(link:) 'I Love Ethel' - A trove of scrapbook photos, memorabilia and other treasures from the estate of Vivian Vance

Follow link to read an article that ran last week in SF Gate:

"I Love Ethel - A Vivian Vance Archive Uncovered"

The photos posted here are taken from the large online gallery linked to the article.

Writer Bob Bragman's column, The Collective Mind is a regular feature geared to
Bay Area antique hunters and anyone who enjoys a good find.

In this installment, Bragman tells an interesting and circuitous tale of an antique dealer friend's connection to
New York publisher John Dodds, the husband of actress Vivian Vance, and of various items from the Vance/Dodds estate that were passed along after Dodds' death in 1986.

Furniture, artwork, and a scrapbook filled with clippings and personal photographs taken from various points in Vance's life and career - - all steeped in showbiz history.

Also included (and excerpted) is the manuscript for Viv's unpublished autobiography, including tales of troubled portions of her life and rumors about the nature of her relationship with co-star Lucille Ball.

Fascinating and well worth a look. Check it out!

(Big thanks to Joe Sixpack for the link)

Reasons To Be Cheerful: A triumphant return for The Castro Theatre's NOIR CITY Film Festival

As I write this it's after midnight in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and I'm still buzzing from the superb double-feature I caught earlier this evening in the City at the historic Castro Theatre on the second night of NOIR CITY, The 8th Annual
San Francisco Film Noir Festival.

I'm hoping to get back over once or twice this next week to catch more of the festival before it's gone for another year...

Kicking off tonight's program was the impressive short embedded below, which intercuts clips from a few dozen classic Noir films, synched perfectly with Massive Attack's 'Angel' used as background score.

It was a huge crowd-pleaser for the packed house of Film Noir fanatics at The Castro...



'The Endless Night: a Valentine to Film Noir' was assembled by Serena Bramble, a 20-year-old studying psychology at Santa Rose Junior College.

Click here to read more about Ms. Bramble, the festival and its highlights.

Follow the video to its posting at YouTube, for notations listing all the films used as source material.

Plagiarism is The Sincerest Form of Bloggery - -

- - or some such nonsense (and I should know).

Tee-hee, I'm honored...

'My Body': Buddhist wisdom meets gross-out novelty song, circa 1980

I've just received word that the topic for next week's installment of The Contrast Podcast will be a return to songs pertaining to
Parts of The Body.

So far I've managed to take part in the previous 'body part' episodes, focusing on
The Eyes, The Skin, The Arms, The Lips, The Feet, The Stomach & Guts and The Heart, so I'd hate to miss out on doing The Hands next week.

When struck by the thought, "Eventually we'll run out of body parts and will have exhausted that topic", I got to thinking about songs on the topic of leaving the body behind.

I thought of 1968's 'Absolutely Free' by Frank Zappa & The Mothers, and then remembered this odd little novelty song, recorded by a Buddhist nun around 1980.

The LP, 'Awakening: Ancient Wisdom For Modern Ears' was an independent pressing originating from The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, a large Buddhist community and monastery near Ukiah, California.

"...Based On The Teachings Of Shakyamuni Buddha And The Venerable Teachings Of Master Hua", the album attempted to make some concepts and dogma more palatable to Western ears.

Carrying a folky / new age-y vibe overall, the music takes a couple of detours into other genres, including this peppy and charming number, with whimsical lyrics regarding the decay of the human body after the spirit departs.

From the LP
'Awakening: Ancient Wisdom For Modern Ears'
(Wondrous Sounds Records, circa 1980),
Listen to: Bhikshuni Heng Yin - My Body
(click for audio)

The singer, former bhikshuni (now Dharma Master) Heng Yin studied under Hsuan Hua and spent many years translating Buddhist texts.

- To hear more songs from the 'Awakening' album, click here.
I can recommend the selection 'Gotta Do Something/Might As Well Cultivate', which sounds slightly reminiscent of early releases of Timbuk 3 from the last half of the '80s.

A few Alan Dunn architectural cartoons from 'The Last Lath' (circa 1937 - 1947)

Boy howdy, short of having someone explain why a joke is funny, there's nothing more entertaining than heavily dated old magazine cartoons in need of contextual footnotes...

Fortunately (or hopefully), the esoteric charm of this batch of panels may transcend their bygone topicality.

Cartoonist Alan Dunn (1900 – 1974) may still hold the record as the New Yorker's most prolific illustrator, responsible for 1906 cartoons and 9 covers during his tenure there, from 1926 - 1973.

Capitalizing on his background in design, Dunn also contributed many cartoons to Architectural Record, beginning in 1936.

A collection of those cartoons, 'The Last Lath' was first published in 1947.
In addition to lampooning the modern design trends and technologies of the 1930s and '40s, much of the humor centers around the terminology used by contractors and architects of the day, as well as realities like WWII-era material shortages and the post-war
housing boom.

- - Oh, and they're cool, too.

Probably there are very similar gag cartoons around today, just with more up-to-date buzzwords...

For a bit more about Alan Dunn, see also:

- A brief bio about Dunn and his wife, fellow New Yorker cartoonist, Mary Petty.

- Other Alan Dunn book covers displayed at Christopher Wheeler's Cartoon(ist) Gallery.

(click on images to enlarge in a new window)

Arnold Stang, 1918 - 2009

Upon the recent news of his death at age 91, a moment please to celebrate the life and career of character actor and voice artist Arnold Stang.

A small round-up of links from the web:

- A New York Times obituary.

- A wonderful, rambling profile posted in 2007 at WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

- A remembrance, showbiz anecdotes and an old 'Herman and Katnip' cartoon at
Mark Evanier's News From Me.

- Click over to Flickr for
LORAC!'s Arnold Stang photoset.
Publicity shots, advertising, record covers, etc. A great collection.

- Mr. Stang's screen credits listed at IMDb.

- An entry at TV Party includes a RealPlayer clip from an unsold late-'50s TV pilot for 'The Arnold Stang Show'.


- The 1960 kiddie record 'Arnold Stang's Waggish Tales' found him telling the tales of Peter and The Wolf and Ferdinand the Bull with orchestral accompaniment.

As of this writing, the LP may be heard via
Do You Speak English ?

Hoyt Curtin Rocks: A few old Flintstones music cues

When re-watching vintage 1960s episodes of 'The Flintstones', a heaping portion of the cozy,
comfort-food nostalgia it kindles comes from the familiar background music heard throughout the run of the series.
As with so much of the TV I was glued to in my youth, the soundtrack to the show has been part of the soundtrack to my life.

Hoyt Curtin had been Hanna-Barbera's primary composer and arranger, responsible not only for the Flintstones underscore and its immortal theme song, but for the music heard in almost all of the animation studio's many productions, from their origins in the mid-1950s until Curtin's retirement
in the '80s.

For a while, much of Curtin's H-B music was commercially available on various cartoon music CDs released by the Rhino label, but sadly and shockingly it looks like they've all lapsed out of print.

From one of those discs, the background music cues posted below all go back to the original Flintstones series.
As a finicky nerd, it had bothered me that Rhino had chosen to tack each of these brief themes onto the end of the 'primary' songs-from-the-series tracks, as sort of unlisted 'mystery bonus fun'.

- - So, for the sake of my own dork-tastic needs (and maybe even yours) I futzed with them, to bring some focus to just those Curtin instrumentals.

All of the listed titles are ones I made up, just as a referential aid for the different files, previously unnamed on the Rhino releases.

- If you have knowledge of any 'real' titles for these cuts, or have more info to share about Hoyt Curtin's cartoon music, please feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Enjoy!


(click for audio)

1. Reedy Saunter (1:22)
2. Quarry (0:30)
3. Short Chirpy Bridge (0:09)
4. Mischief March (0:23)
5. 'Oh Brother' Punchline (0:09)
6. Jaunty Stroll (0:55)
7. Harried Exit (0:11)
8. Brassy Exit Fanfare (0:10)
9. No Brakes! (1:00)
10. Bouncy Exit (0:18)
11. Driving Into Bedrock (0:41)
12. Stumbling Xylophone (0:27)
13. Morning After Pomp (0:32)
14. Walking Dino, Fred Follows (1:04)
15. Military Maneuvers (0:30)
16. Quizzical Exit Fanfare (0:07)

(click for audio)

- - OR click here to grab all 16 tracks in one 11.8 Mb zipfile.

- For a bit more of old Hanna-Barbera cartoon music by Hoyt Curtin, you might try here, or at a post about 'Jonny Quest' music at If I Only Had...

- And while listening to Flintstones music, you could do far worse than to peruse the dozens of fascinating Bedrock screen captures and other edifying wonders on display over at John K Stuff.

A World Without Lou Jacobi?!? (1913 - 2009)

Another obit.

Actor Lou Jacobi has left this world, at age 95.

That's a good long run.

- Follow link to his obituary from The New York Times.

Five decades spent in showbiz.
Numerous appearances on stage, screen, TV - - and I'll wager that there is not one production among them that was not greatly improved by his presence.

Even just the sound of his distinctive voice - - I have fond memories of hearing him in the ensemble cast of some of Booker & Foster's silly comedy albums, like 'When You're In Love, The Whole World Is Jewish', or in the role of band leader Al Tijuana. ▶

- Click over to the 'Tijuana Brass Sound' box set post at WFMU's Beware of The Blog and you'll find numerous Al Tijuana cuts sprinkled throughout the available mp3s.

(At the very least, take a listen to the adaptation of
'Peter Gunn'.)

So:
A World Without Lou Jacobi In It?

Impossible to contemplate.

No thank you, I reject the notion.

His listing at IMDb tells me that it has been fifteen years since Lou Jacobi's last film credit, but I've enjoyed watching him on several occasions during that time.

I also see in that long list at IMDb that there are still many of his performances waiting for me in films I've not yet seen.

Thank you for everything Mr. Jacobi, I look forward to seeing you again soon.

- A YouTube clip embedded below: ▼

From 1971, a juicy Jacobi scene from Jules Feiffer's 'Little Murders', directed by Alan Arkin.

Jacobi plays the judge, reacting to news from engaged couple Marcia Rodd & Elliott Gould that they plan to omit God from their wedding vows...

Reasons To Be Cheerful: week of 10/23/09

Hello again!
Yes, months have passed and there has been not a peep from this blog, and it's been many more months since I've posted any sort of regular 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' entry.

Simply put, things haven't been cheerful.
Mostly things have been difficult, mostly in the same ways they've been difficult for mostly everyone everywhere.
Perhaps you've noticed these things.

Personally, I hate reading blogs with excuses, so for me it's been easier to say nothing.

(Above: 'This Is Not A Peep'▲ found in the flickr stream of Coyote Crossing, via Aristocob)

Thanks to everyone who has written, whether wondering about my whereabouts, expressing concern or wishing well.

While all my stuff continues to sit boxed up in storage hundreds of miles away, for the forseeable future it seems the only stuff I can enjoy sharing with you on this blog are things I've bumped into recently, and stuff I can point you towards that I've seen on the interwebs.

But it's still great fun to share, so let's get to it!

1. Comic Soupy Sales crosses the finish line at age 83. Bon Voyage Soup!

- Follow link to the New York Times obituary.

At right is the cover image from an LP I had as a little kid, one that I played over and over again on my little variable-speed portable phonograph, although I'd never seen the TV show.

I'd never caught Soupy's schtick with Pookie or White Fang or the rest of his puppet friends, but was still fascinated and entertained.

- Follow another link to a nifty collection of Soupy Sales Memorabilia.

And so on to fashion - -

2. Perhaps photos of 'Woolies' have already found their way to you?

It was news to me, and to a friend who passed them along to me. She says she was innocently googling for information on knitting with wool and came across photos of wool fetishists in various parts of the world.

These photos are from a French fetishists forum (Not quite safe for work), as featured at Izismile.Com.

Whatever makes you happy is fine with me, but my first reaction was to naively wonder how long I could be able stand the heat and the itchiness - -

- - followed by wondering about how soon a fully wool body-suit would start to stink, how you deal with stains and are they machine washable.

Too practical, I know... I've heard it before...
























3. And then there are the average people we see around us everyday as we set about our erranding...

The administrators at People of Walmart.Com are quick to stress that their site is not affiliated with Walmart.

We'll see how long that lasts as they continue this fascinating cultural anthropology project.

Folks from all over the U.S. are sending in photos they've taken of assorted "Wal-Creatures" they've encountered in the wild.

I'm sure I'd enjoy wandering the site more if the captions included for the photos weren't often so mean-spirited, but - -

- - even so...







... It can be...







... awfully...








... danged...







... difficult...







... to look away.





Compelling and important evidence!

Head over to
People of Walmart.Com and see for yourself.

4. Speaking of the rich pageantry of fancies and foibles found surrounding the human animal, the new Coen Brothers movie has opened.

Once again they've provided that brilliant balance of great story and visuals, superb casting and perfect left-field unpredictability that I always hope for in their films.

I'm so pleased that I managed to see 'A Serious Man' before I'd heard a thing about it.
No reviews, no synopsis, no mention of who was in it.

It won't happen very often, but I think that for most films (good, bad or indifferent) entering a theater without a clue is the best way to go, if you can possibly manage it.

Probably it helps if you have a good track record with the filmmakers.

As with other flicks from the Coens, 'A Serious Man' includes an interesting soundtrack with some note-worthy recordings.

It makes great use of several cuts from Jefferson Airplane's 'Surrealistic Pillow' album and a couple of other choice bits of '60s psychedelia, but the biggest surprise is a beautifully haunting vintage vocal piece sung in Yiddish by operatic baritone Sidor Belarsky.
◀

- Listen to Sidor Belarsky's 'Dem Milners Trern'
('The Miller's Tears') (click on link)

This film may not do for Mr. Belarsky and Yiddish Folk, Cantorial and Art Song what 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou' did for Ralph Stanley and Bluegrass, but still it's always nice to see a little spotlight land on an artist that's off of most people's radar.

Follow these links for more:
- A nice little article from the San Francisco Examiner about Belarski (who died in 1975), his long and illustrious career, and his daughter's efforts to perpetuate his music.

- The Man & His Music, a tribute site.

- A Yiddish music archive, featuring mp3 download links for several of Sidor Belarsky's 78 RPM recordings.

- 'Dem Milners Trern' leads off Belarsky's LP 'Jewish Melodies', streaming in it's entirety on a page at Florida Atlantic University's Judaica Sound Archives.
Further investigation shows that 20 other Sidor Belarsky records may be heard there, in addition to over 8000 songs by dozens of other performers ranging not just from Jewish religious music and folk song, but klezmer, children's music, comedy records and more.

5. Speaking of vintage tuneage rediscovered, it's been out for a few months now, but I still can't stop listening to
Loudon Wainwright III's High Wide & Handsome -
The Charlie Poole Project.

- - Or trying to recommend it to people. (Thanks again to my pal Joe Sixpack for turning me on to it!)

From the website: "Loudon Wainwright III revisits the life, times, and recorded legacy of legendary singer and banjo picker Charlie Poole (1892-1931). ▼

"A grand gathering of songs both old and original..."

So not merely a collection of cover tunes, the 2-disc set also mingles in some new songs by Wainwright telling tales about the colorful life of Poole, as performed by Loudon and various musical friends and family members - - several assorted Wainwrights and Roches, Chris Thile of Nickel Creek and Geoff Muldaur from the old Kweskin Jug Band.

Some of LW3's fans may argue that it's not what they expected from him, but the whole project reeks of 'labor of love', and he's the perfect one to channel the spirit of a previous rowdy fellow troubadour.
Check it out!

- - And finally, a different stripe of musical archaeology, but nonetheless esoteric...

6. The lyrics to the theme from 'Mission Impossible'.

A little while back I was googling about while trying to remember obscure lyrics I'd heard to some old TV theme song or another, and found the best thing I could have hoped for;

'Seldom-Heard TV Theme Lyrics' posted at You Don't Have To Visit This Blog.

A 2006 post, and it looks like the blog may be dormant (a lot of that going around), but as of this writing, the download links are still active for a great mix of old TV themes - - most of which you never realized ever had lyrics.

The mix runs mostly to the 1960's and 70's, with a few more contemporary renditions or parodies thrown in.

In many cases, these television themes only had lyrics after the fact, a bit of padding on a record release trying to capitalize on a show's popularity - - Or perhaps adding extra verses to the short and familiar version sung on TV.

In some cases there had been lyrics all along, written for contractual or copyright reasons that were never used.
Usually it was the right choice, especially when the themes to many action series were inexplicably forced into the role of love songs when given the vocal treatment.

I urge you to investigate this group of tunes, and to try to keep your jaw off the floor while absorbing the lyrics to The 'Hogan's Heroes' March or 'The Odd Couple', or while listening to Sammy Davis, Jr. sing the theme from 'Hawaii Five-O'.








One oddball selection that's missing from the 'Seldom-Heard TV Theme Lyrics' mix is the amazing and twisted vocal rendition of the Mission: Impossible theme, performed by The Kane Triplets, a sister act popular in Vegas clubs and on The Ed Sullivan show in the 1960s.
Not sure when or how the vocal interpretation of composer Lalo Schifrin's familiar theme song came about, but the result needs to be heard.



- Listen to The Kane Triplets sing the 'Theme from Mission Impossible' at the Kane Triplets MySpace page, at the Kane Triplets website, or by clicking here.

The lyrics cruise past at a speedy clip, so you'll need to listen close to catch them all.

Looking around the web, it seems that most previous attempts to list these lyrics have either disappeared or were incorrect, so please allow me my attempt to keep them alive a little longer...

- 'Theme from Mission Impossible'

(verse 1)
Fly away
Disappear
I'll be there
Waiting

Run high
Run low
Don't stop
Go no matter where
You are bound
I'm around
Waiting

Hypnotized
On a string
Following
Wanting

Lead me there
Anywhere
I don't care
Cannot stop
And I won't stop
Till you're mine

(bridge)
I keep on dreaming of you
No doubt about it
You took my head and made it spin
Somewhere it's never been
I'm in the desert
The middle of nowhere
With no shoes I calmly bear
Burning coals of fire
But when I get through
That's when I'll begin to
undertake a mission that's impossible

(Repeat verse 1)

(Verse 2)
Run
Don't try to hide
Don't stay beside
I'm gonna get you

Get on a plane
Go far away
But any day
I'm gonna get you

Don't be afraid
If you may find
I'm on your mind
Don't try to fight it

Love's
A waiting fuse
You can't refuse
You're gonna light it

(outro)
Fly away
Disappear
I'll be there
Waiting

No matter where
You are bound
I'm around
Waiting

Time out from the muppets: Young Jim Henson's 'Tick-Tock Sick' (1960) and Time Piece (1965)

As a young man, puppeteer
Jim Henson was bursting with creative ideas and wasted no time in making things happen.

In the mid-1950s, he was making puppets for children's television before he was out of high school.

He created his first muppet TV show, Sam and Friends, during his freshman year of college.
The five-minute program aired daily, and ran for six years.

Simultaneously, Henson's muppets were making other TV appearances on variety shows and in assorted commercials.

But it wasn't all about muppets all the time...

When Henson graduated from college in 1960, he was married, had a new-born daughter, and had been working in TV and advertising for several years. He was 23.

That same year, Jim Henson released an odd, jazzy little 45 single.
On the A-side, 'Tick-Tock Sick', he complains of being 'bugged' by the relentless ticking of the clock.

Listen to:
Jim Henson - Tick-Tock Sick
(Signature Records 45, 1960)
(click for audio)

(label image via Muppet Wiki)




On the flipside...

Listen to:
Jim Henson -
The Countryside
(Signature Records 45, 1960)
(click for audio)

Regarding this 45 and a recurring motif of 'racing time' in Henson's work, Karen Falk, historian and head archivist for The Jim Henson Company said:
"Jim Henson accomplished an amazing amount in his life, but given the large number of files on unrealized projects that are in the archives, he clearly didn't have enough time to do all that he wanted to do. And 'Tick-Tock Sick' tells us that he was already feeling the crunch just six years into his career."

As the 1960's progressed, amidst increasing exposure of The Muppets, Henson also began working with experimental film.

'Time Piece' was a short film that Henson wrote, produced, directed and starred in. He began production in 1964 and took about a year to finish, working on it in between TV projects.

It premiered at New York's Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, traveled the film festival circuit, and was nominated for a Best Live Action Short Subject Oscar in 1966.

Incorporating animation, reverse motion, rapid edits and a rhythmic, percussive soundtrack by
Don Sebesky, 'Time Piece' continues some of the theme explored by 'Tick-Tock Sick' a few years earlier.

Below, ▼ view 'Time Piece'...



- This post is a companion piece to one posted at Video Cabinet in Limbo, also regarding Jim Henson's muppetless productions.
Follow link to: Richard Schaal in Jim Henson's teleplay, 'The Cube' (1969)

See also:
Circa 1965, Henson made two Muppets, Inc. industrial promo films pitching to Wilson's Meats, an advertising account, filmed in a tongue-in-cheek, mock-documentary style.
Follow links to:
- Wilson's Meats #1
- Wilson's Meats #2

"Tina Louise becomes Les Crane's Dream Bride" - 1966 magazine photo spread

(A brief preamble: I was already thinking of our friend Gilligan and his blog, Retrospace, as I started preparations for this post, and that was before Gil was kind enough to bestow a Great Read Award upon ILTS this past Wednesday. The award's emblem of honor is posted towards the bottom of the lovely brown sidebar, big blushing thanks are extended to Mr. G, and this post is dedicated to him.)

This two-page article ran in the July, 1966 issue of TV Radio Mirror.

(Click on images to enlarge in a new window)

- Click here to view a super-sized image of page 1 in a new window.

- Click here to view a super-sized image of page 2 in a new window.

Actress Tina Louise and Radio & TV Talk Show Host Les Crane were married in Beverly Hills on Sunday, April 3rd, 1966.

In the early 1960s, Les Crane had hosted a late-night radio talk show in San Francisco, where he often stirred up controversy with his
left-wing liberal views and confrontational interview style.
In 1963, Crane took his show to New York City and to late-night television.

His big west coast movie career mentioned in the magazine article didn't go much beyond his supporting role in the film adaptation of Norman Mailer's
An American Dream.

By 1966, via her role as 'the movie star' on TV's Gilligan's Island,
Tina Louise had rocketed to a level of fame she'd not reached after fifteen years as a pin-up model, nightclub singer, and film & stage actress, though she was discomforted by the notion of being type-cast by her 'Ginger' portrayal.

When the sitcom was cancelled in 1967, she was quick in her attempts to distance herself from the role.

In the photo below, ▼ the newlyweds pose with Tina's co-star castaways...

...Though significant in his absence from the photo is 'The Professor', Russell Johnson.

What bit of behind-the-scenes intrigue can we infer from his not being present? Does it lend anything to the various sordid debates about the characters and cast of Gilligan's Island?

I prefer to believe that perhaps Russell Johnson was behind the camera, snapping the photograph with a camera he'd built out of a coconut shell and some beach glass.

At the time of the wedding, (Les Crane's third - - or perhaps fourth - - marriage) the tail end of the second season of Gilligan's Island was airing on Thursday nights, and presumably the cast was busy with production for the sitcom's third season episodes.

CBS then moved the show to Monday evenings, and cancelled the the series at the end of the third season.

Tina Louise had several TV and film appearances after 'getting off the island', often seeking out 'grittier' or more serious roles.

Les Crane returned to talk radio in Los Angeles in 1968.



Perhaps Crane's most often-noted achievement was his Grammy award-winning 1971 spoken-word recording of the prose poem (and popular
dorm-room poster) 'Desiderata'.

- Follow the link to
Richie Unterberger's liner notes to a re-release of the Les Crane LP that included his 'one-hit wonder' Top-10 single.

Tina Louise and Les Crane were divorced in 1974, the same year their daughter, Caprice Crane was born.
Not bad for a Hollywood marriage of that era.

Tina Louise never appeared in any of the Gilligan's Island TV movie reunions, though she's taken part in a few 'cast reunion' talk show appearances.

In the 1980's, Les Crane had great success after moving into the software industry, founding a company that made inter-active games and typing tutorials for PCs. He died in 2008, at age 74.

Lolitas - 'Fusée d'amour' (1989)

Les Lolitas were a Berlin-based band who sang primarily in French.

Their sound was a combination of influences that included American garage rock, rockabilly and French yé-yé, played with a punk sensibility. They formed in the mid-1980s and split around 1993.

Lead singer Françoise Cactus met Brezel Göring soon after, and they founded the fabulous multi-lingual
French-German electronica pop/rock duo, Stereo Total.

'Fusée d'amour' was the third Lolitas LP, recorded in Memphis, Tennessee in August of 1988 and produced by music biz chameleon
Alex Chilton.
Chilton plays just a bit of piano on the album, as does his friend and fellow Memphis legend Jim Dickinson.






(click on image to enlarge in a new window)

On the album cover, from left to right:
Olga La Basse - bass

Coco Nut - guitar

Françoise Cactus - vocals, drums

Michele Tutti Frutti - guitar, harmonica





- Follow link to view track listing & production credits.


From the Lolitas album
'Fusée d'amour' (New Rose Records, 1989),
Listen to:

Mummy
La Fille Qui Se Promene Sur Les Rails
Joli Johnny
Les Cactus

(click for audio)

- - OR download the full album (16 tracks) in one 46.5 Mb zipfile.





See also:
- Les Lolitas on MySpace
- StereoBio, A history of Françoise Cactus
- Stereo Total website

- As of this writing, the rest of the Lolitas catalog (and a Coco Nut solo record) are posted at cosmozebra. (This post hopefully improves upon Cosmo's slightly noisy vinyl rip of 'Fusée d'amour' - - unless you're a fan of clicks and pops)