Z-Bear, her husband and their children are a family in Hawaii who deejay the terrific YT channel Villa Vybes Vinyl. Z-Bear and her hubby are professionals and periodically let their kids take center stage for some of the DJ chores. It adds considerably to the charm of this eclectic channel.
No matter how good digital is, many people still thrill to the sound of a needle pressing down on an actual vinyl record and the slight whispering and popping before the music begins to play. Z-Bear and company don’t waste the time of listeners/ viewers with DJ patter, they just let their audience see them going through all the vinyl DJ activities!
The VVV folks lovingly select, clean and otherwise care for the musical artifacts they proceed to play. They have an incredible setup with multiple turntables and other equipment that many will envy. Multiple camera angles are provided, plus Z-Bear and her family change up those angles over time.
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January 4th of 1967 saw the release of the first album from the Doors. Obviously, Jim Morrison and company achieved fame long before my time, but their work has endured for several decades. My personal affinity for the Doors over other 1960s musical acts comes partly from their precious few years together before Morrison’s death. 
BREAK ON THROUGH – Not only is the song powerful, but it is rightly hailed as one of the most – if not THE most – appropriate opening songs on a first album ever. The Doors’ signature style burst on the scene with a figurative “I’m here, you gotta DEAL with it” boast. 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that all – or at least most – roads lead to bad movies with me. Since 1976 the movie Track of the Moon Beast has been a cult hit for the Psychotronic-minded and for those people who were lucky enough to catch it at various drive-ins during their heyday. 
Frustratingly, the song was not quite complete and had a few interruptions by dialogue from the film. For decades clearer versions of California Lady were incredibly rare. Mike Wolfer found and has uploaded two versions of the song at his YT Channel (subscribe 
The first was the studio recording of the song (below) and the second was the entire EP from Frank Larrabee. California Lady is at the 10:03 mark and is a much smoother, less worn recording of the song and is MUCH MORE LIKE THE PERFORMANCE IN THE MOVIE. No interruptions in either case, so you can enjoy this cult item the way it was meant to be heard. 
MUSICAL MUTINY (1970) – Halloween Month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with a Barry Mahon movie that’s more frighteningly bad than it is frightening. I’ve recently become obsessed with this made in Florida wonder that features the ghost of a long-dead pirate, the deskbound narrator from Blood Freak and a mad scientist intent on taking over the world with his new beverage which gets drinkers higher than marijuana. There are also three on-stage performances by Iron Butterfly (yes, really), including the full-length version of In A Gadda Da Vida. 
Perhaps most importantly for me and my fellow Bad Movie geeks, this is the earliest movie release done as a promotional piece for Pirates World, the long-defunct Florida amusement park featured in notorious Grade Z films like Jack and the Beanstalk, Thumbelina plus Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (reviewed in 2010 here at Balladeer’s Blog). In fact, Musical Mutiny is so obscure that as of this writing there are only five user reviews at IMDb. 
If I ever formed a rock band of my own I would, needless to say, base the name on something from Bad Movie Lore. Something like Renegade Belgian Cardinals – based on a line of dialogue from the Serial-Killer Priest flick The Confessional. 
THE TRASH CAN SINATRAS 
Balladeer’s Blog’s fans know that I don’t consider myself a music expert. I may enjoy anything from operas and symphonies to all categories of pop and rock, etc but I never claim that my tastes are governed by some overriding musical aesthetic. I just know what I like and what I don’t like. 
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