The Nostalgiaganza

[bapo!]

I've seen it a couple of times before, but just rewatched the first Ali-Frazier fight and it is one for the ages.

Unbelievable!

Yep. The 50th anniversary was a couple of days ago.

I've rewatched all three fights in the past year or so. They're all amazing. Nobody loves the second one because the referee let Ali get away with too much clutching and grabbing, but it's still a great fight. Just overshadowed by the other two.

I read something a few years ago about the Philippines fight. I think it was in Mark Kram's 'Ghosts of Manila.' The security guard who was guarding Ali's dressing room accidentally shot himself. Might have been playing with his gun in front of a mirror. Imagine being Ali, feeling like you were just run over by a truck, and just wanting to go to a quiet room to cry for a while, and the first thing you see is a dead guy on the floor.

[sancarlos]

I've seen it a couple of times before, but just rewatched the first Ali-Frazier fight and it is one for the ages.

Unbelievable!

That first Ali-Frazier fight was on pay-per-view, one of the first ever, I believe. You had to go to a movie theatre to watch it live. The next night they showed a repeat at our local drive-in movie theatre, at some reduced drive-in price. It must have been a weekend, because our family piled in the car and went to go see it. It was a big deal. I remember Ali had tassels on his boxing shoes (IIRC).

[bapo!]

That first Ali-Frazier fight was on pay-per-view, one of the first ever, I believe. You had to go to a movie theatre to watch it live. The next night they showed a repeat at our local drive-in movie theatre, at some reduced drive-in price. It must have been a weekend, because our family piled in the car and went to go see it. It was a big deal. I remember Ali had tassels on his boxing shoes (IIRC).

This is great. I wish closed-circuit television was still a thing. We need more shared experiences.

Distributed by Management Television Systems Inc.

Here's the fight if anybody wants to watch. Called by the great boxing broadcasters Don Dunphy and, uh, Burt Lancaster.

Fun note about PPVs and closed-circuit: the first Patterson/Liston fight was broadcast on closed-circuit. Two individuals were allowed to watch it in their homes: President Kennedy and Frank Sinatra.

[The Sybian]

Do you guys remember the theme song to that game? I saw some old Gillette commercials last year, and I thought that the melody of the song sounded familiar. Sure enough, it was repurposed by Nintendo years later.

Interesting video about Punch Out using the music. Then he goes off on some tangents at the end.

[L-Jam3]

I remember playing it, and my mom called out from the kitchen, “wait! That’s the Gillette Friday Night Fights!”

But other than that, no way I would’ve known that.

Ha! That's awesome. Your household was much more cultured than mine, apparently.

It was more a thing because both my grandfathers were big into the Sweet Science. IIRC, one of them was at the first Dempsey-Tunney fight in 1926 (although I might be misremembering and it was actually the Marciano-Walcott fight in 1952).

I've seen the Ali-Frazier bloodbaths several times, and I have the first one waiting for me on my DVR from this past Sunday when ESPN reaired it with commentary. I would've been tempted to show my kids, as they both know of Ali through the "Who Was..." series of books. But if I did, I'd probably ruin boxing for them, as they'd watch every fight going forward being like "why aren't the beating each other like Ali and Frazier did?

[sancarlos]

I remember playing it, and my mom called out from the kitchen, “wait! That’s the Gillette Friday Night Fights!”

But other than that, no way I would’ve known that.

Ha! That's awesome. Your household was much more cultured than mine, apparently.

It was more a thing because both my grandfathers were big into the Sweet Science. IIRC, one of them was at the first Dempsey-Tunney fight in 1926 (although I might be misremembering and it was actually the Marciano-Walcott fight in 1952).

I've seen the Ali-Frazier bloodbaths several times, and I have the first one waiting for me on my DVR from this past Sunday when ESPN reaired it with commentary. I would've been tempted to show my kids, as they both know of Ali through the "Who Was..." series of books. But if I did, I'd probably ruin boxing for them, as they'd watch every fight going forward being like "why aren't the beating each other like Ali and Frazier did?

Yeah, as I understand it, in the 20th century until the late 50s, boxing and baseball were the two sports everybody cared about, and every other one was a small niche sport.

[bapo!]

IIRC, one of them was at the first Dempsey-Tunney fight in 1926 (although I might be misremembering and it was actually the Marciano-Walcott fight in 1952).

Either way, I'm impressed.

But if I did, I'd probably ruin boxing for them, as they'd watch every fight going forward being like "why aren't the beating each other like Ali and Frazier did?"

Well, it's probaby better to start with the classics than something like that Lennox Lewis/Henry Akinwande non-fight I mentioned earlier. That would ruin their interest forever.

[L-Jam3]

So I just called my folks, to both follow up on their COVID shots and to verify. Apparently, both my grandfathers went to Dempsey-Tunney I. Figure the stadium was only about a half a mile from where both of them lived, and with 120K people there, practically every adult male in South Philly who was into boxing (which as SanCarlos noted, would’ve been everyone) would’ve been there too.

Now the Marciano-Walcott tilt in the same venue, my dad and his buddies snuck in as teenagers. My dad also with his buddies saw all three Ali-Frazier fights on closed-circuit at the Spectrum.

I haven’t been to any title fights, but I have been to the Blue Horizon a few times at the turn of the millennium.

[bapo!]

That is really cool, L-Jam. Pittsburgh has a boxing history, but not nearly as rich as Philly's. My father never mentioned going to any fights.

But he did see a Pirates double-header at Forbes Field when the Pirates beat Koufax and Drysdale. (Koufax lost his game in the bottom of the 11th.)

[govmentchedda]

My dad's memories of Forbes Field were of my great uncle and grandfather screaming at someone in the deck above them because he tossed trash on top of them.

[bapo!]

Update from a few pages/years ago. Earlier, I talked about Christine Chubbuck, the Sarasota newscaster who shot herself on the air in 1974, and the subsequent search for the video. Two movies were made about her in 2016. Not long after that, a video of the event surfaced online that was quickly deemed a re-creation/hoax.

A few weeks ago, somebody posted in the Lost Media forums, saying that he had the audio from the broadcast. It's online now. Not the actual gunshot, but a couple of minutes leading up to it. So now there's another debate over authenticity. And another debate over the morality of searching for/viewing this kind of thing. This still captivates the weird corners of the Internet.

I've watched those two movies, by the way. 'Christine,' starring Rebecca Hall, is recommended even for normal people. Hall is excellent. Michael C. Hall of 'Dexter' fame is also very good here.

And I just watched 'Kate Plays Christine.' This is not recommended. The premise is that this actress is cast to play the role of Chubbuck, and then she's filmed as she researches the story and interviews people involved and develops her role. And there are very occasional scenes of the movie they're supposedly filming. I enjoy unconventional storytelling, movie-within-a-movie stuff, but I don't know if this kind of postmodern approach is right for this particular story. In a less charitable mood, I would call it offensive. And then the final scene tries to convey a message that goes against the entire enterprise of making this movie.

[Steve of phpBB]

Weren’t both of those Christine movies at Sundance a couple years ago?

Edit: Okay. Rereading your post, I guess it would’ve been 2016.

[bapo!]

When going back a few pages to find what I had written about Christine Chubbuck, I saw a mention of a commercial actress I liked in the '90s. I posted her Burger King commercial, then mentioned that I could never find her MallPerks commercial. And lo, it appeared. Was this the pinnacle of her career? Was she ever in an episode of 'Law and Order' or something?



And in the vein of lost media, there's a particular PSA that I've been looking for forever -- the Jewish Chautauqua Society 'Hate Hurts You' PSA. (I'm pretty sure I've used a still from this PSA as my avatar at some point.)

This is the 10-second version that aired in 1982.



Apparently, there's a 30- or 60-second version that aired in the mid-'70s that is exponentially creepier. I search for it every once in a while, thinking that it has to show up eventually. No luck yet. Does anybody here remember seeing either version on tv? I don't think I ever did, and I'm pretty sure I would have remembered it.

[rass]

Couldn’t agree on a movie to watch last night with my wife. We had been browsing Irish(ish) films because tis the season, and finally ended up watching a few short films on Amazon Prime (one was The Attendant about a parking lot attendant at Giant’s Causeway and the other was Hannah Cohen’s Holy Communion about a young Jewish girl in 70s Dublin who decides she wants to receive her first communion and all the trappings that go with that).

The third one we watched, and the one appropriate to the thread, was called Land of Magic, was an extended commercial “film” from the 60s that seemed intended to sell well-off English on travel to Northern Ireland (hope they got to Belfast while they could). Part documentary, part staged. It was delightful.

[Pruitt]

And in the vein of lost media, there's a particular PSA that I've been looking for forever -- the Jewish Chautauqua Society 'Hate Hurts You' PSA. (I'm pretty sure I've used a still from this PSA as my avatar at some point.)

This is the 10-second version that aired in 1982.

Very catchy... and kitschy.

Here's a powerful anti-smoking message from Canadian one hit wonder Corey Hart

[bapo!]

Corey Hart

We talked before about Canada's workplace-safety PSAs in the early-'80s. A little too graphic for my liking.



I watched that batch of Loyola Marymount games. A lot of up-and-down, '7 seconds or less' basketball. A bunch of 3-pointers. Sometimes some defense happened. It's certainly not patient, methodical, Pete Carill-style basketball. I had only remembered Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble, and Per Stumer. But once I started watching, more of the names came back to me. This was a fun team. And then after Gathers died, it became something more than that.

Some notes: In the 1989 Preseason NIT game vs UNLV, it was announced that the game would be delayed for 4 minutes due to a bomb threat. I guess the supposed bomb was supposed to go off at a certain time. When it didn't, everybody shrugged and kept playing. Weird scene.

The Oregon State game is great fun. I had never seen Gary Payton in college, and he was amazing that day. He finished with 48 points, and Kimble scored 53. This was when Gathers missed a few games after his heart ailment was diagnosed, so Kimble was scoring 50 points every game.

The LSU game is a must-watch. Chris Jackson was just as fun as I remembered. Shaq was a relatively slim (286-pound) freshman, not yet a wrestling star, and he finished with 12 blocked shots. Each team scored over 140 points.

And then the Michigan game in the second round of the NCAA Tournament is magic. Michigan was the defending champion, still had Rumeal Robinson and Loy Vaught, and Loyola demolished them, 149-115. Jeff Fryer hit 11 3-pointers. Just one of those perfect sports moments when everything goes right. (Bonus from that broadcast: CBS cut in to show the last few minutes of Xavier's upset over the Mourning/Mutombo Georgetown team.)

One 1989 commercial of note: this Pontiac Troféo commercial starring Harry Belafonte's family, singing about the Troféo to the tune of 'The Banana Boat Song.' It makes me sad in an unexplainable way.

[P.D.X.]

The Oregon State game is great fun. I had never seen Gary Payton in college, and he was amazing that day. He finished with 48 points, and Kimble scored 53.

12 y/o me would draw caricatures of that Oregon State team when he was bored in church. Gonna scan and post them when I have a minute.

[Steve of phpBB]

And then the Michigan game in the second round of the NCAA Tournament is magic. Michigan was the defending champion, still had Rumeal Robinson and Loy Vaught, and Loyola demolished them, 149-115. Jeff Fryer hit 11 3-pointers. Just one of those perfect sports moments when everything goes right. (Bonus from that broadcast: CBS cut in to show the last few minutes of Xavier's upset over the Mourning/Mutombo Georgetown team.)

Was this in Oakland?

[bapo!]

Was this in Oakland?

Long Beach, actually. Their next two games (a win vs Alabama and a loss to UNLV) were in Oakland.

PDX, I really hope that you can find those drawings.

[Steve of phpBB]

Was this in Oakland?

Long Beach, actually. Their next two games (a win vs Alabama and a loss to UNLV) were in Oakland.

Ah, thanks. I went to the game in Oakland vs Alabama and also Ball State vs UNLV the same day. Ball State came within 2, the closest UNLV came to losing in that tournament.

[bapo!]

I went to the game in Oakland vs Alabama and also Ball State vs UNLV the same day. Ball State came within 2, the closest UNLV came to losing in that tournament.

Nice. That UNLV team was crazy-good. Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt, etc. They beat Loyola Marymount by 30, and later they beat Duke by 30 in the Final.

Georgia Tech was the other team that I was high on that year. (That was Kenny Anderson's freshman year.) They made it to the Final Four, but met their fate vs UNLV.

[L-Jam3]

That Georgia Tech team. That was Lethal Weapon 3 with Anderson, Brian Oliver, and Dennis Scott. That was a fun Final Four.

[DaveInSeattle]

That Georgia Tech team. That was Lethal Weapon 3 with Anderson, Brian Oliver, and Dennis Scott. That was a fun Final Four.

Unless you were Bobby Hurley. That UNLV game gave him such PTSD that he had to get therapy for it afterwards.

[DSafetyGuy]

Moses Scurry.

[L-Jam3]

Greg Ackles. That’s the other starter on that UNLV team. I always forget him.

[DSafetyGuy]

Greg Ackles. That’s the other starter on that UNLV team. I always forget him.

I thought Scurry started... George Ackles (although my brain is now saying it's spelled differently, but it's been a shit day).

[The Sybian]

I’m getting all nostalgic for the basketball, this was the small window when I really followed college basketball, but let’s not skip over that Oldsmobile Trofeo commercial. Was that a touch screen in 1990? I don’t remember that car at all, or even the Tornado for that matter.

[Pruitt]

I’m getting all nostalgic for the basketball, this was the small window when I really followed college basketball, but let’s not skip over that Oldsmobile Trofeo commercial. Was that a touch screen in 1990? I don’t remember that car at all, or even the Tornado for that matter.

One of the cars I learned to drive on was my Grandmother's late 70's Toronado. A mega boat. She was a touch under 5 feet tall, and needed to sit on phone books to drive it properly.

[mister d]

I’m getting all nostalgic for the basketball, this was the small window when I really followed college basketball ...

Yeah, there was a small window where I really loved St. John's and Malik Sealy and the Big East was pretty awesome. NY college athletics being pretty awful is weird.

[bapo!]

Yeah, there was a small window where I really loved St. John's and Malik Sealy and the Big East was pretty awesome.

I loved Malik Sealy. Looking at the rest of the 1992 St. John's roster, and Chucky Sproling is the only other name I remember.

I lived in the Big East footprint, and the local team was relevant then, so this was my 'home' conference. It was slower and less glamorous than the ACC or Big 10. Very rough. Players didn't foul out until their 6th foul in conference play. Georgetown and Syracuse were always excellent, and teams like 1989 Seton Hall would go on unexpected tournament runs. It was a fun time to be a fan.

[The Sybian]

Yeah, there was a small window where I really loved St. John's and Malik Sealy and the Big East was pretty awesome.

I loved Malik Sealy. Looking at the rest of the 1992 St. John's roster, and Chucky Sproling is the only other name I remember.

I lived in the Big East footprint, and the local team was relevant then, so this was my 'home' conference. It was slower and less glamorous than the ACC or Big 10. Very rough. Players didn't foul out until their 6th foul in conference play. Georgetown and Syracuse were always excellent, and teams like 1989 Seton Hall would go on unexpected tournament runs. It was a fun time to be a fan.

I grew up a little over an hour away from Syracuse, and was big on Cuse hoops in the mid 80s - early 90s. Watched a lot of Big East in those days. Such a fun Conference back then.

[mister d]

I loved Malik Sealy. Looking at the rest of the 1992 St. John's roster, and Chucky Sproling is the only other name I remember.

Not Shawnelle Scott? He was a pretty legit inside guy who would have no chance at being drafted today.

Now I'm going through all those rosters to see which names make me think "oh fuck, I forgot about (Conrad McRae)".

[mister d]

Abdul Shamsid-Deen. Just a perfect sounding name. Or tied with skiier Epsen Bredesen.

[bapo!]

Now I'm going through all those rosters to see which names make me think "oh fuck, I forgot about (Conrad McRae)".

Bill Curley and Malcolm Huckaby! I was doing that, too. I remember some names, but I don't have a clear picture of them as players. Like that '89 Seton Hall team. Some names there, but I mostly just remember Andrew Gaze.

There were some players I loved in college, then never really heard about them after that. Was surprised to look up Dana Barros and Sherman Douglas and find out how long they played in the NBA. Never would have guessed that. Pearl Washington only played three years, tho.

And I thought Billy Owens was going to be a huge star. #3 pick in the 1991 draft, and he played for a decade, but he was kind of anonymous. (His high school, Carlisle, won four straight state championships when he was there, beating my school district one of those years. Still hurts. His brother Michael, a future football star at Syracuse, was on one or two of those teams.)

[bapo!]

I've always wanted to watch Live Aid from start to finish. It was such a huge undertaking, and an important day. But other than individual sets, or a few hours here and there, I could never find the full broadcasts until now. Some kind souls uploaded hours and hours to the Internet Archive last year.

This was broadcast on the BBC in England, and on ABC/Orbis (syndicated) and MTV in the United States. Because there were multiple stages all over the world, and the broadcasts focused on different things, I feel the compulsion to watch everything. It's going to be a project, but I can just leave it on and listen to music all day. It's kind of like a telethon version of Spotify or KEXP.

7/13/1985. I was 11 years old, so I would have been the perfect age to appreciate this. Well, not perfect, because I didn't have any disposable income to donate, but I was beginning to care about the world outside a little bit. And I knew a lot about pop music then. The Who and Led Zeppelin (kind of) reunited that day. Paul McCartney was there. Queen was amazing. But my big takeaway that day was Phil Collins playing at Wembley, then taking the Concorde to Philadelphia to play at JFK Stadium. I also remember the premiere of the Bowie/Jagger 'Dancing in the Street' video being a big deal, tho I wasn't a fan of either yet.

The Wiki page has a list of all of the performers/times.

Anybody have particular memories of this? Ever go back to watch sets on YouTube? What do you think about the whole endeavor?

[rass]

Just ever so younger than you. Living in the Philly media market it was a huge deal and seeing the same thing mentioned on the local news night after night makes an impression, but as far as performances go the only one I think I can still say I remember sitting and watching that day was Sting/Dire Straits doing "Money For Nothing".

[The Sybian]

I've always wanted to watch Live Aid from start to finish. It was such a huge undertaking, and an important day. But other than individual sets, or a few hours here and there, I could never find the full broadcasts until now. Some kind souls uploaded hours and hours to the Internet Archive last year.

This was broadcast on the BBC in England, and on ABC/Orbis (syndicated) and MTV in the United States. Because there were multiple stages all over the world, and the broadcasts focused on different things, I feel the compulsion to watch everything. It's going to be a project, but I can just leave it on and listen to music all day. It's kind of like a telethon version of Spotify or KEXP.

7/13/1985. I was 11 years old, so I would have been the perfect age to appreciate this. Well, not perfect, because I didn't have any disposable income to donate, but I was beginning to care about the world outside a little bit. And I knew a lot about pop music then. The Who and Led Zeppelin (kind of) reunited that day. Paul McCartney was there. Queen was amazing. But my big takeaway that day was Phil Collins playing at Wembley, then taking the Concorde to Philadelphia to play at JFK Stadium. I also remember the premiere of the Bowie/Jagger 'Dancing in the Street' video being a big deal, tho I wasn't a fan of either yet.

The Wiki page has a list of all of the performers/times.

Anybody have particular memories of this? Ever go back to watch sets on YouTube? What do you think about the whole endeavor?

I was 9 and remember watching parts of it at my Aunt's house. It made me realize this is the third time in the past week or so that someone mentioned a memorable historical even, and I remembered watching it at a relative's house. I started to wonder if I'm falsely attributing memories to random locations, but then I realized if I wasn't stuck at my Grandparent's retirement village, I probably wouldn't have been watching TV during Charles and Diana's wedding. I would have been outside with my friends playing baseball or something, so I guess it makes sense. At 9, I wasn't into music yet, so I doubt I would have been watching Live Aid on my own if I wasn't stuck in a house with old people and nothing else to do.

[bapo!]

I'm trying to watch this for broadcasting/pop-culture reasons, because thinking about the greater implications is too harrowing for me at the moment. I've watched the first three or four hours of each broadcast. It's been interesting viewing.

The Orbis broadcast is hosted by George Segal and Marilyn McCoo. Two weeks ago, I watched Segal in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' and really liked him. Was sad to hear that he died last week. Now I'm watching him again. This video includes the half-hour infomercial/pre-show that aired the night before. It's very upbeat and showbiz.

MTV's coverage is hosted by Martha Quinn and Mark Goodman. Quinn is not the world's greatest broadcaster, but she's more than pleasant enough to spend 16 hours with. I think every boy my age wanted to marry her in 1985.

BBC's coverage begins with a 10-minute segment about the horrors of starvation. No effort to sanitize the videos. Marked difference between this and the American broadcasts.

Festivities begin at 12:00 BST/7:00 EST. London has all eyez on them for the first two hours, then Philly starts up at 9:00 local time. Charles and Diana, accompanied by Bob Geldof, are seated in the Royal Box, followed by the playing of 'God Save the Queen.'

Status Quo opens with 'Rockin All Over the World.' Seems fitting. Fun, forgettable blues/rock. Followed by The Style Council, Paul Weller's post-Jam band, who are excellent. And then Geldof and The Boomtown Rats.

Adam Ant gets only one song. Kinda surprising because I remember him being big at this time. And his performance isn't shown by Orbis and MTV. We didn't miss anything. This song sucks.

They did, however, show part of Men At Work's set taped earlier in Australia. Men At Work are unfairly remembered as a one-album wonder. I had completely forgotten about 'Overkill,' which is from their second album. One of those forgotten '80s gems.

Ultravox is the first big revelation here. Really love their set. Anybody here familiar with them? Have they been great all this time and nobody bothered to tell me?

The broadcasts themselves are kind of rough. The BBC is reliably professional. But both American broadcasts are marred by technical glitches, dead air, stumbling broadcasters, missed cues, etc. The Orbis broadcast has a minutes-long static shot of JFK Stadium, accompanied by Marilyn McCoo talking to her producer. Live television is hard.

Orbis keeps its commercials to a minimum in the early going, usually only airing one or two commercials per break. But MTV's broadcast seems to be about 50% or 60% commercials. It's a bit much.

There's an AT&T commercial that is particularly galling. (It's the second commercial in this compilation.) It uses that bouncy 'Reach Out and Touch Someone' jingle that you might remember, while showing footage of the famine in Ethiopia. I guess this is only a few degrees removed from what the entire day is supposed to be about, but it feels horribly wrong. Pop stars singing to raise money for charity is one thing. A telecom company using the famine to promote its company is something else entirely. And after seeing it 8 or 10 times in 2 hours, I was seething.

But at least they tried to stay on topic. Is that better or worse than the context-free ads for Pepsi or Chevrolet or Foot Locker?

Anyway, it's 2:00/9:00 now. Spandau Ballet just wrapped up their set, and Joan Baez is about to take the stage in Philly. Seems like a good place to stop.

[EnochRoot]

I'm trying to watch this for broadcasting/pop-culture reasons, because thinking about the greater implications is too harrowing for me at the moment. I've watched the first three or four hours of each broadcast. It's been interesting viewing.

The Orbis broadcast is hosted by George Segal and Marilyn McCoo. Two weeks ago, I watched Segal in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' and really liked him. Was sad to hear that he died last week. Now I'm watching him again. This video includes the half-hour infomercial/pre-show that aired the night before. It's very upbeat and showbiz.

MTV's coverage is hosted by Martha Quinn and Mark Goodman. Quinn is not the world's greatest broadcaster, but she's more than pleasant enough to spend 16 hours with. I think every boy my age wanted to marry her in 1985.

BBC's coverage begins with a 10-minute segment about the horrors of starvation. No effort to sanitize the videos. Marked difference between this and the American broadcasts.

Festivities begin at 12:00 BST/7:00 EST. London has all eyez on them for the first two hours, then Philly starts up at 9:00 local time. Charles and Diana, accompanied by Bob Geldof, are seated in the Royal Box, followed by the playing of 'God Save the Queen.'

Status Quo opens with 'Rockin All Over the World.' Seems fitting. Fun, forgettable blues/rock. Followed by The Style Council, Paul Weller's post-Jam band, who are excellent. And then Geldof and The Boomtown Rats.

Adam Ant gets only one song. Kinda surprising because I remember him being big at this time. And his performance isn't shown by Orbis and MTV. We didn't miss anything. This song sucks.

They did, however, show part of Men At Work's set taped earlier in Australia. Men At Work are unfairly remembered as a one-album wonder. I had completely forgotten about 'Overkill,' which is from their second album. One of those forgotten '80s gems.

Ultravox is the first big revelation here. Really love their set. Anybody here familiar with them? Have they been great all this time and nobody bothered to tell me?

The broadcasts themselves are kind of rough. The BBC is reliably professional. But both American broadcasts are marred by technical glitches, dead air, stumbling broadcasters, missed cues, etc. The Orbis broadcast has a minutes-long static shot of JFK Stadium, accompanied by Marilyn McCoo talking to her producer. Live television is hard.

Orbis keeps its commercials to a minimum in the early going, usually only airing one or two commercials per break. But MTV's broadcast seems to be about 50% or 60% commercials. It's a bit much.

There's an AT&T commercial that is particularly galling. (It's the second commercial in this compilation.) It uses that bouncy 'Reach Out and Touch Someone' jingle that you might remember, while showing footage of the famine in Ethiopia. I guess this is only a few degrees removed from what the entire day is supposed to be about, but it feels horribly wrong. Pop stars singing to raise money for charity is one thing. A telecom company using the famine to promote its company is something else entirely. And after seeing it 8 or 10 times in 2 hours, I was seething.

But at least they tried to stay on topic. Is that better or worse than the context-free ads for Pepsi or Chevrolet or Foot Locker?

Anyway, it's 2:00/9:00 now. Spandau Ballet just wrapped up their set, and Joan Baez is about to take the stage in Philly. Seems like a good place to stop.

Ultravox has the rare honor of me liking and despising two of their more popular songs (I really like Reap the Wild Wind, and cannot stand Dancing with Tears in my Eyes). They were techno when it was avant garde (late 70s post punk).

[bapo!]

Living in the Philly media market it was a huge deal and seeing the same thing mentioned on the local news night after night makes an impression

There's a full-length music video about 'The Philadelphia Spirit.' Yes, Philly should be acknowledged for hosting. But at the same time, the day isn't about you, you know?

Of course, it includes the now-uncomfortable cameo by famous resident Bill Cosby.

Ultravox has the rare honor of me liking and despising two of their more popular songs (I really like Reap the Wild Wind, and cannot stand Dancing with Tears in my Eyes).

That's probably bound to happen with any band with a long career and a lot of hits. I'm intrigued by what I've heard. If I discover one new band out of this, it will be worth it.