Daddy’s got a Squeezebox

Thanks to a couple of Christmas additions, Internet radio now rules. It comes with irony, because WBZ AM in Boston, at 64 Kbps, now sounds much better than the FM stations WBUR, streaming at 32k, and WGBH with its piddling shortwave-quality 24k. [Note: Two days after I posted this item, WBUR went to 64K, and a few weeks later WGBH did likewise.]

I’m tickled to have BBC Radio 2 as a preset in the bedroom on the Logitech Squeezebox Radio. Santa delivered it from Amazon, but it’s on sale this week at Best Buy for the same $150 price. I have quibbles with the buttons that could have been prevented by making the navigation knob a bit smaller, but other than that — and a couple of lock-ups that came up when I was flipping between menus rather abruptly — I give the Squeezebox Radio a rave recommendation.

The other Wifi radio is a fun, but quirky, device in the kitchen called a Chumby One. Being much more demanding to set up than the Logitech, the Chumby is a techie’s delight, but it is not a consumer-friendly product, and its $120 price makes the Squeezebox a better deal when it’s on sale; however, the Chumby is more than an Internet radio.

At first I was worried about the Squeezebox not having a regular FM tuner, but the Chumby One’s tuner is next to useless, and because I installed a battery there’s no place to store the antenna, so I’m actually considering cutting it off. But now that I’ve had a couple of days to enjoy Internet radio that’s been freed from the need for a full-blown computer, I’m OK with letting go of broadcast AM and FM radio.

Mistah Magloo’s Christmas

One of the first animated Christmas TV specials in the sixties was “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol,” from 1962. It hasn’t been broadcast in ages, so it isn’t as well known as perennial favorites Charlie Brown, Rudolph, and the Grinch. I don’t have Magoo’s Christmas on video, and I’m wondering how it holds up today. So I’ll embed it here, thanks to YouTube user eboWaxx.

Freberg gets nuttin’

Cartoon Brew has this brand-new take on an old Christmas song by Stan Freberg, animated by Doug Compton.

(Does anybody have real silverware that’s worth stealing these days?)

As always, Mark Evanier is on top of the error department:

12/24/09 12:31am

Mark Evanier says:

Hey, tell Doug he got the credits wrong. He says the kid is Daws Butler and the burglar is Stan Freberg.

Nope. They’re both Freberg.

And being a stickler myself, I’ve corrected the video itself by properly cropping it and getting the aspect ratio right.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/DEC/NuttinForXmas.flv 320 240]

B.C. — Before Cocker

Joe Cocker’s covers of “With A Little Help From My Friends” and the Boxtops’ superb single “The Letter” — under two minutes long! — are well known. But long before Cocker tackled those tunes, the Beach Boys took a crack at them in Brian Wilson’s home studio.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/DEC/BeachBoysFriends.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/DEC/BeachBoysLetter.mp3]

Touring became intolerable

It’s safe to assume that any Beatles documentary without Beatles music is unauthorized. Some of them have an interesting clip or two. One of the worst I’ve seen is “Beatles Biggest Secrets.” Don’t bother. A BBC DVD called “Unseen Beatles” is pretty good. The use of Classical music is odd and unnecessary, but the narrative is strong, because it does a good job of explaining why the Beatles had to quit touring. I’ve spliced together a couple of minutes from “Unseen Beatles” about the aftermath in America of Lennon’s infamous Jesus quote.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/DEC/UnseenBeatles.flv 512 384]

The guy telling the story about the show in Memphis is Barry Tashian, of the legendary Boston garage band, The Remains, who were on the Beatles’ final concert tour.

Tashian recounts the summer of ’66 in his excellent book, “Ticket To Ride: The Extraordinary Diary of The Beatles’ Last Tour.” I scanned Tashian’s journal entries for the Memphis show.

There’s a movie about The Remains called “America’s Lost Band” that I hope finds its way to DVD. Here is a preview with related clips.

Let’s finish with “Why Do I Cry,” by the Remains. We’ll never see another time like the mid- to late-60’s, folks!

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/DEC/WhyDoICry.mp3]

Peter’s nut — ow! — buster

To the surprise of many in these recessionary times, this year’s live presentation of Piotr (or Pyotr or Peter) Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker by the Boston Ballet is selling out. The other big thing in entertainment going on right now isn’t typical holiday fare, it’s James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Frankly, I’m not fond of computer-generated characters, except the cartoonish varieties, and the previews for “Avatar” looked stupid to me. But it’s been getting good reviews, at least when the 3D projection is done right. And Bismo liked it, so I’m planning to see it in IMAX next week with Eric.

What I have to acknowledge and admire about James Cameron is that his attitude is similar to that of Walt Disney, who was told that “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and, later, Disneyland were crazy ideas. Disney’s most far-out movie venture was “Fantasia,” which didn’t turn a profit for 30 years. As Cameron has done with “Avatar,” “Fantasia” in its day pushed every technical boundary there was. Its use of multi-channel surround sound was, to say the least, groundbreaking. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to hear Fantasound exactly as it was originally presented, as explained here…

YouTube doesn’t have a good copy of the Nutcracker Suite from “Fantasia,” so I have done my own transfer, in stereo, with the original, restored Stokowski soundtrack. Walt came up with the idea of using fish for the “Arabian Dance,” which I think is the only sequence that doesn’t work.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/DEC/Fantasia.flv 512 384]