Here we go with another ZANY edition of: "Dawn Halterman's Pop Culture 101"

as the title somewhat presumptuously presumes, i hope this will become some sort of serial mainstay of the ad hoc project, but if not, oh well.

anyway, the basis for the segment "Dawn Halterman's Pop Culture 101" happened one fine evening years ago at the Halterman residence in Phoenix, AZ.

(rose, forgive me if i'm telling this story wrong but i quote section 6, pararaph 5 of the Blog and Sedition Acts of 1783 (worded by Jefferson himself) "Oral tradition ain't exactly a high-fidelity telegraph and therefore it's veracity shalt naught be highly regarded. As for it's entertainment value, may the bullshyte of a thousand blog entries enrich thy soul tenfold!!!" and then it was passed in the newly-formed 2nd Continental Congress 38-2-1(abstention puerto rico), but i digress.)

so anyhow, One evening in early spring i was gathered with the Haltermans 'round the fire, o'er the hearth, 'nder ye old roof "kicking it old-school" as it were, and talking casually over the weeks events. i'd guess mr. halterman was there, as was rose, perhaps rose's brother andy, 2-3 golden retrievers, and finally mrs. halterman herself. over the the dull roar of a cubs game, rose and i were discussing the ins and outs of the hip-hopical genius of one of the lead members of the east-coast rap collective known as the Flipmode Squad, a.k.a. Busta Rhymes.
"that song gimmee some mo' kicks f--king ass," i may have exclaimed.
"fo sho," rose added, "and check this out, i figured out last week that the sample on that song is from the score to Hitchcock's Psycho." rose and i both highly regard Sir Alfred Hitchcock as the master, nye the god, nye the POPE of suspense. needless to say, we celebrate the man's entire catalog.
"no way!" thats awesome," i said.
"i know. any rapper that would sample from a Hitchcock film gets mad props in my book," rose said, or something to that effect.

and then suddenly, amidst our self-gratifying laughter, mrs. halterman, sitting across the room in another chair hits one right over our heads and out of left field...
"Busta Rhymes? YEAH!, I know Busta Rhymes! I like him...he's good," she says with a little more than a hint of chicago accent. rose and i are dead silent, and then we look at each other. rose speaks first.
"Ummm...ok. Mom, where did you see Busta Rhymes?"
"I saw him on TV," she quickly retorts. rose looks over at me. i will never be able to accurately describe in blog form the sort of naive but self-assured confidence of one mrs. halterman. you have to see it to believe it. the way she sort of passively participated in our conversation, piped in her two cents at the right moment, and then returned her attention back to the cubs game gave us every reason to believe that she was, in fact, well-aware of Busta Rhymes and moreover had been exposed enough to his work so as to develop an opinion of him. i give rose the "sure, why not?" look.

"Hmmmm, ok Mom. Yeah, we really like him too," rose says. And then feeling somehow defeated, we all sit there for another hour or so watching the cubs lose in silence.

And now the epilogue to this story and impetus for "The Ad Hoc Project presents: "Dawn Halterman's Pop Culture 101"" (followed by the first entry):

So later, upon playing a Busta Rhymes CD in the family stereo (during a short-lived but rousing session of "listen to gangsta rap with your parents") the truth was revealed. rose and i found out that mrs. halterman had actually mistaken Busta Rhymes for 80's faux-lounge-singer Buster Poindexter. the cd was promptly stopped, removed, and concealed. a session of laughter commenced.

So in tribute to this random but cherished story, i bring you the first installment of "The Ad Hoc Project presents: "Dawn Halterman's Pop Culture 101: Buster Poindexter vs. Busta Rhymes" wherein 2 subjects of popular culture linked only by some superfluous detail will be briefly examined and reported on in tandem:











Buster on the left, Busta on the right. so a lot of this stuff is from wikipedia but what isn't these days. Anyway, first i should note that these guys have quite a bit more in common than it may appear at first. Both work under pseudonyms, both are musicians, both are from new york, and both have acted. (i start to wonder if their agents ever kicked around the idea of a tour: Bustapalooza. they could really cover a lot of demographic territory.)

Buster Poindexter: real name David Johansen,
Born: Jan. 9, 1950 (that makes him 57)
Previous Bill: lead singer of the New York Dolls! I had no idea...theres been a resurgence of interest in the New York Dolls, an early NY punk band, and I really had no clue this was the same guy. wow. apparently after the Dolls broke up, he started this Buster Poindexter alter-ego touring and making several records as a trashy lounge singer (but somehow i remember the quality being higher than trashy, comments?)
The one-hit: remember that annoying-as-all-hell ditty "hot hot hot"? this was buster. he's even quoted as saying on NPR that the song was "the bane of my life". poor guy, but then if you're gonna waltz around with a pompidor doing shitty lounge music, you're asking for banity (is that a word?)
Most famous acting role: played the ghost of christmas past in Scrooged
Bacon number: 2
David Johansen was in Burnzy's Last Call (1995) with Carolyn McCormick
Carolyn McCormick was in Loverboy (2005) with Kevin Bacon

Busta Rhymes: real name Trevor Smith Jr.
Born: may 20, 1972 (he's 35), in brooklyn of jamaican heritage
Where "Busta" came from: Chuck D of public enemy gave him the name (i must say that would be cool to say chuck D named you.)
Phun Phact: hes a member of the "5 percent nation", an offshoot or sect within the nation of islam. check out this link...it's pretty wild stuff...mystic numbers and whatnot...wu-tang clan also has some members.
Most famous acting role: Rasaan in Shaft (with samuel l. jackson)
Bacon number: also a 2!
Busta Rhymes was in Shaft (2000) with John Elsen
John Elsen was in Loverboy (2005) with Kevin Bacon

and finally...i know whats on your mind: how many degrees seperate Buster from Busta. without further ado:
Busta Rhymes was in Who's the Man? (1993) with Colin Quinn
Colin Quinn was in Crooked Lines (2003) with David Johansen

only 2! i hope you've enjoyed the first installment of "The Ad Hoc Project presents: "Dawn Halterman's Pop Culture 101: Buster Poindexter vs. Busta Rhymes" good day.