Music Passion Essays

Have you ever felt compelled to just WRITE about an LP, artist, music or crate digging experience?

If you write something I can cut and paste to the blog. Send pictures, LP art too.

Sure you can use Facebook too, where things fly by so quickly. Google Blogger seems committed to saving everything (unlike Yahoo) and who know's what the Zuck will do in the future.

Always looking for ways to push group activities back outside of Facebook.  When we were just the "Exotica Mailing List" it was just words and no pictures.

Please allow me the right to reject posting an offering on the blog. PM or use email.

Domenic Ciccone 

The Exotica Group Spins Out!

This Saturday April 25, a selection of great DJs will be doing a series of live sets for you right here on The Exotica Group page... don't miss this!

Steam Stock (Zephyr Sounds) 10am PST/1pm EST/6pm BST/7pm CET

JS Grites - Mai Tai Jukebox 11am PST/2pm EST/7pm BST/8pm CET

DJ GeorgyGirl - Shena's Jungle Room (Georgy Ragazza) 12pm PST/3pm EST/8pm BST/9pm CET

Dr Dan (Not So Kwyet) 1pm PST/4pm EST/9pm BST/10pm CET

Matty Dread 2pm PST/5pm EST/10pm BST/11pm CET

Mel Henke Group - Shock Treatment (Tempo 7003)

Here's a rare Mel Henke jazz-exotica record that Brian Linds is putting up for auction.   Thank you Brian for making available to the Exotica-verse.  We're all different here. Many appreciate having the vinyl, some just the mp3's.   

Looks like this was recorded in Mel's living room in Topango Canyon 30 miles form Hollywood?

Subtitled "Mel Hanke and Progressive Piano and Bongo Studies" .... "Bongos have but recently become popular"

There is biographical information here previously not known? Henke was a featured vocalist on the N.B.C Symphony. PARADIES TOCATA is obviously inspired by Bach. Stravinsky is mentioned, and his contemporary Aram Khachaturian's Toccata is here. (Everybody knows Khachaturian's Sabre Dance. And his piano concerto is stunning)

Henke is playing Aram Khachaturian "straight". But of course putting that Henke playfulnes to it.  Check out the inprov and variations "In a Little Spanish Town".  A lot of ideas flowing around in there..

Download in the comments.

Brian used to DJ as Uncle Bri's Early Morning Funhouse in Victoria B.C. at CFUV 101.9.  And he used to play this LP on his program a lot.  


01.  Mel Henke Group - Cocky Cuckoo Clock
02.  Mel Henke Group - Pennies From Heaven
03.  Mel Henke Group - Paradies Toccata
04.  Mel Henke Group - In A Mist
05.  Mel Henke Group - Little Rock Getaway
06.  Mel Henke Group - Frenzied Flight
07.  Mel Henke Group - Shock Treatment
08.  Mel Henke Group - I Surrender Dear
09.  Mel Henke Group - Dance of the Cavemen
10.  Mel Henke Group - Kakachurian Toccata
11.  Mel Henke Group - I Can't Believe You're In Love
12.  Mel Henke Group - In A Little Spanish Town

Litlgrey's Painful Party Mixes

To paraphrase Mitt  Romney.. got "binders and binders" of....CDr's (See picture below) that I should just throw away. But found these three comps in the stash from about 20 years ago. Rescued from obscurity. Ripped to individual mp3's and ready for you to play around with. These mixes are part of our groups varied history as a cobbled genrea. By a very influential member.

 Litlgrey (AKA  Carl Howard) has been doing Yeoman's work for a long time at Luxuriamusic where he seems to always be keeping an eye out in the Chat room and is "the unconscionable host of your one true SPACE PATROL, has a disturbingly long and checkered history with alternative music and media"




 He was also a daily poster on "the Exotica Mailing List",  Come back to the Facebook page.
Ahead of his time, he already speaks in the parlance of 24th Century English antroids.

Painful Party Mix 1

01 Highly Illogical - Leonard Nimoy
02 's Wonderful - Enoch Light
03 I Hear A New World - Joe Meek And The Blue Men
04 Mist O' The Moon - Harry Revel-Les Baxter-Samuel J. Hoffman
05 I'm A Yogi - The Free Design
06 Chuncho (The Forest Creatures) - Yma Sumac
07 Jungle Dreams (Canto Karabalí) - Juan Garcia Esquivel
08 Lucia Pamela - Walking On The Moon
09 Mothra - Mothra's Song - The Peanuts
10 Perez Prado - Why Wait
11 Fish - Leona Anderson
12 The American Metaphysical Circus - Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies
13 Alabama Song - Lotte Lenya-Brecht-Weill
14 Perfidia - Korla Pandit
15 Black Is Black - Lord Sitar
16 Cried, Cried - Walter Wanderley
17 Puehunguita, Ven - Los Zafiros
18 John Klein - Sid Ramin - The 3rd Man Theme
19 There's A Little Spark Of Love Still Burning - Henry Burr
20 Paradise Found - Martin Denny
21 Uccidere Straker - Ella Guru + Assistant
22 At An Arabian House Party - Raymond Scott
23 Henry Mancini - Springtime For Hitler
24 Jack Webb - You'd Never Know The Old Place Now
25 A Disappointed Love With A Desensitized Robot - 101 Strings
26 Papagayo - Les Baxter
27 Sayonara - Lata Mangeshkar

Painful Party Mix 2a

01 Century 21 - Attilio Mineo
02 Tico Tico - Edmundo Ros
03 Fry Up - The Spidermen
04 Jungle Fantasy - Arthur Lyman
05 West End - Laurie Johnson
06 Kinky Dolly - Stanley Myers
07 Perhaps, Perhaps - Michel Magne
08 Rumba Tambah - Klaus Wunderlich
09 (When You See) Those Flying Saucers - Buchanan Brothers
10 Sugar Town - Vinnie Balsara
11 Accidental Slip on an Oriental Rug - Robert Maxwell
12 Skokiaan - Bill Black's Combo
13 Futura - Bernie Green
14 If I Had A Hammer - Trini Lopez
15 Stiletto - Chico Rey & The Jet Band
16 Give It Up Or Turn It Loose - Dick Hyman
17 Heavy Spaceman - Hal Vincent
18 Elzeviro - Pierro Umiliani
19 You're Getting  Better - Ken Nordine
20 Beer Barrel Polka - Andre Popp
21 Brass and Bamboo - Tak Shindo
22 Brazil - Ames Brothers Ft. Juan Garcia Esquivel
23 Finger Tip Polka - Lawrence Welk Ft. Myron Floren
24 Program - Silver Apples
25 Song of India - Gerald Fried
26 Sophisticated Wheels - Gabor Szabo
27 Out of Nowhere - Sid Bass
28 I'm So Happy When You're Near - The Shaggs
29 Mongoose - Eden Ahbez
30 Hot Pink - Verrill Keene

Painful Party Mix 2b

01 Star Fire - Bob Thompson
02 Strip Club - Dudley Moore
03 The Old Piano Roll Blues - Al Jolson
04 Bing, Bang, Bong - Sophia Loren
05 China Boy (Go Sleep) - Lenny Dee
06 Far Away Places - Marty Manning
07 Vox Box - Vic Mizzy
08 Tony's Theme - Hugo Montengro
09 Baubles, Bangles and Beads - Dean Elliott
10 Galloping Comedians - The Harmonicats
11 Amor de Loca Juventud - Buena Vista Social Club
12 Goza Goza - Si Zentner
13 Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu - Geeta Dutt
14 Mandarin Mambo - Pepino
15 Plummer Park - Pete Jolly
16 The Goofy Gal of Tegucigalpa - The Three Suns
17 Hatarl - Henry Mancini
18 Going To Grandmas House - Les & Larry Elgart
19 If Not This Time - 50 Foot Hose
20 Hi Lili, Hi Lo - The Lennon Sisters
21 Porcupine Rock - Jean Jacques Perrey
22 Hydrazine - Jimmie Haskell
23 On the Dark Side of the Moon - Frank Comstock
24 That Happy Feeling Bert Kaempfert
25 The Comets - Leith Stevens
26 Stereo Space Man - Pete Rugolo
27 The Destruction of Sogo Bob Crewe
28 The Twisters - Mel Henke
29 Mein Herr Marquis - Florence Foster Jenkins

Radio Fantastica

Radio Fantastica  was a 60 minute program put together by Exotica Lister Johan Dada Vis in the 90's and 00's.  On European radio. 

Johan wanted to share. Especially with other DJ's doing programs.

Dig around the links, Johan did some creative mixing, the program was compiled and edited on minidisk, a system that was essentially a gloried floppy drive offered by Sony.  According to the comments Johan offered his 63 programs as a CD package with linear notes and comments.

Thanks to Ton, Marc and Johan been able to obtain complete copies of  1 thru 29. And Ron Grandia will be passing me the rest of the set. He sent me the pictures of this CDr stash, pictures below)

About 4 years ago contacted Johan for the whole set and Johan was only able to collect 15 of his programs. They were in a bit a disarray.  My other source, who had all the CD's, well, those CD's have gone to rot! CD ROT! 

The archivist in me is really bothered about how fragile digital media really is. Less than 20 years old and these programs are almost gone? You would think anything on the internet is saved somewhere. Johan found a place to store his old Geocities work of extensive reviews and articles. 

But the programs may disappear? Or are already gone? If you have the shows contact me and lets spread them around. OK?