Carl Gardner of The Coasters Passes On

Carl Gardner, the tenor who was the original lead singer of The Coasters, passed on 12 June 2011 at the age 83. The cause was congestive heart failure.

Carl Gardner was born in Tyler, Texas on 29 April 1928. By the early 1950's he was making a living by singing at parties. He left Texas for California to pursue a career in music. In 1954 he was hired as a replacement for a singer in The Robins and remained with the group even after that singer, who had been in jail, returned. The Robins would not last beyond 1955. They were signed to Spark Records, founded by legendary song writing team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. When The Robins' single "Smoky Joe's Cafe" proved to be a hit, Leiber and Stoller were offered a package deal from Atlantic Records, whereby they would produce records for The Robins. Of The Robins, however, only Carl Gardner and Bobby Nunn were willing to move to Atlantic. As a result, The Coasters were formed with Billy Guy, Leon Hughes, and guitarist Adolph Jacobs joining Messrs. Gardner and Nunn.

The Coasters would have a hit with their first single written by Leiber and Stoller, "Down in Mexico," released in 1956. Their next single "Young Blood"/"Searchin'" would cross over from the R&B charts to become a hit on the pop charts as well. The Coasters would have several hits in the next several years, including "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown," "Along Came Jones," and "Poison Ivy." Unfortunately, the Sixties would not be kind to The Coasters, as the early part of the decade saw them getting fewer and fewer hits. Their last major hit would be "Little Egypt" in 1961. By 1967 The Coasters would disband. They would return in 1968 with a new line up and have remained every since, always with Carl Gardner as lead vocalist.

Here I must point out that Carl Gardner was not simply the lead vocalist and leader of an R&B and doo wop group. He was the leader of the R & B and doo wop group. In my humble opinion, The Coasters were the greatest doo wop of them all, performing songs that were at once humorous and meaningful. "Along Came Jones" was a commentary on the state of television in the late Fifties. "Poison Ivy" was a not so veiled reference to sexually transmitted diseases. Of course, these songs would not have been hits without the vocal talents of The Coasters. Indeed, Carl  Gardner was arguably the best lead vocalist of any doo wop group, a tenor with an incredible range. If Carl Gardner and The Coasters' career lasted over half a century, it is because Mr. Gardner was an incredibly talented singer.

Facebook F***s Up

Believe it or not, I am angry enough right now that I felt tempted not to use asterisks in this post's title. The simple fact is that last night something happened that not only reduces my enjoyment of Facebook, but makes the site very nearly useless. Worse yet, the problem has not yet been corrected. To say I am unhappy with a site with which I have often been unhappy is an understatement.

Before you can understand why I am angry, I suppose I should explain a bit about how Facebook works. The home page of Facebook consists of a news feed, basically a feed of posts from one's friends. One can use various filters on his or her news feed to view certain posts. The basic news feed consists pretty much of what Facebook believes to be the most popular posts, but one can filter the news feed so one sees the most recent posts from newest to oldest or, if one has lists of various friends set up, one can filter the news feed so he or she sees posts from certain friends. Last night my Most Recent filter and every other filter disappeared from my news feed. Worse yet, my news feed is, from my perspective, a chaotic mess. The posts are not in any sort of chronological order. Worse yet, I might see posts from people with whom I rarely associate, but not those from people with whom I associate regularly. Concluding it was a bug, I messaged Facebook immediately.

Anyhow, I did a bit of research today and it seems that the problem of my missing news feed filters could be related to a new feature which, for whatever reason, Facebook has chosen to test on me. The feature is called "Happening Now" and, in theory, is supposed to work like a Twitter feed in updating posts by the minute. It rests in the upper right hand corner of the page, where once there were adverts. Now the problem with "Happening Now" is that it is entirely unnecessary. The Most Recent filter on the news feed does the exact same thing, with the advantage of using the whole page and thus being easier to see. Worse yet, the "Now Happening" feature doesn't work properly--it does not show posts in chronological order as Twitter does. Whether it was a glitch in installing the "Happening Now" feature on my page that robbed me of my news feed filters or the news feed filters were meant to be removed does not matter. It was an uneven trade. The "Happening Now" feature is useless to me. My news feed filters were what I relied upon to make sense of the many posts from my friends on Facebook.

In the below screen shots you can see what I mean. Below is my Facebook homepage with my news feed as it was and should still be. You'll notice filtered through my Close Friends list (the personal details are blurred for privacy reasons). You'll notice that across from the words news feed are the words Top News and Close Friends (it says that because the news feed is being filtered through my "Close Friends" list). This is where the filters are. I could click on Close Friends and a drop down menu would appear, which could take me to Most Recent (posts from all my friends) to yet other filters.  The pictures of people (blurred though they are)  are the friends on my "Close Friends" list and  it is only their posts who would show in my news feed with that filter on.

Below is a screenshot of my home page as it is now. You will notice that where on the other screenshot it said "Close Friends," meaning the filter for the "Close Friends" list was on, there is absolutely nothing. Not Most Recent. Not Pages or Games. Nothing. That's right, there are no filters at all. If I had not had to blur the posts for privacy reasons, you could also see they are not in chronological order.

Sadly, the problem has not been corrected well over twenty four hours later. Worse yet, I fear it will not be given the concern Facebook shows for its users. Whether this is a glitch which has made my news feed filters disappear or whether Facebook intends to do away with the news feed filters, my Facebook account has been rendered almost useless in that I cannot sort through the posts with any inefficiency. The fact is that most Facebook users have the need to filter the posts on their news feed. Only those with very few friends (satm under 100) would not have to. I have around 450 friends on Facebook and I know others who have far, far more. If Facebook intends to replace the filters with this useless "Happening Now" feature (a possibility given their past decisions--can we say "PUT THE STATUS BACK AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE!!!!"), then I rather suspect that a year from now we will be speaking of Facebook the same way we do MySpace now. Quite simply, I believe this time Facebook has really f***ed up.

Cinematographer Gunnar Fischer Passes

Gunnar Fischer, a cinematographer who worked with Ingmar Bergman, passed at the age of 100 on 11 June 2011.

Gunnar Fischer was born on 18 November 1910 in Ljungby, Sweden. He studied painting in Copenhagen, Denmark, then joined the Swedish Navy where he served as a cook. It was an actress he met who helped him get into Filmstaden in 1935. It was there he worked on his first film, Smålänningar (1935) as an assistant cameraman. He first worked as a cinematographer on Bara en trumpetare (1938).  It was in 1943 that he began working regularly as a cinematographer, starting with the film Natt i Hamn (Night in the Harbour). Over the next few years he would work on such films as Blåjackor (Sailors 1945), Tappa inte sugen (Don't Give Up 1947), and Krigsmans erinran (Soldier's Reminder 1948).

It was in 1946 that Gunnar Fischer worked with Ingmar Bergman, collaborating with him on the experimental film "Crisis." The two would work together again on the feature film Hamnstad (Harbour City, Port of Call 1948). Over the years Mr. Fischer would work on some of Mr. Bergman's greatest films: Törst (Thirst 1949),  Sommarlek (Summer Interlude 1951), Sommarnattens leende (Smiles of a Summer Night 1955), Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal 1957),  Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries 1957), Ansiktet (The Magician 1958), and Djävulens öga (The Devil's Eye 1960).

In 1970 Gunnar Fischer would leave Filmstaden and Svensk Filmindustri to go to work for Svensk Television. He worked on such television projects as Din stund på jorden (1973) and Raskens (1976). Mr. Fischer also wrote and illustrated children's books. 


There can be no doubt that Gunnar Fischer was a great cinematographer. He was particularly skilled when it came to black and white. Indeed, he had a particular gift for deep focus, bringing the characters to the fore while keeping the background sharp. The technique is obvious on what, in my opinion, is Mr. Bergman and his greatest film, The Seventh Seal, where Mr. Fischer's cinematography gave the film a nearly apocalyptic feel. Mr. Bergman would make great films without Mr. Fischer, but none would look nearly as good.

Requiem for a Friend

I hope you will forgive me a post of a more personal nature, although it does touch upon pop culture. This morning my best friend Brian passed on. It was about three weeks ago that Brian's wife found him unconscious on the floor. When he awakened at hospital he was suffering from dementia. He had been in various hospitals and a nursing home ever since. This past Friday had given us some hope, as he had recovered from the dementia. Unfortunately this morning he was not responding and so he was rushed to hospital. He died shortly thereafter.

I had met Brian while still at university through the group with which we played Dungeons and Dragons. We shared an interest in comic books, movies, and television. In fact, Brian's knowledge of pop culture matched my own, although we had our specialities. Brian knew more about classic films and Silver Age comic books than I did. I knew more about classic television and Golden Age comic books than he did. In many respects we complimented each other well.

It was with Brian I usually watched movies. This was not a simple case of two friends going to the movies, as we would also seek out classic films on television or rent them from 9th Street Video in Columbia, a store with a vast array of classic films on VHS and later DVD. Together we watched for the first time such films as The Crowd (1928), Force of Evil (1948), La Dolce Vita (1948), and too many others to name.  The fact is that the majority of classic films I have seen, I may well have seen with Brian.

Indeed, Brian and I could spend hours talking about classic films, television shows, and so on. It was through Brian that I got hooked on The Wire. It was through me that Brian that I got hooked on Mad Men. I introduced Brian to the Doc Savage novels. He introduced me to the "Harry Potter" series. As two pop culture addicts sharing TV shows, movies, and books was a means of sharing ourselves. It was very rare that we disagreed on a particular movie or TV show, although there were a few instances. Brian loved Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), a movie I detest to this day.

Of course, Brian differed from me in some ways. While I am a total technophile, Brian had trouble programming his own VCR. In fact, my brother or I had to set up most of the VCRs, DVD players, and even computers he owned. I was rather surprised that he figured out how to use his DVR all by himself. He never had a web site or blog, much less a MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter account.

Brian was a very creative individual. In fact, he had written a screenplay which he had never bothered to market. Together we had talked about ideas for various television shows and movies. One idea for a television show we even had about two seasons' worth of episodes outlined. I rather suspect if Brian had been in the position to do so, he could have been a success in the entertainment industry.

Brian was not simply a fellow pop culture expert, however, as he was also a good friend. If I did not have money to go to a movie he would pay my way in, just as I would pay his way in if he did not have money. Neither of us ever kept particularly good track of who owed whom. He was always there if someone close to me died or if a relationship had just ended or I had lost a job. I could always rely on Brian for support.

Today I feel as if I have lost a brother, even though Brian and I were not related by blood at all. In fact, the only reason I am even able to write this is because I have already spent much of the day crying. I know that I will shed more tears in the days to come. I will always miss Brian and I will never forget him.

Viral Videos

In the past two or three days you may have seen what is supposed to be the bio video of a woman named Debbie for the dating site eHarmony. Debbie has an MBA from Villanova and she loves cats. She really loves cats. The video which spread rapidly through the various networking sites is actually a spoof. Indeed, eHarmony does not even use bio videos. Regardless, the video is an example of a phenomenon that has existed for some time: the viral video.

A viral video is any video spread through video sharing sites (such as YouTube), social networking sites, email, and so on that becomes so popular it is ubiquitous on the internet. They are essentially the internet video equivalent of the rumours and folk tales that have been spread from person to person from the beginning of mankind. As such it should not be surprising that viral videos existed even before the advent of such video sharing sites as YouTube and DailyMotion. In fact, the earliest viral videos arrived on the scene not long after the creation of the World Wide Web. Those of you have been on the Web from its early days may remember the obnoxious and nearly inescapable"Dancing Baby" video that arrived on the scene in 1996. "The Dancing Baby" became so inescapable that it appeared multiple times on the TV show Ally McBeal and was parodied on the shows Millennium, Celebrity Deathmatch, and The Simpsons.

Another well known viral video that pre-dates video sharing sites such as YouTube was known as "The Star Wars Kid." In 2002 a Canadian teenager made a video tape of himself pretending to be a Jedi, swinging a golf ball retriever as if it was a light sabre. Unfortunately a classmate discovered the video, then showed it to a friend who made a computer file from the video tape. The video was distributed amongst students at the teenager's high school, and then around 14 April 2003 it was uploaded to the World Wide Web. From there it took off, until finally a version existed complete with the Star Wars theme and the sound effects of a light sabre.

Of course, the spread of viral videos would be helped immensely by two phenomena. The first was changes in the means through which people access the internet, as more and more people around the world began accessing the internet through cable connections rather than the much slower dial up connections. Those of you, like me, who have been on the internet since the early days can probably remember trying to watch videos on dial up--often the video would take longer to buffer than the length of the actual video itself. This problem was solved with cable connections, in which even movie length videos would run almost immediately, with little to no buffering.

The second phenomenon was the advent of the video sharing site. Video sharing sites had actually existed since 1998, when the very first, ShareYourWorld.Com, was launched. ShareYourWorld.Com would pretty much crash and burn, but it would pave the way for other video sharing sites. MetaCafe was founded in 2002. YouTube and Dailymotion were founded in 2005. It was YouTube that would prove to be the most successful and that would lead the way in the use of video on the internet. It also made much easier than ever before for videos to go viral. Of course, much of the reason that MetaCafe, YouTube, and Dailymotion succeeded where ShareYourWorld.Com failed was, quite simply, the fact that in 1998 most people were still using dial-up to access the internet. By the mid-Naughts, many more people were using cable connections to access the net.

This has led to an explosion in viral videos, to the point that it seems as if there is at least one a week, usually many more. It has also led to a whole new phenomenon--individuals intentionally creating videos meant to go viral. A perfect example of this could be the aforementioned spoof of bio videos for dating sites mentioned above. I rather suspect that whoever created the video fully intended it to go viral. Another example was created by Indigo Productions as a parody of yet another viral video. "The JK Wedding Entrance Dance" featured a wedding party, from groomsmen to bridesmaids to the bride and groom themselves, dancing down the aisle. The video went viral days after it was uploaded to YouTube. Indigo Productions, a video production company located in New York City, created its own parody of "The JK Wedding Entrance Dance" with "The JK Divorce Entrance Dance." Of course, this points to another phenomenon that had existed at least since "The Dancing Baby:" parodies of viral videos.

Of course, as might be expected, viral videos have created internet celebrities. Perhaps no better example of this is Justin Bieber, whose career began simply because of viral videos. Starting in 2007, his mother uploaded videos of his various performances to the internet. This in turn led to Bieber being discovered by a record executive who signed him. The rest, as they say, is history. An even earlier example of a celebrity created by viral video, although one whose fame was a bit more fleeting, was Gary Brolsma. In 2004, even before YouTube was founded, Mr. Brolsma uploaded a video of himself, taken by webcam, lip syncing "Dragostea din tei" by O-Zone. For a time it seemed as if Mr. Brolsma was ever present, not only on the Web, but on television as well. And while he still makes videos, he is no longer seen as often as he once was.

Viral videos are not only capable of creating celebrities, but they can also created problems as well. In the instance of the "Star Wars Kid," the video was uploaded without his permission. As a result he suffered teasing and bullying not only from his schoolmates, but even the public at large. This resulted in a lawsuit against those who had uploaded the video. Oddly enough, his parents only sued because of the distress caused by the posting of the video. They did not sue because of copyright infringement, which they certainly would seem to have had a right to do so. After all, their son made the video and it was posted without his permission.

Regardless, there have been other instances where the owners of a particular material have insisted on enforcing their rights. Many viral videos contain content that is not original and owned by someone else, whether it is a song or footage from a film. In such instances it is not unusual for the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights when a viral video uses their material. A perfect example of these are the ever popular "Hitler Reacts to..." videos, in which Hitler reacts to such incidents as Michael Jackson's death, the break up of Oasis, and  so on. The original footage was from the film Der Untertang, produced by Constatin Films, and portrayed Hitler reacting to news that Germany cannot win World War II. In April 2010 the studio began the rather hopeless task of getting every "Hitler Reacts to...." video pulled off the internet.


As to why videos go viral, that may be a difficult question to answer. If viral videos are considered the equivalent of rumours, then perhaps we could apply Robert Knapp's theories regarding rumours from his study "A Psychology of Rumour." Knapp theorised that rumours "provide 'information' about a 'person, happening, or condition' and that "they express and gratify 'the emotional needs of the community.'" Now I am not sure how much information viral videos actually convey, but they would seem to "express and gratify the emotional needs of the community" in some way. How they do this perhaps varies from video to video, although all of them probably satisfy some need for entertainment on the part of society.

Of course, just how entertaining many of these viral videos are is questionable. I personally found "The Dancing Baby" annoying more than entertaining. And while the aforementioned "bio video for a dating site spoof" starts out funny, it actually slides into being downright disturbing as the woman continues talking about cats. I also found "The JK Wedding Entrance Dance" irritating, although I thought its parody, "The JK Divorce Entrance Dance" to be hilarious. Anyway, my point is that I really do not know how many of these videos ever went viral as they simply do not seem to be very entertaining to me. I can only suppose I am atypical of the average internet user.

At any rate, viral videos existed almost from the beginning of the World Wide Web, well before YouTube. There can be little doubt that they will continue to proliferate in the coming years. In fact, I rather suspect they will become more and more common, as more individuals access the internet through cable and devices capable of recording video (cell phones, digital cameras, et. al.) before more and more commonplace.

"Only Make Believe" by The Misfits

It is a little known fact that Conway Twitty was originally a rock 'n' roll singer. Indeed, he actually had some success in the genre, namely with a song he and Jack Nance wrote entitled "It's Only Make Believe." Released in 1958, the song was a huge hit, going to #1 not only in the United States, but in the United Kingdom and Canada as well. If ever there was an instant classic, this was it. Despite such success, Conway Twitty switched to the country genre, making songs that were often as bad as "It's Only Make Believe" was good.

Fast forward forty five years and horror punk band The Misfits are recording a new album. Entitled Project 1950, it is filled with covers of Fifties songs, including "This Magic Moment," You Belong to Me," and, under the title "Only Make Believe," "It's Only Make Believe." Personally, I think The Misfits did a good job with the song. Give it a listen yourself.

TV Producer Leonard Stern Passes On

Leonard Stern, who created the cult classic TV show He & She, wrote for such classic shows as The Honeymooners and  Get Smart, and co-created Mad Libs, passed on 7 June 2011 at the age of 88.

Leonard Stern was born in Manhattan on 23 December 1922. He attended New York University.  He began his career submitting jokes to Milton Berle while still in college. It was while he was writing for Dinah Shore that he was noticed by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. He made some uncredited writing contributions to their film Africa Screams (1949) and wrote Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950). He wrote on such films as Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950), The Milkman (1951), Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952), Lost in Alaska (1952),  and Three for the Show (1955).

Mr. Stern's career would be in television, however, as he one of the writers on the legendary show The Jackie Gleason Show.  He would also write for such legendary shows as The Honeymooners and The Phil Silvers Show (AKA Sgt. Bilko).  In 1961 he created the first of many shows, on which he also served as a writer and producer, I'm Dickens, He's Fenster. The series lasted only one season, but it hardly hampered his career. In 1965 Leonard Stern was brought on as a producer on a spy parody created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry called Get Smart. He also wrote many episodes of the show which would become not only a hit, but a classic. Mr. Stern was particularly active in the mid-Sixties, creating, producing, and writing for The Hero; Run, Buddy, Run; and He & She. None of them proved to be hits, although He & She was not only critically acclaimed, but won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy. It has since been regarded as one of the most brilliant comedies ever to be cancelled after only one season.


Leonard Stern would go onto create and produce The Governor and J. J., which lasted only a season, and then McMillan & Wife, one of the rotating segments of The NBC Mystery Movie umbrellas series. McMillan & Wife proved rather successful, running several seasons. He also produced The Snoop Sisters, Homes and Yoyo, and the television series version of Operation Petticoat. He also wrote the screenplays for the movies Just You and Me, Kid (1979) and The Nude Bomb (1980), a film loosely based on the series Get Smart. He produced and created the series Partners in Crime. He would serve as a creative consultant for the shows Sledge Hammer, The Nutt House, and the 1995 revival of Get Smart.

In addition to writing for television, Leonard Stern co-created the game Mad Libs with Roger Price. In 1953 while working on a script for The Jackie Gleason Show, Mr. Stern asked Mr. Price for an adjective to complete a sentence. Mr. Price's rather funny responses resulted in the creation of Mad Libs, the name suggested by someone at a cocktail party. The game, in which participants fill in the blanks in a sentence or even a story,  has since sold over 200 million copies. In fact, in 1963 Messrs. Price and Stern joined with a Hollywood publicist to form Price-Stern-Sloan Publishers Inc., with the primary purpose of publishing Mad Libs. The company was bought by the Penguin Group in 1993.

Leonard Stern would be remembered for his creation of Mad Libs alone, but he also wrote several hours of classic television. Indeed, while Mel Brooks and Buck Henry may have created Get Smart, it was arguably Leonard Stern who shaped the show into the one we know and love. Mr. Stern was possessed of  a keen mind with a gift for both parody and sophisticated humour. It is for this reason that He & She, although it only lasted a season, is remembered to this day. Few writers in television can claim to have worked on as many great shows as Mr. Stern did. That he did so is proof of his sheer talent.