From 1983: Radio Free Europe

I know, I know.  I'm on a major 1983 kick right now.
Hang in there with me; it'll pass.

I'm posting this clip simply because I can't stop watching it.
It's just that good.

p.s. This was one of the earliest examples of me falling madly in love with a gay man.  Man, Michael Stipe was such a cutie, with all of that angst and gorgeous curly hair.

Thirty Years Ago Today, Courtesy Of Casey Kasem

1983 was an unbelievable summer for music.

I remember it like it was yesterday...listening to WFBQ, Indianapolis' own Q95, for hours on end, laying out in Suzanne's back yard, drenched in Coppertone tanning lotion, drinking Tab (Diet Coke was still a very new product that summer).

I was twelve...going on twenty-seven.  Boy crazy and made up like a cocktail waitress most of the time.  Was there a better purple eyeshadow than Aziza, in those days?  I don't think so.  But yeah, most of the time, I was all dolled up like I belonged in Vegas, not in our humble home in Lafayette, Indiana.

Here's to thirty years ago, here's to great music, and here's to Casey Kasem: a voice every bit as cherished to our generation as the records we spun during that long, hot, distant summer.

From 1983: Margaret's Sweet 16 Birthday Party

"Taken with a Kodak Instamatic with flashcube."

I'm not sure which one is Margaret, but I love this picture: wood paneling; a dude with a mustache and tinted glasses; a guy who looks like either a used car dealer or the lead singer for Sparks in the back; the wonderfully random Rose Acre Farms crate ("the good egg people"); the LPs and some sort of makeshift DJ booth; the elegant choice of decorations for this fête galante, including a "sweet sixteen" banner.

I'm sure the dining choices for this gala included several buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken, several bags of Taco flavor Doritos, one of those sugary grocery store bakery cakes the size of Texas with pink rosettes in each corner and "Happy Birthday, Margaret!" written in loopy pink frosting script.   And five cases of Schlitz.

Who was this motley crew of boys, I wonder?  Well, I will venture a guess: the boy in the plaid shirt is Margaret's slightly older brother, and those knuckleheads are his friends.  They've known Margaret since she was a little girl, and they love her like a sister.  Honestly, they do.  It's just that...little Margaret is growing up to be hot.

And you just know that these awful boys took over poor Margaret's party, most likely forcing the DJ to play nothing but Rush, Van Halen, and KISS records all night while they drank Schlitz and talked about Atari and  Phoebe Cates' tits.  

"Hey, man!  Play Christine Sixteen again!  KISS Army rules! Happy birthday, Margaret!"

From 1980: Gia Blows A Bubble

The Felt-Up Files: Moments In Love

Oh yes, on the couch with Josh M., it was October 1987, and we're in Sarah T.'s basement rec room.  I remember I was wearing the Benetton sweater that I got for my 17th birthday a few days earlier.  

"Benetton, nice." Josh said, partly into my lips, partly into my cheek.  I guess he saw the tag, or something, when I moved to his lap.

"Birthday," I whispered.  I kicked off my shoes.

"Oh, right," he murmured.   "Happy birthday."

"Thanks," I said.   The word had no sound.

***

Here's "Moments In Love," by Art of Noise, the song of choice for Making Out in those days.

This is not the official cut of the song, but it's my favorite arrangement, with the piano interlude at the beginning.

Have a wonderful Saturday night, everyone
...may you all get felt up tonight.

 

p.s.  The Eighties were a FABULOUS time to be young.

Creepy Viacom Bumpers Through The Ages

My ongoing battle with insomnia is your gain, folks ;-)

These creep me out.  Truthfully, what really creeps me out is actually remembering the "pinball" version of the logo at the end of Rhoda episodes...when they first aired in the mid Seventies.  I'm old.

From 1984: Oh, Boy!

 

People

April 30, 1984

I think the vaguely Japanese look and feel of this ad is quite beautiful. 

My favorite.  I had the 45 and played it to the point that my Dad banned it in our house.  The only other records that received that distinction were "867-5309/Jenny" and "Come On Eileen."

From 1987: When Pee Wee Herman Marries A Bowl Of Fruit Salad

November 21, 1987

I say with some sadness that I doubt a scene like this would air on television today, particularly in a children's program.  Adults are too uptight; hateful JesusFreaks would call it "a gay agenda."  This does a real disservice to kids everywhere, because kids have a natural sense of absurdist humor, like you saw on Herman's show.

From 1987: Heaven Is A Kiss And A Smile

One of the most haunting records ever made.

On February 27, 1988, Father Figure topped the Billboard charts, staying there for two weeks. It was a track from George Michael's monster LP Faith, which was released in October 1987.

The model in the video is Tania Coleridge.

There isn't a bad track on Faith,
but this one has been my favorite for 25 years.

Grocery Store Favorites, Holiday Edition: Do They Know It's Christmas?

There is such a level of joy in this song, even 27 years later, that I just can't be snarky about it. Watching the video is like seeing old friends again.

Feed the world...let them know it's Christmastime again.

From 1982: What Might Be The Greatest Single Of The Eighties

This clip is mislabeled as being from 1983; that's not possible, as Fridays stopped airing on October 22, 1982.

Still, it's a magnificent capture of a great live version of this song. Here's Tommy Tutone, with "867-5309 (Jenny)."



I owned this on a vinyl 45; I bought it with some of my babysitting earnings at the Zayre right by my church in the summer of 1982. If I remember correctly, I also bought some Faberge Organics shampoo on that shopping trip, too.

It did not make me look anything like Heather Locklear.

Oh, and my Dad banned Jenny and her phone number after I played the record 12 times in a row. "I don't want to hear those numbers in this house again, Laura Beth," he said. "At least not in that sequence."

From 1988: Two Halloween Costumes Are Born

This year, Ken and I are celebrating Halloween as our Pee Wee's Playhouse counterparts, Cool Cat and Chickie Baby.


That is, unless I can get my hands on two complete Leatherface costumes.

Grocery Store Favorites: Boz Scaggs

From 1980, and the most excellent Urban Cowboy soundtrack.

This is the song that is playing in the background when Bud cheats on Sissy with Pam.  A gorgeous backdrop of Houston, circa 1979, is seen through the ceiling-to-floor windows in the apartment, as Pam turns on her stereo and lights those curiously skinny candles.

I hear this tune a lot at Safeway, and I usually stay in the store and shop so I can hear all of it.  That is, unless it is marred by "Larry, I need cashier service up front, please!"

What This Blog Needs: More Of That Cool-Ass Breakdancin' Little Kid In The Grey Sweatshirt From The Movie Breakin'

Yes, I saw it in the theater. Stop looking at me.

A quick thought: maybe Ken and I should be Ozone and Turbo for Halloween this year. We were going to be our beatnik alter-egos, Cool Cat and Chickie Baby, but...

What This Blog Needs: More Jessica Savitch

And WOW.

This is an entirely intact NBC News Digest anchored by Jessica...something that is a rarity, even in these days of YouTube and the like. This beautiful clip not only features the entire "three-chime" opening with its super space-age graphics and the world turning in the wrong direction, but the entire commercial for American Airlines in the middle, complete with that gorgeous DC-10 making its ascension to Destinations Unknown.

What the clip does not have is the trademark "Savitch Smile" at the end. Savitch seems rather wan, worn, and tired. This clip is from the 22nd or 23rd of April, 1983; not only was Savitch deep into her cocaine abuse, she was in a great deal of trouble at NBC. Not because of her cocaine use, mind you; yet the brass used that as their official reason, which was, at that time, very hypocritical. No, Jessica Savitch was viewed as "difficult," too "mercurial" for the NBC brass, and they had themselves a new Golden Girl to replace her: a hotshot young reporter from KCBS in Los Angeles named Connie Chung.

In fact, a week or so after this broadcast, Jessica Savitch was ousted from her spot as the Saturday anchor for NBC Nightly News and replaced with Chung.

When I was a young girl, I idolized her. I was too young to know that hers was an unhappy, unfulfilled life, full of tragedy and disaster leading right up to that upside-down station wagon filled with muddy water in that little canal outside Chez Odette.

Rest in peace, Jessica.

What This (And Every) Blog Needs: More ABC Promos From Tuesday, November 24, 1981

Still The Greatest Video On All Of YouTube

Timothy Ralston, the camera operator,
gives this information about the video:

"Phoenix, Arizona. random super 8 movies shot by 15 yr old Timothy Ralston. Some starring 9 yr old Andrew Ralston. 5301 E. Fellars Drive, Scottsdale. Circa 1982. Contains: Driving to Phoenix airport from near Paradise Valley Mall. N. 52 St. Lots of Benny Hill type sped up Shenanigans."

(5301 Fellars Drive is actually quite close to my residence. Maybe a 10-minute drive. I wonder what the neighborhood looks like today? Should I find out...?)

From 1988: Gorgeous Jill Goodacre

I ran across this Cosmo cover as I was researching something else.

Struck by how beautiful it is, I thought it deserved its own post.


I must have owned my own copy back in the day, as I read Cosmo religiously.

If It's Friday, That Must Mean That I Am Having Meds-Related Hallucinations Where, In My Mind, It's 1981

The only thing that can be said about this tune: Fuck yeah!

This tune is off a brilliant album called Worlds Apart. Yes, I own it, and it rocks. It rocks so very, very hard.

Saga is from Canada, the land of other such brilliant bands as Rush and Loverboy.

This tune peaked at #26 on the Billboard pop chart in March 1983. (Is it just me, but was the fall of 1982 to the summer of 1983 a particularly splendid time for music?)



Now, pardon me. I have to shove a wad of Chewels in my mouth in defiance as my Dad banishes me from the dinner table yet again for declaring that Ronald Reagan Is The Biggest Disaster To Have Ever Befallen This Country.

(p.s. I miss you, Dad.)

Lazy Blogging: Have A Commercial Block From 1983

I've started a new job recently, and while I don't want that to cut into my blogging time too much, I *am* a little more tired than usual in the evenings.

I'll get back into the spirit of things shortly. Until then, have a hunk-a-chunk o' commercial goodness from WPIX in New York,
November 17, 1983.

Be sure to keep an eye out for Estelle Costanza.