Angelitos Negros, a ballad protesting racial discrimination, was written in 1948 by legendary Mexican actor and singer Pedro Infante. It is the title song of one of the classics of the golden age of Mexican cinema.

In addition to Eartha Kitt, Angelitos Negros (also known by its English title, “Paint Me Black Angels”) has been covered by Roberta Flack and Cat Powers.

Eartha is mesmerizing, relying upon nothing more than her extraordinary presence. As she weeps, she sings:

Though the Virgin may be white,
paint me some black angels,
for they go to heaven, too
as all good black people do.
Paint me some black angels now

In its unadorned purity, this video is absolutely perfect and the quality is amazing. I wonder when, where and by whom this was filmed.

 
Speedway is a typical lightweight Elvis romp from the ‘60s co-starring Nancy Sinatra who plays a sexy IRS agent who comes to audit racecar driver Elvis, whose business manager (Bill Bixby) is an idiot addicted to gambling. She succumbs to the King’s charms, natch. There are songs and a plucky homeless family living in their car. That’s the plot in a nutshell.

Carl Ballantine from McHale’s Navy and Gale Gordon, best known as Mr. Mooney from The Lucy Show are also part of the cast. One production number, for a song called He’s Your Uncle, Not Your Dad, takes place in an IRS office! It’s perfectly dreadful, if entertaining, drivel, but it does have two great numbers in it. Elvis does a rocker called Let Yourself Go that was released as a single, but flopped, which is a shame, because it’s one of my top favorite Elvis tracks. And Nancy Sinatra performs a swingin’ little number called Your Groovy Self, complete with minimalist mod choreography, It’s one of her best songs, certainly one of her best performances on film and the sole track by anyone other than Elvis to appear on the soundtrack album to one of his movies.

Two fun facts: First, Speedway was originally written for Sonny and Cher! Second, take a look at the nightclub: Quentin Tarrentino’s set design for Jack Rabbit Slim’s in Pulp Fiction was inspired by the decor of the Hangout, where Speedway’s in-crowd mix in a racecar booth ‘60s disco splendor.

The plot device that gets Nancy to sing is when Carl Ballantine, the maitre’d of the Hangout shines a spotlight on her, and for some arbitrary Elvis-movie logic, she has to “get up and do something.” This is what she does:
 

 
See Elvis’s big number after the jump

 
Adventurous music folks have had their ears on electronic music trends in sub-Saharan Africa ever since the amplified likembe group Konono No. 1 emerged to Western attention from Kinshasa, in the Democratic Repbulic of Congo five years ago.

Now blogs like Generation Bass, Ghetto Bassquake, mudd up! and others are surfacing all kinds of DIY techno-fied genres from all over the continent. And the tempos seem to be getting as fast as the trend-spotting. As reported first by The Fader, Wills Glasspiegel of Outside Music has uncovered “Shangaan electro” music, a hectic digital blend of breakneck thump-beats, MIDI keyboards, sped-up alien samples and melodic vocals. It’s named after the population grouping from which the musicians come, the Shangaan of the northern Limpopo province of South Africa. It’s gotten enough attention to merit the anthology Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa on the UK’s Honest Jon’s label

Here’s Richard “Nozinja” Mthetwa, the godfather& top producer of the Shangaan electro genre, breaking it down:
 

 
More after the jump: Just behind Shangaan electro, the Tanzanian sound of Jagwa…
 

 
In a hilariously counter-intuitive move, young Linus Akesson here has transplanted some 8 bit synthesizer technology, meant for fitting into the smallest of devices, into the shell of an old family entertainment organ. Hence: The Chipophone. Looks very functional and makes it easy to play all the uh, classics.

 
Thanks Mike Paradinas !

 
(via Mister Honk)

 
Stu Mitchell was the drummer for Edmonton, Alberta instrumental rockers Wes Dakus’s Rebels. He had a brief solo career, releasing a handful of singles for Kapp Records. Acid was the B-side of a 45 released in 1967.

Mitchell, sounding a whole lot like Jim Morrison, takes us on a trip down “nowhere street in a town called LSD.” While the lyrics seem to be a cautionary tale about the hazards of acid, the end result is actually pretty psychedelic. I can imagine Scott Walker covering this.

 
I think that those of us who are old enough to remember hearing actual Muzak in public places were in fact hearing one of these diabolical devices: The Seeburg 1000 background music system. Essentially a stackable spindle record player that played Seeburg’s specially produced 16rpm, big hole in the middle LPs chock full of motivating background music, sure to bring out the productivity in your employees and the wallets from your customers. I was delighted to find literally hundreds of clips of these records, alas mostly being played on conventional players, on the youtubes. For the pupose of this post I’m concentrating on a few examples from Seeburg’s long running Industrial library:

Average tempo: medium fast. Predominantly instrumental,with a light seasoning of great vocals. An occasional polka or march. Emphasis on popular music. Minimum of stringed instruments. Unusually rhythmical. Over-all lively character but never a rock ‘n’ roll. Designed for Industrial plants only.

 
Much more after the jump…

 
Attention people of Earth and Southern California!

This Thursday marks the opening of How We Roll, a six-month exhibition on African-America’s contribution to surfing, skateboarding and rollerskating culture at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles.

Starting with the history of black surfing from the 17th and 18th century in Polynesia and Africa and on into the US, the exhibit rolls through the African-American surf-skateboard-rollerskate continuum featuring photos by Glen E. Friedman, Grant Brittain, Jim Goodrich, Lance Dawes, Atiba Jefferson, Neftalie and more. Spotlights include the legacy of pioneering black female pro skateboarder Stephanie Person and the way that skateboarding has cross-pollinated with black music formats like Afropunk, hip-hop, jazz and reggae.

Get a preview of what the exhibit looks like here.

Here’s a piece of the black skateboarding story on the East Coast from Jeremiah Alexis via Current TV
 

 
Bonus clip after the jump: a tribute to the irrepressible black skater & actor Harold Hunter, R.I.P.
 

 
A quick ode to a beautiful and enigmatic tune: Glen Campbell‘s hit version of Jimmy Webb‘s Wichita Lineman. Surely one of the most haunting and even creepy of all love songs and packed with unanswered questions. Has he gone mad, hearing voices in the static of the power lines or has he tapped her phone ?  When I hear this song I actually can picture myself up a lonely telephone pole on some bleak and empty highway somewhere, my heart full of longing. Plus: A tasty Fender VI solo !

 
Thanks Nicole Panter !

Memphis Blac (aka Arapaho) and Smokahontas Jones

Calling a woman a “ho” has negative connotations, obviously, but it doesn’t seem to bother rappers Smokahontas Jones and Memphis Blac: It’s their day jobs! Yup, apparently they’re actual streetwalkers who rap on the side. Their song Got Dat Work has recently become a viral video hit on YouTube. From an interview at Street Carnage:

How do you feel about the response to Got Dat Work?

MEMPHIS BLAC: We really never expected so much attention from the video. But you know what I’m saying.… What I say, a lot of people don’t want to be heard. I will tell the truth and speak my mind. On the video we got a comment from some person and he said he was staying at the Loeb Hotel on Collins Avenue, he said that he had never seen anybody walking the streets or any prostitutes — but he couldn’t be any further from the truth because I was on Collins three weeks ago and it’s all good. I’ve got a lot of things to say … I’ve been out in the streets, I’ve been pimped, I’ve done everything there is, you know what I’m saying. I standing here on my own, I got a clear head, I ain’t dead. I thank god I don’t have AIDS.

What’s next for you two?

MEMPHIS BLAC: We are going to drop my first solo album and my new video. I just filmed Hoe Money — this is the one. Everybody talking shit that have something negative to say will see this video and won’t say shit.

SMOKAHONTAS: It’s quite frankly going to shut them the fuck up.

Video below featuring “celebrity crackhead” Dope Fiend Pimpin’ Jerry:
 

 
Interview with rapping street prostitutes (Street Carnage)

Follow Smokahontas on Twitter