Happy Birthday Geddy Lee

Rush is still one of my favorite and influential bands. I never understood the critical disdain…well, yes I did. People don’t like Geddy Lee’s voice, Alex Lifeson’s guitar solos are too long or Neil Peart’s drumming is too technical…the critics hated their Ayn Rand roots or the epic scope of their songwriting and blah blah blah…Rush RAWKS. And anybody who sang with Bob and Doug McKenzie (did you know Geddy went to school with Rick Moranis?) and helped get them a top 20 single in 1982 deserves their Great White North cake and brew.

Hooray For Hollywood

Saturday Night ’74

Friday Song: R.E.M.

It took me a long time to warm to R.E.M. I recall the iconic posters on various walls in various smokey beer drinking rooms, the warbling voice of Michael Stipe filtered through the downtown Sacramento heat, another porch on another dusky tree-lined street. The music was always a little too meta-Southern hipster for me, and it wasn’t until their 1988 album, “Green,” that I started liking some of their songs, particularly the lovely instrumental “Endgame.” I eventually moved through their catalog, and it was this song from 1984′s “Reckoning” that resonated strong when I knew I had to leave the suburban homestead, ironically the cities of Rocklin and Roseville bordering each other. I’m not filled with Thomas Wolfean Can’t Go Home Again melancholia anymore and now it’s just a place to revisit friends and family. But back in the day, “Don’t Go Back To Rockville” buttressed me to get the hell out…

Breitbart EPIC FAIL

What a disaster. Scumbag Andrew Breitbart posts a doctored video trying to smear an innocent named Shirley Sherrod (in clear retaliation for the NAACP resolution against Tea Party Racists) who in turn is blindsided by Sec. of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who demands her resignation without even a cursory review. Of course Sherrod is not racist and her video story is about how she ended up transcending race. This whole shameful thing reveals the fundamental greedy infantilism of the New Media.

Exit The Dragon

July 20, 1973. One week later…

HBO July ’78

PSA: Charley & Humphrey

I absolutely loved these oh so 70′s PSA’s from the Bay Area…

Friday Song: Split Enz

The first time I heard this song I was hooked keyboard line and chorus sinker. I still believe “I Got You” is the first real New Wave song of the 80′s, even though groups like Japan certainly had that honor, but this international hit signified the catchy dark synthesizer rock sound that would represent the neon decade. They even had a stylized video for the song, pre-MTV. “True Colours” is also one of the unheralded great pop records of the era; the New Zealand songwriting duo of Tim and Neil Finn were no one-hit slouches, later moving into the more shimmering sounds of “Crowded House.” So here they are from 1980 on ABC’s late and lamented (by me anyway) SNL competitor, “Fridays” — which introduced us to Larry David, Michael Richards and a few memorable moments such as Andy Kaufman’s stage battle (how easily he danced between this show and SNL) among other bits. “Fridays” always had great musical guests, and this kickin’ live version of “I Got You” takes me back to those tiny rooms of blue light, comic books and high school around the corner…

Brewster McCloud Soars To DVD

After decades of cult obscurity, Robert Altman’s 1970 film version of Doran William Cannon’s script, BREWSTER MCCLOUD, finally hits DVD in a proper anamorphic version, albeit under the blessed Warner Brother’s Archive banner. Cannon’s script was legendary in the late 60′s and it helped get him a lot of attention. Originally written for Austin Pendleton, Altman was angered that Pendleton turned down the role of Radar O’ Reilly to do CATCH-22 (1970) and instead cast Bud Cort. Bill Cannon told me he was unhappy with Altman’s version, especially after changing the locale from New York to Houston: “He turned it into a circus.” It’s certainly one of Altman’s strangest films and coming on the heels of MASH the same year, would reflect his disparate critical and commercial output over the next four decades. It’s good to finally see BREWSTER MCCLOUD hit the wide-screen proper (although it was released in letter-box laserdisc in the 90′s) and for Altman/cult film completists, it’s a must have. Or at least a must watch.

American Splendid

The first time I read of Harvey Pekar was in the glossy pages of “Heavy Metal” magazine, a series of columns by Bhob Stewart detailing the history of underground comics. Pekar had come to some cult prominence with his aggressively non-comic book comics that featured his wry bleak view on life, a sort of Cleveland Woody Allen. He didn’t draw at all but he had pals like Robert Crumb who could expertly translate Pekar into a proper caricature of his character. The first time I saw Harvey Pekar was on Late Night with David Letterman back in 1986, when his show was the most ferociously original new comedy show since SNL or SCTV. His staff also read “Fangoria” and would pull in guests like Tom Savini, John Waters and Fred Blassie. Pekar was the perfect foil, an awkward funny curmudgeon that Letterman would try to one-up in sarcasm. As if Pekar didn’t see right through the host’s television artifice. Their tension appearances led to the infamous one in 1987 that even Letterman wouldn’t allow to be seen in the excellent film of Pekar’s strange life, AMERICAN SPLENDOR (2003).Well, we have that amazing footage, which features Pekar coming out in a shirt advertising his strike against NBC and GE for their collusion in anti-trust and nuclear reactor leaks. I never forgot this moment and we’ll never forget Harvey Pekar, certainly one of the great American satirists and commentators.

Inception

Sleek, smart, sci-fi indie spectacle. Go see. Discuss.

Saturday Afternoon Matinee ’82

Roy Budd Plays “Get Carter”

Easily one of the great soundtracks of all time, Roy Budd’s hip hip keyboard-based sonics for this classic 1971 British gangster film with a defining Michael Caine performance became coveted by DJ’s and outre music afficianados. Here’s the Man himself, Roy Budd, at the helm of his triple threat Wurlitzer, harpsichord and electric piano, jamming away to the stark images of Mike Hodges’ brutal naturalistic crime drama.

Slide # 12: The Spider-Pit Scene

Because we just don’t have enough images from this most fabled of all lost film scenes.