Auf Der Hop

 

(2:29) A mashup of "At The Hop" by Danny and the Juniors with a version in German recorded by Ralf Bendix.  The fact that the German version is pitched lower creates some unintentional harmonizing.  It's a mess but the incredible energy of this fantastic song seems to be unaffected. Some things are just inspiring to work with.

(Google Translate tells us that "At The Hop" in German would be "am Hopfen."  "Auf der Hop" translates as "On the Hop."  Which seems more appropriate.)

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Crystal Ship Shortwave

 

(2:35) This is an experiment in applied noise.  Part of Radio's magic was always voices and sounds flying through the air, and sometimes they pick up audio flotsam that lends an effect of its own.  I noticed this while working on pirate radio collected on the Internet Archive a few years ago, but the phenomenon of vast soundwaves colliding in the ionosphere, throwing off ozone and whatnot, it's like Synchronicity pooping out of the sky.

The noise here has been articulated a little.  It's a recording of a shortwave broadcast.  One version is reverbed-up, the other is split into two independent channels, for an attempt at stereo weirdness.  The original track by the Doors is also in there.  I actually put a little work into it, but it might be an Audio Fractal: too much like itself to be anything else.  It happens from time to time.  You might hear more on headphones.  

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Old TV: Blake Edwards and Bond

 

It's the second Sunday of the month, so we're taking a break from audio to cover the second topic of this blog, the Old TV Guys and Gals who can be found, pending recognition, at your local internet aggregator.

Even after a lifetime of spotting these characters, a routine dip into archival television can yield one or two faces, still unnamed, recognizable on the fringes but barely acknowledged- up to now.

I was watching Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie for maybe the tenth time, and realized I'd seen that TV director before-

Maybe some flash of recognition, from him being cranky?  Have I seen this guy getting mad?  Maybe even playing a TV or movie director?  Being really irate at somebody?

Well, yes-

Herb Ellis, as the irate movie director in Blake Edwards The Party.  A look at Mr Ellis's resume made me surprised I hadn't caught his name before, in the last 60-some years; he started in 1950 and was regularly on the programs I watched from infancy. 

I think it's because he belongs to a special class of Old TV Guys, who possess a mastery of obscurity.  A few weeks ago, I discussed Tony Regan, the silent bystander in scores, hundreds of productions.  Mr Regan is an exemplar of the craft, but the industry is full of actors who could modulate their sparkle down to a dull glow, and pass basically unrecognized for their entire careers.

It's not quite the same group of actors who, while also playing secondary (or lower) characters, stand out and sometimes rise into full-fledged celebrity- the Burt Mustins and Katie Freemans, instantly recognizable, adeptly playing the same character each time.  

This group is almost as anonymous as the ones who never speak.  It's their faces that stand out, and a director who casts for faces will usually find interesting ones for these jobs- interesting to us because of where else we might have seen them,

Another Blake Edwards' film of that era, A Shot in the Dark, has a few of these guys, who turn up, farther in the background, in James Bond films.  (Of all places.)

Cato (Burt Kwouk)

is the Chinese Guy in Goldfinger

 

The Butler

is also in Goldfinger, Mr Solo of Chicago-

And the desk clerk at the nudist colony

is some sort of government expert in Thunderball.

Also, the second butler is in an Avengers episode, but now that's really getting obscure. My point is, I've seen all these films many times.  It might seem like there's no surprises.  But these are all recognitions I've caught only in the last few years.  There's always, it seems, more to be made.  Keep watching the Shows.

Audio Fractals

 

(3:55)  A fractal is an image made up of copies of itself.  Not sure how that applies to audio.  Maybe it happens on this piece but I suspect not.  

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