Pahonu wrote: ↑Fri Jul 01, 2022 6:08 pm
I guess it has to do with who we hang around with. One of my best friends in elementary and middle school was black and I remember being at his house his father watching some of them at the time. So I was aware of them in the 70’s and early 80’s. I kind of forgot about them in high school but in college, a different friend and I started to talk about them randomly one time and he was surprised I knew of many. I’ve probably seen at least 30 films of the genre and have a couple in my DVR right now.
A more recent film I would highly recommend is called Baadasssss! and it stars Mario Van Peebles playing his father Melvin. It’s about his making of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, which started the genre.
I also recommend Across 110th Street, which almost no one seems to remembers.
Those films may have aired on local TV stations, and I recall specific scenes from those films, but for the most part the cultural landscape I inhabited didn't often include Blaxploitation films.
I was bused (bussed?) to a predominantly Black middle school, and even those kids had no clue as to Blaxploitation's existence. In fact, if something didn't happen within a week's time, they didn't want to know about it! I still wince (and then chuckle) at how some Black kids had zero interest in old music or movies and only cared about the very latest anything. It was a bizarre phenomenon that later gave way to the now oft-used term "old school whatever (fill in the blank)."
To give you an idea of how ancient the early '70s felt to a kid like me growing up in Jimmy Carter's "Malaise" era, an episode of The Brady Bunch seemed just as "long ago and far away" as an episode of Leave it to Beaver. The early '70s were such a crazy, trasitional period that vanished around 1975. Everything that came after it was like a totally different world. However, those shows and films aired all the time on TV, so I was just as familiar with those as I was with anything contemporary.
Pahonu wrote: ↑Fri Jul 01, 2022 6:08 pm
I guess it has to do with who we hang around with. One of my best friends in elementary and middle school was black and I remember being at his house his father watching some of them at the time. So I was aware of them in the 70’s and early 80’s. I kind of forgot about them in high school but in college, a different friend and I started to talk about them randomly one time and he was surprised I knew of many. I’ve probably seen at least 30 films of the genre and have a couple in my DVR right now.
A more recent film I would highly recommend is called Baadasssss! and it stars Mario Van Peebles playing his father Melvin. It’s about his making of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, which started the genre.
I also recommend Across 110th Street, which almost no one seems to remembers.
Those films may have aired on local TV stations, and I recall specific scenes from those films, but for the most part the cultural landscape I inhabited didn't often include Blaxploitation films.
I was bused (bussed?) to a predominantly Black middle school, and even those kids had no clue as to Blaxploitation's existence. In fact, if something didn't happen within a week's time, they didn't want to know about it! I still wince (and then chuckle) at how some Black kids had zero interest in old music or movies and only cared about the very latest anything. It was a bizarre phenomenon that later gave way to the now oft-used term "old school whatever (fill in the blank)."
To give you an idea of how ancient the early '70s felt to a kid like me growing up in Jimmy Carter's "Malaise" era, an episode of The Brady Bunch seemed just as "long ago and far away" as an episode of Leave it to Beaver. The early '70s were such a crazy, trasitional period that vanished around 1975. Everything that came after it was like a totally different world. However, those shows and films aired all the time on TV, so I was just as familiar with those as I was with anything contemporary.
True, it was my friend’s father watching the films, not him, but somehow I took notice. I’ve always liked older things. My sailboat is from 1968, my camper van from 1988. I love older architecture and obviously TV and film.
As a high school teacher, I would say most kids are very into what’s new and current as you explained. There are some though, and they are often really neat kids, who are into older things. It’s fun to talk with them. I’m realizing maybe I was one of those kids… and perhaps you too? I’m also thinking that there are more of those kinds of kids today, than when I started teaching of 25 years ago, perhaps because of access to so much online. That’s a positive I would say.
Re: The Now Playing Thread!
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:13 pm
by Little Garwood
Pahonu wrote:As a high school teacher, I would say most kids are very into what’s new and current as you explained. There are some though, and they are often really neat kids, who are into older things. It’s fun to talk with them. I’m realizing maybe I was one of those kids… and perhaps you too? I’m also thinking that there are more of those kinds of kids today, than when I started teaching of 25 years ago, perhaps because of access to so much online. That’s a positive I would say.
I'm not the one to ask about whether I'm "interesting" or not. Here at Magnum-Mania, I think I probably bore everyone; they'll just have to deal with it. I'm interested in whatever it is I obsess over at any given time. I've seen the lights go out in the eyes of people to whom I've spoken over they years because they didn't share my "boring" interests.
Re: The Now Playing Thread!
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:13 am
by Sam
Just a guess but uncharted territory for most..
Two songs...
Even tho I wasn't around, I just think of my parents listening to things like this. Occasionally, I'll keep it on for background noise. Seemed like simpler times, although it really wasn't.
It's best to post the artist and song, just in case the link becomes no longer valid.
As for those "simpler times", it's been my experience that those times are "simpler" only because those who experienced them got through them. After that, one can pick and choose what constituted the "good old days."
Re: The Now Playing Thread!
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2022 4:49 pm
by Chris109
Little Garwood wrote: ↑Fri Jul 08, 2022 8:47 pm
It's best to post the artist and song, just in case the link becomes no longer valid.
As for those "simpler times", it's been my experience that those times are "simpler" only because those who experienced them got through them. After that, one can pick and choose what constituted the "good old days."
It's hard to post artist and song when it is non stop 40's music. It's Nemo's Dreamscapes.
Nemo's Dreamscapes has some good stuff. I especially like the ones with the Edward Hopper paintings, complete with occasional passing car.
1975 was a pretty bleak year, but oh-so fascinating. Chicago (the band) before 1977 was great. Terry Kath, baby!
Re: The Now Playing Thread!
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2022 9:18 pm
by Chris109
Little Garwood wrote: ↑Sun Jul 10, 2022 1:28 pm
Nemo's Dreamscapes has some good stuff. I especially like the ones with the Edward Hopper paintings, complete with occasional passing car.
1975 was a pretty bleak year, but oh-so fascinating. Chicago (the band) before 1977 was great. Terry Kath, baby!
Another leaving too soon. Good vid of him and Chicago at Tanglewood. My thumb would have been cramping after about 1 minute playing like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lba2g_u1Ckg
I was gonna use the IT Crowd Matt Berry gun scene with regards to Terry Kath and supposedly (originally) cleaning his own weapon, but I thought that would be improper. So I'll just use another scene.
Re: The Now Playing Thread!
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2022 9:45 pm
by Little Garwood
I always had a fondness for the band America's music. Their songs were played frequently on the radio throughout the '70s.
I'm most likely one of the few fiftysomething-year-old Americans who absolutely love this band's music. They channel the great New Wave music I loved as a teen but have a sound that is uniquely their own.
Re: The Now Playing Thread!
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2022 9:19 pm
by Little Garwood
I've been in a huge British mood recently, and along with my obsessive Britcom viewing, there's also been my trip back to some music I haven't heard in years.