Robert's Basement

Marston to issue comprehensive Elsie Houston release

2011-10-10T06:43:00.000-04:00

This will apparently include the French serestas recordings and Liberty Music Shop releases in addition to the Brazilian Songs set. Marston is a master at restoration so these ought to sound good too!Here's the preview link

Elsie Houston in Hartford

2010-01-29T11:58:00.004-05:00

Elsie Houston performed three times in Hartford, CT. Here is an excerpt from a review in the Hartford Courant of her Jan 1939 performance. (It is credited to T.H.P--Theodore H. Parker).

I hope that a great many people are going to feel pretty annoyed with themselves this morning, for not attending the program by Elsie Houston last night. It will be recalled as one of the petit sensations of the season. Though hardly a hundred people were in the audience, they set off enough applause for a thousand...and you can see by simple arithmetic that the enthusiasm assayed at about 10...times normal per paid pair of hands. Miss Houston was completely run out of encores, and it is a good thing, or they would have kept her there until the next rainy season in Brazil.
...
To art song audiences, Miss Houston would never pass as a purist--she had a whole bagful of the chanteuse's tricks by which every rule is flaunted and what she did was nine times out of ten pure theater, but it was effective enough to keep people talking about South America long after the Lima Parley has ceased to be dinner conversation...The mannerisms which raised one eyebrow, and the voice, which raised the other, in such numbers as the Strawinsky and "The Cherry Tree," had you practically gurgling with delight in the folk songs.

Parker would write another review, of her 1941 appearance, with any even more ecstatic tone:

The luxuriant Elsie Houston came back to us again last evening, to take up where she had left off a year ago, to sing the slurring, smoky songs of her native country, and to warn that the voodoo 'uns will get you if you don't watch out. Might be fun too.
Along with Charley's aunt, Miss Houston is one of the best things that ever came out of Brazil. What she does, and the way she does it, I guarantee, could do more to promote extra-friendly relations between this country and Latin America, than a year of Pan-American conferences. The sight of her, tall dark and handsome, poured into a dress like a tropical botany lesson, and standing above lighted candelabra, needs no voodoo to spell an audience.
The recipe for Brazilian song, according to Miss Houston's performances, calls for something more than a staveful of Latin rhythms. It requires in addition, the whites of two eyes, seventeen varieties of sidelong glance, shoulder shrugs, scowls, a hitch of the hips, eyebrows with extra-special elevation, a capering glottis for Portuguese gutterals, a one-man percussion band and a voice like no other for weird vocal skiing...When you have gotten all this together, you'd better telephone for Miss Houston. She will lean against the piano, carefully inspect the Elizabeth Arden on her nails, open the world's most brilliant teeth, and let go....That voice will produce the most astounding array of effects from swoops to birdlike twittering from South American yearning to witch-keening, from something crooning half a mile away, to a rooster marshaling a backyard seraglio....
In addition, she is the most piquant lady who ever caused a wife to shoot a dampening glance at her husband....
With Miss Houston again was Pablo Miguel, who has his hands full with Miss Houston's imperious, sotto voice commands...
Miss Houston's audience was made up of devoted followers and their proselytes. It was distinctly "cherce," as the saying is, socially speaking, and it was heatedly enthusiastic...

Marketing Elsie Houston

2009-11-19T19:08:00.003-05:00

In late 1940, Elsie Houston signed with Willmore & Powers, a management agency. I've included a page from her press kit. (Click on it for a better view). It includes a "suggested program" featuring her Classical and Folk-Lore repertoire as well as press notices drawn from France and Brazil. Other parts of the press kit include a head shot (the photo used in her obituary) and excerpts of reviews and profiles in New York and Chicago papers.

The kit uses language from an Olin Downes review for her tagline: "Elsie Houston: A remarkable diseuse...a master musician." (Note: the "voodoo" act is mentioned but not highlighted. This would change.)

[My thanks to the generous reader who found this for me.]

Untranslateable: Elsie Houston

2009-11-18T13:08:00.002-05:00

The first extended scholarly English-language biography of Elsie Houston has been published, half a chapter in Micol Seigel's new book, Uneven Encounters: Making race and nation in Brazil and in the United States. Seigel's linguistic skills and academic research position has given her access to material I could never dream of finding, though like me, she has found huge holes in the EH time line and a number of "facts" that turn out to be strategic falsehoods.

Here's some new information:

First, additional insight into her relationship with Benjamin Péret:

Friends of Houston's remembered Péret as eccentric and always financially unstable. Houston's sister claimed that "the marriage got in the way of [Houston's] career" and that "Benjamin didn't like music. He got in the way of her studies." (p. 169)

Second, Seigel implies that Houston deliberately "ratcheted up" her social position in New York. My sense is that she may very well have invented her relationship to Sam Houston and her mother's Portuguese roots (distancing herself from any African ancestry).

Third, Seigel notes that Etta Moten Barnett used Houston's recordings to "demonstrate the proximity of black U.S. and Afro-Brazilian culture," noting a Chicago radio program from 1955.

The whole book, beyond the EH section, is worth your time, especially if you are interested in race and transnational history. I am extremely sympathetic to Seigel's overall position that strictly comparative studies (US vs Brazil, e.g.) are nonsensical.

Carnival in Brazil available on YouTube

2009-11-15T09:18:00.001-05:00

Here it is. Finally. The only documentary Elsie Houston footage I know of.

Large E.H. archive available on eBay.

2009-05-26T14:53:00.002-04:00

Thought some readers (who might not have an "Elsie Houston" google alert like I do) would appreciate this:
A rather significant collection of photos, correspondence, and concert-related material. For the time being you can get a glimpse at what's there. I don't have the budget to be a "collector" so I won't be bidding against you...

Brazilian Strip Tsi-Tsi Dance

2009-04-10T06:50:00.003-04:00

Interesting EH-related items will occasionally show up on ebay, such as this invitation to an art auction at the Julien Levy Gallery. Listing first under the heading "entertainment" is "Elsie Houston: Brazilian Strip Tsi Tsi Dance." (I know nothing about this particular act). Listed second, her friend, Sam Barlow, doing "Pocket Book Whittling." My guess would be 1938, when she was still breaking in to the NY social scene. [UPDATE: 1937]

Beryl McBurnie (La Belle Rosette)

2008-11-16T20:27:00.002-05:00

An interesting article in the current issue [the link might need updating soon] of Caribbean Beat on Calypso performer, Beryl McBurnie (stage name La Belle Rosette). McBurnie, who was a star in 1940s New York, was a strong influence on Katherine Dunham. She debuted during one of Elsie Houston's Coffee Concerts at the Museum of Modern Art; according to the New York Amsterdam News, at least, McBurnie stole the show. Here's the review as posted in the article:

So far, it had been a nice evening of South American Music at the Museum of Modern Art. The audience was remotely polite, applauding the mediocre efforts of the artists at the proper time. But it was an uninspired audience, overburdened by dull music interpreted lugubriously. There hadn’t been a single lift—that is until the curtain parted to reveal Belle Rosette—a slender bronze girl in a flowing and colorful costume—an infectious grin lighting her face.

“She poised there on her toes for a split second and then, at the first beat of the drums from the trio of Haitians huddled in the shadow of the stage, Belle Rosette executed the first sinuous and sensuous movements of the [Shango], a dance she brought from her native Trinidad.

“Excitement ran high. No longer was the audience nice and polite and remote. It completely lost its face and became rowdy in paying obeisance to this girl from Trinidad who completely stole the show from the star. When it quieted down after a third encore, Belle Rosette sang a Calypso song about the Germans surrendering to the British.

She was no longer a dancer—but a minx kidding the life out of the Axis dictators.”

Revised Elsie Houston discography

2008-10-17T09:48:00.002-04:00

I just updated the Elsie Houston discography to include one new release and one old one that I hadn't known about. Unfortunately, the link to the discography on Ends Her Life has gone bad (I need to go back in and fix it, but at the risk of having Dreamweaver screw up all the other links again...)
Here's the link to the discography, which includes the recent Cherry Red Villa-Lobos reissue (EH has a very small role, in the Quatour), and a French release that includes EH singing three of the Serestas.

Elsie Houston vs Olga Coelho

2008-05-19T16:07:00.005-04:00

I had previously gotten the sense that EH resented the presence in the US of Brazilian folksinger/guitarist, Olga Coelho, but an article last year in Digestivo Cultural on Coelho provides some details (that don't speak terribly well of EH).
Here's the relevant paragraph:

Consagrada, de volta ao Brasil, Olga arranja mais viagens. Por indicação de Villa-Lobos e do escritor Erico Verissimo, é convidada pelo governo americano para se apresentar em Washington e Nova York. Em 1938, canta na Casa Branca para Eleanor Roosevelt e assina contrato com a RCA Victor. Ela e Gaspar se instalam num apartamento na Sétima Avenida, defronte ao Central Park. Seu concerto no Town Hall é um sucesso. A crítica solta rojões. Camargo Guarnieri a convoca para lançar árias suas, para inveja de Elsie Houston (1902-1943), soprano amiga de Mario de Andrade que, até a chegada de Olga, tinha monopólio do folclore verde-amarelo em Nova York. “Elsie falava mal de mim e brigava com todos. Era problemática. Casou-se com um barão belga, que a roubava. Terminou por se atirar do seu quarto de hotel em Manhattan, deixando o filho de 11 anos à janela e Camargo Guarnieri à espera dela na estação, pois iam fazer um recital em Washington.”

As you know, I don't know Portuguese [and would love a real translation], but here's what I get (note, it is from Coelho's point of view):
Elsie Houston was envious that Camargo Guarnieri was writing a piece for Coelho and that Coelho was disrupting her monopoly on Brazilian folk song in New York. So she spoke badly about Coelho to everyone. Another detail: Guarnieri, unaware of Houston's suicide the night before, was left waiting at the train station for her (they were scheduled to perform in Washington).

Soirées à Montmartre puzzle

2008-05-16T21:33:00.002-04:00

A compilation of old French 78s has shown up on various mp3 music sites. Elsie Houston is listed as singing "Tu m'as donné Paris." If you listen to the sample, though, you hear a voice very different than the Elsie Houston we know (lower register, belty). I suspect the compiler mixed up the credits. "Amour…Amour..," credited to "Yolanda" is much more EH-like. Any opinions?

Ends Her Life updates

2007-12-18T10:41:00.001-05:00

I've updated the Ends Her Life page with new annotations (most just cleaning up mistakes). Unfortunately, this seems to have resulted in a Google demotion. Oh well, back to obscurity...

Elsie Houston's recipe for Feijoada

2007-12-03T21:19:00.000-05:00

3 cups black beans
1/2 pound dried beef
1/2 pound smoked sausage
1/2 pound smoked pork
1/4 pound smoked tongue
1/4 pound bacon
3 scallions, minced
1 onion, minced
2 tablespoons salad oil
1/4 cup fat
1/2 garlic clove, minced
Dash cayenne

Soak beans in water to cover overnight. Drain. Cover beans and beef with fresh cold water and simmer 2 hours. Place sausage, pork, tongue and bacon in the same kettle. Simmer until the beans are soft enough to mash easily. Saute scallions and onion in salad oil and fat until soft and yellow. Add garlic and cayenne, continue cooking until delicately browned. Remove half the beans from kettle and add to onion mixture, stir until these beans are well mashed. Return the mashed beans to the kettle and simmer until the mixture thickens. But be sure the mixture thickens. But be sure the mixture is not thicker than an ordinary cream soup. Remove meats, slice and arrange on a platter. Pour a little of the bean mixture over the slices and serve the rest in a deep vegetable dish or tureen. Rice is always served as an accompaniment. Approximate yield: 6 portions
(Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1941.)

EH in American Weekly

2007-12-02T09:31:00.000-05:00

The highly sensationalistic Hearst Sunday supplement, The American Weekly, ran a long story on April 4, 1943 that made the wild claim that Elsie Houston's death was the result of a voodoo curse. A piece of highly imaginative fiction that gets many facts completely wrong (including the name of EH's husband), it nevertheless offers some details about her final days that might be true. It reports that her nightclub act, newly established (at the Monte Carlo, according to my records), was received negatively, with audiences laughing at her signature "invocation to the war god." Her contract was not to be renewed. Apparently debt-ridden, this, plus a quarrel with her "husband," Marcel Courbon, was what finally pushed her over the edge.

Another curiosity: the story reports that EH had been set to serve as technical advisor to (and appear in) a film with French silent film star, Catherine Hessling. It never materialized (the story blames ghosts and demons).

Dorothy Kilgallen on Elsie Houston

2007-11-26T14:24:00.000-05:00

EH was mentioned in Dorothy Kilgallen's Broadway gossip column at least three times. Each mention is enlightening.

1940, November 15. "Elsie Houston, the Rainbow Room singer, is so psychic it is embassarring (sic) to her. She can read people's minds, and although she tries not to, she frequently finds herself blushing."

1942, March 25. "Elsie Houston, the Brazilian soprano and her husband had an unpleasant encounter with the police in Charleston, N.C. last week--they were speaking French and an officer picked them up as 'spies.' Payoff is that Elsie, who is half-American, is a descendant of the famous American Sam Houston."

1943, March 3. "Friends prevented Elsie Houston from throwing herself out of a window only a week before she killed herself with a sleeping potion. She had two motives, intimates said--she was heavily in debt and had quarreled with her beloved."

Elsie Houston tracks at Instituto Moreira Salles

2007-11-19T11:52:00.000-05:00

A heathly sample of Elsie Houston 78s are available for a listen at Instituto Moreira Salles. Just enter "elsie houston" into the search box. The site retrieves 20 hits in the "musica" category, but alas, some are just duplicate copies of the same record. Nevertheless, if you have not found a copy of Elsie Houston: A Feminilidade do Canto,
now you have a chance to hear many of the tracks on it (plus a couple from her US Victor releases). An additional bonus: a chance to hear some of the non-EH sides from her 1930 Brazilian 78s. For example, Januário de Oliveira singing "Tristeza" (the A-side of EH's "Macumbagelê.")

L'Association des amis de Benjamin Péret

2007-11-07T16:28:00.000-05:00

An emailer informs me that the L'Association des amis de Benjamin Péret dates the separation of EH and Péret as happening in 1933. This would mean a decade between the split and EH's passing, thus reinforcing my opinion that it was a more recent love that triggered her suicide. Meanwhile, I checked out the Association's website for the first time in several years and was pleased to find entries on both EH (a translation of her New York Times obit) and Geyser P é ret.

Verna Arvey on Elsie Houston

2007-05-21T19:59:00.000-04:00

Verna Arvey, wife of composer William Grant Still (who based a work on the fruits of EH's folksong research), interviewed Elsie Houston for Etude in the 1940s. She also shows up in Arvey's memoir/biography, In One Lifetime. Here is the passage:

The night Elsie Houston came to be interviewed for Etude had a party-like atmosphere, because Loyd and Betty Rathbun and Kenneth and Adelaide WInstead brought her to our house. Loyd, the oboist) and Kenneth (the bass player) had been in Karl Krueger's Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra when Miss Houston was soloist there. They had a recording made during her performance. Miss Houston (who, incidentally, was one of the most sensitive and professional performers we had ever met) didn't seem to be particularly interested as this recording was playing away in the backroom. But when she heard herself speaking (announcing an encore) her mood changed. She stopped talking. jumped up, ran down the hall and paid close attention from then on. She had known in advance how the rehearsal part of the program would sound, but she had no way of knowing how the unrehearsed part would come out. It was a novelty to her to hear it as the audience had heard it on the night of the performance.

It was tragic that an artist who had so much to give should have wanted to take her own life, but she did. She was too sympathetic and impressionable; she took to heart everything that happened in the world. Shortly before her death she wrote to us of "The mess we are in--all of us." (135-136)

Two things of particular interest. One, the character sketch--the hyper sensitive artist with a pessimistic outlook. Second, the recording! I wonder if it still exists!

Elsie Houston Wikipedia entry

2007-02-28T13:42:00.000-05:00

A new Wikipedia (Portuguese) entry on E.H. links to "Ends Her Life." I should get on the ball and do the English language entry--unless someone else wants to handle it...

A feminilidade do canto notes (I)

2006-12-23T08:14:00.000-05:00

A slow crawl through the 2003 booklet on Elsie Houston (I won't dignify what I'm doing with the word "translation," dependent on English/Spanish cognates and babel fish as it is) reveals a great deal previously unknown here and fills in some important holes. I can now update the chronology, for example, though there are still gaps in what anyone knows about her life in Europe in the 1930s.

Some initial notes:

Cause of suicide: The book speculates (agreeing with NY Herald Tribune account) that her suicide was rooted in financial problems and declining career prospects related to the war, as well as a recent split from her Belgian baron patron. But it also suggests that life in New York was hard for a Brazilian, particularly one of mixed blood, so a bit of culture shock can be added to the mix of factors.

She was already a nightclub singer in Paris in the late 1920s. She met Péret through her sister and brother-in-law (who were acquainted, no doubt, because of a shared interest in Trotsky). When she returned to Brazil between 1929 and 1931, she was a concert singer (not the the pop star I'd thought). In fact, her repertoire was pretty much fixed over the last fifteen years of her life, with some exceptions. In Brazil, she included African-american folksongs in her program; In America, the macumba songs took center stage.

Péret and Houston alienated a lot of old friends in Brazil. Péret was rude, and Houston "a liberated woman." Apparently the couple did something so sacriligeus in front of Manuel Bandeira that he broke off his friendship (he and Houston later reconciled).

More to come...

Elsie Houston-A feminilidade do canto

2006-12-21T10:28:00.000-05:00

I finally was able to get a copy of the Brazilian Elsie Houston CD/book. I am used to finding tiny fragments of information about EH. Now I am awash with information. Of course it is in Portuguese, so I'm painstakingly navigating my way through (which keeps the potential torrent to a trickle). More information to come (through agreement with interlibrary loan, I am not permitted to share photos/songs).

EH profile in New York World-Telegram

2006-12-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

"She is well known in voodoo circles as a daughter of Ogun, the powerful war god."
-Jan 22, 1941.

EH in Stage Magazine

2006-12-13T14:06:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo from a brief story on Le Ruban Bleu, in the April 15, 1939 issue of Stage Magazine.
"Elsie Houston is the piece de least resistance, with her Brazilian songs."

Mabel Mercer on Elsie Houston

2006-11-29T20:46:00.000-05:00

The great singer, Mabel Mercer, performed at Le Ruban Bleu in 1938. Here's what she has to say about EH:

She had a beautiful voice , not really a classical voice, but it had great tenderness, and when she sang those fados she was marvelous.

Virgil Thomson on Elsie Houston

2006-11-28T19:24:00.000-05:00

Virgil Thomson wrote about Elsie Houston a number of times while he was a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune (he was also a friend). A typical comment:

Miss Elsie is a great artist, a magnificent personality, and a practically unique mistress of vocal art.

And I think his take on her singing (which matches Harry Partch's conception to some extent) is on the mark. From a column following her Town Hall concert:

Few are the vocal artists whose range of color can compare with hers. Her musicianship is impeccable, her repertory distinguished, her voice agreeable, her diction tops. About the only thing she does not do well is to sing normally...Miss Houston does not vocalize classically, she vocalizes verbally...She is at her best when she evokes natural speech by musical sounds. These sounds are true musical sounds and her dramatic expression is true and easily communicated. Her whole performance is as practiced, masterful, and sophisticated as that of Lotte Lehman, for example. It is different, however, because it is built on a wholly different assumption...Carrying power, sheer vocal volume she throws out the window, sacrificing its advantages for the greater range of color and expressive range.

Some EH mysteries solved.

2006-11-27T15:24:00.000-05:00

A reader and fellow Elsie Houston fan has sent me some clippings from the New York Herald Tribune that shed light on some matters EH.
First, the Tribune obit (unlike the NYT) hints at the contents of the suicide notes: "she was upset about financial matters."
Second, her father was indeed James Frank Houston (who was apparently still alive and practicing dentistry into the 1940s) whereas her mother was "a Brazilian whose family emigrated to Rio de Janeiro from Portugal 300 years ago."
Third, a long profile by William G. King in the New York Sun (March 30, 1940) repeats a claim I've read elsewhere that she sang in the first Paris performance of Manuel de Falla's "El Retablo de Maese Pedro." If this is true, she would have been 20 years old and still a student of Lilli Lehman. It is more likely she sang at a later performance while she was a student of Ninon Vallin (a Falla favorite).

I'm heading out to the Boston Public Library tonight to see what else I can glean from the other New York papers.

Elsie Houston and Lotte Lenya

2006-11-20T16:24:00.000-05:00

Some additions to the Elsie Houston in New York chronology, including some notes from Lotte Lenya in letters to Kurt Weill about her experience performing in Le Ruban Bleu in 1938.

Carnival in Brazil (1942) Directed by Leslie Roush

2006-10-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

Variety (March 11, 1942: 20) provides this glimpse of a wartime short featuring Elsie Houston.

Sock Latin-American one-reeler, lacking a dull moment. The annual Mardi Gras of Brazil is excuse for parading Latin-American artists and atmosphere, with newsreel shots of actual Rio de Janeiro festival trimly dovetailed into production material. Singing of Elsie Houston, Brazilian soprano, fits nicely into the opening sequence while the wild gyrations of Jose and Lolita Vega are nearly as primitive as some of Brazilian stepping captured (but a mere flash) by the newsreel camera. Fernando Alvarez supplies change of pace by introducing the current South American carnival anthem, Carolina. Exciting enough to make on want to visit Rio at carnival time. Another to Les Roush's credit.

Elsie Houston photo circa 1930

2006-10-16T17:37:00.000-04:00

This one's included in a collection of Mario de Andrade music criticism.

New Song: Sangaria

2006-10-01T16:16:00.000-04:00

For this one I basically fed samples from 30-plus years of Sangaria commercials through an echo chamber.
Download it.

My MySpace Space

2006-09-24T09:32:00.000-04:00

I've refreshed my MySpace presence (pretty much dormant since March). This time I'm listed under Fake Giraffe Records.

Under the topic, New MySpace "friends": The Volcano Suns are on Rhapsody, in an indirect way. There is nothing to stream directly but tracks from several releases, including my long-lost favorite, Bumper Crop, are scattered throughout "Volcano Suns Radio." The whole channel sounds like college radio circa 1989 (i.e., pretty much guys yelling).

New Song: Gullible City

2006-09-22T15:12:00.000-04:00

Rocking instrumental plus clips about American Gullibility.
Download it (3.3 mb) here. (Probably won't play in the browser).

Google storage solutions

2006-09-22T08:54:00.000-04:00

A fringe benefit of the Google account: server space to store stuff. Like music files.
Here's my demo page.

McDonald

2006-09-09T08:53:00.000-04:00

via

Cassette

2006-09-01T17:22:00.000-04:00

from

Tucker!

2006-08-26T13:40:00.000-04:00

Sunaba

2006-08-06T15:06:00.000-04:00

Lots of interest in Sunaba, a band frankly I don't know much about. I just happened to catch them when I was recording Ikaten one night. A little digging produced this ad from the Shibuya record store Disk Union.

They were a Kansai band. They had a cassette (self-produced?) titled "Karana Karada." And the Disk Union folk found them charming.

Here's the YouTube clip:

The Kansai subculture dictionary provides some more context. They were from Kobe. Singer/guitarist Mari Hamada (not to be confused with the pop star with the same name) participated in the モダンチョキチョキズ (The Modern Choki Chokis) and is now apparently a well-known actress.

Chu-Doku

2006-08-06T13:09:00.000-04:00

A little bit of interest has been generated by my Chu-Doku YouTube upload. Here is an ad for their 1990 album, Happy City.

Underground Art Mall Dream

2006-07-10T09:47:00.000-04:00

Last night I dreamed I discovered an underground art mall. The entrance was literally underground and required a password (which my wife happened to have), but opened onto a green field, like an open air art fair. And sometimes the art mall was a bookstore, with shelves lined with cheap and interesting art books.

The odd thing: there was music playing and I really liked it. And I decided it was Neutral Milk Hotel, though I didn't recognize the lyrics. I woke up with a bass riff in my head. Then I listened to Aeroplane for the first time in over a year. Sure enough, the bass riff corresponded perfectly with the chord changes on the first song on the album. The words were different, though. My dream chorus went "Oh Narrator..."

I finally decided the dream comprised the following place images: Chuck E. Cheese's tube structure (underground entrance), Newton Free Library (art books), Old Town San Diego (open art fair). And the first time I heard Aeroplane was once while I browsed the racks at Newbury Comics.

2:37

2006-07-05T10:39:00.000-04:00

Spoo

2006-07-03T08:47:00.000-04:00

Ye Ye

2006-06-28T10:10:00.000-04:00

Elsie Houston's final residence

2006-06-16T13:35:00.000-04:00

Dr. Rita Lempel has done some detective work and has discovered a photo of 431 Park Ave as it appeared in the 1940s.

Thanks, Rita!

New video (and song): Spring

2006-06-09T00:04:00.000-04:00

The "song" is simple but heavy. I cut a video to fit the mood (out of the same ad reel I used for "Today.")

Today gets a video

2006-06-07T21:06:00.000-04:00

Gullcity on YouTube

2006-06-03T14:49:00.000-04:00

I've posted a couple of videos from my days in Japan.
One is a clip from Ikaten of a most interesting band, Sunaba. The other is a segment from a much longer video of a rainy Sunday afternoon stroll through Hokoten (along Yoyogi Park). The video quality is awful but I thought people might have some interest in the band--Chuudoku.

Some EH tidbits

2006-05-31T15:44:00.000-04:00

Made the annual visit to the Boston Public Library to see what I could find. Some Modern Music references (positive notices by Elliott Carter and Colin McPhee) and more importantly, a new E.H. picture from Lisa Peppercorn's The World of Villa-Lobos in Pictures and Documents. And the image below, the program to Villa-Lobos's Oct 1927 Paris concert.

Mário de Andrade on Elsie Houston

2006-03-23T17:50:00.000-05:00

Mário de Andrade:"Nos cantos brasileiros é um modelo. É a única de todas as nossas cantoras de concerto que de fato canta em brasileiro já".
In short, Elsie Houston is our only concert singer who actually sings in "Brazilian."

From "Brasileiro desvairado" by Herbert Carvalho. link.

Maloka Elétrika on Elsie Houston

2006-03-23T07:53:00.000-05:00

For readers of Portuguese, Maloka Elétrika has a post about Elsie Houston that highlights her revolutionary spirit. It includes an excerpt from Pagu's journal about the French People's Front demonstration on July 14, 1935 (unfortunately, it doesn't translate well in BabelFish)

E a lembrança da noite de há doze anos quando Paris inteira cantava nas ruas a glória de ter sido realizado em suas ruas a Grande Revolução, quando fomos buscar Elsie Houston no seu pequenino apartamento onde ela estava sozinha, para que viesse para a rua cantar com a sua voz educadíssima na pauta da Carmagnole.

(It also features a little remix using an excerpt from one of Elsie Houston's cocos, a portrait that I had never seen before by Flavio de Carvalho, as well as a link to my page(for which I am grateful--thank you, Maloka Elétrika)).

Benjamin Péret in Brazil

2006-03-21T21:25:00.000-05:00

An interesting article by Jean Puyade (in Portuguese--Babelfish comes to the rescue again) gives an account of the 1929-1931 years that fills in some blanks in the Elsie Houston story.

First, it confirms that Villa-Lobos was connected to Péret and Houston while he was living in Paris. Villa-Lobos wrote them letters of introduction that would greatly aid their research project into Brazilian folk culture. Péret also tried to get funding for the Brazil trip from Villa-Lobos's patrons, the Guinle brothers (his proposal was rejected).

Villa-Lobos's letter for Elsie Houston: "uma admirável cantora, primogênita de nossa nova raça brasileira, genuína em físico, alma e espírito"

Second, their arrival in Brazil in February 1929 was publicized in the press. Of particular interest was Peret's connection with the surrealism movement.

Third, the connection between Péret and Mario Pedrosa was enabled by Pierre Naville.

Elsie Houston's Apartment Building

2006-03-12T10:33:00.000-05:00

Elsie Houston's first New York residence was at 107 E. 63rd St.
Dr. Rita Lempel kindly sent us photos of the building and its beautiful entryway. (Unfortunately, other aspects of the building are not as attractive). I suspect not much has changed about the building since the 1930s. Thanks, Rita!

Elsie Houston photo from Etude

2006-03-11T16:29:00.000-05:00

This might be my favorite photo yet.

(from Etude, October 1941. The article, "Our Musical 'Good Neighbor' Policy: An Interview with Elsie Houston, Distinguished Brazilian Soprano," written by Verna Arvey.) Click on image for larger version.

B.P.: She was my wife

2006-01-18T16:18:00.000-05:00

Some additional detail about Peret's seeming reluctance to talk about Elsie Houston later in his life. Here's the passage from his biographer, Jean-Louis Bedouin:

Essentially, Peret and Bedouin happen to be at a Paris Museum. A Brazilian folksong is playing, the singer's voice "chaude et belle." As the museum guide begins to say the singer's name, Peret cuts in and says, "She was my wife." This was the first time Peret had ever mentioned this fact to his friend, Bedouin. [Don't be fooled. I don't know French, only the URL to babel fish...]
(Parallel to the episode from Paul Bowles's book, where E.H. hears Bowles play a song based on a Peret poem, and says "That's me.")

Elsie Houston Sings Brazilian Songs

2006-01-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

Oh my.
From Scratchy 78 to Scratchy 33 to little cassette recorder to Audacity and saved to mp3. And yet, her astonishing voice gets through. Not as much Cancao do Carreiro shrieking, and more exceedingly charming birdlike trills.
From the liner notes:

Elsie Houston, Brazilian soprano born in Rio de Janeiro, was the foremost exponent of the vocal music of Brazil. She toured extensively both in Europe and America (her debut was in Paris in 1926), making known to ever-widening audiences the folk songs and the art songs of her native land. Her gift for characterization was unrivaled and she possesed a voice which she could bend to her will in the projection of an enormous range of color and emotion. It was a voice which has been described variously as seeming "to come from somewhere beyond the equator," as "an Amazon chant" and as "of exquisite quality..."

Track listing, from the record jacket.

BAND 1 Foi n'uma calmosa (Night of Dreams, O Night of Fancy)(No. 5 Modinha Carioca)("Song of Rio") Collected and harmonized by Luciano Gallet.
BAND 2 Bahia (Carateristica) Alvaro Moreya-Hekel Tavares
Dansa de caboclo (The Frog Song) (Coco) Harmonized by Hekel Tavares
BAND 3 Benedicto Pretinho (A Little Piccaninny) Folk Song--Harmonized by Hekel Tavares
Bia-ta-ta (Coco) Folk Song--Harmonized by Hekel Tavares
[This is in error--Bia-ta-ta comes first]
BAND 4 Berimbau (Amazon Legend) Jayme Ovalle--Poem by Manuel Bandeira
BAND 5 Tres Potos de Santo: 1.Chario 2. Aruanda 3. Estrella do Mar (Brazilian Magic Themes) Jayme Ovalle
BAND 6 Tayeras (Song and Dance of the Mulatresses from the North)(State of Bahia) Harmonized by Luciano Gallet
Bambalele (Song of the Northern Interior)(Pernambuco) Harmonized by Luciano Gallet
BAND 7 Cancao do carreiro (Song of the Ox-cart Driver)(Seresta No. 8) Heitor Villa-Lobos.

And Side 2 is Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 and the super cool Nonetto.
Oh my.

Extensively updated Elsie Houston page

2006-01-05T17:36:00.000-05:00

I finally had some time today to revise the Annotated Ends Her Life: Elsie Houston Page. Rather than revising the annotations themselves, I added new annotations at the bottom of each section. Hopefully things are a little more accurate/complete than they used to be.

I also added a separate Elsie Houston discography page and a long chronicle of her New York era.

Elsie Houston interview

2005-11-23T19:36:00.000-05:00

In the June 1942 issue of the Inter-American Monthly (thanks interlibrary loan!), Elsie Houston is interviewed by Gilbert Chase. Most of the interview covers familiar ground, but the following paragraphs are striking:

"I absorbed the spirit of Brazilian folk music from the time I was a little girl. In our country everybody sings. I grew up with these songs. One of the songs I still sing, a fado of Portuguese origin, I first heard when I was seven or eight, and I have never found any trace of it since then. In those days we had in our household a Negress who used to sing for me the weird songs of the macumba, the secret fetichistic ritual of the Brazilian negroes. I began to be fascinated by this type of folklore, so dark and mysterious."

People often wonder how Elsie Houston happens to have such an American-sounding name. The answer is that her name is American. Her father, a native of Tennessee, migrated to Brazil as a young man and settled in Rio, where Elsie was born and raised. She is a great grand-niece of Sam Houston, of Texas fame. Perhaps that helps to make her feel at home in this country, but it does not make her less Brazilian. She speaks English with a delightful accent. At home she generally speaks French, since her husband is a French writer and poet.

Paul Bowles and Elsie Houston

2005-11-09T16:32:00.000-05:00

You can thank Google Print for this lead. Turns out E.H. was good friends with Paul and Jane Bowles. In 1937, they spent time together in Eze, France. In 1939, Elsie stayed at the Bowles house in Staten Island. Below is the excerpt from Bowles's autobiography, Without Stopping:

Note the insight into the state of the Houston-Peret relationship in 1937.

New Children's Book: I am a Quahog

2005-11-02T21:01:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy day. I uploaded a new book to the Gull City Press page: I am a Quahog. Full of fun facts about quahogs.

One more EP track

2005-11-02T13:56:00.000-05:00

I like this one the best, though it's got serious bridge trouble. Called "Today." Find it at Fake Giraffe.

My paranoid science fiction political vision

2005-10-28T08:56:00.000-04:00

Here's the suspicion.
The Bush administration claims to be "making their own reality" are actually literally true. They are using a high tech "reality machine" or maybe a genie (and they've shrewdly wished for "infinite wishes.") The genie, maybe, was the real reason for invading Iraq (ooh it's all coming together now--djinn of mass destruction, no, WISHES of MASS DESTRUCTION!).
OK, you ask, why are things going so badly for them? I mean, if you are making your own reality, why wouldn't you make one where everyone loves Harriet Miers?
Two possible ways to answer this one:
First, the sci-fi/genie law of unexpected consequences/trickery. Arrogant closed-minded powermongers always dig their own graves. (or so claims the Twilight Zone).
OR (and this one I prefer)
Second, they've created their own reality but it's in a different dimension in which they (but not us) are now living. In their world, Iraq is a peaceful democracy, abortion is illegal for everyone, Katrina was a helpful "oil storm" which replenished the national energy reserves, and Bush eats Bill Clinton's liver for dinner every night (it regenerates). They've left replicants in their place in our dimension which are slowly corroding before our eyes.

Deermix

2005-10-25T07:17:00.000-04:00

Deerhoof! Amazing new CD (Runners Four).
And Deermix project.
Robert contributes a remix, featuring cheeping baby ducks.

Robert's new solo EP

2005-10-12T19:14:00.000-04:00

Run, run, to Fake Giraffe Records and get the FREE mp3s! Robert plays everything except the drums, AT THE SAME TIME! (Drums courtesy Robert's new friend, GB). And he even sings, kind of, on one track.

Robert drums.

2005-10-08T09:45:00.000-04:00

Finally, some official recognition.

Quahogs plan new CD.

2005-10-08T09:36:00.000-04:00

The improbable Japanese popularity of the Gullible Quahogs's first album, Shellshock, has spurred the boys to put another one out (and to finally release Shell Shock to a digital audience). Still in the planning stages, look for an early 2006 release.

Finally, updated Elsie Houston page

2005-09-01T14:55:00.000-04:00

I finally fixed a couple of things on the Ends Her Life page, particularly the reference to "Voyage to Paris," which, as Daniella Thompson points out, is really a photo of folks meeting Benjamin Peret at the train station.

More Elsie Houston discoveries

2005-05-16T18:11:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Daniella Thompson for correcting me on some points and tipping me off to some tantalizing resources out there. Look for annotated annotations in the near future.
Also, did a little Library of Congress digging and found some radio broadcasts and 78s in their collection.

Elsie Houston on the radio.

Jan 6 1938
The Rudy Vallee show
8:00 NBC Red Network
With Tommy Riggs, J.B. Priestly, Sybil Thorndyke, Sugarfoor & Sassafrass.

November 6 1940
Pan American Fiesta
9:35 pm: NBC Blue
(Misspelled "Huston")

June 5 1942
June 19 1942
July 3 1942
July 17 1942
Songs by Elsie Houston
6:45 NBC White
Not clear what this is, whether it was one segment repeated four times, or four separate fifteen minute shows.

Feb 11 1943 (Nine days before her death)
Music of the new world/Songs of romanticism and sentimentality
11:30 pm NBC
with Margaret Daum, Fred Hufsmith, Phil Duey, Frank Black

78 Recordings

Liberty Music Shop L232 Fado (Portuguese love song) ; Jongo (Brazilian magic song)

Victor 13667 Foi n'uma noite calmosa (Night of dreams, o night of fancy) (No. 5 modinha carioca,"Song of Rio") ; Bahia (Carateristica) ; Dansa de caboclo (The frog song)

Victor 13668 Benedicto pretinho (A little piccaninny) ; Bia-ta-t ; Berimbau (Amazon legend)

Victor 13669 Tres potos de santo (Brazilian magic themes): Chario; Aruanda; Estrella do Mar ; Tayras; Bambalel

Quahogs live!

2005-05-08T15:40:00.000-04:00

As in "living," a long time. This site on the "ocean quahog" says

Ocean quahogs of about 100 years and older are common; a maximum shell length of 140 mm (5.5 inches) and a maximum longevity estimate of 225 years have been reported (Ropes 1985).

Brazilian blog on Elsie Houston

2005-05-05T15:57:00.000-04:00

Finally, a whole page devoted to Elsie Houston, only it's in Portuguese! Thankful anyway. Some blanks filled in. For example, the name of her radio program (on NBC from 1939-1940) was "Fiesta Pan Americana."
Here's some more photos, newspaper microfiche quality, from the stories I referenced last post.

Real Robert Porter Sightings and Elsie Houston discoveries

2005-05-04T20:26:00.000-04:00

Robert Porter is not my real name. But occasionally I run across people whose name it really is. I take it as an omen. It happened today at the dentist. I looked over the counter when I was making an appointment, and there was a chart for "Robert Porter." In my town, at my dentist, getting his gums pricked in the room next to mine. So what does it mean?

Today it meant the rebirth of my Elsie Houston obsession. I had stumbled upon a Time Magazine reference during a routine, out-of-boredom, Yahoo search. (Gull City Press seems to blink on and off as far as Yahoo is concerned; forget Google.) So why not go straight to the library to check it out? Apparently in 1954,Victor released an LP Elsie Houston Sings Brazilian Songs. (Remember that LP technology was fairly new; the songs had been released originally on 78s.) Not only was it favorably reviewed in both Time and the Saturday Review, the reviewers seem to go out of their ways to conjure up the strangeness of her performances.

Time:

She could trumpet like a fishwife or trill like a bird....In nightclubs she liked to dim the lights to a pair of candles, pick up a finger drum, and let her voice go up in smoke for a savage voodoo number or wail some agonizing quarter tones in an ox driver's lament. Then she would startle her listeners by a playful ditty sung with a lilting girlish quality.

Saturday Review:

Elsie Houston entered this great drawing room like an African queen, like a priestess, like the reigning hetaera, in short, like an artist. She carried some small drums and was tuggin two huge candlesticks, because she was wanted to sing in the dark. I was drawn to her like a moth. I helped her get the waist-high candlesticks into place (nobody else was helping), lit the candles, and sat on the floor enslaved...What was she like? She seemed tall. Her features were rather Mayan: arced nose, proud eyes, black hair. Or so I remember. Her appearance changed from time to time.

A couple of other random notes:
Elsie Houston is credited with discovering the great Broadway arranger, Hershy Kay.
She once told the writer, Iles Brody, that Brazilians get turkeys drunk before killing them.

Mollusk Munitions

2005-04-30T07:58:00.000-04:00

Army investigating ordnance found in driveway material

Tue Feb 15, 7:47 PM ET

By Steve Goldstein, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Prepare to be shell-shocked: Ordnance experts are scrambling to defuse driveways that have the potential to explode.
The U.S. Army is investigating incidents of unexploded World War I-era munitions showing up in clamshells used as paving material for driveways and parking areas in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
The ordnance was dredged up over the past 18 months from the ocean floor during mechanical clam harvesting operations off the New Jersey coast, in the vicinity of Atlantic City, according to Robert Williams of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is conducting the probe.
More than 300 munitions - mostly British and French-made hand grenades but at least one 75 mm projectile containing a chemical agent - have been recovered from 18 driveways and a Delaware clam-processing plant, Williams said.
Some grenades were actually found inside the clams.
...
"We're worried about kids playing kick the ball in the driveway," he said.
...
Locating exactly where in the ocean the questionable quahogs were dredged has proven difficult.

Lions to Stalk Fake Giraffe

2005-04-30T07:53:00.000-04:00

Lions to Stalk Fake Giraffe
04/21/2005

The attack-a-giraffe game is part of the zoo’s ongoing animal enrichment program, which engages zoo animals in activities that stimulate them mentally and physically. Keepers design enrichment activities to elicit natural behaviors from the animals. In this case, keepers and volunteers hope that the hand-made giraffe will prompt the lions to stalk and bring down this play-prey creature.

Zoo volunteers created the giraffe and worked with staff to make it more tantalizing by stuffing it with bones and sprinkling it with the scent of the lions’ natural prey. The zoo’s adult lioness and her two female cubs will form the hunting party sent out to tackle the seven-foot-tall fake giraffe.
(North Carolina Zoological Society)

Happy National Gull Day!

2005-04-01T17:42:00.000-05:00

Some cool announcements to come. (Things just need to be finalized).

Father Daughter Cartoon Fest

2005-01-25T17:37:00.000-05:00

Snow day spent at Chuck E Cheese's leads to father-daughter cartoon exchange. First Dad's, then A_'s. Drawn on napkins.

Blood of the Quahog

2005-01-20T19:51:00.000-05:00

Original story expired, but here's the science!

New song by Robert

2005-01-15T20:22:00.000-05:00

Robert spent his Christmas Amazon gift certificates on a brand new Digitech RP80 Modeling Guitar Processor. Please indulge him by listening to him abuse the whammy bar feature on this new song.

Thank you mystery customer number 2!

2005-01-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

Our stock of Shell Shock CDs is in danger of running out. According to the sales report below, there are only 3 left. Get yours while you still can!

By the way, Robert lived for a year near Fujisawa.

New Gullible Quahogs recording

2004-08-30T13:01:00.000-04:00

The LA session (the first in over 15 years)was a big success. We recorded over 30 minutes of new music (enough for an EP?) Here's a taste: "I Pod," newly uploaded to the Fake Giraffe site.

Gullible Quahogs cook in desert

2004-08-11T22:29:00.000-04:00

For the first time (on this page) actual photos of Robert and Ben.

Gullible Quahogs Reunion

2004-08-10T10:55:00.000-04:00

Details to follow...

Shell Shock Record Release Party!

2004-07-27T16:48:00.000-04:00

In my head anyway.... Unbelievable. Go to CDBaby.com and see for yourself! Plus doubly low-fi on-line song samples!

Now waiting.

2004-07-23T11:17:00.000-04:00

OK. Everything's been sent, account set up, we're ready to go. CDBaby now processing, I guess. Big announcement when we finally show up in their search box. Some day soon I hope.

Shell Shock one step closer to release

2004-07-05T10:05:00.000-04:00

Finished the jewel boxes. Now on to the labels.

New Flash movie on Fake Giraffe

2004-04-23T14:54:00.000-04:00

Baby's been sleeping today. Lots of time for Flash projects! Just uploaded--Field Mix interpreted by dancing Baseman rabbit(s). Warning, it loops and you need Flash 7 Player.

Shell Shock almost ready to go

2004-04-23T09:16:00.000-04:00

Other Q'hog Ben has put the final touches on the old recordings that comprise Shell Shock. It sounds great. Soon, concrete release info.

Robert's sub-basement

2004-04-22T20:53:00.000-04:00

I decided to open a new forum for rants (like the one below) and reserve this blog for pithy update/info comments. That would be on Live Journal at,
you guessed it, www.livejournal.com/~gullcity.

Google Ad Surrealism

2004-04-14T09:31:00.000-04:00

I am enjoying the "contextual" header ads Google is providing for this blog. And I am enjoying the surrealistic juxtapositions--clams and Gustav Mahler indeed.

Site redesign

2004-04-08T07:43:00.000-04:00

New Gull City header image derived from an old t-shirt. Hope you like it. Still working on size issues. Does anyone actually browse the web at 800x600 anymore?

New Gullible Quahogs track on Fake Giraffe

2004-04-02T15:44:00.000-05:00

Newest and most abstract yet, called casiobeat, sampled from Baltimore session.Link.

Happy Gull Day!

2004-04-01T06:11:00.000-05:00

For example, Google's new email service. [turns out the joke's on everyone!]

Unhappy Clam Loses a Glove is ready to read

2004-03-31T07:33:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to announce that the third unhappy clam book, a photoshopper, is done. Read it.

Final touches put on third Unhappy Clam story

2004-03-28T18:45:00.000-05:00

I just finished the rough version of The Unhappy Clam Loses a Glove. Will probably be finished and uploaded during the week.

Fake Giraffe Records releases Gullible Quahog remixes

2004-03-23T18:29:00.000-05:00

Three Gullible Quahogs remixes ~~will be~~ available ~~soon~~ on-line at Fake Giraffe Records. ~~More information when we get it.~~

The Unhappy Clam Loses a Glove Preview Image

2004-03-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

The next in the Happy Clam series will not be scribbled on notebook paper while waiting for my son's chorus festival rehearsal to be finished. No, this time, it will be a big budget photoshop (LE) extravaganza. It took me all morning to do one page, but here it is!

Sad Eye Babies and Dogs

2004-03-20T06:09:00.000-05:00

When your 1st grader begins making stuffed sad-eyed babies and dogs out of notebook paper, stuffed with kleenex, and sealed with scotch tape, well it's time to start thinking of ideas for Flash cartoons!

2004-03-20T05:20:00.000-05:00

Massive design changes in blog template (finally dug into the style and erased most traces of blogger-look) plus new Gull City logo (do you like it? does it need a gull?) and "do-you-relate-to-my-tastes" sidebar.

2004-03-17T16:39:00.000-05:00

Fixed a sequence error in the unhappy clam makes a new friend.

2004-03-17T12:42:00.000-05:00

Just uploaded The unhappy clam makes a new friend.

2004-03-17T08:53:00.000-05:00

Hooray! The whole Gull City site is finally up and running! Including the long long annotated version of "Ends her life: Elsie Houston." Near future projects: scanning in the next chapter in the Unhappy Clam series, working with style sheets to unify the look, and investigating gullcity.com domain name possibilities.

2004-03-15T19:57:00.000-05:00

Hi, thanks for coming. My name is Robert (actually, my pretend name is Robert) and I am the webmaster of Gull City. I am using this blog as an active communication channel for news and other stuff of interest. Stay tuned as we count down to the release of the new Gullible Quahogs album, Shell Shock!