Tomatoes, touching

Bob Marley's mom recounts her young son's discovery of songs about fruit:



HT: Thelma

Nobody but she husband

"Murder is nothing to brag about"—unless it sells a half-million records. TIME magazine fêtes calypsonian Wilmoth Houdini, August 26, 1946.





HT: Doug Schulkind

True, Man, True

Somebody has to play Cleopatra. Why not Mary Tyler Moore?

Calypso girl

HT: Michelle Shaw

Liar!

Claims he's "never eaten white meat yet."

Bloodshot Eyes

Muriel's Treasure will not be returning to the WFMU airwaves this Fall. The host (who is not actually named Muriel) has been concentrating on this project and that.

Doesn't mean the Treasure won't return in 2008. Calypso is Dead! Long Live Calypso!

In the meantime, podcasts of previous broadcasts continue.

David Stone Martin does Calypso

Disc Records 78 rpm CALYPSO album with cover illustration by the legendary David Stone Martin (1913-1993), whose work adorns hundreds of 1940s and 1950s jazz, blues, folk, and ethnic records.

In the early 1940s, the Chicago-born and -bred Martin befriended artist Ben Shahn, whose work proved inspirational. Martin got started in album cover design in 1944 when his friend, pianist Mary Lou Williams, persuaded her label to hire Martin to illustrate her next release. The company honcho, Moses Asch, was so impressed by Martin's virtuosity that he hired him as art director.


In the 1950s, Martin's moody figure studies for Norgran, Clef, Verve, and Mercury practically defined the illustrated jazz LP cover (in a manner far different than, say, Jim Flora). Eric Kohler, who reprinted over a dozen classic Martin LPs in his book In The Groove: Vintage Record Graphics 1940-1960, observed: "Many of Martin's covers did not have an actual image of the recording artist, but rather an abstract image that might recall the feeling of the music."

A book of his work, Jazz Graphics: David Stone Martin, was published in Japan in 1991. It is, sadly, out of print and hard to find. Martin's vital, cosmopolitan line art deserves renewed circulation.

The calypso album above contains three sides by Lord Invader ("Tied-Tongue Baby," Yankee Dollar in Trinidad," and "New York Subway") and three by Lord Beginner ("Shake Around," "Nora, the War is Over," and "Always Marry a Pretty Woman").

Look Out, There's a Monster Coming

On the 2007 Muriel's Treasure WFMU marathon CD, entitled More Bedbugs, there's an unlisted 26th bonus track. Several recipients of the compilation have inquired about the mystery calypso. This isn't a clue; it's the answer. Not the worst calypso ever, nor the funniest. Not the most improbable — The Muppets recorded "Pig Calypso" — but perhaps the most ethnically unhinged. All hail, Victor Anthony Stanshall.

Inspiration: Ben Jackson

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.