Lez Zepplin

Loyal and perceptive reader Rain Oubliette, commenting on the Space Age Fridge Ladies, mentions that they resemble an all-female Devo cover band, possibly named "Shevo." Well, no such weird group exists, to the best of my knowledge. But we do have the incomparable Lez Zepplin.

Watch them perform in the clip below.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 01, 2008 - Comments (3)
Category: Music, ShowBiz, Gender, LGBT, Women, Sex Symbols, 1960s, 1970s

Delia Derbyshire and Doctor Who

Too often throughout history men have received the credit for great achievements, even though it was a woman who did most of the creative work. The discovery of the DNA double-helix comes to mind. Another case in point: the Doctor Who theme song.

Ron Grainer is credited as the author of the song, but it turns out that it was Delia Derbyshire, a young sound engineer working in the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop in 1963, who took Grainer's written score and turned it into the song people recognize today. Reportedly when Grainer first heard it, he loved it, but asked, "Did I really write this?" "Most of it," she replied.

Recently a hidden hoard of Derbyshire's recordings were uncovered. It includes a track that sounds like modern experimental dance. A woman ahead of her time!

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jul 24, 2008 - Comments (0)
Category: Music, Science Fiction, 1960s

Follies of the Mad Men #5

[NOTE: this is actually two image files, upper and lower, and you need to click on each one for enlargement. From The Saturday Evening Post for October 23, 1965.]

Sorry I didn't get this one up in time for Fourth of July--but then again, WU hadn't debuted then!

In any case, this ad is very confused. It seems to be appealing to the mystical vibe of the ever-iconic American War of Independence, what with the flintlock pistol and all. But then again, Sexy Car-crawling Girl is patently an attempt to attract the Pepsi Generation, those wild 'n' wacky "rebellious" kids, with their surfboards and long hair and love beads.

So who's supposed to want to buy a Polara? Mom and Pop Daughters-of-the-American-Revolution? Or little Janie Peace-Sign?

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jul 22, 2008 - Comments (11)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Guns, History, Patriotism, 1960s, Cars

eden ahbez and Nat King Cole and “Nature Boy”

I love the singing and musicianship and general personal integrity of Nat King Cole. Hearing him immediately brings me back to my childhood in the late 1950's, the height of Cole's popularity.

Of course, like many popstars of the 1950's, Cole's star was eclipsed with the rise of rock 'n' roll, and the hippies, in the 1960's.

But curiously enough, Cole played a tiny self-defeating part in that very movement, with his song "Nature Boy."

The tale behind that song involves one of the first proto-hippies--a beatnik, I suppose--named eden ahbez.
Ahbez is one of the twentieth century's bonafide wonderful weirdos, but pretty much forgotten these days.

Why not listen to "Nature Boy" to commemorate ahbez and King?

You might even want to pick up one of ahbez's CD's!

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 12, 2008 - Comments (1)
Category: Art, Decades, 1950s, 1960s, Eccentrics, History, Historical Figure, Music, Weird Names