Velociworld

NOSTALGIA?

Early entries for today:

Nazi Crossing Guards: Remember the blue stamped metal policemen giving the Sieg Heil, holding the STOP sign? They were at every school crossing as a kid. Ever seen one without at least one pellet gun dent in his head? Me neither.

Linus the Lion Hearted: How did a Crispy Critter spokesman get his own Saturday cartoon show? It didn't start with Jack and Kelly Osbourne, after all, did it?

Novelty songs: In the late sixties there were tons of novelty songs that would take a current affair, like the first moon landing, and format the song as an interview. The answers to the questions would be snippets of current Top 40 songs. Clever? No. The only novelty song I ever liked was Robert Kennedy ("Senator Bobby") singing Wild Thing. On the B-side was Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen ("Senator McKinley") singing Wild Thing. I don't remember a lot about the songs, except Teddy did the ocarina bit on the RFK side. Little known fact? The real Dirksen had a song out at the time called "Gallant Men". You can hear those Wild Things here!

Billy Joe Royal: Acidman asked if I remembered Billy Joe singing at the Bamboo Ranch in Garden City. I do, barely, and here's why: The old man was Billy Joe's lawyer for his record deal for Down in the Boondocks. So he flew Billy Joe up to Capitol Records' Chicago offices to ink the deal. While there he ran into the Beach Boys, who were likely recording Today or Summer Days. He struck up a conversation, then talked them into singing a capella to my mother over the phone. When he called, however, Mom was not home. Not thinking we kids would care to have the Boys sing to us over the phone, he hung up. Boy, were my sisters pissed. He did later get my oldest sister a signed copy of Boondocks. Big whoop.