Updates Archive: 2003

12-24-03:
• Added a few 45s: Command Performance 170 (with both sides ascribed to a "Mrs." Song-Poet); MSR 2238 ("My Land '76"), 2959, 2988 ("Will There Be Any Auctioneers In Heaven?") and 3093; Preview 1399 (completing a remarkable string of 61 consecutive releases logged, from 1398 to 1458); Brite Star 774 and 2450; and Deck 001 (new label; its official name, according to field rep James Lindbloom, is the singular Deck Record, "as if their aspirations were too low to make it plural").

  12-23-03:

• Added Safari SA 601. See the News page for information on and a link to this record's posting on today's installment of 365 Days.

  12-17-03:

• Posted a cover scan for Columbine LP L-3.

  12-16-03:

• Completed info on Preview 1055. Added Preview 2324 and 2329, and Nu-Sound 1384, 1392 and 1393. Added Columbine LP L-3.

  12-11-03:

• One of the surest signifiers that a record is a song-poem is if the song composition is credited to a "Mrs." Something-or-other. Carole King or Dorothy Fields never went that route, but in the bizarro world of song-poem music such a tag pops up with some frequency. However, until seeing it with our own eyes on Columbine album CRH-110, we could hardly have imagined a single album containing five "Mrs." credits! Other recent album finds: Star-Crest 3200 ("Forever Yours If Your Heart Says Yes," "Rock N' Roll Rocker") and MSR 216 ("Chocolate Candy," "Funny Man"; listing includes cover scan). This latter discovery is most exciting, as it completes a long numerical string for that seminal label, from their debut release of 201 (from c.1966) all the way through 221 (c.1971).

  Also new are a batch of 45s: MSR 376 ("The Ballad Of A Train That Went To Sea"), 625 and 2359; Dial 2222; Nu-Sound 1094 and 1150; Preview 1209, 1303 (completing a string from 1302 to 1320), 1364, 1592 ("The Ninth Commandment") and 2788 ("So Many 'Minis'"); and Twinkle Time 1001 ("Little Bunny Fluff Fluff," with label scan; this label is new to us, and the release is believed to be the first ever under the Film City family of labels, which used a blanket numbering scheme). We also obtained further information on Sigmar 621/622; Preview 1055; and Co-Ed 1960. Added a cover scan to MSR 282, the only known non-Mayhams song-poem double-LP, as well as one for Tin Pan Alley 101, that label's debut release.

• This is a good time to remind y'all of our new holiday-themed song-poem compilation, Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four?, which garnered excellent reviews in recent issues of The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

  12-5-03:

• See our News page for a new item on the impending release of the DVD version of Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story.

  12-3-03:

• Those looking for song-poem rarities will want to take a look at MSR 282, A Gift Of Christmas Spirit For 1980, which (apart from Norris The Troubadour's Our Centennial Album) is the only known song-poem double-LP. A near-mint copy is presently up for bid on eBay, just in time for the XMas shopping season. Not having heard it we can't comment on its content, apart from its inclusion of the great "The Rocking Disco Santa Claus" (which also appears on Bar/None's new Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four?). Bidding deadline is Sunday, Dec. 7 at around 7p PST.

  12-1-03:

• Added scans and text of two "quip sheets" and a comment card song-poem great William H. Arpaia included among promo materials (sent primarily to DJs) for releases on his own Vandalia label. Find them on the Vandalia label page. Thanks to Michael Greenberg for providing these great items.

  11-26-03:

• Added a pop-up facsimile (i.e., scan) of an existing Customer's Complaint.

  11-25-03:

• Posted an item to the News page offering the head-scratching "English" translation of a Big Wood And Brush review recently published in a Paris newspaper.

  11-9-03:

• Added a depiction of the projected cover art to the News page article about the forthcoming Rodd Keith Ecstacy To Frenzy CD.

  11-6-03:

• Posted an item to the News page announcing an exciting new album, to be released early next year. Ecstacy To Frenzy, recorded by Rodd Keith under the name Shome Howe Jehovason, is not a song-poem record, yet will warrant just as much attention from us as if it was, for it will feature the only known recording Rodd made of his own music: in other words, his only non-song-poem record! We have been fortunate enough to have heard this recording already, and can guarantee that it will blow your everlovin' socks off.
  
• In what would otherwise be the day's lead item, we added our 500th album, Nu-Sound 008, to our discographies today. Perhaps a bit ironically, it is the first album that has yet materialized on what was previously thought to have been an all-singles label. If we were giving out prizes, field representative Narkspud would surely deserve one for helping us reach this milestone.

  10-28-03:

• Confirmed that Preview released two separate singles under the 2000 catalogue number, and completed info on the latter of them.

  10-28-03:

• Completed info on Preview 1869.

  10-24-03:

• Our illustrated chat with the great Nashville star Becky Hobbs about her days palling around L.A. with Preview's Bonnie & Nita begins at the News page.

  10-23-03:

• Added Sterling 459, and completed information for Tin Pan Alley 175/176 (formerly listed as simply 175) and 325.

  10-22-03:

• Added five Preview singles (2233 ("Short Dresses And Panty Hose"); 2428; 2430; 2434; and 2447), four MSR singles (563 ("My Pocket Knife Won't Keep Time"); 576; 584; and 600 ("Mona Lisa Girls")), and completed info on one MSR LP (234, a Christmas album that manages to squeeze in "Deep Summer").

  10-20-03:

• Field rep Gary Myers files new info on three 45s on Star-Light -- 1020 ("Kiss That Lovely Venus"), 1032 ("Dregs Of The Dream" and, for those that complain that there are no October songs, "Something In October") and 1035 ("The Country Hick") -- and further info on three more -- 1011, 1023 ("You Were Beggarly"; "The Bruton Blonde") and 1027. And, field rep James Lindbloom submits an update on Brite Star, with new entries for 7911 and 7919 -- neither, however, are true song-poem records.

  10-16-03:

• Added Preview 1044 -- "Zoot Suits" b/w "Yellow Bag." How can you lose?

  10-14-03:

• Added Tin Pan Alley 243.

  10-9-03:

• The American Song-Poem Christmas: Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four?, a new holiday-oriented song-poem anthology from Bar/None, was released earlier this week. See our News page for full details, links, etc., as well as info on foreign releases of Bar/None's earlier The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood And Brush. It's gonna be a song-poemy XMas!
  
• Added an unnumbered CD on Magic Key, which includes "Why Lady D," "Swallowed," "Unique Insanity" and Tyrone Boyd's "It Must Be Voodoo."

  10-6-03:

• Completed info on Cowtown 810.
  
• Added an item about Bette Midler, of all people, to the bottom of the Nervous Norvus discography.

  10-2-03:

• Added a photo of Bara LaBary, song-poet of "I've Got A Reputation," to the Allstar page (opposite one of the song's recording artist, Jim Kent). Don't blame us for the poor job of cutting around poor Bara's face, as the illo was lifted, intact, from her own ad in the 1957 Songwriter's Review Annual. Thanks to Michael Greenberg for the loan of the book.

  9-30-03:

• Revised the Sonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche entry of our Not Quite Song-Poem page to include a few anecdotes provided by Hollywood recording engineer and producer Allyn Rosenberg, as well as a photo of the pair provided by ace Nitzscheographer (not to mention Nitzscheologist) Martin Roberts.
  
• Added some new 45s, to wit: Film City 2039; Jody 9241; Preview 2427; Tin Pan Alley 325 and 70-657; and MSR 325, 402, 749 and 2872.

  9-25-03:

• Added MSR 3068.

  9-24-03:

• Added Sherwood 1392.

  9-22-03:

• It's been argued that our Nervous Norvus/Jimmy Drake discography didn't have enough categories, so, taking that stance to heart, we've added one more: see "miscellaneous demo" for a new Drake discography. Thanks to field rep Michael Greenberg (not a member of the More Categories party, by the way) for his help in locating this one.
  
• Added Jody 9163, a 12" single by a composer/bandleader with the most unpronounceable name yet discovered in the annals of song-poemdom.

  9-19-03:

• Added a story to the Pop Culture page, describing, in amusing detail (and with great illustrations), the 1948 "Song Racket" episode of the radio series Green Hornet. Our thanks to field rep Gary D. Russell for turning us on to this otherwise-lost morsel of song-poem history.
  
• Added MSR 162 and 174, and Preview 1038.

  9-17-03:

• New field rep Ted Sonnenschein brings us news of Royal Master 3030, which includes such titles as Matt Vincent's "Divorced By Old Lady Bee," not to be outdone by Will Gentry (aka Ramsey Kearney)'s "Antique Love," as well as "The Valley Of Sin," "Mom, I'm Home" "We're On Strike," and the song of truth for song-poets everywhere, "You're Always An Outsider." Cover scan included.

  9-16-03:

• Added REO 5086, the first (not counting one partial listing) release on that label not readily attributable in some way to Clarence Coffel.

  9-12-03:

• Added Sterling 801 and Preview 1686. The latter entry includes a remarkable song entitled "San Clemente's Not The Same," a rant in which song-poet Myron Ace decries the tourist boom that hit that city once Richard Nixon moved there. Field rep Rocketboy has posted an MP3 of the track to Otis Fodder's wonderful 365 Days site.
  
• Added to the bottom of the Shadow World page a linked index of label pages (presently numbered at 20) that include some introductory text about the respective company.

  9-10-03:

• A brief but revealing article about the father-and-son team of Ted and Jeff Rosen, respectively the founder and current president of Talent Incorporated -- the parent (no pun intended) company of the Halmark label -- can be found online at the website of the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged (scroll down to the paragraph that begins, "Music forms a strong bond ..."). In the article, Ted, a resident of the center, is quoted as saying that he respects Jeff's "powers of persuasion and his gift of eloquence," surely two of the more useful qualities for a song shark to possess. The article goes on to say that Jeff "recently became certified as a hypnotherapist." This development has spurred us to write our own version of the Halmark story, an uncharacteristically personal (and slightly illustrated) essay which now introduces the Halmark label page.

  9-9-03:

• Added Tin Pan Alley 334 ("Dance Of The Dishes").

  9-5-03:

• Added MSR 2790 ("Why Kiss?"). Added six singles on Safari (SR 102, 105, 106, 109 and 8674), most of the information for which came from Ramsey Kearney's own website (completing an informational exchange in which he took some of his own discographical data -- although not the picture of his monkey -- from this site).
  
• Last night's even based around a showing of Jamie Meltzer's Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story, at the Milky Way rock club/candlepin bowling alley in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, provided a number of new entries to our Song-Poem Cover Versions list. Bands Snoozer and The Weisstronauts provided the music, including some impromptu song-poems, based on attendants' spontaneous lyrics, for the evening's festivities.
  
• At this point in the research game, we feel the need to determine which labels have contributed the most records to our discographies, in both the 45s and LPs categories. Following is the list we worked up, from information available as of today. Note that the list is not complete, taking into account only the most prolific labels:

  45s:
  Preview: 801
  MSR: 560
  Tin Pan Alley: 236
  Cowtown: 152*
  Film City: 139
  Sterling: 136
  Allstar: 127*
  Tropical: 118
  Ronnie: 105
  Air: 94
  Fable: 94
  Halmark: 76
  Command Performance: 61
  Cinema: 60
  Bryte: 44*
  Mayhams: 35*
  Brite Star: 32*

  *much information missing, and/or includes many non-song-poem records

  LPs:
  Columbine: 146
  MSR: 62
  Sunrise: 61
  Royal Master: 30
  Hollywood Artists: 28
  Rainbow: 22
  Preview: 20
  Nashco: 18

  One is overwhelmed by the utter profusion of Preview singles that have been discovered to date, and must wonder if there's a reason, beyond mere coincidence, for this fact. Additionally, MSR maintains a notably strong grip on second place, with well over twice the number of items of its next-in-line. What gives? We believe the answer lies in the facts that, a) MSR and Preview were "sister" labels, or at least "first cousins," in that they were owned by brothers-in-law, and they shared many business and creative components with one another, and, b) they (in particular Preview) apparently pressed their records in much higher quantities than any other song-poem companies.

  9-4-03:

• Added Caveman 491/492, along with a pair of graphics to the same page. First of the two is a label scan, which comes to us courtesy Terry Gordon's essential Rockin' Country Style; the other, an ad for Caveman's Supersonic Music production division, we've had lurking unattached within the bowels of our site for some time, but it wasn't until field rep Michel Proost alerted us to Supersonic's relationship to Caveman that we knew what to do with it. This latter item, in particular, is a must-see.
  
• Added Columbine LPs CRH-150 ("Wonderful And It's Cool," "The Merry Gang"), CRH-272 ("No! No! No! No! I Don't Wanna," "We're Not Falling Apart")and NST-33 ("My Grandma And Grandpa Invented Rock & Roll," "The Cemetery Of The Seven Graves"); Hollywood Artists LPs HAR-6 ("Hello There Little Girl," "My Ma Told Me Life Is Fine") and HAR-32 ("Exotic Dancers"); and Rainbow LP HG-503 ("Due To Circumstances Beyond My Control, I Love You," "Bed Of Fire"); and MSR 45s 2176 ("Swinging" b/w "Mud Puddle") and 2405. Completed info on Tin Pan Alley 41-501.

  9-2-03:

• Added Ronnie 2062 and 2259; Halmark SH-1182/1183; MSR 2187 ("Little Green Frog"); Preview 1187, 1208 and 2863; Tin Pan Alley 265; Sherwood 1298 ("I Wish I Was A Hippie"); a Globe single of unknown number; and Rainbow LP HG-518 ("Got To Be A Rock Star"). Completed or corrected info on Tin Pan Alley 324 and 364 and Master 1001. Delisted Nu-Sound 1016, which was finally found to be the product of different company of the same name.

  8-29-03:

• Finally, after weeks of intense preparation, we are able to announce the completion of our latest, and largest, round of discography updates. As voluminous as it is, it would be impractical to list every one of these finds; thus, we shall restrict ourselves to a handful of highlights:

  "You Got That Wild Look In Your Eyes" (Allstar 7258); "You're Driving Me Out Of Your Mind" (Big Chief 6906); "Lying To My Heart About You," a Film City single (1011) by the breakfast-based writing team of Coffee and Bacon; "Don't Eat Your Heart Out Over Me," one of four new Jimmy Drake acetates on Film City; "Melody Of The TV Commercials" (Globe acetate); NASA, Texas (Halmark SH-842); "Those Dollar Spots Before My Eyes" (Hyperbolic); the discovery of the fact that a trio of late-'60s Jody 45s were recorded by a band led by a drummer named Paul Caravello, who would later change his name to Eric Carr to replace Peter Criss behind the traps in Kiss; "When My Babe Bob Bo Takes Off For The Moon" (MSR 145); "Take A Moongram, Mr. Moon" (MSR 399); "Hot Pants Plus" (MSR 437); "Wandering Priest" (MSR 650); "Maury, The Christmas Mouse" (MSR 690); "Parent And Teenager" b/w "Nipper" (MSR 727); "Goin' To Die, Little Fly" (MSR 2162); Thomas Guygax's "Shellbager" (MSR 2340); "Leave Me And Daisy" (MSR 3064); "Our Boys In Iran" b/w "Corn Bread" (Nu-Sound 1492); "Touchdown War Dance" b/w "Tee-A-Wanna Tan" (Preview 1120); "I Fell In Love With One Of Satan's Angels" (Preview 1124); "I Wanna Rock And Roll The Moon Back Home" (Preview 1135); Rodd Keith's brilliant "Kokomo" (Preview 1155); "Going Space Traveling" (Preview 1175); "The Rainbow Roller Coaster" (Preview 1206); "The White Elephant Stomp," another Keith killer (Preview 1331, part of a newly-created consecutive string encompassing Preview #1326-1363); Terri Marsh's (aka Teri Thornton/Summers) "Bones" (Preview 1485); "Saucers In The Sky" (Preview 1584); "The Young Generation" (Preview 1701); the optimistic "Grow Young With Me" (Preview 1738); "Mini Lailoni Of The Phillipines" (Preview 1798); "Minnie The Space Age Babe" (Preview 1832); "Deep River Of Suriname" (Preview 1858); "Put Your Heart In Storage" (Preview 1979); "Cupid's Thing" (Preview 1995); a bevy of insanely right-wing numbers, each defending either Richard Nixon or Lt. William Calley, submitted by John Montague (all on Preview); the anti-Elvis "Don't Step On My Little Red Shoes" (Preview 2338); "Holland" b/w "When I Come Home From Viet Nam" (Preview 2397); "The Eating Of The Apple" (Preview, number unknown); "About A Backstreet Honky-Tonk" (R-V-B, number unknown); "Pretty Kitty" (Ronnie 2058); and "Blondes In Black" (Tin Pan Alley 196-1293). New labels include Audition, Bozark, Happening, Mobert and Sacred Groves.

  Our thanks to all who contributed to this massive update, especially James Lindbloom, Gary Johnson, Terry Gordon and Michael Greenberg. The numbers are impressive: 298 new 45s, 16 new LPs, one new CD (on Sacred Groves, and combining the productions of several different song-poem houses), and dozens of lines of additional or corrected information.

  Our next big project will be to post some new discoveries, including many of the aforementioned titles, to the MP3 page. However, the volume of material there is likely to necessite the removal of many of the currently-existing tracks. Most of the items currently residing there have been doing so for over a year, and so we don't want to hear any grousing later about having missed out. Therefore -- and not to be shrill about it, but: you are advised to grab any and all MP3 selections you may ever desire as soon as possible! We can't guarantee that this will be not your last warning; however we will, of course, notify you here as soon as new selections are posted.

  7-18-03:

• Identified a new Nervous Norvus song. Unfortunately, though, it is unclear whether it was ever released or not. For more on this mystery song, see "Mystery song" on the Nervous Norvus discography.

  7-9-03:

• Added a label scan for the B-side of Preview 1019, which mysteriously lacks artist and songwriting credits.

  6-30-03:

• See our News page for more on Saturday's National Public Radio's song-poem segment, including a link to an audio stream of it.

  6-25-03:

• Added a citation for Arf! Arf! Records's new Only In America, Volume 2, which includes four song-poem tracks along with a handful of other must-have selections, to the Miscellaneous Albums page.

  6-24-03:

• Host Scott Simons' recent joint interview with the great song-poem vocalist Gene Merlino (aka Gene Marshall, John Muir, et al) and AS/PMA curator Phil Milstein for NPR's Weekend Edition program will air this Saturday, June 28. The interview arrives amidst a fresh wave of promotional interest in the Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood And Brush anthology, with glowing reviews appearing recently in New York's Village Voice and London's Guardian.
  
• Our apparent inactivity of late should not be misread as actual inactivity. We have in fact been hard at work processing three separate and extensive new databases of song-poem discographical listings we've recently come into. We've also been identifying and transferring hot song-poem finds for distribution as MP3s, and have, in addition, one or two surprise projects up our sleeve.

  5-30-03:

• Added a new lyric transcription to the Guygax page. Transcribed by field rep James Lindbloom, "Shellbager" has yet to be added to the MSR discography, because we are behind on such things.

  5-29-03:

• Based on information presented by field reps Terry Gordon and Michael Greenberg showing that the Belle Meade owned by Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore was a totally different label than the song-poem company of the same name, delisted three 45s and an LP from the Belle Meade discography.

  5-16-03:

• Added MSR 340, Rodd Keith on "Banana Split Rag."

  5-15-03:

• Added a pair of MSR singles, 106 and 654, and completed information on Allstar 7164.

  5-9-03:

• Added Tin Pan Alley 101/102, which, aside from being obviously the label's debut, is significant for two reasons: both sides were penned by label owner Jack Covais, indicating a possible legit thrust at that company's founding; and it is in the C&W bag, whereas nearly all other TPA releases were either R&B or pop.

  5-7-03:

• Added a slew of new MP3 files -- three dozen of the suckers, to be exact. Highlights include "The Merry-Go-Down," a Rodd Keith masterpiece; "For You With Love," a song-poem about song-poems; outsider musician Lucia Pamela's two song-poem efforts for George Liberace Songsmiths; Halmark's mysterious "The Virgin Child Of The Universe"; Sonny Marshall's version of "The Saddest Story"; and James Wilson, Jr.'s dedication to his song-poem vocalist "Gyrate For Physicet Beam Dreams, Kay." Singles tracks can be found at Singles batch #17; LPs are at LPs batch #16. Happy downloading.
  
• Added Preview 1158 and Nu-Sound 1232 ("Let's Run Down To Funtown Tonight").

  5-6-03:

• Added Halmark 25456.

  5-5-03:

• Added MSR 2906; Hollywood Artists Y-163 (an EP with all songs submitted by Dorothy Deane Catchpaw); and Preview LP 376, and Elvis tribute album with owner-decorated cover art.

  4-25-03:

• Added Kondas 109/110; Film City 1055 (by Cherokee George & The Cottonpickers); Preview 2820; and an unnumbered single on Bryte. Also added Nashco 667, an LP entitled Walk Out Backwards, which includes (in fact, starts with) the title song and "Driving In A Bricklin And Renting Out Limousines."

  4-23-03:

• Added an item to the Not Quite Song-Poem page about the early '60s recordings of Sonny Bono, Jack Nitzsche, and "Don Christy".

  4-8-03:

• Added Air 1575; Vandalia 109; Film City 1094; Sherwood 1272; Tin Pan Alley 71-665 and Brite Star 7905. Completed info on Fable 608.

  4-1-03:

• It's been a while since we've added any new MP3s. Today's post of "I Really Care," the plaintive cry of a perennial song-poet, changes that. Come here Gene Marshall ask the musical questions, "Why can't you hear what I'm singing? Why can't you feel what I feel? Why do some people try to listen, while others don't think I'm real?"

  3-27-03:

• Off The Charts director Jamie Meltzer forwards us an ad for Major Label, whose name was chosen to deceive potential customers into thinking they were signing on with a "major label."

  3-24-03:

• Added MSR 624, and a scan of the Feasible label described in the intro blurb of its sister label, Piece.
  
• See Jeff Grimshaw's site for the amusing story of his victory in the Off The Charts contest for best song-poem.
  
• Posted further information to the Popular Culture page on the early history of the song "Gonna Buy Me A Dog." See the paragraph about the TV sitcom The Farmer's Daughter.

  3-20-03:

• Published on the News page the lyric to a song that describes the loneliness of the song-poem experience to a T. See Nobody Wants My Song.
  
• Added a very cool graphic to the Action label page.

  3-19-03:

• Made two important sets of additions, including a remarkable photo of yesterday's star Les Longman, and a fascinating story of the 1960s song-poem label Piece, owned and operated by a high school student. You'd be foolish to miss either.

  3-18-03:

• Added a set of 14 45s, nearly all of them penned by ace song-poet Les Longman, from the collection of Michael Greenberg. They are: Air 1552 ("Channel, Channel"), 1561, 1586, 2513, 2519 ("Captured"), 2542, 2555 and 2557; Film City 4101; Shatter 2379 (new label, with one helluva mailing address); Zap 2352 (new label); Action 1199 ("Velvet Window"); Preview 1887; and MSR 125.
  
• Received news of a four-star review for the Bar/None CD in the April issue of the respected British music mag Mojo.

  3-14-03:

• The Bar/None CD received a four-star review in the April 3 issue of Rolling Stone.

  3-6-03:

• Posted a great ad for Dolly-O 1019.

  3-5-03:

• Added Cinema 7324. Pastor Boomer Collins brings us news of several records for which he submitted song-poems, to wit Columbine K-17 (with Dola Lindsay's "Shadow Of Your Heart") and R-4 (with Willie James's "Wayward Stress Crying Tollen"), an unnumbered acetate on Columbine, and three unnumbered acetates on the new (new to us, of course) Promo Records.
  
• Added a small bit to the Popular Culture page, hidden at the bottom of the Superman segment, about a song-poem sequence on The Green Hornet radio serial.

  3-4-03:

• Note that there are a number of Rodd Keith records up for grabs on eBay right now.
  
• Added an unnumbered 78rpm acetate on a new label, Hollywood Tunesmiths. Dated "pre-1956," it is one of the earliest recordings in our database. Label scan, too, courtesy of Joe Paulino, the song-poet's nephew.

  2-28-03:

• Added Action 1051, a single, and Columbine CRH-252 (with the promising "I'm Not A Little Girl Anymore"), an LP. Also completed information on Columbine LP CRH-281, which reveals that behind "Hell Express" is a song-poet called Cracked Eyes.
  
• Added artist info and a cover scan to HillTop LL-101.

  2-27-03:

• Our upcoming appearance on NPR's Weekend Edition, referred to below, has been postponed. A new date hasn't yet been scheduled, but will be reported here once it is.
  
• Added artist info and a cover scan to HillTop LL-101.

  2-26-03:

• Added 17 45s: Command Performance 467 ("Prisoner's Mind"); Canary 6415; Sullivan 512/513, 516/517 and 520/521; Film City 3022 and 3034; Preview 1035 (a redistribution, and with completed info, of the former 1235), 1562 (Kris Arden, on loan from Globe studios, checkin' in with "Makes My Heart Stop Flopping Around"), 1789, 1981 ("Divine Exhortation"), 1986 and 1988; Tin Pan Alley 165/166, 317 and 72-666. Added a cassette, unnumbered, on the new Rita & Louie label. Added a CD, HillTop LL-101. Added six LPs: Preview 111; MSR 201 (which appears to be the label's debut album release, with "I'm Trying To Make Him Call Me Honey") and 214 ("Oh That Zipper On My Pants," "Whoopee I'm Happy") (these two additions complete a run of MSR albums from 201 to 215, and leave only 216 preventing us from running all the way to 220); Rainbow HG-570 (with the hopeful "AIDS Is Out," "Game Of Chess"); Brite Star 2210 (with amusing liner note excerpt; note that this is not a pure song-poem record, and that it includes a track by C&W star Billie Jo Spears) and Star-Crest 8500 ("High School Wiggle"). Completed info on Hollywood Artists cassette MH-06. Added the text of a letter from the president of a Chapel Recording Co., included with some of their releases, attempting to trick customers into coughing up an additional $29.50.

  2-25-03:

• Song-poems and Lou: NPR's All Songs Considered is co-featuring Bill Joy's "How Long Are You Staying" and Lou Reed's new "Who Am I?" this week. Visit the All Songs Considered site for songs and graphic displays based around each.

  Upcoming on NPR, most likely this coming weekend, will be a discussion of song-poem music, featuring vocalist Gene Merlino (aka Gene Marshall, John Muir, et al) and AS/PMA curator Phil Milstein, on Weekend Edition.

  One of the more insightful reviews of the new Big Wood And Brush release can be found in The Campus Chronicle, the newspaper of the Savannah College of Art and Design (Feb. 21 edition).

  2-24-03:

• Completely revamped our Bonnie Was A Treasure article, about the great song-poem session singer Bonnie Graham.

  2-20-03:

• From today's version of the website of NPR's Todd Mundt Show:

  Todd is joined by song-poem expert Phil Milstein. They discuss the history of song-poems, and Milstein tells Todd what they are and how they were made. His compilation CD is The American Song Poem Anthology.

  Todd talks to Gene Merlino, who is a singer for hire in Los Angeles. Merlino tells Todd about cranking out song-poems, putting them to music, and recording them.

  Todd talks to Jeff DeGraff about creativity, and how companies could approach it as an activity that can produce valuable results. He tells Todd how to implement creativity in the workplace, and how to energize creativity and the different effects it can have. DeGraff is co-author of Creativity At Work.

  
  
• James Lileks, nationally-syndicated political columnist (with a humorous bend), raved about The American Song-Poem Anthology in his daily blog The Bleat last Thursday, even indulging in a song-by-song rundown of the entire album. The Nashville Tennessean recently covered the general topic of song-poem music, from a local angle (including comments from song-poem entrepreneurs Ramsey Kearney and Keith Bradford), in its business section.
  
• We'd like to remind you of the availability of Norris The Troubadour's Our Centennial Album. Copies have been flying off the shelves, and early reviews have been ecstatic.

  2-14-03:

• Added 10 LPs: Columbine CRH-158 (a theme album containing "Litter, Litter" and "Makin' Mash, Haulin' Trash, Countin' Cash"), CRH-163 ("Our Lives Are Beginning To Start" and the ominous "A Man's Got To Do What A Man's Got To Do"), CRH-180 and X-7 (containing the fifth known version of Raymond Moberly's deathless "Season's Greetings"; only just now realized that the "X" prefix indicates "Christmas"); Hollywood Artists HAR-2 (the earliest LP yet discovered for that Columbine spinoff, and containing "Hollywood Rappin'," "Roxanne Queen Of The French Can-Can" and "I'm Addicted To Your Lovin'"); Hit Records Int'l. V-1 ("V" for "Vicki," and containing "Big Beat Daddy"); MSR 230 ("A Streetcar Named Immortality") and 236 ("Our Will Rogers"); Preview 302; and Sunrise HS-080 (Cross People Poetry's "Trails Past The King Of Nines" (sounds like a song-poet to watch out for!), "A Cheer For Elvis" and "Witch With A Capital B").
  
• Some discographical adjustments: writers credits added to Bryte 227; Roxie 303; Fable 509; Preview 1669; Star-X 518; and Tin Pan Alley 320 (also corrected A-side title and added B-side title). Streamlined the Crescendo discography, stripping it of several items which appear to be from one or more different Crescendos. Added Co-Ed 115-123/115-124.

  2-13-03:

• Big updates list, all 45s: Advance 1102; Brite Star 5960; Carib 1163; Endeavor 1004; Fable 621, 4037 ("Hey! Mister!") and an unnumbered acetate; Film-Tone 154 ("She's My Rock And Rolly Baby"); Halmark 18235/18236 ("Has The World Forgotten Korea" b/w "Tomorrow In Vietnam") and 24333/24334; Mayo (new label) 9041/9042; Messmer (new label) 3894 ("Wantum Money"); MSR 172 ("I Dreamed I Was An Astronaut"), 365, 465 ("In Space With You"), 844, 2203 ("The Restless Dead"), 2321, 2477, 2945, 2946, 2952, 3020 ("All American Tradition") and 3025 ("Oh! Abraham!"); Nada 1163 ("I Want To See My Pickaninny") and 1235; Preview 1451 (completing a remarkable string of collected numbers from 1400 to 1458!), 1473 ("Baby Let's Not Grow Old"), 1568 and 2127; Process 123; Recap (new label) 40621/40622; Sterling 207, 546, 806 ("Girl, You Came On Strong"), 869 and 945; Sullivan (new label) 530 and 540; Sylvan 3 ("Washington Crossing The Delaware"); Tin Pan Alley 117/118, 271 ("Don't Touch Me There!"), 323, 333, 36-481, 67-644, 162-1123, 167-1147, 197-1299, 205-1340, 206-1344, 206-1345 and 207-1346; Unique 2302; Wesley 1164 ("Rockabilly Rock" b/w "Dig That Beat"); and Windy City 553.

  2-12-03:

• Press and more press: a half-page in Jane magazine (March issue, page 52, "Dish" section), with a photo of Teri Thornton and a submit-your-worst-poem contest (for copies of Big Wood And Brush); and reviews in The Onion and The New York Observer.

  2-11-03:

• Happy American Song-Poem Day!

  2-10-03:

• The newsstand version of Tom Sinclair's article on song-poem music in the February 14 edition of Entertainment Weekly carries several more photos than the online version (although print readers miss out on the two free song-poems). It's a gas to ponder the fact that Rodd's wigged-out mug is currently appearing on newsstands large and small across the entire nation! We recommend that even if you don't feel the urge to buy a copy, you at least fix your gaze on the pix on page 21 until the proprietor barks, "Hey bud, this ain't a library!" at you.

  2-9-03:

• Today's New York Sunday Times carried a very good article on Off The Charts and Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood And Brush, by Jon Pareles. Not sure of its online availability, if any.

  2-7-03:

• Just a reminder that this coming Tuesday is American Song-Poem Day. See our News page item for further details. Press on the Off The Charts movie and Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood And Brush CD is starting to roll in, with a review already in the Philadelphia City Paper, a feature with movie review in the Hartford Advocate, a short overview (with absurdly pensive photo of Ira Kaplan, posing before a blow-up of the lyrics to "How Long Are You Staying" as if he were Thomas Jefferson before of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution) in this week's Entertainment Weekly, and an especially thoughtful feature on song-poem music in general in the L.A. Weekly.
  
• From a press release, credited to Jodi Epstein at ITVS: "I am writing to you to inform you of the documentary Off The Charts and the launch of the companion website. Come check out the site and learn more about the song-poets of our time. Enter the song-poem contest and win a recording of your song!" See our News page item for further details.

  2-5-03:

• This just in: The Oddball Auditorium (unusual tunes in MP3 format) presents seven new song-poem tracks for your enjoyment, in honor of American Song-Poem Day (11 February 2003).

  2-4-03:

• Added a cute pic, from the record's picture sleeve, of the title character of Ramsey Kearney's true-life epic "Ramsey's Monkey." Supplied by ace field rep Michael Greenberg.

  2-3-03:

• British Columbian field rep Eric Damianos brings us news of Royal Master 6969, with "How To Grow," "You Left Me For A Three," and the anti-Three's Company song "Don't Come Knocking On My Door." Don't miss the groovy cover scan!
  
• Added Preview 1235, a partial entry.

  1-31-03:

• We proudly announce the launch of a new and somewhat experimental feature, the AS/PMA's first direct sale of a song-poem product. See the new Our Centennial Album page for details. This is another not-to-be-missed item, with more of 'em soon to come.
  
• Added MSR 515 and 2322; Al-Jean 100 (new label); Master 1084 (also a new label -- sort of; the I'm Just The Other Woman compilation included a Master cut, "I'm A Ginseng Digger," but various circumstances caused us to come to question Master's authenticity as a song-poem label; this new listing, however, confirms our original assessment of them, and so "Ginseng Digger" is added as well, and our integrity (such as it is) is restored); two unnumbered acetates on National Songwriters Guild; and an unnumbered cassette on Music City Songcrafters. Provided further information on Allstar 7190, 7213, 7215 and 7255.

  1-23-03:

• Don't miss our new feature, "I Was A Teenage Song-Poet," the story of two kids with songs in their hearts and their eyes on the song-poem mill. Included are MP3s of the results of Randy Johnson and Suzanne Baumann's teenage song-poem experiences, which date from 1972 and 1988 respectively -- and photos of the incriminating haircuts to match.
  
  1-14-03:
• Added Columbine LP CRH-254 ("Morning Tryst Of Love" and "Hey, Sweet Cookie") and Safari 45 SR 113.

  1-13-03:

• In anticipation of the February 11 release date of our collaborative CD compilation with Bar/None Records, we have launched a new page including the collection's liner notes, contents list and a pre-order link to Amazon.com. See The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood And Brush. Don't forget that that same date also marks the PBS debut of the song-poem documentary feature Off The Charts.

  1-2-03:

• Added Fortune 18827/18828. The label, a Halmark subsidiary, is a new one on us.

  
  

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