Monday 16 April 2018

Walk Don't Run

Woaah!
I saw this photograph on Twitter this morning. The caption read: 'When you don't want people running down the hallway.'

So the music kind of chose itself today. This is from a Surf compilation album I bought the first time I went to California back in the late 90s. My friend Riggsby took me to a Tower Records store in Mountain View store that was still open at midnight. It's by the Ventures and, for a while, would regularly appear on C90 mix-tapes I was knocking out during that time.

The clip below is over 50 years old and is a superb snapshot in time. It's got everything - the 'group' trying to look cool but failing miserably (the Shadows dance routine is priceless), girls in the audience chewing bubble gum like it's going out of fashion and a backdrop that looks like it was put together just minutes before the red light went on. Perfect.

The Ventures - WALK DON'T RUN (1961)

4 comments:

  1. Oh, lots of interest here - I've seen that walkway picture before. Very clever and a bit like some of those chalk pictures on pavements that really throw you.

    When I saw the name Ventures I immediately thought of Pulp Fiction but having just checked they weren't actually on the soundtrack but one of their tracks was covered by someone else.

    That dance really makes you cringe doesn't it - Funny how when the Shadows starting doing it, it was really quite revolutionary but compare those moves with what we see today, very tame indeed. And forget 50 years ago, it is scarily just shy of 60 years ago, but as you say, a perfect snapshot in time.

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    Replies
    1. A - I loved that album, still do. In fact I may well post a few more tracks from it over the coming weeks. (Christ, get me, a series!)

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  2. Such a great song (and video). I'm a fan of the Pink Fairies' cover version too.
    That corridor - wow, very Alice in Wonderland - but I wouldn't want to walk down it without clinging to the walls!

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  3. C - Ah, Alice in Wonderland...
    The Pink Fairies were the last band ever to play the end of term dance at our school - there was a riot.

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