Albert's Place

The slow process of attempting to digitize the HUNDREDS of hours of old Tape & Record Show Enterprises recordings my friends and I produced in the 1980's continues. This evening, another episode of the "oddity" called "The TRS Scrap Pile" and two more episodes of "The James Stricklin Song Mirage".

If you were to listen to episode three of "The TRS Scrap Pile", you just MIGHT think I had "issues" with the old cassette during the transfer. You would be mistaken. In the second playing of "Beat Box" by The Art of Noise in that episode, I purposely "screwed up" the playback in the original editing in 1984, just to make the show even MORE "odd".

Jerry Sanders makes his first appearance as co-host in episode 19 of "The James Stricklin Song Mirage". James had previously co-hosted on a few "Jerry Sanders' Hit Parade" episodes however. Also, I can't for the life of me remember anything about the possibility that Jerry was going to stay at James and Michelle's place at some point, but it is mentioned in the episode. There are some "crackling microphone" issues in episode 20. There were a few recordings of various shows TRSE produced around that time with the mic crackling issue. Can't remember that far back, but I THINK I had to buy new microphones eventually to solve the issue. Replaced the cheap Radio Shack branded microphones(which were in use for at least three years) with slightly better Pioneer branded microphones.

Contents of the three half-hours digitized this evening...

"The TRS Scrap Pile: Episode 3. Broadcast Wednesday, April 4, 1984 at 7:30pm central. Theme Music: Burt Reynold's House/If You Love Me Tell Me Loud(John Morris/Mel Brooks). In this week's scrap pile: "Tusk"(Fleetwood Mac), "Beat Box"(The Art of Noise) followed by a fouled up version, an episode of the "Dick Tracy" radio show from 1946, "Fame"(David Bowie)."

"James Stricklin Song Mirage: Episode 19. Broadcast Monday, December 3,1984 at 9:30pm central. Theme Music: Can You Feel It(The Jacksons). Hosts this week are James Stricklin and Jerry Sanders. Songs: Blue Jean(David Bowie), Low Rider(War), I Wanna Rock(Twisted Sister), Do I Do(Stevie Wonder), Baby I'm A Star(Prince).

James Stricklin Song Mirage: Episode 20. Broadcast Monday, December 17,1984 at 9:30pm central. Theme Music: Can You Feel It(The Jacksons). Hosts: James Stricklin and Albert Sims. Songs: Borderline(Madonna), Jailhouse Rap(The Fat Boys), Strut(Sheena Easton), Jungle Love(Morris Day and The Time), Who Wears These Shoes(Elton John)."

Just digitzed episode 5 of the Tape & Record Show Enterprises flagship series "The Tape & Record Show". First thing one notices about those earliest TRSE productions, the sound quality is TERRIBLE for the most part, because of the way most of the content was recorded... on a portable monophonic cassette recorder via a cheap external microphone held up to the source material (TV, radio, record player), onto mostly CHEAP cassette tapes, like those sold in three-packs for less than $5 back in the day. Those tapes didn't even come in cases. However, you can hear all the dialog. I've cleaned them up a bit with computer software, so they sound "slightly better" than they did originally. As mentioned before, since I have access to some of the material today in better form, like DVDs I've bought of some of the TV shows, I COULD rip the audio and use that for the remasters I'm currently working on, but for authenticities sake, I want them to sound mostly like I remember them sounded back in the day, and since I still have most of the originally recorded cassettes, I've elected to use those as the source material, albeit with some of the tape noise and hiss removed, unless an old tape completely fails.

The first five episodes were an hour apiece. I can't remember what I was actually thinking that far back (I was 13 at the time), but I assume after those five hours, I decided I'd need WAY too much material for a seven day a week series at an hour each, so after that fifth episode, I decided to do half-hours on weekdays and hours on weekends, with occasional "repeats" thrown into the mix.

Also, I transferred the first two episodes of "The TRS Scrap Pile" to the hard drives this evening. This series is difficult to explain. It was mostly a hodge-podge of various stuff in the TRSE archives at the time which really didn't "fit in" to any other shows we were doing. Only "narration" in the show is me announcing the show during the opening and closing themes.

Contents of the three episodes processed tonight...

"The Tape & Record Show: Episode 5. Broadcast Monday, July 2,1979 at 5:00pm central. Theme Music: Beethoven's 5th Symphony(Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra). "The Dukes of Hazard: Luke's Love Story" - Luke enters the General Lee in the Hazzard County Obstacle Race, competing against his gorgeous girlfriend Amy Creevy. But Amy's life is in danger, thanks to her jealous ex-boyfriend. / "Looney Tunes: Gift Wrapped" - Sylvester gets a rubber mouse for Christmas, but he much prefers Granny's gift: a new Tweety Bird."

"The TRS Scrap Pile: Episode 1. Broadcast Wednesday, March 28, 1984 at 7:30pm central. Theme Music: Burt Reynold's House/If You Love Me Tell Me Loud(John Morris/Mel Brooks). A new show made up of short snips of songs, movies, and assorted TV and radio shows. In this week's scrap pile: "I Like"(Heathen Dan), a scene from Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer", "The Lumberjack Song"(Monty Python), blooper from "The James Stricklin Happy Hour", "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash On the Wheels of Steel"(Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five), and Penny Marshall breakdances on "The New Show", David Letterman does a NBC audience poll.

The TRS Scrap Pile: Episode 2. Broadcast Monday, April 2, 1984 at 9:30pm central. Theme Music: Burt Reynold's House/If You Love Me Tell Me Loud(John Morris/Mel Brooks). In this week's scrap pile: David Letterman discusses doctor's waiting room etiquette with Larry "Bud" Melman, "Girls"(Dwight Twilley), "The Presidential Card Game"(Rich Little as "Ronald Reagan"), James Stricklin and Randy Haney sing "Mr. Roboto"(Styx) with some technical difficulties, scenes from two classic Warner Brothers films from the early 1930's "Public Enemy" and "My Man", "Funk U Up"(The Sequence)."

Listening to that last portion of episode one of "The TRS Scrap Pile" reminds me of why David Letterman probably didn't get "The Tonight Show" gig after Johnny Carson retired. Dave was constantly making "digs" at the NBC network, and his show was ON the network at the time. Ironically, at the end of the Letterman skit included in episode two, Dave announces his first guest on that episode was Jay Leno.

The "technical issues" mentioned in episode two with James and Randy singing "Mr. Roboto" were the result of record skipage in the original recording. For the "Scrap Pile" edit, I took that issue and significantly "magnified" it for "effect".

This evening, converted the next two "episodes" of the Tape & Record Show Enterprises "flagship" show, "The Tape & Record Show" to digital. This series will take the longest to finish, since there were over 400 episodes "broadcast" over the years. Still gradually working on getting all the "spin-off" shows done also, like "James Stricklin Song Mirage", "Jerry Sanders' Hit Parade", "Paul's Country Corral", etc. In other words, to transfer all still existing recordings in the "TRSE Archives", will take quite SOME time to complete! There were slightly over 90 "James Stricklin Song Mirage" episodes alone, so you add those to the 400-ish "Tape & Record Show" episodes, and the other series, it gives you SOME idea at what I'm looking at here, since the bulk will have to be transferred in "real time". You can't really "speed dub" an audio cassette to a desktop.

As mentioned in earlier posts, "The Tape & Record Show" started with just me, two years before Randy Haney "joined" the organization, so the show mainly consisted of soundtracks of TV episodes and recorded music. Contents of the two episodes digitized this evening...

"The Tape & Record Show: Episode 3. Broadcast Saturday, June 30,1979 at 2:00pm central. Theme Music: Beethoven's 5th Symphony(Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra). "Monty Python's Flying Circus: Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the 20th Century" / "I Dream of Jeannie: My Master, the Rich Tycoon" - When Jeannie lets in a man who scoffs at her master's taste, she makes several valuable works of art appear. Afterwards the man introduces himself as a representative of the IRS.

The Tape & Record Show: Episode 4. Broadcast Sunday, July 1,1979 at 2:00pm central. Theme Music: Beethoven's 5th Symphony(Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra). "I Dream of Jeannie: Guess What Happened on the Way to the Moon?" - Desert survival becomes luxurious when Jeannie follows Tony on a mission and outfits him with food, shelter, and transportation. Due to an ankle injury, Tony stays behind as Roger goes on. After the mission Roger begins to question Tony's good fortune while he suffered in the sweltering heat. / "Gilligan's Island: Pass the Vegetables, Please" - Gilligan reels in a crate of vegetable seeds from the lagoon, but fails to notice the warning on the crate that the seeds are radioactive. / "Looney Tunes: A Witch's Tangled Hare" - Shakespeare is all ears as Bugs battles Witch Hazel in Macbeth's castle."

If you notice a lot of repetition with certain series audio on "The Tape & Record Show" in the early days, it is because I relied on whatever the local TV stations aired at the time. Local CBS affiliate KNOE aired reruns of "Gilligan's Island" and "I Dream of Jeannie" in the afternoons around that time, probably from 16mm prints, since sometimes you hear a splice "plop" in the audio. Since I paused the old monophonic cassette recorder during commercial breaks, no audio from local commercials are in the "archives". The "Monty Python's Flying Circus" audio came from the local PBS affiliate.

This evening in my ongoing Tape & Record Show Enterprises archives digitization project, I went back as early as possible and digitized the first two episodes of the organization's "flagship" show, "The Tape & Record Show". In the earliest days, I was only doing it for my own amusement. No one else knew about it then. Didn't have anything but a portable monophonic cassette recorder at the time. Since I had no video machine, I recorded the audio of various TV shows with that recorder, using an external microphone held up to the TV speaker. I had no way to copy or duplicate tapes either at the time, so for "episode" content, to listen to an episode, I had to put in the tape with the theme music, then switch it out with the tapes containing the content, then at the end, the tape with the theme music again... if this makes any sense.

However, in an index card file, I wrote down the "broadcast" information on the days and time I did that, so I have a written record of the "shows". I held on to the majority of the cassettes, even though the sound quality is far less than "spectacular" since they were mostly recorded with a cheap mic from a TV speaker onto cheap tapes, like those three-pack budget cassettes without cases which they used to sell. Technically, since I have a few of those shows I recorded back then on DVD now, I COULD use those to redo the audio, but for authenticity sake, I'm using those original cassette recordings, so the transfers will sound mostly like they did to me at the time. These earliest "broadcasts", you hear no "host" or announcements at all, not even me, just the theme music and show content.

The two episodes I transferred this evening are from other transfers I made in 1985 from the original tapes onto new, higher quality cassettes(by then I had WAY better audio equipment), so I didn't have to locate and dig out those ORIGINAL cassettes. Cheated a bit on THOSE transfers. I had purchased a copy of the vinyl LP by then of the first theme music, and since there was no narration in the original "broadcast" versions, I used that LP version, instead of the version I had checked out of the local library in 1979 and recorded onto that original cassette recorder with a microphone. Also, instead of using the original "Fawlty Towers" off TV recording in episode one, I used the LP version of "The Germans", which has Andrew Sachs as "Manuel" doing linking narration. The "Gilligan's Island" episode in that episode is from the original off TV recording made in 1979 from the local CBS affiliate. They used syndicated splicy 16mm prints of the show.

The first five episodes were an hour each. After that, I settled on one hour episodes on weekends, half hours on weekdays. Yes, I was stupid enough to make it a seven day a week series originally, although there WERE "repeats" of episodes on a regular basis also, as logged in the index cards.

For the digital "episode list" files however, I'm not using what was written on the original cards for "broadcast" information. Back in 1979, I had NO idea what the "official" title of the episodes I recorded off the television were, so on the cards, I just "guessed" at the episode titles. For instance, in episode 2, on the index card, the "Dukes of Hazzard" episode was written as "Moonshine Fuel", and the official title is "High Octane". For the digitizations, I'm correcting as much as possible in the records, via the internet. No internet in 1979 to do research with.

Since there were no commercials, sometimes, like in the second episode transferred this evening, I filled the hour out with something short, like a song, or in this case, the soundtrack of a Looney Tunes short, recorded from "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show" from Saturday morning CBS broadcasts.

Contents of the two episodes digitized this evening, descriptions "revised" via the internet...

"The Tape & Record Show: Episode 1. Broadcast Thursday, June 28,1979 at 5:00pm central. Theme Music: Beethoven's 5th Symphony(Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra). "Fawlty Towers: The Germans" - With Sybil in the hospital with an ingrowing toenail, a moose's head to hang up and some German guests arriving the next day, Basil has his work cut out for him. After an attempted fire drill goes wrong and Basil lands up in the hospital with concussion, he succeeds causing much offence to the German guests after finally escaping back to the hotel. / "Gilligan's Island: Meet the Meteor" - A meteor hits the island. The Professor discovers that it speeds up the aging process. if they can't get rid of the meteor, the castaways will all be fifty years older in a week!

The Tape & Record Show: Episode 2. Broadcast Friday, June 29,1979 at 5:00pm central. Theme Music: Beethoven's 5th Symphony(Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra). "The Dukes of Hazzard: High Octane" - Boss gets Uncle Jesse to enter a contest for a new type of fossil fuel, saying that moonshine is the perfect way to cut down on pollution. However, Boss has more up his sleeve: He plans to tip off the authorities and, once Jesse is arrested, take credit for the idea himself. / "Looney Tunes: No Parking Hare" - A construction worker wants to blast Bugs out of his rabbit hole so he can build a freeway."

Just a side note, to make me feel OLD, when I conceived these episodes, I hadn't yet turned 14 years old.

This evening, transferred a couple more old 1980's Tape & Record Show Enterprises "broadcasts". Realized how "variable" those old budget "Laser XL90" branded blank cassettes were in quality. Some I have from that era sound better today than the Memorex tapes from the time, yet the one with episode 9 of Dennis Goodwin's "Orbit's Independent Sampler" was a muffled MESS! Seems to have deteriorated in storage, because I don't recall it sounding THAT terrible in 1986. The sound got progressively worse as the playback continued. After I finished the transfer, I looked at the playback head in the cassette deck. It had a brown coating. Apparently flaky oxide from the tape. Cleaned the head and transferred the recording a second time, with slightly better results. Ironically, if I had recorded that "broadcast" on one of the blank tapes I bought from Dennis' shop at the time, it might have held up better. Dennis didn't sell crap like "Laser". Think I might have bought that from either Kmart or Howard's Brandiscount. Unfun Fact: The next 6 episodes are on the exact same kind of cassette.

Didn't have any noticeable issues with the next transfer, episode 18 of "The James Stricklin Song Mirage", but then again, it was recorded on a "Maxell LN-90" cassette from 1984, not a "Laser" from 1986.

Descriptions from the original "broadcast" index cards, some things corrected via internet...

"Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 9. Broadcast Wednesday, September 10, 1986 at 8:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Oldies show, featuring: Rock Around The Clock(Bill Haley and the Comets), That's All Right(Elvis Presley), Honey Don't(Carl Perkins), High School Confidential(Jerry Lee Lewis), Rainy Day Women(Bob Dylan), 19th Nervous Breakdown(The Rolling Stones), Hey Pocky A-Way(The Meters), Black Gal(Clifton Cheniere), Sissy Strut(The Meters)."

"James Stricklin Song Mirage: Episode 18. Broadcast Monday, November 26,1984 at 9:30pm central. Theme Music: Can You Feel It(The Jacksons). Woodie Tobias Jr(Albert Sims) is this week's co-host. Songs include: Monkee's Theme(The Monkees), We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore(Twisted Sister), Somebody To Love(Queen), Cruel Summer(Bananarama), She Was Hot(The Rolling Stones)."

Also this evening, since I found the original "theme music" tapes of the flagship "Tape & Record Show", which started in 1979 with only me, I transferred the earliest ones to digital. Those will come in handy when I start digitizing the original series, since way back then, I had no mixer, no way to copy tapes (was using a single portable cassette recorder for playback and record), when I listened to a "show" by myself, I had to play the tape with the theme music, take it out, put in the tape with the show content, play that, then put in the tape with the closing theme music. Either the portable cassette deck had low batteries at some point, or my voice was higher pitched when I was 13 and 14 years old. Music sounded "normal" however, for being recorded with a mono microphone from the device. I'll be using those transfers for piecing together those earliest "flagship" shows. I'm amazed those cassettes from then still sound "decent", especially the first one, recorded on a "Scotch" brand C-30 that was re-used several times before then. That tape came as a "demo" with my first portable Panasonic recorder my parents bought for me in 1973 at Barkers.

Granted, when I recorded and edited these recordings of Dennis Goodwin's "Orbit's Independent Sampler" in the mid 1980's, I wrote things down on the original Tape & Record Show Enterprises "broadcast" index cards as I heard them. I have corrected as many as possible before putting the text file in the folder with the recordings for accuracy, but a few things Dennis might have to correct me on still, since I couldn't find info on Bing. The contents as written, then corrected via internet (which I had no access to in 1986) of the eight episodes digitized this evening...

"Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 1(Pilot). Broadcast Friday, July 19, 1985 at 11:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Dennis Goodwin presents excerpts from albums released by many independent record labels around the world. in the series pilot, the following music is presented: Soul Fantasy(The Explorers), Kinky Reggae(Robby Krieger), Lively Up Yourself(Bob Marley and The Wailers), I Don't Like Reggae(10cc), Secret Society(Utopia), Love Me Do(Beatle Barkers), and selected jokes by Henny Youngman.

Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 2. Broadcast Wednesday, July 9, 1986 at 8:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Music includes: Buramen(Shitara), Seventy-Five(Touch), Equinox Part 1(Jean Michel Jarre), Henny Youngman jokes, and Chicken Cordon Bleus(Steve Goodman).

Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 3. Broadcast Wednesday, July 16, 1986 at 8:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Host Dennis Goodwin plays the following music from various independent record labels: The Nights Never Get Lonely(Gary P. Nunn), My Town(Kate and Anna McGarrigle), Heart of Saturday Night(Tom Waits), Is Anyone Going Home(Doug Sahm), Pick Up The Deck(The Tail Gators), Back Door(Leroy Brothers), Mojo Hanna(The Neville Brothers).

Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 4. Broadcast Wednesday, July 23, 1986 at 8:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Dennis Goodwin plays the following segments: Kraftco Home Psychiatrist, Old Judge Jones(Les Dudek), Finders Keepers(Dinatones), Shanghi Cobra(Dan Lady/Danna Freeman), Suzie Q(Lonnie Mack), Blues With A Feeling(Paul Butterfield Blues Band), I'm Tough As I Wanna Be(Phillip Walker), Suggestion Blues(Sam Myers/Anson Funderburg).

Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 5. Broadcast Wednesday, July 30, 1986 at 8:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Songs include: Baby I Do(Alison Moyet), Ray's Rockhouse(Manhatten Transfer), comedy by Kip Adotta, Reet Petite(Jackie Wilson), The Wanderer(Dion and the Belmonts), Jailhouse Rock(Elvis Presley), In the Night(Professor Longhair), Let's Go Boppin' Tonight(Al Farrar), Hurry Back[Good News](Gatemouth Brown).

Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 6. Broadcast Wednesday, August 20, 1986 at 8:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Songs include: If Jethro Were Here/Vegematic(Steve Goodman), People Putting People Down(John Prine), The Hang-Out Gang(Jimmy Buffet), Souviners(Steve Goodman/John Prine), Take Me Out To The Ball Game/Dying Cub Fan's Last Request(Steve Goodman).

Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 7. Broadcast Wednesday, August 27, 1986 at 8:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Songs: How Much Tequila Did I Drink Last Night/City Of New Orleans/Hot Tub Refugee/You Never Even Call Me By My Name(Steve Gibson), Hep Cats In Big Town(Sam Myers/Anson Funderburg), Taking Care of Business(Freedie King), Going To Chicago Blues(B.B. King), and a satire commercial about the "Krapco Gene Splicer".

Orbit's Independent Sampler: Episode 8. Broadcast Wednesday, September 3, 1986 at 8:00pm central. Theme Music: The Peter Gunn Theme(The Blues Brothers Band). Dennis does a show featuring singer/songwriter Gary P. Nunn. Songs include: Nights Never Get Lonely, last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning, Tennessee Road,Born Yesterday. Other songs: Honky Tonk women(Ike and Tina Turner) and Wang Dang Doodle(Koko Taylor)."

Tonight, in my seemingly never ending Tape & Record Show Enterprises digitization project, I started on Dennis Goodwin's "Orbit's Independent Sampler". Now, this was never ACTUALLY a TRSE "series", but I do actually know the host of the show. Bought MANY a record from his record store in the 80's/early 90's. Dennis had a weekend radio show on the local university radio station. I started recording the three hour shows as they were broadcast live. I then added a theme music, using some of Dennis' announcing during the broadcast as an introduction over the music, and cut the content of those live REAL radio broadcasts down into half hour TRSE "fake broadcasts", editing out any local "topical" announcements Dennis may have made, since those announcements would be seriously outdated by the time OUR version of the show was "aired" anyway, and would REALLY be outdated on any reruns (yes, we were like other outlets, we regularly "repeated" shows in our "broadcast" line-up). Also, on the TRSE end of things with the edited versions, there was a full YEAR between the time we "aired" the "pilot", and the actual "premiere" of the regular series, even though the first few episodes were all part of ONE original three hour live show.

The reason I titled this post on Livejournal "If You Have Stuff Stored On CD-R/DVD-R Media, Ya Better Check 'Em" (can't really "title" posts on Facebook) is because "Orbit's Independent Sampler" was another series, which back in the early/mid-00's, I thought I'd try to "preserve indefinitely" onto CD-R's, when I thought they were a reliable storage medium, like I did with "The TRS Music Show", "Crystal Warrior", etc., only to find those discs had a HIGH failure rate in later years. Luckily, I never got far into that older digitization project. The few discs I made back then that are still functioning, I use for the new transfers, then I pull out the old audio cassettes from the 1980's to continue. I had transferred eight of the "Orbit's Independent Sampler" half hour episodes to CD-R's. All episodes except the second one transferred fine to the new software, so I had to dig out the cassette edited in 1985 to transfer that one. Weirdly, a couple episodes transferred from the old CD-R copies are considerably LOUDER than others, but not "distorted". Not sure if it had something to do with running the old Roxio mastered digitations through the Magix software or what.

From personal observations, 40 year old audio cassettes hold up better than 20 year old CD-R/DVD-R media. Hopefully the TWO external hard drives I'm backing all these old recording up on now will be "somewhat" more reliable. Hard drives were out of my price range back when I was doing the original CD-R backups, but relatively cheap these days.

Since this post has already been "long winded", I'll post the contents of the episodes transferred in both WAV and 192kbps MP3 audio this evening in the next post.

I've been feeling a little "lazy" most of the day, so only digitized three half hour "broadcasts" from the Tape & Record Show Enterprises archives this evening. Episode 16 of "Jerry Sanders' Hit Parade" and episodes 16 and 17 of "The James Stricklin Song Mirage". Program descriptions from the original "broadcast" index cards...

"Jerry Sanders' Hit Parade: Episode 16. Broadcast Monday, January 28, 1985 at 9:00pm central. Theme Music: Beep A Freak(The Gap Band) . Songs include: 17 Days(Prince and the Revolution), Emergency(Kool and the Gang), Freaky Dancing(Cameo), Pretty Mess(Vanity), Rock You Good(Eddy Grant), Loose Talk(The Bar-Kays)."

"James Stricklin Song Mirage: Episode 16. Broadcast Monday, November 5,1984 at 9:30pm central. Theme Music: Can You Feel It(The Jacksons). Hosts this week are James Stricklin and Count Floyd(Albert Sims). Songs include: Hard Times(Run-D.M.C.), Valley Girl(Frank Zappa), Love Will Find A Way(Lionel Richie), Autodrive(Herbie Hancock), and a visit from Dr. Tongue(James).

James Stricklin Song Mirage: Episode 17. Broadcast Monday, November 12,1984 at 9:30pm central. Theme Music: Can You Feel It(The Jacksons). Count Floyd(Albert Sims) returns this week as co-host. Songs include: Turn To You(The GoGo's), Theme from Star Trek The Motion Picture(Jerry Goldsmith), Flirt(Cameo), Boogie Shoes(K.C. and The Sunshine Band), Putting On The Ritz(Taco Okerse)."

From his reaction, in the "Song Mirage" episode with "Valley Girl", when I said Frank Zappa's daughter's name, James had no clue at the time her name was "Moon Unit". Also, in episode 17, as a "back story" to the song "Flirt", James said the band playing at the prom he went to "about a year and a half ago" performed the song nearly perfect. The words "prom" and "about a year and a half ago" make me feel old... and I never even ATTENDED a prom myself!

This evening, I finished the digitization of four more old 1980's Tape & Record Show Enterprises "radio shows" recorded by my friends and I, namely episodes 16 and 17 of "The TRS Music Show" and episodes 14 and 15 of "Jerry Sanders' Hit Parade".

In episode 16 of "TRS Music Show", there was a bit of a f**ckup at the beginning. I didn't have the correct first song cued up, so we played the second song first, then the first song second. In episode 17, there was apparently a mouse loose in the studio, according to the banter between Paul Morrison and I. Also in that episode, there was a weird, low "feedback loop" thing happening for a few minutes, which suddenly just vanished. No mention of it was in the episode, so apparently it wasn't heard by us, it just went onto the recording. Might have been a mixing issue. Paul also mentioned in one of the episodes he put a cassette deck identical to the one I was using at the time on layaway. I can't remember, but from the year, I'm assuming it was one of the trusty "double well" JVC decks with a pitch control, which got TRSE through MOST of the 1980's recordings. Bought it from the long defunct local "Howard Griffin Sound Center" at their West Monroe store, in the shopping center where Kmart was located at the time. Wish you could still buy cassette decks like that, but since cassettes are a "faded format" these days, the ION branded machine I'm currently using for the digitizations is about the best I can get these days.

Episode 14 of "Jerry Sanders' Hit Parade" marked the return of the series after a little over a year hiatus. Jerry had several "prior commitments", preventing him from recording new episodes during that time period. With the return of the show came a new theme music. Instead of "Morning Star" by Kool and the Gang, the new theme music was the instrumental version of "Beep A Freak" by The Gap Band. What with the still "missing" episode 4, then the scheduling conflicts to record episodes, it seems, looking back today, the series had some kind of "curse" on it.

Contents of the episodes digitized from the "broadcast version" cassettes this evening, as written on the index cards in the old files...

"The TRS Music Show: Episode 16. Broadcast Wednesday, November 12,1986 at 7:00pm central. Theme Music: Axel F(Harold Faltermeyer). Hosted by Albert Sims and Paul Morrison. Songs include: Pharaoh A Go-Go(Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs), Hawaiian War Chant(Spike Jones and the City Slickers), Papa Oom Mau Mau(Freehold, New Jersey), Me and My Vibrator(Suzie Seacell), and Goin' Down(The Monkees).

The TRS Music Show: Episode 17. Broadcast Wednesday, February 11,1987 at 7:00pm central. Theme Music: Axel F(Harold Faltermeyer). Hosted by Albert Sims and Paul Morrison. Songs include: Hot Tub Refugee(Steve Goodman), Hooray for Captain Spaulding(Groucho Marx), Inka Dinka Doo(Jimmy Durante), Three Little Fishes(Kay Kyser), I Like Bananas 'Cause They Have No Bones(Hoosier Hotshots), Flying Saucer(Bill Buchanan/Dickie Goodman)."

"Jerry Sanders' Hit Parade: Episode 14. Broadcast Monday, January 7, 1985 at 9:00pm central. Theme Music: Beep A Freak(The Gap Band) . Songs include: Jungle Love(Morris Day and The Time), Reunited(Greg Kihn Band), Talking Out The Side Of Your Neck(Cameo), I Can Dream About You(Dan Hartman and the Sorels), Romancing the Stone(Eddy Grant), Sex Shooter(Appollonia 6), Cleaning Up the Town(The Bus Boys), and Stay the Night(Chicago).

Jerry Sanders' Hit Parade: Episode 15. Broadcast Monday, January 14, 1985 at 9:00pm central. Theme Music: Beep A Freak(The Gap Band) . Songs include: Street Corner(Ashford and Simpson), Don't Stop When You're Hot(Larry Graham), Should I Do It(The Pointer Sisters), It's A Love Thing(The Whispers), In the Navy(The Villiage People), So Rough So Tough(Roger)."

Completed the digitization from the original "broadcast" copy audio cassettes of episodes 12-15 of "The TRS Music Show", recorded during my friends and I "fake radio show" producing days in the 1980's.

My first intention when I thought up the series was to have other Tape & Record Show Enterprises members in rotation as co-hosts from week to week, but it seems James Stricklin, Jerry Sanders, and Randy Haney were usually "out of pocket" for the recording sessions at the time of production, so as a result, Paul Morrison co-hosted on the majority of episodes. My "observations" about the episodes below are after listening to them for the first time in decades.

Since the only ACTUAL "listeners" we had at the time were the members of TRSE, I had to take "liberties" to use as "plot devices". I used an actual co-worker's name from Burger King in episode 12 as being someone who supposedly "requested" a song, which I completely diverted to a different song as the song played, for comedy effect. In real life, Cheryl Easterling would have NEVER sent a request to hear "You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boone. She would have requested something from Prince. I just thought Debbie Boone in contrast to what was actually played would be funnier. After the song played, Paul made a comment about Debbie Boone being so "goody goody" she made Marie Osmond look like a "slut".

I had Paul in defensive mode in episode 13, with a song I claimed was "requested" by his then actual girlfriend Debbie Salisbury, then a risque follow-up song after that which I said included things he'd probably like to "do" with Debbie. Luckily, she never heard the "broadcast", since, as stated before, these were "pretend" radio shows.

More "politically incorrect" comments from Paul at the end of episode 14 after the songs by Culture Club and Moe Bandy/Joe Stampley.

Episode 15 had another fake request from Paul's girlfriend Debbie. All the times I worked that into the show, it's a wonder Paul still co-hosted. If he had stopped co-hosting, "The TRS Music Show" would have become "extinct" rather quickly.

Contents of the four episodes digitally transferred this evening, as described on the original handwritten "broadcast" index cards in the files...

"The TRS Music Show: Episode 12. Broadcast Wednesday, September 24,1986 at 7:00pm central. Theme Music: Axel F(Harold Faltermeyer). Hosted by Albert Sims and Paul Morrison. Songs include: Get Up Offa That Thing/Doctor Detroit(James Brown), Teardrop City(The Monkees), Tip Toe Thru The Tulips(Tiny Tim), Surfin' Bird(The Trashmen), Butterbeans(The B-52's), Broken Hearted Lovers Stew(Benny Hill).

The TRS Music Show: Episode 13. Broadcast Wednesday, October 15,1986 at 7:00pm central. Theme Music: Axel F(Harold Faltermeyer). Hosted by Albert Sims and Paul Morrison. Songs include: Split Level Head(Napoleon XIV), Pac Man Fever(Buckner and Garcia), Yummy Yummy Yummy(Ohio Express), Shaving Cream(Benny Bell/Paul Wynn), Tall Paul(Annette Funicello), Candy Rapper(Sticky Fingers).

The TRS Music Show: Episode 14. Broadcast Wednesday, October 22,1986 at 7:00pm central. Theme Music: Axel F(Harold Faltermeyer). Hosted by Albert Sims and Paul Morrison. Songs include: I Ran(A Flock of Seagulls), Temi Dei Monkees(The Monkees), Commercial for the "Beverly Hills Blues Festival", Karma Chameleon(Culture Club), Where's The Dress?(Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley).

The TRS Music Show: Episode 15. Broadcast Wednesday, November 5,1986 at 7:00pm central. Theme Music: Axel F(Harold Faltermeyer). Hosted by Albert Sims and Paul Morrison. Songs include: Chicken Cordon Blues(Steve Goodman), Strike Up The Band(A W.C. Fields "Lucky Strike" cigarette commercial), Star Collector(The Monkees), Your Cheatin' Heart(Homer and Jethro), First Name Initial(Annette Funicello), Ghost Riders In The Sky(Spike Jones and the City Slickers)."