when tv was king

When I was doing my Ed Sullivan research I came across a pic of the Rolling Stones at the time and there they were poised like the early Beatles in a little square or pentagram with each of them maybe ten feet from the other standing alone in front of a microphone wearing some kind of sports jacket, standing straight, not slouching.

Still for all that the blokes were edgy, they openly smoked cigs and just had kind of an attitude that no American pop star had.  Maybe Elvis had an attitude while he sang with the hips and the sneer and all but afterwards he was all Yes Ma'am and No Sir.

And Ed Sullivan was such a fucking square.  Maynard G Krebbs would have called him a cube.  /I can't believe that you guys are nostalgic about that crap.  We became hippies to get away from that crap.  Our stuff may have been crappy too, but we were stoned while we were enjoying it.

I do wonder about Doby Gillis though.  It was kind of a breakthrough comedy in its day, I think because Doby's dad threatened to knock his block off instead of delivering some hokey message at the end of the show.  Still probably would not hold up.

There was a whole tv culture though wasn't there, with the whole family assembled in the living room after supper, each in their assigned spot as the knob was turned and the tv fired up (as I recall it wasn't a blink like we have now but it was a circle in the center that expanded, something like that, something mystic) and then they were bathed in pale blue light like pod people or something.  The family was all together but nobody spoke.

And then there were TV Dinners and that little rickety tray you could put in front of them to eat your dinner while you were glued to the tubes.  We never ate them at my house, they seemed too decadent.  What kind of Mom doesn't have time to make her family dinner?  Later on as a hippy I ate them (while not watching square tv), because they were cheap, and even to this day I indulge sometimes.  A couple tamales from the guy who comes through Ten Cat at 9 PM over a Santa Fe rice and beans is a south of the border treat that cannot be beat.+

There have been mishaps in the super phone, at one point it turned its ringer off and for awhile my keyboard only printed out Asian Indian letters.  Stuff happens chaotically, it updates itself, it moves stuff around, it tells you the weather with kind of a good boy beam like what a clever lad it is, when you never asked and don't care.  When I was riding the grey dog down to Champaign and was on the wrong side of the bus and couldn't read the green signs Google Maps told me where I was, but then it was constantly asking me if I wanted to take a photo of wherever I was.

I first got it when I was to meet my sister for lunch and I went to Pizzeria Uno while she went to Due, and we eventually ate and went home alone wondering where the other one was.  A phone call would have remedied that situation.  I only take it with me when I am traveling or meeting someone where wires could get crossed.

I do love the camera though.  It takes great photos.  It won't let you name them or organize them, but if I connect it to the computer with a cable I can deal with its photos the way I can with the computer.