COYOTES KILLED YOUNG FOLKIE...Taylor Mitchell

Here's your Halloween horror...a talented 19 year-old singer who released her first CD less than six months ago has died after being mauled by two coyotes.

Taylor Mitchell was hiking in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Highlands National Park when she was set upon by the wild animals. Park rangers rushed to the scene, fired some shots, and wounded one of the coyotes. The animals raced away. So far nobody knows if the coyotes were rabid.

Fatally mauled, Taylor died the following day, October 28, after being airlifted to a hospital in Halifax. In a remarkable statement to reporters, Taylor's mom, Emily Mitchell, voiced concern for the hunt that brought down several coyotes in the area.

"When the decision had been made to kill the pack of coyotes, I clearly heard Taylor's voice say, 'Please don't, this is their space." She wouldn't have wanted their demise, especially as a result of her own." This was reportedly only the second fatal incident involving coyotes and humans. The first was back in 1981 when a 3 year-old girl, Kelly Keen, was killed near her home in Glendale, California.

Emily Mitchell added, "She loved the woods and had a deep affinity for their beauty and serenity. Tragically, it was her time to be taken from us so soon."

Too soon? The timing was rotten. She had just been nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award as "Young Performer of the Year," and she won praise at July's Winnipeg Folk Festival for her performance, and her debut CD, "For Your Consideration." Some felt she showed the same promise as another Canadian artist, Joni ("No Regrets Coyote") Mitchell, who was not related to young Taylor.

For your consideration, listen to two of her remarkably mature, and instantly haunting songs, "Clarity" and "Don't Know How I Got Here." You'll find more about Taylor, and the Taylor Mitchell Memorial Fund, at her website: http://www.taylormitchell.ca.
DON'T KNOW HOW I GOT HERE by TAYLOR MITCHELL
CLARITY by TAYLOR MITCHELL

THE SOUP GETS COLD: SOUPY SALES DIES at 83

I was glad to see so many write-ups on Soupy Sales...newspapers, blogs, even International coverage. Maybe he's looking down from that big pie in the sky, thinking, "Wow, I really did make a lot of people happy." Because that's all he wanted to do.

Unlike some of the celebs profiled here, Soupy was not underappreciated, though he may have been underused. In his prime, he had a hit single ("The Mouse,") appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show with The Beatles, hosted "Hullabaloo," issued six albums and was such a fad favorite there were Soupy trading cards, flicker rings, Halloween masks and magazines. He was offered the lead for "Gilligan's Island," but turned it down, holding out for (and getting) what he thought was better: a lead in a movie ("Birds Do It") followed by Broadway ("Come Live With Me').

While the fad for his pie-in-the-face hipster/kiddie comedy faded in the late 60's, he really didn't, because he was beloved. He became a panelist on "What's My Line" in 1967 and was a regular on game shows for decades. Fans went to see him in stand-up, they bought his joke book, and they listened to him on local radio stations. Long after the days when he hung around with puppet-hands Pookie, Black Tooth and White Fang, he was recording songs for Motown and a stand-up comedy album for MCA.

He never lost that soft North Carolina accent, with which he drawled a cheery "Hey...how are ya," to fans recognizing him on the street. He and his family had an apartment in the East 30's, in New York City, and he was known around the neighborhood for being friendly and kind-hearted.

Sure, he had a cranky side, but he generally kept it private...he was painfully irked by all the "legendary" anecdotes about him that were not true. NO, he didn't go on camera and tell kiddies a baseball joke about a fan who kissed his girl between the strikes while she kissed him between the balls. So many other dumb jokes attributed to him never happened.

He was also not pleased that he couldn't live down the one gag that was real; the time he jokingly told kids to send him some of their parents' "green pieces of paper." The important word: JOKINGLY. People remember it and tell it as if he really wanted money. The truth: "I never did it to get any money, it was just a joke. The punch line was "If you send me those pieces of paper, you know what I'm gonna send you? A postcard from Puerto Rico!"

And NO, he didn't get fired for having a naked girl jiggle on camera. She was off screen and the existing tape of the practical joke was taken by a camera that wasn't broadcasting. The joke wasn't done by Soupy, it was done TO Soupy. The girl was well out of camera range, standing in the same area usually reserved for Frank Nastase (the guy who wore the White Fang claw and arm, the only part of the monster dog that was ever shown).

NO, he wasn't called "Soupy" because his real name was "Hines" same as a soup company, it was a play on his real last name, Supman. So yes, this type of stuff, plus any demeaning comments about him being just a kiddie host involved in low humor, tended to knit Soupy's brow.

What un-knit that brow was turning up at memorabilia shows and seeing how many thousands of fans remembered him so fondly. He was always busy signing pictures and kidding with the fans, but around 2006, we all became more and more worried about the glassy look in his eye, and the literal jaw-drop, and his wandering attention span. It was sadly just a matter of time before he no longer attended the shows, or turned up at the Friar's Club.

The obits and comments out there are vivid and plentiful because those who bought his records, saw him on TV , heard his radio shows, and met him in person, take this loss personally, because he was everyone's friend. He sure was one of mine.

A little bit of Soupy silliness for you..."Soupy Sez," with the puppets of course, and Neil Hefti's theme song for the TV show. No waiting, no ads for porn or whiter teeth, and no captcha words to type in. Just download or listen on line:
SOUPY'S THEME
SOUPY SEZ

VIC MIZZY : You Made Me Dizzy Mr. Mizzy

"Don't cross the street in the middle in the middle in the middle in the middle in the middle of the block. Use your eyes to look up! Use your ears to hear! Walk up to the corner when the coast is clear...
...and wait. And wait. Until you see the light turn green!"

Vic's PSA TV commercial to teach kids not to jaywalk was his most familiar melody...until he wrote "The Addams Family" and "Green Acres" themes. He loved that jaywalking song so much he even used it (sans lyrics) as background in various episodes of "The Addams Family."

You were expecting a normal obit? On this blog?

Here's another odd fact about Vic. His first popular songs (not so popular anymore) were co-written by the legendary Irving Taylor, who, late in life, created some oddball musical comedy albums for Warner Bros. Those tunes include "There's a Faraway Look in Your Eye," "Three Little Sisters," (covered by the Andrews Sisters, natch) and "Take It Easy." Vic's best known songs as far as your grandma would be concerned, were "My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time," sung by Doris Day and "The Jones Boy" from The Mills Brothers.

Vic, an N.Y.U. grad from Brooklyn, sauced cauliflower ears via a variety of odd tunes that crackled across the radio airwaves or sputtered on juke boxes, but it wasn't until TV was in full swing that he finally found his calling: theme songs.

"Green Acres" is his best known expositional song...where the lyrics are supposed to tell the audience what the show is about. Below, you'll find three more of 'em, each trying to explain a bad sitcom premise: "The Pruitts of Southampton" (Phyllis Diller singing), "Double Life of Henry Phyfe" ("Who Me" cries the show's star Red Buttons) and "Captain Nice," the super hero spoof that battled "Mr. Terrific" for a year.

Mizzy's first major movie soundtrack was for "The Night Walker," which was, as you'd expect from a William Castle film, half horror and half horror parody. (More on that one below). Vic also scored Castle's "The Busy Body," and a fist full of Don Knotts movies, notably "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken." Even in his 80's he was in demand, sought out to supply some music for "Spiderman 2."

Le Miz had a home in high class Bel Air, thanks in part to royalties from his finger-snapping "Addams Family" theme song. Maybe a few dollars came in when They Might Be Giants decided to cover "In the Middle," his jaywalking PSA commercial. He died on October 17th, age 93, leaving behind a daughter, and a website where a self-pressed CD of songs "For the Jogging Crowd" was sold. It's momentarily high-priced on eBay and Amazon, but a cheap download at eMusic.com.

VIC's PHYLLIS DILLER, RED BUTTONS and CAPTAIN NICE themes Instant download or listen on line. No pop-ups, screen captchas or wait time.
Don't cross the street "IN THE MIDDLE" Instant Download or Listen On Line

Sticky Mr. Mizzy co-wrote CHOO'N GUM

This post comes with a warning.

If you listen more than once to the cutie-pie tune "Choo'n Gum," you will loathe it with a passion...and find that you also can't get it out of your head, any more than you can easily get the junk itself off the sole of your shoe.

The only thing surprising about "Choo'n Gum," an impossibly catchy song you love to hate, is that it was not covered by Danny Kaye, Prince of the Irritating Ditty. Danny was the guy who made you wonder if "puckish" should be spelled with an f. Perhaps the only reason he missed "Choo'n Gum" is that he swallowed it while singing "Mommy Gimme A Drinka Water."

Though it wasn't OK for Danny, it was a kayo hit for the terminally perky Teresa Brewer. It was also covered by that satirist of crooning, the lovably insincere Dean Martin.

No doubt when Dino was handed this piece of gooey fazool he thought of it in terms of dollars, rather than sense. He knew if "Doggie in the Window," "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" and the pedophiliac-sick "Come Onna My House (I'm Gonna Give You Candy)" could be hits, why not this piece of... gum? Besides, if he'd let Jerry Lewis sing it, radio tubes may have exploded.

The Vic Mizzy-Manny Curtis bit of novelty-sadism from 1950 goes like so:

"My mom gave me a nickel to buy a pickle. I didn't buy a pickle, I bought some choo'n gum
Choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo'n gum. How I love choo'n gum. I'm crazy over choo'n gum, I chew, chew, chew!
My aunt gave me a quarter for soda water. I didn't buy the water. I bought some choo'n gum. (chorus)
I chew the day away, it seems. I'm even blowin' bubbles in my dreams
My pop gave me a dollar to buy a collar. You should have heard him holler when I bought choo'n gum!
Choo, choo, choo, choo, choo, choo'n gum. How I love choo'n gum..."

78 rpm cover versions include The Andrews Sisters, Don and Lou Robertson (on Coral, also in 45 rpm), Ella Fitzgerald, Lynn Howard and Toni Harper (later released on the album "Candy Store Blues"). The Yum Yum Kids with the MGM Marshmallow Orchestra did it in 1966 and in 1998, Maria Muldaur. If you consider one of the lines in the song, it could've been covered by Michael Jackson: "I'm even blowin' Bubbles in my dreams."

Which reminds me...don't remind me about George Rock, and "I'm Forever Blowing Bubble Gum." ICK!

Five versions was pushing the limit: Teresa Brewer with the Dixieland All Stars, Tippy Brown and the Peter Pan Orchestra, Audrey Marsh with the Ray Arthur Quartet, Toby Deane and Dean Martin.

Update: Nov, 2011. Rapidshare's annoying "30 days without a download kills it" policy killed the original link. I've re-upped it:

Choon Gum Songs

and if you just want the Dean Martin version it's below...

DEAN MARTIN gets GUMMY

VIC MIZZY Paul Frees Sammy Kaye NIGHT WALKER

One of Vic Mizzy's best movie scores was for "The Night Walker," a nightmare movie directed by William Castle and featuring the last film role for screamin' Barbara Stanwyck. In your download below, you get Vic's theme music in two very different ways.

First, there's the actual soundtrack prologue...Mizzy's classic musical ook (half "Experiment in Terror" half "Addams Family") with Paul Frees offering some scary taunts about dreams and paranoia.

This is Frees in his dramatic "Orson Welles" mode, which he perfected way back when he was the host of radio's "Escape." Paul was a bit irked that Welles got so much attention when they both had almost the same burly vocal skills. When Orson would sometimes invade Paul's territory by doing a voiceover for a coming attraction, Paul would even mock him in the movie theater, asking out loud why the great actor was trying to pick up a few extra bucks doing a commercial.

Frees is known to the Halloween crowd for his "Spike Jones Spooktacular" album (doing Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Alfred Hitchcock among others), his own bizarre "Poster People" disc, and for his "Haunted Mansion" narrations (including the well-loved line "Welcome Foolish Mortals..."). He was Ludwig von Drake (among others) for Disney, and his amazingly versatile voice allowed him to be gruff Boris Badenov on the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" and the smooth, high-pitched Pillsbury Doughboy in dozens of TV commercials.

Mizzy's "Night Walker" theme was, very oddly enough, recorded by Sammy Kaye and his Orchestra. It appeared on his very eclectic Decca album "Dancetime," which included "Eight Days a Week," "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" and another un-danceable movie theme, "Goldfinger."

You get both versions below....
SAMMY KAYE instant download or listen on line

NIGHT WALKER PAUL FREES narration

LOU JACOBI "Al Tijuana" Herb Alpert comic was 95

Among Demento-heads, Lou Jacobi was best known as "Al Tijuana," for a late 60's Capitol parody album that kosherized music in Herb Alpert's style.

I'll tell you an anecdote about Lou Jacobi. I was on a crosstown bus, and as I looked out the window, I felt like I was in a Woody Allen movie. There in front of me, in cinemascope via the long bus windows, was Lou Jacobi, slowly puffing to catch the bus. I looked up ahead. The last passenger waiting was paying the fare. The bus driver began to pull away just as Lou made it to the bus stop.

I watched him as the bus pulled away, leaving him behind.

He had a smile on his face.

That tells you something about Mr. Jacobi...how genuine his attitude was about the comedy of life. Somebody else would've been cursing, shaking his head, feeling enraged. But in Mr. Jacobi's gentle world, no doubt influenced by Sholom Aleichem and centuries of ironic Jewish humor, he simply smiled. What do you expect? Of course when you run for a bus, it pulls out the minute you get to the door!

Toronto-born Louis Jacobovitch started as a stand-up comedian but found more success as a character actor, first in England (his film debut was in the Diana Dors comedy "Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary") then on Broadway in 1955 for "The Diary of Anne Frank." He appeared in the film version, too, and his movie credits include "My Favorite Year," "Irma La Douce," "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex," and "Avalon." His last film was "I.Q." in 1994.

Mr. Jacobi even had a chance at sitcom stardom, via the obscure and short-lived "Ivan the Terrible" in 1976.

He had hits on vinyl, being the lead in the ensemble cast albums "You Don't Have to be Jewish" and "When You're In Love the Whole World is Jewish." Then he "starred" on his own album, "Al Tijuana and his Jewish Brass," giving introductions to klezmer-spiked versions of hit tunes of the day...an odd attempt to win over some Jewish listeners of Herb Alpert records (Yes, Alpert himself was also Jewish). The key selling point was that warmly familiar and comical Lou Jacobi face and body on the cover.

The album, which WFMU uploaded in nice stereo years ago, isn't exactly a laugh riot, just gently tilted. "Buenos noches, amigos and amigettes," Lou announces on the opening track, "this is Al Tijuana with the sweetest music this side of the Rio Grande." Indeed, opening cut "It's Not Unusual" is played pretty straight...except for a bit of kazoo and overenthusiastic marimba. "That's NOT the sweetest music this side of the Rio Grande?" Lou asks midway through. He answers his own question: "It's the sweetest music on either side of the Rio Grande!"

The disc was aimed at middle-aged Hadassah listeners who might smirk at hearing a Tevye-like "bum bum didel-ee-yum dum" chorus replacing Henry Mancini's prowling bass line on "Peter Gunn," or "Downtown" with a fiddler on the roof interjecting a solo. Lou: "You like it! You keep asking for it. You're getting it!" And yes, at one point you hear, "Ole, ole. Oy vey, oy vey!" Like Lou himself, the album wasn't too pushy. It was more of an easy-listening novelty album than anything to rival Allan Sherman.

The humor was simply in the familiar characterization of a Jewish uncle getting silly (and crooning "Doobie doobie do" ala Sinatra during "Stranger in the Night."). The instrumentals that jonesed the originals weren't Spiked with wild sound effects. There were no punchy gags. Al introduces "Never on Sunday" as actually being "Never on Saturday." One song merely ends: "That's it, amigos and amigettes, from Al Tijuana and his Jewish Brass...until next time, Hasta Luego. Or, how you say...goodbye, Bubbie." Adios, Mr. Jacobi, and thanks for the autographed photo.

Mr. Jacobi's wife Ruth died in 2004 (they were married in 1957) and he passed away on October 23rd.
AL TIJUANA and his JEWISH BRASS

JENNY DARREN - "LAY ME LIKE A LADY!"

Dylan once sang a wistful tune, "Lay Lady Lay."
He was singing softly to someone demure...he may not have been able to handle a hurricane like Jenny Darren!
A British blues belter who may have been more than even fans of Janis Joplin or Elkie Brooks could handle, Darren made a few albums with some tracks that could shred your ears as they purge your libido.
The evidence still exists on her late 70's vinyl. These days Jenny's grooming some mean singers via her work as a teacher and lecturer. After work at Croydon College in the early 90's, she went on to the Colchester Institute. She returned to the studio in 1997 to record Helen Mirren's singing voice for the soundtrack to the British TV drama "Painted Lady." You can buy that one at JennyDarren.com, but you may need to drop by your local starving record dealer or peruse eBay to find her two early albums on DJM.
Jenny still performs from time to time, and has a home studio and teaches students the finer points of jazz, but no doubt if a ballsy babe wants to learn how to sing like a Sam Brown, Elkie Brooks or Jenny Darren herself...she'd be happy to put a tune like "Lay Me Like a Lady" on the turntable and take it from there.
She's a powerful singer, a great talent, a super teacher...now download a song that can both arouse and frighten you at the same time. It's Jenny Darren wailin' LAY ME LIKE A LADY! To paraphrase Tina Turner's intro to "Proud Mary," Jenny starts out nice, and then she gets hot...and nasty!

JENNY DARREN, LAY ME LIKE A LADY

Rusty Weir dead "Don't It Make You Wanna Dance"

Well, no, the news of Rusty Wier's death (May 3, 1944 - October 9, 2009) doesn't make you wanna dance, but in any of the obits on him, it was a key line. This was Rusty's most famous song. It had the Raitt stuff...appearing on "Urban Cowboy" in Bonnie's version, which went Double Platinum. Barbara Mandrell covered it, as did Jerry Jeff Walker. One of the more elegant versions, (below) was done by the late Canadian C&W artist Colleen Peterson (who is featured elsewhere on this blog). It was naturally a staple of Rusty's act, and you also get his live 1992 version.

On Rusty's website, the tributes have poured in. Rusty had cancer in his last years, but Joe Ables, of the Saxon Pub (where Rusty played most Thursday nights for 14 years) recalled, "I’ve seen him sicker ’n a dog, but hit the stage, and you’d never know it. A true professional....I use Rusty as an example to these younger acts, who get a little sniffle and then want to cancel."

“Just make ’em smile," Rusty used to say. "It’s what I’m there for. They’re not there to hear all my problems. And I do my best to make ’em laugh.” He began his career as a drummer, but in his native Texas, he switched from rock groups to work as a country singer and songwriter, eventually touring with the Charlie Daniels and Marshall Tucker bands, The Outlaws, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Pure Prairie League, The Allman Brothers, Commander Cody, Asleep at the Wheel, Doug Kershaw, and George Strait.

He released over a dozen albums, and on his website, he ran a RUSTYPOD for some free audio fun. His last CD was "I Stood Up," and in his last years, he co-wrote some songs with his talented sons Bon and Coby. Check out more about Rusty at his dot com.

Don't It Make You Wanna Dance: COLLEEN PETERSON
Don't It Make You Wanna Dance: RUSTY WIER, live recording

Comical IAN WALLACE in the glorious mud at 90

An opera singer at Glyndebourne and the Scottish Opera, the late Ian Wallace was best known to British audiences for his amazing 27 year run on radio quiz programme "My Music." He never missed an episode.
For comedy fans, he will remain fondly remembered for his 1956 and 1957 comedy ep's for Parlophone, which popularized the songs of Flanders and Swann (and featured Donald Swann on piano). His 1956 "Wallace's Private Zoo" predates "The Bestiary of Flanders and Swann," and features the Rhinocerous, Warthog, Elephant, and that classic, The Hippopotamus Song (Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud).
The 1956 "Wallace Collection of Human Portraits" included another favorite Flanders and Swann item, "Transport of Delight," (in the download below).
When Flanders and Swann first staged an "after-dinner farrago," Michael Flanders said it was because various artists, such as Ian Wallace, had played their compositions, "but not nearly enough!" With lyricist Flanders not only being an able singer of his own songs, but a delightful monologist and narrator, Flanders and Swann became international stars and appeared on Broadway twice before going their separate ways.
Ian Wallace, though unknown in America and not an international name either, remained a U.K. legend, and as you'd expect, was recognized by his government with an O.B.E. For more on Ian Wallace ((July 10, 1919 – October 12, 2009) you can go to the man himself, and his books: "Promise Me You'll Sing Mud" and "Nothing Quite Like It."
TRANSPORT OF DELIGHT, by Flanders & Swann, sung by Ian Wallace Instant download or listen on line.

THROW YOUR PANTIES OVERBOARD - BOB DYLAN live track

Here's "High Water," as recorded live on tour by Bob this summer. Some of the growling lyrics:
"I got a cravin' love for blazing speed
Got a hopped up Mustang Ford
Jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard
I can write you poems, make a strong man lose his mind
I'm no pig without a wig
I hope you treat me kind..."
The always contradictory and fascinating Bob once performed "Love Sick" on a TV commercial to sell Victoria's Secret panties.
In this song, he's saying "throw your panties overboard." Maybe so that she'll have to go to Victoria's Secret the next day to buy more! Who knows what his deal with VS could be.
And why, come to think of it, did he chose "Love Sick" (ie, "I'm sick of love") as the tune to use for a turn-on commercial?
Oh, you can spend endless hours trying to figure out Dylan, if you're willin'.
Like, why boast to a woman that you can write poems that make a strong man lose his mind?
Like, doesn't "overboard" generally involve being on a boat, not a Ford Mustang? Or is he saying the water's so friggin' high, his car has become a boat? If you really are expectin' answers, then you're also expectin' rain.
soundboard 2009 HIGH WATER Bob Dylan

BELA LUGOSI sings BEGIN THE BEGUINE (Guy Marks)

Answer: "Guy Marks."
Question: "What do you find all over Paris Hilton's body?"
Comedy fans of a certain vintage (ones that remember this A&Q routine from either Steve Allen or Johnny Carson) know all about Guy Marks. He was an offbeat comedian-mimic who not only worked Vegas and nightclubs, but even managed to convince record labels to indulge his strange ideas.
How strange? How about a spoken word single imagining Humphrey Bogart as an Indian scout translating for a chief whose fondest desire is to sing "Volare?" Or, a deadpan album of old-time rotten 20's novelty tunes promoted by the freshly penned "Loving You Has Made Me Bananas?" Or, his "Hollywood Sings?" where 40's movie stars are imagined singing 40's hit songs?
On that one, Guy offered the logical ("As Time Goes By" from Bogart), the acceptable (Clark Gable doing "I'll Be Seeing You") and the ludicrous..."Begin the Beguine" via a highly stylized version of Bela Lugosi.
With respect to de Maupassant. Mr. Marks remains Illfolks' favorite Guy.
BEGIN THE BEGUINE. Guy Marks as Bela Lugosi

HOME IS WHERE THE HATRED IS - esther phillips

What's home for you? A place of peace, love and tranquility? Or...
...a misery because you share it with a slob?
Is it soured by some ethnic idiot's obnoxious music, stinking cooking, or screechy collection of repulsive semi-human brats?
Is it scarred by the constant barking of a neighbor's stupid dog?
Is it spoiled by a landlord that won't fix the leaks or keep the place heated?
Got some bitch upstairs with high heels? Some heel downstairs who spends his time tinkering stuff together with the constant tap-tap-tap of a hammer? How about retired old people with diverticulitis who have the TV volume FULL BLAST all day?
Maybe you've got fratboy retards upstairs who boogie till they puke...which isn't until 4am after they've finished the 12th sing-along to "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Or is your home just a place to hang your head because it's got a lousy view, is in a high-crime location, or is a money pit?
You should love being home, in your "castle," in your refuge from life's aggravation. If you're not, then home is where the hatred is, and your only escape might be drugs...enough of them to make you forget where you are, and possibly even who you are.
Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm, and where there's shelter from the storm. Maybe it's only in your imagination during a drugged dream, and you know in reality that "Almost Home," is nothing but the name of a chemical-filled brand of cookie.
Singing "Home is Where the Hatred Is," is Esther Phillips.
Born Esther Mae Jones (December 23, 1935-August 7, 1984), the teenage "Little Esther" was a sensation, and in 1950, was signed by Herman Lubinsky to his Savoy label. She had a string of R&B chart hits including "Wedding Boogie," "Misery" and "Deceivin' Blues." Her huge success in 1950 led her to leave Savoy and sign with Sid Nathan's rival Federal...where she had almost no luck at all. She made it back but it took a turbulent decade of work, touring, drug abuse and a name change ("Esther Phillips," using a last name borrowed from a petroleum product she saw at a gas station.)
Her Beatles cover version "And I Love Him" led the Fab Four to invite her to play the U.K. in 1964. Substance abuse once again became a problem, but Esther emerged at the turn of the 70's stronger than ever, with critics raving over her Grammy-nominated album "From a Whisper to a Scream," and her cover of Gil Scott-Heron's "Home is Where the Hatred Is."
A few years later, she was even mainstream enough to appear on "Saturday Night Live." But Esther paid a price for the years of drug and alcohol abuse...at only 48, she was dead of liver and kidney failure. Her home is now Morning Light section, Lot 2591, Interment Space 2 at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.
HOME IS WHERE THE HATRED IS

"EVILE" MIKE ALEXANDER ENTERS THE GRAVE

Last month, bassist Mike Alexander (6/22/77-10/5/09) along with another member of his band EVILE, journeyed to Manhattan for promo interviews. His interracial UK thrash group then began a European tour on the bill with Amon Amarth. After a few dates, something was wrong with Mike. At a hospital in Sweden, he died of a brain hemorrhage.
His three bandmates released a joint statement:
"This is so hard to find the words to express fully how we feel. We can't believe or accept what's happened...."
Which is pretty ironic for guys who titled their recent debut album "Enter the Grave," which features "Darkness Shall Bring Death" and "We Who Are About To Die."
"One minute we're talking to our buddy, Mike, the next minute we can never speak to him again. There's so many things rushing through our heads that we want to say, do and
feel. We half expect him to come round the corner and call us 'dickheads'.
We can't get our heads around it."
We've all listened to headbanger, trash, thrash, morbid, acid rock or heavy metal bands in our turbulent teen years, where every day was a contentious or pretentious Halloween.
If you remember fondly your times listening to Black Sabbath or Alice Cooper, and wonder what the kids in the trailer park are splitting their skulls to, your sample of EVILE is below.
EVILE finished a new album, "Infected Nations," and in a tribute to the days when music mattered enough to buy and keep an album in a revered place in your home, they put out a limited edition double LP set on VINYL. They even printed up limited edition red vinyl and white vinyl versions -- only 200 copies each!
So if "We Who Are About To Die" makes you recall Ozzy or Alice, or it makes your brain churn, or you're particularly impressed with the literary allusion to Julius Caesar, sure, you'll probably download the entire "Enter the Grave" for free somewhere. But maybe, you'll want to buy the new one on vinyl! What a devilish thought!
EVILE - WE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE