Rubber Duckie was a song sung by Muppet Ernie (voiced by Jim Henson). This song is affectionately sung and inspired by Ernie’s rubber duck. A surprise hit, the song peaked at #16 on the Hot 100 in September 1970. Rubber Duckie was nominated for a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1971. It lost to the album that contained the song. (Didn’t it end up still winning the award then?) Rubber Duckie was followed up by Do De Rubber Duck and D-U-C-K-I-E.
The third Austin Powers installment, Goldmember was an American spy comedy film. Goldmember starred Mike Myers, Seth Greene, Verne Troyer, Michael Caine, Robert Wagner and was singer Beyonce Knowles’
theatrical film debut. There are numerous cameo appearances, including Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, John Travolta. Goldmember is a loose parody of Goldfinger and You Only Live
Twice. Goldmember was made for $63 million and grossed an astounding $296.6 million.
Remain in Light was American new wave band Talking Heads’ fourth studio album. Produced by longtime collaborator Brian Eno, Remain in Light was certified
Gold in both the U.S. and Canada. The group experimented with African polyrhythms (a polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms). Their instrumental tracks consisted of series of samples and loops. Lyrics were taken from African academic literature. The album artwork was crafted with the help of computers from MIT and the design company M&Co. For the album’s promotional tour, the quartet took on an additional five members.
Remain in Light was widely praised by critics and ended up on many lists of the Best 80s Albums. Remain in Light is still considered to be the best Talking Heads album.
The album’s singles: Once in a Lifetime hit #28 in Canada, #14 in the UK and #103 on the Hot 100 in the U.S. Houses in Motions hit #50 in the UK. Remain in Light finished best in Canada, peaking at #6. Its other top ten finish was in New Zealand (#8). In the U.S., the album finished at #19.
These weren’t really toys, they were real home phones that
were see through (and perhaps
a pre-cursor to the clear beverage craze of the 90s). These phones allowed you to
see the inner workings. They
had lights inside that would flash when the phone was ringing. Some models even had keypads that lit up as well. The phones were made from clear plastic and even came in a variety of colors, though the clear was the best for seeing through, of course.
Designed by Danish yoga instructor and show designer Anna Kalso in 1970, Earth Shoes were all the rage in the 70s. Earth Shoes had thick soles and thin heels. They were introduced to the American marketplace in New York City on April 1, 1970.
By the late 70s, franchise
owners couldn’t keep up with
the demand for the shoes and pursued litigation against the U.S. distributor.
In 2001, Kalso Earth Shoes returned. The name, technology and branding rights were purchased by Maynard Designs, Inc.
Mentirosa was the second single off Mellow Man Ace’s debut album, Escape from Havana. Mentirosa contained a sample of Santana songs No One to Depend On and Evil Ways. It was Ace’s only top 40 hit, peaking at #14.
Mellow Man Ace was born Ulpiano Sergio Reyes in April 1967 in Pinar del Rio, Cuba. Before his career as Ace, he was a member of the hip hop band Cypress Hill.
Jimmy Wayne Jamison was
born in rural Mississippi, though Jamison considered himself a native of Memphis. He and his mother moved there the day after he was born. He taught himself to play guitar and piano and was in his first band in middle school.
In the late 1970s he was frontman for a local Memphis band named Target. In the early 80s he was lead singer of the band Cobra. When Cobra disbanded in 1984, Jamison was invited to join Survivor. (They were looking for a way to kickstart some follow-up success after Eye of the Tiger).
His first album with Survivor was Vital Signs. This was Survivor’s second most successful American album and instantly catapulted Survivor back into superstardom. Their final 80s album was Too Hot to Sleep. This album suffered a lack of promotion by Volcano, their record company and led Survivor to take a break.
Jamison went on to a solo career that saw him co-write and perform the theme song to the hit 90s TV show Baywatch, release a couple of albums and take a temporary stint as lead vocal replacement frontman for Deep Purple. In 2000, he returned to Survivor for their 2006 album Reach. He left the band soon after. He released a few more solo albums before returning to Survivor in 2011. Jamison’s final solo album, Never Too Late, was released in 2012.
Jamison continued to tour with Survivor. His final performance was August 30, 2014 in Morgan Hill, California the day before he died. Jamison died of a heart attack in Memphis, Tennessee at age 63.
This classic Henry Miller novel has been described as the reason for “free speech that we now take for granted in literature.” First published in 1934 by Paris publisher, Obelisk Press, it was banned in the U.S. In 1961,
U.S. publisher Grove Press published an edition which led to obscenity trials that tested American laws on pornography. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the book non-obscene.
Tropic of Cancer is an autobiographical novel chronicling Miller’s Parisian nomadic lifestyle between 1930 and 1934, the years he was a struggling writer. There are numerous passages that explicitly describe his sexual encounters.
Tropic of Cancer also faced banishment from Canada and the UK. Today, it stands as a masterpiece of 20th century literature. In 1970, Tropic of Cancer was adapted into a film starring Rip Torn, Ellen Burstyn and James T. Callahan. The film was rated X at the time (equivalent to an NC-17 rating today).
In 2000, Heinz turned the world of ketchup upside down. The first colored ketchup to roll off the production line was “Blastin Green” to coincide with the release of the movie Shrek. Kids (and moms) were enchanted. Over 25 million bottles of green and purple ketchup were sold netting Heinz 60% of the ketchup market in the U.S. Sales cooled and colored ketchup disappeared in January 2006.
There were other colors available: Stellar Blue, Passion Pink, Awesome Orange and Totally Teal. The problem is the red color of the tomatoes had to be stripped and food coloring added. But flavoring had to be added so they would taste like ketchup, meaning that technically none of these colored ketchups were “tomato” ketchups. (All the colored ketchups were fortified with vitamin C.)
Sledge Hammer! was
an American satirical police sitcom starring David Rasche as Inspector Sledge Hammer. Sledge Hammer was inspired
by Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movies. Sledge Hammer was a cop that was even more over-the-top; he’s violent, sadistic and insensitive. Anne-Marie Martin starred as Detective Dori Doreau, Hammer’s partner. Harrison Page played uptight Captain Trunk.
Sledge Hammer! ran for two seasons and 41 episodes. Both seasons are available on DVD in regions 1 and 4. The complete series is available in region 1.