TUNE OF THE MOMENT: THE PERSUASIONS "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)"

This is my favorite a capella track ever, a cover of The Temptations tune "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)" performed by The Persuasions. At least I think it's The Persuasions. The track is taken from the LP compilation "Dangerous Doo Wop volume 2" released in the 1990s. But unfortunately there is no information whatsoever about this recording. The Persuasions did a version of this tune on their 1972 Capitol Records LP "Street Corner Symphony". But this version seems to have been recorded in the 1960s.

UPDATE: Check out the comments below for some information courtesy of Julie Lawson, wife of lead singer Jerry Lawson!

HORRORWITZ'S HELLISH HALLOWEEN HOO-HAH ROCK-N-ROLL PARTY!

Here it is! Our latest Halloween offering: 80 minutes of wiiiiild Halloween rock-n-roll plus some excellent horror movie radio ads and a few surprises! Fits nicely onto a CD-R disc!!

You can listen to the entire mess right here (it might take a few seconds to kick in):


(If you prefer to play the show from your Media Player click here.)

Or you can download the program by right clicking here and saving the file to your hard drive.

ELECTRIC LARRY'S FUNKTASMIC FREAK-OUT FESTIVAL CD

Our good buddy and partner in crime Dr Penis aka The Purple Zombie DJ has this amazing funky party mix available for free download or just to listen to online. I will confess that I provided some technical assistance to Electric Larry to help him create his ultimate party mix CD. If you're hosting a New Year's Eve party this will help kick it off right! Go there now to check it out!

MUSIC FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2010

ROCKIN' RELIEF THIS SATURDAY!

If you happen to be in the Baltimore, Maryland area (or like to drive) please consider attending this event faeturing Trash Palace's in-house band The Ubangis:

For more info please check out www.trashpalace.com/UbangisGigs.htm

"SPIN ALONG WITH MITCH" ROCKS THE INTERNET!

Brian Horrorwitz (left) and rock-n-roll record guru Gary Mitchell (right) spinning it raw and wild!

As was threatened, here is the complete 1 hour webcast from a few days ago, April 15th, 2009, of "Sing Along With Mitch"! (see previous blog entry) Yes, it was only appropriate that coming upon Zero Hour of the tax deadline was the time this 60 minutes of aural decadence was foisted upon the unsuspecting audience. Why? Because, if you listen to this entire thing, you WILL pay for it, baby! Muaaaah-ha-haaaa! Well, Gary said I could supply the oldies records and play whatever I wanted to and he weren't lyin'! We filled up the 1 hour with some choice 50s and 60s RAWk-n-roll and some wiiiild r&b! Gary grilled me on my shady past, Russ Meyer and The Cramps. The 1 hour just seemed to fly by way too fast. Maybe they'll have me back again some day! (hint-hint!) The show was a real blast for me personally and Gary was the host with the most! Thanx Gary!! And a big thanx also to studio tech wizard Lee Michael Demsey, an excellent dj in his own rite, who did a top notch job! Also wanna send a super-squeezy extra-trashy hug to everyone who listened and chimed in with their 2 cents worth on the live chatroom thingy! Was it my imagination or did the music seem to heat things up a bit in there? By the end it seemed like all hell was breaking loose! Topshelfoldies.com, YOU ROCK!

Horrorwitz stands in awe at the dazzling handiwork of wax flipper extraordinaire Lee Michael Demsey!

You can listen to the entire show here:

If you prefer to play the show from your Media Player click here.

Or you can download the program by right clicking here and saving the file to your hard drive.

SPINNING THE TRASH WAX ON "TOP SHELF OLDIES" WITH MITCHELL AND HORRORWITZ!

This Wednesday night, April 15th, from 9pm to 10pm (East Coast time) I will be a guest on the online oldies music program "Spin Along With Mitch"! Hosted by obscure oldies wizard Gary Mitchell, "Spin..." is one of many amazing rock-n-roll music show broadcasts heard every night on the web station Top Shelf Oldies, a great place to hear some obscure rock, doowop, r&b, etc.. Gary had asked me to be a guest for 1 hour and said I could provide all the music! Nyaaa ha-haaa! I've dug deep into the Trash Palace 45 and LP archives to bring you a smattering of wicked wax that'll knock you on your keester, baby! So if you're into wild rock-n-roll and r&b please check it out. After the show is broadcast (or whatever they call these online things... "webcast"?) I will be posting the entire program here on this blog for your listening seizure. Er... pleasure! In addition to the rare rockin' records we'll be throwin' at ya Gary will also be throwing a few questions at me about bands I've played in and who knows what the hell else. One music set will be a tribute to Lux and the Cramps, plus a few surprises! And who the hell doesn't like surprises, eh? And, if you are so inclined, you can also take part in the live chat room that's happenin' during the show to voice compliments / complaints / death threats / marriage proposals / etc. Check out their website at http://www.topshelfoldies.com/ , click on one of the "Listen Here" links using your choice of program and the streamin' steamin' sounds of "Spin Along With Mitch" (and Horrorwitz) will fill the room! Or, check back at this spot at a later date and listen to the show after the webcast. Either way it'll rock your day!

KNIF OF THE LIVING DEAD: DIG LUX'S RADIO SHOW AND LIFT YOUR SPIRITS!

Roll on, rock on, yeah now bop, yeah rock on
Well, there's still a lot of rhythm in these rockin' bones

I wanna leave a happy memory when I go
I wanna leave something to let the whole world know
That the rock 'n' roll daddy has done past on
But his bones keep rockin' long after I'm gone

Roll on, rock on, yeah now bop, yeah rock on
Well, there's still a lot of rhythm in these rockin' bones

Well when I die, buried six foot deep
With a rock 'n' roll record at my feet
A phonograph needle in my hand
I'm gonna rock my way right out of this land

Roll on, rock on, yeah now bop, yeah rock on
Well, there's still a lot of rhythm in these rockin' bones

Well, when I die don't bury me at all
Just a-hang my bones up on the wall
Beneath these bones let these words be seen:
"The running gears of a boppin' machine"

Roll on, rock on, yeah now bop, yeah rock on
Well, there's still a lot of rhythm in these rockin' bones
Still a lot of rhythm in these rockin' bones
Still a lot of rhythm in these rockin' bones
Still a lot of rhythm in these rockin' bones

~Ronnie Dawson, 1959

I couldn't have said it better than Ronnie Dawson has. But from me more needs to be said. And much more WILL be said soon enuff! But in the meantime I'll say this: The sudden death of Lux Interior has his friends and fans in shock. I am still in a stunned disbelief (writing this on little sleep so pardon the grammer). Truth be told, I haven't felt this sad in years. This is a tough one, folks. But Lux and The Cramps, despite their groundbreakingly ghoulish tunes and horror-filled lyrics, were really all about life; Livin' it up and tearin' it up! I knew Lux and I can tell you he wouldn't want people sitting around crying over him like many of us have been doing all this week. Nope, he'd want you rockin'-out in his memory! So if you are feeling as depressed and numb as I have been, fear not! A little feelgood medicine has just arrived: My mysterious friend Dr. Penis aka The Purple Zombie DJ has posted the entire "Purple Knif Radio Show" presented by Lux Interior (aka The Purple Knif) circa July of 1984. So turn that frown upside-down, my chillun! Check out the link below for Dr. P's blog, download the show and dig it!

LINKS:

The Purple Zombie DJ Blog at http://purplezombiedj.blogspot.com/

RUDY RAY MOORE: A BLACK LEGEND PASSES ON

Last Saturday night, just after midnight, I received a phone call from my buddy Bill Baker, a friend and fan of Rudy Ray Moore and his family. Bill told me that Rudy's daughter had called him saying that Mr. Moore's health was rapidly declining and he was not expected to make it through the weekend. Sadly, hours later on Sunday, Rudy Ray Moore, an entertainment icon, passed away. A few of you that know me know what a huge fan of his I am. Indeed, he has been one of my idols for several decades and I will miss him dearly.

In the early days of home video rentals the Wizard Video label released a trailer collection called "The Best of Sex and Violence" (1985). And it was on this VHS tape that I first discovered Rudy Ray Moore. Amongst the seventies exploitation trailers compiled on there were several Blaxploitation titles including the 3 complete trailers for "Dolemite", "The Human Tornado" and "The Disco Godfather". I remember laughing my ass off at such classic lines as "Bitch! Are you for real!?" and "If you crave satisfaction, this is the place to find that action! Coming to this theater as it's next attraction!". Moore's delivery was really over-the-top and reminded me of a lot of guys that I had gone to school with back in the seventies; kids that were always going around trying to out-badass each other! It wasn't until later that I realized part of his style was an intentional sort-of self-parody. Rudy was having a laugh with his movies and that's part of what makes them great! I remember turning my friends on to the Moore movies and it's funny now to think of a bunch of young white kids in the suburbs running around quoting Dolemite (which we did for years).

Eventually I was able to track down copies of his movies and later I was lucky to find some of his records. A lot of the classic Black "party records" (XXX humor) were only ever sold to adults in urban liquor stores and inner-city record shops so, needless to say, I had never seen any of them before! What always cracked me up was what I call the Rudy Ray Logic of his humor. As Dolemite: "And tell him I want him out of here in 24 hours. And 23 of them are already gone!" A lot of his jokes were much more x-rated then Richard Pryor or anyone else I had heard, but there was this intentional goofiness to them that made it all in fun. Like on his LP called "The Second Rudy Ray Moore Album" (pictured below), a live recording (or, more likely, pseudo-live), Moore is admiring a female member of his audience: "Woman, I sure would like to get in your pants!" "Why?" "'cause I done shit in mine!". Rudy was not just another guttermouth comic but a real genius!

And talk about a do-it-all entertainer, Moore has done live stand-up comedy, released over 22 comedy albums and movie soundtracks on 8-trak, LP, cassette and CD, sang and released records of his rhythm and blues music, written for the movies, acted in his and others' films, directed movies and somehow held onto the rights for most of his stuff. AND he even ran for president! My good friend Chuck Jeffreys, an entertainer and stunt coordinator in the Hollywood industry as well as founder of the martial arts exercise and training company Combatitude, told me that in the seventies Rudy was the first Black actor he ever saw performing Kung Fu in the movies. Already practicing martial arts, Chuck told me that seeing Moore perform in his movies bolstered his want to do the same! Chuck says "Most of the time it was Chinese actors we'd see in the kung fu flicks. Then came Rudy and his over the top performances. This wasn't Bill Cosby in 'I-Spy' This was kinda out there and I wanted to do, THAT.". Mr. Moore has made many appearances at horror and movie conventions and I feel lucky to have gotten to meet him several times. How surreal it was to go to breakfast one weary convention morning and find Dolemite himself pouring the orange juice at the breakfast bar! Some of you might remember in the older printed Trash Palace catalogues I had a "Rudy Ray Moore" section, which was kind of a joke at the time, the idea that he was his own genre of sorts. (I had a "Poster" section, a "Videocassette" section, "a "Record and CD" section and a "Rudy Ray Moore" section.) This was just before Xenon Home Video re-issued his movies for the sell-through market which brought about a new Rudy Ray / Dolemite revival of sorts exposing his work to a slew of new young fans. If any of you are long time Trash Palace customers you may remember getting a Christmas card from me in the mail in 1997 with this photo on it.: (No, we were NOT stoned in that picture!) That was from the second time I met Mr. Moore at the Chiller Theatre convention in New jersey. I remember just after this photo was taken Rudy tried to teach me the Disco Godfather neck move. ("Put your weight on it!") I never did quite pull it off but it was nice of him to try to teach me anyways. (My chiropractor didn't think it was too nice though.) Around this time Something Weird Video released the excellent Blaxploitation trailer collection called "Afros, Macks and Zodiacs" hosted by Rudy and he was set up at their table helping them promote it. In 1998 Rudy appeared at Creature Feature Video's excellent movie convention in Terrytown, New York. What made this show so special was that Moore performed his live act that Saturday night in a full-blown unexpurgated XXX style! Rudy's manager came out and warned the crowd in advance that the language was raw and, holy shit, he was not kidding! The crowed roared from start to finish. There were several celebrities of the seventies screen in the audience that night plus fans and collectible dealers and, dare I say, by the end there was not an un-blushed face in the house! I felt lucky that I was able to track down some of Moore's singing 45's, a few of which have shown up on Norton Records excellent compilation of his RnB tunes called "Hully Gully Fever". But I never would've thought that in 2004 I'd have to opportunity to get him to sing with my band The Ubangis. To say this short appearance was unrehearsed is kind of like saying the Hindenburg was a little balloon accident. Basically, I walked up to Rudy at a Chiller convention a couple of hours before we were scheduled to go on stage and asked him if he wanted to sing and perform with us. He said "Sure!" and although we discussed trying to play his blues song "Easy, Easy Baby" a tiny bit beforehand we never actually had the chance to quite work it out properly. He just showed up at the show, came onstage, and...

As you can hear things were a bit loose, but for me personally it was a dream come true! Rudy hadn't really planned on doing any particular jokes that night, he just pulled them out onstage. He told me afterwords that he noticed a few younger children in the crowd and tried to tone it down. Even I was shocked!:

Yes, Rudy Ray Moore is Dolemite! He put his finger in the ground and turned the whole world around! To this day I am in awe of the man and I can't help but think that as time goes on his popularity will continue to grow and grow. And in closing let me say this: Rudy Ray Moore, he may be gone... but THE LEGEND OF MUTHAFUCKIN' DOLEMITE LIVES ON!

MY FAVE RUDY RAY LINE: "I got a dong as big as King Kong!"
MY FAVE RUDY RAY MOVIE: A tie between "The Human Tornado" and "Petey Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-In-Law"
MY FAVE RUDY RAY LP: "Eat Out Moore Often" (a classic!)
MY FAVE RUDY RAY SONGS: "Easy, Easy Baby" and "Theme from The Human Tornado" - amazing!

Thanx to Bill Baker for shooting the Rudy / Ubangis video!

LINKS:
The Dolemite.com website is at http://www.dolemite.com/
Rudy Ray Moore website at Shocking Videos http://www.rudyraymoore.com/
Rudy Ray Moore filmography on the Internet Movie Database is at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0601834/
Chuck Jeffrey's Combatitude is at http://www.combattitude.com/