A Thousand Days Hath September…

Sinatra '65

“……………September can be an attitude or an age or a wistful reality. For this man it is a time of love. A time to sing…”

- Stan Cornyn

Friday Farewell Song: R.E.M.

I recall the funky raw posters from REM that lined the walls and halls and shops of my youth, along with my lack of interest in their folk pop punk, which I wrote off as college radio station muzak, busy as I was with my a-ha, Pet Shop Boys and Duran Duran, none of whom confered coffeeshop hipness in the day. But I grew to appreciate their soundtracking cafes, bars, parties and garage sales through the late 80′s/early 90′s, and I son developed a genuine fondness for their “Out Of Time” LP, the one that put them into big pop leagues. True to my musical form, I was most enamored of the lovely instrumental, “Endgame” featuring Michael Stipe at his harmonizing best. Guitarist Peter Buck best described the band’s sound: “Minor key, mid-tempo, enigmatic, semi-folk-rock-balladish things.” When I lived in Austin, early REM sounded even better, the Southern flavor seeeping through the hot swollen iced-coffee days of a Texas summer; their 1986 “Eponymous”  embedded in my nostalgia DNA as I drove through the lo-fi, vegetated neighborhoods looking for an apartment. Tho they no longer held the alternative music world in sway, I even liked their more unique, electronic late 90′s and 2000′s output, especially the beautiful anthem, “Around The Sun.” But it’s still “Endgame” that holds me with its wistful melancholic chorus, and with the announcement of the end of REM, an apropos esthetic and emotional summation of the band’s impact within a timeless sonic document.

Save The Earth! Eco-Horror Spooktacular Teaser

As a perfect prelude to SHOCKTOBER, I’m honored to be presenting a night of Eco-Dystopic Chills and Thrills on Saturday, October 29 at the world-famous Other Cinema located at 992 Valencia St in the City of Heart, San Francisco. This will be my third excursion into cinematic genre archeology at the OC thanks to Craig Baldwin’s kind bequest and support. So expect a lot of pimping in the following weeks. As Leah said, I’ve been “Wizard Busy” whipping this show up, a kinetic survey of 1970′s environmental anomie via radiated flesh-burrowing worms, giant man-eating rabbits and Japanese sludge monsters. In other words, FUN. But with a serious theme. Like “Save The Earth!” Any SF browsers of the blog should show up and I’ll buy you a drink. Toxic, of course…

Epilogue

George Kuchar RIP

One of the pioneering forces in underground cinema has passed on through that great film gate in the sky. George Kuchar and his brother, Mike,  individuated themselves in the 1960′s “Pop Art” scenes of Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, and Kenneth Anger,  influenced by every B-movie of the era with their odd, campy, hysterical, visually striking shorts such as his famous HOLD ME WHILE I’M NAKED (1966) and penning the script for the brilliantly-titled, THUNDERCRACK! Kuchar had a huge impact on John Waters (among others) as his films continue the high-camp hysteria of his mentor influences. I met George a few times, he was residing in San Francisco and came to speak at my Berkeley film class and he was just as unique and funny in the flesh as his work was on the screen. He will be remembered.

You’ll Never Work Alone

I did once volunteer and answer phones for the MDA Telethon for the cause and for the celebrity. Since Jerry Lewis will not be hosting the Telethon this weekend for reasons unknown, let’s run a clip of the event’s most culturally spectacular moment from 1977. And to balance that overdose of Vegas Show Biz Sentimentality with a reminder of Labor Day, here’s Jean-Luc Goddard on The Dick Cavett show expressing appreciation for Monsieur Lewis’s first film in a decade, HARDLY WORKING (1980) and his unseen masterpiece, THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED…

Labor Day Song: Interior

The gentrification of acoustic/instrumental “new age” music began with Will Ackerman’s Windham Hill music, a genuine grassroots label that became a major music player in the 1980′s, especially thanks to best-selling pianist, George Winston (whose 1972 “Ballads and Blues” is essential road trip muzak). As a devotee of electronic and instrumental music ala Tangerine Dream and Brian Eno, I was always a little underwhelmed by Windham Hill’s soft selections, which were more suited to NPR bumper breaks. But I adored their design scheme, each album cover a model of minimalist tone poem, the single evocative Zen image a wistful metaphor for the music. My favorite WH releases included Billy Oskay and Michael O’Domhnaill’s folk-celtic sounds of Nightnoise, Ira Stein and Russell Walder’s travel soundtrack, “Transit” and the Japanese oh-so-80′s synth sonic of Interior, whose self-named debut is represented here by the atmospheric tune, “Hot Beach.” I love this ascending theme that reminds me of the wonderful release of Friday evening, the promise of weekend freedom…

Seasons Change

As Woody Allen’s MIDNIGHT IN PARIS strolls along to become one of his most popular films — at a time when too many so called cineastes had written him off — here’s the poster for Woody’s least successful film from 1987, one that he re-cast and basically re-shot. More a stage play within the Chekov mode, it’s still interesting and worth checking out as is all Allen’s work. Would love to see that excised footage…