Piccolo Spoleto Sacred Harp Charleston 2011

Gage Hall, Charleston, SC.

For technical reasons a few of these sessions are incomplete (and the singing school is non-existent).


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Moose on the Loose

The only thing that I know about this band is that they are from the Chattanooga area, and I only know that because one of my mates (all from Chattanooga) in Sea 7 States gave me this cassette back in 1986. It's been shuffled in boxes from garage to garage since I left TN in 1993, so it's a little worse for wear, but still enjoyably listenable. There do appear to be a couple of recent live recordings from Musical Moose available on youtube (I emailed the contact person listed with the videos but got no response).


Musical Moose - Moose on a Hot Tin Roof
(see above for track listing)

Smersh mouth

This is another musical item that I bought unheard out of the back of a magazine (possibly the Village Voice) in 1983. Smersh (not the Russian secret agency) was Mike Mangino and Chris Shepard. According to discogs: Beat studio guru Mike Mangino (Pink Noise, Pop-Tarts) and Chris Shepard (Pop-Tarts) formed Smersh as an experimental big-beat techno/industrial project and began releasing cassettes in 1981. Smersh recorded improvised cuts every Monday night, released countless cassettes on their own label, Atlas King, and were featured on more compilations than you can track down. They never played live, never played the same track more than once. This is their second album. (I will post the first when I find it.)

I played at least one track from this cassette-only release ("X, X, X, Going On L") on both WUTK-FM and WUOT-FM (Unradio) more than once.

Smersh - Hothouse Flowers In A Cool Culture (1983)

01 Children's Suspense Theatre

02 X,X,X, Going On L

03 Slugs

04 Don't Go Home Part 2

05 ......Shadow

06 Vertigo

07 Beach

08 The Hustle [yes, it's a cover!]

09 Jungle Bonnie

10 Not Talking Back

11 From A View To A Kill

In the Mood...for Tequila?

By the time that I seriously started listening to the radio, Herb Alpert was basically off the charts and off the air. No one in my family owned any Tijuana Brass records, but somehow I ended up with this 1966 album: Something New - The Glenn Miller Orchestra Under the Direction of Buddy DeFranco translates The Tijuana Brass Hits. For me, these are the correct versions of the songs, and the actual Tijuana Brass versions (with their measly handful of trumpets) sound thin. Yeah, I know, it's a character flaw. The drumming is really good on this, too. I like this (probably a reissue) album art better than what is probably the original (see below), though I feel sorry for the guy pushing the piano and the guy with the double bass over his head (and what's that guy in front playing? A cheese pizza?).


Something New - The Glenn Miller Orchestra Under the Direction of Buddy DeFranco translates The Tijuana Brass Hits

1 A Taste Of Honey

2 What Now My Love

3 I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

4 Whipped Cream

5 Tijuana Taxi

6 Zorba The Greek

7 The Lonley Bull

8 Mexican Shuffle

9 The Third Man Theme

10 Spanish Flea

Probably the original album art: