Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Old Postcard Wednesday—*I Like the 70s*



The artistic flair on the back of this postcard intrigued me as much as the scene of the groovy girl with the Farrah Fawcett hairstyle on the front. Although mailed in 1981, the postcard is all 70s and was marketed by the seller with the title: I Like the 70s. I looked for information that would explain the unique coupon-like heart printed on the back but could find nothing.

Cecami  postcard scenes, it appears, were numbered (this one being #1318) but I could not find a history, nor could I determine if/when Cecami publishers stopped producing postcards. In a listing of Italian businesses I found this info:

Company Name: CECAMI
    Number of Employees: 11-50
    Main Products: Greeting cards
    Country: ITALY
    Address: 38, Via Valtorta 20127 Milano (MI) - ITALY

The Cecami website does not mention postcard publishing along with their greeting cards and wedding announcements. The following is from the website:
CECAMI in Fantasia ...... Greetings

In this simple but effective slogan that encloses the base ingredient for almost a century of its products, CECAMI.

The high quality of products and the continuing search for original solutions, are the characteristics of the different lines of greeting cards that are offered each year.

The market, especially in recent years, has rewarded the efforts of the company confirming the high popularity of the style Cecami. The special attention paid to changing market and to the changing needs of customers, you can say that tickets Cecami are equal to any occasion.

After Dick Clark died someone mentioned that he had said in an interview that Disco was his favorite style of music. I about gagged, but then that is only indicative of my lack of appreciation for Disco. It just was not my thing so I listened to the plethora of alternative music produced during the Disco era. I did go to one Disco club with a girlfriend.....once, and I mention that only so you won't think that I didn't give it a try.

Since the recent deaths of Donna Summer and Robin Gibb I've heard both them and their musical styles grouped together in commentaries and tributes as people marveled and mourned. Then I found this excellent article in Forbes that helped me to understand why it was that I could have liked a few Bee Gees songs very much while being apathetic to Donna Summer's music. The article is short so I am posting it here with link at bottom:
Robin Gibb, RIP: BeeGees Were NOT A Disco Group
                                            --by Roger Friedman

I’m very sad about Donna Summer passing away. She was the Queen of Disco. And her records– from “Last Dance” to “MacArthur Park” to “Bad Girls,” “Hot Stuff,” etc are classics. Her untimely death is a tragedy.

But too many people are lumping her in with Robin Gibb, who passed away yesterday at age 62. The Bee Gees were not a disco group. They happened to have success during the disco era because of “Saturday Night Fever.” But they were actually a British folk-pop group who evolved into something more interesting: a blue eyed soul group.

Their original phase of hits like “Words,” “Holiday,” “I Started a Joke”–were pure pop. They were right in the realm of the Hollies and the Kinks. In 1970-71 they re-emerged with two gigantic hits, “Lonely Days” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.” The latter has been covered by so many R&B stars–not disco. The Al Green version is tremendous. As well, another Bee Gees song from their early days, “To Love Somebody,” is a favorite of R&B singers. It’s also been covered by the greats.

It was in 1997 when they teamed with Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin at Atlantic, that the Bee Gees found their true calling. “Jive Talking,” “Nights on Broadway,” “Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)” are simply brilliant.

Because of the “Saturday Night Fever” movie they were drafted into the Robert Stigwood Organization. But everything from that album, plus “Tragedy” and “How Deep Is Your Love”–the latter a mini masterpiece–is a product of that Miami studio time with the Atlantic geniuses. It all stems from that.

What a terrible shame that Barry Gibb has lost all of his brothers, even Andy, the youngest. The Bee Gees music was so profound for pop, so ebullient with an underscore of sorrow. They deserved a better legacy. Robin and Maurice were always in the background but they made the group. Their loss is our loss. I hope when they see George Harrison and John Lennon and Brian Jones and Keith Moon they can all have a good laugh.

Anyway, find James Carr singing “To Love Somebody.” That will set you straight.
[Source: Forbes]

Hmmmm. I thought the Bee Gees sang the song fine themselves! Here they are in 1971. If the I Like the 70s postcard girl saw this concert she would have been quite young at the time, possibly traveling with her parents in Australia where this concert took place.....



                                          ***

By the end of the decade the postcard girl might likely have been at this concert with friends, dancing in the crowd in her bellbottom pants. I wonder if she brought them out from a hiding place in her closet recently, just to look at and remember......




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6 comments:

Don't Feed The Pixies said...

ok - so you are probably used to my wierd tangents by now, but even you may be surprised to know that there is a singer/singwriter called Johnny Logan - who is referred to sometimes as Mr Eurovision, as he has won the Eurovision song contest three times.

If you don't already know the Eurovision is an annual competition that was designed to breed good feeling within the countries in Europe, but just ended up highlighting our differences. It goes on for what feels like twelve days and has had a strong alternative/gay following for some years - mostly thanks to its kitchness, the extremely funny and often drunk commentary of Terry Wogan (sadly retired 2 years ago, thus ending the glory years)

Nonetheless - it is unmissable in our house and is at its best when one country stops trying to sound like europop and indeed does a song that is completely off the wall

I recommend the below link as a classic example from last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHAY_OVN_gY&ob=av3e

or search: Zdob si Zdub - So Lucky (Moldova) - Live - 2011 Eurovision Song Contest Final

Meanwhile - it was indeed sad to see Robin Gibb pass. Massachusetts is probably one of my favourites - but even i have to dance a little to You Should Be Dancing - and i don't dance

Lydia said...

Pixies~ I continue to be totally intrigued by what you call your "weird tangents" and learn something new from each of them! Case in point, this comment: never knew about the Eurovision competition and loved your write-up about it. And the link? Well, I just shared it at Facebook because I thought it was one of the most unusual performances I've seen in awhile. (How weird there was the girl on the unicycle, since I mentioned a unicycle in my previous post!)

And, yes, Massachusetts is a wonderful song. Can't say that You Should Be Dancing has ever made me dance, however. This one does it for me everytime:

Misterio Vida said...

so you did some serious research about this postcard but its sad that you could not find much... :( yes i think the pic on the card does look like the 70s... and well i think the heart could represent like the romance? dont know really...
RIP dona summer...

Lydia said...

Muhammad~ Whaddaya mean I did not find much? I found those two videos for you (well, okay, that was really really easy!!!)... :)

Misterio Vida said...

oho..i didnt mean that..i meant you did not find much on their website and when they stopped printing these cards and about the heart etc etc :)

mythopolis said...

I kinda dismissed the whole disco thing like it was a government plot to disarm the more political music like Country Joe and the Fish, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, John Prine's stuff, or even Randy Newman's Sail Away LP. and so on. I was aware of the BeeGees though, and Donna Summers. These were great performers. But, mostly I thought of them as a distraction at the time. Sometimes you understand the times you were living in when it becomes history and you look at it again in the rear view mirror.

I love the research you put into your posts.

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