The Pallophotophone

Historians have uncovered a previously forgotten recording technology pre-dating the very first consumer magnetic recordings by at least 15 years (not counting wire recordings.)

It was called the pallophotophone (I won't even ATTEMPT to pronounce it.), and here is it's story and a recording of Thomas Edison speaking on it - perhaps the only "High Fidelity" recording of Edison (who died in 1931.) 

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=942480

Lopin' Along Through The Cosmos

 Seasoned astronauts will tell you one thing about the cosmos - it's a place you just don't go "lopin'" through (or "gallivanting" or "traipsing" either.)

The cosmos has no atmosphere. The human potential is zip without super high tech gear for survival in space. Oxygen tanks are mandatory as well as suits that can deflect dangerous cosmic rays from solar flares. The cosmos is also a vacuum. 

And this cover sucks too.

Ginni Clemmens - who passed away in 2005, was pretty much unknown outside the "women's music" folk scene of the '70s (one of the richest known sources of WTF album covers ever) At first glance, you might think you're getting one of those weird self-help records. But it's very much a folky album.

It's an album cover that seems to be inspired by a lot of hippie babble. And maybe peyote.

Before They Were Stars: The Cars

When you mention The Cars to some people, they, by some primeval instinct or something, quietly sing "Shake it up....ooh-ooh.....shake it up....". Never mind The Cars racked up quite a few hits and "Shake It Up" wasn't even their biggest.

But even more bizarre was the fact that before Richard Otcasek and Benjamin Orzechowski found superstardom (and less surname baggage) as The Cars, they were in a folky pop group called Milkwood and released an album.

The album was titled How's The Weather.

You might wanna loosen up your skinny tie for this one......

Recorded and released in 1972 on the Paramount Records subsidiary of the ABC Records conglomerate (The Paramount imprint is better known for it's soundtracks and albums from The Brady Bunch and Commander Cody)  

How's The Weather didn't get very much airplay. Probably because nobody outside of Boston ever heard of these guys and How's The Weather was one of the most generic album titles in history (it wasn't even printed on the label!) and most likely, it was 1972 and there were literally THOUSANDS of albums released that year ALONE that sounded very similar to Milkwood's first and only album.

So it was pretty obvious how it all got lost in the shuffle. But if you stumble across an excellent to near mint original vinyl copy, you might want to hang on to it. It's worth a bit.

Here's the entire first side of that album for your listening and dancing pleasure. BE WARNED: You won't hear the synthesizers or Ric Ocasek's stifled hiccup that made The Cars records so famous. This is more like Jim Croce meets Crosby, Stills & Nash meets America.

1. With You With Me

 2. Dream Trader



3. Lincoln Park

4. Bring Me Back

5. Timetrain Wonderwheel

Electra Woman & Dyna Girl

Part of the Saturday morning Krofft Supershow, with some of the cheesiest special effects in TV history.

It wasn't until some years later I realized how cheesy this show really was when I found out about the Electra Complex. Since then, I've had to bite my tongue every time someone mentioned this show in high school to keep from laughing......

Loved the Electra Car!

Hip Pocket Records

One of the greatest fads of the '60s, Philco/Ford's Hip Pocket Record machine (1966-68) wasn't the SMALLEST of the tiny phonographs of the '60s. But it was the most commercially promoted.

The shoebox sized player had a built in AM radio (as it's many imitators did) and played 4" records made of the same material as (and most likely made by) Eva-Tone Soundsheets (the makers of those thin square promotional records you found in magazines and junk mail back in the day.)

They didn't warp in the sun as badly as traditional vinyl and the gimmick was you could store them in your hip pocket without damage (let's see the person who came up with that novel little suggestion actually TRY it!) The Hip Pocket record player could also play standard 45 RPM and 12" 33 1/3 LP records (believe it or not!)