by Cat DeSpira
Uncannily and creatively envisioned, you didn't just walk into a Time Out -you were pulled in by feelings that you were riding a sensual conveyor belt, instantly enveloped by low-light shadows, multicolored walls and ceilings that gave you the sensation that your sensory perceptions were slightly askew. It was like you were high on electronic drugs, some say. Stoned in love.
"The band showed up in a limo at around 11 AM and stayed until around 10PM, " Rigney says. "We had full catered Christmas dinner and an open bar. We drank and played pool and hung out. Franki Banalli (Quiet Riot's drummer) saw our equipment stored in the garage while we were playing pool, and said, if we set it up, they would play."
In this video one can feel time reach out and pull you back into an electronic atmosphere where Monaco GP, Xevious, Sinistar and Battlezone once reigned over the senses. A world I remember. An era I wish still lived.
It may be difficult for anyone to believe this now, but once upon a time the porn industry was a welcomed participant in the Consumer Electronic Shows (CES), and just about every other electronic trade show in America.
In Clio Genesee County, Michigan, in the Thetford Township Cemetary, Michael Leroy "Pac Man" Luther slumbers for eternity beneath the marble likeness of an arcade game he loved so much. Find a Grave listing According to Jeff Smith of Lapeer, Michigan, an arcade aficionado who shared the photo with me and whose older brother … Continue reading Pac-Man Headstone in Michigan
Almost 40 years ago, at the very height of Discomania with a capital "D", and only just a few months before Space Invaders would usher in a national obsession with electronic games, a forgotten yet almost imperceptible ancestral link to competitive gaming occurred in Los Angeles, California. This momentary experiment, launched during the infancy of … Continue reading TV POWW!: The Earliest Televised Video Game Competition From The 70s
That renowned photo-essayist Ira Nowinski recorded the very beginnings of the video craze in California is something short of a miracle. Most of his work up to that point was more focused on local arts and sociopolitical topics; i.e. "urban renewal" forcing pensioners from their longtime homes, the American migration of Soviet Jews and, of … Continue reading 5 California Arcades in The 80s: Looking Through The Lens of Ira Nowinski
They came in droves during the Fall of 1981, players of all ages, filing into convention rooms across the country to compete in The Atari International Asteroids Tournament. Not much information remains on this nationwide event save for a tee shirt here, a small headline there. In fact, a lot of particulars have been lost … Continue reading Photos From The Atari International Asteroids Tournament in San Francisco 1981
Ah, the good old days, back when Easy Bake Ovens prepped little girls on how to bake a meal for the husband they'd serve one day and Dodge in conjunction with 'TEEN magazine and catalog retailer Montgomery Ward instructed teenage girls how to dress to get picked up by much older dudes in cars. I'm … Continue reading “Want A Ride?”: The Time Chrysler and Montgomery Ward Made Creepy Ads of Old Dudes Cruising for Teenage Girls
Aren't you more than just a little curious about the fantasy of being able to live forever in The 80s, back when the arcade raged and the music smiled?