Sunday, September 29, 2013

I'M STILL A GENERATION X SLACKER AND PROUD OF IT!

In recent weeks, I've starting seeing articles about "What happened to the Generation X slackers?" Most of these articles surmised that they "grew up to be responsible, hard working adults." Whatever!

First off, I'm probably the only person who wasn't offended by either the term "Generation X" or "slacker." As a matter of fact, I liked because being a "slacker" kind of sounded like being a "hippie." We dressed kind of like hippies and had our own music and culture like the hippies. I, myself, had a soul patch, wore Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers and Bart Simpson T-shirt, usually carried a copy of both Rolling Stone and Spin with me, and listened to Nirvana, Blind Mellon and REM on my Walkman. I even read Generation X: Tales of an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland, because I considered it a kind of Bible of the subculture I in which belonged.

Also, like the hippies, we were hated by a certain segment of the older generation. We were hated by Baby Boomers. According to them, we were lazy, stupid, arrogant and had no taste in music. Whatever!

I first realized how bad this bigotry and hatred was at the first job I had out of college.  I worked at one of the local newspapers. Among the career goals I had considered was to have my own syndicated newspaper column, sort of like Dave Barry, Joe Queenan, Art Buchwald and Ron Davis' Chatter in the News Leader. I had researched how to land a syndicated newspaper column and I knew I had to have tare sheets or clippings of an actual column to submit to a syndicate. My supervisor and managing editor was a Baby Boomer. When I told him that I wanted to write a column from a liberal Generation X perspective, he flew into a rage and snarled, "Absolutely not! Nobody cares what people of your generation's opinions."  Whatever! (I guess he would rather read Bill O'Rielly, or a column by his wife or a real estate guy, who thinks it is cool to use the word "cattywompus" in his radio commercials).

Another Baby Boomer that I've had the displeasure of working with, enjoyed making jokes on the radio about Generation Xer's "who get them thar big college degrees and wind up asking ya if ya want fries with yer burger." I should note that this guy DOESN'T HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE (but I've noticed several people people on Facebook, who are not college graduates, make this same stupid joke). He also didn't like that I had worked at the college radio station playing rock music. He didn't think that should be allowed on a radio station that received money from taxpayers. Whatever! (I didn't have the money to bribe a radio station to give me a radio show).

Most of these articles about "what happen to Generation X slackers" point out what we Generation X members already knew, we really weren't lazy or stupid. We quietly went to work, many times multi-tasking, doing things that we wanted to do and doing them our way. Granted, that has been hard for me to a degree, but I guess you could say this blog and my previous one is an example of me making the best of a bad situation and getting personal satisfaction from it, even if there isn't any pay. It is more for us personal rewards and goals than a huge house, fancy cars, stocks and bonds.


I discovered this video on You Tube about Millennials. Yes, every thing the actors playing Millennials in this video say Baby Boomers accuse them of are the same things they accused us Generation Xer's of. The only difference is you could substitute Brady Bunch for Full House and it is exactly the same thing I was hear nearly twenty years ago.

I should point out that the Baby Boomers who gave me grief about being a Generation X slacker were Republicans. They were not the cool Baby Boomers who would have cool stories about hitchhiking to a Grateful Dead concert in Laurel Canyon and seeing Tom Smothers and Peter Fonda in the crowd. These were the Baby Boomers have been wearing a suit and tie since they were 10 years old. They seem to be upset that I wasn't more concerned about "welfare queens" or "the drug epidemic." Whatever!

Those two Baby Boomers I mentioned above have probably come around to the fact that they like some Generation Xers. I know for a fact these two still hate my guts (And yes, they know each other because second one brags that his sister dated the first guy), so I know I'm not their ideal Gen Xer. Their ideal Generation Xer is this guy:

And this guy:


Whatever!

I'm know I'm way cooler than those two Preppies. You see, even though I have had to shave off the soul patch and wear dress clothes to work, I'm still the slacker in the Bart Simpson t-shirt, who reads Rolling Stone, watches MST3K and Beavis and Butthead, and can't decide whether his personal theme song should be "No Rain" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Opinions, like these, are why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!    


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

SIDETRACKED, OVERWORKED AND OTHER EXCUSES

My post have been sporadic of late. Three reasons:
  1. I have been working a double shift at my job. An employee quit while filling in for another employee, who was on a two week vacation. I had to work both shifts.
  2. I've thought of a few good ideas, but realized they would be better for next month. I plan to participate in the annual Countdown to Halloween.
  3. One idea I have was kind of wimpy at best but sidetracked me into something else. I may still use it, but it fired my imagination. The topic would be "media/celebrity satires of the 50s." Yeah, you have no idea what I'm talking about. It would mention several movies and plays made from the mid-50 to early 60s that were comical satires or vaguely dramas about well-known figures or fads of the day. Some of the more famous topics included Walter Winchell (Sweet Smell of Success), Arthur Godfrey (A Face In The Crowd), Hopalong Cassidy (Callaway Went That Away, Slim Carter), Elvis Presley (Espresso Bongo, Bye Bye Birdie), Peyton Place (Please Turn Over) and fan magazines (Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?). I have been working on a novel that was about working in talk radio (against my will, I should add) that is sort of a combination of Sweet Smell of Success and A Face In The Crowd with a dash of the 90's film Falling Down. A very dark and ugly story that included two characters modeled off two local talk radio icons and a female character modeled off two national female talk radio host. Granted, two of the local talk show host have wanted me dead for years, but the female character would be a problem, because people might question if it was a local personality. The female character is a snippy, self-righteous radio psychologist, who off-air is a dominatrix, exhibitionist and into corprophilia and urophilia (panty pooper/panty wetter). This last one is based on a story that has been circulating the Internet about a 70s radio talk show host (And like this person, the character in my novel was a former beauty queen). I incorporated this into the story because it is also sort of symbolic of what the radio industry does to it's best talent. It is also a fetish that people would understand, especially if they have changed a child's diapers. The novel began with the man character, a disgruntled radio producer, walks off the job after putting a CD of Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears on the air to run over Rush Limbaugh's show. He then causes a near riot in a fast food joint, when he swipes the revolver of a rather obnoxious advertiser/frequent caller, pistol whips him and encourages the patrons, over the loud speaker, to beat take turns assaulting the guy.    While researching this post for the blog, I thought of a better safer idea. Instead of local personalities, who might sue or have me investigated by the FBI, I decided on satirizing a national talk radio figure and several other national celebrities and politicians. This idea just took off and, I will have to say, has been easier to write because of it's lighthearted nature.
 I realize these are probably not very good excuses or reasons, but I thought I should explain a little bit about what is going on. 

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

CALIFORNIA CAR DEALER CAL WORTHINGTON DIES

A great article from Automotive News about the late Cal Worthington. The Firesign Theater had a whole routine where they just said random lines from Southern California used car dealers commercials.

Car commercials in this area have never been as exciting as the used car ads in other states.

Friday, September 6, 2013

I AM NOT ASHAMED IPOD PLAYLIST 9

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, another list of songs that are in my Ipod/Itunes that people are criticized and ridiculed me for enjoying. Some would call these "guilty pleasures" except I don't feel that I should feel guilty for liking these. Of course, the people that like these like country music. So check these out and see if you don't start liking them too.

"Sweet Dreams" - Air Supply
"Every Time I Think of You" - The Babys
"The Mummer's Dance" - Loreena McKennett
"Groove is In The Heart" - Deee-Lite
"The Crying Game" - Dave Berry
"Talkin To The Blues" - Jim Lowe (You Dawg!)
"Wannabe" - Spice Girls
"Fall On Me" - Pousette-Dart Band
"Trouble" - Lindsey Buckingham
"Feels So Good" - Chuck Mangione
"When The Heart Rules The Mind" - GTR
"Lady Samantha" - Elton John
"The Blob" - The Five Blobs
"Cherry Pie" - Warrant (Ya ain't gonna swing with my daughter no more!)
"Baby One More Time" - Brittney Spears
"My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" - Willie Nelson
"No Matter What" - Badfinger
"La La La (If I Had You)" - Bobby Sherman
"A Summer Song" - Chad & Jeremy
"Undercover Angel" - Alan O'Day
"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" - Bob B. Sox & the Blue Jeans (Walt Disney meets Phil Spector)
"Only In My Dreams" - Debbie Gibson
"You Dropped a Bomb On Me" - The Gap Band
"Jolene" - Dolly Parton
"Yellow River" - Christie
"Butterfly" - Crazy Town
"Surfin Cow" - The Dead Milkmen (I can't believe I left this off the college rock playlist)
"Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" - B.J. Thomas
"On The Loose" - Saga
"Calcutta" - Lawrence Welk Orchestra (Wunder-ful wunder-ful!)
"The Final Countdown" - Europe
"Big Red Kite" - Lobo
"I Should Be So Lucky" - Kylie Minogue (I also like French & Saunders opera version)
"Rockit" - Herbie Hancock
"The First Day of Summer" - Tony Carey
"Cool It Now" - New Edition
"Sweet City Woman" - The Stampeders (I like this song even though I frown on banjos in rock songs)
"Nadia's Theme (The Young & the Restless)" - Barry Devorzon & Perry Botkin Jr.
"Obsession" - Animotion
"This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both of Us" - Sparks
"Dancing In The Moonlight" - King Havest
"Romeo's Tune" - Steve Forbert
"Mr. Pinnodmy's Dilemma" - The Attack (A Who-clone band - singing about a deaf & dumb kid)
"ABC" - Jackson 5
"She's a Bad Mama Jama" - Carl Carlton
"Soul Dracula" - Red Blood
"Born This Way" Lady Gaga
"Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March" - The Box Tops
"Summer Girls" - LFO
"Funny (How Time Slips Away)" - Joe Hinton
"You Were On My Mind" - We Five
 "Mind, Body & Soul" - The Flaming Embers
"Cups (When I'm Gone)" - Anna Kendrick
"Ando Meio Desligado" - Os Muntantes (This is to upset all the racist bigots here in the Ozarks)
"Holy Thursday" - David Axelrod

I'll expect you to download all of these and start liking them - BECAUSE I SAID SO!
 

Monday, September 2, 2013

SIR DAVID FROST DIES

Broadcaster David Frost, famed for Nixon apology, dies | ABS-CBN News

Frost began with a satirical news show That Was The Week That Was, which was the forerunner of the Daily Show (and my old blog). He became famous in the late 60s and early 70s for his celebrity interview shows. His most famous interview subject was former President Nixon, but my favorite interview was this one, from an appearance on the Flip Wilson Show.


Sunday, September 1, 2013

PANCAKES PLAYLIST 3 - THE QUERKY TWERKY EDITION

All these photos of Miley Cyrus on the MTV VMA awards got me to thinking about "pancakes" (The Retrospace kind). I quickly compiled another edition in honor of Miley and her twerk.

"Here She Comes Now" - Velvet Underground
"Black Betty" - Ram Jam
"Head" - Prince
"Squeeze Box" - The Who
"Get It" - Hank Ballard & the Midniters
"Tush" - ZZ Top
"Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye
"Romeo" Mr. Big (The UK band)
"Gloria" - Them
"I Like What You Are Doing To Me" - Young & Company
"Sex As A Weapon" - Pat Benetar
"(I Wanna) Testify" - The Parliments
"Young Lust" - Pink Floyd
"Hold Me" - P.J. Proby
"What Is Love" - The Playmates
"Singapore Silk Torpedo" - Pretty Things
"Nasty" - Janet Jackson"Original Sin" - INXS
"Get Up (Sex Machine)" - James Brown
"I Kissed a Girl" - Katy Perry
"Love Blonde" - Kim Wilde
"(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty" - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
"Passion" - Rod Stewart
"Brown Sugar" - Rolling Stones
"Touch Me (I Want To Feel Your Body)" - Samantha Fox
"Ring Dang Do" - Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs
"So Young, So Bad" - Starz
"She Was Naked" - Supersister
"Hots For Teacher" - Van Halen
"Teach Me Tiger" - April Stevens
"Hot N Nasty" - Black Oak Arkansas (Not to be confused with "Hot & Nasty" by Humble Pie)
"I'm On Fire For You, Baby" - April Wine
"Joystick" - The Dazz Band
"Light My Fire" - The Doors
"Once Bitten Twice Shy" -Great White
"Dirty Love" Frank Zappa
"Big Love" - Fleetwood Mac
"Night Moves" - Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
"The Stripper" - David Rose
"Superlungs My Supergirl" - Donovan with Jeff Beck Group
"Baby It's Cold Outside" - Dean Martin
"Stroke You Up" - Changing Faces
"Jungle Fever" - The Chakachas
"If U Seek Amy" - Britney Spears
"Do It (Til Your Satisfied)" - B.T. Express
"Sex O-Matic" - The Bar Kays
"Milkshake" - Kelis


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