Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Nectarine"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show, on KUCR 88.3 FM, I decided to keep my rambling brief again but there were a few things that I blabbed about (as is expected). Firstly, I played a song by Bobo Jenkins titled Nothing But Love and I mentioned that he is also known for his song Democrat Blues which was written on Election Day in 1952. Bobo had some reservations about Eisenhower because he felt anxiety towards how Republicans handled the Great Depression.

 

After talking about Bobo Jenkins I mentioned how Ann Brewer and The Flames were inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame back in 2008. Never heard of the Kansas Music Hall of Fame? Well, the music hall is in Beloit, Kansas which is a small town with a population that hovers just below 4,000 and there is a lovely little video that documents the induction here. I'm not to sure about the title of their song that I played which is labeled Rockin' In A Wooden Sack in just about every version I could locate, however, it makes more sense that it would be Rockin' In A Wooden Shack. Who knows?

And quickly we'll go through some other topics I covered on this week's show. You heard some Shocking Blue on the episode and I talked about their most famous song Venus. I know you've heard the song either from the shaver commercial or Bananarama's cover but have you seen their respective music videos? Both are somewhat humorous with Shocking Blue looking stiff and confused while Bananarama are extremely confident in their bizarre video featuring fire, vampires (?), the devil, and some awkward dancing. Whenever I talk about Bananarama, which isn't very often, I mention the song that plays during the credits of the 1986 horror film Killer Party. It's obviously influenced by Bananarama's Cruel Summer and it doesn't really fit the tone of the film's ending but it sure is catchy. 

Towards the end of the show you heard The Shags play Don't Press Your Luck but have you ever heard of The Shaggs? If you dig music that is unusual but earnest you have to check out their only release Philosophy of The World. While you check out The Shaggs you should also add Thee Oh Sees' cover of  The Creation's If I Stay Too Long to your queue. You heard the original as the second to the last song on this week's episode.

Whew, now that that's over you can check out this week's playlist below:

 

 
Pamela Shaw - Just Like You Like It

Wayne Anthony - Stealin' Charlie Brown

Claude et ses Tribuns - J'en Ai Assez

The Reasons Why - Don't Be That Way

Tides In - Trip With Me

Printable Action Santa Cardboard Box Papercraft Template

There was one year where no matter where I went these walking Santa toys kept popping up. There are a ton of minor variations between each model but they all seem to have come from the same factory in Taiwan. All of the Robo-Santas that I found were versions that walked, rang a bell, and played a few songs. Here's a video made by Meoki which shows one in action.

I used this image in a video featuring a Christmas that song I wrote.

However, either due to the age, the terrible quality of the plastic internals, or a mix of the two, the toys seem to be extremely fragile. Because of my bad impulse buying habits I grabbed a few of them and only one of them seems to work. Sort of. It mainly just whirs and grinds away at its plastic gears. If you happen to open one up you'll most likely see that the plastic gears are cracked or broken in some way. One of my Santas actually plays music but the volume is unusually loud and there is no way to turn it down. My guess would be that the manufacturer wanted to insure that you'd hear the music over the whining motor and tiny bell. 

There isn't really any branding on the robot Santas that I have besides this weird little "B" logo that can be found on the bottom of one of the toy's feet. I'd bet the logo doesn't actually represent any company but rather was made up in order to give the toy some sort of legitimacy. It's all a big mystery to me. Not necessarily a mystery worth solving but a mystery nonetheless.

My recreation of the mysterious "B" logo

All of that being said, I was putting up some Christmas decorations when I unpacked one of the boxes that had the Robo-Santas. Inside that box I found another box containing the packaging which held ACTION SANTA! I'm not exactly sure why but I really enjoy the aesthetics of generic commercial art.  Maybe it's the same thing that attracts people to Naïve art. Anyway, I like the box so much that I thought it'd look nice as an ornament so I created a little papercraft template. All the images on the template were scanned directly from ACTION SANTA's box, including the price tag from the thrift store that I bought it at. I didn't add holes for an ornament hanger but I think that it'd be easy enough to figure something out. Plus, you might just want to have it sit on your desk or something. Because the tolerances are pretty tight you can probably get away with only having to glue or tape one side if you are printing the template on card stock. Let me know if you try it out! I'd love to see some pictures of your creations.

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Eggplant"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show, on KUCR 88.3 FM, there wasn't any movie suggestions but, as always, I did throw out some random factoids and ramblings. I mean, what else would you expect from me? 

One thing that I mentioned was how I'd like to get more info on the music scene in Riverside during the '60s. I played a song that was performed by the Caretakers entitled "Summer Moments" and while researching the group I found out that the members were local to our lovely radio station. There isn't a ton of info about the band but I was intrigued to learn a little about the history of Riverside's psychedelic scene and the local clubs that used to showcase bands. If you have any information that you'd like to share, or photos/audio I'd love to compile some stuff for a show or something. Let me know!

 Speaking of local history, there was a venue in San Bernardino that was known as the Swing Auditorium where a bunch of rock groups played and from what I can tell, it was a pretty happening place. Unfortunately, the venue was destroyed in 1981 when a twin-engine plane crashed through the building killing the plane's passengers. It's a pretty sad event that you can read about here.

Anywho, you can check out this week's playlist below:

 

 
The Snaps - You Don't Want Me

Caretakers - Summer Moments

Les Sauterelles - Dream Machine

Akiko Nakamura - Cross In The Sand