You know, for some reason, Farrell's character seems to be based on a famous real person...
...but I've never been able to put my finger on who, exactly.
Seriously, I hadn't seen this episode since it originally aired, but I remember thinking at the time that while the Hollywood hippies on the show were laughably unbelievable -- as they usually were on the tube in those days -- that on the whole the damn thing was extremely well written and genuinely poignant. And that Farrell -- whose chemistry with the usually wooden Stack is palpable -- pretty much captured Joplin's essential sweetness. Certainly, far better than Bette Midler did years later in that The Rose piece of shit.
In any case, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the show mostly held up. And I've said it in semi-jest on countless occasions before, but YouTube really IS the greatest thing since the Library at Alexandria.
17 comments:
Hippies on the tube were usually Rob Reiner;>
and goldie hawn
No, hippies on the tube were usually kids in bad wigs, love beads and headbands. They talked in clichés, couldn't dance, and listened to awful music.
You nailed it Brooklyn Girl.
I definitely remember this show and episode. Wasn't her manager Norman Fell? Ha ha. I must confess that, about ten years ago, I got great quality bootleg copies of about 40 episodes of NOTG - it's now running on Cozi TV in the wee hours. The quality of episodes vary, but it brings me a level of cheezy pleasure nonetheless. For those not familiar with the show about reporters, the rotating leads were Stack (Crime Magazine), Gene Barry (Howard Publications mogul), and, my favorite, Tony Franciosa, who played smart aleck Jeff Dillon (People Magazine before the real People Magazine existed). Support (young sidekicks) was by Susan Saint-James as research assistant Peggy Maxwell, and sometimes Ben Murphy or Cliff Potts.
I know way more about this show than any human should. The shame. In it's third and final season Franciosa got in a contract dispute and a series of guest reporters filled in. These included Robert Culp, who was in the one where a Native American gets killed in a bigoted New Mexico town.
In Hard Case of the Blues, Farrell plays a Joplin inspired character who dies in the end. The episode aired a year before Joplin OD'd. I saw this one when I was a kid. When I watched the bootleg a few years back, it wasn't as good as I remembered. It would have been better as a Franciosa episode.
For super cheeezzee you may want to look up another episode called "Pineapple Rose". Don Stroud plays the voice of rock. And Peggy Maxwell (Saint-James) is kidnapped by hippies in a case of mistaken identity. One of the hippies is Harry Dean Stanton. Mel Torme plays Stroud's manager. Susan Strasberg's in there too.
NOTG was considered a big budget show at the time. Shout! Factory is supposed to issue it on DVD, but there have been some legal issues.
Incidentally my nickname with some in the bootleg industry used to be "Peggy Maxwell with Tits."
VR
I stand corrected in advance.
VR
A few episodes from The Name of the Game (including the "Pineapple Express" episode) are available in a variety of places on the Internet. If anyone's interested I can grab them for you. Just say the word.
Oops. Make that "Pineapple Rose". What was I thinking? (This is what I was thinking.)
Pineapple Rose is on youtube. Don Stroud is totally miscast as the new "prophet of the love generation." His big hit "Pineapple Rose" is quite laughable. The hippies who kidnap Peggy Maxwell wear grease paint make-up like the Hello People. I seem to remember lots of peace signs, love beads and flowers. Cliff Potts gets quite a bit of air time and he's decent.
VR
Hey, VR...I think we might have a frenemy in common–a guy (who shall remain nameless) who put out the Beatles "Collector's Item" boot, replete with a Capitol Records label...? I remember him talking about somebody named Vickie who did some bootlegs, too. Small world...but fortunately large enough that I haven't seen him in a decade or so. (I used to do some of his cover artwork on his other stuff...starving art school student syndrome.)
That would be Vicki Vinyl (not her real name). She used to run Beggars Banquet Records in Orange County and is quite legendary. Along with Shirley Muldowney (I love fast cars), she was one of my top two female heroes of my youth. My contact with bootleggers preceded hers, which began in 1975. I was an energetic Girl Friday, while still a teenager, in the early to mid Seventies. The Trademark of Quality / Amazing Kornyphone era.
Your acquaintance operated in the 1980's, no? Kind of a dick, right? Turned out some nice looking packages though.
VR
That'd be him. Have to admit, though, that he did some good stuff...and pissed off Capitol (with his Beatles stuff) and Columbia (with that Dylan "Ten Of Swords") quite a bit in the process. But things like his "Michigan Brand Nuggets" were nice little labors of love. (I knew him from Ann Arbor.)
Last time I saw him, he was obese and even more schizo than he was then.
Hmmm...I think that this show was reviewed by Harlan Ellison back in the days of his LA Free Press television review column, memorably collected in The Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat. I'm thinking the review was not favorable.
Yeah, "Ten of Swords" was light years better than Columbia's concurrent "Biograph." All the records you've mentioned are still in my vinyl collection.
There were a few people who dealt in boots on the periphery that were super paranoid to the point of being hysterical. The drugs they were ingesting certainly didn't help. Ever have a super paranoid coke dealer that can't keep his nose out of the candy? Same type of behavior.
VR
Harlan Ellison also wrote a lot of TV episodes which were pretty bad. I don't think anyone here is claiming NOTG is a great show - but it did break some ground. It's just something from the past to goof on. There was some first rate talent involved in all departments, regardless of the results they got. Farrell is also in the sci-fi Spielberg episode.
VR
Again (and I'll stop here to avoid completely jacking this comments section), you're on the money re: "Richard" (as he was called in Clinton Heylin's book "Bootleg")...he was both super paranoid because he was doing things as risky as the Beatles/Dylan, and doing anything that you could put up your nose.
And *I've* still got all of those old TMOQ/TAKRL's too. Used to especially love the Kornyphones for sound quality/goofy names. "Electrif Lycanthrope"...? Lowell George would've approved. (In fact, I think he made a statement where he *did* approve. Though my own substance-addled brain might be playing tricks on me.)
Electrif Lycanthrope is my favorite Little Feat album, period. Very tasty. Kornyphone did four Feat bootlegs, most of which were released when the band had landed only one of four albums in the Billboard charts at #36. That tells you something about the people in charge of the label. Rumors were that Lowell supplied the tapes. But that was bullshit.
RE: NOTG - "Pineapple Rose" The band cosmetically backing Don Stroud in the opening segment is The Poor.
Also RE: NOTG "A Hard Case of the Blues" any one know who dubbed the vocals for Farrell?
Speaking of Sharon Farrell, decades ago I went to a movie theater with this guy who used to build engines. He was more a friend than anything else. We saw The Reivers together. It was kind of a coming of age family movie set in a whorehouse via William Faulkner. Being fuckin' bi, I find Sharon immensely attractive. In this movie she was extremely luscious as the whore with a heart of gold. Quite frankly, I sensed my date was more attracted to Steve McQueen, so we were even. For what it was and a bit of forgiveness, I liked the movie. Mitch Vogel was really good. McQueen may have turned in the weakest performance. My mom really loves this one. BTW, my mom is one of the extras in the concert scenes from the NOTG "Pineapple Rose" episode. Look for a hot 31 year old brunette who doesn't look a day over 25.
VR
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