Saturday, March 5, 2005

My Son, the Collector's Item

As you can see over in our Allan Sherman section, we're big fans of America's foremost parodier of songs. And that section has prompted a lot of e-mails from folks asking me where they can get Allan Sherman recordings, especially the rarer items.

There's no announcement up yet on their site but I have it on good authority that Rhino Handmade is prepping a boxed CD set of Allan Sherman goodies. It will not include his RCA album with the Boston Pops, but that's available on CD now. It will also not include his few early, obscure recordings for Jubilee Records. But it will include all eight of his albums for Warner Brothers, including some leftover material and alternate takes that didn't make it onto the original releases. It will also include all his singles for that company, some earlier unreleased recordings from parties, and two albums that he did as industrial/commercial jobs — Music to Dispense With, his ultra-rare album for the Dixie Cups company, and one he recorded for a carpet company. In all my years of collecting Sherman, I've never been able to score a copy of the Dixie Cups record, and I never even heard of the other one. So this is all very welcome news.

My Son, the Box is supposed to be out around June of this year. Rhino Handmade does limited pressings that actually sell out and become unavailable, so we're going to keep an eye out for this, and I'll let you know when to order. Or if you see an availability before I do, you tell me. But I thought I oughta let you know before any of you spend any more bucks on eBay for this material.

• Posted at 3:28 PM · LINK

Spelling Misteaks

This is interesting...I think. I mentioned yesterday that if one does a Google search, one discovers how few people who write about Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster know how to spell either or both of their surnames. I was going to point out how this is also true of Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts — so many people insist on spelling it "Schultz" — but I see that Google compensates for this. If you search for "Schultz AND Peanuts," it just assumes you mean "Schulz" and proceeds accordingly.

I'm used to Google figuring out typos. If I go to search for "David Leterman," it asks me if I meant "David Letterman." But in the case of Schultz/Schulz, it doesn't even bother to ask.

I'm guessing — and will probably find out for sure, since at least one Google employee reads this site — that Google builds some sort of database of common spelling errors, noting how many people take it up on its suggested corrections. When the volume reaches some specified level, it just starts taking people directly to the correction. Is that how it works?

• Posted at 12:53 PM · LINK

June in March

Here's another reminder that if you live in the Los Angeles area, you have the rare opportunity to meet June Foray, buy her new book and get her to sign it to you. A goodly chunk of the local animation community will turn out this coming Wednesday evening to salute the First Lady of Cartoon Voicing...the tonsils behind Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Granny and so many more. Your objective is the Barnes & Noble shop in The Grove at Farmer's Market, and June will appear at 7:30 PM. Don't miss this one.

Speaking of appearances by animation's greats: On March 16, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the Emmy people) will be unveiling a wall sculpture at their headquarters out at 5220 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood. Only a few TV legends have been so honored and on that morning at 11 AM, they'll be adding Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera to their Hall of Fame Plaza. Mr. Barbera is expected to attend, even though the Internet Movie Database has somehow decided he passed away in 2004.

I've just sent in a correction. Let's see how long it takes them to change it.

• Posted at 9:04 AM · LINK

Today's Useless Comment

I will not be running in the Los Angeles Marathon this Sunday. There are many reasons for this but a good one is that on the marathon website, it says that Tylenol 8 Hour is — and I quote — "The Official Pain Reliever of the Los Angeles Marathon." I don't participate in anything that requires an Official Pain Reliever. This is why I stopped working for Disney.

• Posted at 12:17 AM · LINK