Director James A. Fitzpatrick visits Cairo in this 1938 short movie he produced as part of his Traveltalk series for MGM studios.
Cairo, City Of Contrast has no pretense of being anything other than a lighthearted travelogue. Colorful and quaint in its optimism.
John Cale performing a scorching version of ‘Pablo Picasso” at The Melbourne Festival Of The Arts in October of last year.
The Melbourne Festival Of The Arts asked some of the world’s finest singers to reflect on our theme of spirituality and mortality with the question: ‘Which seven songs would you leave behind?’
The festival criteria was that the musicians had to include “the first song they wrote, one that switched them on to music, one they covet, one to share, two of their own, and one from the songbook of legendary Leonard Cohen.”
Cale’s list included “Pablo Picasso,” which he wrote with Jonathan Richman, “Letter From Abroad,” “Dirty Ass Rock and Roll,” “Magritte,” “Fear Is A Man’s Best Friend,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and “Heartbreak Hotel.”
This is so fucking hot it turned Cale’s hair pink!
“Letter From Abroad” and “Heartbreak Hotel” after the jump…
Cairo artist and electronic musician Ahmed Basiony died at age 32 on January 28, the fourth day of major anti-government demonstrations in his home city.
Basiony’s rather remarkable music is being played continuously on 100radiostation, an arm of Egyptian experimentalist Mahmoud Refat’s now-offline 100copies organization, which organizes the annual 100live electronic music festival in Cairo.
Here he is performing at the 100live festival in 2010:
Basiony leaves behind a wife and son. Let’s hope this revolution is worth all the lives and creative talent lost. Peace, justice, power and freedom to the people of Egypt.
Hat-tip Marc Weidenbaum at disquiet.
In all the hype surrounding Volkwagen’s Super Bowl commercial airing later today and featuring Jon Spencer’s Negritic take on the song “Black Betty,” there is no mention of Leadbelly. It’s as if “Black Betty” never existed prior to Ram Jam’s hit version of the song—the 1977 recording the press keeps referring to when discussing the Volkswagen commercial.
In my opinion, Volkswagen would have made a better (and hipper) impression had they opted to use Leadbelly’s original recording of the tune. But maybe using a Black bluesman singing a traditional Negro work song called “Black Betty” in a commercial featuring a black automobile and black insects might have struck some folks as being a bit racist. Better to go with the white guy. Or change the name of the car to the Volkswagen Boll Weevil.
There’s not much information on the Internet about Little Gary Ferguson—just a few videos and a handful of posters announcing some gigs in the mid-1960s where he shared the bill with The Mothers Of Invention, The Count Five and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. At one gig, The Mothers were his opening act!
Little Gary was being groomed by Nashville talent agents to be the next Stevie Wonder with James Brown’s moves, but alas it was not to be. He disappeared from the public scene as quickly as he had materialized. Washed up at seven years old.
You may have to squint to see it, but in this poster Little Gary gets top billing over The Mothers Of Invention! Freaky indeed.
Here’s some rare footage of Little Gary on DJ William “Hoss” Allen’s Dallas-based TV show The !!!! Beat. Sadly, there’s no lightshow or Zappa.
Za Bakdaz (the back days?) was a space-age operetta that Klaus Nomi was working on with collaborators George Elliott and Page Wood during 1979. It was unfinished at the time of his death in 1983. Working from old tapes, notes and past discussions with Klaus, Elliot and Wood completed the project and released it as an album in 2008. You can purchase it here.
In this video clips from 1960 German sci-fi film First Spaceship On Venus are wedded to the overture and song “Cre Spoda” from Za Bakdaz. It’s eerily effective.
This Burger King commercial from 1980 falls into the “what the fuck were they thinking?” category. Sir Shake-A-Lot shimmies like a speedfreak after snorting a line of crystal meth the length of John Holmes’ blue-veined-blood-bomber. Sir Shake needs some Thorazine, quick! The dude is fried.
Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, “the Elvis of cultural theory,” discuss the revolution in Egypt with insight, wisdom, humor and clarity. What a refreshing alternative to the blowhards on American television.
I love Zizek’s “Tom and Jerry” analogy (though I think he means Wile E. Coyote). At the point President Hosni Mubarak looks down he will see there is no ground beneath his feet and he’s in free fall. But he keeps staring straight ahead.
In case you were wondering what an idiot thinks about the situation in Egypt, Cindy Jacobs has helpfully made another video!
Dangerous Minds’ Paul Gallagher has already done a fitting tribute to Tura Satana, but I thought I’d share this interview that Tura gave for Kevin Sean Michaels’ 2008 documentary The Wild World Of Ted V. Mikels. Tura starred in Mikel’s The Astro-Zombies and The Doll Squad. In the interview she discusses working with Mikels and Russ Meyer.
Tura Satana does a striptease in “The Doll Squad” and is interviewed by Sandra Bernhard after the jump…