July 11, 2008

Now, hop on your motor scooter, go to the beach, and dance.

Pure amusement. I guarantee this will make you smile:



Did you know that when he was quite young, Bob Dylan played piano in Bobby Vee's band?
Bobby Vee was from Fargo, North Dakota, raised not too far from me. In the summer of '59 he had a regional hit record out called "Suzie Baby" on a local label. His band was called The Shadows and I had hitchhiked out there and talked my way into joining his group as a piano player on some of his local gigs, one in the basement of a church. I played a few shows with him, but he really didn't need a piano player and, besides, it was hard finding a piano that was in tune in the halls that he played.

Bobby Vee and me had a lot in common, even though our paths would take such different directions. We had the same musical history and came from the same place at the same point in time. He had gotten out of the Midwest, too, and had made it to Hollywood. Bobby had a metallic, edgy tone to his voice and it was as musical as a silver bell, like Buddy Holly's, only deeper. When I knew him, he was a great rockabilly singer and now he had crossed over and was a pop star...

I wanted to see him again....

I told him I was playing in the folk clubs.... He'd become a crowd pleaser in the pop world...

Standing there with Bobby, I didn't want to act selfishly on his time so we said good-bye and I walked down the side of the theater and out through one of the side doors. There were throngs of young girls waiting for him in the cold outside the building.... I wouldn't see Bobby Vee again for another thirty years, and though things would be a lot different, I'd always thought of him as a brother. Every time I'd see his name somewhere, it was like he was in the room.
Bob Dylan, "Chronicles," pages 79-81.

35 comments:

veni vidi vici said...

It's always interesting when one finds out that the highly-idolized are just guys/gals with idols of their own, isn't it?

Paul said...

Ann -- I thought you disapproved of men in short-shorts. What gives? Does Bobby Vee meet your exacting standards?

Meade said...

An Althouse guarantee is apparently good as gold.

Anonymous said...

I love the video.

There's a little something for everyone in it.

BBQ'd hot dog lovers, surfers, choreographers, girl lovers, boy lovers, bikers, fake-vine using bondage enthusiasts....

Everything!

Ann Althouse said...

Yeah, loved the vine (seaweed?).

Also, that thing the woman sitting on the motor scooter kept doing with her legs. Crazy!

Bissage said...

(1) M u s t . . . n o t . . . s m i l e . . .

M u s t . . . r e m a i n . . . s o u r . . .

M u s t . . . ya a a a . . . glee l l . . kskds;ap he;w t eq[er YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

*smiles broadly*

(2) Loved it. But still, I’m not 100% convinced it’s not a modern parody.

(3) Just in case in wrong . . . ANYBODY GOT A TIME MACHINE???

I call dibs on the girl in the black and white plaid at 2:08!!!

(4) Either her or the dude in the electric blue bikini. Good energy! And that counts!

(And did you see the size of his fork?!)

(5) Bob Dylan notwithstanding, it’s a good thing drugs hadn’t been invented yet or else that beach party would have turned into the beast with a thousand backs!

(6) Seriously though, that was a modern parody. Right?

Meade said...

"...that thing the woman sitting on the motor scooter..."

Vortexy.

paul a'barge said...

OK, at about 3:00 I think that's Althouse's doppelganger behind Vee on that scooter.

Am I right? Do I win something?

blake said...

I suppose, in a pomo world, it's a parody because we see it as such.

Nice voice, though. Bobby Vee, you say? Don't think I've ever heard of him.

Bissage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bissage said...

(1) Errata: At 5:36, please note that (3) reads “Just in case in wrong” and that it should read "Just in case I’m wrong.”

(2) NTTAWWT!

(3) WTF is a “corrigenda,” anyway?! Some kind of viburnum?

(4) [B]lake, Bobby Vee is a stage name. He was originally named “Robert Vagina,” after his mother. His sister was named Plenty O’Toole, but that’s a whole ‘nother story, as they say.

(5) On a personal note, the normal Friday night wet dream rotation is Edith, Maude or George.

I'm feeling disquietingly optimistic this evening so that’s absolutely not what I’m looking forward to.

This is an important thing that’s going on here so tonight before I go to sleep I’ll pray to The Big Guy to repay all those unrewarded good deeds I’ve done with a 5:35 a.m. visit from the girl in the black and white plaid.

I’ll sleep in an old pair of gym shorts . . . just in case.

(6) Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

William said...

I'm old enough to remember when this was considered prurient. Has prurient sex gone the way of vaudeville or am I just too old to feel the vibe? Anyway the video arouses the memory of desire, if not memorable desire or desirable memories.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Which one was Titus? Heh.


Thanks Ann that was good!

I'm Full of Soup said...

" Vortexy!... "Sleep in my gym shorts tonight."

You guys are on your game this evening.

Unknown said...

Wow! That was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Good to remember when I start thinking things are going downhill. Things aren't worse now, just a little different.

Ron said...

Nope. Just bored.

Jeff Vaca said...

I'm just guessing that this won't show up on Jac's list of grunge?

Swifty Quick said...

The world was different then.

vbspurs said...

Hey, Professor, what happened to your Amazon Kindle book applet? Now it's a generic Chinese list -- I clicked on Books, and once I clicked on the Kindle followup, it doesn't have "althouse" written in the code.

Not sure you'll be credited...and I'm at 127 books (!).

Incidentally, two Kindle books are currently free, including an Acupuncture Guide.

Cheers,
Victoria

AllenS said...

Ann said...
"Also, that thing the woman sitting on the motor scooter kept doing with her legs. Crazy!"

Suzanne Somers hadn't invented the Thighmaster yet, so girls had to do that exercise to remain svelte.

Grames said...

I was born in 1964, and couldn't even watch all the way through. Ugh. This is cringe inducing. No smiling here.

Bissage said...

Here’s the morning report: No. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. A big goose egg. No girl in the black and white plaid.

Instead, Mrs. Bissage and I were in someone’s 1960s rec room (completely beige) when all of a sudden everyone disappears and there’s nothing to do but watch this old-fashioned black and white console television while this disgusting guy reclines on the sofa ostentatiously fussing with a marijuana roach thingie. He keeps doing it and I keep ignoring him and Mrs. Bissage gets nervous and then he offers it to us and I diplomatically decline because we have to run a marathon in the morning.

Then I woke up.

What a crappy dream.

*watches Bobby Vee video yet again*

*feels better*

Meade said...

*laughs at "because we have to run a marathon in the morning"*

Ann Althouse said...

Hi, Victoria. If you use the link in this old post of mine to buy the Kindle, it will reward me with a percentage, but if you go on clicking through to other things, I'm not sure I get a percentage. If you use the Amazon ad box in my sidebar, however, you can reward me for what you click through to. And you can use the Amazon search box in the sidebar. Again, I'm not sure if clicking on to other things works. But all those things seem to be working to me.

Anyway... back to Bobby Vee, men in shorts, and women with scissor legs.

Meade said...

Vee legs.

High Power Rocketry said...

: )

Anonymous said...

doesn't your university have an outdoor pool where teachers, professors, students, Olympic diving hopefuls, sorority chicks and frat boys, academic budding genii, 71 year olds who can swim 5K, handicapped and blind people all congregate in bikinis and speedos for the summer, showing skin and the great beauty and capability of the human body?

Is Wisconsin so much more uptight about movement and muscle than conservative Indiana?

If we had an all women's pool, I would really swim nude (nah probably just topless). Only with women just because I know from their drooling and glances, one or two of the old men at the pool are a bit voyeuristic.

Ann Althouse said...

UW-Madison does not have an outdoor pool, but I love that fantasy image of a university pool. I'd see the movie!

Anonymous said...

ahh, you must have ice skating rinks and tracks. I don't think we have those in Indiana. The high perfomance people in their respective sports are starting to dress the same.

Surely there must be a doc counsilman of ice skating fame up there?

I don't do TVs or Movies much so I have no concept of movie fantasy.

I'm Full of Soup said...

AllenS:

Somers could have seen this video and been inspired.

AllenS said...

AJ--

The last time I dated a girl that owned a Thighmaster, she crossed her legs, and broke my glasses.

Dr Dre's Underpants said...

Yo Bissage. You and your ho are swingers like on that TV show.

Lets get together. I meet you with Foxy Brown and get all upside your stuff.

vbspurs said...

And you can use the Amazon search box in the sidebar. Again, I'm not sure if clicking on to other things works.

Okay, thanks, great. Then that's what I've been doing. I also bought some things via the Anchoress and Instapundit, IIRC, but mostly through here. If you see a spike in your ad revenues, then it's working.

Cheers,
Victoria

Amexpat said...

Amusing link. Even better than Bobby D's Broadway musical.

TMink said...

Bobby Vee my foot, that is obviously Ricky Martin with some anglo make up on.

Trey