Well, it’s been a month since my last blahg and we’re on our way 
in 2014. It’s been a long cold month since Christmas here in Canada with lots of snow and ice and today I have a frozen water pipe that I’m trying to deal with. I have hot water but the cold water is not running. The hot water is probably the reserve in the hot water tank and I have to use that sparingly or that will run out too. Have you ever tried taking a shower with just hot water? I’m talking scalding hot water so you do your business very quickly. Still, that’s better than the ice cold shower I had last month when my hot water pipe froze.
Despite what you might think, this blahg is not about water hot or cold. Today, the topic is back to good music and an experience that drives home the message “the customer is always right.” I should really qualify that because sometimes the customer is not always right. I used to work customer support for Road Runner high-speed internet and then for Hewlett Packard printers. I would occasionally get angry calls from customers who were furious with our product(s) and were sure a law suit was in order. Usually they were wrong and it was something that they were doing wrong. Other times they were right and the product had failed and I would give my apologies, listen to them rant, and then send a replacement or set it up for a house call if needed. So, in some cases, the customer is always right but when it’s me, and you know this from my experience with Toshiba, I’m always right. My wife might tell you otherwise but she’s not writing this blahg (Honey, if you’re reading this blahg, I apologize for everything).
The current story started about two weeks ago when I found a couple of vinyl treasures at a local thrift store. I’ve talked about my tastes in music and the fact that I still collect records because there are things on LP that you can’t find on CD or other formats. The two records I found were “The Dixie Rebels Volume 2” & “Marge Dodson – In The Still of The Night.” I only paid two dollars each for these great records and they were in very nice shape. I’ll talk about “The Dixie Rebels” first and will leave “Marge Dodson” for the latter part of this blahg.
In my previous blahg, ZOEY, FRANK, JUNE & ALL THAT JAZZ, I talked about enjoying Dixieland Jazz and wrote about “The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz Band”, “Borgy’s Banjo Reunion“, and “Salt City Five/Six“. 
So, I’m always on the look out for new Dixieland Jazz albums that I might enjoy. I was quite surprised and pleased to find “The Dixie Rebels Volume 2” because it was a band I did not know. Even reading the notes on the inside of the jacket, being a gate-fold cover, and the notes on the back, the band was still a mystery.
There are some clues to this mystery band contained in the liner notes but I didn’t understand them until I researched the band online. 
The leader of this band presents himself as “Big Jeb Dooley” and in the liner notes it states “Big Jeb Dooley has included in this collection ‘Creole Rag’. This delightful tune was written by the great Dixieland trumpeter, Pee Wee Erwin…Big Jeb, whose admiration for Erwin extends beyond mere professional appreciation.” In fact, Pee Wee Erwin is Big Jeb Dooley. I understand he was under contract to another label and had to use this alias to appear with the Dixie Rebels. Here’s a couple of samples. First up is “Creole Rag” that Pee Wee Erwin composed with Bobby Efros:
Here’s their version of that old chestnut “Back Home Again In Indiana”:
I really like the sound of this band. The composition of trumpet, trombone, clarinet, drums, piano, and bass is exactly the same composition that “The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz Band” used as well. The difference here is that The Dixie Rebels came out with their music in the late 50s early 60s and The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz band were performing around 1967.
The record that I purchased of The Dixie Rebels was Volume 2 and I started to look around to find out what I could about their first record. 
It was also on the Command Records label and was entitled “The Dixie Rebels Strike Back.” It apparently had two different covers but I suspect the image on the right is a reissue. I’m not entirely sure about that but you can click on each of the covers for a larger view.
I don’t have their first LP but I was surprised to learn that it was available for purchase on Itunes. In fact, there were two versions available for purchase with one being $7.99 and the other being $5.99. Being frugal, I opted for the $5.99 version and purchased and downloaded the tracks. Now, here’s where my story and issue with Itunes really begins. This is how Itunes (store) lists the tracks:
1 When the Saints Go Marching In
2 Basin Street Blues
3 St. James Infirmary
4 That’s A-Plenty
5 Dixieland Band
6 Clarinet Marmalade
7 Tin Roof Blues
8 Royal Garden Blues
9 Hindustan
10 Panama
11 Fidgety Feet
12 South Rampart Street Parade
In fact, when you play them, the order of the songs is actually:
1 Hindustan
2 St. James Infirmary
3 Basin Street Blues
4 Royal Garden Blues
5 Panama
6 South Rampart Street Parade
7 Fidgety Feet
8 That’s A-Plenty
9 When The Saints Go Marching In
10 Dixieland Band
11 Tin Roof Blues
12 Clarinet Marmalade
To say that I was a little unhappy with my purchase is putting it mildly. I had to rename all of the files and edit all of the track tags. I felt that this wasn’t something I should have to do when I paid money for these songs to be right in the first place. I quickly emailed Itunes and told them I believed a refund was in order because I had to do all that work on what was clearly their error. Here’s the response I received:
Hello Scott,
Thank you for contacting iTunes/Mac App Store Support. My name is Ady, your iTunes Store Advisor today.
I understand that your recently purchased album is mislabeled and you would like to get your money refunded. I’m sorry to hear for what happened. I fully understand how you feel about this situation and I appreciate the chance to assist you.
Scott, I have submitted this item for investigation. Apple takes the quality of the items offered on the iTunes Store seriously and will investigate the issue with this item, but I can’t say when or if the issue will be resolved. Please try again in a few weeks.
That being said, we will look into the possibility of refunding the charge. Unfortunately, the order containing this item is currently processing. Your request is flagged for follow-up, and I will contact you once I have more information about your order. Please note that processing can take up to five business days from the date of purchase. Thank you for your patience in this matter.
In the meantime, if you have any other questions or concerns, please respond directly to this email and I will be happy to help you in the best the way possible.
I wasn’t going to hold my breath that I would get a refund but I was pretty sure I was in the right and making the request for a refund was appropriate. I mentioned this to my son, Noah, but he thought I was making a big deal out of nothing but my eldest daughter, Emily, thought I was right to expect that the songs would be in the correct order. Four days after my first email response from Itunes, I received a quick resolution:
Hi Scott,
I hope all is well for you today. This is Ady again with iTunes Store Support. I appreciate your patience in waiting to hear from me.
I’m pleased to inform you that I have reversed the charge for “Strike Back With True Dixieland Sound”. Within 10 business days, a credit of 5.99 CAD should be posted to the credit card that appears on the receipt for that purchase.
I trust that you’ll be able to view your refund within the following days, Scott. Please take note that it can take up to ten business days for a refund to process (this does not include weekends).
Note: If you haven’t receive the refund after the said timeframe, please contact your bank regarding on when it will be posted as refund posting also varies per financial institution.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please respond directly to this email and I will be happy to help you in the best the way possible.
I was happy to receive the refund and to hear back from the same agent, “Ady”, who had responded to my initial email. That’s good service and both Ady and Apple should be commended for their customer service. They have yet to update these tracks correctly in the Itunes stores on the $5.99 version but if you want to pay for the $7.99 version, the audio preview of these tracks suggests they are in the correct order on that more expensive option. Maybe I should have previewed all of the tracks first on the $5.99 version and I would have found them out of order and mislabeled and would have saved myself some extra work. I just thought that what was advertised would be correct. The very first song is “When The Saints Go Marching In” but when I played it, after payment and download, it was “Hindustan.” Give a listen to their version of “When The Saints Go Marching In” after I correctly renamed the file:
Below is another great version of the song but sung by Fred Flintstone.
I won’t continue to ramble on about this. Itunes handled the case to my satisfaction and this customer can maintain he was correct. Here’s another great track from The Dixie Rebels Strike back. This time it’s “Clarinet Marmalade”:
Now, onto Marge Dodson. 
I have to be honest but I had never heard of Marge Dodson before picking up this record. She has a great sound and gives out with some great standards. 
That’s the thing about finding a new artist or one you never heard before. Sometimes you get lucky and the album is full of little treats and you get to sample something completely different and this case, beautiful sounding. Click on the images for front and back cover to read a little bit more. While you’re reading, give a listen “These Foolish Things” from this great LP:
Marge Dodson put out three records altogether from what I have learned.
Her second album “New Voice In Town” has been issued on a double CD with “In The Still Of The Night”. 
Her last album was entitled “A Lovely Way To Live” but I think it was only issued on LP and has yet to see a CD release. I am going to try and track down these two records because she has a marvelous voice and does a great selection of standards. Here’s a sample from her second LP, “New Voice in Town”. This time it’s “This Can’t Be Love”:
There are two other vinyl releases of Marge Dodson that I have discovered and need to track down.
The first is a single 45rpm record of “Somehow It Got To Be Tomorrow (Today)” backed with “Feeling Good”. The second is another 45 of “Be My Baby” backed with “The World Is A Toy Shop”. 
These might be a little harder to find but if I do, you’ll know I’ll post them here in an update. One last note, all three of Marge Dodson’s records are available as downloads through Itunes. Of course, preview if you must and buyer beware!
Update:
I found one of the missing tracks on YouTube:
“Somehow It Got To Be Tomorrow (Today)”
Tags: Big Jeb Dooley, False Ducks, Itunes, Marge Dodson, Scott Henderson, The Dixie Rebels