TVD Laugh Tracks | Steve Martin

"Yea, I remember MY first beer...!"

Steve Martin - Philosophy/Religion/College/Language (Mp3)
Steve Martin - A Wild And Crazy Guy (Mp3)
Steve Martin - An Expose (Mp3)
Steve Martin - Cat Handcuffs (Mp3)
Steve Martin - My Real Name (Mp3)

TVD Laugh Tracks | Steve Martin

"You know, a lot of people come to me and they say, 'Steve, how can you be so fucking funny?' There's a secret to it, it's no big deal. Before I go out, I put a slice of bologna in each of my shoes. So when I'm on stage, I FEEL funny."

Steve Martin - Let's Get Small (Mp3)
Steve Martin - Smoking (Mp3)
Steve Martin - Mad At My Mother (Mp3)
Steve Martin - Excuse Me (Mp3)
Steve Martin - Funny Comedy Gags (Mp3)

TVD Laugh Tracks | Monty Python

In 2002, the six billionth can of Spam was sold.

Monty Python - Spam Song (Mp3)
Monty Python - Knights of the Round Table (Mp3)
Monty Python - Lumberjack Song (Mp3)
Monty Python - Galaxy Song (Mp3)
Monty Python - The Knights Who Say Nee (Mp3)

Bonus!
Kevin Wilson - Ho Ho Fucking Ho (Mp3)

TVD Laugh Tracks | Monty Python

Rare it is indeed when the TVD readership writes to us here directly to say they've enjoyed a posted feature or theme--but it seems we hit upon something with our recent 'Laugh Tracks' series if the response at TVD HQ is to be any indication. So, we're digging into our bag of wax once more this week to breathe life into the cubicle (or office) with a dose of classic levity. And they don't come more classic or uh, levitated:

Monty Python - Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Mp3)
Monty Python - The Spanish Inquisition (Mp3)
Monty Python - Logic Vs. Sex (Mp3)
Monty Python - I Like Chinese (Mp3)
Monty Python - Argument (Mp3)

TVD's Parting Shots

"Producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz have claimed credit for coining the term "bubblegum music", saying that when they discussed their target audience, they decided it was "teenagers, the young kids. And at the time we used to be chewing bubblegum and my partner and I used to look at it and laugh and say, 'Ah, this is like bubblegum music'." The term was seized upon by Buddah Records label executive Neil Bogart. Music writer and bubblegum historian Bill Pitzonka confirmed the claim, telling Goldmine magazine: "That's when bubblegum crystallized into an actual camp. Kasenetz and Katz really crystallized it when they came up with the term themselves and that nice little analogy. And Neil Bogart, being the marketing person he was, just crammed it down the throats of people. That's really the point at which bubblegum took off.""

Ten to chew on for your weekend:
The Archies - Sugar, Sugar (Mp3)
1910 Fruitgum Company - Simon Says (Mp3)
The Ohio Express - Yummy Yummy Yummy (Mp3)
1910 Fruitgum Company - 1, 2, 3 Red Light (Mp3)
The Ohio Express - Chewy Chewy (Mp3)
The Jaggerz - The Rapper (Mp3)
The Ohio Express - Mercy (Mp3)
Lemon Pipers - Rice Is Nice (Mp3)
1910 Fruitgum Company - Goody Goody Gumdrops (Mp3)
1910 Fruitgum Company - Special Delivery (Mp3)

TVD's One Million Screaming Girls

How much sugar can one ingest with one's breakfast--or lunch, or dinner, depending on where you tune in TVD? We shall see...

Please do not forward us your dentist's bills. Thank you.

Jackson 5 - The Love You Save (Mp3)
The Monkees - Valerie (Mp3)
Bobby Sherman - Julie (Mp3)
Shaun Cassidy - Morning Girl (Mp3)
Leif Garrett - I Was Made For Dancing (Mp3)

TVD's Eleven Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways | Week 4!

The Vinyl Giveaway Madness continues for another week here at TVD with two Dan Auerbach related releases -- The Black Keys "Attack & Release" and Dan's new solo LP, "Keep It Hid."

And if that's not enough to get you opining in the comments, our good friends at Crooked Beat Records have a pair of tickets to give away to see Dan Auerbach at the 9:30 Club on Saturday, February 28th! Get down to the store, tell 'em The Vinyl District sent ya, and enter your name into the giveaway. A winner for the tickets will be drawn in-store on 2/26 for Dan's show at the 9:30 on 2/28.

Meanwhile, the process is the same to get your hands on the vinyl: grab our attention in the comments WITH your email address (important!) so we can contact you about your triumphant win. (Or, you can comment and forward your email address in an email to us. We're not picky.) And remember - each entry into our vinyl contest is an automatic entry to win the Stanton T.90 USB turntable on Record Store Day 2009!

Just make it funny. Or make it smart. About record stores. Or Record Store Day. Or vinyl. About us or you. Or something else all together. Just make it before next Monday (2/23) when we'll choose our winner. (AND launch giveaway #5...)

TVD's Alternative Ulcer

My friend DJ Busca is a bike courier by day and a spinner of records by night. Those two things, coupled with the fact that he's dating a dear dear friend of mine, make him awesome. I asked him to share with TVD readers what makes vinyl so special to him, and he replied that it's all about the 45s:

"Few other man-made objects package Joy quite like the 45 rpm record. Lightweight, portable, and crucially free of moving parts, the 45 delivers a universe of sound in just 6 7/8 inches of pressed vinyl. The labels are the icing on the cake; even the boring ones manage to satisfy a basic sense of aesthetics. Many genres of music have been released on 45 but reggae and funk are responsible for many of the format's classics. I would add salsa to the list to complete my own personal trilogy, although those specimens are considerably rarer.

Many, many tunes have been cut on the Stalag riddim but few I've heard strip it down as raw as General Echo's "Arleen." The drum and bass hit the listener right where it counts. Say what you will about the sax-lead subgenre of funk but the drum break at the beginning of Monk Higgin's "Gotta Be Funky" is pretty damn, well, funky. Although the body of their work is just as much rock as funk, on "The Message" Cymande demonstrates their singular touch, warm vibes and relentless grooviness. There's nothing like a rough and ready 70s salsa cut and "El Yerbero Del Barrio" by Robert y Su Nuevo Montuno is a great example. The lyrics probably mean exactly what they say but I'd like to think there's a double meaning there."

You can catch DJ Busca TONIGHT at the Reef's Lush Lounge in Adam's Morgan. I know I'll be there enjoying their excellent beer selection and trying to shake this week off while listening to the funky yet comforting sounds of DJ Busca. If you can't wait till then, he's giving you a taste via the songs he's described above to get you through your Thursday.

Cymande - The Message (Mp3)
Monk Higgins and the Specialities - Gotta Be Funky (Mp3)
General Echo - Arleen (Mp3)
Roberto y Su Nuevo Montuno - El Yerbero Del Barrio (Mp3)

TVD's One Million Screaming Girls

One gloriously sunny and warm June Saturday morning, I took my bike out of the garage and peddled over to my school at the time, Shark River Hills Elementary, where there was a little flea market of sorts being held. With a few coins in my pocket, I purchased two coverless Partridge Family comic books, rode down Elizabeth Terrace to my home, and read both under the shade of a tree on my front lawn.

Around me bees swirled. Lawns were being mowed. Flowers planted. Cars washed. Dogs walked. Mothers made lunches. Fathers tinkered in garages. And I confess without any hint of irony--I never felt more at peace.

The Partridge Family - Come On Get Happy (Mp3)
The Partridge Family - I Woke Up In Love This Morning (Mp3)
The Partridge Family - Think I Love You (Mp3)
The Partridge Family - Bandala (Mp3)
The Partridge Family - Welcome To Our Fan Club (Mp3)
David Cassidy - Welcome To My Fan Club (Mp3)

TVD First Date With | Inward Eye

Fresh off the road supporting The Who, you'd think that Winnipeg's Inward Eye, who cite influences as varied as The Kinks, The Jam, Smokey Robinson, and Holland-Dozier-Holland, might have a thing or two to say regarding vinyl records. And you'd be right.

We caught up with the trio's bassist and vocalist Dave Erickson, with a flashback or five:

"My earliest memory of vinyl records was the smell. Opening my dad's wooden drawer filled with old relics, I remember this earthy organic smell filling the air, much like the sound. Flipping through the strange looking artwork wondering what they all sounded like is how I first fell in love with music.

I remember hearing vinyl for the first time and loving the warmth of the bass and how everything seemed to meld into one big sound, like it was pulsing together, with a real heart and soul. You really can't achieve that with a CD or iPod. Some may say that a CD has a "truer" sound because it has a greater bandwidth, but there is something about putting on an old record that seems to suspends reality for moment without the sterile pro-tooled sound."


INWARD EYE - SHAME from Rémy M.Larochelle on Vimeo.

TVD's One Million Screaming Girls

(...I'd like to see the faces of those of you who're visiting TVD for the first time right about now.)

That's correct--your eyes aren't playing tricks on you--it's an Osmond Brothers record cover! We're doing an experiment to see if Top 40 radio from the classic Tiger Beat era was worth it's salt! ...And we don't know why...!

Now, where was I?? Ahem. ...2, 3, 4... "Aaand they called it/puppy love..."

The Osmonds - One Bad Apple (Mp3)
The Osmonds - Crazy Horses (Mp3)
Donny Osmond - Sweet and Innocent (Mp3)
Donny Osmond - Go Away Little Girl (Mp3)
Donny Osmond - Puppy Love (Mp3)

TVD's One Million Screaming Girls

...or can they?

I've gone on and on in this spot in regard to my eye-gouging disdain for contemporary 'popular' music, so I won't repeat myself again. But I've often felt that the young impressionals out there are currently getting the shaft--to the point where I'm almost beginning sentences with the, "In myyy day..." with that down the nose sneer n' all.

But I do tend to believe that Top 40 radio and singles and pop stardom was far better in the early, classic Tiger Beat era.

Or was it?

Have I glamorized my own brand of heady youth that I'm just not seeing clearly? I mean, I wasn't READING Tiger Beat, but I can point to a particular radio-friendly era with fondness that Tiger Beat covered to a fault. (And it's not a fault that the pre-teen female audience fretted over, I'm sure.)

So, for the coming days TVD'll be asking the question out loud: Was Top 40 radio and singles and pop stardom far better in that Tiger Beat era?

Actually, I'm not sure myself but we'll find out together as we relisten (or listen anew) to some of this stuff.

A confession right up front however, if it wasn't for Sweet's 'Fox On The Run' and the Bay City Rollers' 'Saturday Night' you'd all be staring at a blank screen right about now...

Bay City Rollers - I Only Want To Be With You (Mp3)
Bay City Rollers - Rock and Roll Love Letter (Mp3)
Bay City Rollers - Shang-A-Lang (Mp3)
Bay City Rollers - The Way I Feel Tonight (Mp3)
Bay City Rollers - Saturday Night (Mp3)

TVD Parting Shots

Much like love itself, all one need do is search for the term among all the others and pull out your favorites. Thusly, your Valentine's Weekend Ten.
X!

Chris Knox - It's Love (Mp3)
Datarock - Computer Camp Love (Mp3)
Buggles - I Love You (Miss Robot) (Mp3)
Soft Cell - Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go (12" mix) (Mp3)
Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song (Mp3)
Cee Farrow - Should I Love You (Mp3)
Fiction Factory - Ghost of Love (Mp3)
Gand of Four - I Love A Man In A Uniform (Mp3)
Alicia Bridges - I Love The Nightlife (Mp3)
Fats Waller - I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby (And My Baby's Crazy 'Bout Me) (Mp3)

TVD's Eleven Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways | Week 3!

Another week, another great TVD vinyl giveaway! This week: the all hip-hop edition! (Covering all the bases here on the blog, huh?) Up for grabs this week is the new Murs LP, 'Murs for President' and 'Notorious', the Biggie Smalls movie soundtrack.

You know the drill; grab our attention in the comments WITH your email address (important!) so we can contact you about your triumphant win. (Or, you can comment and forward your email address in an email to us. We're not picky.) And remember - each entry into our vinyl contest is an automatic entry to win the Stanton T.90 USB turntable on Record Store Day 2009!

Just make it funny. Or make it smart. About record stores. Or Record Store Day. Or vinyl. About us or you. Or something else all together. Just make it before next Monday (2/16) when we'll choose our winner. (AND launch giveaway #4...)

TVD's Alternative Ulcer

My first exposure to rap and hip hop came in the form of the music channel The Box, which I don't think exists in the US anymore. The Box gave viewers the ability to dial in and by touch tone phone request what video they wanted to see. I was 9. We had just moved to Alabama after spending 8 years overseas in Europe. My older brother and I would get home from school and watch whatever was on the Rap/Hip Hop channel of the Box. N.W.A. Wu-Tang. West coast rap. East coast rap. Music videos filled with stuff I couldn't dream up. I always thought I'd get in trouble if my mom found out we were watching these music videos. Guns. Alcohol. Drugs. Bikinis. When I was 9 we weren't even allowed to watch the Simpsons or Married With Children (no, seriously, although that rule was later dropped only after being back in the states a few years, and I thank my parents for having such mercy on myself and my siblings.) But I loved it.

To my memory, nobody ever requested De La Soul. Which is a damn shame because that meant I would have to wait until I was in middle school, for my brother to listen to them (and Tribe Called Quest among others), for me to be exposed to their musical goodness. I was late in the game to loving De La Soul (although, considering my age, maybe no so late) so I didn't have any De La on vinyl. Until Sunday that is. At the Record Fair (Did you go? If you didn't you should spend the weekend sober and reading Old Man and the Sea all the way through 20 times in a row in order to properly punish yourself. As if not going and experiencing the greatness of the Fair wasn't punishment enough! zing!) I came across 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul's first album. I've listened to it maybe 8 times since Sunday. Now you can join me. Enjoy.

De La Soul - Me, Myself And I (Mp3)
De La Soul - Buddy [with Jungle Brothers and Q] (Mp3)
De La Soul - Change In Speak (Mp3)
De La Soul - Eye Know (Mp3)
De La Soul - Say No Go (Mp3)

TVD: I Go Walking

U2 was never my band. Like so much other music, they were on the radio in the background, on television, at parties--nearly ubiquitous. You know, just fine. Just there. Stuff for the masses. I'd rather hear something else, etc.

BUT, if there's a time period or a vibe for this week's walk, it's typified by the video for New Year's Day. Not my band, but after all these years--my soundtrack.

(And the rereleases on vinyl sound gorgeous and look even better...I've bought them all. Perhaps there's a U2 switch in the works? Hmm.)

U2 - New Year's Day [Original Version] (Mp3)
U2 - Two Hearts Beat As One [US Remix] (Mp3)
U2 - '40' [Live] (Mp3)
U2 - New Year's Day (Mp3)

TVD: I Go Walking

"I didn't do the remix, I did the mix." —Tom Moulton

Talk Talk - Dum Dum Girl [12" Mix] (Mp3)
Talk Talk - It's My Life (Mp3)
Talk Talk - Such a Shame (Mp3)