TOTEMIC RELIC

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Singer Beverly Kenney 's copy of Billie Holliday's (sic) 78 rpm "Any Old Time" b/w "The Man I Love" on the, uh, Sentry label (and you thought that record bootlegs were a relatively recent phenom.)

Annals of ongoing lamentation over the disappearance of record stores

In the immortal words of Joe Brainard, "I Remember" that I bought my copy of Dick and Kiz Harp's "Again" LP at Londeree's Music store in Charleston, West Virginia in 1962 during the city's annual Dollar Days sale, where a lot of stuff was sold for a buck for one day only. The clerk who sold it to me was named Madge Orchid. I can even recall that she looked like a slightly less attractive version of singer Carole Simpson. For that matter, Madge probably sold me Carole's Capitol album for uno samolian also.

I guess by now that Madge Orchid (if I had a name like that, I could die happy) has probably gone to that big record store in the sky, assuming that there are any remaining up there either. Or maybe in the great beyond, records grow on trees like the watermelons in Jolson's classic "Going to Heaven on a Mule." Or perhaps there just ISN'T any such place as heaven? And that after you die they just put you in ground, shovel dirt over you and you stay nice and warm forever and never have to worry about anything ever again. Most likely, it's the latter. But I digress. . ..

Madge also sold me my first Beverly Kenney LP a few years earlier than '62 for a dollar. My sense is that Madge had very, very refined music tastes, but could not return certain labels for a refund when she was unable to sell them to the populace of the rather culturally backward environs in question. A classic case of too hip for the house.

And then when Dollar Days rolled around, Madge already had all the records picked out for me. I just bought whatever she told me to whether I had heard of the artists or not. Both Kenney and Kiz were brand new to me. It was almost as if Madge was ordering these records for me to buy at a dollar! The copy of Dick and Kiz on the tiny 90th Floor label was probably the only one to've made it out of Dallas, Texas where it was most likely meant to be sold exclusively at the 90th Floor club where the Harps held down the musical fort. (Although I seem to recall someone once telling me that he saw them perform somewhere in Kentucky.) And, now, a half-century later, both of these albums remain in constant rotation here at Oblivion Towers.

And speaking of Carole Simpson---which I did, several.paragraphs ago---her new CD , "Live" (and otherwise)" is now available at CDBaby. Her Capitol album is also scheduled to show up there shortly.

Track o' the Day

Here’s a track by my friend, songwriter-singer Melodye Condos. Not quite, as they say, "close enough for jazz," but still really wonderful.

Melodye writes and sings in a wide variety of styles and genres. This particular cut, "You Never Know," was done, maybe twenty years ago, for an unreleased album. She has since hung up her singing hat but is still writing and, also, trying to get others to record her songs. Too bad that the late, great Eva Cassidy never wrapped her lungs around this one. Nevertheless, Melodye does quite nicely by her own material, in this case, her song, “You Never Know.” If anyone reading this has a professional interest in this or, perhaps, others of her songs, please contact me at drchilledair@yahoo.com.

Here's another performance by Melodye that I posted earlier this year. Obviously not her own material, but a killer “take” on this standard. The pianist is arranger-composer Pat Williams.

Leslie and Gerard

Much like the late, but deeply unlamented Hermann Goering tended to reach for his revolver whenever he heard the word "culture," a phrase that really sets me off is "support the music." As in "I'm going out tonight to The Thirteenth Step Bar and Grill to hear my friend Landa Goshen and... SUPPORT THE MUSIC."

So call me old-fashioned, but I always thought that people went out to HEAR music they were interested in, and that SUPPORT had nothing to do with it. Which brings me to the subject at hand, singer Leslie Lewis and pianist Gerard Hagen. I have heard them on recordings, specifically their recent release on Japan's SSJ Records, "Of Two Minds," but not had the chance to see them perform "live." Their stomping grounds tend to be SoCal's Orange County, and to the best of my knowledge, they've never before breached the Orange Curtain to perform here in the environs of Los Angeles. They have a regular performing schedule "down there," so there's really not much reason for them to leave their OC home base to venture out into the vast unknown of big, bad L.A.

I really love their new CD, plus I have it on good authority that they are absolutely killer in person. So on the 12th of June when they appear at the Hollywood Bar and Grill (in H'wood, CA natch) I'll be there to HEAR them, (not SUPPORT them) and to find out what all the shouting is about. If they're as good in person as on recordings, I'm in for a real treat. Maybe some other Southern Californians who read this blog might also like to give it a shot.

Leslie and Gerard will be aided and abetted by Jeff Littleton bass, Jerry Kalaf drums, Chuck Manning sax.

Parking at the HSB&G is ample and free, and the music starts at 8 pm. With a $10.00 entertainment charge and a dinner or two drink minimum, this long-running intime boite is a true bargain in these increasingly parlous economic times.