Albert's Place

Just finished transferring the "broadcast copy" version of James Stricklin's "Jacob J. Welsh Whacky Hour" from the audio cassette to a digital file. Tape & Record Show Enterprises originally "broadcast" the show Thursday, September 15,1983 at 7:00pm central. It was recorded the previous year, but not "aired" until later. It was also another "one-off", meaning there was only one show ever recorded. From the sound of things, it was recorded at James' house at the time. On the original index card in my archives, and the broadcast version of the tape, the name of the theme music James picked for the show isn't mentioned. For the life of me, I can't identify the tune, since it's not something in my personal collection, must have been in his. Even in the closing theme of the episode, where I picked a Fleetwood Mac tune when editing originally, I mention I don't know who does the opening theme music.

The "Jacob J. Welsh" character by James (last name pronounced "W-e-l-esh-esh") was a spoof of comedian Bill Saluga's "Raymond J. Johnson, Jr." character. References to earlier "E.T. Food Palace" episodes are mentioned, since the characters Dr. Tongue, Woody Tobias Jr, and Gonzo Nesbitt also make an appearance. It's a good thing James first wife never heard this recording. It was recorded a bit before they first dated, and nothing "good" was said about "Randy's sister", so yet MORE "politically incorrect" humor from us teens at the time.

I can't be certain, but I THINK I may have an actual photo from that recording session. No date on the photo, but it was taken at James' house, he's doing a "Raymond J. Johnson, Jr." pose, standing next to Jerry Sanders, who was also in the recording, so there's THAT....

Just finished digitizing a couple more of my friends and I fake radio shows from old audio cassettes. The seventh episode of the short lived "E.T. Food Palace" and a "Tape and Record Show" years later that "broadcast" a previously unreleased "E.T. Food Palace", the latter delayed because no one could stop laughing.

Episode 7 had "Dr.Tongue's" ( James Stricklin ) character firing his partner "Bruno" (me) for being rude to the restaurant patrons. By the end of the episode, Bruno was re-hired, but after trying out other employees. Another episode of a "Tape and Record Show Enterprises" show where sound effects were added after recording, this time, a laugh track, applause, AND "ambiance", to make it sound like an actual restaurant. Thumbing through the index card files of broadcasts, never found the "broadcast date" of the episode, so I'm assuming it's considered a "lost episode". Edited for "broadcast", but never "aired". Then again, after closing theme music, it only ran 47 minutes. The remainder of the hour was filled up with three Randy Haney sing alongs.

The "Tape and Record Show" "broadcast" was REALLY an oddity. It was in the single season I brought the show back, in 1992, after I had stopped dating a certain girl for a few years (before the now ex wife). It was impossible to "get the band back together" after a gap like that, so I went into the "archives" to dig out anything that might have never been "officially aired". Episode 481 of "The Tape and Record Show" from Friday, January 17, 1992 had an "E.T. Food Palace" originally recorded July 30, 1985. I think that recording was the ONLY time we got Randy Haney and Jerry Sanders together in the "studio" at the same time. After listening, I know WHY it was never released as an actual "E.T. Food Palace" at the time. Randy was in the house, we couldn't stop laughing! I shouldn't have been drinking liquids while transferring that tape! There would have been a fitting "end" to "Tape and Record Show Enterprises" in that episode if it had ended with (multiple takes) of the song "We Are The World" by James, Jerry, Randy, and me... but we HAD to end the episode with "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

I've been using Microsoft Edge all day, to get used to it. Got tired of Opera not working properly with some websites, like Paramount Plus. So far, Edge hasn't had any issues with the sites I visit regularly, and I can use the same extensions I was using in Opera.

This evening, I digitized three more of the old "fake radio shows" my friends and I recorded onto audio cassette back in the 1980's. Tonight, it was episodes 4, 5, and 6 of the VERY short lived "E.T. Food Palace", that spoof/rip off of the "SCTV" skit "The 3-D House of Beef" I mentioned in a previous post.

Episodes 4 and 5, originally "broadcast" Thursday, June 16 and Thursday June 23, 1983 at 7:30pm central, were a two-parter, with James Stricklin and I pulling "double duty" as both "Dr. Tongue, Bruno, and Count Floyd", AND as "Frank and Ernest Hog", who were also a rip-off of an old "SCTV" skit, "Carl's Cuts: Film Editing". What "plot" that was involved, Frank and Ernest fly to the Food Palace in their "Bill Tush" model flying saucer to deliver head cheese and bacon fat. Musical guest for the two episodes was "The Stray Cats". Comedy guest in episode 5 was... Bill Cosby. Remember, we recorded these in 1982/83, so no one knew about Cosby's "proclivities" back then. The "Noah" sketch by him was played. The Count Floyd character was supposed to show the film "Blood Sucking Monkeys From West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, but instead cued up adult films (think, but can't remember, the audio was from "Pussycat Galore" and "Caddyshack" by mistake.

Episode 6 apparently had no "broadcast" date. I went through my card files numerous times, never found a card for it. After listening for the first time in decades (even didn't REMEMBER it until hearing it again, guess because since it never "aired officially", it was also never "repeated" in the Tape & Record Show Enterprises line-up, although there IS a "broadcast version" edited on tape), I can see WHY I might have "sh*tcanned" that episode. Since most of it was apparently originally RECORDED before the official episode 2, judging from us not yet finalizing a last name yet for Jerry Sanders "Gonzo Nesbitt" character, it seems it was slapped together from "rejected material", a lot of which was "politically incorrect", even for the time, and too CRUDE for what "The E.T.Food Palace" was SUPPOSED to be. The Dr. Tongue character made derogatory remarks (a slur) about the Gonzo character. While Raymond J. Johnson Jr. sang the Frank Zappa song "Dancing Fool", he substituted the word "Dancing" a few times with the word "F*cking". In a few ways, this crossed the boundary of the offenses in the first "Randy Haney Comedy Hour" in 1982. Also, at the end of the episode, was Randy Haney attempting to sing "Ghostbusters" with the instrumental version, which was recorded much later than the original recording. Especially James, who in several "Happy Hours" and the "show" I'm posting about, who you hear sometimes saying, "This ain't working out so well". For the folks living near me, there's even a "Chef Hans" reference.

I'm putting all this info out now, mainly to let people know my friends and I were idiots back then. I'm preserving the recordings yes. Mostly, only they and I will even know what the heck I'm even writing about with these posts.

Just finished digitizing episodes 2 and 3 of the short lived stand-alone "The E.T. Food Palace" series Tape and Record Show Enterprises made in 1983, based on the skit from the "James Stricklin Happy Hour", which it itself was based on a SCTV skit "The 3-D House of Beef".

These episodes were recorded before I had an audio mixer, so were kind of "crude" editing wise to say the least. Plain "stereo" was the best I could do back then. James appeared as himself, Frank Nelson, and Raymond J. Johnson Jr. I was myself and Bruno. Jerry Sanders was himself and "Gonzo Nesbitt". Jerry also did the "Beaver Cry", from earlier "Happy Hour" shows, after being slapped.

Episode three had a bit of a "milestone" in Tape and Record Show editing history. Even without a mixer, we managed to get James and the person he was impersonating, Raymond J. Johnson, singing a duet of Kenny Loggin's "I'm Alright" together. The way we managed that was recording one version first, then playing it back, while having mics held up to the speakers, and James singing along in the opposite microphone next to the speaker and recording it. Primitive, yet effective.

Just finished digitizing two more ancient audio cassette recordings from the early 1980's. One doesn't include any friends on the tape, but was the main "inspiration" for a short lived "series" my friends and I recorded.

The first I transferred was a special "TRS Presents" episode, "The Gala Opening of the 3-D House of Beef", which was a sketch on the old "SCTV Network 90" show on NBC, with John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Joe Flaherty. With the help of some SCTV ad parodies and the standard "TRS Presents" series break in the middle for "station identification", I was able to pad it out to a half hour show. Tape and Record Show originally "broadcast" the special on Sunday, December 26,1982 at 1:30pm central.

Next, I transferred "The Gala Premiere of the Opening of the E.T. Food Palace", a half hour originally "broadcast" in this form on Saturday, January 1, 1983 at 7:03am central as part of the overnight Tape & Record Show 1982/83 New Year's Celebration. It had James Stricklin and I blatantly copying the "Dr. Tongue", "Bruno", and "Count Floyd" characters from the SCTV sketch, even copying most of the script. As with the original SCTV skit, I took the shorter skit James and I originally recorded for the Friday, November 12, 1982 "broadcast" of "The James Stricklin Happy Hour" and padded it out to a half hour, by using interstitial material from "The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail" to turn the sketch into a "movie premiere", with Zapp's "Dance Floor" in the middle. I almost panicked while transferring when the tape started glitching, then remembered I originally did that on purpose in the editing to simulate a film projector being turned off.

Along with all the similarities mentioned already, the original "broadcast copies" of both shows were each on "Realistic Low Noise" brand C-30 cassette tapes.

Just been digging out more old cassettes to transfer and typing up the original "broadcast dates" before digitizing them. Seems I can't find the "airdates" of two of the shows in a series in my archives. Then again, episode 5 of the series was listed as "Last Show of the Series" in the file box. I may not have originally "broadcast" the remaining two back in the day (1983 and 1984 "copyright" years written on the tape labels).

It would have made things significantly easier for me today if I had the foresight back then to write the complete "airdates" on the tape labels also, instead of just the year.

Of course, nearly 40 years ago, I'd have never imagined I'd be in a digital preservation mode for those recordings in 2021!

Just finished digitizing episodes 7 and 8 of "The James Stricklin Happy Hour", which completes the digitization of that particular series from back in the day, with our "fake radio shows".

Episode 7 was the second spoof we recorded of "Late Night with David Letterman". Original "broadcast" date was Wednesday, January 30, 1985 at 7:00pm central. The "mixing" of the applause and laugh track was sloppier than our first attempt. Mia Haney also does a decent Olivia Newton-John impersonation. In the background in the episode, you hear the squeaky rocking chair that was in my living room, and the cries of James and Michelle's first born. David Letterman and Bill Wendell's "split" might have been inadvertently foreshadowed in this if you listen close.

Episode 8, originally "broadcast" Wednesday, February 27, 1985 at 7:00pm central was compiled (cobbled together) from skits produced for an unreleased "James Stricklin/Albert Sims Comedy Hour". Skits include: Floyd Lawson's Amazing Barber Shop, a spoof of "The Steve Allen Show" featuring James as Raymond J. Johnson poking fun at who was to later become his wife-Michelle Haney (before they actually met). In that skit, since it was recorded at James' house, you get an idea about the posters/pictures James had on his wall at the time. Also an unreleased portion of the "Native Drums" skit from "The Randy Haney Comedy Show". Musical highlights: She Bop(Cyndi Lauper), Close to the Edit(Art of Noise), and You Dropped A Bomb On Me(Gap Band). Cast: James Stricklin, Albert Sims, Jerry Sanders, Randy Haney, and Matt Morehead.
That said... "Avanti"?? Where did I get THAT brand back in the day??

That said...?? Where did I get THAT brand back in the day??

Just finished digitizing episodes 5 and 6 of "The James Stricklin Happy Hour", original fake "broadcast dates" of Monday, August 20, 1984 and Monday, December 31, 1984. Still some "politically incorrect" stuff in those episodes. Episode 5 made me nearly spit out my drink though, after not listening to it in over three decades. James, Jerry Sanders, and I did spoofs of three guys attempting a jailbreak, and lots of "Leave It to Beaver" episodes. Jerry, as "the little Cleaver boy", got "slapped" a lot.

Episode 6 was mainly a "best of", with skits from the previous episodes. Yes, that was possible back when we recorded on audio cassettes, since I made copies of the original tapes. "New" material was the complete "Cleaver Seance", which was edited from episode 5 because of time constraints, and a BBC "Two Ronnies" spoof of the BBC show "Top Of the Pops", just because apparently, because of my narration at the time, we thought it was funnier than our "Pac-Man Incident" skit. Doesn't translate to audio, so, after all these decades, here's the VIDEO of the "Two Ronnies" skit...

Doctor said the esophagus passageway was clear during the procedure a couple weeks ago. She wants me to make a diary of the meals I eat, and also write down if I get nauseas or light headed after eating. She said since the nerves to the stomach were severed during the esophagus surgery back in 2018, the digestive tract and metabolism works different now, and there may need to be some adjustments to my diet.

She also said not to drink anything until about half an hour after eating, not mix food and liquid. First time I'm hearing this since the surgery. She wants to see me back, with my notes on my meals, in six weeks.

She didn't really say anything about my sinus issues, but then again, it's not really her field.

Mom is having the same issues I am at the moment in regards to sinuses... sneezing, runny nose, and a low fever. She also has a cough. Neither of us were sick until after late last week, when Andrew came home and said he had to leave work and go to the doctor that day because of sinus related issues. Mom and I think he passed his crud onto us. Luckily, they tested him when he went, and it wasn't COVID related.

I see my primary care doctor next Friday for a follow up on other things. If I'm still having symptoms, I'll let him know, since he's a general practioner, not a surgery specialist.