Showing posts with label Gilligan's Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gilligan's Island. Show all posts

Saturday, August 31, 2013

W.O.C.K On Vinyl - The Mosquitoes / Gilligan's Island

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Before things get too serious here at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song / album at the end of each month, that could be categorized as being either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.
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One of my all-time favourite episodes of Gilligan's Island is entitled 'Don't Bug the Mosquitoes'  (Season 2, Episode 12, aired Dec 9, 1965).
'The Mosquitoes', featuring Bingo, Bando, Bongo and Irving, were billed as America's next big rock band. 
The British-invasion-influenced Mosquitoes fled the states for some much needed r 'n' r as the group's overzealous fans grew to be too much. Can you imagine Mosquito-mania? As a result, 'The Mosquitoes' found themselves on what was believed to be a deserted island, where the group could escape the non-stop Beatlesesque fan frenzy. However, The Mosquitoes quickly learned that they were not the only inhabitants of the small Pacific island. 

The shipwrecked castaways of the S.S. Minnow had been living on the island since their planned three-hour luxury cruise was ruined by a severe tropical storm. Desperate to return home, the seven stranded castaways attempted to lure The Mosquitoes to immediately take them back to civilization. The mop-top quartet agreed to do so, but only after their no-deadline period of island rest and relaxation was completed. However, Gilligan and company were not prepared to wait-out The Mosquitoes downtime. The end result, like every predictable episode of the sixties sitcom, was another aborted rescue.

The Mosquitoes were played by:
-Bingo (Les Brown, Jr.)
-Bango (George Patterson)
-Bongo ( Ed Wade)
-Irving (Kirby Johnson)

Three of The Mosquitoes (excluding Bingo) were actually members of The Wellingtons, an Illinois based folk trio that actually performed the theme song for the first season of Gilligan's Island ("The Ballad of Gilligan's Island").


While researching the sitcom's Mosquitoes, I was keen to know if there had been a real band called The Mosquitoes.  The closest I could find was an American band in the mid-80's with a slightly different spelling called 'The Mosquitos'

The Mosquitos - 1985 - That Was Then, This Is Now [mlp]
Long Island, New York. The Mosquitos released a 5 song EP of fine 60's influenced pop entitled "That Was Then, This Is Now!" on the Valhalla label in 1985 and then disappeared. The Mosquitos, who took their name from the band that appeared on an episode of "Gilligan's Island", were known for their blistering live shows (anybody have any mp3's or cd-rs?) and for writing the song "That Was Then, This is Now" that the regrouped Monkees turned into a Top 20 hit in 1986. 

The Mosquitos were:    Vance Brescia, (vocals/guitar), Steve Prisco (lead guitar/vocals), Iain Morrison (bass/vocals), Mitch Towse (drums), and Tony Millions (keybard/vocals).
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So, this month's WOCK on Vinyl post easily fits the Crazy / Korny categories and I felt compelled to share this hilarious episode of Gilligan's island with you. I just love the outfits and character types that The Mosquitoes portrayed on the show, and am sure you'll get a Buzz out of 'em too.
Posting consists of the 1985 Mosquitos MLP (MP3/256kps) and both audio and video files for the show sement where the Mosquitoes perform their new hit "He's A Loser" on Gilligan's Island.
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Don't Bug Me Link (50Mb)  New Link 31/10/2015
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Sunday, February 28, 2010

W.O.C.K On Vinyl - Gilligan's Island (The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle - A Parody)

(US 1964-67)
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Before things get too serious at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song at the end of each month, that could be considered to be either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.....
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Gilligan's Island was an American television situation comedy originally produced by United Artists Television. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network, from September 26, 1964, to September 4, 1967. It was originally sponsored by Philip Morris & Company and Procter & Gamble. The show followed the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive and ultimately escape from a previously uninhabited island where they were shipwrecked. Gilligan's Island ran for a total of 98 episodes. The first season (consisting of 36 episodes) was filmed in black-and-white, though colorized in later syndication. However, the next two seasons (62 episodes) and three television movie sequels were filmed in color.
Enjoying solid ratings during its original run, the show grew in popularity during decades of syndication. Today, the title character of Gilligan is widely recognized as an American cultural icon.
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The two-man crew of the charter boat S. S. Minnow and five passengers on a "three-hour tour" run into a tropical storm and are shipwrecked on an uncharted, uninhabited island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The episode "The Pigeon" places the island approximately 300 miles (480 km) southeast of Hawaii, while the episode "X Marks the Spot" gives a location near 140° longitude, 10° latitude, which puts it about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) to the southeast. In the episode "Big Man On a Little Stick," however, the Professor gives the position as "approximately 110° longitude and 10° latitude". It should be noted though that wherever it's location was, the island was close enough to Hawaii to clearly pick up Hawaiian AM radio transmissions on their old portable receiver. Executive producer Sherwood Schwartz believed in avoiding exposition, and so he composed the sea shanty-style theme song, "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle," as a capsule summary of the castaways' predicament.
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This was done so that first-time viewers would instantly understand the premise (studio executives were reportedly afraid that viewers would be confused about the show's concept without some form of explanation). He took the same approach with the themes to The Brady Bunch and It's About Time.
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The rip of The Ballad Of Gilligan's Island included here is not the original, but rather a 'tongue in cheek take-off' of the 'Gilligan's Island Ballad' and parody based on the theme music to 'Titanic'. This spoof mix was undoubtedly made at the time when the movie 'Titanic' was popular, by a fan of Gilligan's Island (found somewhere on the web many years ago).
It's quite funny to hear for the first time and is a must for all fans of Gilligan Island. So, I therefore present to you another 'Weird' posting from WOCK on Vinyl.
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Gilligan's Island Ballad Link (2Mb)