unicornmeat

For some time now.. a couple of days at least, I’ve been meaning to post this link to the flickr account of Mr. Johnny Riggs.
As a DJ (and personality or whatever) at a local rock station in the 1990′s, he went around taking all of these photos of my favorite local bands and other assorted rock stars and attractive people and celebrities.
To look at good and horrible musicians of today and yesteryear, as well as a lot of random hpretty girls, as well as one of me in there somewhere.. go see the flickr “photostream.”

mazzy star

Tuscadero

The Posies

Jawbox

On Tuesday I took a tour of the Evergreen House.

It’s one of those rich-people historic houses where you can ponder their awesome rich-people lifestyle – and in this case, their contribution to the arts or whatever.

Garrett Library at Evergreen House.
You can’t take photos inside the house which is very annoying to me. How else am I going to “blog” about it and stuff?
I thought I could find some on the internet.
Anyway.. it was owned by the Garrett Family, and this Alice Garrett character seems intriguing. She had a theater built in her house so she could entertain guests.

this is the best I could find
They were railroad-heirs and the husband was an ambassador and they collected paintings and stuff. And TONS of books. There is a bathroom full of books. And there is also a bathroom with a gold toilet.
Go there.
Or don’t.. because the no photos thing has put more of a damper on this entry than I expected.

Baltimore’s Singing Cabbie
Baseball, Mom & Apple Pie
You and Me Records (1981)

Well, baseball season’s already off to an unsurprisingly bad start, but the plea made in this very Baltimore song doesn’t even hinge on the Orioles winning..

As for the record, there wasn’t much info to be found, other than the fact that this guy was still singing about encouraging young people to vote as of 1996(the B-Side of this record is called “The Voting Game”), and that there are quite a few singing cab drivers in this world.
I like it when I find something that’s so obscure it’s not already on a handful of other blogs.
Technically, I did not find this. This comes care of my friend Josh, who found a few dozen copies at a local thrift store.
This is my first recording on my new computer.. via usb much to my dismay. I’ll get used to it.

This song appears to have no relation, other than title, to “Back, Back, Back to Baltimore” sang by those racist vaudevillians Collins & Harlan.
I’d seen that sheet music before and assumed that this recording would be my peek into it’s questionable content. I had already formulated thoughts in my head about the times when people decide it’s appropriate to re-record racist songs, changing the lyrics to make it seem okay. And whether a song is worthy of doing that. That can be a post for another day, because I’ve got some examples.
So….. Zeb Turner is some rockabilly guy, and apparently a local DJ here in Baltimore (and DC).
I guess this record is from the early 50s. It’s cool that he wasn’t just some guy who was cised on the original “Back to Baltimore,” but it leaves me with little to say.

Zeb Turner
Back, Back, Back to Baltimore
King Records

The B & O Railroad. If you have any interest in such things, I encourage you to read the wikipedia, because I really can’t pick out the fun facts to include here, let alone facts relevant to the song/glee club.
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad employees’ Glee Club is referenced a lot in this book on corporate management, of all things. It looks like it could be an interesting book.. I at least find the preface engaging. However an amazon reviewer condescendingly notes: “A word of warning as stated by the author in his preface: This is NOT a “choo-choo” book!…… This is a MUST READ for all those in corporate venues who want to get ahead.” Uh okay guy.
Well anyway, it appears that the B&O Glee club formed during the mid-twenties, was successful in glee club competitions (perhaps in part due to the “selected non-employees” that had been added?), had a record on Decca in 1945 and this self-released record from.. also the 40s?
The song is kind of fun, not to mention the wanton self-references to B&O, and Baltimore, and Ohio. That’s how I like it.
The guy who recorded this record is someone special, so if you really want to get intense on reading about some 78s, check out this page on Orlando Marsh. And even better, this one. Hell yeah.

The Baltimore & Ohio Glee Club
Casey’s ghost Comes Back
year: ?

So as I mentioned previously, I spent a little time in Las Vegas.
Frankly it was lame. I don’t gamble and it was 107 degrees out and I need to walk around to enjoy a place but I couldn’t walk very far.
I enjoyed looking at the landscapes between Vegas and Zion Canyon, and I listened to the Sons of The Pioneers and thought about how cool water aint so bad. I have never been fond of water but I guess if you’re in such a crappy place and you find some cool water that has kind of an earthy flavor from seeping through rocks or whatever, and you’re tired of breathing in dust and the smell of your gross horse, then water is pretty great. I guess now I understand why the Sons of the Pioneers are always all obsessed with water.

The Sons of the Pioneers
Cool Water

The Sons of the Pioneers
Belle of Baltimore

???
TOTEM TOM TOM

This record smells great. It smells like my grandparents basement full of old books and random treasures. Such as the old 78 players that eventually became mine.
I don’t get what this record is all about. It is mint condition shiny 78rpm 12 inch. The song name typed on the other side is “CHCIAGO” [sic?] Good typing job there.
Just this piano playing that sounds like the skill level of my elementary school music teacher. No offense Mrs. whatever your name was..
I associate WBAL with baseball games on the radio. And their call letter jingle, “double yoo bee eh elllll!!”

I compiled this myself.
The hardest song to find was that “Beneath the Damage and the Dust” song. I imagine that the guy who sang that is like the father on the Gossip Girl TV show and he talks about his hit.
Anyway, most of these songs remind me of riding around in a car. I loved the radio. I hope to compile 50-100 as well as the top 100 of 1994.. but it took some effort to do.
So I figured I ought to share it.
I got the list from here

Baltimore Public Schools
Baltimore Our Baltimore
year: ??

Are these high school students? What year is this?
Look at this record – it’s RED. And translucent.
My computer is soooo messed up that it is a true labor of love to do these songs. And I don’t love it enough to do it often.
But for reasons I won’t get into I have a few spare moments here so check it out, this lovely song. You can play this at the Ravens games and stuff.

More music posts coming soon.

-Jean Marbella is the worst writer ever. She is so annoying and tries so hard.

-last weekend some woman came up to me and kicked me out of the farmers market for having my tiny dog with me. which would have been ok except there were like 30 other dogs around us and she walked away looking right at all of them. i’m still annoyed at her crappiness and avoiding the JFX farmers market even though I suspect she doesnt even work there