Celebrity Anti-Drug PSA's, Part Three

Pull up a tattered divan, load another noggin of taduki into the hookah and listen to the reasoning of these wise sages, seven in number. This batch of psa's is a particular treat, taken alone, they would ably represent the fun and goofiness of the entire series of "Get Off" radio records.
But first, an obligatory quote:

Resemblances exist between snowflakes and leaves. Seeing it snow, we think we can see tiny flowers falling from the sky. Why are the leaves that fade in autumn goldenly beautiful, and why do we think the spring flowers have tongues, comprise a sort of conversation? At the sight of leaves we think of hands fingered as if with buds. The feathers of the birds, the leaves on the trees, the delicate, feathery, fingery snowing in winter are related, we think ourselves entitled to say. The wind seems a thoughtless creature, not to be trusted; the windless calm, sensible of its own beauty, is as sweet as obedience that blissfully flows about within itself. Does the wind sense its own windiness? Does the leaf know how beautiful it is? Do snowflakes smile and flowers bewitch themselves, and do curls have some idea of their curliness? A river resembles a supple, rushing wanderer in its flowing, and water in its tranquility is like a beautiful woman with white gloves and blue eyes. Thick foliage cloaks the delightful delicacy of the twigs. That lovely things exist is a lovely thought. Waves and branches have snakelike shapes, and there come moments when we know we are no more and no less than waves and snowflakes, or than that which surely feels, now and then, from its so wonderfully charming confinement, the pull of longing: the leaf.

Robert Walser / Prose Piece

And now on to the educational section. There are a couple of well-done and more 'straight'-style psa's in  this batch, Richard Perry, in particular gives a personal and convincing turn on the mic, and members of Poco keep things fairly under control. Ahh, but some of these are gems of stoniness. Curtis Mayfield seems to have quite a smile on as he delivers his message, with his live band behind him, to boot; I think Steve Miller's hilarious clip is one of the greats of the series. I can listen to it over and over. So much to love.The hum of his FX and amp in the background, his delightfully daft text and delivery, I think that Miller just couldn't bring himself to be heavy with the kids, but wanted to keep things light and fun, while imparting some sort of message, and perhaps he went too far. But I'm sure glad that he did. He sounds loaded, too, by the way. The Mickey Mayberry spot is downright scary and odd; I think folks will dig the P.F.M. psa, as it's one of a group of these that I would imagine would leave kids going- "Huh-?" like, what was that? Somewhat incomprehensible, and yet, that is what makes these good documents of these people's personalities and quirks, streamlined and polished the way that PSAs are done today, there'd be little color left. P.F.M. have great quotes, too: "I'm sure that everybody deserves and needs more than illusions." and, "Just believe in yourself, don't let them kill you."; and then there are the four Pointer Sisters with one of the stronger warnings in the series, sort of.
There are more of these to come in subsequent weeks.

Curtis Mayfield    Steve Miller       
Mickey Mayberry     Richard Perry     P.F.M.     Poco                            The Pointer Sisters

Comments

[S]

I always liked Frank Zappa's "Remember kids, speed will turn you into your parents."

[wittler youth]

yea i have a load of them..and break them outfor laffs at our partys..see'ing most of the people were d.a.r.e. and casa kids..there right at home when there doing there bong hits, and lines of coke..yea the drug war was good to us that did these p.s.a.'s..i had to copy these things for raidio stations and kept the best for my self..call me greedy but i still bust up at them..i have the best of the 90's ones..thats when the money from drugs was at an apex...and the war on drugs was in full swing ...then 9/11..just anouther war..we should declare war on yer unabated beathing of my air...thats a sure fire money maker.

[Mark Lansing]

Nice posts, and the PFM clip cracked me up, but that's not Mickey Mayberry, it's Mickey NEWBURY. The man was a great Nashville singer/songwriter who cut some beautifully poetic and deeply personal albums in the 1960s and 70s, when such things were all but unknown in Music City, and he was a friend and collaborator of Townes Van Zandt.

[Mindwrecker]

A BIG THANK YOU to Mark Lansing for that correction---Gad-! No wonder I couldn't find anything online under that name. Urk. I hate dumb errors like that! Well- it's his own fault for garbling his name in the recording. I still haven't found a way to correct my darned mistakes on posts AFTER the fact--they seem locked-up once I publish them, and then I have to live with the shame forever after.
Cool--a much more useful comment than the bizarre Drug War Casualty damage that precedes it.

[video indir]

Dia de los Angelitos Update: Not My Grave. The Nanticoke Historical Society has a helpful list of locals who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic, among them "Bronwyn Charleton (Mrs. John)." And the Wilkes-Barre Record of May 17, 1905 has an announcement of the