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July 30, 2007

MP3 Monday - R.I.P. Tammy Faye Bakker

Poor ole Tammy Faye Bakker is dead. As a resident of Charlotte, NC in the 1980s, I had a near-front row seat to the mid 1980s scandals that sunk the Jim and Tammy Faye ministry and their Christian themepark, Heritage VIllage, USA. The Charlotte Observer gleefully kept us informed of every misstep and financial impropriety up until the money shot: the revelation of Jim's adultery with Jessica Hahn and the hush money to keep her quiet. It was the decade of the holy terror bimbo trinity: Jessica Hahn, Donna Rice, and Fawn Hall. Good times my friend, good times. (Give yourself a cookie if you can name the other two disgracees.)

Welp, anyhoo, Ms. Bakker like any good televangelist cut many albums. This track, "The Ballad of Jim and Tammy" is her 1987 swipe at Jerry Falwell who waded into their scandal-ridden ministry to help "save" it. This is her "Ballad of John and Yoko" - you wanna know what happened, download my friend and let Tammy Faye sing it to you in her own words.

Download (5.0 MB / 3:03)

The fine print: All downloads are provided for entertainment purposes only. VGG.COM accepts no responsibility, for anything, ever... blah blah blah blah blah blah nobody reads this blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

NEXT WEEK ... Hey, that Simpsons movie is out then? We'll do something for that next time, honest. in the meantime, if we get enough comments, I'll upload the A-sides of the 12" Sutra single I got this track from: Tammy Faye's "Farewell We Love You" and "God Bless America."

July 27, 2007

WTF Friday - Viet Keane!

This painting. Oy. Found it in a thrift store in Pittsboro, NC last year. Three bucks and worth every penny.

Hipsters know about the big-eyed kid paintings of the 1960s by Margaret Keane, the cutting edge of ghastly appalling kitsch of its day, like Hummel figurines, Tom Clark gnomes, or Thomas Kinkaide's faux-Victorian "light" paintings. This is NOT a genuine Keane, but a knockoff, and not just a knockoff, but a BIZARRE Vietnam soldier version, replete with a sickly-sweet, glurge-y poem that isn't event broken up into the correct lines:

A Mother's love is like a rose hung on your chest
It reveals beauty and charm at its best
My Mother's love is the world you see
For it means so very much to me
I'm so glad that God above
gave to me such a Mother's Love

Hallmark, fire up those copyright lawyers! Also the painting has a handly spot where you can customize the signature. Here it's Larry. Larry, um, did you really think your Mom's was gonna like this present? Well, it's the thought that counts and war is hell.

July 23, 2007

MP3 Monday - Toonesbury

It's Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau's birthday! So we have a track from a fictional 1970s sensitive singer-songwriter he created, Jimmy Thudpucker. A whole album of his "greatest hits" was put out in 1978. This is a special "live" version of one of them from a radio promo version of the album. Enjoy the laid-back yacht rock of "Stop! In the Middle of Your Life."

Download (6.8 MB / 4:10)

The fine print: All downloads are provided for entertainment purposes only. VGG.COM accepts no responsibility, for anything, ever... blah blah blah blah blah blah nobody reads this blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

NEXT WEEK ... Hey, that Simpsons movie will be out then, right? We'll do something for that.

July 16, 2007

MP3 Monday - Flatley-lining

In honor of the birthday of Michael Flatley, Lard of the Dunce, we have an Irish song fer ye. Okay, this track's not so hard to find. Actor Denis Leary was once comedian Denis Leary, and tacked this song onto his otherwise spoken-word 1993 No Cure For Cancer CD, which, along with a handful of other songs on the album just plays into the cliche of comedians all secretly wanting to be musicians. Especially when he did an episode of MTV's unplugged where he played this song.. Anyhoo, check out Denis Leary's "Traditional Irish Folk Song," it's pretty funny.

Download (2.4MB / 1:30)

The fine print: All downloads are provided for entertainment purposes only. VGG.COM accepts no responsibility, for anything, ever... blah blah blah blah blah blah nobody reads this blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

NEXT WEEK ... It's Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau's birthday! So we have a couple of Doonesbury tracks to choose from! So... do you want the Reagan rapping one, or the not-Reagan rapping one?

Use the comments button to cast your VOTE NOW!

July 13, 2007

WTF Friday - Driving us bananas

This week's found weirdness is from the inside of a JuicyJuice pack label. Like a lot of prodcuts aimed at kids, they thought they'd throw some semi-entertaining crap on the packaging, like this illustrated joke: "Why do bananas never get lonely? Because they always hang out in bunches!" Hilarious if your age is in the low single digits, I'm sure.


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The more closely one examines this illustration, the more disturbing and confusing it becomes. All this lame play on words needs is a drawing of some vaguley anthropomorphic bananas hanging out, having a good time. Bananas + happy face and bam, you're done! But this artist has drawn a scene of odd psychological depth, a psycho-drama playing out before your children's eyes. First, the artist has gendered the bananas, male and female he created them. The male banana has turned his back to the female banana, crossing his arms, a stern look up upon his features. This is not a friendly banana! This banana is not just hanging out in a bunch. What's his problem?! For all his aloofishness, his eyes look backward at the female banana.

And what the hell is the female banana doing?! Look at her... her come-hither look, her lanquidly long lashed eyes, her dainty nose, her open smiling mouth, her raised eyebrows asking unspoken questions, and most bizarre, her hand hooked on her open peel (which the artist has cleverly equated with clothing) at the cleveage area, offering... what? A peek? More? A night of sybaritic pleasure for a price? Now look back to the male banana- his body is turned, clearly saying no, but look at his lip- there is doubt, temptation lingering there. His arms are crossed, also saying no, but examine more carefully- his right hand is firmly grasping his left upper arm- resolute! He will not be swayed, but his LEFT hand, ah see how already it has slipped from grasping the upper right arm- see the open palm, pressed against his chest, sweaty no doubt with the unspoken promises that lie beneath the female banana's peel. That hand wants to slide down and free the blocked-in right hand, so he can get his wallet out. He is cracking, my friend, and his stern moral facade is just that, a facade. He wants her, even though he knows he mustn't; he shouldn't, but he is cracking, and he will have her, because he cannot long resist!

Why do bananas never get lonely? Because. They. Are. Whores. Filthy, sexy, succulent whores, and you want one so bad you can taste it.

July 09, 2007

MP3 Monday - You Are Special


Yes even scum like you are special to Mister Rogers!

Mister Rogers cut many albums for kids, but no track as oddly nonsensical as this one, "Troll Talk," from his "You Are Special" album. No not that kind of "special," you sniggering jackanape. The good, life-affirming kind of special. People like to make fun Mister Rogers. But frankly, those people can go to hell. Mister Rogers was a saint and those people aren't worthy to lick either the dress shoes he changed out of, nor the sneakers he changed into at the start of every episode of MisteRogers' Neighborhood.

Download (2.4MB / 1:30)

The fine print: All downloads are provided for entertainment purposes only. VGG.COM accepts no responsibility, ever, for anything... blah blah blah blah blah blah nobody reads this blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

NEXT WEEK ... It's the birthday of Michael Flatley, Laird of the Riverdance!!! So we're going to Irish it up! Down a Guiness and vote between:

*Dennis Leary's "Traditional Irish Folk Song"

*Tom Lehrer's "The Irish Ballad"

*and... uh... "Christmas in Kilarney" by Bing Crosby.

Use the comments button to cast your VOTE NOW!

July 06, 2007

WTF Friday - Sign here for porn!

This week's found weirdness is from 1969. Huh huh, sixty-nine. Get it? Huh huh huh. And our sniggering is entirely appropriate! This piece of paper is a waiver form you had to sign back in the day to go see the porno film Infrasexum.


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Now you had to be a fairly ballsy trenchcoated creep to go to porno theater back then, so imagine that after you've gotten your courage up to go to a real live porno theater, turned up your trenchcoat collar so no one will see you, paid in nice, untraceable cash, and then they thrust this at you- sign here, name, address, ekcetera! Um, that's a boner killer for sure. I'm sure that many an "I.P. Freely" and "Harry Balls" signed that form. Perhaps they lived at 123 Main Street? Yes, very likely. Now we have the Internet, and even infants can download porn right in the safety of their own crib! Much better, right?

Anyhoo, we've submitted this puppy as an entry in the coolest ephemera contest that the ephemera- exploring the world of old paper blog is having!

July 02, 2007

MP3 Monday - Sci Hi Fi

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Bobby Goldsboro, please find a better barber!

On July 2, 1947 SOMETHING landed in Roswell, New Mexico. What, precisely, has been a matter of tense, speculative wheel-spinning for generations of people who really need to get out more. Musically, however, it's an excuse for this week's science-fiction-related song! Bobby Goldsboro, one of the ugliest people to ever have a hit in the 1960s, recorded the insane post-apocalyptic song "The World Beyond," (from his 1968 Word Pictures album) where Grandpa reminisces to junior about fantastic things that no longer exist, like trees.

Download (3.9MB / 2:23)

The fine print: All downloads are provided for entertainment purposes only. VGG.COM blah blah blah blah blah blah nobody reads this blah blah blah blah are you being probed? blah blah blah space misbehavin' .

NEXT WEEK ... Junkyard grab bag of crazy quilt miscellanous smorgasbord !
*The environmentally conscious 70s song by TommyNations "Whatcha Gonna Do When The Onzone Goes."

*Mr. Rogers' "Troll Talk." Yes, THE Misterrogers.

*Great terrible swingin' cocktail jazz song-poem: "The Golf Song" by Ralph Lowe.

Use the comments button to cast your VOTE NOW!