WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Precursors of Reality TV (part one)

A great recent DVD release is a set of three films from William Klein (link). After blowing up New York with his own unique brand of street photography in the 1950s Klein moved to Paris where he made insane films like Who Are You Polly Maggoo? (1966), Mr. Freedom (1969), and The Model Couple (1977). All three are included in this handsome box set called "The Delirious Fictions of William Klein." Watching The Model Couple the other night I was struck by how sinister 'reality tv' comes across in these old-ahead-of-their-time movies. Jean-Michel and Claudine (the model couple) are living in a modern apartment with model products and non-stop surveillance for the Ministry of the Future to do well.. science. The excerpt below captures both the absurdity and horror of such a bad bad idea.

The Feelies and the Hoboken Sound

In addition to the WFMU supported 4th of July concert (link) the Feelies are playing two shows at Maxwell's on July 1st and 2nd. Thanks to the time sensitive email from Brian Turner I was able to buy a pair of tickets before they sold out, in I think an hour. In anticipation of all this fantasticness I post an edited excerpt of something I found on the internets a few months back: A 1985 documentary on 'The Hoboken Sound.' (link)

When Mom Calls 911

Thanks to my simple gmail address I get a lot of mail sent to me on accident. My favorite unintentional correspondent is a juvenile correction officer from down south. He mistakenly sends me lots of pictures of juvenile young women posing in hotel rooms, with captions like "Buddy, isn't she hot!" Last night he fwded me an office thread containing an mp3 clip of a distraught mother calling 911. Of course the clip is totally amazing (mom is ready to kill her 15 year old son who is being disrespectful), but it is a bit surprising that the people in charge have no problem using their work email accounts to fwd this stuff around:

listen: (mp3)

update: turns out this mp3 is old, who knows who leaked it - sorry for insinuating that my email pal and his buddies were responsible

Who Should It Be???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't count this guy (link) -  and I certainly don't - that means there is a scant 9 months and 7 days left for our current commander in chief to pick a rock/pop star for an historic photo op. Who Should It Be???

SXSW Video: HANK IV

This is truly one you gotta see. HANK IV's Singer Bob McDonald doesn't let no stinkin leg brace get in his way - even though you get the sense that it was this sort of thing that led to the leg brace in the first place.
Brian put up the mp3s last week (link) and here are 2 tracks, Celebrity Virgin and Hole in my Eye, for you to watch. Thanks to WFMU volunteer Winslow Porter for filming this one

SXSW VIDEO: Carla Bozulich's Evangelista

Trent posted the mp3s from the Carla Bozulich's Evangelista set at the WFMU SXSW showcase (link). The two video clips contain most of the second half of the set. Thanks again Austin volunteer Christine Campbell  for shooting this.

 

SXSW Video: Half Japanese

Here is some video from WFMU's outdoor stage at SXSW. Half Japanese put on an amazing set - one of the highlights of the evening. The 20 minute clip contains 9 tracks.

Thanks to Austin volunteer Christine Campbell  for shooting this. And check out the MP3s of the set Brian posted last week (link)

At The Movies with Sidney and Richard (Part 3 of 3)

We wrap up our Richard Widmark/Sidney Poitier series on a sad note. Richard Widmark passed away this week at the age of 93 (link)

In 1964 Widmark and Poitier came together for the second time (The Bedford Incident was their third and final collaboration) for a historical Vikings vs Moors romp. Poitier is the Moorish King Aly Mansuh obsessed with finding a legendary bell made out of gold. Widmark is Rolf the viking. He happens upon the bell's location, and with a crew of vikings he sets sail to get it. But they run ashore and are taken prisoner by Mansuh.

You certainly get the sense that they may have done this one for the money but that doesn't mean the movie is no good. In the clip below we have all kinds of intrigue. Rolf is brought to the bed chambers of Mansuh's wife Aminah, to talk business of course, while the King talks business with Rolf's little brother Orm's girlfriend Gerda. The rest of the vikings start some monkey business with the royal Harem!

If you want to find out what the Mare of Steel is - you will have to watch the movie (link).

More WFMU SXSW Video

Gary Higgins and Psychedelic Horseshit also rocked the inside stage at Spiros.

Trent, Liz, Andy and I caught the Psych Horseshit the following day at one of the non sanctioned free shows (as in free to bring your own beer) but they were missing their bass player - apparently there was so much rocking - he got arrested. Hope they made it back to Ohio 

SXSW Video clips

WFMU rocked two stages at Spiros. The outside stage was the one we broadcast (link). But there were amazing acts on the inside stage as well. Here are  video clips from 3 of them: Lexie Mountain Boys, Cheveu, and Paul Metzger.

Watch the blog this week for more video from both stages.

At The Movies with Sidney and Richard (Part 2 of 3)

The third and final film Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier made together was the 1965 Cold War Thriller The Bedford Incident. This time race is not the issue - Photojournalist Ben Munceford (Poitier) boards Captain Eric Finlander's (Widmark) ship the Bedford in pursuit of a story about Finlander's gung-ho pro war proclivities, but Finlander has no time to chat as he is busy pursuing a Russian submarine. The movie is directed by James Harris who was Stanley Kubrick's producer before they parted ways the year before (1964, the year Kubrick made Dr. Strangelove) 

Widmark's Ahab-like determination to get the sub results in Nuclear Armageddon. I find this movie even scarier that the great Dr. Strangelove because Finlander at heart is just another dumb stubborn son-of-a-bitch who is incapable of seeing that his action plan is only going to get everyone killed. What's even scarier is how everyone else plays along. To the end.

At The Movies with Sidney and Richard (part 1 of 3)

Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier made three movies together. No Way Out (1950) was their first, and was Sidney Poitier's feature film debut. Widmark plays a baddie named Biddle who's twin dies early on when they are brought in to the hospital where Poitier's Brooks is - Doctor Brooks. Even though you would never guess it from the poster (or the trailer for that matter) this is a race film. Biddle blames Brooks for his brother's death, even though it is just an excuse to fire up his hatred for the Black man. At the movie's climax Biddle gets the drop on Brooks - its not only one of Widmark's best bad guy scenes but it's also a damn fine debut for Poitier's calm cool self as well. The movie was actually supposed to end with Widmark shooting Poitier after making him dig his own grave, but the film makers couldn't go through with it. Instead the movie ends with probably the most amazing line of 1950.

Charles Wilp's Afri-Cola

Last week I saw the Monks Documentary Transatlantic Feedback (link) at the Goethe Institute. The movie is a bit on the long side (as most of these kind of pics tend to be) but still tons of great footage - including pristine versions of those Monks clips you find on youtube (link)

The movie also dives into some of the strange German Ad culture of the time, I never realized just how much of an art project the Monks actually were. One of the greatest German Ad-men of all time was Charles Wilp, who makes an appearance in the film as well Wilp is the man behind the whacked out campaign for Afri-cola. Now, after watching this commercial (link)  I couldn't help but think this was some art thing - not a real  ad for a real product. But Afri-Cola is a indeed a real German sof'drink - it even has Nazi links (link).

Charles Wilp made a bunch of these amazing ads - some of them are on youtube (link1) (link2) (link3), they have already made runs around the internets (link) and Wilp, who died in 2005, has a website as well (link) 

John Ford Box Set is NOT Genital Warts And All.

When I saw the humongous saddle sized John Ford Box set on the floor of the office next door, I was seized by swag envy. "Ford At Fox" (link) is a 12 pound 299 dollar 21 disc box set collecting 24 films by one of the greatest directors of them all: John Ford. This is a very impressive collection - and a few of the old silents are making their DVD debut (from new restored prints too!). I am sure the photo book is beautiful as well. To keep my jealous rage in check I scanned the dark corners of the internets and discovered to my delight that 23 of the films are readily available, as well as some of the films that should be included in any box this size: The Black Watch, Men Without Women. But It is great to see the films Ford made during World War II included in this release (especially since both Ford and Fox Studio Boss Darryl F. Zanuck signed up for service)  but wait! If you want these films you need to buy the stand alone version of the documentary Becoming John Ford (link) (in the big box) to get the films The Battle Of Midway, December 7th, and Torpedo Squadron (not in the big box). 

BUT what is missing from all of the hoopla is a WWII era training film John Ford made with Otto Brower : Sex Hygiene (link) This is abstinence education 1942 style - Sexual Shock and Awe to remind the troops that screwing only leads to disfigured genitals - even today this film can inspire celibacy. You can watch this formerly classified movie on the Internet Archive (link) without spending a cent, or you can watch it right here and right now:

 

Benjamen Walker's 2007 TOP TENish

Music:

Klangmutationen - Weiße Messe (link)
Citay - Lttle Kingdom (link)
(D)ynamic (B)rown (H)ips - Wave The Old Wave (link)
Pulse Emitter - Progression To Desolation (link)
Robert Wyatt - Comicopera (link)
Various Artists - Summer Records Anthology 1974-1988 (link)
Blockhead - Uncle Tony's coloring book (link)
Focus Group - We Are All Pan's People (link)
Donnacha Costello - ColorSeries (link)
Witchcraft - The Alchemist (link)

Movies, Books follow

Workout With Lee Marvin III: footwork

When exercising it is important to pay attention to all of one's body parts, thus we conclude our Lee Marvin series with some footwork. As Marvin demonstrates for us in this clip from the 1976 film Shout At The Devil (link), footwork is the key to fighting James Bond (the Roger Moore model). 

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Mystery Bongo Beat

In the 1961 Noir Blast Of Silence (link), the Hit Man, his would-be victim, and the sleazy gun dealer all come together for a scene at a Village Jazz club (identified as the now CVSed Village Gate). A bongo playing Beat sings two songs "Dressed In Black" and "Torrid Town". The performance and the songs are credited to the actor Dean Sheldon. I have always wanted to know more about this guy, and thus I throw the question out to Blog Land. I include a clip of the whole scene.  Also Blast Of Silence screens this Thursday at Film Forum (link) part of their amazing NYC Noir fest.

Workout With Lee Marvin II

In 1974 it is against the law for Humans to get into the boxing ring, all the fighting is now done by robots. But when Lee "Steel" Marvin's Battling Maxo android breaks down, determined Steel puts on a pair of gloves and his best robot face for a bout in The Twilight Zone (link).

Perhaps Marvin should have spent more time working on those pecs (link).

Workout With Lee Marvin

Shack Out on 101 (link) is a 1955 cold war gem starring Frank Lovejoy, Keenan Wynn, Terry Moore (she objected to callin' the movie 'shack UP on 101), and Lee Marvin as a bad commie thug named 'Slob'. For those of you out there in need of inspiration to work out a bit more - well, this clip of Marvin and Wynn hoisting the barbells should do it:

Landmarks: The First White Child Born In...

A friend of mine got a call from a road tripping pal who ranted about a strange monument he had encountered in some nowhere town in Kansas - a monument to 'the first white child born.' For some reason I found myself wanting to see what this ridiculous monument could possibly look like - which leads to this google image search I now share with you (link) It turns out that the first white child born was a momentous occasion for many American burgs and townships.  (note: image is a similar New York marker)