Modern Vespa

So from adventures on earth to adventures in deep space.

This was the first major film as director for a past mention tag.

It's a dark little sci-fi tongue-in-cheek comedy from 1974.

And one of the stars is a cute little "beachball with claws"

Dark Star, directed by John Carpenter. From Wikipedia: Although destined for eventual theatrical release in 1974, this was only possible as a consequence of a successful series of showings at a number of film festivals in 1973. Originally the film was a 45 minute student short filmed on 16mm film. The movie was seen by producer Jack H. Harris, who gained the theatrical distribution rights to the film, and arranged for it to be transferred to 35mm, and paid for the addition of 38 minutes which brought the movie up to feature film length.

Six years later, the basic "Beachball with Claws" subplot of the film was reworked from comedy to horror, and became the basis for the O'Bannon-scripted science fiction horror classic, Alien.

In the Sci-Fi B-movie realm, this one stands out for me. It was the first Sci-Fi movie I can remember seeing, from the back of the family sedan at the drive in. Spaceship returning from another planet is found in earth orbit. There are two survivors from the original mission, one of whom has brought home a rather nasty infection.

Typical cold-war-era cast: a professor, a female scientist who mainly seems to clean and (I think) make coffee but also screams a lot when there are scary monsters, a mission commander who puts the moves on the female scientist, a functionary with a freeze-ray gun, a military officer.

Typical late 50s, early 60s special effects - scenes using negative images saturated in red, running rocket launches in reverse to simulate rocket landings - and a trip to one of our closest planetary neighbors. Boy were they pissed off to have earthlings show up on their doorstep...I mean, the whole darn planet was seeing red!

well it may seems a big leap from the last tag to this one,

but it's not.

While they first started out named after a tree. But after the loss of one member who became internationally renowned as a solo artist they changed they name to that of the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound.

I didn't realize there was a band called Bell X-1! And here I was trying to work with Glamorous Glennis!

We should note there's some controvery over whether Chuck and Glennis were first. From Wikipedia:

"There are, however, several claims that the sound barrier was broken during World War II. Hans Guido Mutke claimed to have broken the sound barrier on April 9, 1945 in a Messerschmitt Me 262. Mütke reported not just transonic buffeting but the resumption of normal control once a certain speed was exceeded, then a resumption of severe buffeting once the Me 262 slowed again. He also reported engine flame out. However, this claim is widely disputed by various experts believing the Me 262's structure could not support high transonic, let alone supersonic flight.[5] The lack of area ruled fuselage and 10 percent thick wings did not prevent other aircraft from exceeding Mach 1 in dives. Chuck Yeager's Bell X1, the F-86 Sabre and the Convair Seadart seaplane exceeded Mach 1 without area rule fuselages. Computational tests carried out by Professor Otto Wagner of the München Technical University in 1999 suggest the Me 262 was capable of supersonic flight during steep dives. Recovering from the dive and the resumption of severe buffeting once subsonic flight was resumed would have been very likely to damage the craft terminally."

So to play along with this emerging theme....

that would be the B52's

So bring your jukebox money, cause we're heading down this highway lookin' for the love getaway.

I'm heading down the Atlanta Highway....but haven't yet reached the sign that says "Stay away, fool!" 8)

So that this one won't be ridiculously easy, who or what is sitting by your side?

OK, one for the coincidence file! I'd never heard of the band Bell X-1 before this morning's tag...and their song was just on the radio now! Clearly I was behind the curve and messycoloring was out there riding the shockwave!

And HINT for the tag above: the singer / songwriter for the referenced song was featured in an earlier tag.

nay I found it this morning, but ..........

Just been one of those days where you wonder if you'd look as dumb as you think you would in a "Mickey D's" uniform.

(do fries go with that shake)





if no one else gets it I'll tag it in the morning.

I Love LA - Randy Newman

this funkster ask the same question I did yesterday

It's Mr. P-Funk himself, George Clinton. Thought sadly, when I went to the Parliament-Funkadelic show at the Fillmore a year or two ago there was very little funk in evidence. If they hadn't played "Flashlight" there would have been no funk at all, save for a few vamps. It was disappointing.

And I've got to say that watching early era P-Funker Gary Shider wander the stage in his man-diaper was...well....let's just say the look was past its pull-date.

We've got the funk...gotta have the funk.

This family man and Bay Area DJ worked at the intersection of psychedelic, soul, and funk. He was pretty well-known for blowing off gigs or arriving late, but that may just be a "locals" view.

He had a slew of top singles in 1969, and played at Woodstock.

that would be Sly Stone

(seen here doing the Indian Larry)

ok so he wasn't at Woodstock in 1969 (he wasn't born yet).


But I think he would have enjoyed the gangster gumbo, even if it wasn't up to his chronic.

Snoop Dog!

Another group out of the SF Bay Area, this man and his band updated the whole P-Funk thang for the hip-hop audience. Famous dead gangsta rapper had his career start with them before going out on his own.

that would be Greg "Shock G" Jacobs aka Humpty Hump of Digital Underground.


and the famous dead gangsta rapper, that would be Tupac

ok dead rappers for 500


who was one of the originators of hyphy and is considered the creator of Thizz music.


He also worked with one of the last tags.



Oh yeah, he's from the Bay area.

I'm back. 8) And where the heck is everybody? Just me 'n' messy, surfing the waves of popular culture. Come on, somebody jump in!

This is Andre Hicks - known as Mac Dre - Oakland homie and yet another dead rapper. Nice find on the street mural, and I guess Sly must have been gettin' stupid with his Vespa.

Let's leave the Oaktown and go back in time. I'm guessing if this guy had come up in the '80s or '90s it would have been in the rap world. He had the swagger, the drugs, the self-promotion, and the general bad behavior down. He was also brilliant.

I was lucky enough to sneak into a smokey club in North Beach in 1969 (I was underage by a couple of years but my boyfriend was 21...and they didn't card as rigorously back then) to see them. The club held maybe 150 people. She was absolutely electric!

that would be Ika and Tina Turner.

well you know a lot of 1%er wear a patch with letters FTW.


Well I want one that says FTR.

Cause when ever it does, you're either riding in it saying it or sitting at home adding an "ing" and wishing it would stop so you could.

their too busy talking about karma

It's surprising how many of these were, and not all the same. Here's a slightly wider crop, but the same umbrella placement.

The only good thing about the rain is it means there's snow in the mountains (and more water for us to drink in CA come summertime). The bad news is there's snow in the mountains and I have no time to grab the skis and go play.

So I'm not going with any of the artists who've covered "I Can't Stand the Rain" but instead will stick with our weapon of choice and a singer who has found herself in the news recently for something other than her singing.

yes that would be,


Rihanna


( I will refrain from making any comments, as it appears that the whole world has something to say)

(we'll get back to our weapon of choice tag later)


ok so this crew may not dress as well as some of the other folks Rihanna hangs out with.

But hey, they've got 99 friends that could help her with her problems.

It's Bowling for Soup, with their 99 Biker Friends who will take care of abusive boyfriends. Good match up!

So while Bowling for Soup has their 99 biker friends, this German hardcore techno, jumpstyle, house, and occasionally even hip hop band has a name near and dear to our collective hearts.

With 14 million records, 21 top ten hits, and 80 gold and platinum awards, they are probably the most successful German band you've never heard of.

that would be Scooter,


Among their more well-known hits are "Hyper Hyper", "Move Your Ass!", "Fire", "How Much Is the Fish?" just to name a few.

Anna Mae Bullock grow up here and sang about this town a few tags ago.



you'll need the state also

OK, ok. I'll play. I have been job shopping. I think I will give up a while and hang out on the computer.

You folks were way out of my league for a while but I know this one.
Welcome to Nutbush, TN. We all love Anna Mae as Tina Turner.

I am always floored by the inductee list of this place - located in a city often called the best location in the nation. This institution would never even exist if it was not for the great musicians that passed through town, but this organizaton gets to vote to let them in one at a time.

Good to see you back! I'm on the business trip from hell this week so I'm really glad to see another player! Keep messy busy, eh?!

I will work on it.

So, do we need more time or a new clue before we can rock and roll this answer?