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About six months ago, I was introduced to an interesting saying: “Every generation thinks it invented sex, music and the stock market.” I can’t recall who said the quote, but I thought of it recently when I learned something about the history of music videos.

Back when MTV first came into existence in 1981, everyone marveled at the idea of the music video. It was new, different, dare I say, revolutionary. The first video played was a song called “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. Music videos, it seemed, were the wave of the future.

As I got older, I learned that the idea of music videos was really not as brand spanking new in 1981 when MTV debuted as one would think. In fact, I eventually learned that the Beatles and other artists dabbled in music “videos” back in the ’60s and these “videos” were broadcast on television. I seem to recall reading that at least one of the vids the Beatles did, if not all of them, aired on the Ed Sullivan show.

Of course, the Beatles also did a few full length movies in which, if you take the musical numbers from the films, you have several more music videos.

However, the Beatles were not the first music group to be featured in movies. Neither was Elvis. Back in the 1930’s and 40’s, any Big Band that was worth anything was put into a movie and again, taking just the musical performances from the films, you’d have some music videos.

Well then I learned something a couple days ago. Music videos existed in probably their earliest form, way back in the ’40s. Back then they were called Soundiesand you could view them in a special film jukebox for about a nickel. Many of these Soundies survived and have been collected together and released on DVD sets.

I didn’t discover this until I was perusing through YouTube searching for any new Glenn Miller related stuff. It would’ve been neat if Glenn Miller had done a couple of these (he did do two films but still). However, I did find this clip featuring the Modernaires, the back up singers Miller had with his civilian band, from 1944.

Goodman and Kyser and Miller
Help to make things bright.
Mixin’ hot licks with vanilla
Jukebox Saturday Night!

Jukebox Saturday Night

Unfortunately, it seems like MTV doesn’t play much music videos anymore. Despite the Buggles proclamation, I guess video didn’t quite kill the radio star.

Three years ago this month, I wrote a blog entry about my discontent with the Official Website of Glenn Miller. The site formerly was hosted at glennmillerstore.com and sometime after 2006 went off the web for good. Well, I did a Google search today and found it’s now hosted at glennmiller.com. For the longest time, glennmiller.com never came up as even being a website and I would guess was being squatted on by somebody else.  Great to see the domain name part of the official stable and see the site back but they still haven’t updated it.

Okay, folks in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I haven’t updated Serenade in Blue since 2008. But at least it’s 2008! The last news item on the OFFICIAL GM site is from 2004.

And guess what? They still have Tommy Dorsey in the desktop wallpaper section. But there’s good news! Their feedback/comment page is back so I left a note about the faux pas. I will probably continue to complain about this site until they at least fix that.

About the only thing they did update was they did add a nice lil’ iTunes button to the front page. Click on it and you’ll be taken to the iTunes Store where you can purchase tons of GM tunes.

Forbes.com recently took the time to probe the question that burns in all of our minds. What does the car you drive say about who you are? (”What Your Car Says About You.” Oct 9th). Using vastly complex processes and highly complicated mathematical models (aka surveys and statistics) they’ve determined, for example, that by owning a Chevy you’re telling the world that you don’t use the Internet.

I think Brian might have something to say about that.

Others vehicle makes in the list include Bentley, Lexus, Honda, Ford, ect… Each particular brand says whether you’re rich, married, old, young, college educated and Internet savvy.

Of course, Pontiac was not listed which, for myself, must just mean I’m obsolete.

Some may wonder why Forbes magazine would run such a list. After all, Forbes is more geared toward financial and business news, not automotive trends and car styling. The answer is obvious. They’re doing a service for their financial and business minded readers. If you read Forbes magazine in order to look financially smart and successful then you MUST drive the car that conveys this message!

Of course, how many of us, while driving day to day, actually stop and think “Oooo…that person is driving a Ford. I bet they don’t have a college degree or use the Internet!”

Unless you happen to not be a fan of Fords in which case, you probably think worse of the person driving it.

By the way, for you Chevy drivers out there… Internet? You don’t need no stinkin’ Internet.

Recently, I tried to open an online bank account at iGoBanking.com. I went through their application process, gave them every bit of information they could possibly want short of my bra size and was good to go once I could verify my address with them. To do so, I had to mail one of three supporting documents to them: A copy of an electric/gas bill, a copy of a bank statement showing my address or a copy of a land line telephone bill (not a cell phone bill).

Well I couldn’t provide the utility or the phone bill because neither is in my name. My bank statement is an electronic statement and I wondered if they would accept this but it was all I had.  I downloaded the estatement anyway, printed it and mailed it off.

I got an email that it wasn’t acceptable as it did not show my bank’s name or logo on it. (Did I mention it’s an estatement? My bank simply sends out the generic statement that would be printed on statement paper if it were mailed, the statement paper of which has the damn logo on it).

So I called iGoBanking and explained that my statement is an estatement and that I do not currently get statements in the mail. Could I send them an older statement? I was told I could if it was less than 90 days old. My last paper statement was over six months ago.

The woman on the phone, however, asked me to forward my estatment to her to look at, which I did. Half an hour later, I received an email saying my application was declined.

By the way, I was trying to open a CD. I was trying to give THEM money! I could maybe understand if this were a loan application, but where they obviously verified my credit report, I don’t understand what the big deal was. My credit report shows I’ve lived at my current address for a very, very long time.

Ah well, their loss. I have no qualms about taking my business elsewhere, but I can’t believe I’m the only person in this particular situation, where utilities are not in my name and I do a lot of banking online and get a generic estatement. I tried iGoBanking originally because at the time of this writing, they have the highest CD rate in the land. If iGoBanking doesn’t want deposits from customers, then they simply should just drop their rates, not make folks go through loops and then be turned down for something that is really rather insignificant to the deposit application.

I should also note that I’ve opened online accounts, CDs and what have you, through other online financial institutions and never had this issue before.  So it looks like iNoGoBanking with iGoBanking.com!

A sampling of my recent YouTube viewing…

First, some drama. The Los Angeles wildfires of ‘09.

I think these two vids speak for themselves. Both are time lapse photography of the LA fires, spanning several hours on August 29, 2009. The first one has music, the second does not nor does it need it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncSosDIKbb0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqxjO5nr8k&NR=1

Although there’s no music on the second one, I couldn’t help but have The Door’s “LA Woman” running through my head.

I see your hair is burning
Hills are filled with fire…

Next, some comedy.  The cast of Hogan’s Heroes on Hollywood Palace with Bing Crosby in 1965. (It’s a Christmas themed show, thus the Christmas music at the beginning of it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WexLDsdOGwY

Later in the program, the cast does come back to sing some carols. I know it’s only September but…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWxgo6WhABg&feature=related

Check out the commercial for the Sylvania Bluedot Flash Cube for your flash cube camera. How far we’ve come indeed since 1965. Isn’t it wild?