American Madness

I am a sucker for nostalgia television.

Unfortunately I have found that a lot of the shows I loved as a kid just don’t live up to their hype. What never fails though are the opening credits of the shows. You remember those theme songs as if the shows just got canceled yesterday (or as if you watched them every single day during your formative years). Those opening notes put a smile on your face and have you fondly remembering your favorite show without having to see all the poor, poor acting or super cheap (or super-old) special effects.

Now you can watch the opening credits with all the theme song glory on YouTube. Rather then having to sort through all the shlock on YouTube to hunt down these gems, you can simply check them out on LuiscmkTv’s Video Page, where 100 different opening credits are posted. It’s an excellent way to waste a few hours and relive the television of your childhood.

Though I may sound like a VH1 talking-heads show, I think the 1970s had a lot going on for it. Maybe not so much with the whole disco thing, but I still think a lot of the style from the 70s was pretty hot.

Cars looked like the General Lee, platform shoes were huge (both literally and as a fad) and all you needed to decorate your living room was a few lava lamps, a shag carpet, a couple of ball chairs, oh, and the music posters (coming just off the psychadelic trip of the Summer of Love) were pretty awesome, too.

This is what attracted me to the website Seventies Design. You’ll find not much else besides pictures of Music Posters, Cars, Fashion, Interior Design, Homes, Furniture and Film & TV (mostly comprised of Barbarella images).

If you’re a big fan of 70s design, this is a fun site to check out. Though it is a bit disappointing that they are missing the classic platforms with goldfish in the heels.

I don’t even know exactly how to tag this one- Is it “Green?” Maybe “Nostalgia?” Do we have an “Irony” tag?

I present to you Lehman’s Catalog, for all your non-electric device needs. Lehman’s was “Founded by Jay Lehman in 1955 to serve the local Amish and others without electricity, Lehman’s ships old-fashioned, high-quality merchandise all over the world.” Pretty much sums it up. He hoped to “preserve the past for future generations.” And, in doing so created a business that grew to a much larger business then it was.

They, of course, have an “Eco-Friendly” category selling push lawn mowers, hand cranked devices and even Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs. But, mainly the focus is on niche nostalgia items. I could see a lot fo these things making fun gifts, but I don’t know that I’d have the patience to use too many of them… But maybe you do. Lehman’s has a toll-free number, a print, mail-order catalog, and yes, even a website (who knows, maybe they have a hand-cranked computer). Check it out, maybe you will find something you just need to have, just like your Amish mom used to make.

The weekend of June 16th, 17th & 18th, 1967 marked a new beginning for music. The Monterey Pop Festival featured the Mamas & the Papas, CSNY, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Simon & Garfunkel, Lou Rawls, The Animals, The Association, Country Joe and the Fish, Steve Miller Band, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Ravi Shankar and many others.

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So I know this is news from last week, but it is something I missed the opportunity to write about then and I wanted to rectify the situation.

On June 5th & 7th of last week there were two mob shootings in Brooklyn. The Gambinos and Genoveses had back-to-back hits last week and some are fearing that this could all escalate into a mafiosa war in the city (especially The New York Post, but what else is new?).

It is believed that the second killing was a retaliation for the first shooting. Could we go back to the days of the 80s with Mafia families fighting for control of the city? Could this all have just been a big publicity stunt for the finale of The Sopranos? Or with the ending of the series, maybe these “made men” felt it was time to have the spotlight turned back on them now that we will no longer have TV’s #1 crime-family. To me this all just seems like a return to New York’s grittier roots.

The NY Times also cover the shooting here. And I just need to say that Rudolph “Rudy Cueball” Izzi has a great name, much better then Robert DeCicco.

Rather then using my own words to mangle what they do, I will let Creative Time explain itself:

“Creative Time presents the most innovative art in the public realm. From our base in New York, we work with artists who ignite the imagination and explore ideas that shape society. We initiate a dynamic conversation among artists, sites, and audiences, in projects that enliven public spaces with free and powerful expression.”

And to this extent they put out a book discussing these influential art locales, but even better then that, they have spawned a program called “One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This.”
Or ODIWPUTRET for short (catchy isn’t it?). The ODIWPUTRET program has set up plaques around the city at 33 of the places that they found inspiring over the past three decades. There is a map on the site showing where each location is you can click on the link on the site to hear the accompanying audio. Or, if you feel like venturing into the real world you can call a phone number on the plaque to hear the story of that site.

A nice edition to the site would be the inclusion of Google Street View, which would allow you to actually see the location from your computer

So before checking out the website I knew it was called Give Us Back New York and immediately assumed it was some crappy Hipster site about how great New York used to be before gentrification. I am tired of that bullshit argument, especially from Hipsters who moved here 5 years ago and are nostalgic for a New York that never really existed.

Instead I was pleasantly surprised to see that, while it is an anti-gentrification site, it is to revert New York back to New Amsterdam, proposing a Dutch take over of the city. Fun site with some interesting views of what the city could be like under Dutch Rule. I think I need to get me one of them I (heart) NA tshirts. I especially like their idea of filling in the rivers with landmass

There won’t be any surprise parties, but there will be countless tributes, re-showings, probably some cake, a few costumes here and there and a number of people feeling really old today.

Yes, Star Wars hits the big 3-0 today. And everyone should be aware of this. If you didn’t know, mark you calendar for big future Star Wars birthdays and such (and when I say Star Wars, I mean the original, I don’t buy into this whole retitling BS… A New Hope my ass)

I have the feeling you can find this exact post on about 10 different blogs today, but I felt it was my duty to give some love to Star Wars and Lucas

So, either American Madness is so in tune with what is going on and what is big out there or someone is reading American Madness and not crediting us with our genius.

Tuesday afternoon, after posting the blog entry about the Snoopy Snow Cone Maker, I received this email in my mailbox:

Snow Blowing
BY FARAN ALEXIS KRENTCIL
A confession: When we found this resurrected Snoopy Sno-Cone machine, we literally jumped for joy. It’s the same ice shaver from the eighties, without the chipped paint and residue that comes from impulse eBay buys. The machine is great for cooling down on a sweltering afternoon or mixing frozen margaritas. Bet you never thought of that when you had your first Snoopy Sno-Cone in kindergarten.

$20 at Fredflare.com.

Apparently someone at New York Magazine is spying on us (I’m looking at you Faran Alexis Krentcil). If I get an email about Eating Lemons, I am calling someone out.

(Image from BrickBox)

I keep a list of things to blog about.

Most of these things will never make it off the lsit because they don’t cut the interest factor when I go back to them on day 2 or they were a current event that is no longer that current (Russell Simons’ talking about cutting the cursing out of Rap, Mice at another NYC restaurant). These were all things I was hot to write about at the time (both of those about 2 weeks ago) but have since stopped caring about (Simmon’s needs to rethink his plan and what NYC establishment doesn’t have pests and vermin?)

But this was something I wanted to post because I have such great childhood memories of it and then a college memory of it as well: The Snoopy Sno Cone Machine. This product is kinda awesome, making tasty sno-cone treats. I do not however, recommend trying to grind enough ice to make margaritas with it. It just takes too long.