Liquor and Pinball

Satin Doll - Williams (1975) and
Spin Out - Gottlieb (1975)
This photo was taken in a liquor store in 1976.  In the 70's and 80's, it wasn't uncommon to see arcade games and pinball machines in pizza parlors, grocery stores, mini marts, laundromats and just about anywhere else.  This photo was shared by Beatnik Daddio - not sure of the source.

Ting-A-Ling Double Play

Ting-A-Ling Double Play (1975)
Dave Cash and Larry Bowa
I posted Phillies Fever yesterday, and it wouldn't be right if Ting-A-Ling Double Play didn't have its own entry.  It's about how the Phillies middle infield are inspired by food and drink to turn a double play to end a game that has gone to extra innings.

In the first verse, it's an ice cream truck outside of Veteran's Stadium in the bottom of the 14th inning.  A hot dog vendor gets their attention in the bottom of the 17th inning in verse two.  Finally, a member of the cleaning crew knocked over a soda can in the bottom of the 23rd inning, which sent our beloved 2B/SS combo into a cola-induced, bag-tagging frenzy to end the game with a double play.

Just listen...

Phillies Fever

Phillies Fever (1976)
Dave Cash, Larry Bowa, Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski and Garry Maddox
There are plenty of frightening things about this song, but the scariest part to me is the fact that this isn't the first time Dave Cash and Larry Bowa cut a baseball record.  One year before "Phillies Fever" introduced disco baseball to the world, our middle infield recorded "Ting A Ling Double Play"  It's difficult to say which is worse, but they're required listening for any die-hard Phillies fan.

What Was That Email Address Again, Ma'am?

The unfortunate side effect of auto-generated college email accounts  [source: Twitter].

More Music For Your Money

Gallery Of Sound
Laurel Mall - Hazleton, PA

I love all the neon signs in my local music store.  The DVD sign on the right hand side of the door used to say "Tapes" back in the day.  They also were the only place to get foreign and underground CD releases in the days before online shopping, like Nirvana: Outcesticides and Smashing Pumpkins: Black Sessions.

Schnoodle In The Sun

Little Harvey is enjoying a nice, warm day in the yard.

What A Wonderful World

Joey Ramone
What A Wonderful World
From the album Don't Worry About Me (2002)
One of the best songs ever written was covered by Joey Ramone and released posthumously on his only solo album.  The icon of punk rock died 15 years ago today.

Turn Me Off

Light switch cover sticker
Quisp cereal toy - Quaker Oats (1977)
Children (and adults) could collect all three light switch stickers in specially marked boxes of Quisp cereal in 1977.  Each sticker featured the quazy alien with a message that encouraged the reader not to waste electricity.

Sunset Over The Golden Arches

McDonald's
Mountaintop, PA

Please Don't Break My Atari

Please Don't Break My Atari
Weird Paul Petroskey
Thick Syrup Records
I heard this earlier today on the latest episode of the Super Podcast Bros, which I highly recommend to any fan of retro gaming, or video games in general.  The song is absolute comedy cheese, but it's also actually pretty catchy.  I've had it stuck in my head ever since.

Rose's Ring

MLB Opening Day
April 8, 1981
Pete Rose and Larry Bowa with their World Series Championship rings 35 years ago.  This photo was taken before the start of the 1981 Opening Day game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Richie Rich For GM

National League Centennial Comic Book
Harvey Comics (1976)
To celebrate 100 years of National League baseball, Harvey Comics released a special baseball themed comic.  There were a number of variant covers with different teams featured at the top, including the Phillies, Giants, Astros, Dodgers and Pirates, as well as a standard version without no focus on any one specific team.  The stories featured Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich and Wendy the Witch.

George Nada Takes On The Fascinators

Alien Encounters: Issue #6
Eclipse Comics (April 1986)
This comic anthology of science fiction stories came out 30 years ago.  It included a seven page story called Nada, which is an adaptation of the 1963 Ray Nelson short story "Eight O'Clock In The Morning".  Both the comic and its source material inspired the 1988 John Carpenter film "They Live".

This entire Nada comic is hosted online by SAP Comics. Click here to read it.

Five Years Without The Comet

Blue Comet
Route 309 - Hazleton, PA
This iconic diner has now sat vacant for five years after closing their doors for the last time in April 2011.  The images above show what it looked like in the 80's and 90's, with the stone front, red brick, and the plants on the right hand side of the building, and in the 2000's after the remodel, with the box-like chrome storefront and the flagpole.

source: Blue Comet postcard  (year and photographer unknown)

source: Donna Esposito (October 12, 2008)

I'm still hopeful that this place will reopen someday.  It's a local landmark that dates back to 1939 and I have a lot of happy memories here.  One of these days, I'm going to do a write up on its history.

Luke, This Is Not The Cake You're Looking For

Sir Alex Guinness turned 62 during the filming the first Star Wars movie in 1976.  This photo was taken on his birthday (April 2nd, 1976) in Djerba, off of the coast of Tunisia, where they were filming the Tatooine scenes.  Mark Hamill and Alex Guinness (in costume as Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi) are celebrating with producer Gary Kurtz and director George Lucas.

The Book Of Murphy

"We're 24 morons and a Mormon."
- John Kruk describing the Phillies of the early 90's after the team acquired Dale Murphy from the Atlanta Braves in an August, 1990 trade.

Test Kitchen Tuesday

Butterfinger Baking Bits, Toll House Triple Chip Blend and Toll House Cookie Mixes
Nestle (2016)
It's always a good day in the test kitchen when we have new products to try.  These should be available in stores this summer.

The Perfect Wave Surround Me

All The Things She Said
Simple Minds (1986)

Although New Wave was starting to cede its mainstream ground to Hair Metal by 1986, there was still a lot of excellent music in the genre that debuted in the second half of the decade.  Included among these was this Simple Minds song, which was released as a single thirty years ago this month.  It was the third single to be released from the band's 1985 album Once Upon A Time after Alive And Kicking and Sanctify Yourself.

Don't you look back on a big lost world

Don't you look down like the heroes say

Come tell me all about it

Take me to the streets where the bonfires burn

Take me in your arms and I'll fade away

When I hear you say what you got to say

Anywhere you go, you know I'll still be waiting

All the things she said, she said

Little darling close your eyes, there'll be no compromising

Of all the things she said, she said

Throw me to the street where the heartbeats beating

To the peaceful revolution

And the perfect wave, surround me

Tell me 'bout the ocean moving in slow motion

I see it glitter in the sun

Then it's freezing in the moonlight

Never look back, never look back, never look away

If freedom comes and goes, you know I'll still be waiting

All the things she said, she said

You've fought the fight so long, no surrender to temptation

Of all the things she said, she said

Stars will fall out for you

Luck will surrender

I'm calling out to you

To be near you in the first morning light

I'd be with you, I dream about you

If I could leave here, I would leave here tonight

I'd be with you, I'd stay with you tonight

Tonight

Anywhere you go, you know I'll still be waiting

Of all the things she said, she said

When I look into your eyes, I see a new day rising

Of all the things she said, she said

Through the eyes of love, and to never know what hate is

Of all the things she said, she said

She said, this is our time, she said, this is our place

This is the space my heart wants to be

Little darling close your eyes, there'll be no compromising

All the things she said, she said

Big Blue Float

A-Treat Big Blue soda and vanilla ice cream makes a pretty tasty float!

Nolan Ryan Aftershave

Black Diamond
Schuylkill Mall - Frackville, PA
I remember getting this gift set from my dad as a Christmas present when I was a kid.  I still have the Nolan Ryan baseball somewhere.  A vendor had the empty box for sale at Black Diamond.

The King at the Arcade

Elvis Presley Playing Pinball (1956)
The Harrington Collection
I'm not sure what machine The King is playing, but that's a Gottleib Stage Coach machine against the wall.  You can also see a Metal-Typer token machine over his shoulder.  They still have one of these in operation in the Playland Arcade at Knoebel's (coincidentally, it's right across from the pinball machines).

You can buy a print of this photo from Fine Art America.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Genesee Cream Ale advertisement
Genesee Brewing Company (1984)

Hello Kitty Goes To The Movies

Hello Kitty Store
Universal Studios - Orlando, FL (2016)

A store dedicated to Hello Kitty has opened at the Universal Studios Theme Park in Orlando, Florida.  These are just some of the many photos that were shared by OrlandoParkStop.com a few days ago.  The website has a five minute video walkthrough of the store as well.

My favorite part of the store is the pole with posters of classic movies that were created to feature Hello Kitty, including Back To The Future, Jaws, and ET, although this next photo is a close second.

Everything in the desserts case looks both adorable and delicious, but my favorite has to be these Keroppi Apples.  Check out OrlandoParkStop.com to see a lot more.

Self Cooking Eggs

This is one of the more unusual grocery items I've bought and eaten.  It's a microwave meal that doesn't need a microwave.  The meal is in the sealed tray on the left.  To heat it, you open the tube of salt water and pour it in the tray on the packet that says "do not eat".  This sets off a chemical reaction that damn near boils the water.  Put the food tray on top of it and it heats the food in about five minutes.

When I saw the box, I didn't expect that it would heat it up much, but this thing got steaming hot - too hot to eat without blowing on it.  The eggs and the corned beef hash aren't going to win any culinary awards, but they were edible, and the product definitely lives up to the promise of being a self-heating meal.

I've Got A Heart On

I wonder if they'd let me wear these for my drivers license photo.

The Beacon

The Beacon
Route 309 - Tamaqua, PA
If you're not too full after leaving the Hometown Farmers Market, The Beacon is a pretty nice place to stop for a bite to eat.

What's Up, Kruk?

Phillies Looney Tunes Shirt
I saw this t-shirt at the Hometown Farmers Market earlier this week and I immediately had a flashback to living in South Florida in the early 90's.  These Looney Tunes baseball shirts were everywhere.  My dad and I went to a lot of Florida Marlins games in '93 and '94 and we saw hundreds of people wearing gear with Bugs Bunny, Taz and Tweety Bird.  Unfortunately, this shirt wasn't my size, but I would have bought it in two seconds if it had been.

Steve's Chicken Stand

Steve's Chicken Stand
Hometown Farmers Market - Tamaqua, PA
This Amish stand in Tamaqua may have the best chicken that I've ever eaten.  It's almost a shame that it's tucked away in the Hometown Farmer's Market.  If they opened up a traditional restaurant in a place like Philadelphia or New York, I'm convinced that they would be a huge success.  More often than not, this stand has a pretty long line of customers waiting to be served, which is all the more impressive when you consider the fact that their customer base is limited to people farmers market shoppers on a single day of the week (Hometown is only open on Wednesday).

It's not like they have signs on the road to let you know there's a fantastic chicken restaurant in here.  In fact, they don't even have their own entrance or any seating.  They're in the dead center of a large building, across from a stand that sells honey and candles made from beeswax.  You'd never know they were here if not for the intoxicating smell of rotisserie chicken that wafts through the building.

I had an order of chicken tenders with seasoned potato wedges and a side of macaroni and cheese.  The photo truly doesn't do it justice.  The chicken was moist and delicious with the perfect amount of herbs and spices.

If you happen to be in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania on a Wednesday, you really should check this place out.  You won't be sorry.

An Unusually Warm Afternoon

Hometown Farmers Market
Tamaqua, PA
We went to the Hometown Farmers Market today, and the weather was uncharacteristically beautiful for this time of year.  More often than not, there's snow on the ground in Northeast PA on March 9th, but it was 74 degrees and sunny in Tamaqua.

There were only a few flea market vendors with tables set up.  I didn't buy anything except food, but here are a few of the more interesting toys and other vintage items that were available.

Watching the Toy Story movies gave me a whole different level of appreciation for scenes such as this.  Here we have She-Ra and Sweet Bee laying in the hot sun with their legs up and splayed over The Rock's face while Papa Smurf watches.  I'm not sure if that scenario has ever come up in fanfiction, but I wouldn't doubt it.

The Rock's 2002 autobiography is flanked by a collection of Trolls in various states of dress, and a copy of the 1994 Star Trek: The Next Generation novel: Dark Mirror.  There was also a Harry Potter children's book along with some toys from the series, and an Allen Iverson bobblehead.  Toward the back, you can see some Masters Of The Universe toys, including the figures for Fisto, Jitsu and Battle Armor He-Man.  Nearby are two of the horses: Stridor and Night Stalker, and two vehicles: Dragon Walker and Roton.  Pretty nice little collection.

The WWF LJN toys immediately jumped out at me from this stand.  These figures are Bruno Sammartino, Junkyard Dog, George "The Animal" Steele and Brutus Beefcake, and they're from the mid 1980's.  I might have picked up the Bruno if I found it in a box for a dollar, but they were asking ten bucks each.  Maybe it's worth that much for a hardcore collector, but I've already got too many vintage toys as it is.  In fact, everything at this shop was overpriced.  Ten bucks for a used Revenge Of The Sith novel?  $30 for a Tonka truck that looks like it had been run over by a real truck?  $25 for a beat up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles van from 2006?  Get outta here!  I didn't even bother taking a closer look at the Heads Up Baseball Stars packs.  Based on the other prices, they probably had Harold Reynolds priced like he was Babe Ruth.

If there's anything I regret not buying on this trip, it's these.  These "World Champion: The Boxer" action figures were released by a New York company called EToys, which is a division of Etna Products.  They're clearly bootleg toys that were meant to capitalize on the Rocky films, which means they were more than likely released in the early 80's.

They were only a dollar each, and I was going to buy the one on the left that looks like it's supposed to be Rocky Balboa, but I was put off by the fact that the package looked like it had been gnawed on by something.  Even if it was mint, it's probably best that I didn't buy it.  All I would do is take a photo of it for the blog and then stick it in a box where I'd forget about it for the next decade.  I've already got more than enough of that cluttering up the house already.

Straight Outta Hazleton

Joe Maddon
Manager - Chicago Cubs

Vintage Diners and Intoxicated Fruit Art

Chalet
Route 309 - Mountaintop, PA

I love diners - especially when they serve a good breakfast and have a peaceful, 80's vibe like this one.  I love them even more when they randomly have what appears to be a drunken apple on their placemats.

Found In The Floorboards

KCCI News
Des Moines, IA
While renovating a small performing arts center called The Iowa Talent Factory, workers discovered a wallet that was lost in 1944 hiding in the floorboards.  It contained family photos, boy scout cards, and other items carried by the 15 year old boy who lost the wallet 72 years ago.  Incredibly, the theater managed to track down and return the wallet to its owner, an 87 year old man living in nearby Des Moines.

Ninety Percent Of Life Is Just Showing Up

Cádiz
Andalusia, Spain

This is the port city of Cádiz, Spain.  It was founded around 1104 BC and is one of the oldest continually-inhabited cities in the world.  It also seems to be one of the best places in the world to get a civil service job if you don't want to work too hard.

According to an article from The Guardian, engineer Joaquín García was hired by local deputy mayor Jorge Blas Fernández in 1996 to work as a supervisor for Agua de Cadiz (a municipal water company).  García stopped going to work in 2004, but he still earned an annual salary of €37,000 for the next six years.  The water company believed that García worked for the local authorities and was assigned to another project, while the local authorities thought he was being supervised by the water company, so nobody noticed that he was missing.

It wasn't until 2010 that someone noticed that García hadn't been to his office in six years, and it was only discovered because his name was mentioned as a candidate for an award for his many years of service.  As a result, he was recently fined €27,000 by the courts, which is a small fraction of what he earned during his extended absence from the job.

I've worked at places that were disorganized before, and I've gotten away with being lazy at work before, but... wow.  Joaquín García has just raised the bar for slackers around the world.

Mmmm... Taste The Sin

The Jellybean Prayer
Scripture Candy (2016)
These jellybeans are hands down the creepiest thing I've ever found at the grocery store.  The only thing that might make it scarier is if it had a picture of Jim Jones on the label.  Even without his face, it looks like his spirit was channeled by the product development team.

This is far spookier than any Halloween candy I've enjoyed over the years, and not in a good way.  The stuff I used to bring home after a fun night of trick-or-treating had pictures of vampires, witches and skulls, but they were designed to be light-hearted and fun.  There's not an ounce of fun in these jellybeans.  Check out those flavors.  Gee Mom, do you think I could have a handful of Sin and Jesus' Blood before dinner?  And what the hell does clean taste like?  Soap?  Bleach?  I'll let someone else go ahead and find out.

If you think it doesn't get any more bizarre than this, boy howdy, are you in for a surprise when you flip the bag over.

My mother's side of the family is Mormon, and my father's side is Roman Catholic and Protestant.  They're not all strictly religious, but I've had my fair share of exposure to different religious practices.  For example, my maternal grandfather will give a blessing before Thanksgiving dinner.  It's a very pleasant prayer in which he gives thanks for the food we are about to eat, and may it provide us nourishment and keep us healthy.  I'm very happy to say that it doesn't include any references to our black and sinful heart.  I'm also reasonably sure that each food item doesn't have its own prayer on the package, though I'd be interested to learn what might be included in the Purdue Turkey Prayer or the Libby's Pumpkin Prayer.  I'd like to think that the latter would be written by Linus from the Peanuts comics.

As whacked out as this product and its packaging are, at least it's gone after the season is over.  All you've got to do is thank the lord for these jellybeans, which are apparently so tasty that they mean more than words can say.  Then after you eat the candy, you toss away the package and begin making appointments for the therapist you're sure to need after growing up with a family who would give you this candy...

...unless they got you the collectible tin.

You'll find these at K-Mart if you really want them, though you might want to wait until after Easter Sunday when they go on sale.  I have a hunch they'll have plenty of them left over after the season.

Spicy Chicken Mariachi

Jalapeno Chicken Fries
Burger King (2016)
BK is really going all in on the marketing for their Chicken Fries.  I don't know how I feel about a chicken mariachi band member that carries its own cooked flesh in its sombrero.  They're pretty good, but nothing is as tasty as the Chicken Tenders they used to have back in the 80's and 90's.  Those had a pepper breading that made them tastier than any chicken at any fast food restaurant I've ever eaten.

Speaking of Burger King gimmicks from the past, they seem to have brought back two more of my favorites.  The BK Broiler was my favorite menu item when I worked at Burger King as a teenager in the mid 90's.  They brought it back in 2002 as the Chicken Whopper, but it was marinated in some kind of glaze and didn't taste as good.  Now it appears to have been rebranded as the Flame Grilled Chicken Burger.  It's not the most appealing name they could have chosen, but it's less weird than the other blast from the past on the menu.

The Extra Long Buttery Cheeseburger may be the strangest name for a fast food sandwich I've ever seen.  It reminds me of a hybrid of a Whopper with Cheese and the Chopped Beefsteak from the early 80's.  It's served on the same bun as the Specialty Sandwich and International Chicken Sandwich line.

Mizu Sushi

Sushi and Pepper Tuna
Mizu Sushi - Wilkes-Barre, PA
Before the movie yesterday, we stopped for a sushi dinner.  We've gone to Mizu Sushi before for Valentine's Day, and it's always very good.