This is my blog where I write about music, and myself. Vaudeville, burlesque, blues, jazz, novelties, and whatever else I feel like posting. Mostly from my own LPs and 78s. Comments and feedback always appreciated. Please do not link directly to mp3s. It's rude.

AAAAHHH. MY CALIFONE! IT'S BROKEN!
What the hell man. Tonight it just wouldn't spin. The sound works, the light works, but it never makes the shift from "standby" to "play." I opened it up and all wires are secure and fuse is fine, etc. So I guess the motor died or something. How infuriating. And sad. So.. no 'party record' tonight.
Instead, something that's actually funnier, yet also more substantial. I have no idea how I got this record. Well I know how I got it. I bought it online because it contained two of my favorite themes - burlesque and drag queens. But I have no idea how I got it for ten dollars. On the back of this record sleeve it lists 9 other Ray "Rae" Bourbon releases, which I just looked up on ebay and are for sale at around $50 each.
Why are these such collectors items? Well, Rae Bourbon is a pretty special character. The best information can be found in this tribute site.
Rae Bourbon was a female impersonator and gay icon, performing from the 1930s up until his imprisonment in the late 1960s. He'd been convicted of "Accomplice to Murder with Malice," against a man who had disposed of dogs that Rae had put in his care. He died in prison in 1971.
He appeared in a few silent films in the 1920s after entering his photo (as a female) in a Photoplay contest. In the early 1930's he performed in the "pansy shows", gay and mainstream nightclubs, and vaudeville.
Another bit of his story from this site offers some enlightenment regarding party records:
From 1935 through the early forties, Ray would record with Bob and Chet, Howard, and other musicians in a series of sides released under various small labels such as "Bourbana", "Liberty Music Shop" and "Imperial" (not related to the R&B label of the fifties). Like other "blue" party records of the period, they were sold at Ray's shows, through mail order, and "under the counter" by discrete record dealers. A surprising number of Ray's records were pirated under anonymous labels and many were pressed in small quantities for use in jukeboxes in adult establishments such as bars and nightclubs.

Rae seems to be an expert about vaudeville, burlesque, and Mae West. Now there's a broad after my own heart.
Seriously, I urge you to read this life story.



Rae Bourbon
Strip Queen
Ladies of Burlsque
UTC 1950s

Hey. For extra fun here's a wav of me singing into an answering machine a few years ago.
If you have any 78 player recommendations, let me know. I'm mostly likely to just get another Califone exactly like the one I have.

Labels: adult, burlesque, comedy, gay, glamorous, mae west, party records, vaudeville

Posted by: Kara Mae 9/29/2008  (3) comments

I haven't done a song in awhile, and I promise I will in the near future. I've been busy with all kinds of things: work, metalworking, cooking classes, weekend jaunts with family and friends.
For now I'm going to catch up on other things. First I'll bring up Archeophone's timely release of "Debate 08: Taft and Bryan Campaign on the Edison Phonograph." I just got this (along with this collection of banned 1890's recordings!).

The recordings are great and eye-opening, but the booklet that comes with it is not to be missed. If you have any interest in history, politics, or the evolution of recorded sound and its impact on society (I fall into this latter category), I highly recommend this. Archeophone is the BEST. I wish I could afford to own every single thing they released. I've got my eye on Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1891-1922.

In modern music news, my mom took me to see The Avett Brothers on Sunday. Holy wow what a show. Those dudes can sing. And scream. And rock a cello and a banjo and break a lot of strings and stir a crowd into a frenzy. According to Wikipedia they're 'folk rock'. So if you're into that kind of thing in any possible way, you might want to check them out.

Books:


American Vaudeville As Seen by Its Contemporaries
Totally cool. Got this from the Pratt Library. This was full of reprints of old timey articles related to vaudeville, culled from autobiographies, newspapers, trade publications, and more. It's divided into sections such as beginnings, stars, decline, legacy, etc. See, this is why the Pratt Library rules. Because I wouldn't have found this book if I hadn't been browsing around that place. And this is my favorite kind of stuff, "contemporary" time capsules. Truly it added to my mental vaudeville experience.

Gossip Girl books 2 & 3: "You Know You Love Me," "All I Want Is Everything"

I am so embarrassed when I ask for these at the library. For some reason some of them aren't always out for the picking so I have to have the nice lady go get them. Asking for "You Know You Love Me" was the worst.
But obviously I keep coming back for more. It takes like 45 minutes to read one of them so I kind of break up the nonfiction with it.
On to my summary:
More hijinx. Lets see.. uh this goth girl Vanessa takes a video of her friend Dan's little sister Jenny "doing what looks like the nasty" in the park with Blair's ex Nate in the park. But Vanessa didn't know it was Jenny she was just being an artful filmmaker. So Vanessa's older sister Ruby lent Vanessa's camera to a friend and the video got on the internet. And Dan was devastated that Jenny and Vanessa were such sluts so he wrote a poem about it and it got published in the New Yorker.
Serena and Blair became friends again and went on vacation to St. Barts, wherever that is, and some rock star fell in love with Serena but she was all like "whatevs." Actually I forget what else happened because I simultaneously started renting the TV show and watching those but basically they're all great and totally scandalous good times.
Seeya later xoxo.. unicornmeat.
That's a little Gossip Girl joke for you.
I haven't had any comments or emails lately... is anyone out there? Did I ever post that video of me singing from 2003?

Labels: books, history, teens, vaudeville

Posted by: Kara Mae 9/23/2008  (1) comments

A new Pratt

"We have 30- to 40-year-old infrastructure on Pratt Street. It's looking dated. We have to continue to create a fresh and inviting experience in order to keep attracting employees and tourists and residents. If we allow Pratt Street to stagnate in certain blocks, it's going to have repercussions for the rest of the city center."
This city can be so stupid sometimes.
Now mind you, the stuff they want to raze isn't exactly historical, or even attractive. But the concept of downtown in a city looking dated is just dumb. Of course it looks dated. It needs to. Some structures need to look dated, and eventually become part of the landscape as new things are added on.
The ostensible center of this city is continually being treated like a strip mall to be overhauled, razed and reconstructed to entice trite and mundane commerce to do business there. These businesses will ultimately lose interest or fail, and eventually the city will want to overhaul again.
I like the sky-walk. Tourists and pedestrians enjoy it. Razing it to try and force them to patronize the (crappy) businesses below is patronizing, wasteful and inconsiderate. Which is what Sheila Dixon and her posse seem to be all about.
True progress in a city takes time and growth. It seems like Baltimore is so ashamed of itself it has to get rid of everything old to try and be new. That is not how you make a great city. The new structures on Pratt will no doubt be visual abominations just like the crappy hotel that obstructs the view of our Bromo Seltzer tower.
I'm sick of these corporations and city hall trying to turn Baltimore into a transient commercial novelty.

Posted by: Kara Mae 9/10/2008  (0) comments

Something with a little more substance this time. Not just a song entitled 'Baltimore', or about Baltimore, or a mysterious record label located in Baltimore, but an actual musical group from Baltimore.

The Cardinals

If you already have an interest in this topic, you may be familiar with The Orioles, successful R&B group from around these parts in the 40s and 50s.

The Cardinals are one of the founding members of the era of the "bird" groups that came in the wake of the success of the Orioles. Like their mentors, the Cardinals also hailed from the city of Baltimore. The group was formed in early 1947... For three years the group was a local favorite playing many of the area clubs and music revues. Soon after New Year's of 1951 the vocalists were given an audition for Atlantic records, and reportedly label founder Herb Abramson liked what he heard and the group was signed up.
- DooWop Nation

In my search for more Cardinals info, I came across a rather recent blog entry - from just a few weeks ago. This 'blogger' posted a download for a whole bunch of Cardinals songs. The song I've chosen isn't among them, coincidentally. I believe there are other Cardinals songs to be found on the blogosphere. Perhaps once you listen to the one I've put up here you'll be compelled to go find them.




The Cardinals
Kiss Me Baby
Atlantic 958 (1952)

Labels: baltimore

Posted by: Kara Mae 9/01/2008  (0) comments