Drunk!

James Brown's incredible megalomaniac post-arrest TV appearance-- "I smell good...." He's gotta be drunk.... Weddings are great to get drunk at....

Russians get mean when they are drunk, which is often, this guy picks (and loses) a fight with a tree.

I love this one from bonehead Hank Jr., skip ahead to 1:18 for the fun.... The Possum's been known to take a nip now and then... The Killer looks like he took piano lessons from Chico Marx on this one...a bit long but still entertaining.

Suggested soundtrack, 78's from guys named Jimmy:

Jimmy Liggins & his 3-D Music-- Drunk (Specialty)

Jimmy Myers & his Happy Highway Gang- Drunk Man Wiggle (Fortune)

Follow Ups To Past Posts...

A Good Spot For A Gratuitous Photo Of Jane Birkin Who Is Not Mentioned In This Posting

Some follow ups to past Houndblog postings: Last December was a posting about Sun Ra's rock'n'roll output, well my pals over at Norton Records have just released three volumes of the stuff, most of not on the Evidence Saturn 45's box. The first is Rocket Ship Rock which features the most incredible Yochanan, including his masterpiece Hot Skillet Mama b/w Muck Muck as well as the previously unheard Rocket Ship Rock and more. Also represented are Lacy Gibson's insane verion of I Am Gonna Unmask The Batman, and Ebah's un-issued rendition of the same, and the ultra rare Pink Clouds disc Space Stroll by Don Dean. The second two volumes Interplanetary Melodies (Doo Wop From Saturn Beyond Vol. 1) and The Second Stop Os Jupiter (Doo Wop From Saturn and Beyond Vol. 2) have classics by the Cosmic Rays and Juanita Rogers, and lots of recently unearthed (or un-Saturned) rehearsal tapes from the Nu Sounds, the Qualities, Crystals (Sun Ra does Don & Dewey!) and Sunny his bad self with Stuff Like That and Tony's Wife. Great liner notes by Miriam Linna and Michael D. Anderson make these essential.

Andre Williams was the subject of a posting last Nov. and earlier this month, his first novel (!)

Sweets and Other Stories (Kicks Books) is out, I just read it, and it's a doozie. If you like Donald Goines, Iceberg Slim, Robert Deane Pharr, Herbert Simmons and that sort of ultra realistic ghetto fiction, than this is for you. He'll be doing a reading from it in Chicago on November 14th, at Phyllis Musical Inn, 1800 West Division St., 8 PM. While on the subject of Mr. Rhythm, his version of the Stones "The Spider & The Fly", issued by Norton as part of their ongoing Stones' cover 45's series is one of his best recordings in years. My other favorites in the series are the Church Keys' "Who Driving Your Plane" (best Stones b-side ever), and the Dirt Bombs' No Expectations. The entire series is worth owning.

While you're over at the Norton site the two volumes of early Kim Fowley productions-- One Man's Garbage (Lost Treasures From The Vaults 1959-69) Vol. 1 and ...Is Another Man's Gold (Lost Treasures From The Vaults 1959-69) are indispensable, containing, just as described some of the best and worst from the king of the Hollywood hustlers. Great notes by the man himself (as a non-drug user, he has an incredible memory, the Library Of Congress should sit him down like they did Jelly Roll Morton to get an entire oral history of the L.A. scene from Kip Tyler & the Flips to Hanson, since Fowley saw it all). Both discs come in deluxe fold-out sleeves. It's nice to have some actual new records to play around the house again.

In May, I wrote about John Gilmore's eye popping Laid Bare, well Gilmore has a new novel out, his second-- Crazy Streak (Scapegoat Publishing). It's sort of a white trash take on the Lolita theme set in the part of Southern California that sees more trailers than limos, and Gilmore captures that world with an unflinching eye. Gilmore is his own genre, and this book is well worth searching out.

Last April I wrote about William Lindsay Gresham, his classic noir novel Nightmare Alley is being re-issued in the spring with a forward by, but of course, Nick Tosches. There's also a musical with book and songs by Jonathan Brielle, directed by Gilbert Cates that will open at the Geffen Playhouse in L.A. on April 13 and run until May 23 (my birthday). I'd like to see

an amusement park ride based on Nightmare Alley myself. And perhaps a movie version of Monster Midway. There's other doings in the world of Gresham but I'm not sure if I can divulge the info yet or not, keep an eye on this space.

Bill Wyman turned 73 last week, he's still on tour and he's still ugly.

With the demise of The Wire and The Shield (best cop shows ever), TV's been pretty lame as of late, the best show on right now is in an awful time slot (Sunday at Midnight, AMC) and not available on In Demand, but Breaking Bad, the best TV drama about Meth chefs ever, is worth setting your Tivo/DVR/whatever your cable company calls it. It's nice to see Bob Odenkirk revive the character he played on the Larry Sanders Show-- Stevie the agent, this time as a sleazy drug lawyer, also named Stevie.

I love reference books, especially slang dictionaries, and Stephen Calt, whose previous books were biographies of Charlie Patton and Skip James (both great and both sadly out of print, the latter is one of the most telling books ever written about "the blues" and it's not a pretty picture) has put together Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary (University Of Illinois Press, 2009). If you need to know what "Polack town","bug juice", and to "dust one's broom" mean, this is the book to find it in.

Gillian's Found Photo #27

Now that's what they used to call "a tall drink of water". The Fang's contribution this week looks like it was taken in New York's Times Square, sometime in the fifties, although it's hard to pinpoint an exact year. At first glance I got very excited, I thought it might be taken in front of Hubert's Museum, a famous freakshow/peep show/sleazpit that stood on 42nd St. between Broadway and Eighth Ave. (Diane Arbus hung around there and took some of her most famous freak images in the place, some of her pics turned up at an estate auction a few years back and are the subject of the book Hubert's Freaks by Gregory Gibson). Alas, it doesn't look like the front of Hubert's (which later became Peepland) to me, it's too narrow. Can anyone identify the theater and /or the tall guy? Not that I'm having any luck at all in gathering information this way ....still, it's a great photo. Take a look at the white gal in the far right side of the frame and the look on her face, priceless!

The Hound's Mystery Disc #2- The Spark Plugs

Our blogeration today concerns just one tune, which is fairly well known among record folks as Chicken by the Spark Plugs. It was re-issued a few year back on Norton (with the Condas' The Bird as the b-side, a tune that had never been released until the aforementioned Norton 45, it came to me via a listener to my old WFMU radio show who sent me a cassette of his dad's band which consisted of two songs the Condas recorded and made a few acetates of). Chicken was also covered by the Cramps I believe. The problem is there is no record called The Chicken by the Spark Plugs, at least that I know of. It was never issued on 45, only on the above pictured LP on the budget Sutton label, and according to the label, the tune is called Painless Thoughts, although none of the tunes on the disc's label appear to match up to their titles. There are ten songs on the album, most of which are fairly dreary ballads or mid tempo pop rockers that sound like Troy Shondell on a bad day. Then there's the tune in question-- Chicken aka The Chicken aka Painless Thoughts, a fervent Freddie Cannon style rocker with a blaring saxophone section and a rabid guitar solo that sounds like it could be the ill fated Kenny Paulson, star of Cannon's Tallahassie Lassie and one time Dale Hawkins sideman. So who were the Spark Plugs and where were they from? Was The Chicken ever issued on a 45? And what of Sutton Records? Sutton never listed an address on their label but it seems like most of their releases where pressed in the sixties, other LP's on the label I've seen are easy listening drek (the Hi-Los, Francis Bey Orchestra, Victor Herbert) or jazz, some of it featuring fairly well known performers such as Lionel Hampton At The Vibes, Duke Ellington meets Leonard Feather, Django Reinhardt and his Guitar, which seem to contain material leased from other labels. A good one to keep an eye out for is Harry "The Hepster" Gibson's-- Rockin' Rhythm LP which has some of his best stuff on it. I've only seen two other rock'n'roll albums on the label-- The Sentinals- Vegas Au-Go Go, which is a live, fairly mild garage thing if I remember correctly, and the Surf Teens- Surf Mania, which I've never heard. My guess is that Sutton was owned by a either a company that pressed records; a la Golden Crest whose story is told in John Broven's wondrous new book Record Makers and Breakers: Voices Of The Independent Rock'n'Roll Pioneers (University Of Illinois Press, 2009) or a one stop distributor. Where did Sutton lease the Spark Plugs masters from? The cover photo shows a distinctly pre-Beatles looking quartet in matching velvet collar suits and huge pompadours. And what of the non-matchng song titles? One is called He's My Blue Guy, hard to believe these greaseballs would be singing about a guy? The lyrics to the tune that matches up to the track listed concern a girl with Lonely Eyes which is probably the real title. The one that's listed as Rap A Way seems to be a tune called Sugar Doll, something of a Buddy Knox style pop rockabilly. The tantalizingly titled Spark Plugs is an instrumental that's actually pretty rockin', easily the second best tune on the LP, it features a pounding piano player and honking sax solo. The label has no songwriting or publishing credits listed, nor does the cover. There had to be at least five members of the band: piano/sax/guitar/bass/drums (although Chicken seems to have at least two saxophones), yet the cover photo shows only four Spark Plugs. There are a lot of questions about this group, this record, and this label. Does anyone out there have any of the answers?

For the record, our last mystery disc-- Blowin Through Yokahma Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 (Munro) is still

a mystery.

Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965)

Starring Sal Mineo and Juliet Prowse, Joseph Cates' Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965) is one of he creepiest and most peculiar movies ever made. A rumination on voyeurism, repressed homosexuality, and fetishism (among other things), it's one of Sal Mineo's most ambitious and telling roles. It includes some truly sleazy, atmospheric location shots of 42nd Street in it's transitional state from the Great White Way into the sleaze pit it would become by the early 70's. Today the Duece looks like a mall in Peoria. Who Killed Teddy Bear was written by Arnold Drake who wrote and produced The Flesh Eaters (1964). Who Killed Teddy Bear is available as a U.K. only DVD (so if your machine only plays USA region DVD's you're shit out of luck), you can always go to TCM's website and suggest it (you need to register first). Meanwhile these clips will give you an idea about what an incredible and twisted endeavor this specimen of cinema, Who Killed Teddy Bear, is.

TCM Alert- Pretty Poison starring Tuesday Weld

Tuesday Weld shot by Dennis Hopper from the passenger seat.

Set your Tivo (or as my cable company calls it DVR) for Friday night, 2:15 AM (actually, Saturday morning), Turner Classic Movies are running Noel Black's classic Pretty Poison starring Tuesday Weld in one of her best roles, also starring Anthony Perkins as an oddly Anthony Perkins like cretin. If you have never seen it, you will thank me. It's also a good excuse to run gratuitous photos of Tuesday Weld, one of my all time favorites. I blogged a little bit about her last December (here). Her complete filmography can be found here. She's in an amazing amount of fine films, some of my favorites are Thief (1981, with James Caan), Once Upon A Time In America (1984), The Cincinnati Kid (1965, with Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson and Ann Margret), Rock, Rock, Rock (1956, with Alan Freed and the Johnny Burnette Trio), and keep an eye out for her on various episodes of the Ozzie and Harriet Show, Naked City, 77 Sunset Strip and of course the Dobie Gillis Show.

Jackie and The Starlites

New York Times clipping concerning the Starlites murder case, 1961.

Jackie and the Starlites-- Cry Baby Killers Their all time classic-- Valarie, Jackie didn't get top billing until the 2nd pressing. Another good 'un, their third for Fury. A new label, and still cryin' their hearts out.

The crying record was a great tradition in the golden age of rhythm and blues, perhaps kicked off by the Griffin Brothers' Weepin' & Cryin Blues with vocal by the Tommy Brown (Dot), which went to #1 R&B in December of '51 (a great interview with Tommy Brown by Dick Blackburn and Angel Baby can be found here). Brown's tune, a yammering lament of sniveling majesty, allowed him to leave the Griffin Brothers and kick off a solo career that carries on to this day. Of course Johnnie Ray was tearing up the pop charts sobbin' all over the place around the same time (see my post on Johnnie Ray here), and there were plenty of other similar discs (the Diablos' I Want To Know on Fortune and Roy Brown's Laughin' But Cryin' on King, being my favorites). The early pinnacle of the style may have very well been the Dominoes doom laden snuff ballad The Bells (Federal, #3 R&B , January 1953) on which Clyde McPhatter seems to be wrenching up his entire digestive system all over the studio floor.

Fast forward to September of 1960. New York City was in the midst of a doo wop revival.

What rockabilly is to Memphis and the rolling second line beat of Fats Domino is to New Orleans, vocal group harmony is to New York City. It's still not unusual on a winter's night to find a bunch of winos gathered around a flaming garbage can harmonizing on Life Is A But A Dream or That's My Desire (Hispanics call it "throwin' doo-wops"). Just the other day four guys came strolling through the E train, baseball caps out to collect change while they belted out At My Front Door, too bad most of the riders were wearing Ipods and couldn't hear 'em, they were pretty good. In September of 1960, one of the greatest, and certainly the most over the top of all doo wop crying records - Valerie b/w Way Up In The Sky (Fury) by the Starlites was unleashed on the world. While Valerie didn't make the national charts, it was a good size hit in New York and other east coast cities, and it obviously made a big impression on those who heard it as it would eventually be covered by Frank Zappa & the Mothers, played on the radio by Lou Reed (when he guest DJ's on WPIX-FM in 1979), and became the favorite record of punk haberdasher Malcom McClaren who had it on the jukebox at Let It Rock (the King's Row shop that eventually became Sex, the store where the Sex Pistols were formed). Lead singer Jackie Rue's (nee' LaRue, formerly of the 5 Wings) tortured vocal delivery, in which he breaks down into a hysterical, wailing, sobbing, grieving, fit, delivers the ultimate in teenage pathos. When they appeared at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia later that year, Jackie and the Starlites went from being the opening act on the first night to headliners by the second, elevated to the top billed over such hard workin', crowd pleasing, hit makers as Ike & Tina Turner and James Brown & his Famous Flames. It has been said that Jackie and the Starlites were the only act James Brown ever refused to follow.

Fury Records was run by Harlem record store owner/producer/hustler Bobby Robinson (who also ran Fire, Red Robin, Enjoy, Everlast and a few other labels, why isn't he in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame? Oh, right, it's run by morons...), a guy who produced more good records than any other New Yorker, including classics by Wilbert Harrison, Lee Dorsey, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, Tarheel Slim, Wild Jimmy Spruill and dozens of fine vocal groups (the Rainbows, the Teenchords, the Kodaks, the Channels, the Charts, et al). The Starlites, re-christened Jackie and the Starlites as Valerie picked up momentum, recorded three more singles for Fury-- Ain't Cha Ever Comin' Home b/w Silver Lining, I Found Out Too Late b/w I'm Comin' Home, both pretty much in the style of Valerie, and their final disc under Robinson's tutelage, which may be the most unhinged of all-- They Laughed At Me b/w You Put One Over On Me. They Laughed At Me, issued as Fire & Fury 1000, was released as Robinson was experiencing financial difficulties (both labels would go into receivership soon after They Laughed At Me was released) and is extremely rare. But oh, what a majestic and unique performance. This time, Jackie Rue laughs his way through his tale of rejection, cackling like a constipated hyena on methadrine, Jackie sounds like his esophagus is turning inside out. It ranks close to the top of the pantheon of sides as Phil Schaap might say if we were talkin' jazz. There is no other record quite like it, and I think we can safely say at this point in time, there never will be*.

After Fury went bust, Jackie and the Starlites signed with Hull where they cut a few more discs in the same style, the best being I Cried My Heart Out, then were moved to Hull subsidiary Mascot for a few attempts to merge their unique style with the Latin-esqe

sound that the Drifters were milking all the way to the bank around the same time. None of these discs sold squat and by 1963 they had disbanded.

Our story does not end here however. On Monday, May 29, 1961-- UPI (United Press International), a now nearly defunct press wire service, sent out a story headlined Rock 'N Roll Stars Held For Murder, dateline New York: Two singers identified as J. Carl Moody and Henry John Hicks had stabbed one Emil Markussen, age 73, in the hallway of his apartment building on the upper West Side, killing him. It was a mugging gone wrong. The story identifies both as members of the "Starlights" (sic) and names their hits Valerie and Ain't She Come Home (sic). Hicks is quoted as saying that the Doctor made a feeble attempt to fight back-- "Then I had to kill him" he told the cops. Moody and Hicks were not on Valerie, the line up on the Starlites recording debut was Jackie Rue --lead singer, Alton Jones-- tenor, George Lassu-- second tenor, John Felix-- baritone and Billy Montgomery-- bass. Vocal groups, however, are like baseball teams, with members coming and going with bewildering regularity, so perhaps Moody and Hicks are on some of the Jackie and the Starlites recordings, if they are, I don't know which ones. There was no follow up story from UPI and I don't know what happened in court, or what ever became of the two. No doubt they did some time, New York was sending perps to the electric chair until 1963-- they may have even been executed. Now they really had something to cry about. Lead singer, the caterwauling Jackie Rue is said to have died of a heroin overdose sometime in the late 60's.

In 1991 Relic Records issued the first ever LP of Jackie and the Starlites material, it is well worth searching out, even buying, Norton Records mail order carries it. Rockabilly Ranch blog, has a Jackie and the Starlites versus the Bop-Chords on the ultra cheesy Collectibles label available for free download here. It is missing They Laughed At Me however. Much thanks to Jeff Roth for help with research.

* The laughing record itself has a long history, going back to the 1920's when Okeh had a hit with the Okeh Laughing Record, which consisted of three minutes of somebody chuckling, but They Laughed At Me takes the concept to a whole new level.