The Story Of “The Wilhelm Scream”
Coming across weird, useless things like this, is what makes life fun.
When films need vocal sound effects, professional voice actors are frequently called in to a recording studio to create them.
For the Warner Bros. 1951 film “Distant Drums” the sound needed was “a man being bit by an alligator. ” Instead of the actor being “bit” by the alligator recording the scream of pain, someone else at the studio, did the screaming. Continue reading
When Baseball Teams Had Their Own Unique Songs
When my Dad and I would drive places at night in the 1970’s, my father would put on the Baltimore radio station, WBAL-AM to hear the Orioles games. At night the radio signals were stronger and you could pick up most of the bigger radio station’s broadcasts within a 400 mile range, so he would listen. I vividly remember the upbeat song that used to be played to start the O’s broadcast. I searched the internet and have had no luck finding “Orioles Baseball” which is what I believe the title was. But I have collected a number of baseball theme songs and thought I would share them.
For every baseball fan who can remember…
(click on link to hear the mp3 of the song)
In the 1970’s when I was listening to the radio, before the start of every ball game, the New York Yankees would have their theme played. The Yankees announcers, Phil Rizutto, Frank Messer and Bill White would eventually talk over the song and it would fade out. At the end of the game they would play the theme again. The Yankees still play a truncated version of the song at the beginning and conclusion of games on the radio, but they rarely play this version with the lyrics.
Musically well constructed and simply the best song ever written for a team with its catchy lyrics. The “Meet The Mets” song still holds up nearly 50 years after the Mets introduction to New York. This version is the original version. (ed note: strangely enough I wrote this article on June 30 and originally scheduled it to be posted on July 5. I moved it up to July 3 after seeing that the writer of the Mets theme song Ruth Roberts passed away Friday, July 1 at age 84.)
If you grew up in Chicago you may remember “Hey, Hey Holy Mackarel” which was the Chicago Cubs song.
Now, if you were a Chicago White Sox fan, the song dear to your heart would be “Let’s Go, Go, Go White Sox.”
In the late 1960’s this is what the Detroit Tigers were playing – “Go Get ‘Um Tigers.” Continue reading
Somehow or other this story did not make much of an impact in the news when it occurred in December 2010. This was done by a group of vicious, uneducated creeps. The words I would like to use to describe the vermin who did this I will not publish here.
The damage probably amounts to hundred of thousands of dollars. It also looks like more than 200 graves were harmed from the video posted below. With all the evidence Continue reading
How The Beach Boys Sounded Without Their Instruments
Brian Wilson photo: audio-eclectic.com
Brian Wilson is a genius. The proof is at the bottom of this post.
Andy Warhol said everyone would have 15 minutes of fame. With hits songs I believe it is more like 15 seconds.
Will anyone ever remember most of the “music” that has been on the pop charts during the last 30 years – 50 or 100 years from now? I’m asking rhetorically, because the answer is no. I believe most music is transitory and of the time. To be remembered 100 years or 200 years from now, the way Mozart and Beethoven are or The Beatles and Duke Ellington will be, is unlikely for the majority of musical artists.
The Beach Boys Brian Wilson used session musicians to record a lot of the songs on their albums. But the singing was all theirs.
Here are three songs from the album Pet Sounds;
Now here are The Beach Boys performing those three songs sung a cappella.
This is what separates Brian Wilson from 99.9% of rock n’ roll musicians. Brian Wilson’s genius at arrangement and harmonies.
The Talking Babies
Scientists talk about dolphins and whales having their own language.
What about babies?
It is a little long, but it is pretty funny.
This is satire, right?
No.
This two minute video will explain what the real problems are for promoting your book when you self-publish.
After you watch, maybe you’ll reconsider writing that book and self-publishing it. Based upon many a true story.
Enjoy.
Questions? Fire away.
The Man Who Pushed Johnny Carson, Charlie Callas Dies at 83
For many people under a certain age (probably 40), the passing of Charlie Callas on January 27, 2011, will be met with indifference or “who was he?” But for anyone who had seen Callas interviewed on his numerous appearances on the late night talk shows or seen his cameos in movies, it marks the end of one the last true eccentrics in Hollywood.
Charlie Callas was bizarre.
He could do strange things with his voice and get laughs out of things that were not necessarily funny. It was Callas himself that was funny and there was that underlying danger that an appearance by Callas on a show could go in an unintended direction at any second. That unpredictability would nearly end his show business career when he shoved Johnny Carson during a 1982 Tonight Show appearance and in front of the studio audience Carson subsequently banned him from ever appearing on the show again.
Charlie Callas will always be remembered for one of the strangest performances in Mel Brooks’ send-up of Alfred Hitchcock films, 1976’s High Anxiety. Callas plays a man who has been committed to an asylum because he thinks he is a cocker spaniel. It is 1 minute and 40 seconds of sheer silliness.
Here is the link to Charlie Callas in High Anxiety:
http://youtu.be/_WEVmVKUk7s?t=4m32s
(UPDATE – 2013 High Anxiety clip- all copies removed from youtube)
A staple of 1970’s TV, The Dean Martin Roasts, where celebrities were insulted and joked about mercilessly by other Hollywood celebrities, Callas has comedian Don Rickles and the rest of the attendees laughing hard as he delivers Don Rickles’ eulogy.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHDU2jhLE-Y[/tube]
The appearance may not be as funny to today’s audience as Callas is doing an impression of George Jessel, who made a living it seemed at delivering eulogies of many of the entertainment world’s luminaries from the 1920’s right until Jessel’s own demise in 1981.