More rock and roll goodness from The Seven Ages Of Rock.
A tale of two cities, London and New York and the birth of punk. Each city created a bastard child that marked the biggest and fundamental shift in popular music since Elvis walked into Sun Studios. ‘Blank Generation’ examines the relationship between the bankrupt New York and the class and race-riven London of the mid- 70’s and explores the music of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, The Damned and Buzzcocks
Janet Greene was the Joan Baez of the 1960’s anti-commie movement. The music director of the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade, Greene released one album on the Chantico label in 1966, a collection of red-baiting ditties with titles like ‘Fascist Threat’, ‘Poor Left Winger’ and ‘Commie Lies’.
“Be careful of the Commie lies, swallow them and freedom dies: The USA must realize that she’s the biggest prize.”
There’s a nifty article on Greene at Conelrad.com here.
And now for your listening pleasure, music to have a tea party to, Janet Greene…
Iggy and Debbie singing Cole Porter’s “Well,Did You Evah!’.
Iggy: so… have you ever been out to L.A. lately?
Debbie: well no, not recently.
Iggy: well, I went there and had a rent-a-car and all…
Debbie: oh, really?
Iggy: yeah and I got invited to Pia’s house… Pia Zadora’s house…
Debbie: really? oh.
Iggy: yeah.
Debbie: was it nice?
Iggy: well, I didnt… I didnt go!
Debbie: oh! hehe.
Iggy: it woulda been swell though!
Debbie: shoulda gone!
Iggy: it woulda been elegant!
The Syd Barrett-penned “Scream Thy Last Scream” was supposed to be Pink Floyd’s fourth single (fitting in after “Apples and Oranges” and before “It Would Be Be So Nice”) but the song, and its intended b-side, “Vegetable Man” (about a loser superhero) were never released. Having said that they’ve been heavily bootlegged for years, since acetates (glass test pressings) were cut. In fact, there are several versions (mono, two stereo mixes) known to exist. I can’t believe such amazing songs have never been given legit release on a Pink Floyd or Syd Barrett compilation.
Back in 1999, Channel 4 aired Mirrorball a TV series that showcased the best promo directing talent across the globe. Two series and one animation special were made, featuring the talents of Spike Jonze, Mike Mills, Michel Gondry, Jonathan Glazer, Jonas Akerlund and Chris Cunningham. Each program was dedicated to one director, with an interview, a selection of their work, and a specially filmed insert (from Gondry drumming to Glazer mucking around with actor Paul Kay - aka Dennis Pennis). Mirrorball was an instant hit and has gone on to become a cult TV classic since the series was cancelled in 2001.
Inspired by Edinburgh Film Festival’s Mirrorball screenings, the offshoot TV series was a collaboration between the Festival’s David Smith and Blackwatch Media, under producer and director, Nicola Black. As Black explained to Dangerous Minds:
“It was a fantastic opportunity to bring together groundbreaking directors and treat their work seriously, for the first time. We wanted to reveal the process behind these incredible pieces of work, which used cutting edge technology and post production techniques to achieve startling and unforgettable visuals to tell brilliant stories. You have to remember, this was way before any of these directors had made their names in movies.
Black started out as an intern working with Derek Jarman, before moving on to directing and producing. She set up her company in 1995, making an internationally acclaimed documentary on crime writer James Ellroy’s search for his Mother’s murderer. Since then, Black has made a variety of award-winning shows, animations and “hard-hitting” documentaries, and started the trend in “shock docs” with Designer Vaginas.
“Mirrorball was a great series to make, not only in terms of the breadth of creative work shown, but also by the fact it gave insight into the early works of film-makers like Spike Jonze, Mark Romanek, who went on to make One Hour Photo, Michel Gondry, who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Jonathan Glazer, who directed the brilliant Sexy Beast.”
There were many great highlights to choose from the Mirrorball series (including Jonze’s superb short film How They Got There, Gondry’s genius work with Massive Attack & Daft Punk, Glazer’s collaborations with Radiohead, Akerlund’s Smack My Bitch Up and Mills promos for Air), but we’ve gone for a selection from Chris Cunningham’s work, whose promos for Aphex Twin (aka genius Richard David James) are amongst some of the most original and disturbing ever made. Enjoy!
Fouad Hady contemplates a 15-year sentence in a Saddam-era women’s prison cell
Whether under Saddam Hussein’s abysmal regime or in this post-“liberation” era, we tend to think of Iraq in terms of power and its players—mostly leaders and soldiers and mostly men.
Nine years after he fled Baghdad for Australia, Melbourne-based reporter Fouad Hady has helped change that by travelling back to his home country to file long-form reports from the ground for the Dateline program on Australia’s public SBS One channel.
In 2009’s “City of Widows,” Hady first surveys the miserable poverty of Baghdad’s outlying Al-Rashad district before being told of the Saddam-era womens’ prison, some of the cells of which are now occupied by refugees from other areas. Downtown in the city—which is home to 80,000 of Iraq’s 750,000 widows—he finds a burgeoning movement of women in loss.
“Deadly Legacy”—filed last month—finds Hady reporting from Fallujah, which was the site of massive anti-insurgent operations during which American troopes used munitions made with depleted uranium. Hady’s reporting on the city’s astronomical rates of cancer, infant mortality and leukemia speaks for itself.
These two reports are staggering in their eye-level view of some of Iraq’s afflictions before and after Saddam. No matter your position on that war, these should also prove instructive to those clamoring for action against a far more formidable foe like Iran. War against that country would make this look like a game of croquet.
I never took much notice of Flying Saucer Attack as I was busy plowing similar fields at the time, but having just found this cover of glam-douche band Suede’s The Drowners, a song I happen to love (along with nearly every other Suede A-Side, truth be told) I feel some self-education might be in order. it might simply be that it’s a great tune that lends itself to such a noisy and introverted reading, though.
as
A-Side, truth be told) I feel some self-education might be in order. it might simply be that it’s a great tune that lends itself to such a noisy and introverted reading, though.