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!
 

 
It’s a brand new year and here’s a brand new feature for you, our dear Dangerous Minds readers…

Gregg Foreman’s radio program, The Pharmacy, is a music / talk show playing heavy soul, raw funk, 60′s psych, girl groups, Krautrock. French yé-yé, Hammond organ rituals, post-punk transmissions and “ghost on the highway” testimonials and interviews with the most interesting artists and music makers of our times…

There will be new episodes of The Pharmacy posted weekly on Dangerous Minds.

 
Gregg Foreman is a musician and DJ who has played for the likes of Pink Mountaintops, The Delta 72, The Black Ryder, The Meek and more. Since, 2012, Gregg has been the musical director of Cat Power’s band. He started dj’ing 60s Soul and Mod 45’s in 1995 and has spun around the world. Gregg currently lives in Los Angeles, CA and divides his time between playing live music, producing records and dj’ing various clubs and parties from LA to Australia.

Gregg’s got amazing taste in music and access to some amazing people. Since this is the first time we’re featuring The Pharmacy on Dangerous Minds, I thought these three shows featuring an interview with Suicide’s Alan Vega would be of particular interest to our readers and a great way to kick things off.

Take it away Gregg…

The Pharmacy Radio - Ep 2 w/ Alan Vega of Suicide by Mrpharmacist on Mixcloud

 
You can download this show here.
 

The Pharmacy Radio Ep 3 - Alan Vega Pt 2 ... by Mrpharmacist on Mixcloud

 
You can download this show here.
 

The Pharmacy Ep 4 - Primal Scream and Alan Vega . . by Mrpharmacist on Mixcloud

 
You can download this show here.
 

 
It’s well-known that Andy Partridge of XTC exhibits one of the severest instances of stage fright in popular music; therefore it follows that only a small percentage of their fans have ever seen the seminal postpunk act perform live. Perhaps it was this fact that made my recent discovery of a video for their song “Statue of Liberty” all the more striking. The song is off XTC’s first full-length album White Music (I always thought that that album title was more suited to Talking Heads, but XTC beat them to it.)

In the video Partridge sings of his crush on the great green symbol of untrammeled freedom: “You must have been all of a thousand feet tall / Nearly naked, unashamed like Herod’s daughter.” Later, he owns up to his envy of all the boats that get to sidle up to the Lady: “A little jealous of the ships with whom you flirt / A billion lovers with their cameras / Snap to look and in my fantasy / I sail beneath your skirt.” This first single off of White Music was banned by the BBC for its purportedly lewd references to the famous statue.

The video was released on XTC’s Look Look video compilation. Partridge somewhat ridiculously warbles into a microphone perched atop Lady Liberty’s torch. As the song comes to a close, Colin Moulding decides to scrape his bass guitar all over Barry Andrews’ keyboard setup; Andrews then joyously goose-steps the keyboard around the room while the video fades out.

Eight years later, on Skylarking, Partridge would flip this fantasy around somewhat in “That’s Really Super, Supergirl,” contemplating his frustrated weakness in comparison to a dream girl who’s always “on a mission saving some other man.” 

It’s such a peppy number, the video can’t fail to be amusing; that they would eventually cease live performances altogether makes it that much more intriguing.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
XTC live in Germany, 1982
XTC’s Skylarking as you’ve never heard it

 
Bill Nye, the popular TV scientist, put out a video last year indicating his opinion that teaching Creationism in schools wasn’t such a hot idea and might, you know, intellectually stunt the mental growth of the children subjected to such nonsense. Showing up for college with an Old Testament notion of how the universe and life in it came to exist, might, you know, put your kid a lil’ behind the curve…

In any case, Ken Ham, the moron who founded the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY, challenged Bill Nye to a public debate and… Nye accepted! The debate is being touted in a message on the museum’s blog.

The February 4th event will ask “Is Creation A Viable Model of Origins?”

 
According to a recent Pew poll, for 46% of Americans—including 53% of Republican voters—the answer, sadly, appears to be a YES.

Nye’s original video prompted a response video from the Creation Museum (below). I wouldn’t put money on Ham to come out ahead in this debate!
 

 
At first there’s a nice little ditty sung by Vine user paglo. And then… holy shit!

Via Nerdcore

 
In 1996, Robert Anton Wilson, David Cross, Mama Michelle Phillips and then-SPIN magazine publisher Bob Guccione Jr. appeared on what was intended to be a sort of Timothy Leary-themed discussion on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect, and supposed to include Leary himself. As he was so near death at the time, Bob Wilson stepped in to take his place (and did a wonderful job). Everyone on the panel, including Maher, were personal friends with Leary, and offered charming anecdotes about their fading friend.

Unsurprisingly, much of the discussion was about drugs, in particular LSD, which Cross, RAW, Phillps and Maher are all rather strongly in favor of. Guccione Jr., on the other hand, sees drugs in a negative light, and says some stupid stuff about acid until it is pointed out to him that his opinion on LSD is about as worthwhile as the Pope opining on sex.

What is surprising is how timeless this show is. Aside from some Bill Clinton and Bob Dole references in the opening monologue—and Bill Maher’s lapels—it holds up surprisingly well. There’s a particularly good point made by David Cross who explains how it was possible for them to sit there on a TV show and say “We love acid, acid’s great!” without any fear of arrest or reprisal, largely because of Timothy Leary’s fearless advocacy of the psychedelic experience during the 1960s.
 

 
Bonus clip, Bill Maher rants about LSD and psilocybin in 2011:
 

 
Chicago-based cartoonist Mark Anderson has your 2014 calendar covered for this year. Apparently the The Mighty Marvel Calendar for 1975 matches up perfectly with 2014. Anderson lovingly scanned each month and made it available to the public to print or use as desktop wallpaper. Thank you kindly, sir!

Print ‘em while you can!

Below, a few choice selections from the calendar:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
h/t Laughing Squid

 
Sean Connery quit the role of James Bond after You Only Live Twice, having “grown tired of the repetitive plots, lack of character development and the general public’s demands on him and his privacy (as well as fearing typecasting).”

With a new Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, imminent, director Peter Hunt compiled a long list of potential replacements for Sean Connery. This was then reduced to a shortlist of five actors, who were all given screen tests for the role of James Bond in 1967.

The five asked to audition were:

John Richardson, who was then best known for his performance as Tumak in One Million Years B.C.. At the time, he was considered a potential favorite, however, he did not win the part, and went on to star in On A Clear Day I Can See Forever, before having a long career as an actor in Italy.

Anthony Rogers a character actor who appeared on the verge of achieving stardom. However, his career never quite recovered from failing to win the Bond audition.

Robert Campbell an unknown actor/model, who seems to have vanished after his screentest for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Hans De Vries had already appeared in You Only Live Twice, and had a string of roles in TV and films behind him. Unfortunately, it was not enough, and De Vries went on to work with Connery in the western Shalako, and Michael Caine in Ken Russell’s The Billion Dollar Brain, before having a career as a character actor in film and TV.

George Lazenby a former car salesman and successful model (reputedly the highest paid in the world at that time), who best known for appearing in the Big Fry Turkish Delight adverts, had been spotted by Bond producer Cubby Broccoli when getting their hair cut at the same barber. Though he was not an actor, Lazenby impressed at his audition, in particular with his skill at fighting. Lazenby later recalled:

“I had no acting experience, I was coming from the male model point of view. I walked in looking like James Bond, and acting as if that’s the way I was anyway. And they thought, ‘All we have to do is keep this guy just the way he is and we’ll have James Bond.’”

Director Peter Hunt thought Lazenby a natural for the role, and said:

“I aim to make people forget Connery as James Bond once they see Lazenby.”

Alas, this was not to be, for although George Lazenby was one of the best James Bonds, he did not make the audience forget Connery, who had made the role very much his own. However, Lazenby presented a “much more human Bond” with his frailties and inner conflicts.

However, what could have been a highly lucrative and very successful Bond career for Lazenby was soon over, as he announced he would quit the role after the filming of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. This when Lazenby had already signed-up to film four Bond movies over a seven-year period. As the site MoonrakerBondStation explains, “The big dispute between Lazenby and Bond co-producer Cubby Broccoli was over the rules in Lazenby’s contract.”

He actually could be fired for something as simple as not shaving every day while not even filming a Bond movie. There was even a clause in his contract that stated that he had to get his dinner guests approved by Cubby Broccoli before he could be seen dining out with them in public. There were numerous clauses of this nature in his contract and none of them sat well with Lazenby.

The Bond producers finally realized that they had to let Lazenby out of his contract because he was not going to behave as they wanted him to unless they did so. For example, Lazenby’s wearing a beard and long hair in public, hanging out at nightclubs and bars, and saying he was quitting the role numerous times. This sort of thing was done by Lazenby so that he could get the 7 film deal he wanted, but minus all the Draconian rules it had contained within it. In order to do that he first had to get out of the original contract that he had signed.

You can read about the whole background to the dispute here.

Other actors who had been considered for the role of James Bond include Stanley Baker, Rex Harrison and David Niven, who all lost out to Connery.

Terence Stamp was said to have too many radical ideas; while Michael Caine, did not want to be typecast.

Oliver Reed came very close to winning the role, but his off-screen reputation frightened producers.

Timothy Dalton turned down the role twice before accepting it in 1986.

The unlucky Jon Finch turned down Live and Let Die, and would later lose his role as Kane in Alien after taking ill on set, being replaced by John Hurt.

Lewis Collins, best known as Bodie in the TV series The Professionals was considered to be too aggressive.

James Brolin was set to play Bond, before Moore agreed to return in Octopussy.

There was also Richard Burton, Cary Grant, James Mason, Patrick McGoohan, Rod Taylor, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Adam West, Liam Neeson, Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor, who all turned the role down. A full list can be found here.
 

Composite photograph of the actors who auditioned to play James Bond in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’
 
For your eyes only, more pix of the other potential Bonds, after the jump…

 
Director Michael Reeves started making films when he was just eight years old. It was the beginning of a passion that lasted his whole life, until his tragic and untimely death at the age of 25 in 1969.

When Reeves was sixteen he he flew from England to Los Angeles, where he turned-up on Don Siegel’s doorstep and asked the veteran director of Invasion of the Body Snatchers for a job. Siegel was impressed enough to offer the teenager a job as his assistant. Reeves used his time with Siegel to learn the director’s craft and make the contacts he would later use to help finance his own films.

Returning to Europe, Reeves wrote and directed his first feature film Revenge of the Blood Beast (aka The She Beast), which starred Barbara Steele and Ian Ogilvy. Reeves’ collaboration with Ogilvy began at school, and lasted throughout the director’s career. Ogilvy then starred alongside Boris Karloff in Reeves’ next wonderful and weird movie The Sorcerers. He was just 23. But it was his last film, Witchfinder General (aka The Conqueror Worm) again starring Ogilvy, but this time with Vincent Price, that established Reeves as one of the most talented, proficient and startlingly original directors of the decade.

Witchfinder General should have been the beginning of Reeves’ career as an international film director, but within months of its release he was dead from an accidental alcohol and barbiturate overdose

In 1961, when Reeves was seventeen, he directed and appeared (under the name “Martin Reade”) alongside Ogilvy as two criminals in the short, silent film Intrusion. It’s the earliest existing film by Reeves—strange, and unnerving, with jump-cuts, bizarre editing, and violence. Intrusion was dedicated to Jean-Luc Godard, and it certainly appears to have been influenced in its style by the great French director’s Breathless (À bout de souffle). More of a curio now, Intrusion is the earliest known film by Michael Reeves, which only gives a small hint of the talents that would blossom during the sixties.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Witchfinder General: The Life and Death of Michael Reeves

 
In 1967 legendary adman and designer George Lois conceived a hip new ad campaign for Braniff International Airways, in a style that was remarkably similar to his undying Esquire covers from around the same time. (If you’re at all interested in design, you’ve definitely seen a bunch of those covers, just Google it.)

In two TV spots, Andy Warhol tries to convince a not-buying-it Sonny Liston, then the world heavyweight champ, as to the artistic validity of his Campbell’s soup cans, and Yankee hurler Whitey Ford quizzes Salvador Dalí about the differences between the screwball and the knuckleball.

Lois, in his egotistical and yet charmingly frank (“out-bullshit” etc.) style, explains on his website what he was getting at with the Braniff ads. He mentions a bunch of other pairings that were presumably filmed, but, well, they ain’t on YouTube, anyway.
 

WHEN YOU GOT IT—FLAUNT IT!

A JUXTAPOSITION OF CELEBRITY ODD COUPLES, PORTRAYED AS LOVABLE SPOTLIGHT HUSTLERS, TRYING TO OUT-BULLSHIT EACH OTHER AS THEY FLY BRANIFF.

In 1967, When you got it—flaunt it! became an American colloquialism as well as a standard entry in the anthologies of American sayings, almost instantly. It was my slogan for Braniff—a zany, outrageous campaign that featured a smorgasbord of the world’s oddest couples, exchanging the screwiest and most sophisticated chatter heard on television. Our juxtaposition of unlikely couples was unprecedented, creating the perception that when you flew Braniff International, you never knew who might be in the seat next to you. Pop guru Andy Warhol tried (but failed) to engage the sullen heavyweight champ Sonny Liston…Salvador Dali (Wen yo godet—flawndet!) talked baseball with Whitey Ford…black baseball legend Satchel Paige talked about youth and fame with neophyte Dean Martin Jr….poet Marianne Moore discussed writing with crime novelist Mickey Spillane…Rex Reed dueled with Mickey Rooney…British comedienne Hermione Gingold trumped film legend George Raft at his own game, whilst inundating him with pretentious palaver.

Sounds wacky on the face of it, but as we eavesdrop on these odd couples trying to outflaunt each other, we hear everything that has to be said about Braniff. We also imply that you might bump into a celebrity or two on a Braniff flight. (Yet another spot was produced with a Braniff stewardess welcoming an eclectic procession of business travelers: Joe Namath, Emilio Pucci, the Italian fashion designer to the Jet Set, thespians Gina Lollobrigida, Tab Hunter and Sandra Locke, jockey Diane Crump and the Rock group Vanilla Fudge.) They are not idealized celebrities—they are famous people who are portrayed as lovable extroverts, combined to radiate a surreal kind of believability. A commercial has little credibility if we think its spokespersons are hustling a buck. Celebrities must not look like mercenaries. I make them believable by showing them in a human way, downplaying their celebrity.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Andy Warhol shills for VIdal Sassoon
Salvador Dali vs. acid indigestion: Zany Alka Seltzer commercial from 1974