Volume 8: Cocktail Capers (Capitol 37596)
It was 1965 -- the Bay of Pigs had been a bloody disaster, we were deep into Vietnam. America felt the Cold War heat. America needed a martini.
Not for sipping, for spying. In 1965, a surveillance expert was summoned before a Senate subcommittee to share secrets of the spy trade with our legislators. We needed to know what they - the Soviets, the beatniks, the neighbors, you know, them - were saying about us. We needed to find out how they were stealing our secrets. And so the feds learned how to bug a martini. The glass held a facsimile of an olive, which could hold a tiny transmitter, the pimento inside the olive, in which we embedded the microphone, and a toothpick, which could house a copper wire as an antenna. No gin was used - that could cause a short.
Thanks to soldiers like Bond, Muzzy, Leroy Holmes and the bartender at the Dresden who so expertly spanks the lemon peel against the side of the glass, the war was won. Then came Jimmy Carter, who instituted his notorious ban on the three martini lunch. We watched Dukes of Hazzard. We drank brewskis. We got complacent in a peacetime economy.
But after a long slow slide, thank heavens cocktails, and cocktail music, are back. Jackie Gleason once said he never ate the olives - they were markers so that he'd never lose count. We like that...
Hey! Bellboy - Gloria Wood
This Could Be The Start Of Something - Dave Pell
Pink Panther Theme - Hollywood Studio Orchestra
Like Young - David Rose
Underwater Chase - Al Caiola
Binga Banga Bongo/Percolator - Terry Snyder/Earl Palmer
Call Me - The New Classic Singers
Mountain Greenery - The Ernie Freeman Combo
Charade - Si Zentner
Shooting Star/Junglero - Les Baxter
Honorable Hong Kong Rock - The Out-Islanders
Odd Job Man/I Wanna Be A James Bond Girl - Leroy Holmes
Heap Big Chief - Muzzy Marcellino and His House Party Group
Blue Danube Rock - Jonah Jones Quartet
Pussy Cat - Cy Coleman
Teach Me Tiger - April Stevens
Lolita Ya Ya - Nelson Riddle
