Musica Joyaria!

Change is good.  Right?  Well a blog name change is long overdue, so as of NOW, we are, Musica Joyaria!

This is inspired by a trip across 207th St in uppest New York City, where there’s a row of Joyeria’s (Jewelry stores), and well, it sounds to me like a place to have fun.

Another inspiration was a donation of odds-and-ends from the master of such, ARC supporter Herb Jue.  Here’s the photo of a pyramid of fun, capped by action figure Scary Spice, who I thought was Michele O’Bama.  Now THAT’s Musica Joyaria!

Cuban Treats In NY

Sure Hillary is swigging it down at a Cuban ‘theme’ club in Cartagena, and Obama remains locked into a 50 year hissy fit against the mouse that roared, but we, the sensible ones, the friends of the ARChive, People Who Like People, have a chance to hear the real deal, some real Cuban music!

Sintesis is in New York and performing at SOBs this week (Friday, April 20), and in Miami next week @ the Dade County Auditorium.  That means if you’re smart, you can hear the band in an intimate setting, at one of the nicest clubs in NY.

The band has been around and popular since the 60s; the Sintesis sound is Youruba roots meets jazzy prog rock, and slightly Techno-santería.  Carlos Alfonso is the clan’s leader/founder and in demand vocalist with the younger generation represented by daughter Eme.  Available for the first time on this trip will be the bands new triple CD album, and Eme’s latest.

SOB’s is at 204 Varick St. 8 pm and only 10 bucks.  Whata deal.  You can get more info at the club’s site: http://sobs.com/events/latin-alternative/sintesis     Thanks to Ed Steinberg and Allan Bastos for doing the hard work and bringing the group to the US.

On another Cuban note I saw Yosvany Terry’s group last week at Jazz Standard.  As always the sound was great at this club, and the band was swinging with one of the best rhythm sections I have heard in years.  Not quite Latin, and not locked in to the standard rotating solo’s so commonly boring in jazz, the horns often returned to tight charted sections that were a delight.

Finally, this just in to the ARC –  a 78 set I had seen in the Cuban music archive in Havana (Museo Nacional de la Musica) and always yearned for – an early Miguelito Valdés album.  If you don’t know, Valdés was the role model for Desi Arnaz, Mr. Lucy copied Mr. Babalú’s songs, style, conga carrying and even the haircut!   Thanks to ARC member Ben May who donated this and quite a few other Cuban and Latin 78 albums.

Here’s the relevant recordings we have here @ ARC :

Miguelito Valdes

• Miguelito Valdes with Machito and his Afro-Cubans.   Bim Bam Boom  (DECCA, USA, 344, 10″, n.d0 Four discs in bound album, includes informational booklet in English and Spanish..

• Inolvidables  (Verve, USA, V/V6 5036, 12″, n.d.).  .

• Los Reyes del Ritmo (Decca, USA, DL4595, 12″, N.D).  .

• Orquesta Casino De La Playa Con Miguelito Valdes.   Memories Of Cuba (1937-1944)  (Tumbao, Switzerland, TCD-003, 5”, 1991).  With Miguelito Valdes, Perez Prado and Cascarita

• Miguelito Valdes With the Orquesta Casino De La Playa  (Harlequin, UK, HQ CD 39, 5″, 1994).

• Mr. Babalu!  (Mount Vernon Music, mvm 140, 12”, n.d.).

• Playing His World Famous Latin Rhythms  (Sutton, SSU 288, 12”)

Sintesis:

• Ancestros  (Qbadisc, USA, QB 9001, 5″, 1987 / 1992).

• Ancestros  (Areito, Cuba, LD-4432, 12″, 1987).

• Ancestros 2  (Qbadisc, USA, QB 9015, 5″, 1994).

• El Hombre Extraño  (Areito, Cuba, LD-4787, 12″, 1989).

• Habana a Flor de Piel  (Unicornio, Cuba, UN-CD9030, 5″, 2002).

• Habana a Flor de Piel (VELAS, VLS20512, 5″, 2001).

• Orishas   (Milan Latino, USA, 35830, 5″, 1997).

… and the latest from Terry I bought up at the club;   Today’s Opinion (Criss Cross Jazz, Holland, 1343, 5″, 2012).

Los Tigres del Norte

Los Tigres del Norte have been on our radar since 1990 when we got in the LP  ‘Para Adoloridos’ (uh, ‘For Shaking You Up’?).   These Californians are in the news this week as Juarez, the capital of Chihuahua State and a major city for drug trafficking and violence, has banned them from appearing.  The reason is their penning and performing so many ‘Narco Corridos’ – songs that offer a backhand glorification of the drugs trade.  As early as the 1970s this long-lived band were facing calls for censorship with the release of ‘Contrabando y Traición’ (1972, ‘Smuggling and Betrayal’) and ‘La Banda del Carro Rojo.’

Corridos are story-songs chronicling outlaws, rebels, lovers, losers, heroes and villains, with roots in medieval Spain, new world Amerindian culture, and revolutionary fervor.  Only natural that one branch of these epic song cycles would touch on the latest wave of real hoods and Robin Hoods.

To get an idea of the genre have a look at the youtube video mix for ‘Corridos Prohibidos‘ (CD on the Fonovisa, USA label).  Along with a rogues gallery that acts as a warning label, there are beautiful prancing, dancing horses and a catalog of automatic weaponry, some firing so fast and so hot, the barrels catch fire.  Like Hollywood and Telemundo, the band likes to please their audience.

But little known is Los Tigres’ sterling academic contribution to popular music scholarship.  One of the best sites on the Internet is Frontera.  It is the brainchild of musicologist and Arhoolie label pioneer, Chris Stachwitz.  Chris has taken his exhaustive collection of Mexican and Mexican-American 78s and posted the history and music for us to enjoy with the help of UCLA.  And who paid for a great deal of this?  The Los Tigres del Norte Foundation.

Numerous articles about the band and the genre abound, and I would recommend Elijah Wald’s ‘Narcocorrido’  (Rayo, USA, 0066210240, hardcover, 333p. 2001 –  Rayo is a division of Harper Collins + this is our version, but also avail. in paperback)  and Américo Paredes; ‘With a Pistol in his Hand’  (University of Texas Press, USA, 978-0-292-70128-1, paper, 275 pp.,1958).

FUG YOU

ARCsters recently attended the opening, book signing and reading at the swell Ed Sanders gallery show at Boo-Hooray Gallery on Canal Street.  Ed was kind enough to sign a copy of his new book, Fug You, (here’s a good review from the times) and two of our albums.  The reading centered on his obscenity arrest and trying to avoid getting the judge who sentenced Lenny Bruce.   Street pretzels and mustard were served.

We were a little surprised to see that one cover that we had signed was shot by society photographer Richard Avedon.  Seemed the antithesis of what the Fugs were up to.  Then an industry insider told us that a ‘certain exec’ at Reprise/Warner Bros. used big name photographers like Avedon just to say they owned a print by Avedon.   My guess is that the cost was a chargeback to the artists!

The show was put together by avid collector and impresario Johan Kugelberg, who was kind enough to offer to help us track down the recordings we are missing.

Here’s a list of The Fugs’ holdings @ ARC

• Belle of Avenue A, The  (Reprise, RS 6359, 12″, 33.3, LP, n.d.).  White label promo w/ publishing info on label.  M-

• Belle of Avenue A, The  (Reprise, RS 6359, 12″, 33.3, LP, n.d.).  Red-top label.  VG+

• Fugs First Album, The  (ESP, 1018, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1965).  Black + white photo on cover.  Black text label.

• Fugs First Album, The  (ESP, 1018, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1965).  Black + white photo on cover.  “Reissue of Broadside BR 304″ on front cover.  Riverside Dr. address on label.

• Fugs First Album, The  (ESP, 1018, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1965).  Black + white photo on cover.  Orange custom label.

• Fugs First Album, The  (ESP, 1018, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1965).  Color painying on cover.  .  Orange custom label.

• Fugs, The  (ESP, 1028, 12”, 33.3, LP, 1966).  Black + white photo on cover.  STEREO “stereo” sticker on cover. Three photos along top of back cover.

• Fugs, The  (ESP, 1028, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1966).  Black + white cover.  STEREO “stereo” on back cover. Three photos along top of back cover.

• Fugs, The  (ESP, 1028, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1966).  Black + white cover.  Mono

• Fugs, The  (ESP, 1028, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1966).  –.  COLOR COVER “STEREO” on upper right corner of back cover.

• Fugs, The  (ESP, 1028, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1966).  –.  COLOR COVER “STEREO” on left side of back cover.

• The Fugs Second Album  (Fugs, FCD-9669-2, 5″, -, CD, 1993).  .  Reissue of 1967 album with 5 bonus tracks.

• Golden Filth – Alive at the Filmore East  (Reprise, USA, 6396, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1970).  –.  Tan label w/ “stereo” on bottom.  1 M-; 1 VG-

• Golden Filth – Alive at the Filmore East  (Reprise, USA, 6396, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1970).  Tan label w/ “stereo” on bottom; “Warner Communications” on label.  M-

• Golden Filth – Alive at the Filmore East  (Reprise, USA, 6396, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1970).  Tan label w/ “Warner Communications” on label.  M-

• Golden Filth – Alive at the Filmore East  (Edsel, UK, ED 217, 12″, 33.3, LP, [1970]).  5014757132179.  Eighties British reissue of 1970 LP.

• It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest  (Reprise, 6305, 12″, 33.3, LP, n.d.).

• Proto Punk; The Fugs Greatest Hits Vol. I  (PVC / ARI, PVC 8914 / AD 4116, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1982).  Compilation of ESP recordings.

• Star Peace: a Musical Drama in Three Acts  (New Rose, France, ROSE 115, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1987).

The Fugs / Firesign Theatre .   Sampler  (Artemis, 197, 5″, , , 2003).  Advance promo in generic package, no cover.

• Songs From a Portable Forest  (Gazell, GPCD 2003, 5″,  CD, 2003).

• Tenderness Junction  (Reprise, 6280, 12″, 33.3, LP, n.d.).  Richard Avedon photo on cover.  Autographed.

by Ed Sanders:

• Beer Cans On the Moon   (Reprise, MS 2105, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1972).  M-.S-7

• Beer Cans On the Moon   (Reprise, MS 2105, 12″, 33.3, LP, 1972).  White label promo.  M-. Autographed front cover.

• Sanders TruckStop  (Reprise, 6374, 12″, 33.3, LP, n.d.).  White label promo.  Publishing info on label  M-

• Poems for New Orleans  (Paris, 2007, 5″, -, CD, 2007).  7 33792 77102 4.

We gave him the boot, now send him your shoes!

My Fellow Americans…

I think everyone should send an old pair of shoes to Bush to let him know what we think of him – with the wish that they be donated to the poor – signed Muntadhar al-Zeidi.   Wrap in newspaper.  Add a label.  post…

The image of 100,000 shoes piled outside the White House is a good parting shot.  Pass it on…

attn: George W. Bush

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Searching the ARC database here’s a portion of our “shoes aren’t bombs” memorial discography:

Just Because You Wear Big Shoes – The Jody Grind
Cold, Cold Shoes – Fleshtones
The Steel Shoe – Risers
Hillbilly Shoes – Montgomery Gentry
Dead Man’s Shoes – Caberet Voltaire-
Take Your Shoes Off – Midnight Star
Get Your Feet Out of My Shoes – The Boothill Foot-Tappers
Old Brown Shoe – The Beatles
Brown Shoes Don’t Make It – Mothers of Invention
Worried Shoes – Daniel Johnston
I’ve Got Sand In My Shoes – The Drifters
Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy – Red Foley
Blue Suede Shoes – Carl Perkins
Red Shoes by the Drugstore – Tom Waits
Walk In My Shoes – Hazel Dean
The Shoemaker – Mad Daddys
No Shoes – John Lee Hooker
Red Shoes by the Drugstore- Tom Waits
Wigs, Blues and High Heeled Shoes – Burning Tree
If the Shoe Fits – Leon Russell
My Father’s Shoes – Leon Russell
Shoe Shoe Shine – Centerfold
Layin’ Down My Shoes And Clothes – The Johnny Shines Blues Band
The Story Of Someones Shoe – The Style Council
Travelin’ Shoes – Elvin Bishop
Blue Shoes Stepping – The Bible
Walk a Mile in My Shoes – Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne
Shoe Broke My Heart – Souled American
Hair Shoes – Pale Saints
In Their Shoes – The Boston Tea Party
Leather On My Shoes – Chris De Burgh
Travellin’ Shoes – Bill Wood
Muddy Shoes – Elmore James
Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes – Paul Simon
Welfare Shoes – Dancing Hoods
Shoes – Brooke Benton
Wing Tip Shoes – Henry Lee Summer
Shoeshiner’s Drag – Lionel Hampton
Nobody Can Fill Your Shoes – Conway Twitty
Soul Shoes – Graham Parker
My Little Suede Shoes – Sadik Hakim
Shoe Shine Man – Jimmy Davis & Junction
Red Goose Shoes – Sharky’s Machine
Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot – Von Dexter Orchestra
Shoemaker’s Holiday – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra
Mama Get Down Those Rock & Roll Shoes – NRBQ
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes – Elvis Costello
Standin in My Shoes – Leo Kottke
Step In My Shoes – Ruby Turner
Shoeshine Boy – The Humblebums
The Captain’s Fat Theresa Shoes – GTO’s
Put On Your Dancing Shoes – Steve Winwood
Soft Shoe Booty – King Sun
Rock and Roll Shoes – Ray Charles
Italian Shoes – Dynatones
House Shoes – Bar-Kays
Turtle Shoes – Bobby McFerrin
Walkin’ Shoes – Tora Tora
My Father’s Shoes – Cliff Eberhardt
Country Shoes – Alexis Korner & Snape
Shoes – Dick Curless
Those Shoes – Eagles
Wooden Shoes – Texas Instruments
She’s Got Another Pair of Shoes – Alan Price
Hole in the Shoe Blues – Thomas Jefferson Kaye
2000 Shoes – Big Audio Dynamite
Shoes – Bobby Bland
Sailin’ Shoes – Littlr Feet
Happy Shoes – Joe Beck
Shiny Black FBI Shoes – A Tent
Goody Two Shoes – Adam and the Ants
Breakin’ in a Pair of Shoes – Manny Albam and His Orchestra
Brown Shoes – Karen Alexander
Wedding Shoes – Alistair Anderson with Fennig’s All-Star String Band
Sand in My Shoes – Toni Arden
A Shine on Your Shoes – Fred Astaire
Stepping Out of These Shoes – Mick Audsley
Tied Shoes – Auracle
Take Your Shoes Off Baby – Gene Austin
Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes – Kevin Ayers
Dancing Shoes – Kathi Baker
(I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes – The Band
Mercury Shoes – Jesse Barish
I Wont’ Step on Your Shoes – Barnaby Bye
Rockin’ Shoes – Paul Barrère
Boogie Woogie Dancing Shoes – Claudja Barry
Old Shoe – Joe Bauer
Soul Shoes – Graham Parker
Who’s Going to Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot – Allan Block & Ralph Lee Smith
My Shoes – Hippos Blue
New Shoes – Pearl Bailey
Sweet Goody Two Shoes – The Blend
Rock In My Shoe – Hank Williams, Jr.
Two Shoes – Carlos Núñez
Jungle Shoes – Bernie Krause
In His Shoes – The Screaming Tribesmen
When My Shoes Are Loose – Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
Boogie Shoes – KC & the Sunshine Band
Paper In My Shoe – BooZoo Chavis
Sensible Shoes – David Lee Roth
Water In And Out of my Shoe – Men & Volts
Shoe Salesman – Alice Cooper
Paper Shoes – Yoko Ono
Radio Shoes – Bruce Cockburn
Hair Shoes – Pale Saints
…and over 400 more!

I Can Haz Lolz?

From the ARChive’s “Animals In Pants” section:

I am one of those people who is endlessly amused by the Stuff On My Cat / Stuff On My Mutt / I Can Has Cheezburger / I Has A Hot Dog / etc sites.  I also love hoaxes.  So, you might imagine how thrilled I was when fellow NYMIAer Jon Hammer found this record as he was cataloging some comedy records.  Called Inside SINA: A Confidential Report on the Activities of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, it is a recorded manifesto encouraging the world to clothe domestic animals for the sake of decency.   Apparently, this record is the artifact of a simple but elegant hoax Alan Abel, once described as “the Franz Liszt of put-on artists, the Rembrandt of the ridiculous,” perpetrated on this country between 1959 and 1963.  GELF Magazine explains the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals (SINA) better than I could, so here :

The primary interest of SINA, formed in 1959, was to raise awareness of the indecency of unclothed animals and lobby lawmakers to pass and enforce laws requiring all animals to wear clothing. Its slogan was, “A nude horse is a rude horse.” The SINA operation continued for over four years, during which Abel and his loyal friend Henry—who posed as SINA president G. Clifford Prout—pleaded their case in hundreds of interviews, including appearances on The Tonight Show, The Today Show, and, of course, CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. When Time Magazine finally blew the whistle on their hoax in 1963, Abel was hailed as a comic genius, a jokester who had manipulated the burgeoning mass media to have a laugh at everyone else’s expense. While he was certainly laughing about the whole ordeal, Abel remains concerned that many people may have missed the point.

Time Magazine wrote about it in 1963:

The situation seemed grim. For one thing, it was raining. For another, only three of the 80 persons expected to march on Washington from Baltimore showed up. But the picketers hoisted their signs high and circled the White House for seven hours straight. “Mrs. Kennedy,” pleaded the placards, “Won’t You Please Clothe Your Horse for Decency?” SINA was on the march.

The SINA hoax is described in beautiful detail on Abel’s own site here.  Clearly, he is a mad genius in the greatest sense of the word.

• Inside SINA: A Confidential Report on the Activities of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals (Charm, CM-110, LP, c. 1959).  Featuring Bruce Spencer, Executive Vice President, SINA .

NEELY

ps. The horse wearing boxer shorts on the cover is Wings of Destiny, G. Clifford Prout’s own mare.

Songs About Obama

So, ’bout a month and a half ago someone points me to the Svarten blog, a site run from Uppsala, Sweden, that in one post provides what they describe as “the most comprehensive playlist on the internet with songs for Barack Obama.” It’s staggering because it’s got lots of great songs about Obama from around the world.  When I got there about a month and a half ago I think the number of songs was somewhere in the 150s. Now we look to be at 190.

Standouts for me include Might Sparrow’s “Barack the Magnificent” (Trinidad), “Obama for Change” by Kenge Kenge (Kenya), “Go With Obama” by Dr. Phoebe Abe (London, originally from Uganda), “We Got the Mo” by the Rockabelles (US), “Barack Obama” by Papa Michigan (Jamaica), “Aloha Mama” by Ukes for Obama (NYC), “Shalom Obama” by the Hip Hop Hoodios, “Viva Obama” by Norteno Version (accordion madness, people) and “Obama Nous Croyons” by Zaragu, Shae Fontaine, Michael K and Siyaya (NYC maybe?).  My favorite, though, is reggae artist Cocoa Tea’s “Barack Obama” (and not just because I heard that my friend Carter sang back-up).

But this list is hardly complete and we want more.  Yesterday, Jon of NYMIA fame came across this text contrafacta of “Over the Rainbow” by Clare & the Reasons on MySpace.  Yeah, it’s in my head and has been haunting my dreams. Then today, my friend Jordan’s mom sent me a YouTube video of  Jose Conde y Ola Fresca’s recording “Respondele a Obama,” a FABULOUS pro-Obama song.

ADDED Thursday Oct. 23: a NICE zydeco song, “Oui, On Peut” by Dirk Powell (YouTube link, thanks, SEM listserv!); Amigos de Obama has links (some of which we’ve heard before, but who cares?) to reggaeton, mariachi and norteño Obama songs; Mahalo America (The Barack Obama Song).

ADDED Wednesday Oct 29; Old Time Musicians from Virginia for Obama (the whole thing’s great, but make sure you keep on watching until the dancer comes in, he’s great):

Here at the archive, we really, really love these Obama songs.  If you, or anyone you know, knows of any that you think we will want to hear, let us know by posting in comments.  Ask around for us, willya?

DAN

ps. Dave, the world is waiting for your Obama Dub. Make it happen.