Gotta look sharp when you’re on vacation at CementLand, USA. On the other hand, you can get away with velour jumpsuits at CementLand, UK.
[Found here.]
Category: Retro & Vintage
Saturday Matinee – Nippoless Nippleby, Dan Hicks, Leon Redbone, 80s Ragtime
Nice absurd animation from the 1980s.
Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks were mildly successful in the 70s with their 1930s hot club jazz/bluegrass style. “Crazy ‘Cause He Is” was my favorite Hicks ditty. (NSFK: flip off in the vid image, mild language warning. Fun song otherwise.)
Leon Redbone’s version of “Polly Wolly Doodle.” According to Wiki, there’s no secret meaning to the song, but here’s a verse I’d never heard:
“Behind the barn, down on my knees,
Sing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day;
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze,
Sing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day.
Oh he sneezed so hard with the whooping cough,
Sing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day;
He sneezed his head and his tail right off,
Sing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day.”
I suspect that the song predates The War Between The States even though the popular tune is played in ragtime. So let’s play some ragtime!
Yep. 1980s hits played in ragtime. There’s something wrong with piano players who can pull off stuff like this (actually, I think there’s something wrong with piano players in general). Must be a subconscious and deep-rooted jealousy thing just because I can’t do what they do.
And with that, we’re done. Have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for more fun.
The First Jimmy Buffett Fan
[Found here.]
Miss Mary Eileen, My Second Favorite Babysitter
This is a true story.
Several times in my childhood my parents abandoned me, but they always left me with a baby sitter, a complete stranger who they paid, just to keep her honest. My favorite babysitter was Veronica. She wore velour sweaters and had a faint little mustache. I had a kindergarten-age crush on her because she was nice.
My second favorite babysitter was Miss Mary Eileen. Now SHE was a freakin’ hoot.
That’s Miss Mary Eileen on the left with her cousin Miss Bevel.
They both lived in a house that was walking distance from mine.
Miss Mary was my favorite. She was a lot of fun. Let us climb on the furniture and stuff. She liked rock n’ roll, too, and brought over 45s of songs my parents wouldn’t allow me to listen to.
Later on, Miss Eileen married a handyman named “Lefty.” I don’t recall his real name, and they moved into a townhouse up the hill.
Mary and her husband opened up a successful restaurant/bar that was very popular, especially with the left-leaning bohemian crowd.
She and her husband raised four sons (youngest 10, eldest 20 in this pic from 1998).
Here’s her youngest son Bobby (nicknamed “Wilt the Tilt” by his classmates) in his senior year in High School, in front of his grandfather’s house.
Eventually Mary and her husband retired to this comfy little cottage in the same neighborhood she grew up in, and they lived happily ever after.
THE END.
45 RPM Hot Links
[Click the image to see the awesome coolness of Capitol Records.]
Cooking for A**holes. (Is a language warning really needed?)
A Google search for “Church of the Toad of Light” brings up this article: Milking the Toad.
NatGeo Infinite Photo is infinite.
Big ‘ol honkin’ animals in the city.
Very cool .gif artistry here.
Cold case cryptology: The FBI is asking for public help with decoding a message found in the pocket of a murder victim. It doesn’t appear to be gibberish as at least one series of characters are repeated. I suspect it’s some kind of mnemonic. More here.
Saturday Matinee – Theft FAIL, Clarence Carter, Small Faces, The Turtles, Sam & Dave
Heh. If you’re going to steal a truck, better know how to operate a clutch. [Found here]
Clarence Carter‘s “Slip Away” was one of the prettiest R&B tunes of the 60s. Here he is in 2010 with an excellent live version.
Small Faces‘ “Hey Girl” from 1966 is fun in a trolley.
The Turtles, featuring Flo & Eddie, with “The Story of Rock and Roll.” About the only redeeming quality of this sappy song (besides the intro) is a nice move at about 01:45.
There should be no introduction needed for these guys. (Watch the dancer on the left… she’s doing a modified boogaloo.)
With that, I’m out. Have a great weekend folks – be back here tomorrow for more fun.
Kitchen Knife Potato 7
This image is from a book on radio sound effects. It demonstrates how to easily replicate the sound of a kitchen knife slicing into a potato.
[Found here.]
Bunkmobile Babe Magnet
Fun With Hydraulics 101: The Lowlowrider (or in Hawai’i, The Lolorider).
Even sporting gray primer, this 1959 Buick Electra rocks. The only way it could out-rock itself is if it were a convertible with a candy-apple red/flame-orange blend lacquer paint job with panther print upholstery. It’d get speeding tickets at a stoplight.
If we had an Official Bunkmobile, this pavement polisher could be it, but for now we’ll have to settle for the tuck-n-roll upholstery of the Rec Room couch.
Saturday Matinee – MANT, King Sunny Adé, Steel Drum, ASWAD, The Sonics
MANT!
King Sunny Adé popularized Nigerian juju music during the “World Music” meme of the 1980s. Didn’t hurt that he was awarded the title of Minister of Music there, either.
Oh ya mon. Me got de steel drum reggae.
Adjust your volume up and groove it.
Great Googly Moogly! Here’s The Sonics “Anyway The Wind Blows” from 1967 – and all these years I thought it was a Frank Zappa composition. Woof.
[Update: Maybe I was right after all. On the Wiki list for “Cruising with Ruben & the Jets” the song is credited to Zappa.]
Have a great weekend folks. See you back here tomorrow.
Saturday Matinee – SnakeSnakeSnake, Sun Ra, Yolanda Be Cool, Steve Gibbons Band & Spock’s Scanner
Snakesnakesnake. I love her vids.
“Space is the Place” featuring the music of Herman Poole Blount, aka Sun Ra and his Arkestra. The description on that vid is, um, well you’re on you’re own:
“Sun Ra – space-age prophet, Pharaonic jester, shaman-philosopher and avant-jazz keyboardist/bandleader–lands his spaceship in Oakland, having been presumed lost in space for a few years. With Black Power on the rise, Ra disembarks and proclaims himself “the alter-destiny.” He holds a myth-vs reality rap session with vblack inner-city youth at a rec center, threatening “to chain you up and take you with me, like they did you in Africa” if they resist his plea to go to outer space. He duels at cards with The Overseer, a satanic overlord, with the fate of the black race at stake. Ra wins the right to a world concert, which features great performance footage of the Arkestra. Agents sent by the Overseer attempt to assassinate Ra, but he vanishes, rescues his people, and departs in his spaceship from the exploding planet Earth.”
Before you dismiss him as a kook, check this out. It’s from the awesome LP record “Stay Awake,” where various artists were invited to interpret their favorite Disney songs:
Now on to something completely different.
That one was suggested by Bunkessa, who said that it’s been around for a while, but “most of your peeps haven’t seen it.”
I’d forgotten all about The Steve Gibbons Band until I remembered his cover of that Chuck Berry song. Not bad rock and roll for a Brit.
Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here tomorrow.
[Update: This just came to my attention via DoD, just hadda post the video below.]
Tacky Raccoons 