| Welcome to HollywoodHiFi.net, the long- awaited Internet home of non-singing celebrities' bizarre, hilarious and sometimes lethal stabs at musical stardom! As immortalized in the brilliant book "Hollywood Hi-Fi" by record collectors/pop culture mavens, George Gimarc & Pat Reeder! Soon to be AVAILABLE AGAIN for the first time in nearly 20 years, IN A NEW E-BOOK EDITION! Here you'll find book excerpts, video reviews, regularly-updated samples of impossibly rare Celebrity Records, the latest news on celebrity singers, and much more, so check back often! To be alerted when the new edition of the book is ready, to ask Pat & George about a celebrity record, or to suggest one to review, click here! |
Hollywood Hi-Fi, first published in 1995 and soon to be available
again through the miracle of the futuristic Inter-Web, is a humorous
survey of over 100 of the best "celebrity records" unearthed during
decades of obsessive collecting of all sorts of unusual recorded
sounds and other pop culture effluvia. Each record was carefully
analyzed, evaluated, researched, put into historical context, and
where appropriate, mocked for your reading pleasure by longtime
pals and radio comedy partners, George Gimarc & Pat Reeder.
Now, we know what you're thinking: "An entire book about tone-deaf
Hollywood actors trying to sing? WHY?" Funny you should ask!
We don't collect these records out of a sense of irony or because we
enjoy adopting a hipper-than-thou pose or because we deem them
(and we hate this phrase) "guilty pleasures." No, we celebrate these
records because we honestly love them, for a plethora of reasons.
Some are genuinely entertaining, just as their creators intended.
Others are so incompetent, they leave us breathless with laughter.
Still others offer a surprising glimpse into talents that we never knew a
celebrity had, or into the egos of celebrities who thought they had
talents they never really had. But like Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors,
each is delicious in its own unique way, even if consuming too many
of them at once leaves you a bit nauseous.
again through the miracle of the futuristic Inter-Web, is a humorous
survey of over 100 of the best "celebrity records" unearthed during
decades of obsessive collecting of all sorts of unusual recorded
sounds and other pop culture effluvia. Each record was carefully
analyzed, evaluated, researched, put into historical context, and
where appropriate, mocked for your reading pleasure by longtime
pals and radio comedy partners, George Gimarc & Pat Reeder.
Now, we know what you're thinking: "An entire book about tone-deaf
Hollywood actors trying to sing? WHY?" Funny you should ask!
We don't collect these records out of a sense of irony or because we
enjoy adopting a hipper-than-thou pose or because we deem them
(and we hate this phrase) "guilty pleasures." No, we celebrate these
records because we honestly love them, for a plethora of reasons.
Some are genuinely entertaining, just as their creators intended.
Others are so incompetent, they leave us breathless with laughter.
Still others offer a surprising glimpse into talents that we never knew a
celebrity had, or into the egos of celebrities who thought they had
talents they never really had. But like Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors,
each is delicious in its own unique way, even if consuming too many
of them at once leaves you a bit nauseous.
Pat Reeder & George Gimarc in the cavernous HHF
record vault, comparing their matching copies of the
must- have LP, "Joey Bishop Sings Country-Western"
record vault, comparing their matching copies of the
must- have LP, "Joey Bishop Sings Country-Western"
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Given all that, it's refreshing to see big stars like Clint Eastwood or Sylvester Stallone prove themselves to be
fallible human beings by insisting on recording their own unpolished singing voices for posterity, warts and all.
In most celebrity autobiographies, these projects rate at most a quick, embarrassed mention (Gloria Swanson
wrote a 535-page memoir that covered everything from her abortion to the curative powers of bee pollen, yet
never once mentioned the years she spent trying to turn Sunset Boulevard into a musical). We hope to rectify
that sad situation, and in so doing, address some of the burning questions of our time, to wit: Why did Atlantic
Records, home of the Drifters, Ray Charles, Ornette Coleman and Erroll Garner, think it was a good idea to
release a twist record by Jerry "Beaver Cleaver" Mathers? What is there about certain TV shows (Batman,
Happy Days, Star Trek, Bonanza) that makes every cast member think he or she can sing? And why do so
many actors feel compelled to record with children's choruses and to cover the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction?"
The public has a right to know!
Upon its original release, Hollywood Hi-Fi was showered with praise from critics and fans alike. The book was
hailed both for its wealth of surprising information about these little-known celebrity side-projects and for its
fall-down funny wit. Billboard raved, "Gimarc and Reeder's sarcastic yet affectionate commentaries are as
funny as the music they skewer." The authors appeared on radio shows worldwide and on the national TV
shows. "Inside Edition" and "Day & Date." Excerpts from the book appeared in In Style, The Star and
Playboy. One Arizona newspaper even declared Hollywood Hi-Fi "The Best Weird Book of the Year."
fallible human beings by insisting on recording their own unpolished singing voices for posterity, warts and all.
In most celebrity autobiographies, these projects rate at most a quick, embarrassed mention (Gloria Swanson
wrote a 535-page memoir that covered everything from her abortion to the curative powers of bee pollen, yet
never once mentioned the years she spent trying to turn Sunset Boulevard into a musical). We hope to rectify
that sad situation, and in so doing, address some of the burning questions of our time, to wit: Why did Atlantic
Records, home of the Drifters, Ray Charles, Ornette Coleman and Erroll Garner, think it was a good idea to
release a twist record by Jerry "Beaver Cleaver" Mathers? What is there about certain TV shows (Batman,
Happy Days, Star Trek, Bonanza) that makes every cast member think he or she can sing? And why do so
many actors feel compelled to record with children's choruses and to cover the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction?"
The public has a right to know!
Upon its original release, Hollywood Hi-Fi was showered with praise from critics and fans alike. The book was
hailed both for its wealth of surprising information about these little-known celebrity side-projects and for its
fall-down funny wit. Billboard raved, "Gimarc and Reeder's sarcastic yet affectionate commentaries are as
funny as the music they skewer." The authors appeared on radio shows worldwide and on the national TV
shows. "Inside Edition" and "Day & Date." Excerpts from the book appeared in In Style, The Star and
Playboy. One Arizona newspaper even declared Hollywood Hi-Fi "The Best Weird Book of the Year."
| Well, don't panic! The newly updated paperback edition of Hollywood Hi-Fi will soon be available exclusively through this website! Drop us a line to get on the list, and you'll be alerted the minute it's available! (Your address will NEVER be sold or shown to anyone else for any reason!) |
| You will also find tons of other fun stuff, including book excerpts, news and info on celebrity recordings both new and ancient, links to related sites, obscure clips from "Mystery Celebrity Singers," and best of all, newly-recorded and regularly-updated video reviews by Pat & George, sharing their weird, rib-tickling, ultra-rare or surprisingly cool celebrity records, the stories behind them, and a sample snippet of the actual recordings, to give you a hint of what they sounded like when they were first sprung on an innocent, unsuspecting world! So get on the list now for your copy of Hollywood Hi-Fi to help us pay for providing this invaluable public service, then start exploring the site! Also, follow the menu links to learn more about these records, to contact Pat & George, or to check out their other exciting endeavors, such as rare record sales, syndicated radio programs, other humorous books, live show production and public speaking, including a hilarious live presentation on Hollywood Hi-Fi! |
All material copyright 1995-2008 by Pat Reeder & George Gimarc. All rights reserved.
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With this book, we hope to convince you that it is much
more fun to laugh yourself limp at the donkey braying of
that musical comedy girl, Bette Davis, than to listen to 45
minutes of C-minor arpeggios from John Tesh or pointless
vocal gymnastics that pass as "soulful" in these times of
overly-processed aural cheez-food product. At least, Bette
evokes an emotional response with her organic, completely
unselfconscious tonedeafness.
These days, producers can use a host of electronic gizmos
to correct bad pitch, fill in thin tones, and burnish the voice
to a perfect plasticine sheen, so that anyone, no matter
how talent-deficient (the names Paris and Lindsay spring to
mind) can pass for a singer. In fact, it's now entirely
possible for "artists" to have hit albums filled with
studio-created tracks, go on tour lip-synching to those
same tracks, and never actually sing their own songs live,
all the way through, even once in their lives.
more fun to laugh yourself limp at the donkey braying of
that musical comedy girl, Bette Davis, than to listen to 45
minutes of C-minor arpeggios from John Tesh or pointless
vocal gymnastics that pass as "soulful" in these times of
overly-processed aural cheez-food product. At least, Bette
evokes an emotional response with her organic, completely
unselfconscious tonedeafness.
These days, producers can use a host of electronic gizmos
to correct bad pitch, fill in thin tones, and burnish the voice
to a perfect plasticine sheen, so that anyone, no matter
how talent-deficient (the names Paris and Lindsay spring to
mind) can pass for a singer. In fact, it's now entirely
possible for "artists" to have hit albums filled with
studio-created tracks, go on tour lip-synching to those
same tracks, and never actually sing their own songs live,
all the way through, even once in their lives.
Unfortunately, it was also acclaimed "The Best Hard-To-Find Book of the
Year" by Cool & Strange Music magazine, thanks to the original publisher's
odd distribution strategy, which seemed to be to place copies under random
rocks and lily pads rather than in bookstores. In those pre-Internet days, this
effectively doomed the book, which soon went out of print, as did the fab
Brunswick CD of some of our favorite recordings mentioned in the book (click
on the Amazon icon to the right to see if any copies are available).
But over the years, as grubby remainder bin copies passed from hand to
hand, the authors continued to receive letters from fans worldwide, begging
for the long-promised updated edition.
Year" by Cool & Strange Music magazine, thanks to the original publisher's
odd distribution strategy, which seemed to be to place copies under random
rocks and lily pads rather than in bookstores. In those pre-Internet days, this
effectively doomed the book, which soon went out of print, as did the fab
Brunswick CD of some of our favorite recordings mentioned in the book (click
on the Amazon icon to the right to see if any copies are available).
But over the years, as grubby remainder bin copies passed from hand to
hand, the authors continued to receive letters from fans worldwide, begging
for the long-promised updated edition.
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