From the VHS vaults: Some early hosting and interviews

This author was digging out the VHS-to-digital video converter a week ago to transfer a video from a rather old crime scene for the latest true-crime book project. And while I was at it, I was thinking, you know, I've got all those old VHS tapes that are deteriorating more by the year that I should probably transfer, too. I didn't necessarily want to spend the time on it, but hey, none of us have as many hours in the day as we would like, right? There's stuff in those tapes that is highly original and preservation-needy.

So on I charged, all this past week, reviewing video after video. And I decided to queue them up in my other YouTube channel, the one I've used for just playlists of other people's videos until now. (The one that nobody knows about -- five subscribers right now, LOL.) It's my author YouTube channel that's more geared to the non-BRBTV stuff. So anyway, the first one has dropped, and others will follow each Friday. 

I cringe a bit. Maybe I'll go hide in a cave next Friday, because that installment will be the very first episode of the very first TV hosting gig I ever had. It's rough in parts. It's 1990s. But it's all in good fun. 

This first clip is a promo interview for a book-signing I was doing for my first novel back in 2005:

Area 52 Diner serves up some saucy, spacey surprises

If you find yourself in mid-Michigan anywhere near Highway M-52 and a place called Owosso, make sure you grab some lunch at the Area 52 Diner. This author has been down this stretch a zillion times, having grown up just a few miles down the road, but imagine my surprise rolling through there on the way to my brother’s place, traveling from Metro Detroit, and seeing that this eatery has reopened under a new name. When did that happen??? (About three months ago, our waitress said.) But this restaurant, which I am pretty sure my parents and I went to after church on Sundays many eons — and no doubt many name changes — ago, not only reopened under a new name but with the coolest theme ever. The photos will say it all!

Saturn’s onion rings, a black-and-white sci-fi movie playing above the counter, flying saucer lighting, and more. Somebody’s got a sense of humor. Love it. New favorite place. (And oh, yeah — the food was good!)

Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV

Copying with credit is OK; a link would be grand

Check out an eye-popping "Dukes of Hazzard" collection at Jon Holland's new YouTube channel

Our buddy and fellow author Jon Hollard, a longtime "Dukes of Hazzard" collector and historian, has started up a new YouTube channel to share the love. You can schedule an appointment to see his "Dukes" museum in Williamsburg, Virginia. We've gotta swing out that way one of these days!

Terrific TV Toys: Scooby-Doo toothbrush set, Meijer, 2020ish

Scooby-dooby-doo, let's brush those choppers! The latest episode of the Terrific TV Toys series gives you a gander at a pair of battery-operated toothbrushes from the Midwest retail chain Meijer, but there were other sets released under other labels. These are oh-so kid-friendly, but hey, us bigger kids can love 'em, too!

 

See what else is on the Terrific TV Toys playlist.