Retro & Vintage – Page 138

Blackie and Whitey

Photobooth photos bring out the best in all of us.

[Found here via here.]

The Original Version Was Better

Don Knotts’ cameo as the renegade chopper pilot was hilarious.

[Found here.]

Kim Jong il – Ex-Space Explorer

Kim Jong Il takes a test drive of an amusement park combat plane ride in Taesong amusement park, in Pyongyang, North Korea on October 2, 1977. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)

[Found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Etta James, Johnny Otis, Contours, Ruth Brown & Illinois Jacquet

Etta James passed away on 20 January 2012, and there aren’t many live vids out there on the Utoobage (this one’s from 1962). She was tough on the eyes, but gorgeous on the ears.

We also lost the great Johnny Otis on 17 January. Although I never saw The Johnny Otis Show on television, his 1990s radio show was great, playing old R&B and early R&R. (I spoke with him on the phone once about some trivia about The Contours.)

So here are The Contours live in 1963. I love early R&B, so we might as well continue with that theme.

Ruth Brown recorded “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” in 1953, and it’s a great example of “jump blues” that morphed, terminology-wise from “Race Records” into “Rhythm and Blues” and later into “Rock and Roll.”

According to the late Eubie Blake, the phrase “Rock and Roll” originated in the late 1800s. It described a ragtime piano style that kept the patrons of brothels moving along. (Even the name “ragtime” is bawdy, and you can connect the dots for yourselves.)

Jump Blues. From the Utoobage description:

Illinois Jacquet and his band in the “Jive Crazy” scene from the 1949 noir movie “D.O.A.” — at least, according to the movie publicity.

So that might not be Illinois Jacquet’s band, but it’s still a great scene. And that makes five jumpy and jivey vids for the Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks.

The .Gif Friday Post No. 211 – iWalkers, Floor Girl & Cat Psych

[Found here and here. I modified the “Walking i” that I found here, and I reversed and patched the cats. I tried to synch the Floor Girl with the the Walking i animations, but no dice.]

Joliet Jake Blues

[Found here.]

Grandma’s Snakes

Pinkard & Bowden’s “Everybody Shake A Snake” seems irreverently fitting, and they’re both going to h-e-double-hockey sticks for it.

[Images from here.]

Saturday Matinee – Geek Magic, Mad Goose, Goose Grease, Glad ‘N Greasy & Greasy Wheel

Nice card trick… heh. Story behind it here.

Goose! Guy shoulda wrung its neck and brought the catch home. Yum!

And after you clean it, save the goose grease.
The late Roy Buchanan tells why.

The Beat Farmers‘ “Glad ‘N Greasy” fits. Poor video from the early 80s(?) was part of a demo tape they circulated. (Two of the original members are gone: Country Dick Montana and Buddy Blue.)

The Bryan Beller Band‘s “Greasy Wheel” is a nice bit of groovy oddness. (Listen for the Zappa influence… there’s a reason for that.)

That’s five vids to make the set. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

30 Gallons of Gas

[via]

MEN will be invited from the audience to protect those under the Influence of the Gas from injuring themselves or others. This course is adopted that no apprehension of danger may be entertained. Probably no one will attempt to fight.

That description is followed by:

THE EFFECT OF THE GAS is to make those who inhale it, either LAUGH, SING, DANCE, SPEAK OR FIGHT, &, &.

Everyone wants to suck it up.

Those who inhale the Gas once, are always anxious to inhale it a second time. There is not an exception to this rule.

Lot’s ‘o fun to be had in 1845 – N2O is a gas gas gas.

Saturday Matinee – Home Movies, Cold Water, Fabulous Thunderbirds & Zappa’s Black Napkins

Home movies – the Directors’ analysis.

Very cold water is very dense. Fishing in a frozen lake in Finland. Here’s an explanation [via]:

They have inflated their BCDs (vests) with air. This will make them float up to the ‘top’. This allows them to stand on the ice upside down. If there was no ice, they would surface. You can see when they breathe, the CO2 will float to the top (bottom) of the ice and it trapped. The wheel barrow is filled with CO2 expelled (poured in from the bucket). This makes it want to float too and hence will stick to the bottom of the ice until they dump it out, which will make it loose its buoyancy and sink to the bottom…

Happy birthday to Kim Wilson, one of the greatest blues harp blowers. Saw him with his original lineup in the early 80’s, pre- Kid Ramos. Pure awesome then, pure awesome now. And just for the helluvit, here’ my favorite Zappa song to wrap it all up, “Black Napkins.”