Jenks "Tex" Carman - Hillbilly Hula [Capitol 1952]


Submitted by "Albany" Al Tellone of Newark - a.k.a. Albee
Albee is an old, old friend of mine...we worked and met at the Danelectro Guitar Factory in 1969? or 1968. He was also [along with Big Danny Gallagher] the first road crew for Bruce Springsteen as well as adding sax to the Boss's 2nd LP.


Jenks Tex Carman was one of the more dubious but interesting talents ever to achieve stardom, however fleeting, in country music. A player of great dexterity but severely lacking in any sense of rhythm, and even more lacking in a voice, Carman succeeded on the basis of the sheer enthusiasm of his performances, achieving some respectable record sales and a national following based on his television appearances.

Carman's Capitol recording career lasted from April of 1951 until December of 1953, and despite some very uncomfortable moments in the studio, he generated some choice sides — "Hillbilly Hula" was his most famous and requested song.

Jenks "Tex" Carman was not in a league with the best steel or Hawaiian guitarists, and his vocal skills were even more limited. He was a master showman, however, and accomplished with sheer enthusiasm and reckless abandon what he couldn't do with technical skills or musical instincts.

Listen to this steel string twistin' party!!

Jenks "Tex" Carman Hillbilly Hula

Big Daddy & His Boys - Bacon Fat


Big Daddy & His Boys - Bacon Fat [King 1957]

The greasy, grindin' slab of 10" shellac was released in 1957 on Sid Nathans' King Records. Bacon Fat was originally done by Andre' Williams on Epic Records in 1956 and re-released on Fortune in 1957.

Big Daddy is really Big Bob Kornegay who also recorded as "The Happy Wanderer" - "Hocus Pocus Voodoo" on Herald Records, Big Bob the incredible "Your line was a busy" on Jaro Records, and Big Bee Kornegay - "The House of Frankenstein".

His first recordings were in 1951/'52 on Sittin' In With Records, NYC, afterwhich he took the bass chair in the Du-Droppers and later in The Ravens when Jimmy Ricks left to go solo.

The last anyone heard of The Big Man was in 1963 when he put out Wowsville, pts 1&2 on Stacy Records.

Download this slab of "Bacon Fat"...

Big Daddy & His Boys Bacon Fat

A Legend Passes



Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo A.K.A.
Yma Sumac R.I.P.

Yma Sumac (September 13, 1922 – November 1, 2008) was a noted Peruvian soprano. Legend has it that she was born in Brooklyn, NY and Yma Sumac was really Amy Camus [Yma Sumac spelt backwards].........but this has never been confirmed anymore than the Alice Cooper / Eddie Haskell rumor.

In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music and became an international success, based on the merits of her extreme vocal range, which was said to be "well over four octaves" and was sometimes claimed to span even five octaves at her peak.

During the 1950s, Yma Sumac produced a series of legendary lounge music recordings featuring Hollywood-style versions of Incan and South American folk songs, working with the likes of Les Baxter and Billy May. The combination of her extraordinary voice, exotic looks, and stage personality made her a hit with American audiences.

She recorded a record in 1971 with Les Baxter in charge with some rock musicians titled "Miracles"....again legend has it that it was Lou Reed on guitar but I doubt this rumor also....

Listen to a cut from "Miracles" ........

Yma Sumac Remember

Technicolor Balls & Strikes?



DOC ELLIS....R.I.P

Dock Phillip Ellis, Jr. (March 11, 1945 - December 19, 2008) was a Major League baseball player who pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates, among other teams. His best season was 1971, when he won 19 games for the World Series champion Pirates and was the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star Game.

However, Ellis is better-known for several incidents:

Beaning Reggie Jackson in the face in apparent retaliation for Reggie's monstrous home run off Ellis in the 1971 All-Star game in Detroit.

No-hitting the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970 despite being, as he would claim in 1984, under the influence of LSD throughout the course of the game. Ellis had been visiting friends in Los Angeles under the impression he had the day off and was still high when his girlfriend told him he had to pitch a game against the Padres that night. Ellis boarded a shuttle flight to the ballpark and threw a no-hitter despite not being able to feel the ball or clearly see the batter or catcher. Ellis claims catcher Jerry May wore reflective tape on his fingers which helped Ellis to see his target. Ellis walked eight, struck out six, and was aided by excellent fielding plays by second baseman Bill Mazeroski and centerfielder Matty Alou. During the game, Ellis is reported to have commented to his teammates on the bench between innings that he was pitching a no-hitter-- in spite of the superstition that discourages mentioning a no-hitter while it is in progress. Because the no-hitter was the first game of a double header, Ellis was forced to keep track of the pitch count for the night game.
According to Ellis:
I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the (catcher's) glove, but I didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me.

Attempting to hit every batter in the Cincinnati Reds lineup on May 1, 1974. In an effort to prove a point to teammates, Ellis hit Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen in the top of the first. The clean-up batter Tony Perez avoided Ellis' attempts, instead drawing a walk, and after two pitches aimed at the head of Johnny Bench, Ellis was removed from the game by manager Danny Murtaugh. Ellis' box score for the game reads: 0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
Arguing with and being maced by a Riverfront Stadium security guard on May 5, 1972. The guard claimed Ellis did not identify himself and "made threatening gestures with a closed fist"; Ellis countered that he was showing his World Series ring as evidence of his affiliation with the Pirates.

Ellis went on to play for the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, and Texas Rangers, then ended his career back in Pittsburgh. He finished with a lifetime record of 138-119 and an ERA of 3.46.

Ellis collaborated with future U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall on a book, Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball, which was published in 1976. Although Hall knew of the LSD incident, it was not included in the first edition of the book; Ellis was playing for the Yankees when the book was published, and Hall worried that George Steinbrenner would react negatively to such an admission.

Dock Ellis retired to Victorville, California and a career as a drug counselor. He was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in 2007 and was on the list for a transplant at the time of his death. ESPN reported on December 19, 2008, that Ellis had died at his California home due to "a liver ailment."

Pitching a major league baseball game while tripping the light fantastic....now that's talent. You can't make this stuff up......

Jazz Bassist Sees a Sitar in the Corner And.......


Bill Plummer & the Cosmic Brotherhood - Journey to the East [Impulse 1968]

To call this "faux-psych" would be doing a this incredible part of the California psych scene a disservice. It's so good that who cares if it is just a bunch of studio guys that listened to Dr. Tim and took his advice. One look at the musician credits gives you a hint that it's chock full of heavyweights. Hersh Hamel (Himmelstein) gets the songwriting and production credit. Look into Hamel's history and you find that he was a constant figure in West Coast Jazz. His name is behind Chet Baker (he appears in Let's Get Lost), Dexter Gordon, Teddy Edwards, and especially Art Pepper. Carol Kaye you might recognize as the thundering bass on "These Boots Are Made For Walking", a young Tom Scott adds sax, flute & electronics, Milt Holland on tabla and the ringleader is Bill Plummer, string bassist & sitarist who made an astounding and quite collectible sitar psych jazz album. The vocals are handled by a guy named Maurice Miller, who primarily was a jazz drummer, having played behind John Coltrane on Cosmic Music (as well as other gigs).

Check out this tongue-in-cheek homage to all things "cosmic" by downloading the opening track for the LP below.


Bill Plummer & the Cosmic Brotherhood Journey to the East

James Brown Meets a Giant


James Brown & Fabulous Flames - That Dood It [Federal 1957]

Check out this slab of 10" mayhem from the Godfather. One of the most untypical recordings of JB's early career. It's the comic tale of "a great big ole giant, my money, my honey, and me", cast in the similar mold of what Ray Charles was doing a couple of years previous.

As far as I know "That Dood It" was never released on 45rpm but only on 78rpm but it did appear on JB's first LP "Please Please Please" in 1959. It was included on ROOTS OF A REVOLUTION, a double cd of some of JB's early recordings which was released and is now Out Of Print.

JB's picks for singles releases were totally at odds with cigar smokin' Sid Nathan of King Records in Cincinnati....I would've loved to be a fly on the wall for this one.

James Brown & the Fabulous Flames That Dood It

Who Was That Moocher?


Dave Bartholomew - Who Drank The Beer While I Was In The Rear [Imperial 1952]

Dave Bartholomew was the man behind Fats Domino rise to success as well as being the author of Chuck Berry's only #1 - My Ding-A-Ling [but we'll forgive him for that!].

Trumpet player, entepreneur, songwriter, member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...all these titles apply to the great Dave Bartholomew. Elvis Costello thought enough of DB to mention him in "Monkey to Man" on THE DELIVERY MAN which came out in 2004.

Check out this amazing slice of R&B from one of the first artists to write about social issues [The Monkey].

Dave Bartholomew Who Drank The Beer While I Was In The Rear