https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSppm8lS2rc
Let's go from Joe Cocker to Joe Jackson, shall we? I know I've been neglectful this year of all the great music that occurred 35 years ago in 1979, so here's my early Christmas present to all my faithful readers - a link to a clip taken from the Christmas episode of American Bandstand that aired on Dec. 22, 1979 (I missed the anniversary by 1 day because Cocker's death took precedence). The musical guest is Joe Jackson, performing two of his best songs: "It's Different For Girls" and "I'm the Man." "It's Different" is the only charter of the two, and it only made #101 while "I'm the Man" is a humorous look at the marketing of fads sung through the voice of a huckster. Much New Wave skinny-tie fashion and pogoing ensue and the whole thing threatens to erupt into anarchy by the end as Jackson starts trashing everything (watch at 6:00 as he runs up ths stairs to swipe what appears to be a Christmas ornament and flips it off his back) and the youth dance wildly in one of the most spirited responses I've ever seen in a Bandstand clip. Here it is - Happy Holidays!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSppm8lS2rc
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Joe Cocker died today of lung cancer at age 70. I never cared much for his rock stuff - his Beatles covers were awful - but when he belted a beautiful ballad like "Up Where We Belong," 'Edge of a Dream," or "You Are So Beautiful" he delivered a song like no one else. "You Can Leave Your Hat On" showed that he could even be lusty when he wanted to. And anyone cool enough to perform alongside John Belushi as the comedian made fun of his act had a self-deprecating sense of humor worth memorializing. Here's to you, Joe. The road is long There are mountains in our way But we climb a step every day Love lift us up where we belong Where the eagles cry On a mountain high Hear those lyrics sung here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm9bZaSvOJ0 Today is Bill of Rights Day, marking the date in 1791 that the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. One of the most important privileges delineated in the Bill of Rights is the right to free speech, stating that Congress can make no law abridging what you say, or call you a "hater" because you simply disagree with what is considered to be politically correct.... ...and one of the most politically incorrect individuals of all time who constantly exercised his First Amendment rights was comedian Lenny Bruce, so in honor of Bill of Rights Day I'll share my thoughts on his autobiography How To Talk Dirty and Influence People, which I finished reading last week. I knew nothing about Bruce before reading this, other than seeing his name trotted out every time someone in the public eye says something supposedly inflammatory that causes controversy, and of course, from that R.E.M. lyric. I didn't find him laugh-out-loud funny, although the chapter about growing up on a farm and the pages about posing as a Catholic priest were amusing. As for the nature of his humor, yes, some of it, especially the parts about homosexuality, would still be as controversial today as it was when this book was published in 1965, one year after its serialization in Playboy magazine was completed and one year before Bruce died of an accidental morphine overdose at age 40. I did, however, find some portions interesting in the context of today's current events. For example, his take on the reaction to the landmark 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Presidential debate shows nothing has changed in 50+ years: One particular facet of the election - the Great Debate - convinced me more than ever that my "ear of the beholder" philosophy is correct; that the listener hears only what he wants to hear. I would be with a bunch of Kennedy fans watching the debate and their comment would be "He's really slaughtering Nixon." Then we would all go to another apartment, and the Nixon fans would say,"How do you like the shellacking he gave Kennedy?" And then I realized that each group loved their candidate so that a guy would have to be this blatant - he would have to look into the camera and say: "I am a thief, a crook, do you hear me, I am the worst choice you could ever make for the Presidency!" And even then his following would say, "Now there's an honest man for you. It takes a big guy to admit that. There's the kind of guy we need for President." Bruce's writings on marijuana are also amusing, considering the current push for legalization in America. Marijuana will be legal some day, because the many law students who now smoke pot will some day become Congresssmen and legalize it in order to protect themselves...You wouldn't believe how many people smoke pot. If anybody reading this would like to become mayor, believe me, there is a vast, untapped vote...I don't smoke pot...the reason I don't smoke it is because it facilitates ideas and heightens sensations - and I've got enough s--t flying through my head without smoking pot. That last sentence eloquently summarizes my view on the matter. Grade: B+ By the way, I bought this book used at an estate sale. Here's the inscription on the first page to the book's original owner: "Dearest Janet, Remember Me...and F--- You. Lovingly, Barb"
Here's a collection of Ernie and Bert sketches from Sesame Street that never made it beyond the show's first season (although I do remember the cream pie one appearing in one of my Sesame Street storybooks in illustrated form). As I've previously noted, the first season Sesame Street material was along the lines of trying anything to see what worked so they'd have enough material to fill out a season, so there's lots of cheesy jokes, although I did like the punch line to the bandage sketch, and the one with the flying B was pretty creative and should've been kept - I remember a similar concept being tried on Sesame's sister program The Electric Company with a flying word "fly" aggravating a live-action human. The first season of Sesame Street was also very low budget - look carefully at the 2:37 mark for a glimpse of Frank Oz's hand operating Bert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-s-ReYuVCU "Wake up, you meatball, you're supposed to be learning something" is a quote for the ages.
Squeeze's 1982 album Sweets from a Stranger is excellent. It would be even better if they quit imitating Elvis Costello, but he sang backup on the single "Black Coffee in Bed," so I guess he didn't mind. Grade: A- Choice Cuts:
"I've Returned": Yes, he does sing "I said your friends were a bunch of Muppets." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZIkPKTqs1s "Black Coffee in Bed': This was the, um, hit single from the record, making #103 on the chart. It still does get some airplay today, though. (The album did much better, hitting #32.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP15t_wnrEw "Stranger Than the Sranger on the Shore": I chose this one because it was the weirdest track on the album that I liked. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM5ib1hE-V4 |
Walburgh's BlogMostly retro, mainly music, but generally whatever's on my mind. Archives
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