Zany originals, fractured standards and bar room comedy plus some great singing and piano playing by the Dangerous Duo.

12 MP3 Songs in this album (43:29) !
Related styles: EASY LISTENING: Lounge, EASY LISTENING: Cabaret

People who are interested in Randy Newman Dr. Demento should consider this download.


Details:
Happy Hour,Happy Hour
Drown your troubles in a whiskey sour
four to seven, fun fun fun
Two can drink for the price of one.
The Title song, "Happy Hour: was written in fond remembrance of Papa Choux where we performed every night for 2 happy years in the 70's. Papa Choux was a French restaurant on Olympic Blvd in LA not far from the Executive Room where Billy Joel was the Piano Man. "These Polish Things" was recorded there live in 1977. There was a Polish couple at the bar and you can hear them cracking up in the background and Claudius (Joe) the bartender tossing an empty bottle in the trash can. Later we did a long stint at the Queensway Hilton in Long Beach with George Cebra on bass and Albie Berk on drums. Valli's fractured version of "Midnight at the Oasis" was recorded there. We were supposed to be playing disco and we could knock off a set of Donna Summer covers on request but most of the time got away with doing our own thing. "I Made It Hard for You but Don't Hold It Against Me" was written as a campy spoof on disco. An agent heard us at the Queensway and booked us on the Island Princess cruisng up to Alaska while some Love Boat episodes were being filmed aboard. From there we went to Tokyo for 4 months playing in a hostess bar in the Akasaka district. One of the customers presented me with a manuscript entitled "Japanese Fork Song" and this was the inspiration for "Akasaka" which was recorded with the help of a rhythm box and an ARP analog synth. Tokyo was followed by a duo gig in Palm Springs in 1980. We were about to sign a contract for the season when a call came from Puerto Rico offering us a job at "Cats" a jazz room in the Condado. Palm Springs was pretty dull after Tokyo so we gave notice and flew to SanJuan. Well "Cats" didn't have nine lives in fact it folded in 6 weeks. But we stayed on at the Cerrromar Hotel. Here is where "Harvey and Sheila" was recorded with the help of an exuberant audience. Subsequently we performed at every hotel on the Island, recording 2 live CDs "Live at Palmas" and "Live at Rio Mar Beach" along the way. In the late 80's our agent Jimmy Stevens convinced us to form a showy dance quintet for the booming convention trade and we prospered under his management. When Jimmy retired we started booking ourselves and soon formed an Entertainment Agency booking other musicians and entertainers. And that's where we are today in 2008. Valli handles most of the booking while I still play a few gigs with my Latin Jazz group but concentrate mostly on recording and distrtibuting our CDs. The remaining tracks on this CD were recorded in our studio in Luquillo. We now have 20 CDs selling well locally and available on CD Baby and iTunes. In the summer we cruise the BVIs in our homemade Wharram catamarran, the Take 2.
Don Baaska