Fun, Fun, Fun!

I did something very exciting yesterday . . . I bought tickets to see the Beach Boys!

The Beach Boys are one of my favorite bands. I saw them for the first time during my freshman year of college. The concert was wonderful, even though Mike Love was the only original Beach Boy touring with the band's name at the time.

This time, however, all of the surviving Beach Boys are touring together for the first time in more than 20 years:

• Mike Love
• Brian Wilson
• Al Jardine
• Bruce Johnston
• David Marks

The Beach Boys are touring to celebrate their 50th anniversary. To see if there is anything else exciting going on, I checked out the Beach Boys' official website. I learned that the Beach Boys are even releasing a new album and and a new single to celebrate!

As I work to get through my finals at the end of this semester, I will be looking forward to seeing the Beach Boys when summer rolls around. After all, what better way to enjoy summer vacation than to attend a concert by the Boys of Summer themselves?

Sad Week for 1960s Fans

It has been a sad week for fans of 1960s pop culture. Word spread quickly on April 18 about the death of Dick Clark, the famed radio and television personality. Clark is best known for his shows American Bandstand and New Year's Rockin' Eve. Affectionately known as "America's Oldest Teenager," Clark always remained young at heart, even through his declining health in recent years.

Perhaps not as widely publicized last week was the death of Jonathan Frid. Although Frid may not have been as well known as Dick Clark, he holds a place near and dear to my heart. In my past posts, I have mentioned my love for the 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows. Jonathan Frid played Barnabas Collins, the show's main character.

Before Barnabas Collins arrived on the scene, Dark Shadows was on the verge of being cancelled. Dan Curtis, the show's producer, decided that he wanted the show to go out with a bang. So he decided to add a 175-year-old vampire to the mix.

Canadian actor Jonathan Frid's true passion was Shakespearean theater. He brought a sympathetic elegance to the character of Barnabas Collins, believing that "every monster is a human of sorts."

Jonathan Frid in costume as Barnabas Collins in a 1960s publicity still

Fans, including a young Tim Burton and a young Johnny Depp, became entranced with the remorseful vampire whom Frid crafted. Dark Shadows went on to see its greatest successes because of the introduction of Barnabas Collins.

Over 40 years later, Jonathan Frid and several of his co-stars would perform cameo appearances in Tim Burton's new film adaptation of Dark Shadows. Johnny Depp, portraying Barnabas Collins in the film, said that Frid "was elegant and magical as I had always imagined."

I was especially touched by a tribute to Frid by one of his co-stars, David Selby. Selby played Quentin Collins, another main character on Dark Shadows. As such, he also got to make a cameo appearance in the new film. Selby recalls memories of Frid from the set of the film as well as from the set of the soap opera itself.

Frid was very much looking forward to Dark Shadows' rebirth on the big screen. Frid saved Dark Shadows when he joined the cast in 1967; because of him, the show achieved cult status and will be released in its reimagined form next month.

As Tim Burton exclaimed after Frid's death, "Barnabas lives on!" Barnabas lives on because of the passion with which Frid crafted his character.

Trololo Guy! (aka Eduard Khil)

One of the most important ongoing events during the 1960s was the Cold War.

I have said that I want to stay away from politics in my blog, but I will make an exception for this post (sort of).

One of my favorite Internet memes came out of the tense and trying times of the Cold War: Trololo guy.

Although the Trololo meme has been around for several years, I'm not sure how many people know the story behind it.

Trololo guy is Eduard Khil, a Russian pop singer who became popular during the 1960s.
Now 77, Khil has said that he enjoys his reborn fame as a meme.

In 1976, Khil was to perform the song that became "Trololo" on Soviet television. The song was originally entitled "I Am Glad, 'Cause I am Finally Returning Back Home." The lyrics concerned an American cowboy who rides home to see his sweetheart.

Concerned that the Soviet government would not allow him to sing about an American, Khil instead filled the heavily orchestrated melody with the now-famous "Trololo" pseudo-lyrics. Thirty-three years later, the song became Internet-meme history.

I thought that this song was hilarious the first time that I heard it. After learning the song's background story, I am glad that most tensions of the Cold War have passed. I am also glad that we can now enjoy Khil's decision to "Trololo" his way through the song.

What do you think?

A Class on the Beatles?

I have mentioned before that I am lucky enough to be taking a class on my favorite band: The Beatles.

As we come to the end of our semester, we are learning about the Beatles' final years as a group.

Today in class, we watched this video of the Beatles performing their hit song "Hey Jude" in 1968.

Our professor told us that recording "Hey Jude" was a fun and special experience for the members of the group.

With all the tensions building in the band during their later years, there was a brief period during the recording of the White Album in which Ringo Starr quit the band. All three of his bandmates begged the legendary drummer to return until he finally did.

The parrot on Paul's shoulder probably refers to the line "the movement you need is on your shoulder." Paul originally wanted to discard the lyric, but John told him to keep it.

George Harrison covered Ringo's drumset with flowers to welcome him back into the band. The next song that the Beatles recorded together was "Hey Jude." The four of them were in high spirits, happy to be together again (for the moment).

I will admit that I got a little emotional watching this recording of the song. I started to think about how much the Beatles have meant to me since I was a kid. I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to take an actual class on the band that I love so much.

Reflections on My Blog

Over the past few months, I have had a fun time writing blog posts about 1960s pop culture.

I have gotten to write about some of my favorite TV shows, musicians, movies, and art from the 1960s. I have also done some research on my own about fashion (go-go boots) and music gatherings (Summer Jam at Watkins Glen).

One of the parts of writing my blog that I most enjoy is that I learn something new for each post that I write.

When I write about a new topic that interests me, I can start from scratch and research it. When I write about a familiar topic, I find myself exploring new web sites to refresh my memory, so I still learn something new.

I also enjoy this blog because it is something that I can share with friends and family members.

I especially like to show my parents my new posts. They were young in the 1960s and liked many of the same aspects of pop culture that I like now. Sometimes they help me come up with ideas for new topics to write about. My mom, for example, went to the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen and suggested that I do some research about it.

I would like to continue my blog in much the same way I have been writing it so far.

I would like to bring in some new topics that I do not know as much about so that I can keep learning when I write new posts.

I also want to keep writing about familiar topics so that I can learn new tidbits about the things that I love.

My parents have asked me why I don't research some of the important political events of the 1960s for my blog. I know that politics are important, but they have never been a source of much fun for me.

I want to keep my blog fun. As most college students do, I have a lot of homework. Not all of it is very fun.

This blog, however, provides me with a nice outlet to talk about things that I enjoy. I would like to stay on the topic of pop culture because it gives me the opportunity to have a little fun with my schoolwork every week.

What do you think of my blog so far?

Kirk and Spock turn 81!

This week I want to celebrate two of my favorite TV stars from the 1960s: William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Both actors celebrated their 81st birthdays within the last week.

I wouldn't call myself a straight-up Trekkie. But I will admit that when I was 16, I succumbed to the powerful urge to buy this lovely box set of the original series of Star Trek.

Much like my love for Dark Shadows, part of my love for the original series of Star Trek stems from the show's high level of campiness. I also appreciate, however, that most episodes of Star Trek do attempt to convey positive messages.

The characters of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock have always been two of my favorites from the show. I love watching the dynamics of the relationship between these two very different characters.

And I have always loved that William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are close friends in reality, as well.

Instead of sharing a clip from Star Trek to celebrate these actors' birthdays, I want to share two clips that I have discovered over the years of the Shat and Nimoy in their careers as solo . . . singers.

The first clip is Leonard Nimoy's "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins."

This song is really too campy for words. I read that it was filmed while Nimoy was still working on Star Trek, so the actor was still wearing his traditional Spock hairdo. And those backup dancers . . . are they supposed to be wearing hobbit ears or Vulcan ears?

The second clip is William Shatner's rendition of the Elton John hit "Rocket Man."

While Nimoy's "Ballad" cracks me up, the Shat's "Rocket Man" kills me. Shatner performed this song at the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards.

I have shown this video to everyone close to me. Reactions have ranged from confusion to awe. I know that this song is ridiculous, but it really feeds into the legend that William Shatner has created of himself: "I'm a rock-it-man!"

Happy Birthday to William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy!

"Strange is Relative"

The title for this post is the slogan for the new movie Dark Shadows, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. The movie premieres on May 11th, and I must admit that I am stoked. After all, I have been waiting for this movie for a grand total of . . . 5 years! (Almost.)

I have been a fan of the 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows for almost 5 years now, as I described in my first post. For even longer, I have been a fan of Johnny Depp.

When I first heard that Depp was starring as the vampire Barnabas Collins in a movie called Dark Shadows, my mother mentioned that she had watched the original soap opera as a girl, and the rest is history.

Needless to say, I was thrilled last week when Dark Shadows' trailer finally premiered. I watched the trailer very closely several times before I decided how I felt.


There are a few changes to Dark Shadows for the movie that get on my nerves. It bothers me that Barnabas Collins, a tried and true vampire, goes out in the daylight in the movie. He also appears to divulge his vampirism to everyone in the Collins family.

Neither of these situations would ever have occurred in the soap opera. I cannot count the number of plots that revolve around Barnabas' restricted existence as a vampire; an important part of this existence is that Barnabas cannot leave his coffin during the day.

There are an equally innumerable number of plotlines that revolve around the need to keep Barnabas' vampirism a secret. These are some of the juiciest plotlines that Dark Shadows has to offer! It seems such a shame to throw away the possibilities that come with this secret, as they appear to do in the new movie.

I find it amusing how defensive I get of the original Dark Shadows when I think about a movie that has not even been released yet. If not for this movie, after all, I would never have even heard of the show!

I already know that I will always like the original soap opera better than the movie, even if the movie is great.

The show has so much more breadth due to its 1,225-episode run. There are countless plotlines, characters, places, and even dimensions and periods of time from the soap opera that viewers of the new Dark Shadows will never get to know.

In the end, however, I am glad that my favorite show, which has been off the air for over 40 years, is being resurrected in film.

The movie will bring a fresh outlook to Dark Shadows and maybe even introduce new fans to the original show.

I understand that the movie will be and needs to be different, because soap operas and their over-the-top tones are a dying breed. It seems that the movie will have a comic slant that was not present (on purpose, anyway) in the soap opera. I will thoroughly enjoy watching some of my favorite fictional characters whoop it up on the big screen.

POW! Roy Lichtenstein's Pop Art

One of the many artistic innovations developing during the 1960s was pop art.

Pop artists questioned the traditional definitions of art. They proposed the then sensational idea that everyday items and mass media images could be considered forms of art. Why not?

My favorite pop artist from the 1960s is Roy Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein is most well known for his paintings inspired by comic book panels.

Lichtenstein was originally inspired to recreate comic book panels in his work when one of his sons pointed to a panel of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and challenged his father to do better. Lichtenstein went on to use comic books as the source for much of his artwork.

Characteristics of comic book panels that commonly appear in Lichtenstein's work include:

• Ben-Day dots (the dots comprising pictures in comic books)
• Vibrant colors
• Thought bubbles
• Speech balloons
• Written sound effects

I like Lichtenstein's work so much because I agree with the idea that comic books are an art form. Although I do not regularly read any comic books, I recognize the amount of effort that goes into drawing and writing these books.

Lichtenstein celebrates the drama and vivacity of comic panel artwork on a grand scale that draws me in on different levels of emotion and imagination. What do you think?

Sad News from the Monkees

I was so sad to hear today that the Monkees' Davy Jones has died. He was only 66.

I know that a lot of people consider the Monkees to be a "fake band." Their show The Monkees capitalized on the success of the Beatles' comedic movies A Hard Day's Night and Help. In their show, the Monkees partake in various shenanigans but still have time to make some groovy tunes.

I count the Monkees among my favorite musical groups. Even if they were put together for the commercial success of a TV show, each one of the Monkees was talented. I enjoy listening to the music that these talented individuals produced together.

Throughout my life, I have been able to identify with such hits as "I'm a Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville," and "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone." The happiness and satisfaction that I feel while listening to the Monkees' music is enough for me to respect them as a musical group, no matter how they may have been formed.

I will always think of Davy Jones fondly when I listen to one of my favorite songs, "Daydream Believer." He will be greatly missed.

"The Largest Music Gathering Ever"

Although I have been focusing on 1960s pop culture so far, today I wanted to write about something that resulted from 1960s pop culture. The 1969 Woodstock rock festival inspired the July 28, 1973 Summer Jam at Watkins Glen.

Over 30 artists had performed at Woodstock, but only 3 major bands performed at Watkins Glen, which also took place in New York:

• The Allman Brothers Band
• The Grateful Dead
• The Band

Although far fewer musicians performed at Watkins Glen, the turnout was greater than at Woodstock by about 100,000 people: 600,000 people attended the Summer Jam, which was advertised as "The Largest Music Gathering Ever."

This huge turnout of young rock fans naturally produced a number of intriguing stories at the Summer Jam. Pirate radio station CFR AM broadcast the event. Each band performed for astonishing lengths of time; the Grateful Dead gave the longest concert at 5 hours. There was even one young woman who gave birth at Watkins Glen.

My mom was one of the 600,000 rock fans in attendance at the Summer Jam. She was happy to be a part of the experience but acknowledged that the event did not have as much cultural impact as Woodstock did.

Rock fan Robb Strycharz wrote an account of the Summer Jam. He gave some explanation as to why the huge turnout at Watkins Glen did not make much history. Strycharz explains that "the protests, the placards, the defiance, and the true revolutionary zeal of the young had actually subsided" since the 1960s. While young people in the 1970s still loved coming together for rock, they may not have had as much desire for social change as for listening to music. The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen shows an interesting social transition between the 1960s and 1970s.

Go-Go Boots!

Today I woke up to see a couple of inches of snow outside my window . . . I wish I had worn boots today!

I realize that thus far in my blog, I have written about parts of 1960s pop culture like TV, movies, and music. Today I thought I would talk about some 1960s fashion—in particular, go-go boots!

My mom had a pair of go-go boots when she was growing up, and they always sounded like so much fun to wear/dance in when she talked about them. I've been reading about the history of go-go boots this week, and I learned some interesting facts:

• The word go-go comes from the French word la gogue, meaning joy or happiness.
• Before go-go boots became popular, it was unusual for women to wear boots in nice weather.
• Nancy Sinatra's song "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" increased the popularity of go-go boots.

After seeing some of the different varieties of go-go boots, I am tempted to buy a pair!

But soft! Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I have been thinking lately of one of my favorite movies: Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, which premiered in 1968. My first experience with the play Romeo and Juliet was not completely positive. I went on a class field trip to see a production of it when I was 12 or 13. Because I had never read the play before, I had some trouble understanding the dialogue. Even so, I remember not liking the cold, empty sets of this modernized rendition of the play.

When I was 14, I read the play in English class my freshman year of high school and immediately loved it. My English teacher only fed the fire when he showed my class Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet.

I loved the movie because it played so well off of my imagination. I especially love that the lead actors, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, were so young. Earlier movie renditions of the play had cast older veteran actors in the roles of Romeo and Juliet. But I think that the angst and energy of Whiting and Hussey are a perfect match for the intense drama of Romeo and Juliet. And after studying abroad in Rome, I now appreciate even more the movie's beautiful setting of Renaissance Italy. I still get chills just watching the trailer.

While reading about the movie this week, I found an original review of the movie from The New York Times. I don't completely agree with everything that the review says. I would hardly describe the Nurse as "cold," for example. However, as I mentioned above, I heartily agree with the review's statement that the lead characters are "as young and full of life as they ought to be." If you have seen the movie, what do you think?

A Groovy Find from Life Magazine

As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently taking a class on the Beatles. I am going to write a paper on the (amusingly outlandish) Paul is Dead conspiracy theory that surfaced during the Beatles' later years. While reading about the conspiracy, I learned that the theory had gotten so serious that Life Magazine published an article and a statement from Paul McCartney in November 1969 to prove that the musician was still alive.

I found a full copy of this issue of Life on Google Books. Google Books has available almost all issues of Life Magazine between 1935 and 1970. As can be seen from the subject matter of my previous posts, I have a great interest in different aspects of 1960s pop culture. As I browsed this issue of Life, I got a thoroughly enjoyable look at different aspects of life in the late 1960s.

The article about the rumors of Paul McCartney's death was highly amusing. It included not only a statement from Paul himself but also quotes from the president of the Is Paul McCartney Dead Society at Hofstra University. Other parts of the magazine that I especially enjoyed include a photo interview with a wealthy 7-year-old girl from New York City and all of the late-1960s advertisements.

I hope my readers enjoy looking through this magazine as much as I did! What were your favorite parts?

Shakespearean Beatles

During my years as an undergraduate, I have been fortunate enough to take some classes that interest me not only in an academic sense, but on a personal level, as well. Two of these classes were Early and Later Shakespeare. Ever since I read Romeo and Juliet my freshman year of high school, I have always looked forward to studying The Bard at school. Last summer I was even priveleged enough to see his home at Stratford-upon-Avon (above right) and to visit the Globe Theatre in London.

Another class of great personal interest to me in which I am currently enrolled is about the Beatles. I have been a Beatles fan since elementary school. My parents and I saw Ringo in concert when I was 13, and I nearly cried when I visited Abbey Road Studios in London and took pictures of the loving grafitti on the walls outside (left).

During a class discussion on Midsummer Night's Dream in my Early Shakespeare class, our teacher mentioned that the Beatles had once performed the comical play-within-a-play of Pyramus and Thisbe from the final act. The Beatles did this comical performance as part of a television special called "Around the Beatles," which aired just after Shakespeare's 400th birthday.

I love this clip because of its sheer obscurity. I love the fact that my favorite band performed a scene from my favorite playwright all the way back in 1964. The excitement and energy that surrounded the Beatles in their early years sets the perfect tone for the rowdy and comical scene at the end of Midsummer Night's Dream.

My Only Must-See

Here I am, writing my first post in a blog of my very own! (All other blogs that I have participated in have been class-discussion blogs created by professors.) My name is Katie. I am a fourth year college student majoring in English with a minor in Art History. Fun fact: I completed most of my minor while studying abroad in Rome, Italy, through a program offered by my school.

Although I could regale you with exciting tales of being locked in the bathroom at an Italian McDonald’s, for my first post, I want to talk about my must-see TV shows. Rather, I want to talk about my only must-see TV show. It’s an obscure little soap opera that ran from 1966-1971 called Dark Shadows. I would describe myself as a nerd, and my love for Dark Shadows is one of the reasons why. The show is set in the fictional fishing village of Collinsport, Maine, and revolves around the lives of a 175-year-old vampire, Barnabas Collins, and his wealthy shipping-magnate family.

First of all, I love that the show is set in Maine. I’m a fan of quite a few shows from the sixties, but most of them seem to take place in generic cities, the tropics, the Old West, space, out on the farm, etc. I just love how random and specific of a location that Maine is as a setting.

Secondly, and more importantly, I love the characters of Barnabas Collins and the Collins family. He’s angsty, they’re rich, everyone is dysfunctional, and gothic madness ensues. This show was full of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, witches, disembodied hands, damsels in distress, and foppish-fathers-turned-into-cats well before the supernatural craze seen in today’s pop culture. (Lucky for me, today’s pop cultural interest in the supernatural has spawned a new Dark Shadows movie, starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton, that is set to debut in May.) Numerous classic gothic tales appear as Dark Shadows plotlines. The original tales are classic, and I love them even more as played out in the familiar confines of Collinsport with the well-loved members of the Collins family as the characters.

Although I love the setting and plots of Dark Shadows, the most important reason why I am so glad to have been hooked on this show for almost five years is that watching Dark Shadows is an experience that I have always shared with my mom. As a pre-teen, my mom would race home from school to catch the latest episode of Dark Shadows every weekday. Now, as an adult, she has rediscovered the show while her daughter has discovered it for the first time. I can’t count the number of times we’ve screamed or cracked up at the delightful, campy horror of it all while sitting on our living room couch. Watching a half-hour episode of Dark Shadows provides some perfect mother-daughter time that I always look forward to. I’ve been a fan of many TV shows in my life, but none of those have provided me with the opportunity to share something special with my mom. It is for this final reason that Dark Shadows is my must-see show and easily takes the cake as my all-time favorite show, disembodied hands down.

As a special treat for whoever reads this post, I am including the link to my favorite Dark Shadows fansite from over the years. The site has a forum, pictures, wallpapers, and other goodies that make Dark Shadows fans like myself scream: http://www.collinwood.net/