My All Time Favorite...

...ride at Disneyland: The Mark Twain:

Those Horny Italians!

My parents had a vinyl LP as old as me (1960) called Louis Prima Digs Keely Smith.  One of the songs, Zooma Zooma Baccala, amused me and my brother to no end growing up, but we had no clue what the song was really about. It's really the same song in the wedding scene from The Godfather:



The original lyrics aren't even in Italian; they're in a Sicilian (or Neopolitan) dialect. The wonders of the Internets led me to track down the meaning of the words to the Louis Prima song one night. I was very amused by what I found. I converted my inherited vinyl to digital and translated the lyrics in the first link.

The mezzogiorno polka song tells about a young woman choosing a man to be her husband. She is confused and asks her mother to decide. Her mother describes each man and his "job," giving her the same comical answer for each one, indicating for instance, that if you marry a butcher, he will "sausage" you; if you marry a carpenter, he will "hammer" you; if you marry a farmer, he will "plough" you. Obviously, the song is one big double entendre. Here's the best translation that I found: link

In many ways, the 1960's and earlier times were not more innocent times--people just had better imaginations.

Beats Me Man

Ron (@kngFish) tweeted me a video link the other day:

@chickelit This is stuck in my head...live, from 1938. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2S1I_ien6A.

His link goes to:



The drum track on that Benny Goodman song caught my ear. I was, for some reason, instantly reminded of the drums on this (still unidentified) instrumental surf track:

Are the two drum tracks separated at birth?

I think so. They share something. They share a common influence--the great jazz and bebop drummers of the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's. I cannot recall the name of the surfer band in my YouTube link. I recorded it from the radio in Madison, WI in the late 80's. I initially marked it as Link Wray--however, I have since been unable to verify this nor match it to any Link Wray tune.

The drummers of that bygone era all learned their chops from the greats like Gene Krupa.

Jim Chapin (1919-2009) wrote a highly influential book called Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer, first published in 1948 and which went through about 60-odd printings:

I bought a copy around 1976 at Ward-Brodt Music on Henry St. in Madison when I took lessons (briefly) from a local jazz drummer. I lost my original somewhere, but recently bought another copy.
It's a classic.

Letters Home: April In Paris

Jan 4, 1953


Dear Mom,


It seems like a long time since I wrote so I guess I had better drop you a line tonight.
We had our first real snow the other day. It looks like it is going to stay for a while. I got a chance to go Paris in the spring.  All it would cost me for the trip is to drive part way. I would have to take leave of about 10 days because its 500 miles from here.
If I take a leave I might not get home as quick because I will have 28 days coming before discharge.
That Christmas card came little late but I got it. It sure was big.
I got the wrist watch but now I have to get a wooden box to send it in.
Some of the guys that get out of the Army next month left for New York today.  They sure were happy. I hope I can get home by the time I am 21.
I got a box of candy from M. Friday.* It sure was good. I wanted to send some thank you cards to the Church and V.F.W. for the boxes, but I couldn't find any at the P.X.
I found a picture of a house I like but look at the price. I suppose because it's close to D.C.

Bye for now,


Love, 

V

______________________
* M is his oldest sister, my aunt.