Nina Hagen tweaks The Tubes: 'White Punks On Dope' and 'TV-Glotzer' (1977, 1978)

An anthem of excess,
'White Punks On Dope' closed out the eponymously-titled
debut album by The Tubes,
released in 1975.

The song was a featured production number for the
San Francisco-based group's live shows, legendary in the bay area and beyond for being as much outrageous and satiric burlesque revue as rock act.

Written as a tribute to a select portion of their fanbase of the era, it struck a nerve and 'WPOD' became a popular graffito for many years following.

In the persona of Glam monster 'Quay Lewd', lead singer
Fee Waybill tumbled off of
his absurd platform shoes almost as often as he fell out of his
silver lame' (or aluminum foil) costume.

The Tubes made an
appearance on British TV's
The Old Grey Whistle Test on Tuesday November 8th, 1977, coinciding with their sold-out ten-day run of concerts at
London's Hammersmith Odeon, during their first overseas tour.
Recordings from those concerts were released the following year as The Tubes' 4th album, What Do You Want from Live.



(Later dates in that concert tour were cancelled when Fee Waybill broke his leg onstage, though reportedly not while in the Quay costume.

When Nina Hagen left East Germany in 1976, her earlier singing career was derailed.
After visiting England at the height of the Punk movement, she settled in Hamburg, West Germany, and formed the Nina Hagen Band in 1977, becoming a fascinating punk diva.

Her version of 'White Punks On Dope' appeared on her first LP, but was not a true cover in the strictest sense;
She changed the lyrics and meaning completely, turning it into a song about television addiction.

- Follow link to the lyrics section of a Hagen website.

Click on the 'Nina Hagen Band' album cover at the top of the left-hand sidebar, then click on 'TV-Glotzer (White Punks on Dope)' to see both the German lyrics and an English translation.

Below, her concert
performance of 'TV-Glotzer' at the Westfalenhalle Dortmund on December 12th, 1978 was televised on an episode of German TV's Rockpalast.



- A chronological collection of other Nina Hagen video clips can be seen at POCIMAS DEL DRUIDA.

- For a collection of rare and early Tubes video clips , follow link to The Tubes Project channel on YouTube.

Mel Brooks' 'The Critic' (1963)

(click on poster image to enlarge in a new window)

Prior to his career as a producer / director for TV and feature film, Ernest Pintoff received an Oscar for Best Animated Short in April of 1964 for his film 'The Critic', which had premiered in
New York the previous May.

In a gentle lampoon of the style of innovative animated films created by
Norman McLaren and other filmmakers from The National Film Board of Canada, 'The Critic' featured the voice of Mel Brooks as an outspoken senior citizen sitting in the audience.

Brooks had been writing for TV since the 1950s and
'Your Show of Shows', which led to his stand-up partnership with
Carl Reiner and their string of comedy albums that began in 1961.

In 1962 Brooks provided the book for the Broadway musical production of 'All American', but the show flopped, and it would be many years before Brooks returned to Broadway.

Brooks collaborated with Buck Henry to create TV's
'Get Smart' in 1965.
1968's 'The Producers' marked his return to movies, and his debut as a feature film director.

- For a very thorough examination of the creation of 'The Critic' and other Mel Brooks short films, follow the link to
Smarter Than The Average!

- For more about Ernest Pintoff's animation, follow link to
Cartoon Modern, where you can view 'Flebus', a cartoon he directed for Terrytoons in 1957, and Frederator has posted about Pintoff's
'The Interview', from 1961.

'Disneyland Showtime' with Kurt Russell, The Osmond Brothers and The Haunted Mansion (1970)

'Disneyland Showtime' first aired March 22nd, 1970 on NBC's Sunday night family-hour staple, 'The Wonderful World of Disney'.

The hour-long program featured Kurt Russell (already a Disney star) running around the Anaheim theme park with
The Osmonds (pre jumpsuits, pre-'70s bubblegum hysteria) and actress E.J. Peaker (fresh from her supporting role in the film version of 'Hello, Dolly!').

(The embedded 'playlist' below should play the program continuously through five segments, also giving you the option to skip ahead.)



Kicky, kitschy fun, with great vintage shots of the park and its patrons, but one of the biggest high points is a fascinating look behind-the-scenes at The Haunted Mansion ride, which had just opened the previous August.

- For more about the program and its production, click over to: 'Haunted Mansion Horror: Disneyland Showtime' at Tulgey Wood.

'Posh Nosh' (2003)

A brilliant parody of TV cooking shows,
'Posh Nosh' first ran in the U.K. on BBC2 in eight 9-minute episodes back in 2003, and has since shown up intermittently on various PBS stations in the U.S.

Richard E. Grant and Arabella Weir portray the hosts, restaurateurs Simon and Minty Marchmont, owners of 'The Quill & Tassel',
all too self-satisfied in their quest to "bring extraordinary food to ordinary people".

Learn to relax an avocado, bamboozle a parsnip, shave a fennel and too much more...



(follow links to view)

Episode 1: Architect's Fish and Chips ▲ (above)
Episode 2: Birthday Parties
Episode 3: Paella
Episode 4: Beautiful Food
Episode 5: Bread and Butter Pudding
Episode 6: Leftovers
Episode 7: Sauces ▼ (below)
Episode 8: Comfort Food



See also: The (archived) official BBC website, where Simon & Minty present:
- Food Philosophy
- Interviews
- Recipes
- Wallpapers and more.