Also a big California Raisin fan. I loved those little claymation, temptations-singing dudes. I remember video taping their Christmas special. As for the comic book, loved it. Especially the fact that the only page Lisa was inspired to color featured a raisin about to get torched.
My co-worker in the office next door has a huge collection of California Raisins on his shelves.
I'm not ashamed to admit I saw the California Raisins on Ice at the Joe.
Everyone knows someone (or WAS the someone) who dressed up as a California Raisin for Halloween using a black garbage bag and purple tights.
I can't wait to see the rest of this coloring book...
Wonder Years was the bomb. I had Winnie Cooper hair as a kid....
I can't say just why, but it's profoundly disturbing to see the Raisins barefoot.
I agree, Zan. It just feels wrong. they take off their shoes in the shower, but not their gloves?
Loved the California Raisins when I was little! My favorite t-shirt when I was 4 featured the Raisins cruising in a convertible in Beverly Hills. The palm trees had glitter. Or maybe it was the Raisins who were all glittery... whatever. I was so sad when I grew out of that shirt, which makes me wonder if my mom kept it somewhere... I feel compelled to ask now. Thanks for the laugh!
Kevin! Winnie! Good times. :o)
Jim, did you have OM (Olympics of the Mind) at your school? It was this weird group for "creatively minded" kids. I remember my brothers' OM team made it into the state championships and part of their "act" was themed on the California Raisins. Black tights, garbage bags, a coordinated dance to "Heard it Through the Grapevine" and all.
So now I always associate the Raisins in my mind with nerdy, pasty Midwestern boys. HA!
liz: olympics of the mind 1986 Renata Fusia Award winning team member here, Michigan State Finals. this was before the organization was sued by the international olympics committee or whatever and they had to change their name to "odyssey of the mind."
back in college I coached an all-black odyssey of the mind team from Edison Elementary (one of the shittiest schools in kalamazoo) on to win the brainstorming state championship. I felt just like Michelle Pfeiffer or Edward James Olmos.
So yes, TOTAL PASTY-FACED MICHIGAN DORK HERE.
That's right! I forgot about the Odyssey part... amazing.
I'm pretty sure my brothers' team was in the brainstorming competition too. They had to create a structure out of popsicle sticks. Poor kids didn't know anything about Bucky Fuller and the concept of tensegrity. They lost miserably.
And please know that when I say "nerdy, pasty Midwestern boys" I mean in the most reverent way.
Oh, how I love your coloring books. Another great job!
Ditto on your full disclosure disclosure. I mean it, ditto to all of it.
5th grade Christmas gift exchange I totally lucked out and got the best gift ever: banana scented yellow bubblebath (looked like thick yellow milk, tasted like medicine) in a purple collectors California Raisin plastic bottle that magically converted to a piggy bank with a hot knife. It kept my change safe for years from my little brother, possibly well into high school. And probably, very likely, it's still safe in a box at my parents' house.
I may have owned a California Raisins beach towel. I may have also owned several California Raisins figurines. Didn't you get them at Hardee's when you bought an ice cream sundae? Thanks for this post! It made me smile!
Um, what is that thing by A.C.'s foot?
my freshman year roommate called his "the spoo rag."
oh wait, I thought you meant in the last page.
yes, that thing by his foot on the dizzy aftermath page is quite troubling.
Yes, but did you collect all the figures from Hardee's in the late 1980's?
I think I bought them all at Spencer's Gifts in Maple Hill Mall.
We were Hardeesless in Kalamazoo. I never saw a Hardees until I took a greyhound across the country when I was 18 and the bus stopped at every Hardees between Chicago and Denver.
Awesome! I loved the Raisins too and thought it would be cool to show the commercials to my kids on YouTube. But they were terrified and kept asking why they had so many wrinkles. My two-year-old actually cowered behind my chair in fear. All they want to hear are songs by this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R...h?
v=RUzQy4mmT3Q. They are Lew Dite groupies. Go figure.
Oh yeah, and that kid who played Kevin Arnold came into a restaurant I worked at in college in Santa Barbara and was a tiny little tyrant. What a letdown.
my sister was a California raisin in her fifth grade stage play. she ROCKED that raisin outfit.
Oh..I had the plastic singing raisins. I loved those commercials as a kid.
So, I'm not very clever in the sexual innuendos department . . . how would you finish "Hey baby, the darker the raisin . . ."
Oh man, you just blew my mind. Time travel is never easy on the brain.
I think I feel some brain fluid dripping onto my shoulder. Is that bad?
in the interest of full disclosure:
we MAY still sing the song "here we come a waffle-ing" at christmas-time.
dude...once again, freakin' hilarious. nicely done.
Wait. I'm just catching up. I really enjoyed the Powerhouse project website. I hope it's promoted far and wide and that they receive tons and tons of help. Beautiful work; as is the Georgia Street Garden and crew. I want to read about it, and you guys, in the Times. Do you know when they'll publish? You'll let us know?
jive turkey-- when I was a Raisin, I believe I had a fleece-type garment for the body of the grape.
I want to own one of these books so bad.
Thanks for the blast from the past! I loved the California raisins back in the day. I believe I may have had this very same coloring book at one point along with some awesome figurines: http://www.home.earthlink.net/~c.../thats/raisins/
That's just wrong....
{sighs}..oh J- not the California Raisins (one of the most prominent racial stereotypes of the 80's)...
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