Django

November 7th, 2006 (12:01 am)

The first time I heard Django Reinhardt's guitar I was instantly transcended into the fluffy folds of ether and heaven and all of that levity. I won't pretend to know anything about arrangements or improvisations, but I know what I like, and I like that damned Gypsy! His music makes me want to weep and weep.

Consumer Madness

November 3rd, 2006 (06:39 pm)

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Oh the garbage you can find on the internet. Check out these old commercials I found on x-entertainment.com. I can never get enough of the awesone-80's fashion! (Click on a picture to view the .wmv file)

Happy Halloween!

October 31st, 2006 (12:12 am)

          It's that spookerific time of the year again!

Halloween is here!

          I will take my son trick-or-treating, but not before I go to school and take a test--of all days! I'm pretty nerdy and hate to miss a class, but I would have skipped out otherwise because class gets out at 6:15 pm--oh well.

          In the spirit of this most gruesome day, I'm going to post a few vintage celebrity ghost stories--oh how ghastly!

I found a site in the UK that has a bunch of these stories relating to stars, but I will spare you from Michael Jackson's ghost stories, however fascinating. Here are a few good ones to get you in the mood:

"It is claimed that Marilyn Monroe's Ghost now haunts the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. At the height of Marilyn Monroe's fame, she often stayed at the hotel where her ghostly image is seen in a full-length mirror that once hung in her poolside suite. (The mirror has been relocated to the hotel's lower level by the elevators.)

The ghost mirror now hangs in the lobby where many people clain to see her image gazing through the glass. The ghost of Marilyn Monroe has also been seen hovering near her tomb at Westwood Memorial Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. The Ghost of Marilyn Monroe is also said to haunt the house in Brentwood Brentwood where she died and hovers over the exact spot where she took the fatal dose of sleeping tablets. Some psychics have claimed that Marilyn Monroe's death was not a suicide, but an accident."

"Jayne Mansfield's own ghostly presence was in turn felt by the singer Engelbert Humperdinck, who purchased her famous pink palace after her death. He said 'I'm sure she lived with me in spirit for a time I'd smell her rose petal perfume'.

"'Once I saw a figure in a long, black dress in front of me. It was Jayne, but it wasn't frightening".

"The Ghost of Elvis Presley is also claimed to have appeared in the lobby of the famed Heartbreak Hotel, and one witness who took a photo of the apparition says, 'I heard music coming out of the chapel, not wedding bells, but what sounded like Marilyn’s song, Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.'

The Ghost of Elvis dressed in a white-sequined suit has also been seen by stagehands at the Las Vegas Hilton where he often performed in the early 1970s. Elvis' Ghost has also been sighted in a run down old building just off Nashville’s Music Row which had once housed the recording studios of RCA in the 1950’s. The Ghost of Elvis has been seen here as it was a pivotal place for him for it was here that Elvis recorded his breakthrough 1956 hit single, Heartbreak Hotel. People that have worked there claim that every time the Elvis name is mentioned something odd happens. For example ladders fall down, lights pop or go out and unexplained noises are heard coming through the sound system.

Pension Plan

October 25th, 2006 (06:48 pm)

I still don't know what to make of the evolution of Aunt Jemima. I'm almost amazed that any version of her remains in production. Do the execs at Quaker imagine that by simply removing her colorful kerchief that they've empowered her in some way?

I think the Quaker pilgrim should let this poor woman retire.

While we're at it, what's going on with Brawny?

Zayre

October 23rd, 2006 (12:38 am)

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Who remembers Zayre? I miss that place. There was one over on Coral Way and 87th Avenue in Miami, and to a very young me, it was paradise.

From what I can recall, it was something of a low-rent K-Mart--just a little more run-down than Jefferson's.

There were two features that made Zayre exceptional. One was the cheesy t-shirt booth in the front of the store. There, tacked on the wall were at least a hundred iron-on decals of your choosing--most of them glittery, and damn it, they were so dazzling. If you were lucky, mom would let you point out your fave design to the burn-out chick working the counter, and there she would press all of that goodness onto a pre-shrunk cotton t.

The other highlight of Zayre was their pet department. They had live animals there! If that wasn't cool enough, they even had this mysterious, darkened fish-cave, illuminated only by the light of 20 or so fish tanks--it was the closest thing to Disney World, I swear.

TCB!

October 19th, 2006 (05:57 pm)

Do I really care that Elvis was something of an odd man? No, not particularly.

I once read a very compelling bio on EP titled, "The Last Train to Memphis", by Peter Guralnick. It was truly a great read, however, in its revelations I found myself almost bitterly disappointed with some of Elvis' bizarre antics and rituals.

I won't even get into his penchant for petite brunets, his Freudian obsession with his mother, nor his unfortunate drug habit.

If I could have a conversation with Elvis, it would go something like this:

          Me: "So, I know I'm not your type and all, seeing how I'm tall and blonde--but anyway, I'm married, so, it doesn't even matter."

          Elvis: "Well, yeah. You, you're really not what I go for, generally speaking."

          Me: "That's okay. Although I heard you did fool around with one of my blonde neighbors back in the 1970's. She also described certain points of your anatomy unfavorably--but I'm sure she was just pissed because you didn't call her back."

          Elvis: (silent)

          Me: "Okay, uhm, thanks for the great music Elvis! TCB, woohoo!"

This here is an ode to a man who made some good music.

Vintage Bits

October 17th, 2006 (10:35 am)

Lileks.com is one of my FAVORITE web sites! Its author, James Lileks, has not only given us some phenomenal books (The Gallery of Regrettable Food, Mommy Knows Worst, Interior Desecrations, etc.) but has provided us with a bunch of goodies on his web site, for which to while away those lonely hours.

One of my favorite sections of his site is the "Matchbook Museum". Here you'll find a variety of matchbooks, featuring some of the best artwork of the bygone era (sorry, Jackson).

I've posted a few of my favorites for your viewing pleasure (all photos © c. lileks.com).

Some Paintings

October 16th, 2006 (11:45 am)

I really dig my husband's artwork. Jimmy (il mio hubby) just recently started doing this series of paintings featuring some of our favorite pop-culture personalities. Here are a few...		Marilyn Monroe


James Dean		Sid Vicious


Frank Sinatra		Audrey Hepburn


Bettie Page (This one was actually done by yours truly)		This is a painting he did of me -- I'm certainly not an icon of any variety, but I thought this would be a cool painting to include.

Vintage Vices on Film

October 12th, 2006 (10:53 am)

Here's a quick nod to the amazing Prelinger Moving Images Archive, an online archive of over 2,000 "advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur" films, streaming free for your viewing pleasure!

The archive offers such irresistible titles as: "Duck and Cover", "Perversion for Profit" and "Are You Popular?".

Thankfully, there are plenty of other "plain talk" advice pieces to curve the inclinations of the morally inept.

www.archive.org/movies

Ol' Blue Eyes

October 11th, 2006 (12:05 pm)

This posting is dedicated to the man with a voice that TRULY makes me sigh--Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra.

As a very young girl I could never quite understand why my Italian grandmother was crazy about the singer whom I had always considered to be rather homely and scrawny.

Frank and Gene Kelly in the war-time hit, "Anchors Aweigh".

Now I understand why my grandma, and all of the other dames from the neighborhood liked him--he was an Italian boy from a working-class family who made good, very good.

I would later find out that he was a sensation for all of those bobby-sockers, and I'm sure his appeal was something of a mystery to their parents with their Edwardian-era sentiments.

Sinatra in "The Man with the Golden Arm".

Sinatra in "The Man with the Golden Arm".

Not to long ago, I heard this old-time-radio program from the 1940's that reenacted the discovery of Ol' Blue Eyes. Supposedly, Francis was trying out for the part of a sports-radio announcer and the senior announcer he was auditioning for was a former singer himself and was able to recognize the amazing quality of his voice.

"September of My Years" is a wonderful collection of melancholy and moody songs.

Frank had sizeable talent as a personality, singer and actor. He dated some of the hottest ladies EVER, including Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner. His ties to the mob earned him the watchful eye of J. Edgar Hoover and a "fat FBI file".

Unapologetically, he was and is the very definition of cool.

Oh, and on something of a side-note: I'm still pissed-off at those disrespectful network-clowns who cut him off in the middle of his Grammy speech. That was unforgivable. Watch it here.

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