The Williamsburg Nerd

The other day WOXY Vintage was playing the old 80s not-quite-a-hit-song Monster by B-52s front-man Fred Schneider. So on a lark I dug up the music video which I haven't seen in eons — and looking through the video I got a nice surprise: There are few shots featuring none other than 80s art great Keith Haring!

It brought to mind that in the 80s that it was pretty common to have a fun guest star to a cameo - and this wouldn't just be some like Leonard Nimoy, but also fine artists like Andy Warhol (note this is the uncensored version of the music video):

By the way the blond lady at the start of the video is none other than Dianne Brill who was a fixture of the 80s club scene in NYC.

I'm a real fanboy when it comes to typography which is why the above worn out signage caught my eye. Hatzlocha Baby Furniture is located at 236 Broadway. Click on the image to see it at full size...

Photographed December 30th, 2007.

Do the Lambrett Twist! The scientists are the Quartetto Cetra, an Italian act formed in 1940 that became big for doing spoofs of popular songs from the the 50s and 60s. Here's a cool album cover that I came across:

Found via zaeega.com.

It's what happening baby, and it's happening right here! This groovy 1967 film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis was trying to somewhat imitate the Monkees who were designed to imitate the Beatles, although the cool thing about the film is it features a cameo of none other than the real Colonel Sanders (yes of Kentuky Fried Chicken fame). I'd write more, but I dont think I can quite top this great review I found of the film:

"Boojie Baker is a slimy, crooked manager of bad garage bands. He whores women, bribes record producers, and cheats his bands out of money. After getting the brush off from a band he’s managing, Boojie comes upon “The Big Blast.” He decides to make them the next big thing and blurts out his catch phrase, “Have a blast!” constantly. “The Big Blast” performs very badly produced garage pop-rock. A lot. They make it big and party. A lot. Not too much else happens."

...it sounds like the music industry can use someone like Boojie today!