Judy Garland’s Cream of Wheat
This is every flavor of awesome. More in this Judy series are promised by the creators, Punchy Players. I’d like to see more of these.
Thank you, Marc Campbell!
This is every flavor of awesome. More in this Judy series are promised by the creators, Punchy Players. I’d like to see more of these.
Thank you, Marc Campbell!
Bonus ! Everyone’s favorite difficult electronic music duo Autechre is dropping their second LP of the year. Their dirty, unkempt and unfussy sound is always a welcome presence on my various music reproduction devices. Not to mention the sport of observing the hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth by their legions of fanboys who can never be pleased but can nonetheless be counted on to purchase every last object issued by their heroes. Long may they bit-crush.
What fun watching Republicans in Raleigh, N.C. trying to throw Tea party-supported candidate Tim D’Annunzio under a bus. He’s ahead in the polls, his campaign has deep pockets and yet Tim’s a pariah in establishment GOP circles in the state. If I lived in North Carolina, I’d vote for this guy and I have not cast a single Republican vote in my life. To elect a pothead, ex-junkie deadbeat dad Republican who believes he’s the Messiah? You are kidding me? This is going to be the best contest in the entire country! I may donate to this guy’s campaign.
From AP:
Tim D’Annunzio, a congressional candidate in North Carolina’s most competitive district, has run an anti-establishment campaign with vows to dismantle entire branches of the federal government. His ideas have drawn support from tea party activists, and he has raised more money from individuals than his GOP rival while also contributing more than $1 million to his own campaign.
Republican leaders in both Raleigh and Washington, however, are worried about his electability in November if he wins a primary runoff next month. They’re publicizing court documents about D’Annunzio’s past legal, martial and business troubles and denouncing him as unfit for office.“Mr. D’Annunzio has disqualified himself by his background, his record and his behavior,” said Tom Fetzer, North Carolina’s Republican Party chairman. He said the GOP embraces the tea party but doesn’t believe a person with such a checkered past should be the party’s nominee.
In Hoke County divorce records, his wife said in 1995 that D’Annunzio had claimed to be the Messiah, had traveled to New Jersey to raise his stepfather from the dead, believed God would drop a 1,000-mile high pyramid as the New Jerusalem on Greenland and found the Ark of the Covenant in Arizona. A doctor’s evaluation the following month said D’Annunzio used marijuana almost daily, had been living with another woman for several months, had once been in drug treatment for heroin dependence and was jailed a couple times as a teenager.
The doctor concluded that his religious beliefs were not delusional. A judge wrote in a child support ruling a few years later that D’Annunzio was a self-described “religious zealot” who believed the government was the “Antichrist.” The judge said he was willfully failing to make child support payments.
D’Annunzio declined Monday to discuss the specifics of his past and refused to confirm or deny the details of the court documents. He acknowledged having “a troubled upbringing” but that he got himself out of it and changed his life 16 years ago, when he had a religious conversion.
“The bigger story is that the power brokers in Raleigh and in Washington are willing to go to any length and use any unscrupulous tactic to try to destroy somebody,” he said. “They think that they’re losing their control over the Republican party.
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They obviously are! This character makes even Rand Paul seem sane. Can the Sarah Palin endorsement be far behind?
If you heard about Patti Smith getting an honorary degree at Pratt last week, her sweet/funny speech at Radio City Music Hall to the graduating students is now on YouTube.
Bonus clip of The Patti Smith Group performing Horses and Hey Joe and on the Old Grey Whistle Test program.
Via The Awl
This afternoon I heard Up in a Puff of Smoke by British singer Polly Brown (in a Rite Aid store, natch) and made a mental note that it might make a good post for the blog. This song was an AM radio staple back in 1974, when I first heard it as a nine-year old and I still have it on a 45RPM record. What an amazing introduction! What a great drum beat (Ami Stewart’s disco-fied cover of Knock on Wood owes it a debt of gratitude, don’t cha think?)! The production is wowsers, mixing proto-disco with a glam rock edge. What a catchy tune and man, what a VOICE.
Other than this song, I knew little—next to nothing—of Polly Brown. From the sound of her voice—which is mid-way between Dionne Warwick and Diana Ross—I just assumed that Polly Brown was a black woman. As you can see from the above album cover, she is in fact quite white. But when I was reading the Wikipedia entry on Brown (who was the lead singer of Pickettywitch, which was also news to me and a duo called Sweet Dreams) I came across this rather odd fact about the woman with the soulful pipes:
“As a member of Sweet Dreams, Brown was billed as Sara Leone - a reference to the African nation of Sierra Leone - and performed in black face.”
It was the 70s, I guess…?
When your authors are no longer alive for promotional trailers, fall back on clever packaging! TankBooks. For “people on the move, lovers of literature and connoisseurs of design. Try one and you’ll be hooked.”
We have launched a series of books designed to mimic cigarette packs – the same size, packaged in flip-top cartons with silver foil wrapping and sealed in cellophane.
Each story is complete and unabridged – with a type size that’s easy to read. Individual books are great for throwing into a pocket or handbag – an instantly familiar object to carry with you. The complete set comes in a stunning tin – perfect as a really original gift.
(via The Book Bench)
And no, Taco Bell does not count. Lest anyone foolishly believe this to be a racist prank let me emphatically state that this is obviously a pointed reaction to Arizona’s hideous new xenophobic, institutionalized racial profiling law. Nicely done !
Freeway Sign in Florida Hacked: No Latinos, No Tacos
The house that spooked the shit out of the family Lutz, and, later, readers of Jay Anson’s account of it, The Amityville Horror, went on the market yesterday. The 5 bedroom Dutch Colonial can be yours for just 1.5 million. But, as they say, buyer beware:
The house has a history of terror. The Lutz family moved into the house in 1975 after it went on sale because the former were all killed in the home with the exception of the eldest son, Ronald DeFeo Jr. who was convicted of killing his family.
The horror house left the Lutz’s moving out with a tale to tell that was made into an Oscar nominated film starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder as the Lutz family who were only able to stay in the house for a brief time. Neighbors say people still gawk at the home and it draws a crowd on Halloween. How much of the story the Lutz’s told was true, but if the house sells, and some brave family moves in, we may find out.
Attn: potential new tenants of Amityville Horror house: if that demonic pig, Jodie, pops up again, please send him to Park Slope, Brooklyn, c/o Jonathan Safran Foer. You got that? Park Slope!
Previously on Dangerous Minds: The Merv Griffin-Amityville Horror Summit
“I think of it as a book about family.” The rise of Kindles and iPads have seen a corollary rise in promotional book trailers. Many of them star the author themselves. Hell, even my man Thomas Pynchon (his voice, anyway) did one for his last novel, Inherent Vice. That trailer was cool. Some, though, aren’t, and book blog Mobylives has just picked this year’s Most Annoying Performance By An Author.
The nod went to Park Slope’s Jonathan Safran Foer in recognition for his anti-eating animals book, Eating Animals. For a variety of reasons, I’ve pretty much stricken animal protein from my diet, but watching Foer, who’s from Park Slope (wait, did I mention that already? I hope so, ‘cause he really wants you to know that!), truck out his dog, kid and granny in the below video makes me want to head to KFC and, like, double down on these.
Dangerous Minds pal Jesse Merlin says, “It’s a cooler you can drive! Makes you wonder why the terrorists hate us…”
Cruzin Cooler
Rich Fulcher (Snuff Box, The Mighty Boosh) previews his gaggle of upcoming shows in Los Angeles, discusses the life and loves of his Eleanor the Tour Whore character and tells viewers about a few of the devilish insurrections of his new book, Tiny Acts of Rebellion: 97 Almost-Legal Ways to Stick It to the Man.
If like me (and Richard and Tara) you’re still coming to terms with last night’s losing of Lost, here’s another metaphysical jungle tale to your possible rescue (it will also suck up about 120 less hours of your life). It’s this year’s winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
Here’s this year’s jury head, Tim Burton, on the film: “I liked it because it is a movie that you normally don’t see, not Western, with fantasy elements done in a way I have never seen before. It is a beautiful strange dream. It has a quiet reflective nature, full of surprises.”
Surprises, indeed! One of those past lives of Uncle Boonmee apparently features him as a catfish who makes love to a princess in a blue lagoon by wiggling his tale. Let’s see ya try that one, Man In Black…I mean, Samuel! The Lost-evocative trailer for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives follows below:
Tim Burton Announces Palme d’Or Winner at Cannes: Thai Film Uncle Boonmee
Last week’s Anthology Film Archives 40th Anniversary Blowout, Return to the Pleasure Dome, honored, naturally, the works of filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Technicolor Skull—Anger on theremin (!), Dangerous Minds pal, Brian Butler, on guitar—performed that night (see below), as did Sonic Youth and Lou Reed. Vice is carrying a stream of Reed’s 13-minute noodling performance. Fans of Metal Machine Music Lou can check it out here.
In honor of his birthday, here’s some truly wonderful Robert Zimmerman esoterica! On his Sirus XM show, Theme Time Radio Hour, Bob Dylan sometimes (infrequently, I’m guessing) features the often hilarious musings of his pal and fellow troubadour, Tom Waits. Now, thanks to Aquarium Drunkard, you can catch up with five of those segments here.
Dig if you will Dylan’s nasally intro to the Body Parts segment, “I don’t tell a lot of people this, but Tom Waits and I have been sending cassettes back and forth to each other for quite some time.” Wow, how do I get taped dispatches from Tom Waits sent to me?! And to demonstrate how even the most familiar of Dylan compositions can be stretched like silly putty, here’s PJ Harvey‘s take on Highway 61 Revisited:
I love His Bobness as much as the next guy or gal but instead of picking one of his revered classics to share today I couldn’t resist putting up this hilarious and spot-on parody by National Lampoon from back in the early 70’s which without a doubt has pissed off many an earnest fan the world over ever since. Enjoy !
Bonus: One of the finest Dylan covers ever, The 13th Floor Elevators doing It’s All Over Now Baby Blue