Category: Retro & Vintage

Saturday Matinee – June Foray & Bill Scott, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Devil In A Woodpile & Green Day

“True fun, not fake fun.”
June Foray and Bill Scott were my heroes, two of the most recognizable and ubiquitous voices of my childhood. They also did the morning traffic reports as Rocky and Bullwinkle in Boston. At 02:01, Rocky and Bullwinkle introduced a Kiss song on WBCN.

Cliff Richard & The Shadows had some stiff competition – check out the Billboard Hits for 1960. Sir Richard holds the record as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its active decades (1950s–2000s). The Shadows were Richard’s backup band (1958-1968), and they reunited in 2020 to play their 1960 hit Apache.

Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is a Led Zeppelin cover, named after Bron-Yr-Aur, a house in Gwynedd, Wales, and based on Waggoner’s Lad, a song by Bert Jansch that appeared on his album Nobody’s Fault But Mine. Go figure. I almost forgot – Devil In A Woodpile is awesome.

Possibly the greatest Ramones cover that’s not a Ramones cover. Green Day had some great stage moves, too. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t fit in with the other vids, but it clicks with me somehow.

Good God. It’s 2:30am. I’m outta here, see you in a few.

Having a blast at the Soviet May Day Celebration 1968

[Found here.]

Delta Tau Chi 1963

[Found in my garage.]

Saturday Matinee – Feeling Through (short film), John Hiatt & the Jerry Douglas Band, Cowboy Jack Clement & Jerry Lee Lewis

A homeless teen meets a deaf blind man in Feeling Through.

John Hiatt & the Jerry Douglas Band 2021. Hiatt’s been around for a long time, glad to see he’s still recording.

Cowboy Jack Clement was one of those guys who seemed like he’d be around forever, but then one day he’s gone. He played with and produced for some of the biggest names in both rock n’ roll and country music, and reportedly “discovered” (and recorded) Jerry Lee Lewis while Sun Records founder Sam Phillips was on vacation.

Yep. That’s The Killer in his heyday, and he’s still going.

Running short on post time here, but we’ll see you tomorrow for something or other.

Belgian Coal Miners ca. 1900

That’s an elevator and some of the “safety gates” are missing. The workers are wearing wood clogs. Actual date and place is unknown.

[Found here.]

Wanted: Milo, Sawa & Cagwang

National Geographic September 1948

Seems a bit steep for a cagwang (flying lemur), but let’s recognize that these prices are in Filipino money. A four foot sawa (python) could run you $1.50 in US money, up to $37.50 for a 28 foot specimen. Here we see two Filipino men holding a reticulated python and a crested serpent eagle.

I presume there’s takeout in the back.

[Image and caption found here.]

Nothing Much Happened Today.

[Found here.]

1919 Amusement Park Ride Allows You to Die in a Sitting Position

From Electrical Experimenter magazine, December 1919:

“In the circus we are used to seeing a person “loop-the-loop” or turn a somersault in mid-air while in an automobile, the vehicle and its passengers landing right side up on a properly inclined platform, down which it glides to earth. Our artillery experts can compute with extreme accuracy the trajectory of various projectiles, both large and small, and thus it should be quite possible, with the aid of modern mechanical engineering technique, to build one of these aerial passenger rocket amusements successfully. The gun out of which is the shell or rocket, with its human cargo is shot, may be operated by compressed air, by powder, or it may be an electromagnetic gun.”

[Found here. Click the link above for .pdf of the issue.]

Saturday Matinee – This Is Hormel (1964), The Rave-Ups, Tom Waits, Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood, and Freddie King

Everything you ever wanted to know about Hormel… up to 1964. [h/t SL]

The Rave-Ups got some traction for their work in the movie Pretty In Pink (1986). Their cover of the Byrds‘ You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere is pretty good, too.

Tom Waits does rockabilly his way, and the intro on his live version is pure awesome.

Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood tell the truth (2009).

Any Freddie KIng jam makes me smile, and Boogie Funk (ca. 1968) matches what’s been going on in my brain lately. (I’m not sure that’s the correct song title – it might be Feelin’ Good.)

Have a great weekend, we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Low and Outside

[Found here.]