Saturday Matinee – Stuff + 3xSmoke + HRL

“Germany’s Funniest Home Videos?” [Via Phils Phun.]

Politically ignorant animation, but Bunk finds it funny (coupla entirely unnecessary F-bombs, though). [Via Kitty’s Saloon.]

“Smoke Smoke Smoke.” Here’s Tex Williams’ original deal. (Tell me that rap didn’t start in 1947.)

Commander Cody’s 1973 take… Here’s to Dolph for those two.

Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen: Excellent cover of Phil Harris’ “Hot Rod Lincoln.” (Video cuts off that last “Hot-Rod-Lincoln” with the coda. That’s just not right.)

What a slick prank. [Via Bits & Pieces.]

17 June 2008 – Mark your calendars for the Firefox Guinness Book of World Records Download! Pass it on!

Saturday Matinee – Glass Sphere, Drag & Drop, C.N. & Boogie Woogie

Sorry, folks, Bunk’s kinda wiped out today… had to throw this together at the last minute. I’ll be in better shape tomorrow.

The guy’s amazing.

Clever animation, via the Presurfer.

Don’t EVEN mess with Chuck.

Meade Lux Lewis was prolly the greatest boogie woogie piano man ever.

Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson were no slouches either.

Otha Ellas Bates McDaniel (Bo Diddley) 1928-2008

If I’m not mistaken, his nickname came from the diddley bow, which consisted of a wire attached to the side of a barn and strung to a wood plank. To play it, you step on the plank to vary the wire tension while you bang out a rhythm on the wire with a stick, kinda like a washtub bass: “bomp-bomp-bomp–bompbomp.”

Video from the TNT Show 1966. Here’s to the Bo Diddley Beat.

Saturday Matinee – TSAHB, Weezer, Hagan & Stuff


Vambo Rool, OKAY! The very underrated proto-punk Sensational Alex Harvey Band had very few early videos posted when we posted this link months ago, but they’ve been breeding ever since.


Bunky had the opportunity to see these babosos live in the ’70s, but couldn’t afford the tickets.

Yeah, I know. “This Little Piggy Went Viral.” I had Weezer in the queue since last year so I might as well post it anyway, just in case some of you hadn’t seen it. All it’s missing is the skateboarding dog.

Earle H. Hagen died this week. He was the composer (and the whistler) of the “Andy Griffith Show” theme song, among others. [Cool yet disrespectful cockatiel Utoobage linky here.]


How they make cartoons (1930).


Octopus Action video. Crabs don’t have a chance, even with a nice soundtrack.


Can’t have too many octopus videos in a single post, so here you go.

[Weezer Utoobage via the winsome and completely awesome Miss Cellanea. Others found by orchestrated accident.]

Saturday Matinee: Uncle Pen, Randy Lynne Rag, Dooley, Steam Powered Aeroplane

Bluegrass has its roots in northern Britain according to my ear. The chord patterns of early country music from Appalachia follow those of Scottish and Irish reels. In the immigration wave of the early 1800’s, the Scottish and Irish tended to venture southward, away from the constrictions of the north, to where they could work their own land. No wonder that early southern recordings sound similar to those of Ireland and Scotland.

Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys popularized it and gave the style it’s moniker: Bluegrass. This song (video from 1956) is a tribute to Pendleton Vandiver, Monroe’s uncle. Monroe joined his uncle Pen’s band as a kid; his sound dates back to the turn of the century.

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs put Bluegrass on the popular map as pickin’ speed demons.

The Dillards were the Darlings clan on the Andy Griffith show. The Dillards decided that L.A. had more to offer than the Missouri Ozarks, and advertised themselves on the streets in the early 1960’s.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were influenced by the Dillards, and took Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. BoJangles” for a ride.

What I was really looking for when all this linkyness began was New Grass Revival‘s version of “Steam Powered Aeroplane,” one of the prettiest bluegrass songs I ever heard:

"Well I went away on a Steam Powered Aeroplane.
Well I went and I stayed and damn near didn't come back again.
Didn't go very fast on a steam powered aeroplane,
The wheels went around, up and down, and inside and then back again.

 Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by,
Can't tell if it's sunshine, if it's rain.
Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City,
On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane.

 Well I'd could be PILOT on the Steam Powered Aeroplane.
I'd pull that pilot wheel 'round, then back again.
And I'd wear a blue hat, YEAH, on the Steam Powered Aeroplane,
With letters go 'round the brim and then back again.

Sittin' on a 747 just watching them clouds roll by,
Can't tell if it's sunshine or if it's rain.
Rather be sittin' in a deck chair high up over Kansas City,
On a genuine old fashioned oil finish Steam Powered Aeroplane."

Here’s the songwriter, John Hartford, with Tony Rice, Vassar Clements and others. (Yeah, his vocals don’t do justice for the song.)

Great pre-sunrise morning roadtrip music, just like Pat Metheny’s “New Chataqua Highway,” or anything by Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grappelli.

[Bunk’s compiling his roadtrip list for next month. Lemme know your favorites.]

Saturday Bonus: Tacky Raccoon, Sticky Blonde, and BART


Raccoon enters through pet door. Scopes out the kitchen.
Will he go for the cat food? Nah.
Will he go for the dog food? Nope.
This one knows exactly what he wants and knows how to get it.

She’s obviously tech support for Microsoft. (To be honest, I’d prolly be doing the same thing if I hadda work in a cubicle like that.)

Nancy Cartwright’s 2004 interview in Australia.
“I’m Bart Simpson, man. Who the hell are you?”

Saturday Matinee: Gone With The Wind

Necessary? Yes. Fun? Ditto. Sophomoric humor? You betcha.

Here’s another blast from the past…

Cap’n Kirk steps on a duck.

This guy is amazing. Prolly retired and living off of royalties by now.

I’m gonna leave you with this related video. Gotta go open a window. Later.

Kent State Day- 4 May 1970

It all started when anti-war protesters from off-campus showed up by Friday, 1 May 1970 to host a May Day protest rally. That night, a handful of idiots decided that it was a good idea to get drunk and start trashing Water Street. The police quelled the violence within an hour.

The Police Department contacted the Mayor who contacted the Governor of Ohio who contacted the National Guard.

The next day, the National Guard was on campus. That Saturday night another handful of idiots decided to set fire to the ROTC building, and sabotaged Fire Department’s efforts to stop the blaze by slashing the hoses.

The National Guard was made up of young men the same age as the students. Not much happened on Sunday, 3 May.

On Monday, 4 May, the agitators cranked it up a notch, and someone in the National Guard gave the order to shoot across the Prentiss Hall parking lot from the front of Taylor Hall, the School of Architecture Building. Four students were killed, nine wounded.

There was a lot of overreaction on 4 May 1970, but who lit the fuse? The handful of vandals that started throwing rocks and bottles on Water Street, or the handful of idiots who burned the ROTC building on campus? What about the rally organizers who were neither students nor residents of Kent, Ohio, and arrived by the busload? Unless I’m mistaken, none of them were ever brought to trial. It was entirely the National Guard’s fault. Right.

Although the sub-genius that produced this video and posted it on the Utoobage got the date wrong (a lot of the “documentaries” have blatant factual errors) it still has the requisite soundtrack: “Ohio” by CSN&Y.

[There’s a pretty good 2nd hand factual account of the KSU tragedy here. Wikipedia also has an entry.]

[Update 4 May 2009: It appears that the soundtrack has been altered from the original utoobage. Now the video’s even more obnoxious than before. – Bunk]

Saturday Matinee: You Don’t Own Me, Johnny. Don’t You Know It’s the End of the World, Baz?

I don’t own Leslie Gore. She owned me up until I saw her hairdo and horseface. Bunky just sealed his eyeballs shut and listened.

I remember hearing this on the battery powered transistor radio I got for Christmas that I hid under my pillow, and Skeeter Davis sounded so purty. She’s another one who had a great voice and a bad hairdo. (I’d never seen her until a few minutes ago, but I was in love with her when I was about 8.)

Then there’s k.d. lang. Just ’cause she gotta big caboose and a butch haircut doesn’t mean I don’t like her music.

And then there’s poor Baz. [Tip o’ the tarboosh to Phil. He says it’s been around for a few years, and somehow he knew that I’d like it by saying so on his Blog From Down Under.]

Speaking of Down Under, some time ago, when WordPress was revamping it’s vamps, I was unable to add the video above to this post. Found a new link for it by accident, so here it is.

Yesterday 25 April was ANZAC Day.

[Thanks to Bendreth for the reminder. This yank is embarrassed for the oversight.]