Singles Collection: Celebrity Edition - Episode 9

Last night was a big night for all of us on the Avenue Q tour. In the audience were none other than Christpher Guest and Eugene Levy! After the show they came backstage and said Hi and we got the above picture taken with them. I got to talk to them a little and told them how much of an honor it was to meet Nigel Tufnel and one half of the Schmenge Brothers! Eugne Levy was tickled by the comment and thanked me and then they left and we all sat around and quoted their films for hours. Anyway, it brings me to todays post. Back in the mid 80s, SNL was not doing so well. But there were a few bright moments. One of them featured Christpher Guest and Billy Crystal as two nightwatchmen who would go on and on about how things hurt them and then they would always say "I hate when that happens." This skit became so big that they even recorded it with backing music for Crystal's album, "Marvelous". Here is the single version for you now. Enjoy!

Billy Crystal & Christopher Guest-I Hate When That Happens

Super 8 Theater Presents: Abbot and Costello

Here's a great silent 8mm castle films reel of Abbot and Costello in "Have Badge Will Chase". Though not from my collection it is still pretty cool! Enjoy!

Steve Austin Gets Active!

I'm in LA right now and everywhere I look I see an advertisement for the new Bionic Woman. I've already seen the first episode and I really didn't think it was that great. But that's just my opinion. I'm hoping that with all of the hype for the new series that the official US DVD release of the original Six Million Dollar Man finally sees the light of day. In the meantime, you can listen to the first Power Records version of the show here! That's what I am offering you today. This album has been in my collection since I got it as a kid when it was first released back in the 70s! I can quote almost every line from the album and the cover alone is worth its weight in gold! Here it is for you now! Enjoy!

The Six Million Dollar Man(Power Records)

Time For Timer!

Return of TV Themes!!!

Sorry about the lack of posts this past week. My computer was having issues and where I am currently staying (I'm on the road with the National Tour of Avenue Q) I can't get a decent signal. Thus my on-line time last week was entirely at the mac store where I was limited to what I could do. Anyway, I return to the land of blogging with not one but two posts in the same veign as my last two!
First up is a cool record I found at a thrift store around the corner from my house. There is no artist or group name on it. In fact, I'm not really sure what the title of the album is. I guess you could call it "New Original TV Themes". Either way it focus' on three shows: "The Green Hornet", Tarzan" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." It features the themes to all three shows and each show gets two original songs complete with sound effects and cheese! All in all, a keeper! Enjoy!

Original TV Themes

Part two of my posting today is yet another TV Theme Song Album. This time around it's the fabulous Harmonicats doing their rendition of "The Avengers" theme. This album rocks! (and the cover's pretty hot too!)
In addition to the "Avengers Theme", the harmonicats take on "Peter Gunn" as well as movie themes such as "Born Free", "Georgy Girl" and "The Pink Panther". This one is sure to please! Enjoy and I promise to keep up on the posts as I am able! Thanks.

Jerry Murad's Harmonicats-Great Themes From TV and Motion Pictures

Fonzie Says "Honk"

Louis Live!

Here's my third and last Louis Prima post this month. It is an amazing live record recorded at the height of Louis' fame back in the late fifties. Louis and his partner/wife, Keeley Smith, had multi-million dollar contracts with both the Sahara and the Desert Inn at Las Vegas. They played there exclusively every night of the week. The shows were always sell outs and no two performances were ever the same. To get a little taste of this excitement to the rest of the world, Capitol Records recorded one of their shows at the Sahara and released it as "Las Vegas - Prima Style". The result is a party on a platter. It's obvious that this is only part of the live show and the cuts are noticable. And there are sections where the song sounds like they may have cut out a solo or two (common practice in LP days). However, this is still a must have for any fan of Louis Prima. This is the real "Wildest". Enjoy!

Las Vegas-Prima Style

Louis Prima Answers The Call!

Louis Prima is an American Icon. Of course, being part Italian I think it's manditory for me to think that. As a bold, talented, ambitious youngster, Prima rose from the rank-and-file of musicians in the training ground of New Orleans in 1934 and headed for the "Big Time" in the city of New York. After a few weeks the Louis Prima Band became a smash hit in the small-but-jumping club,"Famous Door" and before long, the entire 52nd Street, between Fifth Avenue and Broadway, was renamed "Swing Street." A whole new era of music began, with Louis coining such expressions as "swing" and other "hep" sayings like "solid jack," "crazy man," and many more. A few years passed and Louis hit the charts with "Angelina." It started the whole country talking about pizza, veal parmegiana, pasta fagiole, and antipasto. One smash came after another, like, "Josephina," "Please No Squeeza Da Banana," "Bacciagaloop, Makes Love on the Stoop" and "Felicia No Capicia." When Elvis Presley was asked where he got the wiggle, he replied, "From Louis Prima, of course." Louis down-sized the big band to a small group and added the sounds and talents of the great sax-man Sam Butera and vocalist, Keely Smith. He performed magic again by developing a shuffle beat, combined with a New Orleans southern rock sound, added the wailing sax and for comedic value, transformed the vocalist into the dead-pan partner that he could play off of. The string of hits that followed included "Just a Gigolo - I Ain't Got Nobody," "Buona Sera," "Black Magic," "Zooma, Zooma," "When You're Smilin'," and on and on. Louis Prima was not just Louis Prima - he was the "Big Daddy" of them all! One of his best albums (that include most of his fore mentioned hits) was 'The Call of The Wildest". What's even better than the album is the hilarious cover of Louis singing to a moose! I present it for you now. Enjoy!

Call of The Wildest