Ridiculously catchy late-70s disco single by future Phantom of the Opera star Sarah Brightman, then a teenager, and the Hot Gossip dance troupe from The Kenny Everett Video Show. Not exactly sure what a bunch of dancers had to do with the recording of this ditty, but I can sure see why they were in the video. From the Wikipedia entry about the song:

The song is a lightweight space disco track that cashed in on the media hype surrounding the original Star Wars film: the lyrics include the lines “And evil Darth Vader has been banished to Mars” and “Or are you like a droid, devoid of emotion”. The song also samples music from Star Wars and Thus Spoke Zarathustra (from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Many of the lyrics contain mild sexual innuendo; for example, “Take me, make me feel the force”. Other television and film science fiction references are “Flash Gordon’s left me, he’s gone to the stars”, “What my body needs is close encounter three”, and “Fighting for the Federation” and “Static on the comm - it’s Starfleet Command” (both Star Trek, or the Federation from Blake’s 7; alternatively, “the Federation” and “Starfleet Command” are evident references to Starship Troopers).

 
Two cool Andy Warhol items came to my attention today that I wanted to share here. First of all, the charming letter sent to the artist in 1964 by William MacFarland, the Product Marketing Manager of the Campbell Soup Company, congratulating him on the success of his then young career and offering to send over a couple of cases of tomato soup.

The video below is a 90 second condensation of the 23 minutes Warhol spent painting a BMW M1 race car. Roy Lichtenstein and Alexander Calder also painted “art cars” for the German auto giant.
 

 
Via Letters of Note/Jalopnik.

 
Rather astonishing news from the fashion and film world. Dangerous Minds’ fave filmmaker Kenneth Anger has released a two-and-a-half-minute film dealing with the fall/winter collection of the Varese-based house of Missoni, produced by filmmaker/Anger manager/Dangerous Minds pal Brian Butler and scored by French composer Koudlam.

Vogue Italia‘s Mariuccia Casadio provides some details:

A man of few words, this fascinating former actor who still takes care of his appearance first filmed the settings for his film “Missoni”: mostly locations near bodies of water in the Sumirago countryside and part of Rosita and Ottavio’s garden. For the indoor sequences, he built a set in the Council Room of the Sumirago Town Hall, a basement room with a vaulted ceiling. The mood of the film and the poses and movements of Margherita, Jennifer, Angela, Rosita, Ottavio, Ottavio Jr. and all other [Missoni] family members are reminiscent of Sergei Parajanov’s “The Color of Pomegranates”, a 1968 film that inspired Anger to create his Chinese box-style storyboard.

Do yourself a favor and go full-screen with this one. And if you’re unfortunate enough to not be familiar with Anger, do yourself another favor and click one or both of the links below. You’ll be glad you did.
 

 
Get: The Films of Kenneth Anger Vol. 1 [DVD]
 
Get: The Films of Kenneth Anger Vol. 2 [DVD]
 
Thanks to Ian Raikow for the heads-up!

Felix The Cat Blotter Acid
 
In keeping with the LSD theme here at Dangerous Minds, I present a lysergic episode from The Twisted Tales Of Felix The Cat. The series aired on CBS from 1995 to 1997.

In this episode, Felix gets psychedelized in Pittsburg!  There’s a shitload of rock references in this trippy little mindbender, from Chuck Berry and Elvis to Dylan, grunge and Led Zeppelin. Dig the Rick Griffin eyeballs, the reference to cheeba and the scene where Felix lands in a melting landscape and says “well, hello Dali.” This is out there stuff for network TV.
 

 
part two after the jump

 
Detroit techno soldier Monty Luke hepped me to this rather remarkable clip from an unnamed American music show in 1969. It seems apropos since last week marked the 39th anniversary of Jim Morrison’s death, and his ghost still haunts what once was the Doors Workshop in Los Angeles. Below, the LizKing notes that music in the future “might rely heavily on electronics and tapes” and feature performers “using machines.”

You think he figured that electronic music geniuses like John Oswald a.k.a. Plunderphonics would have such a blast blowing out the Doors, as shown in the fan video after the jump?
 

 
Even if you’re a soccer layman who knows the name Pele, you’ve likely also heard the name Diego Maradona. The legendary 49-year-old Argentine player and coach, who captained his national team to win the 1986 World Cup is known as much for his off-field controversies (like his 20-year cocaine habit) as for those on-field, including his “Hand of God” goal.

During this week’s World Cup activity, Diego got handed a true moment when a journalist’s question about the current Argentine captain’s cuddly treatment of his excellent players got mistranslated into an intimation about the way El Diego swings.
 

 
Eight days after the West End premiere of the play based on his autobiography, Dandy in the Underworld, top-hatted London-based extreme artist and lifestylist Sebastian Horsley was found dead this morning at age 47 of an apparent heroin overdose.

Born to wealthy alcoholics, Horsley is best known for traveling to the Philippines to be crucified as part of his research for a set of paintings dealing with the topic. But besides his arcane fashion sense, penchant for whoring, and ability to make the scene—running with the likes of Nick Cave, Current 93, Coil and others—Horsley was an accomplished painter and writer, and a guy with a drawling accent who could hold court in a red velvet chair with the best of them.

The Soho Theatre cancelled tonight’s performance of Dandy…, but will continue on tomorrow. Our own Richard Metzger put it best when told the news: “How sad that the world has one less total pervert.”
 

 
Get: Dandy in the Underworld: An Unauthorized Autobiography (P.S.) [Book]