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Showing posts with label Comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comedy. Show all posts

Saturday, January 04, 2014

"Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" Tiny Tim (1982)


Originally sold as a flexi-disc part of a novelty card (I would hope so), here's Tiny Tim with his rendition (?) of the Rod Stewart classic.

No "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" falsetto here. If you're too scared to click on the YouTube video, imagine Al Jolson on amyl nitrate and backed by the Mos Eisley Spaceport Cantina Band and you'll have an idea of what this sounds like.

Sunday, December 08, 2013

Friday, July 12, 2013

The Night That Disco Died


34 years ago tonight in Chicago, Radio DJ Steve Dahl of Chicago rock station WLUP put a glorious end to the disco music craze of the '70s called "Disco Demolition Night" when he and another DJ came up with the idea of the Disco Demolition at Comiskey Park on July 12, 1979. Dahl, who was never a fan of disco had been fired from rock station WDAI-FM 94.7 the previous Christmas Eve when that station changed it's format to All Disco.

That was the last straw. This meant war.

Dahl was hired by WLUP almost immediately and the anti-disco backlash had officially begun.

Fans who brought a disco record to the ballpark this night 34 years ago were admitted for 98 cents, a number which closely matched WLUP’s 97.9 MHz dial position. The event took place at Comiskey Park between games of a White Sox/Tigers double-header. Early fears of embarrassingly low attendance were squashed when 90,000 disco-haters converged onto a stadium that held 52,000.

After the Sox lost the first game 4-1, during which time the increasingly rowdy fans got drunk and crazy, the real fun began. Steve Dahl wore a combat helmet and rode around the ballpark in a Jeep. In center field a giant box was packed full of disco LPs and blown up which left a hole in the playing surface. People who didn’t get their Village People, KC & The Sunshine Band and Sister Sledge records in the box used them as frisbees and began flinging them through the air. Thousands of fans then swarmed the field, lighting fires and starting small riots. The bases were stolen, the batting cage was destroyed and chaos ruled. Chicago police in riot gear finally cleared the field which was so badly damaged that the second game could not be played. It was later determined that the White Sox would have to forfeit the game to the Tigers because they failed to provide acceptable playing conditions.......

After the Disco Demolition Night promotion, disco began to lose its popularity. Rapidly.

Steve Dahl on the other hand still worked anti-disco sentiment, even producing a parody record of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" (one of the first ever "parody" type records which "Weird" Al Yankovic would later become famous for) called "Do Ya Think I'm Disco". He recorded it as a single on the independent Ovation Records label (one of the smaller national indie labels of the time that was based in Chicago.)

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DP/2007/11/306_14_Steve_Dahl_-_D%27Ya_Think_I%27m_Disco.mp3



As for disco, it had completely left the pop charts by fall of 1980. It was replaced by an even more tedious form of music called "adult contemporary" and acts like Barbara Streisand (one of the very few acts to have disco hits and survive the backlash) and Neil Diamond began filling the airwaves along with the arena rock bands (Foreigner, Journey, Rush, Loverboy, etc, etc.)

However, disco never REALLY died. It went back underground to the gay dance clubs and R&B charts where it started for most of the early '80s and resurfaced as pop with the Madonna craze of the mid-'80s. It exists today as a specialty genre simply called "dance music". A brief nostalgic revival in the '90s of '70s disco brought a lot of the older music back into the mainstream......

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Happy 420!



Today is 420 Day (aka Stoner New Year)

On 4/20 and especially at 4:20 PM, millions of people around the world smoke a much maligned, but fairly innocuous sticky green herb that relaxes people, reduces depression and boosts appetite.

I've smoked pot for nearly 30 years and compared to all other recreational substances (including alcohol), marijuana is the most benign. Today, there are synthetic and far more dangerous drugs easily available, such as bath salts and K2 that make marijuana, for all the reefer madness rhetoric about it that some STILL believe, appear as innocent as milk and cookies.

There's a growing awareness in even the most rigidly conservative states that marijuana isn't as bad as previously thought. (Even Mississippi decriminalized marijuana.) And with the onslaught of crystal meth and these new synthetic drugs and with a nation deep in debt and unable to sustain an abysmally failing war on drugs, something's got to give.  

People in Washington State and Colorado have a LOT to be grateful for today. I couldn't have asked for a better night than November 6, 2012. Not only my birthday, but Washington State and Colorado did the once politically unthinkable; they legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

They had to eventually. I knew it would happen in my lifetime. But I was about 10 years off. Who could have known it would have been voted for in near landslides in two states?  

But first.....

You toke the green hit buddy......
Marijuana wasn't always illegal. In fact, there were NO laws against marijuana whatsoever until the early 20th century. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew and used marijuana. Marijuana was used for treating everything from asthma to pain relief (It doesn't actually relieve pain, but it does take the edge off it.)

Doctor recommended......

Here's the ultimate playlist for your 420 holiday:

"The Great Smoke Off" Shel Silverstein (The One To Play at 4:20 PM)
"Legalize It" Peter Tosh
"Sweet Leaf" Black Sabbath
"Pass The Marijuana" Sublime
"You're A Viper"  Stuff Smith and his Onyx Club Boys
"Smoke Two Joints" The Toyes/Sublime
"Gimmie A Reefer" Bessie Smith
"Hits From The Bong" Cypress Hill
"Don't Step On The Grass, Sam" Steppenwolf
“You Don't Know How It Feels” Tom Petty
"Natural Mystic" Bo Marley
"High" Feeder
"Don't Bogart Me" Fraternity Of Man/Little Feat
"Hash Pipe" Weezer
"Wildwood Weed" Jim Stafford
"Because I Got High" Afroman
"Stoned Soul Picnic" The Fifth Dimension
“Comfortably Numb” Pink Floyd
"Too Rolling Stoned" Robin Trower
"Marijuana In Your Brain" Lords Of Acid
"Four And Twenty Hours" Nana Mouskouri
"Pass The Dutchie" Musical Youth
"Texas Tea Party" Benny Goodman
"M.V. (Marijuana)" Nirvana
"Rainy Day Women 12 & 35" Bob Dylan
"Who Got The Hooch" Everything
"Champagne and Reefer" BB King
"Along Comes Mary" The Association
"Mary Jane" Rick James
"And It Stoned Me" Van Morrison
"Save The Roach For Me" Buck Washington
"My Name Is Bud" NOFX
"Muggles" Louis Armstrong
"Smokin'" Boston
"Billy Bardo" Johnny Paycheck
"The Ganja Man" Lee "Scratch" Perry
"Homegrown" Neil Young
"I Got Stoned And I Missed It" Dr. Hook
"Seeds and Stems (Again)" Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
"Reefer Man" Cab Calloway
"One Toke Over The Line" Brewer & Shipley
"That Cat Is High" Manhattan Transfer
"Burn One Down" Ben Harper
"The Devil Went To Jamaica" Travis Meyer
"420" Kottonmouth Kings
"Panama Red" New Riders of The Purple Sage
"Cheeba Cheeba" Tone Loc
"Hash Cake '77" Hawkwind
"Roll Another Number" Neil Young
"White Punks On Dope" The Tubes
"Let's Go Get Stoned" Ray Charles
"Insane In The Brain" Cypress Hill
"The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" Nick Drake
"Marijuanaville" Tenacious D
"Puff The Magic Dragon" Peter, Paul & Mary
"And She Was" Talking Heads
"Copperhead Road" Steve Earle
"Tomorrow Never Knows" Beatles
"There She Goes" Sixpence None The Richer/The La's
"Are You Experienced" Jimi Hendrix
"Last Dance With Mary Jane" Tom Petty
"Bong Hits For Breakfast" Staind
"Heaven Is A Halfpipe" OPM
"Marijuana" Phish
"Marrakesh Express" Crosby Stills & Nash
"Smokin' In The Boys Room" Brownsville Station/Motley Crue
"What If God Smoked Cannabis" Bob Rivers
“Kaya” Bob Marley
“The Joker” Steve Miller Band
“Sinsemilla” Black Uhuru
“Let's Go Smoke Some Pot” Dash Rip Rock
“Captain Jack” Billy Joel
“Got To Get You Into My Life” The Beatles
“Little Green Bag” George Baker Selection
"Marijuana Australiana” The Layabouts
“Lady Jane” Rolling Stones

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Hollywood Squares


These great questions and answers are from the days when ' Hollywood Squares' game show responses were spontaneous, not scripted, as they are now.  Peter Marshall was the host asking the questions, of course...

Q.  Paul, what is a good reason for pounding meat?
A.  Paul Lynde: Loneliness!
(The audience laughed so long and so hard it took up almost 15 minutes of the show!)

Q. Do female frogs croak?
A. Paul Lynde: If you hold their little heads under water long enough.

Q. If you're going to make a parachute jump, at least how high should you be?
A. Charley Weaver: Three days of steady drinking should do it...

Q. True or False, a pea can last as long as 5,000 years.
A. George Gobel: Boy, it sure seems that way sometimes.

Q. You've been having trouble going to sleep.  Are you probably a man or a woman?
A.  Don Knotts: That's what's been keeping me awake.

Q. According to Cosmopolitan, if you meet a stranger at a party and you think that he is attractive, is it okay to come out and ask him if he's married?
A. Rose Marie: No wait until morning.

Q. Which of your five senses tends to diminish as you get older?
A. Charley Weaver: My sense of decency.

Q. In Hawaiian, does it take more than three words to say 'I Love You'?
A. Vincent Price: No, you can say it with a pineapple and a twenty.

Q. What are 'Do It,' 'I Can Help,' and 'I Can't Get Enough'?
A. George Gobel: I don't know, but it's coming from the next apartment.

Q. As  you grow older, do you tend to gesture more or less with your hands while talking?
A. Rose Marie: You ask me one more growing old question Peter, and I'll give you a gesture you'll never forget.

Q. Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear leather?
A. Paul Lynde: Because chiffon wrinkles too easily.

Q.  Charley, you've just decided to grow strawberries.  Are you going to get any during the first year?
A.  Charley Weaver: Of course not, I'm too busy growing strawberries.

Q. In bowling, what's a perfect score?
A. Rose Marie: Ralph, the pin boy.

Q. It is considered in bad taste to discuss two subjects at nudist camps.  One is politics, what is the other?
A. Paul Lynde: Tape measures..

Q.. During a tornado, are you safer in the bedroom or in the closet?
A. Rose Marie: Unfortunately Peter, I'm always safe in the bedroom.

Q.  Can boys join the Camp Fire Girls?
A.  Marty Allen: Only after lights out.

Q. When you pat a dog on its head he will wag his tail.  What will a goose do?
A. Paul Lynde: Make him bark?

Q. If you were pregnant for two years, what would you give birth to?
A. Paul Lynde: Whatever it is, it would never be afraid of the dark.

Q. According to Ann Landers, is there anything wrong with getting into the habit of kissing a lot of people?
A. Charley Weaver: It got me out of the army.

Q. It is the most abused and neglected part of your body, what is it?
A. Paul Lynde: Mine may be abused, but it certainly isn't neglected.

Q. Back in the old days, when Great Grandpa put horseradish on his head, what was he trying to do?
A. George Gobel: Get it in his mouth.

Q. Who stays pregnant for a longer period of time, your wife or your elephant?
A. Paul Lynde: Who told you about my elephant?

Q. When a couple have a baby, who is responsible for its sex?
A. Charley Weaver: I'll lend him the car, the rest is up to him.

Q. Jackie Gleason recently revealed that he firmly believes in them and has actually seen them on at least two occasions.  What are they?
A. Charley Weaver: His feet.

Q. According to Ann Landers, what are two things you should never do in bed?
A. Paul Lynde: Point and laugh.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Bad Saturday Morning Cartoons Of The '70s

The Brady Kids Meet Wonder Woman

I can just imagine this. Several ABC-TV programming honchos are sitting at a large table in a conference room, snorting a mountain of cocaine while trying to come up with new Saturday morning cartoon ideas.

Suddenly one of them jumps up and says "I'VE GOT IT! Why not make a cartoon with the kids from The Brady Bunch....and Wonder Woman!"

Part One



Part Two



Part Three



The Osmonds

The Osmonds were at their commercial peak in 1972. So Rankin-Bass, following the EXACT same formula of their successful Jackson 5ive cartoon, decided to recycle that into this show. And I do mean RECYCLE......





Thursday, March 07, 2013

John Travolta's Album










John Travolta's eponymous debut album (1976) was one of MANY albums by popular Hollywood TV stars of the '60s, '70s and '80s. Released on Midland International (Silver Convention, Thor), the album was released at the peak of Travolta's TV success as Vinnie Barbarino on the TV sitcom Welcome Back Kotter.

This album didn't generate the same success as his TV show. But it did sell respectably well. and generated a Top 10 single "Let Her In".


But his career would skyrocket a year later.......and the rest would be history......

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Carlton The Doorman


If you watched the classic '70s sitcom Rhoda, you will no doubt remember Carlton The Doorman (the heard-but-never-seen doorman to Rhoda's apartment building.)

The voice of Carlton the Doorman was the late Lorenzo Music.


You might better recognize his voice as the original voice of Garfield.



I found this record a long time ago. I've played this before to other people in the apartment building I managed and they all said this song reminds them of ME!



"Who Is It?" Carlton The Doorman (1975)






Thursday, October 11, 2012

Halloween Hits: "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes" Lewis Lee (1978)


From the So-Bad-It's-AWESOME movie.......And it's on YouTube for your viewing pleasure......



Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Remember Alison Arngrim?


Otherwise known as the cruel "Nellie Oleson" of Little House On The Prairie fame, Alison took a stab at comedy records in the late '70s, releasing this rare album, a spoof of then First Daughter Amy Carter on the Laff label (and unlike Laff's usual album covers, which were pretty X rated, this one was one of the few Laff albums that could be found in the racks and not behind the counter.)  

It's pretty campy - OK, it was stupid (hey, it was amateur topical comedy from 1977. What did you expect from a 15 year old?) Also with the star of a family TV series, it was pretty obvious her range of material then also had it's limits.

But this record is one of those obscure '70s chestnuts a lot people don't know about.......