Trump in the Streets

The "Super Tuesday" presidential primary elections are this week.  Here's my comment on that.

Wild in the Streets (1968, American International Pictures)  An entertainer takes advantage of his celebrity to become elected President of the United States.  Shelley Winters, Richard Pryor.  3 & 1/2 stars.

Al Checco

I noticed Al Checco died last summer.  90-something.

Al's a familiar face to those who follow the old TV scene.  He looked like one of my friend's dads, or a teacher, or the liquor store guy.  Someone who just wandered on to the set.

Al's ability to portray a helpful, anonymous bystander for a moment or two, then disappear in the ultimate flow of the story, gave him lots of work on TV and in the movies.  He was a totally indistinguishable everyman-- a quality which, paradoxically, made him stand out.  I'd always say, "Hey, it's Al Checco!"

Not that he had anything to do with audio, but I thought he was a pretty cool character actor from that era.

Bernie Sanders circular photograph

almost like it's, I don't know, a "button" or something one might print, and attach to their clothing-- perhaps even glued over an old "Tsongas '92" and lovingly covered with clear lacquer, just like it came out of a Union shop.  (Add your own blivet.)

Breakin In a Brand New Overdub test1

...whoa, where did this come from?  Bangin it around before tax season started.  It's just a shred but what the heck-- I might even forget I'm working on it again.

Connie Francis, "Breakin In a Brand New Broken Heart", 1963. Connie's overdubs were a big deal back then.  So why not overdub her overdubs?  Here's verses 1 and 2 of the song played together.

Breakin In a Brand New Overdub test1

Audacity is really easy for this.  Put the tracks side by side, and scoot them around, and compress and stretch, til they line up.

Crowded Cafe Loop

(5:01) 17 seconds of background from an Untouchables episode, looped for 5 minutes, portraying a busy gin dive in the 30's.  In other words, looking back 30 years, in a show that was made over 50 years ago.  But 1961 is more ancient than even that.  Those folks on the right are real people from that era-- not your blow-dry Happy Days clones.  Real people who probably also smell a little odd.

Plus, for us soundheads, the crowd itself has a nice blurry quality; it doesn't sound like real people in a cafe.  Some anonymous sound tinkerer, much like you or me, working for Desilu Studios crafted a singularly amorphous bed of pure crowd whitenoise, as pure as a vista by Eno.

Crowded Cafe Loop

Suggested For You

Another installment of Huffington Post's computer-generated comic strip as it appeared on my monitor today.  Not sure if that means I have the rights or they do.  Anyway, this is a random take on the day's events, created by raising the caption to the next photo.  Nothing's moved or cut, just cropped.

The Tonight Show Band: Sax Alley

(3:29) The audio life's not all cutting and chopping and being a smartass.  Sometimes it's patching up a little treasure that needs only some TLC.

"Sax Alley", the Tonight Show Band tune-- a wild amazing track.  When they were getting ready to go on tour with it, the band graced viewers of The Tonight Show with a beautiful, swinging run-through that's since been posted to YouTube.

Complete with glitches.  A citizens-band radio interrupts it at one point, TV interference and generally lower grade mono sound, circa 1983.  Being, of course, a lover of the Audio, I put Audacity on it: replacing what I had to, compressing, EQing, tweaking, pinching, burping...

If you dig jazz, give it a listen.  Featuring Pete Christlieb and Ernie Watts.  The mid-range is still a little ringy, but what the heck.

Sax Alley

Here's the link to the video on YouTube.