Record #89432 - Shindig!

Today's record is the soundtrack/compilation from the super cool 60s music TV show, Shindig!

Shindig! was a pretty cool show. Trillions (okay, not trillions but maybe billions) of really popular musicians performed (or lip synced) their hits on the show, and then sold millions of records! Yipee!

Wanna see what it was like? Well, here's The Beach Boys performing "Do You Wanna Dance" on Shindig! while Mike Love dances like a freak.

Or how about The Ronettes performing "Be My Baby"?

Or The Searchers performing Sonny Bono's song "Needles & Pins"?

Or, if you're so inclined, the greatest car chase song ever (and my ringtone), "Sunshine, Lollipops & Rainbows" by Lesley Gore?

Yup, it was prettay, prettay, prettay, prettay groovy.

This soundtrack is pretty groovy too, with some great 60s pop/rock-ness. Pretty much the only big names on this album are Fats Domino, The Impressions, and The Tams, who everybody knows (or at least should know).

Even though those artists are pretty great, my favorite artist on this album  is Steve Alaimo. Why? Well, because he starred in a really crappy movie about bikers getting their "kicks" called The Wild Rebels, which, as you can guess, was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. That fact alone makes him go up about 32 notches in my book.

You can download the Shindig! soundtrack HERE.

Magazine #1975 - In The Know (January 1976)

Today we've got everybody's favorite random and completely unheard of magazine In The Know's issue for January 1976, featuring a Special Report on The 18 Most Important Celebrities of 1975! "Far out!", as John Denver might say.

As you can see, they've included lots of "important" celebrities up there on the cover. There's James Caan, Henry Kissinger, Cher, Robert Redford, Gerald and Betty Ford, Warren "Ishtar/Shampoo" Beatty, and, my favorite two, Patty Hearst and Jaws the Shark. As you all know, the exploits of Jaws and Patty Hearst are the reason why we made it through the 70's. All the mainstream History books leave that part out, for some unknown reason.

This is a pretty fun magazine, and besides the cover article, there's a few really interesting Beach Boys related articles, one including some groovy backstage pictures of them on tour. Another article is about the (annoying) Captain and Tennille, who started out as back-up vocalists for the Beach Boys. Lastly, there's an article about Stan Love, the 6' 9" basketball playing brother of Mike Love. On a related note, Mike Love is a stupid McJerkypants-Butt.

Moving on...

There's also a section in this magazine where certain celebrities talk about what Christmas is to them, including a tiny anecdote by comedy god Groucho Marx.

Another part of the Christmas section asks certain 70's super celebrities what they want for Christmas. My personal favorite comes from Pat Loud, the mom from An American Family - the first "reality show"/greatest 12-part documentary ever made.

The only thing that could have made that any better was if she used the word "cesspool". Oh well...

Of course all of these articles are pretty important to humanity, but the one that most epitomizes the everlasting fight against the Communists is this article...

YES!! BELLY DANCING!! You can't go wrong with Melaina Blume, the US Belly Dancing Champion of 1975. She is belly dancing for your freedom! AMERICA! Oh, how I love it.

And that, my friends, is the In The Know magazine for January 1976. In my experience, I find that it's always a good idea to know what was most important exactly 31 years ago. Especially if that 31 years ago was 1975.

Enjoy, and please try not to forget the 1970's. They obviously were the greatest decade in human history.

Download the In The Know magazine HERE.

Oh, and don't forget to visit In The Know magazine's crazy awesome and super futuristic website!

Article #1121 - The "John Stamos T-Shirt"

The television show Full House, described in a technical matter as 1/3 grilled cheese, 1/3 one of those packets of the powdery cheese substance from Kraft® Mac & Cheese, and 1/3 double cheese pizza with stuffed crust (you eat it backwards, just like Ringo!) all dipped into a fondue bowl full of cheese, is one of the most popular yet lamest television shows ever created. Although, as we all know, a few inherently evil things did come of that show (Uncle Joey's Bullwinkle impression, San Francisco, the Olsen Twins), one great speck of genius did rise out of the ashes. Of course, I speak of the one and only John Stamos - Uncle Jesse, and his rock band "Jesse and The Rippers".

Sadly, when the show was canceled in 1995, "Jesse and The Rippers" were never heard from again. I thought all was lost, less for a few choice episodes in syndication and on DVD until I stumbled upon this...

Luckily for me, a 14 year old girl in 1992 with a color printer and some iron-on paper created this t-shirt, decided she didn't like it, threw it into her closet, and donated it to Goodwill 17 years later.

I may be $3 poorer, but the eternal smiles this shirt gives me every time I open my closet are priceless.