Carol Leifer and Other Delights

I heard part of an interview with comedian Carol Leifer on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross earlier tonight; first broadcast in April 23, 2009, the conversation is online. Leifer is the author of When You Lie About Your Age the Terrorists Win: Reflections on Looking in the Mirror. She talked about beginning a committed relationship in midlife with a woman, fellow animal advocate Lori Wolf, and about becoming one of two mothers of adopted son Bruno when in her early 50s.

Speculating about her sexual orientation change, Leifer mentioned being fascinated with the cover of a Herb Alpert LP as a teen, an image of a woman covered with whipped cream. Sure enough, it takes about 2 seconds to find this bit of ephemera online. This is the album called Whipped Cream and Other Delights with song titles from the grocery store: "A Taste of Honey," "Tangerine Love Potion," "Lemon Tree," "Lollipops and Roses," and "Peanuts." Apparently it's an iconic album, released in 1965.

I went down this rabbit hole, soon finding Strider's Journal, a blog that features Crappy Album Covers,  where there is a parody by the Fabulous Five called Sour Cream and Other Delights (which goes nicely with the theme of Leifer's book). There is Pat Cooper's Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights; Carmina Burana and Other Delights (monk with beer and pretzel); Jabberwocky's Eat Shit and Die (an early mash-up of spliced audio sequences and multi-track commentary on media, popular culture, sexuality, war, and religion); and a Sweet Cream take-off. Soul Asylum has Clam Dip and Other Delights (I thought that was Glam Dip at first: such a glam photo!); and then there is a change of texture (and font style) with Right to Chews, Bubblegum Classics Revisited. Clever take-offs, put-ons, smears, schmers, and mutations.