6 posts tagged “nostalgia”
Best Welcome Back Kotter episode ever.
How could I have gone THIS LONG without knowing that almost all the Schoolhouse Rock songs were written and performed by the wonderful Bob Dorough??
Dorough is one of the greatest bebop pianists and composers--played with Miles Davis, the works. But until I heard a show on the radio today, I had *no idea* he was Schoolhouse Rock Guy! Which makes him even cooler, no?
Funny, these didn't seem that trippy back in the 70s...
There's this famous club in Montreal called Metropolis. Been around since Michael Jackson had an afro. Circa 1995, they used to have these big latin-salsa nights every Thursday night in the summer. My friends and I used to go quite regularly because the music was always amazing.
One night, my crazy neighbour Nathalie and I stayed until closing at 3 a.m. As we were leaving, we noticed a commotion on the sidewalk right in front of the club. We push through the crowd a little to see what's going on. These two guys--one latino, one white-- are in some kind of fight. They're circling each other in that stupid macho way. The white guy is cut across his cheek. The latino dude is holding a switchblade and yelling at the top of his lungs: "YOU WANNA FIGHT TO ME? YOU WANNA FIGHT TO ME? YOU STEAL MY WOMAN?? I KEEL TO YOU!!!"
Nathalie, who is quite plastered, thinks this is the funniest thing she's ever heard in her life. She starts shrieking with laughter and mocking the latino guy: "YOU WANNA FIGHT TO ME?? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! OMG, WHAT A LOSER!!!" I literally drag her away toward the subway entrance before she gets us both killed.
Anyway, this video, which I caught while channel surfing just now, has always reminded me of that incident. The fight scene looks like a homoerotic Lionel Richie-Darryl Hall smackdown.
Dat's gooodeenuff for mee!
I was delighted to find YouTube features some classic Canadian TV shows from my childhood. Some of you may remember these:
The Littlest Hobo
This was about a wandering dog that had different adventures every week, saving people, capturing bad guys--kind of like a free-agent Lassie.
The Friendly Giant
Look up, look waaaaaay up.... good old Friendly Giant, with his weird but lovable buddies: Rusty, the gutiar-playing chicken who lived in a burlap bag, and Jerome, the blue-spotted giraffe. Just hearing his voice makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. Wait for the end of the end credits to see the rad, high-tech animation of the cow jumping over the moon.
The Beachcombers
This was about a group of wacky characters in a small British Columbia port town. I never really watched this show, but lots of people loved it. And the theme song and opening credits--not to mention all those plaid shirts- are hardwired into the brain of practically every Canadian over the age of 25 (Look out for the giant log! And what's Captian Highliner doing there?)
Edit: Curses! I realized afteward that I posted the wrong intro... that was from a later version of the show. This is the original--it's way funnier!
I'm going to have some warm milk and go to sleep now.
