. I have been a fan since they first came about and I have probably seen them at least 100 times. In fact, there was a time when my wife and I were seeing them in New York on an almost weekly basis. It's amazing to me that they are still going strong and every time people count them out, they come back stronger than before. In 1999, John Linnell released a solo album entitled "State Songs". The whole concept to the album consists almost entirely of tracks that are named after, and are at least partially inspired by, 15 of the 50 U.S. states. But don't look for state facts or history lessons here. Unlike the TMBG song, "James K Polk" which gave us a history lesson, the songs on "State Songs" suggest that there is another West Virginia inside of the state, that one can drive a house to Idaho, that Montana is a leg, Iowa is a witch, Oregon is bad, and Arkansas has sunken and is to be replaced by a ship of its exact shape and size. Linnell's explanation of where the state names comes in is that he used them as a way of avoiding having to come up with song titles. After releasing the album, John hit the road and took his solo show to a few of the 50 states. Here's a rare treat that I have never seen anywhere else (in fact, I don't even know where I got them). They are two live shows of John Linnell performing the State Songs. The first one is from 1995 (pre-release of the album) at The Mercury Lounge in New York City. The second is from the tour that followed the album's release in 1999 from a performance at The Bowery Ballroom in New York. These shows are great and feature not only the great songs from the album but a few surprises as well. Enjoy! John Linnell - State Songs Live At The Mercury Lounge October 1995 / John Linnell - State Songs Live At The Bowery Ballroom 12/11/99

Bruce Willis Scores A Jackpot

In the 80s, there was a period of time where Bruce Willis ruled the planet. Moonlighting was a gigantic hit and Seagrams Golden Wine Coolers had their theme song on every one's tongues. This was all pre-Die Hard and adventure star Willis. This was when Bruce Willis was considered a comedic actor. In the midst of all of this, HBO aired a Spinal Tap-esque mock-u-mentary called "The Return of Bruno". It featured Willis as Bruno (the actor's actual nickname), a rock and roll icon who had gone through good times and bad. I loved it and my friends and I were quick to go out and buy the accompanying album. The one thing we really missed on the album was the "psychedelic track", "No One's Home" that they spent a lot of time on in the show. With or without that track, the album is still fun and fits nicely in the celebrity record category. And it also fits nicely here at the World of Wonder. Here is Bruce Willis and The Return of Bruno. Enjoy! Bruce Willis - The Return of Bruno

PODCAST 21!!!!

Here's the newest Podcast coming your way. Lots of fun stuff plus I actually talk in this one! A whole lot of fun. Featuring the likes of Ringo Starr, Del Shannon, Dr. Westchesterson, Juliette Lewis, Prince, Groucho Marx, Tom Jones, Henny Youngman, Juday Garland and more! Enjoy!
Dartman's Wacky Podcast #21

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

Lt. Uhura, Song Report

Way back in 2009, I posted Nichelle Nichols' album, "Out of This World". In the post, I stated that this was her second album and that I did not own the first one, "Down To Earth". Since that time, I have come to own "Down To Earth" and thought I would share it with you all. I stated in the 09 post that I thought it might be pretty good. In my opinion, though it is way better than "Out of This World", it still sounds like someone who is trying way too hard. But all in all, not terrible. You decide when you listen to Nichelle Nichols' "Down To Earth". Enjoy!

Nichelle Nichols - Down To Earth

For some added enjoyment, here is the post from 2009 featuring "Out of This World".


Many Star Trek cast members have released albums over the years. There is the infamous "The Transformed Man" by William Shatner (along with the great follow up, "Has Been"), Leonard Nimoy's classic records and even Brent Spiner got in on the act in 1991 with an album called "Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back". But for my money, it doesn't get any more "far out" then Nichelle Nichols' musical contribution to the world of celebrity recordings. In all fairness, we must remember that Nichelle started out as a professional singer. Her first gigs were with some big time heavy weights named Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. This was all before she donned the infamous short red dress and went down in the history books as Lt. Uhura. And in 1967 she banked on this fame and released her first solo album entitled, "Down To Earth". 23 years later she would release her second album. That's the one we are going to talk about today! It's called "Out Of This Word" and believe me, it is! I have never had the privilege to hear "Down To Earth" but I have owned "Out of This World" for years. I picked up a copy back in the mid 90s and hold it in my collection but never put it on. I am going to assume that "Down To Earth" is not all that bad and that Nichelle really shines (if anyone has a copy, please feel free to share it with me as I will pay the favor forward forward and share it with everyone here). With "Out Of This World", Nichelle has completely gone in the opposite direction. Her singing is not the problem. It's also not the cure! However, what really tends to stick out more than anything is the poor songwriting and even worse production. The whole album sounds like it was put together with Casio Keyboards and a Tascam Porto-Studio. There's a whole batch of "space-inspired" songs and Nichelle evens takes a stab at singing the immortal Theme from Star Trek. Then there's "Gene". Nichelle's tribute to her former lover (yes, you read right!). There are two versions of "Gene" here. The first is sung and the second is spoken and both are bad. At the end of the album is an interview track that lasts just about the same amount of time as the songs do. All in all, a complete package. But don't let my opinion sway you. Take and a listen and judge for yourself as I present to you "Nichelle Nichols: Out of This World". Enjoy!

Nichelle Nichols - Out Of This World

BONUS:
While listening to the caucaphonus sounds of Miss Nichols, why not color Uhura?! (click picture to open a new window with the full size)

Sing Long and Prosper

Continuing on our Trek through Star Trek, we find a great listen with the incredible vocal stylings of Leonard Nimoy. Probably the most famous Nimoy song is The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. But there are others that are just as good if not better. My favorite happens to be the Spock infused, "Highly Illogical". That and many more appear on the classic album, "Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space". Instead of heading to outer space to hear this, you can do it right here at The World of Wonder. Enjoy!

Leonard Nimoy - Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space

Jeff Wayne's Musical Trek

Continuing on with my Star Trek related posts, I re-upped one of my favorite albums of all time. Way back in the early days of the World of Wonder, I posted this album with this description:

This was one of my favorite albums as a kid and it still holds a giant place in my heart today! It's Jeff Wayne's Space Shuttle playing The Theme From Star Trek and The Planet of The Apes. It features funky versions of these tunes as well as the themes from Batman and Superman and a few original tunes that have titles such as "The Ape Planet" and "Beyond The Outer Limits".

As a kid, this was constantly on my turntable and whenever I put it on to this day, it makes me smile. Here it is for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Jeff Wayne's Space Shuttle - The Theme From Star Trek and the Planet of the Apes

Jerry Lewis Dishes It Out To Count Basie

This is one of my all time favorite things in the world. My wife hates it. I think it's brilliant. I once saw a college band play it live to the film at a club in LA. The great, Emil Richards was sitting in with them. It was pretty cool.

Sammy & Buddy Kick It Into High Gear

One of the coolest and most exciting albums in my collection is an album featuring Sammy Davis Jr. with the Buddy Rich Orchestra recorded lived in Vegas in 1966. It is amazing. Record over two nights (or mornings) at the Sands lounge, this album is one of the best you will ever hear. Sammy is on fire. Buddy (as usual) is on top of it and the crowd is eating it up. I wish there was a video of this somewhere as it must have been one of the greatest shows to have been at. The shows started at 2:30 AM and were done as a special performance for the people who worked on the Vegas strip and would have been getting off of work at that time. All I can say is thank God they recorded it! You must check this out. Here's Sammy Davis Jr. and Buddy Rich with "The Sounds of '66". Enjoy!

Sammy Davis JR & Buddy Rich - The Sounds of '66

Countdown to 2012