Here’s a fun way to waste an hour. I watched it last night on the Universal Monsters channel, that can now be found in the Links section. June Lockhart, who is 98 years old, in She-Wolf of London, from 1946.
Alan Peter Kuperschmidt of Somerville, MA
Bob Dylan went electric in 1965, turning the Newport Folk Festival into the Newport Rock Festival. Playing the organ on “Like a Rolling Stone” was Al Kooper, the same guy who played it in the studio.
Kooper is now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Much to my surprise, for some 30 years he’s been living in Somerville, MA.
Al Kooper got Columbia Records subsidiary Date Records to release “Odessey and Oracle” by the Zombies in America, with “Time of the Season” becoming a surprise Top Ten hit in 1969. The band had already broken up by then, due to the lackluster response to the album in England.
“Odessey and Oracle” is now regarded as one of the finest albums of all time, and the Zombies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Without Al Kooper’s influence, it’s uncertain what the album’s fate would have been.
When my life was turned upside down by my father’s stroke, leading me to finalize my retirement, I listened to “Odessey and Oracle” every day. I did that, often more than once daily, through his death and my recovery from melanoma surgery.
Fit for a King
Ortofon of Denmark celebrates the coronation of King Frederik X as only it can, with this series of tutorials on tonearm installation and alignment.
Regulation Regurgitation
Again and again and again, corporations insist that regulation and oversight inhibit their ability to innovate and manufacture their products. Again and again and again, more regulation and oversight, not less, is shown to be essential for public safety.
Why DOuG pRATt?
I continue to be amazed by the number and diversity of Doug Pratt’s. By adopting the pen name “Dog Rat” over 30 years ago, I preemptively avoided being mistaken for one of them.
The Doug Pratt interviewed here talks about being gay and Black in Cleveland. We’re the same age, but that’s all we have in common besides our name.
There is also a lack of diversity in my name, at least with hobbies, as I explained on my Contact page.
A very long time ago, after we moved into our first house, I was in a Cambridge audio shop buying an excellent NAD 3120 amplifier for the living room. As I recall, it was on sale for only $90.
The owner of the shop looked at my credit card and laughed. “You’re Doug Pratt? Doug Pratt is a crazy guy who comes in here all the time looking for bargains. You’re not Doug Pratt!” Except for the “all the time” part, I was guilty as charged and I still have the amp. Ten years later, shortly after we moved, another Doug Pratt moved into the town that I’d left.
The Gold Star Sound
According to Jim Dawson, this was one of the early recordings produced at the legendary Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. Jim says co-founder David Gold is still alive.