'Snooker Pool and Billiards' Bikini to Nude Music video to 'Music in the Sun' from BB Bango on Vimeo.
Monday, February 29, 2016
12 Things You Might Not Know About 'The Monkees'
12. WHAT'S IN A NAME?
David Bowie had to change his name from David Jones to Bowie because at the time he was struggling to get into the music business. Davy Jones of the Monkees was already a star and people would mix the 2 up for appointments.
11. THE TITLE OF THE MICKY DOLENZ-PENNED TUNE “RANDY SCOUSE GIT” WAS DEEMED SO OFFENSIVE IN BRITAIN THAT IT HAD TO BE RENAMED.
Micky Dolenz wrote his first Monkees tune, “Randy Scouse Git,” for the group’s third album Headquarters, which he describes in his book I’m a Believer: My Life of Monkees, Music and Madness, as all about his experiences in England in 1967. (“The Beatles, Samantha [Juste, his eventual wife], the parties, the chemicals … everything.”) Trouble was, even though the title sounds tame to us Yanks, over in Britain it directly translated to, according to Dolenz, “horny, Liverpudlian jerk.” For the song’s U.K. release, the drummer chose “Alternative Title” for its alternative title, and the track still made it to number two on the British charts.
10. LIBERACE ONCE MADE A STRANGE, UNCREDITED CAMEO ON A MONKEES EPISODE, USING THE SAME GOLDEN SLEDGEHAMMER AS FRANK ZAPPA.
The renowned pianist Liberace was never known for being subtle, so when he showed up on The Monkees’s season two episode “Art, For Monkees' Sake,” a flashy performance was a given. But what people didn’t expect to see was the famed entertainer taking a golden sledgehammer to his piano. One could argue this possibly inspired the aforementioned Frank Zappa appearance from later in the season, in which Zappa proceeded to destroy a car with the same golden sledgehammer (it was deemed “playing the car”). It doesn’t seem a coincidence now that Michael Nesmith appeared in both bits.
9. THE MONKEES OUTSOLD THE BEATLES AND THE ROLLING STONES IN 1967.
Yes, you read that correctly. In 1967, the year of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Between the Buttons, and Their Satanic Majesties Request, The Monkees outsold both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones—combined. Probably because neither British band had a hit TV show on its hands. Pretty impressive considering, at least in the beginning, as discussed at length in Monkee Business, The Monkees were a manufactured group whose only contributions to the records were their voices.
8. THERE WAS A VERY WEIRD MONKEES EPISODE WHERE FRANK ZAPPA SHOWED UP.
It was the ’60s, The Monkees was winding down, and Michael Nesmith, according to Randi L. Massingill, in her book Total Control: The Michael Nesmith Story, “was trying to show the rock community that he was not just a kiddie show guy.” Nesmith achieved this by not only bringing The Mothers of Invention frontman Frank Zappa onto The Monkees, but by also conducting a bizarre interview with him in which the two men switched roles (which allowed Nesmith, as Zappa, to refer to The Monkees’s bubblegum music as “banal and insipid”). It’s hard to know what’s more disturbing: Frank Zappa in a Monkees double-button blue shirt and Nesmith’s signature green wool hat, or Mike Nesmith donning a Zappa-eque wig and fake nose (which keeps falling off during the bit).
7. THE SERIES’S UNOFFICIAL FINALE FEATURES NOT ONE, BUT TWO BEATLES TUNES.
This Micky Dolenz-directed episode opens up with a real bang: The intro to The Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band track “Good Morning Good Morning.” It was, in Dolenz’s words (heard in the above video doing the DVD commentary), “a big moment.” Mainly because, as he also mentions, it was “the first time, to my knowledge, that The Beatles ever let one of their songs on another show.” (And anyone who remembers the “Tomorrow Never Knows” episode from Mad Men’s fifth season is well aware that getting a Beatles song for your TV series is no small feat.) The choice of “Good Morning Good Morning” also had special meaning for Dolenz, who had the rare opportunity to hear an early version of the track during a visit to The Beatles’s studio at Abbey Road in 1967.
In addition, there are two instances where, if you listen closely below, Davy Jones is singing the Beatles song “Hello, Goodbye” to himself. Once at 7:06, then again at 8:18.
6. TWO MONKEES STEPPED BEHIND THE CAMERA DURING THE SHOW’S RUN.
Toward the end of the second and final season, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz were given the opportunity to direct an episode. Tork, using his full name in the credits—Peter H. Thorkelson—directed “The Monkees Mind Their Manor,” which aired in February 1968. Dolenz then helmed “Mijacgeo” (a.k.a. “The Frodis Caper”), which also ended up being the series’s finale. The Monkees would officially be canceled later that year.
5. THE “MONKEEMANIA” OF THE MONKEES IN PARIS EPISODE WAS STAGED.
In June 1967, The Monkees headed off to Paris for a season two episode that would ostensibly show them being mobbed by French fans. Whether it was because the series hadn’t started airing in France or French audiences just hadn’t caught onto the craze yet (the truth is murky—this 1967 article says the show was on at the time; Monkee Business says it wasn’t), director Bob Rafelson had to get creative with the squealing girls. The “cinéma vérité”-style “Monkees in Paris” episode is thus described in Monkee Business as “the episode that features The Monkees pretending to run from their non-existent French fans.”
4. THE MONKEES MANAGED TO SQUEEZE IN SUBVERSIVE BEHAVIOR WHENEVER THEY COULD.
In the season two episode “The Devil and Peter Tork,” the boys took on the issue of censorship by slipping in a subversive joke about how, back in 1967, you couldn’t say the word “hell” on network television. “This episode was a point of controversy, between The Monkees production crew and the network,” says Tork in the DVD commentary (above). The bit, which starts at 9:50, has the boys talking about hell (Tork’s character sold his soul to the devil) and getting bleeped every time they uttered the word. This leads Micky Dolenz to observe, “You know what’s even more scary? You can’t say ‘hell’ on television” (and, yes, “hell” was bleeped as he said it). The bit “annoyed the daylights” out of NBC, according to Tork. Dolenz also devotes a paragraph to this incident in his book I’m a Believer: My Life of Monkees, Music and Madness.
3. MICHAEL NESMITH ATTENDED THE CELEBRITY-FILLED RECORDING SESSION FOR THE SGT. PEPPER SONG “A DAY IN THE LIFE.”
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Donovan … and Michael Nesmith of The Monkees? It seems like a round of “Which of These Things Are Not Like the Other?” but the Texas guitarist was indeed there among the cream of the British musical crop in February 1967. He appears at around 2:26 in the above promotional “A Day in the Life” clip, and if you have a steady hand it is possible to pause the video right when he shows up. But you have to look sharp, as it is a quintessential blink-and-you’ll-miss-him moment.
2. THE ORIGINAL MONKEES CASTING CALL AD WAS RIDDLED WITH HIPPIE-ISH REFERENCES.
The creators of The Monkees TV show, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, knew exactly the kind of guys they wanted for their new series. So the ad they took out in the September 8, 1965 edition of Variety had to reflect the attitudes of the burgeoning youth culture. In the ad, “spirited Ben Frank’s-types” are requested. According to the book Monkee Business: The Revolutionary Made-for-TV Band, Ben Frank’s was a popular Sunset Strip restaurant “where the mods mused over burgers and fries.” Or, as Davy Jones called them, “long-haired beatnik weirdos.” The ad also included the line, “Must come down for interview.” Per Rafelson in Monkee Business, that was “a sly reference to being high.”
1. DAVY JONES DIDN’T KNOW WHO THE BEATLES WERE THE NIGHT OF THEIR SHARED ED SULLIVAN SHOW PERFORMANCE.
Two and a half years before The Monkees premiered, English heartthrob and tambourine player extraordinaire David “Davy” Jones had his first brush with the four moptops who, unbeknownst to him, would change his life forever. As a cast member of the Broadway musical Oliver! (he played the Artful Dodger), Jones just happened to be performing on the same historic Ed Sullivan Show broadcast featuring The Beatles. But probably the craziest part of this story was how the 19-year-old Brit was completely oblivious to who John, Paul, George and Ringo were. As he tells the story in this interview, the late Monkee (Jones died in 2012) had never heard any of The Beatles’s songs. He only took interest in what they were doing because he wanted to figure out how to make girls scream too.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Friday, February 26, 2016
Thursday, February 25, 2016
12 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About George Harrison
12. He Saw Paul Sitting There!
On a school bus ride back in 1954, George Harrison, 11, and Paul McCartney, 12, were the first Beatles to meet.
11. My Sweet George!
George Harrison was the first Beatle to achieve a No.1 single as a solo act – “My Sweet Lord” peaked at No.1 in December 1970.
10. 14 Is a Lucky Number
At only 14 years of age, Harrison officially joined The Beatles (then called “The Quarrymen”) on February 6, 1958. To honor his then idol, Carl Perkins, he briefly changed his name to “Carl Harrison” during the bands early 1960 tour in Scotland.
:He was the youngest member of The Beatles
9. Harrison Sick Time Is The Best Time
While sick in bed, he wrote his first “official” Beatle song “Don’t Bother Me,” featured on the band sophomore album, With the Beatles.
8. His Date Of Birth Is Often Disputed
For most of his life, Harrison thought his birthday was February 25th. You'll find most books and biographies state this date, even Wikipedia do to this day. However, near the end of his life, Harrison insisted that he was born on February 24th, 1943 at 11:50PM. A family document has revealed this to be true.
7. He Took LSD For The First Time By ACCIDENT
We all know Harrison and The Beatles were no strangers to drugs. Their introduction to LSD ignited a major change in their creative direction. However, John Lennon and Harrison's first acid trip was entirely accidental. Harrison and Lennon were given coffee laced with LSD by their dentist at a dinner party. "Suddenly I feel the most incredible feeling come over me. It was something like a very concentrated version of the best feeling I'd ever had in my whole life. It was fantastic. I felt in love, not with anything or anybody in particular, but with everything. Everything was perfect, in a perfect light, and I had an overwhelming desire to go round the club telling everybody how much I loved them - people I'd never seen before." Harrison, Anthology.
6. He LOVED Comedy
So much so, he invested $4M of his own money towards Monty Python's, The Life Of Brian. The comedy troupe were having trouble getting their movie financed, so Harrison created the production company HandMade Films to produce their film. Harrison mortgaged his home to help finance it. The film continues to be a cult comedy classic. Spot his uncredited cameo appearance as Mr. Papadopolous...
5. He Was Admired By Frank Sinatra
Sinatra wasn't a huge fan of rock n roll, but he was a fan of George's work. He described Harrison's "Something" as the GREATEST love song of the last 50 years. Towards the end of Sinatra's career he would often cover Harrison's song live.
4. He Once Got Into A Fight Over A Biscuit
That's right, a biscuit. Only the Brits! Things were already tense amongst The Beatles' inner-circle whilst recording at Abbey Road Studios. Yoko Ono's presence in the group didn't help. While making 'Abbey Road', Ono pinched a biscuit from a packet Harrison left on his amplifier. The last biscuit. Harrison was furious. He found it extremely disrespectful that she would touch his food without asking and made it very clear to Yoko that she had crossed the line.
3. He Played Over 25 Different Instruments
Not JUST an incredible guitarist. Harrison also played the Sitar, Bass Guitar, Piano, Harmonica, Autoharp, Mandolin, Marimba, Dobo, Violin and over a dozen other instruments.
2. He Had QUITE A Green Thumb
Harrison was a passionate gardener. In the early 70's he purchased Friar Park which was filled with lush flowers, plants and streams. He would often spend up to 12 hours a day nourishing the plants on his estate grounds. Harrison's autobiography I Me Mine (1980) was dedicated to "all gardeners everywhere". Harrison wrote "I’m really quite simple. I don’t want to be in the business full time, because I’m a gardener. I plant flowers and watch them grow. I don’t go out to clubs. I don’t party. I stay at home and watch the river flow".
1. He Lost His Virginity While The Other Beatles Secretly Watched
At the young age of 17, Harrison lost his virginity to a German Dancer. The mischievous boys were so casual about sex that privacy clearly didn't matter. "My first shag was in Hamburg, with Paul and John and Pete Best all watching...we were in bunk beds...after I'd finished, they all applauded" Harrison says.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Top 10 Over-The-Counter Drugs That Will Get You Higher Than Marijuana
10. Diethyl Ether
Diethyl Ether, more commonly just called Ether, is mainly used medically, as an anesthetic. However, it also has a long history of recreational use. In the late nineteenth century, it was used regularly in Ireland, Russia, France, Norway, the United States and elsewhere. The effect of ether was similar to alcohol, but it was cheaper, and allowed someone to sober up quicker, making it popular among those who didn’t have much money. Ether is highly flammable however, and can be quite dangerous; it should be treated with great care. While Diethyl Ether is not illegal in the United States, and is fairly easy to obtain if you put in the effort, some suppliers are careful who they sell it to, mainly selling to universities or laboratories. The reason for this is because the drug is often used to assist in the creation of several illegal drugs, such as LSD.9. Dextromethorphan (Robitussin)
Codeine was originally the main active ingredient used for suppressing coughs; however, Codeine is a powerfully addictive substance. Dextromethorpan, more commonly known as DXM, was created to be a non-addictive replacement to Codeine. While DXM is not addictive, most cough syrups contain other ingredients, such as Acetaminophen or Guaifenesin, which are extremely dangerous when taken in large amounts. Recreationally, DXM can have very powerful effects, ranging from euphoria, elevated mood, dissociation, dream-like states, and increased awareness.Some other effects which may or may not be considered good, depending on the person, include disorientation, confusion, altered perception of time, decreased sexual functioning, and hallucinations. Many people consider the state to being drunk and stoned at the same time, and higher doses can greatly impair memory, language and judgment. Using this drug is often referred to as “robo-tripping”.8. Doxylamine (Unisom)
Doxylamine, which often goes under the trade name Unisom, is an antihistamine. Normally, Doxylamine is used to treat allergies, and in some cases for its sedative effects, as a means to treat insomnia. It is sometimes mixed with Acetaminophen or Codeine, to be used as an analgesic. While it has perfectly valid uses and can be bought at any grocery store, it is abused occasionally by teens looking for a cheap legal high. Teenagers will abuse Doxylamine for its hallucinogenic properties, but it also makes them agitated and confused. It actually doesn’t sound exactly like a very fun high, but people try all kinds of stupid things. In large doses, it can be quite dangerous, resulting in prolonged agitation, seizures, and the occasional coma.7. Tramadol
Tramadol is not an opioid; however, it affects the brain in a very similar way. It acts as an analgesic, and has opiate agonist activity, which gives people a feeling similar to opioids, though it is not as strong. It is often abused by recovering addicts, or people looking for a more easily-obtainable high similar to heroin, or other synthetic opioids such as Vicodin. Tramadol enjoys a very unique legal status. While it is considered a prescription drug, it is not federally scheduled, and has only been scheduled in a few US states. What this means is that, while one is supposed to have a prescription to purchase Tramadol, it is perfectly legal to posses the drug without a prescription in most of the United States.6. Kava
Kava is an herb that comes from the Pacific Islands, where the islanders have been using it medicinally for a very long time. They crush the herb and use it to make a tea-like beverage, which is supposed to be relaxing, but also consumed as part of tradition among the islanders. Apart from its relaxing effects, or its use in tribal medicine, it has recently developed some popularity in the Western world, where it is still very legal to buy and use. While low-to-moderate doses of Kava give one a sense of euphoria, relaxation, or general well-being, higher doses can cause hallucinations. It is also believed by scientists that chronic use can cause yellow skin discoloration, drowsiness, ataxia, liver damage, and malnutrition, none of which sound very fun at all.5. Kratom
Kratom, referred to in scientific literature as Mitragyna Speciosa, is a plant native to Southeast Asia. This plant is from the same family as coffee, and is often used medicinally to relieve pain. However, it has gained recent popularity in the United States for its psychoactive properties. It is currently unregulated, and can easily be bought at online or at certain “herbal supplement” stores. The powder or leaves are usually ingested in a tea-like preparation, or smoked; sometimes it is also ingested orally. A few grams of this substance can give someone a high for two to three hours. While it was originally used medicinally, it has been banned in its native Thailand, due to the abuse of the plant. Watch out, this plant is considered highly addictive.4. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
Diphenhydramine usually goes by the trade name Benadryl; it is marketed to deal mainly with allergies, but is also often used as a sedative when people are having trouble sleeping. It has some popularity among recreational drug users, due to its affect as a deliriant. When recreational users take a high dose, they can expect such symptoms as drowsiness, fatigue, disturbed coordination, dizziness, blurred vision, confusion, and hallucinations, which are somehow considered positive things by recreational users. The drug is quite dangerous in very high doses, especially if done regularly. There are many, much worse, side effects, such as fever, hypotension, seizures, convulsions, atheotosis, gastrointestinal symptoms, deep coma, and death. If you are just taking one occasionally for its intended use you should be fine, but regular abuse of this drug is very bad for your heart.3. Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine)
Dimenhydrinate is a drug that most of you probably know as Dramamine, and is mainly used to combat motion sickness. It is also a deliriant, and is popular among recreational drug users for the audio and visual hallucinations that it provides in high doses. Setting it apart from its cousin Diphenhydramine, it is reported to also have a euphoric effect, along with the hallucinations. It is not only abused by recreational users, but also by psychiatric patients, though in their case it is for self-treating anxiety and the like, not for recreation. Like Diphenhydramine, this drug is not good for you in large doses, and can be very bad for the long-term health of your GI tract and heart.2. Propylhexedrine (Benzedrex)
Propylhexedrine is the active drug in a nasal spray called Benzedrex, and it originally replaced amphetamine sulfate as the active ingredient years back due to abuse. Unfortunately, Propylhexedrine is also capable of abuse. Recreational users have been known to use some sort of extraction process to gain crystals from it, and it has hence earned the nickname “stove top speed,” due to the effect that it has on people. The drug is contained in a cotton rod inside the nasal inhaler, and some users simply eat the cotton rod instead of bothering with extraction. It then gives them a high similar to weak amphetamines. It is important to note, however, that this is very much a situation of “don’t try this at home.” This drug can be very dangerous; many cases of reported use involved psychosis, myocardial infarction, pulmonary, vascular disease, pulmonary hypertension, and sudden death. Many of these dangerous side effects are likely caused by the fact that the drug is a vasoconstrictor, and greatly raises your blood pressure.1. Oxymetazoline (Afrin)
Oxymetazoline is a drug used in a widely-used commercial nasal spray called Afrin. It does not have a particularly strong high, and is instead more likely to cause psychosis in those who use it, some of whom have reported recurring hallucinations. What makes this drug noteworthy is just how addicting it is. Doctors have found that those hooked on it simply cannot function without the drug. The packaging for Afrin tells you not to use the drug for more than a few days at a time; the reason for this is that, if used for too long, it actually causes the inner part of the nose to swell up. In essence, using it too much defeats the purpose of decongesting your nose, and makes you constantly reliant on more nasal spray, so that you can breathe. Don’t pick up this habit, unless you want nasal inhalers scattered all over your home, car, and workspace.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
10 Bizarre Disney Facts & Oddities
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Whether you’re at Disneyland or any of the other theme parks, everywhere you look there are Mickey Mouse Ears. And no, not the merchandise ears. From the shape of the pizza to the hedges to the ears hidden in the tiles, Mickey’s iconic ears are everywhere thanks to Walt’s desire to add to the magic of the kingdom.9. The first soundtrack
Long before “Saturday Night Fever” was the big hit of the 70s, an animated feature about a wooden puppet and its maker yielded the first soundtrack for sale to the general public. Since the start with “Steamboat Willie” and its use of music, Disney projects have made music an integral part of the process. So soundtracks, and consequently making money off of them, were only a natural extension.8. Oscars
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By the 2008 Academy Awards, Walt Disney’s company had been nominated for more than 200 Oscars with more than 50 wins just in films under the Disney logo. Of those films, there are 51 nominations for animated features with 14 wins. With Pixar under the Ears, that amount close to doubles with 13 Oscar wins for Pixar. Disney will likely continue to tack on more wins since it has distributed all of the major film releases for Pixar and bought the company two years ago. As for dear old Walt, he holds the record for most Oscars with 22 in regular categories and four honorary out of his 59 nominations.7. Facial hair
Back in the 60s, long hair and facial hair was considered to be a sign of hippies, which the empire could not afford to be associated with. Hence a policy was born requiring all male employees to have short hair and no facial hair at the theme parks. It took until 2000 for the theme parks to renege on the policy. Now male employees are allowed to have neatly trimmed moustaches.
6. DDD
Talk about keeping quiet. Disney employees are expressly prohibited from dating other Disney employees – hence Don’t Date Disney. A former employee of Disneyland let the cat out of the bag on that policy years ago when he tattled to “LA Magazine” about his time as Jack Sparrow. Unfortunately, someone took a photo of him and his then girlfriend, an Ariel, and showed it to the higher ups, who were displeased. However, it was going to the premiere of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” doing an interview in costume, giving his full name, and the interview being posted online that got his Ears taken away. At the same time, park employees are discouraged from trying to “excite” members of the opposite sex and to ignore any flirtation from guests. Tough luck, Jack, no lasses or goatee for you!
5. Rigid control of trademarks
Years ago, Disney promised that the corporation would sue three daycare centers in Florida for having five-foot tall painted depictions of Disney characters. The characters were replaced, but that is just one example of how Disney holds its trademarks close to the chest. In another case, a Florida couple was sued for a cool million when they advertised Eeyore, Tigger and Pooh outfits that they had available for parties. The couple sent the costumes back to the Peru ebay seller, which prompted Disney to say the couple acted in bad faith. No honey for you!4. The Vault
Included in that rigid control of their trademarks is the vaunted Disney Vault. Disney started theatrically re-releasing movies seven years after they were originally released after “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” Since then, the home movie craze hit and with the advent of DVDs, the Vault is only reopened once every 10 years. Supposedly this is a ploy to get new generations of children interested in the movies. Or like any business, it could just be a way to make more money.
3. It’s a big, big Walt Disney World
Located entirely within its own improvement district – the Reedy Creek Improvement District of Lake Buena Vista, Fla. – Walt Disney World with its main attractions and resorts is twice the size of Manhattan. Every day, the guests of the resorts use an amount of linens that would take a normal person 40 years to clean. Supposedly the landscaping crew puts over a half a million miles on the mowers covering the 47 miles of WDW throughout the year. In the last seven years, a water saving effort has taken place at the theme parks, which has meant a savings of about 2.5 billion gallons of water. Who said it was a “small, small world?”2. Fatal Rides
There have been about a dozen deaths in Disneyland California since the park opened in 1955 while there have been at least as many at Disney World and at least one at the Paris Disneyland. Some of these fatalities were due to adverse reactions from the guests, but many of the deaths were the fault of the guests who were not heeding directions. When they say don’t stand up in a roller coaster, there’s a reason. Photo: Floyka, Artists: Sophia Chadez and Brad Chadez
1. Walt’s Apartment
Because Walt wanted to ensure that everything would be as magical as possible when Disneyland was being built in the early 50s, he had an apartment built in the theme park, which was an hour from where he lived in California. Employees would know when he was in the apartment, above the fire station on Main Street USA, when the light was on in the window at night. To this day, more than 45 years after his death, a light is left on in the window in his memory and supposedly the room has been left untouched since he passed away. Perhaps Mickey’s Ears are not the only things you could ever see at Disneyland.
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