The Grotesque Dummy (El Monigote)

William Smith sent a 1958 paperback entitled Folk Songs of the Caribbean, collected by Jim Morse, published by Bantam. Along with a preface by noted songwriter Lord Burgess (Irving Burgie), the book contains lyrics to songs from Trinidad, Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Guatemala, and elsewhere in the tropical climes. I'm not familiar with many of these titles—it's not a calypso compendium, though works from Trinidad and Jamaica predominate, including such favorites as "Linstead Market," "Gin and Cocoanut Water," and "Out de Fire." Then there's this: "The Grotesque Dummy," from Venezuela. Macabre! Would love to hear a recording, if anyone's got one. Elsewise, here's the lyrics and chords—make your own version.

Muriel launches podcast!

As previously noted, Muriel is taking a summer respite from the WFMU schedule, relaxing at her bungalow with rum-based remedies while hunting for Big Bamboo. She expects to return to the airwaves in the Autumn.

However, because she knows how important vintage calypso, soca, pan, and mento are to you, she is offering two new ways to hear Classic Muriel: via podcasts and streaming WFMU archives.

All one-hour installments of Muriel's Treasure (72 total) are being edited from Irwin's three-hour free-form program for your listening pleasure in these two formats. Twice a week (starting today) new podcasts will be automatically delivered to your computer and/or mp3 player. As each podcast is sent out, that program (and playlist) will be added to the WFMU archives for eternal good listening.

Now you can hear all your favorites -- Sparrow, Kitchie, Invader, Atilla, King Radio, Duke of Iron, Houdini and their impertinent brethren -- at your convenience.

Congo Man (Mighty Sparrow)

National Records (LP 5050), 1965. Sparrow recorded the title track (a paean to cannibalism—white meat, in particular) at least three times. Each version is singularly spectacular, and each is punctuated by Sparrow's demonic laughter that seems to imply, "Pass the salt."

Muriel's Treasure on WFMU

Muriel's Treasure is on summer hiatus from the WFMU schedule. Muriel hopes to return to the airwaves with her tantalizing treasure in the Fall.

In the next few weeks, WFMU will start offering all prior 72 episodes of MT as podcasts, with twice-weekly installments. (As of this writing, WFMU is dealing with a server crash that disabled the station's archives and interrupted podcasting; we'll post anew when the problem has been fixed.)

In addition, we'll soon have all MT hours extracted from my three-hour free-form show and posted as separate programs in the WFMU archives with playlists. These will be added one-by-one in conjunction with each podcast.

We're in editing mode at present. As soon as the archives are posted and the podcast is launched, we'll beat you with a kalenda stick as a reminder. It won't hurt.

The blog will continue, as ever, with regular irregularity thru the summer.


UPDATE JUNE 8: WFMU server restored. Muriel's archives and podcasts start Monday June 18.