Bruce Springsteen Jams Two Chuck Berry Classics

The Boss jamming a Chuck Berry tune with his E Street Band in Germany in 2013....









....and jamming with Chuck at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 1995.


Happy Sunday everyone!




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Saturday Morning Retro Fun: The Great TV Bliss Out!

Wow, it's sure fun remembering this stuff! Saturday morning TV (well OK, the commercials between the shows) that was fun AND educational. I know that if I think back real hard, the School House Rock bits were where my sister and I learned the basic concepts of multiculturalism that are endemic to all of North America and the world, if we think about it. And the joys of reading and career planning? Can't get better than that for inspiring a generation!

And yes minnenials and earlier, the digital age we now take for granted did have a start. And it was around 1985 or so, as shown by the One Minute Computer Course. I wonder what a similar public service announcement  about the Internet, smartphones, texting and Facebook might look like.

I sure hope all the writers, animators and singers who worked on these commercials and PSAs have some inkling of the inspiring effect they had on youth culture back then. I salute you all!

OK, enough blah blah from me. Time to just bliss out and have fun remembering!

Happy Saturday everyone!

And thanks for the memories 80sCommercialVault!


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Saturday Night Retro Fun: Pocket Rockers?I

I prided myself on being a technology geek back in the day.

But I must admit I'd never heard of Pocket Rockers until the ad featured in Mr. Techmoan's video came up on one of the 80sCommercialVault videos on YouTube.

I almost certainly would never have worn one, since I was about seven years past the target age depicted in the 1988 commercial.

But I find the technology fascinating.

A mini 8-track.

Except of course with one major drawback.

At least on an 8-track, if a song had to fade out on one track, the interrupted track would fade in on the next.

Not here.

Two tracks, with three minutes of tape each.

In an era when the average song was four and a half to five minutes long.

Not good math, though I applaud Fisher-Price for taking the risk (and probably the financial bath) on the idea.

So as a service to young students of history, or for people like me who were there and just wanna bliss out, I have included the videos for the full versions of the Cutting Crew and Huey Lewis and the News songs featured on the tiny tapes. Here goes. Enjoy!















And now, the Huey Lewis classics, the first of which definitely has Saturday night monster movie appeal:










And from Back To The Future:









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The Three Faces of Lady Gaga

On the 2017 Super Bowl, Lady Gaga proved her versatility with a patriotic a capella medley to go with her mix of  I always knew there was real talent buried under all that..



And this is where we found out...




A solitary spirit with a lot of drive is she, that's for sure. Who among us hasn't felt insecure at some point when trying to make real our dreams?


And now, Lady Gaga (nee Stephanie Germanotta) makes her movie debut this Friday, in A Star Is Born:






Clint Eastwood was supposed to make this a few years ago with Beyoncé. But honestly, I don't think Ms. Knowles can access the vulnerability or even the powerhouse vocals needed to make this work. But Lady Gaga can, as seen in this video:



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Saturday Classic Retro Fun: 2-XL

I think Mr. Databits and I are simpatico. I almost said we might have been fast friends till he said he was a teenager in 1978. Alas, I was only six that year.

But I can tell you that when I saw my first 2-XL around 1982, again at my buddy Derek's place, I was instantly captivated. A robot that answered questions and played games? Wow! Of course when my parents got me my own about a year later, I figured out that my new buddy was a glorified 8-track player, since we had one in the living room. But he did help me learn and did cheer me up, and for that I appreciated him, and loved my parents for spending hard-earned money to get him for me.

I see also that there were two General Information tapes, because he didn't sing that song on mine! Oh well, I got to hear him whistle the theme to The Andy Griffith Show.

And the 8-track player in the living room sure didn't have eyes that lit up when you turned out the lights and turned up Dad's ABBA Voulez Vous tape!

You know what? It's Saturday night...





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Saturday Classic Retro Fun : Simon Then And Now

First played this at my friend Derek's house, though not in the dark. That would have been fun! Perhaps I should be playing it now, in middle age...


Thanks and Kudos to Lucky Penny Shop






And now, from Hasbro Gaming...2017's Hasbro Optix.

I don't know. I think my nieces may like the new spin. But I prefer the original for sure.

Thanks and Kudos to Hasbro Gaming


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Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: Behind The Scenes

Not really a trailer per se, but a very fascinating look into the shooting of Quentin Tarantino's new movie Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, set in 1969 Tinseltown. Tarantino has miraculously transformed Hollywood Boulevard to that period without the apparent use of CGI, and the results look stunning.  As does the apparent chemistry between Leonardo DiCaprio, playing (fictional) veteran actor Rick Dalton, and Brad Pitt as Dalton's stunt double Cliff Booth, appears to be genuine, and not just Tarantino hyperbole about them being the next Newman and Redford.

What remains to be seen in late summer 2019 is how the very real Sharon Tate murder is mixed in and handled in relation to the fictional adventures of Dalton and Booth. But for now, it is fascinating to watch a movie being shot on Hollywood Boulevard with Panavision cameras. Do they have film in them? I have faith!

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OMG Hawaiian Cameos

The original Hawaii Five-O, which ran for an unbelievable 12 seasons between 1968 and 1980, featured many cameos from up-and coming actors. Here are just two:





OMG it's young and studly Sam Elliot, here playing the lover of Jessica Walter in 1974. Just as when she played Clint Eastwood's unbalanced fan in Play Misty For Me, she appears to be up to no good. I wonder if Elliot keeps pictures of himself in this period, to remind himself that "Damn, I looked good!" Because he did!







O....M....G! It's Christopher Walken, playing the creepily attentive friend to his sailor best friend's widow in 1970. He also matches his creepy weaselly wits with Jack Lord's Steve McGarrett, no mean feat.

Can't help wondering if Walken was thinking "I...can't believe...it's...so...HOT...in Hawaii!!!"

To wrap up, here is the classic opening...






Mahalo and happy Sunday!

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A Star Is Born

I am really looking forward to this version of A Star Is Born, out in October. And here's why.

I  have confidence in Bradley Cooper. Even though it's his first time directing a movie.

I'm hoping that my confidence isn't misplaced. But I'm thinking that Cooper must have learned a lot at the feet of Clint Eastwood while filming American Sniper.

After all, A Star Is Born was originally supposed to be directed by Eastwood with Beyoncé in the lead. But pregnancy forced her to bow out.

Which turned out to be a good thing in the end. Because I think Queen Bey is too much of a brand now to believably pull off a struggling newcomer.

But that role fits Lady Gaga (aka Steffi Germanotta) like a glove. That bit about people liking how she sounded but not how she looked?

Kinda makes me picture young Steffi schlepping through piano bar after piano bar hearing the same thing.

Or record execs telling her she had to adopt the Lady Gaga/Mother Monster persona to be successful.

Don't get me wrong. Lady Gaga is a great persona. Steffi owns it and it has gotten her into the industry with a certain amount of cachet.

But I have always said that I would love to hear an album of her at the piano, maybe with a trio. Although she probably wouldn't need them.

Singing her heart out. Just like Barbra Streisand or Carole King.

Because frankly, we need some of that right now.


Barbra and Kris Kristofferson from 1976, by comparison:
.



And for once, the new trailer doesn't give everything away.

So we shall see

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When CBC Was TCM (With A Dash Of MTV)

Hard to believe this now, but in the years before Turner Classic Movies was available in Canada (10 years before TCM was even thought of in fact), the CBC was providing classic films with commentary  in the late night slot with host Ben Gordon. And devoting an entire week to a producer? That would be something I would do, if I had a TV show. I didn't see any of these movies in the late-night slot originally (1985 being smack dab in the middle of my school years after all), but I did catch up with all these classics and many more at the Edmonton Film Society about 12 years later, so it's all good.

Looking at this set, I wonder if Ben and his crew of three or four set up shop in a corner of the actual CBC film library. Or maybe they waited for the Video Hits crew to be done for the day. Yes, I know I wonder about weird things. But if you've read this blog, you kind of expect that kind of thing.

Right?

Right.




Yes, there was a show called Video Hits on CBC, every weekday at 5. Think of it as Canadian Bandstand, with Samantha Taylor playing the Dick Clark role.

Whatever taste in music we children of the 80s have or had is thanks to Video Hits.

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