"Unhappy Hipsters" Blog

[Undertow]

Bing is my favorite musician, end all be all. I don't like Sinatra, so that usually gets a few shoes thrown my way.

 

[vitanola]

I *loathed* Bing for years (he creeped me out), now I can tolerate him in very small doses. Still, not a favourite. Al Bowlly, Dick Powell, Boswell Sisters , Lucille Bogan (she has *other* songs..lol), Glen Gray Orchestra, Russ Carlson, Chick Bullock, anything by Ambrose, Billy Murray, all the Helens, Lee Wiley, Sam Browne...these are my most favourites. I'm also not a fan of Rudy Vallee (I find him dull) and I go back and forth with Lee Morse (because her voice goes back and forth between irritating and beautiful lol).

I much prefer the young Bing, when he was with Whiteman or Arnheim, and his early solo recordings, back before Jack Kapp "broadened his appeal".

Stuff like this:

[video=youtube_share;hbEbxbVUzfk]http://youtu.be/hbEbxbVUzfk[/video]
(Bing starts at 1:39)

or this:

[video=youtube_share;BqYdDxlWFhE]http://youtu.be/BqYdDxlWFhE[/video]

or this:

[video=youtube_share;R7IkZdOatmY]http://youtu.be/R7IkZdOatmY[/video]

Then of course, there is always Russ Columbo...

 

[Flicka]

I don't care for Bing and I actively dislike Sinatra. Can't stand his voice. If I have to pick a smooth singer, I'm behind Nat King Cole all the way.

 

[vitanola]

Crosby's thirties stuff is, for me, sublime -- and his early thirties work is remarkably good. He got bogged down in the forties with being a "personality" and aside from some of his comedy-oriented material the quality of his records suffered. The voice was fine, but the songs he recorded and the arrangements with which they were presented tended to be more and more pedestrian as the forties wore on. For that matter, there weren't very many *good songs* being written after the war, let alone being recorded.

Of course, the hipster in me says "Crosby? Bowlly? Pfft, try Joey Nash if you want a really good singer you've probably never heard of."

Nash and Crosby are fine if you like the modern stuff, but there is something about Henry Burr...


[video=youtube_share;j_Mn1eB3g84]http://youtu.be/j_Mn1eB3g84[/video]

 

[ButteMT61]

Nash and Crosby are fine if you like the modern stuff, but there is something about Henry Burr...[video=youtube_share;j_Mn1eB3g84]http://youtu.be/j_Mn1eB3g84[/video]

Add Stills and Young, then you got a band lol

 

[DJH]

Add Stills and Young, then you got a band lol

Best post in the thread so far!!

 

[ButteMT61]

Best post in the thread so far!!

It's doubly delish because no Hipster will get it lol

 

[Flicka]

It's doubly delish because no Hipster will get it lol

Sorry to disappoint, but a lot of hipsters have black belt in music trivia...

 

[jamespowers]

The sense of smell has been found to be the strongest evoker of memories. I too love kerosene and other industrial smells that remind me of my Maternal Grandfather. He owned a big machine shop in Seattle that was one of the hubs of ocean liner repairs - started by my great-Grandfather. We used to go there and play on cranes, etc. as kids while he ran the joint. Rode the whole way in the back of his pickup - standing up braced on the roof of the cab while he sped across the Narrow's Bridge! And one little whiff of kerosene or other smoke from a factory/train takes me right there. AMAZING!Best that Hipsters! lol

The smell of hickory smoked bacon beats just about all others. Memories or not.

 

[jamespowers]

It's doubly delish because no Hipster will get it lol

They'll get it. They were hippies. Close enough.

 

[Flicka]

After seeing the title of this thread so many times I'm seriously thinking about starting a blog called "unhippy hapsters". I don't know what a hapster is, but I suppose we can make it mean whatever we want.

Tell me, how do you envision a hapster?

 

[Flicka]

THE HAPSTER MANIFESTO

1. A hapster has a job, or endeavours to get one. A real one. Not just farting about with digital design.
2. A hapster never litters
3. A hapster doesn't get money from Muv and Farvre.
4. A hapster knows which side the heart sits on
5. A hapster has trousers wide enough to allow free blood circulation in the appendages.
6. A hapster like to wear hats, caps, or, f**k, frilly pillboxes with tulle.
7. A hapster knows how to mix a martini

Come on! Help me writ this! What else does a hapster do? What defines hapster culture as opposed to the hipster culture?

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Hapsters are the 'happenin' thing....more hip than hipsters.

 

[Flicka]

Hapsters are the 'happenin' thing....more hip than hipsters.

Without a doubt. They are. We do.

 

[Undertow]

Hapsters ride bikes because it's cheaper than gas, not because "old people do it".
Hapsters wear stylish hats to block the sun, not to emulate a picture they once saw in an advertisement for deodorant.
Hapsters enjoy playing original Nintendo because it's more difficult than modern games, and not because they think they're friends would point and laugh.
Hapsters shop at thrift stores because they're poor, not because it gives them street cred.

 

[scottyrocks]

A few of the smells mentioned take me back, as well. Hot asphalt - yes. Where I lived when I was young was unpaved when I moved in. My mom tells me that I came in from outside one day after sitting on my tricycle watching the workmen pave the street I lived on, and I was covered in black specs. I don't remember but she said it wasn't pleasant getting it off my face, arms and legs.

Comet cleanser was a staple in our house. It used to make me gag. I won't have it in my house now.

Rubbing alcohol was a constant assault on my olfactory since age 6, when I developed diabetes. That smell always takes me back, too.

My mom used to make baked flounder with paprika once a week. I dreaded the smell because I knew what was in store and I hated it. I still hate the smell.

And moth balls. Every closet in the house had a can of them hanging in there.

My parents are still so obsessively clean you could eat off their floor. Better, you can operate, as in do surgery, on their floor.

On a happier note, the smell of my dad and the bathroom after he showered, shaved, and after-shaved was something I couldn't resist. I don't use the same after-shave he does (or did), but the one I use reminds me of those times. And my wife loves it.

 

[Flicka]

Hapsters shop at thrift stores because they're poor, not because it gives them street cred.

And possibly beczuse they feel sad at the idea of what was someone's treasured belongings once should be discarded as crap, when they are actually beautiful.

 

[Touchofevil]

The smell of hickory smoked bacon beats just about all others. Memories or not.

The smell of a roast with potatoes and carrots cooking in a Dutch oven. That smell has made me as happy as can be since I was a small child.

 

[LizzieMaine]

So, when I go off and investigate Joey Nash later tonight will he then be too mainstream for you to like him? lol

By then I'll have moved on to Harlan Lattimore.

 

[jamespowers]

The smell of a roast with potatoes and carrots cooking in a Dutch oven. That smell has made me as happy as can be since I was a small child.

Now that is another good one.
In Boy Scouts we used to make apple cobbler in a dutch oven over the campfire. Now that smelled pretty darned good---even if you were stuck out in the rain without room service.