The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including psychological horror, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and psychological thriller; and often conclude with a macabre or unexpected twist, and usually with a moral. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to common science fiction and fantasy tropes. The original series, shot entirely in black and white, ran for five seasons from 1959 to 1964. The success of the series led to a feature film, a radio series, a comic book, a magazine, and various other spin-offs that spanned five decades, including two revival television series. TV Guide ranked the original TV series #5 in their 2013 list of the 60 greatest dramas of all time. (More from Wikipedia)
Mike Stax was born in England and had tried to interest locals in starting a 1960’s style R&B band without success. Stax wrote Ron Silva in 1980, who invited him to join the band on bass guitar. Numerous changes in the line-up took place over the next several years – even Mojo Nixon joined up on guitar at one point – and some are remembered by other bandmembers only by their first name. Once the band tried to soldier on without a guitarist, and another time without a drummer; for a time, the band changed their name to the Howling Men, named for a Twilight Zone episode. Eventually, the Crawdaddys basically squandered their reputation as one of San Diego’s greatest rock bands. After just 6½ months in the States, Mike Stax returned home to England.
(January 2015/2)
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The statistics about the Wrecking Crew are staggering, with various members appearing on tens of thousands of recordings. Hal Blaine is believed to be the most recorded drummer in history, while Tommy Tedesco is said to be the most recorded guitarist. And their talents were not limited to records; again from Wikipedia: “Tedesco’s credits include the iconic brand-burning accompaniment theme from television’s Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Vic Mizzy’s iconic theme from Green Acres, M*A*S*H, Batman, and Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special.”
(February 2015)
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The band name the Human Zoo could mean a lot of things, but there is a Wikipedia entry on “human zoo”, about zoos or other exhibitions that feature humans rather than other types of animals. One variety is the freak show, which persists in carnivals and similar venues to this day. P. T. Barnum had exhibited some humans in his circus shows in the 19th Century, most famously the conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker. They were born in the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand), leading to the common term for the condition, Siamese twins. There was also a Twilight Zone episode featuring a human zoo on another planet.
(July 2015)
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I go back a long way with Under Appreciation. When watching TV as a kid, I of course paid a lot of attention to the stars, but I would also notice the character actors that showed up in small parts in a lot of the shows. One of my favorites back when was Dabbs Greer; he just seemed to show up all the time on TV, and eventually I picked up his name from the credits in one of those shows. Scanning his write-up in Wikipedia, he was in an episode of The Twilight Zone and several of the Perry Mason shows; but it was mostly Saturday morning shows where I remember seeing him.
Imagine my surprise decades later when Dabbs Greer appeared in some of the first scenes in The Green Mile; he played the Tom Hanks character in later life who was relating the story to a friend at the nursing home where he was living.
(Year 5 Review)
