Archive for April 21st, 2021

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 386

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

You know, I could almost do a day of great TV theme songs from the ‘Tube. I don’t think I’m going to, but I could…

But today: “Pattern For Progress”, “…which shows how machines increase the power of farming operations, therefore increasing production and revenue.” This is a product of the Ethyl Corporation and Esso.

Bonus #1: I’ve never heard of “Combat Dealers” before. It might be on Quest TV. It might also need subtitles.

I’ve noted before that I think an old VW Thing would be fun to hack around in, if I could afford one. Someone a while back recommended a used Jeep Cherokee as another fun hacking around car.

So: “American Jeep Vs German Kubelwagen”. Neither of these is exactly a Cherokee or a Thing, but they’re kind of within shouting distance.

Bonus #2: I’m actually going to link to an entire playlist here, for bookmarking purposes and because I can’t pick just one.

There’s a guy named Felix Immler who has a channel devoted to pocket knives. Of special interest to me: his “Victorinox customize & maintenance Workshop” and “Victorinox uses and techniques“.

These are fairly short, but there are a bunch of them. Just to give you a taste: “4 Special Tricks with the Victorinox Toothpick” that don’t involve picking your teeth with it.

Obit watch: April 21, 2021.

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

Jim Steinman.

He had a fascinating career, which is detailed to some extent in his Wikipedia entry.

Todd Rundgren eventually agreed to produce the record, but no big label wanted it; Mr. Sonenberg often joked that he thought people were creating new record labels just for the purpose of rejecting “Bat Out of Hell.” Eventually Cleveland International Records, a small label distributed by CBS, took a chance.

One little known fact: he was working on a “Batman” musical. A stage musical, not a movie musical. But there were plans for Tim Burton to direct.

Steinman said about Burton and the project, “It’s more like his first two movies than any of the other movies. It’s very dark and gothic, but really wildly funny. It was my dream that he do this.”

I think a musical interlude is fitting here.

Monte Hellman, director. We haven’t seen “Two Lane Blacktop” yet, but we have watched “Cockfighter”. I can really only recommend that one to fans of Charles Willeford, but it seems like there are a lot of those folks out there…