Lame Covers Division: Beach Boys Palisades Park.

Who knows what possessed the Beach Boys to turn in such a horrendous cover. Well if I'm being honest, it's horrendous in the best way. The track, released in 1976 came from the "15 Big Ones." The album coincided with Capitol's mining and getting gold and platinum with 1974's "Endless Summer." At nearly the same time, the whole deal seemed to prompt Brian Wilson to get behind the boards once again.


Who knew what caused this idea to take place? It was either because of a lack of new material or the fact that these often cringe-worthy "oldies" seemed to get Brian Wilson's tamale wagging more than anything else. The whole concept did get him out of bed and that's a plus right there.

"palisades Park" of course is a cover of Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon's hyper 1962 hit. For this version, the Beach Boys slows the tempo, adds pedal guitars, a honking sax and pretty much offers enough feign enthusiasm for this to teeter straight into parody. Odder still the main "culprit" is the sweet voiced, totally cool Carl Wilson. With his lead vacillating to blissed-out dude to corny kid, he makes you love this track. You'll laugh with him not at him.


We here at the Pop Culture Idiot have heard great things about "Palisades Park." You know, no one really complains about "Palisades Park."


What's Good About This- Well, it isn't "Blueberry Hill."

Recollections Perhaps Lost On Younger Readers: Around this time Brian Wilson often gave some of the saddest performances around. With a zonked out stare and weird actions on stage, it was nearly frightening TV. If I remember correctly he'd be behind the piano and would barely play.

Unfortunate Pop Culture Moment I Can't Forget In Spite of Years of Therapy: Mike Love's goofy finger pointing and "dance" moves. Ok, I stil think they're pretty cool.

Beverly Hills 90210: The "Switch It Up" episode.

"Kind of Watching It TV" will be a companion piece to the much loved, “Half Awake Cinema” where I review movies that I’ve watched “half-awake” therefore truly incapable of giving a detailed review. There's really one thing to say about this episode of action packed TV: Switch It Up!


This "Beverly Hills 90210" centered on a killing at Shaw High School. Oops. It left a couple of folks dead. Why was West Beverly involved? Well West Beverly and Shaw were on the schedule to have a football game. My goodness. During a certain point in this series the writers decided to give Brandon Walsh a few more IQ points and in the spirit of that, they made him a writer on the West Beverly Blaze. With the smoke of the LA riots in the air, Brandon simply asked, “Why?” Why are we separated? What are we going to do?

While Brenda, Kelly and Donna were too busy with their petty little lives, it turns out Brandon had a like-minded friend at Shaw, Jordan Bonner. The two butted heads; challenged one another and while the West Beverly students were quaking in their boots; Brandon tossed off his plan in his commentary: Let’s invite the Shaw kids to our dance. Lovely. Tension was in the air during the night of the dance. The gymnasium never looked so spiffy though and of course West Beverly resident B boy David Silver was the master of ceremonies. Earlier he was “warming it up” giving everyone a taste with his, “Mike Check, I’m running mike check.” As soon as the testy and or goofy Shaw kids piled in and things got “in order” David and his “band” got in the zones and performed, yes, “Switch It Up.” David’s manager Steve Sanders looked on, Donna and one of the girls Brandon and David started to "throw down."

After a while, it was nothing but a party. Some “tough” looking guy walked up to Silver’s board, Steve was like “No, no, no,” but the dude tweaked a few sliders and David sounded all better. Soon the groove was clinking and the tweaking dude bum rushed the stage and busted a few lines with David. At the same time, the dance floor/gym was packed; everyone had such a good time. Jordan and Brandon seemed proud. Oh yeah, the football game was held later, on as advertised...


Inspirational Moments: In this episode Brandon drove past the charred remains of his beach house boss Henry Thomas's sporting good store. It’s a sad thing, but everyone forgot how that guy overcharged anyway.

What’s Sad: What else, Steve Sanders’s wardrobe? Both Dylan and Brandon had a good array of early ‘90s fashion, probably about 30% you could conceivably get away with now, (ok 5%.) But Steve’s clothes were always a gaudy, garish mess. He’s the male version of Andrea in that department. Sorry AnDREh...

Zack Attack Reunion: Cancelled

Famed LA music man, Skitch Rendoza passed along some particularly sad news. It turns out that Zach from the early 90's mega band, Zack Attack has died. Despondent over declining record sales and zero interest in his gone-gone career, Zack was "talking" and "acting" crazy, brandishing a firearm and well, you know the rest...

At its peak, Zack Attack was comprised of Zack, Lisa, Screech, Kelly Kopowski and Slater. Despite popular opinion, the band's Bayside alum Jesse wasn't a part of the band and at the time called the whole idea, "corny." Zack Attack's run of chart success was brief and no doubt they couldn't maintain the greatness exhibited on the ponderous hit single and video "Friends Forever." Fans may remember the late ax man Zack so attached to his guitar that he couldn't bare to play without looking directly at it, like he was some kind of novice or something.

Universal/UMG/ABC/MCA/Duke/Decca/Peacock/Polygram will issue a 2 CD compilation covering the group's heyday as well as 15 unreleased tracks from the same time period. An insider also told the Pop Culture Idiot that there were zero plans for any reissues before the tragedy, they just wanted to cash in on Zack's ultimately demise to fill their coffers.

Bonus: Mr. Belding will not be available for any help with the liner notes. He was also claimed in the blast...

Daddy: Another B- Movie I Can't Forget

Check out Bobby's silly hat... 

Daddy, you remember this don't you? Besides being the film depicted in this odd picture, it was an ABC movie from 1987. This tells the compelling story of one Bobby Burnette, played by Dermot Mulroney and how the choices of high schoolers affect their whole lives. Well not really. It's truly about a dolt(Mulroney) who knocks up his "girlfriend" Patricia Arquette and gets a good taste of hell on earth late '80's style.

Although Daddy is a pretty cut and dry "don't do it" movie of the week, the nuances made the film especially vivid, if not a little uncomfortable. Bobby Burnette in particular was an involving character, he straddled the line between jerk/geek/moron/asshole in lightening precision. Certainly the Burnette family weren't the Rockefellers but a certain classism existed between what Bobby could have been vs Stacy, well, as is.

Unlike a lot of humorous movies remotely in the vein, Daddy is an unintentionally hilarious one. After finally getting an apartment and raising the world's most moronic child, Bobby gets some money and proceeds to blow his wad on longbox CD's and stereo equipment doomed to be outdated by 1989. I always wondered what CD's he got. Eric Clapton "Behind The Sun" to zone out to and knowing him Tina Turner's "Break Every Rule." I can hear young Bobby now, "Private Dancer was totally bogus, this is so hard-core..."

Despite having Coach Jacobs (Danny Aiello) as a moral center, Bobby and Stacy were doomed. The last scene told it all. Having a child put the skids on Bobby's dreams and he ended up working at an ice cream shop. To add insult to injury one of Bobby's friends stops by making like McKenzie Brackman and looks at his former bud with nothing but pity. Bet those two didn't stay in touch...

And: The last pic at the bottom of the above pic was Mulroney at the infamous ice cream scene. Big Dope, dictionary, you figure it out. Sometimes I wonder where Mulroney's dopiness and Bobby's stupidity begin and end.

Who Else Is In This: John Karlen of Cagney and Lagey fame. His role is certainly not unlike Harvey Lacey, probably a little less irritating. Got to mention Noelle Parker. Don't really remember her in the movie--but she's the reason why this pic is on the net.

Shattered Spirits, A Great---Something or Other...

Ahh no, can't forget this one. Shattered Spirits is an ABC TV movie that originally aired in 1986. And of course in my school they hauled out of the three C plus TV’s and VCR’s on the rickety stand and made us watch this. I already had it covered the week before. This was Martin Sheen at his irascible, twitchy peak, add booze to the mix and Roxana Zal, I was all over it. I wasn’t let down. Sheen’s portrayal as a hopeless and mean drunk is still on of the best portrayals I’ve seen. Even Meg Ryan’s hyper-sexual, prankster, shower crashing moments couldn’t compare.

His son in the film Matthew Laborteaux was good too. Living in a similar situation (moment of candor) Laborteaux’s take of a decent kid made smaller and shy by his father’s guzzling and funny moods gave the whole thing a ring of truth. Zal was just there in an underwritten role. Thankfully this film didn't veer into Something About Amelia territory, like we needed another reason to hate Lyle. The highlight for me, among many, is when Sheen chewed his kid out about cutting the grass (brilliant and real) and then proceeded to do it—at about 10:15 PM. Loved it. What was cool about the movie was that there was no happy ending. Really with all of the damage there was a lot to forgive.


Added On Stuff: You know what else I liked in this? The scene where Lyle follows and catches Kenny at that fast-food joint during that field trip? Brutal. We know Kenny was on shaky ground as a "cool" kid and seeing drunken "Pops" amble in with a head o' steam scarred Kenny for life. Special notice certainly goes to Melinda Dillon as Joyce Mollencamp--such an enabler.

The Most Underatted Thing In The Film: What else? That van.

Make it stop... 

Make It Stop?

Brain Freeze: Purple Rain On 8 Track? 


Can you imagine. Well we don't have to go off in dreamland on this one because this is totally true. This 8 track isn't a "joke" or anything, it's as real as Real Deal Holyfield and that doesn't stop it from being totally freaky. Some history. 8 tracks started to take off in the mid '60s, hit really big throughout the '70s and finally were done in by cassettes in the early '80s. Stores and labels pretty much had it with all things 8 track and by 1982--they simply stopped manufacturing them. Some one wanted to hold on a little bit longer however. "Tape" clubs, RCA and Columbia still made them up until 1988. So if you see a copy of Dire Straits "Money For Nothing" or Jackson Browne's "Lives In The Balance" on 8 track--it's genuine.

A lot of keystrokes to excuse that monstosity o'er head, huh. To me, Prince and the Revolution's "Purple Rain" is well, a cassette, you know, Dolby HX Pro, loud, made for a boom box. Like many others, I played it endlessly until I needed another copy. I got another cassette--but it was in 1987 and that didn't have quite the same sound. On vinyl? Nah, they were making crappy albums at this point and it had a horrendous sound, quite unlike that original cassette. This leads me back to this 8 track edition of "Purple Rain." So bizarre. RCA also had 8 track versions of Around The World In A Day, Parade and Sign O' The Times. Lord...

More Chit Chat "Unfiltered": Geez Louise, the very idea of that damn thing scares the crap out of me. So f'ing weird. I mean I was an 8 track fan, felt bad when they finally bit the dust, but the very idea of a "Purple Rain" cart? Totally odd.

What Else Is Availible? A site called 8 Track Heaven has a list of all of the 8 tracks issued around this time frame. Look! The Firm!

The 12" G.I. Joe: Mission Aborted, Again

Item: I'm officially A Relic, Just Like This Guy 


Isn't this some great pop culture news? In February '05, the "good" folks at Hasbro put the skids on the 12 inch version of G.I. Joe. Crap. Now what are those legions of "kids" going to do? Kids, right--no one's buying G.I. Joes put a bunch of has-beens like me. I deserve it, why not. The Reagan era pretty much sucked the childhood out of me, I needed a respite, a time to reflect and by 1991 Hasbro started to make "big" Joes again. Of course in the time between it cranked out tons of silly little 3" inch figures that were no doubt airway constrictors for kids the whole world over.

For nearly 15 years, 12" inch G.I. Joes were on the market. It wasn't all good however. Lately the whole deal seemed to go awry with sillier looking figures, even more inane missions and a market that all but turned in on itself. Talk about a company reaming itself time and time again. No big deal. G.I. Joes of all eras will be available. Other companies will make something like them and since Hasbro has gotten so moronic, after a while, it won't make a difference. Plus a lot of the new product has been totally shitty. In a sense, Hasbro said they never wanted to make the same G.I. Joe twice, but in a way, they did--but not enough of the best ones...

Thoughts On The Post- Oh please, you'd think you'd lost a head of state or something. You've got 70 odd pieces of plastic, that oughta hold you, huh? And plus Hasbro has pretty much exhausted all options and were too cowardly to make a straight-ahead, 1970's like-GI Joe that wasn't as light as a feather and had a uniform that didn't fall to pieces on the way home, ahh screw 'em...

Rant Part 2- Who's great idea was it to make a pathetic 8 inch GI Joe? They tried to do the same ass thing in 1977 with the hideous Super Joe, talk about a joke--try hitting the playground with that freak of nature...

The Gentleman Ruffin 


David Ruffin- David



David Ruffin’s solo career and its lack of constant success has been one of music’s most enduring and complicated stories. After his 1968 departure as the raspy and charismatic lead of the Temptations, he seemed to be prevented from solo superstardom, from Motown and his mercurial nature didn’t exactly make him endearing. Well, that’s history and the existence of “David” proves there was indeed work done besides the two singles released in 1971. For its 2004 release Hip-O Select has finally brought all of the original 12 songs from David to light as well as 7 outtakes and mono mixes of released singles of the time. To end to the classic factor, only 3,000 CD’s were pressed. While David does show Ruffin more confident and more mature, it’s not perfect.


Songs like “I’ve Got a Need for You” “For the Shelter of Your Love” and “Dinah” aren’t too removed from the overwrought nature of his earlier solo work. The same can’t be said for all of the tracks however. Ruffin’s gruff and fun cover of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and a prime Smokey Robinson production, “You Can Come Right Back To Me” are hands-down two of best solo efforts. Given Ruffin’s skill at often depressing songs, “Out in the Country” and “I Can’t Be Hurt Anymore” both keep to this side of corny due to strong productions and of course Ruffin’s delivery. There is little hope for duds and released singles like the droning “Dinah” and the overwrought “Each Day Is a Lifetime.”


If that was the extent of "David" many would think that’s it’s a standard issue good not great David Ruffin album. Thankfully the outtakes not even intended for release up the ante. Brilliant and hard rocking productions on tracks like “It’s Going to Take A Lot of Doin’” and “I Want to Hear Her Say It Again” bring out a certain grit and electricity in Ruffin’s vocals. Other outtakes, “Get Away Heartbreak (Keep On Movin’) and “You Make Me Do Things I Don’t Want To Do” also have the Motown sound move even more confidently into the ‘70s with the looser and “groovier” productions. Even the ballads have more heft as the poignant “Mountain of Memories” and Ruffin’s oh-so “heavy” take on “Heaven Help Us All” find him fully engaged. For fans of Ruffin, the work from David creates a kind of closure on a career and catalogue that’s been made even stronger with this release.

Breakdown and or Comments: Ahh, laying it on a little thick there huh? It's justified though. After hearing years and years of vault jobs, it's odd that something on this level wasn't released. It's not like the Motown imprint had a totally busy schedule. Gordy was just releasing the Temptations "Sky's The Limit." Tamla had readied Eddie Kendricks's first solo album, "All By Myself." Tamla also finally put out a little album, "What's Going On." Gee, I wondered what happened with that one. Motown? Well Ruffin's "David" release was bumped back 32 years and in its place a few going nowhere "Motown Chartbusters" sets. Goody.

What I found most compelling was the fact that the so-called outtakes on "David" wouldn't have been released back then anyway. Now that's deep. I do love the cover art however, it's a perfect representation of 1971 and no doubt would have been treasured in people's homes back then. It is now--and believe it or not, the dating isn't too pronounced, it's simply a great album...

Pop Culture Idiot Fave: Emily Valentine

Wow, she even looks like an Emily... 

I've had to come to terms with a lot in my life. Finding out there was no Santa Claus at the ripe old age of 11. Finally excepting the fact that the Beatles weren't going to reform--even for a night. I was also shocked to find out that Emily Valentine doesn't exist. Here's how I got the 411. Too tired to surf for porn, I stumbled, well blatantly searched for "Emily Valentine" to find some pics and info. I found one particular site that seems to believe Emily Valentine was/is a real person. Not quite.

Valentine was a character on Beverly Hills 90210. She was the "bad" girl who dated the always boring Brandon Walsh as well as the world's oldest "teen" Dylan Michael McKay (cool name). Valentine, portrayed by the lovely Christine Elise was indeed one of the most visceral and real characters. What wasn't there to love? Elise, a handsome woman in the best sense pretty much took a blowtorch to the stogy and safe 90210 confines and actually created one of the few realistic characters. Valentine's intelligence, as well as Elise's pretty much blew past through every silly plot device. Perhaps she is best remembered by the time she wore Walsh's silly Twins jersey and generally made such a ruckus she had to be hauled off to a mental institution. Sad times.

Valentine appeared, apparently "all better" in San Francisco to meet Brandon yet again. She had become oddly interested in marine biology and had matured. She was still smoking hot though. She made two later appearances with "good guy" Brandon giving her the ok to go to the Cousteau Institute. Brandon also gave himself the ok to date a succession of increasingly boring women as the show limped to the finish line. They weren't as cool as Emily Valentine though.