Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 553 of Sneaky Dragon – the podcast too cool for school!
This week: bee tee dubs; sexy tweeters; adult liars; notorious lightning; sarcastic pitch; let’s visit the telephone museum; joke spectrum; follow that music; groan up with dad; phone varieties; museum quality food; changing booth; Webb of songs; unknown TV; SCTV is pretty great; regional hosts; unprofessional eater; get to work, Scorsese; Tubi baby; Dave enjoyed Cloud Atlas; Hugh Grant’s fun period; ineffective mentors; physical metaphors; guarded praise; irresponsible creators; boobsploitation; triple ten-rated historical drama; what the butler saw; twist ending; cowboys and zombies; the dead baby dilemma; killing kids; movie makers; streamers; tuba time; evil laughter etiquette; swimming hole; it takes a village; Top 5 Songs Celebrating Music; teen brothel; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; mental Balok; bombers away; league of extraordinary opinions; Toto recall; rain, rain, mow away; my Corona; and, finally, don’t save us the aisle seat.
Top 5 Songs Celebrating Music
- Dyke and the Blazers – “We Got More Soul” – Original Sound Records single b/w “Shotgum Slim”, 1969 – 2:00:06
- Peter, Paul and Mary – “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” – Album 1700, 1967 – 2:03:44
- Jayne (Wayne) County and the Backstreet Boys – “Max’s Kansas City ’76 Pt. 1” – Max Records single b/w “Max’s Kansas City ’76 Pt. 2”, 1976
- The Rock and Roll Dubble Bubble Trading Card Co. of Philadelphia 19141 – “Bubble Gum Music” – Buddah Records single b/w “On a Summer’s Night”, 1968 – 2:18:43
- Betty Davis – “They Say I’m Different” – They Say I’m Different, 1971 – 2:28:52
Question of the Week: What is one of your favourite continuity errors?
Sub-question of the Week: Have you ever made an inopportune – or ill-timed – purchase?
Thanks for listening.
If you would like to see some footage of the fabulous Betty Davis performing, please check out this excerpt from the Mike Judge series Tales from the Bus:
THE ALDERGROVE TELEPHONE MUSEUM
We know the Sneakers were excited to hear that David and Lezah visited the fabulous telephone museum in beautiful Alderhole…er, Aldergrove. AS promised, here is some video of the switching system for rotary telephones. (Pretty exciting stuff.)
Is this kind of content that only brings us closer to winning the Poddies!
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No. It was not a joke. What even is a telephone? I tried Googling it on my phone but I cannot get a signal. Please explain your ancient culture to me.
Ciao amigos!
Funny you should be talking about Wichita Lineman this week – I was trying to remember whether Dave had done a work-related top 5 list and that was one of the songs I had in mind, along with lots of great ones by Fountains of Wayne. I’ll throw that topic in as a suggestion anyway. And while I’m here, how about a top 5 (or 6) of songs relating to sports?
This week’s number one for me was Betty Davis – great band, voice and attitude. Kind of a Captain Beefheart thing going on in the vocal, and what a groove!
Speaking of Betty, I’m currently reading her ex-hubby Miles Davis’s autobiography and it’s a great read, not only for the story, but the way cowriter Quincy Troupe chose to set down what sounds like actual speech. So, when Davis describes the awe he felt listening to Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker playing live, what’s on the page is, ‘Goddamn, them motherfuckers was terrible’. The whole book’s like that, and it’s incredibly vivid and entertaining.
Back to Jimmy Webb: the story I’ve heard is that he sent Glen Campbell an early demo of the unfinished Wichita Lineman, just for reference, but Campbell thought all it needed was a guitar break and went ahead and recorded it like that, much to Jimmy’s distress at the time. Have to say, whether it’s what he intended or not, the result is one of THE perfect songs.
Dave’s ‘good parts’ edit of MacArthur Park is a great idea. I also love about two-thirds of that song – even the way Richard Harris muffs the title and sings ‘MacArthur’s Park’ – but the slow section sucks.
Ian, not that I want you to shirk your chores or anything, but our friends the bees get huge benefits from uncut grass, especially when the clover, daisies and buttercups crop up. We only get the mower out about once a month these days. So you could always leave it another week or two for the sake of the environment, guilt free!
Ciao amigos!
I can’t think of any memorable movie continuity errors off-hand, but do you know what is more annoying than spotting a glass of juice suddenly getting fuller or a cigarette suddenly getting less smoked? When the person you’re watching a movie with leans over in the middle of a scene to tell you about it! That said, I remember hearing Jennifer Grey (of Dirty Dancing fame) tell an anecdote about shooting a movie about sailing then getting her infamous career-altering nose job. After the operation, she found out she had to go back and do reshoots. She said that she and a friend spent a screening of the movie pointing out “old nose” and “new nose.”
Interesting you should mention “Wichita Lineman.” I recently listened to Kirk Hamilton doing a deep dive into it for his May 5, 2022 Strong Songs podcast. He does a thorough analysis of the lyrics and the instrumentation that make it such an evocative song. “I need you more than want you and I want you for all time.” That’s quite a swoon-worthy declaration. I guess a lineman knows how important it is to keep the energy flowing in both the power grid and relationships.
Good to be back Sneakers! Let’s Go….
Ian, you’re so right, there were so many continuity errors during Marvel’s Silver Age like Scarlet Witch’s costume change. Hulk was gray for his first issue before going green entirely, the red and white stripes on Captain America’s shield would switch back and forth and Sandman’s familiar green striped shirt was changed to purple stripes when he was with the Frightful Four for some odd reason. It’s maddening and wonderful all at the same time, I love the Silver Age of Marvel, flaws and all.
Biggest television continuity error of all time, Chuck Cunningham, the eldest son of the Cunningham family on “Happy Days”. Chuck never returned after season one and his dissapearance was never explained. I’m sure there are conspiracy theories written in good fun about this “Happy Days” mystery. In truth, Gary Marshall probably thought we’d never notice, but we did.
My favorite continuity error of all took place under the watchful eye, or lack thereof, between the years of 1992 to 1994 during Star Trek canon. In the “Star Trek Next Generation” episode “Relics” in 1992, James Doohan starred as the venerable Montgomery Scott onboard Picard’s Enterprise 75 years later. The Enterprise stumbles upon a Dyson sphere, with a ship crashed on the outer surface. An away team finds some systems still powered up and the chief engineer from the old Enterprise, Montgomery Scott, locked in the transporter cycle. When Scotty is released from the transporter and he understands its The Enterprise that is there to save him, he says, “The Enterprise? I should have known. I bet Jim Kirk himself hauled the old girl out of mothballs to come looking for me.” Sadly, it’s 75 years later when it’s only been moments for Scotty and James Kirk is long gone.
NOW, move ahead to 1994 when the film “Star Trek: Generations” is released and we see Scotty 75 years before the 1992 Next Generation episode. Scotty, Kirk and Chekov are onboard the Enterprise B for Her maiden voyage celebration and just like always, something goes terribly wrong. A mysterious energy ribbon appears and threatens the entire ship, but one last time, at least from Scotty’s point of view, James Kirk sacrifices his life to save the Enterprise. The energy ribbon takes out a section of the Enterprise and Kirk with it, Scotty just witnessed the death of James Kirk. At the risk of sounding like a Trekkie who drones on about canon and such, why did they write that line of dialogue into the Next Generation episode when they knew Scotty had witnessed Kirk’s death? I’m sure the explanation is simple and it has to do with writers not comparing notes but Trekkies wrote the book on fan canon and this is one of many errors that will be discussed within Star Trek fandom for all time.
Also, why Klingons change…
For some stupid reason, I wanted a Ford Probe right after I graduated college, so I bought one. That car was the worst piece of shit I’ve ever driven and I wanted it because I liked the look of the car. I did zero research on it, didn’t even read any consumer feedback on the Probe, I just went out and got one. The major failure of the Ford Probe was that it was an experimental design for both Ford and Mazda, the Ford Probe was the first Ford to have a Mazda powertrain build into its design. I’m assuming this was a terrible idea considering they broke down all the time, took a week to fix and to this day I challenge anyone to find one on the road, I haven’t seen one in 20 years. They all died. Little did I know I was both Ford and Mazda’s guinea pig but I can tell you this, their automotive designs did not mix.
Also Ian, loved the old Star Trek Gold Key comics, talk about messing with canon and continuity!!
Be well my brave Sneakers! May you all have the same strength I have as I write these long-winded posts!!!
yeah, yeah, I’m replying to myself, I know.
I just read what I wrote above and I realized that there was no way to ever fix Scotty’s continuity concerning Kirk’s death, it’s like a reverse error….one that writing can’t even fix. The only fix would be to go in and remove the line of dialogue from Scotty on the “Relics” episode, but that’ would be wrong and disrespectful. I just wanted to clarify that gentlemen…
Ed–
I remember the Happy Days/Chuck mystery well. It’s even more complex than you think… From the Happy Days Wiki: “He was played by three different actors. In the “Love and the Happy Days” pilot, he was played by Ric Carrott, but in the first two seasons of Happy Days, he was played by Gavan= O’Herlihy, who was replaced by Randolph Roberts for two episodes in the second season.” Maybe Gary Marshall figured even if we did remember Chuck, we’d be confused by all the actors playing him and be glad to see him go. I know two of those actors appeared on an early 2000s reunion show. At the end, with the main cast on stage wrapping up the show, the two Chucks walked on stage and said something like, “Mom! I’m home!”
The Scotty continuity problem–I didn’t know about that. I’m a casual Star Trek fan. I like the original series and the original cast movies. (I even like Star Trek V: Final Frontier, though I recognize its many faults.)
Hello Ian and David and all!
Happy week? I hope so!
I didn’t think I’d write anything this week, for, alas, you see I do not have any good answers to this week’s questions. Then reading through my fellow Sneakers’ comments, I have been inspired to put in my two cents…or at least one (cent).
As Louise said, I know there have been many odd edits in TV shows especially where the hair is different scene to scene or there’s a hand on hip, then not, then on hip again, etc. I have heard Carol Burnette in interviews a couple times telling a similar story to the Jennifer Grey nose job tale. Ms Burnette apparently had a chin augmentation after filming of the movie “Annie” was complete. A month later she was called back to do a reshoot of one scene, and tried to talk her way out of it, unsuccessfully. I’ve not gone back to watch the film again… Probably it’s not that noticeable, but she is so funny telling the story.
I loved all the music this week David! Thank you! I was especially mesmerized by Betty Davis’ “They say I’m Different”. Wow! Have listened to it several times. She is fabulous!
A few weeks ago, when you had the “Baby Blue” top five songs, the timing was funny to me! At the same time I started listening to that playlist, my daughter contacted me to say her contractions had started and it was time, per our arrangement, to bring home to my house her other children, because she and husband were preparing to leave for hospital. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to her new little baby boy! In the texted photos of the little fellow in the tiny blue hat I had knitted him, I was reminded of the “Baby Blue” songs! Perfect! (Of those, I am very fond of the Badfinger song. Amazing use of it in the “Breaking Bad” final scene.)
Okay dear ones! That’s all the cents I have to offer!
Take care! Be well! Have fun!
My favorite continuity errors:
Superman IV: Lois Lane says she remembers the events of Superman II, even though Supes wiped her memory at the end of Superman II with a kiss. She says I remember your name: Kal El. He looks shocked. She says, “I remember everything.” Maybe not a continuity error, but why make his kiss-amnesia reversible? I wish someone would wipe Superman IV from my memory.
In the movie “The Fortune Cookie,” Walter Matthau walks down a hallway, then enters a room thirty pounds lighter. He’d had a heart attack, and filming was postponed while he recovered. His weight loss is noticeable in several scenes.
Christopher Walken fires a shotgun out his cabin window in “Heaven’s Gate.” Cut to Walken falling to the cabin floor–now he has a pistol instead of the shotgun. But I love that odd, rambling, almost incoherent movie. Some of the most beautiful cinematography.