Media Potluck

We Have Moved!

2010-07-04T12:07:00.000-04:00

We have a new site and domain name! Update your links and RSS: www.mediapotluck.net

Cobra (1986)

2010-05-26T02:49:00.073-04:00

JUNE IS GOING TO BE COBRA MONTH! All next month we will be posting Cobra related articles and content, culminating in a Cobra viewing party. Check back for more details!

A few months ago I was talking with my buddy Jim DeSantis who runs the podcast Movie Brain Rot and somehow our discussion moved to Sylvester Stallone's film Cobra. (Honestly how many conversations don't?) We started throwing around facts about the film and realized the world may want to know and share the joys we have experience getting a better understanding of its place in our nation's history and pop-culture psyche. So we sat down and made it happen:

Movie Brain Rot Episode 60 - Cobra

Keep up to date with Jim's other podcasts on Twitter. @moviebrainrot

In 1985, Stallone was coming off of two extremely successful films in two well know franchises, Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rocky IV. As previously mentioned on this blog, Rambo contains a strong political message as our patriotic hero gets a second chance to go back to Vietnam and "win this time" in a war that was lost by politics and spineless bureaucrats. Again a similar theme is displayed in Rocky IV as Stallone defeats the communist juggernaut Ivan Drago and changes the heart's of a nation as he delivers a speech on change, while wrapped in an American Flag. Cobra (1986) continues what I like to call the political trilogy in Stallone's career, tackling the issue of crime in America and the bureaucratic rules and regulations that prevent the police from combating the every growing violence. The opening monologue:

"In America… there’s a burglary every 11 seconds... an armed robbery every 65 seconds... a violent crime every 25 seconds... a murder every 24 minutes... and 250 rapes a day."

And so begins an hour and a half of of Marion "Cobra" Cobretti shooting, burning, and tackling crime by his own rules. As part of the "Zombie Squad" Cobra is the bottom line, doing the job nobody else wants to do. To my knowledge no other film brings the "no rules cop" concept to the forefront more openly than Cobra. Of course most action films in the 80s contain a hint of this notion and crowds (this author included) love when the good guy can finally take off the gloves and just win. But with scenes so up front in their message, Cobra almost stands out like a PSA against the downfalls of the current justice system. In a 1986 review The New York Time's Nina Darnton even goes as far as to say, "this film shows such contempt for the most basic American values embodied in the concept of a fair trial that Mr. Stallone no longer, even nominally, represents an ideology that is recognizably American." Whoa.

In the podcast Jim and I discuss this and other opinions of the film, taking a look back with 20+ years of reflection on an era where the people were looking to roll up their sleeves and start fixing the nation.

But the podcast is not all serious discussion! After all, Cobra is first and foremost an action film written by and starring one of our best known action stars from a decade famous for its over the top (no pun-intended) action films. It has one-liners, a new world order subplot, axes, and one of the best villain deaths ever caught on film. We touch on the importance of the soundtrack and branding of the film, which lead a young Jim DeSantis to walk around with a matchstick in his mouth and me to instantly purchase the soundtrack before even seeing the film based on the cover alone. We also talk about the strange career of director George P. Cosmatos and his involvement with Stallone and other well known Hollywood actors who wished to direct from behind the scenes.

- Nick

Big Trouble for Buckaroo Banzai

2010-05-10T13:08:00.001-04:00

Media Potluck is proud to present, "Big Trouble for Buckaroo Banzai" on Saturday, May 29th 2010.

Two outstanding genre-bending comedy adventures in the same night! Both of them mysteriously connected...

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is one of the most influential sci-fi comedies of all time and a major cult classic. Released in 1984, directed and produced by W. D. Richter, Buckaroo Banzai combines a complex comic book plat with sharp whit and hard science for a wild ride. The film stars a ludicrous cast including Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Ellrn Barkin. Thrill as Dr. Buckaroo Banzai renowned physicist, neurosurgeon and rock musician tears a hole in the fabric of space and time and accidentally ignites a war on Earth between two inter-dimensional aliens... a war that only he and the Hong Kong Cavaliers can fight. The film has influenced writers and filmmakers for decades including Wes Anderson, whose credit sequence in The Life Aquatic is an homage to this film.

Buckaroo flopped in theaters... and a sequel, Buckaroo banzai Versus the World Crime League was planned but never released, however, W.D. Richter was called on to write the scrip for John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China and there are some striking similarities... Namely that Big Trouble's nefarious villain, Lo Pan is strikingly similar to accounts of Buckaroo's arch nemesis, Hanoi Xan. Yes, for all intents and purposes, John Carpenter's legendary Kurt Russel kung-fu epic is the Buckaroo Banzai sequel that never was!

Not only is this a Media Potluck, but it's also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a delicious cake. Please RSVP and comment with what delicious food you'll bring.

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Aliens vs Rambo

2010-03-22T23:15:00.003-04:00

Media Potluck is proud to present, "Aliens vs Rambo: James Cameron's Action Sequels".

We will be screening two action sequels that have permeated the American cultural psyche and exist thanks in part to the vision of James Cameron. Aliens (1986) and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) have spawned countless rip-offs, references, and parodies providing more evidence that Cameron has the ability to create films (and sequels) that have an impact and lasting power far beyond their contemporaries.

Not only is this a Media Potluck, but it's also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a delicious cake. Please RSVP and comment with what delicious food you'll bring.

Aliens takes the brooding suspense and horror of the first Alien film (1979) and injects it with adrenaline to create a new form of cinematic terror. Sigourney Weaver returns as Ellen Ripley, awakened from hyper sleep after 57 years adrift in the space to find the world she once knew replaced by a suicide mission with a platoon of space marines that takes her back to LV-426, the planet that began her nightmare. We will be screening the 1992 Special Edition. This version adds in seventeen minutes of footage including an alternative opening revealing how the Aliens make their way into the colony on LV-426, the marines using sentry guns to fight off a hoard of xenomorphs, and a subplot involving Ripley's deceased daughter that adds a greater depth to her character. Lock and load or its game over, man.

Beginning the political era of Stallone's career, Rambo: First Blood Part II provides a second chance at the Vietnam war where the the bureaucrats get the boot and America gets to win this time. But before Sly added in his political overtones, Cameron laid down a solid framework that gives recently imprisoned veteran John J. Rambo a chance to reconcile his post-war grievances and document the possible existence of prisoners of war still trapped in Vietnam. The reconnaissance mission ends with Rambo shirtless, oiled up, and firing an M-60 from the hip. If you don't like this film then move to Canada.

Cameron provides two solid stories of damaged heroes getting a second chance to eradicate the demons that haunt them.

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We hope to see you there!

Fantasy February

2010-02-14T13:28:00.001-05:00

Media Potluck is proud to present, "Fantasy February"!

We're going to be screening two outstanding and artful forays into the fantasy genre, Ridley Scott's Director's Cut of "Legend" and Richard Donner's "Ladyhawke". Both these films are ripe with action, comedy, drama, romance, and incredible casts.

This isn't just a regular Media Potluck party but also Cap and Eleanor's anniversary party, celebrating their 7 years together. It's a costume party! Should the spirit be willing come dressed in some sort of medieval, renaissance, or fantasy attire. (But don't feel bad if you must wear modern garb). There will be party favors and much fun.

"Legend" (1985) is a lush fairy-tale like fantasy world, threatened to be corrupted by Darkness. A young Tom Cruise and Mia Sara star as two young lovers torn apart by the demonic Darkness (a legendary performance by Tim Curry). They must resist the torment, torture, and seduction of their idyllic world torn-asunder. "No good without evil, no love without hate, no innocence without lust. I am Darkness." We'll be screening Scott's Director's Cut. Though it loses the amazing Tangerine Dream score and Jon Anderson track, it gains a Jerry Goldsmith score and an already great film is made even better by additional and extended scenes.

Also from 1985 (oddly enough) Donner's "Ladyhawke" is a seldom seen take on the fantasy genre. A very realistic,12th century setting, with no obvious fantasy elements save one: a curse. Two lovers (Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer) were cursed by a jealous Bishop. By night Hauer is a wolf, by day Pfeiffer is a hawk - never to meet in human form ever again. Matthew Broderick plays a young thief, whose daring escape from an inescapable prison gives Hauer the call for revenge.

Not only is this a Media Potluck, but it's also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a delicious cake.

RSVP on Facebook.
Non-Facebook users e-mail us to RSVP and get directions at mediapotluck@gmail.com.

We hope to see you there!

Football Music Videos (1985-present)

2010-02-07T10:31:00.004-05:00

Super Bowl XLIV is almost upon us. So it's only right that we dust off the old classic, The Chicago Bear's “The Super Bowl Shuffle”. But everyone's seen that video. There's not an 80s retrospective that doesn't at least mention it. Here's what you might not know: “ The Super Bowl Shuffle” was only the beginning. After The Bears' track made it to the 41st place on the Billborad charts, got a Grammy nomination for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, and led into them decimating the Patriots at Super Bowl XX, every team wanted a some of that good luck music mojo. The Shuffle spin-offs are all over the place - hilarious, god-awful, and kitschy. Some of them surpass“Super Bowl Shuffle” in quality, and many more of them fall far beneath it. Good, bad, and ugly, Media Potluck has charged through the offense to give you a touchdown of gridiron gems and musical miscellany.

Put plainly, “The Super Bowl Shuffle” is not good. It's 100% novelty riding on the coattails of a massively successful season for The Bears. You cold say it's the good kind of “bad”, but that depends on your endurance. The track is an absurd six minutes in length, so that every member of the team has a chance to rap a verse. (You know, “rapping”, it's that urban fad all the kids are into these days). But hey, they're “not this because [they're] greedy, The Bears are doin' it to feed the needy”, so it's all good. Though it's seldom recognized for it, “The Super Bowl Shuffle” was right at the beginning of the super-powered charity song trend - debuting between “Do They Know it's Christmas?” in late 1984 and “We Are the World” in the early 1985. This is one of the aspects that sets it apart from all its spin-offs. The Bears were shufflin' for a purpose, everyone one else was doing it to look cool.

The Bears didn't invent team songs. Perhaps the most direct precursor to the “Super Bowl Shuffle” is a track from 1980 of the Detroit Lions, fronted by their Safety Jimmy “Spiderman” Allen, parodying Queen's “Another One Bites the Dust”. But a century before that, the Cincinnati Red Stockings would occasionally join together and sing a song to their spectators during their 1800s baseball games. From the 70s until the early 90s it was also popular for UK football teams to record a song if they qualified for the FA Cup Final. These recordings, called the “cup final record” were either original compositions or parodies of popular songs, and, like “The Super Bowl Shuffle” some of them even made it in the pop charts. None of the “Shuffle” spin-offs can say the same.

It's a little known fact that there was another pre-Super Bowl XX song in 1985. The unlikely culprits: The Seattle Seahawks and their song, “Locker Room Rock”. Unlike almost all other football songs that followed, there's no rap to be found here. Without the influence of “The Super Bowl Shuffle”, the Seahawks delivered something completely different: a 50s rock 'n' roll style jam more like something that stumbled from a high school production of Grease than a football fight song. The video even has a musical-style dramatic setup. The team is exhausted but, ol' number 55 (Michael Jackson) comes in, tenderly wiping some sweat off a teammates chin, and gives them an enthusiastic song-and-dance pep talk, 'cause “the blue wave is on a roll.” Bonus points are awarded for one of the team emerging from a steamy shower room wearing only a towel and playing the saxophone.

In '86, just before the Bears swept Super Bowl XX, their contenders, The New England Patriots released a song of their own. But instead of a right-back-at-ya rap, the song is a cheerful anthem with a bit of anti-Bear bloodlust from the New England community called, “New England, The Patriots and We”. The song was recorded mostly by local New England celebrities, with the Patriots in a few shots and verses (suspiciously all wearing MTV caps).

After their Super Bowl win, every team wanted a piece of the “Shuffle” pie and the lasting power of The Bears' goofy charity track began to show. The “Shuffle” spin-offs attempt to vary somewhat in style and direction, they essentially replicate the format of the Bear's track: the ridiculous image of padded football players dancing back and forth, and each player rapping a self-referential, usually boastful verse. With this format, most of these songs are as unbearably long as the “Super Bowl Shuffle”. What singles out the “Shuffle” from all the copycats is that The Bears seem really into it. In many of the spin-off videos there are a few players that are very obviously uncomfortable, either with stage fright or that they don't want anything to do with any MTV tomfoolery. It's one of the many added novelties to the post-“Shuffle” videos.
The crown jewel of 1986 football songs is without a doubt the L.A. Rams' “Ram It”. The song is non-stop sexual innuendo. It's hilarious, catchy, and very self-aware: “if you ram it just right you can ram it all night.” See it to believe:

The Oakland Raiders' “Silver and Black Attack” is a definite change of pace from the feel-good football tracks. The song is said to be a stylistic reference to the Christian metal group, Stryper, who were popular at the time (their first album is entitled Yellow and Black Attack). The actual effect of the hair metal combined with the Raiders' rapping makes it more reminiscent of dark gangsta rap. At 2:45 one of the players, disguised as a hair metal guitarist jumps in and starts wailing on the guitar and most of the team recoils with their hands on their ears. Yeah, real tough, guys.

Meanwhile in 1986, other sports took the opportunity to do their own shuffling, or boogying as may be the case. The University of Memphis Pom-Pon Squad performed their “Pom-Pon Shuffle” during one of the Memphis Tigers' halftime performances. It's nothing special, but skip ahead to 2:43 for a guaranteed spit-take. The L.A. Dodgers' “Baseball Boogie” takes the sport video fad to ridiculous, high-budget extremes with an enthusiasm not matched by any football team. You could say they're a little too excited.

Neither the Rams or the Raiders even made it to Super Bowl XXI in 1987. Instead the Giants and the Broncos faced off against one another. They didn't have songs to give them good luck, but the Giants celebrated their victory by recording a track, a Katrina and the Waves parody called “Walk Like a Giant”. During the commercials of the 1987 Super Bowl, another football music video aired, but not from any team in the NHL, or even in America. It turns out that American football has some life beyond U.S. soil, even in Glasgow, Scotland. Makes perfect sense when you think about it. “Diamond Rap” by the Glasgow Diamonds is the most pop-centric and likable of the football songs. It was produced by Ivor Novello award-winning producer, Bill Padley and breaks from the “Shuffle” format by favoring only one singer who brings the rhymes in addition to a catchy pop chorus. The only off thing about the song is that the singer, Paul Birchard, is an actor, not a football player. Talent-cheating aside, the video is fun, the song is enjoyable, and Birchard is charming in his role as a football singer with a good set of pipes.

Football songs started to fade by '88. The Philadelphia Eagles' “Buddy's Watchin' You” (a reference to their coach, Buddy Ryan) is a forgettable song in the vein of “Super Bowl Shuffle” with an under-produced video. The “49ers Rap” is equally weak, but their video is more watchable with a slew of kitschy editing and digital 2-D animation that looks like it was rendered in MS Paint. They're the “team of the eighties” alright.
Elsewhere in the sporting world, the Calgary Flames composed a power ballad called “Red Hot”. There's no sign of the stereotypical hockey aggression here, no spitting on the mic, just wistful hope, pride, and full, glorious mustaches: “you can climb the highest mountain, you can put a man on the moon, you can see to the horizon... but you can't touch a flame when it's RED HOT!” Unlike all the other tracks from '88, Liverpool Football Club (not the American kind) took the Hollywood of “Super Bowl Shuffle” to heart, and produced a serious hip-hop track. “Anfield Rap” riffs off of a few of the hip-hop tracks of the day and delivers a witty song with a colorful video reminiscent of the opening of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In this track the only two native Liverpudlian's on the team make fun of the other player's accents (and viceversa) It's an amazing gem of 80s British hip-hop.

The fad had all but died when the 90s set in, and the Dolphins were the final nail in the coffin. “You Can't Touch Us” by Cory and the Fins sees the Dolphins rapping to a parody of MC Hammer's “U Can't Touch This”. The opening is pure retro cheese. South Floridian talk radio personalities Rick and Suds are in the studio playing the campy “Miami Dolphins Fight Song” from the 70s and get Dolphin linebacker David Grigs on the phone. Cut to Grigs leaning against a white Mercedes in an alleyway, wearing a tank top and Zubaz pants, talking to the hosts on a walkie talkie-sized cellphone: “yo, first of all Rick, the Dolphins are back. We're a new team, we're Super Bowl bound, and they can't touch us.” It's not just Grigs kickin' it in Zubaz, it's the whole team and the cheerleaders (Dan Marino is fashionably absent from the whole video). Every Dolphin present gets to rap a line or two, but the real star of the video isn't a Dolphin at all, but the mysterious “cool guy” named Cory. I mean, nothing says cool like a dude in a tux and bow tie with no shirt underneath riding an escalator with a Hooters girl as he threatens to, “bust these football lyrics.” The video is colorful, super dated, and full of laughs. Stop. Dolphin time.

The only other highlights from football music in the 90s is Bill Medley's “Friday Night's a Great Night for Football” which served as the awkward opening title sequence for an otherwise terrific movie. Tony Scott's 1991 action movie The Last Boy Scout. If the former Righteous Brother's song and dance serves any purpose, it's to put you off guard for how fucked up the opening scene of the movie is. (Possibly the most incredible movie moment ever filmed on a football field, but I'll let you do the clicking to find out why.) In 1999 the Jacksonville Jaguars released a song and video for "Uh Oh, The Jaguars Super Bowl Song". It didn't give them any good luck and its presence on the internet is almost nonexistent. It wasn't until 2005 that another team tried their luck with a song and video. Funk music superstar, Bootsy Collins teamed up with his home team, the Cincinnati Bengals for a bit of hip-hop and funk fusion called “Fear Da Tiger”. Despite the star power of Collins, the song weak, succumbs to a similar “Shuffle” format and both the song and the video are mediocre without entertainment value.

Now, 2010, the football video has returned in slick, new self-aware package. LaDainian Tomlinson, aka. L.T., of the San Diego Chargers, a football mega-star, is now an Internet sensation. His song and video for “L.T. Electric Glide” is mind-blowingly ridiculous. It's a send up of to the comedy songs of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job complete with green screens, cheesy effects, and homeless-looking backup dancers. The video was filmed two years ago for a Nike ad, but not released until now, and was directed by Tim Skousen, the assistant director of Napoleon Dynamite. L.T.'s dance is real easy to do, you just glide with it, and “wave to your mama – she's in the stands.” Check it out, you'll have all the moves down in no time.

This story comes full circle. Twenty-five years after the “Super Bowl Shuffle” began all this madness it's about to return. During the commercials of Super Bowl XLIV members of the 1985 Chicago Bears - Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, Willie Gault, Otis Wilson, Steve Fuller and Maury Buford will return to perform an updated version of “The Super Bowl Shuffle”. The reunion is for a Boost Mobile commercial as a part of their “Unwronged” advertising campaign, but as with the original “Shuffle” the Bears aren't doin' it because they're greedy. Boost customers will be able to download the “Boost Mobile Shuffle” ringtone for a dollar and the proceeds go to charity.

-Cap

Audio Archaeology is a Media Potluck and Consequence of Sound presentation.

UPDATE
Now, for your viewing pleasure, the full "Boost Mobile Shuffle":

True Geniuses, Real Stories

2010-01-26T16:04:00.002-05:00

Media Potluck is proud to present, "True Geniuses, Real Stories"!

Two alternative 80s comedies with amazing soundtracks! These movies aren't cheesy nostalgia trips, they're works of art.

First up is 1985's "Real Genius". This movie, though, similar in format to many of its contemporaries, stands above the average 80s college comedy film. A young Val Kilmer stars as a fun-loving genius working against the system while the government tries to trick him into developing a Star Wars-like space defense program. It's social commentary, big laughs, terrific direction, and an astounding alternative music selection from a bunch of amazing bands that have been forgotten (oh yeah, and Tears For Fears). Directed by Martha Coolidge who also directed the totally awesome, "Valley Girl".

"Real Genius" trailer:

Then we have Cap's favorite film of all time: 1986's "True Stories". The film is written, directed by, and starring Talking Heads' frontman David Byrne. It's a work of art - a musical comedy that observes modern American life in ways no one has before or since. The fictional town of Virgil, Texas is celebrating their state's sesquicentennial with a big talent show. It's tabloid strangeness come to life, it's a completely cool, multi-purpose movie that will leave you forever changed.

"True Stories" trailer:

Not only is this a Media Potluck, but it's also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a delicious cake. Please RSVP and comment with what delicious food you'll bring.

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Media Potluck Holiday Feast Volume 2 (2009)

2009-12-25T06:56:00.006-05:00

At long-last! The 2009 Media Potluck Holiday Feast is here! An album-length podcast of holiday tunes freshly compiled with a big-shiny bow on top to make your winter celebration merry and bright. This year's Holiday Feast has some crazy surprises. As always, we strive to collect holiday tunes that won't make you want to put a yuletide bullet in your brain. There are astounding renditions of old classics, fun new holiday tunes revitalizing tired Christmas concepts, awesome instrumentals, songs about the season, never mind the reason, and even some cussing – oh boy!

So, nestle up close to the yule log crackling on the television, settle into your leopard print Snuggie, and let your ears sip deep on this hot toddy of audio awesome.

Media Potluck's Holiday Feast Volume 2 (2009)

1. Jon Anderson - “Three Ships”
As Cap promised in Media PODluck: A Christmas Evening Together, this year's Feast opens with Yes vocalist Jon Anderson's rendition of the classic Christmas track. It's a Mannheim Steamroller-style synth explosion with subtle extraterrestrial implications. ...Okay so maybe the only certain implication is in the album art and the m usic video. 3 Ships, the Anderson album this track hails from, was out of print for ages and only on CD in Japan until recently. Now everyone can experience the heavenly combination of Anderson's angelic voice and Christmas synths

2. Jim Dooley - “Change of Heart”
This instrumental track comes from the score to the Brain Fuller television series Pushing Daisies. Dooley's score to the amazing (and canceled before its time) series is nothing short of breathtaking. Never has there been a more cinematic and diverse score for a network television show and “Change of Heart” is a perfect example of this. The track is a winter-themed arrangement from the season one finale, “Corpsicle”. It combines sleigh bells, a choir, and a distorted version of The Nutcracker Suite with a full orchestra for an effect that would make Danny Elfman weak in the knees.

3. Jethro Tull - “Birthday Card at Christmas”
This is one of the few new compositions featured on The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. Most of the tracks are either new recordings of older songs or Tull versions of Christmas tunes. Ian Anderson wrote this cynical song with his daughter in mind: "My daughter Gael, like millions of other unfortunates, celebrates her birthday within a gnat’s whisker of Christmas. Overshadowed by the Great Occasion, such birthdays can be flat, perfunctory and fleetingly token in their uneventful passing. The daunting party and festive celebration of the Christian calendar overshadows too, some might argue, the humble birthday of one Mr. J. Christ. Funny old 25ths, Decembers…"

4. The Ocean Blue - “Frigid Winter Days”
The Ocean Blue are a dream rock band that we did a short article on a while back. They're a late generation dream rock band fueled by a love of Morrissey but without all the depression and self obsession. “Frigid Winter Days” is charged with a superb energy and rustic feel that embodies how much fun it can be to be a kid during the wintertime.

5. The Specials - “Holiday Fortnight”
From their 1980 album, More Specials. The politically-charged champions of the late-70s British ska movement, find the time to work in a jolly instrumental for all your merry holiday mayhem.

6. The Kinks - “Father Christmas”
Unlike many rock band Christmas singles, The Kinks' doesn't compromise. It's rockin', it's in the spirit, but it tackles some serious issues: namely the class struggle. In the song a fella playing Santa is stuck up by some young punks who aren't interested in toys. Their parents don't have jobs, life is hard, and all the world is merry and bright while theirs is in the gutter.

7. The Three Wise Men (Aka XTC) - “Thanks For Christmas”
Following the Kink's social crit Christmas single, we have a fun and catchy, but certainly schlocky, holiday tune from an unlikely source: XTC. The new wave band released this single under the pseudonym of “The Three Wise Men” and no hint to the actual band appears anywhere on the original single. Presumably the anonymity was to maintain their good name as edgy rockers and not suffer the flak and regret as Squeeze did with their 1979 single, “Christmas Day”. The song was credited to “Blathazar/Kaspar/Melchior”, actually written by front man Andy Partridge, and produced by “The Three Wise Men and the Good Lord”, the “Good Lord” being producer, David Lord. Strange and sentimental Christmas pop from the band who would, three years later, release the scathing atheist single, “Dear God”.

8. Reel Big Fish - “Mele Kalikimaka”
A goofy 50s novelty tune made goofier by ska greats Reel Big Fish. Loud and crazy Christmas tunes are in short supply and this track more than makes up for their absence. Interesting note: “Mele Kalikimaka” is a transliteration, not a translation, of “Merry Christmas” - so in essence it's just a ridiculous nonsense word.

9. Jimmy Eat World - “Last Christmas”
If there's one stand-out Christmas single from the 1980s it's Wham!'s “Last Christmas”. It has its charms, certainly, but let's be honest – it's pretty flimsy. Lots of potential, more than enough to keep it alive, but not enough to give it any true longevity. In 2001 Jimmy Eat World brought “Last Christmas” to full bloom. Not only is the song given a much needed boost in energy, but every bit of the melodies that gave the original its staying power have been beautifully reproduced and layered into a wonderfully full sound.

10. Corky and the Juice Pigs - “Christmas Dreams”
Sappy Country-Western tearjerker ballads are cut to shreds by this hilarious parody. You may recall our article earlier in the year on the amazing talent of this Canadian comedic music trio, now savor their laugh gravy drizzled delicately over your Christmas ham. Alcoholism was never so funny.

11. The Long Winters - “Christmas With You is the Best”
A Christmas love song, but no sappy stuff here. This is a song for holiday cynicism and a “non-traditional, non-denominational celebration” with your loved one... you know... intercourse. Be sure to listen for the really funky mid-song keyboard breakdown.

12. Gil Mantera's Party Dream - “Brave New Christmas”
Party Dream does what they do best: dark, danceable synth rock – but this instrumental jam from their debut CD Bloodsongs has sleigh bells in it. Party. Christmas bonus.

13. Tenacious D & Sum 41 - “Things I Want”
A powerhouse X-Mas Rock ballad from two incredible bands. Jack Black takes the vocal chores and wields his rock expertly against the intense backing provided by Sum 41 and K.G. The lyrics are classic D material that will make you lust for another album (put that on your wish list). The song was originally composed for KROQ-FM's 2001 Christmas compilation, Swallow My Eggnog.

14. I Fight Dragons - “I Want an Alien For Christmas”
This track is brand-new and comes from NES-infused pop rockers I Fight Dragon's mailing list. This is a cover of a little-known Fountains of Wayne track from 1997, spruced up with IFD's expert chiptunes accompaniment. Don't know who I Fight Dragons are? Check out Nerdy Show's interview with them, and then sign up for the mailing list, they give out fun tracks like this all the time.

15. PFFR - “X-Mas Time”
From the production company/ art collective/ electro rock band that brought you Wonder Showzen, Xavier: Renegade Angel, and Delocated comes... this. Best not to explain it. Suffice it to say that it's a beautiful track and you'll be forever changed.

16. Luscious Jackson - “Let it Snow”
A fast and fun return to a holiday staple from Luscious Jackson. This track is best known for being a part of the Gap Jeans ad campaign between 1998 and 1999. The campaign featured popular bands (such as Aerosmith) performing short songs against white backgrounds. This is a different and longer version of the song than the one featured on the Let it Snow Gap ad. Check out this video for another one of their 30-second songs, “Stone Fox”.

17. Gordon Lightfoot - “Song For a Winter's Night”
Gordon Lightfoot is certainly a well-known musician, but he doesn't get the attention he deserves these days (at least not in America). His folk music transcends its genre and slips into an unclassifiable place reserved for heartfelt, beautiful music much like his more famous contemporaries Simon and Garfunkle. So ease back and listen to one of the great musicians of our age paint you a winters night with melodies and words. This song was originally recorded in 1967 on his second album The Way I Feel. The version included on the Holiday Feast is a re-recording from 1975 from his hits album, Gord's Gold and features a string arrangement.

18. M arcy Playground - “Keegan's Christmas”
Marcy Playground are a brilliant band who have been long over-looked. Their second album, Shapeshifter is one of the greatest albums of the 90s, but the curse of their not particularly inspired hit single, “Sex and Candy” remains. “Keegan's Christmas” doesn't go toe-to-toe with most of the band's material, it's a simple tune, but its recollection of a child's impatience for Christmas to finally come is wonderful. Marcy Playground released their fourth LP, Leaving Wonderland...in a Fit of Rage this year. Check it out.

19. Mike Oldfield - “In Dulci Jubilo”
A rollicking instrumental from Mike “Tubular Bells” Oldfield. This was a holiday single in 1975 and made it to #4 in the UK charts. The traditional Christmas tune is very skillfully rendered with a full arrangement of modern instruments including synths and Oldfield's distinctive electric guitar work.

20. The Cast of Twin Peaks - “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
What would a Christmas CD be without another oddball rendition of this classic Christmas tune? Last year we had Bob and Doug McKenzie's Canadian hoser version, and this year something entirely different... a body... dead... wrapped in plastic. Many of the Twin Peaks cast including Kyle McLaughlan, Jack Nance, Kimmy Robertson, Dana Ashbrook, Frank Silva, and Robert Bauer as the seldom seen Johnny Horne appear on this oddball track. Fans of the series will be delighted others might be... confused. Do yourself a favor and watch the show. The song contains what some might consider spoilers. It's pretty vague, so new viewers - just don't dwell on it too much and you'll be fine. The track is another made especially for one of KROQ's Christmas compilations.

21. R.E.M. - “Christmas Time (Is Here Again)”
Every year, just as the Beatles did before them, R.E.M. releases a Christmas song to their fan club. It's only appropriate that eventually they got around to covering the Beatles' Christmas tune, “Christmas Time (Is Here Again)”. This is their offering from 2000, a hap-hazard cover featuring an untuned horns section. Hilarity ensues.

22. Monty Python's Flying Circus - “Christmas in Heaven”
The grand finale of the final Python film, The Meaning of Life. Graham Chapman parodies Tony Bennett and the entire production is full of Vegas-style theatricality. This isn't what you'd call a typical Christmas song by any stretch of the concept, but it does play on some common themes such as consumerism and wish-fulfillment. An excellent specimen of the Python's brilliant humor.

23. Emerson, Lake, & Palmer - “I Believe in Father Christmas”
A direct confrontation to the rampant consumerism of the holiday season. Alan Lake originally recorded this track as a solo effort in protest of Christmas' commercialization, this is a re-recorded version with all of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. It's often mistaken as an anti-religious son to which Lake replied: "I find it appalling when people say it's politically incorrect to talk about Christmas, you've got to talk about 'The Holiday Season.' Christmas was a time of family warmth and love. There was a feeling of forgiveness, acceptance. And I do believe in Father Christmas."

24. The Crash Test Dummies - “In the Bleak Midwinter”
Another track from the Crash Test Dummies' amazing Christmas album, Jingle All the Way. A rare treat among CTD songs is having band member Ellen Reid on lead vocals. Reid's voice is beautiful and she delivers the most soulful rendition of this somber Christmas tune that you're ever likely to hear. Her 2001 solo album, Cinderellen is amazing – expect to see a Potluck article on that someday soon.

25. George Harrison - “Ding Dong, Ding Dong”
It's not often that New Year's gets songs devoted to it. Okay, there's U2's “New Year's Day”, but an actual holiday track not so much. This 1974 George Harrison single is the perfect peppy sing-along to musically bridge December 25th and the new year. See you on the flip side.

Happy Holidays from Media Potluck!

A Christmas Evening Together (Media PODluck #1)

2009-12-21T22:04:00.018-05:00

Escaping to a secluded cabin in North Carolina, Cap and Nick discuss some of their favorite Christmas music, moments, and memories. Enjoy an eclectic mix of music across the decades as well as reflections on the holidays; including how to kill a boar, how holiday music playing in steak restaurants can be life changing, and a Floridian answer to snow. Listen in as two friends share a Christmas evening together.

Enjoy some photos from the trip.

Media Potluck: A Christmas Evening Together

Mannheim Steamroller - "Carol Of The Bells"
Wendy & Lisa featuring Seal - "The Closing Of The Year"
Robert Goulet - "H e's Gonna Take Away Our Christma s"
Jon Anderson - "2,000 Years" / "Forest of Fire"
Le Knight Club - "Holiday On Ice" / "Santa Claus"
The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend (The Venture Brothers) - "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy"
Michael Kamen (Die Hard Soundtrack) - "The Nakatomi Plaza" / "Welcome To The Party" / "Ode To Joy"
The Avalanches - "Winter Wonderland"
The Four Seasons - "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"
Kate Bush - "December Will Be Magic Again" (Alternate Mix)
Dan Phillips - "Jingles Are Jingles"
Crash Test Dummies - "White Christmas"
John Williams - "Somewhere In My Memory"
Max Headroom - "Merry Christmas Santa Claus (You're a Lovely Guy)"
Erasure - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
Jethro Tull - "Fire At Midnight"
Michael Iceberg - "Olympic Suite: Mt. Olympus" / "Forest Rains" / "Penguins In Love" / "Imagine Finale" / "Epilogue: Flashbacks"

*Titles link to most relevant content on the internets.

Listen Now!

Also check out the Media Potluck: Holiday Feast Volume 1 from 2008, another great mix of holiday fanfare.

Non-Holiday Holiday Movies

2009-11-29T02:18:00.002-05:00

Media Potluck is proud to present, "Non-Holiday Holiday Movies" Sunday, December 6th!

The holiday season is upon us!

But let's not drown ourselves in sentimental hogwash, let's take in some quality films that take place in and around Christmas time, but aren't necessarily what you'd call Christmas movies.

First up there's one of Cap's all-time favorite movies: Barry Levinson's "Toys" (1992) starring Robin Williams, Michael Gambon, Robin Wright Penn, Joan Cusack, and LL Cool J. It's a surreal, multi-layered dark comedy unlike anything ever made - and it has an incredible soundtrack to match. (Media Potluck article pending)

Check out the trailer below, you can also watch a few clips on Hulu.

Next is John McTiernan's genre-defining action flick "Die Hard" (1988) starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, and the immortal Reginald VelJohnson. Action, explosions, cuss words, yule-tide cheer - What more could you ask for?

We're breaking tradition a bit here and throwing the party on a Sunday. We're also starting a bit early. Party starts at 5, movies start at 6.

Not only is this a Media Potluck, but it's also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a delicious holiday cake. Please RSVP and comment with what delicious food you'll bring.

RSVP on Facebook.
Non-Facebook users e-mail us to RSVP and get directions at mediapotluck@gmail.com.

Terror Times 4: The Phantasm Legacy

2009-10-17T15:13:00.004-04:00

Media Potluck is proud to present: "Terror Times 4: The Phantasm Legacy"! Saturday, October 24th.

For the haunted month of October we're pulling out all the stops and rolling out a QUAD FEATURE: all four Phantasm films!

Phantasm (1979)
Phantasm II (1988)
Phantasm III: The Lord of the Dead (1994)
Phantasm OblIVion (1998)

Phantasm is a unique gem in the world of horror series - not only is the series more surreal and artful than your average horror movie, but it's more consistent. All four films were written and directed by the same man, Don Coscarelli, and they have impeccable continuity between one another.

Check out the trailer for the first film:

Four films in one nigh is a tall order, but they clock in at just over six-hours- as long as one of our usual parties.

The party will start at 6 PM, films begin at 7 PM and into the dark of the night. It'll be our very own grind house of savory movie-potluck-mayhem.

Not only is this a Media Potluck, but it's also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a spooky themed cake and haunted popcorn. Please RSVP and comment with what treat (or trick) you will bring.

Please note: these films are all rated R and, being horror movies, things are going to get intense.

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Non-Facebook users e-mail us to RSVP and get directions at mediapotluck@gmail.com.

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990)

2009-09-10T15:31:00.008-04:00

Once in preschool, my class was shown a video for a special occasion. It was a story about nursery rhymes in live action, but with all the bright colors of a cartoon. Mother Goose had disappeared and her son was looking for her. People started just... vanishing without a trace. I recall enjoying the video, but not being able to shake a sense of dread. It was a strange movie. One of the clearer memories I retained was of the Three Men in a Tub, oddly dressed, floating by in a forest, not speaking, only gesturing. To make the my memories of the film even more fragmented, we ran out of time in class and the video was stopped before it was over, leaving the disappearances unresolved. Every so often I'd remember the video, but could never figure out what it was. Then one day, almost twenty years later, it came up in conversation - Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme. The solution to my years of curiosity was only a Google search away.

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, also called Shelley Duvall's Rock and Rhymeland, was a made for TV movie from 1990, with frequent play on the Disney Channel during the early nineties. It's distinctive for having music video-style production as well as starring a number of well-known musicians and actors. The musical star power alone is insane – Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry, Bobby Brown, The Stray Cats, Little Richard, ZZ Top, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle (though not in the same scenes), and that's just hitting all the high notes.

The film follows Gordon Goose (Dan Gilroy), the adult son of Mother Goose, who can't stand living in Rhymeland amongst all of his mother's spastic creations, called “Rhymies”. One day, on his way to work, Little Bo Peep (Shelley Duvall) drives up and tells Gordon that his mother has disappeared. Their fears are confirmed when Itsy Bitsy Spider tells them he saw something come out of the sky and take her. Together, Gordon and Bo Peep drive through Rhymeland meeting with other nursery rhyme characters, searching for clues. They soon discover that, due to Mother Goose's disappearance, Rhymies are vanishing from existence and if they don't find her soon, their world will end. Pretty bleak stuff for a kid's movie.

Does it hold up? Well, kinda. Certainly no adult will feel the same tension I did in preschool, but it's easy to see how a kid might. If Rock 'n' Rhyme had been animated in the goopy TV style of the late 80s it would've been no more memorable than an episode of The Smurfs. The bright colors, crazy camera angles, and absurd sets of the production, coupled with the intense, mismatched fashions of the time give Rock 'n' Rhyme a unique feel. Cartoon-like live action strips away a lot of the goofiness that an actual made for TV cartoon would've accentuated, and emphasizes the drama of the situation. To my kid brain, the strange lighting, the desperation of the main character, and the actuality of people vanishing without a trace amounted to real concern and dreamlike foreboding. To an adult audience, Rock 'n' Rhyme is clearly made for kids. The writing isn't very compelling and there are some severe pacing issues. What it does have are adult undertones that would've gone over kids heads, terrific 90s aesthetics, and a high-profile cast that few children could appreciate. Check out this scene with Cyndi Lauper as Mary (Had a Little Lamb) and Woody Harrelson as the Little Lamb, turned full-grown sheep, Lou:

"I lost two wonderful husbands all because of Lou's insistence on following me
everywhere.... if you know what I mean."

What's particularly strange about this all-star musical line-up is that there are only a few songs in Rock 'n' Rhyme, and of these big names, only Little Richard and the Stray Cats actually perform. The real stars of the show are Shelley Duvall and Dan Gilroy as Little Bo Peep and Gordon Goose. Shelley Duvall you may know – as actress she gets around, but she's perhaps best known for creating, producing, and staring in her own live action television show of children's stories, Faerie Tale Theatre and its several successful spin-offs. Though Duvall didn't produce Rock 'n' Rhyme, it's no wonder that some versions of the film bear her good name in front of the title. (What's more, it was written by two of her show's frequent writers, Mark Curtiss and Rod Ash.) Dan Gilroy is more of an enigma, until I realized who he was. Gilroy was the lead singer of a band called Breakfast Club - no relation to the film. Breakfast Club deserve an article all to themselves, but in short: they formed in the late 70s, briefly featured Madonna (who Gilroy Dated) as a drummer and sometimes singer, released one album, and their 1987 single “Right On Track” is one of the greatest forgotten hits of the 80s. The video for “Right On Track” is a likewise forgotten, but no less outstanding gem – if Pee-Wee's Playhouse had a house band with more energy and antics than the Puppetland Band, this would be it. The video looks like it was shot in Pee-Wee's very own digs and the band are like cartoons- wait... this sounds familiar. Yes, it turns out that man who directed most of Breakfast Club's videos is none other than the director of Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, Jeff Stein.

The connections go even further and unlock just how this strange film came into being. Jeff Stein isn't just some guy who made some videos for a band you've never heard of, he's a prolific video director. The first film of his career was the groundbreaking 1979 rockumentary The Kids Are Alright, placing Stein on the music video radar right as the genre was inventing itself. All through the 1980s he directed videos for everyone from The Cars, to Debbie Harry, to every single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' album Southern Accents... including the ultra-famous video for “Don't Come Around Here No More”. Of course the surreal video of Tom Petty as the Mad Hatter is by the same guy as Rock 'n' Rhyme! It all makes perfect sense. In fact, the giant black and white checkered room in the music video is almost identical to the court of Old King Cole in Rock 'n' Rhyme.

Stein and Duvall's joined forces are the best explanation for the tour de force star power behind Rock 'n' Rhyme, as to what warranted a huge musical cast with little to no musical output from most of them, that's a secret I haven't been able to uncover. Excess aside, the absurdity of the cast makes for a fun viewing. Veteran actress, Jean Stapleton plays the kindly old Mother Goose who spends her days writing into existence the wacky denizens of Rhymeland. Every morning that Gordon leaves the house he's assaulted by the Rhymies' absurdity, as seen in the opening song, “Hop To It”, performed by a cast of characters including the nearly 70 year-old musical trio, the Del Rubio Triplets. The bouncy tune of “Hop To It” suggests that it was written by Gilroy and perhaps some of the other then-disbanded Breakfast Club, but information is sparse.

Gordon is an awkward main character. Kids can easily relate to all the strange and carefree characters of Rhymeland, especially the quirky Bo Peep, but Gordon is cynical, sarcastic, and downright rude. A terrific example of this is when, in mistaking the voice of Itsy Bitsy Spider for Bo Peep, Gordon turns to her and says, “you know, you have the stupidest little voice” - ouch. What does make Gordon relative to kids is that he's lost his mother, a profound childhood fear that everyone shares. I recall from my original memories of Rock 'n' Rhyme that the tension of Mother Goose's disappearance was made even more foreboding by the interrupted message of Itsy Bitsy (played by famed actor and dancer Ben Vereen, best known to kids as Mayor Ben in Zoobilee Zoo). He mentions that something big came out of the sky, but the rain washes him down the waterspout before he can finish his message. Actually, he doesn't finish his message because he has some kind of Attention-Deficit Disorder and can't stay on one topic. As a kid I didn't pick up on that.

Bo Peep and Gordon set out on a road trip through Rhymeland to search for clues. Herein is the heart of Rock 'n' Rhyme, exploring a Nursery Rhyme universe where all the characters are played by famous people and they're all a bit dysfunctional. The mysterious Three Men in a Tub who confounded me as a youngster were ZZ Top. They point Gordon and Bo Peep in the right direction even though Gordon insults them (“they look like dropouts from barber college if you ask me”). Harry Anderson is the alliteration articulating Peter Piper, Howie Mandel plays the egghead Humpty Dumpty, Pia Zadora is the pint-sized, hospitality obsessed Little Miss Muffet, and Garry Shandling and Teri Garr are the “modern Rhymie-something kinda couple” Jack and Jill, who talk every problem to death: “Jill, I respect your need for needs, but I too have needs.” A scene featuring Married With Children's Katey Sagal as Mary Quite Contrary was inexplicably removed from the Rock 'n' Rhyme VHS release, while the Rock and Rhymeland version (seen on TV) kept the scene with a few other differences elsewhere in the film.

As “that grand old man of rock 'n' roll, that merry old soul, Old King Cole”, Little Richard is the first musician to perform his own music in the film. He serenades his rowdy court of rappers and his Minister of Merriment (a bit part inexplicably played by Van Dyke Parks) with a some old time rock 'n' roll. “Come on and give me some pie,” he wails as a giant pie is rolled into the court, out of which pops three female singers in crow outfits. Gordon makes the mistake of using the word “serious” in front of the king and is sent to the dungeon, “where we will drill the meaning of merriment into you until you scream with laughter.”

The dungeon scene is one of the most memorable of the entire film. Gordon is chained up and accosted by a grotesque, masked hair band who perform a song about what a tool he is. The band is an interesting point of discussion for fans of the film. They're credited as “The Dank” and over the years have been attributed as everyone from KISS to Twisted Sister. In actuality they're an assemblage of former Breakfast Club members Eddie Gilroy, Steve Bray, and the future American Idol judge, Randy Jackson with additional members Dweezil Zappa and Warren DeMartini, the lead guitarist of Ratt. What's confusing about that lineup is that there's one too many guitarists (there are only two in the scene) yet all those individuals are credited. So among these masked men it's hard to say who was and wasn't a part of The Dank. Regardless of the specifics, the song is catchy, fun, and features that creepy chant from The Wizard of Oz in the backing vocals:

Night falls on Rhymeland and even more people are disappearing. Gordon and Bo Peep turn to shadier sources for clues, that being Georgie Porgie's, a dingy night club where the Stray Cats (wearing feline prosthetics) are the house band. Art Garfunkle plays Georgie Porgie, the nearly silent bar tender. If he wasn't credited as the part I wouldn't have known it was him. It might be that he was just in the film so that both he and Simon could be credited in the film together. Simon appears later on as Simple Simon, a hitchhiker with no short term memory (and a crazy jump suit with peace signs and ankhs). Simon sings a rendition of Willie Nelson's “On the Road Again” briefly (“on the road again, can't remember why I'm on the road again”) before Gordon snaps at him. There's a couple of subtle Simon and Garfunkle jokes thrown in, such as that Simple Simon's rhyme that he met a pieman going to the fair (as in Scarborough) and later Gordon chidingly calls him “bright eyes” (as in the Art Garfunkle song).

In between Simon and Garfunkle's scenes is an odd aside in which Gordon meets the Three Blind Mice, all played by Bobby Brown. They run a detective agency and make some noir detective jokes, as well as blind people jokes, and then an inexplicable dance scene happens. What's odd about Bobby Brown playing all three of the mice is that someone had to play the other two and the whole routine is very reminiscent of his New Edition days, but as best as anyone can tell no one from his former group joined him for the scene:

Gordon and Bo Peep steal the Cow that Jumps Over the Moon from Cheech Marin (The Cat and the Fiddle) and tear a hole though their reality into *gasp* the real world. There they find that a young boy has abducted Mother Goose, and encounter some of the worst child acting on record. Gordon easily convinces the child to let them return home by flatly telling him that he is destroying everything that Mother Goose created. They return safely, Gordon accepts that he too is fictional, changes his boring clothes for fancier duds including Gilroy's distinctive pork pie hat, and begins a strange romance with Bo Peep.

Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme is one of those rare experiences in children's programming that is so weird and unique, that despite its many dated qualities and failings, it withstands the test of time where it counts. It's certainly better than most young children's shows these days, excepting the awesomeness that is Yo Gabba Gabba. Most people who grew up watching it understandably want to show it to their kids. Unfortunately, neither version of the film has been available since the initial VHS release. Bootlegs featuring both versions are frequently available online, but the easiest way to experience Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme is good ol' YouTube, where the whole thing has been archived.

Audio Archaeology is a Media Potluck and Consequence of Sound presentation.

1970/2019: Detectives from Past to Future

2009-07-22T17:11:00.006-04:00

Media Potluck is proud to present, 1970/2019: Detectives from Past to Future!

This month's double feature will be Darker Than Amber (1970) and Blade Runner (1982).

Watch two vastly different takes on a classic story, the everyman detective stopping at nothing to make it out alive.

Check out our previous articles on Darker than Amber:

http://mediapotluck.blogspot.com/2009/01/darker-than-amber-1970.html

The version of Blade Runner that we'll be showing is Ridley Scott's definitive 2007 Final Cut.

Party starts at 6 PM, films begin at 7 PM. Come prepared for discussion!

This will be a media potluck and also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a special themed cake. Please RSVP and comment with what treat you will bring.

RSVP on Facebook.
Non-Facebook users e-mail us to RSVP and get directions at mediapotluck@gmail.com.

Photos from Los Angeles is Toast!: Nuclear War in 80s Film

2009-07-03T13:16:00.016-04:00

Photos are up from our party, Los Angeles is Toast!: Nuclear War in 80s Film on 6-27-09. See more on our Facebook page!

- Nick

Los Angeles is Toast!: Nuclear War in 80s Film

2009-06-19T13:10:00.001-04:00

Media Potluck is proud to present, Los Angeles is Toast!: Nuclear War in 80s Film.

This month's double feature will be Miracle Mile (1988) and Repo Man (1984).

Taking place in the desolate streets and underground worlds of Los Angeles, circa the mid to late 1980s, Miracle Mile and Repo Man provide two unique, but varied, views of a culture overcome by the fears and anxieties of the cold war.

Check out our previous articles on both films:
http://mediapotluck.blogspot.com/2008/12/repo-man-1984.html
http://mediapotluck.blogspot.com/2008/09/miracle-mile-1988.html

Party starts at 6 PM, films begin at 7 PM. Come prepared for discussion!

This will be a media potluck and also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a special Repo Man themed cake. Please RSVP and comment with what treat you will bring.

RSVP on Facebook.
Non-Facebook users e-mail us to RSVP and get directions at mediapotluck@gmail.com.

Audio Archaeology/ Media Potluck UPDATE

2009-06-13T16:22:00.000-04:00

There are big things coming. Media Potluck is on the verge of a huge face lift.

As a result of this, there's no new new article yet, but there has been another re-vamp of one of our old articles. "Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane (2002)" is now, like "Musique D'Express (1990)", an Audio Archeology article and has been upgraded. Not only is it a better read, but it now features a full audio playlist. You can check out the new version here: Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane (2002).

In addition to our remodeling, I'm happy to announce that our first actual Media Potluck, Terminator: The Party was a success, as you can see here. We're hoping to make our Media Potluck parties a monthly occasion, so be on the lookout.

-Cap

Photos from Terminator: The Party

2009-06-05T17:15:00.015-04:00

Here are a couple photos from Terminator: The Party on 5-25-09. See more on our Facebook page!

- Nick

Terminator: The Party

2009-05-18T22:34:00.004-04:00

Media Potluck is proud to present, Terminator: The Party!

In celebration of the release of Terminator: Salvation we will be watching The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

This will be a media potluck and also a REAL potluck, so everyone is asked to try to bring some food to share! We will be providing a Terminator cake as well as "I'll Be Back" hot wings. Please RSVP and comment with what treat you will bring.

PS - When hot wings come back, you will know it.

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Non-Facebook users e-mail us to RSVP and get directions at mediapotluck@gmail.com.

Audio Archaeology UPDATE

2009-04-23T21:15:00.004-04:00

One of Media Potluck's first articles, "Musique D'Express (1990)" has been re-vamped as an Audio Archeology post for our pals at Consequence of Sound! It's one of the articles that I hold most dear to me so I'm very glad to have spruced it up a bit. Instead of reposting the article, I've just updated the original post.

Check out the new "Musique D'Express (1990)" HERE.

I know it's been non-stop Audio Archaeology for the past few months, but never fear. We'll resume covering the full spectrum of media again soon!

- Cap

Corky & the Juice Pigs (1987-1998)

2009-03-29T17:08:00.009-04:00

Media Potluck and Consequence of Sound present Audio Archaeology.

Comedic music is a fickle mistress. More than a few mainstream bands flirt with comedy, and some comedians have an impressive musical presence, but there are very few artists who deal exclusively in comedic music, leaving the genre for the most part overrun with one-off novelty songs. However, the comedic music world has recently begun to make something of itself. “Weird Al” Yankovic is, of course, still the king (and probably will be for the next century because the man doesn’t age) but, for the first time in a long time, he’s not the only player in the game. Tenacious D’s unprecedented success with their skillful musical compositions mixed with comedic antics paved the way for other new artists to join them. Recent acts such as Flight of the Conchords and The Lonely Island have taken television, Internet, and music listeners by storm with a consistency and integrity that suggests they’re here to stay. This sudden boon has even prompted older faces to return to the scene. The group that practically created the genre back in 1962, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, have recently reformed and the legendary Spinal Tap have come out of hiatus. Things are looking up for the comedic music world, but there are many brilliant acts who have burned out before their time and many more that have gone unnoticed. Among the greatest of these lost musical comedy groups is Corky and the Juice Pigs.

Corky and the Juice Pigs were Phil Nichol, Greg Neale, and Seán Cullen, a trio of Canadian gentlemen blessed with powerful gifts: music and comedy. From 1987 to 1998 the band coupled cleverly composed musical style parodies, astounding witticisms, baffling weirdness, and insane improvisation into a beautiful goulash of sight and sound. Chances are you’ve heard at least one Corky song. Their immortal classic “Eskimo” still frequently makes the rounds on the Internet, though it’s commonly accredited to other comedy acts and is often under the punch-line revealing title “I’m The Only Gay Eskimo”. Perhaps an illustration is in order, so take a gander at this live performance of “Eskimo” complete with style parodies of the Proclaimers, Bob Dylan, Portishead, Ric Ocasek, Oasis, and Van Morrison:

“Eskimo” may be the band’s lasting legacy, but it’s far from their finest work. Lines like “I go out seal hunting with my best friend Tarka, but all want to do is get into his parka” only begin to scratch the surface of the Juice Pigs’ comedic prowess. They can go toe-to-toe with the best of those in their field. The Juice Pigs’ self-titled debut was released independently in 1993. Their folksy, predominantly acoustic comedy predates the similar traits of modern musical comedians Stephen Lynch, whom they surpass in cleverness, and the Conchords, whom the Juice Pigs have much in common with, though the Conchords are much slicker customers. “Corky and the Juice Pigs” is a twenty-six track long hodgepodge of short skits, short songs, and a few regular-sized songs. While there’s definitely some dead wood there is also brilliance, such as the sitar-fueled ballad to Indian food and romance, “Love Affair”:

You’re my little curry puff
I’m your vindaloo man
I want to take you where samosas run wild
And lay you in a bed of nan

“Truckers” praises life on the open road: “I’ve hauled a million tons of freight from Pheonix to Omaha and sometimes I fall asleep at the wheel and I kill carloads of tourists” and “Americans” is a tragically real parody of American politics, ethics, and patriotic ballads:

We are Americans, we are Americans
We carry great big guns,
‘Cause we are Americans
We’re strong and we’re free
We are Coke, we are Pepsi

There’s even a mention of fighting a war in Iraq. Who would’ve thought this song would be even more pointed in 2009?The Juice Pigs may disguise their songs with unrevealing titles, but they’re quite blunt in their comedy. Any normal-seeming situation will quickly break down into insanity such as in the opening verses to their early track, “Pandas”:

White and black, the friendly bears of China
White and black, they rarely reproduce
What shall be done about these Chinese bears?
What shall be done about these friendly bears?

Die, they must die
The pandas must die
Die, they must die
The pandas must die – Yaaaay!

Or the sophistication of their later works, like “REMember”:

I look over out of the window
I see your face
And I’m frightened
‘Cause I live on the eighth floor
And you must be really, really tall

“REMember” is a prime example of three of the band’s strongest suits – improvisation, style parody, and surrealism. The song starts inexplicably with a tranquil rendition of The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” and then becomes a very unique R.E.M. parody. Rather than riffing off of any one of R.E.M.’s songs or tackling aspects of their more famous works, “REMember” targets the idea of R.E.M. Seán Cullen emulates Michael Stipes-esque vocals and spins a web of comical nonsense akin to the alt. rock band’s subjective lyrics. The Juice Pigs had practiced with this format earlier in their career with the song “Suzanne” - a Suzanne Vega parody not featuring a note of her hit “Tom’s Diner”, but lampooning its style of winding narrative. Both tracks make use of Cullen’s trademark improvisation which rambles to dadaist heights of humorous confoundment. When performed live these tracks are mostly raw improvisation from Cullen leading to varied results as seen in this performance:

The second track in the above clip, “BVG” (aka “Burn Victim Girl”) shows the Juice Pig’s subversive traits and their aptitude towards clever, short songs and skits. Their second album, 1994’s “Pants”, retools the presence of the first album’s skits and P.S.A.s into a clever unifying segway of changing radio stations that play in the pregap (negative numbers) between most tracks. This fun new take on skits is just one of the many aspects of “Pants” that makes it far superior to the Juice Pigs’ debut. In addition to tighter song-writing, the album has more complex production; allowing for a greater variance in sound and styles. “Pants”s title track, and first track on the album, flourishes their new complexity with a parody of early 90s dance hits complete with a wailing female vocalist and substituting record scratches with zipper sounds. “Come on everybody now/ men and women, young and old/ I can feel your pain/ …if you touch my pants.” In true dance fashion the track is remixed at the end of the album as “The Boot Cut (Pants Trance Dance Mix)”.

“Pants”’ diverse sound serves it well, from the ska-infused “Picnic Party” (about Third World nations having fun in the sun), to the melodic ballad “Dolphin Boy” (the tragic tale of a boy who abandons the land to be with his favorite sea mammals), the hard rock “Hot Squat Hombre” (about the kind of love only the vertically challenged can give), or the country-western weeper “Christmas Dreams” (scope out videos of the last two songs by clicking their links). “Pants is also home to “Janitor”, the Juice Pigs’ most brilliant and endearing style parody. In it, they riff off of fellow Canadian, Neil Young’s distinctive vocals and folk-rock sound to spin the story of an eccentric grade school janitor who “cleans the bathroom and tells dirty jokes …dresses like a woman and rolls his own smokes.”

By now you’ve certainly noticed that most of these clips come from MADtv. Believe it or not there was a time when MADtv was good. During its first three seasons (1995-1998) the show was at its best - trying to do things better and different, while SNL was at an all-time worst. Corky and the Juice Pigs were the first musical guest ever featured on MADtv. They appeared nine times between the second and third season. This was where I first experienced them, prompting my middle school self to record every episode of MADtv so that I wouldn’t miss a performance. Beginning with the forth season, when the show started pumping in mainstream musical guests, as SNL does, it was the beginning of the end; not just for MADtv’s quality, but also for the band. The Juice Pigs’ appearances on MADtv were as far as they ever got to stardom. In 1998, while assembling new material for a third album, their record label, Denon, went belly-up and the band went separate ways. Two of their last songs “Phone Sex Girl” and “Too Fat to Rock ‘n’ Roll” (a Meatloaf parody) exist only as MADtv performances.

The Juice Pigs had a good run. Barenaked Ladies used to open for them back in the old days until the tables turned. After eleven years, two albums, many festivals, and an attention-getting number of appearances on American television, surely the band could walk away somewhat satisfied. However, things appeared to be looking up before the record company closed its doors, so what exactly led to the end of Corky and the Juice Pigs? I can’t seem to find any definitive word. Seán Cullen went on to pursue a stand up and acting career. You may have seen him on Comedy Central Presents. He still does musical improv and recently even did a comedy P.S.A., just like old times. Phil Nichol is also a comedian and keeps his guitar close in tow. He recently appeared on the Graham Norton Show celebrating an award from if.comedy. The band’s tallest member, Greg Neale, has faded into the mists of mystery.The Corky and the Juice Pigs’ albums have been out of print for a long time and have never been made officially available online. You can find their music floating around the Internet without too much trouble, additional videos continue to appear on YouTube, and there’s a long-running fansite good for soundbytes and additional info. Below is a taste of Corky’s porky goodness, from their self-titled debut and “Pants” - but that’s not all. Internet magic has also made available their extremely rare, only ever released on cassette, demo album “Buck A Song” which you can check out HERE.

LISTEN:

- Cap

Drastic Measures (1983)

2009-03-01T00:29:00.028-05:00

Media Potluck and Consequence of Sound present Audio Archaeology.

I firmly believe that Kansas is the greatest American progressive rock group of their generation. Throughout the 1970s they composed some of the most memorable prog-rock songs of all time and achieved mass appeal. “Carry On Wayward Son”, “Dust in the Wind”, and “Point of Know Return” are legendary tracks. Even beyond these well-known hits, Kansas’ repertoire is constant in its awesomeness. No matter the decade, no matter the hardships, Kansas has kept its heart beating.

Many ’70s progressive rock outfits struggled through the 1980s. Only a solemn few emerged from the gauntlet of the drastically changing music industry with their integrity untarnished. Acts such as Genesis, Rush, and Yes kept afloat by meshing their prog-rock talents with the synthetic sounds of mainstream pop. They met with unprecedented success, but not all groups who attempted the switch can say the same. Jethro Tull’s 1984 effort, Under Wraps, fell on deaf ears despite cool synths, drum machines, and a chic spy noir motif. Kansas’ 1983 album, Drastic Measures, met a similar fate. It sold poorly, alienated longtime fans, and has since been forgotten, but even more so than Tull’s album it begs to be rediscovered.

Mainstream.

At the onset of the 1980s Kansas underwent major changes. They had ridden a tsunami-like wave of success since the 1976 release of Leftoverture followed a year later by Point of Know Return. However, their two following albums, 1979’s Monolith and 1980’s Audio-Visions saw that wave break. The music still harnessed Kansas’ unique blend of mysticism, the American West, and violin-heavy rock ‘n’ roll, but their cohesion was slipping and the state of rock was moving on. Lead-singer, keyboardist, and prominent songwriter, Steve Walsh, left Kansas to form the band, Streets. His replacement was John Elefante, whose voice was compatible to Walsh’s and who took over his portion of the song writing and keyboard playing. Their next album, Vinyl Confessions, was a stepping stone, between classic Kansas and the modern state of rock, but still not the breakthrough success they had become accustomed to.

The changes didn’t end there. Bassist Dave Hop e and guitarist, keyboardist, and lead songwriter, Kerry Livgren, had recently become born-again Christians as was Elefante. This led to Christian overtones appearing in Confessions‘ lyrics. The lyrics are loose enough that they associate with whatever best suits the listener. I never noticed them until they were pointed out to me. U2 is obvious, Kansas… not so much. Regardless, this generated a sudden influx of evangelical Christian fans. They began handing out religious pamphlets regarding the album’s lyrics at Kansas’ shows and Contemporary Christian Music Magazine named Vinyl Confessions the #1 album of 1982. In response to this, Robby Stienhardt, the band’s distinctive violinist and on-stage front man, left the band.

Guitarist Rich Williams and drummer Phil Ehart were the only original forces in Kansas still present and fundamentally unchanged. They remain the only members never to leave.

“Everything was changing, and the future wasn’t bright. The only reason I didn’t leave was that I was too curious to see what was going to happen. If Kansas was going to go down in bloody flames I wanted to be there. I wanted to go down with the ship.”

-Rich Williams, Sail On DVD

Drastic Measures is exactly what its name implies it to be: a desperate attempt to hold on to rock stardom at all costs. Two key members were gone, Loverboy and Foreigner were tearing up the charts, and synth-infused rock ‘n’ roll was the only clear path to commercial viability. Taking stock of all this, Kansas dove head first into the genre of mainstream rock. But there was a twist. The band’s progressive nature turned this very self-conscious transformation on its head. If they were going to make a pop-rock album it would be on their terms.

Fight Fire With Fire.

“Fight Fire With Fire”, opens Drastic Measures with a bang: a searing grind of guitars over ominous synth harmonies that bleed into dreamy digressions. “There’s nothing to lose, ’cause it’s already lost. In a runaway world of confusion - I’m not gonna take it!” sings Elefante defiantly. “Fire” is pure rock ‘n’ roll machismo - cryptic lyrics of struggle based around a catch phrase. The song rocks to degrees others groups’ tracks in the format can’t measure up to: a powerful wall of sound that doesn’t let up; even in mellow moments. It makes you feel like a sexy electric badass riding a post-apocalyptic war machine. Try and deny it.

The next avenue of pop-rock cliché Kansas tackles is the inherent obsession with wealth and fame. “Everybody’s My Friend” is a catchy song about the excitable populous’ hunger to interact with the famous. Like the majority of songs on the album “Everybody’s My Friend” was penned by John Elefante and his brother, Dino. The song’s subject is a reaction to Elefante’s sudden fame as lead singer of an international act and the disillusionment caused by absolute strangers trying to connect with him. “Have you met Mick Jagger? Ringo, George, or Paul? Do you have my number? Will you give me a call?” asks the eager fan.

“Mainstream”, written by Livgren, mirrors “Fire”’s digital warfare spirit. It calls to mind Apache helicopters firing rockets over a futuristic cityscape, and has a seething rhythm breakdown perfect for stalking prey through the urban jungle. “Mainstream” is the heart of what makes Drastic Measures successful and unique, its self-awareness.

“It’s so predictable and everybody judges by the numbers that you’re selling
Just crank ‘em out on the assembly line and chart ‘em higher
Just keep it simple boys it’s gonna be alright as long as you’re inside the Mainstream.”

Livgren makes plainly apparent the beautiful irony that Drastic Measures embodies; consenting to studio demands but playing by his own rules and criticizing the marketplace. “Really loved it, didn’t earn a cent, no one’s buying your experiment” writes Livgren, bitterly mocking studio bosses. “Are we moving too far away? Is it worth it if it doesn’t pay?” muses the chorus, answered by the reoccurring line: “survive another year.”

“Get Rich Now” harnesses a quintessential Kansas sound atop the backdrop of modern production. It continues the theme of mainstream awareness and chronicles greed through the ages. The chorus is a mechanically filtered mantra of the words “get rich now”. The song’s dark undertones not only targets major perpetrators of greed but subtly accuses the current direction of the band itself. This sentiment reoccurs in Livgren’s “End of the Age”, a ballad about the time of Revelations. This track in many ways sounds more like a traditional Kansas song than any from either of the previous two albums and is the only song on Drastic Measures that features Livgren’s distinctive organ playing.

With a beautiful swelling of synth strings interposed with rock guitar, “Going Through the Motions” turns a critical eye to the audience. “Do you really mean to tell me that you’re satisfied?” the song asks while musical and lyrically depicting a scene of city dwellers marching unison, briefcase in hand, to their appointed places. “Don’t Take Your Love Away” is a power ballad tried and true and appeals to all standard conventions - the title says it all. Where the song prospers above other power ballads is that it’s Kansas. It has the harmonies, rising musical surges, and smoking guitarmanship to prove it.

One of the most unusual tracks on the album is “Andi”, a very pretty soft rock song. It’s rich with all the melodies and magic of the 80s prom of your dreams. Think “Time After Time” meets “Forever Young” with a pinch of Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack to Legend. What makes the song truly unique is the subject matter. It’s about a transgende red girl “trapped inside a little boy’s body.” Some suggest it’s just about a girl who can’t wait to grow into a woman, but the lyrics side with the alternative. The song is lush with beautiful sounds, like a fantasy film; an aspect of enchantment bringing to mind fabrics twirling in slow motion, soft focus, and a voice that promises to grant her dreams. Despite her divergence from the norm “Andi” is granted the same beauty and understanding one would grant to a “normal” girl. I applaud Elefante for reaching beyond his evangelical Christian background to give unconventional subject matter the tenderness and understanding it deserves.

The final song on the album, “Incident On a Bridge”, is powerful Livgren work with a triumphant sound to it. The lyrics are allegorical certainly of spiritual tribulation and successes, but also speaks of Livgren’s long road with Kansas and the hint that he might move on.

“It’s all too real, all these things we feel
As the years go by, things intensify
And I know, for each life there is a reason
And I know, for each time there is a season
Now the bridge leads on, to a brighter dawn
It’s waiting for me.”

Going Through the Motions.

“Fight Fire With Fire” made it to #3 on the mainstream rock charts, though it floundered past 40 in other rankings. The videos for “Fire” and “Everybody’s My Friend” don’t do the songs justice. They’re what you might call “concept videos”, but the actual concepts are anyone’s guess.

In “Fight Fire With Fire” some guy is having dreams within dreams where he’s enslaved in a coal mine by the Spanish Inquisition and can throw fireballs. Also a giant mosquito sucks his blood. Awesome. Be sure to note Kerry Livgren and Rich Williams’ funny hats.

I love the ending. “Oh hey man, you were having a nightmare and we were standing here… watching you.” Wait, why’d the color drop out? Oh! Kansas = Wizard of Oz! I get it.

In an interview on the Sail On DVD Rich Williams is particularly resentful:

“They made me wear this STUPID hat… I don’t know why I didn’t have the balls to say “I’m not wearin’ that hat.” Because that’s what I was thinkin’. But you know, who am I? Everybody’s pointing and telling me what to do…”

The same director returned for “Everybody’s My Friend”, which is a better video, but makes just as little sense. The coolest part is that it features the bazooka-toting bow-tied musician from the cover of the album. As to why he’s also a luchador, well...

End of the Age.

Just six months after the release of Drastic Measures, Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope left Kansas to form a new band, AD.

Even without the violin or many of their other conventions, Kansas’ distinctive harmonies and instrumentals survived and adapted into the era’s new sound. Producer, Neil Kernon who’d produced several Hall and Oates albums, as well as Walsh’s band, Streets, assisted them in the transitory process. Some aspects of the sounds he cultivated with Kansas returned a year later when he produced Autograph’s lone hit “Turn Up the Radio“. That same year, Kernon and Kansas (minus Livgren and Hope) reunited one last time to produce a new track for the band’s first greatest hits album, The Best of Kansas. The resulting song, “Perfect Lover”sounds far more like conventional mid-80s rock than any track from Drastic Measures. Though a well-crafted and fun rock song, it’s definitely not the same.

Elefante left the band to go on to become a giant in the Contemporary Christina Music scene. The following year Steve Walsh returned to Kansas and brought on bassist Billy Greer. Since then they have produced five wonderful albums all leaning back towards their classic style, particularly their last album, Somewhere to Elsewhere, which reunited them with Livgren and Stienhardt. The lineup of Walsh, Williams, Ehart, and Greer remains the essential core of Kansas to this day. They still play “Fight Fire With Fire” at shows, but largely their work on Drastic Measures collects dust. Put a stop to that and check out these outstanding tracks now:

- Cap

The Voyager Golden Record (1977)

2009-02-05T18:02:00.008-05:00

Hey guys! This is the first Audio Archaeology article, part of Media Potluck's partnership with Consequence of Sound. Enjoy!

I can't think of a better way to kick off this column than with one of the greatest musical compilations of the 20th century, the Voyager Golden Record.

If there's one good thing I could say about the Cold War it's that it had America looking to the stars. The space race was both a beautiful and chilling thing. America was a country of cowboys again, pioneering a frontier, a frontier which nurtured the dreams of scientists and philosophers. What wasn't possible? In this spirit of profound curiosity and exploration we sent humans to the moon and machines farther beyond. Voyager I and 2 are exploratory probes that took photographs and scientific measurements of the farthest planets in our solar system. They will continue to travel, even after their mission has ended and their systems shut down, carrying with thema profound message of peace: the gift of music.

During the mid-nineteen seventies, a group of scientists and producers, led by astronomer Carl Sagan, complied the mixtape to end all mixtapes. An offering of 31 tracks, painstakingly selected as defining examples of humankind's good intentions and accomplishments. These tracks, along with 116 images, were encoded on two gold and copper LPs and launched into the stars. At this very moment, these relics of Earth's cultural history are riding on the backs of the twin Voyager probes as they push past the threshold of our solar system and into the unknown.The records serve as bottled messages adrift in the infinite sea of stars. If other life exists in the universe, chances of them coming across the Voyager probes are next to impossible. Nonetheless, the gesture is profound and inspired. Over the span of six months, Sagan and his team scoured the globe assembling a diverse and worthy collection of just the right music and sounds to represent our planet.

The compilation begins with human voices. An introductory greeting from UN Secretary General, Kurt Waldheim is followed by greetings in 55 languages, beginning with Akkadian, an ancient Sumerian language, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect. Not all greetings are simple "hello"s. They tell something of the attitudes of their regions. "Friends of space, how are you all? Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you have time" is the humorous greeting in Amoy. Whereas the Rajasthani greeting reads more like a veiled warning, "Hello to everyone. We are happy here and you be happy there." The English greeting, which concludes the tack, is a young boy saying, "hello from the children of Planet Earth."

The next track is of personalized introductions from each of the UN delegates to the extraterrestrials. Unlike the previous track of greetings, this track is more of a sound collage. The dialogue often fades from one voice to another before they even finish. Check out this delegate's interesting suggestions about what an extraterrestrial would bother to know about Earth:

"My dear friends in outer space, as you probably know my country is situated on the west coast of the continent of Africa, a land mass more or less in the shape of a question mark..."

It's certainly odd, but about a minute in, things get really strange. Whale noises. For the remainder of the delegates' introductions, a whale song rises and falls in the background, until, for the last minute of the track, there's nothing else. Sagan was a true science-hippy visionary. Star Trek IV anyone?

The whale song blends into the music of the spheres, the geometric ratios of our solar system translated into harmonies. This begins a twelve minute tour de force collage, featuring soundscapes from all over the planet. A roar of thunder, rain, wild animals, and the wind mesh with human heartbeats, footsteps, the sounds of industry - Saturn 5 lifting off. The track ends on a fascinating juxtaposition of concepts: a kiss, followed by a mother's first word to her newborn baby, blend into bizarre electronic thrumming and a pulsing static hiss. Though the latter half may be cryptic, these are all messages of love. It was during the creation of the Voyager records that producer Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan realized and pronounced their love for one another. They were together until his death. The thrumming is Druyan's brainwaves, the pulsing is a pulsar beating like a heart in the cosmos, just as Druyan's human heart had beat earlier in the track.

"I had asked Carl whether or not it would be possible to compress the impulses in one's brain and nervous system into sound...put that sound on the record and [whether] the extraterrestrials of the future would be able to reconstitute that data into thought. [He] said, 'well, you know, a thousand-million years is a long time. Why don't you go do it, because who knows!...' And so my brainwaves and R.E.M., every little sound that my body was making was recorded... This was two days after Carl and I had declared our love for each other, and...what I was thinking [during that] meditation was about the wonder of love and being in love and...it's on those two spacecraft even now."

Druyan's own words from a 2006 interview on WNYC's Radiolab.

Druyan refers to the remaining 27 tracks as "a cultural Noah's ark." The first Earth music the aliens will hear is the First Movement of Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F." Just think. Think about that complex sound, that painstaking, beautiful music locked in coldness and darkness, waiting - farther from Earth than any other object humankind has laid its hands on.

In addition to the Germans (2 more Bachs, 2 Beethovens, and a Mozart), Anthony Holborne and Igor Strazynski round out the classical music. (Can you imagine hearing "The Rite of Spring" in space? Yikes!) Mexican composer Lorenzo Barcelata's "El Cascabel" provides a full-scale mariachi ensemble. And rock and blues are aptly represented by Chuck Berry ("Johnny B. Goode"), Louis Armstrong ("Melancholy Blues"), and Blind Willie Johnson ("Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground"). Pretty good, but where's the Beatles, right? Sagan wanted "Here Comes the Sun" on the record. A perfect choice. The Beatles said 'yes' but EMI said 'no'. And that is why, despite our best efforts, we beckoned down a holocaust from the stars. Way to go EMI.

The rest of the album samples from non-Western cultures great and small all over the world. It is the most highly eclecticized collection of music I've ever heard. Senegalese percussion clangs and thumps in the primal rawness that time has transmuted into the call of the discotheque. The harmonized vocals of a Pygmy girl's initiation song lull into the vibrations of a didgeridoo as an Australian aboriginal calls out to the Devil Bird. Humanity's creativity and diversity is laid out dynamically in all its sadness and joy. Only on this record, meant to travel through space, is Mozart's "Magic Flute" followed by a rural Georgian male voice choir ("Tchakrulo") and Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven's jazz complimented by warbling and transcendental Azerbaijani balaban playing. It must be heard to be understood.

For decades, finding a copy of the Voyager record was a near-impossible task. In 1992 it was released as an enhanced-content CD with a re-issuing of Sagan's Murmurs of Earth, a book on the process of making the Voyager record a reality. The CD has since become very scarce. Fortunately, the internet perpetually makes life easier.

You now can experience the entire Golden Record online, including all 116 pictures HERE.

For a quick fix check out these tracks:

And, while you're at it, please enjoy this cosmic debris from my childhood:

- Cap

Audio Archaeology! Media Potluck & Consequence of Sound Team-Up!

2009-02-04T18:09:00.007-05:00

Media Potluck and seriously up-and-coming music blog, Consequence of Sound are teaming up for a bi-monthly feature called Audio Archaeology!

Since September of last year, yours truly has been writing articles off-and-on for Consequence of Sound. Now, I write for them weekly. Audio Archaeology is the same as any other Media Potluck audio post. You know what to expect: eclectic, detailed, and personal articles about awesome music. The articles will be featured on Consequence of Sound and Media Potluck, that we might spread the gospel of awesome music off the beaten path.

First article coming real soon.

- Cap

Liverpool (1986)

2009-01-30T23:29:00.031-05:00

My introduction to Frankie Goes to Hollywood was much like many others. I was first mesmerized by the pulsating bass stab of their hit single Relax. I had heard the track many times prior but hadn't really studied it until I bought an 80s compilation CD that featured the song. Funny thing is, I bought the compilation for the song Video Killed The Radio Star by the Trevor Horn fronted Buggles. Mr. Horn would go on to produce Relax, Frankie's debut album Welcome To The Pleasuredome, and the executive produce one of my favorite albums of all time, Liverpool.

A few years ago I was helping out a local record shop with a summer warehouse sale. I basically sat in a hot industrial sized storage unit filled with the extra stock and memorabilia of a 30 year old record store. It was not a bad deal at all. I would walk out with boxes and boxes full of records. Prime stuff too. Eric, the employee from the shop, would play Blue Oyster Cult 8-tracks for me and we would talk about the weird breathing noises that open, close, and are found throughout Depeche Mode's Some Great Reward.

Somehow we got on the subject of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and he asked me if I had ever heard their second album, Liverpool. He praised it highly and gave me an extra copy he had bought in the bargain bin. I had played Welcome to The Pleasuredome quite a bit. The singles off the album (Relax, Two Tribes, The Power of Love, Welcome to the Pleasuredome) are great but the rest of the album is primarily made up of cover songs. I don't mean to discredit Pleasuredome in any way. It definitely deserves a potluck post. Heck, Relax could be a post all on its own. The bottom line, I was not sure what to expect of Liverpool.

The album opens with the soft syth pads and angelic female vocals that fill their first album, but soon gives way to an enormous and powerful drum roll backed with a thick bass and guitar onslaught. Warriors of the Wasteland, the opening track, has begun. I was completely confused and wasn't sure what to make of it. It sounded nothing like Relax or anything offered in their earlier works. I spent the rest of the car ride home baffled and ecstatic at the same time. Why had I not heard of this album before? Why wasn't this on one of the top album lists of the 1980s? Where Pleasuredome had been some sort of politically influenced sexual romp through all that was conservative, this felt like it was addressing darker issues and building a unique style and audio aesthetic not as present in their first album.

The lyrics throughout Liverpool create a sense of desolation, poverty, and a battle between the the lower and upper class. Pleasuredome seems to be riddled with thinly disguised sexual innuendo but nothing of the sort exists in this album. Instead one gets the feeling that Liverpool takes a sympathetic look at the blue collar worker, a suffering manufacturing industry, and high unemployment rate in the city that shares the same name with the album.

Warriors of the Wasteland:

It seems to be that the powers that be
Keep themselves in splendour and security
Armoured cars for megastars
No streets, no bars, yours wealth is ours
They make the masses kiss their asse(t)s
Lower class jackass, pay me tax take out the trash
Working for the world go round
Your job is gold, do as you're told
The pay you less then run for Congress

Lunar Bay:

In the common age of automation, where people might
eventually work ten or twenty hours a week, Man for
the first time will be forced to confront himself with
the true spiritual problems of living

For Heaven's Sake:

We don't need aggression
We don't need recession
Just give us some money
Our life could be sunny too

The album retains many of the elements that make Pleasuredome good and builds upon them to make Liverpool great. The percussive bass lines of Mark O'Toole are present and Holly Johnson's unmistakable voice shines, marking the tracks as uniquely Frankie. Just because guitars and live drums are the name of the game on this album, it doesn't mean synthesizers don't play a heavy role. Every track on Liverpool features some form of electronic flavor, achieving sounds only capable with machines. Both albums share a heavy use of orchestration, which appear more extensively in the extended and alternate mixes on the what seems like uncountable number of 12" and single releases across both albums.

Both albums share a unique art direction. The albums and singles are covered in cryptic messages and photos that often seem to have little to do with the content inside. Liverpool continues Frankie's tradition of outsider music videos with several stunning (albeit odd) videos:

It has been said that this new direction into the area of rock and dark lyrics, over synth and tongue in cheek humor, was a decision made by the other members of the band against lead vocalist Holly Johnson's liking. In fact, it is partly blamed for the eventual break up of the band and poor sales of the album. But after the popularity of Relax, and the advertising monster that was the "Frankie Say Relax" shirts, how could anyone be expected to top that? It is rumored the band expected it to be as popular and at one time had been their intention to name the album Liverpool... Lets Make it a Double. It is a shame that for an album that takes such leaps and bounds beyond its predecessor, Liverpool has not received more recognition. It may be that the album was doomed from the start, forever to be overshadowed by Relax and eventually swept under the table with the decadence of the 1980s.

BUY IT: Amazon

- Nick

Darker Than Amber (1970)

2009-01-24T17:12:00.013-05:00

I recently became a fan of Travis McGee.

McGee is the creation of famed Floridian author, John D. MacDonald, and from 1964 to 1984 he starred in 21 novels. He lives on a houseboat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (my hometown) and takes it easy until he runs out of money. When that happens he does what he refers to as "salvage" - helping people get back what's rightfully theirs and keeping half the value for himself. Over the course of the novels McGee's character grows and changes as does the ever-present backdrop of Florida. McGee and MacDonald are prolific modern literary figures and I feel like a mook for not knowing them sooner. MacDonald was Carl Hiaasen's literary progenitor, the boat slip where McGee kept his boat, "The Busted Flush", is a designated literary landmark - all this in my own backyard. I set out to do some research to make amends for lost time, and in doing so I found this:

Travis McGee in action! The climactic fight of "Darker Than Amber", a 1970 film directed by Robert Clouse ("Enter the Dragon") and starring Rod Taylor. This fight scene blew my mind and, it turns out, is regarded as one of the greatest fight scenes of all time. You can see the rawness in this fight - it's manic, it's real. Taylor and his co-star, William Smith (as the villainous Terry), used no stunt doubles, few precautions, and actually traded blows.

From williamsmith.org:

I hit that wall so hard, man. That was such a tough fight scene. We didn't use any stunt doubles at all. He broke three of my ribs and I busted his nose. ...After he busted three of my ribs, I hit him with a bottle, a real one. ...He busted three of my goddamn ribs and I couldn't even breath and he was still hitting me.

When he whacked me with that board, he missed the knee pad and hit me right there [indicating a spot just below the knee]. To this day when I talk to him, I accuse him of doing it on purpose. Luckily that was the last take of the whole movie.

Smith's character, Terry, is a perfect maniac villain. Check out how easily he looses control:

Unfortunately, those two clips are all that exist on the Internet, and "Darker Than Amber" has never had a proper home video release. Most versions are censored, missing the bulk of that exceptional fight scene. It's never been released on DVD. The only uncut versions available are bootlegs with Dutch subtitles. Wikipedia claims that "pristine American prints disappeared years ago." This movie looks too awesome to be kept from the viewing public. Perhaps if the long-rumored movie of the first Travis McGee novel, The Deep Blue Goodbye, gets made we'll get to see "Darker Than Amber" released in all its glory.

In the meantime, check out this great article about MacDonald and the McGee series: John D. MacDonald: Florida's Master of Mystery by Sue Henry, and then pick up one of his novels.

- Cap

Media Potluck Holiday Feast Volume 1 (2008)

2008-12-21T20:26:00.023-05:00

Christmas music is everywhere this time of year. Since the beginning of November, the air has been littered not with the cheerful dust of snowflakes, but a mess of mediocre audio. Certainly classic recordings have their charms, but the classics are over played and mainstream holiday songs are mostly of flimsy facades of holiday cheer over less than inventive songwriting. As a genre, Christmas music is very limited. It takes a lot of creativity to create a truly stand-out holiday song. Throughout the years, many brave and artful souls have undertaken the challenge, either to render the cliches warm and heartfelt again, or simply to turn the whole concept on its head.

I'm pleased to present you with a new holiday tradition: Media Potluck's Holiday Feast, a collection of worthy holiday tunes to make the festivities more merry, bright, and palatable - complete with track-by-track commentary! These tracks are the very best of holiday music; from blatantly Christmas-related, to commentary on the hectic gift-giving season, or simple celebrations of wintertime. Some tracks are more common than others, some are quite eclectic, all of them guaranteed to give you a break from dross of the shopping mall sound system.

Enjoy Media Potluck's Holiday Feast Volume 1 now in podcast format HERE.

Media Potluck's Holiday Feast Volume 1 (2008)

1) Shirley Walker - “Winter Reveries [Excerpt from Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1]”

A beautiful and mysterious-sounding wintery bit of classical music from the Barry Levins on film, Toys. The film deserves a Media Potluck article all on its own (check back later this month). It's an incredible holiday film that's watchable any time of the year. This song appears in the opening scene of the film and leads into the following track, "The Closing of the Year." Shirley Walker, who serves as conductor on this track, was a frequent collaborator with Danny Elfman and is perhaps most notable as the composer of the entire score for Batman the Animated Series and its spin-offs.

2) The Musical Cast of Toys Featuring Wendy & Lisa - “The Closing of the Year"
Along with John Williams' "Somewhere in My Memory" from Home Alone, "Closing of the Year" is a Christmas song so smartly composed that it gained an existence past the film that spawned it. Though lesser known than the aforementioned track, "Closing of the Year" has since been recorded by opera-types as a holiday tune and occasionally gets airplay on holiday stations. It was written by mega-producer Trevor Horn and score composer Hans Zimmer who jointly crafted Toys' wonderful score and soundtrack. Wendy & Lisa are the musical duo once a part of Prince's Revolution. Since the late 80s they've released their own albums (their fifth came out a year ago) and have written a number of television scores. This version of the song comes from the Toys soundtrack album and blends in from the first track. The extended single is longer and features vocals by Seal. Check out the video of that version HERE.

3) The Smashing Pumpkins - “Christmastime”
The Smashing Pumpkins are an unlikely source for a heart-warming Christmas hit, but they delivered one. This track was released in 1997 for the third installment of the A Very Special Christmas compilation series. Whereas major artists such as Paul McCartney and Elton John made new holiday hits of the cheery party variety, the savage, alt. rocking Pumpkins did just the opposite. The low key, harmonic styling of "Christmastime" was a direct product of the era the band was heading towards with their electronica-influenced 1998 album, Adore.

4) Jethro Tull - “A Winter Snowscape”
In 2003 prog rockers Jethro Tull released a full-blown Christmas album. Though this may seem odd to the casual eye, Tull released a Christmas song as early as 1969 and other Christmas songs, or winter-themed tunes ever since. The album features new recordings of these tracks as well as new songs. This track is an instrumental composed by Tull guitarist Martin Barre.

5) David Bowie & Bing Crosby - “Peace on Earth/ Little Drummer Boy"
In 1977 David Bowie appeared in Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas, a television special, and sang a duet with the acgingcrooner. Often referred to as one of the weirder moments in television history, it's something that has to be seen/ heard to be fully understood. The "Peace on Earth" portion of the duet was written especially for Bowie who in actuality was none too fond of "Little Drummer Boy". This song is among several Christmas tunes parodied by the cast of Adult Swim's Venture Bros. and released online. Check those out HERE.

6) Mark Mothersbaugh - “Snowflake Music [From Bottle Rocket]”
A short instrumental track used in the Wes Anderson film Rushmore. The original version of this track appeared in Bottle Rocket, Anderson's first full-length film, and his first collaboration with Mark Mothersbaugh.

7) The Darkness - “Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)"
A comedic rock track from modern Brit glam rock outfit The Darkness. The comedy aspect of the song may fall on deaf ears without a little morsel of information, so allow me to educate: "bell end" is slang for the head of the human penis.

8) Chris Squire & Alan White - “Run With the Fox”
Chris Squire and Alan White are two members of Yes. Following the 1980 breakup of the band, these two continued working together and attempted to form a supergroup with Jimmy Page called XYZ (Ex-Yes and Zeppelin). The project never panned out and in very short time Yes reformed. Between those two events the duo released one track – "Run With the Fox" an unusual, but spirited holiday tune that can't help but conjure up visions of various animated films about quadrupedal woodland animals.

9) Crash Test Dummies - “Jingle Bells”
In 1992 folk rockers the Crash Test Dummies released a Christmas single of their rendition of "The First Noel". The version was traditional but made distinctive by lead singer Brad Roberts' very deep voice. Years later this spawned a whole album of traditional Christmas song re-renderings, including this track. If you ever wondered what "Jingle Bells" would sound like if sung by pagan tribes or demons, well, now you do. The album is amazing, pick it up HERE.

10) mc chris - “Evergreen”
Adult Swim personality and rapper, mc chris, renders a charming portrait of the dead-beat drug-addled youths who work part-time at Christmas tree tents. If you like your holidays full of laughs and cuss words, this is the song for you.

11) Bob & Doug McKenzie - “The Twelve Days of Christmas"
Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas' legendary comedy duo, The McKenzie Brothers perform their stumbling and confused rendition of a holiday classic. Hoser accessories such as beer, back bacon, and toques replace the original song's golden rings, French hens, etc. Endless fun. Last year, a full animated video was made for the song in preparation for the long-awaited Bob & Doug animated series which premiered this year.

12) Grand Buffet - “Stocking Stuffer”
Grand Buffet are a Pittsburg-based rap duo specializing in synthcore beats and head-scratching, mirth-making rhymes. This tale of one young man's encounter with Saint Nick is sure to warm your heart.

13) Tom Tom Club - “Il Est Né”
The funky, dancey husband-wife team of Talking Heads members Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth present a chill rendition of a traditional French Christmas carol. In 2002, "Il Est Né" and another track, "Christmas in the Club", were made available for download on Tom Tom Club's website. The tracks were taken down after the holidays passed and didn't return again until 2007, when they released a single called Misletunes. The single features both tracks and the CD version features two additional mixes of "Christmas in the Club".

14) Kate Bush - “December Will Be Magic Again"
A magical Christmas song from the likewise enchanted Kate Bush. It appeared on a sing le in 1980 and has appeared on finer Christmas compilations ever since. There are two versions. The version featured on the Holiday Feast favors a caroler sound, while the other rendition has a more minimal production and starts with chanting. The latter was featured on the 1979 BBC television event, The Kate Bush Christmas Special, you can watch that clip here. The TV special has recently been rebroadcast on the BBC, but a commercially available version has yet to surface.

15) Loreena McKennitt - “Snow”

McKennitt spins the words of Canadian poet Archibald Lampman into a Celtic ballad of wintertime beauty. What better expression of Christmas' roots than a pagan-esque worship of nature and perhaps the winter solstice?

16) Spinal Tap - “Christmas With the Devil"
From their second (real) album, 1992's Break Like the Wind, Spinal Tap explores how Satan celebrates the yuletide spirit. Here's a hint: it involves BDSM.

17) "Weird Al" Yankovic - “Christmas at Ground Zero"
Continuing comedic variations on the holidays, we move to the master of musical comedy: Weird Al. His "Christmas at Ground Zero" aptly plays upon the 1980s' paranoia of impending nuclear holocaust and attempts to dress up the scorched black remnants of humanity with tinsel and Christmas cheer. Truly there's a bright side to everything.

18) Run-D.M.C. - “Christmas Is"
The lesser-known of Run-D.M.C.'s two Christmas singles. The first was "Christmas in Hollis" (1987). "Christmas Is" was released in 1992 and is a fantastic product of its time, discussing the consumerism of the holidays. A choice example is the kid's Christmas list at the end: "yeah, that's right - give up the dough. I want my Ninja Turtles, I want my bike, I want my Sega Genesis, I want my Nintendo, and turn my mommy lights back on!"

19) Phantom Planet - “Carol of the Bells”
A compelling synth-rock version of the most famous Christmas instrumental of all-time from the band best known for having had Jason Schwartzman as their drummer and writing the theme song to The O.C.

20) Ben Folds - “Bizarre Christmas Incident”
Piano-rocker Ben Folds details a none-too-pretty encounter with the corpse of Santa Claus on Christmas morning. Allegedly the song was composed for the Grinch film, but was turned down. Too explicit? Perhaps. This song first appeared on Maybe This Christmas, a counter-culture Christmas compilation that lasted three albums between 2002-2004.

21) Shogo Sakai - Snowman
Every installment in Shigesato Itoi's video game series, Mother (called Earthbound in the US), has featured the "Snowman" theme composed by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka. It's been reworked several times in the past. This version appears on the soundtrack to the final installment of the series, Mother 3, and was arranged by that game's composer, Shogo Sakai.

22) The Band - “Christmas Must Be Tonight”
From The Band's 1977 album, Islands. "Christmas Must Be Tonight" is a soulful retelling of the birth of Christ. No gaudy evangelicalism, just beautiful music and a tale for the ages.

23) My Morning Jacket - “Xmas Time is Here Again”
And so ends the album with an easy-going meditation of harmonies and jingle bells from Southern rockers My Morning Jacket. This song if off their Christmas EP, My Morning Jacket Does Xmas Fiasco Style, released early in their career, between their first and second albums.

Happy holidays, Internet

- Cap & Nick

Silicon Dream (1987-1995)

2008-12-17T01:56:00.005-05:00

"Rambo in studio one kills an alligator
Arnold Schwarzenegger's son beats the terminator"

My friend Chad showed me what he feels may be the next big internet sensation. These are several videos from German synth-pop group Silicon Dream. It is definitely a product of the culmination many artist who came before the groups and its main member, Klaus Munzert.

I am extremely surprised this music is from 1987, this sound is definitely reminiscent of what was going on in Italo Disco the early 80s. But who am I to judge!

Here is a 2007 interview with Klaus Munzert.

Andromeda reminds me a lot of the Pet Shop Boys song Pananero.

HEAR IT: Last.fm

- Nick

Repo Man (1984)

2008-12-15T01:53:00.006-05:00

A week or two ago, my brother called me up with some news that he stated was about to make my day. Needless to say, it made my year. What was that news? The announcement of the sequel to 1984's cult classic Repo Man. The sequel, entitled Repo Chick and slated to be produced by David Lynch, will be the first return (in film at least) to the Repo Man franchise by director Alex Cox since the film's original release.

My obsession with Repo Man began before I knew it was a cult classic, or that I would one day be writing about weird underground films on a blog for the hip internet masses. I was introduced to this film back when the only source of influence on my tastes was my father. I remember watching this film on TV with him a number of times as a child. I would go to school and try to explain the plot to my friends, only to receive looks of complete confusion: "See, there is this car, and in the trunk is this alien thing that lets out a bright glow and vaporizes people and only leaves their shoes."

Of course at that age I was unaware of all the small subtleties within the film - the fact that the "alien" in the trunk might actually be a neutron bomb, or the nods toward the nuclear war scare of the 1980's.

The film opens with our protagonist Otto, a down and out punk kid living in the bright and rusted landscape of east LA, losing his job and befriending a strange group of repo men (who are all named after beers - Bud, Lite, Oly, Miller). They end up looking for a 64' Chevy Malibu being driven by a crazed scientist named J. Frank Parnell, who claims to be the inventor of the neutron bomb (which may explain what is in the trunk). Also looking for the car are a set of cheapskates called the Rodriguez Brothers, as well as an organization known as the United Fruitcake Outlet (U.F.O.) that believes the trunk holds aliens (another explanation for the bright glow), and government agents. Amidst all the searching are machine gun fights in hospital stairwells, contemplations of a cosmic unconsciousness, car repossession, the "repo code," and a who's who of the 1980's punk music scene (both in soundtrack and actors).

In high school I visited the local video store where I grew up, and found a copy of the film on VHS for sale as they purged their collection. For the next few years I would watch it religiously. This film contains elements that I am uncontrollably attracted to and have found in several other films - They Live, Terminator, Miracle Mile, Blade Runner, etc. All these films deal with Los Angeles in the 1980's: solitude, doomsday, all while featuring the unmistakable aesthetic of the time. The worlds in these films are filled with chain link fences, bright pavement, dark alleys, fluorescent lights, the Second Street Tunnel, and feelings of helplessness and isolation in a city populated by thousands.

I don't know if I was born with some kind of natural draw toward such themes, or if the influence came directly from my father. Most likely it is the latter. But while he watched these films strictly for entertainment's sake, I have taken my observations to the next level by placing them on par with other respected pieces of art. All of these films, especially Repo Man, speak to a different audience and culture than most films but should be respected for their own merits.

Repo Man contains several strange elements that run throughout. One of the first and most noticeable is the labeling of products, or the lack thereof. Most products in the film are labeled simply with what they are, underlined by a blue line. For instance "Beer" or "Food." This may be a commentary on consumerism or just an interesting aesthetic choice. At one point Miller, the repo shop's mechanic, spouts an eloquent speech on how we all share a "cosmic unconsciousness" which allows us to pick up on others' thoughts subconsciously:

Miller from Repo Man:

"A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness."

Later in the film a painting on a diner window can be seen advertising a plate of shrimp. Repo Man is full of small details like this that one might miss if not careful: like a man playing the part of one of the repo men's wives in the background of a party, or Jimmy Buffet as an FBI agent. The film contains a thick weave of slight variations on the norm that creates a world seemingly close to ours, but wholly different.

But it isn't just these small visual cues that I identify with. I find Otto's growth in the film to be an interesting subject. Otto begins as a punk kid kicking a can on the side of the street, and changes into a conservatively dressed repo man whom repossesses cars and gets paid to sell out his fellow citizens who have landed on hard times like himself. Repo Man seems to look with a skeptical eye on the punk lifestyle that sprouted its existence. In one scene, Otto comforts his dying friend Duke in the wake of a convenience store shootout. Duke, who has spent the entire film pulling small time robberies, coughs up blood and wheezes from a shotgun blast to his torso:

From Repo Man:

Duke: "The lights are growing dim Otto. I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am."
Otto: "That's bullshit. You're a white suburban punk just like me."
Duke: "Yeah, but it still hurts."

While Otto aligns himself with the same background as Duke, it is obvious Otto has changed and grown away from where he began in the film. Otto forces Duke to accept responsibility for what he has done instead of laying the blame on those around him, like so many that I grew up with. The film reveals the natural progression of the many who choose this lifestyle (or just kids in general) from angst filled youths to mature adults who can channel their aggressive feelings of injustice towards making actual change, like becoming activists or artists who can motivate people and bring to light important social and political issues. Just as Alex Cox has done with his film.

From alexcox.com:

"WHAT WAS REPO MAN ABOUT - REALLY?

Nuclear War. Of course. What else could it be about? And the demented society that contemplated the possibility thereof. Repo-ing people's cars and hating alien ideologies were only the tip of the iceberg. The iceberg itself was the maniac culture which had elected so-called "leaders" named Reagan and Thatcher, who were prepared to sacrifice everything -- all life on earth -- to a gamble based on the longevity of the Soviet military, and the whims of their corporate masters. J. Frank Parnell - the fictitious inventor of the Neutron Bomb - was the central character for me. He sets the film in motion, on the road from Los Alamos, and, as portrayed by the late great actor, Fox Harris, is the centrepoint of the film."

While I love other films that deal with nuclear war, like Dr. Strangelove, the themes of such films don't seem quite fitting for an audience of early 1980's punks, artists, and "outsiders." It may sound stupid to point it out, but I feel it is an important aspect of Repo Man, films of this nature, and art in general. Artists take a subject like nuclear war and make it their own. They claim it for their culture and respective lifestyles.

I have been waiting for and dreading a sequel to this film for years. On the one hand, I want to see what became of Otto, as the film ends in a strange climax. I want to know what was in the trunk or if Bud lives, and so on and so forth. But on the other hand, I feel that the answers to any of these questions would ruin the integrity of the original film. It would be like sitting next to Leonardo as he painted the Mona Lisa. It would be fantastic to dispel all the rumors surrounding this painting - but do you really want to?

Despite the presence of a Repo Man sequel coming to film, I can supposedly already find my answers in a graphic novel just released entitled Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday. I remember reading about this book on Alex Cox's website years ago, but had the idea that it was an abandoned project. Looks like it has finally come to light.

According to IMDB, a sequel was attempted in 1997 but failed. It is documented in the film A Texas Tale of Treason.

This brings us to the newest film, Repo Chick. Here is the blurb floating around the web:

From slashfilm.com:

"Repo Chick will unfold against the backdrop of the credit crunch and the subprime mortgage crisis in the US, where repossessions of homes, cars and other forms of property is at a new high. ‘The repo business has expanded to everything from boats, houses, aeroplanes, small nations...children[.]'"

Judging by this description, it appears this may be a sequel more in spirit and theme than directly, which I more than fully support. I just hope the film is able to conjure up the same feelings that the original does for me. Often times one goes into a long awaited sequel expecting a similar product, but finds that in the last 15-20 years the filmmaker has grown, changed, and wants to take the franchise in a new direction. (See Indiana Jones and Escape From L.A.) We will just have to wait and see.

Here are a few more facts I couldn't fit in:

The film was produced by Michael Nesmith of The Monkees fame.
The film includes two of my all time favorite actors. Harry Dean Stanton, Bud, appears in a plethora of 1980s films that I am sure you have seen, as well as showing up in Alien, The Green Mile, and Cool Hand Luke. And I went to high school with his nephew's son.
I am also a huge fan of Sy Richardson, who plays Lite. Sy is featured in several Alex Cox films and has a bit role in another 1980s sci-fi film favorite of mine, They Live. Supposedly Sy's character in Repo Man was the influence for Samuel L Jackson's in Pulp Fiction.

BUY IT: Amazon
HEAR IT: Amazon
READ IT: Amazon

- Nick

Kate Bush & Cocteau Twins' Fruitopia Ads (1994-5)

2008-12-02T17:33:00.014-05:00

Eclectic TV Ads Volume 2

In 1994 the Coca-Cola company debuted a bold, new bottled juice beverage line, Fruitopia. It wasn’t just a fruit drink; it was a concept, a gateway to a higher plain of flavor, the one path to real, ultimate thirst quenching. Coke banked on the early nineties’ Summer of Love nostalgia trip to market their Snapple-competing drink to Generation X’s wannabe hippie crowd. The result was a striking, psychedelic television ad campaign that made Fruitopia out to be a, like, totally mind-opening beverage, man.

The following 30 seconds will not inspire:

violent crime,
a religious experience,
conspicuous consumption.
It may, however, make you thirsty.

This was the ethos behind Fruitopia’s initial ad campaign. Trippy, kaleidoscopic images of fruit and swirling, gushing liquid primed your palate; while curious, consciousness-bending ponderings whimsically invited you to become that wild-eyed free-thinker you always knew you were. The ads were extremely eye-catching. I remember being mesmerized at the age of 10 by their hypnotic images and always eager to see what weird thing they’d say to me. As funky as the visuals were, they wouldn’t have been nearly as effective if not for their accompanying music. Music so diverse, meditative, and, as it turns out, composed by none other than legendary songstress, Kate Bush.

All the 30 seconds spots from 1994 collected.

Just as filmmakers moonlight in the advertising world so too do musicians. It seems not so unusual that quirky, creative workhorses like Devo and They Might Be Giants would lend their talents to marketing, but Kate Bush doing advert work seems strange. Yet the Fruitopia ads were an appropriate fit for Bush's character and a worthy vehicle for her experimentation. You can tell she had fun coming up with the variety of sounds and toying with how much could be done in a 30-second time frame. During 1994 nine 30-second ads aired as well as a 60-second ad that played in theaters (featuring an extended version of one of the 30-second tracks). In 1995, during the Academy Awards, one additional ad aired. That's 10 total songs. Details, including all the weird Fruitopian messages, can be found here, and you can listen to the songs below.

Oddly enough, the ads with Bush's music never made it to her native England. Instead, the British Fruitopia ads featured music by Scottish dream rock big-shots Cocteau Twins and So-Cal up-and-comers The Muffs. None of the Muffs' spots have made it to the Internet but a Spanish ad with the Cocteau Twins can be seen here:

Cocteautwins.com offers downloads of their two Fruitopia songs:

FILE: Cocteau Twins Fruitopia Commercial 1
FILE: Cocteau Twins Fruitopia Commercial 2

One of the Cocteau Twins' Fruitopia songs was later remixed by Spooky, under the title “Hypo-Allergenic“, and appears on his Found Sound LP. As for Fruitopia, its ad campaigns were never again as provocative as the initial batch, and in 2001, the drink was taken off the market in the United States, but if your feeling nostalgic, Fruitopia can still be found in Canada, Australia, and a few other countries.

Please enjoy this thirst quenching playlist:

- Cap

Eclectic TV Ads Volume 1

2008-11-18T17:44:00.006-05:00

The world of television advertising is a weird and mysterious place. Around 90% of it is utter crap all fast sells on automobiles, cleaning products, or weirdly sexy CGI kangaroos. Fortunately for television viewers, many of the poor souls trapped in the advertising biz are constantly trying to work an angle to deliver something that not only sells, but entertains. In the decades since the music video made innovations in the short-subject world, many of the finest directors of advertising have climbed the ranks all the way up to feature film directors and sometimes big-shot directors are even lured into the commercial field.

This is the first in an ongoing symposium of highly stimulating commercials - Media Potluck style! So sit back, relax, and dig this:

7up: I don't know the origins of this commercial, I wish I did. It's a juxtapositional feast of 80s - Pac-Man fever unleashed not in any intensity but in the smoky, soft focus haze of Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and gorgeous Tron-like computer graphics. The lyrics of the song are shamelessly re-done to assure me of the crisp and alluring refreshment of 7-up, but it only serves to make the experience more surreal, serene, and weirdly transcendental.

Parisienne Cigarettes, Parisienne People by David Lynch: This is one of those aforementioned instances of a known director doing ad work. Eccentric filmmaker David Lynch has, in fact, done his fare share of commercials from a perfectly normal pregnancy test ad to the intense "Third Place" PS2 ads. This cigarette commercial is 1000% Lynch, and totally amazing for it. Were I to actually have seen it on television I may have had some sort of magical aneurysm.

American Cancer Society - Smoking Fetus by David Fincher: Before he was directing hits like Fight Club and Alien 3, David Fincher made a name for himself in advertising. His ad work is as dark and distinctive as his films. His first work is relatively famous and stands out as perhaps one of the most eerie, maybe even downright scary, commercials of all time - a creepy fetus puppet smoking in a translucent womb. Yeegh.

Let's examine some other Fincher ads. In 1993 he directed a series of ads for AT&T called "You Will". The ads promoted a collection of futurist concepts conjured up by the telecommunications company. Fincher delivers on all AT&T's wildest dreams but does so on his terms, painting a smokey, worn, lived-in 15-minutes in the future as opposed to any sort of antiseptic utopia of modern convenience. Perhaps the strangest and most startling thing about these commercials is that most of these innovations are now part of our daily lives. Back then it was still sci-fi.

- Cap

Radio Hepcats (1996)

2008-11-02T00:36:00.020-04:00

The official soundtrack for Hepcats. What better way to compliment a cinematic comic book than with a soundtrack? This album was compiled by Hepcats creator Martin Wagner and was included with a special edition of issue zero. The CD and the accompanying album art were sealed in a plastic bag, BYO jewelcase. A pretty awesome concept.

The album features some awesome early 90s alt rock acts that I had zero exposure to prior. Sounds range from chill, to ethereal with some heavier stuff in the middle. All of the tracks are sure to delight, and accompany the comic perfectly. There's even a track of actual score for the album, "Erica/Kathryn's Decision" by William McGinny. Aside from the themesong to Nextwave, this is the only instance I can think of where music was composed for a comic. (If you can think of any other, please let us know.)

FILE: Radio Hepcats

01 Mistle Thrush - Wake Up (The Sleep Song)
02 An April March - The Red Dots
03 Curtain Society -Ferris Wheel
04 Soul Whirling Somewhere - Unhittable
05 No-Man - Infant Phenomenon
06 Visible Shivers - After Glory
07 William McGinny - Erica/Kathryn's Decision
08 Siddal - Secrets of the Blind
09 No-Man - Heaven Taste

A while back, spinning off of a discussion about Radio Hepcats on the YahooGroup, Wagner put together some new Radio Hepcats compilations for download on the iTunes store.

Check 'em out:
Radio Hepcats Chill
Radio Hepcats Rock

- Cap

Hepcats (1987-1998)

2008-11-01T23:15:00.011-04:00

The late 80s and early 90s were a boon period for independent comics, particularly self published ones. The rise of the graphic novel with works such as Watchmen and Mau s, cast comics in the public eye for the first time as a medium of powerful storytelling possibilities. Out of this particular phase, four major self-published bodies of work arose: Dave Sim's Cerebus, Jeff Smith's Bone, Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise, and Martin Wagner's Hepcats. Both Cerebus and Bone's finite stories concluded in 2004, Strangers in Paradise in 2007, all of them outlasting the self-publishing boom. Hepcats never concluded and ceased publishing with the second book of the first graphic novel, Snowblind, unpublished. Yet, even with only volume 1 of Snowblind (issues 2-10) having seen print, it's is still regarded as one of the greatest indy graphic novels of all time.

Hepcats began as a comic strip for The University of Texas' student newspaper. The characters all have cartoon animal heads, but regard one another and function as humans. The anthropomorphism is an aesthetic choice, a throwback from Wagner's earlier strip at the University of Huston, where the mascot was a cougar, and so were all the characters. Seldom (the comic strip) to never (the comic book) are the character's animal features referenced.

The series follows four friends: Arnie, Erica, Joey, and Gunther and their lives in and out of college. The strip grew in popularity and the characters grew in depth- in time the four panel comic strip format yielded less gags and more thought. By the time the comic book began, the charm and drama of the characters and stories were nothing but purely and realistically human. This was the driving force of Hepcats - real people and real problems told realistically. Unlike slice of life memoirs or most comics attuned to average life, Hepcats is told through a crisp cinematic story - too good for television, too complicated for movies.

I'm tempted to discuss the plot, but I don't want to spoil anything. Hepcats issues 0-10 are available for free online! Issues 11 and 12 are promised to be uploaded in the near future, and eventually The Collegiate Hepcats (the first collected Hepcats book, featuring all the strips) may be available. Be on the lookout for issue 11 - it's brutal, one of the most intense single issues of any comic ever. Once, I was loaning the series to a friend of mine and his mom picked that issue off the floor, though she's read a random comic, maybe connect with her son better... yeah, she was traumatized.

After a lag in Wagner's self-publishing, Antarctic Press picked up Hepcats in 1996 for a huge relaunch, including the brand new, full color issue zero. The series ran reprints of the previous issues and was intended to continue with new issues beginning at issue 13 (Snowblind part 2 begins with issues 11 & 12). Issue 12 came and nothing followed. Martin Wagner's withdrawal from the comics industry has been the subject of much drama and gossip but, suffice it to say, times were tough and the job just wasn't paying the bills any more.

Thanks to the internet, this was not the end of Hepcats. The fan community on Martin Wagner's YahooGroup provided encouragement and he's committed to finishing Snowblind for publication online. Currently, he's in the process of completing a minicomic set in 2008, post Snowblind. Though it was never intended for anyone other than the fan community, Image has asked to feature it in their Popgun Anthology.

After 20 years Hepcats hasn't aged. It's still rich with freshness and modernity. The characters are lovable, the story is heartrending, and the art is rendered with an architect's preciseness. It's a comic anyone can connect with, and everyone can fall in love with (just give mom a warning before she reads issue 11).

READ IT: Hepcats issuse 0-10
READ: The Minicomic

Also, you can score a hardcover copy of Snowblind direct from the artist (very limited quantities) here. AND you can also order original Hepcats art as well as other cool Hepcats items from him via the YahooGroup. Support the man and his craft.

BUY: Snowblind
BUY: Hepcats art etc.

- Cap

Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane (2002)

2008-11-01T17:20:00.011-04:00

There's been a tremendous turnout of concept albums so far in the 21st century, but rock operas have been few and far between. As the current decade draws to a close, narrative albums are making a grand return, with offerings by both Green Day and The Decemberists this year alone, but the musical atmosphere wasn't always this fertile. At the turn of the 21st century modern music was, by and large, still struggling against the awkward spell of the late-nineties. Now, in this much-improved musical environment, is an opportune time to examine one of the first rock operas of the 21st century: Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane.

Hooverphonic is a Belgian group that emerged in the mid-nineties as trip hop swept Europe. Trip hop's already experimental fusion of electro and hip hop encouraged further mutation and the band dove right in. By their second album, Hooverphonic were hard at work cross-pollinating and maturing their European electropop sound with myriad other musical styles. The band's first three albums were released in the States with some success, (I first heard them on a Volkswagen commercial) but just as they were making headway Sony pulled their US distribution. Their forth album, Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane, is a masterpiece that never made it to North American shores.

In Jackie Cane, Hooverphonic draw from the theatrics of 1960s film scores to illustrate their unique rendition of a classic tragedy: the rise and fall of a would-be starlet. Jackie wants to be a famous singer and she leaves behind her twin sister and the ramshackle part of town she grew up in to peruse her dream. Her twin feels betrayed and abandoned by her other half. While she sits alone, at home, Jackie becomes a huge success - but her fame takes its toll. She spirals into substance abuse and returns to her sister, with whom she hopes to find comfort. Jackie’s sister never wants them to be separated again. To ensure this, she serves Jackie a poisoned meal and kills herself. It’s been suggested that the album's narrative is from Jackie’s perspective as she reminisces in her dying moments.

Much of the verification of these details comes from a strange piece of writing behind the disc in the jewelcase. It’s full of illegible and sometimes missing words as well as odd grammatical errors:

The album originated from a track called “Jackie Cane” which appeared on Hooverphonic’s previous album, The Magnificent Tree. It illustrates in brief, the rise and fall of Jackie’s career. ("Jackie Cane was everybody's sugar/ she gave it all wherever it took her.") The song wasn’t included on the Jackie Cane album, but serves as an over-arching introduction of sorts. With Jackie Cane, Hooverphonic play up their penchant for string arrangements, James Bond-esque guitar riffs, and psychedelia as well as add jazz and Latin influences to their sound. The result is a collection of Broadway-worthy ballads and dance numbers, such as "Sometimes" and "The World is Mine", next to dark, hallucinogenic tracks like "Jackie's Delirium and "Shampoo". Jackie Cane's extreme, but cohesive variance in sound and style, mixed with its impressive, downright cinematic narrative, make for a phenomenal experience. If there is a hall of rock operas somewhere in the cosmos, Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane deserves a prestigious place among its grand displays.

When listening to the album I like to add "Jackie Cane" as the first track, acting as sort of an opening titles to the full narrative experience. Another addition to the chronology of the album is "The Contract", which was a b-side on the “Sometimes” single. The track has a very specific place in the album’s narrative - between “Human Interest” and “Nirvana Blue” where Jackie signs her contract to stardom. "The Contract" also offers some meta commentary on the act of making a concept album: "did you really think about creating/ a masterpiece rarely presents/ itself at the door of your imagination/ accept these conditions even if there's really not much to accept."

The intricacies of Jackie Cane's narrative don't readily present themselves. Many elements of the primary story such as Jackie's rise to fame and her decline into drug addiction and/or madness are easy to pick out, but key aspects such as Jackie's twin sister and the actuality of her murder are less clear. Below is my ideal track listing for the album ("Jackie Cane" and "The Contract" included) with my notes on the story’s chronology as I've come to interpret it:

1) "Jackie Cane" An opus to the main character telling of her rise and fall as a starlet.
2) "Sometimes" Addresses the rift growing between the sisters due to Jackie’s desire to become a singer and her eventual departure.
3) "One" Discusses the bond between the twins, but also their duality. It’s in both Jackie and her twin’s perspectives and supports the theory that the album is looking back from the point of Jackie's death. "I had to leave but now I'm coming back/ we had to see/ you're white and I'm black."
4) "Human Interest" Jackie struggles with doing what it takes to become a star and bracing herself for paying "the dreadful price of success."
5) "The Contract" Jackie finds herself in a record executive’s office presented with the conflict of signing a part of herself away.
6) "Nirvana Blue" The cathartic moment before Jackie takes the plunge into making her big break. "I just jumped out in the open/ without knowing my parachute will save me."
7) "The World is Mine" Jackie’s rise to fame as a media darling.
8) "Jackie’s Delirium" A hallucinogenic nightmare as Jackie’s drug abuse and neurosis creep up on her.
9) "Sad Song" The depression and fallout of Jackie’s drug addictions leads to an unsuccessful stint in a California rehab clinic.
10) "Day After Day" Jackie is let out of rehab, but it didn't work. She now hides in the "organized chaos" of either her actual house or the "house" of her career. The track references an earlier Hooverphonic song, “Pink Fluffy Dinosaurs” as a drug metaphor.
11) "Shampoo" Jackie realizes that her sister might be a means of filling the void that’s grown inside of her. Perhaps, even though they're at odds, they’re family and they need each other. "You're the thorn in my side/ you ache and ache and ache/ still I can't live without/ you being near." In the lyrics booklet the song's title is framed, “in the SHAMPOO lies the truth”.
12) "Others Delight" Called “preparing OTHERS DELIGHT” in the booklet. Entirely from the twin’s perspective. She discusses her fractured feelings since Jackie’s departure. "I knew that you would leave/ your goal was more important than my grief." The word “preparing” in the extended title alludes to “The Last Supper.”
13) "Opium" Jackie rationalizes that devoting herself fully to her music might be how she can pull herself out of her addictions. "Music is opium for free." There is a chance for her to redeem herself.
14) "The Last Supper" This song is from the twin's perspective. Jackie’s twin poisons a meal she makes for Jackie. She hopes to end Jackie's torment: "let me save you from this unbearable hell." The song mentions Park Güell, which, though it seems unlikely, might be the setting of this song. This would place Jackie’s home in Barcelona.
15) "The Kiss" Written as “THE KISS of death” in the booklet. The twin kisses her dying/dead sister goodbye. There's implications that she ends her own life somehow was well.

Jackie Cane is near impossible to find in US stores. Fortunately, the Internet is to the rescue. Not only is the album readily listenable on various sites, but it's not too hard to purchase either. Though it used to be a pricey import, Amazon now offers the album at a reasonable price and the US iTunes offers some (but not all) of the tracks. Finding the "Sometimes" single is trickier. It's available on ebay or Amazon from time to time and the French iTunes store has the single for download. Also, there’s a 14-track Japanese edition of Jackie Cane that supposedly has the track on it. A thread on Hooverphonic’s forum has details on finding the song. For additional Jackie Cane fun, many of the tracks on Jackie Cane also have lounge style revisions with an orchestra on the band’s fifth album, Sit Down and Listen to Hooverphonic, and there's a French lyric version of “One” called “Tu Es Moi”.

Check out Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane:

Discover Hooverphonic!

- Cap

The Ocean Blue (1989)

2008-10-20T16:35:00.009-04:00

In 1989 the positive influence of 80s dreamy rock acts such as U2, The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Dream Academy, and Cocteau Twins combined to give birth to their first worthy offspring: The Ocean Blue. These childhood friends from Hershey, Pennsylvania took to heart the stylings of all their European progenitors and expanded them into beautiful, pastoral soundscapes. Along with groups such as Miracle Legion they brought the New Romantic sound to a more rural locale, gravitating towards certain folky aspects of the alternative movement that was about to take place. Their music is fun, energetic and contemplative with lyrics not bogged down by gloominess or excessive self-obsession, as many of their idols (*cough* Morrissey) were inclined to be. The Ocean Blue's sound is well displayed in their self titled debut from Sire Records. It's the perfect narration for youthful outdoors frolicking - actual or imaginary. Check out this video for Drifting, Falling and I think you'll get the picture:

Drifting, Falling - The Ocean Blue

The band did very well for themselves at their debut and by the time of their second album, Cerulean (1991), their notoriety was growing. However, global perspective shifted away from their musical direction as the tidal wave of grunge overtook the rock music industry. The band still exists, and is still producing quality music. Most recently, they produced an EP in 2004 and word is a new full-length album is on the way soon.

BUY IT: Amazon, iTunes

- Cap

ASG's Video Jukebox aka The VJ (1994)

2008-10-18T00:37:00.009-04:00

I present to you the VJ, another find from old GamePro backissues. The VJ is a perfect example of both mid-nineties electronic excess (virtual reality, Interfilm) and the struggle of the advertising industry to communicate with the ultra hip youth culture. A recipe for bad ideas and imminent failure.

The VJ's selling point was that you'd never have to go through the hassle of changing game cartridges ever again! Just rack and stack, JACK! Never again think to yourself, "Oh man, changing SNES games BITES! It would be RAD if I didn't have to do that." In that day and age you were already tethered to the console by a chord, chances are you didn't have to go far to swap cartridges. Thing is though - the VJ didn't actually save you the trouble of getting up and switching games. You still had to walk up to it and press the switcher, there wasn't a remote. And as far as keeping things nice and tidy, the VJ might put all your games in one place - but it didn't conserve space. These bad boys were 30" wide, a foot deep, 6" tall - freaking huge! Yeah, you could shell out 300 bucks ($49.99 apiece) to get 36 games hooked up on 6 networked VJs, but you'd end up with a new piece of living room furniture, or a whole set if you service your other supported consoles.

While the above ad of the guy with games shoved into his head is pretty tubular, check this VJ ad out. The text really speaks to what a rebellious and wise crackin' youth in a jean jacket I am:

I love the VJ, it's so bad. What was odd about all the youth slang and lingo of the early to mid-nineties is that I never heard anyone use it in reality. If any of my friends or I did communicate with these rude dude inflections it was because we were interpreting what adults in advertising, television, and films had themselves interpreted 90s youth culture to be. Maybe I lived in the wrong town for it, but I'd swear that these too cool for skool kids with their funky funky fresh styles didn't actually exist... particularly not as white video gamer kids.

The VJ epitomizes much of the gaming scene of its time. Lots of third (and sometimes first) parties were looking to hook gamers into the next big thing and always bit off more than they could chew. They ended up with poorly conceived, expensive pieces of hardware nobody wanted. '94 and '95 were particularly brutal years, offering the VJ many likewise mediocre contemporaries such as the Aura Interactor - which claimed to be virtual reality, but was actually just a big vest with speakers that vibrated to simulate actually being in the game! Awesome!

All Systems Go (ASG) Technologies, who produced the VJ, went belly-up in their attempt to enter the gaming world (though they may actually still exist.) There's almost no information available online about them or the VJ. It's verified that the promised Atari Jaguar version didn't come out, and their gah-rose! game Hosenose and Booger never made it either. The Genesis and SNES VJs were slated to be released Christmas '94, but I'm curious whether they actually dropped or not. (If anyone has ever seen one or finds one, let us know!)

In my quest for Video Jukebox info I came across some other fun stuff- earlier concepts going by the name "Video Jukebox."

First up is an actual jukebox that played videos!

I've never seen one of these and I desperately want to. They store 40 music videos and 160 additional records. Tapes with new programming come every month and genre-specific collections can be ordered. A 25" monitor was built into the unit, but you could mod it out with a projector if you wanted.

From 1981 to 1986 HBO ran a half-hour long music video show called Video Jukebox. The show actually pre-dates MTV. No one is hosting any episodes, but check out these title animations. I can't help but suspect these are the products of some noteworthy studios, but I've got no info.

- Cap

Zombi 2 (1979)

2008-10-04T22:00:00.016-04:00

We have all seen the classic zombie films Night of The Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, etc. However there are literally hundreds of other zombie films that have been release in the last 50 years. In my opinion the zombie films (and most horror films) coming out of the European market in the 1970s and 80s (Italy specifically) shine above the rest. They seem to have a particularly high level of respect for the subject type, audience, and the medium of film in general. These are by no means zombie films being produced by Antonioni or De Sica. The films contain plenty of gore and other horror trimmings much like American films yet they retain a distinctly European flavor.

One film that stands out particularly in my mind is Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2. Where is Zombi 1 you ask? George A. Romero's classic film Dawn of The Dead was released internationally as Zombie (or Zombi for our Italian brothers and sisters.) Dawn and this film (or Zombi 3 and Zombi 4 for that matter) actually have no connection what so ever. To many this was seen as a quick way to cash in on Dawn's success. But to me, and many others, Zombi 2 stands on some strong merits of its own.

By the way, just to further confuse things, Zombi 2 was released in the US as Zombie. Go figure.

An abandoned boat drifts into New York harbor, the police investigate and are attacked by a zombie hiding in the closet. The police contact Anne Bowles, the daughter of the boat's missing owner, and soon she and Peter West, a handsome reporter, are on their way to the island of Matool where her father was last seen. The two meet up with a boating couple, Brian and Susan, and soon they are on their way to the island. During their journey they witness a fight between a zombie and a shark...

The group ends up facing a cursed tropical island full of zombies in what I see as a fresh approach to the zombie genre. It provides an interesting mix between scientific explanation and voodoo myth that leaves the viewer unsure of the causes the zombism. David Menard, a doctor living on the island, attempts to understand and rationalize what is happening with science to the disapproval of his island native assistant who claims the horrible outbreak is a curse. Eventually even the doctor gives up hope on his research and kills his remaining patients as they turn into the living dead.

A majority of the film takes place during the daylight hours on the lush tropical island of Matool, a move I feel is a departure from most horror films that use darkness to up the "suspense" factor. Even the scenes that take place at night are able to retain the hot, sweaty, sticky feel of the tropics. Ah, beautiful!

For a more detailed synopsis of the film, notes on its production, release, and re-releases please visit Wikpedia, this fan page, and a very detailed review here.

Zombi 2 has a great electronic heavy soundtrack provided by Fabio Frizzi. The film's score is a strange mix of island rythms, minimal synth percussion, and eerie organ chords. When I found the soundtrack available in a double release with 1981's Cannibal Ferox I had to get it. To my surprise Frizzi's work on Cannibal surpassed that of Zombi 2.

In light of this I have provided samples from the double album release.

Zombi 2 aka Zombie

01 Frizzi, Fabio - Main Title
02 Frizzi, Fabio - The Dead On Main Street / VooDoo Rising

Cannibal Ferox

03 Frizzi, Fabio - Cannibal Ferox
04 Frizzi, Fabio - NYC Aftermath

FILE: Samples from Cannibal Ferox (1981) and Zombie (1979)
BUY IT: MovieGrooves.com and Amazon.com

- Nick

The Cereal Killings (1992-1995)

2008-10-03T23:01:00.011-04:00

James Sturm's The Cereal Killings was a comic book mini series published between 1992 and 1995 by Fantagraphics Books.

I first encountered The Cereal Killings around 2003 in a bizarre and grimy news and book shop called Clark's Out of Town News in Fort Lauderdale. It had existed for many years with its entrance hidden from the road by the rising ramp of the Andrews Avenue draw bridge. Only when it became a part of Las Olas Riverfront, and upgraded its entrance to a dimly lit corridor leading to and from a parking garage, did I notice it. In addition to the newsstand essentials they stocked counterculture erotic art books, homebrew versions of radical texts such as The Anarchist Cookbook, and a porn section of ancient VHS tapes, a boxed male blow up doll at least two decades old, werewolf erotica, and swinger personals magazines. Very little product moved from Clark's once it had been entombed there. It was a strange land of mysteries and I mourn its passing.

The true and tangible gold of Clark's was their comics section. There were all manner of Kitchen Sink, Fantagraphics, and even smaller alternative press comics that had been there since the early nineties. They'd actually sealed some of them in plastic which had accumulated a fine layer of sticky dust. Among these wrapped comics were issues 2, 4, 5, and 6 of The Cereal Killings. I bought an issue out of curiosity and quickly returned for the rest.

In Cereal Killings cartoon mascots are actual people, working day-to-day in the real world. The cereal mascot life is similar to being an actor or sports player - the mighty can fall and the old is replaced with the new. A number of beloved mascots have died recently in seemingly unrelated and understandable ways; regardless the newspapers are making a spectacle of the deaths and calling them cereal killings. As a result of this bad press the industry is in a slump. Carbunkle, once one of the few human mascots, has become a cereal agent. He was the brainchild behind marshmallows and the sugarberry, but he, like may of his cerealebrity friends are becoming washed up. When Dougie the Sugar Duds frog dies from an obesity instigated heart attack, Carbunckle starts being visited by terrifying visions of his dead clients. These visions lead him toward a new approach: a healthy cereal. In the 50s Kelcog once produced a corn cereal whose mascot was a scarecrow. The line didn't last very long and the Scarecrow disappeared - Carbunckle thinks he's the industry's next big thing, but he has to find him first. The visions increase and he's starts to become obsessed.

Sturm's heavily shaded and simplified style gives the anthropomorphic cartoon characters a distinctly eerie look about them. The older mascots are becoming out of place and the 90s are frequently contrasted with the cereal heyday of the 50s through flashbacks. Sturm builds a commentary on how food products have become a part of American entertainment, like deities in some ways, and how cereal advertising manipulates consumers. He did heavy research on the bygone days of the cereal industry and the strange religious origins of the Kelloggs company. All these elements meld into the dark and affecting mystery of The Cereal Killings.

Cereal Killings was Sturm's first book. He's since become quite a presence in the indy comic world, best known for his Eisner Award-Winning books Golem's Mighty Swing and Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules. In 2004 he co-founded The Center for Car toon Studies. Cereal Killings ended with issue 8 (which was chapter 9 due to the previous book being a double-issue). Sturm considered collecting a revised Cereal Killings but has since decided against it. At his approval I am able to present you with issue 4, the first issue I read, and a prime example of the dynamic storycraft the series has to offer.

READ IT: The Cereal Killings Chapter 4
BUY IT: Mile High Comics, Mycomicshop.com

- Cap

Miracle Mile (1988)

2008-09-26T16:21:00.018-04:00

The 1980s yielded some very strange, just outside of the mainstream, films. Films that have a grandiose nature within a small frame, that deviate from the typical, Hollywood sensibilities of what should go in films and how they should be made - challenging subjects inside unlikely vessels. It was a time of experimentation. Films like Ladyhawke, After Hours, Buckaroo Banzai, even Ferris Bueller's Day Off would be hard pressed to see production today. Over the past two decades we've seen this territory approached, but very seldom reached, and in all this time there has been no more beautiful an enigma than Miracle Mile.

Miracle Mile begins with a very simple premise: Harry (Anthony Edwards) accidentally meets the girl of his dreams, Julie (Mare Winningham), and after a successful afternoon together plan for a date. Accidents happen and he misses it. The payphone outside the diner where they were supposed to meet is ringing, so Harry picks up... A frightened voice, who'd gotten the wrong number, tells him that nuclear weapons have been launched at the US, and there's only 70 minutes left. From there the movie takes a serious shift. If Harry really does have such a short time he wants to spend it with Julie, and he'll do anything to get to her. With everything at stake and nothing to lose, Harry, and any of the colorful crowd awake past midnight whom he shares his secret with, are capable of anything. Things get chaotically strange.

The film is a dark, dark comedy, playing off the increasingly bleak perspective of the period right before the iron curtain fell. It's also a romance, and a powerful one. It runs like a chaotic dream where you're constantly finding and losing what you're looking for. LA's Miracle Mile, is transformed from a fun and funky few blocks of city into a tremendous labyrinth. The art direction is astounding and the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream permeates the entire film, accompanying the atmosphere superbly.

The film was originally penned as part of the 1983 Twilight Zone Movie. At one time the script was listed as being among the top 10 best unmade screenplays. Writer and director, Steve De Jarnatt put a significant amount of personal funds and legwork into make the film happen. Not only was the script making film companies uncomfortable, but De Jarnatt didn't have much directing experience; only one previous film, Cherry 2000 (which looks awesome, but I haven't seen it), and writing credits for the Bob and Doug McKenzie movie, Strange Brew. Following Miracle Mile, De Jarnatt's career has been entirely in television. He's worked on everything from X-Files and ER to Lizzie McGuire. Here's hoping he returns to film someday. I'd like to see what else his mind can conjure up.

Miracle Mile is available on DVD, and is up on YouTube:

WATCH IT:

BUY THE FILM: Amazon

And if you want just a little taste of the flavor of Miracle Mile, check out these samples from Tangerine Dream's score:

Miracle Mile: Original Soundtrack From The Hemdale Motion Picture

01 Tangerine Dream - After the Call
02 Tangerine Dream - Running Out of Time
03 Tangerine Dream - Museum Walk

FILE: Samples from Miracle Mile (1988)
BUY IT: Amazon

- Cap

The Plague Dogs (1982)

2008-09-05T01:23:00.012-04:00

Many of you may have seen, or at least have heard of, the 1978 animated movie Watership Down. In short, it's an adaptation of the novel by Richard Adams about a group of rabbits who take heed of an apocalyptic prophecy and leave their home. On their journey they undergo many trials and confront a great evil in the form of a fascist regime of rabbits. It is very dark, heart-wrenching, and beautiful. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It is one of my favorite films, and easily one of the greatest animated features.

Watership Down isn't the topic of the discussion though, rather Watership Down's lesser-known bastard sister - The Plague Dogs. Plague Dogs is an adaptation of another Richard Adams book, directed by the same director, and produced by the same studio. However Plague Dogs wasn't a success like Watership Down was, and it's easy to see why. While Watership was dark, it maintained enough lightheartedness, hope, and adventure to serve all audiences. Sure, some kids would get nightmares, but not all of them. Plague Dogs is DARK, pitch black dark. Nightmares, seriously.

The story is about animal testing and the severe and brutal cruelties that can come from it. It opens with one of the main characters, a dog named Rowf, being repeatedly drowned and having the water pumped out of his lungs, you know, just to see. Rowf, and his friend, a dog called Snitter, escape the laboratory and search for a place to call home. Meanwhile, the lab thinks there's a chance that the escaped animals might be carriers of some deadly viral strains they were exparimenting with so they begin to scour the country side to exterminate them. This film is bleak and some really remarkably awful stuff happens, but it's a work of art and throughly compelling. It's basically the Dancer in the Dar k of animated films.

After a long time the film was finally made available on DVD in the US, but it's not the full version, about 15 minutes are missing. The most recent international releases are the full 99 minutes. So whip out the region-free DVD player. If you don't have one, get one - there are plenty of good reasons. If that's not the road for you, you can always watch it on good ol' YouTube.

WATCH IT:

BUY IT: Amazon.co.uk

- Cap

Bobby Orlando

2008-09-03T00:15:00.013-04:00

If you dip into the dance music world often enough you will one day find that a large portion of your favorite tracks were produced by the same person either under different monikers or as the "man behind the curtain" for a group of pretty models.

Such is the case with Bobby Orlando. His track record is extremely impressive, producing the Pet Shop Boys, Divine, Fancy, The Flirts, and the list goes on. Before I even knew who Bobby "O" was I was already blasting the Pet Shop Boys and Fancy and dying for more. So you can imagine that I was quite excited when I found out that there was one man behind these amazing jams.

Sadly there is not that much information on Bobby Orlando available on the interweb. There is no official site, just this outdated fan site, a Wikipedia entry, this rather in-depth article, and an article from the 80s painting Bobby as a semi-fanatical religious dance producer who creates so many songs because God has commanded him to. Personal theologies and adaptations of the scripture aside, the man produced an incredible amount of infectious songs.

"If a producer has the ability to put out that many records and he doesn't then he is disobeying God's command."

PS - I just found this website that seems to have a good amount of info on Bobby.

From Wikipedia:

Orlando is credited as one of the founding fathers of euro/pop dance music. His productions are easily identifiable by their dense synthesizers, rolling bass lines, and resounding percussion. Orlando tracks showcase him playing multiple instruments including keyboards, guitars, drums, percussion and saxophone. The ringing cowbell percussion lines and robotic sequencers heard in “She Has A Way”, “The Best Part Of Breakin’ Up,” “Desire,” and “Native Love (Step By Step)” define the electrifying sound he pioneered.

LISTEN: last.fm - Bobby Orlando, The Flirts, Divine
BUY IT: Amazon

Some videos for your enjoyment:

Interfilm's Interactive Movies (1995)

2008-08-31T20:45:00.012-04:00

Interfilm was one of the many mid-90s attempts to merge live action with interactive gaming. They took things one step further - attempting to reach an even bigger audience with interactive movies.

The set up involved a hand full of theater's arm rests being modded with a 3-button controller. It was basically a choose your own adventure book without any majorly dire consequences - just different methods of achieving the same goal. Audiences were actually encouraged to shout at the screen to affect the other audience member's decisions in the realtime voting. Interfilm became known to me when, while pouring over some old copies of GamePro, I came across this article with some names that seriously caught my eye: the Back to the Future/Interstate 60 dreamteam of Christopher Lloyd and Bob Gale starring in "Mr. Payback: An Interactive Movie."

From BTTF.com:

The film was released in February 1995, in approximately 25 newly retrofitted interactive Interfilm theaters, but it was never released in wide release due to the required $50,000+ each theater had to spend to upgrade their screens with the necessary interactive equipment. Viewers were able to sit through three showings of the twenty minute film (compiled from two hours of footage), with no show ever being shown the same way twice.

"Mr. Payback" is the story of some half-witted vengance robot committing the ultimate sin: posing as a human. Mostly it's a vehicle for repugnant fart jokes and sexual innuendo. What was Bob Gale thinking?

Check out the only existing clips from this film:

The scenes splice nonsensically due to the complex and somewhat nonsenscical 3-laserdisc system used to play the movies. These clips are from one of the three laserdiscs.

"Mr. Payback" was the first release from Interfilm, though not actually the first film. The first film was "I'm Your Man" starring former MTV VJ Kevin Seal. Easily the weirdest thing about this movie is that Joe Jackson did the incidental music for it. Here's a very optimistic promotional documentary produced for the film:

Oddly enough it turns out you can actually purchase and play "I'm Your Man" in DVD form. "I'm Your Man" was the third film released, possibly out of desperation, after the Adam West sci-fi bycicle race comedy "Ride For Your Life." "Ride For Your Life" toned down the "edgy" PG-13 sass for a lighter, more video gamey fair. Apparenlty "Mr. Payback" upset more than a few theatergoers:

"That was like watching pornography," one viewer complained after having subjected her preteen daughters to 20 minutes of Mr. Payback.

I thank Joe Redifer deeply for making details of this oddity available to the interweb.

- Cap

Prince Buster - Fabulous: Greatest Hits (1963-1981)

2008-08-31T18:19:00.014-04:00

I have always been a fan of dub music and early ska. Now, I don't claim to be at all that knowledgeable when it comes to these genres but I always try to grab a few albums when I find them cheap. What we have here is a real gem! Prince Buster isn't your 2 tone or third wave ska. This is the original stuff baby!

LISTEN: last.fm
BUY IT: Amazon

From Wikipedia:

Cecil Bustamente Campbell, O.D. (born May 28, 1938), better known as Prince Buster and less known by his muslim name Muhammed Yusef Ali, is a musician from Kingston, Jamaica and regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music. The records he made on the Blue Beat label in the 1960s inspired many reggae and ska artists.

- Nick

Musique D'Express (1990)

2008-08-31T00:27:00.022-04:00

Express clothing stores were the number one source for fashion-savvy American women to indulge in sleek, Parisian style. Conceived as a younger, hipper version of its parent company, The Limited, Express channeled the streamline fluidity and comfort of European fashion. Even their clothing displays were chic. One of my earliest memories in a shopping mall is of an Express display: mannequins resembling surrealist painter René M agritte’s bowler-hatted men with apples hovering in front of their faces, set against red brick walls with silhouettes of cut-out sky behind them. During this golden age in the clothing retailer’s history, Express was miles ahead of the rest of the mainstream. Yet amidst all this thought-provoking fashion there was one key element that cemented and secured Express’ slick ambiance - the amazing playlist of French pop music they piped through their speakers.

In 1990, through Polygram Records, Express released a compilation cassette, called Musique D’Express. The album is rich with the energetic stylings of sophisiti-pop at the ’80s-’90s cusp. Even today its tracks are a lush selection of fresh sounds and artists that most American ears are unfamiliar with. I was six-years-old at the time. I remember the display for the tape next to the register, and I remember my mom buying it. It must seem strange that I have such vivid memories of a clothing store. However, something profound and subconscious was at work. I grew up without MTV, there wasn't a hip older relative bringing the mainstream world to me, and I was too young to pay much mind to the pop culture surrounding me. The tape's attractive harmonies and mysterious, moody lyrics. were a first taste of what I'd been missing. New wave, pop, modern rock and all the other music of the time was trapped in the background as melodies I was effected by but could never capture. I distinctly remember overhearing Phil Collins’ “Another Day in Paradise” and Bruce Hornsby’s “The Way it is” in a grocery store around this same time and being bewitched by them. It was many years later before I ever figured out what the songs were and who was behind them. Musique D’Express was a crystallization of many musical sensations I was only beginning to understand.

Niagra’s “Soleil d’Hiver” glistens like sunlight through glass bricks, Claudia Phillips’ “Picasso” and Luna Parker’s “Fric Frack” are collages of splashy synths and summertime fun, and Pauline Ester’s “Oui, Je l’adore” is a big band twirl through night rhythms and soft focus lenses. Meanwhile, on the opposite spectrum, legendary French singer, Serge Gainsbourg, re-renders the French classic “Mon Légionnaire” into a grungy, grinding funk set to a sexy bass line. The video for the song is a gem of conceptual excess, featuring a smokey factory setting with muscly urban dancers. François Feldman’s “J’ai Peur” shares “Mon Légionnaire”’s dark beat but with a faster, more danceable, tempo. Feldman’s other track on the album, “Joue Pas“, is a duet with the soulful-voiced Joniece Jamison where pop and R&B meet at a compelling middle ground. From the jaunty stroll of Lio’s “Tu Es Formidable” to the dreamy saxophone-lit melodies of Vanessa Paradis‘ “Soldat” and “Joe le Taxi“, Musique D’Express is perfect for any kind of cool you want to be.

I listened to the album all through my childhood, but at some point in my adolescence it got swept by the wayside. When I wanted to find it again, I couldn’t remember the name of the album, the titles of the songs, or any of the artists - I hadn’t paid attention to any of that as a kid. I only remembered the tape itself. With the nagging memory in mind, I spent a good deal of time fretting over finding the tape, or at least figuring out what it was called. I searched online, I scoured thrift stores, I even e-mailed Express and asked about it, but they didn’t know who to go to with a question about a promotion that old. Finally, I managed to type the right combination of words and Google delivered to me an Amazon page where used copies were being sold.

I now present to you Musique D’Express ten succulent tracks (plus the weird little tones that play before the side changes). It is one of the finest compilations of its time, personifying a specific moment in music that is frequently overlooked - a virtual time travel transport to the harmonics of 1990s France, or perhaps a shopping mall somewhere in the past.

FILE: Musique D'Express (1990)
BUY IT: Amazon.com

- Cap

Cop Rock (1990)

2008-08-31T00:23:00.003-04:00

Over the years Steven Bochco has created a lot of hit television shows. Hill Street Blues, LA Law, NYPD Blue, and the list goes on. But even KISS and the Rolling Stones had disco songs. If you get what I am saying. Know when to say when!

But then again who thought a show about a robotic little girl would last four seasons?

More on YouTube
More on Wikipedia

- Nick

This is Media Potluck

2008-08-30T23:35:00.001-04:00

Hey! Just what is "Media Potluck" anyway?

Duh, you idiot! It's only the hippest place for eclectic media on the world wide web.

From wikipedia:

A potluck is a gathering of people where each person is expected to bring a dish of food to be shared among the group. Synonyms include: potluck dinner, Jacob's join, Jacob's supper, faith supper, covered dish supper, pitch-in, carry-in, bring-a-plate.

From us:

A media potluck is a gathering of webnauts where each person is expected to bring a dish of eclectic media to be shared among the interweb. Synonyms include: wow look at this, choice finds, Jacob's jam, faith supper, deep grooves, pitch-in, an everything pizza, bring-a-thang.

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All transmogrified Wikipedia entries aside this blog exists to bring our daily media finds to the world wide web. We have spent our entire lives scouring thrift stores, dying video rental houses, and flea markets in a never ending quest to uncover forgotten music, movies, magazines, and other galactic funk. No matter the quality of the media we post, in one shape or form they are beautiful (and enriching).

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