PB & Julie + Julie C. Trivia

Quick Hits: August 1

Happy birthday, Michael Penn! One of my all-time favorite musical artists, Penn is an accomplished singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer who has flown under the radar since his debut single, “No Myth”, became his only top 40 hit, peaking at #13 on the Hot 100. Penn’s refusal to play by record label rules (or cash in on his family name) has meant his success is more critical than commercial; with his infectious blend of folk rock and power pop, I’ve always thought he should be a much bigger star. With Paul Thomas Anderson’s debut, Hard Eight (Anderson prefers the original title Sydney), Penn began composing scores for films and television series such as Boogie Nights (in which he also has a role as Nick the engineer), Sunshine Cleaning, Girls and Masters of Sex. His most recent song, “A Revival”, was released last fall.

Penn after his 1990 Best New Artist win at the
MTV Video Music Awards

Penn (far right) with brother Sean, mother Eileen Ryan and late brother Chris (dad Leo died in 1998)

Bob Odenkirk gave us a little scare this week when he collapsed on the New Mexico set of Better Call Saul. He was taken to an Albuquerque hospital with “a small heart attack” but he’s apparently doing well. Best wishes to Bob and his family.

Have y’all seen the disturbing AF trailer for Lamb?

Fifty years ago today, the Concert for Bangladesh was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The brainchild of George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, the benefit concert was to raise money for the refugee and humanitarian crisis in what was then East Pakistan. The event was billed as “George Harrison and Friends”; some of the friends included Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and members of Badfinger. A triple album was released in December 1971 (most of the money raised was through sales of the album, not the concert itself). Concert for Bangladesh was the template for later benefit concerts like Live Aid and Farm Aid.

Jerry Garcia was born on this day in 1942. Singer, songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist for Grateful Dead, Garcia was a counterculture legend. He was also the first musician to have an ice cream named for them (Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia). The Grateful Dead – an eclectic mix of psychedelic rock, folk, bluegrass, blues and jazz – were the OG jam band, and they were responsible for some of the most iconic music of the 60s and 70s (including American Beauty, below right). Garcia, who struggled with diabetes and addiction, died on August 9, 1995, eight days after his 53rd birthday.

“Endless Love” by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross was released on this day in 1981. The theme song from the Franco Zeffirelli film of the same name, “Endless Love” would become the second most popular single of 1981 (behind Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes”) and earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song (it lost to “Arthur’s Theme”). Though the song was ubiquitous then, when I think of it now, this is how I hear it:

M2 (now known as MTV2) launched on this day in 1996. By the mid-90s, MTV had steered away from videos to reality television like The Real World and Road Rules; M2 was offered as an all-video alternative. But, like the mother station before it, MTV2 had eliminated all its video blocks by 2017.

Whoever designed this logo should be fired.

The first book in epic fantasy series A Song of Fire and Ice, A Game of Thrones, was published on this day in 1996. In addition to the novels, the Game of Thrones universe includes several prequels, a comic book adaptation, the critically acclaimed HBO series, and card, board and video games. Author George R.R. Martin has been promising the series’ sixth novel, The Winds of Winter, for about ten years. A prequel series, House of the Dragon, is in production at HBO, with an expected 2022 release.

The Dog Days of Summer

We’re going to take a break from talking about pop culture to talk about dogs. But don’t worry, we’ll still be pop culture-adjacent.

Today is my friend Alyssa’s birthday. Alyssa and I met working at a dog daycare. Alyssa is sweet and kind and compassionate. She gives the best hugs. She’s an amazing listener. She loves pop music and Pixar movies. I hope she has a birthday that’s as beautiful and special as she is.

You know what’s better than dogs and pop culture? Dogs with pop culture-inspired names. I’m going to share a few of my favorites with you. These dogs are all clients of the dog daycare, except the one in the featured image: his name is Balki and he belongs to me.

I’ll start with Meeka. Meeka belongs to Alyssa. Meeka is a Border Collie, she’s named for Meeko from Pocahontas and she is perfect.

We have a Vada. Vada belongs to our friend Shannon, who works at the daycare as well. Vada is also perfect.

We have a Moana and a Maui. Alyssa likes to sing “How Far I’ll Go” to Moana.

We have a Bennie and a Jet. When they’re together, I sing the obvious Elton John song. But if Jet is by herself, I sing “Jet” by Paul McCartney and Wings. Jet loves when you sing the “oohoooowoooowoooo” part. Bennie just wants you to throw a ball for her.

We have a Simba and a Nala.

We have a Starsky. He used to have brothers named Hutch and Huggy Bear.

We have a Leia and a Chewbacca (Chewy for short). Leia demands that you call her General. She’s earned it, damn it.

We have a Ripley. She’ll be your friend, unless you’re a Xenomorph, and she’ll probably bite your ankles.

We have a Dobby and a Sirius.

We have an Ozzy Pawsbourne.

We have a Sherlock and a Watson.

We have a Marty McFly.

We have a Maximus and a Krull.

We have a Disco.

We have an Indiana and a Shorty. Shorty is named for Short Round in Temple of Doom. Indiana will also respond to “Indy”. Actually, he’s an Aussie so he probably won’t respond no matter what you call him.

We have a Buttercup. If you meet her, you must call her Princess Buttercup. This is very important.

We have an Appa and a Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender).

We have lots of Gods and Goddesses.

We have a Maliumpkin. She was named for the dormouse from the Alice in Wonderland universe and she has David Bowie eyes.

We have a Turtle and a King (for Stephen King and Maturin, an ancient turtle who features prominently in multiple King works).

And finally, we have a Mr. Tibbs. Call him Mr. Tibbs.

All photos courtesy of https://www.campfido.com/.

By the way, for those of you who also love dogs and pop culture, here’s a playlist I made a few years ago of “dog” songs and artists. It’s kind of awesome.

Quick Hits: July 25

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made their debut at The 500 Club in Atlantic City on this day in 1946. Their success at 500 ultimately led to an engagement at New York City’s Copacabana, a radio show, a television variety series and a movie contract. The duo made their final appearance together at the Copacabana on July 25, 1956 – ten years to the day after their first show.

“You Can’t Hurry Love” was released on this day in 1966. The single would become The Supremes’ seventh #1 hit.

On this day in 1985, a spokeswoman for Rock Hudson confirmed that the actor had AIDS. Hudson was one of the first major celebrities to disclose their AIDS diagnosis. Hudson died a little more than two months later, on October 2.

Today would have been Estelle Getty’s 98th birthday. Getty struggled for decades to break into show business, and in 1982, her big break came when she co-starred in Torch Song Trilogy as Mrs. Beckoff, a role playwright Harvey Fierstein wrote specifically for Getty. Three years later, Getty became a star at the age of sixty-two when she was cast in NBC’s Golden Girls as Sophia Petrillo, a role that won her an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

On this day in 1964, The Beatles’ album A Hard Day’s Night went to #1 on the US album chart – and stayed there for fourteen weeks. The soundtrack to the movie of the same name, A Hard Day’s Night was hugely influential; for the recording of the album, George Harrison played several songs on a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar, a sound which helped usher in the folk-rock explosion of the mid-60s. A Hard Day’s Night was also the first Beatles album to be written entirely by the band (Lennon-McCartney were the credited songwriters; later albums would feature material written by Harrison and Ringo Starr as well).

On this day in 1965, Bob Dylan was booed by the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival, for performing on an electric guitar.

On this day in 1975, David Bowie released “Fame”, the second single from his album Young Americans. Co-written with John Lennon (Lennon provided background vocals for the song as well), “Fame” was an angry funk-rock jam with pointed lyrics about the costs of fame. “Fame” would go on to become Bowie’s first #1 single in the US.

Quick Hits: July 23

Philip Seymour Hoffman would have been fifty-four years old today. I’m working on a longer post in his honor, but it’s not quite ready to publish. In the meantime, I’ll just leave this here:

And this:

Tidal, Fiona Apple’s brilliant debut album, was released on this day in 1996. Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart was classically trained on the piano and began writing her own songs at just eight years old; she wrote and recorded much of the material on Tidal at the age of seventeen. An old soul, yet almost frighteningly vulnerable, Apple wrote confessional lyrics about the scars we bear – and the ones we inflict. Tidal was slow to catch on, but in the fall of 1997, the third single off the album, “Criminal”, became Apple’s first and only Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at #21. “Criminal” won Apple the Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (she was also nominated for Best New Artist, but lost to – yikes – Paula Cole). The lyrics of Tidal still sear twenty-five years later. It is a remarkable debut, and one of my favorite albums of the 90s.

After taking a couple months off, hubby and I resumed our Fargo watch last night with season three opener “The Law of Vacant Places”. I’m already blown away by Ewan McGregor’s dual performance as brothers Emmit and Ray Stussy, and I’m intrigued by the storyline. I think it will be another fun ride.

Woodstock ’99 took place twenty-two years ago this weekend, and it was an absolute shitshow. Unlike the fairly peaceful event thirty years earlier, Woodstock ’99 was marred by violence, sexual assault, looting and arson. The festival was also an environmental disaster. Portable toilets backed up. Oppressive heat (100 °F/38 °C) left concertgoers in need of hydration, and their only option for water was vendor plastic bottles at $4 a pop. The bottles that were strewn around the grounds were used as fuel for bonfires set during Sunday evening’s Red Hot Chili Peppers performance. Multiple rape accusations, including at least two eyewitness accounts of gang rape, were investigated by police. ATM’s were tipped over and looted; vendor booths were torn apart and used as kindling for the fires. One person, David DeRosia, died as a result of hypothermia secondary to heat stroke; his mother sued the festival’s promoters for negligence, for failing to provide adequate fresh water and medical care for the 400,000 attendees. San Francisco Editor journalist Jane Ganahi referred to Woodstock ’99 as “the day the music died”. A compelling-looking documentary about the event airs tonight on HBO.

Consummate character actor Ronny Cox was born on this day in 1938.

Happy birthday to Edie McClurg! McClurg is a beloved character actor best known for her work in John Hughes films, but she has appeared in dramas like A River Runs Through It and done extensive voiceover work for animation and video games. Most people probably think of her from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where she hilariously played Rooney’s secretary Grace, but my favorite character of hers is “Car Rental Agent” in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Fun fact: Edie McClurg’s first film was Brian De Palma’s *Carrie*

Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore is sixty today, and I feel really old. I’m off to listen to “Somebody” and pretend I’m fifteen again.

Walking on the Moon

On this day in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle and became the first men to walk on the surface of the moon (or not, if you’re one of those people who believe The Shining was Stanley Kubrick’s admission of guilt for his part in the faking of the moon landing). To celebrate the anniversary of this momentous occasion, let’s take a look at some depictions of astronauts – both real and fictional – in pop culture.

Apollo 13

Apollo 13 kicks off on the night of Armstrong and Aldrin’s moon walk; Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), who orbited the moon for Apollo 8, is having a watch party at his house. Nine months later, Lovell, Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) are on their way to the moon as the crew of Apollo 13. Three days into the mission, disaster strikes: Lovell, Haise and Swigert won’t make it to the moon – and they might not make it home either. Ron Howard (who should have won a Best Director Oscar for this film, not A Beautiful Mind) wows us with the most realistic rendering of space to date (as of 1995, that is), but also crafts an emotionally resonant story of survival. The ending is a foregone conclusion, but Howard still manages to create tension for the audience. And the whole thing is anchored by lovely performances from Hanks and the crew, Ed Harris as Gene Kranz, the sensational Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Lovell and a supporting cast of dozens. For its efforts, the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, and the film was nominated for nine Oscars. It is my personal favorite movie on this list.

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick’s bonkers collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke, is arguably the greatest science-fiction film of all time, although reviews were mixed upon its release. Exploring themes of existentialism, human evolution and artificial intelligence, 2001 was praised for its realistic depiction of space life and its cutting-edge special effects (for which Kubrick won the Oscar). But not everyone appreciated the film; at the premiere in Los Angeles, Rock Hudson left early, purportedly asking “What is this bullshit?” on his way out the door. 2001 is an incredible journey through millions of years of evolution, with extended wordless sequences set to classical music. Don’t try to understand it, just sit back and enjoy it; weed is optional but I highly recommend it.

From the Earth to the Moon

From left, Tony Goldwyn as Neil Armstrong, Cary Elwes as Michael Collins, Bryan Cranston as Buzz Aldrin

From the Earth to the Moon, HBO’s 12-part miniseries about the Apollo space program of the 1960s and 70s, was the brainchild of Tom Hanks. After starring in Apollo 13, Hanks felt the need to live in that world a little longer. Andrew Chaikin’s A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts served as inspiration for the series, which is more like twelve short films; the episodes were directed by ten different people, and each episode has its own distinct point of view. Although the sprawling cast primarily play real people, the narrative is aided by the addition of several fictional characters like Emmett Seaborn (Lane Smith), a Walter Cronkite-esque television reporter. From the Earth to the Moon was nominated for a whopping seventeen Emmy Awards and won three, including Outstanding Miniseries.

Moon

The less you know about Moon, Duncan Jones’ brilliant first feature, the better. The role of Sam was written specifically for Sam Rockwell, and Rockwell knocks it out of the park. How was he not nominated for a Best Actor Oscar? Anyway, no spoilers here, just watch this gem already.

The Right Stuff

The story of the Mercury space program of the 1950s and early 60s, The Right Stuff was a box-office bomb but one of 1983’s most highly honored films, earning eight Academy Award nominations and winning four Oscars (Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Film Editing). Directed by Philip Kaufman, The Right Stuff was an adaptation of the acclaimed book by Tom Wolfe. Chuck Yeager was on-hand to ensure historical accuracy (although substantial dramatic liberties were taken). The talented cast is headed up by Sam Shepard (as Yeager), Fred Ward (Gus Grissom), Dennis Quaid (Gordon Cooper), Ed Harris (John Glenn) and Scott Glenn (Alan Shepard).

The Martian

The Martian, based on Andy Weir’s inventive 2011 novel, finds botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) stranded on Mars alone after he is presumed dead. With his crew on their way back to earth, rescue is literally years away and there’s not enough food to keep him alive for that long. So Watney, in his own words, has to “science the shit out of this”. Damon strikes the right balance between gallows humor and Watney’s will to survive, and the supporting cast is heaven (Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Jessica Chastain, Sean Bean, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor, just to name a few). The Martian was a box office and critical success, and was nominated for seven Oscars.

Hidden Figures

Janelle Monáe, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer

Hidden Figures contains a lot of inaccuracies (for one thing, NASA facilities desegregated in 1949, twelve years before the events depicted in the film) and it comes off as white savior-ish, but it tells an important story: the black women who worked at NASA and helped make American space flight possible. I just wish the movie had better served those woman – Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – AND the divine actors playing them (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe, respectively).

SpaceCamp

SpaceCamp was a marketing nightmare: the movie was released five months after the Challenger shuttle explosion (though filming was completed well before), and many felt the film was trying to capitalize on the disaster. SpaceCamp made only about $10 million, well below its budget. But it was a movie that I loved, primarily due to its winning cast – Kate Capshaw, Tom Skerritt, Lea Thompson, Tate Donovan, Larry B. Scott, Kelly Preston and a baby Joaquin Phoenix (who at the time went by the name Leaf). The premise is beyond ridiculous: the campers are allowed inside the space shuttle during a routine test, but the boosters accidentally ignite and NASA is forced to launch the shuttle with five campers and only one actual astronaut (Capshaw’s Andie) on board. But I’ve always believed in exercising a healthy suspension of disbelief; if you can do the same, you’ll enjoy SpaceCamp too.

First Man

Expectations were high for First Man, Damien Chazelle’s 2018 biopic of Neil Armstrong. Two years earlier, Chazelle had become the youngest winner of the Best Director Oscar, First Man reteamed him with his La La Land leading man, Ryan Gosling, and Claire Foy (as Janet Armstrong) had just won every possible award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II on Netflix’s The Crown. And while First Man was a commercial disappointment, it’s a lovely film with an incredible cast and knock-your-socks-off visual effects (for which it deservedly won the Oscar).

Gravity

One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2013, Gravity is a technical tour de force. Alfonso Cuarón utilized cutting-edge technology to create a hyperrealistic interpretation of space. Sandra Bullock gives the film its heart as Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first space mission. Stone, still reeling from the death of her daughter, soon finds herself alone when space debris irreparably damages the shuttle and kills her fellow crew members. Gravity is less a sci-fi film and more of a survival tale; think Cast Away in space. The film earned a worldwide gross of more than $700 million and was nominated for ten Academy Awards; though 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture, Gravity won the most awards of the evening, including Best Director for Cuarón, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects.

Armageddon

Armageddon is not a great movie. The script (co-written by J.J. Abrams!) is garbage. There’s zero chemistry between Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler (and don’t get even get me started on the animal cracker love scene). It’s indulgent and over the top in the way that Michael Bay movies are. It’s too long by at least 30 minutes. And it’s so inaccurate that NASA shows the film in management training sessions where new managers are tasked with finding the errors. And why does it have to be so loud? The first time I saw Armageddon, I was annoyed at my then-boyfriend because he vetoed seeing Saving Private Ryan, which had just been released that day (we saw Ryan a couple weeks later). And I had a headache, which the film only exacerbated. I didn’t enjoy it at all. Upon watching it a second time, sans headache, I updated my initial review. It’s still big and loud and dumb, but it’s also entertaining as hell.

This is a great video on how special effects in space movies have evolved over the years, and it touches on several of the films on this list.

Quick Hits: July 18

Content warning: this post contains references to stalking and murder.

Inhaler entered the UK album chart at #1 last week with their debut album, It Won’t Always Be Like This. I’ll admit I clicked skeptically when I learned that Inhaler’s lead singer is Elijah Hewson, offspring of Bono (nepotism has no place in music), but these lads are going to be my next obsession. Inhaler is a mix of power pop and dreamy psychedelia, with pounding bass lines and a dash of early 80s synth-pop.

Inhaler – Josh Jenkinson, Ryan McMahon, Elijah Hewson, Robert Keating

A Quiet Place Part II is now available for streaming on Paramount+. Hubby and I had intended to make it the first movie we saw in the theater since January 2020, but decided to save the money and watch it at home. Anyway, spoiler alert, it was awesome. Millicent Simmonds’ Regan takes center stage and Simmonds makes the most of the opportunity. Cillian Murphy is fantastic as Emmett, a friend of the Abbott family from the before times.

The first two episodes of Making the Cut season 2 are now available on Amazon Prime. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are an iconic pair, and I’m really enjoying the addition of Jeremy Scott and Winnie Harlow to the judging panel. The designers this season are (for the most part) a diverse and interesting group. Gary’s my favorite so far, based on his look from episode 1.

Happy birthday, Margo Martindale! One of the finest character actors of the 21st century (or ever, for that matter), Martindale is equally comfortable in comedy or drama. A Tony nominee for a 2004 revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Martindale won Emmy awards for her performances in Justified and The Americans. She also had a prominent role on one of my all-time favorite shows, Dexter.

Rebecca Schaeffer – model, actress and co-star of the CBS comedy My Sister Sam – was murdered on this day in 1989. Robert John Bardo had already been stalking Schaeffer for a few years, and had even attempted (unsuccessfully) to gain access to the My Sister Sam set, when he saw Schaeffer’s sex scene in the 1989 Paul Bartel film, Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Feeling jealous and rageful, and inspired by Arthur Jackson (would-be assassin of actress Theresa Saldana back in 1982), Bardo showed up at Schaeffer’s home (he’d hired a PI, who’d found her address through the DMV) with a card he’d sent her and her photo. When Schaeffer brushed him off with a “Please take care”, Bardo came back an hour later with a gun, and when Schaeffer opened the door this time, Bardo shot her in the heart. Schaeffer, just 21 years old, was set to audition for a role in The Godfather III the day she died (she was waiting for the script to arrive, and was undoubtedly hoping that’s who was at her door). Bardo received the maximum sentence for his crime – life in prison without the possibility of parole. In the aftermath of Schaeffer’s murder, a federal law was passed to prevent the public from accessing DMV records. In 1990, California became the first state to enact an anti-stalking law. In the intervening years, celebrities such as Madonna and David Letterman have made use of the anti-stalking law to protect themselves and their families.

Rebecca Schaeffer with her *My Sister Sam* co-star, Pam Dawber

Quick Hits: July 15

Content warning: this post contains a reference to suicide.

Die Hard, one of the most perfect movies ever made, was released on this day in 1988. Based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, Die Hard made Bruce Willis a superstar and ushered in a new era of action heroes – flawed, vulnerable, human. Alan Rickman, making his film debut, chews the perfect amount of scenery as terrorist Hans Gruber. Box office expectations were low for the film – Willis was not yet a bankable star and 20th Century Fox featured the 40-story skyscraper as prominently as Willis’ face in the marketing campaign – but it ended up earning $140 million. It was also nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Film Editing.

Alan Rickman’s delivery of the line “Now I have a machine gun…ho ho ho” is absolute perfection.

Stranger Things debuted on Netflix on July 15, 2016. The Duffer Brothers asked the question, “What if Steven Spielberg directed a Stephen King movie?” and the initial answer was…Montauk. The Long Island city had been the stand-in for Amity Island when Jaws was filmed, and the brothers thought it was a nice tribute to Spielberg to set their series there. Eventually they opted to create a fictional town instead, and when Hawkins, Indiana was born, the show had to be renamed.

Happy birthday to the incomparable Terry O’Quinn.

Happy birthday as well to Lana Parilla, co-star of several series, including Spin City, Once Upon a Time (where she brilliantly played The Evil Queen and her real-world counterpart, Regina Mills) and two personal favorites of mine, Boomtown and Swingtown.

Ian Curtis was born on this day in 1956. Lead singer and songwriter for post-punk band Joy Division, Curtis had a history of substance abuse and depression, and in 1978 he was diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Curtis always seemed haunted, and his lyrics matched his mood, with titles like “Disorder”, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and “Isolation”. On May 18, 1980, on the eve of Joy Division’s first North American tour, Curtis hung himself with a piece of clothes line; he was just 23 years old. Two months later, Joy Division’s second and final album, Closer, was released. The remaining members of Joy Division disbanded and reformed as New Order.

On this date in 1972, Honky Château became Elton John’s first of seven consecutive #1 albums in the US. While not John’s finest album (that’d be Goodbye Yellow Brick Road), Honky Château is an infectious romp and it contains my all-time favorite Elton song, “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”.

Live Aid

On Saturday, July 13, 1985, an estimated 1.9 billion people across the globe gathered around their television sets and radios for Live Aid, a benefit concert for famine relief in Ethiopia. An additional 150,000 saw the event live from Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

The roots of Live Aid go back to the fall of 1984 when the BBC aired a series of reports on the famine in Ethiopia. Watching those reports was Bob Geldof, then best known as the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats. Geldof was inspired (along with Ultravox’s Midge Ure) to arrange for a group of all-star UK artists (collectively known as Band Aid) to record a single for famine-relief charity. The result was “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, an undeniably catchy slice of cheese.

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was well-intentioned but cringe-worthy (‘Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you’? YIKES). Regardless, the single was a smash; “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, which debuted at #1 in the UK, sold 2.5 million copies in the US and 11.7 million copies worldwide. The single also spawned an equally well-intentioned – and equally cringey – US version, co-written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson and credited to USA for Africa, called “We Are the World”.

The success of Band Aid and USA for Africa inspired Geldof and Ure – on the suggestion of Culture Club’s Boy George – to organize a benefit concert to be held on two continents. The idea was to use satellites to bounce back and forth between the two locations, so music was constantly playing. Geldof and Ure hired promoters Harvey Goldsmith and Bill Graham to help organize the event and set about enlisting artists (several prominent musicians, including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and Prince, declined for various reasons). Venues were selected. Television and radio broadcasting rights were secured.

The show kicked off at noon in London, 7 am EDT. When the lights went down on JFK, the music had been playing for sixteen hours.

My summer job that year was picking berries at a farm for 50 cents a quart. I had to work that morning, but we had the radio tuned to the event, and I was home by early afternoon to catch the rest of the broadcast. I don’t really recall the concert feeling life-changing at the time. As with any live event, there were memorable and not-so-memorable performances (or ones that were memorable for all the wrong reasons). This list includes a few of each.

Phil Collins

Phil Collins was undoubtedly the Live Aid MVP. The only artist to appear at both locations, Collins played at Wembley, took the Concorde across the Atlantic, then did a set at JFK. He also assisted Sting, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin (see next entry) during their performances.

FUN FACT: Collins was under the impression that other artists would be making the transcontinental trek with him and was mortified to learn he’d be the only one.

Led Zeppelin

Live Aid was the first time the surviving members of Led Zeppelin played together since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. It…didn’t go well. Their set was disjointed, instruments were out of tune, and Robert Plant’s voice was ragged and tired. Jimmy Page tried to throw guest drummer Phil Collins under the bus, suggesting that Collins didn’t know his part, but honestly, Collins is only a fraction of the problem here.

Dire Straits

Dire Straits was a massively popular band in the summer of 1985, thanks to their album Brothers in Arms and its #1 single, “Money for Nothing”. The song’s success was due in part to an assist from Sting, who provided the background vocals, including the iconic “I Want My MTV” (sung to the tune of The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”). Sting pitched in to help when Dire Straits took the stage at Live Aid, and the result did not disappoint.

Madonna

Madonna was the biggest pop star on the planet in 1985, thanks to Like A Virgin. The world could not get enough of Madonna. *I* could not get enough of Madonna. I’d just seen her in concert for the first time, at the Detroit leg of The Virgin Tour; the woman puts on a hell of a show. Madonna was introduced at Live Aid (hilariously) by Bette Midler, who alluded to the recent scandal involving nude photos of Madonna taken several years earlier appearing in Playboy and Penthouse magazines. Madonna played along, telling the crowd imploring her to take off her jacket (it was 95 degrees in Philly that day), “I ain’t taking shit off today”, before launching into her dance-party hit “Holiday” – and getting the audience on their feet.

David Bowie

When I started working on this piece, I knew I needed to ask my bestie if she had any specific memories from that day (she and I didn’t meet until eight years after Live Aid took place). She first said how Queen gave her goosebumps (see the final entry on this list). Then she said, “David Bowie singing ‘Heroes'”. Bowie had the misfortune of following Queen, but if ever there was a performer who could rise to the occasion, it was Bowie. He had the audience in the palm of his hand, and those of us at home knew we were watching something very special.

Bob Dylan with Keith Richards and Ron Wood

Bob Dylan caused a bit of a stir when he told the audience he wished some of the money being raised that day could go to struggling farmers in the US. Bob Geldof was angry at Dylan for his remarks, but the seeds were sown for Farm Aid, which took place two months after Live Aid. Dylan’s set was a bit of a mess; at one point, a string broke on his guitar, so Wood passed his over and played air guitar until someone could bring him another one. But when we talk about Dylan and Live Aid, it generally concerns his pre-performance comments.

U2 were not yet superstars in 1985, but Live Aid helped launch them into the stratosphere. Their performance that day is the stuff of legend: a planned third song, “Pride (In the Name of Love)”, had to be jettisoned after their second song, “Bad”, turned into an eleven-minute opus. Turns out Bono was looking for a young woman to come up to the stage and dance with him, as was his custom. But the crowd was surging, and Bono helped security pull a few people to safety, one of whom, Kal Khalique, would later tell The Sun that Bono had saved her life (see the 7:20 mark of the video below). The Edge, Larry Mullen, and Adam Clayton were purportedly angry at Bono, as he disappeared from their view, leaving them to repeat the same few bars of the song for several minutes. It wasn’t until later that they – and the rest of the world – fully understood what had happened.

Paul McCartney

The concert’s promoters desperately wanted at least one of the surviving Beatles – preferably Paul – to play; Paul was hesitant, as he hadn’t performed live since the death of John Lennon five years earlier, but “the management” (McCartney’s children) insisted he play. Not wanting to deal with a “Beatles reunion” scenario, George Harrison and Ringo Starr opted not to participate. McCartney only performed one song, but it was the perfect choice. Technical difficulties prevented the folks at Wembley from hearing the song’s first two minutes, but it mattered little – by the end of “Let It Be”, all 72,000 people in the stadium were singing along.

Black Sabbath featuring Ozzy Osbourne

Instead of rehearsing, the reunited band reminisced about the old days and went to the bar to get drunk. They took the stage at JFK at 9:52 am, still hungover (or possibly drunk again, depending on which account you read). Either way, their performance was a disaster.

Elton John

Elton John had the longest set of the day, coming in at about 32 minutes. He sang one hit after another – “Rocket Man”, “Bennie and the Jets”, “I’m Still Standing”. He also got some help from Kiki Dee and George Michael on “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”, respectively (Andrew Ridgeley, Michael’s Wham! bandmate, was consigned to singing background vocals). The crowd ate it up.

Duran Duran

Oof.

Band Aid/USA for Africa

Each show ended with the song that started it all: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in London and “We Are the World” in Philadelphia. It’s all fairly predictable, but hoo boy when Patti Labelle starts belting, you kind of forget everything else.

Queen

Queen was not the top act on this ticket, but Freddie Mercury and company brought the house down. When the dust settled, many fans agreed that their set was not only the highlight of the day but the greatest rock performance EVER. If you have twenty minutes, it’s worth watching their full performance.

You can listen to/watch the Live Aid performances in several ways. Here are a couple of suggestions. You can listen to the complete setlist on Spotify:

Or you can subscribe to the Live Aid YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUAVzSGkkTa-IoMx_x1XK4Q

Quick Hits: July 10

The trailer for No Man of God was released yesterday. The film portrays the interviews that took place in the 80s between Ted Bundy and FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier, who was a member of the famed Behavioral Science Unit. As a cinephile and a true crime buff, I’m pretty excited to see this one.

On this day in 1978, Max Robinson became the first black network news anchor when he was hired to co-host ABC World News Tonight with Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings.

The Fox and the Hound and Escape from New York were both released on this day in 1981. Both films featured Kurt Russell; Russell voiced Copper the hound dog in the former movie and played the legendary Snake Plissken in the latter.

Chiwetel Ejiofor was born on this day in 1977. Ejiofor attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; just three months into his studies, he was cast in his first feature film, Steven Spielberg’s Amistad. Ejiofor won a Laurence Olivier Award for a 2008 production of Othello and a BAFTA (Britain’s version of the Oscar) for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave. He has appeared in several of my favorite films of the 21st century, including Inside Man, Children of Men, American Gangster and The Martian.

One of my favorite celebrity couples, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, were married on this day in 2010.

The Rolling Stones scored their first US #1 single with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” on this day in 1965. It held the top spot for four weeks before it was replaced by “I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am” by Herman’s Hermits.

Today I learned that Ronnie James Dio was born Ronald James Padavona. Today I also learned that Dio’s first band (originally named the Vegas Kings, then Ronnie and the Redcaps, and ultimately Ronnie and the Prophets) was a doo-wop/surf rock outfit who sang songs with titles like “10 Days with Brenda”. The Prophets ultimately morphed into Dio’s first hard rock outfit, Elf. A heavy metal icon, Dio fronted three key bands of the 70s and 80s – Rainbow, Black Sabbath (following Ozzy Osbourne’s departure from the group in 1979) and finally, Dio. Ronnie James Dio died in 2010 after a year-long bout with stomach cancer; today would have been his 79th birthday.

Beauty and the Beat at 40

On July 8, 1981, I.R.S. Records released the debut album by The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat. Beauty and the Beat would eventually hold the top spot on the Billboard album chart for six weeks, yield two top-twenty hits – “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat” – and become the second biggest-selling album of 1982 (after Asia’s self-titled debut). The album remains, to this day, the only #1 album by a female rock band who played their own instruments and wrote their own music.

The Go-Go’s formed in 1978 in Los Angeles; the original line-up consisted of Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, vocals), Margot Olavarria (bass) and Elissa Bello (drums). Later in 1978, lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey joined the group. The Go-Go’s started out as a punk band, and played L.A. punk venues like The Masque and Whiskey a Go Go. Eventually, Olavarria and Bello left the band and were replaced by Kathy Valentine and Gina Schock, respectively. It was around this time that the band started pulling away from their punk roots to a poppier sound.

In late 1979, The Go-Go’s recorded a five song demo, including the earliest recorded version of “We Got the Beat”. The band subsequently spent much of 1980 touring in the U.K., where “We Got the Beat” became a minor hit.

On the strength of their demo, The Go-Go’s signed with I.R.S. Records in April, 1981. A little more than two months later, their debut single, “Our Lips Are Sealed”, was released, followed by the full album about a month after that. “Our Lips Are Sealed” wasn’t an instant success in the U.S. but eventually hit #20 on the Billboard Hot 100, due in part to its iconic video, filmed guerilla-style on the streets of Hollywood. Fun fact: the budget for the video came from unused funds in The Police’s video budget (The Police’s drummer, Stewart Copeland, is the brother of I.R.S. Records founder Miles Copeland III).

When the rest of the band goes into the lingerie store, and Jane Wiedlin is sitting in the car singing the bridge, you can see Belinda Carlisle trying to hide behind the driver side door.

On January 16, 1982, I.R.S. released Beauty and the Beat‘s second single, “We Got the Beat”. The song spent three weeks at the #2 spot on the Hot 100 (it was kept out of the top spot by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock and Roll”) and propelled Beauty and Beat to the top of the album chart. The video for “We Got the Beat”, filmed during a live performance at Palos Verdes High School in Los Angeles, received heavy airplay on MTV, and the single reached a wider pop culture audience later that year when it was featured in the opening credits sequence for Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The band was also nominated for Best New Artist at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards (they lost to Sheena Easton).

Beauty and the Beat is iconic, with one banger after another. It is thirty-five minutes of pure pop-punk perfection. And though The Go-Go’s weren’t able to duplicate Beauty and the Beat‘s success with their subsequent albums, 1982’s Vacation and 1984’s Talk Show, their place in rock and roll history is secure. On October 30, 2021, the band – after fifteen years of eligibility – will finally be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving group.