Thursday 30 July 2015

Bring on the dancing boys

Nice arse

You know how it is - or at least, please tell me you do - when sometimes you just can't help looking at something you feel you really shouldn't.  No matter how much you may deny it to others, you can't kid yourself: you're looking, and looking again, and getting off on it.  It's a weakness.

Well I'm coming clean - this is mine (or at least one of them): men dancing in ways you don't expect.  I get this weird thrill from it.  I think I could watch all of these on an infinite loop...I just can't take my eyes off them.

Again!  

Again!

Honestly, they just make me happy.

I mean, first of all, there's pin-up boy Jim Dandy from Black Oak Arkansas.  He's made an appearance on this blog before but, as I say, it's a weakness.

He starts to get particularly interesting around 2 minutes 20 seconds in on this clip.  Watch him strut his stuff - pull up a chair and open that bag of cheese'n'onion crisps (don't worry about the crumbs, you can hoover them up later).   It feels so wrong... but yet so right.



Samuel T Herring's name alone is the stuff of my dreams.  Then I saw him dance.  I wish the frontman from Future Islands didn't look quite so much like the bewildered love child of Elvis and Norman Wisdom but you can't have everything.  

"Mr Grimsdale!  Mr Grimsdale!"


Now... keep your eyes on the tambourine player from the 1910 Fruitgum Company on the right in this clip below from the German show Beat Club, performing Goody Goody Gumdrops (or cumdrops as I accidentally typed just now... honestly I did!...I know, I know: you didn't come here to read such filth).  God, I love him.


Finally, the Fine Young Cannibals and guitarist Andy Cox's bendy legs. Bassist David Steele is at it too. I'm thinking of those cardboard puppet things. Actually I can hardly bear to watch.  More!


Don't judge me.

27 comments:

  1. I don't know whether to laugh or cry! Actually, I spent a fair portion of the past 15 minutes laughing, half the time at the videos and half at your inter-clip descriptions, '...the bewildered love child of Elvis and Norman Wisdom...' is surely some kind of genius. That guy from 1910 Fruitgum Company is trying WAY too hard - look at me...look at me...! And as for Jim Dandy...words fail. Was there actually a time when Black Oak Arkansas were big enough to play the Royal Albert Hall? Blimey. Thank the good lord for punk. I just hope that there's no Clash audience footage in existence from the days when I employed my own two left feet in ill-advised rug-cutting. Oh the shame!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the clips too... there are one or two others that could have joined the ranks so maybe one day there will be a Part Two...
      Jim Dandy is just such a wonderful contradiction...compelling. Maybe it was a different Royal Albert Hall... is there one in Oklahoma...?

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    2. Didn't they support some other bigger act on tour over here about then? Does that explain it? Something (sadly) rings a bell. I'll do some research.

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    3. Somewhat amazingly, it looks like it really was their own headlining date. I remember first seeing them around then on OGWT and was never really sure about Jim. Would seem they are still gigging, too! Must find some recent footage.

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    4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtKynj4a2xg

      Oh my Lord! Oddly, seems to be a Tommy Bolin thing going on here somewhere (see a couple of t-shirts). Looks a right laugh.

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    5. Indeed, thanks SB! I just discovered that the drummer here, Johnny Bolin, is Tommy's brother...
      Ooh, Yve, what a thought. Mind you, if you ever need to expand on your hat-making skills...?
      I recognised some of those moves... he just can't help himself! Although this time I was a bit distracted by the very fat guitarist and the female backing singer... quite a sight.

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    6. PS I wish Erik was here :-(

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  2. This is a big and important post and I'm just on my way out of the door, so I'll have to give it some real consideration later - can't wait! Just want to say I wasn't aware of the Jim Dandy fixation but that has to be a good thing, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Erm....

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    1. Ah, hope you won't be disappointed!
      And I promise you, once you've seen Jim here, you'll be fixated too. Or maybe it's just me?

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    2. No, it's not just you...but I am a bit worried about my inability to turn away. Jim, though, no doubt, fancying himself as something of a 'laaaydeeez' man, must have been the campest thing on two legs back in the 70's. Those effing trousers! Quite splendid but, somehow, equally horrific. The Future Island's chap is hilarious and quite probably invented Dad Dancing. I've seen him at every wedding I've ever been to; in fact, I've BEEN him, unfortunately. Nice t-shirt tuck in, too. The fellow with the tambourine in the Fruitgum Co. is clearly very excited about being on German TV - love his lack of self awareness. As for FYC - that Roland Gift sideways shuffle is nothing to write home about, either. Definitely post of the month! Such joy and thanks for the Norman Wisdom reference. I once had the pleasure of seeing him live and I loved Sunday afternoons when his films hit the telly screen.

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    3. Thanks, I'm glad it gave you a... a.... a thrill?!
      The success of Mr Herring and his band could put a whole new slant on Dad Dancing. You're in fashion!
      And Norman Wisdom: national hero for those of us of a certain age.

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  3. Those first two are hilarious, especially the second one (so. much. emoting.) The tambourine guy is obviously the Fruitgums' Bez. And I'd forgotten how pretty Roland Gift was!

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    1. Ha, yes - the Fruitgums' Bez, brilliant. Roland looks particularly pretty there, I'd like to borrow his mascara.

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  4. I think the tambourine player in 1910 Fruitgum Company probably said to himself, "If I have to make a fool of myself with this lame song, I'm going to make the best of it and show off those moves I've been practicing in front of the mirror for the last month!"

    I turned off when 'Bubblegum' pop appeared in the later '60s. Don't you think it's sad to have songs like 'Yummy Yummy Yummy (I've got love in my tummy) (by The Ohio Express) and Goody Goody Gumdrops as your legacy to pop music history? ;-)

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    1. I think you could be right VS. He's obviously practised long and hard. And very worthwhile it was too!

      I know what you mean about those bubblegum songs - Yummy Yummy Yummy's like a parody isn't it?! - but at least the dross helps to highlight the truly good stuff!

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  5. Haha... you're so right about it all! And Steve Martin / Bill Murray, blimey yes there must be some mixed up genes there?! I rather like the song too, I find it quite soulful - apart from that one little bit he sings like he's suddenly become possessed by the devil (very death metal!)

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  6. You're a riot! Check out Paul from St. Paul and the Broken Bones when you get the chance. Their performance on Letterman was epic. I don't think you're going to say "nice arse," but he is quite entertaining. Speaking of Letterman, that clip of Future Islands will never be forgotten. It made them.

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    1. Thanks Brian! Yve is right re. Paul - what a voice, not what I expected at all from first impressions and I love it when that happens. He's quite a nifty mover too. I'll be looking out for them.

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  7. Brilliant: dancing 'AT' you. I don't think it ever happened to me, which is a big relief... I wouldn't have known where to look. Of course now I would - I'd watch intently!

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  8. B.O.A.... Wow, it's like the campest l'Oreal advert I've ever seen, they would have gone down a storm ( so to speak!)at Pride today

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  9. Cumdrops, there must be a market for that!....some nice bums in these videos!

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  10. Royal AlbertS Hall... that alone is worth the clip. Ah - southern rock... I think they need another guitarist in the band to stand out.

    Future Island - yes... first time I saw them I was open jawed... gobsmacked as in a "WTF!" way. I can't help now but just turn the sound of and do "Mr Grimsdale" voice overs.

    Is that the deviant Dave Lee Travis?

    Excellent obscure selection... you spend too long in front of Youtube!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed! There could be a whole channel devoted to this stuff as far as I'm concerned. (Yes, DLT...)

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  11. Ha. Post and comments habe just made my night
    Swiss Adam

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    1. Ah thanks SA, that's what we like to hear!
      Welcome back too!

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