Pop Culture

Elvis died in the Army.
- John Lennon on Elvis Presley's death

The beginning stages of this is what I have been doing all day. It is one of the summer projects I had hoped to get done by the end of August. What I did all afternoon yesterday is one of the reasons why I am behind. Every now and then I like to type a topic into Google and see where it takes me. Yesterday I typed in "pop culture" and these are some of the sites I visited and/or learned something from:

1.The False Advertising Gallery. Click on "view contents" and then the word "oil" in column one and the word "clean" in column five for two of my favorite ads.

2. Do you ever think about an actor you haven't seen in awhile and wonder where they are? I found this article about the 1970's show Get Christy Love and was saddened to read that the star, Teresa Graves, had died in a house fire back in 2002 at the fifty-four. Get Christ Love was on for one season and I only saw a couple of episodes but I do remember her from Laugh-In.

3. Confused by some of the things mentioned in the songs recorded by The Beatles? How To Speak Beatlish can help you.

4. Want to see a photo of the first IBM Portable Computer? (click on IBM5100 in Timeline) It weighed 55 pounds and cost just this side of $20,000. At that weight and price I bet it wasn't flying off the shelves.

5. Evidence that people collect everything including TV Tickets. You know, the tickets that the networks hand out so they will have an audience for their life shows. Did you know you could have seen the Beatles or Elvis for free at one time?
(Scroll down to the bottom of the TV Tickets page to see proof.)

6. For my readers in Britain. Did you know that a pilot for an American version of Red Dwarf was filmed? It was called Red Dwarf USA (Again scroll down to the bottom of the linked page). It didn't work out. In fact, it didn't work out twice.

Now, about that John Lennon quote at the top of the page. I bought three new CD's last week and have been playing them almost constantly. They are, Wanda Jackson's Queen Of Rockabilly , Very Best of Ray Charles, and Elvis 56.

Wanda Jackson is a country/western singer who, back in the 1950's, got interested in Rock and Roll. Thank God for that. Man, is she good. She is so good that back then she was know as "the female Elvis." If you don't believe me just listen to her versions of Riot In Cellblock #9 and Money Honey.

As you know Ray Charles died last June. I had forgotten this until I walked into the music section of Barnes and Noble. Copies of Very Best Of Ray Charles were the first thing you saw as you entered the store. I felt the pain again as I remembered he was gone. I love this man's voice and think he and Hoagy Carmichael (the man who wrote the music) recorded the best versions of Georgia On My Mind. Great CD.

I've never been a Elvis fan and never could understand why people thought he was so great. The Elvis I knew was the one from his movies and the guy with no taste in the white jumpsuit. Then I picked up Elvis 56 and saw the light. All recordings were made in 1956 the year he was picked up by RCA. This is Elvis rougher than he was later in life. The later stuff, after the army, doesn't compare. Lennon's remark now makes sense.

Bonus link
Hey, Elsie, this is for you.