updated as of March 1st '05
BESSIE BROWN and MARTHA COPELAND tunes from the 1920's reviewed close to the bottom :)......more blues women of the past to be reviewed here this spring !
JANET KLEIN and her Parlour Boys will be having a show on ~
THURSDAY, MARCH 3RD, 8:00 pm Our Once-A-Month Happy Habit at the Steve Allen Theatre
evenings begin with a series of vintage animated and live musical film rareties brought to you by author & historian Jerry Beck
4773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood (West of Vermont, across from Barnsdall Park) $15 323-666-4268 call for reservations
JANET is an adorable creature who sings long forgotten songs from the earlier part of the century, from 1900- the 1930's to be exact,she is a very talented musician and sometimes approaches songs in a campy manner ...we were sent a special tape of her demos which we have reviewed below,......... she resides in L.a somewhere, were not telling, and a few of the songs below ended up on the cds which u can order from her site, see our downloads page......
this sounds like music truly from another era.........from the very beginning something about the confidence in her vioce here reminded us of MAE WEST, maybe a bit like old songs that JEANETTE McDONALD sang in old films, allthough on the other songs her approach is softer than WEST's....with lyrics 'I WISH THAT I WERE TWINS, U GREAT BIG BABYKINS, SO I COULD LOVE U TWICE AS MUCH AS I DO, I'D HAVE MORE LONG ARMS TO EMBRACE YOU', ahh yes simply wonderful with gentle rythms from the ukelele, thats the instrument Janet plays on most of thee songs....FATS WALLER played this song, don't know if he did the original version or not....:)
2 'PRETTY LITTLE BABY'
this tune is more laid back than the previous one , more bubblegummy, 'U BEAUTIFUL SIMPLY ADORABLE, MARVELOUS BABY LIPS THATS KISSED BY THE MORNING DEW, oh pretty little baby , i'm in love with u' and 'SWEEETER THAN THE FLOWERS, NAUGHTY LIKE A ROSE', sounds like she is singing to a little person , this one would make JONATHAN RICHMAN proud :)
3 'WHO ? YOU, THATS WHO'
'whose got the cutest smile, whose got what satisfies, yyyooouuuu, you, thats who' ! and 'who is my favorite sheik, whose kisses make me weak, who u , thats who' !, and 'when i don't feel inclined, whose kisses make me change my mind' ?...this one sounds like an old nursery rhyme, actually it reminded us a bit of WOODY GUTHRIE's 'CAR , CAR SONG' remember the one with lyrics 'take u ridin' in my car, car' ?
EXCELLENT ! our favorite from the tape, the music sounds a bit like it may have been inspired from mountain folk music, almost primitive bluegrass to be more precise, this song is very CHEERFUL sounding pop music, and Janet sounds a lot like BETTY BOOP, singing in her adorable manner ! :) *, if u like some of the rowdy old songs of the JIM KWESKIN JUG band, then you'll like this one..........'JUST BECAUSE I WEAR A SMILE, A DRESS IN THE LATEST STYLE, THATS WHY THEY CALL ME SHINE' !
in fact 'SHINE' is such a great one we put info and the complete lyrics at the bottom of this page
5 'ANY KIND OF MAN WOULD BE BETTER THAN U'
here she prounounces 'you' very nicely, she sounds like she's had a cocktail or 2 here, this one is for drinking, nice drums here....
6 'PALIKIKO BLUES'
an instrumental with sparse rythms, lovely almost hawaiian sound playing :).....i wonder if palikiko is a culture, a dance or something else........?
7 'CHILE BLUES'
another instrumental, this one is more jumpy and upbeat than 'palikiko'.....
8 'WASTING MY LOVE ON U'
creepy crawly pop tune, with gentle ukelele sounds, sings Janet 'i'm in luv with someone who doesn't love me', and 'i'm just like a boat lost at sea without a captain or a crew, thats why i'm bluer than blue'
oh boo hoo janet !....
9 'WHEN' ?
ahh yes a love song where the girl asks 'WHEN' in reference to love and marriage, a charming creation indeed, 'when will u tell me the day tell me when ', 'WHEN WILL U SAY THE WORDS DIVINE, WHEN WILL I HEAR THOSE CHURCH BELLS CHIME, WILL IT BE TOMMORROW, WILL IT BE TODAY, TELL ME WHEN WILL U BE MINE'.......*
this one is blues, NAUGHTY BLUES to be exact, a song SURE TO INFURIATE CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISTS EVERYWHERE.......:) ! *.....'WELL I GOT MY WASHBOARD, MY BABY'S GOT THE TIME, WERE GONNA PUT THE 2 TOGETHER AND RUB, RUB, RUB', and 'I'M TELLING U BABY I AIN'T GOIN OUT AT NITE, JUST LET ME PUT MY BANANA IN YOUR FRUIT BASKET AND I'LL BE SATISFIED' * thee banana in question here in a fruit basket is a subliminal suggestion for sex, i wonder if this song was banned when first released ?
11'NASTY MAN'
another blues number here, well kinda , sounds like the performance here was fueled by liquor...well looking at the lyric sheet here we put together i can't quite make out the lyrics, well thats what happens when one tries to write in the dark, see were not perfect here,...lyrics to come soon for this one.....let's see they went something like 'oh yoouuu nasty man'
12 'BACK in your OWN BACKYARD'
an acoustic song about longing to be back home, laid back ancient pop sound, an almost hawaiian sound is reached with the ukelele....... 'but we all return as we live we learn, but we left our happiness behind', and 'oh u can go to the eat , go to the west, but surely you'll come back', 'back to your own backyard'
i remember my backyard when we were kids we used to play kickball there and have friends over, earlier before that we lived near some woods we used to run around and throw rocks at other kids, and save up money for long trips to 7-11 on our bike for slurpees, ahh the good ol' days :)
softly sung pop song bout a love who's gone away and the girl is slightly lamenting lost romance.......'somebody met u by chance, broke up our pretty romance', and last nite when u said goodbye, i felt so blue i could cry, i wouldn't be where i am, doin' what i am, if u hadn't gone away'
14 'C'EST DISQUE VOUS DIRA'
another instrumental this one ounds like ancient french creole one would hear at the time of 1920 or so, ...feel the past reincarnate into the future with the ukelele an is that an accordion playing......?...... the icing on the cake *
here is an excert of a letter received nov 12 '02 from Janet herself
here are a few dates for you:
1. I Wish I Were Twins: 1934
2. Pretty Little Baby: 1926
4. Shine: 1924
5. Any Kind-A-Man Would Be Better Than You: 1936
6. Palakiko Blues: 1925
11. Nasty Man: 1934
! There are a few modern groups who do old music that I really do adore!
(ie the Cheap Suit Serenaders, the Beau Hunks, Bo Grumpus, Vince Giordano and his NightHawks, also I met some Japanese bands that are doing some nice performances of old jugband and klezmir music)
Regards, Janet
( in another letter she mentioned she is a big JIMI HENDRIX fan.......)
take a look at JANET'S site, take a look janet poses in many different vintage gowns, u can get there from our downloads page or just copy and paste this link -
1 http://www.janetklein.com/
2 JOHN's CELEBRITY SHEET MUSIC SITE
order sheet music for old-time songs from the 1920's-60's, at Great prices....
http://www.vividvision.com/musicmain.html
Carnivorism represents just as much of a fall from Grace as does any other sin.
Many who resist the fact that human beings were created as an herbivorous species point to the bible for their support of carnivorism. They quote the scripture which says that God gave humankind dominion over the animals as "proof" that the eating of flesh was sanctioned by the Creator.
But the dominion that was to be exercised by those made in the image of God was one of stewardship; of caring for the nonhuman beings who, like themselves, were created as nefesh chaya--living souls. There is no logical correlation between any kind of dominion and the consumption of the flesh of other beings.That is man's self-serving interpretation of dominion. The bible, itself, refutes this argument for dominion/carnivorism.
The verse of scripture immediately following the appointment of humans as caretakers for the rest of creation is followed by strict dietary instructions that limit all food consumption to non-flesh foods.
"..God said unto them....have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.'"(Genesis 1: 28,29)
Having decreed the kind of food that was to sustain life on earth, the bible does not discuss diet again until the ninth chapter of Genesis. And by then the known world had already been destroyed by the great Flood. The scripture juxtaposes the report of that catastrophe with the information that the world had been defiled by the human beings to whom stewardship of the earth had been given. "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways."(Gen. 6:11)
A world that could no longer support the degeneracy of its inhabitants was washed away by the Flood. But the bible reports that there was a man who escaped the common fate. His name was Noah and the Lord said of him: "I have found you righteous in this generation." (Genesis 7:1--Emphasis added) This is a very qualified endorsement of Noah's character: he was the best that could be found in the midst of a depraved and violent society. And although there was to be a new beginning after the Flood, it was hardly a return to Paradise.
Just as life after the Fall in Eden was lived at a much lower level of existence, life after the Flood had deteriorated even further. The violence of the pre-Flood world reached the point where earth's inhabitants had begun to feed on the flesh of each other. And Noah and his family, conditioned by that society, continued its carnivorism.
In some of the most chilling passages in the bible, the extent of human depravity is plainly stated. When its inhabitants first leave the Ark, they are told that the earth will not be washed away again even though "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." This statement is followed by a summation of the state of affairs that now exists in the world. "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea." (Gen. 9:2)
All creatures will fear and dread mankind, because human beings will abuse them. Obviously, the God of creation is not commending humans for their violent and abusive behavior. The bible is simply stating that there was no miraculous imposition of a higher state of development on earth's inhabitants. The imagination of man's heart would continue to devise evil, and violence would remain a hallmark of life on earth.
The words have I given in the above-quoted scripture should read have I made. "Even as the green herb, have I made all things." This is the way that phrase is translated in other parts of the bible, and in this instance it would make it plain that God is not "giving" his creatures to man for food. Rather, the bible is reiterating that the Lord "made" all things: the green herbs of the fields as well as all living creatures. It is man who decided that he had a right to consume the bodies of other creatures. And in order to further bolster this claim for the right to eat other beings, he introduced sacrificial religion into the world.
Human beings have depicted God as enjoying the smell of burning flesh. The bible is replete with passages that describe the pleasure He took in the smell of animals being roasted on the altar. But of course it was the priests and the people, not God, who consumed their flesh.
Reaction against the travesty of animal sacrifice did not gain strength until the eighth century B.C. with the advent of the Latter Prophets of Israel. Not only did these prophets inveigh against sacrificial religion, they also reminded their people that a world which enjoyed the peace of God, and the kind of prosperity that comes from such peace, was a vegetarian world.Isaiah spoke of the time when "the cow and the bear are friends" and "the lion eats straw like the ox." He also told how "the wolf will live with the lamb...and a little child will lead them."
This vision of a nonviolent, vegetarian world was always present in the consciousness of the Israelites. From the beginning, the Promised Land had been described as a place "flowing with milk and honey." This was a peaceful, pastoral, image. Unfortunately, fallen human nature took control and made a mockery of that promise. "I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its fruits and the goodness of it, but when you entered upon it you defiled it and made the home I gave you loathsome."(Jer. 2:5-7 JB)
Although strongly repressed, people are aware of the violence entailed in the killing and eating of animals. The most horrendous crimes against humanity are referred to as "butchery." And in our own time, the violence of slaughter is hidden from the view of an urban society. The public is further protected from the reality of this process by the media. In a society where freedom of expression is taken for granted, no pictures of the slaughter process are ever shown. No investigative report ever details the way in which still-living animals are hoisted on huge hooks, with parts of their body already hacked from them. No documentary records the frenzy, the fear and the suffering of these creatures, doomed to such torment by the human lust for flesh.
But even more perverse is the failure of people of faith to confront a violent world with the reality of what it is doing. The Judeo-Christian community has as its heritage the biblical record of a past in which all beings lived at peace in a nonviolent and vegetarian society. Its heritage also includes the promise of a millennial world in which the peace of a nonviolence that includes vegetarianism is promised to those who look to the God of compassion, goodness, and love for their salvation.
And the world for which Jesus Christ taught his followers to pray is also a nonviolent world in which goodness rules. It is a world in which God's will is done on earth, as it is in heaven. Even the most recalcitrant human beings do not claim that in God's kingdom, animals are mutilated and killed in order to fulfill human lust.
The prayer that says "thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" is a commitment and a continuing prayer for God's love, goodness, and compassion to rule the world and overcome the lust, cruelty, and selfishness that characterizes the rule of man on earth.
Reprinted from the July/August 1996 issue of Humane Religion. Copyright 1996 by Viatoris Ministries.
This article is available in pamphlet form which may be reprinted and distributed for educational purposes.
The Circle Game '68
by Joni Mitchell
Yesterday a child came out to wonder Caught a dragonfly inside a jar Fearful when the sky was full of thunder And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons Skated over ten clear frozen streams Words like when you're older must appease him And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look Behind from where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town And they tell him take your time it won't be long now Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look Behind from where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true There'll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look Behind from where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game
n 1910, Gotham-Attucks published a song used by Ada Walker in another famous African-American road show called His Honor the Barber. The name of the song with words by Mack and music by Ford Dabney
was That's Why They Call Me Shine, and it became famous. Now simply known as Shine, the tune was redone with success years later by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Ry Cooder.
According to Perry Bradford, himself a songster and publisher, the song was written about an actual man named Shine who was with George Walker when they were badly beaten during the New York City race riot of 1900. In his thinly veiled work of fiction published in 1912, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon
Johnson included a character called Shine who was probably based upon the same individual.
S-H-I-N-E
Words - Cecil Mack - Lew Brown
VERSE
Happy Jack, known around the town as "some" bootblack, never worried tho' he worked like sin, he had a grin guaranteed to bring the business in.
Ev'ry day, when they'd ask him how he got that way, he would tell them "If you envy me, just try my recipe".
CHORUS
Shine, away your bluesies, Shine, start with your shoes-ies Shine each place up, make it look loke new, Shine your face up, wear a smile or two. Shine, your these or tho-sies, you'll find out that everything will turn out fine.
Folks will shine up to ya, everyone will howdy do ya, you'll make the whole world shine.
VERSE
Rain or shine, he would say things were goin' fine, you could always see his smiling face, same old place, bein' broke to him was no disgrace. What a mob, hangin' round to watch him on the job, standin' on the corner all day long, they'd listen to his song.
CHORUS (New Lyrics)
'Cause, my hair is curly, 'Cause, my teeth are pearly, Just because I always wear a smile, like to dress up in the latest style,
'Cause I'm glad I'm living, take trouble smiling and the world is mine, I'm a lucky fella, got the sun for my umbrella, that's why they call me "S-H-I-N-E"
MARTA COPELAND
'GOOD TIME MAMA' 1927
GREAT old-time fashioned pop #, on this tune this gal sounds like a street whore with a heart of gold, u folks remember these lyrics eh ? ' I'M YOUR GOOD TIME MAMA, NO MONKEY MAN LET ME BE, I'M YOUR GOOD TIME MAMA, U CAN GET MY PEACHED , BUT DON' T TRY AND SHAKE MY TREE'.......
BESSIE BROWN '26
'AIN' T MUCH GOOD IN THE BEST OF MEN THESE DAYS'
GOOD tune here , the kind that makes u wanna sip wine from a brown paper bag......Bessie's vioce has charm and appeal to it, that ol' time bar crooner sound some of u love.....'ALL MEN ARE THE SAME, THEY'LL ( ? ) TO THINK THEY LOVIN' U, THEY'LL PUT U ALL TO SHAME, IT's JUST LIKE A MAN, HE'LL FOOL U IF HE CAN'....
we'll be bringing more reviews here shortly of old-time blues women, for now see this link for a cd of MARTHA COPELAND and IRENE SCRUGGS, a picture of the gals can be seen here also -
http://shopping.yahoo.com/p_complete-recorded-works-vol-2-1927-1928-_music_1921200712;_ylc=X3oDMTA4b2c2MzY2BGFpZAMxMDAw
There isn't any formula or method. You learn to love by loving -- by paying attention and doing what one thereby discovers has to be done.
--Aldous Leonard Huxley British writer
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.
--Aldous Leonard Huxley British writer
--Josephine Baker (1906-1975) French dancer
https://www.angelfire.com/vt2/70sinvasion