I got a cool book the other day. It’s called “From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century,” by David Mansour.
This isn’t the first “pop culture encyclopedia” I’ve gotten. I’m a sucker for these things, even though they invariably contain much of the same information.
But this one has quite a bit that others don’t, which I really like.
I give the book bonus points for including an entire entry on Schleprock, the mopey sad-sack friend of the teenage Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm on their cartoon show. Now I know there are at least two people who remember that guy.
I checked the entry for the Wonder Twins, and as I suspected, there’s reference to them touching each other’s rings. I’ve mentioned before that this is one of my pop culture pet peeves. Another minor disappointment is in the entry for the Monkees, where the author repeats the urban legend about Charles Manson being one of the guys who tried out.
But these are really minor quibbles with what is a tremendously fun book to read. I mean, how can you not like a book that gives a shout out to Woodsey Owl?
Hi Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI'm David Mansour, the author of From ABBA to Zoom, and thank you for liking my book. It's a fun book and I throughly enjoyed researching and putting it together. Some of my personal favorite entries are all those great Saturday morning cartoon shows and characters (like Schleprock). I also like all the various lists (high school social cliques, kiddie chants, slang, slogans, etc.)
Well, you got me with the Monkees and Charles Manson! Those dang urban legends--just when you think you know them all you fall for one again. LOL!
If I ever get a chance to do revisions on the book I'll have to add that as a Monkees FYI and give you a personal nod along with it. Thanks again Jeff and keep up the good work.
Sounds like a fun book. I love stuff like that. I will admit that I've seen the Monkees twice in concert (sans Michael Nesmith, because apparently he's too big for that now, you know), and used to have every episode on tape when it re-aired on MTV in high school.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've met Davey Jones, when I was working the VIP at Universal.
Now Jen can say I'm a certifiable dork, too! :D