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

The Enchantment of The Tiki Room

On June 23, 1963, Disneyland opened its first attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics. The attraction was originally sponsored by United Airlines and was entitled, "The Enchanted Tiki Room". The whole concept was rooted in an era when all things Polynesian were popular and as a result, the attraction was an immediate hit. The idea is simple: a Hawaiian-themed musical show "hosted" by four lifelike macaws. There's "José", voiced by Wally Boag; "Michael", voiced by Fulton Burley; "Pierre", voiced by Ernie Newton andv"Fritz" whose German accent is provided by the great, Thurl Ravenscroft (who also voices Hawaiian god "Tangaroa" near the attraction's entrance). If you attended "The Enchanted Tiki Room" in the late 60s and wished you could take the experience home with you, the entire show was released on an album that was sold at the park. The first side was "The Enchanted Tiki Room" while the flip side gave you the soundtrack to "The Adventurous Jungle Cruise". That's today's sharity! Here is the original soundtrack to both of those attractions! BTW, the attraction in Anaheim still features the original voices while the one in Orlando features newly recorded voices and has new songs that reflect newer disney characters and films. The name has even been changed to "The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management"! Anyway, here's "The Enchanted Tiki Room". Enjoy!

The Enchanted Tiki Room

Tricks & Treats 09: Ron Howard Visits The Haunted Mansion

It's October 1st and that means the countdown to Halloween has begun!!!! We start this year's "Tricks and Treats" with a great record from the Disney vaults. One of the greatest rides ever in the Disneyworld/Disneyland spectrum is The Haunted Mansion. No matter how many new and improved rides come along, the Mansion is still the king and I could ride it a hundred times in a row if I could. Back in the day, Disney used to release records that coincided with their various rides and the Haunted Mansion was no exception. In fact, the Mansion boasts three records to its name: one is "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion," an LP featuring a pre-Happy-Days Ronny Howard; then there is a shorter children's record titled "Walt Disney Presents the Haunted Mansion," one of Disney's many "See, Hear, Read" records narrated by Robie Lester, a popular narrator for many of Disney's childrens albums. The third Haunted Mansion story album is the B-side of "Trick or Treat," a Disneyland Record starring Donald Duck, his nephews, and Witch Hazel, with the original "Story and Song" recording edited down to fit completely on the B-side of this 12" LP. Today we are giving you the original "Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" complete with the vocal talents of Ron Howard. Recorded in 1969 (a year after he stopped playing Andy Griffith's son Opie), "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" featured the young "Ronny" Howard as "Mike," a young teen out on a date with "Karen". The story is narrated by the one-and-only Thurl Ravenscroft, who is one of Disney's best-known vocal talents (and is also known for being the original voice of Tony the Tiger, and the singer of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," from Chuck Jones' classic cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas). The ride's main scenes are faithfully represented, often with the original sound effects, making this an album worth buying a turntable for. If you don't have the original album (or a turntable for that matter), fear not faithful readers! We here at The World of Wonder offer it to you in digital form as our first "Treat" of 2009! Enjoy!

The Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion

BONUS: Here's s cool link to a super cool web site called "Doombuggies". It gives you everything you would ever want to know about the Haunted Mansion and then some! Stop on by and tell them Dartman sent you!