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

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

Jaimie Summers Sings

Well, not really. Instead we offer you this Power Records version of The Bionic Woman. Though not as successful as the Six Million Dollar Man Power Records, this album still stands up in terms of entertainment. As with the other Power Records, the original cast from the television show is not here. Instead a highly trained group of voice actors (many of whom appear on most other Power Records) take the task of telling the heroic stories of the Bionic Woman. Here it is for your listening enjoyment! Enjoy! Power Records - The Bionic Woman

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

The Best of the World of Wonder: The Genius Of The Marx Brothers

The brothers Marx were by far the greatest comedy team ever! Their mad cap humor extended from the stage and screen right into their real lives! I have so much Marx Brothers stuff that I thought I would post this as a "starter kit" for those who are unknown to the genius of these fine gentlemen! It is actually not one of my personal favorites but it does showcase their comedic talents from their films. It's "The Marx Brothers :Actual Voice Tracks From Their Movies." This came out in the 70s as part of a series of old time film comedians' voice tracks from old movies. Enjoy!

The Marx Brothers: Actual Voice Tracks From Their Movies

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

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

Dartman's Advent Calendar 2011: Day 15

Yesterday we found a classic Fleisher cartoon and today . . . who knows? You'll have to open the flap and find out! Enjoy!

Advent Calendar 2011 Day 15

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

Lucy And Desi Get Roasted

A huge event for the stars of I Love Lucy took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel November 23, 1958 in celebration of the Friars Club 10th Anniversary. These testimonial dinners eventually were called “roasts”. Making an appearance at this “roast” was Dean Martin who spoke at length and also sang a parody of “Volare” about Lucy & Desi accompanied by Ken Lane. There were also featured appearances by George Burns, Art Linkletter, George Murphy, Tony Martin, Milton Berle and several others. One of those several others was a comedian named Harry Einstein. His stage name was "Paryakarkas". The "roast" would be his last performance. Anywhere. Literally. During the night he collapsed onto Milton Berle's shoulder and died. A "private label" recording of this dinner was released sometime after and featured some hilarious performances but not the collapse of Mr. Einstein. It does open with an announcement telling of the death. Here is that bootleg, I mean, "private label" recording. Here is “The Friars Club Presents The Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz Testimonial Dinner”. Enjoy!

The Friars Club Presents The Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz Testimonial Dinner

BONUS:
Here's a newspaper article all about the roast and the sudden demise of Harry Einstein. (click on pics for larger images)

“Now Here’s Something We Hope You’ll Really Like…”

There have been a number of children’s records based on cartoons. Today we share one that features Bill Scott, June Foray, Paul Frees and all the rest performing the voices of Rocky, Bullwinkle and the other characters we’ve come to know and love. This tells the story of how Rocky and his friends put this record together by way of original songs and audio from a few of the old cartoons themselves. This one popped up on the ol' playlist in the car the other day and my son thought it was great. In fact, he kept having me repeat the first track over and over because he loved it so much. As a result, I share it with you today. Here is "Rocky & His Friends". Enjoy!

Rocky & His Friends

Halloween-A-Thon 2011: A Monster of a Good Time!

It's not exactly the perfect Halloween weekend here in CT since we were hit with a freak snow storm yesterday. However, that doesn't mean the fun can't continue here at the World of Wonder. Today we have a triple dose of fun for you all. Monsters in print, monsters in song and monsters in breakfast cereal! First up is a great issue of the classic magazine, "Famous Monsters of Flmland". I have a few issues of this great magazine but the reason I chose this one to share is the super cool cover! Next up is a Dickie Goodman album entitled, "The Monster Album in Stereo". Goodman was most famous for a series of "break-in" records he created from 1956 to 1986. His two biggest hits were "The Flying Saucer" and "Mr. Jaws". In between, in 1964, he managed to deviate from his formula and put together this collection of ditties. And finally, fans of the 1970s cereal monsters can rejoice in the sounds of their favorites, Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Boo Berry as they listen to their adventures. These are from two cardboard records that came on the backs of the cereal back in the 70s. Enjoy!


Famous Monsters of Filmland Issue #3

Dickie Goodman - The Monster Album in Stereo

Cereal Monsters Cardboard Records

Halloween-A-Thon 2011: That's Fronkensteen!

Mel Brooks has created some of the greatest comedies of all time but "Young Frankenstein" stands out as a work of art above all others (at least in my humble opinion). Gene Wilder wrote it but Mel gave it the direction it needed and together they created a masterpiece of cinema. The genius of Brooks is shown through the use of not only the same scenery as the original Frankenstein but the same camera angles as well. The film is quoted more and more through the years and I don't know anyone who has ever said "I don't like Young Frankenstein". As with other Brooks films, a soundtrack album was released that contained not just the great music from the film, but also contained dialogue from some of the best scenes as well. Here is that soundtrack album for you to listen to and add a pinch of humor to your Halloween festivities! Enjoy!

Young Frankenstein OST

Halloween-A-Thon 2011: Drac Goes Dancing

Aside from Christmas, no other holiday has inspired more strange disco novelties than Halloween. Needless to say, today's sharity is a disco album. The band behind the Halloween of disco is a rather anonymous German disco group, featuring a number of notable Munich session players under the name of Hot Blood. The record is so anonymous in fact, that the production credit is given as "Produced by Hot Blood". The major track on the record, "Soul Dracula" has every cliché one would expect from a novelty 'dracula' track: maniacal laughing drrrracu-la with exaggerated Bela Lugosi-esque accent, catchy/annoying background gimmicks that drill themselves into your head, cheesy sexual overtones, not to mention a bit of pointless appropriation in the song title. Still though, cliché's aside, this ain't that bad. Judge for yourself when you disco down to Hot Blood and "Disco Dracula". Enjoy!

Hot Blood - Disco Dracula

I Have Pooh On My Blog

In the last half of the 90s I worked in a high school as a Resource Room Tutor. One day I happened to be walking down the hall wearing a shirt with Winnie The Pooh on the upper right hand corner. The teacher on hall duty saw me and said "You have Pooh on your shirt" to which I replied, "Oh jeez, I thought I had washed all of it off!" The joys of double entendre! Anyway, I told you that to tell you this; Winnie The Pooh was a favorite character of mine as a child and I couldn't go to bed without my stuffed Pooh Bear. I am happy to say that my son now shares this love of the character and it gave me a reason to digitize some of my Disney records so that I could put them on his i-pod and listen to them with him. One of those records I share with you today. It's the story of "Winnie The Pooh and Tigger, Too!" Like "The Story of Star Wars" and others, this is a story with the dialogue and music taken right from the soundtrack to the film. Before VHS, DVD and On-Demand, this was the only way to relive the films or tv shows at home over and over again. I share this with you in hopes that you not only enjoy it, but that you share it with your little ones. Here is "Winnie The Pooh and Tigger, Too". Enjoy!

Winnie The Pooh and Tigger, Too

Ella On the Radio

I love Ella Fitzgerald. In my opinion, there was no one better. She was amazing. Over the years I have amassed quite a collection of Ella records. There are the standard ones that you can get anywhere but then I have a bunch or really cool ones that are much harder to find. I'm not just talking about bootlegs. I'm talking about recordings that were made way back when she was just starting out with the Chick Webb Orchestra. I have some really great albums from that era and beyond that I've rarely seen even on-line. It's one of those great albums that I am sharing with you today. It's a release from the great "Sandy Hook" label back in the 80s. I have a vary strong affinity for Sandy Hook records for several reasons. One; they were based in my home state of Connecticut and Two; they put out some of the coolest records featuring some amazing radio broadcasts from the golden age of radio. This album is no exception. It's a bunch of radio transcriptions from 1940 of Ella leading the Chick Webb orchestra. When Chick died in 1939, Ella took over the orchestra and continued to front it for many years. She had taken over as the leader when Chick started to become ill so the orchestra knew that it was the right choice. This album is extremely cool and shows Ella doing what she does best. Here is "Ella Swingin': NBC Radio 1940 Big Band Remotes". Enjoy!

Ella Swingin': NBC Radio 1940 Big Band Remotes

Pirates, Captain Flint! Pirates!

As a kid, I loved going to the library. I loved reading but I also loved checking out records. The library in the town I grew up in had an amazing record selection and my favorite section was the spoken word section. Not so much for the records where someone famous was reading some famous author's works but because this section housed all the old time radio records and story records. One record that I checked out repeatedly was the story record to the Disney classic, "Treasure Island". I had seen the film on "The Wonderful World of Disney" and fell in love with it. Since this was long before the DVD or even the VHS tape, the only way I could enjoy the film over and over again at my leisure was to check out this record whenever I wanted to relive the classic story of Treasure Island. For years I looked for the record and could not find hide or hair of it until I was in a really cool record store in Seattle a few years back. As with all things of this nature, I now see it everywhere. Of course, it doesn't matter now that I own it. I present it for you now. Here is "Treasure Island." Enjoy!

The Story of Disney's Treasure Island

Here In The West We're Singin' The Best

When my wife and I put up our Christmas tree, it has become a tradition to listen to "Christmas On The Ponderosa". It's a classic album that features the cast of Bonanza celebrating Christmas in a mix of spoken word and song. It's entertaining as can be and provides many laughs that we look forward to all year. The holiday record is great but it is the second album of its kind from that great western series. The first one came out a year earlier and was the same concept without the holiday theme. It was titled "Bonanza: Ponderosa Party Time". As with the Christmas album, it features a mix of songs, stories and spoken word moments that make you feel like you are at a party on the Ponderosa! Here it is for you now. Enjoy!

BONANZA: Ponderosa Party Time

Happy Fathers Day From The Love Daddy!

I was in a record store a while back and happened upon a children's record by Red Buttons. The first thing to hit me when I saw the cover was that it was titled, "Love Daddy". What made it even creepier was the fact that it had a picture of Red looking into a little girl's eyes. Upon further inspection, I realized that it was meant to say "Love, Daddy" as it was a collection of poems Red had written for his little girl. Why they left out the comma is beyond me. I know in 1974, when this was released, the term "Love Daddy" had no other connotations but over the years that has changed. Even the back cover reads "Red Buttons: Love Daddy". The next thing I noticed about the cover was the sub-text, which reads "Poems for my daughter and other little people." Again, in 1974, "little people" referred to children. However, 37 years later . . . you know what I'm getting at. Anyway, the album is actually a nice collection of silly rhymes set to corny music that tends to be quite entertaining. I'm waiting to play it for my "little person" but I strongly encourage you to play it for yours. Because of the way the album is set up, there really are no tracks so I ripped it as side one and side two. Here, for your listening pleasure, is "Red Buttons: Love Daddy".

Red Buttons - Love Daddy