This is my blog where I write about music, jewelry, and myself. Vaudeville, burlesque, blues, jazz, songs about baltimore, novelties, and whatever else I feel like posting. Mostly from my own LPs and 78s. Subscribe via any of the methods in the right-hand column. Please do not link directly to the mp3 files.

I don't know why I didn't make a post here... so here it is, belated, for the end of 2008.
I may not have agreed with her personal beliefs, but her career impact
and talent and beauty still impress me nonetheless.
She was kind of an inspiration way back when I did some pin-up modeling myself..
A shared fascination in her career put me in touch with some interesting folks, some of whom I still have the good fortune of
being in contact with.

Bettie Page
New York - The Klaws (excerpt)
The Complete Interview

Labels: adult, glamorous

Posted by: Kara Mae 12/30/2008 10:32:00 PM  (0) comments

By now you may have heard that the iconic Eartha Kitt passed away. Im not going to post any photos because I don't have any of my own. I recommend, as always, the galleries at Java's Bachelor Pad.
I do however, have a 78.. I think this may have been one of my first 78s. It's been awhile since I listened to it. Of course she was present in many of our consciousnesses(consciousness?) due to the annual holiday presence of her classic Santa Baby. That vibrato kills me.

Eartha Kitt
Lovin' Spree
Somebody Bad Stole De Wedding Bell
RCA Victor 1952

R.I.P. Eartha, you were fucking awesome:

Labels: video

Posted by: Kara Mae 12/26/2008 12:04:00 PM  (0) comments

The Three Suns
A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas!
RCA Victor 1959




Christmas music.. why not? Everybody's doin it. Instead of posting some oldass 78-era carols and whatnot, I'm just posting one I actually listen to.
Easy-listening, Lounge, Exotica, cha-cha, instrumental.. whatever you want to call it.. it's like that kind of thing, if you're not familiar.
I'm always finding The Three Suns records at thrift stores or at Normals.

Labels: exotica, holiday, lounge

Posted by: Kara Mae 12/18/2008 10:45:00 PM  (0) comments

Nat M Wills
"No News" or "What Killed the Dog"
Victor 17222-A 1908




Why do I do things backwards? Grr. Usually I go through my records, pick out one, record the track and then research the artist/recording. But sometimes I find out the song is readily available in mp3 format and I feel silly.
I should research it before BUYING it, let alone recording it.
Of course the mp3 I put up here is the one I made, but you can also find this track at the wonderful archive.org's collection of Nat M Wills' recordings.
What's more, there's a schnazzy CD collection released by the nearly-as-wonderful Archeophone Records, doubtless complete with an educational booklet.
I also discovered this blog, "Vitaphone Varieties", which I am enjoying and hoping will continue to be updated.
Well, these are the breaks when you're on your own in the cold lonely world of 78s and vaudeville.
I think mine is the last generation that will remember when information was hard to find. Writing to indie labels for their catalogs, reading bands 'thank you' lists, taking note of Kurt Cobain's T-Shirts, wandering the library stacks, and even calling up strangers with questions... thanks to good ole internet I can put those desperate acts behind me. It's trite but yeah, I mean I'm posting an mp3 and including a link to another (likely better) mp3 of the same track.. I excel at redundancy .

Labels: comedy, vaudeville

Posted by: Kara Mae 12/15/2008 10:10:00 PM  (0) comments

From the Wikipedia Mandopop entry:

1930s-1940s: The Seven Great Singing Stars era

The original "Seven Great Singing Stars" of the Republic of China essentially paved the way for the industry. Their individual style was unique to any Chinese music before it. The young film industry benefited greatly with their acting and soundtrack roles. Zhou Xuan is generally considered the most remarkable Chinese popstar of the era due to her successful dual singing and film career. By the end of this generation, female singers went from "song girls" to "stars". The era, however, would be short lived as Shanghai became occupied with the Second Sino-Japanese War and eventually World War II.

I've downloaded some compilations and tracks of these glamorous "1930s Shanghai Lounge Divas." I've uploaded the 2nd CD from this one. I believe the first CD is just a bunch of "remixes for today," which I am not too interested in.
This is uploaded into two zips because of megaupload restrictions.

Various Artists: Shanghai Lounge Divas
part 1
part 2

Labels: 1930s, glamorous, international

Posted by: Kara Mae 12/09/2008 09:57:00 PM  (1) comments

This is a piano-roll disc of "Scott Joplin's New Rag," on ebay. I wish it was a 78. I need to look and see if that song was ever recorded from a contemporary piano roll or on a 78. I have the version of Max Morath playing it and I like it a lot. I never learned any ragtime aside from The Entertainer. Outside of that it was all classical stuff, and I regret that. If I'd known about jazz when I was young enough to learn things I'd have learned to play it.
I was recording some songs with this guy Tim Kaye a few years ago and he had the sheet music for all of Scott Joplin's songs, so I made him play it for me. And he did, because he can actually read music. Like.. look right at it and play it. There's a lot of people in the world who can do that but I've only ever met a few and I envy them all.
If I could still learn things I'd learn "Scott Joplin's New Rag." But I'd also be happy to have an old scratchy record of it. No lovely clear tones recorded on a nice piano in the 1970s.
I like having things on 78 because all the best music is on 78rpm records. I've known this from the first time I noticed them being played, at the Circle Bar in New Orleans, around Christmas 2000 or 2001.
I finally found a few podcasts catering to my tastes. Unfortunately I don't think most of them are still being updated.
I really like Shellac Stack but it hasn't been updated in months and seems defunct. It's good and always averages in the 45-50 minute range.
The Sound of 78s is about as good but its only about 20 minutes long.
The Antique Phonograph Music program on WFMU is over an hour but some of that hour is the beginning of the show after it. Plus, there's not archives of the show except in RealAudio.

And now, an update on China Night. I noticed tonight that I have another record with the exact same song... sung in English. And the singer is "Grace Amemiya." Searching her name turns up very little but it's nice to know anyway. A friend commented that the song can be attributed to "Hamako something and the Columbia Orchestra." These answers probably consolidate somehow.
It is with great regret that I warn you that the record is scratched. So I also put up the B-Side, a song which reminds me of an old Disney fairy tale cartoon.


Grace Amemiya
China Night
Apple Song
late 1940s - Nippon Columbia

Labels: international, japanese, jazz era, podcasts

Posted by: Kara Mae 12/02/2008 08:35:00 PM  (2) comments