Birth of the Cool

I checked this book out a while back and I confirm it’s a must have. Here’s a quote from the New York Times.

birth of the cool

The cool was born in New York. It was in Manhattan that Miles Davis and the nine-piece group he convened in the late 1940s forged a tightly understated alternative to the hot expressionism of bebop and recorded the hugely influential tracks later collected in the album “Birth of the Cool.” But it was in California in the 1950s that cool jazz and cool art in general took root and flourished.

The story is well told in “Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Midcentury,” an exhibition here at the Addison Gallery of American Art. Organized by Elizabeth Armstrong, chief curator at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, Calif., where it originated, the show examines cool style of the ’50s in several disciplines, including painting, furniture design, architecture, film and photography.

The multidisciplinary approach could be confusing, but it all hangs together in ways both entertaining and thought provoking. What emerges is not just a style but a spirit and an ethos that are in many ways diametrically opposite those of East Coast Abstract Expressionism. Angst-free, not monumental, anti-grandiose:
California cool is laid back yet cleanly articulated, impersonal yet intimate, strict yet hedonistic, and seriously playful. …

Birth of the Cool – California – Art – Review – New York Times

Thanks to Lou Smith.

“Volcanic Action” Returns Today on Luxuriamusic.com

From Domenic Priore:

Friday on Volcanic Action you’ll hear music from the surfing movie soundtracks to Blue Surf-Ari, Strictly Hot, Gone With The Wave, The Golden Breed, Follow Me, The Fantastic Plastic Machine, Getting Back to Nothing and the Waimea Bay epic Ride The Wild Surf. Plus plenty of Exotica, Surf Instrumentals, West Coast Jazz, Bossa Nova, Hawaiian and Surf vocal tunes too.

11 p.m. London

6 p.m. New York City

3 p.m. Los Angeles

Noon in Honolulu

Luxuriamusic.com

Leaping Eagle Ray Kills Woman in Rare Accident

Found via BoingBoing:

Leaping Eagle Ray Kills Woman In Rare Accident
MARATHON (CBS4) ? A woman died in a freak accident in the Keys involving a sea creature on Thursday, but she wasn’t even in the water when it occurred.

Jorge Pino, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said a woman was on a boat with her family off Marathon when an Eagle Ray jumped out of the water next to the vessel Thursday morning. The animal reportedly struck 55-year old Judy Kay Zagorski who fell backward and suffered a severe head trauma.

read more here: cbs4.com – Leaping Eagle Ray Kills Woman In Rare Accident

Hot Buttered Soul DVD

Hot Buttered Soul was a revolutionary four track LP released by Isaac Hayes and the Bar-Kays in 1969. A few months later, 20-year-old Terry Fitzgerald, fresh from a Hawaiian winter season and a big fan of funk and soul rhythms decided to identify the name for his new surfboard company with this multi-layered music genre. But all three words didn’t quite fit on the rainbow sash logo. Thus Hot Buttered Surfboards were born – and with it one of surfing’s true originals. But the third word never went missing. Instead it’s lived in the handmade, hand-painted HB surfboards and the styles that arose from riding them, over three decades, in the best surf on the planet. Hot Buttered Soul: The Movie draws on a deep well of surf cinema heritage to present the surfing of the HB extended family. Choice selections from HB’s “Sultans of Speed” series, along with surf flick classics Morning of the Earth, A Winter’s Tale, Fantasea, Storm Riders and more, are expertly intercut by editor Mick Waters, with interviews and commentary from Andrew Kidman and Derek Hynd. Wherever they went, “Sultans” trips always had the knack of scoring amazing waves. …

… The unique soundtrack, featuring ex Tamam Shud guitarist Tim Gaze in front of a six piece band, was written, practiced, and finally recorded as a single 59-minute free-flowing piece, in sync with the movie’s final cut. It’s an inspired enhancement to inspired footage. The unique packaging will feature two photos which can either remain in their original frame or be removed as individual collector’s items. The first 3 different series of artworks will be limited to 600, 600 and 800. A limited numbered edition of 42 units, of each design, will come with hand signed photos by the Sultan of Speed himself.

Action Sports Video | Hot Buttered Soul DVD

Turn Me Up!
Bringing Dynamics Back To Music

Wow! A website dedicated to bringing back dynamics into modern recordings. I applied there with Tiki Traveling. Hopefully they accept that recording. I will do my best to support the project. I recorded TTWKK in the consciousness of making an anti-loudness record. Being mainly for soundtrack use, I could more easily fight the temptation of being competitive with music recorded for radio, music-tv or a teenager’s music collection, but aimed for the late fifties/early sixties hifi stereo sound instead. Think Command LPs with Bauhaus covers (Enoch Light’s label). I mixed and mastered for a good, enduring listening experience.

command lp klein

These records say: Turn me up! Your stereo deserves being turned up as much as your guitar amp or vehicle. Simply sounds better. Dials are more precise up the scale, too.

I wrote about the so called loudness wars earlier on this blog.

Quote from Turn Me Up!

Turn Me Up!™ is a non-profit music industry organization
campaigning to give artists back the choice to release more dynamic records. To be clear, it’s not our goal to discourage loud records; they are, of course, a valid choice for many artists. We simply want to make the choice for a more dynamic record an option for artists. …

Turn Me Up! | Bringing Dynamics Back To Music

Here’s another link to an article on over-compression of music.

Consumer EQ

EQ stands for equalization.
I want to write about the two knobs that old school consumer electronics had. The treble and bass controls on radios and amplifiers. Do you know somebody who always turns them up? Changing all the sound coming out of his stereo to his or her preferences. But what are these preferences based on?

He or she
… has paid for these knobs and just has to use them.

This habit is actually lowering the mids. The poor mids don’t have a knob of their own, and by boosting their neighbors they get behind in the frequency balance of the undoubtedly preference based volume adjustment.

… claims to compensate lacking gear or room acoustics.
What about the car stereo – same problem? The old radio – same problem? Incidentally the same problem in all audio gear within reach of this person. Try speaker (re-)placement.

… got used to the sound long ago.
This is probably true, but turning the knobs up is covering the symptoms, it’s not the cure.

… finds it sounds more hi-fi
This comes from a youth spend with very old or very cheap radios, receivers, cassette-players or compact record-players. The veils went up when the first proper hi-fi entered the living room. Like blankets were removed from the speakers. It’s a nice metaphor. Unfortunately I can’t provide one about dwarved mids.

The mids. They are the core of music. Many musical pieces were written for solo instruments or small ensembles exploring the beautiful kindom of mids. There’s considerably less music written for glockenspiel, triangel or cymbals. Strange, considering how hi-fi that would sound. Simply put, these treble instruments are the icing on the cake of music, but not the cake itself. Also few solo pieces for double-bass or tympany are being performed regularly. They just don’t deliver the goods, the mids.

Melodies
live in the kingdom of mids. And you also find the most beautiful and complex harmonies there. You don’t hear a jazz chord with a root above 10khz. Or below 60hz. So by boosting these cake-icing frequencies you get less cake. Which you paid for too! Not only in your stereo gear, but the music itself as well. A professionally mastered recording is sounding good on neutral speakers. A serious test in the life of a piece of recorded music. Consumer speakers are much more music friendly, in the sense that they make even mediocre masters or mislead eq-adjustments sound acceptable. Find out the truth about the music you hear! If you don’t like it with the neutral eq-setting, try different music.

One exception!
If you are desperately un-musical, lowering the key musical frequencies by boosting highs and lows (and pushing the important loudness knob!) will help you move the irritating differences in musical compositions to the background.

Wrecking Crew Movie

via Moritz ®

A film by Denny Tedesco
What is the Wrecking Crew?

The Wrecking Crew were a group of Studio Musicians in Los Angeles in the 60s who played on hits for the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Jan & Dean, The Monkees, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Mamas and Papas, Tijuana Brass, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Rivers and were Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. The amount of work that they were involved in was tremendous. …

here’s the trailer

Song List (the links go straight to iTunes):

5th Dimension
Let the Sunshine in/Aquarius
Stone Soul Picnic
Up Up and Away
One Less Bell to Answer

Association
Windy
Never My Love

Beach Boys
California Girls
Don’t Worry Baby
Fun Fun Fun
God Only Knows
Good Vibrations
I Get Around
Sloop John B

Byrds
Mr. Tamborine Man
Turn Turn Turn

Glen Campbell
By The Time I Get to Phoenix
Gentle on My Mind
Wichita Lineman

Captain and Tennille
Love Will Keep Us Together

Carpenters

Close to You
We’ve Only Just Begun

Cher
Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves
Half Breed

Chipmunks
Chipmunks Theme

Nat King Cole
Ramblin Rose

Sam Cooke
Twisting the Night Away
You Send Me

Crystals
And He Kissed Me
Da Doo Ron Ron
He’s A Rebel

Bobby Day
Rockin’ Robin

Defenders
Taco Wagon

Shelley Fabares
Johnny Angel

Richard Harris
MacArthur Park

Jan & Dean
Dead Man’s Curve
Surf City
Little Old Lady From Pasadena
Balboa Blue

Gary Lewis and the Playboys
Everybody Loves a Clown
Sure Gonna Miss Her
This Diamond Ring

Barry McGuire
Eve of Destruction

Mamas & Papas
California Dreaming
Creque Alley
Dedicated to the One I Love
Monday Monday

Henry Mancini
Pink Panther

Marketts
Out of Limits
Surfer Stomp

Dean Martin
Every Body Loves Somebody

Scott McKenzie

Are You Gonig to San Francisco

Monkees
Mary Mary
Valerie

Chris Montez
Let’s Dance

Ricky Nelson
Fools Rush In

Wayne Newton
Danke Schoen

Jack Nitzsche
Lonely Surfer

Harry Nilsson
Everybody’s Talking At Me (Echoes)

Partridge Family
Come on Get Happy

Elvis Presley
A Little Less Conversation
Viva Las Vegas

Paul Revere & the Raiders
Indian Reservation

Righteous Brothers
Unchained Melody
You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling

Rip Chords
Hey Little Cobra

Johnny Rivers
Poor Side of Town

Tommy Roe
Dizzy

Ronettes
Be My Baby
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Routers
Let’s Go

Sandpipers
Guantanamera

Lalo Schifren
Mission Impossible

Simon and Garfunkel
Mrs. Robinson

Frank Sinatra
Strangers in the Night
That’s Life

Nancy Sinatra
These Boots Were Made for Walking
Drummer Man

Sonny and Cher
The Beat Goes On
I Got You Babe

T-Bones
No Matter What Shape Your Stomach Is In

Nino Tempo & April Stevens
Deep Purple

Tijuana Brass
Lonely Bull
Spanish Flea
Taste of Honey
Whipped Cream
Zorba the Greek

Ike and Tina Turner
River Deep Mountain High

Ritchie Valens
Donna

Bobby Vee
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes

Ventures
Hawaii 5-O

Mason Williams
Classical Gas

Roger Williams

Born Free

Bazooki

Now I know which movie this tune is referring to in the Making Out At the Movies album by The Boss Guitars.
I think it’s a Vinnie Bell composition, going back to the Whistle Stop album. There’s also a 45 with a Fink reference in the band name, that’s yet another version.
The track’s title Bazooki refers to Vincent Bell’s invention, the Danelectro Bellzouki. This was the first electric twelve string guitar. And was developed because the greek bouzouki was becoming requested after the soundtrack to Never On A Sunday became such a hit.

Rat Pfink A Boo-Boo at YouTube

Walk-Don’t Run – The Story of The Ventures by Del Halterman

Quote from Lulu:

The Ventures The Story of The Ventures
by Del Halterman

Description:
The definitive historic account of The Ventures, the world’s number one instrumental group that had a worldwide smash hit in 1960 with “Walk-Don’t Run.” Their second biggest hit came nine years later with “Hawaii Five-0” but they didn’t quit there, continuing non-stop on a fifty-year career of touring and making wonderful instrumental recordings. …

Walk-Don’t Run – The Story of The Ventures by Del Halterman (Book) in Biographies & Memoirs