Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 558 of Sneaky Dragon – the moose-piloted triplane of the internet!
This week: new co-host; cat list; slash fiction; pressed rat; rental disagreement; it’s about time; chewy pop; singles going steady; The Jackson 5 = The Osmonds; a motional Pinocchio; a whale of a tale; Herman’s headache; dickin’ around; call me Julie; allo, allosaurus; Messick around; anime animus; grate voices; slow runner; cartoon bands; multiple Macleans; floss logic; military marsupial; children’s dogfight; Patches pals; regional horror hosts; legacy SCTV; torrential tidbits; an impossible podcast; victory laps of judgment; anti-promotion; Disneyfied; the brutalist truth; send up a Flaherty; Ian was happy to see Paddington in Peru; quitters; and, finally, just walk away.
Question of the Week: What is something you’re glad you quit?
Sub-question of the Week: What is your favourite compilation album?
Thanks for listening.
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Welcome back everyone!
Going back a few shows, I vividly remember the “Free to Be You and Me” show with Marlo Thomas and friends from second or third grade. I even have the theme song by The New Seekers on one of my Apple Music playlists! I also connected with Marlo Thomas because I knew her from “That Girl” on television reruns.
Talking about The Monkees about two shows back, I had the opportunity to see them in concert here in Dallas back in 1989. A girl I was kind of dating got tickets to an open air venue called the Dallas StarPlex next to the State Fairgrounds so how could I pass it up? The Monkees had been through Dallas in 1986 with a 20th Anniversary tour so this was three years later and much closer to where I lived. This tour was only Mickey, Peter and Davy without Michael and we thought since he was a native Texan he might show up…but he did not, it was only the three. Here’s a link to the concert info:
https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/the-monkees–7298708#details-section
Earlier in the week, before the concert, I was at a local mall and I saw a line coming from a B. Dalton Bookstore, it was Davy Jones signing his book, “They Made a Monkey Out of Me”! I didn’t meet him or buy his book but I stood alongside a crowd and watched him for awhile, kind of a little preview before seeing Jones onstage later in the week.
I won’t go into details but I quit a relationship while I was in college after 15 months. I was still in college with one semester to go and she had graduated and was making my life a living hell. I broke it off with her quickly at the end of summer while I was still taking classes and never looked back. To this day, whenever I think back on whether the life choices I’ve made were right or wrong, this one shoots right to the top as one of the greatest bullets ever dodged.
For a compilation album I’m going with the 1969 Decca album, “The Marx Brothers – The Original Voice Tracks From Their Greatest Movies”! My Dad had the W.C. Fields version of this series which were album compilations of dialogue from all their films, narrated by Gary Owens. I didn’t know there was a Marx Brothers version until I heard it played on a comedy radio hour years later, I even called the radio station to get the album info. I spent many years after that searching used record stores for that damned album and eventually gave up. They say you can find what you’re looking for when you’re not trying so hard to find it, and that was the case with this Marx Brothers album. I flipped past it looking through the soundtracks one weekend at a huge used records store, I think I paid only a few bucks for it too. I also think it still had the poster from “At the Circus” inside too! Do you remember this album?
Here’s the Discogs link:
https://www.discogs.com/release/1865447-The-Marx-Brothers-The-Original-Voice-Tracks-From-Their-Greatest-Movies?srsltid=AfmBOorn8JVjKQ0MSZG9tF0vkIc7z6dO194E4-ZJzFIZEZv539YbcssA
It wasn’t until 1994 that an even BETTER Marx Brothers music compilation was released. “The Marx Brothers Sing & Play” was a 3 CD French import with everything song and musical theme from “The Cocoanuts” to “The Big Store”. It’s magnificent and I still listen to it to this very day when I want to hear the boys “sing & play” a little.
Glad you guys are back! Celebrating a Sneaky Return!!
Welcome back to Canada, Dave. I enjoyed following your adventures through Lezah’s photos on social media. There seem to be a lot of you standing in front of the results of erosion. Which landform did you like the best? Was there a Dave’s Fave Cave?
Something I’m happy I quit was a university course called “Introduction to Medieval Studies. “ I must’ve been expecting it to be all knights-in-shining-armour, unicorn tapestries, and Top Ten 12th Century Lute Ballads. But it turned out to be a straight-up history course. I vaguely recall the textbook talking about King Pepin and the Carolingian dynasty of the Frankish kingdom or something like that. So I dropped the course after the first lecture. I blame Chaucer and Monty Python for giving me the impression that studying the Middle Ages would be entertaining. I’m sure it could be. After watching the Ian Boothby-recommended mini-series “Ludwig” on YouTube, I came across an interview of David Mitchell talking about his book, “Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England’s Kings and Queens.” So I put a hold on it at my local library and hopefully it will be the informative but fun look at history I was hoping for as an undergrad.
Welcome home Dave – and welcome back to the usual timeline to both of you!
One for the department of lost connections: Back when we were last in sync, you mentioned the novelty song ‘Lily the Pink’. Somehow I neglected to write in at the time, and now about a month has passed. Still, there’s a remote possibility that someone out there will appreciate another musical factoid to add to the pile of clutter in their brains. I wonder if I’m building this up too much. I am, aren’t I? Anyhow: factoid incoming. The Irish Rovers’ version of Lily the Pink – the version you were talking about, as I remember – was a cover of a UK number one single by The Scaffold: a merseyside group comprising poet Roger McGough, John Gorman and Mike McGear. The group is connected to the Sneaky Podomatic Universe by Mike’s older brother – Paul McCartney. According to Wikipedia the Scaffold version features Elton John, Graham Nash of the Hollies and Tim Rice.
(I bet we’re all glad that’s over with).
Favourite compilation album – that’s a question I can get behind!
Most appropriate to Sneaky Dragon would be ‘Saturday Morning’ – a collection of ’90s alternative rock bands covering classic cartoon themes, which is mainly worth a listen for three songs:
– Liz Phair’s version of the ‘Banana Splits’, theme:
– The Reverend Horton Heat’s medley of ‘Johnny Quest’ and ‘Dastardly and Muttley’.
and The Violent Femmes’ take on “Eep App Ork Ah Ah” from the Jetsons.
Having thought it over, I think I come back to one compilation as an evergreen favourite: ‘London Is the Place for Me’ – a bittersweet, heartrending, joyous celebration of the Trinidadian calypsonians who emigrated to Britain in the ’50s. The tunes are sweet, the subject matter witty and spiked with more than a little irony – telling stories about cricket, landladies, royal weddings, and the overwhelming generosity of Londoners emerging from World War Two.
Looking forward to hearing everything you were talking about before reading this letter,
Warmest of wishes,
Peter.