I Support The Bakhtiari Uprising That Will Commence In A Few Short Hours In Iran

Doroooooooooooooood!  Dorood bar shoma.  Namme mann hast Michael.  It is a few minutes before midnight on February 21, 2014.  I have heard that there will be an Uprising led by the Bakhtiari People in Iran.  The Uprising will commence mere hours from now, and is a Movement against the terrorist mullah regime in Iran.  I support you 100% in this Protest Movement.  As some of watching know, I have been a supporter of the Iranian Freedom Movement since the year 2009.  I still read about events taking place in Iran, and, when I first heard about the Bakhtiari Uprising, my initial thought was "khali khoob".  I hear that various Arab Tribes have pledged Solidarity with the Bakhtiari People.  I wish all of you the very best in this Uprising once again.  AZADI BARAYE IRAN!!!  Mamnoon!

Forget Me Not By Manuel Romain 1919 Blue Amberol Cylinder Record

I am keeping the romantic spirit alive post Valentine's Day.  This was filmed on February 16 so we still have that spirit in the air.  Here is a Thomas Edison 4 Minute Blue Amberol Cylinder Record played on a Thomas Edison BVI, or VI-B, Amberola Phonograph.  The song is the romantic ballad "Forget Me Not" by Tenor Vocalist Manuel Romain.  It was released in 1919, and the issue number is 3786.  Manuel Romain was born in 1872 and passed away in 1926.  I actually like this song - it has a great chorus.  The cylinder sounds a bit warped and it feels warped when I ran a cleaning cloth over it.  The instrumental music sounds shaky although the vocals turned out fine.  This record is 95 years old - no doubt an Oldie!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qocn2Zs9E90

Photographs of the cylinder ...



 

Information about the record can be found at these links:
http://digilib.syr.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cylinder&CISOPTR=1901&CISOBOX=1&REC=16
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr%201=1016%20&query=Forget+Me+Not++Manuel+Romain&num=1&start=1&sortBy=&sortOrder=id

World War II Era Military-Related Valentine's Day Cards

It is Valentine's Day 2014. Some of you will recall the Historic Soldiers Christmas Series videos that I recorded and posted last year.  Tonight, I have for you what could be referred to as Historic Soldiers Valentine's Day. In this video, I will show two Valentine's Day cards that I believe date to the World War Two Era. They were sent to Servicemen.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsdPZZN05m0

Photographs of the two cards ...





It has been three years since I filmed and posted a Valentine Card video for February 14. The last one was in 2011. It is hard to believe that much time went by.

Ragtime Violin By The Premier Quartette 1913 Blue Amberol Cylinder Record

All week, people had been askin' me, "Michael Mike, what are you doin' this Friday?" an' I told 'em, "This Friday night, I'm gonna be listenin' to a lil' 'Ragtime Violin'".  Here is a Thomas Edison 4 Minute Blue Amberol Cylinder Record played on a Thomas Edison BVI, or VI-B, Amberola Phonograph. The song, once again, is titled "Ragtime Violin" and is performed by the Premier Quartette (also known as the American Quartet). It was released in 1913. The song was written by Irving Berlin in 1911.  Irving lived from 1888 to 1989 - 101 years!!!  It would have been nice if he signed this cylinder!  He may have been the Last Survivor of the Cylinder Age!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXspakp46j0

Photograph of the cylinder in the mandrel:


I bought this old and supposedly overhauled Phonograph last month, and it is already giving me problems.  I will use it as long as it spins the cylinders.

Information about the record can be found at these links:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr%201=1016%20&query=ragtime+violin&num=1&start=4&sortBy=&sortOrder=ia
www.songlyrics.com/berlin-irving/ragtime-violin!-6-oct-1911-lyrics

Indianola Fox Trot By The New York Military Band 1918 Blue Amberol Cylinder Record

Here is a Thomas Edison 4 Minute Blue Amberol Cylinder Record played on a Thomas Edison BVI, or VI-B, Amberola Phonograph. The song is titled "Indianola Fox Trot" and is performed by the New York Military Band. It was released in 1918. There is one brief flaw from 3:58 to 3:59. Aside from that, the old record is nice - it sounds very clear and very loud. Crank this up and live like they did in 1918!



Photographs of the cylinder in the mandrel ...



 

Information about the record can be found at these links:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php/search.php?queryType&query=blue&num=1&start=978&sortBy=performer&sortOrder=id
http://www.worldcat.org/title/indianola-fox-trot/oclc/39973517

The Goddess Of Willendorf Sculpture

Tonight, I am going to discuss a sculpture that I call the Goddess Of Willendorf. In years past, it was mockingly referred to as the Venus Of Willendorf. The sculpture, which is made from oolite, or oolitic, limestone, was discovered near the village of Willendorf in the year 1908. It dates to around 27,000 years ago to 30,000 years ago. There are several theories as to what this sculpture represents. It may have been a representation of a female deity, it may have been a fertility object, it may have been a child's toy or it may have been a pornographic object.

This video briefly discusses the sculpture:


I have several representations of the Willendorf statue: pendant necklace, earrings, Austrian stamps that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the archeological discovery, magnet, reproduction statue and a clay statue that I, myself, made in 2009.







The following photographs were taken when I was making the statue in August of 2009. In some photos, I am working on the arms and using a pin to make precise details.








The following two photographs were taken in a museum that I visited in Mexico in February of 2007. The example here is a reproduction.




In the future, I will be discussing similar prehistoric statues.

Souvenirs From German Charity Campaigns During World War II

Hello everyone. It is January 2014. Some of you will remember a video that I posted last month. It pertained to the Nazi Third Reich's Winterhilfswerk Winter Charity Campaign as part of my Historic Soldiers Christmas Series. The winter season extends into the month of January, and, as you will see in the upcoming video, it was snowing as I was filming the introduction.

One can imagine wintertime in Germany during World War II ... an individual collecting for the WHW Campaign holding a can such as the one I am holding while citizens place one pfennig coins inside of the can. I tried to recreate that moment:


The Third Reich organized several charities. One, as I had mentioned, was WHW, another was the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz  (the German Red Cross), and one involving the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) was another.

I have six souvenirs to present in the upcoming video and jpeg collage. They were distributed to people who donated to these three charities.

This video was filmed yesterday and prepared today ... it will give you details about these three German charity campaigns:

The url for the above video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJuwdENj0I4

Here is the collage:
 

A description is as follows ...

First is Winterhilfswerk (WHW). The first souvenir is Mittel Deutschland. That translates as Middle Germany. The other is Oberdonau. That translates as Upper Danube ... that is from the Upper Danube region of Germany. These two are part of the Wooden German Farmhouses series and they were sold on the 21st and 22nd of November 1942.

The next two are part of the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Campaign. These are city gates. The first is Danzig Krantor. It translates into Danzig Great Crane Gateway. The next one - Augsburg Rotes Tor. My Mother was born and raised in Augsburg, and this gate right here, the Red Gate, was close to where my Grandmother lived. I am not completely sure as to the dates these souvenirs were sold. I do know that there were very similar souvenirs that were sold on the 27th and 28th of June 1942.

The final two items are from the DJH: Deutsches Jugendherbergwerk. This translates into the German Youth Hostel Association. This Association was merged with the Hitler Jungen, the Hitler Youth, in 1933.  You see a dagger and a bugle with a banner featuring the letter S ... very similar to the SS. These were sold on the 10th and 11th of May in 1941.

When I was working on my video and blog entry for the WHW topic, I discovered that not all of these souvenirs are from the WHW Campaign. This is why I sought to make another video and blog entry showing the other charity campaigns that were organized and run by the Nazi Third Reich. No one should be upset if they purchase what they think are WHW items and they turn out to be from the DRK or the DJH because they are from the World War II Era. They are authentic German World War II artifacts.

A Thomas Edison Amberola Phonograph And An Anvil Chorus Cylinder Record From 1913

On Tuesday, I acquired a Thomas Edison Amberola Cylinder Phonograph. It is specifically an Amberola BVI or VI-B. This phonograph was sold in 1913 and 1914. In this video, the Amberola is playing an Edison Blue Amberol Record - Catalog Number 1989. The band is Edison Light Opera Company and the song is "Anvil Chorus" from Giuseppe Verdi's Opera titled "IL Trovatore". This cylinder record was released in 1913.

It initially sounded fantastic - very loud and prominent. Toward the end of the song the record skips. The seller threw the record in so it is fine. I will have to dig up some records that I already have to see how they play. Plus, there are two other people on youtube who posted this same cylinder so better copies are available for your listening pleasure. As a matter of fact, I discovered it is very common - plenty are out there. I wanted to make a video asap so I can show people, mainly people whom I know personally, the Amberola and how it operates.

Here is a video [I chose to use photobucket instead of youtube (due to a copyright issue), and, in decreasing the size of the file in order for photobucket to accept it, a lot of quality was lost unfortunately]. Note: It takes a very long time for the video to get started, and to remain playing throughout, due to incessant buffering. I suppose it would be best to pause it and then go back to it in a few minutes. Hard to believe that we still have these kinds of problems in 2014.

*Video removed due to old flash technology.*

The front decal is not centered. It is either a reproduction decal or someone in the production line way back then did not place it on evenly. It appears as if this Amberola was serviced at some point. Neither the seller nor the restorer bothered to clean it or dust it off.

The seller has been very secretive about this Amberola. He is not giving me any information about it. I think that he is clueless rather than deceptive. So far so good though. I just want a working player for my cylinders, and it is doing the trick so far.

Here are some photographs of the Amberola VI-B and the cylinder ...













As you can see, it is dusty and dirty, and that is fine because I merely want a working phonograph that does, in fact, show the signs of age. I want it to remain in its natural time-weathered state with all of the scars of aging as opposed to an example that has had work done in order to make it aesthetically pleasing.

More information about this cylinder can be found at this link:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php/search.php?queryType=@attr%201=1016&query=blue+amberol&num=1&start=2725&sortBy=performer&sortOrder=id

My Tribute To Jay Traynor 1943 - 2014

Hello everyone. This is my Tribute to John aka "Jay" Traynor, the first and original vocalist of Jay And The Americans. He passed away on January 2 of this year. I saw Jay in concert with Jay Siegel's version of The Tokens four times in concert and I got to speak with him three times. When Jay performed their Top 5 Hit "She Cried", more than 50 years after its release as a single, he hit it out of the park. He did an excellent job.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1q12ll8rOE

I recorded a video of Jay performing "She Cried" live in concert in August of last year. Here is the url so you can see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z-g4hFvfYU

Early Music Events For 2014

Here is my list devoted to Early Music Events (Early Music being the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical Eras) for the year 2014. There are many fine performances for you to attend including and especially a program dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner.

January
10 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony #4 in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4615
11 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony #4 in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4615
12 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony #4 in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4615
16 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Serenade in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4616
17 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Serenade in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4616
18 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Serenade in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4616

February
07 Renaissance Canndlemas in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://voxamadeus.org/master/schedulecomplete.php
13 The Music Of Sergei Rachmaninoff in Philadelphia, PA. Info:http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4621
14 The Music Of Sergei Rachmaninoff in Philadelphia, PA. Info:http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4621
15 The Music Of Sergei Rachmaninoff in Philadelphia, PA. Info:http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=4621

March
02 Johann Sebastian Bach Gala in Gladwyne, PA. Info:  http://voxamadeus.org/master/schedulecomplete.php
07 O Say Can You See - Music Of The War Of 1812 in Lancaster, PA. Info: http://www.1812music.org/performancschedule.htm
22 O Say Can You See - Music Of The War Of 1812 in Annapolis, MD. Info: http://www.1812music.org/performancschedule.htm

April
06 Italian And English Music From 1690 To 1730 in Solebury, PA. Info: http://lafiocco.org
18 The Music Of Gioacchino Rossini And Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Wayne, PA. Info: http://voxamadeus.org/master/schedulecomplete.php

May
16 The Music Of Ludwig Von Beethoven in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://voxamadeus.org/master/schedulecomplete.php

August
24 Britannia And America: Music Of London And Philadelphia From 1730 To 1800 in Philadelphia, PA. Info: http://lafiocco.org

September
14 Musical Program In Honor Of The 200th Anniversary Of The Writing Of The Star Spangled Banner in Baltimore, MD. Info: http://www.1812music.org/performancschedule.htm

October
17 The Music Of Antonio Vivaldi in Chestnut Hill, PA. Info: http://voxamadeus.org/master/schedulecomplete.php
19 The Music Of Antonio Vivaldi in Bryn Mawr, PA. Info: http://voxamadeus.org/master/schedulecomplete.php