"Thirty Things that Need to Stage a Comeback"

[LizzieMaine]

Everybody knows somebody who would have had this one.

 

[Puzzicato]

Dignity needs to make a comeback.

Yes. And the element of dignity that realises that it is not always appropriate to "share" every detail with the whole world. One of my colleagues lost her son in law earlier this year, and she actually had to race to let immediate family know before they found out on Facebook. So undignified and inappropriate.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Now, remind me, that is what we in the UK know as Ludo (hence 'Cluedo' being renamed as 'Clue' in the US as the pun would be lost on that market)?

Sometimes it seems as though most UK puns and other humor are lost in this market...

But yes, according to that font of knowledge Wikipedia Ludo is indeed a variant of Parcheesi, which is itself a variant of an Indian game (as in India). Here is the US board:

Cheers,
Tom

 

[MikeBravo]

And there is a very good reason hood ornaments died out.

Even in a minor collision with a pedestrian the ornaments could cause some pretty horrific injuries.

Imagine hitting this

 

[scottyrocks]

I shouldve made a killing years ago with my Nerf hood ornaments. They didnt catch on, though.

 

[Wire9Vintage]

Back to dignity, yes, please. Remember when the studio system would do its best to cover this garbage up? Now it seems that the celebrities and their reps just can't wait to get this stuff out there? Yuck.

Actually, I'm reading Clara Bow's biography at the moment, and her "reps" (including her father) tended to start rumors about her to whip up a frenzy about upcoming movies (for which she was paid a pittance). There really is nothing new under the sun.

Now... as for political scandal there might be *some* difference. Just compare FDR's dalliance(s) to Clinton's. One we never heard but the merest whisper, the other we had to stop our children from watching the news there for a while! ugh.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Harding's bedroom capers were pretty notorious in their day, as were those of Grover Cleveland. Both were accused of fathering children out of wedlock -- Harding's mistress wrote a tell-all book about their affair, but she at least had the good grace to wait until he was five years dead before it was published.

Cleveland's affair was even more notorious than Harding's -- a popular chant among 1880s street urchins was "MA! MA! MA! WHERE'S MY PA? GONE TO THE WHITE HOUSE, HA! HA! HA!"

But in both of these cases, the public was at least spared the most salacious details of the affairs. While it was considered outrageous in its day, Nan Britton's book actually reads more like the diary of a moony schoolgirl than a steamy sex memoir.

 

[Edward]

Now... as for political scandal there might be *some* difference. Just compare FDR's dalliance(s) to Clinton's. One we never heard but the merest whisper, the other we had to stop our children from watching the news there for a while! ugh.

I do believe that if the half of what JFK got up to had been common knowledge at the time, he wouldn't be remembered so fondly as he often is!

 

[scottyrocks]

The assassination had a lot to do with it, too.

 

[Edward]

Of course. "Death is a career move" - I believe it was, of all people, Buddy Holly who said that first.

 

[Widebrim]

I shouldve made a killing years ago with my Nerf hood ornaments. They didnt catch on, though.

lol

 

[Lady Day]

Standards.
As in song standards.

You know, classic songs that all artists would do because they were great songs. Where they didnt try to conquer the song, but instead add to it? You cant make a standard better, thats why its a standard. You can only sing it and hope your version is looked on as one of the great ones.

LD

 

[CharlieB]

Standards.
As in song standards.

You know, classic songs that all artists would do because they were great songs. Where they didnt try to conquer the song, but instead add to it? You cant make a standard better, thats why its a standard. You can only sing it and hope your version is looked on as one of the great ones.

LD

Unfortunately, when anyone does make an album of "standards" (like Rod Stewart), people criticize them as being washed up and trying for a comeback, when I think it just shows a maturation in tastes.

 

[skyvue]

Unfortunately, when anyone does make an album of "standards" (like Rod Stewart), people criticize them as being washed up and trying for a comeback, when I think it just shows a maturation in tastes.

That's not always the case. Harry Nilsson's album of standards was well received. So were Linda Rondstadt's and Carly Simon's (and deservedly so, I think). Rickie Lee Jones did an album called "Pop Pop" that's mostly standards, and it got a largely positive response, as I recall it. Harry Connick Jr.'s had good luck with standards, too.

There's always room for disagreement, of course, but Rod Stewart's versions of standards I find neither interesting nor appealing. They feel rote, and he's not a good enough singer, in my opinion, to bring anything new to them. They strike me as a mere marketing ploy, because he seems to have no real feel for or facility with the material.

But I'm certain others stand ready to tell me I'm way off the mark, and maybe they're right.

 

[Lady Day]

I mean new standards. Most of those songs were 20-30 years of the time. Surely we can have more of the now standards. Where is that good song writing that makes everyone want to preform that song? I guess thats what I mean.
Classic does not necessarily mean old.

LD

 

[skyvue]

I see what you mean, but it's tough now. It's the era of the singer-songwriter, and songs are very much identified with the person who wrote them, except for disposable pop artists like Britney Spears, and few of the songs that type of artist records are especially memorable.

The Beatles had a few songs that might be considered standards, in that they've been recorded by so many other artists, but it's not like the Golden Era, when songs were recorded by many different artists within weeks or even days of each other -- when different recordings of a song would make multiple simultaneous appearances on the charts.

Can you imagine three or four renditions of a popular song being on the charts at once today? I can't.

 

[Geesie]

The singer-songwriter revolution was complete years ago. Popular music just doesn't follow the composer/performer divide any more.

 

[lolly_loisides]

I see what you mean too. How about Nick Cave? The Mercy Seat was covered by Johnny Cash. The other songwriter that comes to mind is Tom Waits (even if Rod Stewart covered Downtown Train).

 

[LizzieMaine]

The singer-songwriter revolution was complete years ago. Popular music just doesn't follow the composer/performer divide any more.

To its detriment, unfortunately. Porter, Kern, Youmans, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Warren and Dubin, Gordon and Revel, Robin and Rainger, and so many others of that generation wouldn't get thru the door today because they didn't moan tonelessly on stage while plunking on a guitar. Who knows what comparable talents today don't get a chance because they don't "perform?"

Another sad factor in the death of the Standard is the virtual extinction of the Broadway revue and the film musical. Most of the great songwriters did their best work for the stage and screen, but today's musicals are mostly vapid spectacle or repackaging of existing works.

 

[MikeBravo]

OT My fvourite singer/songwriter would have to be Johnny Mercer

He wrote over 1500 songs, many of them standards. The reason I admire him is that he wrote the songs, recorded them, and got into the top 10 in the charts. Then he would let Sinatra or Fitzgerald have a go, which usually got to number one in the charts. Double royalties - clever. Not to forget four Academy Awards from 14 nominations