May 29, 2010 – 6:59 pm by daniel
Hey Folks, well we had a great time at HMAC on Friday, 23 July. It was like a bizarre class reunion. So many faces from the past with so many stories to tell in the present. We’ll be back next summer with a new show and some new songs….
A NEW HISTORY as well as other records are available now on Itunes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/daniel-adam-smith/id181931240
For those of you that Facebook I have a music page called DANIEL ADAM SMITH MUSIC PAGE.
Now I am turning my attention to the European Release Dates and putting the show together for that. It means calling up some old friends getting a band together and scheduling a series of gigs…I will keep you informed.
June 6, 2010 – 5:01 pm by daniel
It didn’t take very long, did it?
I am not sure what the heck was going on in my head besides living in a complete fantasy world, but I actually believed they were going to look like that. This falls into finding out that it wasn’t Santa eating those cookies and Rudolph certainly wasn’t eating that apple either.
I always wondered how they came up with the design of the sea-monkeys in the ad. If any of you remember you know and if you don’t…Sea Monkeys were Brine Shrimp. For those of you curious just do a google on that and you will find our tiny little prawn photos. There was this brief time while I was waiting for them to arrive in the mail that I found myself imagining life with a colony of little humanoid sea creatures and how cool that would be and what kind of relationship we would have. That turned into one of those bummer X-Ray Spexs are fake moments.
But like with a lot of life and especially in childhood. There is a magic to wanting to believe something. That can get dangerous at later periods but in childhood it is just a wonderful thing.
God if we could figure a way out to not lose that fantasy and yet live in world, we would solve an awful lot of problems.
For lasting cultural significance I can’t give Sea Monkeys many nerf footballs.
They were like a one-trick pony. You bought them and you found out and then god help us we all poured them in the toilet. Nasty, I know. I have repented for my cruelty to Sea Monkeys though.
Nerf rating system with magical childhood imagination taken into account
2 out of 5 nerve footballs
June 6, 2010 – 4:57 pm by daniel
It’s funny because these days with our cell phones, and Blackberrys, and Email, we seem to forget that at one point in time getting in touch with someone outside of their home and away from their ‘landline” was not an easy thing.
I am not sure how “Citizen Band” radio became such a fad, but there was this point in time when even non-truckers had a CB.
Every great fad or trend needs a pop culture counterpart to assist in its rise to popularity and in C.W. McCall’s Convoy they found a advertising tool that spread the wonders of the glorified Walkie Talkie from “sea to shining sea”. Convoy by McCall was like a CB education in 3 minutes. Like cliff notes for the neophyte.
The CB rise to popularity came initially from Truckers as a means to communicate with each other on long cargo hauls. There was a lingo developed with coded references that helped produce a short hand for drivers (examples below). Initially the CB required a license and the use of a call sign, but it became so popular that people developed “handles”. This helped Truckers and drivers avoid police speed traps, and I suppose engage in other things both legit and nefarious…From weather to the perfect diner. Read More »
June 6, 2010 – 4:51 pm by daniel
Oh dear, what home wasn’t complete without a crock pot. It became such a cultural institution in the States during the 70′s that the word Crock became a catch all phrase for things. The Crock Pot gave us yet another way to take the flavor out food, despite the promise in the ad. The CP along with Tupperware became the “must haves” of suburban life in the Me decade. Our family never had one, like most things we waited for the innovation and we purchased the “crock pan”, which was like the crock pot, but square and flat..allowing stews, sauces, and for the really unhealthy…grilled cheese and things…
For lasting cultural significance I give it
One out of Five Nerf Footballs
May 29, 2010 – 5:06 pm by daniel
Just to remind you how different things are now in the music industry I have to remind myself things were not always as they are now.
If you had to run a mental list of the significant songwriters of the era, who would it be?
Elton John, Dylan, Lennon, Harry Nillson, David Bowie, Cat Stevens, Barry Gibb (but that’s another story), Bruce Springsteen, Bacharach, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, Marvin Gaye, The endless amount of great pop songs from the Philly Soul..and in that revisionist view you might add Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson or even Christopher Cross, perhaps?
How long would it take you to get to this man? Paul Williams, along with Benny and Bjorn from Abba (That will be a different entry coming later) comes in very high on my charts as well as on the more traditional means of success…sales.
If I told you a 5 foot and change guy with a somewhat teddy bear freakiness would be one of the most successful songwriter/personalities of the era, you might with our present day obsessiveness over beauty, and vacile, empty talent laugh at me. This guy was one of the good stories of music. He singlehandly wrote some of the catchiest songs of the decade. His career took flight from the work he wrote that was performed by others.
Read More »
