Pop Culture

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Music to ride around in an old Cadillac Eldorado to

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If you’re like me, there are just some days when you have to throw up your hands and shout, “THAT’S IT, AMERICA. I AM FUCKING DONE WITH YOU.” It’s a tempting emotion.

Here’s my solution: In times like this, I like to remember some of the mind-explodingly awesome shit that America produces. I defy anyone to ride around the streets of any American city in an old Cadillac while blasting these tunes and not feel pretty goddamn good about the U.S.A. Look, I love other countries. I love the French. They make delicious foods with goose livers, and they gave us Zinedine Zidane. But there’s just something special about the soul, funk and R&B music that came out of Memphis, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis and other depressing/awesome places in the 60s and 70s.

Here are some vintage tunes from my secret stash. I tried to pick stuff that’s a bit more obscure, since by now everyone has heard the Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind and Fire. Take a listen.


And OLDY with that great Memphis beat. Every band ever should be forced at gunpoint to have a brass section. Also, the “horse” dance looks a lot like some of the Soul Train Line dances you saw in the 70s. Ahead of their time!


This song appeared in a slightly different version (without the handclaps, I think) on Herbie’s 1976 album “Secrets,” which is fucking amazing by the way. This song spends what feels like half an hour building upward in intensity before breaking into a disco-y, robotic space music with a talk box. Herbie is my hero.


“Don’t Take My Kindness for Weakness” by The Soul Children. The singing on this cut is just so great and full of soul. I love soul songs that come with that edge.


Fuck the cowbell. Hammond organ. Needs more Hammond B3 organ. Also, this song has one of those 70s bass lines that sounds like it wants to stab a baby dolphin in the eye.


“A Possibility Back Home” by Wanda Robinson. Another vicious cut with some nice jazz flute and great Afro-centric poetry spoken over top. You can tell Erykah Badu was down for this joint.


Albert King is really known for being a blues virtuoso but he made a great foray into funk. Also, the relationship between a blues musician and his instrument is fascinating so I love this stomping little love song for his guitar.


Baby Huey, a singer from St. Louis, died after releasing only one album but it was a really great album that is well-remembered by the old school cats. I don’t know what it is about this jam, but his voice just cuts through me like a knife.


The Dramatics were a huge name in the 60s and 70s but for some reason they haven’t stayed on the radar like some other bands have (Earth, Wind and Fire; Kool and the Gang, etc.). This song was used at the very beginning of “Wattstax,” the great concert film.


Some young hippity-hopper named Doctor Dre (or something) sampled this jam from Leon Haywood. When the tempo picks up at the 1:00 mark, and then mellows out again 30 seconds later, you know you’re in for a ride. If Beethoven lived in Memphis in 1972, this is probably the music he would make.

Boardwalk Empire Season Finale Tonight!

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Boardwalk

Are the D’Alessio brothers done? Will Arnold Rothstein flee the country? Is Margaret ever coming back? What will Eli do now that he is no longer the Sheriff? What’s up with Nucky and Chalky? Will the Commodore take revenge on Gillian? What’s Jimmy going to do about Angela’s betrayal? How will Agent Van Alden deal with Sebso’s death? What will happen to Annabelle now that her “fella” is dead broke? What’s going on with Lucky? How will the elections turn out? What’s Capone going to do from Chicago? So many questions! Can’t wait for the season finale. Anyone else tuning in?

Reel Previews: Winnie The Pooh (2011)

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I love movie trailers – come deconstruct them with me!

(Note: Don’t cloud your judgement! Watch the trailer, then read my rant.)

Winnie The Pooh (July 15 2011 | Walt Disney Pictures)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Wtpphk_Ss&feature=fvst

When I read that there was going to be a new Winnie The Pooh movie, I GOL’d. I actually Groaned Out Loud. Call me cynical, but for an industry that’s currently taking all the sacred memories of my childhood and butchering them (case in point: Smurfs!) I barely had any hope for this.

I began to watch the trailer and WHAT THE WUT? Is that frickin’ Copperplate Gothic Bold they’re using? I’m not an expert, but I like to think of myself as a font whore. I love fonts. But Copperplate Gothic Bold belongs in whatever circle of hell Times New Roman resides. So now the trailer looks cheap. Damn you Hollywood Bastards™!

But then…I saw the animation…I oooohed and aaaahed…simply exquisite. It’s as if E. H. Shepard came back from the grave to animate the backgrounds (I can stare at them for hours). Not that he would, were he to rise from the dead; apparently he came to resent Pooh Bear because it overshadowed his other work.

The voice acting sounds similar to previous incarnations, with one notable exception: Christopher Robin is British! Correct me if I’m wrong, but CR has never had a British accent in any of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh adaptations. Purists rejoice! Not that the real CR would care, were he to rise from the dead also. CR thought his father stole his childhood and made money off of it.

But back to the trailer, which isn’t as depressing as real life. Font bitching aside, I really liked this trailer. Some parts are whimsical, like Piglet knocking letters off a page, or goofy, like Eeyore getting a new tail. Did I mention the backgrounds? I wish I could snort it like cocaine. Most of all, I got a warm, fuzzy feeling in my jaded little heart. I got goosebumps. I got a longing to see this movie. And I got a craving to read the books all over again.

Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, 1955-2010

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Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson

Peter Christopherson died today. He was a founding member of several seminal industrial / avant-garde groups of the 70’s and 80’s, including Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil.

If I were to choose just one band that I would be forced to listen to for all eternity, to the exclusion of all else, I would choose Coil. They started out making very harsh industrial music in the mid-80’s, influenced as they were by the AIDS epidemic that was killing so many of the band’s friends. Into the 90’s and ’00s the band started experimenting with acid house and neo-folk, and were heavily invested in a stark sort of dark ambience by the time of Jhonn Balance’s death and the dissolution of the band. I keep my set of Ape of Naples vinyl away from everything else on my mantle because it is something approaching a sacred object to me.

Everything that Sleazy participated in, from TG all the way up to Threshold Houseboys Choir (his de facto solo project), was brilliant, and his music was changing and evolving throughout his career. I was looking forward to more decades of beautiful music from Sleazy, but sadly he has been taken from us too soon. I haven’t been this devastated over the death of an artist since Jhonn Balance, the other half of Coil, fell from his balcony to his death in 2004.

I was meaning to send Sleazy an email — he apparently would respond in full to every fan email he receieved and have extended conversations with writers – but somehow I slept on that and now I’m obviously kicking myself pretty hard. RIP.

The Quietus has a brief remembrance from Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti here. No word as yet from Genesis P. Orridge, who left the reconstituted TG a few weeks ago.

Coil – Who\’ll Fall?

Updates on Crime in Our 50th State

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…or should that be our 5-0th state?

There really weren’t too many lessons to be learned from Hawaii Five-0 this week.  I hope you aren’t disappointed.  But I’ll still share what I learned from the episode where four very, very evil people used Triathlons as cover for their crimes.

1) Snow cone guys are a lot more important than I realized.  Apparently they hang out with high-level law enforcement all the time.  Even when they are just working around the house.  (Either that or I’m just missing the cues that “our hero” has very, very broad tastes.)

2) If you are the highest ranking law enforcement official in the state, with complete immunity and a direct line to the governor, you can totally just give your phone away to other people, no problem.  Like “Oh, you sat on my phone, that’s gross.  You keep it.” levels of no problem.

3) Being a Rookie Cop sucks.  And you should always wear your bathing suit instead of underwear in case you have to strip down and jump in the water all the time.

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Oh really, funny rabbits?

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I seriously hate this Travelers’ commercial. The one with the rattlesnake with the baby rattle instead of a real rattle. And the rabbits are no longer afraid and start laughing at it. And it curls up and cries.

Bullshit.

They need to show the next ten seconds of that ad, where the rattlesnake remembers “Oh, hey, I don’t kill rabbits with my rattle, I kill them with my speed and fangs and venom!” and then proceeds to strike at each in quick succession as they lay back with exposed bellies giggling to their deaths.

***SPOILERS***

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Made you look, didn’t I?

I think we’re all suckers for spoilers, whether we’ll admit it or not. Deep down, we all love to learn new gossip, see sneak peeks and when video of a highly anticipated movie gets leaked, some of us immediately perk up (What? Where?!?!) and clickity-clack-clack (That’s the sound my keyboard makes, what about yours?) our way through the interwebs in search of the said juicy information.

I will shamelessly admit that I love spoilers. Love them. Can’t get enough. I also live in a country that does not prohibit downloading, though it is frowned upon.

Entire length of the Wolverine movie, sans some special effects, leaked? Watched it.

First 13 chapters of the 4’th Twilight book, Breaking Dawn, appears online? Read it.

So when the first 36 minutes of the Part 1 of the culmination of a series that has defined my generation gets posted, I do not hesitate to go in search of this video. Being a member of an exclusive and highly reliable site that provides these very things makes such quests easier to accomplish. The internet has allowed us to blur the line between right and wrong and get away with it, under the guise of anonymity.

Why? I have always been of the thought that if I was going to download and watch a leaked video, or read a leaked book, then I would then pay for the real thing when it became available. I went to see Wolverine a few weeks later with my friends, and I was at the midnight release of the Stephenie Meyer book to pick up my pre-ordered copy (I know, for shame!)… Just as I will go next week with my best friend, and pay to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in theatres. The first half hour was poor quality, but did little to quell my excitement- in fact, it made that much more excited. It started out with Harry and Voldemort… well, if you really want to know, I guess you’ll have to do some clickity-clack-clacking of your own or wait to see it in theaters- I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you.

(Besides, any true HP fan would have already re-read the book in anticipation of the movie, and would have a general idea of how it begins.)

What is your stance on all things leaked?