Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 212

I thought I’d recycle a video that I was seeing just weeks before the pandemic changed everything.

I recognize the scenery from having traveled through the Apple Valley/Lucerne Valley area of the high desert of Southern California. There’s a Tove Lo video from around the same time frame that was shot around the same area. Musical artists have taken a real hit during the pandemic. My hope is that they can make the comeback they need. If it’s safe enough, the audience is there, I hope. At least I’ll be buying tickets. I was about to buy tickets to 2020 concerts near enough to me right before it became apparent I should hold off. Then the truth hit the fan (to take some words from former Last Poet, Gylan Kain). If going to gigs gets to be a thing again, I will know we are on the right track, at least on that front. I know there is so much more. Our democracy is still very much in danger. This series isn’t really entirely tied to that. But we can talk.

The jukebox works. The bar is open. If you want to talk, feel free. There are voices I miss tremendously. One takeaway from this last year and a half is that I no longer take for granted the people (including in my virtual spaces) who were part of the fabric of my life. My life was richer with you, and grew poorer as you faded away. I suspect I am not alone in that experience.

Let’s take care of each other.

Cheers.

Author: Don Durito

Left of center and lover of photography, music, pop culture, and life. Favorite quote - "There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility" (Lisbeth Salander, from Stieg Larsson's original Millennium Trilogy).

6 thoughts on “Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 212”

  1. This was from 1993. I recall seeing parts of this video on Beavis and Butthead around that time. Someone I dated at the time would usually fall asleep in my arms while I watched that series and any other animation MTV had late at night. She’d ask me what I saw. Later, when we’d wake up, she’d ask me about what I saw once she nodded off. With this particular track, I said something about a video with a lot of nudity that was too easy for the Beavis and Butthead series on a superficial level. The message of the song itself was fairly positive and forward thinking for its time. Anything with nudity was easy for the Beavis and Butthead creator, Mike Judge. Sonically, this isn’t far off from anything the Petshop Boys would have tried. Lyrically, the song is well-intentioned. If a videographer were to try to reboot this? There would be a much more representative set of extras. As a gen-X-er, I was well aware of the cynicism of the time, but also of the idealism and possibilities. The latter were more my focus. Let’s come together, right now, in sweet harmony.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP9Z5Pc8cRM

    1. Out of the Beavis and Butthead universe emerged Daria and King of the Hill. Both series relied on some stereotypes. Daria at least seemed to offer viewers an alternative view to the Beavis and Butthead mindset, even if only at the surface. King of the Hill lasted long enough for the characters to develop. Near the end of the series (just before Brittany Murphy passed away), it was very obvious that Hank Hill was making a concerted effort to understand his son, Bobby. This was one of the few series where Mike Judge mostly avoided the sneering cynicism that characterized the more privileged of my cohort. Eventually, Mike Judge would attempt to reboot Beavis and Butthead. It was awful, as were many reboots during the 2010s. The sneering cynicism had gone mainstream I guess. There was nothing edgy left. Really, the original series that spawned an animated universe was one that is useful only to the extent that it produces memes that lampoon Matt Gaetz and Gym Jordan. That’s not much of a legacy. I’ve read that Daria might get a reboot. I am skeptical of reboots, but if done right, could be worthwhile. I’ve also heard of a a reboot, of a sort, for King of the Hill. I am open to either series, so long as it is done in a way that the characters get to breathe, to develop. We’ll see if the reboots even get a greenlight.

  3. We’re still working on moving this site over to a new server, and we occasionally run up against our memory limits before we intervene to get things back to life again. Please be patients. Things will so soon be better.

    1. Over the years, I’ve learned to trust you. This site will be better. No worries. I know things are still far from ideal, but it’s been easier to get posts and comments published, and for that much I am grateful. You’ll do your best, and the end result will be something we all love. I have no doubts.

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