Do you recognize this object? Do you know how works? How old are you? Don’t answer that. It’s hard to believe that this totally rad Pink Rotary Dial Desk Telephone was once the height of cool and contemporary consumer design. Now, it’s just a sculpture, or a piece pop culture ephemera.
Maybe you’ve seen one used as a prop in an old movie you enjoy for its nostalgic pull.
It is beautiful though, ins’t it? Sure it is.
Photographed at ICFF at Javits Center, NYC, in May of 2018
Hey what’s up. Happy Easter, if you celebrate, and Happy Spring if not! While I could not find an Egg, Bunny, or Jesus-themed video for this holiday posting, I did find one that repeatedly mentions a type of candy, so, somewhat appropriate! This fun and super engaging video for the song “Taffy Come Home” by the Brit-Pop quartet Telegram feels wildly retro on a couple of levels. First of all, there’s the use of the rotary-dial telephone motif as the video’s primary image — an anachronism that many people under 20 will be entirely unfamiliar with, but one which takes me right back to my youth. Also, lead singer Matt Saunders‘ voice encourages a deeply-nostalgic feeling for The Undertones and their vocalist Feargal Sharkey. What a great band they were.
The press release that accompanied this video clip calls Telegram‘s new album “… a series of frenzied meditations on Time and Speed, steeped in the sensitivity and strangeness of Kurt Vonnegut and approached through the erstwhile themes of love and intoxication. Melding post industrialist kraut rock with garage rock and the best bits of Eno and Bolan, the record offers twelve luminescent tracks, rooted in solid grooves but anti-gravitational in your mind’s eye.” Wow, high praise indeed. I would tend to agree with the Brian Eno comparison, specifically because “Taffy Come Home” reminds me of Eno’s glam rock masterpiece, “Needle in the Camel’s Eye,” which is a work of genius.
Saunders‘ band mates in Telegram are bassist Oli Paget-Moon, lead guitarist Matt Wood, and drummer Jordan Cook. The groups’ eagerly awaited debut album, Operator, was released last week via Red Eye. Enjoy!
And Don’t They Have a Good “Rock Star” Look, as Well?
According to my pal Chris Long, this is the actual working business phone of a new thrift store that just opened in his town. I think you should shop there.
OMG: Old Made Good ADDRESS: 5005 N. Wickham Road / Suite 100 / Melbourne, FL 32935 PHONE: (321) 745-5559 HOURS: Monday thru Saturday 10AM – 6PM
