me with Audacity and a spare hour or so before i have to leave you all to pick up milk and cigarettes
Hey, y’all! Hope you’re doing your best. It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means–it’s once again time for Talkie Time and The Jazz Program on datafruits.fm!
This week, we’re trying something a bit different. Unfortunately, as you’ve all noticed, I’ve been AWOL quite a bit these past few months, and haven’t had much of a solution for fixing it.
But tonight, we’re trying to slap some ol’ flex-tape on my busy schedule and the gaps in the Datafruits programming that I’ve been having to leave.
This evening, I’ve prepared a pre-recorded three hour set of all-new programming for you all. It should? work without a hitch, and if it does, I’ll be recording a few more backup pre-records for days I have to be absent. Inshallah this will work flawlessly, and we’ll have something to work with going forwards.
Read on below to find out what we’ll be playin’ this evening!
Talkie Time : Stand By For Crime - A Spy Ring In June / Subversive Activities
terrible whirring noises
STAND BY FOR CRIME
incomprehensible random radio noises
…Really, it’s like a microcosm of our show in general here.
If you're curious as to which of the episodes I'm saving for next year's Valentine's Day show...well, this should clue you in.
It wasn’t pulling numbers like its contemporaries (Mr. District Attourney and Gangbusters are a couple name-dropped by the OTRR on their write-up, and I’d personally proffer Casey, Crime Photographer and Box 13 as more direct analogs), but Stand By For Crime is a fairly solid example of the “random non-cop gets dragged into Crime Hijinks”.
The show stars real-life couple Glenn Langan as LA news anchor Chuck Morgan and Adele Jergens as his glamourpuss “Gal Friday”, Carol Curtis. Every episode seems to result in both of them getting in some kind of trouble (and, in Carol’s case, occasionally arrested) in the name of Gettin’ The Scoop.
Sadly, a lot of things in this show haven’t aged nearly as well as some of the other programs we’ve featured; see also the constant casual infantalizating and womanizing misogyny shown towards Carol, the casual racism in episodes like Marijuana Mystery or the actual name of Episode 18 (which no, I will not be repeating here, you can find that on your own time), and a few other things along those lines. And if you’re going up against other shows from the fucking Fifties and coming up short, you’ve got a problem.
With that stated, these two episodes (as well as two others, which I’m saving for next year’s Valentine’s Day episode) are decently amusing romps through a paranoiac post-world-war and pre-Cold-War world, where Enemy Spies somehow still lurked around every corner and BOY HOWDY those boogeymen sure sold papers and got butts in seats for airtime.
This evening, we’ve got “A Spy Ring In June”, and “Subversive Activities”, both originally airing sometime in 1952. Sadly, no more detailed airtime information exists as far as I could tell.
The Jazz Program: Byard Lancaster - It’s not Up To Us (1968) / Funky Funky Rib Crib (1979) / Exodus (1977)
In fairness, maybe I should have saved "Funky Funky Rib Crib" for a theme night of "all the cover arts show some dude with his shirt off". I'm sure I'll have plenty of options for that when it comes around, though.
Born in 1942, passed away in 2012, and all throughout a Pennsylvanian, Byard Lancaster is one of the stalwart names of Philly’s free jazz scene. And, with an “In Groups” list on Discogs a mile long and a lifetime and career of nothing but rare groove after rare groove in his output, Philly was in damn good hands.
While we won’t be looking at any records from his rotating roles in and out of the improv groups of the day–trust me, I could make two entire theme nights, at least, just gushing about his best performances in groups like The Errol Parker Experience and Sounds Of Liberation–we will be taking a look at three of his early career records with him in the bandleader’s chair.
First up, we’ve got his debut record It’s Not Up To Us, released on Vortex Records in 1968, which features the indomitable Sonny Sharrock on guitar.
Next up, it’s Funky Funky Rib Crib, released on Palm in 1979, featuring Chicago’s own Steve McCall on drums and Clint Jackson III on trumpet. Clint and Byard recorded the fantastic Mother Africa in 1974, and you can see the pair back together again on this record.
And finally, we’ve got 1977’s Exodus, released on the Philly Jazz label in 1977.
That about covers this week’s show! Hopefully everything works as planned tonight; if so, I should have quite a lot less gaps in our broadcasting schedule. Again, I do apologize for being out for milk and cigarettes a lot lately, but if this pre-record thing works we’ll be back together every Tuesday for the forseeable future. Your dad will be very happy, I’m sure.
If you’re reading this the day of, and you can make it in tonight, you should come hang out in the chat with us on Datafruits! We’ve got a good crowd of folks in the chat every week, and whether you have a suggestion for a future show or just want to hang out and chat with fellow jazz enjoyers, you’re welcome here with us.
You’re all amazing and don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not. Stay safe out there, and I’ll see you back again next week. Same time, same station: on datafruits dot fm..