“Auld Lang Syne”-Ring Out the Old, Bring in the New!

Auld Lang Syne is traditionally sung every New Years` Eve to kiss the old year goodbye, and to (b)ring in the one. One hopes that things will go a little better this next one, but the song acts as a stimulus for that remote possibility. Through the years the version that I am most familiar with is the instrumental one (with sinuous riffs) by Guy Lombardo. Starting in 1929, Guy Lombardo`s droopy take on Auld Lang Syne would pipe through millions of American radio boxes. Later the festivity was broadcast on television. I believe that I have usually heard a Decca recording, that was a single, issued on September 29th, 1947. (Wiki)

The provinence of the song is somewhat hazy (apropos for tipsy revelers), but it is clear that the lyric was compiled and composed by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788. Auld Lang Syne means “days gone by,” “long long ago” or “old long since.” IE that`s over with, now let`s start anew. There`s a good bit of drinkin` in Burns limerick, even intentional slurrin`? And surely ye`ll be your pint-stowp! And surely I`ll be mine! And we`ll tak a cup of kindness yet, for Auld Lang Syne. Pint-Stowp sounds liquorish?

It`s not believed that the same melody was used in Robert Burns day. I`m curious too about how the Time Square ball drop tradition got started? I have included two pics, one from a day gone by, the other more recently. I stay in on New Years Eve and just watch some TELLY! How do you spend the holiday?

Restaurant Patron Injured By Falling Moose Head

Bingo Caller Told To Stop Using Traditional Call: Two Fat Ladies

 

“Big Rock Candy Mountain” by Haywire Mac (Harry McClintock)

Over the past year I have been studying The Great Depression quite a bit. At the first of the year they (economists) were talking that way. As I review different ephemera, I keep running into the song, Big Rock Candy Mountain. It`s on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. The Coen Brothers included the original 1928 version by Harry McClintock. Haywire Mac (Harry`s nickname) had a # 1 hit for it on the country charts in 1939.

Harry McClintock claimed authorship of the song, but the court ruled it as in the public domain. Haywire Mac did re-work the lyric considerably. Basically, it`s a hobo pipedream. The Big Rock Candy Mountain is a utopia where “hens lay soft boiled eggs” and the “boxcars are all empty.” On the downside there are “cigarette trees,” but the “police have wooden legs” and the jail bars are made of tin.  Halleluhah! A Deregulated Utopia. 

Anyway, this hobo may be laying under his blanket near some trash heap and dreamin` of a better day. Quite a vivid image that is still relevant today. I live in downtown Austin, and the homeless have increased considerably over the past year. And (I have learned) there is a real Big Rock Candy Mountain in Utah. Have to get that way some time…(source-Wiki)

Smart Donkeys Run Away From Live Nativity Scene

The Dave Clark Five-Classic British Combo Rock of Yesteryear

In March of 2008 itunes made available a 28 song digitally remastered package of  Dave Clark Five standards. I had been searching high and low for some DC5 for some time, but no cigar. Lo & Behold, now I`m diggin` the ‘air-hammer’ sound of the DC5 once again, but it`s been years. Now this is real ‘Combo Rock.’ Their records sound more like the live band just playing straight up. Their sound is distinctive. They really punch hard. Mike Smith is playing a Farfizza organ, I think. His vocals are raucous and bawdy. And Denis Payton blows a mean rock & roll tenor saxophone.

Glad All Over and Bits and Pieces has each sold more than 2.5 million units. My favorite DC5 song is Can`t You See That She`s Mine. Listen for the airtight timing between bass and drums, & then a blow it out the park sax lead by Denis Payton. Because is a great slow one, that can compete any day with Paul McCartney`s And I Love Her. Catch Us If You Can was the Dave Clark Five`s answer to A Hard Days Night.

Dave Clark wrote his own songs, produced their records, was their manager, and later actually was a very successful business entrepreneur in music. He had the wisdom to acquire the rights to the Ready Steady Go! TV shows from England, that carefully documented many of the great 60s acts. Every show is out of this world and are much in demand too. I bet Dave`s made a bundle off it. Dave even made an early version of the music video.

Boy, it`s great to hear these DC5 hits again. Yet One still wonders why the DC5 faded out in the late 60s? I believe it`s because they did not translate well once Rock went Psychedelic. The DC5 were pure rockers with their roots in the 50s. Did you know that they were on the Ed Sullivan Show 18 times? And did you know that they were the first British band to successfully tour the U.S.?

The San Francisco Underground-Chrome`s “Alien Soundtracks”

When you listen to Chrome you feel like you are doing something illegal. You are afraid that the cops will knock on your door and arrest you for a Chrome violation. ‘Industrial Paranoia’ comes to mind. I found a new vinyl copy of Alien Soundtracks at Waterloo. Thought I was dreamin`. I haven`t heard any Chrome in about twenty years. Alien Soundtracks was there second record from 1978, and the first one that featured guitarist Helios Creed. In 1979 they would make their masterpiece, Half Machine Lip Moves.

Chrome`s sound can not be contained in a neat little box. You might think of a mad mechanical engineer who goes into his garage and builds an odd contraption from scratch, rusty bolts, metal scraps and greasy engine parts, lying around. Chrome uses tape loops, effects boxes, treated guitars, sound filters, moog, bass, and many unknown sound sources also. A lot of mixing and pre-mixing is presumed as well.

Slip it to the Android is dank & dark, warm up music for the Manson Family before they made a beeline to the Tate house. SS Cygni has a hypnotic beat with a treated guitar. Pharoah Chromium is an early example of sampling, an analog version, with shards of random industrial noise pasted together. ST 37 has backwards tapes with otherworldly utterances as vocals.

I saw Chrome live in 1981, when I was living in San Francisco. One of the best shows I have ever seen. I think of Chrome as an advanced evolution of the underground side of post-punk movements (No Wave was one). They remained true to their inner selves, their beliefs about art.

Enormous $85 Million at the Box Office on Christmas!

“Expecting a nice surprise under their tree this year, studio distributors instead got the equivalent of a luxury car with a giant bow on it Friday, as the domestic box-office shattered last year’s Christmas Day record with an enormous $85 million haul.” The Wrap

“Avatar” and “Sherlock Holmes” took in most of the money with ‘Holmes at $25M and ‘Avatar’ at $23.3M.

What did you see at the movies on Christmas???

Search Of Vehicle Turns Up Gift-Wrapped Marijuana

 

Giant Swedish Christmas Goat Gets Torched

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