[Glenn's Guide] 7 hot links to 7 spectacular musical film clips

Thu Jun 4 12:13:03 PDT 2009

Hi Folks,

I've been working the past several weeks crusin' youtube for buried  
treasures and have rounded up a nice little pot of gold for all you  
youth-tubers and Grouch Potatoes to dig.  Don’t try this at home--I  
can do it faster & more efficiently since I’ve been collecting music  
on film almost as long as I’ve collected records. I already know what  
exists, and only a small fraction is up there.

You wouldn't believe how much youseless, tubeless trash I've waded  
through, but buried deep in the swill are some real gems: clips from  
old movies, TV, newsreels, and documentaries containing incredible  
music of all styles and decades.

The concept of this list is that I'll post one short email every week  
or two, containing links to five to ten brilliant old musical clips.   
Anyone can join the list and start getting these posts, and anyone  
can leave the list at anytime.

Here is Glenn’s Picks #2, the latest from me and all of us at the  
American Musical Heritage Foundation.  This time I’ve scribbled some  
semblance of liner notes for your education and Edison-ification,  
which begin right after the last link:

1.  Joe Tex  "Show Me”    “live” in 1968

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivoAyRScrn8

2.  Freddy King   “Tore Down”     “live” in 1966

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHKcbyJntyM

3.  Johnny Cash  “I Walk the Line”     “live” in 1955

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVK8CH3u2oI

4.  Billie Holiday with Louis Armstrong & his All-Stars  “Do You Know  
What it Means to Miss New Orleans”    1947

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk__n5KX5tE

5.  Veronica Lake  “Now You See It”   1942

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9t3ADYih9s

6.   Anton Karas  “The Third Man Theme”  “Café Mozart Waltz”  late 1940s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFz79SBnuk8

7.  Uncle Dave Macon & son   “Take Me Back to That Old Carolina  
Home”   1939

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tFetm5mTQA

Notes by Glenn Howard, Founder and Curator of the American Musical  
Heritage Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit phonograph record library.

1.    Joe Tex--really wrecks me. Last year I spun through both sides  
of a 6-inch stack of his Dial 45s and my earlobes are still flappin’  
to the groove.  I recall hearing “Show Me” a couple of times on my  
car radio in ’67, but the charts have it stalled at  #35.  Back then,  
it took a warehouse of white kids’ money to push a black record up  
anywhere near the top ten.  Motown understood this better than the  
hard soul labels and aimed systematically at white kids, raking in  
the hits.

At the AMHF we recognize that records have an “Absolute Value,” no  
matter how few copies were actually sold. Forget the charts.  All you  
need to know is that this is some bad-ass 1967 soul music and Joe Tex  
on Dial will never go out of style.

2.   Freddy King--The first electric blues LP I ever touched belonged  
to some surfer I met around 1964 whose whole crowd preferred Freddy  
to the Beach Boys. Back in the sixties, the three “Kings” weren’t  
from “Orient Are”  - wherever that is.  Albert, B.B. and Freddy were  
all from the South.  The Brits still owe a big balance of trade just  
for the coin they made off of  Xeroxing the licks from these three  
Kings of the Blues. Maybe they should levy a Stomp Tax on British  
Blues and break up their little tea party.

3.  Johnny Cash--This Cash is anything but trash ‘cause “Live in '55”  
is hard to top. The possibly recognizable tune was brand new, right  
out of the box and still had that new car, Body by Fisher smell.   
Cash’s lead player, Luther Perkins was absolutely essential to his  
sound, but he probably was shorter in the chops department than any  
other lead guitarist in the hillbilly and rock ’n’ roll rackets.   A  
tip of the old felt Fedora to computer wizard John Gilmore for  
diggin’ up this little relic.  I give it like, on a scale of 1 to 10  
- an easy 11.

4.  Billie Holiday & Louis Armstrong—You may want to jump some rope  
to this little ring-shout rhyme:

Lady Day and Satchmo, sittin’ in a tree,
S - i - n - g - i - n - g,
Singing from her heart strings, singing through his horn,
Singing ‘bout the place where jazz was born.

I’m speechless in the face of so much musical magic and a song that  
says it all.  Billie finally got her big role in a major Hollywood  
film “playin’ somebody’s damn maid.”  She was not pleased about that,  
but I’m pleased to share it with you anyway.

5.  Veronica Lake--I was totally imprinted as a mere hatchling by the  
Hollywood classic, “I Married a Witch,” which made this Goddess with  
the peek-a-boo hairstyle top kitten in my own little universe for the  
duration. I completely lost it when I saw her singing this little  
ditty - it’s pure magic.  She’s a hipster’s trickster with a gown  
that is ready to take on the town.

Here’s a Howard’s “hip tip” --guaranteed to lead to further viewing  
pleasure:

Tap Netflix, or one of that crowd for “I Married a Witch,”   
“Sullivan’s Travels” and “This Gun for Hire.”  You’ll be a goner, too.

6.   Anton Karas--I owe Leon Redbone big time for hipping me to this  
clip a few years ago.  I’ve parked my eyeballs and earlobes  
repeatedly in front of Orson Welles’ flick “The Third Man” for  
decades, and though Anton’s solo zither is the whole soundtrack, they  
never shine a light on his mittens while he’s pickin’.  Until Brother  
Leon came to the rescue, I had never-ever spotted one in the act of  
being played. I mean really, how many statesiders can be caught live  
in the act of pounding away on a zither in plain sight?  Zip, so far.

This is the soul music of Austria. If you haven’t seen the movie put  
it towards the top of your list.  If you have, then you know it’s  
time to see it again.

7.  Uncle Dave Macon--Old-timey banjo doesn’t get much better than  
what this fugitive from the 19th century is layin’ down. He became  
the first “star” of the Grand Old Opry.  This is about as “old, weird  
America” as you can get- and a righteous laugh riot, too.

Uncle Dave was a folk fool-osopher, who taught that you should keep  
your skillet good and greasy all the time, time, time - words to live  
by in these trying times and Schopen-hauers of decision.  If you  
decide that you absolutely must go schopping, stock up on any and all  
of Uncle Dave’s records.

Until next time,

Glenn

=======================================
Glenn Allen Howard
Founder, Curator
American Musical Heritage Foundation

(831) 335-4356
PO Box 66224
Santa Cruz County CA 95067

(360) 691-2105
PO Box 163
Arlington, WA 98223

glennallenhoward at yahoo.com

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