Saturday, July 5, 2008

D.C. represent!

If you lived in the Washington area 30 years ago, the TV commercial below will surely put a smile on your face.

(I never knew this jingle was done by Nils Lofgren!)

26 comments:

Nope said...

OMG I am old!

Anonymous said...

Jhoon was cool, had the $$$ coming it. I was a Shaolin Wushu devotee - 5th and Kennedy NW.

Peace

kyle said...

UBM,

As a 40-year-old DC native I can say, with out question, that this is pure gold.

odocoileus said...

I don't recall that specific commercial, but the jingle rings a bell for sure. Wonder what ever happened to old Jhoon.

It was such a different time then, at least in my corner of PG County. When I visit my family, I end up looking for stuff that just ain't there any more.

Christina said...

Oh MAN. I remember seeing that commercial in between cartoons on Channel 20 (anyone remember Captain 20?)

Undercover Black Man said...

^ And Count Gore DeVol.

Lola Gets said...

Ahahaha! I remember this commercial! Yeah, I never went to them, though, and everyone bothered me.

L

cat brother said...

Me, I'm more of a fan of the one with the badass 70's 'duh duh-duh, duh, duh-duh' "Speed!" "Power!" "Con-TROL!" with Jhoon doin' his thing in slo-mo. "Jhoon Rhee THE MASTERRRR!"
The daughter in that commercial? Went to UVA. Nympho. Nym-pho.
Captain 20, on Channel 20 "The Great Entertainer" for all your cheap TV needs. And Black Belt Theater on Saturdays!

Undercover Black Man said...

The daughter in that commercial? Went to UVA. Nympho. Nym-pho.

!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow...

ME
NEEDER!,
R

Anonymous said...

Jhoon is still major elder statesman on the international Tae Kwon Do circuit, as is Dong Ja Yang, my Howard U. TKD teacher who made so many AAU champs and Olympic hopefuls. Jhoon invented the standard equipment used in Olympic TKD, and actually taught most of the US congressmen who are Black belts, including Jesse Jackson Jr. - though I suspect congressmen get their belts with a little less effort.

Interesting things about both those guys, they each have said in classes that they much prefer teaching Black folk, who are more serious about the craft than other non-Koreans. A brother, Mike Warren, actually was the first American to win the international TKD championship, and if I'm not mistaken, Jhoon was a teacher of his.

intrepidideas said...

Wow... You went way back! Jhoon Rhee Korean Karate! One of those things permanently embedded in the brain. In retrospect, Gorilla marketing in effect. He dominated the airways. Channel 20 for sure..... I was an addict. And what about channel 22? But on a good day I could actually get a signal from Baltimore. Channel 45 -- Captain Chesapeake. He rocked!

Undercover Black Man said...

^ Captain Chesapeake... oh damn. Yeah, I remember it was a little thrill picking up a good signal on a Baltimore station.

Now if only I could find some decent "Moon Man" video, I'd be old-schoolin' like a mug!

Undercover Black Man said...

... they each have said in classes that they much prefer teaching Black folk, who are more serious about the craft than other non-Koreans.

Interesting, Eric!

I also have a vague sense (but I could be wrong) the Jhoon Rhee was politically connected at the District level... like he was tight with Mayor Barry?

In any case, I've always wondered whether every city had their own ubiquitous-TV-advertising martial arts instructor during the '70s.

Nope said...

Moon Man! I had two sisters on that show... ahh the memories of low budget TV.

Undercover Black Man said...

Here go a little Moon Man, y'all. (Unfortunately, the embed function is disabled.)

Plus a little Barry Richards, rocking the wardrobe from E.F. Sly!

Christina said...

Today's little shavers have to make do with that gawd-awful Eastern Motors jingle. (At Eastern Motors/your job's your credit...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzS9SxDLFlk

I feel for the kids. What's better, kick-ass TKD or learning at an early age how to get into insurmountable debt?

Undercover Black Man said...

^ Thanks for that, Christina. I actually like that jingle... Look forward to it whenever I'm back in the D.C. area.

(Can't say the same for the "Kiss my bumper" dude.)

Unknown said...

Dave,

Priceless. Thank you.

Christina, it is "Easterns" Motors. (Easterns.com) So we get a lesson in endebtedness and ebonics.

A gun store should steal the commercial and have a dude with a Glock saying, "Nobody disses me"...

Anonymous said...

Wow, I am getting old. I remember the kids at the end, but I wasn't quite in the DC market until '82. My college roommate told me that Jhun Rhee used to get his ass kicked periodically, though. Is that true?

Christina said...

Yeah, UBM is trying to add some years on me! I didn't move to the DC area until 1979.

And, you wouldn't like that Easterns Motors jingle so much if you were still here. :-) Though it's my own dern fault; if I didn't spend my rare weekdays off watching Judge Mathis/Judy/Joe Brown/Hatchett/Divorce Court, I'd never see those commercials.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of ubiquitous martial arts instructors, that's a perfect lead-in to drop in a word for brother Floyd Webb who's been going through legal trials, threats by kung fu kings (yep Bruce Lee movie style) and all matter of madness making this movie I'm real excited about called 'The Search for Count Dante" - the guy who had all the ads in the comic books as the "most dangerous man in the world."

Matt Norwood said...

Excellent. Thanks for that flashback, UBM. Although my brothers and I always sang it as "Fight for Right"; the original commercial must not have had those subtitles.

And thanks, christina, for reminding me of Captain 20.

Now I'm off to Youtube to track down that Spa Lady commercial: "You're a woman of the '80s / You're a Spa Lady / You gotta move!"

Anonymous said...

...And as one of those brothers, this is a great flashback. It does make me wonder, though--we rarely had a TV while growing up, but 30 years later I remember this commercial. And the Carvel ice cream commercials, and some auto-painting place.

Brendan Norwood said...

Wow, that jingle will be forever embedded in the deepest layers of my memory banks. When I'm 90, in the advanced stages of dementia, unable to recognize my own children, I'll be singing "Nobody bothers me..."

Not quite 30 years, though. I'm 27 and distinctly remember those commercials. Probably 20-23 years ago.

Undercover Black Man said...

The Norwood Boys MOBBIN' UP in this muthafucka!!

:^D