Reptar "Stuck In My Id"

Yesterday, I was writing about context. Here's another story where I missed the point because of my age . . .

We took some vacation time in August. My wife and I packed the kids and convened with my wife's family, at my mother-in-law's newly purchased getaway place in Maine.

It's not a camping/cabin, but it's not a luxury mansion either. It was an as-is purchase, that's in pretty good shape, but also needs a bit of work.

Plus, it's outside of town in a place with no TV reception, no internet connection and no cell service.

And after a busy summer at mvy, I was happy to disconnect and be unreachable. Having my laptop around, even when I'm on a break, is too tempting. I'm apt to check my email, which is largely full of inessential messages from record folks, promoting this or that.

One of the charming-but-odd aspects to the Maine house, was that the previous owners left all the contents. That means we inherited a VCR and a large collection of VHS tapes. No DVD player.

So Sunday morning, we were just looking to drink coffee and sprawl and put something on that the kids could watch.

Someone found a copy of "The Rugrats Movie."

"Rugrats" was a show I just plain missed out on.

It was popular in the 90s. Kids loved it. And it had humor for their parents.

But in the 90s, I was neither a kid nor a parent, so I slipped through the cracks of their target audience.

Here in 2011 was my first "Rugrats" experience.

Part of the plot concerns a "Reptar" replica, that one of the parents has made.

"Reptar" is a Godzilla-like creature that the kids love to watch on TV. And one of the Dad's has made a robotic go-cart machine (with the voice of Busta Rhymes!), that the kids are off and running with.

As I was sipping my coffee, enjoying the quiet that comes from the entire family watching a movie, I kept thinking, "Reptar . . . Reptar . . . why does that name sound familiar?"

Post-vacation, it all came back to me.

One of the last emails I had gotten before my break, was from Nick at Vagrant Records, who'd sent me a download of this up-and-coming band, Reptar.

The band members appear to be in their mid-20s, meaning they were rugrats, when "Rugrats" was new.

Now that they're in a band, they've given themselves an age-appropriate pop-culture referencing name.

One that flew right over the head of a guy from another generation.

It works both ways. I'm sure they have no idea why that Americana band is named "Pinmonkey."


Hear Reptar on Youtube.


See the Rugrats Movie trailer, with glimpses of the Reptar Wagon.

And you can also click thru to see "Reptar On Ice"!!!