Hell, I wish I could grown any facial hair right now; however, this is about the song by Jimmy Buffett. My love of his music (specifically his 70’s stuff) is my dad’s fault. Most will think he’s all about being a beach bum, cruisin’ women and drinkin’ until puke into some hooker’s tits — and you’d be right; however, you’d also be missing a songwriter who can lay down a song so melancholy grown men have been caught crying in their closets. “Come Monday” is a well-known example, but if you want feel sorry for someone else make sure you listen to “He Went To Paris”.

Jimmy has gotten me through a few chemos of late. I’ve been feeling extremely nostalgic and in need of comfort music, so this post comes on the eve on my next to last round and the night the iPod decided to play “Pencil-Thin Mustache” randomly. This isn’t one of his melancholy songs. In fact, it’s quite the opposite and always manages to put a big ole grin on my face as Jimmy looks back at innocence through the eyes of a wiser, much older man. Go fig’.

Listening to: “Comfortably Numb” - Scissor Sisters

This weekend I rediscovered the Buggles. The band that made their big splash in the world with their first and only big hit “Video Killed The Radio Star”. We all know the story of how it was the first video to ever be aired on MTV and whatnot, but some things you may not know is that the band consisted of a founding member of Asia, Geoff Downes, and one of the biggest producers of all time, Trevor Horn. Horn went on to produce Seal, Pet Shop Boys, ABC, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Cher, Tina Turner, Charlotte Church and was one of the founding members of Art Of Noise.

The other bit of trivia I discovered this weekend was that between their two albums Horn and Downes joined Yes for one album, Drama. I finally got a chance to listen to Buggles second album, Adventures In Modern Recording, which was finished by Horn almost alone. Adventures is definitely a Buggles album, but you can certainly hear the Yes influences all over the place.

Their first album, The Age Of Plastic, is one of my favorites of the 80’s and is very much indeed worthy of a deeper look that “Video Killed The Video Star”. Songs like “Elstree” and “Clean Clean” embody the New Wave sound of the time. I even included “I Love You (Miss Robot)” in my robot mix because of the great sound. My favorite track on the album is by far the title track, “Living In The Plastic Age”. Part Logan’s Run, part Brazil, all commentary on the times, the song is driven by a heart beat rhythm and includes the great pun in the chorus, “They send the heart police to put you under cardiac arrest”. To my surprise, I found a video for the song although I shouldn’t have been surprised. I mean, it WAS the early 80’s. Here it is for your flashback pleasure.

P.S. Trevor Horn is the one doing the vocals, which also surprised me.

Listening to: “Midnight” - Yaz

It was my mom. She has the sense of humor in the family, but that’s not the answer to that particular question at this time. What brought this up was a little piece of my past I discovered trying to let the cool, autumn-like air into my bedroom Sunday morning. Hidden for about three years was a container that had an old light bulb, old business cards, some screws, a mood ring (”Hey, baby, what’s your sign?”) and an old, tiny notebook which had to be 10 years old I had used for a few months to write down ‘funny’ things.

There are a few things inside that were told to me including this camp fire song that — at the time — I thought the guy who told me had made himself. Can you tell I never went to camp? Plus this quote that made me laugh back then. I’ve no idea why I thought it was funny:

I don’t want to appear brazen.

And, of course, some things I had thunk up myself or co-wrote in some conversation I was having. Let the sharing begin…

• Skit idea: a back alley abortion clinic run by Dr. Hook.
• “I’m sweet and low, and have no equal.”
• “Intelligence is not simple-minded.”
• “Men are pigs but life would be a boar without them.”
• Confession on a date: “I should warn you I suffer from premature ejac… oops!”
• “Life is like a bowl of cereal. If it’s not fruits or nuts, it’s flakes.”

Hohoho! Funny stuff indeed. Well, I still like the pigs/boar one.

Get your fresh funny over at humor-blogs.com.

Listening to: “Welcome To The Jungle” - Guns N’ Roses

One of the great things about “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” was the chase sequences in the first two seasons. They always had some rockin’ ’60’s-type jam written by Danny Janssen which completely fed my love of bubblegum pop. (I still need to tell you the “Sugar, Sugar” story.) When Hanna-Barbera decided it was time for them to cash in on the sweet, sweet sugar “The Archies” was harvesting, they decided to buy another Archies property called “Josie And The Pussycats”.

Lap up the theme song:

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The first thing H-B decided to do was put together a girl group to be the live-action counterparts of their animated characters. If you didn’t know, the woman behind the singing of the ditsy Melody was none other than Cheryl Ladd. When Danny Janssen presented the singers he had chosen to H-B, they had some bad news. Valerie had been retooled as a white chick. Janssen was livid and refused to recast Patrice Holloway.

Thankfully, H-B backed down and kept the characters as they appear in the comic book. This gave “Josie And The Pussycats” one definite distinction. It became the first Saturday morning cartoon series to have a major black character — by 30 minutes. “The Harlem Globetrotters” debuted right after “Josie”, which was good for me. I’ve never like basketball, but the Globetrotters are freakin’ awesome!

I loved “Josie”, too. It was the music. That toe-tapping bubble-gum pop that was pure earworm syndrome Janssen wrote so well. The plot? Eh, watch an episode of “Scooby” and it’s the same thing except for guys in masks, it was megalomaniacs trying to take over the world only to be thwarted with the power of ROCK. {This is where I’ve fallen to my knees playing air guitar like a rock god.}

This September I finally get to relive being 4-years-old. The first (and only good) season of “Josie” is released on DVD. SQUEAL! Sixteen episodes of stupidity and great music. Can’t wait! I did a little research into the Josie And The Pussycats album Capitol released in 1970 and found that Rhino re-released it in limited edition in 2001. You can get it for only the small pittance of $200. Ugh. Maybe the DVD release will — in turn — get a music collection release. {Crossing fingers while playing air guitar. Oy, the F chord is hard that way.}

As an extra bonus, here is a video that Cartoon Network had made a few years ago when they were doing their Groovies bumpers. I can’t tell you how excellent I think this is. It’s the Josie theme done in six different music styles including disco, punk and trance all crammed in a minute and a half. Righteous!