Why is a song I haven’t heard in 40 years stuck in my head today?
Shine A Light On Me
Did you bastards know there’s an official Midnight Special channel on YouTube releasing entire unedited episodes (as well as clips)? Holy shit, it’s a treasure trove!
Timestamped performances for this episode are here. I mostly just watched Sly and the Family Stone, obviously.
BONUS: Here’s another recently released episode with Mott the Hoople and The New York Dolls. Not sure who the guy is in the back playing the Thunderbird for the Dolls. Arthur Kane appears to be in a cast and is obviously miming …
Gerald The Gorilla
Rowan Atkinson, ladies and gentlemen.
The Brothers Smothers
I can’t imagine how these damn commies would offend anyone, but then I have a soft spot for irreverent bastards. You can watch the documentary Smothered and learn how they got canceled.
Also, the tune vaguely reminds me of “Wild One” by Those Darlins. I’m sure I posted this many moons ago on Ye Olde Blogge. I’m going to re-indulge this great performance by Nikki Darlin et al.
Snow Shows
A Murder at the End of the World was superb.
Fargo is excellent.
I’m one episode into True Detective: Night Country. It seems can’t miss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnPl4PuNb5U
Thanks For Coming To My TED Talk
I hope you learned something.
What Are They Dancing To?
Here’s a Scopitone of Brook Benton lip-syncing Mother Nature, Father Time while bikini girls apparently dance to something else.
If you’re unfamiliar with Scopitones, they were music video jukeboxes typically placed in lounges and similar adult-oriented locations. It seems that most Scopitones, like the later music-video format, were more about the girls than the songs. (I remember child-oriented ones, but their format and machines had a different name). The videos often had the hubba-hubba vibe of 50’s-60’s softcore men’s magazines (like here and here). Although Procol Harum did one, most rock acts snubbed Scopitones. I imagine they’d started looking dated, like something their dads watched for cheap thrills, down there with carnival peep-shows. One novelty was a live Billy Lee Riley one, unusual in that it’s not lip-synced.
For you film nerds: I can’t verify this, but I know I read somewhere that French (who invented them) Scopitones used Pathecolor, a very early film tinting process that used stenciling. Wikipedia claims that the last use of Pathecolor was the 1954 Mexican surrealist classic, Robinson Crusoe, but it’s often stated that it was used in that august cinematic masterpiece, Dr. Goldfoot & The Bikini Machine.
Can You Tell Me How To Get
There’s an excellent HBO (excuse me, MAX) documentary called Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street that you bastards absolutely must check out. It’s a miracle the show ever happened, and the story is fascinating.
And the outtakes are hilarious.
Traffic, Splained
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This may have been obvious to you fine bastards, but it was kind of a new perspective for me. See you on the monorail.
Shit
My parents wouldn’t let me stay up to watch Starsky & Hutch, but I still get a thrill when I see an old Gran Torino.
David Soul—beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother—died yesterday after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family. He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend. His smile, laughter and…
— David Soul (@DavidRSoul) January 5, 2024