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The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

This is an odd one for me in that I knew it by name for years as Anne Murray's signature song with no memory of ever having actually heard it when I added it to my collection.
Pretty sure her signature song is “I Am Woman,” don’t you think?
 
^^ Yes, that was her breakthrough song if I remember correctly.

Only in my phrasing. He was right that the shooter wasn't trying to hit the General and missed.
Ah.

I forgot to mention a sign hanging in the magazine print shop: "War is nobody's bag".
Assassination, though....

It was a very unsympathetic and unflattering depiction, but I'm inclined to give them some benefit of the doubt that it was based on somebody the LAPD actually had to deal with. And it tickled me some that the show was delving into this subject matter at all.
They should have made Malloy a comic book fan to balance the scales of justice.

Now if we only had two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a bun...
I mulled that over as a clever rejoinder as well. :rommie:

Alas, Christie's follow-up singles weren't as successful: "Under the Bleachers" and "Brown Spots on the Wall".
And as for their Christmas song.....
 
50th Anniversary Album Spotlight

Workingman's Dead
Grateful Dead
Released June 14, 1970
Chart debut: June 27, 1970
Chart peak: #27, July 18, 1970
#262 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Wiki said:
Workingman's Dead is the fourth Grateful Dead studio album. It was recorded in February 1970 and originally released on June 14, 1970. The album and its studio follow-up, American Beauty, were recorded back-to-back using a similar style, eschewing the psychedelic experimentation of previous albums in favor of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter's Americana-styled songcraft.
Lyricist Robert Hunter had joined the band on the road for the first time, resulting in a period of faster song development. Unlike the psychedelic, electrified music for which the band had become known, the new songs took a new direction, reviving their folk-band roots. Bassist Phil Lesh stated "The song lyrics reflected an 'old, weird' America that perhaps never was ... The almost miraculous appearance of these new songs would also generate a massive paradigm shift in our group mind: from the mind-munching frenzy of a seven-headed fire-breathing dragon to the warmth and serenity of a choir of chanting cherubim. Even the album cover reflects this new direction: The cover for Aoxomoxoa is colorful and psychedelic, and that of Workingman’s Dead is monochromatic and sepia."
While on tour in Boulder, Colorado, the previous year, Garcia had purchased a steel guitar and was now keen to use it on the new batch of songs.


The album opens with the Dead's first charting single, "Uncle John's Band" (Aug. 8, 1970; #69 US):
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Wiki said:
Songs such as "Uncle John's Band", "High Time", and "Cumberland Blues" were brought to life with soaring harmonies and layered vocal textures that had not previously been a part of the band's sound. According to the 1992 Dead oral history, Aces Back to Back, in the summer of 1968, Stephen Stills vacationed at Mickey Hart's ranch in Novato. "Stills lived with me for three months around the time of CSN's first record," recalls Hart, "and he and David Crosby really turned Jerry and Bobby onto the voice as the holy instrument. You know, 'Hey, is this what a voice can do?' That turned us away from pure improvisation and more toward songs."
Wiki said:
Warner Bros. released "Uncle John's Band" (backed with "New Speedway Boogie") as a single to promote the album. It received limited airplay, even though it was edited to a radio-friendly three-minute length and the lyric "goddamn" removed.
The song is one of the band's best known, and is included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2001 it was named 321st (of 365) in the Songs of the Century project list.
Note that while the contributors to the Rolling Stone album list are certainly fond of the Dead, there are no Dead entries on the songs list.

Next up is "High Time," a perhaps overly slow country-style ballad:
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Things pick up with "Dire Wolf" and its attention-grabbing refrain of "don't murder me":
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Wiki said:
The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter after watching a film adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
It is narrated by a character common to Grateful Dead songs, a "workingman", who is "an underdog without pretense or slick-ness, part of the old gritty America". The narrative is "deceptively simple": the story tells of the man sitting down to dinner on a cold winter's day in "Fennario", after which the listener never sees him again. The narrator says that he wakes in the middle of the night to find a dire wolf outside his window. The wolf is invited in for a game of cards, and despite the frequent refrain "don't murder me", he eventually "collects his due".


Side one closes with "New Speedway Boogie," which, according to a Genius Lyrics contributor, was "the Dead’s response to San Francisco music critic Ralph Gleason’s criticism of their role in Altamont, the infamous free concert documented in the rockumentary, Gimme Shelter."
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Side two opens with "Cumberland Blues," which has an enjoyably upbeat country/funk vibe for a song about coal mining.

"Black Peter" takes things in a more mellow direction without being as draggy as "High Time".

"Easy Wind," sung by Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, is a down 'n' dirty blues rocker.

The album closes with a song that I wasn't familiar with by title, but which was instantly recognizable to my ear, "Casey Jones":
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Wiki said:
"Casey Jones" has received significant airplay on progressive rock, album-oriented rock, and classic rock radio stations over the years, and so is one of the Dead's songs that is more recognizable by non-Deadheads.
And that's where I was thinking I must have heard it.
Wiki said:
"Casey Jones" is about a railroad engineer who is on the verge of a train wreck due to his train going too fast, a sleeping switch man, and another train being on the same track and headed for him. Jones is described as being "high on cocaine" (the song even makes a double entendre of advising Jones to "watch his speed").


Overall, this album is a pretty good listen, but most of the individual songs weren't really grabbing me. I'd suspect that the contributors to the Rolling Stone list were giving Workingman's Dead a pat on the head for jumping on the country rock bandwagon that had been rolling for the previous couple of years, but the album does have some historical cred...

Wiki said:
Readers of Rolling Stone voted Workingman's Dead the best album of 1970, followed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Déjà Vu and Van Morrison's Moondance.

_______
 
Workingman's Dead
Grateful Dead
Here's another classic band that I was more-or-less indifferent to. I liked "Uncle John's Band" (but I'm not sure if I was even aware that it was a Grateful Dead song) and "Casey Jones," and "Touch of Gray" when it came along, but I didn't really pay much attention.

The album opens with the Dead's first charting single, "Uncle John's Band"
I wonder, did Uncle John open for Sgt. Pepper or vice versa?

Things pick up with "Dire Wolf" and its attention-grabbing refrain of "don't murder me":
Pretty nice.

The album closes with a song that I wasn't familiar with by title, but which was instantly recognizable to my ear, "Casey Jones":
Probably the one Grateful Dead song that I could have named without hesitation back in the day.

And that's where I was thinking I must have heard it.
It turned up pretty frequently on BCN back in the 80s.
 
Dragnet 1969
"Burglary (DR-31)"
Originally aired March 6, 1969

He was also wearing his mother's gloves.

:D


It was a very unsympathetic and unflattering depiction, but I'm inclined to give them some benefit of the doubt that it was based on somebody the LAPD actually had to deal with. And it tickled me some that the show was delving into this subject matter at all.

One of the most memorable episodes of the series, and its writers could not know how personalities like that (the hero-worshipping, obsessed collector part , not the crime side) would continue well into the present day. Since it was based on a real case, I always assumed the real world version of Stanley Stover was obsessed with the '66-'68 Batman TV series, since that--even more than comics of the "Superhero Boom" era--was such a phenomenon that it inspired some fans to not only create home-made costumes, but seek out as much merchandise on the series as possible, and also generated some to collect anything from Columbia's Batman serials.

I imagine that his reason for acquiring the rights would have been to keep it off the market.

Apparently, that was the case; to prevent the popular documentary from muddying the waters of the then-forthcoming Anthology, he acquired the rights, shelving TCB. Personally, one does not compromise or compete with the other.
 
55 Years Ago This Week

Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day said:
July 23 – First UK release of the 'Help!' single.
Wiki said:
July 24 – Vietnam War: Four F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at Kang Chi are targeted by antiaircraft missiles, in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other 3 sustain damage.



Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week, with a Bubbling Under bonus:
1. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," The Rolling Stones
2. "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," Herman's Hermits
3. "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)," Four Tops
4. "What's New Pussycat?," Tom Jones
5. "Cara, Mia," Jay & The Americans
6. "Yes, I'm Ready," Barbara Mason
7. "What the World Needs Now Is Love," Jackie DeShannon
8. "Seventh Son," Johnny Rivers
9. "Mr. Tambourine Man," The Byrds
10. "You Turn Me On (Turn On Song)," Ian Whitcomb & Bluesville
11. "(Such an) Easy Question," Elvis Presley
12. "I Like It Like That," The Dave Clark Five
13. "Save Your Heart for Me," Gary Lewis & The Playboys
14. "Too Many Rivers," Brenda Lee

17. "Wooly Bully," Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs
18. "I Want Candy," The Strangeloves
19. "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows," Lesley Gore
20. "For Your Love," The Yardbirds

22. "Don't Just Stand There," Patty Duke
23. "Set Me Free," The Kinks
24. "Here Comes the Night," Them
25. "Wonderful World," Herman's Hermits

27. "Sitting in the Park," Billy Stewart
28. "A World of Our Own," The Seekers

30. "Oo Wee Baby, I Love You," Fred Hughes
31. "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me," Mel Carter
32. "Tonight's the Night," Solomon Burke
33. "Baby, I'm Yours," Barbara Lewis
34. "Take Me Back," Little Anthony & The Imperials
35. "To Know You Is to Love You," Peter & Gordon
36. "I've Been Loving You Too Long (to Stop Now)," Otis Redding
37. "Pretty Little Baby," Marvin Gaye
38. "I'm a Fool," Dino, Desi & Billy

40. "Girl Come Running," The Four Seasons
41. "Crying in the Chapel," Elvis Presley
42. "Ride Your Pony," Lee Dorsey
43. "Down in the Boondocks," Billy Joe Royal
44. "You'd Better Come Home," Petula Clark

53. "All I Really Want to Do," Cher

55. "All I Really Want to Do," The Byrds
56. "Unchained Melody," The Righteous Brothers
57. "I Got You Babe," Sonny & Cher

61. "The Tracks of My Tears," The Miracles

65. "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, Part I," James Brown & The Famous Flames

68. "Since I Lost My Baby," The Temptations

72. "California Girls," The Beach Boys


77. "In the Midnight Hour," Wilson Pickett
78. "You Were on My Mind," We Five

91. "Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan

103. "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," The Byrds


Leaving the chart:
  • "Catch the Wind," Donovan (10 weeks)
  • "Give Us Your Blessings," The Shangri-Las (8 weeks)
  • "Help Me, Rhonda," The Beach Boys (14 weeks)
  • "Shakin' All Over," Guess Who? (11 weeks)
  • "You Really Know How to Hurt a Guy," Jan & Dean (9 weeks)

Bubbling under:

"I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," The Byrds
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(B-side of "All I Really Want to Do"; #103 US; #234 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)


New on the chart:

"Since I Lost My Baby," The Temptations
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(#17 US; #4 R&B)

"You Were on My Mind," We Five
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(#3 US; #1 AC)

"California Girls," The Beach Boys
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(#3 US; #26 UK; #71 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

"Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan
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(#2 US; #4 UK; #1 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

_______

Here's another classic band that I was more-or-less indifferent to.
I've yet to really warm up to them.

Since it was based on a real case, I always assumed the real world version of Stanley Stover was obsessed with the '66-'68 Batman TV series, since that--even more than comics of the "Superhero Boom" era--was such a phenomenon that it inspired some fans to not only create home-made costumes, but seek out as much merchandise on the series as possible, and also generated some to collect anything from Columbia's Batman serials.
An interesting possibility, if it was based on something that recent. And assuming the Announcer is telling the truth when he says that the story is true...I've always taken that with a grain of salt.
 
"I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," The Byrds
Very nice.

"Since I Lost My Baby," The Temptations
Sounds okay, but....

"You Were on My Mind," We Five
Very pleasant. And they kind of want to be The Byrds, don't they?

"California Girls," The Beach Boys
Classic, of course.

"Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan
Amazing uber classic.

#1 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
Now that's just nepotism. :rommie:
 
50 Years Ago This Week

Wiki said:
July 21 – The Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
July 23
  • 1970 Omani coup d'état: Said bin Taimur, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, is deposed in a bloodless palace coup by his son, Qaboos.
  • Two "tear gas" (CS gas) canisters are thrown into the chamber of the British House of Commons.



Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:
1. "(They Long to Be) Close to You," Carpenters
2. "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," Three Dog Night
3. "Band of Gold," Freda Payne
4. "The Love You Save" / "I Found That Girl", The Jackson 5
5. "Make It with You," Bread
6. "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)," The Temptations
7. "Ride Captain Ride," Blues Image
8. "O-o-h Child" / "Dear Prudence", The Five Stairsteps
9. "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," Stevie Wonder
10. "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)," Melanie
11. "Tighter, Tighter," Alive and Kicking
12. "Hitchin' a Ride," Vanity Fare
13. "Gimme Dat Ding," The Pipkins
14. "Spill the Wine," Eric Burdon & War
15. "Are You Ready?," Pacific Gas & Electric
16. "Teach Your Children," Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
17. "The Wonder of You" / "Mama Liked the Roses", Elvis Presley
18. "Ohio," Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
19. "A Song of Joy (Himno a La Alegria)," Miguel Rios
20. "I Just Can't Help Believing," B. J. Thomas
21. "The Long and Winding Road" / "For You Blue", The Beatles
22. "My Baby Loves Lovin'," White Plains
23. "Get Ready," Rare Earth
24. "Lay a Little Lovin' on Me," Robin McNamara
25. "War," Edwin Starr
26. "(If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?," Ronnie Dyson
27. "Save the Country," The 5th Dimension
28. "Silver Bird," Mark Lindsay
29. "Mississippi Queen," Mountain
30. "Westbound #9," The Flaming Ember
31. "Love Land," Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
32. "In the Summertime," Mungo Jerry
33. "United We Stand," The Brotherhood of Man
34. "Check Out Your Mind," The Impressions

38. "Maybe," The Three Degrees
39. "Tell It All Brother," Kenny Rogers & The First Edition

41. "Overture from Tommy (A Rock Opera)," The Assembled Multitude

43. "Everybody's Got the Right to Love," The Supremes
44. "The Sly, Slick, and the Wicked," The Lost Generation

47. "Summertime Blues," The Who

50. "25 or 6 to 4," Chicago
51. "Big Yellow Taxi," The Neighborhood

55. "Cinnamon Girl," Neil Young & Crazy Horse

57. "Get Up (I Feel Like Being Like a) Sex Machine (Part 1)," James Brown

60. "Patches," Clarence Carter

64. "Solitary Man," Neil Diamond
65. "Groovy Situation," Gene Chandler

69. "Hand Me Down World," The Guess Who

80. "Snowbird," Anne Murray

96. "Yellow River," Christie
97. "Candida," Dawn

99. "It's a Shame," The Spinners
100. "Big Yellow Taxi," Joni Mitchell


Leaving the chart:
  • "Freedom Blues," Little Richard (9 weeks)
  • "It's All in the Game," Four Tops (13 weeks)
  • "I Want to Take You Higher," Sly & The Family Stone (16 weeks total; 9 weeks this run)
  • "Love on a Two-Way Street," The Moments (15 weeks)
  • "Question," The Moody Blues (12 weeks)
  • "Sugar, Sugar" / "Cole, Cooke & Redding", Wilson Pickett (12 weeks)
  • "Which Way You Goin' Billy?," The Poppy Family (feat. Susan Jacks) (17 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Big Yellow Taxi," Joni Mitchell
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(#67 US; #33 AC; #11 UK)

"It's a Shame," The Spinners
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(#14 US; #4 R&B; #20 UK)

"25 or 6 to 4," Chicago
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(#4 US; #7 UK)

"Candida," Dawn
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(#3 US; #8 AC; #9 UK)

_______

Very nice.
I'll reiterate what I believe I said in the album review...it sounds particularly like Rubber Soul...before Rubber Soul.

Sounds okay, but....
Definitely the Lilliputian among this week's selections.

Very pleasant. And they kind of want to be The Byrds, don't they?
I previously tended to associate them more with the Seekers--no doubt because of the female lead singer--but I can hear it now that you mention it...and Wiki categorizes them as folk rock; and they would qualify as part of the wave of California artists spearheaded by the Byrds.

Interesting thing about these one-hit wonders is that their follow-up single--which I wasn't planning to cover here because it didn't crack the Top 30--was an earlier cover of "Let's Get Together" (charts Nov. 13, 1965; #31 US), a song that goes back to an even earlier version by the Kingston Trio, but is best known for the Youngbloods' rendition, which was originally released in '67 but didn't peak until '69.
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And...can't say that I'm crazy about this version. It doesn't have the sign-o-the-times charm of the Youngbloods classic.

Classic, of course.
One might go so far as to say that it's the magnum opus of the Beach Boys' surf rock era...though the song is still a little tainted for me by the David Lee Roth cover...

Amazing uber classic.
Now that's just nepotism. :rommie:
And the second song on the list is by the Rolling Stones...I always thought that was a little cutesy.

The Dylan album that will be this track's home, which will be released late next month, is also his highest-ranking on the RS album list...#4, placing behind only Sgt. Pepper, Pet Sounds, and Revolver. Once it's in my collection, I'll have a solid string of all of his '60s albums but the first one.
 
Last edited:
"I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," The Byrds
I wasn’t biggest Byrd’s fan, but I did like this one a lot.
"Since I Lost My Baby," The Temptations
This is my favorite song by the original Tempts lineup with David Ruffin. It has, IMO, one of the great keyboard intros ever. Great melody. As for the lyrics, every time I hear about this woman Ruffin has “lost,” I think, he didn’t lose her, she escaped. ;)
"You Were on My Mind," We Five
Another of those songs I’m kinda embarrassed to say I like, but I liked it quite a bit.
"Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan
Some years ago, in fact a lot of years ago, there was a really long (and great) article about Al Kooper, the guy who is playing those iconic organ fills on this song.

As I recall, his participation in the session was a last minute thing. He wasn’t even primarily a keyboard player. The kicker though, is that, per the article, Kooper came up with the stuff he played on his own. Imagine LRS without that eponymous keyboard figure that follows each “How does it feel?” This might be the song’s most distinctive hook. Man, studio musicians...

No. 1 on RS list of best 100 songs of the rock era. I would not argue with it’s placement.
 
"Big Yellow Taxi," Joni Mitchell
Cute, especially the significance of the title.

"It's a Shame," The Spinners
Not bad, but I never would have guessed it's the Spinners.

"25 or 6 to 4," Chicago
On the other hand, there's no mistaking this. Very nice.

"Candida," Dawn
Also very nice. Telma Hopkins of Dawn was also an actress, who I remember mainly as a regular on Bosom Buddies, one of my favorite shows (Tom Hanks's big break!).

I previously tended to associate them more with the Seekers--no doubt because of the female lead singer--but I can hear it now that you mention it...and Wiki categorizes them as folk rock; and they would qualify as part of the wave of California artists spearheaded by the Byrds.
Plus which, I was just listening to the Byrds a minute before. :D

And...can't say that I'm crazy about this version. It doesn't have the sign-o-the-times charm of the Youngbloods classic.
The Youngbloods' version is one of those songs that's so definitive that any other version just sounds like they're doing it wrong. :rommie:

One might go so far as to say that it's the magnum opus of the Beach Boys' surf rock era...
I wouldn't argue with that.

though the song is still a little tainted for me by the David Lee Roth cover...
Thanks for reminding me. Now I'll have to pay for another hypnosis session.

And the second song on the list is by the Rolling Stones...I always thought that was a little cutesy.
You'd think more artists would have worked "rolling stone" into their songs or names. :rommie:
 
An interesting possibility, if it was based on something that recent. And assuming the Announcer is telling the truth when he says that the story is true...I've always taken that with a grain of salt.

It would be fascinating for someone to publish a book listing al of the real cases Dragnet used for its episodes, if it did not pose any legal hurdles, that is.
 
_______

50th Anniversary Catch-Up Viewing

_______

Hawaii Five-O
"Six Kilos"
Originally aired March 12, 1969
Wiki said:
McGarrett goes undercover as a safe-cracker to join a gang planning a robbery at sea, with a mastermind who delivers instructions by tape.

The 5-O team is staking out the airport to learn about the job for which a box man has been brought in from the mainland. So as soon as he opens a locker at the airport, they try to arrest him instead of, y'know, continuing to tail him. Of course, Danny and Chin's surveillance technique leaves a bit to be desired...
H514.jpg
The box man pulls a gun and Danny puts another notch in his pistol. McGarrett proceeds to make lemonade out of these lemons by arranging to impersonate the box man, leaning on some safecracking experience from his Naval Intelligence days. Now I could buy Steve going undercover when he was operating on the mainland, but they've portrayed him as being too prominent and newsworthy a figure to credibly pull it off on the islands. This is sort of addressed a ways into the episode when Steve is making a shady rendezvous with a nitro supplier at a hotel and one of the security guys walks up and loudly greets him by his real name...though their way of dealing with the issue is to have the guy apologize after the fact, saying that he should have known better.

Undercover, Steve gets in with a group of other hired individuals, including Margi Carstairs (Antoinette Bower) and Carl Swanson (Gerald S. O'Loughlin). Oddly, no attempt is made to connect Carl with O'Loughlin's previous character, Charlie Swanson, from "The Box". Maybe he's supposed to be the same guy and this episode takes place before that one, but I'd have to go back and watch it again to see if there were any clues in that direction.

The group is taking their instructions from an anonymous voice on a tape--clever gimmick, huh? But here the voice is distorted in a way that is very recognizably the slowed-down voice of a woman, so I knew right off that as the only female in the group, Carstairs was the secret mastermind. She's using her role as part of the entourage of a diplomatic envoy from somewhere or another to pull off a heist of the titular six kilos of smack from her boss's boat. After they succeed and Steve has her place surrounded with his men, he "unmasks" Carstairs by playing one of the tapes at increased speed.

"And I would have gotten away with it, too, if not for you meddlesome Hawaiian cops!"

_______

Dragnet 1969
"Vice (DR-30)"
Originally aired March 13, 1969
Xfinity said:
Crooked gamblers victimize delegates to a farm-equipment convention until Friday and Gannon step in.

Sgt. Joe Friday said:
This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I carry a badge.

Wednesday, March 5 (1969): Friday and Gannon are working the night watch out of Administrative Vice Division when they get a tip from a hotel manager about how some of his guests have been getting driven out to an illegal gambling establishment and losing big. They pose as guests from the aforementioned convention and start casing the situation and the the staff and other patrons of the hotel, including the bartender (Bobby Troup) and a woman named Dottie Taylor (Chanin Hale), whom they correctly peg as a shill. Friday's method actually involves getting flirty with her, which consists of him eyeing her while wearing a very awkward-looking tight-lipped smile. When they eventually get driven out a house in the Hollywood Hills that's set up like a genuine club, via an indirect route meant to be disorienting to out-of-towners, we find that his poker face is pretty much the same as his flirty face. Friday spots that the poker game is using marked cards, but the guy running the joint, Nate Calvin (that other John Sebastian), lets him win to make him interested in coming back the next night and losing big-time. When they do come back, it's with backup to bust the place.

The Announcer said:
On May 15th, trial was held in Department 184, Superior Court of the State of California, for the County of Los Angeles....The suspect was found guilty of grand theft by trick or device, and unauthorized possession of a deadly weapon, which is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than one year, nor more than ten years.
The mugshot said:
NATHANIEL C. CALVIN
Now serving his term in the State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California.
The Announcer said:
Dorothy Taylor was found guilty of violating gambling laws, which is a misdemeanor, and was fined the sum of $40 and placed on probation for a period of one year. All others, including patrons of the gambling establishment, were found guilty of the same misdemeanor and were fined and placed on probation.

_______

And The Old Mixer is the size of a lentil.

_______

This is my favorite song by the original Tempts lineup with David Ruffin.
Seems like every song is somebody's favorite.

As for the lyrics, every time I hear about this woman Ruffin has “lost,” I think, he didn’t lose her, she escaped. ;)
Had to look up what that was about. Dayum.

Another of those songs I’m kinda embarrassed to say I like, but I liked it quite a bit.
No need to be embarrassed here, you're in like-minded company!

No. 1 on RS list of best 100 songs of the rock era.
Of all time according to the title of the list...but they are a rock magazine.

Cute, especially the significance of the title.
I'm not sure I follow the connection between that and the rest of the song's message, other than having the refrain "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" in common.

Not bad, but I never would have guessed it's the Spinners.
An enjoyable oldies radio classic.

On the other hand, there's no mistaking this. Very nice.
Definitely one of their strongest tracks.

Also very nice. Telma Hopkins of Dawn was also an actress, who I remember mainly as a regular on Bosom Buddies, one of my favorite shows (Tom Hanks's big break!).
Didn't know that. And looking up a different factoid, I just read that at this point there wasn't really a "Dawn"...it was just a group name that Tony Orlando was working under with studio musicians because of contractual issues.

It strikes me that the follow-up to "Candida" was probably meant to be a soundalike single...in this case, one that outshined its predecessor.

The Youngbloods' version is one of those songs that's so definitive that any other version just sounds like they're doing it wrong. :rommie:
I might have liked it if it'd had a more similar arrangement.

I wouldn't argue with that.
That's a relief, because I wasn't sure if I was using "magnum opus" right... :p

Thanks for reminding me. Now I'll have to pay for another hypnosis session.
Ah, we share the same trauma... :D

It would be fascinating for someone to publish a book listing al of the real cases Dragnet used for its episodes, if it did not pose any legal hurdles, that is.
That would indeed be interesting...and there'd be only one possible title for it.

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What's wrong with this picture?

Decades01.jpg
 
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"Big Yellow Taxi," Joni Mitchell
Song is actually kind of funky in it’s own way. Taxi has always felt like a bit of a throw away for her, something she tossed off during lunch. She probably spent years on it. :lol:
It's a Shame
This Is from back in the Spinners’ Motown days. GC Cameron, who was the lead singer on this song, had been a solo artist, was foisted upon the group because the label didn’t think the Spinners had a good enough lead. It was a moderate hit from what I recall. I liked I’ll Always Love You, their other minor hit with Motown, a lot more.
"25 or 6 to 4," Chicago
I used to love early Chicago. They were unique; a rock big band with jazz, r&b, and funk elements. But they split up or something and started putting out that string of sappy and insipid ballads. “Does Anybody Know What Time it Is” and “Saturday in the Park” were great, but then came the darkness.
the Youngbloods' rendition, which was originally released in '67
Yes, The Youngblood’s’ version was much better.
 
Of course, Danny and Chin's surveillance technique leaves a bit to be desired...
"Break up. You look like a cadet review."

The box man pulls a gun and Danny puts another notch in his pistol.
Now I'm worried that he's starting to like it.

leaning on some safecracking experience from his Naval Intelligence days.
Why does Naval Intelligence need safecracking skills? :rommie:

Now I could buy Steve going undercover when he was operating on the mainland, but they've portrayed him as being too prominent and newsworthy a figure to credibly pull it off on the islands.
The script probably called for a wig and fake mustache and Jack freaked out. :rommie:

Oddly, no attempt is made to connect Carl with O'Loughlin's previous character, Charlie Swanson, from "The Box".
I wonder if it was the same writer. Sometimes writers sneak certain names into their work on a regular basis (like Roddenberry and Noonian Singh).

The group is taking their instructions from an anonymous voice on a tape--clever gimmick, huh?
If it self destructed they would have been better off.

"Book 'her, Danno. But throw her in the drink first."

Friday's method actually involves getting flirty with her, which consists of him eyeing her while wearing a very awkward-looking tight-lipped smile.
You don't work all those nights in Vice without learning something.

When they do come back, it's with backup to bust the place.
No dramatic parting scene between Friday and the shill, a la Maltese Falcon? :rommie:

I'm drawing a blank for lentil jokes. Come back when you're older.

Seems like every song is somebody's favorite.
That would make a good song lyric.

I'm not sure I follow the connection between that and the rest of the song's message, other than having the refrain "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" in common.
This is just my interpretation, but the lyrics are all about ecology except for that one little bit about her old man leaving, and that's what gave the song its title-- which implies that it was the personal loss that inspired the general philosophizing. "My boyfriend left me. The world is a mess. Fill 'er up, bartender."

Didn't know that. And looking up a different factoid, I just read that at this point there wasn't really a "Dawn"...it was just a group name that Tony Orlando was working under with studio musicians because of contractual issues.
So she wasn't even on that song....

That's a relief, because I wasn't sure if I was using "magnum opus" right... :p
In the sense of a giant penguin?

Ah, we share the same trauma... :D
I think a lot of people would like to forget... uh, what were we talking about?

What's wrong with this picture?
Not only is their Watergate timeline off, but the scenario doesn't quite fit the facts either. :rommie:
 
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50th Anniversary Catch-Up Viewing

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Hawaii Five-O
"The Big Kahuna"
Originally aired March 19, 1969 (Season 1 finale)
Wiki said:
A beloved millionaire (John Marley) believes that he is being haunted by a malevolent spirit.

I don't know what casting people saw in John Marley that made them think he could pull off playing a Samoan clan leader in Ironside, and here, a year before that, not just a native Hawaiian, but a descendant of royalty! His character, Sam Kalakua, is sitting on an inherited estate that would be worth a fortune to land developers. He begins to receive visitations from what appears to be the goddess Pele, which cause his sanity to be questioned. Steve gets the case because he's a buddy of the Governor. At the scene of the first visitation, a scrap of material determined to be from a type of movie screen is found; and at the second, it's determined that an oil lamp that Kalakua threw at the apparition exploded because it was filled with fireworks explosives, possibly intended to detonate in closer proximity to him. The 5-O team traces the movie screen material to an acid-head hippie director of avant garde films. Along the way we learn that Kalakua's nephew/heir and his wife (Robert Colbert and Sally Kellerman) have been scheming with a crooked land developer (Peter Leeds) to have Kalakua committed, but as McGarrett's investigation begins to get to the bottom of things, the developer puts pressure on the couple to resolve the matter ASAP...so they arrange a final visitation from Pele on a cliffside, during which she's to lure him to jump. But the 5-O team gets ahold of a reel of the hippie director's film that shows Kellerman's character, Eleanor Kalakua, in her Pele getup, and get there in the nick of time. When McGarrett arrives, Eleanor is startled, loses her balance, and falls off the cliff herself...apparently onto dry land, not into the drink.

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Dragnet 1969
"Forgery (DR-33)"
Originally aired March 20, 1969
Xfinity said:
Friday and Gannon track down a forgery suspect who has been brainwashed by her friends.

Sgt. Joe Friday said:
This is the city: Los Angeles, California. It ranks first in the country in a number of things...among them, land area and automobiles. One of the biggest areas here is occupied by the University of California at Los Angeles. It's situated on 411 acres in West Los Angeles. UCLA has a student body of 29,000; a faculty of 2,000 distributed among its 71 departments and fourteen schools and colleges. Since 1945, a $160 million building program has been underway...the largest on any campus in the United States. One of those expansions concerns the library. With over two million books, the university has the largest collection of any college in the world. UCLA is a place where young people prepare for a successful future. The goal is worthwhile, but the path is long and hard. Some try to find an easier way. When it's illegal, I go to work. I carry a badge.

Tuesday, April 11 (1967?): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Frauds Division, Forgery section, when they're assigned to investigate the forging of bad payroll checks from a movie studio, using the signature of an employee named Sarah Phillips (Angel Tompkins), who tells the detectives that somebody stole her credit cards and driver's license. They ask questions about her roommate, Mary, who's recently joined a new religious group called the Ming Dynasty Crusaders, and take Mary's picture and a sample of her handwriting for analysis, but it doesn't match that of the forger.

The detectives get a tip from a hippie former TV/movie writer named Blake Thompson (Gary Crosby), who reveals that his wife, Sondra (Jill Banner), has been brainwashed into passing the stolen checks by the people in the commune where she now lives. Along the way, the detectives question why this relatively together guy lives in squalor. After a follow-up call from Thompson, they bust the place where Sondra is living, but she's not there; Thompson gets ahold of them so she can turn herself in at his place.

A month later, on the court date, Friday and Gannon are approached at HQ by a man they don't recognize--Blake Thompson, now clean-cut the way we're used to seeing Gary Crosby on Adam-12. "It was because of what's happened to Sondra that I decided to turn off, tune out, and drop back in." Friday and Gannon walk with him and Sondra to the courthouse in a supportive gesture.

The Announcer said:
On May 10th, trial was held in Department 184, Superior Court of the State of California, for the County of Los Angeles....The suspect was tried and convicted of forgery, which is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than one year, nor more than fourteen years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year. However, due to the circumstances surrounding her involvement, sentence was suspended.
The mugshot said:
SONDRA KAY THOMPSON
Placed on three years probation
The Announcer said:
The suspects who were the instigators of the crime were tried and convicted of forgery.
The mugshot said:
RALPH MORRIS HARMON and DIXIE MAY LESTER
Now serving their terms in The Los Angeles County Jail.
(James Oliver and Maxine Greene)

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And The Old Mixer is the size of a blueberry.

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_______

"Break up. You look like a cadet review."
I don't think the screenshot captures it, but Danny is really obviously craning his neck to get a better look.

Why does Naval Intelligence need safecracking skills? :rommie:
Intelligence...during the war...he did spy stuff.

I wonder if it was the same writer. Sometimes writers sneak certain names into their work on a regular basis (like Roddenberry and Noonian Singh).
But in this case, played by the same actor and appearing in the same season.

"Book 'her, Danno. But throw her in the drink first."
Think he was saying that one to Chin.

No dramatic parting scene between Friday and the shill, a la Maltese Falcon? :rommie:
Haven't seen the film (:o), but actually there was such a scene, with her hitting the repentant moll theme pretty heavy...all over a $40 fine.

"The story you have just seen is true...except for the parts we cribbed from an old Bogie flick."

Taxi has always felt like a bit of a throw away for her, something she tossed off during lunch. She probably spent years on it. :lol:
RJDiogenes said:
This is just my interpretation, but the lyrics are all about ecology except for that one little bit about her old man leaving, and that's what gave the song its title-- which implies that it was the personal loss that inspired the general philosophizing. "My boyfriend left me. The world is a mess. Fill 'er up, bartender."
The ecological part, according to the song's Wiki page, was inspired by a visit to Hawaii, during which she viewed a spectacular vista from her hotel room but couldn't help noticing a sprawling parking lot below. As for the part about her old man leaving, it just occurred to me that the song might have been referencing her breakup with Graham Nash, given the timing. Its Wiki page suggests a more esoteric meaning...
Wiki said:
In the song's final verse, the political gives way to the personal. Mitchell recounts the departure of her "old man" in the eponymous "big yellow taxi", which may refer to the old Metro Toronto Police patrol cars, which until 1986 were painted yellow. In many covers the departed one may be interpreted as variously a boyfriend, a husband or a father. The literal interpretation is that he is walking out on the singer by taking a taxi; otherwise it is assumed he is being taken away by the authorities.


RJDiogenes said:
I think a lot of people would like to forget... uh, what were we talking about?
The perfect response would be to post the video...but I can't bring myself to do it.

Not only is their Watergate timeline off, but the scenario doesn't quite fit the facts either. :rommie:
How so?

I used to love early Chicago. They were unique; a rock big band with jazz, r&b, and funk elements. But they split up or something and started putting out that string of sappy and insipid ballads. “Does Anybody Know What Time it Is” and “Saturday in the Park” were great, but then came the darkness.
The big change in their sound came at the dawn of the '80s...from what I read, following their split with a longtime producer of their albums and the death of a band member.
 
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Of course, Danny and Chin's surveillance technique leaves a bit to be desired...

Feature not bug: Things have to be set up so Steve can put everything right.

McGarrett proceeds to make lemonade out of these lemons by arranging to impersonate the box man, leaning on some safecracking experience from his Naval Intelligence days. Now I could buy Steve going undercover when he was operating on the mainland, but they've portrayed him as being too prominent and newsworthy a figure to credibly pull it off on the islands.

Yes of course. They have editorials about McGarrett on the evening news, but he can also just slip into the underworld whenever he wants.

They have a pretty messed up idea of what naval intelligence is. It has little or nothing to do with espionage of the secret agent variety. Even less to do with arresting embezzling supply officers as in an earlier episode. Magnum P.I. did the same thing.

Not only is their Watergate timeline off, but the scenario doesn't quite fit the facts either.

Also, they're not alternating single and double quotation marks.
 
_______

50th Anniversary Catch-Up Viewing

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Dragnet 1969
"Juvenile (DR-32)"
Originally aired March 27, 1969
Xfinity said:
Friday and Gannon enlist the help of the California Highway Patrol to find a dog that may be rabid.

Sgt. Joe Friday said:
This is the city: Los Angeles, California. It's a blend of people with different ideas, united by many common goals. A foothill chain runs through the heart of the city, dividing it into two parts, but man has changed the landscape to accommodate his needs. Natural canyons have been turned into roads, connecting the city. For some, the hills make a nice place to live. Its residents enjoy a relaxed way of life. Here in Los Angeles, we are free to choose from among a variety of environments. Others enjoy the ocean...the subtle sounds of high tide and a cooling walk at sunset. No matter where they live, they are provided with all the city services. I'm part of one of those services. I carry a badge.

Saturday, September 12 (1964?): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Juvenile Division when a health official enlists them to find the dog who bit a five-year-old girl, Sherri Wickersham, five days prior. Sherri is highly allergic to the anti-rabies serum, so they have to locate the dog to determine if it's rabid. It seems like this is more of an animal thing that would be handled by a department or division other than juvenile.

Sherri's mother, Dorothy Wickersham (Shannon Farnon), describes how two terriers were involved, each tied to a camper, which the campers belonging to a man and two women who were traveling together. The owners left the scene without identifying themselves, but she wrote down the plate numbers, so the detectives go to the CHP to try to run them down. They go to the residence of one of the owners, Mrs. Parker, who isn't home, and despite a neighbor's (Virginia Gregg) help, have trouble tracking down their current whereabouts; then she remembers the name of Parker's, in-laws. Her father-in-law helps identify their vet, whom they'd taken the dogs to The vet, Dr. Carl Felton (Morris D. Erby), is at a football game, so they have him paged. He goes back to his office and determines that the dogs are healthy and don't have rabies. With the clock ticking, Friday has trouble getting this information to the girl's doctor by phone, so he drives to the doctor in the nick of time.

The Announcer said:
On September 14th, the investigation of the dog bite of five-year-old Sherri Wickersham was closed by the Los Angeles County Health Department.

Because there was no violation of state or local law involved, no further action was taken by the Los Angeles Police Department. Mrs. Wickersham did consult an attorney, and the matter is being studied to see if civil action against Mrs. Parker is warranted.

_______

And The Old Mixer is the size of a kidney bean.

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Feature not bug: Things have to be set up so Steve can put everything right.
Kono was playing it cooler in his phone booth.

Magnum P.I. did the same thing.
I didn't watch that, but I've heard that there were H5O references in it. Was he also naval intelligence?

Also, they're not alternating single and double quotation marks.
Didn't even notice that...it's too "day job" for me! :p
 
I didn't watch that, but I've heard that there were H5O references in it. Was he also naval intelligence?

Yeah. Magnum was a Naval Academy graduate, had been a SEAL in Vietnam doing special operations and worked at Pearl Harbor in "intelligence" in the late '70s. Then he had something of a personal crisis, chucked all major responsibilities and became a PI, living rent-free in exchange for doing minor security work on the Oahu estate of a wealthy, usually absent author. His intelligence work seemed to have been largely counter-espionage, which naval intelligence doesn't do, either.

They mention Five-O a couple of times in passing, but that's it. But much of the production team stayed on for Magnum, and it used a lot of the same local actors.

Didn't even notice that...it's too "day job" for me!

I wish I could not notice it. Or not find it so annoying, one or the other.
 
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