CBS has canceled Guiding Light after 72 years. I guess all the soaps are falling apart. The last few times I watched it they had this hand-held camera, sexy-reality-show look going on. They had some pop-country type of theme song. I liked it when they shot soaps on the stages. The old theme song used to be tuneless harp plucking. The title card was an out-of-focus picture of sunlight diffused through some tree limbs.
Guiding Light started on radio in 1937 and went to TV in 1952. I used to watch half of Guiding Light and then a M*A*S*H rerun every day in high school. The "hip" soap at the time was General Hospital but just by accident I caught the end of Guiding Light once and decided to try and keep up with it while only seeing 1/2 of it everyday. Kevin Bacon was on it back then-- I thought he was Phillip Spaulding (a big character, part of one of the main families of the story) but it turns out that wikipedia informs me that it was otherwise and not so.
JG Ballard died Sunday. This is always like shouting in a bucket but I feel a loss (and a debt.) They had a rare copy of The Atrocity Exhibiton at my university library. I saw it just scanning through the Bs and recognized the title from a Joy Division song. Needless to say this writer helped me keep a grip on sanity in the good old early eighties hogwash-- he'd been an ad copywriter, a fully functioning fellow, with an eye like that. Nice to know there were people out there. Again, his work was something that I was fortunate to discover. And it truly helped sustain me, I'll admit it. I'm a person-of-the-book after all. My heartfelt thanks to him. My own favorite books by JGB are Concrete Island, The Atrocity Exhibition and Super Cannes. I've never seen the movie of Crash but the book is great, I saw the movie Empire of the Sun but haven't read the book. He even had his own word: ballardian, meaning that which evokes the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments and landscapes.
As I mentioned, I'm jettisoning my archives-- and from touring lo these many years I noticed I have quite a collection of commercial casse-ettes (including many cassingles!) Today in the box, I found this excellent long-playing Keith Jarrett release "Birth" (1972) which features Charlie Haden (playing wah-wah bass), Paul Motian and Dewey Redman (that's Joshua Redman's dad for you youngsters--lol.) Think I got it at a yard sale in Oklahoma. It is still in print on CD.
The first commercial release of a cassette single appears to have been the Go-Go's' song "Vacation" b/w "Beatnik Beach" by I.R.S. Records, which trademarked the "Cassingle" name, in 1982, although the recording industry resisted the format.
I know I have several Cassingles™ of Super Bowl songs performed by various teams including the famous 85 Bears jam Super Bowl Shuffle, the Raiders' Silver and Black Attack, and at least one tune by the Redskins. I'll keep digging around, they're in there somewhere.
To you, my purse, and to none other wight,
Complain I, for ye be my lady dear!
I am sorry now that ye be so light,
For certes ye now make me heavy cheer;
Me were as lief be laid upon my bier.
For which unto your mercy thus I cry,
Be heavy again, or elles must I die!
Now vouchesafe this day, ere it be night,
That I of you the blissful sound may hear,
Or see your colour like the sunne bright,
That of yellowness hadde peer.
Ye be my life! Ye be my hearte's steer!
Queen of comfort and of good company!
Be heavy again, or elles must I die!
Now, purse! that art to me my life's light
And savour, as down in this worlde here,
Out of this towne help me through your might,
Since that you will not be my treasurere;
For I am shave as nigh as any frere.
But now I pray unto your courtesy,
Be heavy again, or elles must I die!
Beograd dolazi u sredu 25. februara. U Velikoj sali Doma omladine odrzace solo koncert, a karte su u pretprodaji od 26. januara, po ceni od 1000 dinara.
I've been working on a project since February, of listening to the whole vinyl collection from A to Z. Along the way, I will post some of the findings that caught me off guard, one way or the other. First on the list is under Appalachian, "Come All You Coal Miners" - featuring Hazel Dickens, Nimrod Workman (links to video) and many others, working from the vibrant political and cultural mecca, the Highlander Center down in New Market, TN.
Hazel Dickens and Sarah Ogan Gunning tear up on "Come All You Coal Miners." Gunning and Dickens are just two of many activists and singers who have continued the folk tradition in the sense of Woody Guthrie and his predecessors.
You hang out with a group of friends.
You go out, watch TV and work.
This is their life. This is your life.
But you are starting to notice something.
You can't achieve satisfaction.
OR
You have settled down in a relationship, a job and cozy dwelling.
You have done everything you have been taught to do.
At this point, you must be happy, right?
Maybe you are, but is something missing?
you might not ever get rich
but let me tell you it's better
than digging a ditch
The string section riff from that song started appearing on my in-brain playlist recently. I remember hearing it back then and wondering 'what kind of instrument is that?'-- that song was huge; in fact, there were three hit singles off the Car Wash soundtrack by Rose Royce. Two uptempo jobs, one was a slow dance. I was was so hyped to see the movie. It had Richard Pryor and George Carlin in it. I was actually a little bored with the pacing and the story but I enjoyed the feeling of it, it had a M*A*S*H feel.
Whatever it inspired in me created a memory which was definitely part of what carried me through the 'Tin Drum' years that followed.
Car Wash is a collective and populist film about the spirit of community.
I haven't seen Car Wash since it came out. Not to give anything away but the guy they think is a mad bomber because he's carrying a bottle hidden under his coat is actually a dude on his way to the hospital carrying his urine sample. He's played by Prof. Irwin Corey, one of my Dad's favorite comedians.
I pretty much already subscribe to Tolstoy's view of history but I wanted a check-up so I broke down and again read "War and Peace" (or "War and Society" as some insist on calling it) this past August.
Now... on to interpretations in other media. There are at least 4 movies: 1915 (Russia), 1947 (Japan), 1956 (Hollywood), 1968 (Russia, dir. Bondarchuk, reckoned a masterpiece by some.)
There are also 2 theatrical adaptations, an opera and 3 TV versions, including a 1972 20-part BBC number and another from as recently as 2007.
I started with the 1956 film featuring Henry Fonda as Pierre, directed by King Vidor. 4 elements of this version looked exactly like I had imagined it when I was reading:
The layout of the Rostov's courtyard
The encounter between Natasha and Kuragin at the opera
Pierre's experiences at Borodino
Gen. Kutuzov throughout
I mean, this book is a monster-- so a tip of the hat to anyone crazy enough to hoist the scalpel and undertake an adaptation. In this film they merged Boris with Pierre so there was a relationship with Natasha from the beginning. Pierre is tall and lean here but his awkwardness is retained.
Interpretations of W&P might be infinite--I suppose it is the kind of thing that people will keep attempting in film &c.-- it's that good.
Lionel Ritchie is an extraordinary human being; I think he's the kind of person, if he were to walk into the room, I'd stand up. Now, if this seems sarcastic let me add: I'm not a fan of his music-- in fact, I think a song like "Say You, Say Me" might actually be rendered from the sound a person hears after they've overdosed on heroin and are approaching the place of death.
But I do like The Commodores, a lot-- they were one of my favorite bands when I was a little kid, just behind War and Parliament but slightly ahead of Aerosmith. Of course, these lists change as you get older. Actually, they changed all the time when I was a kid but a year seemed like forever then.
In his interview on The Tavis Smiley show (somewhat in conjunction with Motown's 50th Anniversary-- and btw, Motown: not a fan) Mr. Ritchie mentioned that for 8 years he's avoided discussing US politics in interviews and other business-related conversations; he said it's been a no-win situation. In the past few months that has changed, he said, foreign journalists actually bring up the subject.
It was incredibly positive to watch the interview; people love his music so much. He is one of the rare artists who has an RIAA certified "Diamond" record (+10 mil copies sold)-- up there with the greats like Shania Twain, The Notorious B.I.G. and Elton John.
We got this perfect little gem of a book over a year ago and have been meaning to point it out to you. Help Yourself Help Yourself (Because Nobody Wants to Take Care of You) by Patrick deWitt (out of Bainbridge Island, WA.) Published 2007 by Teenage Teardrops, Inc.
As stated in the introduction: For a fee and the promise of future friendship I will tell you. Topics include: The Importance of the Obtainable Goal, In the Event of An Haunting & Boat Names, International. At 51 pages it could even be used to bookmark The Mahabharata.
As always if you do want to send something to us we welcome it. Just send c/o Drag City and one of us will get it.
While doing some research on the roots of Appalachia I uncovered some interesting data that I thought I should post here as soon as I had a chance.
By the means of very close reading, I have concluded that Snuffy Smith and Andy Capp are almost the exact same comic strip.
The similarities are clear! Are other such supposedly distinct commercial entertainment entities really nothing more than bland derivatives? The underlying problem of forms is deceptive:
Since gorging on sweet delicacies and Adderall™ over the holiday season I have been in a funk and have been watching a lot of old movies. I thought I'd try some pocket reviews to snap out. Bear with me:
Bell, Buck and Wendell (1958) Emma Buck is just your average, modern-day mother possessed of a mental age of 8 with a record of prostitution and immorality. But one day a handsome Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, walks into her life and declares it is in the interest of the state to have her daughter Carrie forcibly sterilized.
Emma decides she wants him--especially when he declares: "Three generations of imbeciles are enough." She mistakes this for flirting. So, Emma casts a musky spell of love over Justice Holmes. She, in turn, falls in love with him but in doing so she loses her powers, and both she and her daughter are legally declared "feeble-minded" and "promiscuous."
In the end, Emma is rebuffed and her daughter Carrie forcibly sterilized. In a twist, it turns out that Carrie Buck was not "promiscuous" at all, but had actually been raped by the nephew of her adoptive mother.
At Cartoon Brew you can help Select The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies-- it's for a new book project by Jerry Beck. I heard about this and then spent a couple days going through the archives trying to pick a top ten to post. It was not easy, this stuff is like bible to many people my age. I probably saw these, on average, 20 minutes a day for several years.
Porky Pig's Feat (1943) is directed by Frank Tashlin, it has Porky and Daffy trying to run out on a hotel bill. It's of the older surreal B&W style, really dense frames, early characterizations of Daffy, Porky and even Bugs.
The Unruly Hare (1945) is a color Tashlin with the old style Bugs and Elmer Fudd. Bugs was more evil and manic in the old days. I had to pick some of old ones for the quality of the animation and chose these two which have stuck with me since I first saw them. Sometimes the pacing or dated jokes of the earlier ones don't hold up for me but these two are great.
Right away I thought of the line "No! Not the Thinker!" from one of my favorites-- It's Hummer Time (1950)-- a cartoon with no big stars. A bird is being pursued by a cat. The cat keeps failing and in doing so, each time, disturbs a large dog. The dog then grimly puts the cat through a ritualized punishment regimen as the cat protests. It's just a really simple and brutal cartoon.
Another one without big stars is Boyhood Daze (1957) where a kid gets sent to his room for breaking a window and then daydreams of ways he might be a hero so that his parents won't always blame him for everything. It has that graphic style like Andy Warhol's shoe ads & illustrations. In the daydream sequences the characters speak a childish syntax even with adult voices. Paper airplanes become jet fighters.
(more selections below the fold:: you can post your own list at cartoonbrew thru Jan. 9th)
I'm looking for at least 3 game testers to try a free evaluation of the game, for the purpose of collecting data for Beyond Exile 2.0 to be published in January 2009, and be made available to the internet at the www.textadventures.uk.com web site.
I was thinking today during the football: "Shouldn't I own Playstation3?" I'm anticipating some years of boredom. This happened to remind me of a "local legend" in New Mexico:
In the infamous video game crash of 1983, Atari posted losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20. Failed Atari 2600 games, such as the video game version of the hit movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial helped accelerate the downfall. Atari had paid $25 million for the rights to produce the game.
In September 1983, in Alamogordo, New Mexico, twenty truckloads of Atari boxes, cartridges, and systems from an Atari storehouse in El Paso were crushed and buried at a landfill. Millions of unsold copies of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ultimately ended up in this landfill, crushed and encased in cement.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is generally considered to be one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming history, as well as the worst video game ever made-- especially among people who spend time considering this kind of thing.
But of course, with a little digging-- of course I find the counter-backlash E.T movement alive and well at the site called To What Degree Do You Love E.T.?
It's a well argued site, full of video examples, walkthroughs and articulation which I found very convincing and made me hope there could be an equally tedious vintage version available for Playstation3 if I so choose to purchase one.
No, this is not a joke. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 is a much better game than most people think. I didn't even know most people supposedly hated the game until I got Internet access in 1999 and since there is an abundance of anti-E.T. pages and articles out there, including ones that encourage you to destroy E.T. cartridges, I thought it was about time that someone who liked the game spoke up.
Palmer's Club (ham, turkey, roast beef, bacon, onion, tomato and lettuce on marble rye)
The Marshall Field (ham, turkey, bacon, Swiss, cheddar, lettuce, tomato and Thousand Island dressing on marble rye)
Dad's Killer (roast beef, turkey breast, smoked ham, corned beef, pepper cheese, swiss, American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, Kosher pickles, mustard, Miracle Whip, Tuscan Italian dressing on a roll)
The Carolina Sandwich (smoked turkey, Ranch dressing, Swiss, lettuce, tomato, red onion and avocado on a roll)
Milano Beef & Provolone (shaved Italian roast beef, smoked provolone, caramelized onion, fresh tomato, roasted peppers, banana peppers and garlic mayo on whole wheat)
Tuna salad (tuna, mayonnaise, celery, grapes, oregano, basil, pickles, black pepper, onions on white bread)
Egg Parmesan Sandwich (eggs, celery, onion, salad dressing, parmesan cheese, and salt on wheat bread)
