Rip It Up is a song by Scottish indie pop band Orange Juice, released in 1983 as the second single from their 1982 album of the same name. The song became the band’s only UK top 40 success, reaching #8 on the chart.
The song was recorded as part of the sessions for Orange Juice’s second studio album and would go on to become the title track of said album. It marked a departure from their previous guitar-pop based material, instead utilising Chic style guitar-funk and a bubbling Roland TB-303 synthesiser bassline, becoming the first chart single to feature the instrument.
The song was sampled in 2009 by British soul singer Beverley Knight on her song In Your Shoes from the album 100%.
In 2014, NME ranked it at number 216 in its list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” It was also included by Pitchfork at number 157 in their list of “The Best 200 Songs of the 1980s.”
Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party (1957) and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising new actresses of 1959. Her film career continued for another 20 years. In 1964, she began playing the role of matriarch Morticia Addams in the original 1964 black and white television series The Addams Family.
Jones was born in Amarillo, Texas, the daughter of Chloe Jeanette Southern, a housewife, and Julius Alfred Jones, a barber. After their father abandoned the family in 1934, Carolyn and her younger sister, Bette Rhea Jones, moved with their mother into her maternal grandparents’ Amarillo home. Jones suffered from severe asthma that often restricted her childhood activities, and when her condition prevented her from going to the movies, she became an avid reader of Hollywood fan magazines and aspired to become an actress. She enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse in California at age 17, with her grandfather, Charles W. Baker, paying her tuition.
After being spotted by a talent scout at the Playhouse, Jones secured a contract with Paramount Pictures and made her first film, an uncredited part in The Turning Point (1952); had an uncredited bit part as a nightclub hostess in The Big Heat (1953); and a role in House of Wax (1953) as the woman who is converted by Vincent Price’s character into a Joan of Arc statue. She played Beth in Shield for Murder (1954), earning $500 per day for playing the role. Jones was cast in the film From Here to Eternity (1953) in the role of Alma “Lorene” Burke. A bout of pneumonia forced her to withdraw; the role earned Donna Reed the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and in the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Man Who Knew Too Much (both 1956), a remake of one of the director’s earlier films.
In 1958, Jones was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party (1957), and she also shared the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress with Sandra Dee and Diane Varsi, and appeared with Elvis Presley in King Creole (1958). Jones played opposite Frank Sinatra in Frank Capra’s A Hole in the Head, Dean Martin in Career, and Anthony Quinn and Kirk Douglas in Last Train from Gun Hill (all 1959). In the epic Western, How the West Was Won (1963), she played the role of Sheriff Jeb Rawlings’ (George Peppard) wife. She appears with Peppard and Debbie Reynolds in the final speaking/singing scenes of the film.
The actress made her television debut on the DuMont series Gruen Playhouse in 1952. Jones appeared in several episodes of Dragnet starring Jack Webb from 1953-1955, credited as ‘’Caroline Jones.’’ She appeared in two Rod Cameron syndicated series, City Detective and State Trooper, as Betty Fowler in the 1956 episode, “The Paperhanger of Pioche”. Jones also appeared on the CBS anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the episode “The Cheney Vase” (1955), as a secretary assisting her scheming boyfriend Darren McGavin in attempting an art theft, and opposite Ruta Lee. In 1957, she had the lead in the episode “The Girl in the Grass” on CBS’s Schlitz Playhouse, with once again Ray Milland and Nora Marlowe. Jones guest starred three times on the television series Wagon Train: in first-season episode “The John Cameron Story” (1957) and in later color episodes “The Jenna Douglas Story” (1961) and “The Molly Kincaid Story” (1963). Also in 1963 she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star – Female for portraying quadruplets—one the murder victim and the others suspects—in the Burke’s Law episode “Who Killed Sweet Betsy?” She guest-starred in CBS’s The DuPont Show with June Allyson, with James Best and Jack Mullaney, in the episode “Love on Credit” (1960). In the 1962–1963 season, Jones guest-starred on CBS’s The Lloyd Bridges Show, which Aaron Spelling created. While married to Spelling, she appeared on the NBC program Here’s Hollywood.
In 1964, using a long coal-black wig, Jones began playing Morticia Addams on the television series The Addams Family, a role which brought her success as a comedian and a Golden Globe Award nomination. She guest-starred on the 1960s TV series Batman, playing Marsha, the Queen of Diamonds, and in 1976 appeared as the title character’s mother, Hippolyta, in the Wonder Woman TV series. In Tobe Hooper’s movie Eaten Alive (1976), she played a madam running a rural whorehouse. The film also featured Neville Brand, Roberta Collins, and Robert Englund. Her last role was that of Myrna, the scheming matriarch of the Clegg clan, on the soap opera Capitol from the first episode in March 1982 until March 1983, though she already knew that she was dying of cancer. During her occasional absences, veteran actress Marla Adams subbed for her.
Her acting career declined after The Addams Family ended in 1966. Sporadic roles in the 1970s included that of Mrs. Moore, the wife of the plantation owner in the miniseries Roots.
Jones was married four times and had no children. While studying at the Pasadena Playhouse, Jones married Don Donaldson, a 28-year-old fellow student. The couple soon divorced. Jones converted to Judaism upon being married to television producer Aaron Spelling from 1953 until their 1964 separation and divorce. Her third marriage, in 1968, was to Tony Award-winning Broadway musical director, vocal arranger and co-producer Herbert Greene (who was her vocal coach); she left him in 1977. She married actor Peter Bailey-Britton in September 1982.
In 1982, while working on Capitol, she was diagnosed with colon cancer, and played many of her scenes in a wheelchair. The cancer spread quickly to her liver and stomach. Despite the pain, Jones finished the first season. Even after being diagnosed with colon cancer, Jones continued to work while telling colleagues she was being treated for ulcers. After a period of apparent remission, the cancer quickly returned. In September 1982, realizing she was dying, Jones married her boyfriend of five years, actor Peter Bailey-Britton. She wore a lace and ribbon cap to hide the loss of her hair from chemotherapy.
In July 1983, she fell into a coma at her home in West Hollywood, California, where she died on August 3, 1983. She donated her Morticia costume and wig to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, while a collection of The Addams Family scripts was donated by Bailey-Britton to UCLA.
Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles Ryder, most especially his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead Castle. Ryder has relationships with two of the Flytes: Sebastian and Julia. The novel explores themes including Catholicism and nostalgia for the age of English aristocracy. A faithful and well-received television adaptation of the novel was produced in an 11-part miniseries by Granada Television in 1981
The novel is divided into three parts, framed by a prologue and epilogue.
The prologue takes place during the final years of the Second World War. Charles Ryder and his battalion are sent to a country estate called Brideshead, which prompts his recollections of the rest of the story.
In 1923, protagonist and narrator Charles Ryder, an undergraduate reading history at a college very similar to Hertford College, Oxford, is befriended by Lord Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of the Marquess of Marchmain and an undergraduate at Christ Church. Both Charles and Sebastian had matriculated at Oxford in the Autumn of 1922, Charles doing so shortly before his 19th birthday. The following year, Sebastian introduces Charles to his eccentric friends, including the haughty aesthete and homosexual Anthony Blanche. Sebastian also takes Charles to his family’s palatial mansion, Brideshead Castle, in Wiltshire, where Charles later meets the rest of Sebastian’s family, including his sister, Lady Julia.
During the long summer holiday, Charles returns home to London, where he lives with his widowed father, Edward Ryder. Charles is called back to Brideshead after Sebastian incurs a minor injury, and Sebastian and Charles spend the remainder of the holiday together.
Sebastian’s family is Catholic, which influences the Flytes’ lives as well as the content of their conversations, all of which surprises Charles, who had always believed Christianity was “without substance or merit”. Lord Marchmain had converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism to marry his wife, but he later abandoned both his marriage and his new religion, and moved to Venice. Left alone, Lady Marchmain focuses even more on her faith, which is also enthusiastically espoused by her elder son, the Earl of Brideshead (“Bridey”), and by her younger daughter, Lady Cordelia. Brideshead Deserted
The Flyte family becomes aware of Sebastian’s drinking problem and attempt to stop him from drinking which only worsens the situation. Lady Marchmain falls out with Charles and he leaves Brideshead for what he thinks is the last time.
Julia marries the rich but unsophisticated Canadian-born businessman and politician Rex Mottram. This marriage causes great sorrow to her mother because Rex, though initially planning to convert to Catholicism, turns out to be a divorcé with an ex-wife living in Canada. He and Julia subsequently marry without fanfare in the Savoy Chapel, an Anglican church where marriage between divorcés with one or more prior living spouses is permissible.
Sebastian descends into alcoholism, drifting away from the family over a two-year period. He flees to Morocco, where his drinking ruins his health. He eventually finds some solace as an under-porter and object of charity at a Catholic monastery in Tunisia. Sebastian’s drifting leads to Charles’s own estrangement from the Flytes.
Julia asks Charles to go and find Sebastian because Lady Marchmain (Sebastian’s mother) is ill. Charles finds Sebastian in the monastery in Morocco. Sebastian is too ill to return to England, so Charles returns to London to see Brideshead and sort out Sebastian’s financial affairs.
Charles is commissioned by Brideshead to paint images of Marchmain House in London before its demolition. The paintings are very successful. Charles talks to Cordelia while he paints and discovers more about the Flyte family.
Charles finds success as an architectural painter and visits Latin America to portray the buildings there. Charles marries and fathers two children, but he becomes cold towards his wife, Celia, and she is unfaithful to him. Julia separates from Rex Mottram and Charles eventually forms a relationship with her.
Charles and Julia plan to divorce their respective spouses so they can marry each other.
Cordelia returns from ministering to the wounded in the Spanish Civil War with disturbing news about Sebastian’s nomadic existence and steady decline over the past few years. She predicts he will die soon in the Tunisian monastery.
On the eve of the Second World War, the ageing Lord Marchmain, terminally ill, returns to Brideshead to die in his ancestral home. Appalled by the marriage of his elder son Brideshead to a middle-class widow past childbearing age, he names Julia heir to the estate, which prospectively offers Charles marital ownership of the house. However, Lord Marchmain’s return to the faith on his deathbed changes the situation: Julia decides she cannot enter a sinful marriage with Charles, who has also been moved by Lord Marchmain’s acceptance of the Last Rites.
The plot concludes in the early spring of 1943 (or possibly 1944 – the date is disputed). Charles is “homeless, childless, middle-aged and loveless”. He has become an army officer and finds himself unexpectedly billeted at Brideshead, which has been taken into military use. He finds the house damaged by the army, but the private chapel, closed after Lady Marchmain’s death in 1926, has been reopened for the soldiers’ use. It occurs to him that the efforts of the builders – and, by extension, God’s efforts – were not in vain, although their purposes may have appeared, for a time, to have been frustrated.
In the United States, Brideshead Revisited was the Book of the Month Club selection for January 1946. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Brideshead Revisited No. 80 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 45 on the BBC survey “The Big Read.” In 2005, it was chosen by Time magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. In 2009, Newsweek magazine listed it as one of the 100 best books of world literature.
A liquid delicacy, absinthe gained notoriety in the 19th century. This was due to a cocktail of bad publicity, bad feeling from other alcohol manufacturers and rumours of toxicity due to thujone – a toxic compound found in one of absinthe’s key ingredients, wormwood. Long used as a folk medicine (the name comes from the Greek apsinthion) the drink carried a charismatic mythology that made it popular with bohemian creatives who revered it for its particular type of intoxication. Containing around 60% alcohol, a distinctive emerald green colour and branded with a fairy, it was consumed by Picasso, Oscar Wilde and Vincent Van Gogh, amongst others.
The green fairy became the green devil when rumours of madness and hallucinations – eagerly stoked by temperance campaigners – transformed the drink’s reputation into a catalyst for wickedness. This came to a head in Switzerland in 1905, when a labourer named Jean Lanfray murdered his pregnant wife and two children after an extended binge of absinthe and other intoxicants. Swiftly outlawed, it remained banned in Switzerland until 2005, and France until 2011. Today the drink is undergoing a reputation reassessment, and a artisan revival in Europe– though it is still not for the faint hearted.
The Backyardigans is a computer-animated musical children’s television series created by Janice Burgess. The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It centers on five animal neighbors who imagine themselves on fantastic adventures in their backyard. Each episode is set to a different musical genre and features four songs, composed by Evan Lurie with lyrics by McPaul Smith. The Backyardigans‘ adventures span many different genres and settings. The show’s writers took inspiration from action-adventure movies, and many episodes are parodies of movies.
Nickelodeon called the show “a home-grown Nick Jr. property,” as “the whole creative team… [had] been part of the Nick Jr. family for years.” Creator Janice Burgess had worked as Nick Jr.’s production executive since the mid-1990s. The Backyardigans originated as a live-action pilot episode titled “Me and My Friends,” filmed at Nickelodeon Studios Florida in 1998. The characters were played by full-body puppets on an indoor stage. The pilot was rejected by Nickelodeon, and Burgess decided to rework the concept into an animated series. In 2002, a second pilot was animated at Nickelodeon Digital in New York. The second pilot was successful, and the series entered production.
The show ran for four seasons totaling 80 episodes. Most episodes aired on Nickelodeon on weekday mornings. In 2009, the show was planned to continue beyond the fourth season. However, in 2010, the series’ creator Janice Burgess decided to move onto a different series: Nickelodeon’s revival of Winx Club. Burgess worked as a creative director and writer for Winx Club before eventually retiring from Nickelodeon in 2014.
The Backyardigans was critically acclaimed. Many critics felt that The Backyardigans was superior to Nickelodeon’s other preschool shows because its writing was sophisticated and enjoyable for older viewers. The New York Times and Common Sense Media commended the show for including frequent nods to an older audience, such as references to action-adventure franchises. The quality of the show’s music was also praised by critics, and the show received eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations for its music.
Duke of Earl is a 1962 U.S. #1 song, originally recorded by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler’s songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself “The Duke of Earl.” The song was written by Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwards. This song was a 2002 inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It has also been selected by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
The song originated from warm-up exercises by the Dukays, a vocal group that included Chandler (under his original name, Eugene Dixon) and Earl Edwards and that had already had some success on the R&B chart. The group would regularly warm up by singing “Do do do do…” in different keys. On one occasion, Dixon changed the syllables he was singing to include Earl’s name, and the chant gradually became the nonsense words “Du..du..du..Duke of Earl”. The pair worked on the song with regular songwriter and mentor Bernice Williams, and then recorded it at Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago with the other members of the Dukays. Musicians on the record included Floyd Morris on piano, Lefty Bates, Phil Upchurch and Kermit Chandler on guitar, Al Duncan on drums, and Cliff Davis and John Board on sax.
However, the Dukays’ record label chose instead to release Nite Owl, offering Dixon the option of releasing Duke of Earl as a solo artist. Dixon changed his name to Gene Chandler (a surname taken from that of the actor Jeff Chandler), and the song was released at the end of 1961. Duke of Earl debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 13, 1962, quickly rising to become number one on both the pop and R&B charts. The song held the number one spot for three weeks, and was on the Hot 100 for a total of 15 weeks.
In the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio there are two young men at two different high schools with the same goal: to be a state wrestling champion. Matt Curley attends the public school. His team hasn’t had a state champion in 50 years. Though he has fewer resources and comes from a broken home, Matt trains relentlessly while enduring starvation to better his chances at earning his school a championship. Lance Palmer leads the private school team that’s a national powerhouse. He grew up with a father who made him lift weights before opening his presents on Christmas. He’s traveled the nation since he was 9 to find the best competition. At home he wrestles 600-lb. bears to hone his skills. Now facing his last year on the high school mat, Lance will face the best wrestlers in America to prepare for winning his 4th state title and defending his team’s dynasty. Pinned is the wild, true-life David and Goliath story of two young men fighting for a dream in a world where pain is practiced and becoming a champion is worth any price.
Jarreau is the sixth studio album by Al Jarreau, released in 1983. It was his third consecutive #1 album on the Billboard Jazz charts, while also placing at #4 on the R&B album charts and #13 on the Billboard 200. In 1984 the album received four Grammy Award nominations, including for Jay Graydon as Producer of the Year (Non-Classical).
The album contained three hit singles: Mornin’ (U.S. Pop #21, AC #2 for three weeks), Boogie Down (U.S. Pop #77) and Trouble in Paradise (U.S. Pop #63, AC #10). The first charted during the spring and summer, the second in the summer and the latter charted in the fall.
In 2001, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It was remastered and re-released in 2009 by Friday Music.
The song Black and Blues has been rearranged for moderate use in marching band. A condensed version for trombone has also become widely popular in marching/pep bands.
McDonald’s Changeables Happy Meal toys took the fast-food promotional game to a whole new level in the late 1980s. These quirky toys, essentially Transformers-style characters that changed from McDonald’s food items into robots or dinosaurs, became an instant hit among kids and collectors alike. The toys were released in three installments in 1987, 1989, and 1990, and they still hold a special place in the hearts of many nostalgic enthusiasts today. Who wouldn’t want a burger that morphs into a robot or fries that become a tiny dinosaur? These toys combined the love for transforming robot toys like Transformers and Go-Bots with the irresistible charm of McDonald’s iconic menu items.
Aside from their novelty, Changeables boasted several qualities that made them stand out. First, their playability was top-notch. With simple transformations and a small size that fit well with other toy collections, they offered endless fun and integration possibilities. The toys were well-engineered, with durable plastic and a clever design allowing easy transformation. Ingeniously, Changeables also served as a brilliant marketing tool for McDonald’s itself. By producing high-quality toys resembling its own food products, the company maintained brand awareness and kept its food at the forefront of customers’ minds.
For 27 years straight, citizens and tourists in the North Pond region of Maine would come home to mysteriously find possessions—food, clothing, tools, toiletries—missing. And an urban legend was borne: There was a hermit in the woods.
Then, in 2013, legend became fact when one man, Christopher Knight, was arrested and booked on robbery charges. According to GQ, he committed more than three dozen robberies per year. As for how investigators tied him to three decades of crime? When Knight was asked “how long” he’d been living in the woods, he paused and retorted by asking when the Chernobyl meltdown occurred. (The answer is 1986.)