Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Sneaky Dragon – the podcast that celebrates dead ends!
This week: we need questions, not answers; back issues; Civil War enthusiast; crank shafted; bell ends; back stretch; athletic types; death disco; spinning heads; dance land; Snow fall; bad credits; Wing man; Den of iniquity; painters by number; career on hold; foaling around; jockeying for positions; sad News; baby years; must see TV; Ted TV; we’ve got notes; pipe swill; preview poster; Ghost Jedi; romantic assholes; misleading actors; classical puns; tomahtoes and potahtoes; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; up Dune; Powell vaulting to fame; Drive Away Dolls didn’t drive away Dave; Kirby stomp; silent comedian; pure tyrannical; more about weirdos; super lies me; and automated replies.
Question of the Week: Have you ever learned something from a record?
Sub-question of the Week: What was the first record you ever bought? (Other media accepted too.)
Thanks for listening.
Breakin’ news!
Thurberesque!
The amazing and amazingly neurotic Richard Lewis:
His sitcom (He and Curtis are really good!):
With Bob Costas:
Ian thought this sketch used “The Girl from Ipanema”. It doesn’t, but we’re including it anyway!
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Good evening to all the Sneakers around the World!
I did have an instructional album at a very young age, maybe fourth grade or so and I shared it with my friend Todd on the next block…it was an Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy album on how to be a ventriloquist. Todd had a Charlie McCarthy and I had a Lester ventriloquist puppet, so we practiced and did our best to show off for friends and family. It was okay but thinking back on it, we could have used a writer. Todd’s a professional broadcaster and anchorman in Austin, Texas now, so I’d like to think I saw the early beginnings of his career along with two dummies.
Strangely enough Todd is also part of the story involving my first album purchase. I paid Todd a total of $5.00, my entire week’s allowance, for the original double album “Star Wars” score by John Williams. He didn’t want it and I’d had a hard time finding it, so it was maybe the best $5.00 I’ve ever spent. What that album started for me is currently an ongoing passion for film music, I still have the album to this day.
My first single was either “Living Thing” by Electric Light Orchestra or “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” by Rod Stewart. I remember being upset over the Rod Stewart record, I thought it was another song when I bought it out of a cardboard box at the grocery store. Remember how those 45’s were? In the paper sleeves?
I even remember my first CDs, I bought two of them, both film scores. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” by John Williams and “Beetlejuice” by Danny Elfman. Remember how those were packaged in the beginning? They wasted all that cardboard by packaging them in those long, thin boxes with the album art redesigned to fit vertically. I wish I knew the story behind that packaging snafu, maybe it had something to do with utilizing the album bin’s space for these long boxes instead of redesigning everything for CDs…which they did anyway down the line. If you have any insight on the evolution of that era in music packaging, I’d love to know it.
Rest In Peace Richard Lewis, I remember him fondly from everything mentioned. He brought laughter to the world, which is a reward for him and all who received it.
And yeah, I’m worried about those damned Ghostbusters too, I hope you’re wrong Ian.
Swirled Peas on Earth to all my Sneakers!!!
I don’t really remember buying records as a kid. My brothers and I would get them as presents: Disney movie soundtracks, Partridge Family albums, K-Tel compilations. We asked for greatest hits albums like the Beatles’ Red and Blue albums, and ones by John Denver and Elton John. I do remember the first 45 record I chose just for me. It was “Dark Lady” by Cher from 1974. It’s a lurid story-song of betrayal and murderous revenge! It’s like a mini film noir with a couple of shocking twists, so maybe it appealed to my Nancy Drew-reading tween self. The B side was “Two People Clinging to a Thread.” I remember telling the title to my piano teacher, a rather deadpan Scottish-Canadian lady. She smiled and made a rare joke about them not being able to hold on to it for very long!
‘Sup fellas – and Ian, thank you for sharing the fact that ‘Chubby Checker’ named himself after Fats Domino – a tidbit so blindingly obvious that it had never occurred to me in all these years! This prompts me to ask you and fellow sneakers for any recent ‘today I learned’ style revelations you may have had: for example, I only just found out that a ‘frown’ connotes significantly different expressions and emotions in different regions. Over here it means a furrowed brow and look of concern, concentration or puzzlement, whilst I understand that in your neck of the woods it means a droopy mouth – hence ‘turn that frown upside down’ or ‘It takes more muscles to frown than to smile’ and other sayings that make you want to punch someone in the frown.
Chubby Checker was so much more than a one hit wonder. If you haven’t heard his blistering psychedelic freakout ‘Gypsy’, then seek it out right now and have it clear your sinuses! I really enjoyed your chat about musical connections: I had no idea that Wilson Phillips’ ‘Land of 1000 dances’ was a cover of a cover, and enjoyed listening to the roots earlier in the week. To weave the threads even more tightly together: last week this led you to discuss various dance crazes including the ‘Popeye’, and a quick search brought up ‘Popeye the Hitchhiker’ by Chubby Checker. Why not give it a listen, I thought – and hey presto, it’s the hook from ‘Jump Around’ by House of Pain!
If you want to keep on making connections, then I’m sure one of you can get from House of Pain to Devo… everything is connected!
Dave – maybe it’s time to bring some music back into the pod? I’m sure you could do a ‘musical connections’ series… just a thought.
I don’t think I had any instructional records as a kid, although I do know the ‘Its Madison Time’ novelty dance featured in John Waters’ much loved ‘Hairspray’, and have taught it at a bunch of events. Even though the caller explains exactly what to do throughout the record, the dance is surprisingly confusing: Whilst the music is in eights, the dance is in sixes, so that it drifts off the melody: Plus, the caller’s timing is off, so it’s easy to slip out of sync!
The first album my parents bought me may well have been ‘Bang on a Drum’ – a compilation of songs from the BBC’s kids shows ‘Playschool’ and ‘Playaway’. The title track was (here we go again) sampled by Coldcut for their smash hit remix of Eric B and Rakim’s ‘Paid in Full’. Only last month I had the pleasure of doing some branding design work for Matt Black from Coldcut – and have so far managed to resist the temptation to subject him to the stream of consciousness fanboy gush to which I’ve just subjected all of you!
Thank you for bearing with my whiffle, and a very good night to everybody. Peter.
If I were a singer in the 50’s, I’d name myself “Obese Chesspiece”, that is all.