Inflammable Dan With The Igniters on Wine

 

High Flying Wine
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The Buffer
download

 Both composed by C. Appel and published by Chart-Gap Pub.

Wine Records  #09

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1963

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"Inflammable Dan" was the radio moniker of Charlie Apple, a popular radio disc jockey in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area (most notably on WPSL) during the 1960s. In 1963, Apple teamed up with a local Pittsburgh rock and roll band named The Igniters to record a novelty garage-rock single.

Some info found at Wikibin, the Wikpedia trashbin :

Charlie "C.A." Apple (born 1941 - Penn Hills, Pennsylvania) is a veteran R&B and oldies radio disc jockey from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Apple began broadcasting at WPSL 1510 AM in Monroeville, Pennsylvania in 1966, and his career has seen stops at mostly small AM and FM stations in the Pittsburgh area. Along the way, he has amassed a cult following of fans who refer to themselves collectively as The Apple Corps.

Heavily influenced by fellow Pittsburgh DJ Porky Chedwick, Apple's announcing style often utilizes speaking in rhyme and makes extensive use of reverb. Like Chedwick, Apple's show specializes in what he has coined "Pittsburgh Oldies" or simply "sounds" from his own record collection - songs originally popular on a local basis, but largely unknown outside the area. The format includes blues, doo wop, garage bands, and novelty records frequently - though not always - by groups from the Pittsburgh area.

The trio of Apple, Chedwick, and Mike Metrovich are seen as founders of this peculiar Pittsburgh radio subculture which has endured continuously "under the radar" since the 1950s. Through them, several other DJ's have been inspired to host shows of "Pittsburgh Oldies" on area radio stations.

Charlie is well respected by the students he taught at St. Edmund's Academy in Squirrel Hill. Always challenging his students to think and act, of which he has a formal pupil budding Broadway star Christian Borle. For several years Charlie was a home room teacher who inspired his classes through 50's movie, The Body Snatchers etc., music, and free thought. A family man and a teacher Charlie also found time to be the Head Chaplain at the small Episcopal grade school.

Also see article published by Pittsburgh City Paper in 2003

 

But Charlie Appel had a dark side : in 2014, Charlie Appel was sentenced to five years in prison for downloading child pornography. See Tribune Review.  He died in 2019. More serious related facts came to light after his death. See Spotlight On Abuse

 

Charlie Appel (1941-2019)

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For the sake of completeness, I must mention that Rockin' Country Style also lists another single on the same label, likewise without a location. But I won't say anything about it here, because The Zaks' 45 holds little interest for rockabilly fans.

 

Seagulls

 

Seagulls are quiet birds, considered quite beneficial by agriculturists (they were credited with saving farmer's crops by consuming the insects endagering them). They are usually gentle creatures, exhibiting neither antagonism to not fondness for man.

What interested Tom Wilson Weinberg about the seagulls was their behaviour or more precisely the behaviour of some seagulls :  in response to a UC Irvine study of long term monogamous lesbian behaviour in seagulls on Santa Barbara Island, Tom Wilson Weinberg wrote and composed "Lesbian Seagull" originally recorded and released it on his own 1979 album, The Gay Name Game.  

Mike Judge, creator-designer of Beavis and Butt-Head, heard the song in a David Letterman "Dave's Record Collection" segment and contacted Weinberg about using it in the film. The song was originally featured in the animated comedy film “Beavis and Butt-Head Do America,” and it quickly became a cult classic. Performed by Engelbert Humperdinck, the song explores themes of acceptance and finding beauty in unconventional places.

“Lesbian Seagull” holds a special place in the hearts of many members of the LGBTQ+ community and is often seen as an empowering anthem that promotes love, acceptance, and self-expression. 

Note : today LGBTQ+ is supplanted by the more inclusive LGBTTQQIAAP (I'm not joking). I'm expecting some additional letters in a near future (Z, for instance -  I'm joking). 

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Another unsuspecting seagull has been previously seen as vector of educational and social values, when Hall Bartlett directed in 1973 Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a Paramount Pictures directed by Hall Bartlett who gives us "twelve great lessons". , a movie rightfully listed in the book "The 50 Worst Movies of All Time", by Harry Medved and quoting some critics. Here is just an example :

No, I have not read the book but,  oh my God, did I ever see the movie ! Seagulls, as the film stresses, subsist on garbage, and, I guess, you are what you eat... As if this were not nauseating enough to itself, Neil Diamond composed and sings an ear-splitting and stomach-turning score, its platitudes and decibels running abreast and amuck .

 Update :

Links removed two years ago by my hosting service following a copyright infringement complaint sent by Melissa Morgia

 

Hey Melissa Honey,

I hope your are well. Just to ask you, if you are still interested to hunt the copyright outlaws, what kind of measures you intend to take towards those who posted "Be" and "Lesbian Seagull" songs at YouTube ?

The links:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22neil+diamond%22+be

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22lesbian+seagull%22+humperdinck

Kind regards,

 

 

 

 

Missile Records (Johnny Garmon and the Shadows)

 

Johnny Garmon and the Shadows issued three singles for Garmon's own Missile label, which is listed at Rockin' Country Style unlocated. 

Billy Miller and Miriam Linna of Norton Records have included three of their sides in their "El Paso Rock" volume 4..  Therefore, as I trust the always reliable Billy and Miriam, we can say that the Missile label was located in El Paso, Texas.

 Johnny Garmon and the Shadows 
the six sides and labels