All In All, You're Just Another Sign On The Strip

The Wall Billboard
Sunset Strip - Los Angeles, CA  (1980)

The iconic eleventh studio album from Pink Floyd was released 45 years ago today.  This billboard promoting the album was photographed in January 1980 by Robert Landau and is included in his 2012 book Rock 'N' Roll Billboards Of The Sunset Strip.

The Royal Conjoined Twins

Burger Buddies Translite
Burger King (1990)
I used to love these little burgers when I was growing up.  They went by a few different names over the years, including Burger Bundles in the mid 80's and BK Burger Shots in the early 2000's, but I remember them best under the Burger Buddies name, with conjoined mini-burgers that the consumer was meant to split in two (image source: Consumer Time Capsule).

Happy Thanksgiving

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Elliott Erwitt (1988)
There's an angle of the Snoopy balloon that not many folks get to see.

Five Years Of Pre-Thanksgiving Amish Comedy

Raymond The Amish Comic
Cinema & Drafthouse - West Hazleton, PA
We've gone to see Raymond's show at the Cinema & Drafthouse on the night before Thanksgiving every year since 2019.  There was no show in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, so this is our fifth year of this tradition.

This venue on Broad Street in West Hazleton opened 107 years ago as the Hersker Theater in 1915.  It has gone under several different names over the years until it was remodeled into its current incarnation as the Cinema & Drafthouse in 2003.  It's a combination restaurant and movie theater where you can grab a beer and a bite to eat while enjoying a film.  They also show Eagles games, and though I'm not a massive football fan, I saw Philadelphia win their first (and only) Super Bowl on their screen six years ago.  And, of course, they are the pre-Thanksgiving home of Raymond the Amish Comic.

 

The food here is pretty good.  I've had their cheesesteak, mozzarella sticks, sampler platter, and a few other things over the years.  Tonight, I had a Smothered Brisket Cheeseburger with a side of fries and a coconut coffee porter.

Raymond was hysterically funny as always; particularly with the Hazleton vs West Hazleton material.  We always enjoy his shows, and I look forward to seeing him again.

Stay Here With These Walking Hairbrushes?

Caravan Of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
ABC (1984)
The first of two feature length Ewok films premiered on television forty years ago today.

The Hunt For Fotomat Video

Film-to-Tape Transfer Service VHS
Fotomat (1980)
This tape was on the donation wall at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater snack bar last month.  I've gone through a lot of VHS tapes over the years, but this is the first time I've come across one of these labels, so I had to look it up.

Fotomat, who is best known for their film developing drive-thru kiosks, offered their customers a film-to-tape transfer service in the late 70's and early 80's.  You could drop off 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, or Super 8 film which the company would transfer to either a VHS or Beta tape.  The could also scan your 35mm photo slides and produce a slideshow of still images on a tape.  This service wasn't cheap.  I wasn't able to find a full price list, but their pamphlet gives an example of "your 15 minute sound movie transferred to a Beta cassette for less than $45, including the cassette".  Apparently, whatever was originally transferred to this tape when it left Fotomat wasn't worth the money because someone decided to tape over it with the 1990 blockbuster The Hunt For Red October.

There's A Trap Door In The Sun

Vitalogy
Pearl Jam (1994)
The third studio album from the last band standing from the 90's Seattle grunge scene turned thirty years old this weekend.

The album's name was inspired by a home health encyclopedia that Eddie Vedder found at a yard sale.  It was first published in 1899 and contained descriptions and illustrations of old fashioned practices and outdated medical information.  Vedder brought the book to the studio to show it to the rest of the band, at which point bassist Jeff Ament came up with the idea to design the packaging of their upcoming album to resemble the book.

Instead of being sold in a plastic jewel case, Vitalogy was produced in a thick cardboard book with the liner notes which include text and images from the Vitalogy book attached to the front cover so that the case opened like a miniature book.

As cool as this is, there's two things about this packaging that drove the 14 year old me crazy when I picked up this album.  First and foremost, the disc was kept in a tight paper sleeve that was attached to the inside back cover of the case.  I was a bit obsessive compulsive when it came to handling my my CDs and keeping it in this sleeve increased the chances of scratching the disc when you take it out or put it back in the case.

In addition to the cardboard sleeve, the packaging had different dimensions from a standard jewel case.  I kept all of my CDs in this plastic case when I was a teenager.  It sat on top of my dresser and had individual slots that made it impossible to keep Vitalogy in with the rest of my music.  I tried to let it slide, but my OCD got the better of me and I ended up cutting the packaging apart so that I could put the front cover, the back cover, and the spine into a regular plastic jewel case.  In retrospect, I wish I hadn't done that, but it made sense to me at the time.  Can you spot it?

While the packaging didn't win me over right off the bat, the music absolutely did.  Vitalogy has some of my favorite songs from Pearl Jam's catalog, including Last Exit, Not For You, Nothingman, Corduroy, Satan's Bed, Better Man, and the bizarre experimental track Hey Foxymophandlemama That's Me, but my favorite song is the second to last track on the album.

The meaning of Immortality has been debated since it was released.  It has been argued that the song was written as an homage to Kurt Cobain, citing several lines that seem to directly reference the Nirvana front man on the album and the live version that Pearl Jam performed in Boston six days after Cobain's body was discovered.  Eddie Vedder has denied that the song is directly about Cobain, but conceded that "there might be some things in the lyrics that you could read into and maybe will answer some questions or help you understand the pressures on someone who is on a parallel train".

It's absolutely fair to say that Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain were parallel trains in the early 90's.  That's not to say that they're similar personalities, but they both went from relative obscurity to fronting arguably the two biggest bands in the world in 1991, and they both struggled with their mental health as a result of this sudden fame.  The triggering event is obviously something that I have no way to relate to, but the song spoke to me as a teenager who felt alienated in every environment, and it continues to speak to me today.

The most fascinating thing to me when I look back on this song today is the evolution from the original lyrics to the final version that was recorded on the album.  The original comes across to me as a cry for help while the lyrics on the album are draped in symbolism and put distance between the singer and the subject.  Is this a sign that he's worked through his struggles and found a way to overcome them, or is it an attempt to mask these feelings, or was it just an artistic choice?  Listen to both and judge for yourself.

Embedding is not permitted for this video - click to play.

Immortality

Live at the Orpheum Theater in Boston

Pearl Jam (April 12, 1994)

I could take the sun

I could call the couple if I want

I won't tell the comfort in the world

I can't take it off

I won't say "enough, it's not my fault"

I won't care there's something in the way

Take me as I am

I don't need this

I'll die just to live

Immortality

I could paint the moon

I could reflect light into a room

If I could, the fortune of the glare

I could paint it all

I won't say "enough, it's not my fault"

I won't call the altar in the air

Take me as is

I don't need this

I die just to live

Immortality

I can't take a walk

I won't fight this world

I won't save it all

It is not my fault

Take me as is

I don't need this

I'll die just to live

I won't stay long

I'll be long gone

I die just to live

Immortality

Album version
Pearl Jam (1994)

Vacate is the word

Vengeance has no place so near to her

Cannot find the comfort in this world

Artificial tear

Vessel stabbed, next up, volunteers?

Vulnerable, wisdom can't adhere

A truant finds home

And a wish to hold on

But there's a trapdoor in the sun

Immortality

As privileged as a whore

Victims in demand for public show

Swept out through the cracks beneath the door

Holier than thou, how?

Surrendered, executed anyhow

Scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor

A truant finds home

And a wish to hold on to

But saw the trapdoor in the sun

Immortality

I cannot stop the thought

Of running in the dark

Coming up a which way sign

All good truants must decide

Oh, stripped and sold mom

An auctioned forearm

And whiskers in the sink

Truants move on

Cannot stay long

Some die just to live

First Snow

Obsolete From The Start

Sega Genesis 32X
Sega (1994)
The 32-bit addition to the Sega Genesis was released in North America thirty years ago today.

The main thing that I remember from its release was all of the sex jokes that they made in their advertisements.  I'm not sure if they thought this would make teenage boys want to run out and buy one, but I was 14 years old at the time and the only affect it had on me was a chuckle and an eye roll.  They cost $159 when they were first released.  That's roughly the equivalent of $335 today, and the game library didn't come close to justify spending that kind of money.

The 32X was doomed to fail.  The next generation Sega Saturn console had already been announced by the time this thing hit store shelves, and it was competing directly with both the Saturn and Playstation at retail by September the following year.  No one that I knew wanted a 32X because it was understood that it was going to be obsolete in less than a year.  Only 40 games came out for it before Sega pulled the plug, and most of them were no better than their Genesis counterparts which did not require an extra piece of hardware to run.

I picked one up two years after it was released, but only because it was being sold at a fraction of its original price.  I was a cashier at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Hazleton when I was 16 years old.  They made you take a full hour for lunch in those days, so I used to kill time by going to the electronics department to play the Playstation demo unit that they had set up.  One day, I noticed that they had a pile of Sega 32X consoles on clearance for $30, so I figured what the hell and grabbed one.  The only game that I ever had for it was the Star Wars Arcade cartridge that came with the machine.  A new game back then usually cost between $30 and $50 bucks and Star Wars Arcade was a lot of fun, so it was worth it at the clearance price.

Yo Adrian...

Teriyaki Balboa
Righteous Felon Craft Jerky
This would have been an awesome name for a wrestling gimmick.  I'm picturing Yujiro Takahashi in Rocky's trunks and robe coming out to the ring to a cover of Gonna Fly Now played on a shamisen.

There Is No Hiding Place

Building The Perfect Beast
Don Henley (1984)
The second solo album from Eagles vocalist Don Henley turns forty years old today.  It went triple platinum and produced four singles that hit the Top 40 in the Billboard Hot 100.  The songs that seem to have gotten the most radio play from this record are The Boys Of Summer and All She Wants To Do Is Dance.  They're both excellent, but my favorite song on the album is its 9th track, Sunset Grill.

The song's namesake and inspiration was an actual restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles called the Sunset Grill.  It was owned and operated by Joe Froehlich from 1957 to 1997.  This is the man that Don Henley is referring to when he sings about "an old man from the old world" who "calls his customers by name".

In 2013, co-songwriter Danny Kortchmar went into greater detail about the inspiration of the song during an interview with Carl Wiser of Songfacts.

Sunset Grill is a real hamburger place on Sunset Boulevard that Don used to go to. He admired the fact that the same family and the same people had run it for many years, and that the burgers were made with love - they were everything he liked about American society. So he used that Sunset Grill as a metaphor for what he liked, what he thought was great about society. And then he also used it to describe what he didn't like, which is plenty.

Sunset Grill
Don Henley (1984)

Let's go down to the Sunset Grill

We can watch the working girls go by

Watch the basket people walk around and mumble

Stare out at the auburn sky

There's an old man there from the old world

To him, it's all the same

Calls all his customers by name

Down at the Sunset Grill

You see a lot more meanness in the city

It's the kind that eats you up inside

Hard to come away with anything that feels like dignity

Hard to get home with any pride

These days a man makes you somethin'

And you never see his face

But there is no hiding place

Down at the Sunset Grill

Respectable little murders pay

They get more respectable every day

Don't worry, girl

I'm gonna stick by you

And someday soon

We're gonna get in that car

And get outta here

Let's go down to the Sunset Grill

Watch the working girls go by

Watch the basket people walk around and mumble

Gaze out at the auburn sky

Maybe we'll leave come springtime

Meanwhile, have another beer

What would we do without all these jerks anyway?

Besides, all our friends are here

Down at the Sunset Grill

Back To Babuni's

Babuni's Table
Brodheadsville, PA
We discovered this place when we met our friends here for dinner over the summer, and I've wanted to come back ever since so that I could try their Reuben.  My dad saw the pictures that I posted of the Warsaw Royal Dinner that I had last time and wanted to check the place out too, so we headed back to Babuni's Table yesterday for dinner.

There's actually two different Reuben sandwiches on the menu.  I had the regular hot Reuben sandwich, which was made with hot corn beef topped with Swiss cheese, Polish Sauerkraut, and Russian dressing on toasted rye bread.  The other one was the Babuni Kielbasa Reuben, which is grilled kielbasa with sauerkraut, melted Polish cheese, and spicy Polish mustard on toasted rye bread.  If we ever get back here, I'm going to try that one.

My dad and wife both had the Warsaw Royal Dinner, which looked just as good as when I had it in July, and we all had blueberry and sweet cheese pierogies for dessert.  They were served with chocolate ice cream and topped with a cream sauce with powdered sugar and a chocolate syrup drizzle.  I don't think I've ever had dessert pierogies before this weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised.  The sweet cheese ones were especially tasty.

The Million Dollar Whopper

Million Dollar Whopper Contest
Burger King (2024)
My favorite fast food chain from the time that I was a child to today has been Burger King.  This weekend, they kicked off the second phase in one of the coolest promotions that I've seen in a long time.

In February, the fast food chain announced a contest in which you could submit your idea to win a million dollars by submitting your idea for a specialty Whopper sandwich.  Submissions were collected throughout the year, and three finalists have been selected.  All three are available to purchase at Burger King now, and the winning Whopper will be determined by customers who vote for their favorite.

The first of the three finalists is the Fried Pickle Ranch Whopper, which is topped with lettuce, fried pickles, bacon, Swiss cheese, and a creamy pickle ranch sauce.  They've also made the fried pickles available as a Pickle Fries side dish separate from the burger.

 

The second suitor (because "Suitor #2" sounds like a bathroom code) is the Mexican Street Corn Whopper.  This is made with lettuce, tomato, tortilla strips, spicy queso, and a creamy street corn spread.

The final contestant is the Maple Bourbon BBQ Whopper, which has crispy onions and jalapenos, smoky maple candied bacon, and American cheese topped with a maple bourbon barbecue sauce.

I had to try all three of them, and I wanted to try them at the same time so that I could have a fair comparison and choose my favorite.  Now I can eat three Whoppers in a sitting, which should come as no surprise to anyone who's seen how much weight I've put on since college, but I'm trying to be a little more sensible with my food choices to drop a few pounds.  With that in mind, my wife and I hit up the Burger King in Lehighton on the way home from the Slatington Marketplace, and we ordered one of each of the new burgers and split them.  Eating one and a half Whoppers has got to be healthier than eating three, right?

All three Whoppers were very tasty and worth trying.  The fried pickles gave the Fried Pickle Ranch Whopper an interesting flavor, but as someone who loves pickles, I was a little disappointed that it didn't have a stronger dill flavor.  The spicy queso and crunchy tortilla strips made for a surprisingly excellent combined flavor on the Mexican Street Corn Whopper.  Even if it doesn't win, Burger King should consider keeping that spicy queso sauce in their kitchens because it'd be an excellent way to upsell customers who want to add a little cheese and spice to anything on their menu.

Having said that, the whole idea of this promotion is to pick a winner, and my wife and I were both in agreement on which one of the three was the best:

The Maple Bourbon BBQ Whopper is one of the best fast food burgers I've ever had.  It's a perfect combination of sweet and savory, and the crispy onions and jalapenos give it a little zing that was just right.  All three burgers are good enough to go back and get again, but this one is the only one of the three that I'd go out of my way to find if it wasn't right down the street.

If I were handing out Olympic medals to all three contestants, the Mexican Street Corn Whopper would get the silver, and the Fried Pickle Ranch Whopper would get the bronze.  If you had your eye on Fried Pickle Ranch as the one you wanted to try, take my ranking of it last with a grain of salt because I'm not a big fan of ranch dressing in general.

I'm not sure how long they're going to have all three of these burgers available to purchase in stores, but the ability to vote for your favorite one ends on December 5th.  I believe that the winner is going to remain on their menu for a bit longer, but I'd imagine the other two aren't going to stick around too much longer after the first week of December.  If you want to try them, I'd recommend going sooner than later.

Kudos to Burger King for coming up with a hell of a fun promotion.  This would make an excellent annual tradition to get customers to keep coming back during the Christmas shopping season.

Caffe Europa and the Infinite Pizza

Caffe Europa
Laurel Mall - Hazleton, PA

This place has been in business in the Laurel Mall for nearly 20 years and they're still one of the best places in town to stop for a coffee or a slice of pizza.

Caffe Europa is our go-to spot when my wife and I are going to see two movies at the Regal Theater outside the mall when we have a little time to kill between movies.  These pictures were taken on Monday after we had seen Venom: The Last Dance as we were waiting for the next screening of Heretic.

There's plenty of seating here, and the place has an aesthetic that makes me think of what a pizza parlor from a mid 90's Smashing Pumpkins video might look like.  The pizza oven with the blue swirls and the star and moon remind me of the Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness album every time I see it.

 

I had two slices of pepperoni and sausage pizza, and my wife had two slices of three cheese pizza, which is one of the pies that they make without sauce.  Both were delicious.

Ship 'Em Out. They'll Never Notice.

Los Angeles Dodgers T-Shirt
Fanatics (2024)
Earlier this week, baseball fan and Reddit user sulej shared this photo of a championship t-shirt that they recently purchased from Fanatics.  The shirt was designed to commemorate the 2024 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers with the signatures of each player on their World Series roster printed around the Commissioner's Trophy on the back of the shirt.  Eagle-eyed fans are likely to have already spotted the problem here.  If you haven't, perhaps this will help.

This is the shirt that Fanatics released last year to commemorate the 2023 World Series Champions, the Texas Rangers.  It's not the same exact style shirt, but it shares some features in common, including the Commissioner's Trophy and images of the player's signatures on the back of the shirt.

Let's take a closer look at those signatures.

Did you catch it yet?

Here, maybe a side-by-side comparison might help.

 

The Aroldis Chapman signature at the top right hand corner is a dead giveaway.  He's bounced around the league quite a bit since he made his MLB debut in 2010 with time spent on the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers before signing a one year contract to pitch out of the Pittsburg Pirates bullpen in 2024.  He had a decent year for a 36 year old reliever, and he even passed Billy Wagner to have the most career strikeouts for a left-handed relief pitcher in baseball history.

One thing Mr. Chapman did not do is play for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  To the best of my knowledge, none of the players whose signature appears on the Dodgers shirt ever played for them, but they definitely didn't in 2024.  Fanatics just went ahead and re-used all of the signature images from last year's Rangers shirt when they designed the Dodgers shirt.

This would be an embarrassing mistake if it happened to any other company, but I'll be shocked if Fanatics will even notice.  After all, they're the same company that approved this design for an Oakland Athletics hat a few months ago.

The official hat of John Fisher