MUSICAL VIBRATIONS

Augmenting the preceding Nuclear Vibrations post with some music I was led in intriguing directions from various groups, tunes and titles, to a unique instrument and movie themes.   The Vibrations are a sixties soul vocal group who recorded what became a pop tune “My Girl Sloopy” that was later re-titled “Hang On Sloopy” with radio stations play flooding the air waves then. 

The tune’s popularity was such that when the Ohio State Marching Band began playing then young musician John Tatgenhorst’s arrangement, the song became a tradition at football games.  "Hang On Sloopy" even became the State of Ohio’s official rock song.   

Jazz and Blues fans will appreciate this well-know musical group’s live on stage performance at the 1980 Montreal Jazz Festival with Gregory (Greg) Williams solos on bass:    

          

♫ ♪ ♫ The Ramsey Lewis Trio, Hang On Sloopy! ♫ ♪ ♫ 

A treat across music generations brings us to So Cal’s Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” in Motownboy’s  restored version.  A unique musical sound known as the Electro-Theremin can be heard in this recording. 

Beach Boys (New STEREO) Good Vibrations HD 1966 

Paul Tanner a trombonist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra developed the instrument’s other-worldly sound you may recall hearing in movies including:

 “The Lost Weekend"

 

 “Spellbound”

"The Day the Earth Stood Still"

 

Those are some of the movies noted by Don Heckman in the Los Angeles Times. 

Paul Tanner born in Skunk Hollow, Kentucky was 95 when he died recently on 2/07/13 in Carlsbad,  California.   The New York Times obituary provides interesting details on this talented musician educator's career, details about the Theremin.  There is a video interview link to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) non-profit organization with special comments about his Beach Boys association experience and impression of the variance in those musicians actual abilities.          

Wait Until Next Year

Rivalry Continues

Special Orchestral Music Score
Samples - Film and Television

You'll have to read the previous post to fully appreciate this, but thought I'd best give an update. The Ohio State University Buckeyes football team did win the game! I know the celebration behind those pearly gates for my husband and his sister must be spectacular. Guess they must have finally coordinated their coaching techniques so the team could do their best. They've probably resumed fussin' though, about the fact the Buc's hedged on the offer for them to play in this season's January '08 Rose Bowl -- once the Big Ten Conference college football Holy Grail of Bowl games. Now there's a Bowl game for the national championship even grander to which college football teams aspire.

I can't really gloat about this Buc's win, because I hear from my Michigan side-of-the-family source (who's feeling quite glum) that the Wolverines didn't come even close to playing their best. The team is not hiding behind the fact the weather was lousy in Ann Arbor either, 'cause this time of year such weather, and even worse, is always a possibility, whether this game is played in Michigan or the Buckeye's home, Columbus, Ohio. What I'm hearing is "Wait until next year!" in true rivalry fashion.

Now, I have a confession to make about the night/wee morning hours when I finished writing that previous blog. I heard the sound of the morning papers smacking the concrete driveway as they were tossed from the black SUV which barely slowed as it passed my house. I thought I might as well bring in the papers, so I put my robe on over my warm flannel P.J.'s I had put on earlier in the evening when I readied for bed before writing that previous blog post. I grabbed my car keys that have the panic button, as I always do when I go out in the wee hours, though there are lights on the house entrance and street. The panic button is just precautionary as we have had various wildlife visit during those hours.

I fantasize should I encounter any unfriendly wildlife, the sudden noise of my car alarm might serve to deter any aggressive creature actions, at least long enough for me to get back inside the house. I don't mind encountering raccoons, opossums, the occasional house cat, but I've seen skunks, coyotes and know mountain lions, bobcats, even bears are potential rare visitors. Should the unwanted two legged human creature variety suddenly appear I figure my panic alarm would arouse help since our neighborhood is not over-exposed to the sounds of security and car alarms.

The brisk night air had an awakening effect as I walked through the welcomed creatureless slightly lighted dark, gathering the papers, then returning to the house's warmer interior. Feeling very alert, I decided to fix an early breakfast, a glass of pulpy orange juice, a microwave poached egg with soft yolk, whole wheat toast with a dab of blackberry jam on one slice, a bowl of fresh mixed fruit, and I brewed a pot of green tea. Quite awake after eating my special breakfast (usually it's oatmeal topped with just strawberries, blueberries, or some other single fruit,) I began leisurely reading the papers.

The next thing I knew it was only an hour or so before game time. I didn't dare go to sleep then, or I'd never wake up. So I poured myself some more tea, lamenting the fact I had allowed myself to pull this all nighter. I also felt sort of excited about doing so, as I always do whenever I stay up all night, like I'm doing something I shouldn't, but smug in the knowledge I can do as I please 'cause the next day's schedule is mine to change anyway I want.

I watched the first half of the game, no "Script Ohio" with the band at the beginning. Perhaps the statistic spewing talking heads at half-time would be silenced long enough to air some performance of either University band, but that was not to be -- at least while I was watching. By this time I was reclining on the sofa with a cozy warm blanket over me. Somehow, probably during a commercial, my eyelids drooped, closed and got stuck in that position.

The next thing I knew when they re-opened, two entirely different teams were playing football. Furthermore, I had to wait quite some time before I learned the final score of the game I had stayed up all night to watch. Expect my husband was too busy coaching his Bucs from on high to have noticed I had fallen asleep. Had he known, he would have arranged for bolts of lightening, or at least rolling waves of thunder to hover over our home to visually and auditorily express his shock and disbelief my adrenalin was at such a low level I could possibly sleep.

You might want to go to the previous post just to visit those YouTube marching band links. I don't have a musical link for John Tategenhorst's arrangement of OSU's "Hang On Sloopy" rally song, though you can read the lyrics. I'm confident if I had heard the bands I would have aroused to see the game's second half. Wonder if I'll feel compelled to watch this game again next year?

I just discovered and listened to excerpts from some of John's music. Included are some film and television scores, arrangements he's done for John Williams and Erich Kunzel. You can listen to John's music samples at his web site by clicking here: "John Tatgenhorst Music, Inc."

Rivalry at the 50 Yard Line

Affected by Siblings
in Heaven ?


Who in their right mind wants to crawl out of bed at nine o'clock on a Saturday morning just to watch a football game on television? For reasons beyond my ken, I'm likely going to do just that a little later this morning. So what if it's a long time rivalry between two famous teams, the Ohio State University Buckeyes and the University of Michigan Wolverines. I think viewing a football game at that early morning hour seems a bit strange, but due to the three hour time difference between many Big Ten Conference Team locales and West Coast time, that's when the game starts. Starting that early can make for a really long day of football in many households as it once did here, for my husband, but he thrived on what would have been sports overload for me.

These football teams are each others arch enemy. They can be counted on to upset the other's winning streaks in any given year, so it should be an exciting game. For the second year since my husband's death, I find myself drawn to watching this game on television on his behalf, I guess, for reasons I do not understand. I just cannot excise this game from my thoughts since learning the action is to be televised locally. The last time we saw Ohio State play was in San Diego some years ago at the Fiesta Bowl. Their appearance triggered so many memories for me at that time, I actually got a bit weepy-eyed when Ohio State's famous marching band took the field forming their unique "Script Ohio" (see a YouTube video) -- an old friend, Merv Durea, had once earned the honor of "dotting" the "i" in Ohio. Later during the game the band launched into John Tatgenhorst's popular arrangement of "Hang On Sloopy" -- more memories for me of our flying days when that OSU alumnus and his young wife joined us on a flying trip to the Sandusky /Lake Erie area of the Great Lakes.

You see, the Buckeye's were my husband's favorite team, as might be expected of an OSU alumnus who spent so many years living in the Buckeye's home town. He likely might have had an Ohio State football scholarship the fall after he graduated from high school, had it not been for two significant factors. World War II caused OSU's athletic program to be placed on hold and he was diagnosed with a serious medical problem requiring his lengthy hospitalization. Many years later when we met and married, the team's horseshoe shaped football stadium sometimes accommodated us in the stands. We watched as their fabled coach, Woody Hayes, repeatedly guided the team to victory through primarily ground play -- a running game characterized as "ten yards and a cloud of dust."

A few years later when we moved to the West, one of the great disappointments my husband experienced was his inability to regularly view his Big Ten Conference OSU Buckeyes on TV. Even the local Los Angeles Times newspaper sports pages relegated news of his team to very little commentary, if any at all. For reasons he did not want to accept, the college and university teams of the area in which we lived always took priority gaining press attention over his Buckeyes. His sister, commiserating with his plight, sent him a game program after attending each year's opening home game, clipped all sorts of newspaper clippings regarding the team and sent them to him. National networks often televised Ohio State's games, but they were not aired in our region, again catering to local preferences, much to his displeasure. So, when such a game was actually available to view here, my husband's plans revolved around the start time schedule for the event. Perhaps I'm conditioned now to do the same, at least this year again, I guess.

Ohio State's undefeated season last year was one my husband had longed for them to experience for many years. When that finally happened, I couldn't help wondering if somehow where he resides now, behind those pearly gates, he was able to exercise some ethereal influence that enabled the team's success. Unfortunately, he must have been distracted when they later played that bowl game that didn't turn out quite right. But that was last season.

A few weeks ago, his sister, an equally or even more avid Ohio State fan joined him. She was in her eighties, attended home games religiously with their season tickets even after her husband died. I think she and her brother (my husband) are putting their heads together in an effort to enable this team to have another winning season. The Buckeye team has had an unexpectedly spectacular season until being upset in their most recent game. I have to tell you I think that loss happened because he and his sister are butting heads as siblings sometimes do. They're still trying to agree on what various individual players need to do to improve their game. More importantly, I suspect their individual views are quite divergent on how best to coach this team to another winning season. I surely do hope they've gotten their differences worked out, 'because game time is fast approaching as I write this.

I must get to bed now, because I want to see the very opening of the game's televised coverage, just in case that's when the Ohio State Marching Band plays, and performs(see YouTube Video) the "Script Ohio" formation.(See YouTube Video.) I'd prefer to see all the bands at half-time, but corporate greed dictates the television network programs video clips of other games that viewers could easily wait to see later and talking heads spew their replay analysis with statistics during that time. (See YouTube Video University of Michigan Marching Band at a half time Rose Bowl performance.)