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Something Weird Video founder dies: RIP exploitation film guru Mike Vraney
01.03.2014
01:37 pm
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Mike Vraney, founder of the underground/exploitation film distro concern Something Weird Video, died yesterday after a long struggle with lung cancer. He is survived by his wife, artist Lisa Petrucci.

Something Weird (warning: boobies) was founded in Seattle in 1990, and has kept thousands of filmed oddities alive and available that almost certainly would have lost were it not for Vraney’s curatorial ministrations. From SW’s about page:

Here on your screen is a whole world of film that just a few short years ago was considered lost or worthless. The industry that produced and distributed these films had long since vanished and there was no sign of the men who actually created these bottom of the barrel celluloid wonders. That is until now.

In 1990 (roughly), we started Something Weird Video with the idea of releasing films that had never been on video. In my mind, the last great genre to be scavenged were the exploitation/sexploitation films of the 30’s through the 70’s. After looking into this further, I realized that there were nearly 2,000 movies out there yet to be discovered. So with this for inspiration, my quest began and wouldn’t you know, just out of the blue I fell into a large collection of 16mm girlie arcade loops (which became the first compilation videos we put together!) Around the same time I received an unexpected phone call that suddenly made all this real - my future and hands-down the king of sexploitation Dave Friedman was on the other end of the line - this would be the beginning of a long and fruitful friendship for both of us. Dave’s films became the building blocks for our film collection and he has taught and guided me through the wonderful world of sexploitation - introducing me to his colleagues (Dan Sonney, Harry Novak, H.G. Lewis, Bob Cresse, and all the other colorful characters who were involved during his heyday) and they’ve been eager to dive into the business again. (And initially, most are shocked that anyone is even interested in this stuff to begin with!)

 
Mike Vraney
 
Anyone—everyone—interested in strange cinema owes Mike Vraney a debt. The video shop that I mentioned in a DM post just yesterday carried so a huge a selection of his wares that they ultimately wound up simply giving him his own Something Weird wall, so much of worth did he preserve. Very little of SW’s stock is work safe—sleaze was the order of the day—but this relatively tame trailer imparts the kitschy, campy, sexy, goofy fun of the films he rescued from oblivion. We salute you and your legacy, Mr. Vraney, and we’re very sorry to lose you.
 

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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01.03.2014
01:37 pm
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Dusty Springfield bravely comes out as bisexual in ‘The Evening Standard,’ 1970
01.03.2014
12:30 pm
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Damn straight
 
I adore Dusty Springfield—the voice, the pathos, the wigs, everything. But it wasn’t until I read Dusty!: Queen of the Postmods (amazing book, if you ever get the chance), that I learned about her affairs with women. That part wasn’t particularly shocking—she’s one of the great gay icons, though I assumed it was more due to her drag-ready femininity. I was, however, surprised to learn that her Sapphic tendencies were such an open secret. Of course, gossip mainly travels by whisper, and the scandalmongers often exaggerated her exploits, but Dusty’s love of the ladies was apparently quite common knowledge.

Kind of puts her appearance on The Dating Game in a whole new perspective, doesn’t it?

It wasn’t until a 1970 interview with Ray Connolly of The Evening Standard, that she decided to get candid and set the record straight. The interview is uncomfortable in places, partially because Dusty herself doesn’t seem totally comfortable with characterizing her sexuality—the language of “gay” and “bisexual” doesn’t really enter into it, and she certainly didn’t consider loving women a part of her identity at the time; she was a super-femme lady who also purported to desire men.

Tragically, Dusty’s career took a hard hit after the interview (Ironically, copping to his bisexuality was a huge boost for David Bowie’s career just two years later). Feeling hounded by the British press, she left for the US. For 15 years she didn’t have another hit, and her romantic life was incredibly turbulent. It wasn’t until a 1987 collaboration with Springfield super-fans Pet Shop Boys that her career got a boost again. She died of breast cancer in 1999, the day she was scheduled to receive the Order of the British Empire, and two weeks before her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Dusty Springfield looks as though she’s playing at doctor-during-consulting-hours sitting in a white walled room at Philips Records, meeting the all and sundry members of the musical press.

I’ve never met her before, and the first thing she says is: ‘You’re sinister. Would you mind if I go to the loo before we start?’ And then with her tassles tinkling like summer 1967, she goes off down the corridor in a Mini-Ha-Ha embroidered suit, and wearing a great chunk of fancy iron and brass work around her neck which looks like something she might have pinched off a Russian Orthodox altar.

She’s thirty and hasn’t really had a big hit record for some quite considerable time. It’s a cliché but it’s true. Pop does have an awful lot of obsolescence hanging over it. She’s still singing as well as ever, dreamy and romantic, and I like her very much, but the public aren’t buying her records in the volume they used to.

Her new one is called ‘How Can I Be Sure?’ and was originally a hit in America for the Rascals. She’ll be surprised if it’s a hit for her in Britain.

‘That,’ she says, ‘comes from a backlog of doubts in myself because the last few records have gone wrong. And I’m always a bit surprised to sell records anyway. It would be a souring experience if I were not to have any more hits, but I would survive. It would be a test of character for me. I very seldom think about it, but if it did happen I’d probably get out unless I could find some other direction to go in. I don’t particularly want to be a cabaret type of entertainer. Whether or not I could be defeated into accepting that type of existence I don’t know.’

She’s plumper than I’d expected (‘I’m nine stone and I should be eight-two or eight-four. But I’m too lazy to bother about slimming’), and amazingly she still apparently buys her eyelashes by the yard, and mascara by the hundredweight. Her eyes aren’t as black as they were, she insists, looking short-sightedly through a pinkish coloured Perspex ruler at me.

‘This,’ she squints, ‘is the best colour in the world. It’s really erotic. I supposed I’ve got very erotic tastes. I like purple and magenta and all the tarty colours. I don’t wear them any more. I should go back to them because I’ve become very sedate. I’m all talk and no action. I’ve been very un-newsworthy recently. Haven’t been throwing any custard pies at anyone or anything.’

She was brought up a Catholic but never goes to Mass now. ‘It’s about six years since I made my Easter Duties. My mother’s going to love this. I still think that because I don’t go to confession I’m going to go to hell but I haven’t really done anything evil. I’m just lazy and self-indulgent.’

She’s a strange lady of contradictions. She wants me to send her a copy of an old Maureen Cleave article but she won’t give me her address. She never gives it, she insists, and then in the next breath tells me. She has a pretty, lumpy little face which looks best when she smiles. I notice she has a big shiny grey filling in her pre-molar bottom left. Her hair is the colour of dried leaves.

I think she’s a bit sad, but she says no, not at all. The last thing she wants is to be pitied. Only occasionally, when she needs someone to lean on is she lonely. Much of the time she shares her house with songwriter/painter Norma Tanega.

She is concerned that whatever I may ask her will make her sound conceited. So I suggest that she tells me her little vices, and with an enthusiasm which is almost self-destructive, she sets about it, giggling from time to time at her own ability to rattle me.

‘Well, I don’t pick my nose, but I burp like everyone else. I don’t cut my toe nails, but I pull at them and tear them off. And I’m promiscuous. Not often, but when I am, I really am. I’m not a nymphomaniac. In fact, I could do with a lot more action really. I think my laziness even spreads so far.

‘It’s an effort to be promiscuous. I don’t mean that I leap into bed with someone special every night, but my affections are easily swayed and I can be very unfaithful. It’s fun while it’s happening, but it’s not fun afterwards because I’m filled with self-recriminations. The truth is I’m just very easily flattered by people’s attentions, and after a couple of vodkas I’m even more flattered.’

She’s giggling a lot now. ‘I suppose to say I’m promiscuous is a bit of bravado on my part. I think it’s more in thought than in action. I’ve been that way ever since I discovered the meaning of the word. I used to go to confession and tell all my impure thoughts.’

Suddenly she becomes serious again, and begins to space her words out carefully and thoughtfully. ‘There’s one thing that’s always annoyed me – and I’m going to get into something nasty here. But I’ve got to say it, because so many other people say I’m bent, and I’ve heard it so many times that I’ve almost learned to accept it.

‘I don’t go leaping around to all the gay clubs but I can be very flattered. Girls run after me a lot and it doesn’t upset me. It upsets me when people insinuate things that aren’t true. I couldn’t stand to be thought of as a big butch lady. But I know that I’m as perfectly capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy. More and more people feel that way and I don’t see why I shouldn’t.

‘There was someone on television the other night who admitted that he swings either way. I suppose he could afford to say it, but I, being a pop singer, shouldn’t even admit that I might think that way. But if the occasion arose I don’t see why I shouldn’t.

‘And yet, I get such a charge out of walking down a street and having a guy who’s digging the road give me a whistle. This business makes me feel very unwomanly sometimes and I love to be admired just for being a woman. I don’t feel masculine. If I did I’d have more drive. But being a woman is very precious to me, and that’s probably why I could never get mixed up in a gay scene because it would be bound to undermine my sense of being a woman.

‘I’ve had this reputation for years, but I don’t know how I got it. I’m always hearing that I’ve been to this gay club and that gay club. But I haven’t. I sometimes wonder if it would be nice to live up to my reputation.

‘I got raided the other day by the police. But they didn’t find any drugs. I’ve hardly ever smoked as a matter of fact. As it happens I think I know who tipped them off, and it relates to what I’ve been saying. There was a rather hysterical lady who was upset because I didn’t fancy her. I think it was her.’

She is not involved with anyone at the moment, and I wonder if she fears that she may never have a family.

‘I don’t know whether I want children or not,’ she says. ‘The urge to reproduce is always there, of course, but then I think “what for?” I probably wouldn’t be a terribly good mother. It would be great spasmodic moods of affection which don’t last and that wouldn’t be very stable.

‘I would like children psychologically and physically, although there’s something which stops me from just reproducing. But there has to be something more than what I do. There just has to be something more for me.’

I offer to take her home and out we go through the doors past the Philips records executives who smile and wave goodbye to their lady star in great hearty fashion.

‘D’you realise,’ she laughs, ‘what I’ve just said could put the final seal to my doom. I don’t know, though. I might attract a whole new audience.’

POSTSCRIPT Dusty Springfield was then, and remains, one of my favourite singers. She was one of the true witty originals of the Sixties with a beautiful voice and I hope she never regretted saying some of the things printed in this piece.

Via Ray Connolly

Below, Dusty doing “How Can I Be Sure?”
 

Posted by Amber Frost
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01.03.2014
12:30 pm
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Jewelry made from seized guns and ammo
01.03.2014
12:14 pm
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jewelry
Bullet Aeternum Pendant Necklace: $245.00
 
I’m generally turned off by stuff like this (I blame Bono). So often we’re told political art is there to “raise awareness,” as if the issue can be solved with a some savvy public relations hustle and a t-shirt or two. Or, we’re told that the answer to problems of capitalism lie in some sort of ethical consumerism—if we all just do our research and vote with our dollar, we can save the world by shopping! (Check out the video at the end to hear Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek lay out exactly why that’s bullshit.)

But I kind of like this jewelry made from recycled guns, and it doesn’t get on my nerves for couple of reasons. One, the mission statement is pretty clear and the artistic concept isn’t overly ambitious or sanctimonious:

Liberty United recycles guns to make jewelry and art made in the U.S.A.

Guns and bullets are collected by partner communities. These are cataloged and checked by law enforcement and then released for recycling. Liberty United remakes the remnants of these guns and bullets, using ancient and contemporary techniques, into jewelry and art.

As we work to reduce gun violence, we provide jobs in America. Our pieces are handcrafted in the U.S.A., incorporating serial numbers and metal from guns and bullet shells that have been reclaimed and destroyed through the communities with whom we’re collaborating.

Second, 20 to 25% of the profits (not a bad cut) go to established anti-gun violence organizations—not just some paper moon charity the artists invented to appear “aware.” And third, it appears their labor practices are actually on the up and up.

But Liberty United doesn’t claim to be saving the world.They’re using recycled materials, they appear to be providing good jobs for skilled laborers, and they’re making something a hell of a lot more attractive than a pair of TOMS shoes.

The stuff is pretty pricey—even when a choice of metals is offered, the less precious of the two is no drop in the bucket. And we won’t save America from gun violence with swank accessories. But this is a cool concept, and I’ll be damned if I don’t need that claw bracelet at the very bottom.
 
jewelry
Skinny Bullet Cuff: $95.00
 
jewelry
Gunmetal Aeternum Cuff: $395.00
 
jewelry
Bullet Ring: $85.00
 
jewelry
Bullet Necklace: $95.00
 
jewelry
Silver & Gunmetal Inlay Cage Cuff with Turquoise: $1,295.00
 
jewelry
Silver & Gunmetal Talon Cuff: $1,545.00 USD
 

 
Via Liberty United

Posted by Amber Frost
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01.03.2014
12:14 pm
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‘A different cultural universe’: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge in conversation with Barry Miles
01.03.2014
11:39 am
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In an event that was held in London recently to discuss First Third Books publication of the monograph about her life, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge was interviewed by another countercultural luminary, Barry Miles, a man who brought Beat and underground culture to Britain in the 1960s via associations with Allen Ginsberg, The Beatles, the International Times, “The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream” concert event, the Indica Gallery and bookstore (where John Lennon met Yoko Ono) and the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall. Miles, as he is known, has also run an amazing record label (I Can See for Miles), and he’s written a gazillion books, including biographies of Frank Zappa, William Burroughs, the coffee table book Hippie, two volumes of his autobiography (which I highly recommend) and Paul McCartney’s officially sanctioned biography, Many Years from Now.
.
I’m sure Genesis was quite pleased at the choice of Miles to lead the questions—after all he was right in the thick of seminal sixties cultural events the young Neil Megson would have read about in IT—even if Miles ultimately gets but a few words in edgewise. The discussion begins with how a teacher at school told Neil about Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, and how he resolved to meet the real life person the “Old Bull Lee” character was based on—William S. Burroughs—and soon would…

This event was taped at Rough Trade East in London, November 7th, 2013
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.03.2014
11:39 am
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Hair-raising: Chief White Eagle flies through the air by the strength of his hair
01.03.2014
11:38 am
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hairraising.jpg
 
Chief White Eagle had a damn fine head of hair, in fact he described his locks as being “stronger-than-steel.” Which was probably true, as Chief White Eagle, from Ponca City, Oklahoma, had quite an amazing stunt, where he would fly through the air, whilst being suspended by his long, lustrous follicles from the undercarriage of a bi-plane. He performed this stunt with the legendary 13 Black Cats, a daredevil flying team, famed for their heart-stopping aerobatics.
 
haisccsingrr
 
If flying by the hair was not impressive enough, the Chief also jumped from planes with only a parachute tied to his locks. Alas, it all ended badly, as one day the great daredevil’s hair failed to hold his weight whilst attached to a plane, and Chief White Eagle fell to his death. Now that really is a “bad hair day.”

Here you can see Chief White Eagle performing his famous hair-raising stunt, as filmed by Pathe Newsreel in the 1920s.
 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.03.2014
11:38 am
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Christ-teens battle porno demon in the movie of the year!
01.03.2014
11:06 am
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PORNO DEMON!
 
In an amusingly fifteen-years-too-late effort to ride the crest of the Blair Witch wave, Christian “comedian” Rich Praytor has made a found footage style scare movie about a porno magazine unleashing a demon into a church youth group’s overnight lock in. If you’re not familiar with the concept, the film’s press release is happy to help:

During the lock in, members of the youth group are “locked in” the church to have fun, play games, and get to know one another. In spite of the youth pastor’s attempt to intervene, the boys must come to terms with the pornographic images themselves in order to be truly freed from the demon.

Furthermore:

The demon is a metaphor for the true damage pornography can have in the lives of youth. There are never graphic or pornographic images shown in the movie. The producers of the film felt that it was important to tell a Christian story about real issues but to keep the images family friendly so anyone could be entertained without fear of exposure to questionable pictures.

THE DEMON IS A METAPHOR YOU GUYS! And THAT’S how you know this film is going to be smart. In keeping with the pimp-it-like-it’s-1999 theme, the film’s site has an about page that jacks (heh) Blair Witch‘s fake viral angle:

In the spring of 2010, a church lock in at First Baptist Church was organized by Pastor Chris.  In the first hour of the lock in, one of the students, Justin, had an unusual “incident” and was “inconsolable.”

It was reported that he calmed down and kept to himself for the remainder of the event. 

Two days after the lock in, Justin reportedly broke down to his parents that he experienced something “evil” at the lock in.  He also claimed he captured everything on tape.

After watching the footage, the parents met with church leaders to discuss criminal charges they were considering filing against the church for child endangerment, neglect and torture. 

A special hearing was immediately organized to find out what was on the tape. 

Two pastors, six elders and an unknown number of overseers met at an undisclosed location to view the footage of the tape.  It was reported that two of the elders resigned their duties immediately after viewing the footage.

Pastor Chris, after viewing the footage, turned in his immediate resignation to the church board. 

A undisclosed settlement was made between the church and families involved. 

The footage was officially released in May of 2013 in full cooperation with the families and individuals involved.

Holy Moly Pictures would like to thank the families and the First Baptist Church for their cooperation in releasing the footage to the public.

This is starting to seem like a lot more work than is merited just to keep teenaged boys from touching their penises—it merits mentioning that The Bible contains no prohibition against masturbating. Also, a porno magazine? Isn’t that more than a little quaint? Anyone who wants to look at pictures of naked people can do so for free on his or her phone.

Praytor has a more than glancing familiarity with beating (heh) dead-horse tropes. Here he is keenly observing, perhaps in homage to the comedy stylings of the early 1980s, that white people and black people are OMG LIKE TOTALLY DIFFERENT!
 

 
Tell me you laughed once during that.

And so here we see, as we do time and time again, that American Christianity’s great power lies not in spiritual redemption, but in turning every unique and powerful cultural expression it appropriates into a lame and bathetic puddle of insipid goo. These are the people who claim sole possession of the spark of the divine, and yet they can make nothing that doesn’t utterly blow. You’ve waited long enough for the money shot (heh) - here’s the trailer, in all its lookin’-like-it-was-shot-on-VHS glory. Smart money bets that the totally predictable morphing effect at the end ate about 90% of the film’s budget, as it costs very little to get kids to run through hallways and yell a lot.
 

 
You can avoid seeing The Lock In and just go on with what you were already going to be doing anyway starting on January 9th.

Via Film Drunk

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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01.03.2014
11:06 am
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David Bowie explains what ‘Ziggy Stardust’ is all about before it was released, 1972
01.03.2014
10:02 am
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In February 1972, several months before the release of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars, David Bowie gave an interview to a radio interviewer in the United States, whose identity is unfortunately unknown. In the interview Bowie describes the general concept of Ziggy Stardust and discusses a bunch of tracks from the Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust sessions that for whatever reason had been left off those albums, songs that were released in other forms later on—in some cases much later on.

Amusingly, the interviewer appears to have a very solid source on Bowie, because he asks about unreleased material he’s not really supposed to know about. Bowie is initially alarmed at the interviewer’s depth of knowledge on these songs but quickly relaxes and jovially fills in a few blanks.

Here’s Bowie explaining Ziggy Stardust:
 

Interviewer: Could you explain a little more in-depth about the album that’s coming out—Ziggy?

Bowie: I’ll try very hard. It’s a little difficult, but it originally started as a concept album, but it kind of got broken up, because I found other songs I wanted to put in the album which wouldn’t have fitted into the story of Ziggy, so at the moment it’s a little fractured and a little fragmented…. I’m just lighting a cigarette….

So anyway, what you have there on that album when it does finally come out, is a story which doesn’t really take place, it’s just a few little scenes from the life of a band called Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, who could feasibly be the last band on Earth—it could be within the last five years of Earth. I’m not at all sure. Because I wrote it in such a way that I just dropped the numbers into the album in any order that they cropped up. It depends in which state you listen to it in. The times that I’ve listened to it, I’ve had a number of meanings out of the album, but I always do. Once I’ve written an album, my interpretations of the numbers in that album are totally different afterwards than the time when I wrote them and I find that I learn a lot from my own albums about me.

 
That chunk of the interview is the first half. The second half is dedicated to the outtakes, including his cover of Jacques Brel’s “Amsterdam,” which was released as the B-side to “Sorrow” in October 1973; the second version of the 1971 single “Holy Holy,” which ended up being the B-side to “Diamond Dogs” in 1974; and his cover of Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around,” which was released as the B-side of the single “Drive-In Saturday” in April 1973 under the title “Round and Round.”

Two songs are of particular interest to Bowie lovers. The first one is “a thing called ‘Bombers,’ which is kind of a skit on Neil Young…. It’s quite funny.” “Bombers” was recorded during the Hunky Dory sessions and was released by RCA in the United States as a promo single in November 1971—Bowie seems to regard the song as utterly unknown, so it’s safe to say that that promo didn’t get wide release (the interviewer, earlier so eager to demonstrate his wide knowledge, also says nothing about it). Eventually “Bombers” was a bonus track on the 1990 Rykodisc reissue of Hunky Dory.

The other song is, ahem, “He’s a Goldmine,” which of course is one of Bowie’s most famous B-sides, thanks in part to Todd Haynes’ 1998 movie Velvet Goldmine, under which name the song was released, as the B-side to the 1975 re-release of “Space Oddity.” Bowie seems quite tickled by the track in its state at that time, saying that “probably the lyrics are a little bit too provocative.”
 
“Bombers”:

 
1972 U.S. radio interview:

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Ziggy Stardust’ 40th anniversary box set announced

Posted by Martin Schneider
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01.03.2014
10:02 am
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So, what does the Internet think might be on the next Radiohead album?
01.03.2014
09:36 am
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There was once a time, long, long ago, when the casual music listening world would generally only learn about a new release when the single turned up on the radio, when the LP showed up on the NEW THIS WEEK! rack at the record store, or when they read a review after the fact of the release. Obsessives who pored over gossip columns in music magazines might have learned about a release maybe a month or so early. Today, of course, online fora can be all abuzz about a forthcoming album before its songs have even been written, and when a band’s fan base is as massive and rabid as Radiohead’s, the speculation begins ridiculously early—the apparently now defunct Green Plastic had a thread on the subject almost a year ago! Two of my favorite sites for Radiohead übergeekery, Citizen Insane and TKOL Part 2, have proffered some credible speculation as to what the still-hypothetical Radiohead album #9 might contain, based on hints dropped in interviews, info gleaned from the Atoms For Peace Reddit AMA, new songs registered with ASCAP, and fan videos of unreleased songs performed in concert. With Atoms For Peace’s tour precluding any Radiohead activity in the second half of 2013, and with the two songs recorded at Jack White’s Third Man studio in spring of 2012 seeming increasingly unlikely to surface the more time passes, I thought it might be an agreeable diversion to post an assortment of unreleased material that’s considered by the informed fandom likely to turn up on the next album. Understand this is intended to be neither exhaustive nor predictive, and I’m fully aware that that the more deeply fervent Radiohead fans among you already know some of this stuff and I unhesitatingly acknowledge how totally cool you are for having heard songs before most other people. Truly, the world is yours. This is just about having some fun and checking out some lesser-known but quality material by a great group whose last album is almost three years behind us and whose next offering remains a tantalizingly huge question mark. So off we go!

To start, there’s the very pretty “Skirting on the Surface.” It was a live staple of Thom Yorke’s solo performances over four years ago, but Radiohead took to playing it out in 2012. Though the solo piano versions one can find are quite stunning, I went with full band here.
 

 
Next up, “Identikit.” It’s been performed live a zillion times, and it’s known to be one of the songs from the Third Man sessions. There were plenty of versions of this on YouTube, but I got a kick out of this fan video cut from old cartoons.
 

 
“Cut A Hole” is another mighty nice tune that’s had some live exposure.

 
Infuriatingly, the only apparently extant version of “Come To Your Senses,” the existence of which has been known since 2006, and which was explicitly cited as a contender for a new recording by Thom Yorke in his October 2011 Rolling Stone interview, cuts off before even a minute passes. What’s there sounds awesome, reminiscent somewhat of Hail To The Thief‘s “Go To Sleep,” a big favorite of mine. I’m kind of rooting for this one to get finished and released one of these days.
 

 
“The Present Tense” is a contender that’s been performed this past fall on the Atoms For Peace tour, which doesn’t necessarily take it out of the running:
 

 
We’ll end this with “Full Stop,” often spelled “Ful Stop” based on a possible misspelling from a page of rehearsal notes that turned up in an eBay auction. It started appearing in concert in 2012.
 

Posted by Ron Kretsch
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01.03.2014
09:36 am
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Chris Elliott’s ‘Action Family’ is a brilliant, must-see genre mashup
01.03.2014
09:29 am
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Action Family
 
On Vulture the other day, Community creator Dan Harmon listed his 22 most important influences on his work. As a hard-core Harmenian of long standing, I was familiar not only with most of the items on his list but also with their importance to Harmon. But there was one I didn’t know about—Chris Elliott’s Action Family—and Harmon’s description positively made my mouth water:
 

17. Chris Elliott

Way before Get a Life, he did this thing [Action Family] where everything indoors was a multi-camera sitcom and everything outdoors was a single-camera drama. In one scene, a killer the dad is tracking outside turns out to be the new boyfriend of the daughter in the multi-cam story. On the sitcom set, the boyfriend falls through a window, and it cuts to the other side, where it’s like Lethal Weapon and the body is landing on the cement. A mindblower.

 
What the hell is this thing? I had to find out more.

Action Family appeared as a one-off special on Cinemax in 1986, and it’s every bit as marvelous as Harmon indicated—any self-respecting fan of genre mindfuck satires has to watch it immediately. It’s precisely as Harmon described it, it’s a traditional family sitcom within the confines of the family home and a 1970s-style police drama outside of it. Elliott (playing a character named “Chris Elliott”) basically alternates scenes between the two modes, and the frisson of staid, by-the-numbers genres crashing into each other is intoxicating indeed. At least three times during the half-hour show I idiotically gave a round of applause (clapping my hands) in an otherwise empty room.
 
Action Family
 
I don’t want to cite individual scenes or moments because most of the fun is encountering them along the way. If not for that, I could really write a great deal about Action Family. I can, however, mention certain elements that the creative people involved absolutely nail—the differences in film/video quality, the boneheaded dialogue, the dead-on musical cues, the general absence of affect, the idiotic, Happy Days-derived convention of frequent applause as characters enter, and so on. (Laugh tracks and overly expressive live studio audiences come in for some serious abuse here.) Note that “Chris” always dons a Cosby sweater whenever he’s in sitcom mode. I’m told the inspiration for the police drama scenes is Mannix, but I’m not very familiar with that show. But it doesn’t matter: Kojak, Vega$, Starsky and Hutch, The Rockford Files, Magnum P.I., and Miami Vice all supply obvious touchstones for that insufferably self-important tone of a sturdy three-act U.S. police drama.

Elliott’s stupendously seedy persona is ideal for this sort of project. You can hardly tell if he’s playing it “straight” or not—indeed, the presence of Elliott automatically calls the entire concept of “straight” into question. This being 1986, there is (of course) a typically desultory cameo by David Letterman, as well as one by Elliott’s pop Bob Elliott, of Bob and Ray notoriety. (Note the awesomely gratuitous use of a stunt actor during Bob’s sequence.)

The production of the show is a little slipshod, particularly the acting, but without spoiling anything specific I can say that there’s a reason the Elliott family bears (if you notice) a superficial resemblance to the Partridge Family, including a young Seth Green in the Bonaduce slot.

Oh, and make sure you stick around for the closing credit sequence.

A lot of the tropes Action Family is skewering were exploded by smarter shows of the 1990s and beyond, including Seinfeld and NYPD Blue, among many others. Action Family is precisely all about tropes—sitcoms are “funny” and police dramas are “serious,” but they’re both beset by the same goddamned lazy predictability. Mixing the two sets of conventions is a spectacular way of calling network TV out for the shitty product they were putting out, a premise with which all post-Sopranos TV addicts can surely agree.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
David Letterman checking out Cher’s bum (1987)
A young Dr. Venture crashes ‘Late Night with David Letterman,’ 1983

Posted by Martin Schneider
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01.03.2014
09:29 am
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Lenny Bruce describes smoking DMT in UCLA lecture, 1966
01.03.2014
08:51 am
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This wonderfully unexpected piece of counterculture history—Lenny Bruce speaking to UCLA students on February 9th, 1966—comes to us courtesy of the archives of the UCLA Communications Studies Department. It’s only been online for about a week.

This occasion would seem to have been intended to be some sort of an informal lunchtime talk from the way Bruce is so earnestly introduced, but he treats it like a stand-up gig. In fact, for the first half-hour, it’s pretty much a big chunk of the same material later released on The Berkeley Concert (recorded a few weeks prior, on December 12, 1965), but then, after an audience member asks if he’s ever taken LSD, Bruce rather candidly tells the story of smoking DMT and jumping out of a hotel window!
 

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.03.2014
08:51 am
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