WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Hot Poop "Does Their Own Stuff!" - an interview with Larry Praissman and Tom Burke

    There are memorable album covers, and then there are memorable album covers. If you've ever seen the cover of Hot Poop's one and only release Does Their Own Stuff!, I doubt you've erased it from your frontal lobe. Discovering it was released in 1971 makes it twice as not-forgettable (click image above for larger view). In a grainy black & white photograph (which has all the composition and exposure of a police murder scene crime photo) a man takes a dump onto a plate while another hands more plates to a group of hippies passed out on a pile of old junk. They appear to be using syringes to inject the man's shit into their veins (one is passed out, or dead). This is all happening in some abandoned-looking barn-type space (Spahn Ranch?) On the back cover, the top half features the same five people standing in a field with some donkeys. The lower half shows them opening their coats to reveal their nude bodies, with the male and female genitals switched on each person (this is pre-Photoshop era, but post-Christine Jorgensen). In both scenarios, there are proud smiles all around.
    Lots of mystery surrounds the band Hot Poop, and this LP (which is a sought after collector's item in some circles—only 500 were made). Hot Poop were indeed a real band from Isla Vista, California, formed in the early 70's, with five real people, real instruments, real songs, real songwriting and little tours and everything. It seems that might need clarification because, well... look at that cover! Hot Poop were, in ways that are obvious now, just slightly ahead of their time.
    What you're wondering: the music on Does Their Own Stuff! is similar to many of the crazier, avant-leaning rock acts popular at the time, but Hot Poop sound more lo-fi, scrappier and much sillier (at least on this LP). There's also an odd, 1950's-style rock n' roll vibe running through these songs, which have titles like "My Baby's Dead," "Wing Wang" and "Dance To The War."
    Founding Hot Poop members Larry Praissman (that's him on the front cover, relieving himself) and Tom Burke agreed to answer a few questions for me via email, and clarify much of the myths surrounding the band (and that LP cover). Larry Praissman played lead guitar and rhythm guitar, and backing vocals in the group, as well as co-wrote all of their songs along with the group's lead vocalist and guitarist Tom Burke—the man who also conceptualized that album cover. Read on to hear Larry and Tom tell you anything you could possibly want to know about Hot Poop. Needless to say, the band's story is a bit of a bumpy one...

Just Say No(t really)

The year was 1987, a day I'll never forget. One of us held the wheel steady while the other took his pants off. "Rembrandt Pussyhorse!," "No... 'King's Lead Hat!,'" "No! No...Spleen and Ideal!" we kept shouting over one another. The crummy cassette player that was screwed sideways into my dashboard squeaked out something too distortedly to be understood anyway. Our excited fumbling made the car sway, which otherwise sped a relatively straight 80-mph line down I-35, the interstate that separates Dallas and Austin. It was a distance my friend Buck and I had traveled countless times, sometimes at 1AM to make a party at 3AM. But this was the first time we were doing it like this...

Gog (1954, directed by Herbert L. Strock)

Ever look suspiciously over your shoulder when you're alone in a room with your toaster oven, or your curling iron? If you were living in the 1950's, you might have. The post-war, high-technology prosperity of the space-racy 50's had many people feeling the future had sort-of already arrived. Amongst the glut of science fiction films made during the era, imagining "tomorrow" often meant imagining technology that had already infiltrated everyone's front lawns. Hence, films about machines and technology running horribly amok became adequate therapy for audiences unable to express fear of progress, which was unpatriotic. The scientists in Herbert L. Strock's Gog (1954) who create and work on amazing robotic inventions are all pipe-smoking, condescending creeps with pointy goatees, foreign accents and an open disdain for simple American etiquette. (click below to see Gog)...

Early Science Fiction Fanzines: A Cover Gallery

A long time ago... when coin-operated Xerox copiers were the highest of high tech in an otherwise drearily lo-tech world, and versatile home computers were still a wet dream...fans of science fiction brandished colored paper, scissors, glue sticks, staplers, ring binders, pens and ink—to boldly go where no man (or woman) had gone before: the late-70's / early-80's science fiction fanzine. With both feet planted firmly within their own earnest interpretations of graphic styles of the present (particularly romance novel cover paintings and, to a larger extent, high school yearbook page layouts), these thrifty fans nevertheless weren't afraid to look forward at what other people in the present thought the future might look like one day. And they drew, cut and pasted everything they saw. The homespun tomes would lay prostrate, arranged according to genre (each wrapped in glistening shrinkwrap, and hope...and maybe a little bit of The Force), usually splayed across unfolded card tables at science fiction fantasy conventions, hawked quietly by costumed fans planet-wide. These self-published nuggets might have disappeared down a black hole if it hadn't been for the archive-ally inclined internet, which simultaneously revolutionized science fiction fandom while obliterating many of its older styles...forever. Click below for a kaleidoscopic cover gallery of pure past paper magic—with web links guiding you to names, dates, auctions, sales and the occasional full-disclosure. [WARNING: about 150 small images will load]

Missionary encounters extremely bizarre skin condition in Eastern Europe (part 4)

For those that have been following the story of Ioan Tudor in Romania, the man who suffered from the bizarre skin condition (here, here and here), the latest on the story follows below...

27 photographs of a T-shirt with Albert Einstein's face on it, shifted slightly each time

I have an old T-shirt with a black and white photo of Albert Einstein's face silkscreened on the front. This shirt is almost a quarter of a century old—I got it when I worked at Bill's Records in Dallas, Texas (from 1985-87). For the last several months this T-shirt has been neatly folded and placed on the top of a stack of shirts in my studio. The stack gets moved around repeatedly. I am amazed that every time I looked over at that stack of shirts with Einstein's face on the top, a completely different person is staring back at me. Sometimes it's downright eerie. Obviously, whenever the shirt gets moved, its creases and ripples shift ever so slightly, which affects the "expression" of the silkscreened face photo. The face on the T-shirt is always of Einstein, but isn't Einstein necessarily. Sometimes the face looks funny, and sometimes it looks menacing. I have recreated the effect for you here: these are 27 photos of the same shirt, shifted slightly each time...

Dark Rides

I recently tried to look up the history of automated funhouse rides at amusement parks...you know the ones you ride through the dark and all the automated stuff pops out at you? I was disappointed at the lack of information that comes up when you punch "funhouse" into Google (the Stooges album hogs all the links). I soon realized that this is because the official name of this type of ride is not "funhouse," but "dark ride." I'm the last to know. A dark ride is any amusement park attraction that plops riders into a mechanical car and follows a single track through a dark, often serpentine, indoor space—surprising them along the way with spooky/gross-out tableaus, pop-out surprises, jolts and scares. The original versions of dark rides were very low-tech affairs, and about a hundred or so of these functioning relics still exist in the U.S (see here). But the dark ride is a classic (as well as a cultural reference point) that has expanded into its own modern variations. The attraction pinpoints a complex, collective psychological allure that remains enticing and curiosity-piquing for people even today, even if they only experience it's concept in a video game or YouTube clip.

What Would It Be Like To Be a WFMU DJ on Another Planet?

What would it be like to be a WFMU DJ on another planet? Let's explore the possibility, using the planets of our own solar system as examples! We'll begin with the farthest-away, newly demoted "dwarf planet." If the four floors (and don't forget the basement) of the WFMU in building in Jersey City was to be planted firmly on the ground somewhere in the middle of Pluto (a solid 70% rock, and 30% ice), and you were broadcasting from that building, you'd find little light, few friends, and would probably be complaining about the building's heating system not working right. It would no doubt be remarkably lonely doing a radio show, literally billions and billions of miles away from the "WFMU 91.1 FM East Orange, WXHD Mount Hope, and wfmu.org on the web" that existed for you on Earth as a station ID only...yet now is oh so very far away (overnight shift anyone?). But whatever you do, make sure you don't step your suicidal outer space self outside onto the deck of Studio A for a cigarette break, or step outside at all, because Pluto's atmosphere is extremely tenuous, consisting mostly of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane (plus wear a hat, it's 508 degrees below zero fahrenheit). But, feel free to throw on a long Stockhausen CD and go look out the studio windows pensively—Pluto seems designed for such daydream-y behavior. The glow of Pluto's frozen methane, ethane and carbon monoxide "lakes" will look stunning from the second story atrium window as well, as they reflect sunlight coming from 3,670,050,000 miles away (give an take a million, due to Pluto's notoriously erratic orbit path). As for Neptune...

I Wish They All Could Be Gyaru Girls

The following is a snippet of conversation between me and Ed Shepp at the recent WFMU Holiday Party:

Mark: No Ed, I've never tried Norival. By the way, I like the black around your eyes.
Ed: Oh my God! I wanted it, but wasn't sure I applied it right -- I just took the pencil and went like *r-e-e-a-a-u-h-h* around each eye.
Mark: It looks great, it's smeared perfectly, like you're in rehab and have dark circles.
Ed: Oh my God! That's what I was going for!
Mark: It's like the opposite of those girls in Japan, the "Gyaru" girls.
Ed: What's that?

In Space, No One Can Hear You Type

Ihaven'twrittenapostinawhile.Oops,Iforgottoputspacesbetweenthewords. There that's better.
Hey,IwonderwhatwouldhappenifIdidn'tputANYspacesbetweenthewordsasItyped? Atall? And...WhatIfIPutACapitalLetterAtTheBeginningOfEachWordLikeThisToMakeItEasier
ToRead? Hey, I wonder if...

Missionary encounters extremely bizarre skin condition in Eastern Europe (part 3)

Last March, I posted on this blog (here) photos of Ioan, a man in Romania suffering from one of the most unbelievable human skin afflictions ever seen, along with stories and interviews from a missionary working over there to help him. Nine months later, after much attention from the medical field, general global interest, and eventually the press, Ioan's growths have been identified, treated and reduced significantly (click below for more photos).

Dean Johnson (1,000,000,000 B.C. - 2007 A.D.)

Today I learned that Dean Johnson recently passed away. Johnson was a musician and legendary fixture of the 80's NYC club scene, who occasionally gleamed up into the mainstream radar, while always staying rooted in underground NYC gay culture. He first gained lurid prominence with his popular downtown band Dean and the Weenies, and their bizarre 1987 club hit "Fuck You" - which got regular play in many clubs throughout the rest of the U.S. and the world, primarily due to it being featured in the trendy 1988 film Mondo New York (the odd footage of which was often shown as a video). After Dean and the Weenies fell apart, he later formed The Velvet Mafia. Their first CD, We Know Where You Live, was released in 1998. The band's second album - the quite good Cheap But Not Free - was produced by Wharton Tiers, and released in 2002. The confounding details of Johnson's dealings with record companies throughout his weird career can be found in his hysterical, must-read 1979-2004 diaries, found on The Velvet Mafia's website. Speaking of his earliest days, Johnson told Next Magazine in 1998:

"I did this song called 'Fuck You' in the film Mondo New York. From that I was able to get a recording contract with Island Records. When they realized I was a gay activist and a drag queen, they freaked out and found an excuse to dump me. They released my record in an unmarked brown paper wrapper and said they were dumping me because the album wouldn't sell. They printed out thousands of CDs of 'Fuck You' and then dumped them into a dumpster behind the Island offices. Homeless people pulled them out of the garbage and sold them for a dollar on St. Mark's and it became a huge phenomenon. That's how I really established myself as a performer back in 1987."

UPDATE: (10/2/07) As the details begin to come in, Dean Johnson's death appears to be taking a turn towards the scandalous/mysterious. See today's New York Post and also Wonkette, and today's Washington D.C. NBC local news.

It's Been Done

This is the prize-winning "Chisai Benjo" ('Small Toilet'), by Takahashi Kaito of SSI Nanotechnology, Inc. The object is magnified ~15,000X, using an SMI2050MS2 (of course). It recently won an award at The 49th International Conference on Electron, Ion and Photo Beam Technology and Nanofabrication Bizarre/Beautiful Micrograph Contest, all of which can be seen here.

The Peculiar Sci-fi Costumes of Dave T. Smith

I have known Dave Smith ever since we met at school in the third grade. He was one of my best friends through all the years of high school, and we remained friends while attending separate universities in Texas - even backpacking through Europe together one summer. But, we eventually fell out of touch after I moved away to New York City. Then, almost a decade after that, we got in touch with one another again. After discussing where we both lived and worked and what we had been up to all those years, the highlight of our reunion was when Dave told me he spent a lot of time constructing gigantic, elaborate costumes that represented scenes in science fiction films, and that he traveled all over the country wearing them, competing in front of large crowds at conventions where he won awards. He told me he had one where his whole head was the Death Star 2, with space ships all over his shirt coming at it, called "The Battle of Endor." I told him to please go on. He then told me about plans to eventually retire the Battle of Endor costume at a show where he could wear it riding a bike down a long ramp into a lake, and have the Death Star head burst into flames while in mid-air, as he detached and escaped into the water. He was sure it would be a crowd-pleaser. You know, it turns out you really can't imagine what your old childhood friends may be up to after all those years have passed by. Actually...

Actors who have fallen off of the face of the Earth: Andrea Naschak (aka: April Rayne) + interview!

At some point in 1993, I went to the Angelika Film Centre in Manhattan to see a new comedy directed by Joel Hershman, called Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me. The film, which concerned the kook-a-zoid goings-on of several desperate characters in a trailer park, had gotten good reviews in the papers. Everyone seemed to agree that the film was somewhat of a John Waters/Pedro Almadovar-esque knock-off, but was nevertheless quite a good one, with it's own unique qualities. The screening was on a weekend night, and was sold out. As the film played, my friends and I, and the whole audience, laughed and enjoy it all. It was a good movie! However, of the ensemble cast, there was one character in particular; a megalo/nymphomaniac/homidic-al, garbage-mouthed stripper named "Sabra" - who seemed to get the biggest guffaws from the audience. The film featured a lot of known actors, like Diane Ladd, Sean Young, Adrianne Shelly and even Timothy Leary. But the actress who played the irrepressible Sabra, billed as one Andrea Naschak, was hard to ignore. She was like the soul of Carole Lombard, Ruth Buzzi, Sandra Bernhard, Shirley Stoler and Pat Ast - whizzed in a blender and poured into the body of Gina Lollobrigida, then topped with Cookie Mueller's head and crowned with one of Jessica Hahn's worst wigs...

Missionary encounters extremely bizarre skin condition in Eastern Europe (part 2)

About a month ago on this blog, I posted photos and a story about a missionary in Eastern Europe who is caring for a man who has keratin-like matter growing out of the skin on hands and feet (see part one of the story here). A month later, I can report that man's strange condition is improving - but what is causing the condition has yet to be exactly identified, it seems. The man is also getting the full attention of the medical and research communities in the region (rather mysteriously, as you'll see below). As you can see from the recent photos the missionary sent me, the growths have been reduced through chemical treatments, soakings, and whittling down (a dremel saw was used). While the research and treatments are still being conducted, the man and his family seem to be in for the long haul (click 'continue' below for more photos). The missionary told me...

The “Uncanny Valley”

The "Uncanny Valley" describes an area of human perception where something is perceived as familiar, yet contains enough unfamiliar, unresolvable characteristics to also be classified as foreign - and the back-and-forth one's mind performs as it ping-pongs between the two categorizations of what is being seen, produces an uneasy feeling. This applies particularly to the identification of other living things with identifiable characteristics; facial features, limbs, skin, hair, etc. When a living thing contradicts or strays vastly from it's expected appearance in an obvious way, our perception is okay because the distance between what it is, and what is isn't, creates a solid boundary (a person with a hook in place of a missing hand... a child dressed up in adult clothing... a person wearing an animal mask). However, when something is either too subtle in it's altercation, or overcompensates in trying to appear as something else (a realistic, flesh-colored, rubber artificial hand in place of a missing hand... a child suffering from Progeria dressed in colorful children's clothes... a life-like human mask draped over the head of an animal, where you can still see it's eyes), it falls into the realm of the "uncanny valley." If something attempts to appear or mimic a human or other living creature but stops just short of achieving that goal, we tend to focus on minute flaws, almost subconsciously, and the category of "flaw" becomes our perception of the whole...

Francis E. Dec, Esq. - this is your life!

Longtime fans of WFMU are no doubt well aware of the illustrious Francis E. Dec, Esq., and the ongoing effort to document, preserve and study his chimerical rants. Peter Branting and friends have created a rather impressive, unofficial, official Francis E. Dec, Esq. fan club/resource site. Heavily researched and chock full 'o info, the site includes all of Mr. Dec's writings (including a handful of brand new works, unearthed for the first time - some of them just angry letters), a massive glossary of terms he used in his writings (with theories and definitions, and also tie-ins to real events in his topsy-turvy life), and a FAQ and heartily-populated forum (about 100 ongoing threads). Plus a bunch of other stuff. Perhaps most impressive about the site is a lovingly crafted timeline of Mr. Dec's life, which begins with the birth of his mother and father in Poland in the 1800's, and ends with his death in 1996.

Missionary encounters extremely bizarre skin condition in Eastern Europe

A friend of mine has a relative who is a missionary in Eastern Europe. He recently shared photographs and the story of a man he is caring for, who has an extremely bizarre skin condition. The man has keratin-like matter growing out of the skin on hands and feet, which started when he was young, and very slowly continues to spread and grow. The areas begin as skin lesions, and the matter sprouts from those spots. The growths are very difficult to remove, and the man has so far just had to learn to live with it. There are a few medical precedents to this man's case, but nothing is certain until more tests are done. In the meantime, the missionary is helping to make life easier for the man. UPDATE: Here is the latest on this situation.

Sonny Bono's 1970 anti-pot PSA

A little afternoon theater: Sonny Bono narrated this ironic anti-marijuana PSA in 1970. The scene with the car is my favorite.

Ron Howard's "Cotton Candy" (1978)

1970's made-for-TV movies about high school teens embroiled in rock band drama have formed a sub-genre that holds immeasurable hypnotic powers over a lot of my generation. Worn videotapes and DVD-r copies of these types of movies are often traded amongst fans like rare gold (or drugs), usually years before they are officially re-released on DVD, or even widely known at all.

One rarely seen example in that particular library is Cotton Candy, a made-for-TV film directed by Ron Howard in 1978. The film spins the pimple-ridden rhapsody of a group of high school misfits who form a good-time bubblegum rock band, named Cotton Candy, and are thrown into direct, vicious competition with the "cool kids" crowd; their classmate's popular hard rock act Rapid Fire. The awkward-years war reaches it's apex during a "battle of the bands" competition, sponsored by a local mall on a Saturday afternoon, in scenes filled with screaming high school girls in designer jeans and winged-hair (perhaps the first concert film footage alternated with cutaway shots of Orange Julius and Spencer Gifts signage)...

"Why Do You Think You Are Nuts?" - THE UPDATE!

A few months ago I posted on this blog about the YouTube discovery/viral video clip "Why Do You Think You Are Nuts?" ...and the mania is still spreading! The much celebrated video now has a horrible (read: awesome) dance "remix" version, available here. Portland band Rush-N-Disco recently covered the song, turning it into a deftly performed lounge number, seen here. Legendary NYC drag performer Miss Understood has also created a nightmarish spoken word version, with some sort of plastic Carol Channing puppet, seen here. There's an inspired, homegrown acapella dance version by some teenage girls (who really seem to have paid a lot of attention to the original's backup singer's dance moves) in an empty dance hall, seen here. There is also a Saddam-hanging montage version here. But more importantly, the identiy of the act itself seems to be closer to becoming, perhaps cruelly, identified. Unverified rumors suggest the name of the band is The Penny Magic Show, and the name of the song is actually "The Shrink." The lead singer may possibly be named Penny Pearce, but the taping of the clip was definitely from a public access show, on a channel called Group W Cable Public Access, out of Santa Monica, California, in 1983. There seems to be conflicting reports that the band's name may also be The Honeybees, or even Laverne and the Shirlies (oh please let it be that), and that there existed a cassette tape at one point, available for sale at their gigs, with other songs (copies of which may still be floating around). One unconfirmed source, claiming to be Penny's grandson, says his grandmother Penny was always (surprise!) "really eccentric," and recorded "The Shrink" after fifteen years of failed therapy. The bursting comments section of the original YouTube clip posting contains all of the most current information, fact or fiction.

Nora the piano-playing cat

Video of Nora performing can be found here. Nora's owner says; "Nora began playing the piano on her own. She plays even when she is alone in the room. She really enjoys playing duets with a student playing on the second piano. Some of her solo concerts have gone on for a minute or more." Main site here. (found on BoingBoing)

"In My Language" - autism video

Haunting video, called In My Language, documents an autistic girl speaking and moving in an apartment - second half shows a subtitled explanation of what she is doing. Many more interesting videos, and the creator's other work and main site (and more autism resources), can be found here.

Actors who have fallen off of the face of the Earth: John Friedrich

With idiosyncratic roles in sub-iconic fare like The Boy In the Plastic Bubble (1976), The Death of Richie (1977), In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan (1977), Thank God It's Friday (1978), The Wanderers (1979) and The Final Terror (1983) - John Friedrich spent most of his career on screen playing characters that you naturally assumed would have developed a thick skin and tough exterior because of their prickly life situation - but for some reason hadn't. His portrayals were often brassy and smart aleck-y in vain, and became uniquely endearing. Because of his somewhat kooky physical persona and the unmistakably barmy look in his eyes, he often played the oddball even within an ensemble cast of oddballs. His face was child-like, with smiling eyes that seemed to front a mischievous, unruly brain. Watching him was like observing a child that, upon reflection, you suddenly realize might one day grow up to be a criminal. His...