In Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore, British artist Mark Leckey edits found video footage from the 1970s, 80s and 90s of young people dancing and the result is a pop culture artifact that is archetypal, alchemical, and hypnotic. The video “noise” adds a dreamy electricity to the visuals. From disco to Northern soul and techno, we are set adrift on memories of bliss.
 

 
Hal Willner’s “Forest of No Return: Music from Vintage Disney Films” was performed live at London’s Royal Festival Hall in 2007. An impressive line-up of musicians, including Jarvis Cocker (who hosted the event), Shane MacGowan, Grace Jones, David Thomas and Beth Orton, covered tunes from the Disney songbook.

In the clip below, Nick Cave sounds like a drunken sailor on ¨Hi Diddle Dee Dee¨ from Pincocchio . Good fun.

In related news, a new filmed version of Pinocchio is being produced by Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) and Nick Cave has been brought on board to compose an original score for the movie. This I gotta see.

Cave meets Disney:
 

 
Nick does KC and The Sunshine Band after the jump…

 
Man these folks are spangled to the gills. Jaws are gurning, teeth grinding, eyes bugging and rolling in this security camera video from a 1991 rave in Doncaster, England.

I get a surge of dopamine just watching this thing.

The DJ that uploaded the video to Youtube says it’s edited down from four hours of footage. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the uncut DVD boxset.

Meet you in the K-hole.
 

 
Via Funkagenda

 
The Mods hailed from New Jersey and played the same club circuit as The Castilles, one of Bruce Springsteen’s first bands. In this clip from an episode of Candid Camera which aired in November of 1966, the band lip-synchs “Smile, You’re On Candid Camera” which was the B-side of one of two singles they released. This TV appearance was their fleeting moment of national fame.

I know a lot of people so do you,
who do a lot of things that they shouldn’t do.
So just remember when you decide,
you just might end up on a nationwide.
For those who think that crime does pay,
you just might hear someone say,
“Smile, you’re on Candid Camera”

Candid Camera was the granddaddy to reality TV and Youtube.

“Smile, You’re On Candid Camera” was written by two members, Ray Dahrouge and Sam Siciliano, of New Jersey doo-wop group The Darchaes.
 

 
LA poet, Yvonne de la Vega has located two of Charles Bukowski’s “undiscovered” poems, which are published today in the Examiner:

Charles Bukowksi’s first generally recognized publication date is in the 1960s, yet citations from the early 60s exist in Sanford Dorbin’s early bibliography, and The Roominghouse Madrigals prints poems from the late 40s.

The fact is that Bukowski has published extensively in various small literary publications for over thirty years. These publications exist in small numbers and are difficult if not impossible to find. Fortunately, John Martin of Black Sparrow Press has managed to cull together these poems and stories over several collections, until catching up with his contemporary writings in the 80s.

The following poems are from the private collection of The Los Angeles Poetry Examiner’s, copied from Pearl-Number 14 Fall/Winter 1991 and have yet to be found elsewhere.

An Answer

within the past six years
there have been four
different rumors that i
have died.
I don’t know who begins
these rumors
or why.
and certainly humans
do worse things than
this.
yet I always feel strange
when i must tell people,
usually over the
telephone, that I am
not yet dead.
somebody out there
or perhaps several
people
evidently get some
satisfaction
in announcing that I am
no longer
around.

some day,
some night
the announcement will be
true.
to put it mildly,
I am no longer
young.
but these death-
wishers
are an unsavory
group,
these hyenas,
these vultures,
these failed writers,
will also some day be dead,

their petty bitterness,
their lying gutless
beings gone into
the dark.
but for the moment,
I am here
and these last lines
are for them:
your cowardice will not be missed.
even the roaches
lived with more
honor
and you were always
dead
before
me
without
rumor.

Charles Bukowski 1991
San Pedro, California

On The Bum

moving from city to city
I always had two pairs of
shoes

my work shoes were
thick and black
and stiff.
sometimes when I
first put them on
they were very painful,
the toes were
hardened and bent
back
but I’d get them on
on a hangover
morning.
thinking, well
here we go
again.
working for
miserable wages
and expected to
be grateful
for that,
having been chosen
from a score of
applicants.

it was probably my
ugly and
honest face.

but putting on
those shoes
again
was always
the beginning.

i had always
imagined myself
escaping that.
making it at the
gaming table
or in the
ring
or in the bed
of some rich lady.

maybe I got
like that from
living too long in
Los Angeles,
a place far too
close to
Hollywood.

but going down
those roominghouse
steps
with each beginning,

the stiff shoes
murdering my
feet,
stepping out into
the early sun,
the sidewalk was
there,
and I was just one
more
common laborer,
one more
cpmmon
human,
the whole universe
sliding through
my head
and out my ears.
the timecard waited
to check me in
and out.
and afterwards
something to
drink and the
ladies from
hell.

work shoes
work shoes
work shoes
and me
them with
all the lights
turned
out.
 
Charles Bukowski 1991
San Pedro, California

Bonus clip: Bukowski gives a tour of Hollywood
 
Via the Examiner
 

 
Mr. No Legs, starring double amputee action star Ted Vollrath, is thought to be ultimate “cripsploitation” film—indeed, it had few challengers to the title until 2009’s “Thalidomide baby” martial arts stinker Kung Fu Flid AKA Unarmed But Dangerous.

Here’s what the Internal Bleeding blog had to say about the film:

Mr. No Legs is a legless enforcer that rides around in a bad ass wheelchair, equiped with side mounted shotguns that flip out of the armrests at the push of a button. Those shotguns have auto-aim too, so even though they point dead ahead, they can shoot dudes 3 feet off the ground with no problem. If the guns don’t stop you, his whirlwind stump-fu will really trip you up, fool.

He’s working for a drug distributor that hides cocaine inside of cigars. When one of the dealer’s girlfriends finds out that he’s selling drugs, she threatens to leave and accidentally bashes her head on a TV and dies. Bad news is her brother’s a cop, and when he gets wind of the situation, he could crack up the whole operation. When foul play is suspected in the girl’s murder, things lead back to Mr. No Legs and things start to get interesting.

 
Via PCL Linkdump

 
I’m not entirely sure what the lesson is supposed to be here, but as a child I would have been horrified to see an adult doing something this idiotic. What does killing some fish for no reason whatsoever have to do with ANYTHING?
 
(via reddit)

 
Tonight in Los Angeles, Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn (who I lived down the hall from in a Hollywood apartment building for about a month in 1995 before she moved out and had an amazing yard sale) will be present for the 9pm screening of the documentary Beautiful Darling, about the life of the legendary Candy Darling, at the Downtown Independent theater.

Born James Slattery in Massapequa, Long Island, in 1944, Candy Darling transformed herself into a stunning blonde actress who in the mid-Sixties became an active player in New York’s “downtown” scene. In her passionate act of self-creation, Candy Darling mesmerized. A party fixture, she appeared in Warhol films, and Tennessee Williams cast her in a play. She was seen and written about, and then, before she turned 30, cancer claimed her life.

Using vintage footage and interviews old and new, and anchored by the presence of Candy’s very close friend, Jeremiah Newton, director James Rasin creates a critical and loving portrait of a singular and audacious life. With Jackie Curtis, Holly Woodlawn, Penny Arcade, Paul Morrissey, Fran Lebowitz, John Waters. Candy’s letters and diaries read by Chloë Sevigny. 2010. USA. 86 min.

Tickets are $10, Holly Woodlawn will be doing a Q&A after the film.
 

 
Thanks, Robert Coddington!

 
David Paul is a musician and electrician in Kansas who when presented with the fortuitous opportunity of late night access to an empty half-million gallon steel water tank did the only thing a sensible person could do: Went inside and whipped out a smashing rendition of The Bee Gees’ early psychedelic classic Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You. Pretty fucking glorious, actually !

When it was finished and painted inside and out, they’d left the hatch unbolted, and we got the idea to take some instruments in there in the evening after work. With flashlight in hand, we proceeded to check it out.  The sound bounced around in there so much that we could barely understand each other when we tried to talk – simply mind-boggling.  Steve commenced to experiment with his guitar, and me with my mandolin, not really playing any songs in particular, just bouncing notes around. We only had cell phones and a digital camera as a means to capture the experience.  There was just such a magical feeling and sound inside the tank – especially when you turned off the flashlight… total darkness, only your mind’s eye at work. Every little sound was something new to your ears! It could be angelic, or to the other extreme. I wish there had been more time (and inspiration), and better equipment to really take advantage of the rare opportunity. We could have/ should have done so much more with it. And then as usual, all things must pass and the tank hatch was sealed and filled with water, of which the town of Belleville now drinks.

 
The original from the Bee Gees first album (1967). What are they chanting??  It sounds to me like Oh sodomy or Lord sat down on me. I know it’s neither of those. Right?:

 
Via Office Naps

 
They are now history, having played their last concert in London on March 6th, 2011, but this live video of kamikaze Israeli garage/noise rockers Monotonix is a fun souvenir from one of their frenzied final performances. Shot at the Echoplex in Los Angeles.

With no money available for a music video, director Julien Nitzberg (“The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia”) put out a call for Monotonix friends and fans to bring any manner camera or iPhone to document this show from their farewell tour.

The Monotonix later described this as the most chaotic, violent show they ever played. Because the band always insisted on playing in the crowd not on the stage, one camera and an iPhone were accidentally destroyed when crowd members, surging to get close to the band, knocked over the camera operators.

The Monotonix were Ami Shalev, Yonatan Gat, and Haggai Fershtman.
 

 
A professional photo consultant (who prefers to remain anonymous) says: “A photographer consulted by CNN said the image is most definitely not real. “I have seen a great number of poorly Photoshopped images in my time as a photographer and I can tell by the pixels that it is a fake.”

You can see the original here.

(image via Twisted Vintage)

 
Jump about 5:50 in to hear how Michael Jackson contacted the spirit of the flamboyant pianist using a favorite occult technique of the Great Beast 666!

There is ten freakin’ hours of They Sold Their Souls for Rock N Roll.

Can you imagine being forcibly subjected to all ten hours by fundie parents?
 

 
Via The American Jesus

 
Here’s a cute lil’ doc about the origins and early use of the wondrous Minimoog from the company that brought it into existence. It’s so very easy to take for granted today but this was the very first synth to have a built-in keyboard. I was fascinated to learn that its signature tone, the thing that allows it to cut through any musical setting it’s used in was an unintended excess of overdrive. Credit Moog for realizing what a brilliant mistake they had made and not changing it.
 

 
Bonus: Two of my favorite funky Minimoog workouts, firstly it’s The Harlem Buck Dance Strut from Les McCann’s 1973 LP Layers:

And here’s crooner Marvin Gaye bringing you some Minimoog (or is that an Arp Odyssey ?) magic on After The Dance (instrumental) from his brilliant and under rated 1976 LP I Want You:

 
Weird, hypnotic, tight, and oddly beautiful, Dick, Dick, Dick, Dick (Reservoir Dogs Remix) by Dainumo.

Tarantino’s writing is rooted in rock and roll and this mix boils it down to its essence. Syntax attacks. Seductively.

I find this video to have a drug-like attraction. Am I alone?

 
Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Guinness ad campaign is several years old but I had to share this trio of high quality versions of what has to be some of the loopiest shit to ever appear on TV.
 

 
Perry has a new album coming out on May 10.

Rise Again is a guest-heavy affair, with Bill Laswell behind the mixing boards and a batch of collaborators that include TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, P-Funk’s Bernie Worrell, Sly and Robbie’s Sly Dunbar and backing musicians for the likes of Tricky, Wu-Tang, Matisyahu and Shakira, among others.

Here’s a track called “Higher Level.” Sounds like vintage, dubby, Upsetter to me. Tunde Adebimpe singing background vocals.