My brother and sisters in arms here at Dangerous Minds will probably exile me to a digital Siberia for posting a mashup, but this one really tickled my fancy. DJ Fanfaroff is a master of the form and continues to come up with inventive mixes.
I read about this seldom screened, but highly regarded cult film, Demon Lover Diary, about a year ago on the Onion’s AV Club and have wanted to see it ever since. Tuesday I’ll get my chance as the mighty Cinefamily organization is screening the film as part of their monthlong horror fest,
In early 1975, Donald E. Jackson—who would later become the junk-drawer auteur responsible for stuff like Hell Comes To Frogtown and Lingerie Kickboxer—began working on his first feature film, a low-budget horror movie called The Demon Lover. He and his cartoonish hustler of a partner, Jerry Younkins, hired a young filmmaker named Jeff Kreines to handle cinematography. Promised a paycheck that never materialized, Kreines headed to Michigan to start work, accompanied by his pal Mark Rance and his girlfriend Joel DeMott. As time passed—and it became clear that Jackson and Younkins were a couple of no-account hustlers with no idea how to make a movie, and no aesthetic values beyond cutting corners at every opportunity—DeMott decided to make her own movie about the making of The Demon Lover.
Predating American Movie by decades, Demon Lover Diary has many of the same qualities, but where Mark Borchardt is likeable and pitiable, Jackson is a two-bit creep who appears to have blown off his own finger in order to finance the movie with workers’ compensation money. The production is so hopeless and haphazard that DeMott’s movie about it begins to take on a hilariously surrealistic quality, as she and Kreines (who became respected documentarians) display the kind of black humor seen in soldiers who think they’re going to die in combat. Though hard to find, Demon Lover Diary is a funny, essential document on the seamy side of independent filmmakint
Dir. Joel DeMott, 1980, 16mm, 90 min.
The Cinefamily, 611 N. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036
As seen on the wonderful Christian Nightmares blog:
Brownson Music presents a video for ‘I Am Here (A Love Letter From God)’, one of the most bizarrely depressing Casio-driven Christian songs ever written (WARNING: This song will lodge itself in your brain like a tumor, and has the potential to bum you out for days!)
Here’s what the artists themselves had to say about their creation:
A song regarding hardships, sorrow and sadness through the loss of a job, finances, house or family member(s), spouse or a child and GOD letting us know that He is here to help us through anything life throws at us. This song also teaches us to put our faith, hope and trust in Him—the one who can carry the load for us and give us peace.
Uh, yeah, something like that!
Seriously, Kentucky, what the fuck? Even for a Republican, he’s an idiot!
If I was Jack Conway, I’d approve this ad, too!
It’s time Manchester did the decent thing and honored its most celebrated son. If their Merseyside rivals can honor John Lennon by renaming its international airport after the sarky mop top, then Manchester should do something similar and rename its bus station after Mark E. Smith. But let’s not stop there - a local holiday should be adopted on his birthday, street parties held, and a statue erected in Broughton. Not much to ask for the man whose band The Fall have been essential listening over the past thirty-odd years.
Thirty odd years indeed, with Smith the only constant in The Fall’s ever-changing line-up through a long, difficult, but productive, and brilliant career. How the great Mancunian has survived the bitter fights, spiked drinks, broken bones and riots is proof of Smith’s creativity, ambition and touched-by-genius talents.
And let us not forget, Smith’s ability to be a thorn in the side of the condescending prissy-mouthed southern soft lad press, who’ve repeatedly written him off as a “piss-head,” failing to see that a piss-head could never produce such quality or quantity of work. Yes, let us rejoice, for we are alive in the days of Mark E. Smith.
This little gem is from 1983, when Smith gave his guide to writing - not the kind of shit you’ll get from those writing-by-numbers courses, but something far more interesting and entertaining.
Bonus clips of The Fall after the jump…
Episode #17 in Dangerous Minds ongoing effort to educate the public on drugs.
This brings back memories.
Aleister Crowley teapot by artist Charles Krafft. According to LAShTAL, the price tag is $666.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Aleister Crowley Action Figure!
(via Coilhouse)
Frenzied New Wave synthpop duo, Slow Children (singer Pal Shazar and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Chinich) put out two albums of smart music in the early 80s, both produced by Jules Shear (Jules and the Polar Bears) and future Pet Shop Boys collaborator Stephen Hague, who also played on the records.
They had three minor hits, “President Am I?” (an early MTV favorite),“Vanessa Vacillating” and “Spring In Fialta” (with a title swiped from a Vladimir Nabokov short story). Like a lot of people who remember them, I was exposed to Slow Children via the $1.99 RCA New Wave sampler called Blits, which also contained songs by Bow Wow Wow, Sparks, Shock (who I wrote about here) and the Philip Glass-produced group, Polyrock.
Graeme Ronald is the talent behind Remember Remember, a Glasgow-based electronic group, who has produced some incredibly beautiful, lush and rather brilliant music over the past two years - think Brian Eno meets Philip Glass.
Remember Remember’s self-titled debut album is a must-have, and the group are now about to release an EP.
Due for release on November 1st, RR Scorpii contains 4 tracks recorded at Glasgow’s Green Door studios. In addition to their collage styled electronica, the band have borrowed from psychedelica and the instrumental landscapes of 70s rock.
Containing some typically intricate compositions, Remember Remember seem to have developed renewed confidence. The Glasgow based seven piece move from relatively lush soundscapes to the brittle guitar instrumental ‘Aria’ unveiling a number of new influences.
Ronald has an incredible CV, having been a member of such highly-praised bands as Multiplies, The Royal We and Sexy Kids, and touring guitarist with Mogwai.
This short film was made by Gregor Barclay to accompany Remember Remember’s Imagining Things, a track once deliciously described as a “mindgasm”.
Via Iain David Stewart
