September 9, 2007 - September 15, 2007

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Great moments in comic book history

(All panels from Adventures Into the Unknown #36, 1952)

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 14, 2007 2:11 AM

 

That Lucky Old Brian

(As The Honeys might say, he's a doll!)

This was the week that Brian Wilson and his band premiered his new musical work "That Lucky Old Sun" (commissioned for the reopening of Festival Hall in London), and the reviews are, amazingly, raves. The word "trepidation" is used in almost every one of them, but only to then launch into the surprised realization that BW's new work is actually good.

From the Times Online: "No-one expects a new masterpiece from a 65 year-old Brian Wilson. Yet, first impressions of songs such as Going Home and Good Kind Of Love suggest he may have delivered one."

And from The Telegraph: "I was trepidatious about this bit, Wilson having written barely a half-decent tune in decades, but That Lucky Old Sun was proper music, beautifully arranged, lyrically a little gauche (the words were by band member Scott Bennett), but memorable, sweet, rich and touching."

And from Variety: "Work is a complex song-cycle by Wilson and "Smile" lyricist Van Dyke Parks. And it contains at least one new bona fide Brian Wilson classic, the bittersweet and heartfelt Midnight's Another Day, and -- whisper it softly -- the work may be overall a match for Smile."

(BW's reaction to all the love: "I enjoy playing in Europe because they always give me standing ovations.")

Paul McCartney has been rumored to appear at one the UK shows. When Brian returns to the US, he'll begin recording the new work. That should keep him busy until it's time for his appearance at the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors, where he'll be honored along with Martin Scorcese, Leon Fleischer, Steve Martin, and Diana Ross (oh, well, there's always one not up to snuff). Not bad for a guy who had his own death pool every time his band played Vegas!

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 13, 2007 1:30 PM

 

My movie year (not yet)

The unseen wonders keep piling up, but here are a few unwatched films that I've bumped up to the top of the stack, just because they look so . . . well, you decide what they look like. They are:

Public Access Hollywood (2004). From the website: "Public Access Hollywood goes behind the scenes of public access in Los Angeles to follow some of its most prominent stars. The doc features Francine Dancer, a down on her luck bikini go-go dancer who claims to have the #1 public access show. David Hart is a man of many talents who teaches kids the values of Christian Science through his puppets." Also included are Giddle Partridge (of the Partridge Family Temple), Rudy the Rubber, and Zuma Dogg. And this guy:

Goodbye 20th Century (1984 - Macedonia). Post-modern satirical fantasy from Macedonia-- who knew! The filmmakers called it the first of a new genre: ethno-groovy. As you can tell from the poster, the main character is actually Santa Claus, but this one is so sick of humanity that he decides to destroy it. Ho, ho, ho, motherfuckers!

Supersonic Man (1979 - Spain), starring Cameron Mitchell. How can I resist a nearly 30-year-old Superman Euro-ripoff that's supposedly "right down there with the most incoherent movies ever made", one where the hero "looks like Ted Kennedy in tights." How can you resist?

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 13, 2007 12:36 AM

 

The Monday Movie Quiz #140

One of the great movies of the 20th century? Hey, if you think so, I certainly won't give you a fight about it. If you think you know the title, send me an email by late Sunday night-- if you're right, expect to see your name in next week's punk winner's circle. (And remember: millionaires never pay their bills!)

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 10, 2007 1:47 AM

 

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

Last week's quiz movie was the immortal Walking Tall (1973), starring Joe Don Baker is his most famous role as Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, the lawman who cleaned up the vice in his little town with the help of a big stick. Of course, the standing ovations mentioned in the above poster were for things like vigilante justice and poice brutality. To be fair, however, the bad guys in this romanticized but brutal biopic were some of the meanest men in character acting at the time (including the great Kenneth Tobey in picture clue #3), and it was directed by the talented Phil Karlson, a longtime pro whose speciality was hard-nosed crime and action fare. So civil liberty issues aside, audiences had a reason to cheer: it was a fun movie with bad guys who had it coming.

It's a jolt to see Bing Crosby listed as executive producer of a movie this scuzzy and bloody, but it was originally intended to be an ABC Movie of the Week, the pioneering series of original TV movies from the '70s. But like Don Siegel's The Killers (the very first made-for-TV movie), it was too violent for its medium, so it became an uncut theatrical release. And while the movie today might not even rate its original R-- the language isn't much and the violence is shocking but not graphic-- at the time it was right at the top of movies revelling in the first wave of Hollywood's newfound ultra-violence. But almost as shocking back then was the halfway honest portrayal of the scurvy Tennessee vice dens and the lowlifes in them. That may have been, in part, because the real Buford Pusser was technical advisor.

(Pusser went out on a promo tour for the movie and actually showed up at the progressive rock station I worked for in 1973. I wasn't there, but a friend was and said, "He was huge-- when he came into our tiny little studio, it was like he filled the room.")

So congratulations and a pair of loaded dice from the Lucky Spot to the following quiz winners: Wayne Palmer, Thomas Miller, Bill Hearne, E. Yarber, Michael Mattson, Stacy Sarette, Michael Kelly, and Bob Redwing. And Pusser-sized congrats to Patrick Orr who wins this week's grand prize, to be announced!

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 10, 2007 12:22 AM

 

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