Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Honeydew"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I didn't talk too much (how's that possible?) but I did mention the first appearance of The Electric Prunes on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and how Dick Clark was amazed by the sound on their single I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night). 

Gassy?

 

If you've ever watched American Bandstand you've probably seen how most, if not all, of the bands lip-synced the songs. However, because of the far out sounds on The Electric Prunes' recordings, it's even more apparent that the group isn't really playing. In fact, if you pay close attention you'll see that their gear isn't even plugged in! I've always wondered if the people watching at home had any idea that it wasn't really live. Sort of like how people think wrestling is real. Anyhow, a later incarnation of The Electric Prunes performed live on European television which illustrates that they did have the chops, even if they weren't able to prove it through American Bandstand.

After talking a bit about the Prunes I mentioned how Tulsa, Oklahoma was home to the garage band Young Aristocracy and how Tulsa is also home to the 6th tallest statue in the U.S., Golden Driller. To put the height in perspective, the Brontosaurus in Cabazon is about 10 feet shorter than the Golden Driller.

Golden Driller Photo Credit: ThaiTum

 

Back in the awful year of 2020, the city of Tulsa decided to repaint the Driller so that it would kind of resemble Elon Musk. This was a fun, yet sort of bizarre, attempt at enticing Tesla to build a factory in Tulsa. Because of the statue's simple features I think the result ended up looking more like a low-poly video game model; specifically one from 1997's Goldeneye 007. If you'd like to read more about the statue there is a great write-up that you can read about here. I hope to visit the Golden Driller one day. Perhaps, on my way to the Jolly Green Giant that I talked about on the Strawberry episode.

Thanks for tuning in! You can check out this week's playlist below:

 

The Electras - (Just A Little) Soul-Searchin’
She - Braids of Hair
The Chocolate Watch Band - Gone and Passes By
The Trespassers - Living Memories
The Deep - The Life Game

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Olive"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I threw out a slew of factoids that I'll quickly sum up before we get to the movie of the week. Firstly, I played Double Yellow Line by The Music Machine and mentioned that the paint that's used for road markings is mostly thermoplastic, which comes in a powder form, needs to be heated before applying to the asphalt, and typically contains glass beads which helps make the lines more visible. 

After my riveting paint rambling I talked about Os Tartaros' home city Porto, Portugal. Many people associate Port Wine with Porto because it's famously named after the city despite the fact that the wine is actually made in the Douro Valley. The wine is uniquely sweet and the grapes are still smashed by foot to this day. 

Finally, towards the end of the show you heard a cover of Jamo Thomas' I Spy (For The F.B.I.) which I mentioned was also covered by the Los Angeles mod/ska band The Untouchables. The band was one of the first, if not THE first ska bands from the US and they had a few hits on the UK charts including: Free Yourself which reached #26 in 1985. On a somewhat related note, did you know ska was around before reggae?

With all that being said it's time to check out this week's film recommendation Daimajin aka Majin the Monster of Terror. The movie mixes samurai and kaiju elements to tell the story of a village that sits at the feet of a mountain where an old demon statue god lives. The villagers respect the old demon god and appease him through ancient rituals when his anger causes earthquake-like tremors. Unfortunately for the villagers, during one of the demon god's earthquakes a group of rebel samurai successfully stage a coup against the village's samurai lord. The samurai lord's family flees to the mountains where they hide near the mountain god's resting place for a decade. Most of the movie follows the samurai's conflict and how the new samurai lord rules the village as a ruthless dictator. Because the movie is fairly short there isn't enough time for the plot to get stale and in many ways it reminds me of the pacing felt in old western movies. Of course the big payoff is in the end when the demon god awakes from his slumber and attacks the village after a botched attempt at destroying him. Unlike most Japanese monster flicks, the plot keeps your attention enough that you don't get too bored waiting to see the final conflict. It's a fun and quick watch that is worth a watch if you like samurai movies, big monster movies, or campy period pieces.

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

The Unrelated Segments - Story of My Life
Gene and The Esquires - Space Race
Triffids - Moon Safari
The Wet Paint - Shame
The Strangers - Caterpillar Crawl
The Shadows Of Knight - Run Run Billy Porter
Luther Ingram - I Spy (For The F.B.I.)
The Fox - Mr. Carpenter
Arcus - Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Apricot"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard The Gants play their song I'm A Snake and I mentioned that their hometown of Greenwood, Mississippi was used as a stand-in for Jackson, Mississippi during the filming of the 2011 film The Help. Although the film was nominated for many Academy Awards and Octavia Spencer won the award for Best Supporting Actress, the film has been critiqued for taking the viewpoint of white characters while perpetuating the cliche of a white savior. In fact, both Viola Davis and Bryce Dallas Howard have expressed regret towards their involvement in the film. Although Greenwood was used as a substitute location for Jackson it too has a history of racial inequity and violence. 

Getting back to the band, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of info on The Gants but I did find an interview on an archived version of their old official website. The interview goes through the bands origin and how they went on tour and shared the stage with popular bands including The Animals and The Yardbirds.

On a different note, I played Los Iberos' version of The Castaways' hit song Liar, Liar and I mentioned that Debbie Harry recorded her own take on the song for the 1988 film Married To The Mob. Before Married To The Mob Debbie Harry had also preformed on other movie soundtracks including the song Rush Rush which appeared on the soundtrack for Scarface, Feel The Spin for the film Krush Groove, and later she continued her soundtrack work with a cover of Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues for 1993's That Night before performing on the bizarre soundtrack for the trashy (but lovable?) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. Ms. Harry has done a lot of additional work as both an actress and singer on various movies over the years but one common thread in her work in film is that there's always something unusual about the projects she attaches herself to.

Speaking of unusual movies, this week's movie suggestion is American International Pictures' Dr. Goldfoot and The Bikini Machine starring the master of low budget horror Vincent Price. Unlike most of Price's work Dr.Goldfoot leans more towards a comedy than anything else but if you pay attention to the set pieces you'll see that many of them were used in other AIP films such as the spooky The Pit and The Pendulum which also starred Price. The best thing about the movie has to be the theme song by The Supremes which plays during an animated introduction made by none other than Art Clokey who is best known as the creator of Gumby and Davey and Goliath. The plot revolves around Dr. Goldfoot's foolproof plan to steal the world's wealth by creating a band of robot seductresses that obey his every command. There's more to the movie but that's the basic premise and although I'm sure everyone can predict how the film will end I think it's still zany enough to be entertaining for at least one watch. If you don't have the time to watch the full length film there is also a sequel of sorts that aired as a special episode of the variety show Shindig! The movie also got a proper sequel named Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs which I haven't seen but from everything I've read it seems like it should be avoided.

This week's playlist can be found below:
 

Pinkertons - Duke's Jetty
Christine Pilzer - Ah-Hem-Ho-Uh-Err
David Clayton-Thomas and The Shays - Take Me Back
Tom Thumb - Got Love
The Minitmen - Rollin' In Money
The Playboys - The Mean One

Hippie Love Turbo Radio Show - Code Word "Pomelo"

On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard The Malibu's play their song Cry (Over Her) which happens to be a single that fetches a decent price on the used market due to its rarity. What I found particularly interesting about the song is that it was released by the Pepsi Corporation on a flexi-disc as a promotional giveaway in Massachusetts. I couldn't find too much information on The Malibu's Pepsi flexi-disc but according to Discogs there were a few other promotional releases which included bands such as: The Frauleins, The Ramrods, and The Royal Knights.

I know that there might be some people out there that aren't hip to what a flexi-disc is but the name explains it quite well. Flexi-discs are records that are pressed on a flexible material that was often attached to cardboard to give it some heft. Most of the time they were used as promotional material and could be found attached to cereal boxes, inside magazines, or given away at political and social events. WFMU has a neat page which showcases a few bizarre examples. 

Outside of the US blue hued flexi-discs were common place in magazines throughout the USSR where they were used to spread light-hearted music and state propaganda. Another fascinating type of flexi-disc from the Soviet Union took form in bootleg recordings which were etched into old x-rays. Possessing and distributing these recordings was illegal and the level of quality varied drastically between each disc. These bone recordings are highly sought-after by music collectors and historians alike and you can read more about their history via The Bureau of Lost Culture's website.

Although it doesn't feature any x-ray bootlegs, you can check out this week's playlist below:

 

The Chylds - Hay Girl
The Zoo - You're Crazy Man
The Other Guys - Inside Looking Out