“St. Dennistoun Mortuary,” a truly creepy (but kind of awesome, right?) coin-operated automaton dating from around 1900 is going up for auction June 2, 2012 at 10:00am on Skinner.
“St. Dennistoun Mortuary” Coin-Operated Automaton, attributed to John Dennison, c. 1900, the mahogany cabinet and glazed viewing area displays a Greek Revival mortuary building with double doors and grieving mourners out front, when a coin is inserted, doors open and the room is lighted revealing four morticians and four poor souls on embalming tables, the morticians move as if busily at work on their grisly task and mourners standing outside bob their heads as if sobbing in grief.
Wow. Just wow. This is one of those astonishing things where you watch it and your brain just freezes for a few moments while you try to make sense of what you just saw.
I know the Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong
I know the Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong
Aint no homos going to make it to heaven
These kids get a standing ovation, too, from a roomful of ADULTS. If this doesn’t send chills down your spine, nothing ever will.
Approximately 2000 fine people showed up over the weekend to protest outside of the Providence Road Baptist Church, the North Carolina idiot sanctuaryplace of worship where Pastor Charles Worley told his flock that “queers and homosexuals” should be rounded up and put into a concentration camp until they “died off.”
Worley has defiantly refused to apologize for his statements despite the outrage from gay rights and anti-hate groups after his May 13 rant became a viral video sensation. He was given a standing ovation by his low IQ church members when he took to the pulpit on Sunday, the Hickory Record reports:
“I appreciate all the support,” Pastor Charles Worley told the 100 or so congregants at Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C. on Sunday, according to the Record. Several members stood and spoke out; others threw up their hands in support of their pastor. “I’ve got a King James Bible,” Worley said, according to the Record. “I’ve been a preacher for 53 years. Do you think I’m going to bail out on this?”
Not a chance, this is the most attention this small-minded cretin has ever had! He’s in this FTW.
The protestors came out in force to bring a message of love and acceptance. Their signs bore bold statements like, “Jesus had 2 dads and he turned out just fine.” And “I am a gay, moral, conservative Christian.”
Sheriff’s deputies and Newton police officers kept the peace as the protestors stood by the side of the road and cheered every time a car drove past and honked in approval.
A vocal group of more than 50 counter-protestors were on hand to support Worley and his church. They too had signs with slogans like, “Sodomites are vile, unnatural and worthy of death. Romans 1:21-32.” And “Gay pride is why Sodom got fried.”
The protest’s organizer explained her goals for the event. “Hopefully our protest today will send a message that we, as a community, as a state and as a country, will not stand in the background in silent acceptance,” said Catawba Valley Citizens Against Hate member Laura Tipton. “This protest has grown beyond Pastor Worley. I hope his congregation sees that we are gathering in love. Their messages are wrong, and we will not accept them.”
Looks like North Carolina’s got itself a homegrown version of the Westboro Baptist Church just in time for the DNC convention this Summer. Not that this is anything to brag about, of course. However, with the WBC, there’s that whole inbred family brainwashing thang going on, too, not that that’s an excuse, rather it’s a factor that the folks in NC just don’t have in their favor, if you take my point!
Protesters played guitars and sang “Jesus Loves the Little Children” to drown out shitheads like Rev. Billy Ball, who had traveled from Primrose, GA to support Worley:
“We want to convince them that what God says is the truth. The preachers that hate these people are at home – we’re the ones that love them because we’re out here telling them the truth.”
Ya got that, gay America? They hate you in love.
Jeremiah Davidson of Atlanta came out to support Worley as well. His main goal was to address what he felt was an attempt to curtail Worley’s right to free speech.
“We’re trying to stand up against censorship and totalitarianism,” he said. “I’m here for free speech and the gospel of Christ – I’ll know I’ve been successful because I’ve done the will of God.”
*Points and laughs* Well fuck, what else can you do when confronted with a level of hysteria and ignorance not seen since the Salem witch-burnings? The fact that these people, Worley and his mouth-breathing congregation, can be counted on to VOTE in every election (and vote a straight Republican ticket, natch) is alarming, don’t you think? Just how big is the reliable reichwing voting bloc of complete fuckwits in America today, I wonder? I don’t want people like this to have ANY influence on my life, how about you? It’s truly frightening to contemplate human beings who are this fucking stupid.
We’re so close to living in Idiocracynow that it’s ceased to be funny to point that out…
Quentin Dupieux, director of the killer tire movie Rubber, premiered the first chapter of his newest project at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It’s called Wrong Cops, stars Marilyn Manson and Mark Burnham, and looks crazier than a bag full of rabid weasels.
Manson plays a techno-loving street hustler named David Dolores Frank. Burnham is the demented Officer Duke who sells dead rats stuffed with pot to kids in exchange for blow jobs and cash.
Dupieux plans to extend Wrong Cops into a feature length film. Ninety minutes of this may be more than civilization can bear.
Create the most “liked” caption, as determined by our readers in the comments, for this photo of Allen Ginsberg, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones and you’ll win a collectible Allen Ginsberg figurine from the fine folks at Aggronautix.
Awesome six inch tall figurine of the king poet of the Beat generation, Allen Ginsberg. Comes with Uncle Sam top hat, glasses, beaded necklace, a groovy coat plus a CD of Allen live at the Knitting Factory in 1995! The CD includes five previously unreleased spoken word pieces. The perfect addition to your shrine to the awesomeness that is the Beats! Figure designed by Archer Prewitt of The Cocktails and The Sea and Cake!
To enter the contest, you must first be following Dangerous Minds on Twitter or Facebook. Post your caption in our comment section and Dangerous Minds’ readers (the most discerning readers on the planet) will pick the winner by clicking the “like” button. The caption that gets the most likes, wins!
The contest will run through Memorial Day weekend and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, May 29. Good luck and have fun.
UPDATE: Bay Area Gooners has the most “liked” caption: “Count ‘em boys, 112 lines and not a goddamn one of them rhymes. Now, THAT is punk rock!”
The Lovely Sorts of Degenerates at Everything is Terrible bring you a sweet collage of opening graphics and other detritus from local shows during everyone’s fave decade…
When he moved back to Dundee, Billy Mackenzie didn’t have any recording equipment in his home, and would spend hours in the local ‘phone booth, singing his latest ideas down the line to his record producer. It was typical of the maverick singer and musician whose life ran like a series of connected film scenes, from his early marriage in Las Vegas, to the excesses and glamor of his career as one half (with the prodigiously talented Alan Rankine) of the perfect pop duo The Associates.
Starting out in the mid-1970s, The Associates went on to create a giddy, euphoric soundtrack, around Billy Mackenzie’s incredible voice, which thrilled throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. From the opening chords of “Party Fears Two”, a new world of sensation opened - a world of expectation, excitement, pleasure, hurt and despair - emotions that in time came to reflect Mackenzie’s life.
As their success grew, so did the money (reputedly millions) and drugs (there’s a story of Rankine and Mackenzie being kept on heart monitors for 4 days after ingesting excessive amounts of cocaine), and the fears about performing (a tour of America was canceled days before it was to take place). Rankine eventually quit the band. Mackenzie carried on. Until in the 1990s, the record label were no longer willing to pay for Billy’s unfettered genius. Told of their plans over lunch, Billy only asked for one thing, a taxi home. An account cab was booked, thinking Mackenzie was only returning to his London address, instead he took it all the way back to Dundee, in Scotland.
As Marc Almond points out in this documentary on Mackenzie, The Glamour Chase, Billy must have known genuine heartache to sing with such painful beauty. Tragically, it was such heartache, this time over his mother’s untimely death, that led Billy Mackenzie to commit suicide, at the age of 39, in 1997. Such a terrible loss that revealed the darkness at the heart of The Associates’ music.
With contributions from Alan Rankine, Paul Haig, Siouxsie Sioux, Marc Almond, Martin Fry, Glenn Gregory and Billy’s family, The Glamour Chase is a moving testament to the scale of Billy Mackenzie‘s talent.
Tonight, if you are lucky enough to be in Los Angeles (I love saying that) Jonathan Wilson and his band will be playing a very special show for family and friends in Venice, CA at the Del Monte Speakeasy.
This intimate performance will be the band’s last show stateside before beginning their summer-long European tour with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Highly recommended.
No cover, but space is very limited. Doors at 9. Music at 9:30.
The Del Monte Speakeasy, 52 Windward Ave., Venice, CA. 21+
Beat Street won’t win any awards for authenticity. It’s Hollywood slick and full of unintentional laughs but it does have some of the flava of the era and features performances by Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Melle Mel, the Treacherous Three, Doug E. Fresh and Jazzy Jay. Good holiday fun.
If, like me, you get just a bit tired of The Cult Of Beatles (™) then consider this the perfect antidote.
The Better Beatles were a post-punk outfit from Nebraska who released one 7” single in 1981 and quickly disappeared without trace. The Better Beatles did to the Beatles what The Residents did to Elvis, and what the Flying Lizards did to Barrett Strong (which was quite distinct from what the Beatles did to Barrett Strong.). The original songs were just creaky old foundation blocks that they destroyed, then re-built on top of. Often with wondefully misshapen new forms.
Was this a joke? No. It was deadly serious, a reverse hex aimed at tearing down an overbearing edifice. From the Better Beatles Wikipedia page:
Dave Nordin [synthesizer] has stated that he considered the Beatles “an oppressive influence,” and Jean pSmith [vocals] has said their goal was to “[strip] the songs of their sacred status.”[3] After a handful of shows, they recorded an album’s worth of material in late 1981. They broke up shortly before their debut single “Penny Lane”/“I’m Down” was released on Woodgrain Records, leaving the bulk of their music unreleased.
Unreleased until five years ago, that is, when Hook Or Crook Records released the complete works of the Better Beatles as an album called Mercy Beat (available to buy here, where you will also find lots more info on the band.)
Who knows, maybe some Beatles fans can even appreciate the genius of The Better Bealtes? (Probably not, though. Po-faced plonkers!)
