Kenner Close & Play Phonograph

I owned one of these as a child.

They were battery operated, portable record players with motors that fluttered the audio like crazy and the needle wasn't diamond or even sapphire. But a STEEL needle that actually DUG into the 45 RPM record you were playing. My mom listened to it and asked "Why does this thing sound so bad?" and she opened it and saw the shavings the needle had done to the grooves.

Needless to say, she quickly upgraded me to a REAL record player.

Sunny Jim Peanut Butter

Sunny Jim was a popular peanut butter west of the Rockies. The Sunny Jim name was also used for other food products such as bread, soda and canned foods. But they were best known for their peanut butter.

Novelty Radios

Song For Sunday: "Trust In Me" Katy Perry (Hudson) (2001)

Before we knew Katy Perry as the pop MEGA star we know her as today, she was another run of the mill Contemporary Christian pop singer (named Katy Hudson.)

She released an album in this genre, ate her vegetables and was a good girl overall. But suddenly, her Christian label, Red Hill records shut down. Her total album sales: 100 copies.

But Katy eventually found out which side her bread was buttered on. And the rest is history...... 



 

Highlights For Children

When I was a little kid (before I discovered Mad and later, Rolling Stone, Highlights was my favourite magazine.

It was fun and simple reading. And who could forget Goofus & Gallant? All I know is who had offspring. And it wasn't Gallant (even then, I was expecting a "coming out" issue of some kind.)

The articles were mostly factoids and basic American history. But it was the way they were written that I liked. Although Highlights avoided controversial topics of any kind (which during the years of Watergate hearings breaking into my favourite afternoon cartoon shows and my mom calling Nixon a duplicitous lying son of a bitch at the TV, wasn't such a bad thing.) I was already hearing enough of it.