PIED PIPER PIZZA PEDDLER PRESENTS: MUSIC MAN

featuring Karl Cole on the Mighty Wurlitzer


PIED PIPER PIZZA PEDDLER
P4-102
Circa late 1970s/early 1980s





SIDE A:



SEVENTY-SIX TROMBONES
TOMORROW
FIVE FOOT TWO - PLEASE DON'T TALK ABOUT ME
HAWAIIAN WEDDING SONG
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
ROARING TWENTIES MEDLEY

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SIDE B:



IT'S A SMALL WORLD
MOONLIGHT SERENADE
I DON'T WANT TO WALK WITHOUT YOU BABY
THE STRIPPER
LOVE SONGS MEDLEY
SAINT LOUIS BLUES MARCH

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Editor's note: I can't believe that pizza parlor circuits existed! Especially in 1980. Man, I wish I would have been old enough to be aware of such things, especially in the Detroit area. Anyhow, the record will have to suffice. A signed copy to boot.

I also tracked down Mr. Cole. He's still available for booking! Here's what he had to say about Pied Piper Pizza Peddler:

It is I!!!! The restaurant was in Warren, Michigan at the Universal Mall. The organ was from Detroit's United Artist Theater. The restaurant was a former gym and the organ pit was part of the bath. Good times were had by all. I was there for 2 years then moved on to Cincinnati. Find more information at: KarlColeConcertsandRecordings.com Thanks for remembering!!!!!! Karl Cole

Another organist who played at Pied Piper was Lance Luce (see picture below at P.P.P.P.). His website states that he was organist there for three years. Mr. Luce, like Karl Cole, is well-traveled (as apparently many organists are!) and has performed at many prestigious locales. He also has played at the beautifully restored Redford Theatre in Detroit which features not only organ concerts but old movies accompanied by live music! Yay. I think I'll have to check out the Planet of the Apes or the Three Stooges Halloween Festival there. It's only $5. Can't beat that.


UPDATE: DECEMBER 8, 2009

It looks like Luce also put out one album under the franchise's name! Exciting, huh? It must have been exciting to somebody because it sold for $9.99 on eBay from Canada of all places. Not that Canada is soooo far from Detroit but...all right so it's not that unexpected or exotic as say Korea but you'd expect Southfield or Westland or something local!

I'll eventually come across it at some thrift store and post it here for you fops and dandies.


UPDATE: DECEMEBR 19, 2010


There's now a Facebook page for the restaurant itself but featuring Lance Luce. I don't know if there was a falling out between the organists and I don't really care either! There are some great photos of the place with Luce at the giant Wurlitzer.

I also found a newspaper article mentioning the restaurant as host for a singles club. Enjoy.

JORGE SANTANA

by Jorge Santana


TOMATO RECORDS
TOM-7020
1978
STEREO


SIDE A:



Sandy
Tonight You're Mine
Darling I love You
We Were There

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SIDE B:



Love You, Love You
Love The Way
Seychells
Nobody's Perfect

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Editor's note: Carlos Santana's little brother. Or older brother. One of the two. He's his brother nonetheless and that's what matters here. That and the blood spatter on the cover. It actually looks like paint though I thought it was part of the artwork when I bought it. Yeah, I thought she was wounded and that the message as to why would be revealed once I got a look at the record and listened to it. Nope, no hidden message and no wounded girl. A decent record that would have been better had there been a secret portent involving somebody bleeding and beautiful.

FUTURE PROSPECT

by Future Prospect


DAN SIEGEL PRODUCTIONS
DSP-7001
1987
STEREO


SIDE A:



40 LOVE 3:52
BORDER TOWN 3:17
IN SEARCH OF PROPER I.D. 4:09
HIGH TECH AGES 4:06

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SIDE B:



COLLAGE 4:16
FUTURE PROSPECT 4:24
SPRING SNOW 4:59
ANITA 4:12

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Editor's note: man, I hate don't get jazz! Especially the neo-jazz which I think some call smoooooth jazz. It doesn't resonate at all with me. I've always said that jazz was filled with failed classical musicians but now I must revise that statement to say, "...and those who weren't melancholy enough to sing the blues." These guys all sound like great musicians and if you dissect it part by part, it is in fact excellent music. But it doesn't "speak" to me, say, like a pizza or Ruby Paulk does. Too many feel-good collaborators in a downer world.

ZINGERS FROM THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES

EVENT RECORDS
EV 6903
1974



SIDE A:



SIDE B:





Editor's note: I can deduce two things from this record that I couldn't remember from this show as a young child: Paul Lynde was a goddamn genius and the rest of the ensemble was not so goddamn genius! The voice alone has enough comedic value but the delivery and wit steal the show. I wonder if he ever did stand-up. I shall find out.

MEDLEY B/W ESKIMO'S MARCH/BYE BYE BLUES

by St. Mary's Dad's Club Banjo Band


NO LABEL
M9OW-2706/7
Circa 1950s/60s


SIDE A:



MEDLEY

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SIDE B:



ESKIMO'S MARCH
BYE BYE BLUES

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Editor's note: this Farmington Hills, Michigan church band didn't have the greatest recording equipment available to them but they made up for it in effort and inspiration! My God these guys rock out for under 5 minutes here and seemingly a quarter of it is at breakneck speed. Which is the fun part! Anybody can jam the banjo but it takes real savants to play them so fast that your mind melts.

GOD ISN'T DEAD!

by Gertrude Behanna


WORD RECORDS
W-3179-LP
1952
MONO


SIDE A



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SIDE B



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Editor's note: nevermind the few skips at the beginning of this record because it's merely about the show and shock value. The problem is that it's not so shocking at all. Nonetheless, a syringe, a born-again Christian and a billboard stating that GOD ISN'T DEAD is a perfect antidote for a lazy and boring Sunday afternoon. She is truly the anti-Nietzsche though her smoked-stained voice may have been higher than the ubermensch's. Within 5 minutes she states and I mis-quote, "No woman of any age wants to be called wholesome". Haha. Well, there it is in a nutshell. Seeing as this record was released in 1952 and Gertie was 53 when she discovered that the lord wasn't dead and 68 when this record was recorded, her doping and boozing dates to the early 1900s and women in that time just weren't THAT WAY. Or were they? Who knows but this is a can't-miss record for the weirdo in all of us. Thank you Lucile Bradley for relinquishing this gem.

PORT SAID: MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE EAST

by Mohammed El-Bakkar and His Oriental Ensemble


AUDIO FIDELITY
AFLP 1833
1957
STEREO (I think)


SIDE A:



Port Said
Sauda Sauda
Bint Il Green
Banat Iskandria
Al Jazayair
Hela Hope

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SIDE B:



Haun Meelee
Balady
Rahks Port Said
Hygalo
Geena Ghanneelak
Ah Ya Zain

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Editor's note: I've always liked Arabic music though I find that most of it sounds the same. Which means an album's worth of music suffices my ear-full for a year or two. Woah man...I didn't even notice until I checked Amazon that the girl on the album is supposed to have only pasties on and apparently somebody has drawn a dress on our babe. Let's see if I can correct this! There we go. Even if now it looks like she has tan lines. Nobody hides boobs from us! Errr...ummm...I mean women are liberated and can do what they want with their bodies!

RFD NO. 1

by The RFD Boys


JESSUP RECORDS
MB 126
1972
STEREO


Here at last is the long awaited first album of the RFD Boys. They have been playing together for almost three years, spreading bluegrass throughout the Michigan-Ohio area. My wife and I now live about seventy miles north of Ann Arbor, the home base of the RFD Boys, but we are still excited enough about them to take many of our new friends down to hear them. It's been a hectic time for us since our "fluke" discovery of the RFD Boys in June of 1970. My wife Denise picked me up at the Detroit airport and was jibbering excitedly about a surprise she had found during my absence. Even though I was tired after a long flight, she refused to let me go home and get out of my suit, we had to go hear this band. She wouldn't say any more about her discovery, and I was skeptical, to say the least, but once we got there and heard the band, I was an instant fan.

That was the beginning of the RFD experience for us, this record is your introduction to their brand of bluegrass. The rest of their show, the stories, jokes, and slapstick just can't be recorded. For that you'll have to see them in person. If you're around Michigan or they're appearing near you, I'd recommend that you go and see them, you won't regret it.

-Eric Goodman
March, 1972


DICK "Davidson Black" DIETERLE is the first-rate fiddler for the RFD Boys. He writes fiddle tunes, two of which are on this album, and is an MC (and straight man) of unusual ability. He loks through a microscope when he isn't holding a fiddle as an M.D. and resident in Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

CHARLIE "Stockton" ROEHRIG is the very able flat-picker, lead singer, and songwriter in chief for the RFD Boys. He is a versatile musician, lending a hand in twin fiddle numbers, regularly displaying his agility on the mandolin, and occasionally even picking a little banjo. Charlie's hobby is Economics, and will soon receive his Ph. D. from the University of Michigan.

PAUL "Spiro" SHAPIRO plucks, slaps, and thumps a strong steady beat for the band on the doghouse bass. With a little coaxing, Paul sings lead on a few numbers that most generally draws a baritone duty. He is a student of Mathematics at the University of Michigan.

JAMES "Willard" SPENCER is the tall skinny one in the pictures, and picks a fine banjo. He plays dobro on occasion (including the Country Road cut on this album), and sings baritone on many numbers. He also plays a large assortment of other instruments, from ragtime piano to kazoo. Willard in his spare time is a computer whiz for a leading Detroit architecture firm. His antics, a constant source of humorous annoyance to Dick, provides the basis for much of the fine show the RFD Boys put on between numbers.

JOHN ANDREW STEY is the newest member of the band. His strong tenor and lead singing have brought the group the fine full sound captured on this album. While he plays back-up guitar on Charlie's flat-picking displays, his main instrumental work is on the mandolin. John has a Master's Degree in Library Science, but he has turned in his library card in favor of one from the Musician's Union.

Liner Notes - Eric Goodman
Cover Pictures - Harold E. Sturm
Engineer - Carl Fracala
Correspondence:

RFD Boys
P. O. Box 2223
Ann Arbor, Michigan

A Michigan Bluegrass Stereo Recording

RECODRDED AT JESSUP RECORDING STUDIOS

JESSUP RECORDS INC
3150 Francis Street, Jackson, Michigan 49203
Country-Gospel and Bluegrass International
Phone 517-782-3445

Jackets by Martin Printing & Album Co., Flora, Illinois, U.S.A.





SIDE A:



BOSTON (3:25) C. Roehrig
FOX ON THE RUN (3:01) Hazzard
KENT COUNTY BREAKDOWN (2:34) D. Dieterle
IT'S A LONG LONG WAY TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD (3:04) Wayne
TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS (4:23) J. Denver - Cherry Lane Music Co. ASCAP
ROCKY TOP (3:10) B. Bryant, F. Bryant

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SIDE B:



RFD COUNTRY (2:38) D. Dietrle
LITTLE BY LITTLE (3:30) C. Roehrig
GOLD WATCH AND CHAIN (3:23) A. P. Carter - Peer Int'l Corp. BMI
SOMEBODY TOUCHED ME (2:17) Traditional
LEAVIN' THE OZARKS (3:06) C. Roehrig
COUNTRY BOY ROCK AND ROLL (2:23) D. Reno

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Editor's note: bluegrass is like most different music genres, you either like it or you don't. I'm not particularly fond of it but I can see its value to others just as I can understand why people love Metallica, Prince or Lynyrd Skynyrd: because they are good at what they do. These guys (they seem to have lost Mr. Stey somewhere along the way) were merely upstarts when this album came out so I assume that they are pretty damn close to being pros seeing as they still play shows in Ann Arbor. In fact they are playing on the 13th this month if you are in the area.

POET OF THE ORGAN

by Jesse Crawford


SUTTON RECORDS
SSU 269
1950s
STEREOPHONIC


SIDE A:



TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS
GYPSY LOVE SONG
MERRY WIDOW WALTZ
VILIA
A WANDERING MINSTREL I
BUTTERCUP

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SIDE B:



TO A WILD ROSE
BLUE DANUDE
EMPEROR'S WALTZ
ARTIST'S LIFE
VOICES OF SPRING
TREASURE WALTZ

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Editor's note: "Jesse Crawford was a US pianist and organist. He was well-known in the 1920s as a theater organist for silent films and very popular gramophone record recording artist. In the 1930s, he switched to the Hammond organ and became a freelancer. In the 1940s, he authored instruction books on organ and taught organ lessons." BLAH BLAH BLAH. What's really important here is that he was a pianissimo of many forms. Here he turns your mind inside out with electrified and orgasmic classics. How the organ has fallen out of favor with mankind is a mystery to me. I've been sitting on this gem for a few weeks and feel guilty for delaying it when people need organ music now more than ever!

HOLY COW

by Martini Ranch


SIRE RECORDS
1-25674
1988
STEREO


SIDE A:



NEW DEAL
REACH
WORLD WITHOUT WALLS
FAT-BURNING FORMULA
RICHARD CORY

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SIDE B:



HOT DOG
SERIOUS GIRL
HOW CAN THE LABOURING MAN FIND TIME FOR SELF-CULTURE?
[BROTHER] TAKE IT OUT
POWER TOOL

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Editor's note: from wikipedia:

"Martini Ranch was a New Wave band conceived in 1982 by Andrew Todd Rosenthal. The band was composed of Andrew (vocals and guitar) and actor Bill Paxton (vocals and samples), and featured a similar sound to late 1980s Devo. Understandably, this similarity of sound was most evident on the track "How Can the Labouring Man Find Time for Self-Culture?", which featured three members of that band. Martini Ranch is currently recording a new multimedia "Musical" which is a collaboration with composer Michael Sherwood. This project will be directed & executive produced by Carl Weathers and should be completed by the end of 2010. This new "Musical" is an evolution of works consisting of classical, jazz & progressive rock and is a hybrid of many styles and influences.... Weather Report, Zappa and so much more. Martini Ranch is currently Andrew Todd Rosenthal /2009."

from me: nothing great and nothing horrible here. A pastiche of shtick, 80s new wave and a smattering of Cindy Wilson of B-52s fame, Judge Reinhold whistling and a smidge of Devo. Myself...I didn't whistle so much. Cool cover art and some good sampling nonetheless.

THE NEW MATH: SETS, THE LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS

by Dr. Lyle E. Mehlenbacher & Professor James F. Lanahan
Narrated by James Lanahan


NEW MATH RECORDS
TNM 101
1966


About the Authors...

Dr. Lyle E. Mehlenbacher is a "teacher of teachers," both literally and figuratively. As a University of Detroit teacher in the Department of Mathemetics he has been, successively, an Associate Professor from 1945 to 1948; Full Professor from 1948 to present time; Chairman of the Department of Mathematics from 1947 to 1963; Co-ordinator of Sponsored Educational Programs since 1963; Director of Institutes in Mathematics since 1958; and Associate Deab of the Graduate School since September 1, 1966.

Dr. Mehlenbacher has been recognized nationally for his professional attainments in the teaching of Mathematics. As a matter of record, the National Science Foundation has invested approximately one and a half million dollars in the past eight years to underwrite institutes and programs conducted by Dr. Mehlenbacher. These institues and programs have been designed to bring Michigan elementary and high school teachers abreast of the latest developments in the teaching of the so-called New Math.

Now, Associate Dean of the University of Detroit Graduate School, Dr. Mehlenbacher received his Bachelor of Arts from New York State College for Teachers, at Albany, New York, in 1931. His Master of Arts was achieved at the University of Michigan in 1934; and his Doctor of Philosophy was granted by the University of Michigan in 1936.

Dr. Mehlenbacher is a member of the following professional associations and fraternities:

-Sigma Xi Fraternity
-Phi Kappa Phi Fraternity
-Kappa Phi Kappa Fraternity
-Pi Mu Epsilon Fraternity
-American Mathematical Society
-National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
-Mathematical Association of America

His publications include:

Several articles printed in the American Journal of Mathematics (published by Johns Hopkins University), and in the American Mathematical Monthly.

A text book, Foundation of Modern Mathematics, published by Prindle, Weber and Schmidt (Boston) for 1967 distribution.

Biographical reference on Dr. Mehlenbacher may be found in Who's Who in America; and in American Men of Science.


Professor James F. Lanahan

Co-author and narrator James F. Lanahan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Detroit. The father of five young sons, Professor Lanahan has more than a professional academic interest in the preparation of material designed to help puzzled parents understand the New Math. Being a parent of elementary school children himself, Professor Lanahan has a keen sense of responsibility to fellow parents.

Professor Lanahan received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1948 from the University of Detroit and subsequently a Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan. Special graduate studies followed at the University of Michigan.

Starting as an Instructor in Mathematics at the University of Detroit in 1951, he was promoted in 1958 to an Assistant Professorship; and in August of 1966 he was named to his present position as an Associate Proffesor.

Since 1961 he has specialized as a television lecturer in Mathematics and his video-taped courses are among the most popular on campus.

Much has been heard from Professor Lanahan but more can be heard by playing the enclosed record as this masterful teacher inducts parents into some of the wonderful vistas of the world of New Math. He is the University Math Teacher that can be brought into every home in America.


For further reading we refer you to Chapters I and III of the following book: Lyle E. Mehlenbacher, "Foundations of Modern Mathematics" published by Prindle, Weber and SChmidt, Inc., 53 State Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02109. Paperback edition available for $3.50.





SIDE A:



Introduction and Notations for Sets.
The Null Set, Subsets.
Counting Numbers, Examples.

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SIDE B:



Variable, Complement, Intersection of Sets.
Union of Sets, Ordered Pair, Cartesian Product.

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Editor's note: I'm not sure if this record was a sign of the times or a cosign of the times (waka waka waka) for the middle 1960s but it sure seems like the previous generations were a whole lot smarter than we are. They were teaching this stuff to elementary kids! Now kids are lucky to know how to read let alone figure out complex mathematical problems and equations. Not that I could either but I'm a dumb Polack so I'm excused.

BE A BETTER MAGICIAN

by TV Magic


EVA TONE
5975


SIDE A:



download

Editor's note: I'm sure that somebody else who has better knowledge of records and flexi-discs in particular can tell you about them. I'm just the DJ, man. This one is obviously about magic. Tips, etiquette, rapport, etc. Listen, learn it, start performing your tricks and don't sell out your contemporaries. Sometimes, it's just that easy.

Apparently boys weren't the only ones interested in this Magic TV as Missy McGrath and Delaney Blackwelder can attest to. I wonder if Santa ever came through.







Looks like somebody has the cards for sale on eBay too:

SO FULL OF DEEP JOY

by The Monks of Weston Priory


BENEDICTINE FOUNDATION OF VERMONT
XPL 2055
1981
STEREO





SIDE A:



So Full of Deep Joy
Sun Song Rising
Many the Deaths, Lord
By the Love
I Wait for God
Song of the Prophet

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SIDE B:



Witnesses
Ashes
Will You Come to the Meadow
I Have Called You Now
Choose Life
Spirit of New Life
So Full of Deep Joy (Instrumnetal)

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Editor's note: I know that on many blogs and websites religious records are on-going jokes for record collectors and with reasonable cause since many aren't very good. But...a lot of the most enjoyable covers come from this same genre. I'm not sure if it's due to bad taste in good causes or just due to a greater focus on the message over the package. I wonder how much revenue these offerings brought in since so many different churches and religious groups seem to have put out numerous albums and clearly none of the locally based records are or were bestsellers by any stretch of the imagination. I'm glad for them no matter the reason.