Ads

"CBS Sunday Morning" has some interesting commercials.  Every week, they have an ad from the Soda Council with an employee in red for Coke, one in blue for Pepsi, and another in white for Dr. Pepper/Keurig.  Some of the ads tout their low- or no-sugar options, but others claim that they use amazing new plastics for their bottles.  "CBS Sunday Morning" once immediately followed that ad with a segment about how such claims are deliberately misleading efforts by the oil and plastics industries that are really designed to get people to not worry about waste issues with plastics.

Now they also repeatedly run an ad from the Check Council explaining the proper ways to use checks, the most important of which is to never, ever use checks if at all possible. 

Not Even with Cleavage!

A new Roku channel shows "Square Pegs" on weekend mornings.  I hadn't seen an episode since I watched them over 40 years ago on Monday nights on CBS, but the first one I saw was probably the one I best remembered - Johnny Slash is bizarrely good at hitting home runs for the school's baseball team.  Unfortunately, he can only play home games because the fields at other schools look different.  Steve Sax makes a cameo, and they mentioned that he had just been named Rookie of the Year about 6 times.

I also always like Tracy Nelson as Jennifer.  She has the Valley Girl thing going on, even though the show is basically set in the New York area, but also has a proto-Madonna vibe.  She's also true Hollywood royalty, being the daughter of Ricky Nelson, sister of Nelson Nelson, granddaughter of Ozzie and Harriet, niece of Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber .... 

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh

The Pisces were coached by Sacramento's top investigative TV reporter, Jeffrey Trout.

Update:  Nicholas Pryor apparently and coincidentally died this week.  I'll also remember him as a passenger in "Airplane!" and from a couple of "Murder She Wrote" episodes.

Theories that Probably Aren't True But Should Be

1.  "The Wizard of Oz" is an allegory for bimetallism and the gold standard.

2.  The movie version of "The Shining" is an allegory for the genocide of indigenous peoples of the Americas.

At least the theories seemed compelling when I first read them as a kid.

Kennedy Center Honors

The latest group of Kennedy Center honorees has been announced, and the organizers somehow resisted the temptation to recognize yet another British rock star.  They finally got around to selecting Francis Ford Coppola, which seems overdue given that his more prolific peers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg and even his less prolific protege George Lucas were honored a long time ago.  I read a very tedious online article about how it's somehow bad that dead rock stars like Jerry Garcia aren't honored as part of groups like the Grateful Dead, this despite the fact that the honors are never given posthumously.  The same article didn't have a problem with a building, in the case the Apollo Theater, being honored.  

It's a good thing that true architect of rock and roll Little Richard didn't live to see a building selected instead of him.   

"Eight Is Enough" S4:E18 The Commitment

High school senior Tommy is obviously profoundly insane and believes that Mary's gorgeous med school classmate (played by Markie Post with late 70s Farrah-esque hair) has the hots for him.

Al Whited

My biggest accomplishment in college quiz bowl was helping to establish the Gordon Carper Lifetime Achievement Award when I was helping edit 1999 ACF Nationals.  I first suggested the idea of an award for contributions to academic competition to Andrew Yaphe, who of course was unimpressed.  I then mentioned it to Al Whited, and he got REALLY excited.  Apparently, he had been thinking of something similar and had it all mapped out - it should be named for Gordon Carper who would be the first recipient a la the Fermi Award.  I actually bothered to check with Dr. Carper to see if it was ok to name it for him, and he said, "Well, if you and your little friends want to name an award for me after all of these years then who am I to object?"  

Al Whited of course was a great guy and master storyteller who apparently singlehandedly wired pretty much the entire 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta for telecommunications.  They now appear to have a veterans committee selection each year, and Al would certainly be a worthy companion to his former Yellow Jacket teammate Jim Dendy.

"Eight Is Enough" S3:E27 Marriage and Other Flights of Fancy Part 2

The single strangest "Eight Is Enough" episode, it includes only one Bradford (David), lots and lots of hang gliding, and a rivalry between a young hotshot glider and an older retired Air Force pilot who are never mentioned again in the series.  At least most of the first part episode not only had the Bradfords but the well-worn plot elements of David and Janet fighting about her career as a lawyer and Tom Bradford unknowingly promoting pornography (he finally gets a short story published, but it's in the Playboy stand-in "Man's Man Monthly").  I can't tell if the episode is supposed to be a backdoor pilot or if one of the producers really, really wanted to promote hang gliding as a sport.

"Eight Is Enough" S3 E19 Horror Story

The B plot of this episode where Nancy's blind date looks like a young Anthony Perkins and the power goes out during a storm has Tom Bradford set to debate some British expert on population control and family planning.  They get stuck in an elevator and Bradford wins their impromptu debate with his impassioned argument that Nicholas, his eighth child, could somehow "solve" the whole population problem.

In real life, Adam Rich, who played Nicholas, was an addict for most of his adolescence and adulthood and died at 54 from an accidental fentanyl overdose.

The British dude should demand a recount!

Scandalous

Tony Platt's The Scandal of Cal: Land Grabs, White Supremacy, and Miseducation at UC Berkeley is an interesting read.  Much of the material is familiar, but the book does root Phoebe Apperson Hearst's inveterate collecting of physical artifacts, including lots and lots of human remains, and the consequent need to display and store them at the heart of the university's problems.  It's similar to how her social and philanthropic rival Jane Stanford's morbid obsession with her dead relations was the original intended focus of the junior university on her farm.  Then again, no one repeatedly tried and ultimately succeeded in gruesomely killing Hearst with rat poison. 

"Eight Is Enough" S2:E7 The Bard and the Bod

I vaguely recall when some shampoos had beer in them (an internet search shows that there was a Body on Tap brand in the late '70s), but in this episode Nancy (the pretty Bradford daughter) is rehearsing lines with her sister for a play in which Joanie will appear nude.  Nancy then proceeds to crack open a can of beer and casually pours it over her head over the kitchen sink.  Was this a real thing?  

Bjorn Again

It wasn't until it came up about a year on Pandora that I realized that the "2 Broke Girls' theme was a) an actual song and b) by those Scandinavian guys with the whistling song.

First Wednesdays

The guy in DC Lottery's ubiquitous First Wednesdays ads kind of looks and acts like Chicago/Howard College Bowl legend John Edwards.

"Let's Play the Scene!"

I happened to notice James Karen as the LA newscast director on "The China Syndrome" this morning.  I always enjoy seeing him on "Eight Is Enough" as Sacramento newspaper editor Elliot Randolph.  The character has a certain smarmy WASP charm to him.  It's similar to his past-his-prime movie director Wally Bruce auditioning ingenue Naomi Watts for a role in "Mulholland Drive."

Chaz

I sometimes watch old "Flipping Out" episodes even though the lead guy is a jerk.  There are some seasons where they do some work for Chaz Dean, who may be even more annoying in his own way.  I vaguely recall him constantly being on an infomercial, perhaps with Alyssa Milano, about 15 years ago for his Wen line of hair care products.  The supposed main advantage was that the shampoo didn't lather, which doesn't seem like a great thing.  Tens of thousands of people also complained that it caused their hair to fall out, which certainly seems like a bad thing, and led to a big class-action settlement.

"Eight is Enough" S2.E3 Triangles

Tom takes Nicholas to the local indoor pool to teach him how to swim. They of course remove all of their clothes (swimming indoors in the nude was common for men and boys in the early 20th century) only to run back to the locker room when they learn the pool is coed at that time. Wikipedia says that the practice of men swimming nude had ended by the early '70s with the rise of coed athletic activities, so people watching in 1977 would have gotten the joke even if it seems bizarre now. Never shy about recycling jokes, the show later had Tom taking Nicholas to a "Snow White" movie that turned out to be a porno and David and Nicholas touring an apartment complex that turned out to be for nudists ("I thought going natural meant they didn't allow any junk food!"). In every case, the two enter, followed by a reveal of a sign explaining the true situation and the pair running back in shock.

"Eight Is Enough" Pilot Episode

- There's a good "Sonny Jurgensen knew when to retire" joke in the opening touch football scene. They later mention George Allen. 

- Mr. Bradford's secretary is played by a different actress than the usual Donna, but she says, "Goodbye, Mr. Bradford" in the same way. 

- David (Mark Hamill) says he dropped out of Cal. It's later mentioned various times that he dropped out of college, but I think this is the only time the particular school is mentioned.

Believe It Or Not!

The two most astounding claims in sports media -

1.  Al Michaels says he has never knowingly eaten a vegetable.

2.  Mike Tirico used to not think he was Black.

The Ol' Lefthander

As a fan of '80s ACC basketball, I note the recent passing of Davidson/Maryland/JMU/Georgia State coach Lefty Driesell.  Although to be honest, I always thought that his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame showed that the easiest way to make a major sports hall was to be a decent Division I basketball coach for a long, long time.  I mean, are we even sure that he was a good coach?  Two things -

First, even though he coached a bunch of first-round draft picks like Tom McMillen (#9 overall pick), Len Elmore (#13), John Lucas (#1), Brad Davis (#15), Buck Williams (#3), and Len Bias (#2), he never had a team win more than two games in the NCAA tournament.  After the tournament expanded beyond 32 teams, he never had a team get beyond the Sweet 16.

Second, in ranking ACC coaches from the first half of the '80s, Coach K, Dean Smith, and Jim Valvano have to be the top 3.  But are we sure that Lefty was better than either Bobby Cremins or his former Davidson player Terry Holland?  Plausibly being the sixth best coach in an eight team league doesn't scream Hall of Famer to me.

I know people will point out that perhaps his best team in '74 didn't make the tournament because eventual champion NC State won their legendary ACC tournament final in overtime and only one team per conference could make the tourney then.  But Maryland got to go the previous year when NC State was 27-0 because some assistant coach gave David "Skywalker" Thompson a sports coat to attend an athletics banquet or played in a meaningless pickup game with him.  And Terry Holland's '84 team took Houston with Hakeem to overtime in the Final Four with freshman Olden Polynice or Othell Wilson as its best player.  

He's No Alan Cranston

I remember that Bill James' New Historical Baseball Abstract had a comment wondering if developments such as Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky suggested that Steve Garvey might one day be able to resume his political career despite having been a late night talk show punchline for his multiple affairs and children borne out of wedlock.  Now of course Garvey's indiscretions appear fairly quaint for a candidate of his party.  The truly amusing thing is that when I was a little kid everyone just assumed that Garvey would pretty much be a first ballot Hall of Famer.  I think in addition to his playing in LA and appearing in multiple World Series it really had to do with his starting in the All Star Game in a National League infield with Johnny Bench (and later Gary Carter), Joe Morgan, and Mike Schmidt pretty much every year.  Unfortunately for Garvey, people realized by the time that he was eligible for the hall that a line drive-hitting first baseman who didn't walk much wasn't particularly valuable even if he had appeared on the Johnny Carson show various times and had forearms like Popeye.

Karla, Danny, and Liberty

I saw a singer in an early '80s video on Vevo who kind of looked like Kate Bush.  It turns out she's Karla Devito, who sang the Ellen Foley parts on Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell Tour.  I guess I'm not alone in noticing a resemblance because online people say she looks like a cross between Bush and either Linda Ronstadt or Cyndi Lauper.  Even better, she references the recruiting saga of Petersburg High's own Moses Malone.  Oh, and she's been married to Robby Benson for over forty years!

            "I want some French sunglasses /

            Call waiting on my phone / (note: was that a thing yet in 1981?)

            I want a house for my mother, just like Moses Malone."

Perhaps They'll Get In Over Jann Wenner's Dead Body

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has, perhaps justifiably, not been particularly receptive to certain genres.  Most of these musical styles have uncoincidentally usually not been critical favorites.  I think at one time this statement would have been true for prog rock, although I think a couple of these acts have been inducted in recent years.  It's also probably kind of true for metal, although I think that's probably more of a function of a lot of rock critics not being able to distinguish between the music and musical worth of most metal acts once you get past the obvious inductees like Metallica and Black Sabbath.  Anyway, here are some less than well-represented genres -

Arena rock (aka AOR/corporate rock) - This one seems most obvious.  Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Toto, Asia, Kansas, Boston, Styx, etc. sold millions and millions of albums, had lots of hit songs, and sold out lots of basketball and hockey arenas.  They also tended to be fairly faceless acts, didn't ooze charisma, and weren't particularly hip.  The one inductee from this genre, Journey, had truly iconic songs that people remember after decades and a frontman whose name they can identify.  Foreigner was nominated this year, and may eventually get in.  I'm actually kind of surprised that Styx hasn't been inducted, if only for having the funniest "Behind the Music" episode, with Tommy Shaw recalling how his response to having to sing Broadway musical songs about robots on tour was to self-medicate.

Mainstream '80s pop rock - The classic example is Huey Lewis and the News.  Another one would be Bryan Adams.  There's nothing wrong with these acts, and they sold millions of albums and had lots of hit songs.  If they had had equivalent careers in the '60s and maybe even the '70s, then they would have been inducted a long time ago.  It's just that there wasn't anything really innovative about these artists.  And given that music went in the direction of genres such as hip hop, there aren't a lot of younger musicians acknowledging them as influences, at least unironically.  Oh well, perhaps Huey Lewis et al. will get some credit for members of the News backing up Hall fave Elvis Costello on his first album.

'80s solo stars already inducted as part of better groups - Phil Collins is the obvious example here (and also kind of part of the second group), but Sting and Don Henley are others.  Phil Collins was massively successful in the '80s and incredibly ubiquitous, but I don't see anyone too excited to work to get him elected.  Perhaps Sting has a better chance because he was cooler and a better songwriter.  Then again, Diana Ross, who was legitimately one of the biggest stars of the '70s, hasn't been inducted as a solo performer, so it may take a while.

  

The Last Great Stones Song?

WXRT in Chicago had 1986 for its flashback year on Saturday morning and played "One Hit (To the Body)" by the Rolling Stones.  I'm sure "Dirty Work" is properly disdained (the band's Miami Vice-esque wardrobe on the cover photo is probably a dead giveaway), but I've always kind of liked the song.  Perhaps it has something to do with the otherwise engaged Jagger having little input - Ron Wood came up with the song and opening acoustic intro (and even got songwriting co-credit unlike Mick Taylor), Jimmy Page provided the guitar solo, Kirsty MacColl and Bobby Womack are on backing vocals, and Russell Mulcahy directed the video.  I know it didn't chart highly, but someone must have liked it because I think it made the top 10 of DC 101's year-end countdown.

The Most Obscure Rock and Roll Hall of Famers

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band.  I honestly know absolutely nothing about them.  Then again, I'm probably not alone because none of their albums cracked the Top 50.

Rock Hall 2024

In looking at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees for 2024, I think all of them probably should eventually be inducted.  Well, except for Peter Frampton.  Here's how I would order them:

1.  Mariah Carey - I have no idea why the hall makes pop/r&b megastars like Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston wait a decade or so to be inducted, but I guess it ultimately doesn't matter much.

2.  Kool and the Gang - 9 #1 hits on the r&b chart from '74 to '85 including "Ladies Night," "Celebration," and "Cherish."

3.  Mary J. Blige - even though I have to admit I can't name any of her songs.

4.  Cher - hurt I think because her singing career had such distinct phases often years apart - Sonny and Cher in the '60s, extremely successful solo singer in the early '70s with songs like "Half Breed" and "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" that went to #1 and haven't been heard on radio since then, late '80s comeback where she cavorted on a battleship for "Turn Back to Time," and then that "Believe" song.  I think that's a solid resume even if her acting career and then being a diva overshadowed it.

5.  Oasis - Perhaps they'll kind of be the equivalent of Depeche Mode in being the one inductee to represent all of '90s Britpop.

6.  Sade - the quintessential VH1 act.  I'm amused that in the '80s we were told the name was pronounced with an r as SHAR day, which we eventually realized was a hypercorrection, and not told that the group was also called Sade.  Like Alice Cooper.  Or Winger.

7.  Sinead O'Connor - it kind of sucks that she did the only truly courageous thing in the history of SNL and then Lorne Michaels allowed Joe Pesci and Madonna to do incredibly unfunny bits about it.  Although Sinbad O'Connor was pretty funny.

8.  A Tribe Called Quest

9.  Eric B and Rakim - the order of these last two could obviously be flipped.

10.  Dave Matthews Band - I mean, they have to get in eventually, right?  Having gone to UVa in Charlottesville in the early '90s, I walked/drove by two of their concerts.  If they get inducted, I'm counting that as attending in addition to Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis (triple bill at Wolf Trap in the late '90s), Willie Nelson (2x, the first when he played in the outfield of Richmond's Triple A baseball stadium while we sat behind home plate), Bo Diddley (Alameda County Fair), and Prince.

11.  Foreigner - arena/corporate rock has to be the most disdained genre among hall voters, even more than metal.  Foreigner's first four albums each sold at least 5 million copies in the US and the next one had "I Want to Know What Love Is."

12.  Ozzy Osbourne - I also worked security at Ozzfest at Nissan Pavilion back in the day.  The crowd ripped up the grass on the lawn.  Not that I care but is he more deserving of induction as a solo performer than Phil Collins, Sting, or even Don Henley?

13.  Jane's Addiction

14.  Lenny Kravitz - obviously not very innovative but seems kind of like Sheryl Crow in that he'll probably eventually get in because people like him and he'll show up to help out at these kind of things.

15.  Peter Frampton - apart from the big live album, why is he nominated?

"Patty Hearst Heard the Burst"

It's the 50th anniversary of the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, just south of campus on Benvenue Avenue.  Perhaps it could have been prevented (if she wasn't in on it) had she lived in my more open West Berkeley flats neighborhood.  At the very least, my apartment complex was right off Hearst Avenue.

 

It Makes "The Ballad of the Green Berets" Look Like Great Art

"CBS Sunday Morning" devoted today's program to a memorial for recently-deceased former host Charles Osgood.  In a segment on his love of music, they mentioned that he served as Eisenhower's personal disc jockey as Ike recovered from a heart attack and that he helped compose the music for Senator Everett M. Dirksen's Top 40 hit and Grammy Award winner "Gallant Men."  He was credited as Charles Wood (Osgood was his middle name), but I don't know if he was trying to hide his identity.

And He Co-Wrote Three Posthumous "Hits" for Michael Jackson

Speaking of late '50s teen idols, the one who doesn't seem to get his due is that Canadian heartthrob Paul Anka.  Here are some of his accomplishments according to impeccable source Wikipedia:

• His parents immigrated to Canada from Syria and Lebanon, thus making him one of our biggest Arab-Canadian-American superstars.
• Toured Australia with Buddy Holly and wrote one of Holly's last recorded songs, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore."
• Wrote the theme song for "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in 1962.
• Wrote English-language lyrics for "My Way."
• Had #1 hits with "Diana" in 1957 and "Lonely Boy" in 1959.  "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" and "Puppy Love" went to #2.
• Had a a comeback in the mid-70s with a string of duets with Odia Coates including the cringeworthy #1 "(You're) Having My Baby."
• Co-founded a holographic tech startup company and sits on its board with fellow Canucks Brian Mulroney and Kevin O'Leary.

To be honest, that sounds a lot more impressive than Dion's resume.

The Very, Very Rare UK Version

 Another thing about the Vevo 80s music video channel is that they seem to deliberately play some of the era's best ("Beat It," "Hungry Like the Wolf") and worst (Journey's "Separate Ways") videos.  They also play alternative versions of popular videos that MTV probably never played.  For example, I just saw "Version 2" of U2's "With or Without You," which looks a lot like Version 1 but not as good.  They've also played the original version of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me," which isn't good at all.  It's supposedly directed by Russell Mulcahey, who did the classic Duran Duran videos among many others, but I guess metal videos weren't his thing.  Or maybe he just hadn't seen one since '83 or so because it has that feel of an early Quiet Riot or Twisted Sister video where the whole concept is that the room is shaking while the band plays there.  Anyway, the band at least recognized it wasn't good, so they got Wayne Isham of Motley Crue and Bon Jovi video fame to edit some footage for a concert film of the band's tour that he was shooting to make a new video.  According to Isham, that video's concept was "just get the 12 hottest chicks in Denver and stick them in the crowd and film the hell out of the performance."  Thus, perhaps sparing Leppard the indignity of becoming the next Billy Squier.   

 

Happy Birthday, Swing Your Arms!

I've been watching the VEVO 80s video channel, and it's true what they say - watch early '80s videos for any length of time and you'll discover a quirky British group that you had never heard of.  I've now seen two videos from Altered Images, a Scottish New Wave/pure pop group.  Their lead singer was cute, and there's kind of a Montgomery Clift "Raintree County" thing going on where you try to spot her facial scar.

Jive Talkin'

The Kennedy Center Honors were last month, and there's one thing about them that always bugs me.  It's that the awards are pretty clearly for US artists (however that's understood - I'm sure plenty of honorees have been immigrants at least as young people), but there's also pretty clearly an exemption for global rock stars.  One of this year's recipients was Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees.  I don't think he's the strongest candidate regardless - I mean, his peak was 45 years ago in a musical genre that flamed out pretty quickly.  But regardless of the merit of his selection, I don't think anyone thinks of him as an American.  I think most think people think of him and his brothers as Australian, albeit via the Isle of Man or somewhere in the British Isles.  And he's obviously not the only person this applies to.  Previous honorees include Sting (English), members of Led Zeppelin and the Who (also English), and U2 (super-Irish).  I guess you could make an argument that Paul McCartney is kind of American because he's Paul McCartney and married a couple of Americans, and I suppose Elton John lives most of the time in Atlanta or somewhere.  But the whole thing doesn't seem really necessary unless the Kennedy Center Honors wants the attention or ratings that these Boomer rock stars bring, especially when you consider that the Kennedy Center never deigned to honor actual Americans and more important rock and roll legends like Little Richard.  Or Jerry Lee Lewis.  Or Bo Diddley.  All of which just confirm Richard's shtick that he never really received his due or the awards that he should won.

 

Most Questionable Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

 I think all of these people were inducted in the main "Performers" category as opposed to, say, through the "Award for Award Excellence" (ne the Sideman category, aka the back door to get people into the Hall if they can't actually get elected).

1. Donovan - I can only name one of his songs - "Mellow Yellow," which now sounds like a novelty song, although "Sunshine Superman" apparently went to #1 in the US.  Best known for hanging out with more accomplished people like John Lennon.  Also, every profile of Ione Skye in the late '80s was legally required to mention that he was her father.  2012 inductee because apparently there still weren't enough Baby Boomer nostalgia acts in the Hall.

2.  Dion - I'm no expert on late '50s/early '60s pop idols, but Dion (and the Belmonts) only had two Top 10 hits and one other Top 20 song.  The only one I've familiar with is "A Teenager in Love."  Even Fabian, who isn't in the Hall, had three Top 10 songs.  Perhaps Hall organizers kind of regretted the choice because later when they inducted a lot of backing groups one year like Bill Haley's Comets and Buddy Holly's Crickets, they didn't bother to induct Dion's Belmonts.  Inducted in 1989 when presumably people still remembererd him.

3.  Ritchie Valens - I get why he was inducted, but I can really only name two of his songs - "Donna" along with "La Bamba."  Couldn't the Hall have put up a memorial plaque for the Day the Music Died to honor him and the Big Bopper?  If anything, Los Lobos is actually probably more deserving of induction.  Inducted in 2001 by Ricky Martin.

4.  Bobby Darin - huge popular music star, but "Splish Splash" is the only one of his songs that I identify as rock and roll and that really was a novelty song.  Doesn't help that he's now identified with Kevin Spacey.  Inducted in 1990, the Hall website calls him "Teen Idol.  Adult Crooner.  Vegas Lounge Singer.  Rock and Roll Star.", so maybe they don't know what to make of him either.

5.  The Zombies - had essentially two big hits in the US - "She's Not There" and "Time of the Season" - and none in the UK, but those two songs were on every Time-Life music anthology of the '60s ever made, so they're in the Rock Hall along with the Animals, Moody Blues, and Dave Clark Five.  Inducted in 2019 and weren't even nominated in their first 25 years or so of being eligible.