"Back in Time For Only a Dime" was my alternate title for this entry, as it's about a book I picked up for only 10 cents at a local thrift store that chronicles how far we've come with technology since the early 1980s. The work is The Media Room by Howard J. Blumenthal, a serious work published in 1983 to help confused consumers decide what electronics they need to decorate their domiciles. Blumenthal had already written the 1981 book The Complete Guide to Electronic Games, a review of the handheld games like Simon and video game cartridges available at the time that serves as the best flashback to what is was like to be an elementary-school-age male in the early '80s short of finding an old Sears toy catalog. (Of course I own this book in my library.) Blumenthal himself was no stranger to technology and media. His father produced the classic TV contest Concentration, and Howard himself co-founded the Qube cable network that birthed MTV and Nickelodeon and would later co-develop the early '90s game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? for PBS. So, without further ado, here are some excerpts from the book showing how far we've come. For people my age and older, it's a nostalgic and humorous look back. For the "kids" out there, this is a history lesson that will be even more laughable to you as you examine devices that probably seem Neanderthal by your standards. Blumenthal: "Once you've bought your first videodisc player or videogame, you have begun a process...The author hereby warns every reader of this book that a videogame wil almost lead to habit-forming activities (both in playing the game itself and in checking with your local store to see if any new games have arrived)...A media room is the embodiment of electronic addiction." Sound familiar, kids? Now you're actually identifying with this, aren't you? But that's not all you'll have to worry about. There's the LEGALITY ISSUE! Blumenthal: "When you first buy your VCR, you will no doubt try recording programs off the air. Strictly speaking, this is against the law. All television programs (and commercials) are protected by copyright and cannot be duplicated for any reason without the written permission of the copyright holder...Since this law is virtually unenforceable, it's best to let your conscience guide your recording activities." Boy, weren't we a lawless buncha rebels back then, recording TV shows like we were dem Duke boys or sumtin'. Could you imagine if they rounded everybody up who recorded a TV show in 1983 and threw them in prison? Think our jails are crowded now? HA! There's a helpful list inside the book of cable channels available then. This was back when Bravo showed culture, not Californian housewives. Here's his description of MTV: "A 24-hour pop-music channel, with a video disc jockey playing video tapes of the top songs." And here's the thrilling alternative to that: "UPI NEWSTIME: This service shows black-and-white newspaper photos, while a radio-style reporter reads news stories 24 hours a day." CNN must've been petrified. This was gone by the time I got cable in '85, so I guess we know who won that battle. And here's Blumenthal's choices for the best "Instructional" videodiscs to buy: "The Touch of Love - Massage. A straightforward demonstration of sensual message (Performed by a nude couple)." and "Aerobicise. Ron Harris made quite a splash hit on Showtime with his between-the-movies tapes of shapely women exercising to bouncy music. A blend of video art, erotica, and exercise instruction..." This above is what we used to connect with whatever was the Internet in 1983, as prehistorically preserved in this book and the film WarGames. By the time I got on the Web in the late '80s, I was using a black eight-track-cartridge-like unit that I shoved into the back of my Commodore 64. "In 1970 there was no such thing as VHS tape, Home Box Office, a videogame, or a personal computer," Blumenthal wrote near the end of the book, and it's obviously noted inside, often humorously, how for we've come since then. He did predict one trend of today when he noted that "Comp-U-Card is another futuristic service which, for instance, makes it possible to use a personal computer and modem to shop for discounted merchandise."
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Former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee died yesterday of natural causes at age 93. You've read and heard it all already: Bradlee was an important figure in journalism blah blah blah Watergate blah blah blah resignation of Nixon blah blah blah old school of journalism blah blah blah journalism sucks now blah blah blah. On to pop culture: Gerard Parkes died of natural causes Sunday, 3 days after he turned 90. He was best known for playing Doc, the gruff but loving human cast member of the Canadian/American production of the Muppet series Fraggle Rock. His other well-known role was also for a character named Doc, a bartender in the film The Boondock Saints, which I've never seen but included that fact because I just found it humorous that he played double Docs.
There's many funnier Fraggle Rock clips of Doc with his Muppet dog companion Sprocket, but they're not on YouTube so I'll have to include this lesser one as a tribute. You do get to see some retro '80s tech though, so if you aren't amused by the clip, you 'll snicker at that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNzYMzt5Lc Found this little piece of history while researching what was on the charts 40 years ago today in 1974: Tim Moore is a singer little known to most of us - he never scored a Top 40 hit on his own, although he did write one - Bay City Rollers' "Rock and Roll Love Letter." His greatest claim to fame was that he was in a band called Gulliver that also included a pre-fame Daryl Hall. Moore scored his biggest hit today when his tune "Second Avenue" peaked at #58. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39qhT4dvcE Fortunately or unfortunately, the song had also been recorded by Art Garfunkel (billed simply as "Garfunkel," aren't we special?). While this meant more songwriting royalties for Moore with two versions of his song receiving airplay, unfortunately a better-known name like Garfunkel's almost guaranteed that Artie would get more attention. Indeed, this was the case as Garfunkel's version peaked at #34 the following week. Here's his take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcO8z6OmIMk I like both versions, but prefer Moore's. Garfunkel's delivery of lines like the one about the "old, friendly face" are a bit too dramatic and require Moore's subtlety. I had never heard either version of this song until today and I'm quite taken with its quiet, thoughtful nature.
Tim Hauser, founding member of the pop/jazz group Manhattan Transfer, died Thursday of a heart attack at 72.
Every obit I'm reading this morning portrays the Transfer as a jazz group, but writers forget that they were a prettty big deal on the pop scene in the early to mid-'80s. They scored a Top 10 hit in 1981 with (and won a Grammy for) their cover of The Ad Libs' "Boy From New York City" and VH-1 heavily rotated their videos, many of which I remember as being pretty creative. I'm going to memorialize Hauser with the band's 1980 Top 40 hit "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone" in which the band did a fine job of incorporating New Wave Devo fashion and a neon disco beat. (It also gives me an excuse to recognize that this month marks the 55th anniversary of the debut of the Zone TV show.) Here's the original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3eN0e60Zco Here's an interesting interview with Randy Bachman of Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive where he talks about how Ray Davies of The Kinks encouraged his current project and how Dvorak's classical music influenced BTO's hit "Let it Ride":
http://www.glidemagazine.com/125384/randy-bachman-guess-bachman-turner-overdrive-interiew/ Geoffrey Holder died from pneumonia complications Sunday at 84.
He was awesome for 3 things: 1. He won 2 Tony Awards in 1975 for stage direction and costume design for The Wiz, the first time an African-American had been nominated in either category. 2. He played Baron Samedi in Live and Let Die. 3. But most of all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFQbRexL5OM Never had it. Never will. Everybody has to start somewhere, so here's Whitney Houston's early gig performing a Steak and Ale commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHHkLg0JKgA I must say that her smooth-as-butter voice does make those shrimp look more delectable. And yet, there's not one African-American in the entire ad. |
Walburgh's BlogMostly retro, mainly music, but generally whatever's on my mind. Archives
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