ModestGeniusXL

Thursday Throwback

The Blue Star

So I'm driving down Grand Ave in Ames the other day when the oddest sight caught my eye.  I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't seeing things.  There was a house that had a blue star in its window.  I hadn't seen one of those for years.  Didn't even know those things were still around.  I'm not even sure if theirs meant the same thing because it was rather small compared to the ones I recall seeing back in the day.  But maybe they just shrunk it's look over the years.

I can't remember the name of this program that was popular in the 80s.  Maybe it really was something as simple as The Blue Star Program.  But it was simplistic enough that it was unmistakable whenever you saw one.  The concept was any house with one of those large blue stars in the window was known as a "safe place".  It was my understanding that if you were ever in trouble that you could go to one of those houses and they would help you out.  You can't get anymore neighborly than that.

I always wondered how such a program went over in big cities where people were rumored to be less friendly.  How many houses would you actually see one in the window?  In Norwalk, it was pretty common.  You could go down a street of houses and see one in just about every other window.  I would imagine that was pretty typical in small towns like that where people even rarely locked their doors.

The one thing I kept thinking about the program was how receptive people would be if they were actually called to task.  Especially in Norwalk if a person like me were to test the theory.  It's not like there were a lot of 'us"there.  I just had the funny feeling that if I were to come up to their door talking about I needed help that there was a good chance that no one would be home.

There was one time that I almost had to test that theory.  I was in junior high school and this high school bully kept trying to terrorize me as I would walk home from school.  Back then, the high school kids didn't look squirrley like they seem to look these days.  They had that "Grease" apperance about them where many of them resembled 30-year-old men rather than kids.  I, on the other hand, was nowhere near that stature so I was a bit intimidated.  However, even then I figured my luck was better off trying to tough it and get home rather than going to someone's door and get embarrassed.

I just can't imagine that that program would still be alive and flourishing today.  Folks are a lot the  less trusting than they were back then.  It's just the society we live in today.  Of course there are folks out there that still want to be helpful; however, probably not as many want to advertise it with that big blue star.  There are just too many wierdos out there that would take advantage of it for the wrong reasons.  But it sure was a good concept while it lasted.

Thursday Throwback

Love Makes Things Happen - Pebbles featuring Babyface

They just don't make music like this anymore.  As trite as that sounds it's definitely true.  But part of that reason is because of the cat that is "featured" here.  Remember when Babyface's thumbprint was all over the love ballad scene of the 90s?  I swear he must have been responsible for about 95% of the love songs that came out during that time.  Sure, many of them sounded alike, but they were all hot too.

Anyway, when this video first came out I felt a certain way toward it.  I actually did for a long time.  I had never really listened to the words of the song until I watched the video.  Once I watched it I had the firm belief that they were misusing the word "love" altogether.  It seemed more to me like "Lust Makes Things Happen".  I mean folks were leaving each other left and right at the drop of a dime.

But then I watched it again recently and I got a different interpretation entirely.  Or at least partially.

If you look at this video in the context of the time that it's playing it does seem like lust.  All this is happening within the timeframe of 6 minutes.  However, who's to say how much time actually transpired between all these events?  These folks could be having these encounters over the course of years.  Although you would have to them assume that they haven't changed the way they look in years.  Let's just assume for the lack of argument that they didn't.

So with time not being an issue then everything that transpires doesn't see THAT bad.  I mean relatively speaking of course.  Afterall, it happens all the time.  Folks will meet and find out that they have much more in common than they ever imagined.  Maybe they were meant to be together despite whatever situation they are currently in.  You just never know.  Love really can be funny like that sometimes.

But the most telling thing about the video is the very end with the dude who started it all.  He went thru al that just to see that he never should have left ol' girl in the first place.  Love is like that too.  Sometimes you have to go thru some things to appreciate what you had all along.  But how much you want to bet if they stuck with the story that he ended up leaving her again anyway.  I'm just saying...maybe they weren't meant to be together afterall?  I'm just sayin'...

 

 

 

Thursday Throwback

My sister Diah went on this kick the other day on The Book where she started posting all types of old school pics.  Unfortunately, many of them were a little hard to appreciate because they were so tiny.  She had the scanning down so they were decent quality but she didn't have the crop feature down yet.  One step at a time.

What I really like about this picture are two subtle things you could see with me then that still go strong with me today.  The first being the Walkman.  Look close to see how big it was.  That was a cassette walkman.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it was probably Dad's and he was letting me use it.  But you see how I'm rocking it checking out tunes (although no clue what I was listening to).  To this day you will never find me without some type of mobile music close by.

The other was something that I just noticed recently while looking at the picture.  It's the shirt I'm wearing.  You can't see it but I can tell from the letters that are noticeable and the design that it was a Norwalk Warriors basketball t-shirt.  If I'm not mistaken, 8th grade.  As you know, to this day I still speak fondly of my time in Norwalk.  And of course you know about my love of the game. 

This picture just really makes me smile...

Thursday Throwback

Something in Common - Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston

I was contemplating whether I should have went for something more conventional for the Throwback entry.  Especially something that wasn't a video because you all know how I feel about doing those.  I've been trying to shy away from them since the VeeJays on The Book have been going crazy lately.  But I couldn't get this song out my head for some reason.  Therefore, I figured it was just a good a throwback as any.  Mainly because it was always underrated anyway.

See, I was like many others who was wondering what in the world happened to get those two together.  Whitney just seemed way too wholesome to be with a cat like Bobby Brown.  Keep in mind that we didn't know then what we know now.  We all just thought they were too night and day to make a good couple.  I'll be doggone if they didn't last for quite a while though.  In the meantime, they made this song to remind folks of why they got together in the first place.

I never understood why this cut didn't get more airplay.  Whitney was still making hits at the time and Bobby was having moderate success so it's not like either one of them were musically irrelevant.  "Something in Common" even had nice production, good lyrics and a catchy hook.  Not to mention that they actually sounded good together on it.  The studio really should have given this one more push.  Who knows...maybe if they would have then the two of them could have avoided that descent that came shortly after.  Okay...that probably would have still happened anyway, but this is still a great song...

 

Thursday Throwback

Tamyra Gray

I was going to double up yesterday and use this as a "Whatever Happened to..." entry.  You know...the category I said I wasn't going to create yet sill keep referring to it anyway?  Then it dawned on me why I decided not to create it in the first place.  Because all it is essentially doing is being another Thursday Throwback.  Instead of trying to force it on Wednesday I can just wait another day to have my Throwback post. 

Tamyra happened to come up as a result of Jennifer Hudson's recent new cd release.  I picked it up on Zune Pass this Tuesday to see if it was going to be any good.  It was actually pretty incredible.  The former American Idol has come a long way since her days of getting the shaft on that show.  But listening to that cd had me thinking about other American Idol contestants who were prematurely dismissed that should have went on to bigger and better things.  Tamyra topped that list.

Tamyra was on that very first season of AI.  She was also one of the first people to fall victim to that joke of a voting system that show has which I'm sure is not rigged at all (insert tongue in cheek).  Folk can say what they want about Kelly Clarkston, but Tamyra should have been the winner of that inaugural season.   At the very LEAST she should have made it to the top 3.  She was hands down  the bet vocalist on the show that year.

Not long after that, Tamyra ended up doing  a guest stint on one of the best shows to ever grace television:  "Boston Public".  It's rather ironic that she was on a show that itself wold fall victim to unfair shafting by getting canceled.  Anyway, there was a scene where she busted out with a Whitney Houston classic that was one of the very few times I have EVER heard anyone sing a Whitney tune just as good as Whitney.  You would have thought that coupled with her American Idol appearance would have had really had her career taking off.  For some reason it just never happened.

Fortunately, it's not like Tamyra totally disappeared from the scene.  She also appeared in former Vault Pick "The Gospel" giving a very admirable performance.  She did manage to release a studio album too.  Even though it only did a measly 120,000+ in sales.  Tamyra just never seemed to have the right management to truly capitalize on all that potential she had.  With her skills in the acting AND singing arena she should have been a household name by now.  Not an answer to a trivia question about who married the nerdy one from Color Me Badd

 

Thursday Throwback

March Madness
(This was originally posted back in 2006.  Most of my current readers weren't privy to this blog back then which qualifies this as a throwback...)

This is THE best time of the year for any basketball fan.  March Madness.  The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.  No offense, but the women's tourney just isn't near as exciting.  The Men's tourney is where it's at.  Better than the NBA Finals and even better than the Super Bowl, as far as I'm concerned.

In recent years, I haven't been as amped as for it as I used to be back in the day.  There was a time  back when my boy E was in town and we worked at the same God forsaken place that we would make this time a national holiday.  I would only take vacation during two times a year:  the weeks that I would have my oldest children in the summer and the Thursday and Friday of March that were the two first days of the NCAA Tournament.  Although I haven't done that in quite a while I still look forward to the tourney every year.

As of late, the overall collegiate talent has suffered a bit due to all the early defections to the NBA.  That was the one good thing about that new NBA rule with not allowing kids to jump straight there out of high school.  Not only should the quality of NBA games increase but you would think the NCAA would too since there's now more of these kids going to college.

I have very fond memories of all the years that I've been watching March Madness.  And I mean the actual games themselves, not just the memories of the getting together with other folks.  Then again, there were some not so fond moments as well.  Because I often write this to amuse myself, I figured I might as well touch on those times as well...

My top 3 worst memories (in order of worst memory to me):

UNLV loses to Duke 1991

 Everytime I think about this game, I get more and more ticked.  I clearly remember sitting in my dorm room watching it yelling at the television.  UNLV had arguably the best basketball team in  college basketball history that year (sorry Fab Five but it's true), and my favorite NCAA basketball team of all time.  The NCAA had it in for Tark that year because they could never catch him on violations.  In fact, Stacey Augmon and Larry Johnson almost had to sue the NCAA to prevent them from putting UNLV on probation.  The two of them intentionally came back for another year for a chance to repeat and the NCAA was messing with their draft status.  But the NCAA got them in the end anyway.

After ransacking EVERYBODY in their path that year, they met Duke in the Final Four.  They were the two best teams in the country and there's no way they should have been playing in the same bracket.  They should have been playing for the championship.  Long story short, the refs called THEworst game I've ever seen.  Every call went Duke's way.  UNLV was taken out of their game having to play both Duke and the refs and Duke wins.

Iowa State loses to #15 seed Hampton

In 2001, ISU had a squad that many thought had all the potential to FINALLY get to the Final Four.  There was some talk that they could even win it all, having a #2 seed.  Okay, maybe that last part was a stretch, but a brotha can dream.

Instead, they run into the "buzzsaw" that was Hampton.  They make history and become one of the few #15 seeds in history to ever bow out in the first round.  Pretty much every one of them, including all-world guard Jamaal Tinsley, played like crap. 

And to make matters even worse it was to Hampton.  One of my partners from back in the day, Bill Spears, was a Hampton grad and he would always brag about how great the school was.  Fortunately, at that time I hadn't talked to him in quite a while so he never was able to locate me to rub it in that his alma mater upset mine.  Even though we have recently reconnected he still hasn't brought it up.  I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Iowa loses to UNLV in Elite Eight

The year was 1987.  The BJ Armstrong-led Iowa Hawkeyes had the best squad Iowa has EVER had(and I'm quite sure will ever have).  Roy Marble, Gerry Wright, Kevin Gamble...even Brad Lohaus when he was decent.  This was back when I still liked Iowa because I hadn't yet committed to going to Iowa State.  There was no way a squad like that should have lost. But they did.

As much as I hated to admit it since I did like Iowa then, I thought it was sweet irony.  Iowa had just gotten rid of a much better coach in George Ravelling and got sorry Tom Davis.  George left Tom with a stable full of superstars.  Anyone could have won with those superstars.  However, Tom was in way over his head.  Had George been there, they could have easily won the whole thing.  Instead, they gave the brotha his walking papers and karma bit them in the arse.

Now that I've got the bad moments out of the way, let me touch on the good ones so I can end on a good note.  Naturally, these would be in order of my most favorite to least favorite:

Kansas wins National Championship

  The same year that I was graduating high school, 1988, Kansas and Danny Manning found themselves in the championship game.  They were already lucky they were even in the tournament since they had a record 11 losses.  They were the first team to win the title with that many losses.

Now I realize I have spent most of my life in Iowa.  Don't matter.  I am a Kansas native no matter what ANYBODY says.  I was born there.  The majority of my family is still there so that's where my home-state allegiance will truly lie.  Unless they play Iowa State, of course.  Plus, this was the closest that a team I could somewhat associate with would win the whole thing so it only stands to reason that I was going to pull for them.

  

UCLA wins National Championship

This would definitely have to be qualified since UCLA has won more championships than any other  school in NCAA history.  The one in 1995 was the only one I cared about.  That was the year where I entered the office pool as I did every year about that time.  It was the first and only time I would ever win the pool. 

It really was pure coincidence that E was the one facilitating the pool.  Everybody was screaming foul play because of that when it turned out that I won and he came in second.  I may cheat on games from time to time but that was a time when I actually was on the up and up.  I had actually done a lot of research that year to put a lot of time and effort into my picks.  That would be the last time that I ever entered an office pool.

Arkansas wins National Championship

  I had mentioned briefly in a previous blog that my cousin, Reggie Merritt, played for this squad.  That was years ago during so I'm sure even those of you who have been here since the beginning may have forgotten that.  Maybe Reggie got a lot more pine than he got time, but he was still on the squad.  That's more than most of us can say.

Anyway, that alone would have been enough reason for me to want them to win it all in 1994.  There was also the fact that they were headed up by an African American head coach: Nolan Richardson.  This would have been at a time when you could count the number of African American D-1 head coaches on one hand.  Or maybe two but barely two hands, if that. 

So there it is.  My March Madness "brief" summary.  It doesn't matter that this is yet another year where the watered-down talent will probably lead to an average Tournament.  Even a tepid March Madness is better than any other sporting event out there.

Thursday Throwback

CB Radios

Can it qualify as a throwback if it's still around?  Well the Green Machines did last week and they made the cut.  Of course that's only because they have been revamped to still be around.  I really couldn't say if CB radios have been or not.  It's not like I have any friends that roll around with any in their vehicles.  And I can count on one hand how many times I've seen the inside of a semi to know if they still have them.  I'm just going to assume they are still used in certain circles.

But there was a time back in the day when they were pretty common.  Before satellite radio.  Before the dvd or even VCR players in the cars.  Before cd players.  Heck, even predating cassette decks.  Truckers weren't the only ones to have CB radios in their vehicles.  Regular cars would too.  Probably thanks in large part to Burt Reynolds character in "Smokey and the Bandit" (which, I can't front, probably needs to be a Vault Pick).  He made it popular for more than just truckers.

They served a couple of different purposes in vehicles.  I seem to remember the one that dad had was a little for entertainment value.  Sometimes he would have it on just to listen to the chatter from other people on the air at the time.  They had their own language that was fun to attempt to translate.  You have to remember that in those days when there was no such thing as handheld video games, mp3 players or even portable Walkmans yet it didn't take much to keep us entertained.

The other thing they were good for was getting the 411 on the upcoming roads.  Other drivers could let one know about accidents that may be holding up traffic.  Or maybe upcoming inclement weather.  But the thing they were best for in terms of information was letting folks know about speedtraps.  I know 5-0 HATED that.  Which is probably why some of them would occasionally get on the airwaves acting like they were a normal joes to give false information and entrap speeders. 

My fondest memory of the CBs was the time I figured out that some walkie talkies used the same signal.  I was playing on my cousin Ike's walkie talkie when I discovered it.  I also remembered that Popoo and Grandma's tv would sometimes get bleed-in from CB signals.  So while at Ike's house I figured I naturally assumed that my talking on the walkie talkie there would be heard by him across town watching tv.  I even used the handle Lumberjack Jr. (Dad had the handle of The Lumberjack, of course).  Days later I asked Popoo if he heard me and he was beaming as he told me yes.  I was so stoked.  Never even realizing at the time that he was humoring me.  I was fine with that though.  The fact that a CB signal made Popoo smile meant they were good for something else.

 

Thursday Throwback

Green Machines

These date all the way back to one of our Christmases in Norwalk.  I don't think Diah was even born yet if I'm not mistaken.  It was one Christmas morning Teandra and I woke up to find two of these fully assembled and ready to go.  We were like....well...like little kids on Christmas morning.  They were the hottest toys out at the time.  They were Big Wheels on steroids.  Who wouldn't want a Green Machine?  You weren't cool at that age unless you had one.

Now you would think that we weren't able to fully enjoy them on the day we got them, right?  Afterall, it was the middle of winter in Iowa.  It wasn't like they were going to operate very well in the snow.  We didn't have to worry about that though.  The downstairs basement wasn't finished at the time.  Teandra and I had the entire basement at our disposal.  Not sure how many square feet it was but it was more than enough for us.  We weren't that big then so it seemed like a whole other world to us.

I may be getting a little ahead of myself.  What else is new though, huh?  There are some folks out there who aren't up on Green Machines. The picture gives you a little insight but you really can't fully grasp it unless you had ridden one.  It did away with the old-fashioned steering that was on the Big Wheels.  With two different gear shifts. you felt like you were operating a race car.  You could hit the brakes and skid either way with the greatest of ease.  It just didn't get much better than that for elementary kids.

Naturally we couldn't wait until the weather warmed up so we could unleash the Green Machines outdoors.  We lived on a pretty large block too so we could traverse much of the neighborhood without ever having to worry about violating the "don't go in the street" rule.  Although there were a couple of times we would veer a little in the roadway just so we could turn around properly.  The best thing about the turning around was hitting those levers just right in one of those big driveways to get the Green Machine to donut perfectly.  It was a skill that took us no time at all to master.

I was very surprised to see that they still make Green Machines.  They have streamlined the design a bit so it looks a bit sexier than the boxy styles that we had, but it's still the same at it's core.  Not that it matters too much because you rarely see kids out there on them like you used to.  With the lure of so much technology out there for them, outdoor activities for tots are slowly dying an agonizing death.  Makes me want to bust out on a Green Machine just to show them how we used to do it.  And I bet the newer ones are strong enough to even support someone my size.

Thursday Throwback

MTV's Original Veejays

I could count on my hand how many times I've watched MTV probably in the last month.  They clearly don't aim for my demographic.  They're okay with that and so am I.  But back in the day, there were times when the tv would stay on MTV for hours at a time.  I know we always talk about how we miss those days when they used to play videos; however, everyone often overlooks the other aspect that made MTV special back then:  the veejays.

It was an entirely new gig at the time.  Radio deejays were never seen so they always had to rely on their signature voices to paint an image of what they were.  The veejays (short for "video jockeys" for those younger folks that weren't aware) didn't have that luxury.  That meant that MTV would have to carefully select those folks that would best do that so as to appeal to a broad audience.  The did a pretty good job of getting it right on their first try.

The original five deejays pretty much represented a cross-reference of any high school in America during the 80s:

Mark Goodman - Here's your Mr. Popularity.  He rocked the long hair/nearly a mullet hairstyle that many of the hairbands of the day wore.  He dressed like a mixture of preppy and rock so as not to be pigeon-holed.  He represented the "in-crowd"

J. J. Jackson - The token Black guy.  You KNOW MTV had to have one of those.  The afrocentrism movement of the 90s hadn't yet come around, but they made sure they had one of us on there to at least appease us a little.  Even if they didn't play any Black videos except for Michael Jackson in the station's early years

Nina Blackwood - This would be your rocker chick.  She was part of that trend that would later evolve into the goth look years later.  She represented those folks in our school who would always go across the street to the cemetery to smoke so that they're not on school premises

Martha Quinn - Pretty much the polar opposite of rocker chick.  She would be your all-American girl next door.  Your MaryAnn.  Ms. Popularity.  She was about as down home as you could get.  She would be invited to all of the hip parties, but she's not the "party girl".

Alan Hunter - probably about as close to the nerd as you could get.  He had the scrawny, little frame that would endear him to that crowd.  No glasses with tape though.  He just had that squirrly look about him.  He reminded me of the type that didn't want to admit he was a nerd and was cool with all of the other sub-genres in high school.  However, all of those other sub-genres clearly knew he was a nerd.  He was probably both a band geek and gleek.

There would be others to come along that would make a name for themselves in other ways as the face of MTV changed.  Like Downtown Julie Brown ushering in their club scene.  Or Carson Daly getting them involved in a semi-talk show look.  And who could forget the "Wanna Be a VJ" contest where the manufactured and fake Jesse Camp won over a much more well-deserving and polished Dave Holmes?  Okay...maybe it's just me that remembers that.

So yeah...the veejays were defintely a piece of MTV history that often get overlooked.  It was an underappreciate part of history as far as I'm concerned.  By purposely starting off the network with those five veejays that were a microcasm of the demographic at which they were aiming, MTV made sure to get their hooks in us immediately.  Although they strayed away from their roots, that foundation they built with the veejays still brings back fond memories.

 

 

Thursday Throwback

A.C. Green

If I was doing this on Wednesday and if I had a category dedicated to the whole "Whatever Happened To?" topic that I have been perpetuating then this cat would have been next in line.  I couldn't tell you how it happened that he came to mind.  Probably because I was checking out "Pardon the Interruption" and they were talking about the Lakers losing to the Clippers.  Then I started thinking about obscure Lakers of the past and look who pops up.

The thing that many NBA players lose sight of these days is the art of being a role player.  Everyone wants to be "the man".  You can partly put it on today's generation that has that "me-first" mentality.  But if they would do their research into some of the great NBA teams of yesteryear they will see that many of those squads wouldn't have been where they were without their signature role players.

The Showtime Lakers of the 80s were always known for the flash that Magic brought to the squad.  They had a bonafide legend in Kareem anchoring the team.  There was the ever reliable James Worthy as their swingman.  Although A.C. rarely got any of the pub the three of them did, he was just as crucial.  The Lakers were known for their flare but when they had to grimy with folks like the Detroit Piston Bad Boys, players like A.C. came in handy.  Dude could get gritty with the best of them and that's what he got paid to do.

Speaking of gritty, there's no way you can talk about A.C. without mentioning the jheri-curl.  He came in at a time when they were the rage so it wasn't that big of a deal at first.  But I'll be doggone if dude didn't hold on to that thing well past the prime years of the jheri-curl era.  And how was he even able to be so effective with that thing?  How did that jheri-curl juice not get all up in hie eyes once he started sweating?

Then there was the whole virgin thing.  He was never one to brag about it but it was a rather big deal in the media that he was a confessed virgin abstaining from sex until he got married.  As admirable as that was, I wasn't buying it.  He was a basketball star turning down women?  Especially during the Showtime era when it was known that the Lakers had a special room at the Forum where they would get down on a regular basis.  I just always found that hard to believe.  Maybe I'm just cynical like that.

The one thing that I remember most about Green was his Iron Man streak that he had going.  Major League Baseball made a big deal about Cal Ripken and his but I could care less about that one.  A.C. played in 1,192 consecutive NBA games.  As if that wasn't enough, he only missed three games during his entire 16-career.  You never hear that talked about though.  It's too bad because even in the 80s the NBA was more exciting to watch than baseball.

It doesn't seem like A.C. has been doing much of anything lately to be in the spotlight.  You never see him on ESPN as an NBA analyst or doing any other sports shows to offer his insight.  At the very least maybe one of these NBA teams could pick him up as an assistant coach so he can teach what it takes to be a true role player.  Dude is a 3-time World Champion so I'm pretty sure he's knows a little bit about what it takes to win.  And remember he did it with a jheri-curl.