Spoken Word with Electronics

SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #57: TWENTY DOLLAR HELL and The Lost Emotional Sound of Dating on Landline Phones

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the show. This last year (or two) has been a fun dip into Hell, and it's rekindled my interest in Televangelism. I used to record a lot of them on VHS tapes in the 1990s and so this week I thought I'd share my favorite one. I originally labeled it "Reverend Hellfire" on the VHS label. It's an amazing story that is literally rags to riches, from preaching in front of trash dumpsters 45 years previous, that suddenly erupts into a constant flood of thousand dollar bills. He actually talks to God. Do you have $1000? Do you have a phone? CALL NOW! You'll hear the full pitch in this week's Side A.

Side B continues the Charlie Pickle serial, with "The Daily Worry".

The opening half of the show discusses Landline Phones and their wonderful floor of ambient noise as it relates to emotional memory. Plug in and enjoy.

# 57-B, Discussion: "Remembering the Room Noise of Analog Phone Connections" by Spoken Word with Electronics

# 57-C, Side A: "1990s VHS Recording / Reverend Hellfire on 45 Years of Televangelism" (CALL NOW) by Spoken Word with Electronics

# 57-D, Side B: "The Daily Worry" (Charlie Pickle, Pt 38) by Spoken Word with Electronics

Have you heard Abbott & Costello's 'Ten Year Old Child Bride' joke from 1941?

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the show. This week we meander back to the more innocent times of 1941. Universal Pictures released a war film titled "Buck Privates" starring Abbott and Costello. It's mostly silly gags throughout but there's a slightly notorious joke hidden in there about a 40 year old man marrying a ten year old girl. The duo would continue the joke for some years, short-titled "You're 40, She's 10": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6JcXXAqec

To Costello's credit, though Abbott urges him to pursue his infatuation with the 10 year old, the math on their age isn't right. It sets up the comedy, based on fractions and percentages: When will she be old enough? The duo are best known for other logic problems (like Who's on First?). Here's the entire routine:

Abbott: You're 40 years-old and you're in love with this little girl that's 10 years-old. You're four times as old as that girl and you couldn't marry her, could you?

Costello: Not unless I come from the mountains.

Abbott: All right. You're 40 years-old. You're four times as old as this girl, and you can't marry her, so you wait five years. By that time the little girl's 15 and you're 45. You're only three times as old as that little girl. So you wait 15 years and when the girl is 30, you're at 60. You're only twice as old as that little girl.

Costello: She's catching up.

Abbott: Yes, yes. Now here's the question. How long do you have to wait until you and that little girl are the same age?

Costello: Now what kinda question is that? That's ridiculous!

Abbott: Ridiculous or not, answer the question.

Costello: If I wait for that girl she'll pass me up. She'll wind up older than I am.

Abbott: What are you talking about?

Costello: She'll have to wait for me!

Abbott: Why should she wait for you?

Costello: I was nice enough to wait for her!

It's not a terrible abstract math joke but certainly might concern modern audiences. The title for the film "Buck Privates" doesn't help!

Appropriately, this week, we also conclude with our series of mail-order psychiatry records from the 1960s, and continue our audiodrama/radio program "Charlie Pickle" with an introduction to the manager of The Clarence Coffee Cup, "Angela Simmons".

Incidentally, with the Abbott and Costello joke being written 80 years ago in 1941, this year we can celebrate the birthday of the girl, who probably just turned 90! Lou Costello died at age 52, indeed making him much younger.

Thanks and have a good week, Ethan

# 56-B: "Angela Simmons" (Charlie Pickle, Pt 37) by Spoken Word with Electronics

# 56-C: "1960s Mail Order Psychiatry, Pt 2" (Raw Audio) by Spoken Word with Electronics

# 56-D: (Side A) "Anything That is Organic Is Neurotic" by Spoken Word with Electronics

# 56-E: (Side B) "Your Analyst Has a Teal Aquarium" by Spoken Word with Electronics

SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #55: Re-Entering Society After Fifteen Months In Isolation

Hi, everyone, welcome back to the show. A few weeks ago I received my second vaccine shot. Ten days later I knew I was largely free to re-enter much of the world. I'd taken self-isolation pretty enthusiastically for fifteen months, to the equivalent that it felt like a space station in our home. Parts of me really loved it, other parts (like my socialized mental health) knew that the farther I got away from general society the more painful it would be in re-entry. So the process started this past week. I got an eggs benedict at a favorite local diner. I won't lie: The food felt great, the crowd felt tough. So a discussion on that, along with egg yolk facts, is on the menu for this episode. Life is like an egg yolk.

Also, starting this week's show is a multi-episode tribute to mail-order psychiatry lessons. The 1960s offered all kinds of learn-at-home options, and I've been collecting psychotherapy tutorials for a while. These things are awesome. This first one is Part One of "Anxiety", with raw audio here and a reblended track for Side A: "All of Us Develop Patterns". More psychiatry to come! An interesting component of the 1960s psychiatrist is they actually spoke with patients about their problems (not just their symptoms). The modern world is more split now with a therapist/psychologist being the empathic voice and the psychiatrist merely being the druggist. So these perspectives on the dual role (nurturer and prescriber) of psychiatrists in the 60s is really interesting.

Demo for this week: AML 54F50 Diode Bridge Compressor

Finally, for Side B this week, a cool hardware demo. I had an opportunity to work with a Neve 2254-based Diode Compressor this month. Diode Bridge Compressors are wonderful analog tools, read about them here. They allow for a signal to punch and fade (or glow) almost simultaneously, making a very elastic and glued together sound. In memory of Rupert Neve, who passed away this year, I thought it would be cool to play the entire Introduction track through a 2254. Rupert Neve has reintroduced the 2254 but it lacks the sidechain limiter of the original. Audio Maintenance Labs in the UK makes the most exact recreation of the original 2254 (If you compare their clone to the real thing from 1969, it's uncanny, both visually and in component quality) – So this week's Side B is a demo of the AML 54F50 Compressor / Limiter.

Thanks and have a good week, Ethan