British Invasion era self professed "rockabilly madman"...Released a handful of great horror rock n roll, rockabilly and r&b singles in the early to mid-sixties...Perfect music for Halloween...Song titles include; "Black & Hairy", "Murder In The Graveyard", "Jack The Ripper", "Dracula's Daughter" etc...Obviously,heavily influenced by Screaming Jay Hawkins...Not much of a singer, great entertainer....
Opened most shows by climbing out of a coffin and incorporated skulls, daggers and corpses in his act...He was Alice Cooper before Alice Cooper ...Very popular in England, almost unheard of in U.S...Big influence on up and coming British Invasion bands...His backing band, The Savages, at one time or another included; Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Keith Moon & Charlie Watts...Also recorded a couple of singles with legendary producer Joe Meek...Founded The National Teenage
Political Party in 1963 and actually ran for parliament...More of a publicity stunt than actual campaign... Lost badly, picking up only 208 votes...The National Teenage Party eventually morphed into The Monster Raving Loony Party...Sutch ran 39 more times for various offices, never winning an election...
The Monster Raving Loony Party is still a registered political party in the UK today...Lord Sutch, who reportedly suffered from manic depression, comitted suicide in 2008...Checkout Screaming Lord Sutch
performing "Jack The Ripper" below...
Back in the early nineteen seventies, cereal was a very important part of every seven year old's life. For some reason, possibly because life was so mind-numbingly boring back then, (only three tv channels, no video games, no internet, no Netflex, no mandatory cello lessons, cheernastic competitions or musical theatre camp etc...) I remember giving a lot of thought as to what cereal I should ask my parents to purchase on our next trip to the grocery store.
8 essential vitamins!
Taste was not really all that big of a factor, as all cereal was ninety percent sugar anyway. (Unless, of course, your parents brought home some "healthy" non-sugary stuff like Special K or Grape Nuts. This dilemma was quickly solved, however, with a gravy ladle and a trip to the sugar bowl.) The main selling point for me was simply: who had the coolest cartoon character on their cereal box.
Back in the fifties, enterprising companies realized that cartoons helped sell breakfast cereal to kids. By the seventies, full blown ad campaigns were targeted at six year olds. Not only were their cartoon characters on the front of every box, but Saturday morning tv (aka "Cartoon Day") bombarded us with cereal commercials starring animated "spokescartoons" who, get this, actually had personalities!
There was a happy (possibly drunk) leprechaun (Lucky Charms), a crooning Bing Crosbyesque turtle neck wearing bear (Sugar Bear), a giant sociopathic rabbitt (Tricks) and that...uhhhh..., I don't know what it was, but it kinda scared me thing (Coco Puffs). Of course, each cereal contained eight essential vitamins when eaten with a " full breakfast". (I am assuming the other foods in a "full breakfast" had eight vitamins, because this stuff had none.)
What is this thing called?
Although I enjoyed and indulged in all of these sugar coated delights, my favorite by far were what are now referred to as, The Monster Cereals; Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo Berry. (Okay, later there was Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy but, let's be honest, it's kind of like the guys in Kiss who replaced Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Yes, they technically are a member of Kiss but, they ain't Kiss, you know?)
Each product contained sugar coated cereal (Yay!) and flavored marshmallows (like Lucky Charms). The characters were featured in highly entertaining (well, entertaining to a second grader, anyway) thirty second commercials, in which, they live in an old spooky castle and basically spent their time fighting over who had the tastiest cereal. Although, it was probably over my head at the time, each character's voice was an imitation of a famous horror movie star. (Count Chocula; Bela Lugosi, Franken Berry; Boris Karloff, Boo Berry; Peter Lorre)
Hero
I never cared for the taste of Boo Berry and Frankenberry often caused great alarm in the bathroom an hour after ingesting it, so I liked Count Chocula the best. (Apparently, Frankenberry sometimes turned your feces pink, while Count Chocula was....well...already the color of feces.) I even sent away for a Count Chocula toy that I carried around probably a little longer than my parents were completely comfortable with.
I owned this toy
General Mills phased out The Monster Cereals, for the most part, in the nineties but brought them back last fall for a short Halloween run. I had my first bowl of Count Chocula cereal in thirty odd years and must say it was pretty bad--at first. But after several days, I actually began to enjoy it and, to my wife's chagrin, bought a second box. Sad to say, I have scoured several grocery stores the last couple of weeks and can't find a monster cereal anywhere. If you know where I can score any, please let me know. I am a very desperate man.
Great B black & white horror movie starring Vincent Price and directed by schlockmeister William Castle (House On Haunted Hill, Thirteen Ghosts). Price plays a scientist searching for the answer as to why we get a tingling feeling up our spine when we become afraid. He believes there is a being called " The Tingler" attached to our spine that is brought to life by our fear and can only be calmed by our screams. In other words, if we become terrified and our unable to scream, the tingler will smash our spine and we will die of "fear"! Somehow, the tingler detaches from somebody's body and begins crawling around and attacking people and the fun begins
Director William Castle was famous for coming up with crazy gimmicks to promote his movies and The Tingler had a feature called, "Percepto". When the movie was released, Castle had electric buzzers attached to various seat in the theatre that would be activated at certain points of the movie, thus, giving the person in the seat the tingling feeling of, well, the tingler.
The highlight of the film is when the screen goes white (as if the film reel has run out) and you hear Vincent Price screaming, "The tingler is loose in the theatre". This is quickly followed by a
silhouette of the tingler crawling across the screen. Obviously, this was meant to cause screaming and mayhem in the theatre. Eventually, calm is restored and the movie continues as if nothing happened.
The Tingler contains everything that makes a B horror movie great; ridiculous plot, overacting, a cheap and cheesy looking monster, secondary plots that go nowhere, an abrupt and unfulfilling ending and perhaps Hollywood's first depiction of an acid trip. That's right boys and girls, Vincent Price on acid! What more could a movie goer ask for?Checkout the movie trailer below.
Perfect 45 to kick off the Halloween season...manic piano + fifties r&b workout + blood curdling screams and maniacal laughter courtesy of Hutch Davie....piano man/arranger/producer extraordinaire...resume includes:
arranging Santo & Johnny 's "Sleepwalk" and The Bob Crewe Generation's "Music To Watch Girls By"...also worked with Frankie Valli, The Shirelles, Mitch Ryder, Ellie Greenwhich, The Angels, Leslie Gore, Patti Duke etc...Also recorded many albums and singles under his own name...
John Hartford (1937-2001) Early Life: Native of St.Louis, Missouri... learned to play the banjo and fiddle as a child. ...In high school, performed locally in a number of bluegrass bands...released a few singles on local record labels....attended Washington University for a year...left before earning a degree...worked at various odd jobs including, commercial artist, radio announcer and steamboat deck hand.
To Nashville: Worked at various radio stations while writing songs and performing ...Began having some success as a songwriter....
Waylon Jennings, Billy Grammer, George Hamilton IV and Patti Page all recorded some of his songs...In 1966, signed with RCA Records... released a half a dozen very weird albums for the label...countrypolitan/MOR/bluegrass/hippie music...worth searching out, if you can find them...
Gentle On My Mind: On his second album, "Earthwords & Music", Hartford recorded an original composition called, "Gentle On My Mind"...Although, his version didn't go anywhere, the song was recorded by dozens of artists...it eventually became a multi-million selling hit for Glen Campbel putting Hartford on the map and making him a very rich man....the song eventually became one of the most recorded songs of the twentieth century with literally hundreds of versions..
Hollywood: Following the success of " Gentle On My Mind", Hollywood beckoned...He appeared regularly on The Smothers Brothers show and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and hosted a few specials of his own...CBS offered him a starring role in a detective show they were developing but he turned them down..
Newgrass: In the early seventies, Hartford signed with Warner Brothers records...he released two very innovative bluegrass albums, "Aeroplane" and "Morning Bugle"...Surrounding himself with fellow young longhaired hippie musicians, he turned bluegrass on its ear...introducing jazz, blues and rock n roll influences and writing tunes about sex and marijuana and adding his very un-bluegrassy baritone voice to the mix...
Steamboat Captain: About this time, he began working as a steamboat river pilot...piloting boats of up and down the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio Rivers...
Mark Twang: In the mid-seventies, he signed with the tiny Flying Fish label and released his magnum opus, "Mark Twang"...A completely solo endeavor, Hartford sang and accompanied himself on banjo, fiddle, guitar and something he called his "womper-stomper" (which consisted of a giant piece of amplified plywood that he tapdanced on while playing--seriously!)...he even plays his face on one song.(again, seriously!)..A true one man band effort, he played everything with no overdubbing or multi-tracking...
Incredible banjo and fiddle playing coupled with some really far out subject matter, including songs about; steamboats (Skipping Thru The Mississippi Dew, Long Hot Summer Days, Julia Belle Swain), warped record albums ("Don't Leave Your Records In The Sun"), a bluegrass "rap" song ("Tater Tate & Allen Mundy") and some just plain weird stuff ("Trying To Do Something To Get Your Attention", "Little Cabin On The Hill")...not to mention "The Lowest Pair" a sort of cannabis soaked Lord's Prayer....
Nothing like it had ever been heard before (or since, mind you)...."Mark Twang" actually won a Grammy Award for "Best Ethnic Recording"...Seriously! (For the third time)"
So Long: Hartford continued to record and tour until his death from cancer in 2001...Although, he performed and recorded with various musicians through the years, he did hundreds and hundreds of one man bands shows...just him his banjo, fiddle and his beloved "womper-stomper"....check him out below performing in Athens, Ohio--1977.
In late 1966, a young rock band by the name of The Royal Guardsmen released a single on the Laurie record label called, "Snoopy And The Red Baron". By early 1967, the song was charging up the U.S charts, the group was appearing on television shows and concerts around the country and Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, was suing the group for copyright violations.
As attorneys were meeting to negotiate, Laurie Records was in a bit of a quandary. The record was doing well in the U.S and now they were ready to release it in Canada. But with the lawsuit still pending they were afraid to release the record up north for fear that the negotiations might fail.
As a result, Laurie decided to have the band go into the studio and record a new version of the song called, "Squeaky And The Black Knight". Basically, this was the same song minus any reference to Snoopy or The Red Baron. The record was available in Canada for a short time and did receive airplay on a handful of radio stations.
Once a deal was made with Charles M. Schultz, Laurie pulled " Squeaky And The Black Knight" and released "Snoopy" in Canada. As a result, copies of "Squeaky" are extremely rare and go for big bucks whenever one turns up. You can listen to the song for no bucks at all below.
NAME: Sam The Butcher, feeble-minded butcher on The Brady Bunch TV show. SERIAL KILLER?: No, but Sam The Butcher would be a great name for a mafia hit man. Come to think of it, he did seem to love butchering meat so...I guess, it's hard to say for sure. OCCUPATION: Uhhh...well...a butcher...obviously! INTERESTS & HOBBIES: Bowling and ummm...butchering. PERSONAL LIFE: Nothing is known about Sam's past. He is single and probably not divorced (in the world of sixties tv, divorce, like African-Americans, Latinos, gays, sex, drugs, facial hair, clevage
etc...did not exist) but, perhaps, he is a widower. (Like Mike Brady).
Sam "dates" the Brady's housekeeper Alice. The two have a rather odd relationship, in that, they seldom touch but often bowl.
In fact, bowling seems to occupy a good deal of, not only their time, but also, their conversation.
Although, Mike and Carol spend a good amount of time making out, I don't know if we ever see Sam and Alice kiss. Perhaps the television censors back then thought the sight of two "older" people kissing was obscene. And in the case of Sam and Alice, I have to agree.
RELATIONSHIP WITH BRADY'S: Sam seems to have no family of his own, so the Bradys seem to have adopted him as some kind of pseudo-dopey uncle. Or maybe a family pet, like Alice. (The other family pet, Tiger, disappeared from the show not long after the Kitty Karryall incident. A trip to the pound in the family station wagon, perhaps?)
Sam is often treated like a dim toddler or a stray dog by the Bradys. Something to be indulged for a few minutes, but quickly whisked away while more important things are attended to. ( Mike s latest architectural plans or what to serve at the upcoming dinner party--Mike is leaning toward steaks but Carol is thinking Mexican)
Whenever Sam comes into contact with Mike and Carol he tends to shuck and jive around, cracking corny jokes and addressing them as Mr. and Mrs.Brady while they call him Sam and shake their heads at the wacky things he says. Also, the Brady children call him Sam but address every other adult (except Alice, of course) as Mr. and Mrs. I guess when you are ten years old and grow up with an astroturf lawn, you think it's okay to address the neighborhood butcher by his first name.
ACTOR: Sam was played by character actor Allan Melvin. Aside from The Brady Bunch, he is probably best remembered for his roles on The Andy Griffith Show. He always played the heavy and usually wants to beat up Barney.
--Casey Redmond
Shangri-La, Ohio
Planet Earth
The Ventures were not only the greatest rock n roll instrumental group of all time, they were also the most prolific. In 1966 alone, they released four albums including, "The Ventures Play The Batman Theme", one of their best.
If you believe the liner notes on the back of the album (and you should believe them, The Ventures would never lie), the idea for the record's concept came from a fan who wrote a letter suggesting that the band record an album of "tv action themes." (They even print the fans letter on the back cover.)
"Batman Theme", "Green Hornet", "The Man From U.N.C.L.E", "Get Smart" and "Secret Agent Man" are all here and given fabulous Ventures treatment. Extra credit should be given to producer Joe Saraceno for tastefully adding keyboards, percussion and backing vocals. Usually available on Amazon or e bay for a couple bucks. Well worth picking up.
Like most kids growing up in the seventies, I thought at some point in my adulthood I would load up in a cool looking van and go hunting for ghosts,. Alas, as I approach the perilous age of fifty I have, in fact, never had the opportunity to do so, but Nick Redfern has.
"Three Men Seeking Monsters" is Redfern's account of roadtripping around England in search of monsters, ghosts and other weird creatures. Accompanied by two equally eccentric friends (or "mates", as they call them in Britan) they spend probably as much time drinking in pubs as they do haunted houses. Think Hunter S. Thompson meets Scooby Doo.
Redfern is a self described ufologist and cryptozooologist and has written a slew of books on flying saucers, monkey-men and NASA conspiracies. But you don't have to be a true believer to enjoy the book because it is more "On The Road" than "Mothman Prophesies" and Redfern actually has a sense of humor and doesn't take the subject matter too seriously. Plus they drive a cool van (well, it's actually a camper, but still...)
As far as ghosts, aliens and monsters go, I would describe myself as a cheerful agnostic. I doubt that any of these things actually exist but I think it would be pretty cool if they did. And if anyone has a cool van and wants to go hunting for ghosts, count me in. As long as we can stop at a couple of pubs along the way.
Great spoken word album hosted by Alfred Hitchcock himself. As a kid, we would sit in the dark listening to this on hot air conditionless summer nights with the sound of the crickets drifting in from the open windows.
The album contains stories about haunted houses, evil magicians, ghostly hitchhikers and even one about giant malicious squirrels.
The album was released in 1962 but still holds up well today. Just remember to turn out the lights and lock the door.
"Pleasant Valley Sunday" has always been one of my favorite Monkees songs...great melody, hip lyrics, groovy guitar lick, incredible drumming and sparkling vocals...The song was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King...Here is the songwriters demo recording with Carole King on vocals...it is much folkier than the Monkees version...it sounds like how The Mamas And Papas or Spanky & Our Gang might have done it...cool stuff.
Mysterious Country blues musician from Big Sandy, Texas...Recorded for Vocalion Records in 1927 &1929...Was in his fifties during recording sessions making him (perhaps) the oldest blues musician ever recorded...hoboed all over Texas and the Midwest, picking up gigs in towns along the various railroad lines (checkout "Railroading Some", his musical account of his hobo days)...Accompanied himself on guitar and panpipes or quills ( that instrument that Greek god Pan and Zamfir play) giving his music a strange mystical quality..
Wrote a bunch of tunes later covered by Taj Mahal, The Lovin' Spoonful, Bob Dylan, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Canned Heat (the flute solo on "Up The Country" is a note for note copy of Thomas' panpipe solo on "Bulldoze Blues")...Disappeared not long after 1929 recording sessions...Many blues scholars believe he died in the 1930's although there are claims he was still hoboing and performing as late as the 1950's...
Sure, he's smiling but what's he doing with that axe!
(Washington) Authorities in countless communities across North America are reporting hundreds of sightings of what appears to be a benign race of Caucasian beaming fiberglass giants. The silent beings have been dubbed "Muffler Men" due to an apparent propensity to stand quietly in muffler, tire and auto shop parking lots.
Muffler Man in stone washed jeans...Eerie resemblance to the guy who played the dad in "Wonder Years".
The grinning Stepford like creatures seem to have a gentle and happy disposition and enjoy, uhh... holding things.
Alien Muffler Man?
Reaction to the twenty foot tall "master race" has been mixed. While some community leaders believe the giants will have a positive effect on the populous, real estate companies are horrified at the plummeting property values while many conservatives fear that the group's presence will erode traditional family values because...well, pretty much everything erodes traditional family values.
' 
Scientists from around the world have been brought in hoping to solve the mystery of where the creatures came from, what is their purpose and, perhaps most importantly, how do they go to the bathroom?!?
Things I learned about libraries from reading Dan Borchert's, "Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks And Gangstas In The Public Library":
~Librarians sometimes use the "F" word.
(Especially librarians who write books)
~ If you are looking for a sex toy, you can order one from an adult website, shop at
Waterbeds And Stuff or check your local
library's book drop.
~In addition to checking out books, using computers and doing research, the library is also a great place to stash your drugs.
~Some librarians have a sense of humor.
~This ain't your daddy's library.
When I was a kid, librarians were either older females or, shall we say, not very masculine men. Quite a few, male and female, wore glasses with a chain attached, were obsessed with silence and, so it seemed to the seven year old me, hated little kids.
I remember asking grown ups (ie. giant people who wore funny clothes, smelled weird and hated fun) why you had to be quiet in the library? "Because people are studying" was the impatient answer. I thought this odd because the only things my friends and I ever studied in the library were back copies of The National Geographic and it's hard to keep quite when your staring at some of those.
I don't think anybody is quiet in a library anymore. And according to Dan Borchert it's because the modern day library is part day care center, homeless shelter and halfway house. Checkout this book, you will never look at a librarian the same way again.
Bad Ronald was one of those made for tv movies of the early nineteen seventies. Yes, before Netfix, Showtime etc..broadcast television (ABC, NBC, CBS) would sometimes show original movies. They were much cheaper and far inferior to what the movie studios were making at the time, but when you only have three channels to choose from, you pretty much ingest whatever garbage they spoon feed you.
The movie tells the story of Ronald Quimbey, a weird socially outcast teenager, who lives with his equally weird spinster mother. While being ostracized by a bully (a little girl about half his size, no less) Ronald fights back in anger and accidentally kills her.
Instead of going to the police and explaining what happened, Ronald's crazy spinster mother decides to build a secret room inside the house and keep Ronald hidden until the coast is clear.(Apparently, when you are a crazy spinster mother, this seems like the most logical plan of action) Needless to say, the longer that Ronald lives in isolation the stranger he becomes.
Tragically, Ronald's mother dies during emergency gall bladder surgery (seriously!) and Ronald is left all alone in his secret lair. The house is sold and a family with two beautiful teenage daughters moves in and...well....things get weird(er). (Remember, it's always a good idea, when buying a home, to check the premises for a wild haired unhinged psychopath who may be hiding in a secret room, especially if you have teenage daughters.)
I was nine years old when this movie came out and it completely scared the ba jesus out of me. The thought of walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night and running into to some crazed teenage murderer (who, by the way, also happens to be living secretly inside the friggin' house!) completely paralyzed me with fear. Stupidly, I must have confessed my terror to my older siblings who preceded to torture me for years to come by yelling, "Ronald!", whenever I decended the basement steps to get a Pepsi.
Needless to say, like many movies of the seventies, Bad Ronald has not aged welI. And, I am happy to report, I no longer worry about running into Ronald in the middle of the night. (These days I am more worried about running into the neighbor kid who lives down the street.) But if you want to see what passed for entertainment prior to Netfix, Showtime etc..(and if you enjoy watching bad parental decision making) you may want to check this one out.
In the nineteen sixties, Fast Eddie Hoh was one of the premiere session drummers on the west coast. He played on dozens of recordings by the likes of Donovan, The Mamas And The Papas, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Al Kooper and The Monkees.
One of my favorite Eddie Hoh cuts is The Monkees
" Pleasant Valley Sunday". I have always felt this is one of the best pop tunes of the sixties; great melody, hip lyrics, perfect harmonies and a cool guitar lick to boot. But long before I ever heard of Eddie Hoh, I loved the drumming on this song. Great fills and cymbal work throughout and check out the drum work during the bridge--amazing.
If you are wondering why you have never heard of Eddie Hoh, it is probably because he only recorded for a few years. Around 1970, he reportedly had some kind of breakdown (possibly drug related) left California and disappeared.
Whatever happened to Eddie Hoh? There are reports that he passed away in the seventies or eighties but no one seems to know for sure. Recently, stories have sprung up on the internet claiming that he is alive and living somewhere in Illinois. One guy swears he sold him a drum set a few years back. Perhaps Eddie Hoh is out there playing somewhere...
We can only hope.
OPIE TAYLOR: JUVENILE DELINQUENT!?!!? Under the influence of the evil Clifford Brown, Opie joins Mayberry's answer to Steppenwolf. Dig the psychedelic/Easy Rider camera work during the teenage dance party. Speaking of the dance party, why are the band members the only ones not wearing ties and jackets? Because they are no good hooligans, that's why! And what is with the blonde in the powder blue dress dancing like some Mount Pilot hop head? It is those Godless jungle rhythms, I tell you! This is one weird episode.
