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Listen to John Carpenter’s very 80s synth-rock band the Coupe de Villes


The cover of one of only 150 known copies of ‘Waiting Out The Eighties,’ the sole album from The Coupe de Villes—a trio featuring director John Carpenter, Nick Castle, and Tommy Lee Wallace.

Horror fanatics, especially those dedicated to the films of director John Carpenter, are likely familiar with this image taken from Halloween‘s wrap party in 1978. In it we see three performers all wearing Michale Meyers’ aka The Shape masks. The trio would then lose the masks and reveal themselves to be John Carpenter, Nick Castle, and Tommy Lee Wallace or The Coupe de Villes. The long-time friends would start making music for films in college at USC Cinema in mid-1971 where Carpenter had become a bit of a go-to for USC students when it came to providing the music they used in their films. According to Wallace, they wrote music together with Carpenter and Castle contributing most of the content which Wallace describes as “kind of satirical, nostalgic send up songs,” that also happened to be “solid musically.’ Carpenter even snuck some of The Coupe de Villes’ original music into Halloween during a scene featuring Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode) and Nancy Kyes (Annie Brackett) smoking a joint in Annie’s car with the radio blasting a 1950s sounding jam and the lyrics “Let’s Go! Sha-na-na-ha, Sha-na-na-na,” before the music in the scene flips back to film’s unnerving main theme. Carpenter mused about this Easter egg in an interview from 2016 where he also spoke about some of his early musical inspirations:

“I was into the British Invasion, The Byrds, The Doors and 50’s stuff big time. Dark Star (1974) was my first synth score. I started hearing synth music back in the 60’s and I realized you could sound big with only a keyboard. Claudio Simonetti was a huge influence to me, especially the soundtrack to Suspiria (1977) and Deep Red (1975).”

The band would later appear as The Coupe de Villes in Carpenter’s film Big Trouble in Little China (1985) performing the film’s namesake song. The thing is this—that same year The Couple de Villes recorded a seven-song album Waiting Out the Eighties at the Electric Melody Studios in Glendale, California. Electric Melody is run and operated by Carpenter musical cohort, composer Alan Howarth who has collaborated with Carpenter on his film soundtracks since 1981.
 

A shot of John Carpenter’s band featuring Nick Castle (a college pal of Carpenter’s who portrayed Michael Meyers/The Shape in 1978’s Halloween), and Tommy Lee Wallace (a teenage friend of Carpenter’s who, among many other things, created the infamous Michael Meyers mask), The Coupe de Villes and their appearance in Carpenter’s film ‘Big Trouble in Little China.’

If you’re hoping to score yourself a copy of this ultra-rare record, forget it. Only 150 copies were ever pressed. Financed by Carpenter’s wife at the time, actress Adrienne Barbeau, all copies were then divided evenly between the three members of The Coupe de Villes. The album was mastered by Bernie Grundman, a rather legendary Hollywood-based mastering engineer with over 5000 credits to his name. Many fans have wondered if Grundman still has the master tapes for Waiting Out The Eighties, hoping the coveted album might someday see a re-press. At the time of this writing, I found one Mint/Near Mint copy of the elusive record for $3500 plus another five and a half bucks for shipping. Now that we all have yet another reason to dig the work of John Carpenter, let’s check out a few tracks from Waiting Out the Eighties while wishing him a very happy 75th birthday today.
 
Have a listen, after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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01.16.2023
02:34 pm
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Pop Will Eat Itself: FX Master Tom Savini transforms Andy Warhol into a zombie, 1985
12.17.2019
08:39 am
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Tom Savini and Andy Warhol. All photos by Christopher Makos via Pittsburgh City Paper.
 
Before Tom Savini made Andy Warhol look like a character from one of George Romero’s films, he had never met the soft-spoken artist. However, his actor/makeup artist/stuntman younger brother Joe Savini had attended school with Warhol at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh. George Romero is also an alumnus of the school. Following the release of Day of the Dead in 1985, Savini would receive a call on behalf of Andy Warhol requesting that he transform Andy into one of his iconic zombies. Given the fact that Pittsburgh is truly the center of the zombie universe, as well as the birthplace of Andy Warhol and Tom Savini, the pop artist’s request to become a zombie was perhaps inevitable. Whatever the case may be, Savini and long-time colleague FX legend Greg Nicotero traveled to meet Warhol in New York to make Andy’s dream of becoming one of the undead a reality.

During their time with Warhol, the platinum-wigged artist sat quietly while Savini and Nicotero worked their magic. Also on hand was Massachusetts native, photographer (and former apprentice to Man Ray) Christopher Makos, who captured a few moments from the threesome’s strange get-together. According to Savini, he himself was unaware Warhol was wearing a wig and gently tried to adjust Andy’s “hair.”
 

Zombie Warhol.
 
It turns out Andy Warhol was very much a fan of Romero’s Living Dead series and zombie culture. In an interview with the Pittsburgh City Paper, Makos, a close friend of the artist, believed Romero’s films—and others like them—were a part of the artist’s “fieldhouse” (though he likely meant “wheelhouse”). Warhol’s 1977 film Bad features a gory scene of a woman tossing her crying infant out of a window. It splatters on the sidewalk next to a woman walking by, spraying blood from its head.

Another aspect of Romero’s films that appealed to Warhol was how the filmmaker was able to make such a strong statement with a relatively small budget. In the case of 1985’s Day of the Dead, Romero saw his initial budget of seven million slashed in half. This forced Romero to make huge concessions not only to the original script and larger scale of the film, but his desire for Day of the Dead to be unrated. If you’re a fan of this film, the reality of the drastic cuts ended up producing some of the greatest practical effects ever, as well as the gift of another Massachusetts native, Joseph Pilato (RIP) in the unforgettable role of Captain Henry—“Choke on ‘em!”—Rhodes, who only got the part as a direct result of the reduction in the film’s budget.

Makos’ photographic legacy is astounding in its own right, and his many images of Andy Warhol can be found in his beautiful books on Andy. Tom Savini has recently released his highly anticipated autobiography, Savini: The Biography.
 

An alternate image of Warhol as a Savini zombie.
 

The trailer for Andy Warhol’s ‘Bad.’

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Andy Warhol interviews Frank Zappa (whom he hated) without uttering a word
Andy Warhol meets the Cars: The notorious NSFW ‘nude’ version of the ‘Hello Again’ video
Oh, you pretty thing! Polaroid portraits of Andy Warhol in drag
The Andy Warhol episode of ‘The Love Boat’

Posted by Cherrybomb
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12.17.2019
08:39 am
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‘Send more paramedics’: A look at classic punk zombie flick ‘The Return of the Living Dead’


Artwork from Vestron Video and their UK VHS for ‘The Return of the Living Dead.’
 
Before we take a deep dive into the deviant classic that is 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead lets demystify the collection of films by late director George A. Romero and his partner John A. Russo. The first was Night of the Living Dead, released in 1968. Romero wrote the script for the film during his freshman year of college after meeting Russo while he was visiting Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh where he was studying graphic arts. After passing the script back and forth, the pair finally agreed the zombie antagonists in their film would be of the flesh-eating variety, not primarily brain consumers. With respect to zombie film super fans, this distinction has often been lost on connoisseurs of the genre, and Romero himself has publicly lamented about being constantly asked to include the words “Eat Brains!” while signing autographs—even though his zombies were just not into eating human brains. Initially, the title of the film was “Night of the Flesh Eaters,’ which was later modified for its theatrical release in order to avoid confusion with the 1964 film, The Flesh Eaters. However the release lacked notation of copyright, errantly placing the film in public domain where by definition an artistic work is considered common property.

In 1974 Russo would pen his first novel based on Night of the Living Dead. Four years later would see the publication of Russo’s second book Return of the Living Dead, which served as the basis for his dark screenplay (written with another Romero collaborator, Rudy Ricci) and subsequent 1985 film adaptation of the book. According to an interview with Russo in 2018, none other than Frank Sinatra had agreed to finance the film but withdrew after his mother Dolly Sinatra was tragically killed in a plane crash. After it was clear George Romero wasn’t interested in directing, the late Tobe Hooper was tapped but pulled out to direct Lifeforce (1985). Eventually, Russo and Ricci’s original screenplay would end up with a man of many talents and connections, Dan O’Bannon (Heavy Metal, Alien, Total Recall and, coincidentally, one of the writers behind Lifeforce) who revamped it completely so much so Russo has said he’d still like to see his (and Ricci’s) original screenplay get the film treatment someday. Ultimately, this about-face wasn’t a bad thing at all, and at the urging of the film’s distributors, dialog and scenes were at times meant to be darkly humorous. The pioneering O’Bannon would end up in the director’s seat for the first of five Living Dead films, this being the only one directed by him. Thanks to many factors and concepts influenced or directly implemented by O’Bannon, the film would become one of the most beloved zombie flicks of all time.

Think I’m wrong? Let me help you with that starting with one of the film’s stars, actress and heavy metal fitness enthusiast Linnea Quigley, and the trick behind her long nude scene in the movie.
 

Actress Linnea Quigley as Trash getting ready to do her graveyard dance in the nude. Sort of.
 
Part of the plan for the release of the film was that it would also, at some point, be shown in an edited-for-TV form; devoid of most of its nudity and questionable language. At first, Quigley, who spends pretty much all of her time on camera nude, had pubic hair. The story goes, one of the film’s producers just so happened to be visiting the set while Quigley was doing her graveyard striptease and freaked out at the sight of her bush and ripped Dan O’Bannon personally, telling him that pubic hair could “not be shown on television.” The then 24-year-old Quigley was sent off for a quick Brazilian at the beauty parlor, which further horrified the producer (said to be line-producer Graham Henderson), who responded that you could now see Quigley’s “everything.” This guy. The job of disguising Quigley’s down-under parts would go to the film’s art department who created a mannequin-like prosthetic for Quigley’s hoo-hah, which made her lady parts look like a barbie’s plastic vulva. So for those of you of a certain generation which grew up believing you saw Linnea Quigley’s hairless crotch in The Return of the Living Dead, I’m sorry. 

More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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07.25.2019
10:21 am
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Freddie Mercury’s flamboyant birthday party drag ball
06.20.2018
08:56 am
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Freddie Mercury celebrating his 39th birthday at the Henderson nightclub in Munich, Germany in 1985.
 
It all started with a beyond flamboyant throw-down in Munich, Germany where Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury and a few hundred of his famous friends gathered together for Mercury’s “black and white” themed 39th birthday at the Henderson club. The Henderson was also used by Mercury to shoot the video for his 1985 solo single “Living on My Own” which includes footage shot at Freddie’s extravagant birthday shebang. Two months prior, Queen and Mercury set the world on fire with their set at Live Aid forever setting the rock and roll bar for greatness at a level so high it will likely forever stand as the single greatest live performance by a rock band ever. When Mercury sent out the invitations for his birthday, he requested attendees dress in drag and only in black and white. Mercury, of course, came as himself, because of course he did. I’ll leave you to think about that for a hot minute before we get to a few pieces of folklore about Freddie/Queen’s party habits as well as his follow-up birthday celebration in 1987 on the island of Ibiza.

If you know anything about Mercury, you know the man liked to enjoy himself, and took on the task of orchestrating nearly every detail of Queen’s debaucherous shindigs, such as the time in 1978 when Freddie booked-up the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans’ French Quarter for the band and 500 of their guests to celebrate their upcoming record, Jazz. Dwarves were hired to walk around the party with trays of Bolivian coke and cocktail services were provided by nude waiters and waitresses. In the 2012 biography by Lesley-Ann Jones, Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury, Elton John was quoted saying that Mercury could “out-party” him any day. In 1981 when Queen and David Bowie got together to record “Under Pressure,” they powered through the day-long session with coke and booze. For his party in Ibiza, Mercury flew 700 of his pals to the island off the coast of Spain. To this day Mercury’s birthday is still celebrated at the Ibiza Rocks House (formerly the infamous Pikes Hotel where Mercury held his 1987 gathering). 

As unhinged as Mercury’s behavior could be behind-the-scenes there isn’t much evidence to cite his zealous pursuit of good times altering his ability to slay with his four-octave vocal range and commanding stage presence. To say nothing of the stone cold fact, Mercury knew how to party—something I’m sure you’ll be in agreement with after checking out the photos of Freddie partying like a pro as well as high-quality footage shot at the party to end all parties, below.
 

The invitation for Freddie Mercury’s birthday drag ball at Hendersons in Munich, Germany 1985.
 

Freddie’s black and white-themed birthday bash at the Henderson nightclub in Munich, Germany.
 
More Freddie after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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06.20.2018
08:56 am
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Oral: The mysterious all-girl heavy metal band and their (maybe) connection to Lemmy Kilmister
03.08.2017
09:18 am
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The cover for ‘Oral Sex,’ the only album from Oral, 1985.
 
Oral is a strange, all-female band that somehow found their way into the NWOBHM when they got together (or were put together perhaps) in 1985. The group was comprised of three girls—Monica, allegedly a former Penthouse model on guitar, a fifteen-year-old girl named Bev on vocals, a chick named Candy on bass and another member named Dee who isn’t pictured on the album cover. Which is a little weird, right? The back of the album only complicates the Dee-situation as it features four images of the girls—the first of which includes Monica, Bev, and Candy, but no Dee, mean-mugging together behind an iron fence. Anyway, all this makes it seem pretty likely that Dee probably is/was a dude which would have wrecked the girls-only vibe of the band. Though I’m only speculating because nobody really knows much about the history of Oral.

Produced by Ralph Jezzard (the bass player for UK band Blood and Roses and the producer behind the E.M.F. earwig “Unbelievable” among other things) Oral Sex was Oral’s debut/swan song and was comprised of just six songs, a few of which were unsurprising allusions to oral sex such as “Love Pole,” “Pearl Necklace,” and “Head.” I mean, what else would you expect from an album called Oral Sex? And as the title of this post indicates, there is some belief out there that the one and only Lemmy Kilmister is responsible for teaching Monica how to play guitar. And before you start virtually shouting at me that Lemmy was a bass player—while you’d be correct—back when he was just starting out with The Rockin’ Vicars in 1965 he was an axeman.

So could Monica’s claim be true? I don’t know but I will tell you this—the first song on Oral Sex, “Head,” sure has all the calling cards of divine Motörhead intervention. And you know what else? Oral Sex (the album) isn’t half bad once you set aside any preconceived notions that the album cover put in your, ahem, head. They even do a pretty kick-ass cover of “Black Leather” originally written and performed by former Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones and Paul Cook who recorded the Lydon-free song during sessions for The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (the song never made it onto the soundtrack).

More Oral after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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03.08.2017
09:18 am
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Epic live performance by Peter Tosh in L.A. 1983
09.10.2011
06:01 pm
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Peter Tosh, October 19, 1944 – September 11, 1987

 
September 11 is a date heavy with tragedy not only for the absolute horror that befell New York but because it also marks the date that Peter Tosh was murdered in 1987. While most attention will be focused on the tenth anniversary of the death and destruction surrounding the World Trade Center, I thought I’d share something in honor of Tosh.

One man’s death does not equal 3000, so I am not making any comparisons between the two events beyond the fact that they share a month and day and were tragic.

I’ll be avoiding most of the media hype surrounding September 11, 2001. It’s too painful and too exploitive. I think it best to remember 9/11 quietly and solemnly. I am somewhat sickened by the media’s attempt to profit (via TV ratings and book, magazine and newspaper sales) on the wrenching events of that day. I’ve seen enough photos of the burning towers, debris-covered victims, shocked faces and falling bodies to last more than a lifetime. And politicians using the devastation of 9/11 for political gain is beyond nauseating, it’s obscene.

Anyway, here’s a scorching 60 minute set by one of reggae’s greats: Peter Tosh live at L.A.‘s Greek Theater in 1983. Featuring “Pick Myself Up,” “African,” “Glass House,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” “Not Gonna Run,” a dynamic cover of “Johnny B. Goode” and more. Directed by Michael C. Collins.

“I’m like a flashing laser and a rolling thunder”
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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09.10.2011
06:01 pm
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