“This is really a monster song; no matter which dial you punch on that radio, you’ll hear this one.”
I don’t know about punching dials, but The Ides of March helped bring the horns back into rock with Vehicle (1970).
Lucky you. It’s Pizza Day via Lucky Chops.
Nice cover of Mel London‘s Cut You A-Loose.
GA-20 came onto my radar relatively recently, and they definitely got the sound.
Looks like it’s gonna be a nice weekend despite what everyone says. See you back here tomorrow.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Mr. Machine is a once popular children’s mechanical toy originally manufactured by the Ideal Toy Company in 1960. Mr. Machine was a robot-like mechanical man wearing a top hat. The body had a giant windup key at the back. When the toy was wound up it would “walk”, swinging its arms and repeatedly ringing a bell mounted on its front; and after every few steps emit a mechanical “Ah!”, as if it were speaking. The toy stood about 18 inches tall (roughly 46 cm).
The gimmick of Mr. Machine was that one could not only see all of his mechanical “innards” through his clear plastic body, but one could also take the toy apart and put it back together, over and over, like a Lego toy or a jigsaw puzzle.
Mr. Machine was one of Ideal’s most popular toys. The company reissued it in 1978, but with some alterations: it could no longer be taken apart (owing to the tendency of very young children to put small pieces in their mouths which could be accidentally swallowed or present a choking hazard), and instead of ringing a bell and making the “Ah” sound, it now whistled “This Old Man”.
This later version of Mr. Machine was brought back once more in the 1980s. In 2004, the Poof-Slinky Company remanufactured the original 1960 version (using the actual Ideal molds whenever possible), which made the original sounds and could be disassembled, and with the intention of being marketed to nostalgic adults as a collectible.
[U.S. Patent image found here. Unfortunately it’s only a single page, but it refers to related patents. Description and more found here.]
Elvis and the rhinoceros appear daily at 10am.
Top image from Google Maps Street View. The faces were blurred out, so I had to take a closer look, and it’s more awesome than I imagined. (The note on Elvis’ guitar reads “Neck is broke don’t bother stealing.” I checked, and the King’s neck is intact.)
The Closer You Are, The Channels (1956)Despite numerous recordings, The Channels never had a nationwide hit due to lack of promotion, but they were popular on the east coast. The Closer You Are was a regional hit in New York and was covered by Frank Zappa in 1984.
LolFeds spotted.
Looks like a Stoner trap.
The Concept of Pixel F%$#*&%g.
Fearless Grandmothers mean well.
Weather forecast: It’s gonna be trippy.
Next time you’re at Walmart ask for Bob’s Scribble Pads.
This 1891 German ”Weltrekord” Ratchet Screwdriver restoration probably lowered its value as an antique, but it’s a cool gadget.
“The easiest way to be at the top of your field is to choose a really small field.” – Simone Giertz
[Top image: Cropped image of un-photoshopped image of this photo-shopped Southern Elephant Seal that went viral.]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.
SALESMATE
New Portable Audio-Visual Selling tool.
Automatic Sound Slidefilm Viewer in an Attache Case. Self-Winding, Self-Contained, Ready to Use. Just:
1) Open the screen
2) Plug it in
3) Push the red button, and The Show is On!
The 1961 Beseler Salesmate Projector included a built in cassette player for sales presentations. The Charles Beseler Co. was founded in 1869 in Germany as a manufacturer of a variety of products including inhalers, magic lanterns with oil lamps and stereopticons.
[Postcard with caption found here.]
The Mitsukoshi Department Store, Japan 1970
[Found here.]
Labor Day Parade March Composer: H. C. Verner Published By S. Brainard’s Sons Co. Chicago, 1896.
CHORUS
Proud-ly we march– on “La-bor Day,”
With hearts so true, to guide the way;
Steps light and free, our ban-ner’s dis-played,
On “La-bor Day Par-ade.”
Click on images to enlarge & copy piano sheet music, or download in .pdf format here.
Background story of the 1894 Pullman Riots and aftermath here. More Labor Day stuff here.
I had a TV just like that. It stopped working when a raw egg somehow got into the rear vent over the CRT and fried it.
[Found here.]
Bop Cat Stomp, King Charles & His Orchestra (1954)Except for discography and a few audio recordings on YouTube, I can find almost nothing about Charles Morris (aka King Charles, Blue Charlie Morris, Left Hand Charlie and Morris Charles). If anyone has a link to his background, please leave a comment and I’ll update this post.
X-Ray animation of beatboxing?!
The International House of Logorrhea is my go-to source for Hot Links titles.
Billy Ireland & the KKK. Good stuff (despite some unnecessary extraneous commentary). Nice collection of Ireland’s work here.
Misc. – Still trying to bitchslap the new WP format into something tolerable. It’s almost there, I’m still messing with the unpredictable, and I’m not responsible for the overuse of white space. – Bunk
[Top image found here with the caption: “A female pit brow worker, the photograph was probably taken at the Wigan Coal and Iron Co Ltd.”]
From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago.
Tacky Raccoons 