Culture – Page 47 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Bring It On Home: Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin, and Beyond–The Story of Rock’s Greatest Manager… by Mark Blake

I had a business trip this past week driving a car for at least 10 hours to and from Atlanta and finished up this audiobook about the legendary manager Peter Grant. I have read one book about Grant by Chris Welch but I like this one better. Both of Grant’s kids were interviewed by author Mark Blake and they gave a perspective and info that has never been shared.

Grant had been a van driver, bouncer, stagehand, wrestler, and Don Arden’s assistant. He was 6’3″ and at one time over 300lbs… He road managed the tough and a little crazy Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, and The Animals before he took over the Yardbirds which then turned into Led Zeppelin.

Grant changed the music business across the board. The promoters would enjoy a 60/40 split and better until Grant. He changed it all to 90/10 split with the artists actually getting the windfall instead of the promoters. His saying was 10 percent of Zeppelin was better than nothing. Now it is an industry-standard. The one other manager that I have read about is Brian Epstein who managed the Beatles. Grant and Epstein were complete opposites except for one thing. There was nothing they would not do for their respective bands. They were both loyal and trustworthy with the band’s finances unlike other band’s managers at the time. That is where the comparison ends.

Grant indeed was loyal to a fault…but he did business by suggestion and intimidation. Pouring water in bootleggers tape recorders, smashing film cameras by fans at concerts, and threating anyone that got in Zeppelin’s way or anyone who might be getting something they shouldn’t. He added to their already dark reputation. He started a Zeppelin label in the mid-seventies called Swan Song and signed Bad Company. He became their co-manager and traveled with them when Zeppelin wasn’t touring. He was even asked by Queen in 1975 if he could manage them…he turned them down because he didn’t have the time.

After Bonham died it became close to impossible to get him on the phone. His drug intake, already heavy, escalated during the early eighties. He did eventually get clean, lose weight, and turn into a living legend and he tried to be an English gentleman.

The book moves at a good pace and it goes over the hype and myths that Grant and Page built for Zeppelin.

If you are a Zeppelin fan or a fan of rock in the seventies it’s a good read. Although Grant could be tough, intimidating, and frankly scary at times…he did have a soft side for his family and of course…Led Zeppelin. I would give it 4.5 stars.

I did learn a new name for a certain drug… “Peruvian Marching Powder”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl0CCprghgo

Classic TV Episodes: The Andy Griffith Show – The Pickle Story

Some shows are easy to pick a classic episode…this one not so much. There are so many to pick from but personally, I really like this one. It was reported that The Pickle Story was Don Knott’s favorite of the series. Aunt Bee was a fantastic cook but don’t ask her to make pickles or marmalade. Andy, Barney, and Opie pays when she does…

“You mean you actually WANT her to make another batch of them kerosene cucumbers?”
” I gotta tell ya, my heart ain’t in this… Well, it’s not so much your heart we need, it’s your stomach”
“I don’t know how I can face the future when I know there’s eight quarts of these pickles in it.“

The ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW – The Pickle Story

This show’s writing was top notch. There are a lot of shows that are memorable with The Andy Griffith Show. The Characters are Aunt Bee, Barney Fife, Opie Taylor, Andy Taylor, Clara Johnson, Motorist from Oregon, County Fair Judge

Clara drops by the Taylor house so Bee can sample some of the pickles she’s been working on for the county fair, which are delicious – they’ve won the blue ribbon 11 years in a row. Bee lets her sample some of the pickles that she’s been putting up for the family, which are terrible – the bane of her family’s meals for years. Aghast at the horrible concoction, Clara launches into a long list of polite suggestions that might help to make them better, but Bee waves them off. No less flabbergasted by her “kerosene cucumbers” are Andy and Barney who, unlike Clara, don’t know how to tell her that they’re awful. As a survival tactic, Andy and Barney plot to make her pickles edible by placing store-bought pickles in Aunt Bee’s jars while placing her pickles in store jars with Barney handing them out as gifts to passing motorists heading far away.

The plot works, but then Bee announces her decision to enter her pickles at the fair. Andy and Barney consider letting the matter slide, but when Clara drops by the courthouse to let Andy sample her pickles and pours her heart out about how much winning the contest at the fair means to her, Andy feels bad and suggests to Barney that they reverse their plan by eating all the store pickles so that Aunt Bee will have to make more. They do, she does, and once again they’re terrible – only this time it’ll be according to the judges at the fair. The winner is Clara for the 12th year in a row. Unfazed, Aunt Bee announces to Andy and Barney that, due to their recent appetite for her pickles, she’s made 16 jars for them to enjoy. Along with that terrible news, they also discover she’s started making heinous marmalade.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512602/

Lynyrd Skynyrd – 42 Years Ago Today

It’s been 42 years since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane crashed in a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi. The band had just released the album “Street Survivors” and it was probably their best well-rounded album. With new guitarist Steve Gaines, they were primed for commercial success but on October 20, 1977, they lost singer-songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick. The plane crash also claimed the lives of pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray Jr.

A year earlier Steve Gaines joined the band and he was pushing them in directions they never had gone. Listening to “Street Survivors” you can hear his influence with songs I Never Dreamed and I Know A Little. Steve was a super talented guitarist, songwriter, and singer and I have to wonder where his career would have gone.

On this tour, they were headlining and moving up in status after years of touring as mostly an opening band.

Below is a good Rolling Stone article on the crash. The song below that is “I Never Dreamed,” a song heavily influenced by Gaines.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/remembering-lynyrd-skynyrds-deadly-1977-plane-crash-2-195371/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqpynngNypo&ab_channel=LynyrdSkynyrdLover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhzYLLYHoq8

The Starship Airplane N7201U

It’s 1973 and your band needs a plane all to themselves and you have the money ($2,500-per-flight hour ). You want an open bar…check…an organ…check…a fireplace…check…plenty of excesses…check check. The first time The Allman Brothers boarded they were greeted with “Welcome Allman Brothers” rendered in lines of cocaine on the club room bar.

If you wanted the plane painted a different color…no problem…and your name could be stenciled on it. Bedrooms and enough space where Elton John could roller skate. It was redecorated to fit your taste.

The registration number was N7201U, The Serial Number was 17907, it was the first B720 built and it was delivered to United Airlines on October 1960 and then purchased in 1973 by Contemporary Entertainment. Sherman and Sylvester invested $200,000 to reduce its seating capacity to forty and to install into the main cabin a bar, seats and tables, revolving armchairs, a 30-foot-long couch, a television set and a video cassette player, complete with a well-stocked video library.

The airplane was used by Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan and The Band, Deep Purple, Allman Brothers, The Rolling Stones, and Peter Frampton. John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, and Cher were passengers at one time or another.

Led Zeppelin is probably the most famous band that used it.

The plane was all about decadence and luxury. Many stories have originated on this plane from a lot of the bands that used it…I won’t repeat them here. Peter Frampton was the last to use it in 1976. After that, it developed engine problems. The Starship went through several ownership changes from 1977 through 1979 until it went into storage at Luton Airport. It was dismantled for parts starting in July 1982

With the times changing and fuel costs going up…this wasn’t as common after the 70s.

This is one rock and roll relic I would have loved to have flown on at least one time… it should have been saved and turned into a museum…or at least sold to me… Long live the Starship!

Led Zeppelin

Allman Brothers

Peter Frampton

Lidsville

The show is just plain bizarre…for me, it is the strangest show Sid and Marty Krofft produced….and besides Land of the Lost, it’s my favorite Sid and Marty Krofft show. The show premiered on September 11, 1971.

It has been rumored that the Sid and Marty Krofft were inspired by hallucination drugs such as LSD. The brothers have always denied this claim. The title “Lid” is an old slang term for a hat, but by the 1970s the word “Lid” had taken on an entirely new meaning, namely as slang for an eighth of an ounce of pot. Whether they were or not…the shows they produced were NOT boring…they were very colorful and entertaining.

The show was conceived by Sid Krofft, who had a huge hat collection. He thought one day…what if all of the hats had different personalities? Sid was also influenced by Lewis Carroll and it is obvious.

The plot is: A boy (Mark), the original Eddie Munster, Butch Patrick falls down a large top hat at an amusement park and ends up in a land of Hats…there was also a genie named Weenie (Billy Hayes)…who played Witchiepoo in HR Pufnstuf. The bad guy was Charles Nelson Reilly the magician and he would go around zapping people. The seventeen episodes they made revolved around Mark’s attempts to return to the real world as Hoo Doo made life miserable for him and the good hat people.

It has a similar plotline as the more famous HR Pufnstuf…I remember the reruns through the seventies and I always hoped Mark would get out of Lidsville and back home…of course not knowing they made only 17 episodes…kinda like wanting Gilligan to get off that island.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh7jYEN7Na0

Yogi Bear

Yogi Bear – “I’m smarter than the average bear”,

I always liked Yogi Bear and would watch it when I got a chance…if only for the way he said pic-a-nic baskets.

Yogi first started out as a sidekick in a Hanna-Barbera show called The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958. He was the first Hanna-Barbera character to break out.

In 1961 he was given his own show called The Yogi Bear Show. His show included other segments like Yakky Doodle and Snagglepuss. The show also featured episodes with Yogi Bear breaking away from the unadventurous life of other bears in Yellowstone Park.

The plot was basically Yogi raiding picnic baskets, dodging hibernation, being chased by Ranger Smith, and making money together with his more honest sidekick Boo-Boo Bear. The show also featured episodes of Ranger Smith trying to tame Yogi and Boo-Boo Bear.

Around this time the great baseball player Yogi Berra sued Hanna-Barbera for defamation. But Hanna-Barbera claimed that the similarity of the names was just purely coincidental. Eventually, Yogi Berra withdrew his suit. When Yogi Berra died the AP’s wire service mistakenly announced the death of Yogi Bear instead…that is sad.

Yogi starred in a feature film, Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear, in 1964.

Yogi’s personality was based on Art Carney’s character from The Honeymooners.

The Yogi Bear Show lasted only 2 season but other shows featuring Yogi continued on. Yogi Bear and Friends, Yogi’s Gang, Yogi’s Space Race, Galaxy Goof-Ups, Yogi’s Treasure Hunt, The New Yogi Bear Show, and Yo Yogi! Yogi was on the air from 1958 to the 1990s.

Daws Butler originated the voice of Yogi and did it from 1958 to 1988 when he passed away. He was replaced by Greg Burson who was personally taught by Butler on how to do Yogi’s voice and other characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FBNC9er91Y

WKRP in Cincinnatti

A few weeks ago I posted about Jan Smithers…who portrayed Bailey Quarters on WKRP. it was one of the shows from the late 70s that I wouldn’t miss.

This show was not like the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Bob Newhart, or All In The Family. Those are great shows…some of the best ever sitcoms…but they were aimed more at adults while this one I always felt was largely aimed at teenagers. The show aired from 1978 to 1982. Rock and Roll on a sitcom was not common.

WKRP in Cincinnati” was produced by MTM – the studio Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker built that produces shows such as The Bob Newhart Show, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis, The White Shadow, Rhoda, and many others.

The episode I remember the most having an effect on me was about the horrible event in 1979 when eleven people were killed at a Who concert in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Park. The show handled the tragic situation very well.

The plot…to make it short was about a Program Director (Andy Travis) who had a perfect record in turning bad radio stations around joins the staff at WKRP. The station is in the bottom of the ratings and he wants to change the format to Rock which is met with trepidation from the oddball staff.

The show would feature new rock music as well as old. Blondie gave the show one of their gold records in appreciation because the show played “Heart of Glass” and helped to make it number 1.

The extended theme song by Steve Carlisle Wkrp In Cincinnati peaked at #65 on the Billboard 100 in 1979…video at the bottom

The Cast

Bailey Quarters – Jan Smithers – A shy soft-spoken lady in charge of billing and station traffic soon worked herself up to an on-air personality and other duties. She and Jennifer on the show were a bit like Mary Ann and Ginger on Gilligans Island.

Andy Travis – Gary Sandy –Andy comes to the station as the new Program Director to turn the station around and finds the station’s employees…are like from the Island of Misfit Toys. He finds their strengths and tries to make it work. His character was based on real-life Program Director Mikel Herrington.

Dr. Johnny Fever – Howard Hesseman – Fun Fact…David Cassidy was offered this role but turned it down!

Johnny had been around for a while and was fired off a Los Angeles radio station for saying booger on air. He was probably my favorite character…next to Bailey…on the show when I first watched. Dr. Johnny Fever was based on real DJ “Skinny” Bobby Harper.

Venus Flytrap – Tim Reid – Venus was the night DJ and was one of the smoothest DJ’s ever…Venus wears 70’s type flashy clothes and in the series eventually becomes Assistant Program Director.

Herb Tarlek – Frank Bonner – Herb was a salesman and dressed very tacky and loud. He hits on Jennifer at every opportunity, despite being married… but gets turned down constantly.

Jennifer Marlowe – Loni Anderson – She was Ginger to Bailey’s Mary Ann. Mr. Carlson’s receptionist…she was the highest-paid employee at the station even though refusing to do most things that receptionists are required to do.

Arthur Carlson – Gordon Jump – The lovable but ineffective station manager who is the son of the station’s owner. He never wanted to know what was going on…, but when he tries to be hands-on…it leads to disastrous results (see Turkey’s Away episode)

Les Nessman – Richard Sanders – The incompetent News Director…Les was obsessed with the region’s hog farming industry…constantly mispronounced names… ignored obvious news stories for Hog Reports…but he would win the Silver Sow Award and The Buckeye Newshawk Award.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/WKRPInCincinnati

Statler Brothers – Flowers On The Wall

I have heard this called a psychedelic Country song… CMT named it one of the 100 greatest Country songs of all-time. You know when the Muppets cover you…you have a hit. I remember it early on as a kid and in more modern times when Bruce Willis was mouthing the words it in Pulp Fiction.

Lew DeWitt, the original tenor for The Statler Brothers, wrote “Flowers on the Wall. He described it: “We took gospel harmonies and put them over in country music.” However, it did crossover to the pop charts.

Buoyed by interest from the country fans, folk listeners began to demand that rock stations play Flowers On The Wall. In December, the song appeared on Billboard’s Hot 100. Nine weeks later, it had peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in the Billboard Country Charts in 1966.

All together the Statler Brothers had 66 songs in the top 100, 33 in the Top Ten and 4 number 1’s in the Billboard Country Charts. Flowers On The Wall was their only top 10 Billboard 100 hit.

In 1966 it won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Performance-Group (Vocal or Instrumental.)

From Songfacts

Written by Statler Brothers singer Lew DeWitt, this song is about a guy who has been left lonely and nearly catatonic by the one he loves. He’s in a pretty bad spot, counting flowers on the wall and playing solitaire with a deck that’s missing a card.

This appears on the soundtrack to the movie Pulp Fiction. Bruce Willis is singing along to the song, which is playing on his car radio, just before he runs over Marsellus Wallace at an intersection. There’s another Bruce Willis connection to the song as well: Willis mentions spending his suspension “Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo” in Die Hard With A Vengeance.

Flowers On The Wall

I keep hearin’ you’re concerned about my happiness
But all that thought you’re givin’ me is conscience I guess
If I was walkin’ in your shoes, I wouldn’t worry none
While you ‘n’ your friends are worried about me I’m havin’ lots of fun

Countin’ flowers on the wall
That don’t bother me at all
Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo
Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do

Last night I dressed in tails, pretended I was on the town
As long as I can dream it’s hard to slow this swinger down
So please don’t give a thought to me, I’m really doin’ fine
You can always find me here, I’m havin’ quite a time

It’s good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright
Anyway my eyes are not accustomed to this light
And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete
So I must go back to my room and make my day complete

Don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do

Ctrl – Shift – Face

My son showed me a video on his phone and it fooled me at first. It’s easy to see why Robin Willaims and other actors and actresses have signed deals restricting their images for the future.

It’s not perfect You can tell when the actors turn their heads or in action scenes but one day it will be flawless…and these were made by a fan.

Under the YouTube username “Ctrl Shift Face,” this high-tech movie fan has used face swap technology to create some remixes of iconic movie scenes — complete with all new actors.

Jim Carrey in The Shinning

Tom Cruise in American Psycho

Tobey Maguire as new Spiderman

Bruce Lee in the Matrix

Speed Buggy

Ever notice that a few teenage characters in cartoons in the early seventies tended to look a lot like Shaggy from Scooby Doo?

Speed Buggy took its name from the main character–a talking orange dune buggy named “Speedy.” It also featured a trio of human characters who travel the world with Speedy to participate in races and win trophies… Mark, Debbie, and Tinker, the mechanic/driver…and Shaggy clone. The show was a huge success… it ended up airing on all three major networks.

Only sixteen 30-minute episodes of Speed Buggy were produced in 1973. It aired first run on CBS until 1975. Reruns aired on ABC in January 1976, replacing Uncle Croc’s Block, then on NBC, replacing the canceled McDuff, The Talking Dog, from November 27, 1976, until September 3, 1977 (thus completing the cycle of being on all three networks). Then was picked up by the USA Network for its Cartoon Express shows from 1982 to about 1990.

Not only is “Tinker” pretty much a copy of Shaggy… there are some similar character traits between Mark and Fred Jones (the blonde guy from Scooby Doo) and Debbie appears to be very similar to Daphne Blake in multiple ways.

Here is a picture of Speed Buggy cast and their doppelgangers from Scooby Doo

The voice talent comprised Mel Blanc as Speed Buggy, Michael Bell as Mark, Arlene Golonka as Debbie and Phil Luther Jr. as Tinker.

I’ve read where they based Speed Buggy off of Herbie The Love Bug

Scooby Doo meets Speed Buggy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnPC9qQm0ow

Hold the Pickles, Hold the Lettuce

Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce
Special orders, don’t upset us
All we ask is that you let us serve it your way
Have it your way

Ah, a company that cares! Burger King ran this commercial around 1974. Battling McDonald’s with the “Have it your way” campaign in 1973, Burger King put their service in the spotlight with the jingle, “Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce. Special orders don’t upset us.” The campaign increased ad awareness by 50%. The Little King was retired, and “Have it your way” was adapted to target children with ad efforts tagged “All kids are different” and “Pickle-less Nicholas.”

In 1976-77, Burger King changed advertising agents and went with “America loves burgers, and we’re America’s Burger King.” In 1982, they launched a “burger wars” effort with the slogan “Battle of the burgers,” comparing the Whopper with those of McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

The jingle’s upbeat, friendly tone made it feel like Burger King employees were singing just for you. It also helped that the melody was incredibly catchy—it got stuck in your head and stayed there.

Even decades later, people who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s can instantly recall that tune. In fact, when Burger King revived “Have It Your Way” in later years, they leaned heavily on nostalgia for that original “Hold the pickles…” jingle.

Anyway…I wish they would bring back those uniforms.

Movie Quotes Part 4

Jaws – You’re are going to need a bigger boat.

Easy Rider – We Blew It

The Godfather – Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

The Big Lebowski – Smokey This is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

At 1:10…but it’s only 2:16 long…it’s worth a complete listen

Animal House – What? Over? Did you say ‘over’? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Caddyshack – You buy a hat like this, I bet you get a free bowl of soup.

What About Bob? – Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m schizophrenic, and so am I

Scarface – I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.

Duck Soup – I got a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it.

It’s A Wonderful Life – Well, you look about the kind of angel I’d get. Sort of a fallen angel, aren’t you? What happened to your wings?

At 3:13 – 3:20

Clairol Herbal Essence Shampoo Commercial

I don’t know if this is an iconic commercial of the time but it got my attention as a kid. I love the animation on it. I remember the green bottle of this shampoo and also “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific” and I would mix them all together…I wasted a lot of shampoo but I was clean!

Clairol launched Herbal Essence in 1972 as “the most beautiful shampoo experience on Earth.” Most people remember the original green bottle, featuring a woman with long flowing hair surrounded by nature. The ad claimed the shampoo also contained scents of juniper, birch leaves, cinchona, melissa, and mountain gentian.

The scent of the shampoo changed when Proctor and Gamble bought Clairol in 2001 from Clairol who had owned it since the 50s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_CtYEE2k4

Please Don’t’ Squeeze The Charmin

In 1978 Mr. Whipple was named the third-best-known American — just behind former President Nixon and Billy Graham.

From 1964 to 1985, and over the course of more than 500 different TV commercials we saw Mr. Whipple lecture shoppers on squeezing the Charmin. Mr. Whipple was really neurotic with the Charmin.

Dick Wilson was a character actor who got the role as Mr. Whipple and turned “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin” into a national catchphrase as exasperated shopkeeper Mr. Whipple in the Charmin TV commercial campaign that ran for more than two decades

The character of Mr. Whipple was created by an advertising executive, John Chervokas. He is credited with developing the character, his persona, and his most memorable catchphrase, “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!”

Procter & Gamble eventually replaced the Whipple ads with cartoon bears. When Mr. Whipple returned in 1999, he was shown coming out of retirement against the advice of his buddies for one more chance to peddle Charmin.

Dick Wilson passed away at 91 in 2007.

Oscar Mayer Little Fisherman Commercial

Andy Lambros filmed the Oscar Mayer bologna commercial, “The Little Fisherman,” that made him a commercial icon. Andy said: “It only took me an hour to learn the song because my two (older) sisters helped me.”

This Oscar Mayer commercial first aired in 1974 and aired continually for at least a decade after that.

Originally the plan was to recruit dozens of kids who would each sing a little bit of the song. The idea was that it would show how everyone loved Oscar Mayer bologna, and they filmed that for the commercial. The film crew had a few minutes of daylight left and asked if there was anyone there who could sing the song from start to finish. Andy Lambros said he could and did…and that’s why he asks, “How’s that?” at the end. When they were reviewing the footage, they knew that was the commercial they needed to use.

After this happened they started to add ad-libs in more commercials.

My Bologna has a first name,
It’s O-S-C-A-R.
My bologna has a second name,
It’s M-A-Y-E-R.
Oh I love to eat it everyday,
And if you ask me why I’ll say,
Cause’ Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A!!!!