Michael Winslow performs Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” on Norwegian TV show Senkveld med Thomas og Harald. Holy crap! 
 

 
Thanks you, Skye Nicolas and High Definte!

 
Happy Birthday Harris Glenn Milstead, born today at the Women’s Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1945.

Glenn will be forever in our hearts as the one and only Divine - legendary star of John Waters’ movies, and singer of a slew of Hi-Nrg classics, “I’m So Beautiful”, “Walk Like A Man”, “T-Shirt and Tight Blue Jeans”, and “Shake It Up”.

I was fortunate to see Divine in concert in 1984, and it is a memory I will always treasure. To celebrate what would have been Glenn’s 66th birthday, here are a few of Divine’s hitsplus a seldom seen interview from Channel 4’s The Tube.
 

 
More from the beautiful Divine, after the jump…
 

 
It always seems to work this way: I leave town and something awesome—that I would, for sure, attend—happens! I’m shoving off for NYC in the morning and look what’s rolling into town Oct 20th at the Nokia Theatre. This looks ultra nuts:

The Musical Box, the only band in the world to acquire from Peter Gabriel and Genesis the performing rights and access to archives, audio tracks and original slideshow for “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”, re-stages 25 years later the original concert in painstaking details.

The show, critically acclaimed, is a great success and is produced in some of the most prestigious amphitheaters in the world, such as London’s Royal Albert Hall and the Paris’ Olympia. In 2005, Phil Collins joins the band on stage in Geneva.

“The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” reclaimed its deserving glory.

In 2008, Serge Morissette, The Musical Box’ artistic director, participates in the re-editing of “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” and recreates the original slide show sequence for the DVD version of the album.

I’ve been listening to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway frequently in the past month, looking at the (very) few clips on YouTube relating to that mythical tour and reading all about it Internet. It’s currently the new (old) thing that I’m most excited about. Just last week I downloaded a live “quadraphonic FM” radio broadcast of a live show from the Lamb tour.

Man, would I love to see this concert! Normally they idea of a tribute band seems either horrible or goofy or both, but this seems more like a Broadway musical revival than a mere tribute band. Here’s a video:
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Genesis didn’t always suck!

Thank you very kindly ifthenwhy (even if I am bummed out to miss this!)

 
I love this faux-Raymond Pettibon “Henry Rollins tattoo whiteboard” from the always brilliant Brandon Bird. You can order it over at ToptoCo for $20.00 + shipping.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Eric Roberts Lunchbox

 
(via Laughing Squid)

 
If you find yourself in a fix, looking for a last-minute Halloween costume, AUX TV offers celebrity masks that just need to be printed out. No one will even be able to tell the difference. If they do, they won’t care.

Click here for your Nick Cave mask or click here for your Morrissey mask.

“Pacific State” by Dawn Gardner
 
From the beginning “rave” was supposed to be a faceless musical form rebelling against the cock-and-coke excesses of 80s hair metal, and the drab “woe is me” insularity of indie rock. The emphasis was to be taken off the performer, and turned back onto the all-important audience who, in this new era of dancing and drug taking, were the true stars. For the most part this anonymity was the norm, to the point where acts became almost interchangeable, and the distinct whiff of novelty began to creep in. The name of the act with the rave version of “Hong Kong Phooey” may be lost to history now, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Despite face masks and aversion to Smash Hits interviews, there were a few acts of the rave era who managed to become recognisable brands in their own right. 808 State were arguably the first and definitely one of the best, building up a devoted fan base through relentless touring and a series of great albums and singles released at the tail end of the 80s and throughout the Nineties. You might not recognise any of these guys if they passed you in the street, but their music has become iconic in its own right.

The band formed in mid-80s Manchester around a nucleus of Factory stalwart Graham Massey, Eastern Bloc-owner Martin Price and Gerald Simpson, who would later leave to peruse his own successful career under the name A Guy Called Gerald. 808 State were one of the first acts to take rave out of the clubs and fields and into the British charts, and by extension the nation’s living rooms, with influential hits like “Pacific State” (a chill out classic and the birth of ambient house) and “Cubik” (whose riff is to dance music what “Louie Louie” is to rock’n'roll). Back in school in the early Nineties, a few of us would pass round a cassette of the 808 State album ex:el, its rock hard beats and swooshing synths fuelling our imaginations to what raving might actually be like, long before we ever could. Twenty years later and I know that we weren’t the only kids listening.

Now the Manchester pioneers have released a sort of-best of compilation that pulls together some of their career’s highlights alongside a bunch of unreleased bit-and-pieces, remixes and previously unreleased out-takes. 808 State were a huge influence on the second wave of UK dance pioneers from the mid-Nineties, like Autechre, Orbital, Future Sound Of London and Aphex Twin and even a quick scan through their list of non-dance collaborators proves the kind of respect the band command. Blueprint kicks off with a remix of 1988 “Flow Coma” by Aphex Twin, it features liner notes by Orbital’s Phil Hartnoll and elsewhere on the album you’ll find spots from Brain Eno, Bjork, Trevor Horn, Ian McCulloch, Elbow’s Guy Garvey and Manic Street Preacher’s James Dean Bradfield.

Blueprint is a good album, and one recommended for long term fans and newcomers alike, though I’m still waiting for a straight-up greatest hits comp with the original extended 12” mixes of these classic tracks. Alternatively, I might just go and pick up the remastered, double CD packages of four of their original albums (90, ex:el, Gorgeous and Don Solaris), which have all been re-issued with bonus material and are available from the official 808 State website. The band are also currently giving away a free “21st Anniversary” remix of “Cubik”, which you can get right here:

 
808 State’s music still sounds great after all these years, whether you simply want to travel back to a different, more innocent, era or even if you want pumping-up, ready for action in the right now. The intro to “In Yer Face” (an all-time, hands down dance classic) is still chillingly prescient to this very day, a reminder that maybe the past wasn’t so innocent after all, that we’re still facing some of the very same problems today:

There are new forces in the world
A conflict between the generations
A powerful feeling that the American system
is failing to deal with the real threats to life…

808 State “In Yer Face”
 

 
808 State Blueprint is available here. The remastered 808 State albums are available from the band’s website, click the album titles above for direct links.

After the jump, some more 808 State classics, including “Pacific State”, “Cubik”, “Olympic”, “Flow Coma” remixed by Aphex Twin and more…

 
Remember that amazing Kraftwerk sweater by Mishka I posted about a few weeks back? Well, the same company also produced these Wire 154 and Eraserhead lambswool sweaters. Neither which is available anymore. I think it’s high time for Mishka to start making these fine garments again. I’d certainly buy the Wire one.

 
Thank you, Brett Burton!

 
Instead of the traditional run of the mill carved pumpkin, why not create a Frank Zappa pumpkin this Halloween? The person who made this spifnicient masterpiece has a step-by-step guide: Pumpkins from Photos.

 
I found this Zappa pumpkin via Flickr user Susan Sharpless Smith. Photo and carving by Sarah.

 
Pumpkin found here.

 
Crazy latex “life mask” of David Bowie by Erick Erickson for sale on eBay for $164.99.

This started with an actual life cast mask of singer David Bowie. Then it has been sculpturaly enhanced by me, Erick Erickson. The Hair and ears have been added to create a very Spacey display, and I sculpted the eyes open showing a dazed space like expression. The detail is amazing, from the shaved eyebrows, to the Bowie teeth set in the mouth.

Update: I just noticed the Bowie mask is selling for $139.99 on Erick’s website.

(via Cherry Bombed)

 
Excellent “Ozzy Osbourne as Frankenstein” cake by Charm City Cakes.

(via Super Punch)