Happy Halloween from Retro Obscuro's Kitschy Mama!

Check out Kitschy Mama's bewitching selection of ghoulish goodies for a Halloween night archived right here.

Retro Obscuro #177 Playlist: 

GMC And The Arcells The Witch   Crypt 2014

The Jack-O-Lanterns  The Great Pumpkin   Goldcrest 1965

Curley Barrix Big Blue Monster   Dunwich 1966

Frank N. Stein And The Tombstones Graveyard Giggle   Marco 1962

John Logan Dinner With Drac Promenade 1958

Bobby Reno And The Infurnos I've Been Hoo-Dood   Pitassy 1964

The Dundees Evil One Space 1954

Billy Sills Nightmare   Decca 1958

Maxine Johnson  Scairdy Cat  Unissued 1957  

Eddie Pequenino Frankenstein Rock   RGE 1957

Buchanan And Ancell Meet The Creature (From A Science Fiction Movie) Flying Saucer 1957

Vampire State Building I'm Bats About You Roulette 1969

Ernie Freeman Theme From Igor  Imperial  1958

Eddie Dean  Gravedigger's Lament  Crystal 1948

J. Goon And The Belvederes Beware    Fleetwood 1966

The Campanions  Dorothy-My Monster  Dee-Dee 1961

Maximillian  The Twistin' Ghost  Bigtop 1962

G.M Farley & The Foggy River Boys There Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down   Rural Rhythm  1960

Bela La Goldstein Why Do I Love You  International Recording Co 1962

The Monstrosities Sing Along With Frankenstein  Monster 1964

Mike DeNett Ghost Of Your Love  Stacy 1962

The Velvets  Nightmare   Turret 1963

Johnny Brandon Irving Madison 1958

Unknown Artist Theme ? ?

Jerry Mercer And His Orchestra  The Ghost Of My Love  Mercury 1956

Scat Man Crothers & His Scat Rockets  Ghost Riders In The Sky Hit-Tune 1958

Sid Wayne And The Tall Taylors Deep Dark Secret Fantasy 1964

The Munsters You Created A Monster  Decca 1964

Steve Bledsoe And The Blue Jays Peabody's Tomb   Scope 1958

The "Tweens"  The Witches Crew   DC 1960

The Vic Plati Quintet  Chiller Limbo Brave Hearts 1965

The Incredible Broadside Brass Bed Band Little Dead Surfer Girl   Poison Ring 1971

The Vampires Four Little Monsters   United Artists  1964

Mann Drake Horror Movie  Bethlehem  1962

Johnny Sharp And The Yellow Jackets Bombie Yellow-Jacket ?

Bill "Butterbean" Flippo  Movin' Outa This Haunted House  Lou-Jay 1964

Ricky Durham Mr. Were Wolf    United Southern Artists 1962

Os Três Tons Frankstein   Continential  ?

The Royal Scorpions  Spooky Village   V.A.C. 1963

Ray Sanders Graveyard Dance   Tower 1966

Terrell Crafton  Boogie Man   Sugar Ridge 198?

Deborah Walley  Sometimes In The Darkest Hour  Dee Gee 1965

The Val Doros  Don't Open The Grave   Silhouette  1956

Denny And Lenny With The Hollywood Ghouls Monster's Love  Chance  1962

  

Happy Halloween from The Surfrajettes!

Since it's Halloween, here's Toronto's Surfrajettes performing "Banshee Bop" in Birmingham. 

Happy Halloween from Finders Keepers!

You'll find a wealth of unusually creepy tunes for Halloween from Andy Votel and his Finders K(r)eepers crew right here. 

Tijuana Bibles launch greatest hits album "Undefeated" @ The Baby G, Thursday

Celebrate 25 years of Toronto's Tijuana Bibles who are launching their best-of Undefeated LP at The Baby G tonight. Get tix here.  

Tijuana Bibles – Undefeated

1. Mexican Courage 2:40

2. Rock & Roll Fighting 1:51

3. What's Inside A Girl - Cual Esta Una Muchacha 1:53

4. Gorilla Stomp 3:55

5. Suplex 1:51

6. Instantenous Death 2:54

7. It's Gamora! 1:28

8. Sleepmask 3:33

9. Sexo Caliente 2:14

10. Bad Seeds 1:56

11. Custom Made Man 2:57

12. Haji 3:15

13. Pain Train 3:39

14. Wheelchair Werewolf 3:19

15. Tijuana Bibles 4:03

LINKS

Cornwall's Seaway News Tijuana Bibles' merch hot off Stacey Case's press

Watch Paul Lynde's 1976 Halloween Special

Check out Paul Lynde's kooky 1976 Halloween Special with Margaret Hamilton, Tim Conway, Florence Henderson and KISS. 

Happy Halloween from The Madmen... and Scott Walker!

Check out "Haunted," a creepy cool swinger penned by Jonathan Young, Scott Walker (nee Engel) & John Stewart circa 1963.

R.I.P. Buena Vista SC trumpeter Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal, 1933-2024

Sadly, Buena Vista Social Club trumpeter Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal, who also played with Orquesta Riverside, has passed away. 

You can listen to Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal's long-overdue debut album for World Circuit from 2004 right here. 

Expanded reissues of John Cale's Paris 1919 & The Academy In Peril due Nov 15

The new 16-track double vinyl edition of Paris 1919 includes the new John Cale recording "Fever Dream 2024: You're A Ghost." 

Here's the scoop...

Following the release of POPtical Illusion earlier this year, John Cale announces the Paris 1919 Deluxe Edition and The Academy in Peril reissue, out November 15th via Domino. Both remastered by Heba Kadry, this is the first artist sanctioned reissue of these beloved records. Paris 1919 includes previously unreleased outtakes and liner notes by Grayson Haver Currin, and features a brand new recording, “Fever Dream 2024: You’re a Ghost,” and The Academy of Peril includes bonus track, “Temper.” Both will be available on CD, vinyl and digitally. You can pre-order directly from Domino right here. Watch John Cale's 2011 performance of Paris 1919 with Malmö Operaorkester in Sweden following the tracklisting of Paris 1919 Deluxe Edition below.

 “Revisiting work from the past is a double-edged sword for me. Of course, it’s bound to happen when you've been making music for 60 years or so. . . What's unique about this process with Domino, is their desire to get it right.  Not merely re-issue something for the sake of an anniversary or racking up a catalogue favorite - but finding new treasures and highlighting what made it special in the first place.  After hearing the test pressings, it occurred to me that the new mastering was a major part of how these works will be presented, rather than simply being preserved. There are moments of clarity and even a laugh or two had by revisiting not only the music, but recalling the sessions (and antics) that made up what became these two recordings. It is my pleasure to share these with you . . . again.” – John Cale, September 2024

John Cale – Paris 1919 Deluxe Edition

1 Child's Christmas in Wales (Remastered)

2 Hanky Panky Nohow (Remastered)

3 The Endless Plain of Fortune (Remastered)

4 Andalucia (Remastered)

5 Macbeth (Remastered)

6 Paris 1919 (Remastered)

7 Graham Greene (Remastered)

8 Half Past France (Remastered)

9 Antarctica Starts Here (Remastered)

10 I Must Not Sniff Cocaine (Remastered)

11 Hanky Panky Nohow (Drone Mix) (Remastered)

12 Child's Christmas in Wales (Rehearsal 1) (Remastered)

13 Half Past France (Intro Chat) (Remastered)

14 Macbeth (Take 11) (Remastered)

15 Hanky Panky Nohow (Guitar Mix) (Remastered)

16 Fever Dream 2024: You're a Ghost

  

Watch Robert Finley perform "Livin' Out A Suitcase"

Check out "Livin' Out A Suitcase" off Robert Finley's latest album Black Bayou (Easy Eye Sound) which you can get right here. 

Toronto impact of promoter Gary Topp documented in He Hijacked My Brain

Gary Topp opened up his archive for the much anticipated UXB Press book He Hijacked My Brain out Dec 1. 

He Hijacked My Brain – Gary Topp's Toronto

“New York run by the Swiss” is how Peter Ustinov once memorably described Toronto: a big, busy city that ran on money and tradition; orderly and prosperous, sure, but rather lacking in culture and excitement. If never entirely true, this characterisation is now entirely out-dated, and few personalities can take half the credit for that as Gary Topp.  

Armed with taste, energy and a powerful disdain for convention, Gary Topp took Toronto by storm. As part of The Garys (with longtime co-hort Gary Cormier) he offered Canada its first taste of the Ramones, the Police, the B52’s, Sun Ra, Slayer, Talking Heads, The Cramps, James Chance & The Contortions and countless others.

From humble beginnings bringing underground film to thrill-hungry early ‘70s audiences, through years in which he became the city’s most daring and visionary concert promoter, Order of Canada nominee Gary Topp transformed Toronto’s cultural landscape over five exhilarating decades.  

Spanning taverns to concert halls, cinemas to circuses, if it was new, vital and discomfiting to the mainstream, Gary booked it. Packed with first-hand accounts and rare photographs, He Hijacked My Brain - Gary Topp’s Toronto celebrates the revolutionary events that countered Toronto’s culture, painting an insider’s look at a pivotal period that shaped Toronto as a cultural hotbed before Drake and TIFF existed.

From Derek Emerson and his award winning team at UXB Press that created Tomorrow Is Too Late (Toronto Hardcore Punk in the ‘80s) and Eve of Darkness Toronto Heavy Metal in the ‘80s) this is the third in a series of books documenting the history of Toronto’s underground music and culture. 

Copies of He Hijacked My Brain – Gary Topp's Toronto will be available for purchase at the Concert Hall book launch on December 1st – see below for details and clips.  

"The Garys helped define the city of Toronto as a cosmopolitan mecca of artistic expression. They stayed one step ahead in shaping the city’s cultural landscape." — STING, The Police

"The Garys gave an entire generation this idea that you can do it, this is going to happen. They always fought the good fight. And they did it for passion, not profit." — STEVEN LECKIE,  The Viletones

"The Garys gave (Toronto) its edge, literally (with The Edge club) and figuratively." — GLOBE AND MAIL

"There weren’t many spaces that queer culture could go in the ’70s and ’80s. The Garys were supportive when a lot of others weren’t. If a list were made of the musicians the Garys helped to break, they would win every award imaginable, it’s an absolute no-brainer." — CAROLE POPE (Rough Trade)

"It’s all a matter of taste for Topp."— NATIONAL POST

"Gary Topp made my life so much richer than it would have been without his work. I will remain indebted until the day I die." — ROB BOWMAN, Grammy Winning Music Historian

He Hijacked My Brain book launch 

The Concert Hall (888 Yonge St, Toronto)

Sunday, December 1. 1:30 pm to 6 pm. 

Off limits to the general public for decades, the Red Room of Toronto's Masonic Temple/Concert Hall (888 Yonge St) – the Mason's inner sanctum – plays host to the release of the new book HE HIJACKED MY BRAIN  – Gary Topp's Toronto (UXB Press) documenting the cultural impact of Toronto concert promoter. Come celebrate Toronto concert + cinema history with rarely seen artwork, vintage film footage and personal soundboard recordings directly from the vault of Gary Topp! New book HE HIJACKED MY BRAIN will be on sale at the event. Cash bar. Limited capacity - advance tickets are $7.30 on sale now right here.

1:30 - Doors open; Mike Milligan & His Double Bass 

FROM THE VAULT: original hand drawn poster boards from Gary Topp's personal collection on display in gallery space

2:30 - FROM THE VAULT: Beyond The Valley Of The Previews - Original 99 Cent Roxy Film Trailer Screening

3:30 - Ronley Teper & The Lipliners

4:00 - FROM THE VAULT: He Hijacked My Brain documentary - Rare Film Clips 1947-1981

4:30 - TALES FROM THE INNER CIRCLE - Q+A with Gary Cormier + (The Garys), Jeff Silverman (Partner, Roxy + New Yorker Theatres), Ivar Hamilton (CFNY Radio), Colin Brunton (Filmmaker, Poster Artist)

5:30 - FROM THE VAULT: Rare soundboard recordings from Gary Topp's personal archives. 

Watch the Talking Heads perform "Pulled Up" at the Horseshoe Tavern on May 12, 1978 followed by  soundboard clips of The B-52s performing "Rock Lobster" at their Toronto debut – opening for The B-Girls – at The Horseshoe Tavern on October 13, 1978 and James Chance with The Contortions at The Horseshoe Tavern on August 3, 1978. 

Ian Blurton's Future Now unleash Crimes Of The City on Devil's Night!

The sleeve art for the new Crimes Of The City album from Ian Blurton's Future Now has the look of a 70s Italian giallo film.  

Starring:  

Glenn Milchem as The Drummer 

Anna Ruddick as La Bajista 

Aaron Goldstein as Guy with Guitar 

Ian Blurton as Himself 

and introducing Gregory Macdonald as The Goose 

Produced and Directed by Future Now; Songplay: Ian Blurton; Director of Photography: Kelly Shee; 

Production Designer: Brad Boatright; Visual Effects: Johny Bekavac; Stunt Department: Tom Patterson; 

Prop Department: Wolfgang Gray; Model Rendering: Louis Durand; Sound recording: ProGold (Toronto). 

No animals were harmed in the making of this record. 

Check out the Crimes of the City sleeve art and tracklisting below. Get a copy via Bandcamp right here. Read a review by Scott Adams for the Sentinel Daily site right here. 

Ian Blurton's Future Now will be playing The Garrison with Biblical and Tumble on November 23 – get tickets over here. Watch Ian Blurton's Future Now jamming out at Ottawa's House of Targ below. 

Ian Blurton's Future Now – Crimes Of The City

1. Ends Of August

2. House Of Lords

3. Cast Away The Stones

4. Nocturnal Transmissions

5. In Broken Lines

6. School's In

7. Search For Tomorrow

8. Seventh Sin Of Devotion 

9. Halfway Between Heaven And Hell

10. Assailed By The Sun

Released via Pajama Party Records on October 30, 2024 

Ian Blurton's Future Now on tour

11/22 Hamilton, ON - The Casbah %&

11/23 Toronto, ON - The Garrison %+

11/28 Ottawa, ON - House of Targ %?

11/29 Montreal, ON - Turbohaus #%=

% with Tumble

& with the Golden Shitters

+ with Biblical

? with Double Talker

= with Low Sixes

# with Sick Things

Watch the AbFab doc Absolutely Fabulous Inside Out

Absolutely Fabulous Inside Out explores the making of the popular UK sitcom with Joanna Lumley & Jennifer Saunders.

Check out Absolutely Fabulous Inside Out via DailyMotion right here or on YouTube over here. 

Happy Birthday Andy Bey!

Raising a glass to soulful jazz vocalist Andy Bey with an interview and a couple of stellar performances. 

Jay Douglas featured in Play It Loud! doc on Toronto's Jamaican connection

Jamaican-born, Toronto-based soul great Jay Douglas stars in Graeme Mathieson's forthcoming film Play It Loud! Check the trailer.

Here's the scoop...

Early 1960’s Toronto was a mostly white, Anglo-centric city. Beneath this veneer of Conservative respectability, an exciting underground music scene emerged, created by a Jamaican diaspora including newcomers like Jackie Mittoo, Wayne McGhie and a teenageJay Douglas. Battling racism and indifference, they made an indelible, but little appreciated mark on Canadian music and culture. Six decades later, Jay Douglas is still carrying the torch for Jamaican music, and enjoying the recognition and respect he has long craved.

Play it Loud! (set for release via TVO Docs in February, 2025) is a feature documentary that tells the little known story of how Jamaican music became a critical and unlikely part of Canadian culture. The film reveals a social and cultural migration that made Canada a  mecca for Jamaican music, recognized around the world, but little heralded at home. This story is told through the life, music, struggles and triumphs of beloved Jamaican Canadian singer Jay Douglas. Born as Clive Pinnock, in rural Jamaica to a single mother, Douglas began performing professionally at 17 and has never stopped. Today, nearly 60 years later, he’s more popular than ever. 

For more info, clips and theatre screening dates, check the site: https://www.playitlouddoc.com/ 

Watch the Play It Loud! trailer below. 

Watch Rick White & The Sadies live at The Great Hall in Toronto

The full performance of Rick White with The Sadies from Sept. 6 streams tonight starting at 9 pm Eastern. Check the clip below. 

R.I.P. Phil Lesh, 1940-2024

Sadly, innovative Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh has passed away at the age of 84. Check out his book Searching For The Sound. 

Watch the trailer for "Dig We Must," another film about record collectors

Aaron Levinson's forthcoming film Dig We Must features Philly's Val Shively and many other collectors. Watch the trailer below. 

DIG WE MUST

A film about people and the records that collect them.

SYNOPSIS

There is an urgent need to paint a national portrait of record collectors. At a time where the nation is incredibly divided and our understanding of one another becomes ever distant, the thrill of searching and collecting records known as “the dig,” brings people together from completely different backgrounds and creates a powerful and unbreakable kinship.

From the record stores that are institutions in cities and towns across America to the Tik-Tok generation that post their vinyl hauls on social media, record collectors immediately identify with each other. For collectors, it is a social code— and a way of life.

Exploring themes of compulsion, loss, preservation, and community, DIG WE MUST explores the question; when does passion become obsession? What are people willing to lose on the quest to collect records? And how do records bring people together across communities and generations?

The profound act of record collecting is subversive in this unique cultural moment. It forces people to lean in with their senses from the visual appeal of art on the cover, to the weight of holding a record, and the act of listening together. Digging and listening create room for social connections that are often lost in this era.

Collecting records holds vast creative potential and community. But the stakes are high, and for some collectors, the obsession can lead to divorce, financial hardship, and tainted legacy. For others, it means finding your community and applying a soothing balm in an overstimulated world.

DIRECTOR AARON LEVINSON

SCREENWRITER RICHARD GRANT, AARON LEVINSON

PRODUCER NATALIE JESIONKA, DAN WECHSLER

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CHRIS FRALIC, IRMA FRALIC

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER REGGIE MYERS

IMPACT PRODUCER CHRISTINE BARILLI

Watch a trailer for Dig We Must via Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/1022948476. You can donate towards the completion of Dig We Must via The Film Collaborative over here. 

Happy Birthday Philip Catherine!

Raising a glass to Belgian guitar great Philip Catherine with a few performances alongside Chet Baker, Larry Coryell & NHØP. 

Get into the Halloween spirit with Alex Pangman's Swing Set, Saturday

Alex will be sharing "spooky" treats from Eartha Kitt, Satchmo & Rene Marie on JazzFM.91 starting at 7 pm. 

Alex's playlist for tonight's Swing Set...

Getting in the mood for Halloween has never been easier with tonight’s set list JAZZ.FM91 

Glenn Miller and His Orchestra - Swingin' at the Seance

Scat Man Crothers - Ghost Riders in the Sky

Maddy and Her Jazz Friends - The House Is Haunted

Bing Crosby - I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You

Eartha Kitt - I Want To Be Evil

Rene Marie - I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch

Chick Bullock - The Boogie Man

Harry Hall - Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes the Bogeyman

Wingy Manone - Boogie Man

Hannah Gill - Oogie Boogie's Song

Hannah Gill - My Man's an Undertaker

Louis Armstrong - Old Man Mose

Lee Morse and Her Blue Grass Boys - Tain't No Sin (To Dance Around in Your Bones)

Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns - Lucky Devil

Aileen Stanley - I'm a Jazz Vampire

Hermon Hitson vs. Lee Moses

Singer/guitarist Hermon Hitson enlisted Jack Oblivion for his update of the Lee Moses classic "Bad Girl" – check 'em both.  

Hermon Hitson – Let The Gods Sing

Side A:

1. Let the God’s Sing (H. Hitson)

2. Ain’t No Other Way (H. Hitson)

3. Back Door Man (W. Dixon)

4. All I Want Is You (B. Koelbl, F. Koelbl, R. Rhode)

Side B:

1. Feast Of Ants (H. Hitson, W.Sexton, W.McCarley, M.Stuart)

2. Suspicious (H. Hitson)

3. Bad Girl (Lee Moses)

4. Stray Bullet (H. Hitson, W.Sexton, W.McCarley, M.Stuart)

5. Yampertown Funk (H. Hitson, W.Sexton, W.McCarley, M.Stuart)

Get a copy of Hermon Hitson's latest album Let The Gods Sing right here. 

Diana Panton's sweet new album Soft Winds and Roses is out today!

Diana Panton's beautifully recorded Soft Winds and Roses album is available digitally via your platform of choice right here. 

Remembering saxophone great Jimmy Heath on his birthday

Cheers to saxophone great Jimmy Heath on his birthday. Here are a few classic performances along with a couple of interviews. 

Los Straitjackets with Nick Lowe @ TD Music Hall, Friday

Those masked marvels of twang Los Straitjackets are joined by an energetic Nick Lowe for a lively frolic in Toronto tonight. 

One For The Weekend: The Recess Monkeys

Here's Rick Moranis, John Candy and Eugene Levy performing a Chilliwack tune as The Recess Monkeys on SCTV. 

Watch Sierra Ferrell saw her way through Wanda Jackson's Funnel of Love

That time Handsome Ned appeared on Capitol City Hayride

Here's some rare footage of Handsome Ned performing "Ain't No Room For Cheatin'" in Ottawa back in the mid 80s. 

Cover Cop: Les Jaguars vs. Roberto Seto vs. Gallon Drunk

The image from Roberto Seto's 1961 "Brigitte Bardot" EP was repurposed by Montreal's Les Jaguars in '65 & Gallon Drunk in '91.

Happy Birthday Jane Bunnett!

Celebrating the birthday of Toronto saxophonist/flautist and bandleader Jane Bunnett with a couple of Maqueque performances. 

Watch Timmy's Organism rockin' out in Poland

Watch Timmy Lampinen and crew get down at Bar Motocyklowy 2KOŁA in Warszawa, Poland back on October 3. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Egypt's Aida El-Shaer

Here's Egyptian singer Aida El-Shaer عايدة الشاعر performing her 1972 swinger "Ah Ah Min Habiba" and more. 

Toronto's Surfrajettes serve up tasty Easy As Pie LP

The Surfrajettes' Easy As Pie – produced by Colin Cripps – features twangy instrumental updates of tunes by the Spice Girls, Nancy Sinatra and The Sadies.    

Welcome to THE SURFRAJETTES DINER, where your favourite surf-slinging waitresses are serving up this fresh outta-the-oven album! A buffet of delectable delights, this menu certainly has something for everyone. Hope you saved room for dessert! So grab a fork, turn up the stereo, and enjoy a delicious slice of "Easy as Pie" Get a copy via Bandcamp right here. Check out a few clips including their versions of The Spice Girls' "Spice Up Your Life" and The Sadies' "Clam Chowder" below. 

The Surfrajettes – Easy As Pie

1. Easy as Pie 2:30

2. Toasted Western 2:59

3. Clam Chowder 2:32

4. Spice Up Your Life 2:48

5. Double Reverb 3:09

6. Chiffon Daydream 3:33

7. Instant Coffee 3:11

8. Word Salad 2:56

9. Hot Doggin' 2:18

10. Priss and Vinegar 2:34

11. Lickety Split 2:41

12. Sugar Town 2:33

One For The Weekend: The Valentinos feat. Bobby Womack

Any similarity between The Valentinos' "I've Got Love For You" and "Looking For A Love" was entirely intentional.