Conference mr1pst::music

re: .0

> Any old Cody fans creeping around Notes?

Sure are.  I miss the heyday of country-rock.

Commander Cody's lead guitar player, Bill Kirchen, now lives in Maryland
and plays in the Baltimore-Washington area under the name "Bill Kirchen
and Too Much Fun".

BTW, while "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette" is indeed an old country
song (I seem to recall Merle Travis doing it), I seem to recall that
Hot Rod Lincoln was written by Cody (I can't remember his real name right
now) and someone else in the band, perhaps the lead singer.  I might
be wrong, though.

-Hal

Hot Rod Lincoln was written by Charley Ryan who, incidentally, shows that 
Lincoln-powered Model A on the street rod circuit.  The song's been covered 
by a number of individuals, most notable, Johnny Bond.

When the song had nearly faded into obscurity, Commander Cody covered it.

 > Commander Cody's lead guitar player, Bill Kirchen, now lives in Maryland

Thanks for that info. I'm a guitar music lover, and Kirchen was always
one of my favorites.  He is one of the main reasons musicians loved CC/LPA.
Old Mark Knopfler's got nothing on that man.
He's also one of the humblest pro musicians I've ever met.  Great guy.

> Hot Rod Lincoln was written by Cody (I can't remember his real name right
> now) and someone else in the band, perhaps the lead singer.

You're thinking of "Seeds and Stems," co-written by Cody (George Frayne)
and Billy C. Farlow, the singer who couldn't play an instrument.  Hot Rod
Lincoln originally came out in the 50s, and was pretty popular.  I can't
remember the author, though.  On their first album, HRL was popular enough
to give the band high hopes for the type of success the Eagles, etc enjoyed.


-Steve

    
    	"Hot Rod Lincoln" was also done by Jim Varney [yes, "Ernest"] on
    	"The Beverly Hillbillies" soundtrack.  Guitar by some country
    	guy whose name I've forgotten ... Ricky Skaggs, maybe?
    

  (And as was noted in another conference, Merle Travis did write "Smoke
  Smoke Smoke That Cigarette"...  Late 30s or early 40s, something like
  that.)   - Jay

    Count me in as another CCahLPA fan.  Not sure if this is the correct
    title, but another song that was great live was "Beat Me Daddy, Eight
    to the Bar" or some such.  Oh, and another classic,  "Mama Hated Diesels":
    the soliloquy was perfect!

Continuing with the Ozone Brass, here's Commander Cody with a little
boogie woogie number called "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the bar."

"...I guess I knew it was somethn' to do with dad." 

It's all coming back.

    
    So what should us novices start with for our first CD?
    
    - Sean

re: .8
    
>    So what should us novices start with for our first CD?
    
Personally, I'd stay clear of the live recordings at first, as they
tend to get carried away at the expense (IMHO) of the songs.  But
then again, you might like that sort of thing. :-)

I just looked in the latest Noteworthy catalog and there's a couple
of "best of" CDs listed.  Perhaps one of them might be a good choice.
There's one listed as "Relix records: best of (14 tracks)", and one
on MCA called "Too Much Fun: The Best Of 1971-1974".  I haven't heard
either one, although I might try one of them myself since I no longer have 
any of my old LPs.

By far the most interesting album title listed is "Sleazy Roadside Stories".
:-)

-Hal

>>    So what should us novices start with for our first CD?

I'd suggest "Live a the Armadillo," which even though it's live, the recording
quality is good. Their first album, "Lost in the Ozone," 
is not the greatest recording job you'll ever hear,  but it's got a lot 
of great songs, including a couple of originals.

"Country Casanova" is also a good start, with that famous "Everybody's
Doin it."

I never heard "Sleazy Roadside Stories." It must be post=breakup material.

The live album "Looks Like we Got a Live One Here" is pretty good,
but as the other noter said, they go off on tangents a little too much.

They were great.  Most of their material is still available and WELL WORTH
the price.

Also RE: .8

Around late 1975, CC/LPA were featured on the "King Bisquit Flour Hour."
A friend of mine caught it over WBCN in Boston and recorded it.  That was,
without a doubt, the best recorded CC/LPA music I have ever heard.  I think
they were playing the Royal Albert Hall in London, and they nearly literally
tore the roof off the place.  Cody ad libbed in a screamingly funny
version of Hot Rod Lincoln, where he's dragged in by the police, beaten,
tortured, cuffed, shackled....  When he calls his "pappy," his father calls
him a worthless, alcoholic, dope fiend...

They tried, in their last LP to reproduce this act live and they put it out as a
double record set.  Now that the years have past, it's my least favorite of
their albums. 

I never tried, but I'm sure there's a way to get copies of all the old 
King Bisquit tapes, including this one.  I think I might have talked myself
into trying.

-Steve

> I never tried, but I'm sure there's a way to get copies of all the old 
> King Bisquit tapes, including this one.  I think I might have talked myself
> into trying.

  A few of the old King Biscuit shows have been showing up on CD -- I've
  spotted a Kingfish one and saw an ad for another.  The packaging seemed to
  imply an organized attempt at a series.  Have no idea if the Commander
  Cody is being granted this treatment...  Didn't buy the Kingfish so I
  can't tell you if information about a possible series is contained within.
   - Jay

 >  A few of the old King Biscuit shows have been showing up on CD -- I've
 > spotted a Kingfish one and saw an ad for another.

Do you remember where you saw the CD?

Thanks,
-Steve

> Do you remember where you saw the CD?

  I'm pretty sure it was at one of the locations I frequent near Burlington
  Mall -- Circuit City, Tower, or Newbury Comix.  (This Newbury Comix files
  all Grateful-Dead-related stuff, including Kingfish, in the vicinity of
  "G", btw.)
  
  I plan to shop at those stores in a day or two, will look around for King
  Biscuit issues.  - Jay

Sounds good.  I lucked out, they built a Newbury Comix about 1/2 mile
from my house in Shrewsbury.  They're pretty good about looking things
up and ordering material.

Thanks again.

    RE: .15
    
    Bad news; there goes your neighborhood... :-)
    
    I live about a mile from the Shrewsbury Newbury Comix. We's
    neighbors, hombre... :-)
    
    -b

>     neighbors, hombre... :-)

Hombre.  Hmmm Cody's had me reminiscing. Back about when they
released their first album (~early '72), I was caught up in a dying government
project. By way of a #3 in the Selective Service lottery, I can remember a time
when being referred to as an hombre was the ultimate compliment. 

I live off Lake Street, between 140 and 9.  Et tu?

    
    I'm on the south end of Lake Street (well, off of it) 9/10ths
    of a mile from route 9... past the Glavin school and the
    health club...
    
    -b

    
    	I think these guys were pretty versitile. I was introduced to them
    as a freshman in college ('76) with that "live at Amirillo" tape. That
    hooked me. I listened for the next 5 years, at least. They could do
    bluegrass as well as C&W and some of the pedal steel players were
    *fantastic*! I'm suprised no one has mentioned them.
    
    	Joe

.19> Live at the Armidillo World Headquarters, Austin Texas 
     Excellent album.  Everyone I play that for says, "Whoa, who IS this?"

They also did straight rock and Texas Swing, which is not Country and Western.
The main pedal steel player for the band was Bobby Black.  There were a couple
of albums on which he was absent due
to commitments for studio work in Nashville.  The fact that a Nashville
session pedal steel player was a long-time member of the band is testament
to the level of musicianship in CC/LPA.  Cody himself, especially when he
is serious, is an excellent boogie-woogie piano player, along the lines
of Roosavelt Sykes and some of the old Chicago blues stompers.  But he used 
to lament, "What do you do when you're the leader of a band of guys who
are head and shoulders over you musically? It's very humbling."

There's a book on this band called "Star Making Machinery," which documents
the nature of marketing music, and how this one particulary talented band never
got off the ground because of mis-marketing and not enough $$ up front. 

-S

    
    I used to live almost across the street from Shrewsbury Newbury 
    (Janet Circle, across from Jiffy Lube).  Great location...  CD store, 24-hour
    supermarket, Home Depot, HQ, all a stroll away.  Then I moved to Hopedale, where
    absolutely nothing is convenient.  :^(

Janet Circle is where I live - since 1986, when there was nothing on
the HQ lot except shrubs and a grubby little road house called Joie's.

The mention of Hopedale always gives me phantom leg cramps.  The last time
I was there, I ran there - to a friend's house as a final long run in
preparation for the Boston Marathon of 1992.  I was already red-lined in
training and that one pushed me over the edge.  I dropped out of Boston that
year, just too damn tired to race that distance. 

-S

    
    I remember Joie's... I'd prefer it come back actually. I'm
    less than enamored with all the traffic on route 9 now...

    I moved to Harris Ave in 1986 as well...

    Our house is for sale. We have a deposit on another one in
    a new development off of Cherry Street. The little cape
    has served us well, but we're plum outta room... we're
    happy to be staying in Shrewsbury though. It's a great
    town.

    -b

    
    	Commander Cody, people, Commander Cody!!
    
    	[Oops, wrong conference]
    

> Commander Cody, people, Commander Cody!!

He's right.  George Frayne (Commander Cody) is now a real estate agent
in Worcester.  As I'm an old, backstage, brew-chugging buddy, he was
shocked, he told me, when he saw that a house popped up on the multiple
listings in his area, with my name as the owner.  Of course, I went exclusive
with the old Commander, we renewed our old friendship, and and we've been
collaborating on some Bluegrass and Western Swing numbers. 

But, like you say, and especially with George's baby grande crowding
up the family room, we need something bigger.  Only we're headed down
towards Framingham/Natick.  The old Shrew has lost much of its charm for
us all.  

She was only seventeen, 
She was new to LA,
I was more than willing,
To show her the way.

We cruised up Sunset,
Back down Vine,
I liked hers,
She liked mine.

When her pappy caught me,
Want to hear what they done?
They threw me into jail for havig too much fun.

Too much fun,
That's news to me,
Too much fun,
There must be,
A whole lotta things that I never done,
I ain't never had too much fun.

Happy Holidays Everyone

> They also did straight rock and Texas Swing, which is not Country and Western.

As an aside (what this topic needs...), I was real tempted to comment on the
above.  But realizing you and I are both writers (possibly both published
music critics...?) I thought we ran a serious risk of boring everyone else
to tears.

People are forever looking to claim this or that (non)affiliation for
western swing, bluegrass, etc. etc., relative to country, folk, 30s swing,
whatnot.  Guess I agree that western swing is be appreciated on its own,
more than I want to insist that the "western" in C&W includes not just
cowboy songs but western swing.  So...  never mind.  8)

My father grew up in Arkansas & Texas and heard & saw all the great western
swing bands (as well as Lunceford and Basie) at dances.  He lost touch when
he came east, until decades later, #1 son unknowingly asked for a Bob Wills
LP for Xmas.  Then I got to hear all his stories...  Those bands definitely
swung with the best of the 30s and 40s jazz bands, esp. live.  Guess that's
kind of the tradition Cody upholds...    - Jay

> Guess that's
> kind of the tradition Cody upholds...

Upheld.  CC/LPA disbanded in 1976 or 77.  Cody attempted to go the
rock route.  Most of the others in the band got drafted by guys like
David Bromberg.  Or else they started new bands, like someone earlier
said, Bill Kirchen is heading a band called Too Much Fun in the Baltimore
area.

The only young group that I know for sure as upholding the Wills swing
tradition is Asleep at the Wheel.  They're Country purists, and as you say,
and they cover all flavors of Country.

-Steve

	Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
	Lost In The Ozone			MCAD-31185

	1971 MCA Records, Inc.
	Made in Japan for MCA Records, Inc.
	70 Universal City Plaza
	Universal City, California - USA

	Produced by Bob Cohen and Commander Cody
	All selections BMI except * ASCAP

	 1. Back to Tennessee (2:45)
	   (Billy C. Farlow-George Frayne)

	 2. Wine Do Yer Stuff (3:03)
	   (Billy C. Farlow-George Frayne)

	 3. Seeds and Stems (Again) (3:45)
	   (Billy C. Farlow-George Frayne)

	 4. Daddy's Gonna Treat You Right (3:00)
	   (Billy C. Farlow)

	 5. Family Bible (3:39)
	   (Paul Buskirk-Walt Breeland-Claude Gray)

	 6. My Home in My Hand (2:00)
	   (Ronnie Self)

	 7. Lost in The Ozone (2:07)
	   (Billy C. Farlow)

	 8. Midnight Shift (2:27)
	   (Earl Lee-Jimmie Ainsworth)

	 9. Hot Rod Lincoln (2:40)
	   (C. Ryan-W.S. Stevenson)

	10. What's The Matter Now? (4:02)
	   (Billy C. Farlow)

	11. 20 Flight Rock (2:57)
	   (Ned Fairchild)

	12. Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar * (5:08)
	   (Don Raye-Hughie Prince-Eleanore Sheehy)

I found a CD titled "Bar Room Classics" and picked it up yesterday.  It's
a selection of 13 songs recorded at the Armidillo in 1973.  The recording
quality is much better than most of their commercial releases, though the
volume on the Commander's piano still isn't up as high as I think it 
should be. 

The whole CD is excellent, and was produced in Australia by AIM Distronics.

-Steve

    A few tidbits to add. I agree that Country Cassanova and the Live album
    are both pretty good introductions to the Commander.
    
    Bill Kirchen's band tours around periodically. Saw him at Johnny D's in
    Somerville, MA this summer. He plays several CC tunes including a
    terrific Hot Rod Lincoln where during the part where he sings about
    the car ahead of him letting him pass by, he goes into this schtick
    where he says "And then Chuck Berry let me pass by" followed by him
    playing some Berry riffs, "And then Albert King let me pass by"
    followed by some typical guitar riffs, etc. He continues for like 15-20
    minutes naming off a dozen or more famous guitarists before completing
    the song. It's really fun and his ability to mimic all these other
    guitarists is amazing.
    
    The Commander, as George Frayne, once took time out to teach music at
    Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT!
    
    Billy C. Farlowe has toured with his own band too. He was at the
    Sit 'n Bull Pub in Maynard a year or two ago I recall. Wasn't able to
    go so don't know how he was.
    
    In the 70's I saw a terrific Easter Sunday show in New York City with
    David Bromberg opening for the New Riders of the Purple Sage. And the
    surprise special guest who walked out on stage to play some tunes?
    The Commander!
    
    Saw CC at a small, but legendary club in CT called the Shaboo Inn. I
    remember talking to that pedal steel player and being impressed with
    country stars he had played with, one being Dave Dudley as I recall.
    
    They were great in their day! The Kirchen band isn't a bad substitute
    though.
    
    - Bob
    

With all due respect, I'm glad that Billy C is still with us.  At the
rate he was moving in the mid-70s, I don't think he'd have made it through
the 80s if he tried to keep it up.  I ought to know because I could go
one-for-one with him back then.

I think Bill Kirchen is as good as any other professional guitarist alive.

The pedal steel player's name is Bobby Black.  He's a Nashville studio
musician.  He wasn't on all the CC/LPA's albums because he wasn't always
available.

Interesting information.  They say Kirchen's band is called Too Much
Fun.  I'll have to watch for them.

-S 

    Kirchen's band also has a CD out. 

>  Kirchen's band also has a CD out. 

Do you know what company issued it and the name of the CD?

Thanks,
-Steve

    Hmm. Don't know. Might be Rounder. If I find out, will post here.
    
    - Bob