Week 6.5: A Musical Interlude

In which the podcaster gives you a break from his relentless wit and presents you with a mixtape based on the first seven episodes.

Featuring:
 

“No Place” by Eskimo from the album Jack
which can be found at https://eskimo.bandcamp.com/ 

 “Sucmel Ground” and “Dan and Bill” by Baldo Rex from their San Francisco recordings
which can be found at https://baldorex.bandcamp.com/album/baldo-rex-san-francisco 

Additional Baldo Rex info:
“It Ain’t You I’m Lookin’ At” – music video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyIr_s1X2pw
Albums on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/2458202-Baldo-Rex
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/54954041625 

 
"Onion Love" by The Onion Underground


“I Haven’t Got a Hat” featuring Ham and Ex in a 1935 Merry Melodies cartoon of the same name, which can be seen in full at https://www.b98.tv/video/i-havent-got-a-hat/  

Chapters

• 1:51 Introduction to "No Place" by Eskimo
• 3:34 "No Place" by Eskimo
• 9:49 Introduction to "Sucmel Ground" by Baldo Rex
• 12:09 "Sucmel Ground" by Baldo Rex
• 15:21 Introduction to "Dan and Bill" by Baldo Rex
• 16:06 "Dan and Bill" by Baldo Rex
• 18:10 Introduction to "Onion Love"
• 18:48 "Onion Love" by The Onion Underground
• 19:17 Introduction to "I Haven't Got a Hat" by Ham and Ex
• 20:40 "I Haven't Got a Hat" by Ham and Ex

Transcript

MY 12-MONTH VIDEO FAST 

EPISODE 8:  A Musical Interlude

This is Richard Loranger and welcome to Episode 8 of My 12-Month Video Fast.

But enough about me. I mentioned last week that I needed a little break from the podcast to work on a few other projects – hey, even John Oliver gets one of those occasionally, and he’s much funnier than I – and I’m sure that some of you could use a brief respite as well from my usual Reflectapalooza. But I don’t want to leave you empty-handed this week, or at least not empty-eared, so I’m inviting you to what I hope will be a pleasant musical interlude, a sort of non-commercial break, as it were, from our regular deprogramming.

So, to it.

I’ve put together five songs which I’ve referenced in some way or another in various episodes of this podcast. It’s a 12-Month Video Fast mix tape! Or something. Don’t worry, I’ve got appropriate permissions where required, so I won’t be in the slammer, the cooler, the brink, the hole, or the big house before the next episode. Nor is this a game or a test; I’ll give each a proper dj-style introduction with background and personnel and everything, and let you know to which episode they relate. You’ll also find further info on the songs and bands in the episode description. And to be as professional as possible as well as respectful of your individual tastes, I’ve added chapter markers to allow you to skip directly to the next song. But don’t.

The first tune that I’d like to introduce you to is mentioned in the previous episode, #7 (“In the Middle of Nowhere”), just after the 14-minute mark. At that point I find myself driving someone else’s car solo across Minnesota in the middle of the night in late November of 2000. I’m quite giddy and listening to one of my favorite albums from the 1980s and singing along with it at the top of my lungs. The band is called Eskimo (note that there are more recent bands that have used that name), and this was their first album, titled Jack, which was released in 1990 on Longpig Records. It can currently be found along with two further albums on their bandcamp page. (They are the Eskimo located in Oakland, CA.) The song that I mention as my favorite, and which you’re about to hear, is titled “No Place,” with words and music by David Cooper, who also handles lead vocals on this number and plays marimba, piano, conga, and triangle, with regular band members John Shiurba on guitar, Marks Landsman on bass, Eric Bonerz on drums, and Greg Walker on trombone. Guest musicians on “No Place” include Adrienne Richter on viola, and Erin Schwartz and Janet Weiss on background vocals. I’ve often described Eskimo’s music as circus-rock, in the finest sense of the word, though at some point I might catch a snowball to the face for that cognomen. What does it sound like to you?

[“NO PLACE” BY ESKIMO]

[from the album Jack]

[at https://eskimo.bandcamp.com/]

The next two selections are by Baldo Rex, the band I played with in the late 1980s and which is referenced in Episode 5, “Sound and Silence,” oddly also right after the 14-minute mark. Spooky! It’s worth noting that Baldo Rex went on to become a tremendously popular Denver-area band, with different local personnel, after the singer and guitarist moved back to Boulder in 1988. In that guise they recorded two albums, the first of which I, along with many others, consider to be one of the finest indie rock albums ever. And there is no bullshit in that comment. That album is called Parilda Cilgen Elmas, and at this time can only be found on Discogs, where you can’t really listen to much of it; that said, I cannot recommend enough picking it up, as long as you can handle a broad range of musical styles, mostly tinged by hard rock. You can, however, bear witness to one of their most ecstatic songs, “It Ain’t You I’m Lookin’ At,” in a terrific music video on my YouTube channel. There’s a link to that in the episode description.

[“It Ain’t You I’m Lookin’ At” – music video at]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyIr_s1X2pw]

There is a Baldo Rex bandcamp page, though, where you can listen to a buncha stuff. It contains three collections, and the one titled Baldo Rex – San Francisco has recordings of the band when I was in it. That includes four songs that we recorded in a studio that sound pretty good, several numbers that were recorded live at shows on god-knows-what, and a scattering of demo instrumental pieces mostly by the guitarist (which are real nice, by the way). For your distinct enjoyment I’m offering here two songs from the studio recordings. The personnel for both are Ted Thacker on guitar, Phil Wronski on vocals, Junglebook on drums, and myself on acoustic rhythm guitar. This first one is a sort of strange ballad perhaps, called “Sucmel Ground”.

[“SUCMEL GROUND” BY BALDO REX]

[at https://baldorex.bandcamp.com/album/baldo-rex-san-francisco]

The second song from Baldo Rex’ San Francisco era is a revved-up old-style countryish tune called “Dan and Bill,” about two rebellious gay lovers on the run. It always sounded to me like a Johnny Cash gay liberation anthem, if such a thing could exist. I was always proud to play it, and proud of Ted and Phil for writing it, who, despite being believed by some to be the title characters, were really just loving, (very) nerdy straight guys. So here’s “Dan and Bill” by Baldo Rex.

[“DAN & BILL” BY BALDO REX]

[at https://baldorex.bandcamp.com/album/baldo-rex-san-francisco]

Ain’t that sing-alongable. They were lover rebel outlaws…

This next little ditty also comes out of Episode 5, at a stretch. A little after 4 minutes I mention that I often sing to myself at home, with a typically oddball example. Well, the other night I was lying here and found myself doing just that, and had the presence of mind to grab my phone and tap the voice recorder. The result was this adorable a capella tidbit that I call “Onion Love.”

[“ONION LOVE” BY THE ONION UNDERGROUND]

Okay!

Lastly, here’s a tune that is long both in the tooth and the public domain. It appears in a 1935 Merry Melodies cartoon called “I Haven’t Got a Hat,” which is also the title of the song. In the 7-minute animation, a group of schoolhouse kids (who are, of course, various anthro’ed animals) put on a talent show for their parents and teacher. The two characters who perform the eponymous song, a pair of identical twin puppies names Ham and Ex (that’s “E-x”), were slated to be the next big Merry Melodies stars, but were quickly run off the rails by a spazzing and stammering ingenue by the name of Porky Pig, also appearing here for the first time. That said, I found the twins’ number to be most impressive and in fact unforgettable, and I do a lounged-up version of it occasionally at shows. I sing the first stanza at the end of Episode 3 (“Status Report”) as a thank you to a new subscriber. So here, in their original debut number, are Ham and Ex performing “I Haven’t Got a Hat.”

[“I HAVEN’T GOT A HAT” BY HAM AND EX]

[video at https://www.b98.tv/video/i-havent-got-a-hat/]

I hope that these musical selections have brought you some listening pleasure and, at the peak of my wishes, maybe even a euphoric moment. Here’s something to consider before we go: to what extent did television bring about these songs, if at all? And to what extent did these songs influence television? As media, are they mutually exclusive, or interconnected?

Next week I’ll be back with a regular episode that will look at the events of both this week and next, without being twice as long. And maybe we’ll look out the window and watch a scary movie about other enthralling technologies.

This has been Episode 8 of My 12-Month Video Fast, and I do tip my hat to you.

Thanks so much for tuning in.