respublica

The first record album I ever bought

Was Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins. Why I have always remembered picking this album for the first purchase I don't know, but I had my first babysitting money and in those days it was cool to be able to buy music. The album cover had a pink background with Marty dressed in black and ready to draw his gun.

In those days westerns were some of the most popular tv shows-Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, The Rifleman, Lawman, Maverick and on and on. So this album was a natural, plus Robbins had a huge hit single from this album which I think was El Paso.

Got to thinking about this after wondering if our old albums were still playable and if Marty Robbins was still in the stack. Going to sift through them sometime this week.

 

Music too good to pass up

From Amazon, 100 songs from movie classics.  99 cents. That is 99 cents for all 100! 

Where will you ever get so much music for so little money? 

I found a kindred spirit

I'm not musical like so many people I know are musical, people who love music of any kind. I endure and that's about it. So this tweet by Tim Siedell made me laugh out loud.

"If you can stand to listen to a barbershop quartet for more than two minutes, you are in a barbershop quartet."

Lock up those tubas

Who'd have thought?

Tuba bandits are hitting schools all over Southern California these days. Seems Tubas are in high demand for the fast growing Mexican banda music in which the tuba plays a main roll. " It is particularly popular in Los Angeles, where musicians gather in places like Mariachi Plaza to offer their services to parties, weddings, quinceaneras and other events."

Silent Monks sing the Halleluia

Fantastic!

 

Good Riddance to Albert Pujols says...

...the classical music lovers of St. Louis.  The wound caused by the sale of KFUO FM Classic 99, is still raw and the resentment over Pujols' part in the sale still offends.  

In July of 2010 the only classical music in St. Louis went off the air after KFUO FM's broadcasting license was sold to JOY.  Pujols was responsible for much of the funds and fund raising necessary for JOY to be granted the license and thus has long been the object of classical music fans' ire.  

Christmas Songs played the most

I had to study this for some time before I figured it out.  Ah.  The songs played most today are the songs represented by the boxes in the middle, songs baby boomers heard when they were growing up.  The fact that 1980-2010 was blank threw me for a bit.   Click to enlarge

Frankly if these are the most played Christmas songs on radio and in malls, it is due more to the people selecting them then any desire on the part of baby boomers to hear them.  The fact is, these are the generic, secular pieces of music that are safe from offending those do not celebrate Christmas and are the kind I would prefer not to hear.  

And while on this subject, why do so many of the real Christmas Carols always seem to have been redone in a country western style?  Yes they have, at least the ones public airwaves put out.  Silent Night in a country twang and all the rest.  

The First Sunday in Advent

Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates

Listen

In Concert in St. Louis the...

Lennon Sisters!  They will be singing and maybe dancing at Lindenwood University on December 17, tickets range from 42 to 24 dollars.

The reason I bring this up is because a few of us were talking about this at a Collinsville Progress meeting the other day.  The reaction to most of us was, "The Lennon Sisters!  They're still performing?"  

Then the conversation drifted to the most obvious question:  "How old do you think they are?"

This age thing has been nagging at me since Thursday so I finally did a Google search.  They are in birth order:  Dianne 1939, Peggy 1941, Kathy 1943 and Janet 1946.  So they range in age from 72 to 65.  

But did you know that the family consisted of not just these 4 but 12 kids?  The Lawrence Welk quartet were the oldest and now the touring group consists of one of the younger siblings, Mimi, Janet and Kathy.  Dianne and Peggy have retired.  

FYI

Collinsville H.S. Band plays the National Anthem on Veterans Day

The Collinsville High School band played the National Anthem inside the American Legion to open the ceremony.  At the end you'll see veterans of the Battle of the Bulge standing with salute.