MA-12 - 45s & Favorites, Disc 1

The origin of the "45s & Favorites" series is simple.  A couple of years ago, my beautiful wife (you can view a poor representation of her in my profile pic) gave me an mp3 turntable for Christmas.

So, obsessive memory-miner that I am, I immediately began to spin the hundred or so 45s I had been buying as an adolescent in all stages.  After dubbing them, I had to decide what to do with them.  This was one of the springboards of Spock's Record Round-Up.

Mine may have been a typical middle-class upbringing.  The revolutionaries scoff at music and pop culture as diversions from the true struggle of the classes.  Not do such opinions make fun of the very people the snobs are trying to "edify," they can't get over another fact:

Yes, it's a truism that adolescence inflames our consciousness and makes pop songs seem profound when we're going through what the moon-June, love-above lyrics are talked about.  But the truth is still that something in us reacts with recognition or yearning to songs like these, maybe because we're so vulnerable to our surroundings as we gro.

Pupy love may be a common thing, but to the person going through it, it's a wonder.  The sun may come up every morning, but with thankful eyes it can still spark new joy.

When listening to songs like these that somehoe became part of my environment  as I grew, I can still feel an echo of those wishes or regrets or "dizzy, dancing way you feel" (to quote Joni Mitchell).

Back when Coca-Cola began using The New Seekers and "I'd Like to Build the World a Coke," wise guys in the merchandising department had some 45s pressed and distributed as giveaways in record stores.  That's the source of the first and last tracks in this group.

1     Buy the World a Coke       The New Seekers

1970

2     Amazing Grace       Judy Collins  

3     House at Pooh Corner          Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

4     Anticipation     Carly Simon

       

1971

5     Levon       Elton John

6     Long Ago and Far Away          James Taylor   

7 Brown Sugar    The Rolling Stones

8 Legend in Your Own Time Carly Simon

9 Joy to the World - single version Three Dog Night

10 What the World Needs Now + Abraham Martin and John Tom Clay

11 Roundabout Yes

1972

12 Cover of The Rolling Stone     Dr. Hook

13 Back When My Hair Was Short - original version Gunhill Road

14 Woman Is the Nigger of the World John Lennon Plastic Ono Band

15 All The Young Dudes Mott The Hoople

16 Give Ireland Back to the Irish Wings

17 Sisters O Sisters Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band

18 Little Woman Love     Wings

19 I Saw The Light Todd Rundgren

20 Little Bit of Sunshine The New Seekers 1971

You may hear some hiss or scratches.  That's because these are records.  They are physical artefacts which are touched by fallible human beings.  Like life itself, they are not in perfect condition.  And you're going to have both sides of a record.  Sometimes I like the "B" side as much as the "A" side.

MA-12 - 45s & Favorites, Disc 1

A Rag-Tag, Fugitive Fleet

This was an edited-together audio presentation of the pilot movie.  "Featuring the original cast"!

Memory escapes me as to whether Lorne Greene (Adama) was the narrator, with a separate script bridging the segments. 

Since this was dubbed from a commercial audio tape, there are only two tracks.

Hope you like it!  After all, this is THE ONLY REAL Battlestar Galactica.

A shing planet known as ... Earth.

Back When the PAUSE Button Was King

Back before the kiddies came along, I used to spend some late nights trying to compile my favorite music from my favorite TV shows and movies.

Some sources were the soundtrack LPs, some sources were the TV screen (as in holding a mike to the speaker).  With one TV we had for a while, I interrupted the in-cabinet speaker wires to run a line to my cassette deck's "line in" jacks.  If it was a movie, I just used the VCR's RCA outs as sources to the recorder.

I also felt pretty tech-savvy to have two separate cassette decks.  That meant I could dub and edit, one to the other.  That's how things like Tracks 9 or 10 come to be a little longer than what you see on TV -- I extended them (with a hamhanded touch, some might say).

So think of this as a curiosity, a viewpoint into what a SF nerd thought was fun around 1984 or so.  One regret is that Track 2's audio phases in and out, like a half-degaussed tape.  The ORIGINAL (now long lost) patch job of various TREK TV themes sounded crisp and seamless, I promise!

1          Star Wars Suite       12:14

2          Star Trek TV Edit  01:32

3          Twilight Zone the Movie       05:44

4          Star Trek the Motion Picture           03:16

5          The Prisoner 04:06

6 Dr Who 01:13

7 The Wild, Wild West 00:50

8 The Martian Chronicles 01:54

9 Tales of the Gold Monkey 01:17

10 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century 01:10

11 Star Trek II and III Suite 15:48

12 Scarecrow & Mrs King 01:12

13 Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. 01:09

14 Battlestar Galactica 03:12

15 The Greatest American Hero 01:31

16 The Day the Earth Stood Still 01:43

17 ET The Extraterrestrial 03:47

It wasn't long after this that the PAUSE button on a cassette deck changed..  Originally, the mechanism physically paused the tape, still against the PLAY or RECORD heads.  If you used the PAUSE button, you could produce an edit that sounded nearly as good as anything you heard on the car radio.

Later, hitting PAUSE retracted the heads.  This meant "goodbye" to my amateur editing days.  It was probably intended in the industry to save wear-and-tear on the tape.  But boy, it bummed me out.

Track 4 is another editing example, putting the beginning of the ST:TMP soundtrack LP together with the end credits.

Hit the button!

RE-POST: Farewell to a King-Sized Sweetheart

Re-sharing this fun music! ...


Here’s what the Daily Oklahoman’s obit read

March 22, 1959 - October 28, 2011 MOORE Mark Lynn Barragar left this life to be with the Lord on Friday, October 28, 2011. He was born March 22, 1959 in Columbus, Kansas. He was the only child of Wallace and Loree Barragar. He graduated with the Capitol Hill High School Class of 1976. He spent most of his working life as a Master Control technician. Mark enjoyed a variety of pastimes, especially entertaining. Many people know Mark best by "Ranger Roger," the name he used when he hosted "Camp Kids Club" on KOKH (Channel 25) from 1991 to 1998. His most recent passion was as an Elvis "tribute artist" known as the "King-sized King." Mark married the love of his life, Yvonne, in 1981 and is the stepfather of Dru West of Chicago, IL; and Yevette O'Leary of Shawnee, OK; and is survived by them and his son-in-law, Michael O'Leary; and grandchildren, Turner, Kathryn, Ashlyn and J. Patrick. He was preceded in death by his parents, Wallace and Loree Barragar. A Memorial Service will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday, November 1, 2011, at John M. Ireland Funeral Home Chapel, Moore, OK, under their direction.

I knew Mark since the 1990s.  He came to a ThunderCon in full Klingon regalia.  Believe me, you pay attention to a 6-foot-4 Klingon!

Mark had played the Frankenstein Monster on Count Gregore’s Sleepwalker’s Matinee on Channel 5.  In the 1990s he was “Ranger Roger” for Channel 25.  Later he became an Elvis tribute artist, “The King Size King.” 

in the 2000s, Joyce and I saw him perform as the King several times, once at Moore’s Yellow Rose Theatre, where we bought this CD.

In between, Mark had talked to me about having his own show as a horror host (probably based on Count Gregore and other hosts).  I wrote him a couple of scripts, and when Mark said his character would be Cyclopean, I suggested we name him Professor Eisingel (“Eye”+”single”, get it?)  Alas, nothing came of that.

You can find a few more tributes here:

http://www.thelostogle.com/2011/10/31/rip-ranger-roger/

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSlh=1&GRid=79691753&

As to his CD, here are the tracks:

1) 2001 / That's Alright Mama

2)  Hound Dog

3)  Treat Me Nice

4)  Love Me

5)  Follow That Dream

6)  Viva Las Vegas

7)  In the Ghetto

8)  Wonder of You

9)  American Trilogy

10)  I Can't Stop Loving You

And here is the link: King Size King.

Another link here.

See you Thursday.