Recalling Live Aid

This past week included the anniversary of the gigantic, two stadium Live Aid concert, which was held on July 13, 1985 in Philadelphia and London.

It was one of the most momentous events of the 1980s, and one that I remember vividly and quite fondly. Being the music nut that I was at the time (and still am), I listened intently to the coverage of the concerts which was being played over the radio.  At night, television coverage kicked in, and I saw that too.

Above is U2 at Live Aid, giving a the classic performance of "Bad." 
I love the atmospheric sound of this song. 

Here is the first part of a documentary I previously posted, which gives a good account of the run up to the big event. As noted in the documentary, Live Aid was part of a big effort to aid victims of a devastating famine in Ethiopia.  

One of the documentary's most satisfying parts for me is the account of Bob Geldolf, musician with the Boomtown Rats and one of the main organizers of the event, telling off the brutal dictator of Ethiopia to his face.  

Here's part 2 of the documentary.

Unfortunately, there was some controversy over whether sufficient amounts of the aid had gotten to the victims, and whether the organizers and supporters of Live Aid had acted sufficiently to end some of the brutal practices of Ethiopia's communist government.  A 1986 article in Spin magazine gives that point of view.

Bloom County 2015

Here's something to cheer about.  A short time ago, I posted my tribute to the great '80s comic strip Bloom County.   The strip was one of the great pleasures of the eighties, running from 1980 to 1989, and caught the spirit of that odd and quirky decade.

Now, a few days ago, we received word that the comic's creator, Berkeley Breathed was bringing back the comic on an irregular basis, publishing the new strips on his facebook page.  The second installment of Bloom County 2015 just came out, with Opus pondering his status as an eighties relic. (Click each of those links and the new strips are in the articles.)

As an eighties relic myself, this is joyful news indeed!

UPDATE:

Just noted this article by Sean Nelson in The Stranger, titled "I'm Trying to Stay Excited About the Return of Bloom County."

Nelson makes some good points. He says that he has been very excited about the return of Bloom County.  But he also "can't help wondering whether maybe Bloom County was so about the ‘80s that it never should have left them." Further along, he notes: "When Breathed retired the strip in 1989 (replacing it with the conceptually distinct, ultimately indistinguishable, yet massively inferior Outland for reasons passing understanding), it marked the end of something very dear to those of us whose little sensibilities it helped shape. . . . But the ‘90s came in hard and the collective comedic sensibility morphed immediately into the assumption of bemused skepticism."

Nelson struck on something very true in his article. Bloom County came out at a very unique time, and was very much a part of its time. The eighties, for all its good and bad, had a particular sensibility . . . one that allowed for a particular, lighthearted, sometimes oddball, sometimes absurdist, comedic view of things.  Notably, the '80s featured a blossoming of the comics pages with this quirky sensibility, with the likes of Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbs, The Far Side, and the more mainstream Garfied.

For so many of us, the comics pages of the '80s brought many a joyful time. But, as they say, all good things must end. It is true that when the '90s came with its darker worldview, it swept all of that away. The end of that era really was something that many of us still feel . . . the feeling of something we knew in our youths, but now missing.

Nelson concluded with a show of support for the return of Bloom County, and this hopeful thought (which I share):

"Maybe now that we appear to have re-entered an age of piety, cant, and psychotic superciliousness, the time will be ripe for the return of Opus, Bill the Cat, Steve Dallas, Binkley, Cutter John, et al.—representatives of a time when you didn’t have to say anything too off-the-wall in order to be the good kind of shocking."

New Horizons Visits Pluto

Okay, this has very little to do with nostalgia... but it involves one of my other fascinations: space and the space program.  Just wanted to note that I'm one of those space geeks who are excitedly watching the encounter with Pluto by NASA's New Horizon's space probe. 

This visit to Pluto completes the inventory of the major members of our solar system . . . the last such world to be visited by an earth probe.  Exciting stuff! 

Actually, it kinda brings this to mind . . . from back when Pluto "little Pluto" was "the farthest planet from our sun."  Now its considered a dwarf planet, but its the biggest member of the Kuiper Belt.

1976: The Bicentennial

     Here in the United States, were about to celebrate Independence Day on July 4th.  This brought back memories of the bicentennial of U.S. independence which was commemorated with major celebrations in 1976.  I was just 6 years old at the time, and in the first grade, but I remember how much emphasis was placed on it at the time.  Red, white and blue was everywhere. Commemorative bicentennial quarters were issued.  And people took time to take note.

Products were issued with commemorative bicentennial packaging, and the spirit of '76 was front and center on television, as in this Coke commercial.

Here's the ABC news coverage of the July 4, 1976 celebrations.  There was a fantastic parade of tall ships in New York, a speech by President Ford and the ringing of the liberty bell.

This was the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate era, and the U.S. was still recovering from the difficult and stormy period that was still a fresh memory. In a way, the bicentennial was part of the healing process.  

Of course, as a little kid, I didn't know all that. . . but how could I forget all the patriotic color and the fanfare.  It's a good memory.

Repost: Cyndi Lauper: She's So Unusual

Here is a repost of a post which originally appeared in December 2013.

Cyndi Lauper was one of the iconic musical stars of the '80s, and representative of the colorful, freewheeling, and individualistic quality of '80s culture.

Lauper was artistic from an early age, attending a special school for the arts-inclined. Her music career largely began as part of the late '70s, early '80s new wave music group Blue Angel. But most of the music listening public first became aware of her with her first big hit "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."  The video, a fun loving expression of '80s quirkiness, featured both pro-wrestler "Captain" Lou Albano, and Cyndi's real-life mom, Catrine. The 1983 album which featured the song was accurately titled She's So Unusual.

As a young noncomformist, Lauper experimented with outrageous clothing styles. She also experienced rejection, such as when she had rocks thrown at her by un-accepting peers who treated her individuality with contempt. However, when she reached her massive popularity in the '80s, this quirky individuality and wild fashion became one of her trademarks.

Sensitivity was also one of Lauper's qualities, as expressed through both the song "Time After Time," and its video. 

Lauper continued to express her quirkiness, individuality, and sensitivity in her next album, 1986's True Colors and the song of the same name.

In the years after her '80s fame, Lauper continued her creativity as a musician and performer, and continued to extoll individuality and tolerance. Recently, Lauper won rave reviews as the writer and composer of the musical Kinky Boots.

Yahoo Serious

Anyone remember this guy? Yahoo Serious was an very '80s Australian comedian who is best known for his 1988 movie Young Einstein.  

Young Einstein was a major hit in Australia, and when it was released in the U.S., it sold tickets and made money. But the reviews were more mixed, and some of the humor didn't quite translate.  Serious did develop a cult following in an era full of oddball comedians... and that hairstyle says '80s if nothing else does.

Actually, I never really saw Young Einstein, but essentially its about the idea that the namesake genius was actually an Aussie who invented the bubbles in beer and rock and roll.  Here's a clip.  Serious was part of an overall American interest in all things Aussie back in the '80s, following up on Men at Work, Air Supply, Midnight Oil and Crocodile Dundee. 

I do need to do some posts about '80s comedians... it was a great era for quirky, odd humor.

'70s News Shows . . . for my Dad

Around the time of Mother's Day, I posted a remembrance of my mom's love of cop, private investigator, and action shows.  Now, for Father's Day, I have been trying to think of what my father liked when I was growing up. The first thing that came to mind was his interest in news programming and current events.

In particular, I am reminded of how back in the '70s he was a devout watcher of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.  I remember, like clockwork, my father would turn on that broadcast every night at 6:30 and follow it with great interest. Back in the '70s, during my pre-teen years, I had not yet developed much of an interest in the news, and found it all pretty boring, but I still remember how that news program started, with the teletype machine sounds in the background and the news program's logo announcing the show. Cronkite was famous for ending the show with "and thats the way it is." 

I searched Youtube for something news related, and found this excellent 1975 broadcast of CBS news, in top form, with Cronkite reporting on the Apollo-Soyuz linkup in space that happened that year. This appealed to me because I actually remember this event being mentioned in school, and also because I have always been (and still am) a major fan of the space program.

My father was a no-nonsense type of guy, always very practical. He was a history teacher in high school, and always interested in politics and issues and news. He was also a major follower of "60 Minutes" and would watch that show just as consistently.  As I grew from a goofy kid to an oddball, nerdy teen, I also developed a strong interest in news and current events, and I have my Dad to partly thank for that. I owe him a lot, for which I can only partly show my appreciation as I spend time with him this weekend.