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Thursday, January 13, 2022

The Mal Thursday Show: Norton 800 Top 10 with Miriam Linna

Guest DJ Miriam Linna (Norton Records, A-Bones, Kicks, Bad Seed, Cramps, et al.) spins ten tough 45 RPM monstrosities from the Norton 800 series, while Mal pays homage with a set of Ohian nuggets.

Playlist:
Esquerita: Gettin' Plenty Lovin'
Hasil Adkins: She Said
Andre Williams: Jailbait
Nolan Strong: Mind over Matter
The Ramrods: War Party
The Excels: Lets Dance
Knights of the Round Table: Big Tears  
The Vampires: Fire
Dwight Douglas & the Jayhawks: Interstate 45
Big Brown & The Gamblers: My Testament
CJ & The Casuals: Study Hall
Woody Carr & The El Caminos: My Woman
The Kinks: I Need You
Phil Flowers: Chapel on the Hill
Thee Midnighters: Thee Midnight Theme
Stiv Bators: It's Cold Outside
The Choir: I'm Going Home
The Raspberries: Go All the Way
The Fifth Order: Goin' Too Far
The Pictorian Skiffuls: In a While.
The Outsiders: Time Won't Let Me
The Greenhornes: It's My Soul/Pigtails and Kneesocks
Tiger Bomb: Can't Stop
The Embrooks: Going, But Not Gone
Thee Girl Fridays: The Love Witch
The Mal Thursday Quintet: Don't Want You Either
The Reverberations: Time Stops
Jake Starr & The Delicious Fullness: The Mess I'm In
Miriam & Nobody's Babies: Get the Message

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Tonight - "Make with the Shake" Marathon Madness week 2!



Tonight on Ichiban it's a certified 4-alarm swag avalanche as Make with the Shake returns for another week of marathon madness and giveaways! In addition to all the amazing marathon swag available to pledgers (including DJ Pat K's exclusive marathon premium disc "Oh God, It Hurts!: Agonizing Rock & Soul about Pain, Illness, and Affliction", pictured above), Pat will also be giving away some amazing wax from Norton Records, including a copy of Not Now by the A-Bones and the fantastic early r&b comp The Golden Groups: The Best of Norton Records, vol 1, and more! Pledges of $20 and more get entered to win the prizes, you gotta be in it to win it! Tune in tonight at 8pm EST for the fun, click here for the live stream, playlist, and chatboard, and CLICK HERE to get those pledges in! WFMU and Ichiban need your help!

"The Rooster", from Not Now by the A-Bones

"Jelly Bean" by The Dreamtones, from The Golden Groups: The Best of Norton Records , Vol. 1

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Tonight: Make With The Shake, marathon giveaway edition!!

Some amazing prize giveaways on tonight's special marathon edition of Make With The Shake! Pat K will be giving away copies of the hot Norton 45 The Traveler by the mighty princes of Cleveland Archie & the Bunkers, a copy of the amazing new album Tally Ho! by the legendary Woggles, and an incredible comp of greasy soul guitar grooves on Sundazed entitled King Strings: King-Federal Guitar Grooves 1949-1962 featuring some amazing string-twisting workouts by the likes of Freddy King, Johnny Guitar Watson, and more! A pledge of $20 or more gets you in the running to win any of the goodies! Click here to listen to the livestream from 8-9pm EST, and check out some samples of the merchandise below:

Archie & the Bunkers, "The Traveler"


The Woggles, "Waiting for the Rain" from Tally Ho!



Texas Slim (John Lee Hooker), ":Stomp Boogie" from King Strings: King-Federal Guitar Grooves 1949-1962


Support Ichiban and pledge early, pledge often!


Friday, November 18, 2016

Tonight: DJ Pat K fills in for Debbie D with an all-Norton Hour



The Billy Miller/Norton tributes keep coming as DJ Pat K fills in for Debbie D tonight from 7-8pm with an all-Norton episode of Make With The Shake! Tune in as Pat K pays tribute to the life & work of Billy Miller by spinning his favorite singles from the label where the loud sound always abounds (and always will)! Classics from Andre Williams, Esquerita, Nolan Strong, Hasil Adkins and more guaranteed to leave you quakin' in your boots.  Check it out right here to listen and check the live playlist and comments!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Calling All Canadians, Calling All Canadians!!


Do not miss the Norton Records Caravan of Stars.


Fear not, fellow New Yorkers.  Miriam will be performing at Bowery Electric on Friday, September 12th.


Thursday, October 24, 2013

Norton Records Invades WFMU!


This just in from Rex:  Almost a year to the dreadful day that the flood waters of Sandy nearly washed them away--Norton Records is prouder and louder!  Join Billy and Miriam as they share the events of the past year of recovery and thrill to the sounds of several new Norton releases!  Plus special guest Charles Plymell, author of Benzedrine Highway (Kicks Books) will check in and take us on a ride in his Rocket 88.  Set your radio dial to 91.1 FM and stay tuned!

This Saturday on Fool's Paradise 1-3 PM EST.

Listen to the archive.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Benefit For Norton Records!


More info.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Dallas/Fort Worth - Norton Records Benefit Show!


Attention North Texas Ichibaners/Nortonites: Don't miss the D/FW Norton Records Benefit Show in Fort Worth! Sunday, Dec. 9th! Details Here!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Do It Again!

Thanks to Billy for this photo of the Norton 3



DJ lineup for today's Norton Records Wash-A-Rhon Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Whyte Street

11:00 PM * GREAT GAYLORD FIELDS
(The Sultan Of Squat)
10:00 PM * JOSH STYLES
(Smashed! Blocked!)
9:30 PM * PETER ZAREMBA
(Fleshtones)
9:00 PM * ANDY SHERNOFF
(The Dictators)
8:30 PM * AVI SPIVAK
(Norton Records)
8:00 PM * KEENAN POPWELL
(Friars Club)
7:15 PM * DREW REDMOND
(Metropolis Vintage)
6:30 PM * DAVE THE SPAZZ
(Music To Spazz By, WFMU)
6:00 PM * ANDY MALTZ
(Little Killers, Piggies)
5:30PM * REX
(Fool's Paradise, WFMU)
5:00 PM * MATT FIVEASH
(Rock N' Soul Ichiban)
4:30 PM * LEAH BETH
(The Nouvellas)
4:00PM * NEIL DEVLIN
(Norton Records)

Monday, November 19, 2012

In With The Out Crowd At Brooklyn Bowl

Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday to help save Norton Records!  It was like a crazy Batman movie.  Thanks, also, to everyone who tweeted and texted, etc. that the sound was distorted.  You helped us get it right.  Sorry we blew the archive.  Shame photo coming soon.


DJ Ted Barron
Rex!
Photo by Ted Barron
Todd-o-Phonic Todd
The Hound
J. Toubin
Nortons working non-stop
Miriam gets a dance break
2 thumbs up

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Norton DJ Wash-A-Thon!!

Sunday Record Washers League

NORTON RECORDS DJ MARATHON WASH-A-THON!

13 TOP JOCKS • 13,000 SOGGY RECORDS

Sunday November 18th

BROOKLYN BOWL
61 Wythe Avenue Brooklyn, NY

4pm til Midnight!

FREE!

Hurricane Sandy may have preempted one NYC Marathon but it has precipitated another -- the world’s first ever record washing marathon! Yes, join us at the Brooklyn Bowl as we tackle a truckload of wet wax from the label with the able stable- New York’s own NORTON RECORDS, which was totally trashed, bashed and flooded by the wrath and fury of Sandy! Get in on it as thirteen of the nation’s top disc jockeys blast their best, while lucky YOU joins the loud crowd lathering and buffing our Sandy-soaked footlongs back into action! Free admission but B.Y.O.RG. – Bring Your Own Rubber Gloves … and rolls of hi-klass paper towels! Teams of clean freaks will work with record washers provided by the acclaimed Discwasher Company of Pittsburgh, while others will use the time tested soapy sponge method. Learn a trade! And know that you have participated in saving the wildest wax in the world. As you know, Hurricane Sandy destroyed the contents of the Red Hook based Norton Records warehouse, soaking everything within. Time is not on our side as we strip off and discard wet jackets, and wash, dry and resleeve the recordings of the Sonics, Link Wray, Hasil Adkins, Jack Starr, Bloodshot Bill, Esquerita, Daddy Long Legs, King Uszniewicz and hundreds of artists whose shouts and stomps have come into your homes and hearts via the Norton label. Kudos to the beautiful BROOKLYN BOWL for setting the pins up for the first ever NORTON RECORDS WASH-A-THON—enjoy their food, beverages, great sound system.. plus break for BOWLING after the WASH-A-THON! See you there!

NON-STOP KILLER SOUNDS FROM THE TOWN’S TOP DJs


11:00PM * JONATHAN TOUBIN
10:00PM * JOSH STYLES
9:00PM * THE HOUND
8:30PM * TODD-O-PHONIC TODD
8:00 PM * DEBBIE D
7:30PM * REX
7:00PM * MR. FINE WINE
6:30 PM * DAVE THE SPAZZ
6:00 PM * JEFF THE CHEF
5:30PM * PHAST PHREDDIE
5:00 PM * DREW REDMOND
4:30 PM * AVI SPIVAK
4:00PM * CHARLY HIMMEL


Limited advance copies of Norton’s upcoming releases (which were safely at the plant during the storm) will be on sale at Brooklyn Bowl. This includes KIM FOWLEY - KING OF THE CREEPS (1959-69), THE DEL-AIRES - ZOMBIE STOMP (full LP by the Horror of Party Beach Guys), four new albums in our EL PASO ROCK series and T. VALENTINE WITH DADDY LONG LEGS - THE VAMPIRE! Several new singles will also be available! Pick up a Norton bags and teeshirt, too!

Sneak peak, pre-pub copies of LORD OF GARBAGE VOL. 1 (memoirs from 1939-1969) by KIM FOWLEY will be available—hot off the press at KICKS BOOKS!

http://nortonville.blogspot.com/

In case you can’t come by, but would still like to help, we have a donation button on our homepage, www.nortonrecords.com

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Norton Records: The Hound Checks In...

 At the Norton 25th anniversary party: The Hound, Ichiban's Debbie D and WMBR DJ John Funke.

Last year we were celebrating Norton Records' 25th anniversary, this year they're struggling to recover from Hurricane Sandy.  I spent two days this week helping out, cleaning discs on the volunteer assembly line.  It's a daunting task, two hundred thousand + records destroyed, jackets ruined - although some of the discs can be salvaged, hence the assembly line, but they need some help.

I go way back with the Norton Records people - Billy Miller and Miriam Linna.  Before Norton Records, before the Zantees, before Kicks, Bad Seed and Flamin' Groovies monthly magazines even.  Back to another time, back when it seemed like there were maybe a dozen or so people in the whole world that liked the type of sounds Norton has brought to the world - Esquirita, Hasil Adkins, Jack Starr, et al.  Now it seems like everyone knows who they are.  Last night a friend texted me - his daughter was playing on WFMU at that exact moment.  I tuned in to hear the kid, and she and her friends are warbling their way through a Charlie Feathers tune!  My, things have changed.  If there was one factor in bringing great rock'n'roll to the world, it was Norton Records.  Now they're fighting for their life, Hurricane Sandy (obviously named for the Dion tune) destroyed their warehouse, taking out records, personal items like most of Miriam's fabled paperback collection, Billy's 78RPM's, master tapes, fanzines, Kicks Books, etc.  If there was ever a good cause, this is it.  You can donate money at the Norton website or time or both.

Reasons you should head to Norton headquarters and volunteer:

*For one thing, it's a good cause, maybe the best cause ever.  Norton Records has long been at the forefront of what some of us think of as rock'n'roll, and they're just about the only ones who still do it.

*Free pizza and beer.  And rubber gloves....

*Its' where all the cool people are, the ones who hardly ever go out anymore (like me and my wife....).  I saw some of my favorite people in the world there this week.

*Despite the tragic and stressful conditions, Billy Miller is still one of the funniest people in the world.

*You'll earn indulgences to get to heaven, or where ever you plan on spending your afterlife.

*Learn the record business from the ground up.

*Learn about the hazards of global climate change and how it affects you and your Hasil Adkins records.

*Meet folks from all over the world, study their habits and learn to recognize their accents.

*More fun than it looks, in fact more fun that most NYC clubs these days.

To volunteer call the Norton office (718-789-4438) or Billy's cell (917) 671-7185 or email nortonrec@aol.com with the word Volunteer in the subject box.

NORTON RECORDS HURRICANE BULLS**T UPDATE


We are still at it here at Norton Records, trying to recover from the total destruction of Norton Records warehouse. The volunteers have been amazing - there's even Norton artists cleaning their own records! Sony Records, United Record Pressing and Discwashers have donated a ton of supplies for salvage purposes and we can't thank them enough. The Discwasher machines are speeding up the salvaging process immensely. Volunteers are still needed. E-mail nortonrec@aol.com with VOLUNTEER in the subject line or call 917-671-7185 (my cell phone) but no text or Facebook responses. we will be setting up a second crew at Brooklyn Phono in Sunset Park. Tom at Brooklyn Phono has been a saint and this second location will surely help speed things up. He's come up with some insane mad scientist way of saving 45s. If you want in on that, please put VOLUNTEER SUNSET PARK in the subject.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Norton Donations & Volunteer Help

Rockin' Joe Belock
Photo by Jacob Blickenstaf

I'm sure you've heard by now.  Norton Records has suffered a terrible blow in the shape of hurricane Sandy.  I'd like to thank all the "first responders" who have been helping out down at the warehouse, and at Norton H.Q., removing and drying records.  It's the kind of physical help that leaves you feeling like you're making a difference.  It's also the kind of help that folks in the Brooklyn, NY area are more equipped to provide.  But the norton family spreads out far past the five boroughs in every direction!  And the rest of us can help too.  By making a contribution.  This contribution will help to restore Norton's supply of jackets and sleeves for the salvaged LP's and 45's.  I remember once having a conversation with Miriam about the beginning of the label and where it has progressed to today.  It was while she and Billy were graciously housing the band at their home during the recording of the Mary Weiss album.  She remarked that "Norton isn't just a company or a label, it is it's own being with a heart and soul."  Nurtured and reared by a family of wild Rock and Roll fans all over the world!  And it is so true.  And now Norton needs our help.  Your help.  So that it may remain a home to superb music for generations to come.  Donate now!

You can also email nortonrec@aol.com for more info on how to lend a hand in Brooklyn.  Stay tuned for upcoming benefit concerts for Norton as well as a 1 day WFMU record fair that will include a Norton table with new stuff for sale!!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Donations For Norton Records


Your help is still desperately needed here at Norton HQ to assist in our recovery from the destruction of Norton’s Red Hook warehouse at the hands of Hurricane Sandy. There are more records that can be saved, but we are still racing the clock to salvage them before they dry. If you want to help with Norton Records salvaging effort at our office in Prospect Heights (Brooklyn, NY), please contact us ASAP at nortonrec@aol.com with VOLUNTEER in the subject line or call 917 671-7185 (Billy) or 718 789-4438 (office). We will reply with info.

Please alert NY friends. We have had a great deal of help but we can use much more!!

Thanks
The Norton staff

Donate Here!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

1

Ichiban Launch Party at Lakeside Lounge
Big heartfelt thanks to everyone who's been pitching in to help out WFMU and Norton Records this past week.  We are grateful to each and every one of you.  If you can get to Prospect Heights this week, there is still a lot to do at Norton HQ.  Email me at wfmuichiban@gmail.com for directions.  There would be no Ichiban without Norton!  Please help if you can.

Monday, November 5, 2012

You Tore My Brain



If you can get to Prospect Heights in Brooklyn this week, the Nortons need you! Email me at wfmuichiban@gmail.com for directions.  The clock is ticking. Thanks!

Let Her Dance!

Dust & Grooves Video Of Operation Norton


Saving Norton Records after Hurricane Sandy from Dust & Grooves on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eilon from Dust & Grooves for shooting this.

Deke Dickerson remembers his early days as a Norton Records artist

 In the 1980's, as a headstrong teenager fresh out of high school, I was in a band called the Untamed Youth.  We were the first "new" act signed by Norton Records, back in 1988.  It's hard to remember this now, but at the time the two main formats were vinyl records or cassette tapes.  CDs were an expensive medium for classical and jazz fanatics, and if my memory is correct the earliest CD players cost something like two thousand dollars.  LP's were definitely waning in popularity, and cassettes were the highest selling format....and don't forget the most miserable format of all, "cassingles,"  the majors' feeble attempt to replace the 45 rpm record with a two-song cassette tape.  If you were a normal alternative rock or heavy metal band in 1988, you put your new release out on cassette, and it would possibly be released on vinyl if you were signed to a big indie or major label.  There was no "hip" association with vinyl at the time.  It wasn't cool like it is today.  Mainstream people hated it.  A lot of people thought the pressing plants for vinyl were going to go out of business (and a lot of them did) during that time.

I remember asking Billy Miller if the Untamed Youth album would be released on cassette, since I was very worried (insert sad horn sound here) about our band's commercial potential in the marketplace.  Billy's response was that "cassettes are for Madonna."  When the Untamed Youth came to New York to play, Billy took me in the Norton-mobile to the pressing plant to see our record being made.

To an 18-year old kid, immersed in the new-to-me mystical world of intense, obsessive record collecting, seeing the antiquated processes and machinery that created these records was like a visit to the Wizard of Oz.  Machines wheezed and clunked and the air was thick and acrid with the smell of vinyl particulate and steam.  It was awesome.  I watched as Untamed Youth "Some Kinda Fun" LP's came off the line.  I was surprised at how much hand-work was involved, figuring it would be an all-automated process.  Nope, it was pretty much like the 1950's, low-wage folks inserting vinyl biscuits into pressing machines, hand-inserting vinyl into sleeves.

Billy Miller looked at a stack of reject 45's and pulled out a red vinyl 45 called "Roaches" by the Court Jesters.  "Hey, this one is a good doo-wop song about Roaches, you have it?"  I replied I did not, but I knew I certainly needed it.  Soon my world would revolve around doo-wop sounds about Roaches, one-man band songs about government cheese, and surf songs about monkeys.

We loaded a bunch of boxes of literally hot-off-the-press Untamed Youth albums into the Norton-mobile and drove to the Norton warehouse (different place than it is now, but still a musty, moldy underground bunker with the sort of infrastructure and wiring and plumbing one would expect from a city built upon the ruins of the previous three centuries).  There I was, a kid fresh out of high school, unloading a princely 1000 copies of my first record down some rusty stairs into a dark basement warehouse.  I probably knew at that moment, though my ambition wouldn't let me accept it, that super-stardom was not in my future.  Madonna had not started out this way.

Somehow I knew, though, that this was my place.  A world where a pancake-shaped molded vinyl particulate would be obsessed over as though it were the Shroud of Turin by a group of unemployed, broke jackasses that really, god bless 'em, really really cared about the music.  They could tell you about alternate takes, they could tell you about which pressings were vinyl and which were noisy styrene, they could wax philosophical about how Hasil Adkins and Jerry McCain had been separated at birth, even though one was white and one was black.  I felt all the same things, and I knew that Jerry Lee Lewis alternate takes were important to me, too, even if they didn't mean a damn to the friends I had back in Missouri.  For that moment of recognizing and accepting my fellow species of lowlife music-obsessed, record collecting miscreants, I owe Billy and Miriam and Norton Records a huge thanks. 

Now here I am, two and a half decades later, lugging my own vinyl pressings into my own storage space, 1000 copies at a time.  Vinyl is hip again in a way that we never would have predicted back in the 1980s.  I have no embarrassing cassingles in my past, and I have Norton Records to thank for that as well.

It saddens me now to think of the Norton Warehouse, submerged under Hurricane Sandy bilge water, those precious biscuits of vinyl waterlogged.  Some of those priceless nuggets have my own precious teenage angst garage band music recorded on them.  I remember lugging those boxes down the stairs nearly 25 years ago, and it makes me damn proud to know that Norton Records has hung in there that long--prospered, at that.

I know that the good people will come together and help save what records can be saved, and people will help Billy and Miriam recover from this tragedy.  Norton Records is too damn important to let some flood water put 'em out of business, where Madonna had failed to do so.  You can't drown the loud sound, indeed!
 All photos appear here courtesy of the Untamed Youth's Facebook page.

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