Random stupid things on your mind. Post them.

[Eddie Coyle]

that's true.  also, a lot of the mechanics of ringo's drumming were later implemented by people like keith moon and john bonham.  never understood why people knock ringo.  most of them are people who simply don't know drumming.

The two most uncool and unhip Beatles amongst public perception are the two who happen to be alive. That's so common in music/pop culture, the living are underappreciated and not to be properly celebrated until dead.

         BTW, Paul has earned his unhip/uncool status with regularity since 1970.

[Sardondi]

url=http://www.firefly.org/why-are-fireflies-disappearing.html]http://www.firefly.org/why-are-fireflies-disappearing.html[/url]

...My first choice would be common lawn pesticides or some other toxin combined with cyclical ebb and flow of any species.....

I hadn't thought about the light pollution, but it makes sense for why we don't see "lightning bugs" today. Do folks who live in the true rural pasture and woodlands which aren't drenched in nighttime light still see fireflies in the same numbers as 20-30 years ago? I'm afraid it's a different kind of environmental problem,  either habitat or pesticide as per Cam. Of course it could be a fungus/disease as some seem to think the honeybee problem has been. 

Still I'm amazed at how resilient nature is. In my suburban area, which has housing developments interrupted here and there by several as-yet-undeveloped woodland tracts, each of from 100 to 500 acres or so, we have the usual birds, plus owls and hawks, one of which might have been a falcon. Pretty soon now we'll see the Canada geese on their migration. What is amazing to me is the small woodland animals we regularly see, like squirrels, possums and raccoons, but also coyotes, foxes and even deer. The animals seem to be increasing in variety and number.

But I want my "lightning bugs".

I caught fireflies by the hundreds in the 1970s and there was ample light pollution in the city where I played a young Prometheus.
In the 1980s, they were easily caught by using a penlight flashlight to attract via signaling.... 

My brothers and cousins, true to our instinct to be young Lords of the Fireflies, for about an hour every early evening went on "Dusk Patrol" with tennis and badminton rackets. We "shot down" entire armadas of the lit-up insect bombers. The best kill was one which exploded into several streaming pieces.....Dear Gaia, I killed off the fireflies!

[McPhallus]

I caught fireflies by the hundreds in the 1970s and there was ample light pollution in the city where I played a young Prometheus.

In the 1980s, they were easily caught by using a penlight flashlight to attract via signaling.  This different town in the 80s had more light pollution than the other town in the 70s.

I've seen one this year.  Three last year.

This reminds me of a time I and a group of friends travelled to Bachelor's Grove Cemetary in Midlothian, IL in order to visit what was supposedly the most haunted location in Illinois.  A member of the group--who happened to be highly suggestible--was convinced that a wall of intermittently-flashing lights at the far end of the cemetary were "ghost lights."  They just looked like lightning bugs to me, and that was the largest concentration of them I've seen (our trip was in '97 or '98).  I've seen maybe a dozen total in the years since then.

[McPhallus]

that's true.  also, a lot of the mechanics of ringo's drumming were later implemented by people like keith moon and john bonham.  never understood why people knock ringo.  most of them are people who simply don't know drumming.

George got knocked around quite a bit, too.  It's likely a result of being in a band with two overbearing superstars along with the dreaded "front man syndrome."

[Camazotz Automat]

George got knocked around quite a bit, too.  It's likely a result of being in a band with two overbearing superstars along with the dreaded "front man syndrome."

I think this is exactly it. Other members eclipsed by public focus. It's also easier to make "musician jokes" at a drummer's expense.

Also, there's something to be said (though I don't know exactly what to call it) when a word or words sound(s) more attractive in a punchline and funny even if counterintuitive.  Paul and John may have been the "superstars," but "Ringo Starr" had the superior name, and in my opinion, his name alone added a flavor to the invasion in a way Paul, George, and John could not.

I've heard similar jokes/stabs about Ace Frehley, who is an incredible guitarist, and his name works in a way similar to Ringo's, but how could he measure up to the perception of "Gene and Paul"?

For the "record":

I play the drums worse than Ringo Starr or Nikko McBrain.
I play the guitar worse than Ace Frehley.
I sing worse than Elvis Presley.
I play the bass worse than Geddy Lee.

You'd think, after all this time, I would have improved.

I do excel at bee keeping and make no apologies for it.

My brothers and cousins, true to our instinct to be young Lords of the Fireflies,

Ha! 100 points.

[Sardondi]

I have it on good authority that Ringo Starr is "severely underrated as a drummer and was/is fantastic at keeping time with the beat."

that's true.  also, a lot of the mechanics of ringo's drumming were later implemented by people like keith moon and john bonham.  never understood why people knock ringo.  most of them are people who simply don't know drumming.

I'm no drummer, and I don't know anything about it, and this has probably been commented on a million times before, but it seems to me that broadly speaking rock drumming can be divided into two classes. One is the drummer who forms backbone of the band, whose only job, though vital, is to keep a rock solid beat. This class is considered boring and faceless, like offensive linemen in North American football. Then there are the drummers who are virtuosi, playing an instrument which has a musical line composed of rhythmical variants, a la Keith Moon and John Bonham. Ringo of course was the old school.

I remember in high school that someone in a science lab class hooked up an oscilloscope so that we could visualize the rhythms from Sergeant Pepper. Ringo's drumming was like a machine. Absolutely dead solid perfect. Not only the same rhythm, but identical dynamics and sound levels; which meant he had mastered not just time but force. It was impressive.

[ziznak]

I'm no drummer, and I don't know anything about it, and this has probably been commented on a million times before, but it seems to me that broadly speaking rock drumming can be divided into two classes. One is the drummer who forms backbone of the band, whose only job, though vital, is to keep a rock solid beat. This class is considered boring and faceless, like offensive linemen in North American football. Then there are the drummers who are virtuosi, playing an instrument which has a musical line composed of rhythmical variants, a la Keith Moon and John Bonham. Ringo of course was the old school.

I remember in high school that someone in a science lab class hooked up an oscilloscope so that we could visualize the rhythms from Sergeant Pepper. Ringo's drumming was like a machine. Absolutely dead solid perfect. Not only the same rhythm, but identical dynamics and sound levels; which meant he had mastered not just time but force. It was impressive.

You're totally right.  It's either the perfect metronome and uninteresting or full measure fills and then coming in off time.  Can't win with drummers man.

[Ben Shockley]

...Also, there's something to be said (though I don't know exactly what to call it) when a word or words sound(s) more attractive in a punchline and funny even if counterintuitive.  Paul and John may have been the "superstars," but "Ringo Starr" had the superior name, and in my opinion, his name alone added a flavor to the invasion in a way Paul, George, and John could not.

This was understood back in the '60s and used, inversely, by the writers of that great venue for social commentary, "Gilligan's Island."
The fictional rock band The Mosquitoes on that show were "Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving."  Get it?   And "Irving" is even allegedly funnier, ya see, because it sounds "square" and "Jew-y" as opposed to the Beatnik-y other 3.

...Ringo's drumming was like a machine. Absolutely dead solid perfect. Not only the same rhythm, but identical dynamics and sound levels; which meant he had mastered not just time but force. It was impressive.

Just yesterday, I was reading in wikipedia about the recording of the song "Hey Jude."   McCartney was quoted as describing how, in what turned out to be the take they actually used for the released record, Ringo had left the drums and gone to the toilet during the early part of the song, and had to come running back with seconds to spare and still came in on cue perfectly.  McCartney praised Ringo as always being able to come through like that.

On the other hand, I've heard for a long time that the records feature a lot of session-man drumming.

Daddio: "Rain" = one of my favorites for 30 years.   Every hack knows "Sgt. Pepper" and it's supposed influence on pop culture.   Fine.   But I say that the sound of pop music was changed irrevocably by "Rubber Soul" (whose sessions had produced "Rain") 2 years earlier.

[Eddie Coyle]

 
          For clarification's sake:

          When I refer to the "Early 90's", I mean(Gregorian calendar)...

          Monday, January 1, 1990 12am to Sunday, May, 2, 1993 7:59am.

          Mid 90's = Sunday, May 2, 1993 8am to Friday, August, 30, 1996 3:59pm.

          Late 90's =Friday, August 30, 1996 4:00pm to Friday, December 31, 1999 11:59pm
           
             Sorry for any prior confusion or distress I may have caused by not using proper exactitude. And of course...the "Sixties" ended either 12/6/69(Altamont) or 8/9/74(Nixon quits)

[Sardondi]

...And of course...the "Sixties" ended either 12/6/69(Altamont) or 8/9/74(Nixon quits)

Good call. "The Fifties" (if we're taking the oversimplified view that it was a time of no problems, buttoned-down emotions, and Dad wore a suit at the dinner table) ended with Kennedy's assassination. "The Sixties" ended with either of the events you've suggested, depending on whether you're painting "the Sixties" as love and happiness (then it ended at Altamont), or focus on the turmoil, social conflcit and the rise of the counterculture (then it's when Nixon was toppled).

[Eddie Coyle]

Good call. "The Fifties" (if we're taking the oversimplified view that it was a time of no problems, buttoned-down emotions, and Dad wore a suit at the dinner table) ended with Kennedy's assassination. "The Sixties" ended with either of the events you've suggested, depending on whether you're painting "the Sixties" as love and happiness (then it ended at Altamont), or focus on the turmoil, social conflcit and the rise of the counterculture (then it's when Nixon was toppled).

         That oversimplified view of the 50's as a halcyon paradise drives me nuts(a short drive I know) look at 1958...Charlie Starkweather, Ike placing troops in Lebanon, a recession, Nixon under siege in Caracas, Batista's end in Cuba about to occur. The "Sixties" dark side was well underway before the Sixties began.

     

[onan]

         That oversimplified view of the 50's as a halcyon paradise drives me nuts(a short drive I know) look at 1958...Charlie Starkweather, Ike placing troops in Lebanon, a recession, Nixon under siege in Caracas, Batista's end in Cuba about to occur. The "Sixties" dark side was well underway before the Sixties began.

     

There is a book titled "The Way Things Never Were". I am not saying it is a bible. But it does paint a very good picture of life in the 50's and 60's. I think it is still available.

I thought it was a pretty good read.

[Eddie Coyle]

There is a book titled "The Way Things Never Were". I am not saying it is a bible. But it does paint a very good picture of life in the 50's and 60's. I think it is still available.

I thought it was a pretty good read.

I read that book and found it very interesting, especially for those who didn't live through that period and had their impressions are formed through nostalgia. But this goes back to our schooling, as someone who went to grade school in the 80's, high school in early 90's, I honestly don't recall the "50's" ever being covered or even touched upon in our history classes beyond maybe some of the some most well known Cold War issues or Civil Rights matters. The History books usually seemed to jump from WWII's end to JFK's assassination.

[Sardondi]

         That oversimplified view of the 50's as a halcyon paradise drives me nuts(a short drive I know) look at 1958...Charlie Starkweather, Ike placing troops in Lebanon, a recession, Nixon under siege in Caracas, Batista's end in Cuba about to occur. The "Sixties" dark side was well underway before the Sixties began.     

Exactly. We tend to forget that kids in school had to practice "atomic bomb drills" (huddle under your desk - HAHAHAAAA!!!) just like fire drills. BUT. I don't think there's any doubt that there was far less cultural pathology than what we see today. There wasn't nearly the incidence of divorce, depression, suicide, murder, all kinds of crime. Families were intact, churches were central to American life. Yes, Jim Crow was still a fact of life in much of the South and racism was largely institutionalized, but there was a very real and healthy black middle class. Even in a time where segregation existed many places, and civil rights were not fully realized by many blacks, black society in America was much healthier than today. There were many more black high school graduates, illegitimacy rates where much, much lower, and the percentage of incarcerated blacks was much lower. 

There's going to be something wrong with any era of history. That's just how it works. But life in the 1940's and 50's was probably better for more people, and a higher percentage of the population, than it has ever been in the US. So what if they were "boring"? But I think it's telling that the people who look down on the 50's because they were supposedly boring are also the same persons who say it's a good thing that porn is so widely available today. And a lot of people would disagree.

[b_dubb]

my uncle went on and on about a "recession" during the late 50's?  i'm sure if you were in high school in the 50's you'd worship that time.  i am a child of the 80's but i don't remember the 80's being completely fucking cool.  the music was AMAZING (except for the hair metal bands).  but think about ... prior to WWII ... things were pretty crappy for damn near everyone.  so that explains part of the fondness for the 50's

personally i think the 90's were THE BEST.  say otherwise.  i double dog dare ya

[Eddie Coyle]

personally i think the 90's were THE BEST.  say otherwise.  i double dog dare ya

I have a lot of sentimentality towards the 90's, in a personal sense that is. The decade started with me in eighth grade and ended with marriage and kid, so a lot happened for me...but culturally, I view that decade with derision. Much of the music sucked, TV and movies in decline, politically it was interesting, but not inspiring, the greed of Wall Street actually grew with Democrat in office, sports-amongst most things became more and more commercialized.

[HorrorRetro]

          I have a lot of sentimentality towards the 90's, in a personal sense that is. The decade started with me in eighth grade and ended with marriage and kid, so a lot happened for me...but culturally, I view that decade with derision. Much of the music sucked, TV and movies in decline, politically it was interesting, but not inspiring, the greed of Wall Street actually grew with Democrat in office, sports-amongst most things became more and more commercialized.

I was thinking about the '90s and C2C and how they are enmeshed.  Most of us think we have a soft spot for C2C with Art as the host because he was a great host.  And he was a great host, no doubt about it.  However, the '90s were such a pivotal time for many of us with new careers, marriages, kids, and a great economy, that we may look at C2C with sentimentality because it was the background noise to our lives at the time. 

I know the period around '93 and '94 was very influential for me.  I had dumped the dead weight of my daughter's dad.  I started school.  I met my husband-to-be.  We got married.  He enlisted the next day lol.  During all of that, C2C was playing in the background every night. 

I'm not saying it wasn't a great show and Art wasn't a great host, but if we hadn't been experiencing all the monumental changes in our lives at that time, would we have considered it to be such a great show?  Would it have had the same impact on us?  Maybe I'm off on an existential trip.  I tend to do that a lot these days. 

[ziznak]

My memories of Coast back in the 90's are all very fond.  At the time I only vaguely knew who Art Bell was... to me he was that awesome dude that talks to all the crazy people late at night when I sneak back into my parents house all trashed... I graduated HS in 95 so my highschool to to early 20's were in the 90's.  I finally moved out on my own in 01 at the ripe old age of 24 and that was right around when my first exposure to Coast ended...

I like to think that I was able to listen to Coast through it's wonderful Golden Age... When the true Pharaoh ruled Egypt so to speak... since then I've had 2 short spurts of regular listening which didn't last very long and now my recent dive into the cesspool where I seem to be treading water since last year... although now I've taken the time to download some of the old stuff and play the fine art stream.  That classic stuff still gives me goosebumps at times. I like to wonder about what was going on in my life at the time of the show I'm listening to... what girl was there what band was I in what job did I have.  It's actually a very good exercise at looking back on life. 

I don't think I'm biased as these shows stand the test of time and still hold my ear even though now I'm in my 30's and not half as stoned as when I first heard them.  There's definitely a nostalgia effect but it's not enough to make something seem great that really wasn't...

[Eddie Coyle]

 
          I worked overnights from 1994-1999, so C2C is definitely in my memory bank as being part of my routine. Some co-workers used to accuse me of calling in, "Are you sure you weren't that asshole who said he was the Devil...it sounded like you and  it's something that you'd do"That whole "Art retires part 1" happened right as I got married...so it wasn't a pressing issue(my marriage that is ) and I was one of those people who despised Y2K talk so I lost interest for a bit. A sixth sense told me that Art's heyday from 1994-1998 and in all candor, the show was still good, but not as good as when I stumbled on it.

           Mike Siegel, Noory...let's not mention the past dozen years or so.

         

         

[McPhallus]

personally i think the 90's were THE BEST.  say otherwise.  i double dog dare ya

The 90s--especially 1991 and 1992 were a magical time for me.  Finally out of high school and into my first two years of college.  The culture was good too--we were still fighting wars we could actually win and that allowed us to feel good about ourselves.  But by the mid-90s, everything (music, movies, etc.) started to seem bland and a diluted version of itself. 

And don't even get me started on the 2000-2006, not only a dark time in my life, but the culture had no center anymore, nothing in common except that it was all commercial and absolute shit.  Nothing left to even consider watching or listening to anymore.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

The 90s-
Amazing years for pinball machines. Addams Family pinball, Twilight Zone pinball, and Lethal Weapon pinball
The multiball had Joe Pesci saying "What Leo wants, Leo gets" when it started.

[b_dubb]

life has been kicking my ass lately.  not sure where else to post this.  also ... noory sucks

carry on

[Agent : Orange]

life has been kicking my ass lately.  not sure where else to post this.  also ... noory sucks

carry on

Hang in there man.

Noory sucks.

[MV/Liberace!]

life has been kicking my ass lately.  not sure where else to post this.  also ... noory sucks

carry on

2011 was exactly that kind of year for me.  glad i held it together.  you'll be glad you did, too.

[Frys Girl]

life has been kicking my ass lately.  not sure where else to post this.  also ... noory sucks

carry on

Sorry to hear that. Hang on and be strong. Glad that you have a dog. Animals help during tough times.

[stevesh]

Just read today that 'Return Of The Killer Shrews' is in post-production. Can't wait. The '59 original is one of my all-time favorites, and the remake stars John Schneider (Bo Duke).

[Frys Girl]

Weak wifi annoys me. I'm also annoyed that iPhone 5 preorders will take so long to process and ship. In general, I think preordering stinks. I've done it for book releases, and I always regret it. There's no incentive to preorder anything.

[McPhallus]

Weak wifi annoys me. I'm also annoyed that iPhone 5 preorders will take so long to process and ship. In general, I think preordering stinks. I've done it for book releases, and I always regret it. There's no incentive to preorder anything.

I am one of the lucky ones who will get one on the 21st.  It's already on its way and could arrive before the 21st, but Apple has UPS hold them until the magical launch date, which is irritating all by itself. 

[onan]

Weak wifi annoys me. I'm also annoyed that iPhone 5 preorders will take so long to process and ship. In general, I think preordering stinks. I've done it for book releases, and I always regret it. There's no incentive to preorder anything.

If I am at a some bagel shop with wifi and it sucks, I use my phone as a hot spot. If I am paying for a hotel room that tells me they have fast wifi internet I get real annoyed with slow loading... and complain.

[ziznak]

When I notice my wifi connection get laggy I just boot every machine off the router I'm using.  Sometimes though this gets the neighbors mad.

I have a USB and a wifi tether for my phone if needed but normally that tends to be slow-ish depending on where im at