Friday, November 6, 2009

ESSENTIAL [Sesame Street Edition]

Who’s a Grouch? No Fanfare for ‘Sesame Street’ in Britain
By Dave Itzkoff

As generations who grew up on “Sesame Street” prepare to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary, an article for BBC News Magazine by Tom Geoghegan and Megan Lane attempts to explain why British viewers regard the occasion with an Oscar-like “phooey.”





Though “Sesame Street” is broadcast in 140 nations worldwide, they write, it has not been shown in Britain since March 2001; a variation called “Sesame Tree” is seen in Northern Ireland, and spinoffs called “Elmo’s World” and “Bert and Ernie’s Great Adventures” are broadcast on Britain’s Five channel.

Back in the day, “Sesame Street” had a hard time breaking into Britain: the BBC initially rejected the show, believing that it had “authoritarian aims” in trying to change children’s behavior. (The BBC’s head of children’s programming at the time said, “This sounds like indoctrination, and a dangerous extension of the use of television.”) When it finally had its premiere in 1971, a television critic for The Times of London wrote that it was “neither good enough nor bad enough” to justify all the fuss.

Today, Nick Wilson, the director of children’s programming at Five, says that an hour-long program like “Sesame Street” is too difficult to fit into a schedule, and that the channel prefers to put British voices on imported shows.

Mr. Wilson says, “The style of the program is a tad out-dated — there are very few puppet shows around now.” He adds that some of the celebrity guests “Sesame Street” are not familiar to British viewers, and that the “glory days” of cameos from performers like Stevie Wonder are long gone.

But Tim Teeman, a television critic for The Times of London, comes to the show’s defense, telling the magazine:

I don’t know if I learned anything but I felt like I was learning something. If you grew up in a boring, white British environment, it showed you a place with black faces, different cultures and creeds and people living together in harmony. … It was the first time I ever saw New York and it looked like this really cool place. This street where everyone knew each other’s names. It introduced all kinds of things to kids, like community, getting along with different kinds of people and learning about issues.

Track Artist Title
1. The Kids Sesame Street Theme
2. Roosevelt Franklin & His Mother Roosevelt Franklin Counts
3. Pointer Sisters Pinball Number Count
4. Bob & The Anything Muppets People In Your Neighbourhood
5. Ernie Rubber Duckie
6. Oscar I Love Trash
7. Bob & Susan One Of These Things
8. Bert Paper Clip
9. Cookie Monster C is For Cookie
10. Kermit Bein' Green
11. David, Susan, Luis & Bob My Name Is David
12. Mick Swagger & The Cobble Stones (I Can't Get No) Co-operation
13. Ernie I Don't Want To Live On The Moon
14. Cookie Monster One Of These Things
15. Sesame Street Beetles Letter B
16. Bert Doin' The Pigeon
17. Bud Luckey Ladybugs' Picnic
18. Cookie Monster C is For Cookie (Sesame Street Fever Version)

For Those Who May Remember Kermit Only On The Muppet Show:

Kermit was one of the original Muppet characters on Sesame Street. Though he was intended to be removed from the cast after the first season, he returned as a full-time character in the third, and remained a regular character for many years. Closely identified with the show, he often appeared as an easily frustrated lecturer, a straight man to the humorous antics of another Muppet, or a news reporter interviewing storybook characters for Sesame Street News. He most often interacted with Grover and, to a slightly lesser extent, Cookie Monster. The various songs he sang on Sesame Street tended to be meaningful in nature, most memorably his song "Bein' Green".


Following the death of Jim Henson, Kermit was used less frequently on Sesame Street, but still made new appearances until 2001. Unlike the rest of the show's Muppets, he was not created for the exclusive use of Sesame Workshop, and has rarely been a part of the show's merchandise. All Muppet characters originally belonged to the Jim Henson Company, but when the opportunity came for Sesame Workshop to buy its characters for $180 million, Kermit was not included in the deal. The character now belongs to The Muppets Studio; however, Sesame Workshop does have permission to use old sketches featuring Kermit.



In The Muppet Show television series, Kermit was the central character, the frontman and the long-suffering stage manager of the theatre show, trying to keep order amidst the chaos created by the other Muppets. Jim Henson once claimed that Kermit's job on the Muppet Show was much like his own: "trying to get a bunch of crazies to actually get the job done." It was on this show that the running joke of Kermit being pursued by leading lady Miss Piggy developed.


On Muppets Tonight, Kermit was still a main character, although he was the producer rather than frontman. He appeared in many parody sketches such as NYPD Green, City Schtickers, Flippers, and The Muppet Odd Squad, as well as in the Psychiatrist's Office sketch.


Kermit also served as the mascot for The Jim Henson Company, until the sale of the Muppet characters to The Walt Disney Company. A Kermit puppet can be seen at the National Museum of American History.


Kermit has also played a central role in most of the Muppet movies except for Muppets From Space which was focused on Gonzo the Great.



Making Of This Mix:

As soon as I heard that Sesame Street was celebrating its 40th Anniversary, I ran up to the attic, grabbed the old Califone 1410K (record players the grade school teachers used in the States years ago!) and dusted off a few Sesame Street/Children's Television Workshop record albums. I made a compilation of my most favourite tunes over the years using the conference:memo feature on my cellular phone.


Use info below to create your own muppet mix:


http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/cookiedisco.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/ssfevercisforcookie.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/eatincookie.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/oneofthesethingscookiemonster.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/dointhepigeon.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/idontwanttoliveonthemoon.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/holdyourear.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/lalala.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/paperclip.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/rubberduckie.mp3

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/sssounds.html#songs


UPDATE!!!
Watch Mr. Patillo play the flute and beatbox your favourite melody:



ESSENTIALS [Bobby Seale Edition]

Track Artist Title
1. Public Enemy Don't Believe The Hype
2. Gil Scott-Heron H20gate Blues
3. Isley Brothers Fight The Power, Part 1
4. Sly & The Family Stone Don't Call Me Ni**er, Whitey!
5. Paris The Hate That Hate Produced
6. Earth, Wind & Fire That's The Way Of The World
7. Graham Nash Chicago (Live)
8. Average White Band Person To Person (Live)
9. Tower Of Power What Is Hip? (Live)
10. Stevie Wonder I Wish
11. James Brown Soul Power
12. Maceo Parker Chicken
13. Ronnie Laws Every Generation
14. Jr. Walker & The All Stars What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)
15. Jackie Wilson (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher

- In 1966, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton founded the Black Panther Party, the era's most visible black-nationalist group.
- The "Chicago Eight" became the "Chicago Seven" when Seale's case was severed from the remaining defendants.
- Three years later, Seale was famously bound and gagged in a Chicago courtroom after outbursts in the trial stemming from the demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
- And in 1971, he was accused of ordering the killing of a police informant in New Haven. The murder charges were dismissed after the jury failed to reach a verdict.
- "I created the free breakfast program." "We had free sickle-cell screenings...and we did this with no government money. We got so many donations from Hollywood people..."
- In 1973, Seale won more than a third of the votes when he ran for mayor of Oakland.
- While he lived in Philadelphia in the 80s and '90s, he worked for Temple University, ran a youth program, wrote three books and perfected barbecue recipes for a successful cookbook.

BOBBY SEALE'S HICKORY-QUICK BARBEQUE BASTE-MARINADE
When you don't have a lot of leisure time but have a craving, try the following barbeque baste recipe for pit-baste smoking. It gives a hickory-smoke flavor to almost any meat or poultry entree you desire.

1 cup cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, seeded (use rinds cut up in pot)
3/4 to 1 cup (6 to 8 ounces) pure hickory liquid smoke
1 cup red cooking wine (optional)
1 tablespoon each liquid garlic and liquid onion (or chop 2 onions)
1 cup Worcestershire sauce or 1/2 cup of Teriyaki sauce
1 cup apple juice or cranberry juice
1 quart of water

Combine all ingredients with water in a 4 quart pot on medium-high heat. Stir and bring to a boil, cover and boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain off lemon rinds or any cooked onions. Refrigerate if not ready to use immediately as hot marinade.


Strain and use in spray bottle for basting pit-smoked meats, especially pit grilled pork ribs, beef ribs, pork chops, pork and beef steaks, lamb chops, poultry, grilled burgers, and pork and beef roasts. The spray-basting also helps control flames in the pit-fire when not overused. For a real hickory-smoke flavor, pre-soak any amount of hickory wood chips in a cup or so of this basic marinade.
Yields 11/2 quarts
NOTE: Marinate meat in 200-degree hot marinade for 20 minutes for super-quick and tasty results.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

ESSENTIALS [Small & Silver Screen Edition]



Track Artist Title
1. Anderson, Marian Ave Maria
2. Coltrane, Alice Lord Help Me To Be
3. Naim, Yael New Soul
4. Adele First Love
5. Jones, Norah Turn Me On
6. Parton, Dolly Coat Of Many Colors
7. James, Etta At Last
8. Channing, Stockard There Are Worse Things I Could Do
9. Hill, Lauren Doo Wop (That Thang)
10. Flack, Roberta First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
11. Raitt, Bonnie I Can't Make You Love Me
12. Sade Is It A Crime
13. Reese, Della Don't You Know
14. Bush, Kate Sexual Healing
15. Larson, Nicolette Lotta Love
16. Minelli, Liza Say Liza (Liza With A "Z")
17. Moreno, Rita America
18. Cassidy, Eva True Colors

Monday, November 2, 2009

Where The Shadows Run From Themselves



Disc 1
Track Artist Title
1. Cream White Room
2. Robert Pollard Red Cross Vegas Night
3. David Gray Kangaroo
4. Damien Rice Volcano (Demo)
5. Carole King Will You Love Me Tomorrow
6. Joni Mitchell The Hissing of Summer Lawns
7. Mary Chapin Carpenter Closer and Closer Apart
8. Stan Getz Samba De Uma Nota So
9. Armik Puerto De Malaga
10. Santana Europa
11. Suzanne Vega St. Clare

Disc 2
Track Artist Title
1. Jimi Hendrix Come On
2. Led Zeppelin Moby Dick
3. Beastie Boys Gratitude
4. Anthrax featuring Public Enemy Bring The Noise (Live)
5. Ice Cube No Vaseline
6. A Tribe Called Quest Excursions
7. Cypress Hill Hits From The Bong
8. Yes Sound Chaser
9. Chuck E. Weiss Sweetie-O
10. John Coltrane Blue Train
11. Robyn Hitchcock Cathedral

Disc 3
Track Artist Title
1. Connie Francis Everybody's Somebody's Fool
2. Peter & Gordon A World Without Love
3. Cat Stevens Peace Train
4. Jack Johnson Upside Down
5. Ahmad Jamal But Not For Me (Live)
6. Gladys Knight I Hope You Dance
7. Neil Young Heart Of Gold
8. Bob Dylan As I Went Out One Morning
9. The Church Almost With You (Acoustic Version)
10. Golden Shoulders Everybody's Trying To Be A Villian
11. Syd Barrett She Took A Long Cold Look At Me
12. Simon & Garfunkel April Come She Will
13. James Taylor Sweet Potato Pie

Compiled just in time for my road trip to Windsor.

http://girlspinradio.podcastpeople.com/

Producer Series Present: RICK RUBIN


Track Artist Title
1. Run-DMC feat. Steven Tyler & Joe Perry Walk This Way
2. Public Enemy Bring The Noise
3. The Cult Love Removal Machine
4. Linkin Park What I've Done
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers Under The Bridge
6. Avett Brothers I And Love And You
7. Weezer Beverly Hills
8. Beastie Boys (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)
9. Johnny Cash Hurt
10. LL Cool J I Need A Beat
11. Chef (Isaac Hayes) Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)
12. Neil Diamond Home Before Dark
13. Jakob Dylan Evil Is Alive And Well
14. Metallica The Unforgiven III
15. Jay-Z 99 Problems
16. Beastie Boys She's Crafty
17. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Mary Jane's Last Dance
18. Sir Mix-A-Lot Baby Got Back

On top of his game in the middle to late 1980s, Rick Rubin merged his love of rock and roll and heavy metal to the street sounds of hip hop and rap. The result of this marriage was one hit after another for Def Jam Records. You don't need to have a golden ear for samples to detect the guitar riffs that Rick added to songs by LL Cool J as well as the Beastie Boys. Rick was well ahead of the pack when it came to metal rap sound which has now been taken even further by contemporary acts.
On the Beastie Boys' album Licensed to Ill, Rick is credited not only as the producer, but also as co-writer. With Rick's contacts in the world of metal, it was easy to bring in Kerry King of Slayer to play lead guitar on the Beastie Boys' anthem "No Sleep Till Brooklyn." It was Rick, under the name DJ Double R, that performed on stage with the Beastie Boys as they opened for Madonna on her Like A Virgin Tour. Sensing he was on to something big and controversial, Rick went into the studio with the band to record "She's On It". The "She's On It" video featured Rick and the Beastie Boys chasing girls and getting into trouble. What may have seemed innocent at the time, was in fact the launch pad for the skirt chasing chaos that would encircle both Def Jam and the Beastie Boys within the year as Licensed to Ill.

Producer Series Present: LEONARD & PHIL CHESS



Track Artist Title
1. Etta James At Last
2. Jimmy Rogers Walking By Myself
3. Chuck Berry You Never Can Tell
4. Muddy Waters Got My Mojo Working
5. Buddy Guy The First Time I Met The Blues
6. Lowell Fulson Reconsider Baby
7. The Moonglows The Ten Commandments
8. The Flamingos I'll Be Home
9. Howlin' Wolf Change My Way
10. Little Walter Mellow Down Easy
11. Bo Diddley Who Do You Love?
12. Sonny Boy Williamson Dissatisfied
13. Gene Ammons You're Not The Kind
14. John Lee Hooker One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
15. Willie Dixon Wang Dang Doodle


Brothers Lejzor and Fiszel Czyz (family name changed to Chess) were two immigrants from Poland who came to Chicago in 1928. They were involved in the liquor business and by the 1940's, they owned several bars on the south side of Chicago. Their largest establishment was a nightclub called the Macomba. The Macomba had live entertainment, many of those being blues performers that had migrated to Chicago from the Mississippi delta in the '30s and '40s. They realized that these performers were not being properly recorded, so they decided to start recording them themselves.

During the early years of the label, Leonard and Phil Chess did everything. They were the quintessential '50s record men: they owned the label, they produced the music they loved themselves and managed the financial end of the business.

Producer Series Present: QUINCY JONES


Track Artist Title
1. Quincy Jones Soul Bossa Nova
2. Lesley Gore It's My Party
3. Frank Sinatra Fly Me To The Moon (Live, Sinatra At The Sands)
4. Quincy Jones Sanford & Son TV Theme
5. Bill Cosby Hikky-Burr a/k/a Bill Cosby Show TV Theme (1969)
6. Quincy Jones Ironside TV Theme
7. Quincy Jones Roots Mini-Series TV Theme
8. Aretha Franklin Angel
9. Lesley Gore You Don't Own Me
10. Brothers Johnson Strawberry Letter #23
11. James Ingram Just Once
12. George Benson Give Me The Night
13. Michael Jackson Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
14. Michael Jackson Billie Jean
15. Tevin Campbell Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me)
16. Patti Austin & James Ingram Baby, Come To Me
17. USA For Africa We Are The World
18. Celine Dion I Knew I Loved You
19. Quincy Jones Miss Celie's Blues a/k/a "Sister" (The Color Purple)
20. Will Smith Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire TV Theme
21. Michael Jackson Thriller
22. Ray Charles & Chaka Khan I'll Be Good To You





My favourite Quincy Jones story is about under-handed Phil Spector...



Phil Spector - Acclaimed producer who also oversaw the production of a version of “It’s My Party.” When Quincy ran into Spector at a Charles Aznavour concert at Carnegie Hall, Spector told Quincy that he had just cut a version of the song with the Crystals. After hearing that, Quincy rushed back to the studio and had the engineer cut 100 acetates of the Lesley Gore versions and mailed them to radio stations over the weekend. Three weeks later, Lesley Gore’s version of the song topped the charts.
"Soul Bossa Nova" was a theme for the 1998 World Cup, the Canadian game show Definition, the Woody Allen film Take The Money And Run and the Mike Myers movie Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, and was sampled by Canadian hip hop group Dream Warriors for their song, "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style".

Producer Series Present: PHIL SPECTOR


Track Artist Title
1. John Lennon Imagine
2. The Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody
3. The Crystals He's A Rebel
4. The Beatles The Long And Winding Road
5. Ike & Tina Turner River Deep, Mountain High
6. Darlene Love (Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry
7. The Ronettes Be My Baby
8. Connie Francis Second Hand Love
9. Gene Pitney Every Breath I Take
10. Teddy Bears To Know Him Is To Love Him
11. The Crystals Then He Kissed Me
12. The Ramones Rock And Roll High School
13. John Lennon Instant Karma!
14. George Harrison My Sweet Lord
15. Ray Peterson Corinna, Corinna
16. The Righteous Brothers You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'





Considered by many to be the greatest rock and roll producer of all time

In the early Sixties, created the famous "Wall of Sound" technique that inspired countless musicians and producers

Put girl group music on the map with hits by The Ronettes and The Crystals

Called on to salvage The Beatles' Let It Be album, he went on to produce John Lennon and George Harrison's most famous solo work

Producer Series Present: JERRY WEXLER

Track Artist Title
1. Ray Charles I Got A Woman
2. Big Joe Turner Shake, Rattle and Roll
3. Aretha Franklin (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
4. Wilson Pickett Mustang Sally
5. Bobby Darin Beyond The Sea
6. Bob Dylan Gotta Serve Somebody
7. Ray Charles What'd I Say
8. LaVern Baker Tweedle Dee
9. Solomon Burke If You Need Me
10. Wilson Pickett In The Midnight Hour
11. George Michael Careless Whisper (Original Version)
12. Dusty Springfield Just A Little Lovin'



Gerald "Jerry" Wexler (January 10, 1917 - August 15, 2008) R.I.P.

At the age of 12, Jerry Wexler was a New York City brat, hanging out at Artie's poolroom on 181st Street in Washington Heights and learning to talk fast and act tough. These traits would serve him well in the recording industry. In 1952 Wexler became a producer at fledgling Atlantic Records, an independent label dedicated to the genre that Wexler himself rechristened "rhythm and blues" in a 1941 Billboard article.

With an intense passion for jazz and soul, Wexler became an expert at distinguishing talent, and during his years at Atlantic, he launched many artists who became world- famous: Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, the Clovers, and the Drifters. He also discovered country legend Willie Nelson before the singer moved to CBS Records and stardom. Wexler's enthusiasm and intellectual edge, in fact, provided the support necessary for many artists' best work. Among the plethora of musicians he has promoted are Joe Turner, Wilson Pickett, Patti LaBelle, Cher, Sam and Dave, Dr. John, Doug Sahm, and Etta James.