Monday, October 26, 2020

Elk Bugles Radio Show - Halloween Episode

Image
 
 
Today's show is a replay from 2018, but fun to listen to, to get you into the Halloween spirit.
Songs by Colorado singers and bands - all related to things that go bump in the night!

Link to the whole show HERE.


 
Séance
FAB Company

 
Voices in the Night
The Crew

 
Spellbound
Jimmy Key

 
Ghost Riders in the Sky
The Lang Brothers

 
Go Down You Murderers
Walt Conley

 
Bride Dressed in Black
Tyrone Kelly

 
Poison Red Berries
Eddie Eldon

 
The Bo’L Weevils
The Magic

 
Magic Eyes
Chance

 
Black Night Has Fallen
Strange Cargo

 
Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail
Flying W Wranglers

 
Cabello Diablo
Common People

 
Zombie Jig
Neil Feather, John Sheehan and Patrick Bowers

 
Scream
Flamingo Plus

 
Search for Bridey Murphy


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
No Credit
Joey Buffalo and Sonics

Monday, October 19, 2020

1962: Back When Your Mother / Grandmother / Great-Grandmother Was the KIMN Teen Queen of the Week

Hey all! I'm going to take a break from Colorado-music history, to post this recently-rediscovered find - a large cache of 1962 KIMN Teen Queen of the Week photos.

KIMN was a Denver radio powerhouse, for as long as anyone can remember. In 1962, the station promoted its Teen Queen of the Week. While the hit lists all show pictures of KIMN disc jockeys - Smiling Jack, Bellzapoppin Bell, Tiny Tim, Pogo Poge, Dave Stewart, Ray Bridges, Happy Holiday, Mike Metz, Don Martin, and Bob Scott - the front of each featured the winning teen. The pictures of these young ladies are fantastic, and a great time capsule look at the fashion and hair styles of the day. What's cool is that some these teens pictured are now possibly grandmothers (and great-grandmothers), now in their 70s.

Miss Jeanne Stephens (15 year old) - Mapleton High School
Teen Queen of the Week
February 7, 1962
#1 song - "Duke of Earl" - Gene Chandler.

Miss Marian Detemple (17 years old) - Alameda High School
Teen Queen of the Week
May 30, 1962
#1 song - "Loving You" - Ray Charles

Miss Joyce Parsons (18 years old) - College High School
Teen Queen of the Week
June 6, 1962
#1 song - "Loving You" - Ray Charles

 

 Miss Nancy Dunken (16 years old) - East High School
Teen Queen of the Week
June 12, 1962
#1 song - "Loving You" - Ray Charles

 Miss Kathy Hockett (16 years old) - Boulder High School
Teen Queen of the Week
June 20, 1962
#1 song - "The Stripper" - David Rose


Miss Janice Fear (17 years old) - West High School
Teen Queen of the Week
June 27, 1962
#1 song - "Roses Are Red" - Bobby Vinton

 Miss Nancy Russell (13 years old) - North Junior High School
Teen Queen of the Week
July 4, 1962
#1 song - "Roses are Red" - Bobby Vinton 

 Miss Priscilla Kay Bikker (16 years old) - Aurora High School
Teen Queen of the Week
July 11, 1962
#1 song - "Sealed with a Kiss" - Brian Hyland 

 Miss Peggy Cairns (16 years old) - George Washington High School
Teen Queen of the Week
July 18, 1962
#1 song - "Sealed with a Kiss" - Brian Hyland

 Miss Julie Allen (16 years old) - South High School
Teen Queen of the Week
July 25, 1962
#1 song - "Sealed with a Kiss" - Brian Hyland

 Miss Phyllis Milano (15 years old) - Mount Carmel High School
Teen Queen of the Week
August 1, 1962
#1 song - "Wolverton Mountain" - Claude King

 Miss Mary Helton (16 years old) - South High School
Teen Queen of the Week
August 8, 1962
#1 song - "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" - Neil Sedaka

 Miss Bonnie Schellhase (14 years old) - Thomas Jefferson High School
Teen Queen of the Week
August 15, 1962
#1 song - "Sheila" - Tommy Roe

 Miss Judy Doty (15 years old) - Rannum High School
Teen Queen of the Week
August 29, 1962
#1 song - "Sherry" - Four Seasons

 Miss Becky Shannon (17 years old) - Lincoln High School
Teen Queen of the Week
September 5, 1962
#1 song - "Sherry" - Four Seasons

The Teen Queen of the Week pictures stopped with the September 12, 1962 Hit Parade - replaced with pictures of disc jockeys and singers / bands. On December 5, 1962, the contest came back.

 Miss Mimi Simmons (15 years old) - Littleton High School
Teen Queen of the Week
December 5, 1962
#1 song - "Telstar" - Tornadoes

 Miss Maria Estellia Sanders (15 years old) - Morey Junior High School
Teen Queen of the Week
December 12, 1962
#1 song - "Go Away Little Girl" - Steve Lawrence

 Miss Holli Hudson (17 years old) - Golden High School
Teen Queen of the Week
December 19, 1962
#1 song - "Go Away Little Girl" - Steve Lawrence

 Miss Connie Martin (16 years old) - North High School
Teen Queen of the Week
December 26, 1962
#1 song - "My Dad" - Paul Peterson

 Miss Terry Thompson (15 years old) - Kepner Junior High School
Teen Queen of the Week
January 2, 1963
#1 song - "It's Up to You" - Rick Nelson

The KIMN Teen Queen of the Week contest appears to have ended after Terry Thompson was crowned the winner. The station resumed putting singers/bands, and disc jockeys on the cover of its Hit Parade weekly lists.



Monday, October 12, 2020

Print-A-Disc Company, Denver

 

Hey all! Found this cardboard flexi disc recording, at the local thrift, last week. Noticed it was made by a Denver company, Print-A-Disc.

While I am familiar with flexi discs (those flimsy recordings, made with sheets of PVC, or a resin-coated cardboard), I never knew there was a company out of Denver making them. 

The spoken word recording I found was put out by the Colorado District Board for Parish Education - Lutheran Church, Denver. Nothing else about the Print-a-Disc company is noted, minus the address of 1191 Stout Street, which is now home to the Convention Center.

As you can imagine, the quality of the 33 1/3 rpm audio is atrocious, so I won't bother to post a sample. The gist of the recording is of an unknown mother and father, querying their children about Jesus and the Devil, and good versus evil. 

I did find another Print-a-Disc recording, noted on Discogs - a 1956 spoken word record, Veelos Views - From a Salesman's Wife, which helps a bit with dating these releases.

Needless to say, cardboard records don't have a very long life, so I was happy to have found (at least) two examples from this Denver company. That noted, after a lengthy search, I couldn't find a thing on Print-a-Disc. 

Zip. Zilch. Zero. It remains a mystery.

As always, if you run across any others Print-a-Disc records, or have any additional information on this label, let me know!

Monday, October 5, 2020

Who Needs a Toaster, When you Can Have a Liberace Record?



I love making obscure connections between Colorado music items and well-known entertainers - take for example this give-away record by the Englewood State Bank, from the one, the only, "Mr. Showmanship" - Liberace.

And you thought banks only gave away toasters!

Found this record in a Denver thrift. Very cool, previously-unknown discovery! There is no date on this freebie, but the original commercial release of this record was 1954. There can't have been too many of these given to local bank customers, so I'm guessing this Colorado record is a pretty scarce find.

The address shown for the Englewood State Bank (180 E Hampden) is now an eye clinic.

Liberace would often perform in Colorado. Staying at the Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs. In 1956, he visited Littleton, to crown the winner at the Centennial racetrack.  

Then, as is usually the case, I found another similar Colorado record - for Denver's Bowman Biscuit Company. It just so happened that Bowman was the local sponsor of Liberace's national television show, in the mid 1950s.

(July 11, 1954) Piano artist Liberace played host to a group of Denver civic leaders and representatives of the press, radio and TV at a Saturday luncheon at the Park Lane hotel. Pictured here are George Liberace, brother of the pianist: Mrs. Hazel Oberfelder, sponsor of Liberace's Sunday night Red Rocks concert; Liberace; and Marshall Harris, vie-president of the Bowman Biscuit Co., which sponsors the pianist's program on a Denver television station. 
Credit: The Denver Post (via Getty Images)
 
Liberace promotional record for the Bowman Biscuit Company, Denver.

Apparently there were several of these promotional Liberace records pressed, for other cities, which included premiums for local banks, furniture stores, shoe stores, grocery stores, and even a canned meat company! While most featured the song "Humoresque," I found other promotional discs, with "Dark Eyes" / "Lullaby" and "Minute Waltz" / "Blue Danube."

Liberace promotional release by the Security Trust and Savings Bank, Iowa
 
Liberace promotional release by Society of Savings, Cleveland