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L’Album primo-avrilesque
On April 1, 1897, the remarkable French humorist Alphonse Allais published his Album primo-avrilesque. It was a slim volume, containing seven monochromatic paintings (such as “Apoplectic cardinals...
View ArticleThe Ukulele Recital
From the audience, Angela Alverson captured a snippet of the recital at the Jalopy Theatre. My beginning uke class made its first public appearance with this blues chorus. From left to right:...
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Rousseau on Copying Music
Admirers of Jean-Jacques Rousseau may be unaware of his musical interests. He wrote a great deal of music, compiled a musical dictionary, and paid bills by copying music. The dictionary is a...
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Giuseppe Novello
Giuseppe Novello (1897-1988) is one of the hidden treasures of comic art; his albums of lovingly drawn observational humor have had a long shelf life in Italy. This beautiful drawing is entitled...
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Solrésol: The Phonetic Alphabet
Solrésol has had somewhat of a revival in recent years, due at least partially to a popular article by Paul Collins. The system is an early attempt at an auxiliary artificial language, developed by...
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Bobby Edwards, the Troubadour of Greenwich Village (15)
I’ve found another picture of Bobby Edwards online; we can add it to the archive. There he is in the back, to the left, cigar box uke in hand. This was at the Garrick Club, sometime in the ‘teens....
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Tony Sarg — and Bobby Edwards
I’m a great fan of Tony Sarg. He’s perhaps best known today for his work on the first Macy’s Thanksgiving balloons; but he also made animated silhouette films, designed children’s books (often with...
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Fretted Instrument Ensembles of the 1940s
The following pictures are taken from the Fretted Instrument News, 1945-1949. It was the “Official Organ of the American Guild of Banjoists, Mandolinists, and Guitarists,” “An Independent Bi-Monthly...
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Unusual Musical Instruments
An assortment of unusual instruments was featured in the July, 1952, issue of Music News. Unfortunately, I have played only three of these. (Posted by Doug Skinner)
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Bobby Edwards, the Troubadour of Greenwich Village (17)
I’ve been posting information here, from time to time, on Bobby Edwards: a singer-songwriter who became somewhat of a local legend in Greenwich Village in the ‘teens and ‘twenties. He also made his...
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A Tribute to Les Blank
The Ullage Group is pleased to present a memorial screening of Les Blank’s short films. Sadly, Les died of bladder cancer this past April, leaving behind an astonishing film legacy that has been...
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A Musical Cipher
Thanks to this musical cipher, you can encode your secret messages as a rather rangy tune. Word breaks are indicated by accidentals. I found this in a box of prints; it came from an old...
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Anomalous Music
I will be presenting three programs of “Anomalous Music” at the Morbid Anatomy Museum. They will be in the form of informal talks, with musical examples on keyboard. Wednesday, March 25: Music from...
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Musical Calling Cards
At one time, many people were musically literate, and music was printed on calling cards. These two examples are 1 1/2 by 2 3/4 inches, printed in black, and colored by hand. People had better eyesight...
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Illustrated Songbooks (1)
The illustrated songbook is an appealing hybrid, now seldom seen, as fewer homes have a piano to stack them on, and fewer people read music. Many of these songbooks were meant for children, although...
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That Regrettable Weekend
That Regrettable Weekend contains 20 of my songs, plus the eponymous instrumental. You can find it on Bandcamp. I play soprano, banjo, and baritone ukuleles; keyboards; Tremoloa; Ukelin; bulbul;...
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Illustrated Songbooks (3)
Chansons de France was published in 1928 by Librairie Plon. J. B. Weckerlin arranged the traditional songs, and M. B. de Monvel provided illustrations. The music is set within the pictures, standing...
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Juan Miguel and His Jazz Guitar
An old scrapbook of musical instruments yielded this interesting picture of Juan Miguel and his “Jazz Guitar.” A Google search turned up nothing. It’s hard to believe that the elegant Juan and his...
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Memorable Magazines (14): Army Navy Hit Kit
The Army Navy Hit Kit gave soldiers and sailors a folio of popular songs, in piano arrangements. It began in 1943, and was published monthly. It was never sold, and, for some reason, had no standard...
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Profane Illuminations
I’ll be part of the lineup for Profane Illuminations, a day of talks at NYU organized by Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor Press. I’ll present my talk “Music from Elsewhere,” discussing and playing...
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