From 1993: Jeremy Jordan...All Right

Haters gonna hate.

I love this song.

It was the one saving grace from that horrid spring of 1993, when my entire worldview was shattered by Dylan McKay choosing slutty Kelly over soulful Brenda.

And no, I am still not over it.

For those of you who do not remember (perhaps because you are too young...yeesh!), Beverly Hills, 90210 had popular tunes and videos playing over the ending credits most of the time.  This song was one of them, and had a little Donna Martin cameo at the very beginning, standing at a jukebox at the Peach Pit.  She looks up and says, "Jeremy Jordan...all right!"

Voodoo Child: Susan Cowsill

At the tender age of eight, Susan Cowsill appeared with "family band" The Cowsills on The Ed Sullivan Show.  You read that right: she was eight years old.

 She may have been a kid, but she works that tambourine and sings like she was born to be in the band with her brothers and mother.   You can't take your eyes off of her.  Whatever "it factor" was or is, little Susan had it, and in spades.  She was a groovy little chick, a real voodoo child.  And when that young lady started dancing?  Forget it.  The girl had moves.

CBS flubbed the audio on the first verse and chorus in this clip.  Stick with it; when the mikes get switched on properly, you get to hear the band's remarkable vocals.

All of the Cowsill children were the victims of their militant, domineering father, Bud.  The Cowsills were so liked by Ed Sullivan, he wanted them for an unheard-of TEN guest appearances for the show.  However, because of the audio flub by CBS at the beginning of the song, Bud had a huge argument with the Sullivan people.  

The Cowsills would only appear once more on the show.

UPDATE from October 2014: I found this clip, a medley of tunes showcasing each individual member.  Little Susan belts out "Sweet-talkin' Guy." 

Susan Cowsill today.  (She's still a groovy chick.)

2014: The Reckoning

Brought to you by the most racist candy ever made...

Kitty-cat related advertising for now-defunct soft drinks...

The original cast of The Facts Of Life...

The Smylie Family...

My beloved Hee Haw lunchbox....

A scrumptious Swanson TV dinner...

And my favorite random 1975 photo of all time.

I'm back, bitches.

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.

From 1975: A Huge Chunk O' Commercial Goodness

November 10, 1975

Recorded during a Monday Night Football broadcast.

(The Chiefs beat the Cowboys, 34-31.)

Be sure to catch the very brief but gorgeous shot of a United Airlines DC-10.  And there are ads for Schlitz (the official beer of A Touch of Tuesday Weld...did you know that?  No?  Well, it is.) and the Boeing 747 (oh, yes, in the 70s and even into the 80s, the 747 was flown domestically in the United States, especially on TWA.  "Got on board a westbound 747").

There's also a promo for a brand-new ABC program called Good Morning, America, with host David Hartman.

From 1970: What Jeff MacDonald Did

Nothing makes me angrier faster than those who insist on saying that Jeff MacDonald "allegedly" murdered his family on that cold rainy winter night in February 1970.

I heard it most recently on an episode of Criminal Minds.  Usually, that is a show that gets it mostly right when it comes to crimes and killers.  This was not one of those times.

And for those who scream that Fatal Vision was a smear job, let me just say this: it is the third finest true crime book ever written, with In Cold Blood being number one, and Helter Skelter being number two.  

The NBC telefilm of Fatal Vision was an absolute triumph.   Karl Malden and Eva Marie Saint do star turns as the parents of murdered Colette MacDonald, and the grandparents of young Kimmy and Kristy.  However, the movie belongs to a very young Gary Cole, who plays MacDonald, and does so in such a way that you can never really look at the poor guy the same way again after you've seen it.  (It's a shame, actually.  I like Gary Cole very much and I think he's terrific in other roles.)  However, he will always be Jeffrey R. MacDonald, murderer of his pregnant wife and two little girls, to me.

And this is what Jeff MacDonald did. 

"It was a blow of tremendous force."

Notice the silence as MacDonald murders his family.  I think this was a brilliant decision.  Background music would have done a disservice to the horror unfolding onscreen.

The definitive website about Jeff MacDonald and his crimes

Cry one for them.

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.

All Right, Which One Of You Knuckleheads Is Affiliated With CBS?

When you have a blog as small as mine is, you can (and do) keep tabs on where your readers come from.  This usually is in cooperation with various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the CIA, and Mayberry RFD.

I'm no stool pigeon, mind you...but I am no fool, either.  I know that most of my readers are among the unemployable, the hopelessly addicted, and the lunatic fringe of society.  Ahhhh...my sort of people.

Well, CBS reader...this is for you.

From 1965.

 


And from 1967.  This was actually known as "the scary eye."

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 September 1967: Beatle Cartoons Theme, Season Three

A curious mix of the "old" Beatles look, 
with the "Sergeant Pepper" changes.

John Lennon did not like this song, "And Your Bird Can Sing," referring to it as a "throwaway."

The signature dual-harmony electric lead guitar parts were played live (without overdubbing) by Harrison and McCartney. Lennon played the rhythm in the "D major" position with the capo on the 2nd fret (to account for the song being in the key of E).

An excellent article about The Beatles cartoon series.

Both John Lennon and George Harrison were big fans of the show, and there is a persistent rumor that John and George provided their own voices to at least one episode of the cartoon series...uncredited, of course.

Vintage Breakfast: Snap! Crackle! Pop!

I can't find an exact date for this darling commercial, 
but it's a real favorite of mine.

The Rolling Stones got into the Rice Krispies game with this jingle that Brian Jones wrote with the J. Walter Thompson ad agency in 1964.  It aired on the BBC's Juke Box Jury.

 

The Monkees did a number of commercials for Kellogg's Rice Krispies, featuring their own version of the "K-E-Double L, O-Double Good...Kellogg's best to you!" tagline, with Micky on lead vocal.  
This is one of my favorites because it features the Monkeemobile.

From 1977: Up Your Nose With A Rubber Hose

A history of Crazy.
(I was always a Cracked girl, myself.)

From 1974: The Geezer Edition

I'm back.  These days, I'm not blogging as often as I was, but I'm still around.  Thanks to those of you who dropped me a line and asked where I was.  Would you believe me if I told that I was in jail?

You would?

Okay, then.

From August 8, 1974, and the broadcast of NBC Nightly News, and the coverage of "the ordeal of President Nixon."  Take five minutes for yourself, and take things back to Watergate.  The pants were plaid, the news viewers were old and crotchety and opinionated, and the country was going to hell in a handcart being driven by a bunch of rich white men.  Everything old is new again, I guess.  Except for maybe the plaid pants.

Plaza Sesamo: Lucas Hice Un Sandwich

I've found that watching Plaza Sesamo (that is, Sesame Street in Spanish) is a great way for me to work on learning the language, which I have found really difficult.

And Cookie Monster is funny in any language.  Enjoy.

I love it when he calls the little girl "Muchachita."

Little Metal Bottle Tops

David Thomas Jones
1945-2012

From 1979: Pa Gets A Camera From Oleson's Merchantile And Shills For Kodak

People
April 23, 1979

Quick note to my readers: thanks for giving me the heads up about People basically destroying their archive site.

All of those wonderful ads, all of that wonderful history...gone!

I am just gutted by it.

I've sent them several emails, begging them to reconsider and put all of the pages from every magazine back on the site. People, PLEASE.

The Beaver: Proud American

I have the sudden urge to Like Ike.

Hope You Had A Cool Yule

Me, I'm plum tuckered out from making the Yuletide gay!

We had a really splendid holiday, lots of lovely presents (I got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer!  A cashmere pashmina!  A bottle of Samsara perfume!), gallons of libations, and a Christmas dinner of all-you-can-eat crab legs at our favorite local Chinese buffet.

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas, if that's what you celebrate.  May it have been as much fun as this:

1977

I love this picture.  It's from this blog, and I find it so wonderful.

Wait a second...Santa Claus, NO!

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.