I continue at my Sisyphus-like task of paying off credit card debt, but sometimes theres a silver (ha!) lining -- turns out I've earned 'bonus points' which I get to redeem for stuff. Woo-hoo!
Part 2: I've mentioned this before, but there are suggestions (libraries are debating how to handle this) that CDs are headed for the dustbin (are there still dustbins?) within the next 5-10 years. So...I snap up what I can when I can before the oasis dries up.
Back to Paragraph One: turns out that Best Buy will accept my bonus points! Online, the catalog is a mess: postage stamp graphics, no track listings, just a tiny picture -- good luck!
But I found Peter Lang's first Takoma album "The Thing at the Nursery Room Window" and was reminded how good it was. Under the shadow of Leo Kottke and John Fahey, Peter's work wasn't as popular as it should have been, so I was happy to get a copy again. And, surprise, surprise, there was a Skillet Lickers album available too! Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers recorded in the '30s, and were a major influence on the '60s old-time music revival.
And here's the thing -- Best Buy would NEVER carry these in their stores. Heck, the Skillet Lickers album is on Document Records, which is like this dry, dusty "released in chronological order" label that we library types get all excited about.
And...Part 3: Found Disc One of "The Leroy Anderson Collection" at Community Thrift in Mount Vernon for $2.49. Yeah, I know!! Leroy Anderson wrote entertaining pop-classical tunes like "Fiddle-Faddle", "Plink. Plank, Plunk", "The Syncopated Clock" and "The Typewriter". If I could insert music files here, you might recognize them -- my generation's first exposure to "light classical". (You'll most likely know him from that Christmas perennial "Sleigh Ride" -- heck, even Phil Spector covered it!)
Of course, you take your chances with thrift stores -- turns out that the Leroy Anderson disc is only part 1 of a 2-disc set. I'm sure it's orphan brother is far, far away, but that won't stop me from testing my luck again.
"The Andy Griffith Show" ("starring Andy Griffith!") many times gets lumped into the low-brow TV fare of its day that included "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Petticoat Junction" and all the TV crap that portrayed the South as full of hicks and hayseeds. And that may have been true in the early days of "TAGS" (Andy, mouth full of teeth and cornpone cliches), but soon the show found its rhythm. I sincerely think that there are several seasons (1962-1964)
of "The Andy Griffith Show" that can stand with the best of television.
Those would be the Don Knotts/Barney Fife years. Yes, yes, Don was wonderful in the role, but the way that Andy the actor stepped back and let Don take the spotlight was a great lesson in putting the writing first. My favorite bits seemed improvised -- after dinner, on the porch, Andy strumming his guitar while he and Barney seem to do the southern version of "Waiting for Godot". Gonna watch TV with Thelma Lou, maybe going to the pictures to see "The Monster from Outta Town" -- great, great stuff, played so relaxed and unhurried.
So many favorites, one of which is "Opie the Birdman". Opie, playing with his new slingshot, accidentally kills a bird, her babies now without a mother. Opie insists on taking the place of the mother, Andy implies this may not work out so well... but Opie persists, feeding the babies before leaving for school. Eventually, the caged birds must be freed, and Opie turns to his pa, saying "The cage seems pretty empty", while Andy responds with the classic line "Yeah, but don't the trees sound nice and full" (Apologies if my memory fudges the exact lines.)
Andy, Barn and Goober have gone to that ol' fishin' hole in the sky, God bless 'em. Thanks so much, guys.
