Clever animation from Billy Blob: Two radiation particles travel to Earth with a mission and a cool soundtrack.
Origins of some common superstitions [via]. They missed the obvious. Walking under a ladder is dangerous because you might dislodge it, or whoever’s working up top might accidentally drop something on you. I’d guess that the business about stepping on a crack likely has to do with walking on thin ice. Seven years of bad luck for breaking a mirror? Not so sure about that one.
“Blues for Greasy,” performed by an amazing lineup of talent from 1950: Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison: trumpet; Lester Young: Tenor Sax; Flip Phillips: Tenor Sax; Bill Harris: Trombone; Hank Jones: Piano; Ray Brown: Bass; Buddy Rich: Drums; Ella Fitzgerald: Vocals.
1973. Ugh. Rock N Roll was losing its edge, and then some unknown band like Focus got a lot of airplay, at least for a few minutes. We did our best to ignore the yodeling, except for the Popeye part. Here’s a rare live version of “Hocus Pocus,” with Gladys Knight(?!) doing the intro.
1973 also brought this to our FM converters so we could hear it on our AM car radios. Golden Earring‘s greatest hit, “Radar Love,” wasn’t their best song, but it was great roadtrip music.
1973 had THIS highlight, though: Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” (before he went weeny on us).
1973 music sucked on a whole lotta levels never seen before. Top BillBoard hits included:
“You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon
“Crocododile Rock” by Elton John
“Bad Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce
“Top of the World” by the Carpenters
“There’s Got To Be A Morning After” by Maureen McGovern
“Tie a Yellow Ribbofdpnoa oh man I can’t type any more of that garbage without gagging.
BUT THERE WAS THIS:
Gladys Knight was awesome. We were all Pips in the days of old (“Whoo-whoo!”). Then I lost my direction again with this:
Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” was being played on the radio about the same time brother JohnnyRick Derringer was getting airplay for “Rock And Roll Hoochie Coo.” [cbullitt corrected me in the comments section.]
Johnny Winter was better at the blues, but he cranked on Dylan’s “Highway 61.” (Look for G.E. Smith on rhythm guitar.)
Dang. I could take this string for another dozen utoobage links, but I’ll cut it here… temporarily.
* “SatMat” means “Saturday Matinee.” It looked better abbreviated on the title.
Tacky Raccoons 