The Downtown Arcade 1 - So long, Krofft superstars
Friends, welcome to the first Downtown Arcade! Let's begin.
Did you feel the universe shift on its axis in late April? There was a cosmic coincidence. Les McKeown and Billie Hayes died nine days apart.
McKeown was lead singer for 1970s pop idols the Bay City Rollers. Hayes was Witchiepoo. That’s the wisecracking witch familiar to a generation of cereal-eating TV fans from “H.R. Pufnstuf,” the colorful kids’ show that everyone believes is about drugs. McKeown died April 20 at age 65. Hayes died April 29 and was 96.
Billie Hayes, center, and the Bay City Rollers' Les McKeown, top, were stars in the Krofft galaxy.
What's the connection? They were costars! Both were on "The Krofft Superstar Hour," the Saturday-morning variety show NBC aired in 1978. Hayes played Witchiepoo one more time, and McKeown and the Rollers sang the hits because why not?
"The Krofft Superstar Hour" was a ... sequel? spinoff? spiritual successor? to "The Krofft Supershow," another Saturday-morning series with a rock band, fabricated for the purpose in that case. Like "H.R. Pufnstuf," both were produced by 1970s kidvid moguls Sid and Marty Krofft. At age 7 I was an avid fan and I remember the broadcasts affectionately.
Nine days apart. Remarkable. McKeown led a tumultuous life and his Guardian obituary is sobering. Hayes was a trouper who sang and danced on Broadway before finding her Witchiepoo métier.
R.I.P., Billie Hayes and Sid McKeown. A little kid in Nashville loved you.
The dry look
I have news. As of today I haven't had a drink in 20 years. That's 20 years of never having to ask for a koozie. But seriously, so much gratitude.
Good word
"When you're in a minivan full of other people, you could be sharing something good or bad."
-- Austin Irwin
So long, social media
You may be wondering: Why newsletter, why now? I'll tell you.
Recently I decided to get off Facebook and Twitter. Not for the first time. But this time for good.
In 2013, back at my old newspaper in Tennessee, I filed a column about quitting Facebook for the summer. I wrote that I liked connecting with friends in this new way but I was tired of the political rancor that had become the platform’s major theme. Even so, I couldn’t look away. Facebook was a compulsion. It was making me unhappy. I needed a break.
Eight years later, political rancor is still the major theme and I still can't look away. But now I know more. Social media isn’t just bad for me personally. Social media and the industry’s algorithm-based revenue model are bad for everyone, bad for the country, bad for the world, bad for you. That anger you feel about that you post you disagree with? Silicon Valley technicians engineered it. They modified your behavior à la Pavlov for the purpose of making oceans of money. That should anger all of us.
I learned a lot about this from people like Jaron Lanier and Cal Newport. Buy their books! I'll have more to share on this theme. I mainly want to keep it positive here at the Downtown Arcade but this shit is important.
Anyway, I went to Facebook and Twitter to post my goodbyes. I said I would delete my accounts that weekend. And then something happened.
A lot of people told me, publicly and privately, that they enjoyed my posts and would really miss me. A lot of people. These messages made me emotional and I wasn't expecting that. Reading them I felt like I was moving away forever, which in a sense I am.
I paused. I like posting and I like having a platform. Just not social media. I love being in touch. Why not keep it going?
So I’m starting this newsletter. I'll keep doing what I do and I hope it will be cute. Thanks for reading. Just hit reply to email me back if you wanna. Let’s stay connected.