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  • THE WHO – “WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN” – LIVE – 1978

    THE WHO – “WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN” – LIVE – 1978

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    A perfect document of an intense rock band performing live.  Here are The Who performing “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, live, as part of a filmed segment to be included in a documentary about the band’s history, “The Kids Are Alright”.  Jeff Stein directed the documentary and caught and edited this spirited performance of the song which originally appeared on their studio release, “Who’s Next”.  The Who have always excelled as a live act and this is surely one of their most classic live documents.  Keith Moon tirelessly rattles out his drum parts.  Roger Daltrey shrieks and howls his way through the lyrics.  Pete Townsend prances, windmills and otherwise abuses his guitar and body throughout the song.  And, the great bass virtuoso, John Entwistle, effortlessly produces amazingly fleet note runs on his instrument.  Iconic.

  • PORCUPINE TREE – “BLACKEST EYES” LIVE

    PORCUPINE TREE – “BLACKEST EYES” LIVE

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    My favorite song from Porcupine Tree, a rock outfit led by Steve Wilson.  A sad, harrowing tale of a boy who grew up with “wiring loose inside (his) head” and who matures into, probably, a full blown serial killer candidate.  Pretty unpleasant as you listen to the lyrics reflecting the main character’s reasoning that his acts are merely displays of love or romance toward his intended victims.  He seems to know something is terribly wrong with him but it is probably too late to do anything about it.  Haunting stuff.  Crunching, power chords alternate with more gently strummed guitar passages.  Steve Wilson has a knack for coming up with killer guitar parts!

  • PINK FLOYD – “SHEEP” LIVE PART 1

    PINK FLOYD – “SHEEP” LIVE PART 1

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    Assemblage of concert footage features Pink Floyd in concert playing  “Sheep”.  This song appeared on their release “Animals”.   The Pink Floyd concert experience was a mixed media event with film clips and visuals projected onto a massive screen, lasers, a light show, and huge props reflecting song subject matter.  Here we witness a very saturated color film of the performance and hear the rich aural textures of synthesizer (Richard Wright), processed guitar (David Gilmour), reverberating vocals (Roger Waters) and driving drumbeats (Nick Mason) intermixed.  Trippy to say the least.  Nice use of vocoder near the end of this clip.

  • VAN DER GRAAF (GENERATOR) – “PIONEERS OVER C” – LIVE

    VAN DER GRAAF (GENERATOR) – “PIONEERS OVER C” – LIVE

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    Glorious, orchestrated rock tune from Van Der Graaf Generator.  I placed “Generator” in parentheses in the title because at this stage of the band’s career, they had decided to abbreviate their title.  Anyway, “Pioneers” is an epic composition highlighted by Peter Hamill’s vocals which alternate between mournful wail and guttural snarls.  Hammill possesses a truly unique voice in rock.  Rob Halford of Judas Priest learned a few tricks from Hamill’s approach it would appear.  I like the powerful, effects laden bass guitar.  When I first purchased this live set, “Vital” on audio cassette(!!! I date myself), I felt the bass was overdone but it has grown on me through the years.  Pretty unique sounding instrument.  Fine string and woodwind accents contribute as well to a rich sonic soup in which Hammill spins his yarn of a group of astronauts hopelessly lost in some outer space no man’s land with no chance of ever returning home.  “Pioneers Over C” is a fabulous and multi layered melancholic suite.  I only wish we could have witnessed the actual performance and didn’t have to depend on the album/CD/record cover as our only visual for a 16 minute time span!  Boring!  But this piece of music is definitely not boring.

  • PINEWOOD DERBY ACTION CAM 2011

    PINEWOOD DERBY ACTION CAM 2011

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    I mounted a Contour Action Cam to a Pinewood Derby car for laughs.  The race goes by in a hurry but it’s kind of cool.  The name of the car was Cyclops, of course.

  • FORBIDDEN PLANET – 1956

    FORBIDDEN PLANET – 1956

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    Very influential, big budget science fiction film from the 1950’s.  In the future, a starship from earth ventures to a remote planet to check on the well being of a colony established by earlier explorers.  Only two survivors are found from the previous expedition but they flourish in their compound with the assistance of their super workhorse robot, Robby.  It seems that survivor Dr. Morbius has learned a few tricks from the previous inhabitants of the planet, the uber advanced Krell.  But not all knowledge is necessarily good to have.  Morbius harbors some dark secrets of his own that have a bad habit of manifesting themselves in solid form thanks to tapping into Krell technology.

    Among the movie’s strengths are very cool special effects, an otherworldly electronic music score from Louis and Bebe Barron, impressive movie sets and dioramas and, of course, the introduction of the amazing creation, Robby The Robot.  The functioning of the earth ship and its captain and crew seem to have been an influence on Gene Roddenberry who created the TV series “Star Trek”.  Leslie Nielsen played the captain of the second Earth starship.

  • PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES – 1965

    PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES – 1965

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    Great Sixties science fiction/horror film from master fantasy director Mario Bava.   Two ships in outer space end up setting down on an alien planet.  After losing communications with one of the ships, the crew of the other vessel goes to investigate.  Many of the occupants are found dead, having seemingly lost their minds and killed each other.  Many crew members cannot be found.  It appears that there is an alien presence on the planet that has taken over the bodies of one of the space crews. A struggle to survive the alien vampires and escape the evil planet and get back into space ensues.  Among this film’s strengths are a very atmospheric, dark, planetary setting, a film shot with deeply saturated color, the intense buildup of paranoia.  Barry Sullivan stars.  This movie has been cited as a major influence on Dan O’Bannon who wrote the screenplay for “Alien” (1979).  There are many similarities including the discovery of an ancient alien ship and it’s fossilized crew members.  A nice melding of science fiction and horror elements.

     

  • KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER – “THE WEREWOLF”

    KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER – “THE WEREWOLF”

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    This may be my favorite episode of Kolchak – The Night Stalker TV series.  Kolchak ends up on an ocean cruise to do a fluff piece on the singles scene.  It ends up being anything but a pleasure cruise for the intrepid reporter.  A series of brutal attacks on the paying customers ensue and Kolchak theorizes that a werewolf may be responsible.  It turns out one of the guests is harboring a dreadful secret that has a nasty habit of getting completely out of control when the full moon rises.  This is a very suspenseful show full of dark shadows, memorable acting and plenty of spooky scenes.  Eric Braeden (see “Colossus: The Forbin Project”) turns in a powerful performance as the tortured soul who suffers the curse of the werewolf.  Well worth seeking out!

     

     

     

     

     

  • KOLCHAK – THE NIGHT STALKER – “THEY HAVE BEEN, THEY ARE, THEY WILL BE…”

    KOLCHAK – THE NIGHT STALKER – “THEY HAVE BEEN, THEY ARE, THEY WILL BE…”

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    This was an episode from Kolchak – The Night Stalker TV series.  This series was spun off after the popularity of the Kolchak TV movies, “The Night Stalker” and “The Night Strangler”.  Unfortunately, the series was only to last one season.  Series star Darren McGavin was involved with the production of the show and after about 5 years of association with the Carl Kolchak role, I think he had had enough and “buried” the burden of Kolchak.  Check out the excellent DVD release of all the TV episodes bundled together.

    “They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be…” deals with our friends (?), the aliens.  Kolchak investigates the strange deaths of zoo animals and a mysterious black ooze that is left behind after the forceful attacks.  The ooze also crops up on residential home lawns.  There are also thefts and scary occurrences where the culprit responsible cannot be seen.  How do all these elements relate to each other and who is behind it all?  Nice, atmospheric scenes inside a planetarium and Kolchak’s repeatedly interrupted attempts to attend/ listen to a Chicago Cubs baseball playoff game are among the episode’s many charms.

  • HAWKWIND – “QUARK, STRANGENESS AND CHARM”

    HAWKWIND – “QUARK, STRANGENESS AND CHARM”

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    I always liked this song from the band Hawkwind.  It is an uplifting pop song with synthesizer sound wash and varied instrumentation thrown on top.  Hawkwind has a long history.  You might be interested in learning more about these “cosmic warriors” who constituted part of a music genre labeled “Space Rock”.  Try checking out the book “Space Daze”.  This video is a little weird, though, as is the lead singer’s getup.

  • HALLOWEEN 2 – 1981

    HALLOWEEN 2 – 1981

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    Disgusting cash-in sequel which capitalized on the classic “Halloween” fright flick directed by John Carpenter.  Carpenter is not directing this time but producing, taking a writing credit and providing the music.  Still, Carpenter must take his share of credit for this turd.  The formula stays the same:  Asylum escapee Michael Myers is stalking fresh victims and Jamie Lee Curtis, more or less in that order.  Dr. Loomis, portrayed by Donald Pleasance, pursues Myers.  This time a face off takes place in a hospital where Curtis recovers from the assault she took from Myers in the previous flick.  Curtis is nothing more than a crawling, mute presence here.  Her character shambles around in a perpetual state of shock and then lurches around the hospital trying to find a hiding place from “the boogie man”, Myers.  It all feels rather empty like the hospital.  No characters are developed to care about.  The scumbag hospital attendants who spend a lot of their time cavorting in empty hospital beds and whirlpool tubs are dispatched in abundance.  Myers basically murders everyone in his path.  He utilizes a lot of hospital equipment to accomplish these deeds in “novel” ways.  We are given some small bits of revelatory information to add to the storyline/back story of Myers.  Myers is shot repeatedly but manages to get back on his feet with twice the murderous force as before the bullet bath.  I really stopped caring after awhile.  I’d seen it all before.

  • GARGOYLES – 1972

    GARGOYLES – 1972

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    Rousing TV movie full of strange beasties on the loose.  Cornel Wilde investigates stories and sightings involving a hidden race of ancient creatures, the gargoyles,  that emerge during certain periods of history and their time has come again in the 1972 American Southwest.  The gargoyles appear once again determined to exert their dominance over man.  Can they be stopped?  Look past the slightly gawky monster costumes and enjoy the thrill ride!  Scott Glen is here in an early role.

  • THE NIGHT STALKER – 1972

    THE NIGHT STALKER – 1972

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    Classic tale of an otherworldly killing spree set in modern day Las Vegas.  A down on his luck reporter, Carl Kolchak, stumbles upon a series of murders that lead him to the inevitable conclusion that an actual vampire is loose in a city that never sleeps.  Scary upon first and subsequent viewings.  Creepy, nightmarish performance by veteran actor Barry Atwater as the vampire. Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak is superb.  This is definitely one of those films that you don’t want to watch at night with the lights out.  Very chilling and produced as a TV movie, to boot!

     

     

     

  • “THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE” – STAR TREK – THE ORIGINAL SERIES

    “THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE” – STAR TREK – THE ORIGINAL SERIES

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    My favorite episode from “Star Trek” – The Original Series.  A marauding super weapon of ancient origins plummets through space destroying astral bodies in its wake to provide fuel for its continuing existence.  The Enterprise, commanded by Captain James Kirk, attempts to put a stop to the machine’s path of destruction before any more lives are lost.  Very well paced, exciting episode that provides plenty of action and suspense.  Going back and watching “The Original Series” today, I am struck by the rather talkative, slow paced nature of a lot of the episodes.  This segment provided a welcome alternative to that trend.  The musical score is also well matched to the action.  “The Doomsday Machine” is well worth watching over again.  Not so with a great many of the other episodes.  Nice acting turn by William Windom as the doomed Captain Decker.