Stairway to Stardom
September 24, 2008 5:32 PM Subscribe
Staya way do Stah dim - Please...don't....make...it...stop
Apologies if this is old internets...just seeing it for the first time today and was awestruck. A quick search didn't turn up much 'previous'. Happy Autumn!
mentioned...but broken
Apologies if this is old internets...just seeing it for the first time today and was awestruck. A quick search didn't turn up much 'previous'. Happy Autumn!
mentioned...but broken
I'm going to go weep quietly now. I don't think I'll ever be the same again, and not in a good way.
posted by Caduceus at 5:46 PM on September 24, 2008
posted by Caduceus at 5:46 PM on September 24, 2008
Thanks for misdirecting me to the "don't" link, to gaze upon the unfunny horror of "Miss Bosoms".
Or maybe I should hold the sarcasm and genuinely thank you for directing me AWAY from the "make" link?
posted by DU at 5:53 PM on September 24, 2008
Or maybe I should hold the sarcasm and genuinely thank you for directing me AWAY from the "make" link?
posted by DU at 5:53 PM on September 24, 2008
Stairway to Stardom, "a low-rent precursor to American Idol." Yeah, really low rent.
Wondered what happened to the child star, Melissa Ann Ledwon, of your "make" link. On Flickr, still dancing.
posted by nickyskye at 5:57 PM on September 24, 2008 [3 favorites]
Wondered what happened to the child star, Melissa Ann Ledwon, of your "make" link. On Flickr, still dancing.
posted by nickyskye at 5:57 PM on September 24, 2008 [3 favorites]
This is by far the best thing on the entire internets.
posted by degoao at 5:59 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by degoao at 5:59 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
I so want to be cynical and snarky and say: "Always leaving them wanting less..." But I can't. I unabashedly love this. So pure and unfettered by overproduction, ego or hubris. I could, and very well may, end up watching this all night.
What a fantastic time capsule!
posted by tittergrrl at 6:00 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
What a fantastic time capsule!
posted by tittergrrl at 6:00 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
Is there nothing pure enthusiasm cannot accomplish?
posted by kaspen at 6:01 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by kaspen at 6:01 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
OK, I watched as much as I could of "make". I call on the Obama to suspend his campaign until every electron involved in the production, storage and distribution of that video is ground into dust.
posted by DU at 6:02 PM on September 24, 2008
posted by DU at 6:02 PM on September 24, 2008
My Sister just turned me on to this this afternoon and we felt the same tittergirl.
You have to just love what people are made of to put that kind of energy into (admittedly terrible) performance. The heart and commitment transcends the suck and turns it to gold. Can't stop watching them either. But just got a page from National to go do shooty things...so will stop
posted by greenskpr at 6:14 PM on September 24, 2008
You have to just love what people are made of to put that kind of energy into (admittedly terrible) performance. The heart and commitment transcends the suck and turns it to gold. Can't stop watching them either. But just got a page from National to go do shooty things...so will stop
posted by greenskpr at 6:14 PM on September 24, 2008
The performers in painting form. All of them muses.
posted by tittergrrl at 6:33 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by tittergrrl at 6:33 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
Oh, c'mon...the "make" link is just some random kid doing a routine she worked out with her mom. Give her a break.
and yeah, I'd totally do that to my kids, just to have something to laugh at later if they cross me.
posted by davejay at 7:08 PM on September 24, 2008
and yeah, I'd totally do that to my kids, just to have something to laugh at later if they cross me.
posted by davejay at 7:08 PM on September 24, 2008
Holy crap - that's awesome!
I'm having flashbacks to Winnifred Gravely's Dance Studio in Danville, Virginia circa 1979 - a jazz class full of third graders performing in the school's interpretation of the Little Mermaid. Our routine involved dancing to "Funkytown" in orange-fringed jumpsuits. We would have fit in perfectly on this show.
posted by bibliowench at 7:52 PM on September 24, 2008
I'm having flashbacks to Winnifred Gravely's Dance Studio in Danville, Virginia circa 1979 - a jazz class full of third graders performing in the school's interpretation of the Little Mermaid. Our routine involved dancing to "Funkytown" in orange-fringed jumpsuits. We would have fit in perfectly on this show.
posted by bibliowench at 7:52 PM on September 24, 2008
This one reminds me so much of Napoleon Dynomite's dance.
posted by wabashbdw at 7:59 PM on September 24, 2008
posted by wabashbdw at 7:59 PM on September 24, 2008
In the "please" link, there's the first useful YouTube comment ever: it's from the keyboard player, saying they paid $60 to perform on the show.
posted by milkrate at 8:13 PM on September 24, 2008
posted by milkrate at 8:13 PM on September 24, 2008
It's amazing how it's all so watchable.
Just. Wow.
I suppose this is what Tim and Eric having been reaching for these last couple years.
posted by malphigian at 8:18 PM on September 24, 2008
Just. Wow.
I suppose this is what Tim and Eric having been reaching for these last couple years.
posted by malphigian at 8:18 PM on September 24, 2008
Did yo mama ever call you a Ugly Gorilla?
You're a Crackhead!
posted by squalor at 9:05 PM on September 24, 2008
You're a Crackhead!
posted by squalor at 9:05 PM on September 24, 2008
You know, it's strange, but seeing videos like these are for me completely sublime. There's a struggle here, that I find completely romantic in a way. On one side each of the egos here are completely out of sync with talent, but that's fascinating, because each have a complete and utter faith in themselves. They're all screaming: "I'm here, this is me, this is what I have to offer, and I believe in it."
And that's kind of amazing. Not to mention a tad depressing.
N.B. I felt the same way about the star wars kid, and was kinda sad when that went so awry.
posted by Jeff_Larson at 9:40 PM on September 24, 2008
And that's kind of amazing. Not to mention a tad depressing.
N.B. I felt the same way about the star wars kid, and was kinda sad when that went so awry.
posted by Jeff_Larson at 9:40 PM on September 24, 2008
crap, omit that comma after here.
posted by Jeff_Larson at 9:43 PM on September 24, 2008
posted by Jeff_Larson at 9:43 PM on September 24, 2008
That girl pretending to play the piano? I totally did that all the time when I was her age, rockin' out to classics, pretending to play instruments and dancing like a crazy idiot. If I'd had the opportunity I totally would've put on a flashy outfit and rocked out in front of the camera.
And as soon as youtube came around, I would've regretted it for sure.
THe thing is, in the moment of these performances these people had to be really experiencing a surge of pleasure. 20 years onwards we can look back at these and laugh, but to be fair even relatively serious music videos from that era are similarly laughable in many ways.
posted by Deathalicious at 10:13 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
And as soon as youtube came around, I would've regretted it for sure.
THe thing is, in the moment of these performances these people had to be really experiencing a surge of pleasure. 20 years onwards we can look back at these and laugh, but to be fair even relatively serious music videos from that era are similarly laughable in many ways.
posted by Deathalicious at 10:13 PM on September 24, 2008 [1 favorite]
I agree with those who mourn the passing of local programming that brought us these sorts of gems instead of the endless infomercials on colon cleansing which are no where nearly as entertaining nor as unpredictable. There was a NYC area low-fi talk show host--was it Joe Pine, or am I confusing him with someone else? I seem to remember that Billy Crystal had an SNL character based on the NY local host, and I caught the original on cable in NY in the mid 80s. And Detroit had Bill Kennedy. Every city seemed to have these glorious train-wrecks.
In the age of cable, there were still a few of them produced to fill air time before the Thrill of Shrill Shill (Billy May and his ilk, Carlton Sheets & his clones, Kevin McMahon--I think that's the right name). Here in SE Michigan I remember a Soul-Train wannabe that originated from Oakland. The two hosts sat at a cafeteria-style table with mics and a two camera set-up: one on them and one on the stage where everyone who performed seemed to want to be MC Hammer or Diana Ross, or both. It was like Midnight at the Apollo only at 4 in the afternoon in an abandoned school cafeteria on a $20 production budget.
These types of shows are now missing from the landscape by and large (satellite doesn't have Cable Access which is where these shows do still survive somehow) and I miss them.
posted by beelzbubba at 4:47 AM on September 25, 2008
In the age of cable, there were still a few of them produced to fill air time before the Thrill of Shrill Shill (Billy May and his ilk, Carlton Sheets & his clones, Kevin McMahon--I think that's the right name). Here in SE Michigan I remember a Soul-Train wannabe that originated from Oakland. The two hosts sat at a cafeteria-style table with mics and a two camera set-up: one on them and one on the stage where everyone who performed seemed to want to be MC Hammer or Diana Ross, or both. It was like Midnight at the Apollo only at 4 in the afternoon in an abandoned school cafeteria on a $20 production budget.
These types of shows are now missing from the landscape by and large (satellite doesn't have Cable Access which is where these shows do still survive somehow) and I miss them.
posted by beelzbubba at 4:47 AM on September 25, 2008
beelzbubba, are you remembering The Scene? We watched that through highschool. I totally remember 'Bill Kennedy at the Movies' as a kid, but preferred Kimba when I got home from school. And of course...Sir Graves Ghastly and The Ghoul. good times
posted by greenskpr at 1:17 PM on September 25, 2008
posted by greenskpr at 1:17 PM on September 25, 2008
The Scene! I forgot about The Scene! No, that one has sterling production values compared to the one I'm talking about. It was from Oakland, CA, not Oakland County, MI. We moved here in 1979, so our kids probably saw The Scene during formative years, before the bizarre channel swap between CBS on Channel 2 and GPR way up on the UHF dial at 62. That effectively ended any of that Don Cornelius style programming on 62 when it became the CBS affiliate.
The one I'm talking about, seriously, had no sets to speak of. Two older guys, probably former radio DJs or independent record producers, literally in a high school auditorium--maybe on the weekend or something, because there seemed to be few people around other than them and whoever was on stage.
I grew up in Chicago where we had a knock-off of the Ghoul, called Svengoolie. I guess, more precisely, a knock-off of Cleveland's Ghoulardie, who was replaced by the Ghoul. But friends of mine in Hamtramck were huge Ghoul fans & even got Froggy & him to appear at their bar a few times in the late 80s early 90s. "Plunk your magic twanger, froggy!"
posted by beelzbubba at 3:49 PM on September 25, 2008
The one I'm talking about, seriously, had no sets to speak of. Two older guys, probably former radio DJs or independent record producers, literally in a high school auditorium--maybe on the weekend or something, because there seemed to be few people around other than them and whoever was on stage.
I grew up in Chicago where we had a knock-off of the Ghoul, called Svengoolie. I guess, more precisely, a knock-off of Cleveland's Ghoulardie, who was replaced by the Ghoul. But friends of mine in Hamtramck were huge Ghoul fans & even got Froggy & him to appear at their bar a few times in the late 80s early 90s. "Plunk your magic twanger, froggy!"
posted by beelzbubba at 3:49 PM on September 25, 2008
Apologies if this is old internets
These are so old they are pre-Internets. A friend has a whole collection of stairway to stardom tapes.
posted by mrgrimm at 6:15 PM on September 25, 2008
These are so old they are pre-Internets. A friend has a whole collection of stairway to stardom tapes.
posted by mrgrimm at 6:15 PM on September 25, 2008
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