Saturday, February 20, 2010

Things that make me laugh

Looking back at some things that make me at least smile,if not laugh.

NBA basketball in the 1970's on television meant one voice-Breathless Brent Musburger.
The Musberger intro complete with background music complete with the 60's hit "Last Night" by the Mar-Keys blaring loudly meant pro basketball was on the air.
It usually was some long winded beginning with Brent raving about some journeyman like Charles Johnson of the Warriors or Garfield Heard of the Suns as if they saved mankind or something.
But even better was the actual theme in the mid 70's,which sounded like they rounded up some studio musicians to sound similar to the Starland Vocal Band or some other one hit wonder.
CBS changed the theme in a few years,but to this day,I still think about those intros every time that I watch an NBA game....


As a Star Trek fan (No Next Generation Please).watching last nights return of Real Time with Bill Maher brought back memories as guest Seth MacFarlane did a dead on impersonation of William Shatner from the "Taste of Armageddon" episode.
The over the top acting from Shatner is always humorous and yet the love that I have for the show never stops.
Perhaps sometime,I'll post pics of the Star Trek toys of my youth,which I still have today.(Still looking for a Mego Scotty to finish the set).
I am not old enough to remember Trek from its actual run,but I am part of the generation that saw it explode on syndicated television in the 70's to the point that the toys based on the show were made five or six years after the show was cancelled.

I had all this stuff,but the Enterprise just fell apart through the heavy play session,although the transporter section,might still be at my mom's.
Now that will be a YouTube moment when the day comes that I have to get my old stuff from there!
Check Shatner's speech near the 3:30 spot and listen to the MacFarlane impersonation around the 9 minute mark.



Living in the country,with Hagerstown being the hub of the county when I grew up meant the shopping was far more limited than it is today.
Hagerstown seemingly had the market cornered on some of the oddest department stores for that time.
Hagerstown did have an indoor mall,which was the rage at the time and a Kmart,but it was the other discount stores that stand out.
Town and Country (which is memorable to me for the time my dad waited in a long checkout in the only line open,waited until he got to the front and then slammed the stuff on the counter and walked out),Kings,Zayre (later Ames),Nichols and my favorite Two Guys.
Two Guys had the same crap as the others,but they had a in store version of an arcade,which was unique for the time complete with a "bowling alley" that had the pins that folded up and into the machine.
What all of these stores had in common besides being the Big Lots of their era,was that they usually weren't very clean,stuff hung around long after their prime had left and they usually wound up in the shopping areas that were dying.
Check the prices from 1979 from Two Guys "Holiday Harvester" sale.
14.99 for a bleeping iron? On 1979 money?
My lord!


And check the dead on impersonation of Adam West and Burt Ward for this Zayre ad.
This was so close that you can almost think that they had the actual West and Ward!


Until next time

Photo Credit:RobVader.com

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