As If by wizardry, you have now found yourself deposited in the virtual trailer park that is Dangerous Minds, sitting in front of the Double Wide inhabitatified by Nate Cimmino or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Come on in, sit down for a bit, and gulp a couple of cold DMRH 40’s. Oh yeah, don’t trip over that old box o’ records when you come in….
01. Shel Silverstein-You’re Always Welcome At Our House
02. Chico Hamilton- Conquistadores ‘74
03. Joe Cuba- Oh Yeah
04. Chris Montez- No, No, No
05. Chris Montez- The More I See You
06. The Flamin’ Groovies- Shake Some Action (Capitol version)
07. Gary Valentine- The First One
08. The Monochrome Set- Avanti (10 Dont’s For Honeymooners)
09. Dana Gillespie- You Just Gotta Know My Mind
10. Dana Valery- You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies
11. Sandie Shaw- Your Time Is Gonna Come
12. Nicolas Comment- Je Te Voeux
13. El Chicle- La La La
14. Banquet Of The Spirits w/Cyro Baptista- Chamiel
15. Savage Republic- O Adonis
16. McDonald & Giles- Suite In C
17. Happy Thought For The Day
Man Test was a British TV program where famous people are asked a series of questions on their private lives, and asked to rate their feelings on certain topics from one to seven. The overall score will determine whether a person falls more into the “masculine” or “feminine” category. Where do you think Henry Rollins lands? The answer may surprise you.
Richard recently stated that it was vogue-ish to hate on Rollins. About as vogue-ish as it was to idolize him in the 80s and 90s? Personally I have mixed feelings about Hank - I do like him, but think he is also capable of massive dick moves. The infamous clip of Rollins “confronting” a group of young people (known in some particular circles as “hipsters”) in a NY café is a great example - his confrontational stance makes the situation much worse and he makes a lot of unjustified assumptions about these kids, assumptions that could very easily apply to him too. Being over-tattooed is definitely one.
On the other hand, I’ve only just recently watched The Henry Rollins Show, as it never aired in the UK as far as I knew. To my mild surprise I like it and him. He comes across well, though that would be the point of having your own TV show I guess. But Rollins is an excellent interviewer, holding back on inserting his own ego into conversations and good at creating rapport with his guests. The Werner Herzog and Steve Buscemi interviews are good examples. I don’t even mind his rants on the show, which is more surprising as I am not a fan of his stand up. It’s hectoring, and not as insightful or as clever as he thinks it is.
Man Test gives some surprising insights into Henry Rollins’ character. The show, from 2000, asks him some direct questions about his love and family life, which he is not afraid of answering openly. Rollins is not a man who wears his intelligence lightly, which works against him sometimes, but he is definitely an interesting character. Personally, I would like to know if he is a fan of TLC’s “No Scrubs”?
Mariachi Cabos take one of the most overblown rock songs of all time, Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall,” and turn it into the simple punk anthem it should have been in the first place. Cabos, you rock!
Mariachi Cabos do “Beat It” sounding like The Ramones with a trumpet player.
This, as DM pal, film-maker Alessandro Cima, writes: “might be the most beautiful film you will see all year.” It’s Derek Jarman’s Broken English, his superb interpretation of three tracks by Marianne Faithfull - “Witches Song,” “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” and “Broken English”.
As Mr Cima writes:
The montage and superimposition going on in this film is simply stunning. It’s full of dark pagan ritual, sex, violence, romance, adoration, and mystery.
Last week I posted about a new series of videos by the band In Flagranti, one of which (”On The Fringe”) features some great footage of street kids from the 1980s. Well, thanks to commenters Mister D and Steve Lafreniere I now know what that film is - not only that but I know it’s on YouTube and I have seen it. And so should you. It’s brilliant.
It’s called Streetwise. Directed by Martin Bell and shot by his wife Mary Ellen Mark, it was inspired by an article on homeless youth from Life magazine written by Cheryl McCall. At times it’s harrowing, but it’s really very good, and was even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1984.
It follows the exploits of a few different children living on the streets of Seattle, at that point apparently the States’ “most livable city”. There’s the tough, smart Rat and his older mentor Jack, who live in an abandoned hotel, sell drugs, scam pizzas and raid dumpsters. There’s teenage prostitutes Kim and Erin, waiting to get picked up off the kerb by older johns and discussing which local pimp is better to work for. Erin is also known as “Tiny” and has a troubled relationship with her alcoholic mother, who knows she is a prostitute but describes it as a “phase”. She thinks she may be pregnant after having unprotected sex with a john - that’s her in the picture above. Like Paris Is Burning this film deals with people society regards as the lowest of the low - and what on paper looks like being a major celluloid bummer is actually funny, insightful, tender and at times uplifting. Surprisingly a lot of these kids are still alive, though not kids anymore.
Mary Ellen Mark was also the photographer for the original Life magazine article, and has built up a large portfolio of stunning photographs of these kids, like the one above. She and her husband still see them occasionally too. From Steve Lafreniere’s excellent interview with Mark for Viceland (well worth reading as she’s a brilliant photographer who’s had an extraordinary career):
I’m still in contact with Tiny. A few years ago, Martin and I went back to Seattle and we updated her life. And I’ve been photographing her—I haven’t been back there in three years—but I have been photographing her. I photographed her after she had her ninth baby but we couldn’t make it out there for her tenth.
The talented writer and DM pal, Steve Duffy, has passed on this fun little, interactive “gadget” - your very own hamster, which you can feed, water and play with.
This lively pet hamster will keep you company throughout the day. Watch him run on his wheel, drink water, and eat the food you feed him by clicking your mouse. Click the center of the wheel to make him get back on it.
Click the edit settings link above to customize the hamster. When you are finished, click the “Add to Google” button.
It’s designed by Adam Bowman, a web developer who lives in Maine, and runs a fantastic website, which showcases his wonderful gadgets. You can find Adam’s site here.
For your own hamster check here, or play with the one below.
This video footage is from a 1975 Bruce Springsteen concert at Widener College in Chester, Pennsylvania. Bruce is performing “Wings For Wheels” which was an earlier version of what was to become “Thunder Road.” It’s the only known filmed document of Springsteen performing the song.
In my opinion, this is sweeter and less bombastic, with a bit of the Spanish Harlem flavor of “Rosalita”, than what the tune eventually evolved into. Not to say that “Thunder Road” isn’t a classic.
With the news that Azerbaijan has triumphed at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Running Scared” performed by Ell and Nikki, voted Europe’s favorite, I was reminded of a previous Azerbaijani purveyor of cheesy pop, Gaya, a fabulous singing quartet, who were one of the most successful in Soviet-Azerbaijani during the 1960s and 1970s. Qaya mixed modern beats with traditional Azerbaijani music, and their songs could easily sit (if not win) in today’s Eurovision; or, be piped anesthetically through shopping malls department stores.
Alfred Hitchcock made a habit of appearing in his own films, it became such a distraction that the great director ensured his trade-mark profile appeared soon after the opening titles, so audiences could concentrate on the intricacies of the plot rather than play Where’s Alfie?.
Over the years, other directors have adopted the Hitchcockian cameo (M Night Shyamalan being the most irritating), or turned it into a memorable scene - Martin Scorsese’s creepy cameo as a cuckolded husband in Taxi Driver is a small film all of its own. There have also been the directors who give cameos to the film-makers who influenced or inspired their careers - Jean-Luc Goddard’s homage to the genius Sam Fuller in Pierre le Fou, where the legendary director of The Steel Helmet, Underworld USA, The Naked Kiss and Shock Corridor expounds on cinema:
“Film is like a battleground. Love. Hate. Action. Violence. Death. In one word . . . emotion.”
Here is just a small selection of some notable cameos by directors in their own and in other director’s films.
Legendary director Sam Fuller appears in this party scene from Jean-Luc Goddard’s ‘Pierrot le Fou’ (1965)
More directors in front of the camera, after the jump…
