posted
Okay, this all started when I got a new Frank Zappa album last week. It has the coolest song about Montana, a state not too far north of me. It's a long song, but I made a short clip from it that you can hear here. It's a crazy tune with a funky guitar solo, talking about raising free-range dental floss and stuff. But it's so groovy and cool that it makes me want to live in Montana. I don't think I've ever felt that way about that frozen uninhabitable wasteland (no offense, Montanans )
Wondering what a Montana resident might think about such a tune made me remember all the time I've seen my own home or life reflected unexpectedly in mass media. Here's a few things that come to mind.
There was an episode of Red Dwarf in which Lister is about to be killed and he says that he's soon to be "deader than a saturday night in Salt Lake City."
I remember how it blew my 9 year old mind when I saw Star Trek IV for the first time and heard Kirk talk about Spock acting crazy because he "did too much LDS in the '60s."
Friend of the Devil, one of Grateful Dead's best songs, contains the lyrics:
quote: Ran into the devil, babe, he loaned me twenty bills I spent the night in Utah in a cave up in the hills.
It also, as a coincidence, is the only song with the name of my friend Anne-Marie in the lyrics, so I frequently give her some crap about being a hippie.
My wife, as many of you know, is from Albania, so we always notice references to that country.
The first season of The Simpsons contains an episode where Bart is traded for a foreign exchange student from Albania. It contains many references to the country as well as the following exchange:
quote: SKINNER: The student will be Albanian. HOMER: You mean all white with pink eyes?
One of my favorite Weird Al songs, Albuquerque, contains the following line:
quote: You know, I'd never been on a real airplane before And I gotta tell ya, it was really great Except that I had to sit between two large Albanian women with excruciatingly severe body odor
And there's an old episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus in which Eric Idle plays a song which he dedicates to Ex-King Zog of Albania.
So here's the question. What are your favorite mass-media references to your:
Hometown/State/Country
Name
National origin
Religion
Club you belong to
Profession
Anything else that is specific to you
How did it make you feel? Did you find it amusing? Were you flattered to have been noticed? Did anything offend you or make you mad? Just curious.
posted
Well, the Simpsons had two good references that I found personal and most entertaining, one relating to Lubbock:
quote: "Hello, I collecting for the brotherhood of Jewish clowns. Last year, tornadoes claimed the lives of 75 jewish clowns. The worst incident was during our convention at Lubbock, Texas [slight tremble]... there were floppy shoes and rainbow wigs everywhere... [cries] It was terrib-b-le!"
And another to Texas Tech:
quote: "What's this? Melon rinds, pantyhose, a term paper from Texas Tech! Simpson do you know anything about this garbage..."
There's also a lovely song title "Lubbock in my Rearview Mirror" that was a very popular song among seniors, for somewhat obvious reasons.
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My real name is Adam...Everything from church to science class was plagued with Adam jokes (Adam, pronounced like Atom, just for those who don't get the science reference.) Just yesterday someone asked if I've found Eve yet. I was about to answer him with, "No, but honestly, I think the real Adam had it easier. I mean, I'd much rather have someone knock me out, take a rib, and *poof* there she is than have to date anymore."
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posted
That reminds me. There was a rumor when I grew up that Michael Stipe of R.E.M. spent part of his childhood in Rockville, a tiny hamlet just outside of Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I don't know if it was just an urban legend or not, but I have a very reliable friend who used to work at a hotel in Zion and said that Michael Stipe stayed there once while she was working the front desk. Anyway, R.E.M. did a song on their "Reckoning" album called (Don't Go Back to) Rockville. Every time I hear that song, I wonder if it's really about the town in Utah, or if it's all just made up.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
On the Gilmore girls, Rory's friend goes to or used to go to an Adventist college. I never really heard much about that, though. Only two references. I thought it was odd. We do have many big universities, but I've never heard them mentioned in a show before..
quote:Mystery solved: For years we've wondered whether the great R.E.M. song "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" referred to the historic town that serves as Montgomery County's seat of government. "Yes, that's right," band member Mike Mills, who penned the lyrics, confirmed to us while partying after the Vote for Change concert rocked the rafters of MCI Center. Sporting sunglasses at 2 a.m. Tuesday, Mills and fellow R.E.M.'ers Michael Stipe and Peter Buck mingled at nearby Zaytinya restaurant with a VIP crowd heavy on arty, liberal, more-champagne-please types.
posted
Oh, and the line "Watch O'Neill crush rush, uh oh this means no beer Cavalier" in "It's the end of the world as we know it" is about the crackdown on fraternity parties at UVA in the late 80s.
O'Neill was the president of the University; the Cavalier is the UVA mascot.
posted
I grew up in Princeton, NJ. My two favorite references =
1) an early '80s B-movie our family watched some night. It was pretty bad -- about a woman who was burned as a witch in a past life, and returns to the New England town she where she was burned. Early in the movie she's asked by a creepy local guy out to dinner. He asks her where she's from. "Princeton, New Jersey" she says. "Princeton, huh?" says the guy, "that's a pretty sophisticated place." As a random comment throw into a B-Movie, it was GREAT!
2) in a Dr. Who story -- it was a Tom Baker one, "The Stones of Blood" -- the Doctor explains K-9 (his robot dog) to an Englishwoman by explaining that K-9 was manufactured in Trenton, NJ (very close to Princeton). Extremely random...
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posted
Thanks, Dag. I thought that story was a little to slick to be true. Nice to finally have that one put to rest.
Another one I forgot. I remember in junior high reading the book A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle. It's the first Sherlock Holmes story, and for any of you who haven't read it, the last half takes place in Utah among Brigham Young and the scary mafia-esque Mormons. It was a crazy new perspective on the stories I'd grown up with.
And speaking of Mormons, I'll never forget last season's classic South Park episode where the Mormon family tries to convert Stan. Brilliant.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
J T, I'm pretty sure jack is right. Are we talking about the same John "Cougar" Mellencamp? At first, I thought it was just a typo on the last name, but since John Mellencamp was most definately born and raised in Seymour, I'm starting to wonder.
Or maybe all these hits on google with "john Mellencamp" biography and Seymour are wrong?
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All I know is the house that I believe he grew up in is still owned by him and he visists it every so often. and it's not a really nice house, it's rather small.
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posted
I get really excited whenever movies or commercials mention the town I consider home, Yuma, or the city I currently reside in, Tucson. I get equally excited when my name is mentioned.
The only examples I can think of now, but I know there are more, are below:
Alea (evil leaper in Quantum Leap)
Can't Buy Me Love (filmed in Tucson) Revenge of the Nerds (filmed at U of A) Vegas Vacation (mentions Yuma)
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posted
*waves to plaid* I was born in Princeton! And from the age of a few months until 6.5 years, lived in nearby Edison. My dad was a prof at Princeton -- where both he and my mom went to grad school, and they met.
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posted
One other Mormon reference. I could be mistaken, but I've always felt fairly sure that one of my favorite Ben Folds songs, "Not the Same", is referring to Mormon missionaries. Here's some of the lyrics that make me think that:
quote: You gave your life to Jesus Christ And after all your friends went home You came down, you looked around And you were not the same after that ... You see 'em drop like flies from the bright sunny skies They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes ... You took the word and made it heard And eased the people's pain and for that You were idolised, immortalised And you were not the same after that
posted
Every now and then there'll be an Onion article that is listed as taking place in Lawrence, KS.
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quote: By the way, didn't they end up somewhere near Yuma at the end of Starman? It could just be my fuzzy memory...
They may have, but I don't know who "they" are. That movie, if I Googled the right one, came out a year after I was born and this is the first time I've heard of it.
And I don't have the SciFi channel either. Posts: 378 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I remember in high school listening to the song 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon with my best friend Lee. He loved that song because the line "Just drop off the key, Lee" is the only media reference he'd ever heard to his first name.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
There are surprisingly a lot of media references to Montana; unfortunately, a lot of them are mind-numbingly awful. And it's worse when the radio stations here have to play them all the time because everyone thinks they're so sweet and sentimental. (to tell the truth, since Clear Channel bought up the state I haven't listened to anything other than NPR.)
Here is an example:
quote:Won't you meet me in Montana I wanna see the mountains your eyes. Woah, Woah I had all of this life I can handle Meet me underneath that big Montana sky.
-Meet Me in Montana, Marie Osmond and some country guy
quote:He was born in the Bitterroot Valley in the early morning rain Wild geese over the water headin north and home again Bringin a warm wind from the south Bringin the first taste of the spring His mother took him to her breast and softly she did sing
Oh Montana, give this child a home Give him the love of a good family and a woman of his own Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes Give him the wild wind for a brother and the wild Montana skies
-Wild Montana Skies, John Denver
A little cheesy, but it mentions the Bitterroot Valley, which makes me tear up.
And then there are those that are totally brilliant, most notably everything written by Storyhill, an acoustic duo that I adore.
quote:Well I was born on the Montana side of the tracks And I know what it means to be free And all my dreams run in mountain streams down to this valley.
....
I just left her standing there, Tangled thoughts and tangled hair. Baby blue-eyed cries for me. She don't really want to see me leave When she just met me. Soon I'll be hightailin' I-90.
I-90's soothin' me, movin' me to be a better man. This highway's giving me the time to be, to understand.
....
The Missouri River comes from three others And they all flow through my home, Sun and and Stars shine in the mountain's favor And Indian paintings in the stone.
I have lucked out, I've had a good life so far, I've been living on my father's pay, But I know one thing-I'm facing the sunshine And I'm happy as a tree frog in May.
Of course, it also helps that they're from here...
A lot of people who write about Montana have never been here, and it shows. (Like Frank Zappa, I'm willing to guess). Parts are big and open and empty and frozen, but there are some places where frozen in an iceberg really wouldn't be so bad as long as you could still have the view.
Two references to Montana that are absolutely not ok:
posted
I think they had a "Starman" series, if I remember my childhood right. But I was still to young to remember anything about it. Anyway, I did some thinking, and I remembered a few things...
Movies filmed in or around Hendersonville, NC Richy Rich (Okay, so they filmed it at the Biltmore house 45 miles from home, but it still counts since there was an ad in our town paper for extras). Heavyweights (Filmed at the summer camp I used to go to as a cub scout) Last of the Mohicans (Portions filmed in the mountains around my home town.) Patch Adams (Same Last of the Mohicans) The Fugitive (Same) Actually, any movies with scenes shot in the Appalachian mountains are more than likely filmed within 60 miles of my home. (It's probably the Appalacians if there are green (or colorful for autumn), rolling hills for as far as you can see without any cities.)
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posted
Ohh, Horse Whisper, yah I agree. [About the whole not writting again thing ... seeing Barry Lyndon spoils one's appreciation of other movie's beauty...]
posted
This is the Starman I was talking about. I haven't seen it in a very long time. But upon reflection, I seem to remember them ending up in the giant meteor crater. So I guess it couldn't have been too near Yuma.
Just throwing out random memories.... Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
For those of you who don't know, my real name is Liza Williams. Although there are more Lizas around now, when I was a kid the only other one I'd ever heard of was Liza Minelli.
I was watching a movie with my mom & siblings when I was about 14, and they were talking about a murdered prostitute. Her name turned out to be... Liza Williams. We all thought it was kinda funny.
There are several songs with references to Minneapolis or Minnesota, but my favorite is from Jonny Lang's The Levee, "Drivin' through the darkness... Highway 61." Highway 61 runs along the Mississippi just east of St Paul. Nice drive.
Edit: He's actually from North Dakota, and I don't know if there's another Highway 61 he's talking about. But since he came here pretty early in his music career to play the clubs, I prefer to think it's my Highway 61.
quote: Are you English Teshi? How did you end up going to a Canadian university?
I am an English citizen who moved with her parents when she was nearly ten years old to a big country called Canada; I am still not a Canadian Citizen and due to a lingering accent and a sort of imbedded Britishness I generally still consider myself British enough to say so.
I am really stuck sort of halfway across the Atlantic. I feel no national/emotional ties to either country. I am a product of both. Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
There are a million of references to DC, but I only get excited about the ones that show something besides the White House/Capitol/monuments. Actually, a scene from In the Line of Fire was filmed directly across the street from my house.
On another note, my family lived in Estonia for a year, and a whole lot of people have never even heard of it. So we all got a kick out of it when they pretended the caveman in Encinco Man was an Estonian exchange student.
And as I've only met a couple Lydias (that's my real name), I get excited whenever there's a character with that name.
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Small Town bugs the heck out of me, Yes he was born in a small town (Seymour) and his family does own a house in a small town (smithville, though I didn't think he ever lived there), but uhh I take offence at "I live in a small town" Bloomington is not a large city by any means, but it's not a small town where everyone knows everyone else, and we have one post office. We have like 35 pizza places and probably the same ammount of bars, not to mention 20 public elementary schools.
<----- not really a Mellancamp fan, and not sure why stryker can't spell it, I'm pretty sure it's on his wall at home.
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posted
Speed, I'd never heard that Ben Fold Five song. That's cool!
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On Topic, there are a million and a half songs about Texas. I don't know where to start. I don't really identify with any one place as a home, though, so I don't excited when I hear it. I'd have to agree with Speed that it's a bigger deal to hear references to LDS things.
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posted
Simpson's Halloween episode 7 or 8 I think (can't remember exactly). It's the one where Maggie grows tentacles and a fang and it turns out Marge was abducted from Aliens and impregnated (in which Homer calls her an "intergalactic hussey").
Anyways, the two aliens, Klang and K..whatever, come back to the simpson home to get maggie and when they ring the doorbell, Homer answers, sees them and says:
posted
Well, let's see. A couple falls ago, there were two FOX shows set in Wisconsin - one that was cancelled after two episodes or something, and "That 70s Show." Uh... I'm from Green Bay, so football is always exciting. There are others, but a couple stick out:
This weekend's SNL:
Remember that fake presidential debate? (oh, aside, doesn't Seth Meyers do a fantastic John Kerry?) That was set at the University of Northern Wisconsin, in Stevens Point. We laughed. For a while.
And the best, Dogma:
"Were they sent to Hell?" "Worse. Wisconsin. For the entire span of human history."
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posted
I know the satire magazine The Onion has demoralized me a few times.
I was once a social worker driving a crappy car and read an article about the same things.
I also would not date much and play video games all Friday night and listen to Rush. Futurama nailed me.
I don't know how many Dungeons and Dragons jokes I have seen in the media--most of them are not done well. There was a sitcom (I have long forgotten which on, maybe Charles in Charge) where everyone got into D&D but the lingo was all wrong. IT was not good sarcasm.
OH, I remember sitting in a Korean coffee shop listening to Korean music when out of the blue, Xanadue by Rush started playing. It freaked me out, and I made everyone stop talking for the rest of the song.
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Hey, I just picked up another album that fits your profile. Ever heard the album Red-Headed Stranger by Willie Nelson? If you haven't, go get it. It's brilliant. Maybe even good enough for the eclectic music du jour. It's a concept album (a strange occurrance in country music, but Willie was never one for doing what was expected of him). I was just listening to it, and I noticed that it tells a story that takes place in a town called Blue Rock, Montana. I don't know if that's a real town. I haven't spent too much time in your state, and I'm not sure that Willie has either, but it's another musical work that makes me want to come there. Not in as campy a way as Zappa's song did, but maybe it's better for that.
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For Boulder Colorado, Rocky Mountain High... Mork and Mindy...
For Boulder City, Nevada, The Highwayman, Willie Nelson, et al....
I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide where steel and water did collide A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound...
I fly a starship across the universe divide and when I reach the other side I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can Perhaps I may become a highwayman again or I may simply be a single drop of...
Rain
But I will remain.
(And it is not true that somebody is buried in the concrete of the dam. The concrete pours were large, but only a few inches deep. Anyone that got injured or killed in the construction was removed before they continued.)
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And from the age of a few months until 6.5 years, lived in nearby Edison. My dad was a prof at Princeton -- where both he and my mom went to grad school, and they met.
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