I just sent Emmett, Matilda, JZ and megan walker off to board game night at the local community center/neighborhood place.
I'd just spent six hours wrangling Matilda in the East Bay during Emmett's game (that being, an hour and a half of commuting back and forth, an hour of warmup, and three and a half hours of game) so I'm a little wiped.
Number 1 Reason Emmett Is Having More Fun With Baseball Now That I'm Not His Coach:
Me: So what were your final stats for today?
Emmett: 3 for 4 with a walk. And I stole five bases.
Me: Yeah, but you were terrible on that last go round the bases. You almost got thrown at first because you slowed down going into the bag, you didn't slide stealing second, you half slide/half kneeled when you dove back to the bag on the pickoff attempt and when you were at third you didn't go back to tag up immediately when the fly ball was hit so you weren't in a position to go.
Emmett: I didn't get thrown out at first! I didn't slide because I saw the fielder coming in for the ball so I knew the throw wasn't there. It didn't look pretty but I didn't get picked off. And it's only the second game of the season so my instincts for tagging up aren't there yet.
Me: You got thrown out at home.
Emmett: The coach sent me! That wasn't my fault. Why do you only mention the negative stuff?
Me: Because there's nothing to learn when you do it right. And trust me, you've still got a lot to learn.
Emmett: I stole five bases!
And Bobby Brown left New Edition at the end of 1985, so their heyday was 83-85, too. Good times. I still love "Is This The End." [link]
It's funny to think about how little I was then!
Also funny to think of how much money I spent to see BBD, Johnny Gill, and Keith Sweat in concert in 1991 or so.
Yeah, I was gonna mention there wasn't much of a gap between New Edition and New Kids. But previous to that there was a Boy Band gap, which I do discuss in the Bubblegum book noting how the non-Boy Band Duran Duran sort of took care of that demographic.
Yeah, I was gonna mention there wasn't much of a gap between New Edition and New Kids.
Enough that I thought I was too old for NKOTB, though! But, you know, when you're 14, 18 months means the world.
Now I'm listening to NE and LOVING IT.
I may have had a couple of drinks with dinner....
I actually remember being teased about Duran Duran because they had my last name (Taylor) and I was't cool enough to ike them enough....
Quoting myself:
Duran Duran
There's a huge gap in Boy Bands between the Rollers and New Edition. In between (from a teen pop/Top 40 perspective), you've got the Disco era and the early MTV groups of the '80s. Disco gives us nothing Boy Band. Well, the Village People might qualify as a Boy Band on Christopher Street, but the Bee Gees were far too old and hairy and dentally intimidating to play the brother act for pre-teens. While neither a Boy Band nor particularly bubblegum, Duran Duran did efficiently plug this gap in the pop cultural psyche. They made danceable hits, the boys were cute (and distinct enough to allow a variety of favorites -- a staple of Boy Band dynamics) and young girls had to be hosed down after their concerts. Further, Duran Duran's avowed ambition to cross the Sex Pistols with Chic differs little from the formula advanced by the Backstreet Boys of grafting Boys II Men harmonies onto Gap Band grooves. It's a Pop Funk thang.
One further fascinating but tenuous connection between Duran Duran and bubblegum involves the men who directed their early revolutionary videos, Godley and Creme ("Girls on Film," "Hungry Like The Wolf"). When Graham Gouldman contracted with bubblegum kings Kasenetz and Katz, he recruited his buddies Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, with Eric Stewart, to record one of the last Ohio Express singles, "Sausalito." Whatever happened to those guys? They formed 10cc, of course.
My parents always had this holiday party, and they would put in videos for the kids. Whatever year it was, they figured my peers and I were too old for cartoons, so got some pop music.... Duran Duran, Girls On Film. Oops. A little too dirty for a family party!
A little too dirty for a family party!
Did they have "The Chauffeur" on that tape?
Oh yeah, probably. I don't even know.
Edit: It must have been this: [link]
Well, that one is super porny.
I didn't know until my ex-GF (your age, and a Duran Duran fan) talked about discovering it on a video rental as a teen.
