Volume 20 - Summer 2017

Are you surviving the sweltering heat waves, summer downpours, hail, floods, and thunderstorms? If not, or if you barely are, then this here volume may be DJ Aloe Vera to your sanguine, precancerous skin.

We’ll start off straight away by pointing out there will be no Sidemen Band Name of the Month contest. There were almost no participants at all--just two. And these two were well known (or close enough) to not really qualify anyway: The Arrows (with Davie Allan) and The Hurricanes (with Johnny). It’d be like naming The Comets (with Bill Haley) as a winner. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for next month.

Black and Blue by the Gigolos may be another way to describe how your skin might be feeling right now. The original standard about race relations is done well here by the Gigolos, With a slow growing intensity, these fellas reach a climax at the right time for an instro, finishing in just two glorious minutes.

Ooga? translation: Gotta light?

For those on the paleo diet, put down your damn BBQ ribs and mutton chops and dig Cave Man by Richie Allen. Hey, man with no name, wearing the poncho, with squinty eyes, meet your neighbor, Fred Flintstone. And yes, wordless vocals means it's high noon.

Dawn, by The Keymen, while not the most extraordinary instro, sets the mood right to envision the end of a long, long night. It's already the next day, my dear. This one goes out to a close friend of mine. May their lighted days begin anew.

Devil Driver's Theme, by the Astronauts, is your film score to the ride of your life, or the end of it. Hop in the back seat. Fasten your seat belt (if there is one in that '50s jalopy death trap), clutch your rosary and hold it close to your chest. Don't let the beads get tangled with your safety belt. That would be ironic. Or maybe it would save your soul after all.

He didn't make it. To heaven.

Tommy Steele's Doomsday Rock would normally be too far in the rockabilly camp to be included in this collection. However, its thematic elements qualify for automatic inclusion. By the third break of day there'll be a big earthquake, then darkness--and not because of any solar eclipse. On that fifth day, after your morning cup of black, you'll know all is gone. Time to panic, y'all.

Let's finish out our quartet of "D" songs with Downstairs, by Plas Johnson. The saxologist extrsordinaire, heard blowin' on many things mid-century--Mancini's Pink Panther Theme is one we all know. I prefer his work with Les Baxter. Yes, Baxter did the exotic realm quite well, but when it comes to hard boiled noir vibes, you can't do better than his tootin' on Boomada. I'm not sure which came first, the single or Baxter's album, Teen Drums. I hope it's the former, because a cheap excuse to sell some slabs to the young, beat de-generation ain't so hip. Ya dig?

You've heard of the Christmas creep? The capitalist ploy to start X-Mas as early as possible? It's September, so why not some Halloween creeping? Baron Daemon (great, ghoulish name) gives us Ghost Guitars to start the festival of spirits right on time. Bouncing souls and twangy death knells means it's time to put on the make-up or mask and start haunting your neighbors. Pair this tune with Night Theme, by the Phantoms for a nice stroll down the avenues. Get a good look at your loved one, as she may be not what she seems.

I want to get back to our grand theme of the end of the world. Ozone, by the Chantays, helps to remind us that things are changing. Remember when a hole in our atmosphere was something to worry about? Sheesh, a gaping chasm in the center of the North American continent--about the size of Texas, Colorado, New Mex, and Oklahoma--is the equivalent of what we're now dealing with. Kind thoughts go out to those walloped by Mr. Hurricane Harvey.

Poinciana is a pleasant finish to describe this set. A standard from the era. The Vanguards lend an exotic slinky guitar touch to give us a sense of serenity and ease of mind. The Nite Caps' version is held forever in high esteem as the best version in my opinion. All others are icing on the cake. Make a wish and blow out the candles, creating a bit of darkness once again.

I was curiously surprised to learn The Nite Caps were indeed The Comets (sans Bill Haley). Cosmic justice gave us a Side Band Name of the Month Contest winner after all. Sort of.

Get cosmological here!