Thor and Hostess meet the Ricochet Monster

It's Saturday morning and time for the adventures of Hostess and Thor as they team up to fight the Ricochet Monster.

Styx with Mr. Roboto

In the 1980's when music videos were at the height of their popularity preformers like Styx, David Bowie, Michael Jackson etc. made extra long videos that did very well at getting their music and message across. While the video for Mr. Roboto seems pretty good to me and there seems to be a good science fiction tale that seems slowly to becoming science fact. The tune is pretty good and Dennis DeYoung sings well as always. However, listen to the lyrics. Is it any wonder why this is viewed as the groups swan song? I do agree with what they say near the end. Too much technology. Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize.

Let's Cruise with Star Trek

According to a report on the site of Eddy Newell Tom Cruise will have a cameo part in the new Star Trek film as Capt. Christopher Pike. I hope not but if you want to read the report you can click here.

Nesmith Interview

Here as a couple of interviews on Rhino and Monkees.com of a three part series.
http://rhino.edgeboss.net/download/rhino/monkees/nesmithinterviewpart1of3.mp3
http://rhino.edgeboss.net/download/rhino/monkees/nesmithinterviewpart2of3.mp3
Also if you click on http://www.videoranch.com/vr3dfiles/vr3d980.exe you can download the vr3d browser and log on as a visitor.

Stan Lee's Soapbox and Luke Cage and Marvel on the move?

Here is perhaps the first time I saw Marvel advertise for Luke Cage, Hero for Hire. In one of his rare moments Stan says very little and lets the picture speak mostly for itself. At the bottom you see one of their slogans from the 1970's Mighty Marve is on the move again. What does that mean? I never did know. Where there offices moving across town or something?

Gary Frohn & comments

I have noticed that since I posted about Gary that some have come to this site searching about information on him. Some have tried to leave comments but didn't. If you want to leave a comment please do so. However, if you just want it private then you can e-mail me. It would be nice to hear from someone from high school. Though I am sad for the reason why.

Rest in Peace Gary Frohn

A moment of reality and sadness to interject the lighthearted fun on this site. An old member of my high school class I recently found out died on Friday. Gary and I were not what I would call close friends. He did live up the street from me and from time to time he and I along with other friends from the neighborhood would play basketball. For some reason the only memory I have of those games with Gary was both of us going up for a rebound together. Neither one of us got it as Gary said "ouch" and it surprised me. Later he told me why when he said "Get your finger nails cut or something. You scratched me there." I never thought that was funny till just now. It is odd what things will make you smile in moments of sadness.

Gary was an athlete and an honor student in high school at Lloyd Memorial High. He was a star player on the tennis team and captain in his senior year. He was on the freshman Basketball team, a member of student council and the National Honor Society. In his senior year he was part of the senior play and a member of the Homecoming Court. Recently I heard that Gary didn't live too far from here with his wife and kids. Perhaps I could have drove over to see him some time had I known he was still so close. Visitation is at Stith Funeral in Florence,Ky this Tuesday starting at 4pm. If you read this blog and knew Gary you can call Stith to get the exact times. I plan to stop by after work to pay my last respects to my old high school mate.

Hostess and Captain America in When It Rains It Pours

Another Saturday morning and here are some Hostess. I don't have money cause I haven't been paid. Well ok the song doesn't go that way but here is another adventure with Hostess and Captain America in When It Rains It Pours.

Chuck and Journeyman

Well I got to see the pilot episodes of two shows I have been looking forward to seeing in the new television season. While I enjoyed both one was better then the other and both made me think that NBC was trying to get back their glory days of old.

First up is Chuck. The Executive Producer is McG who directed the Charlie's Angels film. Chuck is a former engineering student who had his girlfriend stolen from him by his old roommate Bryce. This took away almost all of his confidence. Now he works for Buy More as part of their Nerd Herd. Bryce went on to become a government agent and is killed while protecting government secrets. Before he dies he sends the sceret in an e-mail to Chuck. Chuck gets in on his birthday and thinks it is a greeting and opens it. It transfixes him and all night long the images download into his brain. Later two government agents find him and battle over who has the right to the information that he holds. One of them is the beautiful ex-girlfriend of Bryce. Not the one from college they broke up earlier. Chuck helps them stop an assination and since he holds the information they want he tells he will help them on his terms.

This show is suppose to be an action comedy. McG did the action very well. While I did see some comedy it wasn't there as often. For this to be a hit as an action comedy the comedy needs as much time as the action. Hopefully they will be on an even level as the series goes on.

When Chuck and the female agent were together I could only think of Don Adams and Barbara Feldon of Get Smart and the other half of the plot reminded me of the Disney movie the Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. As NBC aired the Wonderful World of Disney the first airing of that movie was on NBC in two parts on that show.

Next is the show Journeyman. It stars Kevin McKidd as Dan Vasser a reporter who on his wedding anniversary finds that he can travel back in time. However, it happens at random and he doesn't know how it happens. Dan goes back and finds his fiancé who he was engaged to before he dated his wife. His first fiancé died on 9/11 but he finds that she too can travel through time and she disappeared right before the plane crash. Dan's wife doesn't believe that he is a time traveler and that he is either having an affair or has a drug problem. His marriage is about to end but on one trip Dan burys his wedding anniversary gift to his wife. When he comes back he digs it up and his wife believes him. There is another story that shows Dan trying to save a man who he keeps meeting when he travels back in time but that has a surprise ending. So I will leave that for those to enjoy if they have not seen the show yet.

This time travel show was my favorite between the two. It reminded me of Quantum Leap only the star gets to see his wife more often and there is no holographic friend following him around.

I don't know if they did it on purpose, if so NBC has two pretty good shows to celebrate their wonder years

Blue Beetle Proof by Steve Ditko

If you are a fan of Steve Ditko art then you should look at this e-bay auction. It is a proof of Blue Beetle #3 from Charlton Comics. They used it when they were producing the book according to what the auction says.

Price Hike

No this is not becoming a pay site. I saw this in a Marvel comic book from 1974. The price of their books ad went up by 5 cents. They went up from 20 cents to 25 cents. Marvel showed that they had a lot of respect for the intelligence of their readers. At this time many still thought that comic books were just throw away kiddie literature. But Marvel knew that kids were saving every penny to buy their books so a 5 cent price hike was a lot of money to them. If you click on it and you read the announcement above you will see how Marvel gave us one of our first lessons in economics.

Fan Art: Surf and Turf #'s 2 & 3

For those of you who have not read the Aquaman Shrine you are missing out on a fun site dedicated to the one JLA member who has always been wrongly accused of being boring. Rob's love for the character shines through and the site is a great way to show that love for his favorite character. Over the past few months he has created his own cover art for his version of the Aquaman team up book Surf and Turf. His plot is a time travel one that includes all the original members of the JLA. So go to Aquaman Shrine and let him know On My Mind sent you.

The Salvation Army Band and the Lily of the Valley

Christianity flourished during England's Victorian Era. As a result concern for the orphans, the poor, the homeless and those beaten by the rise of the Industrial Revolution were on the rise. One man was determined to help as many of them as he could.

William Booth became a Christian when he was a teenager. He began witnessing to others and winning them to Christ. He moved to London to be come a pawnbroker but changed careers and became a Methodist evangelist. By 1865 his ministry was mainly dealing with the poor on the east side of London. Many nights he came home beaten, battered and bleeding.

In 1878 Mr. Booth started the Salvation Army. Many men, women and children left their old lives behind and enlisted in the army of the Lord. The movement spread through England and eventually the entire world.

That same year a group from the Salvation Army tried to set up a ministry in Salisbury, England. They were treated very badly. Every time they tried to preach they were hit with eggs and bricks.

Charles Fry, an amateur musician and layman in the Methodist church, lived in Salisbury. He saw how badly the people of the town treated the Salvation Army workers. He took himself and his three strong sons, who were also musicians, to the streets and acted as bodyguards for the Salvation Army workers. They showed up with their weapons of two cornets, a trombone and a tuba. Not only did they fight off the more unruly members of the town but their music drew a crowd for the preachers. And so was born the Salvation Army Brass Band.

In 1881 Charles Fry wrote the hymn "Lily of the Valley". It was published on December 29th 1881 in the Salvation Army magazine The War Cry. In August of the following year Charles Fry died. On his grave was inscribed another verse that he had written.

The former things are past, and ended is the strife,

I'm save home at last! I live an endless life!

Charles Fry is pictured with his family in the photo above.

If you like to read the histroy of how some of you favortie Gospel music was created you can see some more like this at For God So Loved.

Happy Labor Day

I just wanted to tell everyone to have a happy Labor Day.

Jan and Dean Surf City

Ok here is another Jan and Dean video singing their big hit Surf City. Where did this video come from? Does anyone know if they were the stars of a bad beach film or somthing?

Jan and Dean White Tennis Sneakers

Here is a video of Jan and Dean singing a song I have never heard called White Tennis Sneakers.

Get a look at how they are dressed. I am not very fashion minded but I don't think I could have gone on television dressed like that.

Captain Marvel and Hostess in the Energy Crisis

It's Saturday and time again for the adventures of Hostess with Captain Marvel.

The Lone Gunmen Series

For the past few days I have been watching episodes of the very good but hardly seen X-Files series the Lone Gunmen. I always loved it when these three men showed up on the X-Files and I must not have been alone in that as they seemed to use them more and more as the series went on. This series was more lighter in tone then the X-Files. Fox Mulder on the X-Files was very serious about his work and willing to die if he had to in order to get the truth told. Langly (played by Dean Haglund), Byers (Bruce Harwood) and Frohike (Tom Braidwood) were brave but not as willing to die for the truth as Mulder was.

In addition to the three leads they added the character Yves Adele Harlow played by the beautiful Zuleikha Robinson. Her character never really did reveal her real name as Yves Adele Harlow was not it but it was an anagram of Lee Harvey Oswald. How fitting that name would somehow be associated with a series called the Lone Gunmen. She also revealed very little of her past but in the pilot it was hinted at that Frohike knew it and who she really was. Yves was always a step ahead of the Lone Gunmen and they sometimes were at odds with each other. The Gunmen were always on a case to get to the truth of the matter but Yves was like a bounty hunter and only wanted the money. This is the only addition to the cast that they should have made.

In the episode after the pilot I believe they jumped the shark. Yes it may be hard to believe but I think it was jumped in the second episode when they added the character of Jimmy Bond played by Stephen Snedden. Jimmy was rich but not too bright. He wanted to get to the truth about matters and help others. He was the coach of a football team in a league that he started. The only difference in this league is that it was for blind football players. The Gunmen were on the trail of a case and everything led to him. It turned out that he was being backed by an unknown source and the nut didn't try to find out who was giving him the money. They were using his team as a front and setting him up to take the fall. He helps take the bad guys down and since the Lone Gunmen are out of money to publish their newspaper he backs them with his own money. The character never did wise up too much after that. Frohike was always wanting to get rid of him but they couldn't do without his money.

There was an attempt to create sexual tension between Jimmy and Yves Adele Harlow but it seemed like a high school crush compared to the sexual tension Chris Carter had going on the X-Files. They should have tried it with Yves and Byers instead.

Over all the series was very good and should have been renewed as a mid-season replacement or given a second summer series. (This series came on in the summer of 2001.) One thing that may have hurt the series chances for renewal is that it came on the summer before 9/11. The pilot episode delt with then stopping a plane flown automatically by terrorist from crashing into the UN building. Too bad they couldn't have stopped them in real life.

I hear they are planning on making an X-Files movie again. I in their last apperance they killed off the 3 main characters of the Lone Gunmen. Still I hope they can explain how they survived and I hope we see the older but wiser Lone Gunmen in the film. Perhaps after all those years of investigating the unknown and coming in contact with so many chemicals they may have only been put into a coma and come out of it in time to help Mulder and Scully. Hey it's just a thought.

A New Jughead Jones Interview

After hearing of the legal problems that are recently surrounding Peter Noone I was reminded of how other 60’s groups like the Beatles and the Bee Gees also had similar battles after the group broke up or a few members left. I decided to put in a call to my friend, Jughead Jones, to see why we never heard of this happening to the Archies.

Jughead Jones: Hi! Nice to hear from you again.

On My Mind: It’s nice to talk to you too. I wish I had a more pleasant reason to call.

JJ: What do you mean?

OMM: I was hoping to interview you about the issues with Peter Noone.

JJ: Well I have heard about it but I’m not sure what I can tell you but sure you can interview me.

OMM: Actually I was wondering if any of this ever happened to the Archies. Where there ever any legal battles among the members of the group?

JJ: Not to the extent of this or what other bands had by the time the 1970’s came around.

OMM: What where they and how did they come out?

JJ: Well after we reached the height of our fame the group decided to renegotiate our contract once it was up. But when that came about Don (Kirshner), gave us such a great deal that there was no need to do that.

OMM: Do you recall the specifics of the new contract?

JJ: Well the old one was we were paid a flat fee. It was like a regular job. Any songs we wrote we signed away to Don. When our contract came up, before we could make any noise about wanting more money, Don gave us more money and gave us 50% of the rights to past songs we wrote and 75% to all future songs. We all signed right away.

OMM: Have you ever regretted not asking for sole ownership of the songs you wrote?

JJ: I haven’t. We were kids and the first time around we knew we wouldn’t get a deal like other big groups. The second time we may have been able to get sole ownership of our songs but we all thought of Don and Jeff Berry as Father figures of at least like close Uncles.

OMM: So out of respect…

JJ: We didn’t want them to think we were greedy.

OMM: Is that as close as you came to a lawsuit?

JJ: No there was another time. It came not long after the break up. Now you have to understand that Don owned the rights to the group name. So that is why Archie started the Cuff Links. He didn’t have the right to his own name as the name of the group. Don has said since then that he would have let Archie use the name since it was his own name but if I or any of the others tried he wouldn’t. He didn’t have to tell us this as he proved it when Reggie started his own group in the early 70’s. He thought he found a way around anyone suing him by calling them The New Archies. Don threatened a lawsuit almost immediately.

OMM: What did Archie have to say about this?

JJ: He told me he thought about suing but didn’t have any legal grounds and wanted to stay on friendly terms with Reggie. Don had deeper pockets so he decided to see what would happen with him and if he was called as a witness he would have appeared in court. Thankfully none of that happened as Reggie disbanded his new group to avoid the lawsuit. He was always after us to call the Archies the Reggies. I don’t know why he didn’t just call his new group that. The reunions that we have attempted since the break up have all had the approval of Don.

OMM: Did you or anyone have any problems with the Archies using studio musicians?

JJ: Back then yes. Everyone was ok with it but me. As I told you before I had a big drug problem back then and some times I was too high to show up. Now some of those times Reggie took over the drums if I didn’t show. I didn’t mind that as it was kept inside the group. However, when studio musicians were used I would loose it. One day I arrived at the studio just as they were finishing up. I don’t remember who was at the drums but I believe it was Eddie Hoe. Yes it was Eddie Hoe. Well I saw him there with Arch, Betty, Ronnie and Reg. We even had Moose and Dilton visiting that day. Anyway I blew my top. I pulled Eddie to his feet and decked him. I kicked a hole through the bass drum and just as Arch came over to calm me down I grabbed his guitar and threw it through the studio window.


OMM: You trashed the place!

JJ: Yep! That was the last time we were allowed in that studio too. I think it was the last time Eddie Hoe replaced me at the drums. It was also the time I thought I should get off of the drugs. We went on tour and the rest of the gang didn’t want anything to do with me. Ever spent months traveling with people who didn’t want to even look at you? Not a pleasant experience.

OMM: How did Dilton and Moose treat you after that?

JJ: Before that we would always write or call each other. After that it was about a year before either one would return my calls so I could apologize. Everything is now fine with all of us and now that is water under the bridge. Anyway I am sorry to cut it short but I have to go now. I don’t see any type of suits in the near future from Don or any of the Archies and I hope that Peter and Barry can put this behind them and stay friends.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday and the biggest plans are that I have taken the day off work and my sife is taking me out to dinner. It is really too hot to plan to do anything different. What I have done is started another fun website called Mail It To Team Up. It is a site where I plan on celebrating the team up books of the 1960's to the 1980's. Not much there now but I hope you stop by to look and enjoy as the stie builds. Sorry but no on line party this year as I did last year. Maybe I will have one next year.