#60's TV Westerns

[jessharperfan]

EP100 Double Eagles

"I'll meet you in the barn"

[cowboybulges]

The Dakotas - S01E14 - One Day In Vermillion

Cowboys need blowjobs too.

From what I've been able to detect so far and I've ordered the entire series so much research to follow, is it Jennifer, who is incredibly home and more pants did very little to stop that jiggling VPL

[hollywoodlady]

Clint Eastwood on the set of the western TV series 'Rawhide' (1959 - 1965).

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Further thoughts about The Outcasts (1968), once again under the cut for length and discussion of 60's TV racism

I did a little digging and found out that apparently both of the lead actors spoke repeatedly about the like, moral and ethical importance of the show and that that they both felt it was really something they both had to do-- I think everything I read confirmed my suspicions that the show was absolutely made with the best intentions, and it's just a question of whether it managed to meet those intentions with fidelity.

Otis Young talked about how there really was nothing else on TV that wasn't racist and yet addressed racism with honesty (versus just "let's all just hold hands and get along" or ignoring the lived experience of Black characters), and the man named one of his sons after his character from the show. He talked about how he was allowed to be angry without ever being an "angry Black man" stereotype, and that that's part of why he was hired-- other actors who auditioned pulled their punches with regards to the anger and hurt a former slave would carry.

Don Murray talked about how Jemal was a necessary and important role model for American children of all races, and fought the network over the so-called cancellation due to "violence," stating straight out that the show was cancelled for its themes. His character's racism gets called out and his growth is halting and sometimes painful, and Murray thought it was an important enough role that he left film-making to work on TV again, something that was considered a career-killer.

Both of them asked for script changes to make their dialogue both more realistic and to avoid casual racism, and got them. Apocryphally, a network executive admitted that the show was canned because it was "too angry--" and frankly, thinking of in the historical context of both westerns (this was only 2 years after The Good the Bad and the Ugly-- deconstruction of the Good Cowboy myth hadn't totally penetrated TV yet-- and both Jemal and Corey are occasional killers constantly at odds with the law) and in the context of TV in general (the call to reduce violence post RFK assassination), it makes a lot of sense.

The extent to which this context makes the overall premise and Corey as a character palatable (or even tolerable) to you fully and completely influences the extent to which it's a recommendable watch. I think if Corey had a different background, I'd actually be shouting its praises to the rooftop-- with each passing episode I'm more impressed by the writing and direction and the show's willingness to directly address how the history of the United States is built on racism. And I get it, to some extent, why they decided to go for the "most extreme" possible foil for Jemal, but it's a lot to ask of your audience to swallow a man who owned people as one of your heroic leads. Again, knowing that the actors thought this was the right choice for unapologetically addressing racism softens it a little, but doesn't fully absolve that writing choice. (Especially as Jemal and Corey are clearly starting to genuinely care about one another-- I can buy Corey realizing he was wrong and learning how to be a better and less racist person via friendship, but it's a little harder to puzzle out an in-universe reason why Jemal is like 'my good buddy, the guy who four years ago would've have thought of me as property.' If you can suspend your disbelief/accept the 60's optimism about everyone's ability to unilaterally forgive and grow, their growing friendship is actually quite well done-- the actors play their burgeoning trust, false starts, lingering resentment, and reluctant but genuine enjoyment of one another's company well. It's... a lot.)

[glennk56]

Tom Bosley before Happy Days (1 of 2) (1959-1972)

Tom Bosley's big break came when he landed the lead role in the Broadway Musical Fiorello! in 1959 about the Mayor of NYC from 1934-1946 and winning the Tony Award for his portrayal.

Tom Bosley as Fiorello La Guardia on Broadway in 1959.

Tom Bosley as Teddy in a TV Movie version of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1962 which starred Tony Randall and even included Boris Karloff.

Tom Bosley in an episode of Car 54, Where Are You? as a counterfeiter posing as a Preacher boarding with the Toodys not realizing Toody is a policeman.

Tom Bosley appeared in an episode of Naked City in 1963 as a judge hearing case of spousal physical abuse.

Tom Bosley as an executive in an episode of Route 66 in 1963.

Tom Bosley in his first theatrical movie Love with the Proper Stranger in 1963 with superstars Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen as an awkward, nervous date of Natalie Wood. Tom was 35 years old at filming.

Four months later in 1964, Tom Bosley appeared in The World of Harry Orient as the father of one of the girls tormenting Harry Orient played by Peter Sellers. Bosley's wife was played by Angela Lansbury.

Tom Bosley was in the first episode of Jericho in 1966, a WWII show about a team of Allied members working behind the lines as sabateurs and intellegence agents. Bosley, a civilian radar expert is called into duty, but his lack of confidence and bravery threaten the mission. This show lasted only 16 episodes. But the picture quality is very good. Other shows Tom Bosley guested on during this time were Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Ther Defenders and The Girl from UNCLE.

Tom Bosley's next movie role was in 1967, Divorce American Style starring Dick Van Dyke and Debbie Reynolds. Tom played newly divorced Debbie Reynolds first date where she learns how vast the extended families of multiple divorcees can be.

Bosley's next film was a spaghetti western, Bang Bang Kid in 1967. In the late 60's many American actors did at least one.

Tom Bosley's next movie was The Secret War of Harry Frigg starring Steve McQueen in 1968, playing one of the Generals taken as Prisoners of War. This was his first, maybe only shirtless scene as far as I know.

In early 1968, Tom Bosley was in an episode of The F.B.I. as a criminal suspect.

[melissa-titanium]

i probably look fucking crazy but. "kicked out of the nowhere" ln au .

SERA IF YOU SEE THIS HI MY FRIEND THANKUOU FOR LISTENING TO MY RAMBLE <3

both of them are like. late teenage years in this one. dw im not being weird about it i hate when aus do this shit for the sole purpose of making it romantic/weird. id say 15-16

six ; i think bcos shes taller and shit she couldn't exactly. wear the raincoat anymore. so somewhere along the line she and mono picked it apart and turned it into something else on her outfit -- pants? shirt? i dont know, but that's why her shorts are yellow. she kept her hair short like it is in canon because growing it out is uncomfortable and way too warm for her comfort. also sensory shit from having hair against the back of her neck. after leaving the nowhere she wears a big ass hoodie. it's more efficient than a raincoat because raincoats are LOUD AS HELL.!!!!!!! but still has a similar feeling to her raincoat AND has pockets :) crocs are. well. crocs. if you know me you know. i actually dont think they would be all that efficient when it comes to walking around but . idk. i think she would just carry them around for the purpose of walking around more safely if the ground is hard or something she's just as quiet as she usually is. over the years of living in the nowhere i think six has actually gone on to be the more physically adept of the two. we obviously know she's way faster than him, but his time in canon implies he's got more physical strength in his arms than her. i think this changes over time -- the reason she's so sickly & weak at the start of the game (not even fast enough to catch up to mono really!) is bcos of her lack of confidence and how long she spent in the cabin. the longer she stays with mono honing her skills she goes back to kicking ass. after a while, she can lift hammers with much more ease than mono can and she probably pokes fun at him for it. HOWEVER, he eventually gets that growth spurt which allows him to run faster thsn her (long legs. holy shit hes gangly) and he pokes fun at her for being short.

mono ; longer hair. he's got No Nutrients so his hair grows real slow so hes basically never cut it. he likes it longer bcos . opposite of six! he is Always Cold. like naturally cold but its still uncomfortable. SERA I SAID THIS 2 U ALSO but i think he's a walking relic. his only exposure to people, real people, is people on tvs. considering the sounds and general theme of all the stuff in the pale city/ads and stuff, i think its safe to say he only has reference of the real world from like. western 60's-90's. both him and six i imagine have severely poor language comprehension and grammar but if he DOES talk he probably talks like a kid trying to imitate their businessman father from the 70's. and as such; he dresses like his wardrobe is a time capsule. his outfits r still dark and cover his limbs but he looks like a total dork. fucking overalls and shit LOL. i don't have any ideas for face coverings at the moment but maybe he wears sunglasses & a face mask if he sees it necessary? i very genuinely feel like he'd be fine without face coverings. most people would think he's a cosplayer, seeing as he's kind of sickly looking (basement dweller appearance) with like eye contacts or some shit. idk

also funny thing id like 2 mention. their genders are Strange. when you live in the nowhere, "society" isnt exactly "pushing gender norms" onto you. chat what the fuck is a he/him? i only know Running From Monsters . in my previous notes for what they'd be like in the real world (seen below) i think this would be a very funny thing 2 explore . someone refers to six as maam and she completely ignores them (doesnt know what that means. six internal monologue voice All i am is Six so freaking call me Six) ((they're still little kids at heart i dont think they'd like to swear))

more notes here

[scotianostra]

Happy 92nd Birthday veteran Scottish actress Phyllida Law, born on May *8th 1932 in Glasgow.

Wiki has 8th July on the first line of their page on Phyllida, but on the side panel has May 8th, so who knows!?

There is very little about her early life except she was born in Glasgow, the daughter of Megsie “Meg” and William Law, a journalist. She said once of he Glasgow upbringing “When you grow up in Glasgow with a Glaswegian granny, you’re taught that pride is a wicked thing. I still feel a bit like that.“ Phyllida grew up in Glasgow’s west end, just off Great Western Road, but war broke out when she was just seven and she found herself evacuated to places such as Lenzie, in Dunbartonshire, and Skelmorlie, Ayrshire.

That gave her a love for the Scots countryside which means she now splits her life between her home in London and a family cottage in Argyll. Phyllida would fit in well with the Scottish & Proud ethos, in an interview she says:

“I’m passionate about my Scots heritage. How could I not be? I can’t live without it. There’s no way I could live without those hills and it’s got to be the west coast. “I sometimes travel to Edinburgh then go up to Pittenweem or somewhere and I think to myself, ‘This isn’t Scotland.’ It’s a wonderful coastline but it’s not Scotland for me.

“When my parents lived in Glasgow they were always looking for a cottage to which they could retire. They found one in Ardentinney, so I visit that a lot.

She joined the Bristol Old Vic in 1952, from what I can gather she was first in the wardrobe department, the first pic shows her standing, from a 1952 photo. Heron screen acting credits start in 1958 and are very extensive, the pick of them are Dixon of Dock Green and a stint as the storyteller in the great children’s show Jackanory in the 60’s. It must have been during her time in the BBC’s children’s TV department she met her husband to be The Magic Roundabout narrator Eric Thompson, She has previously stated that the character of Ermintrude the cow was modelled on her.

Angels in the 70’s and of course Taggart in the 80’s as well Thomson, the variety series hosted by actress Emma Thompson in 1988, Emma just happens to be her daughter. Heartbeat, Hamish Macbeth and Dangerfield in the 90’s, Waking the dead and Doctors in the noughties has kept her busy, now in her 86th year she has still been appearing on the small screen, in The Other Wife and New Tricks during the past 8 years. Film roles include She is known for her work on Much Ado About Nothing , The Time Machine and The Winter Guest.

Phyllida spends most of her time in Argyll in a house she shares with her daughter Emma. who is spending more time looking after her mother, as she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2915.

Phyllida constantly needs the support of a wheelchair and even assistance when washing due to the effect the condition is having on her.

Due to the progressive nature of the condition, symptoms tend to gradually worsen over time. It is common for individuals to struggle both with walking and talking at the height of the condition.

Phyllida herself spoke about the burdens of looking after an infirm parent, she looked after her mother, Meg who suffered with Alzheimer’s disease. Mego died in 1994 aged 93 after almost 20 years of being cared for by Ms Law at her mother's home in the village of Ardentinny on the west coast, near Dunoon.

Emma said of her mother “Mum is quite lame so it's a case of taking her out in a wheelchair, and making sure she takes her medication. The meds are amazing."

[burymeinwillow]

Hellooo I didn't see someone asking this before but maybe I'm blind. I was thinking of starting to watch Bonanza and Dr. Quinn. I am interested but I'm a little afraid of how big they are so to speak? I thought asking you what you like about them would be cool? Your posts are so nice!

I love westerns and I don't need romance romance but I am also not feeling the newer series like Yellowstone if that makes sense? So I thought maybe Bonanza and Dr. Quinn would be the ones to try.

Hello!! Both VERY good and fun shows!! But yes both can definetly feel like quite the undertaking, especially Bonanza (looks at the 14 seasons)

If I'm to say what I like about Bonanza we might be here a while and this post will get very long, it is my favorite tv show after all, but I'll try to keep it short! I really overrall enjoy the characters and family aspect of it. All the adventures and situations they get into and how they interact with each other and the people around them. Bonanza is more of an anthology series, where each episode has it's own plot and the series doesn't follow one main plot (well I guess the main plot is following The Cartwrights and the stuff they get into each episode). The anthology-ness of it sometimes might make it easier to watch, cause honestly you can kinda skip around the episodes and seasons and watch the ones that you think sound interesting plotwise if you don't feel like starting from the beginning and watch all the episodes (or if you start at the begining to familiarize yourself with the characters and get tired of watching it in order). But keep in mind this is a long TV show that started in 1959 and ended in 1973, so the show look and feel rather different in the later seasons than in the first ones, but naturally it still follows the same premise. You REALLY do not have to watch all of it in order to enjoy it.

In Bonanza you kinda have everything. You got humor, drama, action, extreme sillyness and more dramatic darker themes and lots of other things and I really like that! there is romance also but it's more like.... what girl is Joe dating this episode and then you never hear about her again. and also

While Dr. Quinn is probably best to watch from the start and work your way through it. It's alot more heavy on the romance side tho (the cheesy campy good kind of romance mind you). It's a very feel-good and sweet TV show that also isn't afraid to get dark and dramatic and also being cheerful. I like it cause it gives me a wierd 90's romance drama nostalgia that I really love along with family drama.

HOWEVER if you feel like trying out some other older western shows that aren't as lengthy as Bonanza and Dr. Quinn, I can recommend these:

The Magnificant Seven (1998-2000)

The Young Riders (1989-1992)

Bordertown (1989-1991)

Little Men (1998-1999)

I also totally understand not vibing with newer shows like Yellowstone! Personally I really don't watch alot of newer westerns cause they feel to gritty for me. I prefer the vibe of the 60's-90's westerns.

[tornrose24]

This is probably going to be the last update to this AU for a month or so since I will need a break from it to work on other stuff (with maybe an exception for a Halloween related drawing).

Also, I think since I never named them yet, Suzie's friend is named 'Jules.'

Lily, Suzie, Nate, Jules, and all the puppeteers are mine.

Oh, and since I wasn't able to, here's more info on the pupeteers:

-George Donovan–a comedian and voice actor. Known for doing a few comedic guest roles on TV shows in the 50’s and 60’s. Was known to have two sons. Was supposed to do a few voice roles for Hanna-Barbera in addition to working for Playfellow Workshop. Was known to be allergic to chocolate.

-Elizabeth Callister– an LA stage actress known for doing voice roles in a few cartoons. Daughter of a well-known producer, which allowed her to enter the ranks of the entertainment industry. Said to be ‘spoiled sweet’ and was hoping to entertain children. Was said to show small signs of what might have been ADHD.

–Stanley Hersh– a stage actor from New York. Son of Jewish-Polish immigrants who came to America in the early 1930s. Was said to continue his family’s store if he wouldn’t be able to make it into show business. It is believed Welcome Home would have been his biggest break prior to his disappearance.

–Zelda duPont– a singer and stage actress. Was involved with a few civil rights movements under a different name along the East coast. It is presumed that she was hired as a puppeteer because ‘no one is supposed to see who is playing them.’

-Louise Sherman–a well-known trans actress from the 60’s, yet was better known in the LGBTQ community as opposed to a wider audience. Supposedly a friend of Welcome Home’s creator. Spent a few years abroad in England and had been involved with a few Shakespeare plays.

-Travis McCoy–an actor from Texas. Had starred in a few Westerns and Romantic-Comedy projects. Was said to be very popular with his female fans due to his charm and good looks, but was never seen dating anyone up until his disappearance.

-Bertrand Parsons–a New England and New York stage actor also known for doing voice roles. Was also well-known in the LGBTQ community, yet this was kept silent from the main public for many decades. It is believed by some that his name is in fact a stage name.

–Walter Jones–Little is known about him, but he was a puppeteer for a few shows. Was said to be good friends with Welcome Home’s creator (and some suspected that the two might have been more than friends). It is believed Welcome Home would have been his big break given that he was to voice the main star of the show. He was given a draft card just before the show aired, and it is believed that he–like many other young men–escaped to Canada to avoid the draft.

[bugtransport]

I've seen this one person who, on account of knowing a fair bit of Japanese, has actually seen old-timey serial toku from the late 50's-early 60's like Gekko Kamen, & not only always praises them, but holds more conventional showa toku like Rider & Zubat against them! & I think that's genuinely really fascinating & thought provoking! Makes you wonder how much perspective is lost on us because of the language barrier stopping us from watching those shows, it also brings to mind how when we measure stuff like art, we only do so relative to what WE know!

sorry it was incredibly funny receiving this ask because i feel like this is the experience that anyone who tries to talk to me about western media has when they inevitably run into the brick fucking wall that is the fact that i just apparently did not go through US Kids to Adolescents Media Bootcamp and have the world's spottiest baseline of what you're supposed to know. i mean like yeah sure i've never seen shit like titanic that's an easy one to miss but i just learned who king arthur was last year. i've been boycotting disney since i had a concept of what a company was. i just straight up didn't watch live tv after 2nd grade. my friend had to explain what danny phantom was to me this past weekend. all the shakespeare i know (2) was taught to me against my will.

anyway where was i. i typed up something first but it got way too long. i do think it is interesting to think about how we're only able to comprehend and analyze media through the lens of our experiences in life up to that point but [gesturing above] i am Dumb Ass Rocks and i think that's why whenever i make certain statements about media i feel the need to put in a disclaimer that gives at least some idea of where i'm coming from so people don't expect me to know things i simply don't? it's something that i've had to become very aware of through the years and i think a lot a lot a lot of miscommunication is due to the fact that people are assuming that other people around them have the same understanding or background information or reading of something. i think if you want to talk language barriers there's a point to be brought up too about how translation is an artform and a really beautiful one; you're essentially being a middleman for understanding between the author and the reader but because they're relying on the translator to decode and recode the meaning in their own words, we've now got an additional person in the mix having to balance THEIR knowledge base, so i am wrENCHING MYSELF AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD I'M GOING OFF TRACK AGAIN-

i think it's good enough to just find enjoyment in the things that you find enjoyment in! unless you're looking to do serious (i.e. academic style) analysis i'm anti-completionist and think everyone should simply leave if they're not enjoying something. doesn't matter how late in the game. i'll watch a whole show and not the final episode if it sucks. i watched bojack horseman thrice but there's one episode i simply won't watch because i started it and hated it. i just watched as much of the show as i cared to and enjoyed it! and in that same vein if you aren't able to access a part of a series/genre/what have you due to time/language/cost/bald/other constraints in my Humble Onion you can just take the enjoyment out of the parts you're able to access. no use dreaming about the things that could be when you have perfectly good shows right there!

[ohsalome]

During his Monday appearance on 60 Minutes, State Duma member Andrey Gurulyov declared that “Today, the whole world is a special military operation!” Throughout the segment, the lawmaker and other panelists claimed that Russia is not interested in peace accords—a view that is frequently echoed on many pro-government TV and radio programs.

Referring to recent comments by General Mark Milley—the U.S.’s highest-ranking military officer, who recently suggested that a peace deal might be one of the ways of ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—Korotchenko stressed: “General Milley included diplomacy as one of the options, meaning the signing of a peace deal on conditions that are not acceptable to Russia: return to the borders of 1991 and reparations that will have to be paid by generations of Russians to the Kyiv regime. Would this option suit us? I think not.”

Instead, according to the Putin loyalists, the Kremlin intends to expand its horizons far beyond Ukraine, undermining and confronting the West at every turn. Gurulyov laid out what he sees as the Kremlin’s potential course of action—not just in Ukraine, but across the world.

“Of course, North Korea’s goal is the unification with South Korea and the disappearance of the border that separates one people. People ask, ‘What if they lose? What is our part in this situation?’ For us, it’s not acceptable for the North Koreans to lose. Otherwise, NATO forces will be stationed across from our Vladivostok!” he said. “For us, there is no other option but to get prepared for the challenges that are happening in the Asia-Pacific region. These challenges are already happening, we should be preparing today, right now and figuring out how to solve this problem!”

During his appearance, the lawmaker claimed that Russia’s Pacific Fleet is “actively preparing” for such a conflict—and predicted that the “the first strike will be against the oldest enemy of Koreans, Japan, accompanied by supportive hooting from South Korea.”

[...]

On Tuesday, Marina Kim, one of the hosts of Russia’s Channel 1, appeared on Vladimir Solovyov’s show Full Contact, where she talked about her role in the soon to be released TV project, The New World. Kim said it would be aimed at forecasting what the new world order will look like in the coming decades, considering Russia’ efforts to undermine the U.S. dollar as a currency and Western influence as a whole. Arguing that Russian experts are so highly intellectual that they know more about China than the Chinese, Kim noted that even those superb intellectuals are not sure what the map of the world will look like in 2073.

Solovyov, who frequently threatens the West with nuclear strikes, asked an uncharacteristically sobering question: “Will Russia even exist in the future?” Kim cheerfully assured him that Russia’s destiny is to keep leading the world—but acknowledged that it can do so only in concert with China.

[jessharperfan]

EP100 Double Eagles

Ass Chaps

Gun Belt

Rifle

Black Gloves

Cowboy Hat

Good to go

[therecordchanger62279]

WHAT’S ON THE TUBE?

The television landscape is ever-changing. But our viewing habits? Not so much. In this age of apps, and streaming, and bingeing, I find myself enjoying the same types of shows I always enjoyed. So, I thought I’d put together a master list of my all-time favorite TV shows divided by genre, and then conclude with an overall Top 10.

* This list has been revised as of 8.25.24

POLICE DRAMAS

The Streets of San Francisco

Hawaii 5-0 (2010-2020)

Hawaii 5-0 (1968-1980)

Karen Sisco

Dragnet (1967-1970)

Highway Patrol

The Unusuals

In Plain Sight

The Mod Squad

NCIS: Hawaii

MEDICAL / LAW

ER

The Good Wife

House

The Practice

Ally McBeal

SCI-FI / HORROR

Lost In Space

The Invaders

The Twilight Zone

Bewitched

Angel

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Dark Shadows

The Munsters

The Addams Family

Space: 1999

WESTERNS

Kung Fu (1972-1975)

Have Gun Will Travel

The Rifleman

Tales of Wells Fargo

Cheyenne

The Virginian

Branded

The High Chaparral

The Wild Wild West

Maverick

ESPIONAGE

Person of Interest

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Secret Agent

The Avengers

Burn Notice

The Night Manager

Get Smart

Mission: Impossible

I Spy

The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.

WAR

The Rat Patrol

M*A*S*H*

Combat

12 O'Clock High

McHale’s Navy

DRAMAS

Room 222

Men of a Certain Age

Relativity

Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip

Once & Again

COMEDIES

Sports Night

WKRP In Cincinnati

Becker

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show

As Time Goes By

The Bob Newhart Show

My Three Sons

The Andy Griffith Show

Everybody Loves Raymond

TALK SHOWS

The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder

The Dick Cavett Show

The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson

Late Night with David Letterman

Speakeasy with Chip Monck

GAME SHOWS

Password

Jeopardy

Master Minds

The Chase

The $10,000 Pyramid (with Dick Clark)

VARIETY/MUSIC

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

Night Music (with David Sanborn)

The Midnight Special

American Bandstand

Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert

CARTOONS

Bugs Bunny & Friends

The Bullwinkle & Rocky Show

The Flintstones

The Jetsons

Huckleberry Hound & Friends

*I don’t do reality shows.

My All-Time Top 10 Favorite Television Shows

Person of Interest

Sports Night

The Streets of San Francisco

Hawaii 5-0 (2010-2020)

WKRP In Cincinnati

Becker

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show

ER

The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder

[mywifeleftme]

211: Erkin Koray // Arap Saçı

Arap Saçı Erkin Koray 2021, Pharaway Sounds

Pharaway Sounds’ Arap Saçı (Arab Hair) collects 24 Erkin Koray tracks originally issued as singles between 1968 and 1976. Koray is best known in the West for his groundbreaking fusion of Anatolian/Arabic folk and classical with crunching psychedelic rock on his 1974 debut LP Elektronik Türküler. However, as Angela Sawyer’s tart liner notes observe, Turkey was predominantly a singles market at the time, and back home Koray did most of his damage on 7”. The limitations of the format, and the preferences of Koray’s record company, preclude the kind of long-form acid voyages he undertook on Elektronik Türküler, but he's able to generate plenty of smoke on these “pop” singles.

Highlights abound. Arap Saçı kicks off with 1973’s “Mesafaler” (“Distances”), a scorching psych banger complete with cowbell that only stops rocking to periodically gawp and stare fixedly into space for 20 or 30 seconds at a time before shaking itself awake to get back to business. (Is there footage of a Turkish TV performance featuring liquid light art? You bet your hairy ass there is.)

The waltzing, organ and hand drum-led “Komşu Kızı” (“Girl Nextdoor”) is a classic melancholy Middle Eastern ballad that hides a wild, surprising drop two-thirds of the way through; Koray freaks “Aşka İnanmıyorum” (“I Do Not Believe in Love”) with his insinuating croon and serpentine guitar licks; “Istemem” (“I Do Not Want”) mixes a light-stepping folk beat with some stinging solos that aren’t too far off what Uli Jon Roth would get up to in Germany with Scorpions a few years later. There really isn’t a bum track to be found.

This new compilation covers much of the same ground as the ‘70s Erkin Koray (AKA Mesafaler) and Erkin Koray 2 (AKA Şaşkın) singles compilations, and Pharaway Sounds opts to follow their track sequencing as closely as possible—a good choice, as they had a great flow, though a bit frustrating for those hoping to track Koray’s musical development chronologically. Regardless, we know that Koray was exposed to Western music as a young age, learning Occidental classical music on the piano as a child and discovering rock ‘n’ roll as a teen. According to the liners, Koray was performing songs by Elvis, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis in the late ‘50s, and by the late ‘60s, when he began to emerge as a recording artist, he’d clearly imbibed industrial quantities of Hendrix, Cream, and the other usual psychonauts.

In a previous review, I briefly contrasted Koray with Egypt’s Omar Khorshid, a fellow guitar god and contemporary pioneer in electrified Arabic music. Khorshid had some familiarity with Western pop music, but he was working with the top stars in Arab folk and classical, using electric instruments to push traditional Eastern music forward rather than to fuse it with rock. Koray on the other hand was a long-haired freak who claims to have fought in the streets with a knife and joined Anglo-American-inspired combos with names like Mustard (Hardal) and Sweat (Ter). By the late ‘60s rock had become popular in Turkey, as had Arabesk music, which Sawyer describes as “a purposely uncouth… appropriation of Arabic pop and folk, popular with rural or marginalized folks who were suddenly encountering pockets of urbanized Europe in their backyard.” Koray intuitively crossbred the invasive genre (rock) with the reactionary one (Arabesk) and found himself one of the fathers of a powerful new mongrel breed of psych music.

By reissuing both Elektronik Türküler and these essential singles, Pharaway Sounds has done a real service to psych and non-Western rock aficionados. Koray makes a great gateway to the other masters of ‘70s Anatolian folk-rock, including Selda, Moğollar, and Barış Manço, a loose affiliation of artists that has been one of my most prized discoveries of recent years.

211/365

[leo-leon-leonar-leonardo]

What started as a casual break has now turned into a binge-watch; "Alias Smith and Jones" has totally charmed its way into my heart. Probably one of the best Western shows that i've ever watched; from those two lovely morons (Kid and Hannibal) 'till the incompetent not-FBI agent. As someone who's quite picky with TV, can't believe that a show from the late 60's could be this funny! Pete Duel and Ben Murphy had a really good chemistry and who the fuck is Roger Davis—

Rest in Peace, Pete Duel.

[thegildedcentury]

In the early twentieth century the problem of production had been solved; after that it was the problem of consumption that plagued society. In the 1950's and '60's, consumer commodities and farm products began to pile up in vast towering mountains all over the Western World. As much as possible was given away--but that threatened to subvert the open market. By 1980, the pro term solution was to heap up the products and burn them: billions of dollars' worth, week after week. Each Saturday, townspeople had collected in sullen, resentful crowds to watch the troops squirt gasoline on the cars and toasters and clothes and oranges and coffee and cigarettes that nobody could buy, igniting them in a blinding conflagration. In each town there was a burning-place, fenced off, a kind of rubbish and ash heap, where the fine things that could not be purchased were systematically destroyed.

The Quizzes had helped, a trifle. If people couldn't afford to buy the expensive manufactured goods, they could still hope to win them. The economy was propped up for decades by elaborate give-away devices that dispensed tons of glittering merchandise. But for every man who won a car and a refrigerator and a tv set there were millions who didn't. Gradually, over the years, prizes in the Quizzes grew from material commodities to the more realistic items: power and prestige. And at the top, the final exalted post: dispenser of power--Quizmaster, and that meant running the Quiz itself.

The disintegration of the social and economic system had been slow, gradual, and profound. It went so deep that people lost faith in natural law itself. Nothing seemed stable or fixed; the universe was a sliding flux. Nobody knew what came next. Nobody could count on anything. Statistical prediction became popular . . . the very concept of cause and effect died out. People lost faith in the belief that they could control their environment; all that remained was probable sequence: good odds in a universe of random chance.

-Phillip K. Dick, The Solar Lottery, 1955