On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM you heard The Others' cover of Howlin' Wolf's Smokestack Lightning and I talked about how the group (or some version of the group) recorded more music in 2012 and that I wasn't able to find any of it. Well, I guess I didn't look too hard because after the show I found the band's Soundcloud and YouTube channel. If you're interested in hearing their newer material I suggest that you first watch their live in-studio performance of Al Green's Take Me To The River which I first heard performed by a robotic fish. However, to my ears Big Mouth Billy Bass' version sounds more like the Talking Heads' adaptation.
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| Clip from WLUK-TV FOX 11 story describing how a Billy Bass stopped a burglary. |
Some of you out there might feel pretty nostalgic for good ol' Billy Bass. It's already been a over 20 years since the gag gift's big debut and I'm sure you may know of at least one person in your life that has one collecting dust in the attic, hiding in a box, or perhaps even proudly hanging up in the living room. Supposedly, Queen Elizabeth had one, as did George W. Bush, and my grandparents, but as with most fads Billy's popularity waned over the years after outselling another gag gift fad, the Pet Rock. According to the inventor of the Billy Bass, Joe Pellettieri, one of the main reasons sales plummeted was due to retail closures such as KB Toys and the drugstore chain Eckerd.
Although Billy Bass isn't as common as he used to be, the fish has inspired many tinkerers over the years and has popped up in many projects such as the wall of 75 Big Mouth Bass at The Royal Palms in Chicago, Donald Bell's Bluetooth hack, Ben Eagan's Echo Dot mashup, Simon The Magpie's Big Mouth Bass Guitar, as well as, a bunch of circuit bent versions such as OK Housecat's.
Now someone needs to find a way to hack a Chia Pet.
Check out this week's gag gift inspired playlist below:
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