Drowning out Sesame Street
Being a good Canadian, I thought Lynn might go with Mr. Dressup, The Friendly Giant, The Littlest Hobo, or The Raccoons in today's reprint used in For Better or For Worse.
However, I cannot fault her for Sesame Street. Unlike those Canadian programs I mentioned, Sesame Street has been running since 1969 and still runs today. I tell my kids proudly that I started watching Sesame Street when the show numbers were in single and double digits, which is true. I tell them about the days before Elmo, back when Gordon had hair, there was a place called Mr. Hooper’s store with a Mr. Hooper, and when Cookie Monster only ate cookies and never anything healthy. Of course, I also tell my kids that our television could only pick up 5 channels back in those days. I am sure these stories, to my kids, seems just as antiquated as when my dad told me stories about how he would listen to The Lone Ranger on the radio and his mother didn’t like it because it was so violent.
As for the strip in general, Uncle Phil discovers that small children don’t like jazz and neither do dogs. Back in the days when I had a dog, the usual reaction of the animal was to bark or howl when someone started playing loud music. I guess Farley is not that kind of dog. As for Phil, I love his language. “Blues? Pops? Beebop?” Notice, no mention of fusion jazz which was really popular in the 1970s to 1980s. Bebop is misspelled and no one calls “pop” by the name “pops.” Lynn is trying to be cool, but as usual, isn’t.
However, I cannot fault her for Sesame Street. Unlike those Canadian programs I mentioned, Sesame Street has been running since 1969 and still runs today. I tell my kids proudly that I started watching Sesame Street when the show numbers were in single and double digits, which is true. I tell them about the days before Elmo, back when Gordon had hair, there was a place called Mr. Hooper’s store with a Mr. Hooper, and when Cookie Monster only ate cookies and never anything healthy. Of course, I also tell my kids that our television could only pick up 5 channels back in those days. I am sure these stories, to my kids, seems just as antiquated as when my dad told me stories about how he would listen to The Lone Ranger on the radio and his mother didn’t like it because it was so violent.
As for the strip in general, Uncle Phil discovers that small children don’t like jazz and neither do dogs. Back in the days when I had a dog, the usual reaction of the animal was to bark or howl when someone started playing loud music. I guess Farley is not that kind of dog. As for Phil, I love his language. “Blues? Pops? Beebop?” Notice, no mention of fusion jazz which was really popular in the 1970s to 1980s. Bebop is misspelled and no one calls “pop” by the name “pops.” Lynn is trying to be cool, but as usual, isn’t.
posted by howard at 11:36 PM
9 Comments:
howard,
As for Phil, I love his language. “Blues? Pops? Beebop?” Notice, no mention of fusion jazz which was really popular in the 1970s to 1980s. Bebop is misspelled and no one calls “pop” by the name “pops.” Lynn is trying to be cool, but as usual, isn’t.
I know. Lynn's attempts to show people at the cutting edge of cool reveal how with it she's not. What's more, she's proud of it. It would take me hours to list all the examples wherein Elly and John felt personally threatened by the fact that the trends they thought would (or, more properly, should) be eternal fell out of fashion. Most people accept that times and fashions change; those two think that every new fad is another clod of dirt their children are kicking into their graves.
Aw, I remember Mr. Hooper and his store...
My parents co-managed a jazz club in the 1970s, and I grew up listening to and loving jazz. Some of my parents' jazz friends were our wedding band. But then again, my parents are not Elly and John (thank goodness). :)
DreadedCandiru2,
Most people accept that times and fashions change; those two think that every new fad is another clod of dirt their children are kicking into their graves.
I remember a number of those strips where they would go to the movie theatre and then end up renting Gone with the Wind, or they would go to a party and leave when the rock band started to play. Lynn has shown affection in the strip only for country music and its seemingly, always-appropriate lyrics; and Bobbie Curtola.
aprilp_katje,
Aw, I remember Mr. Hooper and his store...
I often thought Sesame Street suffered when they never really replaced Mr. Hooper with someone about his age. Of course, now the original cast members who are still around are well past Mr. Hooper’s age.
My parents co-managed a jazz club in the 1970s, and I grew up listening to and loving jazz.
You are too cool for words.
Some of my parents' jazz friends were our wedding band. But then again, my parents are not Elly and John (thank goodness). :)
I have a similar experience. My step-father-in-law was in a band called The Amazing Cattletones and they played at our wedding. As for John and Elly, now I think about it, why wouldn’t Phil or April have played at Mike or Liz’s weddings? That seems like a natural request. I sang at my sisters’ weddings. I seem to remember that April was supposed to sing at Liz’s wedding, but I guess with Liz and Anthony running off, most of those kinds of plans were eliminated. Probably most of the ceremony was spent raising Walter Cronkite from the dead to officiate.
Hey, count your blessings: at least this time Lynn didn't try to write lyrics.
howard,
Lynn has shown affection in the strip only for country music and its seemingly, always-appropriate lyrics; and Bobbie Curtola.
"Seemingly always appropriate" is the best way to describe a lot of country music. We all know the old joke about how if you play a country song backwards, you get your truck, your dog and your wife back; it seems to me (and this is just me, mind you) that Lynn is so glad she knows the words, she doesn't pay attention to their meaning.
dlauthor,
Hey, count your blessings: at least this time Lynn didn't try to write lyrics.
That’s true. There is very little sense in this strip that Lynn knows how a trumpet is played, or held, or even looks (more like a bugle).
DreadedCandiru2,
…it seems to me (and this is just me, mind you) that Lynn is so glad she knows the words, she doesn't pay attention to their meaning.
I would have to agree. The strips of For Better or For Worse where characters’ lives happen to fit the song lyrics in the strip have often come across to me as Lynn saying, “Look! I know some song lyrics.”
Howard: Walter Cronkite is still alive.
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