Category: Retro & Vintage

Saturday Matinee – RIP JFK & 1963 Radio

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by a communist named Lee Harvey Oswald. I was very young, but I remember understanding that something terrible had happened.

JFK was indisputably the last conservative democrat to hold the Office of the Presidency, and the loss still echoes.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On a lighter note, in 1963 one of my prized possessions was a transistor radio that I listened to constantly, and I wasted a large number of batteries by falling asleep with the radio on my pillow.
Here are three favorites.

No. 10 in the Billboard rankings for 1963: The Impressions‘ “It’s All Right.” Curtis Mayfield was with the group from 1958 – 1970. The vid is from the TV show “Hollywood A-Go-Go” in 1965.

Martha & The Vandellas, live at The Apollo. Martha Reeve’s voice still blows me away.

The Chantays performed Pipeline live on The Lawrence Welk Show in 1963. According to the liner notes on their album, the oldest member of the band from Santa Ana California was 17 when they invented surf-rock.

This was the also the age of the “girl groups.” Before lil’ Bunk was in the double digits of age he liked girls, just couldn’t admit it to his buddies, and was secretly in love with Ronnie Spector, Skeeter Davis, Barbara Lewis and The Chiffons, but not Leslie Gore – what a whiner.

Have a great weekend, folks.

James Brown was Stillborn.

James Brown Star Time 1 James Brown Star Time 2

James Brown Star Time 2a

Not to disparage the late Butane James, but being born dead and recovering is one helluva fetus. Aside from that, this compilation is completely awesome.

Hot Links For Your Own Good

Maude's Father

Mrs. Miller sings Petula Clark’s hit “Downtown.” Double dog dare you to listen to the whole thing.

Nice stonework.

“What The Hell Did Jesse Jackson Say?” is a radio game show on AM640KFI hosted by Tim Conway Jr. (who’s funny as hell, and the game is tougher than you think).

What you get when you heat aluminum to 1200 degrees F and pour it into an ant colony [via].

Mozilla has a new add-on for FireFox that allows you to see who’s tracking you across the internet called “Lightbeam” (originally named “Collusion”). In February 2012, Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs explained it’s origin and purpose at a TED Talk.

Tree trimming via helicopter.

“I made this powerpoint for this week’s lesson – Regional/Iconic American Foods. I went back through and replaced all the text with my student’s reactions.” His students are Chinese.

Airhorn Classics – Various Artists [via].

Top image found here.

Saturday Matinee – Gravity, Blackberry Smoke w/ Billy Gibbons & Zappa

Gravity troubles featuring Shaun Micallef. [h/t this guy].
Reminds me of Zegar Reyers‘ “Rotating Kitchen.” Reyers blew it in my opinion by not installing a rotating camera like they did for this classic scene from 1968.

Blackberry Smoke Live with Billy Gibbons, Ft. Lauderdale Florida, 30 November 2011. Great swamp rock blues, and Blackberry Smoke is NOT country pop. [h/t Russ via email.]

Country pop annoys me for many reasons. It’s predictable, prepackaged, over engineered and mass-produced; the rhymes are stretched, and it has no soul. But Southern Rock kicks. Here’s The Allman Brothers ‘ “Whipping Post” from September 1970 as interpreted by Frank Zappa and band (here’s why) circa 1984.

And with that we’re out for the weekend. Have a great one, folks.

Insta-Tan

Insta-Tan

According to some venues these days, everyone hates being born white, so here’s the solution. Flick the Zippo, fire up the burner, and whammo.
Instant tan. Guaranteed to turn your hair black, too.

[Found in here.]

Saturday Matinee – Moto-X Baby, Hugh Maskela, Big Joe Turner & Muddy Waters

Apparently this dates from the 1990 or so, and predates the Internet as we know it. [Source found here.]

“Excuse Me Baby Please” by Hugh Maskela 2007(?) featuring high school friend Morris Goldberg on sax. Maskela’s better known in the U.S. for his 1968 hit “Grazing In The Grass.”

“Baby Please Don’t Go.” Big Joe Williams was the first to record it in 1935, and it’s been covered by many bands since, both in blues and rock. Here’s Williams’ solo version, live, on 9-string guitar. We may have posted this one before, but so what. We probably posted the next one as well.

Muddy Waters‘ live version of the same song, featuring James Cotton on harmonica, in Chicago 22 November 1981. It’s a classic performance, then some friends showed up to make it awesome.That’s a wrap for this edition of The Saturday Matinee.

Have a great weekend, folks, and don’t forget VETERANS DAY. EVER.

Atari Meets Foghat

Atari + Foghat

This is creepy as hell. What did they do with Mom?

[Found here. Related post here.]

Saturday Matinee – Post Halloween Cosplay, Meteor Strike, Marxists & Billy Burnette

Girl wins at Cosplay San Diego with cardboard Robocop costume [via].

Spotted an odd .gif, found the source on the Utoobage. It’s a Killer promotional idea.

From the Utoobage:

Here are two short, rarely seen film clips featuring the Marx Brothers. The first clip is a promo film Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo did in support of their movie “Monkey Business”. The other clip features Groucho and Carole Landis entertaining some marines during WWII.

Yeah, I hear ya. You want some kickass rockabilly about right now, right? Let’s tear it up.

Billy Burnette was born into a Rock-N-Roll Family and his band is entirely awesome. Have at it.

And have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for more fun,

A One-Man Halloween Party

Halloween Party Man

A hayseed, a jug o’ hard cider with a corncob bung, and a pumpkin. The guy’s ready for anything.

[Found here.]

The Artwork Of Pierre Brassau

1964brassau05

In February 1964, four paintings by a previously unknown avant-garde French artist named Pierre Brassau were exhibited at an art show in Göteborg, Sweden. Also at the show were works by artists from England, Denmark, Austria, Italy, and Sweden, but it was the works of the French artist that attracted all the attention.

Art critics, journalists, and students, glasses of wine in hand, silently contemplated Brassau’s creations. Their praise was almost unanimous. Rolf Anderberg of the morning Posten later wrote that most of the works at the show were “ponderous,” but not those of Brassau:

“Pierre Brassau paints with powerful strokes, but also with clear determination. His brush strokes twist with furious fastidiousness. Pierre is an artist who performs with the delicacy of a ballet dancer.” Continue reading “The Artwork Of Pierre Brassau”