Blog Archives
A Time-Traveling Car is a Good Stopping Point (or Starting Point?)
“On this day in 1925, John DeLorean, a maverick auto industry executive and founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, is born in Detroit, Michigan. The DeLorean Motor Company produced just one model, the DMC-12, a sports car with gull-wing doors that opened upward, in the early 1980s before going bankrupt…In total, approximately 9,000 DMC-12s were produced.”
–History.com
Imagine inventing and building only one car model, yet that singular act of ingenuity, by pure happenstance, is immortalized because of a science-fiction trilogy? Great Scott, indeed.
The beloved Back to the Future films are pop-culture gold that continue to flex its muscles iconic car, power-lacing shoes and World Series predicting prowess more than 30 years after the first movie’s release back in 1985. The fact that the futuristic-looking DeLorean was chosen for a ground-breaking movie about the past (and eventually the future) may seem conceivable now, but John DeLorean’s professional legacy will mostly be glorified as an American success story. Sure, the car isn’t the best performing automobile on the market then or now, but everyone knows his last name and it’s forever associated with blissful memories of imagination and childhood wonder.
We all remember that scene when we first saw that time-traveling DeLorean…
The power of film strikes again.
And the power of love is pretty great too.
“Chuck” B. Berry Good
90 is the new 50?
Brush away the AARP card, biting into soft food and staring out the window at birds from dusk until dawn. Chuck Berry, the trailblazing rocker behind “Johnny B. Goode” and many other hits, isn’t celebrating his 90th birthday (which is today, October 18th) sitting down. It looks like Mr. Berry still has a few fresh beats in his head that will keep him (and us) rockin’ and rollin’ well into the new year.
Berry’s new album – titled “Chuck” – will arrive in 2017 via Dualtone Records. His last album of original music was 1979’s “Rock It.” According to a press release, “Chuck” consists of songs written by Berry and was recorded in studios around his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.
–Mike Ayers, Wall Street Journal
Thanks to my dad and his brother, I had the unforgettable chance to see experience Chuck Berry play his greatest hits in a tiny club in St. Louis, Missouri more than a decade ago. The true magic of that evening was that Mr. Berry, despite his towering age, did THE “Duck Walk” during his priceless performance of “Johnny B. Goode.” Everyone in the room was mesmerized with a smile as wide as the Gateway Arch. Knowing that the man himself is still musically inspired on his 90th birthday for a forthcoming album should bring a smile to everyone’s face.
A Dream of Mine: I think if somebody could arrange for Michael J. Fox to recreate that scene (as best as he can and is able) on the Academy Awards, in some form, to the Back to the Future mode/clothing/setting/high school kids dancing and have Chuck Berry “Duck Walk” on stage to sing with Marty McFly halfway through would be, arguably, the greatest moment in pop culture history. Plus, they would need to make sure to have that phone call from Marvin Berry before Chuck struts out onto the stage.
For now, here’s something that will get everybody to stand up and do their very own “Duck Walk.”
Happy 90th Birthday Chuck Berry!
Happy Monday!
Carrying instruments while marching with precision and flare is a heavy ordeal.
The key word: Heavy.
Back to the Future, in any variety, is amazing.
A tip of the cap/dot of the “i” to you, Ohio State Marching Band.
Have the Best Damn Week in the Land!
A Symphonic Revelation
As Back to the Future I and II taught us, walking the same path as our parents is a mind-trip as wild as traveling through time in a DeLorean. Despite knowing our parents for literally our entire lives, watching them in non-family situations offers genuine surprises and insights into how they acted before they had children.
They behave like…us.
This realization is just one of life’s many entertaining curve balls. As we age, we presume that equates to more knowledge and control. Actually, that’s true, except the age we think that control occurs and when that really happens is much different than we might want to admit.
In the case of the trailer for the upcoming film Youth (December 4, 2015), having Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel say “I told you so” in this regard isn’t so bad.
As a matter of fact, it looks quite silvery.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 