Hi, as a child I had the last Christmas album you talk
about, but have no idea what happened to it. I
searching for video as well but would also like to get
some audio. Would you be able to post or email me an
mp3 of the album you have? It would be greatly
appreciated

Thanks

Kriastyn
--- moustachedpainless <moustachedpainless@...>
wrote:

>
>
> Hi gang! I am fairly new to this group and thought
> that i would introduce myself. My name
> is Robert Dayton and I live in Vancouver. I am
> pretty obsessed with Archie and his friends
> so finding this group makes me happy. It has
> affected me ever since I was a child and I
> often ask people from Winnipeg any facts that they
> might know about it. The funny thing
> is that I have never even seen the show!
> I have paid tribute in my musical act Canned Hamm
> (www.cannedhamm.com) and wrote
> about some of the albums for a Chipmunks-related
> (ie. anything with sped-up voices)
> issue
> of the music mag Roctober (www.roctober.com) out of
> Chicago. I reprint the write-up
> here below. Since the write-up i have gotten the
> earlier white cover Funtown album with
> order sheet for a
> Petite puppet: did anyone out there ever get the
> puppet? What other Archie albums are
> there in existence, anyone know? Anyone have spares
> they would sell? Also, I really would
> love to see the show, I seem to have learned so much
> about it through the LPs and
> anecdotes of friends but still really need to see
> it! I will pay postage and video tape costs,
> etc. if anyone has access, thanks muchly!
> TTFN,
> Robert
>
> FUNTOWN: Favorite 20 Selections LP (K-tel NC 498
> 1978)
>
> Petite Sings For You-Pet Care Tips (CM-100
> distributed by Clay-Mor, a custom product of
> Pickwick Canada)
>
> Archie Wood and his Friends Christmas Album (E-500)
>
> As a kid, I used to stare and stare at the
> "FUNTOWN" album while listening to it
> repetitively. The circular photos of the puppets
> would peer out at me- the ventriloquist
> dummies Archie Wood (wood, get it?), Grandpa Wood,
> and Tammy True, the cute little dog
> puppet Petite, and Marvin Mouse. "Who are they?,"
> I'd wonder. "Do they exist beyond this
> record?" In the early 90's I found out that they did
> indeedy! I was out drinking one night
> with my friends Julian and Lester and they happened
> to bring up Funtown. I flipped! "You
> know of Funtown?!?" This caused them to burst out
> laughing! Julian and Lester are both
> from Winnipeg, Manitoba, home of K-tel and where
> Funtown ran for 25 years on Winnipeg
> television. This was an institution that was called
> "Archie Wood and his Friends" on
> weekdays and "Funtown" on Saturdays. It was hosted
> by "Uncle Bob" Swarts, who was
> known around Funtown as "Mayor Bob." The first time
> that I heard "Hey Jude" I thought
> that these "Beatles" were ripping off Marvin Mouse's
> and Tuttle Turtle's "Hey Tuttle" and I
> didn't think that "Hey Jude" was anywheres near as
> good! Now as an adult, I realize that
> Mayor Bob was just improvising and character acting
> overtop of a track from Marty Gold's
> "Moog Plays the Beatles" LP. In tribute, my band
> Canned Hamm took the very same
> backing track along with Marvin Mouse and Tuttle
> Turtle's banter to make "Hey, Lil'
> Hamm." In later years, Mayor Bob had developed an
> oft rumoured reputation as an
> alcoholic and one can sure hear it on this album, he
> stumbles and slurs over stock backing
> tracks like "Can't Buy Me Love" (where Tammy True
> tries to woo Mayor Bob by giving him
> ten bucks and singing this song) and "Put A Little
> Love In your Heart" (where Grandpa
> Wood literally misses a cue to a verse and has to
> catch up, leading me to believe that this
> whole album was done in one take). But where do the
> sped up vocals come in? On Petite,
> the cute little female dog's numbers. This cuddly
> little bitch's vocals aren't just sped up!
> They speed up the whole stock pop song! "Paper
> Tiger," "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog," "The
> Doggie in the Window," and "Mocking Bird Hill" are
> all sped up! Possibly even from 33 1/3
> to 45 RPM! How brilliantly shoddy! All on an
> original K-tel album (the only other "original"
> K-tel album I know of is "Rock Fantasy," an equally
> amazing album that takes place in, "the
> land where animals are people" that was most likely
> made with some Jewel Akens stock
> backing tracks of "Vegetable Love Song," "Birds and
> The Bee," etc. at a K-tel staff party).
> Former Winnipegers tell me that Uncle Bob often used
> to yell at kids to get off of his lawn.
> And, in fact, my ex-girlfriend Kim's mom went on a
> date or two with Uncle Bob! I would
> have loved to have seen this show.
>
> Michael Dumontier of The famed Royal Art Lodge out
> of Winnipeg sent me the "Petite
> Sings…" record. Much earlier Uncle Bob than
> "Funtown." This cover has a huge circular
> photo of Petite with a much smaller photo underneath
> of Uncle Bob waving up to her. The
> back cover gives us 8 pet care tips (#7. Never pet a
> strange pet). Although Uncle Bob
> sounds somewhat more coherent and less slurred than
> he was later on, this whole album
> is still shoddy. Shoddilly tremendous! Since it's
> Petite, the whole thing is just sped up pop
> songs like "These Boots Are Made for Walking" and
> "Snowbird." In between songs Mayor
> Bob and the puppets chat with one another. They give
> us safety tips. Marvin Mouse's
> safety tip is, "Um, when you're playing outside
> never, never, never play with sharp sticks,
> you might stick it in your in your eye." Petite's
> speaking voice is just falsetto Uncle Bob.
> Marvin gets angry because he doesn't get to sing any
> songs. Eventually, even though it's
> Petite's album, they let him sing. Marvin chooses
> "Little White Duck" but it's actually just
> the Burl Ives recording. And regular speed at that!
>
> "Archie Woods and Friends Christmas Album" is a
> very early album! Petite's songs don't
> even speed up, it's just Uncle Bob with a falsetto.
> The organ music is by "Agnes Forsythe"
> ("their" quotation marks, not mine). Marvin Mouse
> sings "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."
> On the cover Uncle Bob and all the puppets are lined
> up together beside a Christmas tree
> and in front of a cardboard castle set. You know
> what I just realized? Archie Wood,
> Grandpa Wood, and Tammy True are never seen
> together! I think it's the same puppet!
> Tammy is just Archie in black pigtails and buckskin
> (she's supposed to be 'native') and
> Grandpa is just Archie with white hair and a beard.
> They even have similar voices! (RD)
>
>
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>




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