Kalmia Records Blog

Are you old enough to remember Fibber McGee and Molly,The Shadow, the Jack Benny Show, Suspense, Amos & Andy or The Life of Riley?

These programs were truly theater of the mind because all the action took place not on some screen but in your imagination. All it took was the sound of a creaking door, hushed footsteps and heavy breathing to summon up the image of an intruder bent on evil deeds.

Even if you aren’t old enough to remember classic, old-time radio, it’s something you can enjoy - even now in the 21st Century. Some of these programs will sound very dated and more than a bit “camp.” But others hold up remarkably well. Much of The Bickersons, The Jack Benny Show, the Bob Hope Radio Program and Abbott and Costello are as funny today as they were 50 years ago. On the other hand, programs such as The Shadow, Suspense, and The Inner Sanctum may not seem at all scary today and, in fact, may generate more laughs than chills.

Today’s technology is giving old time radio a new life via CDs, DVDs, streaming audio and podcasts. I especially like the podcasts because they make old time radio programs totally portable. All you need to do is download a few programs, transfer them to your favorite MP3 player and take them with you while working out, driving to work, or just relaxing on your patio.

How to listen free

One of my favorites for free old-time radio is Old Time Radio Fan (www.otrfan.com). This site lets you listen to or download old-time detective stories, mystery shows and more. This includes classics like:

-Sherlock Holmes

-Sam Spade

You get to pick the time and the show. Technically, it is on-demand streaming MP3. OTR Fan is organized around daily features of two or three different programs. This gives gives about an hour of Golden Age crime drama. The features are kept online for at least seven days on the “recent features” page.

A second worthwhile site where you can listen to old time radio at no cost is Radio Lovers (www.radiolovers.com). It offers hundreds of old time radio shows in MP3 format. Like OTR Fan, this site is built around on-demand MP3 streaming but offers no download ability. However, one word of warning: I have tried to listen to programs on this site on several different occasions, and the connection always timed out before I could hear the chosen program.

Old-time radio for sale

If you’d like to collect old-time radio programs, there are several excellent sites that sell them at reasonable cost.

One that I like is Your Radio Shows (www.yourradioshows.com). It offers old time radio programs on CD-ROM for as little as$1.99 each with free shipping. The site -boasts a large catalog of shows by category. For example, in the category “Comedy”, you will find programs such as:

-Abbott & Costello

-Bob and Ray

I also like The Vintage Library (www.vintagelibrary.com). It specializes in professionally remastered, collector sets on CD and cassette. These collector sets tend to range in price from $19.95 to $69.95, although many of the sets are on sale at reduced prices. Examples of these collectors sets are:

-Adventures of Philip Marlowe, 3 hours on CD

-Lights Out: Volumes 1 and 2

-And many others

Listening to and collecting old-time radio programs is fun because it’s totally theater of the mind. Unlike TV or electronic games, it requires you to create your own pictures. Plus, it serves as an educational yet entertaining look at a slice of American history in the ’30s, ’40s and early ’50s.

To learn more about old-time radio, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com This site also has information on a brand, new kind of radio — HD Radio — which gives you pure, crystal-clear sound for free. Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on old-time radio, HD radio and family finances.

Advance: in Mr. Siluk’s poetry one finds symbolist values, sensuous impressions; verbal magic and even childish jingles; at times the popular 8-syllable verse (ballad metre). Free verse, with lamenting poetic moods, even satire (poems inside-out). Here are a few more of his recently written poems. Rosa Pealoza.

Lamenting Poetic Moods
(Six Poems)

By Dennis Siluk

Spring Scene: Rain
[Along the Mississippi]

Dusk descends. A mist
shows nothing of kindness.
And now, as the sun falls,
a dead pale gleam, hardly

seen…
covers the city, along the

Mississippi;
With tarnished spring rain!
Everything is cold and gray.
No moon at all, just pale drab

rain…
Bleak rain, all night and day;
Pale-bleak rain, along the

Mississippi.

Note: #670 [5/16/05]; inspired by the rain;
in St. Paul, Minnesota; and Juan Ramon Jimenez.

Wariwilca
[Ancient ruins by the Andes of Peru, 700 AD]

Ancient ruins, hidden away
In the Mantaro Valley
Huancayo…

A scent of silence…resides
In the quiet skies
Of Wariwilca!…

A cheerful breeze clashes my knees
As I kneel down
And Drink from its spring…

In the quiet corners of
The ruins, spirits still linger
Unruffled….

#671/5/16/05

American Society:
Yellow moon-light

We are Christians, but have
Not faith!

We are ecclesiastical but
Not spiritual!

We have no roots, but we
Have big feet!

It is a land of everyone
Ruled by everyone

Even mystics!

We have the mountain and sky
And we all try to fly!

We love God, with or
Without Him!

It should be made clear
We are preoccupied with:

Death, money and beer!

(And most folks hate poetry
At best.)

Our youth and Congress
With long grass and low skies

Are on a road that leads to lies!

As for me
Books, New York City, just before
Dawn: yellow moon-light shines through
My empty room….
Farewell, farewell; next stop
My poems becomes alive
With cosmic crap!

#669

White Peril

Weakness rides the humans of life!
Humans against the anguish of Satan!

He feels wronged and thus, suffers
Madly with his blemished soul!

They are many; but they exist, they
…paint white fences for weak humans.

The poor…the poor! He slaps their face;
Puts them in place; gives gilt filled destinies.

Weakness rides the humans of life!
Madly with the blemished soul of Satan…:

Crazed eyes, shoulders high, high:
He summons us…to his den nearby!…

#668

Cesar Vallejo’s:
Feasible of Black Roses

Bow down your head ol’ poet
To face God’s grace ahead
There are no more trenches

To dig today…
In the forest of your head,

So:
Bow down, bow down,

Ol’ barbaric poet!
Death rides the horse ahead
I hear the crackling of a whip
See the crazed eyes of death.

He summons you to his den
The devil and his wind,

So:
Bow down, bow down

Your blood stained brows
He will take you to the edge.

Closer, closer, I see you now
Ah! a moving satanic cloud
I see a festival of black-roses:
Hear a clamor in the crowd;

Bow down, bow down, Ol’ poet
…I hear applause!

Forgive me Lord, I tired
In the afternoon of my life
But souls are seized by devils

And black-roses at festivals:
On days that ‘you are sick!…’

#666 [5/15/2005]

Evangeline of Lima

Evangelina of Lima,

Awoken in her breasts

Warmth at the request
For her hand in marriage
By the handsome young captain

Don Fernando!

But obsession to gamble

Woud tare his heart away

As he squandered her fortune
And her diamond solitaire ring.

But fortune would have it so,

She died a solid wife

To save her husbands honor
In the middle of her life.

Note: Inspired by Ricardo Palma, and his “Peruvian Traditions”. Being a licensed counselor for many years, and schooled in psychology, and addictions, this case he writes about, was most interesting to me, and therefore I wrote my poem with it as an example. I do not feel I have taken anything away from his writings, and was careful to observe this.

Poet/Author, Dennis Siluk, http://dennissiluk.tripod.com

Everyone has objects in their attics and cellars that are wonderful reminders of the past. True antiques are at least one hundred years old, but often these treasures are valuable in their very existence if not quite making the century mark. Dusty, broken, missing parts, we still have not the heart to relegate them to the dump. So we hang on to them, tenderly wrapping them in newspaper and marking the box in large crooked letters.

Then one day, someone comes along who offers to make your precious object like new, raising its stature to a beautiful objet d’ art and creating a vision of hidden spot lights and alabaster pedestals in your living room. I am such a person. I have rescued neglected mandolins, violins, near-Tiffany lamps from the teens, rare wind-up toys from Japan, delicate three-tiered bird houses from China, and a nineteen thirty nine rich child’s tricycle. Some things have been found in a garage sale, others entrusted to me by friends or neighbors.

My most recent project involved the dismantling and restoring a nineteen thirties Japanese boat compass. This sixteen pound relic was personally carried home by a neighbor’s husband who was killed in World War II in a plane crash. Made of solid brass so as not to rust on the high seas, no expense was spared in the hand-made manufacture of this compass. A beveled plate glass window provided access to a blued steel floating compass. A rear glass window offered additional viewing, lit by a built-in oil lamp on the side. Someone had painted the whole thing with dark green shutter paint which by this time had half peeled off. The cracked and peeling white paint inside did not deter the family of spiders living there. One week later, my hard earned scuffed knuckles produced a shining new boat compass. The widow almost cried when she saw it and immediately found a place of honor in the living room.

Buoyed by this success, the lady supplied me with a new and exciting project in the shape of an nineteen twenty two original wall telephone. Complete with speaker microphone and ear piece, this Western Electric gem even retained it’s original matching telephone book shelf. The metal parts are made of nickel plated brass, the speaker and ear piece of Bakelite and the case and shelf carved from durable oak. Pictured in my mind were the pre-electricity folks chatting on this Early American Party Line invention. I plan to spend three weeks enjoying the restoration of this beauty and collecting the reward for my hard labor — the huge smile on the face of the owner.

The satisfaction may not be instant, but it’s real.