Nobody Bodders Me!

During my vacation I spent a pleasurable few days with some old high-school friends and there spouses and children. We all grew up in Bethesda Md., just outside of Washington D.C.

After coming home, we all corresponded about how fun it was hanging out again…and somehow the subject of an old commercial for a local Karate business was mentioned.This prompted me to do some research. As was commented, this one commercial is impossible to find. Strange, for we all remember and love it. Even stranger is all the other ephemera from 80’s D.C. television I was able to find.

YouTube, the Mecca of Video and animated Ephemera revealed a bounty of old commercials from Channel 20, an independent TV station that filled my weekends with Sci-Fi and Classic Comedy films as well as shows like UltraMan, Johnny Socko, and Lancelot Link.

This thread provoked me to do a search for the host of Channel 20, Captain 20 and his alter ego Count Gore De Vol. Amazingly, I found plenty of information on Mr. 20…purely because Dick Dyszel himself has been devoted to keeping it alive. When not supplying Podcasts of classic and new Count episodes, this man DJ’s Weddings and whatnot.

Still, very little information on the original commercial that sparked this obsession. My workmate, who also grew up in Maryland was able to come the closest to finding the Holey Grail of District TV. Jhoon Reee, the namesake of this business is still alive and well it seems, and is taking himself into the World Wide Web. His site is currently under construction, but promises to launch in mid July. Will Mr. Ree’s site contain the 30 second spot we have all stored bits of in our collective unconscious? We’ll see..

If anyone finds more classic media from our nations capital or even more importantly, finds the Jhoon Ree “Might for Right” commercial, please drop me a line.

On Returning

Hey kids, I'm back from my whirlwind tour of Chicago and Michigan. Check out my Yelp page for some reviews of a few choice spots. I promise I'll get back to posting soon!

A Quicky

Check out this cool video about the history of one small but influential sample.

A Heads Up

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. So much shit going on. Parents were in town, Jenny's house fell out of Escrow (back on the market kids, so if you're looking, snatch it up), Tons of work fulltime and freelance, and just typical insanity.

Jenny and I are leaving for Chicago tomorrow to chill and visit friends (you all know who you are). I'm sure I’ll have tons to report on when I get back. In the mean time, check out my Yelp reviews. I just conquered 100+ reviews which is cool.

One thing I think i should mention. My friend Spencer and I were talking about the tragedy of the final demise of the Urban Farm in South LA. I had been following this story for quite a while and had meant to Blog it several times. This event just seems like a senseless one. I mean, it just seems like an overt attempt by both the city and business hungry fucks to destroy an efficient and self-sufficient community service. I mean, LA is one of these city's that constantly bitches about the lack of money to help the poor and empower the city.... So people take over a barren piece of land and build a thriving garden to feed themselves...and just when it feels like a success and part of the community, a bunch of heartless assholes decide to take it over and build a parking lot or storage facility or something. Really ridiculous. And you know what, I feel partially responsible. Several times I thought that there was some small thing I could do to raise awareness or help in some small way...but I didn't. Today, after the fall of course, I thought of how easy and cool it would have been for AA to supply some sustainable shirts for someone like myself to create a cool design to print on...and then sell as a fundraiser. Threads did a similar thing for Katrina victims and I believe they raised over a million dollars or something(ok, a mil is expecting alot, but you know, maybe a couple hundred). If I or AA had helped to raise money we could've potentially helped to buy the property and give it back to the citizens. But instead, I obsessed about trivial things and drank my wine. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, but I'm not going to ignore it either. These are small but effective things we can do for our world, our city. It aint always impossible.

The other month, I think I mentioned that the web team at AA and I collected money to buy cloths to send with my friends who were going to Kenya. The cloths were delivered to an Orphanage and evidently was a success. We hope to do more fund-raising and donation type things for this place. I'll post pictures and a more involved story as soon as I can. This is what I'm talking about...It may not change the world...but it does effect needy people. That's cool. For a person like myself, who has no savings or investments, that’s huge.

ps.
16 Million (i just heard) is what the owner was willing to sell the land for. What a fucking saint. And now he says he wont consider selling out of principle. This guy is unbelievable. He expected them to beg and instead they stood up for themselves and now he's accusing THEM of being rude and insensitive. I'm speechless.

In The Slaw

This Spring seems to be a great season for music. I'm hearing a lot of stuff I'm liking.

The Coup's new album Pick a Bigger Weapon has definitely infected my itunes. I've been listening to it obsessively. Its like an Outkast album with politically subversive lyrics. Really great. Fairly heavy lyrics delivered under the guise of seriously funky songs. Who wants to check them out later in July with me?

The Raconteurs album is kicking my ass as well. Jack White with a real band and some friends to even out his goofy tendencies. Some are saying that this album is a little too all over the board...but since when are any of the White Stripes albums a lesson in focus. This thing ranges in influences from the Beatles to Sabbath and its all good in my book.

The new Mission of Burma album is maybe one of the best they've ever made. Pure Art-Punk. If you remember these guys from back in the day, don't count them out...they're still amazing. If you've never heard them, discover a band that's just as much of any influence as Gang of Four but a bit harder to imitate.

Lots of other stuff.

Oh, one thing. I saw a JC Penny commercial recently featuring Flaming Lips Yeah Yeah Yeah song. Holey crap, common guys, do you really have to sell out that fast. Using a great song about abusing power gets co-opted to sell suits and crappy clothing. Rather sad.

Blok Party

Yolk is celebrating its 2nd year anniversary on its block of Silver Lake Blvd. and its throwing a party. There will be food and beverages (including promised chocolates) and a showing of 100 new Blok designs created by my friend Rebekah Potter who is flying all the way from Jackson Mississippiiii! I believe the celebration starts this saturday around 4. I'll be out of town for the shindig unfortunately. Please stop by.