Artificial Radio Hour with Rev. Dr. Dr. Phill: Artificial Radio Hour with Rev. Dr. Dr. Phill Part 43e

they had some weird masks back in the day

<spooky voice>
Greetings, everyone!
</spooky voice>

HALLOWEEK CONTINUES! with part 43e.

So this one is about murder. There's a lot of killing here, it's less lighthearted than some of the other podcasts have been. The first part is about real-life murders, so I feel I should put a content warning here, at least for the first two minutes.

The first track here is in what might generously be called questionable taste. It's purportedly a monologue by Albert DeSalvo, known as the Boston Strangler. He confessed to a series of murders while he was in prison for other crimes, but was never convicted of the murders and was eventually killed in prison. WEEI Boston reporter Dick Levitan reads the monologue, which was purportedly based on those interviews. One source claims DeSalvo was paid 59 bucks for "rights", others say Levitan was paid (I hope so, he did record it). Either way, the music is by a local group called The Bugs, and the whole thing is supremely creepy.

Shakin’ Jake Woods (sometimes "Shakey Jake") was a street musician who performed on the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan for 34 years. His only album has 31 tracks and only clocks in at just over 45 minutes.

Howlin' Wolf was born Chester Arthur Burnett in Mississippi in 1910. The "killing floor" of the title refers to a slaughterhouse. This song may have been inspired by the 1931 Skip James song, "Hard Time Killing Floor".

Not to spoil "The Gift", but I don't think there's any intentional killing in it. The story was recited by John Cale and written by Lou Reed while he was in college.

It's possible that I could have made a whole show with just Nick Cave and Tom Waits. Lots of creepy tunes.

Tom Waits is followed by a cover of that Skip James song that I just mentioned, this one from the Hellcats. They were an all female blues band from, apparently, France.

Victoria Spivey was a blues singer who had a long career, recording from 1926 to the mid-60s. She may have recorded other songs that could fit this theme, but I'm not familiar enough with her catalog to know what they are. This one had "murder" in the title, so...

Tito & Tarantula is a band fronted by Tito Larriva, a musician and actor. He and his music have appeared in many films. His band The Plugz are on the soundtrack of Repo Man, The Cruzados are on the soundtrack of Road House, and Tito & Tarantula are characters in From Dusk 'til Dawn, in addition to being on the soundtrack. Tito also appeared in True Stories as an actor, singing a Talking Heads song.

The Murder Mystery by The Velvet Underground is from the band's late (mid, I guess) period, when Doug Yule joined. Interestingly enough, I have done performances (two different texts being recited simultaneously) like this before. With only two people, however, it's harder to have musical accompaniment when there's only two of you and you didn't bring any instruments.

Actually, I don't think Chachi is in this photo. This might not actually be Toys That Kill.

Toys That Kill is a band from San Pedro, featuring at least one guy (known as "Chachi") I work with on the waterfront. He plays bass. This is another one of those songs that doesn't quite fit the theme, but it does have the word "killing" in the title.

Finally, one more song that actually is about murder and death. This version of "25 Minutes To Go" was recorded live at San Quentin in 1969.

That's it for today folks!

Enjoy!

- Rev. Dr. Dr. Phill