RADIO HANNIBAL

Putting Michael Jackson In Perspective

With the sudden, unexpected passing of Michael Jackson (one of those "remember where you were when you heard the news" events) there's been heated discussion about celebrating his life and work.  I understand the passion on both sides, but here's my take. 

Certainly his life over the past 10 plus years has been that of a troubled and peculiar person.  He was cleared of the child abuse charges.  Yet, because there was a payout to the victim's family there's a clear majority thinking that he was guilty. 

His desire to change his skin color and entire appearance was looked on my some as an insult to African Americans.  Personally, I think he was transgendered and ideally wanted to look like a woman. 

Sure, there's plenty of fodder for talking about his personal life.  I haven't even gotten into Neverland and his exotic animal fascination. 

I prefer to remember the music.  Granted, Michael Jackson is not even close to the top of favorite artists of mine.  It's rare that I'd play any of his music other than when DJing parties.  But I realize what an impact he had on our culture. 

I am a year older than Michael Jackson.  And I recall vividly two TV appearances that had me riveted. 
Ed Sullivan Show in 1970


The Motown 25th Anniversary Show in 1983
I'm certain a number of you remember with amazement just as I do. I will not call him the "King Of Pop". It doesn't count when you crown yourself with a title. Still, he was an icon and left us with some great music.
Photo by Cleveland rock photographer Janet Macoska, the 1986 Bad tour

Bedazzled, A Cool Retro Blog

So, I just got turned onto yet another cool site.  A blog called Bedazzled.  It features lots of vintage and rare music videos, complete Shindig and Hullabaloo shows and much more cool stuff, including wack photos like this.

I can't seem to find an "about me" section on the site so I'm not quite sure who runs the thing.  If I'm not mistaken the guy's a DJ at WFMU, one the premier public radio stations in the country.
 

Watchinshadows, My Favorite Youtube Channel

Over the weekend I was turned on to, what has now become, my favorite Youtube site.  It's called Watchinshadows and was created by a blues musician from England.   It's really two separate groups of videos. 

First, there's his favorite videos, mostly consisting of rare rock and blues songs.  A real treasure trove at your fingertips. 

But what has me enamored with Watchinshadows is his own video creations.  These consist of obscure early rock and R&B songs in which he puts together collages of all things retro schtick from sci-fi B movie clips to old monster trading cards to 50's era BDSM and pin up photos.  For you Clevelanders, think Ghoulardi of whom I've spoken about in the past.

In fact, I brought him up in a post about the death of Lux Interior.  Not surprisingly, Watchinshadows wallpaper on the site is of Lux's band, The Cramps.  It's a site that Lux would've loved. 

The New Green Room

The Radio Hannibal studio green room has had a make over.  Designed by yours truly.  Here's some before and after shots.

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Vintage Top 40 Radio

I've espoused my love of Reel Radio on another post awhile back when I was discussing great places to go for radio on the internet.  The difference with this site is that it's all vintage Top 40 samples.

Some "exhibits" as they are called are short while some are long and have all of the songs and ads intact.   I could talk about them but the only way to really appreciate it is to hear one.  Once you do, I'm sure some of you will feel the same, that 15 bucks a year to hear gems like this is well worth it.

I'm choosing this two part 2 hour long sample because it's perfect.  It's from an AM station in Louisville, Kentucky circa 1967.  The sound quality is excellent, but that's not the best thing about it.  It's the songs.  The majority of music played during these two hours is all minor hit material.  I'm not sure if the station was just making the wrong picks for rotation or what.  All I know is it makes for some great radio and I love hearing some of these songs that have long been forgotten.  Plus, check out the exclusive Monkees songs played a few days before the release of their new album, Headquarters.  Enjoy!

WKLO, 5/16/67 Pt. 1
WKLO, 5/16/67 Pt. 2  

Primer Course In What's Hip On The Net

David Pogue's Circuits column in the The New York Times yesterday was quite self-effacing.  With no shame he told his readers how he'd never heard of rickrolling.  This was a bit of a stunner coming from a guy who spends his days in the tech and internet world. 

He then pointed me to a site put together by Greg Rutter called You Should Have Seen This.  It consists of 99 things on the internet that you should have seen.  It also works as a good primer for those who may consider themselves newbies to the net. A viewing of these 99 items will keep you from being ridiculed on message boards and chastised in chat rooms for your lack of hipness. 

But mostly, it's good for a lotta laughs.  

New Show 4/16/09

Well, a week late but I finally upped it.
Enjoy.
Radio Hannibal Show 4.16.09

Playboy Archive...A New Way to Spend Countless Hours

I love browsing old magazines be it Life, Time, Mad, National Lampoon or Playboy.  They can be had cheaply on ebay.  Yeah, so much for collecting magazines with the thought of them gaining in value.  There is the exception so make sure before you pitch them.

But I digress. 

I enjoy perusing old magazines for the content, the ads, everything.  It really brings back a feeling of place and time.  Now Playboy has made available 53 (so far) of its back issues at Playboy Archive.  These are the entire issues from front to back cover.  They use Microsoft's Silverlight to allow a rich and rewarding experience.  This includes dragging pages, enlarging and accessing tables of contents.  The picture quality is excellent.

The issues go from the first issues through the 1990's.  I'm not sure how they decided on these 53 issues but here's hoping they'll eventually put them all on line. 

As I say, it doesn't matter the magazine.  I just love the time capsule experience you get.  Still, I cannot lie. The photos are a nice bonus.  The only thing missing from these vintage magazines is that musty smell.
 

Happy 90th Birthday Jane Scott

Retired Plain Dealer rock critic, Jane Scott, turns 90.  Unfortunately she's got Alzheimer's now.  Still, she carried on her trade past 80.  She is loved not only by her readers here in Cleveland but many rock stars still talk of her fondly.  Springsteen is a good friend. 

Her first assignment was interviewing The Beatles in 1964.  She accompanied Hendrix to buy a Corvette when he was here in town.  There's so many stories. 

Here's a simple montage of photos of her with various artists just put together by Mary Cipriani.

On a personal note, I was just looking through an old family scrap book.  There's a story on my nursery school one year reunion we had in 1963.  It features a fellow student, Kathleen Meaney (where are you now) feeding me a cookie.  I did a double take when I read the byline.  Yes, it was written by Jane Scott. 

Happy birthday grand dame of rock journalism.

New Show 04/11/09

Back into the swing of things.  Here's a new show.  Enjoy!
Radio Hannibal Show 04/11/09