Tag: popular culture

Many of you who read my posts know that I am a very big fan of the British TeeVee series, Dr. Who.  This is not a recent infatuation.  I have followed The Doctor since 1978, when I first discovered the series.  It was 15 years old by then.

I have written a number of posts about this series, and you can find them by examining my profile on the Kos site (I have not written on Docudharma.com or Thestarshollowgazette.com as long).  As you read those, you will find that I have a very special place in my heart for that series.

Tonight we shall examine the season finale for the current iteration.  It was good, if a bit rushed in the last episode.

Atomic Rooster was in interesting band.  They were certainly British, and very eclectic.  There are also connexions with other bands (some of which I have covered here) and with other, less well known ones.

This band came to be in much part between the collaboration betwixt the folks producing The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and several other bands, including The Who.  Their connexions include King Crimson, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and a couple of other bands that I would rather folks mention in the comments.  Shall we see more about them?

OK, I admit that I got you to read this because of its title, but it is not too far from the plot of the old, classic horror flick.  In a nutshell, everyone turns against each other, except for the Living Dead that were united because they had no brain tissue of their own.

The classic line of the film was uttered by the Sheriff, who said, after being asked a question about the motives of the Living Dead, deadpan,, “They’re all messed up.  They’re dead.”

Thus is the performance of the entire cast of the unfortunate episode about the Shirley Sherrod episode, with everyone being brain dead except for her (who acted with dignity), the vile Breitbart, and the FOX “News” Channel.  Please read more.  This is more opinion than fact, but the film puts it in a sort of bizarre perspective.

Screaming Lord Sutch was an early and, unfortunately, now obscure British rocker.  He did not really have that much musical ability of his own, but was able to collect about himself a collection of current and future British rock superstars.  His band came and went, but included some really big names.

He was not a Lord at all, he was a commoner named David Edward Sutch, born 19401110.  He took the stage name Screaming Lord Sutch, third Earl of Harrow (I have also seen fifth Earl quoted) in the early 1960s, and was pretty much known by that afterwards.  He took the “Screaming” part from Screaming Jay Hawkins, who we mentioned last week in the Arthur Brown istallment.

The Quicksilver Messenger Service (hence referred to as QMS because I type slowly) was one the psychedelic bands from San Fransisco that formed in the 1960s.  The history of them is sort of obscure, because few documented sources are available, but there is some information available.

Like many bands, particularly American ones, at the time, their lineup changed often.  The origin is sort of obscure, but as best as can be pieced together it was the brainchild of the following musicians.

Folks at Docudharma get a preview, since only one post a day is allowed at Kos.  I like you, and wanted to let you see it sooner.

Mungo Jerry was a sensation starting in 1970 because of its signature song, In the Summertime.  Now days, that is the only memory that most folks have about them.  This is unfortunate, because they actually were quite excellent.

Their initial LP, self named, is a classic, and I have it both in vinyl and on eight track.  That is right, I still have lots of eight track tapes, including Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends Hands of Jack the Ripper.  I used to have that one on vinyl, but a “friend” stole it from me.

You have to love George Takei.  Not only is he an excellent actor, he has what one might call “personality”.  He also has an Arkansas link to me, and this sort of exposes the foul underbelly of racial prejudice.

He was born in 1937 of American and Japanese ancestry, putting him well into the Social Security crowd now.  I really like the new adverts that he does for the TeeVee manufacturer.  He is looking more youthful now than he has for several years.