Homemade Records

You know? There's a part of me that's REALLY kicking myself for not buying a similar Presto K-10 in Eastern Washington for $40 14 years ago. If I only known you could use disposable plastic plates as blanks...... 

It's straight, warm, tubey sounding lo-fi mono sound and disposable plate "vinyl" makes it perfect for recording punk or DYI/Outsider music 

Reddi-Bacon

 

In the late '70s, the makers of Reddi-Wip had a GREAT idea.

It looked promising (they DID invent the spray whipped topping.) Bacon in minutes without the messy clean up.

These foil wrapped packets of goodness were a godsend. But, there WERE problems. The packets tended to leak hot grease, creating an instant fire hazard and a disgusting mess in your toaster. Often, you had to throw out the toaster.

Eventually, this idea would be revisited again with pre-cooked microwavable bacon in the late '80s. 

The Dodge La Femme

It's pretty much a 1955 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer with a pretty pink paint job, it's own nameplate and a few extra goodies.

The Dodge La Femme was the first car specifically marketed towards women.

It was a gorgeous car. And it had everything the modern woman of 1955 could want. Including a matching shoulder bag/purse, matching makeup case, matching rain cap, matching cigarette case, matching umbrella and matching raincoat. (Matching dream house extra.)

While finding a 1955 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer is easy, the La Femme's are much harder.

In spite of the dealer hype, few women felt the need to change their entire wardrobe around a car. Even back then, this vehicle probably evoked horrifying images of matching poodles in their minds as well.

But this car was, after all, a patronizing appeal to the classic male ideal of femininity, rather than how the woman of the 1950's actually saw herself.

It wasn't a real model either. The La Femme was a $143 option for the Lancer. So it's hard to tell how many were actually made, but it's presumed something around 2,500. It was discontinued in 1957.

PAUL IS DEAD!

Remember those "Paul Is Dead" Beatle rumours that spread around for decades. They all started with this INFAMOUS 1969 WABC broadcast.

WABC 770 AM New York had a MAMMOTH nighttime skywave signal that could be heard as far west as Denver, CO. And people everywhere tuned in. They even showed up in the Pittsburgh radio ratings!

Granted, Roby Yonge did not last long on WABC. There's a story about this Rick Sklar (his former program director at WABC) wrote in his book "Rocking America" (A GREAT READ - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) you should read.....

You can just imagine the HORROR on his face when he heard this!......

"The Unicorn" The Irish Rovers (1967)

Happy St. Patrick's Day......Of which would NEVER be complete without a mandatory playing of this classic. Which was written by the late Shel Silverstein (who also wrote "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash and "Cover Of The Rolling Stone" and "Sylvia's Mother" for Dr. Hook. As well as the classic children's books The Giving Tree and A Light In The Attic. I should write a post on Shel Silverstein. He's far more prolific than you might have ever known....)

Glen Campbell also played guitar on this song.

The Irish Rovers were an Irish folk band by way of Canada. They had several Canadian variety TV shows and specials. But very few other American radio hits. Their last appearance on the US charts was in 1980 with "Wasn't That A Party", by this time the band credited themselves as simply The Rovers.