This weeks Old School Friday theme is Remakes. When researching for this post I was looking for Beatles remakes - let's face it, that's pretty fertile territory! But I was quite surprised to find the number of bands that had done Helter Skelter! Of all the Beatles songs, why this one??
Check this out below - add any you find to the mix in the comments!
THE BEATLES:
U2:
Oasis:
Motley Crue:
Aerosmith:
I'm waiting for the Alvin and the Chipmunks version. . . . .OMG, there IS one!
My friend, Malcolm, commented about a commercial with Bobby Sherman on my David Cassidy post this last Monday and he got me to wondering what ever happened to Bobby Sherman.
You remember him, he was a huge fantasy object of teenage girls in the 60s and 70s. I have to admit I thought he was cute too - even though I was more into Herman of Herman's Hermits (Peter Noone).
I certainly remember watching Shindig religiously, along with Hullabaloo and others like them. I think I even watched American Bandstand a time or two as a teenager - I certainly saw Bandstand often when my sister was a teenager and I was her annoying little sister!
I do remember loving him in the television show Here Come The Brides - remember that one? It also starred a very young David Soul!
And I'll bet you forgot all about Bobby's short lived series called Getting Together! Bobby appeared on the Partridge Family as a pilot for the show which only lasted 13 episodes.
Just to remind you of that teenage crush you had on Bobby, here are some more fun videos below. And at the bottom of the post is a little surprise on "where is he now"!
Bobby Sherman Shindig Milk Commercial:
Little Woman 1970:
Bobby Sherman on The Partridge Family - Double Whammy Nostalgia!
Bobby Sherman now works with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office!
Now how cool would it be if you got pulled over for speeding by Bobby Sherman????? And to think I actually live nearby there - look out Southern California freeway system, I'm on a mission!!! LOL.
This week's Old School Friday theme is Too Hot for Radio - well, THIS ONE WAS TOO HOT FOR TELEVISION!
In September of 1967, Pete Seeger, in his first appearance on television after being blacklisted in the 1950s, appeared on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The original taping of the show included Seeger singing Waist Deep in Muddy Waters, a controversial anti-war song that was subsequently cut from the show by CBS. Thanks to the efforts of the Smothers Brothers, this version below aired in a later broadcast on the show on February 25, 1968.
This was only one of many fights over the censorship of content that occurred between the Smothers Brothers and the network and CBS abruptly cancelled the show on April 4th 1969. Despite the cancellation, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ended up winning an Emmy for writing after being cancelled. If you're interested, there is a great documentary that details the history of the CBS vs. Smothers censorship struggle called Smothered.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour had an Olympian line-up of writers including; Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, Albert Brooks, Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci), Pat Paulsen and head writer Mason Williams (yes, composer of Classical Gas which premiered on the show), as well as Tommy Smothers though he was not credited as one of the writers when the show won the 1969 Emmy. BUT Tommy went on to win that Emmy nearly 40 years later!
Just in case the video is removed from YouTube due to copyright violations at a later date, here are the lyrics:
It was back in 1941. I was a member of a good platoon. We were on maneuvers in Lou'siana one night By the light of the moon. The Captain told us to ford a river. That's how it all begun. We were knee deep in the Big Muddy, And the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure This is the best way back to the base?" "Sergeant, go on, I've forded this river About a mile above this place. It'll be a little soggy, but just keep sloggin'. We'll soon be on dry ground." We were waist deep in the Big Muddy, And the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment, No man will be able to swim." "Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nelly," The Captain said to him. "All we need is a little determination. Men, follow me. I'll lead on." We were neck deep in the Big Muddy, And the big fool said to push on.
All at once the moon clouded over. We heard a gurglin' cry. A few seconds later the Captain's helmet Was all that floated by. The Sergeant said, "Turn around, men. I'm in charge from now on." And we just made it out of the Big Muddy With the Captain dead and gone.
We stripped and dived and found his body Stuck in the old quicksand. I guess he didn't know that the water was deeper Then the place he'd once before been. Another stream had joined the Big Muddy About a half mile from where we'd gone. We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy When the big fool said to push on.
Now I'm not going to point any moral — I'll leave that for yourself. Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking, You'd like to keep your health. But every time I read the papers, that old feeling comes on, We're waist deep in the Big Muddy And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy, The big fool says to push on. Waist deep in the Big Muddy, The big fool says to push on. Waist deep, neck deep, Soon even a tall man will be over his head. We're waist deep in the Big Muddy, And the big fool says to push on.
13 Reasons Not To Drop Your Cell Phone in the Toilet
It gets wet
It gets wet with - eeuuuwww! - toilet water!
It stops working
You can't get calls
You can't make calls
You can't read your Calendar or To Do List
If you can't read your Calendar/To Do List you can't remember what the hell you're supposed to be doing because the phone is your back up brain.
You can't text stupid thoughts to anyone
You can't get stupid thought texts from anyone
Which means you lose about 20 laughs a day
You might have to replace it - and the damn thing cost over $200 bucks and you didn't buy insurance (which is stupid because the insurance is almost as much as a new phone anyway!)
You're so addicted to being "in contact" all the time, 24/7, that you begin to experience withdrawal symptoms
You have to use - OMG - a land line!
Please keep a good thought that my phone drys out completely and starts to work again soon, okay? In the meantime, does anyone out there have a nice, new iPhone they'll like to donate to me?
Does anyone else remember this funny, but kind of annoying, commercial for Cheerios produced by Stan Freberg? This one is really digging back into my retro-obscure pocket:
I have to say though that I do remember this ad AND that is the whole point of a commercial. What's the number one Mad Man rule? "First you have to get their attention". Not only did I notice, watch and laugh at this commercial when it originally aired I laughed at it again when I found it today. Think I'll go eat some Cheerios!
OH YEAH! I almost forgot! EASY GREETING CARDS is up and running! Print On Demand Cards? Yup! Now you can print my fun RETRO and POP ART as greeting cards to mail out! These aren't those electronic cards that go by e-mail - these are real cards you can send out by mail! Check them out - for only $2 you can print any of my fun designs as cards and you can use the file as many times as you want, not just once!
Oh Boy! This week's Old School Friday theme is TV THEME SONGS! Oh BOY! I have almost every TV theme song from the fifties through the seventies - I am a freak about them! I know the words, I hum the tunes and I play the songs and ask people what show they were from, lol. Sort of TV Theme Song Trivia on the move thanks to cell phones that play MP3s.
Now I have a problem - which ones do I post????? Okay, how about let's do a few of my favorite shows when I was a kid?
Father Knows Best
The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show:
Woody Woodpecker!
The Rifleman:
My Three Sons:
Mr. Ed - A horse is horse, of course, of course!
Howdy Doody!!!!!
Daniel Boone
Have Gun Will Travel - Paladin!
Lassie - Timmy's fallen down the well again, Lassie???
I swear to God I am not kidding - I've got hundreds and hundreds of them! But I won't post them all this week, okay???
HAPPY OSF AND:
----------------------------- OH YEAH! I almost forgot! I just started a new greeting card service!! EASY GREETING CARDS Now you can print some of my RETRO POP ART as greeting cards on your own computer! These aren't those electronic cards that go by e-mail - these are real cards you can send out by mail! Check them out - for only $2 you can print any of my fun designs as cards and you can use the file as many times as you want, not just once! This meme was developed by Marvalus View and Ms. Grapevine The rules are simple: 1. Anyone can participate; any music genre 2. Old School is defined as music created before 1999 3. No offensive words allowed, please use edited radio version 4. Post a video of your favorite Old School song to take us back down memory lane 5. Add your name to the meme list so that others can check you out 6. Have fun & don't forget to leave comments for other participants If you want to join in on the fun, click here. ------------------------------------------------
1. Walking in the gates. Just the act of walking into Disneyland makes me feel happy.
2. How clean it is. Everything about Disneyland is clean, neat and tidy as a pin and has always been that way since the first time I went back 35 years ago.
3. Sleeping Beauty Castle - This was the castle I saw at the beginning of the TV show where Tinkerbell flew in and touched it with her wand. This is the stuff fairy tales are made of.
4. There's some form of junk food (and not so junky food!) on every corner! Nothing like cotton candy, hot dogs, and a Mickey Mouse ice cream stick to bring out the giggles in your tummy!
5. The fact that you get in free on your birthday now. This allows a bigger budget for all that food.
6. How the minute you hear "It's a Small World After All" you sing it for weeks after. Oh okay, maybe this is not one of the things I love so much. . . .
7. How every few steps you enter a whole new world!
8. Shopping. I love all the shops in every part of the park and my credit card bill is proof of that!
9. The have a Fantasyland - now that's my kind of place, Fantasyland!
10. The original 1955 Dumbo ride is still there after half a century!!!
11. The Enchanted Tiki Room - still love those parrots!
12. The Pirates of The Caribbean Ride - still my favorite after all these years, still swampy smelling and now they've got Captain Jack!! And I love that dog!
13. It's the Happiest Place on Earth for the child that's buried deep inside of you.
It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney
It All Started With a Mouse:
Steamboat Willie, 1928, The first cartoon with sound:
The original introduction to the show Disneyland - this was the one that got me hooked:
The opening ceremony of Disneyland - please take note of a future President of the United States as M.C.:
Disneyland Opening Day with Parade of Disney Stars - look for Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen (both starring in Davy Crockett), Gail Davis (Annie Oakley), Danny Thomas - Art LInkletter and Bob Cummings are the announcers:
I love this one, here's Walt and Tinkerbell!
AND NOW My favorite song, When You Wish Upon A Star by - retro flashback here! - Dion and the Belmonts!
All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them - Walt Disney
Wednesday is my birthday and I'm going to Disneyland! So - first, I won't be posting on Wednesday and second, I am having a Disney week here at the PopArtDiva Baby Boomer Blog!
I was four years old when Disneyland park opened to the general public on July 18th, 1955. The television show Disneyland debuted on October 27th, 1954. I grew up watching and dreaming of all things Disney - I watched every incarnation of the TV show and I watched the original Mickey Mouse Club faithfully every week. I am an official Disney Freak. Walt Disney is one of the reasons I became an artist.
I have been to Disneyland so many times I can't count them. I've been to Disney World, traveling cross country in a motorhome to go there. My phone's ring tone is The Mickey Mouse Club theme song. I wanted my own Tinkerbell, I always thought it would be fun to get married at Sleeping Beauty Castle and my favorite song in the whole wide world is When You Wish Upon A Star.
Here is Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, singing the original version of WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR:
And, since it's Retro Commercials Monday, here's Tinkerbell selling Peter Pan - do you recognize Sterling Holloway as the narrator?:
There is nothing better than spending a day at the Happiest Place in the World - no matter how old a kid you are.
Since this is the day after Elvis' Birthday and it's been Elvis Week here at The PopArtDiva Blog, what else could I post for OSF, The Year Was but Elvis singing VIVA LAS VEGAS! I freakin' love this song! Okay? Viva OSF, Viva Las Vegas and Viva Elvis!
Okay, I cheated a bit here because I graduated from High School in 1969, but I just had to get Viva Las Vegas in! But here's what's really cool - here's a video of Elvis from the year I actually did graduate high school (1969) talking about getting out of high school! This is from opening night at his record breaking 4 week engagement at the International Hotel in the summer of 1969.
This meme was developed by Marvalus View and Ms. Grapevine The rules are simple: 1. Anyone can participate; any music genre 2. Old School is defined as music created before 1999 3. No offensive words allowed, please use edited radio version 4. Post a video of your favorite Old School song to take us back down memory lane 5. Add your name to the meme list so that others can check you out 6. Have fun & don't forget to leave comments for other participants If you want to join in on the fun, click here. ------------------------------------------------ Get my Retro Inspired Pop Culture Art on Cool Stuff like Cups, Tees, Cards, Aprons and more at the POP ART DIVA BOUTIQUE!
ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING! A LITTLE NOSTALGIA AND TRIVIA ON ELVIS' BIRTHDAY!
Those of us old enough remember that when Elvis left the stage at a concert they would announce, "Elvis has left the building" - most people alive have heard this phrase though most won't know it's origins.
The full original comment was, "Please, young people... Elvis has left the building. He has gotten in his car and driven away.... Please take your seats" and was spoken by Horace Lee Logan on December 15, 1956 to ask the audience not to leave the concert hall to see Elvis as he left but to remain to see the other acts on the bill. Subsequently, following most of Elvis' concerts, Al Dvorin, Elvis longtime announcer started using the phrase in the hopes of dispersing the audience who often lingered in hopes of an Elvis encore.
The phrase has since become part of pop culture and folklore and it is this phrase which sparked this Elvis painting I did above entitled, "Ladies and Gentlemen, ELVIS Has Left The Planet" - a little parody on all those Elvis sightings that still continue to this day. I am not one of the fans who believes that Elvis still lives though I am sad he does not.
Elvis would have been 74 years old today. I find it hard to imagine him that age, in my mind Elvis will be forever Young Elvis - raw and revolutionary or the Elvis of 1968 -vibrant, sexy and a talent that soared.
I'll bet there's some serious Old Time Rock and Roll bouncing off those Pearly Gates today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, E!
Did you know that Graceland will be celebrating it's 70th Anniversary this year? Though Elvis bought the mansion in 1957 it was built in 1939 and is designated a National Historic Monument.
The Cryolophosaurus - a large theropod dinosaur is nicknamed the 'Elvisaurus' because it's head crest resembled the pompadour hairstyle of Elvis in the 1950s.
That famous ring Elvis wore with the letters TCB stands for Taking Care of Business, which is what Elvis Presley called his band. He incorporated the letters into an emblem flanked by lightning bolts. Elvis had several other pieces of jewelry emblazoned TCB.
ELVIS' last concert was June 26th, 1977, Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana
The last song Elvis ever sang in public was Unchained Melody and you can watch and listen to the recording below.
You may not be a big Elvis fan (What?? How can anyone not like Elvis?) but you can't watch Elvis' 1968 Comeback Special and tell me this was not one great piece of television history! Originally airing on December 3rd, 1968 on NBC, Colonel Tom Parker wanted it to be a typical sappy Christmas special with Elvis singing Christmas songs. (Does anyone else think that the Colonel held Elvis back in many, many ways or am I alone here?)
Thanks to Bob Finkel, the Executive Producer, Elvis got to do a show that eventually became a landmark of television - a forerunner of the "unplugged" concept that became so big on MTV in later years. After being in the Army, losing ground to the British Invasion and being shoved into a mediocre movie career (knock, knock, Colonel - are you there??) Elvis came back and he came back in style - the special was the highest rated of the year and, according to director Steve Binder, probably the first one-man special to appear on American television.
Slim, sexy in black leather and at the top of his form here is ELVIS in his 1968 Comeback Special - honestly, I think this was Elvis at his best ever:
Elvis 1968 Comeback Special (DVD trailer):
Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
Bloopers!!!
TOMORROW IS ELVIS' BIRTHDAY - COME BACK FOR SOME BIRTHDAY CAKE AND CELEBRATE WITH THE WORLD!
-------------------------- SHOW THE WORLD THAT YOU THINK ELVIS ROCKS TOO Get my Love That Old Time Rock & Roll - Elvis Style on the fun stuff below as well as other apparel and gifts:
Today I would like to talk about the beginning of the legend. Among Elvis fans there is great debate about which Elvis is the best Elvis - young or mature. Most Elvis impersonators model themselves after the older Elvis, the one with the sideburns, capes and flamboyant stage costumes, and this is probably why this is the image that has become iconic. Those gold framed sunglasses, the high collars, the sequin and rhinestone outfits, the famous black hair complete with sideburns as long as the Mississippi and that karate chop move - all very easy to emulate and ideal for taking on the mantel of The King.
But my preference has always been for the raw and pure Elvis of his early years. I still think he is one of the sexiest men ever to grace rock and roll. Those brooding eyes, that slightly crooked smile, the shyness that hid beneath a giant talent and one of a kind personality. Though I was still a youngster in Elvis' heyday I was not immune to the charms of that voice, I would stand or sit outside my sister's door as she played his records and I still can spend all day listening to Elvis - thanks to all the Elvis channels on satellite tv, cable and Elvis Sirius Radio I can do that. Only The Beatles stations can compete with enough songs to fill a whole day and it took four of them! Don't get me wrong, I love my Beatles too, but even they were huge Elvis fans!
So, today I would like you to enjoy some Elvis that shaped my musical tastes when I was still playing with dolls and too young too appreciate all that Presley sex appeal. This was a time in my life when his voice and the music alone captivated me. Tomorrow I'll talk about his comeback era - when I was mature enough to grasp just how sexy and alluring this man was, but today I give to that voice and the pure rock and roll that was Elvis:
Hound Dog:
Heartbreak Hotel
Love Me Tender:
Blue Suede Shoes:
Jailhouse Rock:
Don't Be Cruel:
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Are you into that Old Time Rock and Roll? Love Elvis? Then stop by for a visit and see all the fun apparel, gifts and home decor with Elvis-Love That Old Time Rock & Roll
January 8th is Elvis' birthday. He left the building of our hearts on August 16, 1977 - nearly 31 years ago, and - as a tribute to The King of Rock and Roll - all this week is Elvis Week on The PopArtDiva Baby Boomer Blog. (Elvis is a Capricorn like me! Gotta love it!)
The very first Elvis Presley song I ever heard was Can't Help Falling In Love With You. It was the tune that played on a small silver music box that my sister, Patty, had. When I told her I liked the pretty music she pulled out a 45 and played Elvis' recording for me. To this day whenever I hear this song I think of Elvis and my sister. Though both are gone now, this song helps me remember them both.
Can't Help Falling In Love was the first time I heard Elvis sing, it was also the last song I heard him sing live (Las Vegas at The Hilton in 1972.) Though I never saw Elvis perform live again it is my understanding that he nearly always closed his live performances after 1968 with this particular song - including his last performance in 1977.
I can't think of a more appropriate song to start off my tribute to Elvis Presley. Could anyone help falling in love with him? Thank you, Patty, for introducing me to The King - this post is for you!
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You can get my tribute to Elvis, Ladies & Gentlemen, ELVIS Has Left The Planet, as:
This week's Old School Friday is a "free day" so I am using the opportunity to wish you a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR Old School Style!
GUY LOMBARDO (This one's for you Mom & Dad!)
ELVIS (For my sister, Patty):
THE BEACH BOYS (This was my generation's version):
THE RAT PACK VERSION, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin:
BOBBY DARIN CROONS A HAPPY NEW YEAR:
A SOUND OF MUSIC FOR NEW YEARS, Julie Andrew's Version:
---------------------------------------------- This meme was developed by Marvalus View and Ms. Grapevine The rules are simple: 1. Anyone can participate; any music genre 2. Old School is defined as music created before 1999 3. No offensive words allowed, please use edited radio version 4. Post a video of your favorite Old School song to take us back down memory lane 5. Add your name to the meme list so that others can check you out 6. Have fun & don't forget to leave comments for other participants
If you want to join in on the fun, click here. ------------------------------------------------
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