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BROADWAY THE HARD WAY

 The Untouchables

Notes and Comments
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Monologue by Ike Willis
 
From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
Others around here have covered most of the references on BTHW except for "The Untouchables", where Ike Willis goes off on most of the American political figures over the band vamping on the Nelson Riddle theme. Basically, Willis is talking about the Ronald Reagan presidency (which was ending in 1988) and the Iran-Contra affair, where government officials sold weapons to Iran in order to raise money to finanace the rebel war in Nicarauga. After this whole scheme occurred, they lied to Congress about it....
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Rico! Youngblood! Wake up!
From: Charles Ulrich <culrich@pomona.edu>
  I believe these were two of Elliot Ness's assistants on "The Untouchables", a 1960s TV show about real-life government agents battling Al Capone during Prohibition.
From: rickhall@aol.com (Rick Hall)
  Rico & Youngblood were 2 of Elliot Ness' agents from the original TV show "The Untouchables", as was Nelson Riddle's music
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Okay -- let's look at some mug-sheets
of the suspects from the 80's...
From: Evil Bob <evilbob@tbag.tscs.com>
  "Mug-sheets" refers in part to photographs of criminals (part of "getting busted" is getting your fingerprints and a photograph taken which then go into vast law enforcement files). These photographs are then collected together in several large volumes and kept in the police station. Then, when somebody is a crime victim and the perpetrator wasn't caught, they bring the victim down to the station and have them flip through the "mug-sheets" or "mug-books" in the hopes that perhaps the victim will recognize the perpetrator from a previous arrest photo.
  The other part of "mug-sheets" refers to posters of wanted criminals which are put on display at the post office. These posters include the standard 2-photo "mug-shoot" (face view and profile), copies of the person's fingerprints (which always baffled the fuck outta me - like you're going to step up to some guy who matches the photo and say "Hey, mind if'n I just check your fringerprints real quick? I think you might be a murderer."), and a brief criminal biography.
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ADMIRAL POINDEXTER!
From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
  One of the main figures in the Iran-Contra affair, Oliver North's boss. Lied in front of a Congressional investigative panel and would have served a felony conviction if it wasn't for the pardon from George Bush.
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Get back on Felix The Cat where you belong!
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
  Yes it is [cartoon character], and one of the characters on the show was a geeky guy named Poindexter. For anyone growing up in America, the primary association of the name Poindexter is with Felix the Cat.
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OLIVER NORTH!
From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
  The most famous player in the Iran-Contra affair. North took thousands of government documents detailing the transactions, shredded them, and then stood in front of Congress and defended his actions. Convicted of several felonies, but the charges were dropped when he appealed on the argument that his conviction was obtained by using his testimony in Congress (they can't do that). He is now [mid-1994] running for the United States Senate from his home state of Virginia, but nearly all Republican strongmen (including Ronald Reagan) are not supporting him.
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BILL CASEY!
You're dead!
From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
  Director of the CIA during the Iran-Contra affair. Died in a hospital during the investigation by Congress, and then became the big scapegoat. Nearly everything that North and company didn't want to take responsibility for, they blamed on Casey, and the corpse didn't have much to say in response.
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BUSH!
From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
  Vice-President under Ronald Reagan. Claimed to know nothing about the Iran-Contra deal, but most people didn't (and still don't) believe him. After all, this man's rise through government started with the CIA, and the intelligence business is his specialty. He probably not only knows, but busted his butt to hide it.
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DEAVER!
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NOFZIGER!
From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
  Michael Deaver & ? Nofzinger - White House assistants during the Ronald Reagan presidency, served jail time for felonies they committed trying to cover up the Iran-Contra affair.
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You're crooks! Book 'em Dan-o!
From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
  This is a reference to Danny Williams, who was the second lead character on the TV cop show Hawaii Five-O. At the end of many episodes, his boss, Steve McGarrett would say "Book 'em, Danno", meaning "Charge them with such-and-such offense". This reference also appears in Thing-Fish and Ship Too Late albums.
From: Charles Ulrich <culrich@pomona.edu>
  Danno was a supporting character on Hawaii Five-O, another old TV show. "Book 'em, Danno" was the catch-phrase used by star Jack Lord to end episodes, " 'em" (i.e. "them") referring to the criminals who have just been caught.
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
  From the program Hawaii Five-O. Danno was the sidekick and many programs ended with the hero (forgot his name) saying "Book-em Danno, murder one"
  CC
  You Are What You Is/Thing Fish - "Book 'em Danno - mammy one" Obviously though, it's the wrong show.
From: chettri@kitune.ec.t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp (Deus Ex Machina)
  Dan-o was a character from "Hawaii-five-O" which was one of the longest (if not the longest) TV series in US history.
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Dan-o? How'd he get in the show?
Get outta here!


REAGAN!
You're asleep! Wake up!
The country's in a mess!
You're history anyway, buddy --
You're meat -- you're trough!
You're vapor -- you're baloney without the mayo!
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
  Yes, mayonnaise.
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You're outta here, buddy --
In fact, it's Robin Leach!
From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
  Robin Leach is the host of the TV show Lives of the Rich and Famous.
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
  Nothing bad, he's just an annoying celebrity with a very recognizable voice that's easy to imitate/parody.
From: Charles Ulrich <culrich@pomona.edu>
  Ike has (intentionally or otherwise) slipped into an impersonation of Robin Leach's voice.
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Hey, fellas -- take me to the bridge!
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
  Classic James Brown call to his band.
From: Charles Ulrich <culrich@pomona.edu>
  A standard request by the singer/speaker for the band to play the bridge of the song.
From: Evil Bob <evilbob@tbag.tscs.com>
  You're forgetting that this also has a classic naval/sci-fi meaning as well which should not be forgotten. As the command and control center of a ship (both naval and sci-fi types - particularly Star Trek) is referred to as "the bridge", "Take me to the bridge" is also used in the sense of "take me to your leader".
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SOVA NOSE Any proposal? I'd like to hear!
Provocation, compilation and design © Vladimir Sovetov, 1994-2004
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