Featured A Rank Sentimentalist

There's a great scene (amongst many great scenes) in Casablanca where Claude Raines calls Bogart a rank sentimentalist after he did something uncharacteristically nice.

Today we went to the thrift shop where I bought the large waif couple and a small waif boy, back from the 60s. Today they had the sister of the boy, except she has a hole and a bit of staining in the corner. But, how can you leave a painting that was partnered with another for at almost 60 years?
Reunited and it feels so good.

 

although painted years ago, when you see them both together (in todays eyes)

its a little bit (unintentionally) gender transformatory

 

It's because the 60s is when men started to wear their hair long, and androgyny first started to take hold.

In 2025 it's hard to imagine that in 1964 this was outrageous and these guys were long haired freaks.

 

what a picture mate !

 

Now the bowl cuts and ties look like they're going to Prom!

 

That would actually be considered clean cut now.

I am an old fashioned punk rocker. I always found punk girls attractive. I look at both girls and boys coming of age (mid teens to early 20s) and I'm just thankful I'm old. There is no style, it's just a mess.

 

Takes every kind of people , to make the world go round....... R.Palmer

 

In the late 60s early 70s I had hair down to my ass (unwashed. It was disgusting). I was between 9 - 15 years old, and at flea markets (yes, I've been going all my life) when I'd ask a price, the seller would say "that's a quarter young lady" and I'd respond "I'm a boy" and they'd say "Cut your hair, freak". This is something I heard quite a few times. That's old man syndrome. Things were better when they were growing up. Now, it's all gone to shit. I'd like to say they were wrong. But, they weren't. I was a freak. I love the life I've lived. But, to an extend, I look back in horror at my appearance. Because I WAS an absolute FREAK. I still am.

My issue with the youth of today is, what do they have to enjoy and want them to make a better tomorrow? In the 60s - 80s there was an entertainment revolution. The studios had been disbanded, and films like Carnival of Souls, The Blob, and Night of the Living Dead were showing what independent cinema could do. Rock and Roll, Heavy Metal, Glam, Punk were showing the originality of musicians. Art has always been at the forefront of society.

What does this generation bring? Autotuned vocals? Movies that can't even compete with silent films for storytelling? Every person with a cell phone has the equipment in their pocket to make a movie that looks better than early cinema. Why isn't it being done?

Old man syndrom is real. But, at this point in existence, it's actually viable. I'd love to be proven wrong. I'd love to hear how this moment in time is the BEST or at least VIABLE to what's come before it. I see nothing that competes to what's come before. That's just all around sad.

30 years from now, what has been revolutionized in the past 15 years that people will hail as brilliant? Perhaps some internet thing. But, that's not beneficial to the heart or mind. If you get sentimental or heavy hearted because you're downloading at 1 gig per minute instead of 50 mb per minute, you haven't lived.

 

i don't know if new talent doesn't exist anymore, i think we just might be too swamped to see or want to see anything

think the last good film i saw was no country for old men (and thats going back far too long)

theres so much for me to watch now (oh theres a list) and i just think i can't be bothered to commit to any of it

the only new music i discover is old music that is new to me

something new and interesting will spark in music (in some form), and everyone will go oh thats what we should be doing

it only takes one great new band to start something like that

but what......god only knows

 

o and squid game as well........if you haven't seen...thought (especially the first season) superb, and super fresh

 

Popularity of long hair for men has been with us for hundreds, even thousands of years . . . just go to any history museum for evidence. Some popular 17th century styles.

 

so has distain for long hair............ for one prejudice or another...!

 

Every person is an individual. So what I like, you might hate. Taste is subjective.

My first concert was Led Zeppelin in 77. My last show was a few months back, a new (older) artist Samantha Crain. In the old days, ads, radio, and friends were the way to find new bands. I found punk rock at a flea market in the 70s. I paid a quarter for promo copies of The New York Dolls and Iggy Pop's Raw Power. Plus a bunch of others. Those type of marketing are gone.

I'll look at who is playing the local Philly clubs and check out their music on youtube. 99.9% of it SUCKS. Every song you hear now on the radio that's new, the vocals are autotuned. Did you ever wonder why many singers sound the same? It's because their voices are being tuned. Once you tune the voice, you change the notes. Those little tweeks you hear, are because they're so flat that when the note is fixed, it adds a computerized tweek to it. WillIAm of The Black Eyed Peas is one of the most noticeable examples. He has no issue with telling interviewers he can't sing. What does that say about the state of the music industry when singers can't hit the notes? That's why you find old music that's listenable. Musicians played and sang on it.

The future of all media is AI. AI music is already finding it's place on social media. There are accounts made for fictionous artists with audio and photos with thousands of subscribers and likes. All AI does is steal from real musicians. A large lawsuit has been brought by Universal Music against the biggest AI music software. Because it's been trained on copyrighted material. All AI is trained on human made material from all the arts. Don't hold your breath for new musical genres, music as all the arts are on life support.

I hope you're not saying that the Beatles weren't considered long haired freaks in the 60s. Because they were.

Of course long hair on men was fashionable, centuries ago. But, in the western world by the turn into the 20th century, men's hair was neater (though really weird on many when styled) and shorter. By WW2 it was your basic brillcreme combed back look. It changed with the Beatles. Elvis and James Dean had pompadours. But, the Beatles broke the door open to men having long hair.

 

I'll bet in the shower, Elvis had longer hair than Ringo...!!

 

I'm betting the real art is out there; it's just being drowned out by the AI drek. I think it's a big reason Vinyl has made a comeback, and cassettes are collectible. In addition to the old format and cover art, it's what's recorded.

The reason those singing champion TV shows use older tunes is that you actually had to sing them. If you listen, very few of the songs were written in the Autotune era, and some are 50 years old. You'll not hear Taylor Swift covered. For an artist making the kind of money she does, that's very strange. No Blackpink, no BTS, no Bieber. Nada.

 

I would agree. It's just neater. It's combed. Mop tops you didn't have to do much to them. They just were.

I look all the time.
In the past 5 or 6 years I've found ---

Cayetana/Gladie is Augusta Koch. She's from Philadelphia, and I found her through the film Fighting With My Family. Pugh is leaving for the US and the song that's used in the background is just perfect. It's modern punk. But, very cool (IMO). I now have all their songs, and there aren't many clunkers. Obviously no autotune on her voice. Which is an acquired taste. It just happens to be in my wheelhouse of punk singer.


Somehow I found Mattiel, a quirky couple from Atlanta GA. This is my favorite song -


Babygirl is a fairly new duo, who had 25 songs released and no proper album. They finally toured, and I got there early because I figured the place would be packed. The 50 people outside early was pretty much it. It's a shame. Because they're very good. However, they've gone the autotune route and proudly announce it's heavily autotuned. Which is extremely lame. These are two of my favorite from this band. Great songs, awful videos.



Samantha Crain I found checking out calendars from local Philly clubs (there aren't many). The headshot used for the ad was so bad I almost didn't bother looking into her. Thankfully I did. She's released 7 albums since 2008 and they're all excellent. If you appreciate that kind of music. This is the first song I heard from her -


I'm sure there are others I haven't heard. But, most just sound like crap. When I think back to the 60s - 90s, there wasn't enough time to listen to all the exceptional music being released.

 

The Cayetana one sounds very Cranberries/Irish Punk-esque. That's not a bad thing. I liked the Samantha Crain cut too.

 

Jerry Lee is my choice for longer hair in the 50's, he really had attitude and let it fly.

 

She does have that kind of voice. I was lucky enough to see The Cranberries live. But, I also saw Dolores on her solo tour. A small club in NYC, I was up against the stage directly to her right. Great show.

No one could touch Sinead O'Connor. I loved her. Both gone way too soon.

Marrying a teenager kind of ruined his chance to be as big as he should have been. Though I personally don't hold it against him. It was common at the time.

I saw Chuck Beery a few times, and he was always fantastic.

I was in the second row at the Beacon Theater when Little Richard was making his first NY appearance in 18 years. Ronnie Spector, Paul Shaeffer, Stevie Wonder were in the front row. The first few rows had people, the rest of the place was empty. The Staple Singers opened the show. Little Richard came out and did the same song three times and then signed some autographs. Esquerita was the second piano for him.

Jerry Lee Lewis I never had a great desire to see. But, since I'd seen everyone else, I figured I'd go. I went to the late show at The Bottom Line. The band is on the tiny stage in their tuxedos, waiting nervously. After a few minutes Jerry hits the stage in dirty sweats. He looked like a pig. He said "I was at the hotel asleep. I didn't know there was another show." He then went on to rock the place for an hour. Out of the three, he was the best live.

I saw Chuck and Jerry on a bill together. Chuck was great, Jerry was better.

 

I was in 9th grade and one of my classmates had his hair combed forward and it was maybe 2 inches of bangs, not even as long as this. He had to go to the Principals office and they made him comb it back.