Ah, yes, everyone remembers the Groovie Goolies. In fact, just say that name and the theme song is stuck in my head.

Their show was a spinoff first entitled Sabrina And The Groovie Goolies as Sabrina, The Teenage Witch was a popular character on the Archie cartoon and comic book series. (And ironicly, since Archie’s publishers allowed the characters to be used in an ultra-conservative Christian comic book series, but I digress).

Of course, since it was an Archie-based cartoon, they had to have some music. And lo and behold, they did. They even released an album and a single credited to the Groovie Goolies on RCA Records. The album didn’t do so hot.

The series was a popular one, so they kept at it. In 1971, they had a song on the show by “guest band” The Rolling Headstones called “Chick-A-Boom (Don’t Ya Jes’ Love It).” Dick Monda, one of the songwriters on the show, recorded it on his own as Daddy Dewdrop. It was released on Sunflower Records, an MGM subsidiary, and hit #9 on the charts.

Are you having a case of the Mondays?

Well, if you live around Bowie, Maryland, on Monday May 7th you’ll be able to get rid of that feeling, and show your pieces of flair at Office Space Night.

This is a unique promotion that will allow baseball fans and software engineers to become one and the same. The BaySox are also doing something good, as they are inviting fans to smash printers, computers, fax machines, and other technological gremlins with all proceeds going towards the families of the Virginia Tech massacre.

So…yeah…if your boss wants you to come in on Saturday…mmkay…and makes you give up your red Swingline…yeah…then be sure to attend! Otherwise, you could end up like this printer…

A geek is a geek is a geek. And even though we don’t talk much about sports here, I would be remiss without giving tribute to one of the all-time geeks after his big weekend just past.

Mel Kiper, Jr. should be an inspiration to all geeks. As a kid, he was obsessive about the NFL and specifically, the NFL draft. He had the guts to write to NFL teams about his draft analysis when he was a teenager, and at the tender age of 21 founded a publication (a fanzine for NFL draft-heads) solely devoted to the NFL draft.

As soon as the draft was over, Kiper would start projecting and analyzing college football players ready for the next year’s draft. Even though it was just two days a year, Kiper turned it into his year-round livelihood.

Fans of the classic 1960’s cartoon can revel in more episodes available soon on DVD.

On July 24, The Ultimate Underdog DVD Collection will be released on three DVDs for $12.93 each.

Of course, the release of the animated series about the caped canine superhero is just in time for Disney’s big-screen live-action adaptation, starring the voice of Jason Lee as Underdog in theaters August 3.

Each of the three volumes contains six complete, digitally re-mastered episodes including some that have never been released on DVD before. All of episodes are as they originally appeared on TV in the 1960s, with other cartoon shorts intersperced amongst the Underdog clips.

The music documentaries from the 80s by Penelope Spheeris might finally make it to DVD.

If you’re an older music geek like me, you are familiar with Penelope Spheeris‘ two documentaries of music scenes in Los Angeles. The first, The Decline of Western Civilization, was filmed in 1980 and featured the LA punk rock scene, which at the time was hardcore, nihilistic, and agressive. Bands in that movie were Fear, The Circle Jerks, X, The Germs, and the pre-Henry Rollins Black Flag.

The second movie was The Decline of Western Civilization II – The Metal Years, filmed in the late 80s around the Sunset Strip. It featured great interviews from a lot of metal’s leading lights of the time, and featured performances by Megadeth, Faster Pussycat, and other bands that soon died quiet, ignominious deaths.

[Editor’s Note: Metalheads will remember the scene by the pool with a very drunken Chris Holmes, W.A.S.P. guitarist, being interview with his mother.]

However, due to rights issues, the movies have been unavailable on DVD. You can catch The Metal Years on cable from time to time, but aside from very old videotapes, those movies aren’t available for home purchase.

I did find a Web site, www.declinemovies.com, that says “Coming Soon To DVD and Video.” I emailed and received a response from “Penelope” which said:

Thank you for your interest in The Decline series. Currently we’re hard at work compiling and restoring all of the materials for the DVDs. We thank you for your patience. Meanwhile, if you are interested in a free VHS copy of Decline III, please visit declinemovies.com for details on how to get one as they are still available.

Cheers,
Spheeris Films

Hopefully, this means the rights issues are worked out and the movies will be on DVD soon, with plenty of extras (oh, please!)