Dartman's Tricks or Treats # 1

Well, it's October and like many other sharity blogs, I have decided to celebrate Halloween throughout the month. Unlike past Octobers where I would post mixes and lps and singles, etc. . . this year I have decided to do something new and interesting. Every few days I will be posting "Tricks or Treats". These are collections of Halloween items from my vast collection. Somethings I may have posted in the past, while others may be new. It's basically a grab bag. Kind of like going door to door and putting the treats you are given into your bag. These are the treats you get at the door to the World of Wonder. Here is #1. Enjoy!

Halloween Treat Bag #1

PS - I have no idea what is in each "Treat Bag". It was all done randomly in i-tunes. Please do not ask for playlists. Most of the tracks are labeled.

Classic Television Episode of the Month: The Archie Show

A Psychedelic Season

Here's a super cool psychedelic video of Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger performing Donovan's lcassic hit, "Season Of The Witch" It's from a British television appearance in 1968. This came on the heels of their appearance in "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" here in the States. Julie shows some of the same dance moves. Pretty freaking cool! Enjoy!

A Fiery Horse With The Speed Of Light, A Cloud Of Dust and A Hearty "Hi Yo Silver!"

There is no mistaking the above quote. It is the introduction to the legendary Lone Ranger radio and television shows that brought the great character into our living rooms. I loved the Lone Ranger. I even had a Lone Ranger play set that included a mask, a white hat and a gun and holster set. (not to mention the action figure I had had posed on Silver that stood guard over the top of my dresser). Over the years I collected quite a few Lone Ranger items. One of those was an album of the first few episodes of the radio drama. I actually never cared for this as I felt there was too much narration. Then I came across a collection of 78s that featured a four sider with the actors from the radio drama. I loved it! I was expecting it to be the same as the album that I owned but instead it was a different rendering of the story. An interesting side not about that recording; over the years, the debate over the Lone Ranger's real name has waged on as to whether it was John or Dan. This record is actually a deciding factor in proving that his brother's name is Dan. Side 3 features a story entitled, "He Finds Dan Reid". Obviously he wouldn't find himself! Anyway, here is that great 4 sided 78 album that I have loved for so many years. Here is "The Adventures of The Lone Ranger". Enjoy!

The Adventures of The Lone Ranger

Leather Tuscadero Live!

Despite her musical ability on bass and her edgy vocals, rock's first lady was never able to become a household name in her native United States. At least not as Suzi Quatro. She did manage to earn fame as Leather Tuscadero, the younger sister of Fonzie's girlfriend, Pinky Tuscadero, on the hit sit-com, Happy Days. It's really too bad that that is how she is remembered here in the states. Back in England, she is a top notch rock and roll legend. She is largely responsible for all the female rockers who have followed in her footsteps, most notably, Joan Jett and the Runaways. She did try to make a dent in the US rock scene. In fact, in 1975 she participated in a live radio broadcast from the Record Plant in Saulsalito, CA. It featured Suzi rockin' her little heart out on a mixture of original tunes she penned with producer, Mike Chapman, and some choice covers including "All Shook Up." For the life of me, I could never fiure out why the US ignored this rock pioneer. We here at the World of Wonder have never ignored her. Here is that FM broadcast from 1975. Here is "Suzi Quatro Live In Saulsalito". Enjoy!

Suzi Quatro-Live In Saulsalito 1975

The Unseen Mirage

I recently popped in Fleetwood Mac's "The Dance" and once again realized how great that band really is. That live album is so worth every penny spent on it and I strongly suggest you run out and grab it if you don't have it already. Anyway, it got me to thinking that I had a great bootleg of outtakes from the band's great 80s album, Mirage. Not just starts and stops but full blown takes of almost every song on the album. The sound quality is superb and many of the songs sound even better than the actual released versions. A great find for any fan of this great band! Enjoy!

Fleetwood Mac-Mirage Outtakes

Moe, Larry, Shemp and Bogus?

Today I bring you the final issue of the first run of Three Stooges comics from the early 1950s. These were put out by St John's comics and feature the trio that was featured in the shorts of that era; Moe, Larry and Shemp. However, Norman Maurer, the man responsible for the Stooge comics (as well as keeping the torch of the Stooges aflame for ages) felt that they needed an additional character. The result was a character named Bogus. The character is so named because he is a con man. He uses the Stooges as, well, stooges. But in true Stooge fashion, ends up a victim of circumstance. Check it out in The Three Stooges Comic Issue 7. Enjoy!

The Three Stooges Comic Book Issue 7

Reynolds By Request

I have been looking for the proper moment to post one of the greatest finds in my collection. An opportunity came in the form of a comment that I received last night asking if by chance I had the album in question. So, here it is. A little background on how I came to find this album. I was somewhere that I can't recall where but it was in an obscure town where I was doing a jazz gig. Myself and the other musicians had a little time to kill so we hit a local store that had some really cool items. They had a sign that stated there were records in the basement so we went downstairs and looked around. While looking through the randomly thrown together racks I came across what I consider a golden find. My friend, Russ, who was playing sax on that particular gig, still brings it up whenever we are together. Now, mind you, it is far from a good album. It is downright laughable. And just a tad creepy. But I think you will agree with me that it is a treasure worthy of my hard earned money. Not to mention it was in mint condition. It is none other than the fabulous "Ask Me What I Am", a 1973 collection of narrations and songs by the great, Burt Reynolds! One listen and I am sure you will regard this in the same way as I do; a treasure to be held and not listened to but once. Here is, by request, Burt Reynolds' "Ask Me What I Am". Enjoy!

Burt Reynolds-Ask Me What I Am

BONUS:
Here's a record released to radio stations to accompany the album. It features edited versions of a few of the songs and some quotes from Burt so that the radio station could then conduct an "interview" with Burt. I like to take these fake interview records and add my own questions to the mix to see what fun I can create. You should do this as well and then send me the interviews. If I get enough I will post them at a later date. Here's "A Burt Reynolds Radio Special". Enjoy!

A Burt Reynolds Radio Special

Super 8 Theater Presents: Howdy Doody

Here's the lovable marionette along with Buffalo Bob and Clarabell in "A Trip To Finland". Enjoy!

The Illustrated Dean and Jerry

Here's an issue of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Comic Book from 1954. Although not as funny as the real comedy duo, it's still pretty cool to read it knowing that there was a time then Dean and Jerry were the biggest thing on the planet. Because of this, DC Comics decided to publish THE ADVENTURES OF DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS. The comic ran from 1952 to 1957. So the comic book adventures of Dean and Jerry outlasted the duo's break up by a few years. After 40 issues, Dean was removed from the series (gasp!) and it was retitled THE ADVENTURES OF JERRY LEWIS and the series continued until 1971. Here is issue #10 from January 1 of 1954. Enjoy!

Martin And Lewis Comic Book 10/1/54

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

You Too Can Be A JEDI

Here's something that I find extremely cool. It's an official Honorary JEDI Knight Certificate from the 1983 release of "Return of The Jedi". It states that you are an honorary JEDI Knight! I have one of these that bears my son's name that has been hanging in his room since before he was born! It comes complete with Yoda's signature (although it looks like Yoda never had that much of an education in writing). Click on the image for a full size version. Print it out and hang it proudly on your wall! Enjoy!

Tiny Tim's Duet With Tiny Tim

The Best of The World of Wonder: How Do You Solve A Problem Like Bertrille

Back in November of 2006 I posted this great album by a singing nun. Not "The Singing Nun" mind you but a nun named Bertrille. That's right, The Flying Nun. This album came out during the run of the show and features Sally Field singing various songs as Sister Bertrille. The songs have a great bounce to them and Sally does a great job with them. In fact she even cracked the Billboard Hot 100 with the single, "Felicidad." From 1967 - Enjoy!

The Flying Nun

An Open Letter To Mike Douglas

Growing up in the late seventies and early eighties, I was exposed to a variety of celebrity talk shows. While there are still daytime talk shows on today, they are nothing like the "golden era" of the daytime talk show. With the likes of Merv Griffen, Dick Cavett and Mike Douglas, the daytime talk show was an event. Mike Douglas was one of the more exciting ones due to the amazing guests he would have on. We all are familiar with the entire week he devoted to John Lennon and Yoko Ono but that's just the tip of the ice berg. He never "played it safe" and just had people on that were promoting their new album or movie or tv show. He had people on that he admired and that had a message. And in between all those hip guests, you could always count on Mike to sing a song of his own. Over the course of his career, Mike Douglas would release several albums (including a Christmas one that we posted one holiday season a while back) but my favorite is one entitled, "Dear Mike, Please Sing". I share that fabulous album with you now. Enjoy!

Mike Douglas-Dear Mike, Please Sing

Getting Back to My Podcasting Roots

Well, ELVIS MONTH 2010 is over and even if it didn't go quite as I had planned, it was still pretty successful. Today is the first day of September so I thought I would start off the month with my latest and greatest Wacky Podcast. This time around I didn't do anything special. I just went back to the original way I did the podcasts. The only thing different here is the length. It runs a gigantic one hour and 6 minutes making it the longest podcast, yet. Chock full of goodies from Thurl Ravenscroft, the Breeders, BRAK, the Who, Boyce and Hart, Billy Idol, Elvis, Micky Dolenz and so many more great artists, this is a super fun one! Here it is for you now. Here is Podcast 15! Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #15