Not to blow my own horn, but I was interviewed by the local paper about Groceteria last week, and the article ran today, should you choose to read it.
The highway planner who allowed this monstrosity to be assembled should be shot, prefereably by one of the poor souls who has to try and decipher the damned thing at 65MPH:
Cyndi Lauper
She Bop, 1984.
Third of three (1,2) videos that always remind me of the original Weekends nightclub in Atlanta and a strange weekend spent adjacent to it in 1984.
I was scanning some old photos today and I found this one. I just thought it was kind of cool, what with the reflection and the fact that it has that whole mid-1960s muted color pallette, like an ad in Life Magazine or a movie about suburban housewives.
I assume my dad took it with the trusty Instamatic. I’ll have to ask him.
George Harrison
Blow Away, 1979.
Why did all the good Beatles have to die, leaving only the, ummm, les interesting ones to carry on?
I think I’d be extremely embarrassed to tell anyone I lived on Mourning Dove Drive. Reflective Penguin Parkway, maybe, but not Mourning Dove Drive.
Charlatans
Weirdo, 1992.
The fact that this song was relatively popular at the time is a good indicator of why 1992 may have been my favorite year in the history of pop music. This particular video is also interesting because it’s not the version MTV usually played.
Among the strange things an insomniac can find on TV at 3:30 in the morning are tidbits such as the 1963 “I”ve Got a Secret” episode that features a very young (and pre-Velvet Underground) John Cale, whose secret was that he’d recently been part of a tag team 18-hour performance of Erik Satie’s “Vexations”. His co-contestant was the only audience member who’d sat through the entre performance.
It was interesting stuff, indeed, but I’ll have to admit I still would’ve preferred being asleep.
Charlie Dore
Pilot of the Airwaves, 1980.
The strange things are (a) the fact that Charlie Dore is actually British, and (b) the way this song pretty much disappeared forever once it left the pop charts. Most people seem not to have heard it even once since the summer of 1980.
Evelyn Thomas
High Energy, 1984.
The majority of that 1980s queer bar disco crap was not really my cup of tea. This was always one of those rare exceptions, and I’m not really 100% certain why.