Dolly Dolly Dolly
What with three manga book cover designs due on the same day, the workload ran so heavy today that I’ll likely be dreaming of saucer-eyed warrior women wearing thigh high leather boots tonight. One thing that made the day go by a little faster was listening to Andrew Dupuy’s fun audio essay on Dolly Parton’s “crossover” period of 1977-80 at Discover A World Of Sounds. I have a particular sweet spot for this critically reviled yet sweet-as-honey time in Dolly’s career — so thank you very much, Andrew!
Extinct Attractions Club
MSN catches a contributor in a nostalgic mood: 10 Things I Miss About Disneyland. A good article, although I think a lot of this second-hand nostalgia tends to gloss over the fact that some of those old rides may have not been all that. Sure, the Monsanto House of the Future looks way cool in photographs, but when I queried my mom (who visited D’land for the first time in the mid-’60s), she said it didn’t make much of an impression on her. I can remember doing Mission to Mars in 1987, being underwhelmed by an outdated and dull experience. Times change and they can’t keep it a museum.
That said, I truly hate how the current Disneyland is becoming less about the low-key and educational and more about the blatant selling of crap. I’m still pissed about them making the treehouse into a Tarzan shill, and Jack Sparrow invading the pirate ride and Tom Sawyer Island seems wrong. Something like Adventure Thru Inner Space could make you learn about molecules and have a good ‘ol campy time — why can’t they recapture that sort of magic any more?
Indestructibles 4: Revenge of the Girls
Last year I wrote about the “indestructibles”, my arbitrarily-chosen word for songs that hold up well to multiple interpretations by different artists, and now’s a good time to revisit that idea. Looking through my iTunes collection, I’ve listed the songs recorded by at least three different performers below (the ones that weren’t covered in the earlier post, anyhow). At this point it’s getting to be a lot of groovy/fun ’60s songs which wouldn’t be considered standards by any stretch, but there are some interesting nuggets to be found. “Oh No Not My Baby”, for example, was done at least four times in three different decades, but each singer has her own unique take on the tune. Some of these are purely coincidental: goofy music expert Phil X. Milstein recently sent me a bunch of “Hurting Each Others” which predate the Carpenters’ hit, and the presence of three renditions of the obscure ballad “Look at Me” seems like a complete fluke. If anyone has their own “indestructibles” to share, post ‘em here. I’d love to see them! (artwork from the original program for Broadway musical Promises, Promises, c.1968)
Anyone Who Had A Heart — Cilla Black, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Linda Ronstadt
Both Sides Now — Harpers Bizarre, Doris Day, Skeeter Davis
Boys — The Shirelles, The Beatles, Jeannie & The Big Guys
California My Way — The Committee, The Fifth Dimension, The Gimmicks
California Nights — Lesley Gore, The Four King Cousins, Wes Montgomery
Call Me — The Foundations, Petula Clark, Chris Montez
The Drifter — Harpers Bizarre, Rita Calypso, Roger Nichols & The Small Circle of Friends
For Once In My Life — Barbara McNair, Jean DuShon, Spiral Starecase
Happy Heart — Andy Williams, Petula Clark, Freda Payne
Heart — Joey Loren, The 2 of Clubs, Petula Clark
Hurting Each Other — The Carpenters, The Guess Who, Jimmy Clanton, Ruby & The Romantics, Ruth Lewis
I Can’t Give Back The Love I Feel For You — Diana Ross, Dusty Springfield, Syreeta Wright
Look At Me — Davy Jones, Bergen White, Rita Calypso
My Boyfriend’s Back — The Angels, The Chiffons, The Paper Dolls
Oh No Not My Baby — Maxine Brown, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Linda Ronstadt
One Tin Soldier — Coven, The Original Caste, Skeeter Davis
Paradise — The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las, Bette Midler
Popcorn — Gershon Kingsley, Hot Butter, The Fairfax High School Marimba Band
Silver Threads and Golden Needles — The Springfields, Skeeter Davis, The Cowsills
Sunglasses — Skeeter Davis, Tracey Ullman, Sandy Posey
What Am I Gonna Do With You — Lesley Gore, The Inspirations, Skeeter Davis
Yesterday — Dionne Warwick, The Doodletown Pipers, The Toys
You Are My Sunshine — Aretha Franklin, Dee Dee Sharp, The Free Design
Housing Developments
Funny stuff: the Phoenix New Times‘ Robrt L. Pela begins a new column, Surreal Estate, with a piece on the new faux-Italian apartment complex bordering the busy I-17 freeway. This reminds me of when I went apartment hunting back in 1994. Looking for places in the East Valley (Tempe/Chandler/Mesa), I used the Arizona Republic listings as a guide. Bad decision. Back then they used to run a weekly writeup on a local apartment complex — and week after week it was always some snooty high-end place in Scottsdale or Paradise Valley being profiled. Even worse was the fact that the profiles had the feel of superficial, relentlessly upbeat puffery (which describes just about everything the Republic publishes). Anyway, I’m looking forward to reading about whatever Pela can come up with for his column.
Related: Derrick Bostrom’s vintage Phoenix postcard collection.
Big Fat Link Log 2
Looking back, it’s been a year since I posted My Big Fat Link Log with the intent of an annual refresh — so it’s high time to do an update. So in case you were wondering what I waste my precious daytime hours on while I should be working, here you go. Surprisingly I got rid of a few, but isn’t it always the case that there are a constant stream of ever-interesting reads to take their place? Bulleted weblogs are either a) new or b) unaccountably missing from last year’s log.
1947project | • 2719 Hyperion | A Joshua Tree In Every Pot | • A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago | A Sampler of Things | ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project Blog | A.V. Club Blogs | Awful Plastic Surgery | • Back of the Cereal Box | Bibi’s Box | The Blackwing Diaries | Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine | Boing Boing | Bob Sassone | Book Covers Blog | Bonnie Blog | Booksteve’s Library | Bostworld | Bradlands Must See HTTP:// | • Brand New | • Branded in the ’80s | Cardhouse | Cartoon Brew | Cartoon Modern | • Coudal Partners | Crack Skull Bob | davekehr.com | • Davelandblog | Delicado | Design Observer | • Designing Magazines | The Disney Blog | Disney History | Drawn! | Drew’s Blog-O-Rama | Dynagirl | • Ephemera | Eye of the Goof | • Fanboy.com | Fimoculous | FLOG! | Folded Space | Friday Fishwrap | Fun All Around | • Gatotchy’s Blog | Ghost In The Machine | • GlenMullaly.com – The BLOG!!! | gmtPlus9 | greg.org | Hacking NetFlix | • History of the Button | Hit or Miss | • The Hits Just Keep on Comin’ | i like | In Black And White | Irregular Orbit | Jinjur | Just Ask Christopher | Kottke.org | • Lady Bunny Blog (NSFW) | Lileks The Bleat | Little Yellow Different | Lots of Co. | • Malls of America | • Martin Klasch | Mimi Smartypants | Mr. Irresponsible’s Bad Advice | • mod*mom | • My Name Is Earl Kress | • Neato Coolville | News From Me | News of the Dead | NewsDesigner.com | The Other Andrew | Other Stream | • Passport to Dreams Old & New | Patrick’s Journal | PCL LinkDump | Pop Culture Gadabout | Pop Culture Junk Mail | Posterwire | Quiddity | RaShOmoN | ReadyMade Blog | Re-Imagineering | Robot Action Boy | Robot Johnny | Ryan Arrowsmith | Self-Styled Siren | • Smallist | Snarky Malarkey | Something Old, Nothing New | Sore Eyes |• Swapatorium | things magazine | • This Justin | Thrilling Days of Yesteryear | Tim Lucas Video WatchBlog | The Tin Man | Tiny Pineapple | Today’s Inspiration | Tom the Dog’s You Know What I Like? | • Turbanhead.com | • TV Guidance | Ultrasparky | UnBeige | Veer: The Skinny | Vince Keenan | Ward-O-Matic | waxy.org | Web Goddess | • WFMU’s Beware of the Blog | What Do I Know | • x-entertainment.com
White on White Books
We love our cat Eero. Even so, she’s fond of getting into places she shouldn’t be — like the five foot high shelf in our living room. To deter her I got a little book holder and filled it full of books with white, off-white and beige jackets to take up most of the shelf space. Arranging books by color is something that’s taken hold in recent years and there’s even a Flickr group devoted to the subject. Eero will still probably find a way to squeeze herself up there, but at least it’ll look pretty with a white kitty next to a bunch of white books.
Merv-elous Game Shows
I’m setting the TiVo this weekend — GSN will be airing their Merv Griffin tribute which will include a Wheel of Fortune marathon Saturday and a Jeopardy marathon Sunday. What really excites me is that among the Wheels will be an early, Chuck Woolery-hosted episode and Vanna White’s first show from 25 years ago. Those date from the time when contestants picked prizes from little dioramas flanked with fake plants and the ubiquitous life-sized ceramic dog. “I’ll put the rest on a gift certificate, Pat.” Soooo cheesy!
Concrete Reasoning
Last weekend we caught a photography show called Midcentury Modern Buildngs in Phoenix at the local library. The Phoenix metro area doesn’t have a whole lot of eccentric midcentury architecture, but what we do have is something to be cherished. I’m glad to see a gallery of prints celebrating this stuff before short-sighted developers destroy or remodel it out of existence. A special favorite is the Uptown concrete and steel fantasia officially known as The Financial Center (seen in a vintage postcard view below), which we call “The Computer Punchcard Building”. The high-rise building in this spacey complex was completed in 1972. Inside, the offices are tiny and cramped and the whole place seems like a fire trap — but the outside sure is neat. A selection of images from the show can be seen at photographer Michael Lundgren’s site.
The Electric Light Orchestra/Animation Connection
Recently I bought one of the recently marked-down Simpsons DVD box sets at Amazon. Needing something else to qualify for freee Super Saver shipping, I tossed in a copy of The Essential Electric Light Orchestra. Now, this was a band that I liked as a kid. I can remember having my mom buy me a copy of “Turn to Stone” at the local record store when I was eight. A few years later I listened closely to “Hold On Tight” on my little clock radio, memorizing the lyrics (even the French parts!). But I never gave them much thought again until recently. What have I been missing? Teflon-perfect pop that puts me in a perpetually shiny, happy place, that’s what.
Great as that collection was, it didn’t have any of ELO’s hits from Xanadu soundtrack, so of course I had to buy that album at iTunes. Guilty pleasure much? I’m aware that Jeff Lynne would probably rather forget his involvement in this masterpiece of camp, but strangely enough the soundtrack LP caught him and Olivia Newton-John at their respective creative peaks. Hell, I even liked Olivia’s retro-’40s duet with a wobbly-sounding Gene Kelly. Here’s the animated “Don’t Walk Away” sequence from that movie, directed by Don Bluth in between his stint at Disney and his first feature film, The Secret of N.I.H.M.:
But wait, people, the Electric Light Orchestra animation fest doesn’t end there! Here’s a gem of an opening sequence made for Daicon IV, a Sci-Fi convention held in Osaka, Japan. The anime adventures of a sword-ridin’ Playboy bunny used ELO’s underrated 1981 single “Twilight” on its soundtrack (without Lynne’s permission apparently), to mind-blowing effect. Wow, just wow:
Looky Lou
Spurred on by my illustrations from The New England Cookbook scrubbles post, Ward Jenkins has unearthed more of artist Lou Peters’ wonderfully versatile work from vintage cookbooks. This appetizer artwork is as elegant as the New England stuff is whimsical. The fact that this guy was somewhat prolific, yet doing ephemeral cookbooks for desperate ’50s housewives, makes me admire him all the more. Unfortunately not much is known about Peters — but keep on sleuthing, Ward!
Thought-Provoking Weblogs
I was thrilled to find that Ivan at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear tagged me with a blogging meme — and for once it’s a good one (Ivan also had some sweet things to say about scrubbles.net in his post). The basic jist of the meme is to select five “blogs that make you think” and write about each one. I’ve decided to narrow it down to weblogs done by an individual, and those individuals have no obligation to continue the meme. In no particular order:
1. 2719 Hyperion. I’m a theme park nut. Although I’ve never been to Walt Disney World, reading Jeff Pepper’s weblog and viewing his snapshots of the park’s less explored side is the next best thing to being there. Very insightful, too — check his recent post on the nostalgic pull of theme park music.
2. Today’s Inspiration. I’ll say it now — illustrator Leif Peng must possess the busiest scanner in the Western hemisphere! I love learning about unsung commercial artists from the ’50s and ’60s, and Leif is the perfect guide. His knowledge and personality elevates his weblog, so what easily could’ve been a simple “look what I found” thing is actually an invaluable resource.
3. Quiddity. I first came across Quiddity about 6 or 7 years ago and my interest has never waned. What amazes me about her stream of weird and wonderful links is that, where other blogs have wavered in quality over the years (present company included), she’s stayed exactly the same. Meggan is like the Energizer Bunny of bloggers — she keeps going and going!
4. Robot Action Boy. I’m happy to count “william in taiwan” among my online friends. He has an infectious way of sharing his interests in pinhole photography, weird Asian kiddie toys, kitschy ’70s music, and other stuff. And I think the fact that he never uses the “Shift” key on his keyboard adds to his weblog’s quirky charm.
5. Just Ask Christopher. I’m kind of biased on this — but Christopher never fails to post on some interesting topic I’d never known of, mostly in the science/nature arena. On the other hand, he can get wonderfully eclectic. In the past month he’s posted about actress Veronica Cartwright, the Hartford Circus Fire, the mysterious death of What’s My Line? panelist Dorothy Kilgallen, the dearth of local Simpsons/7-11 merchandise, and the Dewey Decimal System. Nice guy, too.
Sugar Sugar
Last week me and Christopher (both natives of the Phoenix area) got to talking about the fondly remembered local businesses that we used to enjoy as kids. One of the first places that came up was Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlours. I used to love going the location in Tempe, which back in the ’70s was surrounded by nothing but dusty vacant lots. The decor was of the “lots of crazy crap on the walls” variety with a slightly Gay ’90s twist. I remember they also had one of those Love Grip machines. Usually my family would order a concoction called “The Zoo” so that the staff would bring it out with bells ringing and horns blowing. The Zoo came in a huge bowl with cool plastic animals perched on the many scoops of ice cream. I came across a tribute site to Farrell’s only to learn that it wasn’t a local establishment at all — more of a Southwest U.S. chain, in fact. Surprisingly, a few Farrell’s remain open for business.
By the way, the other places we talked about were Yellow Front (rustic shop to get jeans and camping equipment), UTotem (convenience stores), the Hostess Bakery Outlet my mom used to drive in from another town for, and Gemco (general purpose department store).
They’re Special. They’re Exactly Like Me!
The Washington Post on the long, complicated history of the Celebrity Profile (via ArtsJournal). Reading this made me think back on my time in the magazine world, and how depressingly samey everything is made out to be. Whether the subject is celebrities or cats or the hottest tractors, every magazine has to have the requisite puff piece where the writer tries hard to convey how approachable and likeable a famous somebody is (and, given the lack of access said writer has, it winds up being more about the author’s fleeting impressions of said celeb). Sure, the definition of “celebrity” may have widened in recent years, and trend savvy editors are trying to make profiles more “meta” and insidery — but in the end, nothing much has changed.
Bald Guy vs. Fat Guy
Very cool — digitized film reviews from Siskel & Ebert going back to 1987 are now viewable at atthemoviestv.com. Although it would be fun to revisit what they thought of the good movies, of course I had to immediately check out the worst ones. The first film I looked up, the 1996 crapfest Space Jam, oddly enough had both Gene and Roger in an ecstatic thrall of Michael Jordan worship. Which had me speechless — c’mon, that was an awful, awful movie. Next, I looked up the forgotten Tony Danza comedy She’s Out of Control. Re-viewing their discussion on what a depressing, soul-sucking time they both had was priceless (unfortunately, the site had nothing on Mannequin or Mannequin 2: On the Move). Roger Ebert’s column on the old clips has a few nice reminiscences on his years with Siskel. Can’t wait to look up their reactions to those worthless Friday the 13th sequels.
