Video Game Hall of Fame: First Inductees

The Strong Museum in Rochester, home of the National Toy Hall of Fame, has announced the first inductees in the World Video Game Hall of Fame: DOOM, Pac-Man, Pong, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and World of Warcraft.

Electronic games now earn more money than recorded music or Hollywood films, about $21 Billion in 2013.

The Strong Museum collects and preserves video games and artifacts through its International Center for the History of Electronic Games. The collection includes more than 55,000 video games and artifacts, personal papers and corporate records that document the history of video games.

Circus Puts Pachyderms Out to Pasture

Asian elephants have been imported to the USA for exhibit as curiosities since 1794, and menageries soon became part of American entertainment. Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, elephants were paraded from train yards to show sites, publicizing the traveling circus’ arrival in each city and town, and performing elephants became essential to circus entertainment.

Now Feld Entertainment has announced that the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus will phase out elephant acts by 2018. The remaining pachyderm performers will retire to Florida, to the Shalom Sunset Leisure Community the Center for Elephant Conservation in Polk City.

Video Game Hall of Fame

The Strong Museum in Rochester, home of the National Toy Hall of Fame, has announced the creation of the World Video Game Hall of Fame. “Electronic games have changed how people play, learn and connect with each other, including across boundaries of culture and geography,” said museum President G. Rollie Adams.  Unsaid: Games now earn more money than recorded music or Hollywood films, about $21 Billion in 2013.

You can nominate significant arcade, console, computer, hand-held and mobile games here until March 31, 2015. An international panel will choose the annual inductees.

Bobby Womack, 1944 – 2014

Singer, guitarist, and songwriter Bobby Womack died yesterday.

 More:

“Soul poet Bobby Womack dead at 70,” Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune 

“The Unimpeachable Songs of Bobby Womack,” Ben Greenman, The New Yorker

“Bobby Womack, gospel-soaked baritone and the very last of the Soul Men,” Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian

“Bobby Womack, R&B singer with brave second act, dies at age 70,” Chris Talbott, AP via Detroit Free Press

“Bobby Womack, Royalty of the Soul Era, Dies at 70,” Paul Vitello, New York Times

JET

After 62 years, JET magazine is leaving the newsstand, ending its print edition, but it will continue in digital format. The compact print publication will be missed in neighborhood barbershops, salons, candy stores, at checkout counters, and everywhere people want a quick read. Scrolling through it on a cell phone just won’t be the same.

Happy Birthday, Marvin Gaye

Singer Marvin Gaye was born on April 2, 1939. In his set at the the 1964 T.A.M.I Show (above) he performed four of his early hits: “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” “Pride and Joy,” “Can I Get a Witness,”and “Hitch Hike.” The dancers are goofy but the band, Jack Nitzsche‘s Wrecking Crew, includes Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Leon Russell,  Glen Campbell, and Plas Johnson.

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Take My Wife — Please! — To the Catskills

Filmmakers Mevlut Akkaya and Ron Frank interview the alter kockers and big machers of Borscht Belt stand-up in When Comedy Went to School. It’s opening this month, so you can spend 98 minutes in the Catskills this summer. Warning:  The food won’t be as good (and such small portions …).