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Monitor and I
05.26.2010
12:21 pm
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It’s hard to overstate the effect upon our psyches of things we’re exposed to when we are young and impressionable. For better or worse, these things stay with us forever and if we’re lucky these things are also of enduring quality and mystery. Such is the case with myself and the little known band Monitor, whose sole 7” single I chanced upon at Slipped Disc record store in Sepulveda, CA around 1980. I was already at this time quite the ardent Devo fan and I could tell they too had vaguely similar aesthetics, especially in Steve Thompsen’s virtuoso synth manglings. So enchanted was I with this lil’ slab o’ vinyl that I tracked them down and started hanging around with them and sneaking into all of their shows. That I soon found out they attended the same high school as I, 10 years earlier, only deepened my affection for them. As it happened they were just preparing to release their one and only self-titled LP which while retaining its electronic foundations revealed a darker, more psychedelic sound. And then, rather suddenly it was over. Drummer Keith Mitchell went on to fame with Mazzy Star, guitarist Michael Uhlenkott formed The Romans, Steve Thompsen eventually joined LAFMS improv trio Solid Eye and bassist (and major early crush object for yours truly) Laurie O’Connell disappeared into Northern Californian suburban family life. There are periodic rumors of re-issues and even a book documenting their fleeting existence, but for now all that remains are the handful of recordings and this one live clip from New Wave Theatre, which as far as I can tell was their very last performance together.
 

 
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Posted by Brad Laner
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05.26.2010
12:21 pm
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Pink Hitler fashion campaign for Italian jeans company
05.26.2010
11:49 am
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WHAT were they thinking?! Methinks the store, New Form, took it a bit too far.

The advertising slogan tells the store’s teenage and twenty-something target market to “Change Style – Don’t Follow Your Leader”.

Poster of Adolf Hitler wearing pink SS uniform sparks outrage in Italy
 
(via Nerdcore)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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05.26.2010
11:49 am
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Judy Garland’s Cream of Wheat
05.25.2010
11:42 pm
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This is every flavor of awesome. More in this Judy series are promised by the creators, Punchy Players. I’d like to see more of these.

Thank you, Marc Campbell!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.25.2010
11:42 pm
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Here comes the 2nd Autechre LP of 2010
05.25.2010
11:33 pm
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Bonus ! Everyone’s favorite difficult electronic music duo Autechre is dropping their second LP of the year. Their dirty, unkempt and unfussy sound is always a welcome presence on my various music reproduction devices. Not to mention the sport of observing the hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth by their legions of fanboys who can never be pleased but can nonetheless be counted on to purchase every last object issued by their heroes. Long may they bit-crush.

 
Autechre- Move of Ten

Posted by Brad Laner
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05.25.2010
11:33 pm
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Tea party candidate in NC shunned by GOP for believing he is the Messiah, and other things
05.25.2010
09:25 pm
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What fun watching Republicans in Raleigh, N.C. trying to throw Tea party-supported candidate Tim D’Annunzio under a bus. He’s ahead in the polls, his campaign has deep pockets and yet Tim’s a pariah in establishment GOP circles in the state. If I lived in North Carolina, I’d vote for this guy and I have not cast a single Republican vote in my life. To elect a pothead, ex-junkie deadbeat dad Republican who believes he’s the Messiah? You are kidding me? This is going to be the best contest in the entire country! I may donate to this guy’s campaign.

From AP:

Tim D’Annunzio, a congressional candidate in North Carolina’s most competitive district, has run an anti-establishment campaign with vows to dismantle entire branches of the federal government. His ideas have drawn support from tea party activists, and he has raised more money from individuals than his GOP rival while also contributing more than $1 million to his own campaign.

Republican leaders in both Raleigh and Washington, however, are worried about his electability in November if he wins a primary runoff next month. They’re publicizing court documents about D’Annunzio’s past legal, martial and business troubles and denouncing him as unfit for office.“Mr. D’Annunzio has disqualified himself by his background, his record and his behavior,” said Tom Fetzer, North Carolina’s Republican Party chairman. He said the GOP embraces the tea party but doesn’t believe a person with such a checkered past should be the party’s nominee.

In Hoke County divorce records, his wife said in 1995 that D’Annunzio had claimed to be the Messiah, had traveled to New Jersey to raise his stepfather from the dead, believed God would drop a 1,000-mile high pyramid as the New Jerusalem on Greenland and found the Ark of the Covenant in Arizona. A doctor’s evaluation the following month said D’Annunzio used marijuana almost daily, had been living with another woman for several months, had once been in drug treatment for heroin dependence and was jailed a couple times as a teenager.

The doctor concluded that his religious beliefs were not delusional. A judge wrote in a child support ruling a few years later that D’Annunzio was a self-described “religious zealot” who believed the government was the “Antichrist.” The judge said he was willfully failing to make child support payments.

D’Annunzio declined Monday to discuss the specifics of his past and refused to confirm or deny the details of the court documents. He acknowledged having “a troubled upbringing” but that he got himself out of it and changed his life 16 years ago, when he had a religious conversion.

“The bigger story is that the power brokers in Raleigh and in Washington are willing to go to any length and use any unscrupulous tactic to try to destroy somebody,” he said. “They think that they’re losing their control over the Republican party.

They obviously are! This character makes even Rand Paul seem sane. Can the Sarah Palin endorsement be far behind?

Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.25.2010
09:25 pm
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Patti Smith’s commencement address at Pratt
05.25.2010
08:21 pm
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If you heard about Patti Smith getting an honorary degree at Pratt last week, her sweet/funny speech at Radio City Music Hall to the graduating students is now on YouTube.
 
Bonus clip of The Patti Smith Group performing Horses and Hey Joe and on the Old Grey Whistle Test program.
 


Via The Awl

Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.25.2010
08:21 pm
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Polly Brown: Up in a Puff of Smoke
05.25.2010
05:26 pm
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This afternoon I heard Up in a Puff of Smoke by British singer Polly Brown (in a Rite Aid store, natch) and made a mental note that it might make a good post for the blog. This song was an AM radio staple back in 1974, when I first heard it as a nine-year old and I still have it on a 45RPM record. What an amazing introduction! What a great drum beat (Ami Stewart’s disco-fied cover of Knock on Wood owes it a debt of gratitude, don’t cha think?)! The production is wowsers, mixing proto-disco with a glam rock edge. What a catchy tune and man, what a VOICE.

Other than this song, I knew little—next to nothing—of Polly Brown. From the sound of her voice—which is mid-way between Dionne Warwick and Diana Ross—I just assumed that Polly Brown was a black woman. As you can see from the above album cover, she is in fact quite white. But when I was reading the Wikipedia entry on Brown (who was the lead singer of Pickettywitch, which was also news to me and a duo called Sweet Dreams) I came across this rather odd fact about the woman with the soulful pipes:

“As a member of Sweet Dreams, Brown was billed as Sara Leone - a reference to the African nation of Sierra Leone - and performed in black face.”

It was the 70s, I guess…?
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.25.2010
05:26 pm
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Read ‘em if you got ‘em: books packaged as cigarettes
05.25.2010
04:37 pm
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When your authors are no longer alive for promotional trailers, fall back on clever packaging!  TankBooks.  For “people on the move, lovers of literature and connoisseurs of design.  Try one and you’ll be hooked.”

We have launched a series of books designed to mimic cigarette packs – the same size, packaged in flip-top cartons with silver foil wrapping and sealed in cellophane.

Each story is complete and unabridged – with a type size that’s easy to read. Individual books are great for throwing into a pocket or handbag – an instantly familiar object to carry with you. The complete set comes in a stunning tin – perfect as a really original gift.

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(via The Book Bench)

 

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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05.25.2010
04:37 pm
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Why we need Latino immigrants part 345
05.25.2010
02:26 pm
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And no, Taco Bell does not count. Lest anyone foolishly believe this to be a racist prank let me emphatically state that this is obviously a pointed reaction to Arizona’s hideous new xenophobic, institutionalized racial profiling law. Nicely done !
 
Freeway Sign in Florida Hacked: No Latinos, No Tacos

Posted by Brad Laner
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05.25.2010
02:26 pm
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Amityville Horror House For Sale
05.25.2010
01:43 pm
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The house that spooked the shit out of the family Lutz, and, later, readers of Jay Anson’s account of it, The Amityville Horror, went on the market yesterday.  The 5 bedroom Dutch Colonial can be yours for just 1.5 million.  But, as they say, buyer beware:

The house has a history of terror.  The Lutz family moved into the house in 1975 after it went on sale because the former were all killed in the home with the exception of the eldest son, Ronald DeFeo Jr. who was convicted of killing his family.

The horror house left the Lutz’s moving out with a tale to tell that was made into an Oscar nominated film starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder as the Lutz family who were only able to stay in the house for a brief time.  Neighbors say people still gawk at the home and it draws a crowd on Halloween.  How much of the story the Lutz’s told was true, but if the house sells, and some brave family moves in, we may find out.

Attn: potential new tenants of Amityville Horror house: if that demonic pig, Jodie, pops up again, please send him to Park Slope, Brooklyn, c/o Jonathan Safran Foer.  You got that?  Park Slope!

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds: The Merv Griffin-Amityville Horror Summit

Amityville Horror Home For Sale

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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05.25.2010
01:43 pm
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