The Cafe Shockedelica

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 8:01 "The New Normal"

2012-01-22T00:20:00.003-05:00

It's a new year and a new season for your favorite Internet Radio Show. It's time for another episode of THE SHOCKEDELIC RADIO SHOW! Another 80 minutes of the best in International Pop Music. This is Episode 1, Season 8; "The New Normal". We got lots of great music in store for ya, so why not give it a listen?

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP8:01

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 7:04 "Insert Clever Title Here"

2011-12-27T22:05:00.007-05:00

Beyond belief! One more show before the years end??!? Yes! It's time for another episode of THE SHOCKEDELIC RADIO SHOW! That's right! Another 80 minutes of the best in International Pop Music. This is Episode 4, Season 7; "Insert Clever Title Here". Another episode? Yep. I had an idea that I wanted to do at least one more show before the end of the year, so I bashed this one out real quick. Real quick. Does it make the show suffer, or does it make it better??? You'll have to decide. Give 'er a spin and let me know.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP7:04

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

One more thing. Listen all the way to the end. This current episode of The Shockedelic Radio Show ran a little short and I put a bonus song at the very end. It's not exactly hidden, but it's an extra special bonus for the listener that cleans his plate, so to speak! :)

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 7:03 "An Unexpected Pleasure"

2011-11-03T00:55:00.004-04:00

Really? 2 shows in one week? It's time for another episode of THE SHOCKEDELIC RADIO SHOW! That's right! Another 80 minutes of the best in International Pop Music. This is Episode 3, Season 7; "An Unexpected Pleasure". Why so quick? Well, I had such a backlog of music to unleash on you, the listener, that I decided to do a Special Edition. You lucky people. One thing about this show. I'm breaking in a new microphone and, while I was deeply involved with setting it up correctly, I kinda forgot to set my Popper Blocker between my mouth and my new mike. So, you might notice some oral subsonics during my DJing segments. Nothing too distracting.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP7:03

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

Errata: I made a mistake while announcing a song title. The song by The Black Skirts is not "Don't You Worry Baby, I'm Only Swimming", as I was led to believe. The actual title of that song is "International Love Song". So sorry about that. Hope you enjoy the show!!!

The Ghost Virus Is Catching

2011-10-30T21:47:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween everyone. For just one day (That day would be Halloween), I'm putting my screenplay of GHOST VIRUS up for reading/reviewing/critical drudging. I wrote it way back in 2002 and until last year, it was considered lost in a hard drive crash. I found an incomplete hard copy of it and, thanks to OCR software and Final Draft 10, I regained it digitally. Since then, I did some minor tinkering with some plot matters and replaced the ending (hurriedly). It's not a perfect script by any means, but it's got some good moments.

Time's up! The window has closed! Thanks for reading!

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 7:02 "Like Pulling Incisors"

2011-10-28T02:55:00.003-04:00

It's officially FALL! You know what that means? It's time for another episode of THE SHOCKEDELIC RADIO SHOW! That's right! Another 80 minutes of the best in International Pop Music. This is Episode 2, Season 7; "Like Pulling Incisors". Why'd it take me so long? Ah, life does happen sometimes...

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP7:02

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 7:01 "Nippon kyuukyuu demo ashita wa wonderful"

2011-03-21T23:12:00.004-04:00

Surprise, surprise. It's now Spring and we are celebrating with yet another episode of The Shockedelic Radio Show! That's right! Another 80 minutes of the best in International Pop Music. This is Episode 1, Season 7; "Nippon kyuukyuu demo ashita wa wonderful". That translates to "Japan is in crisis, but tomorrow's wonderful" (A lyric from the song YATTA! by Happa-Tai). Let's hope.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP7:01

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 6:04: "Moody"

2010-11-13T23:59:00.003-05:00

So, I kind of fell off the wagon a little this past summer. I wasn't even sure if I was going to continue doing these shows. Well, the call of International Pop Music was too great to ignore. So... prepare yourself for 80 minutes of the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 4, Season 6; "Moody". It's long overdue, so give it a listen.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP6:04

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

DEVO Something For Everybody on Vinyl is here!

2010-07-24T01:48:00.013-04:00

I got the latest DEVO album on vinyl today. The album, SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY, is (as I'm sure you know) their first studio album since SMOOTH NOODLE MAPS in 1990 and is well worth the purchase. I did, however, hold out for the vinyl release. Why? The big reason is the fidelity of the album. You may ask, if you wanted the highest fidelity, why didn't you go with CD? Admittedly, there are valid arguments on both sides of the CD v. Vinyl camps. The CD/digital camp will praise Cds clarity, and lack of compression or surface noise (clicks and pops), while the Vinyl camp will champion the earthiness of the analog mastering.

Well, I'm on the Vinyl side. Although stating it is almost a cliche' by now, there is a bottom and warmth to analog that digital almost never gets right. As for clicks and pops, no sounds exist in a vacuum, so to expect music to exist as a phantom sound without any earthly groundings or extraneous noise is just not realistic.

Bigger than all of this, though, is the current process of "Brickwalling" music. That is, in the process of digital mastering, a record label will insist that the sound be as loud as possible; just short of distortion. It's an incredibly common process these days and it, frankly, makes the music sound like garbage. Every sound becomes just as loud as every other sound on the recording and it kills the fidelity. Fortunately for fans of fidelity in their music, vinyl records can't be mastered that way. The reason is, a recording with "Brickwall" mastering will send a stylus flying right out of the groove. Therefore, when studios master things properly to vinyl, everything needs to be carefully EQed and compressed so it sounds right (I say 'mastered properly' because some pressings of current hit records, like Lady Gaga's THE FAME MONSTER picture disc are mastered from a CD, but with a diminished volume so it sounds like lo fi mush, but at a lower volume. The Euro pressing of Gaga's TFM is done properly, sounds gorgeous, and blows the mass produced CD right into the sewer system).

Here's an example of what I mean. Below is a soundwave from the Retail CD of the first track on DEVO's SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY, entitled Fresh:

Click to enlarge

As you can see, the track fills up the entire space, with the loudest parts clipped off of the chart. This is unacceptable, since all the listener is getting with this is loudness. There is no nuance; no fidelity. Now compare/contrast with the same track from the vinyl album:

Click to enlarge

Now, the first thing that might occur to you is, "Wow, that seems a lot smaller than the other soundwave." Yes, you are correct. But look at the farthest reaching points of the wave. They fall within the volume spectrum. Nothing is clipped off. Everything that was recorded for the track is perfectly and properly audible. You might think it sounds too low, but that's what volume controls are for. Turn it up and the deep basses, crystal clear highs and crisp midranges all leap out at you. You'll most likely never want to hear a CD or MP3 again.

There's a organization found at www.turnmeup.org that will give you more insight to the problem that is Brickwalling on Audio CDs and digital music files. I suggest you go there and snoop around. Read especially about the "loudness wars" and how recorded music got to the horrific point it's at now.

As for the new DEVO album, you can buy it at Amazon.com or at becausesoundmatters.com. It's pressed on beautiful translucent blue vinyl and it comes with the Audio CD version that you'll probably use as a devolved drink coaster after you hear the beauty that is the vinyl version.

Duty now.

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 6:03 "Damned Ennui"

2010-07-16T01:34:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the delay. As you can tell from the title of this current episode ("Damned Ennui"), I'm fighting an uphill battle. At any rate, prepare yourself for 80 minutes of the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 3, Season 6; "Damned Ennui". It's long overdue, so give it a listen.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP6:03

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 6:02 "L I K K I T"

2010-05-10T00:51:00.002-04:00

YES! YES! It's Finally here!!!! Prepare yourself for the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 2, Season 6; "L I K K I T". It's long overdue, so give it a listen.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP6:02

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

An fps Films GRINDHOUSE DOUBLE FEATURE @ The Hollywood Theatre in Dormont, PA! Friday, April 23rd, 2010

2010-04-16T00:16:00.008-04:00

So, unbelievably, fps Films and the Hollywood Theatre are doing yet ANOTHER Grindhouse Double Feature in the month of April. This time, the films are decidedly less schlocky. In fact, these films are regarded by Italian Giallo (murder mystery) aficionados as two of the finest examples of the genre (and a secret Gabrielle Lavia Double Feature!!!).

First up is "Revenge of the Dead".The title is misleading since it's not a traditional Zombie movie. It's actually a retitle of Pupi Avati's "Zeder". It's a movie about resurrecting the dead and has been cited as the inspiration for Stephen King's novel, "Pet Sematary".

The second feature is near legendary. We're playing Dario Argento's masterpiece, "Deep Red". The print we're playing has been retitled "The Hatchet Murders", but it is "Deep Red". Not much else to be said about "Deep Red", but if you're one of those people who haven't heard of it (Shame!), it's a taut murder mystery that will absolutely keep you guessing until the very end!

The films will be presented with a Short Subject and a reel of vintage Horror movie Previews. Everything in the program is being shown on 35mm film! There's no digital projection on this program.

It all starts at 10:00pm at The Hollywood Theater in Dormont, PA (On Potomac Avenue, just outside of Pittsburgh; a few miles from the Liberty Tubes on Rt. 19) Tickets are $6 at the door. Stomach Distress Vomit Bags will be provided for anyone who can't take the HORROR (or if you need to put your popcorn in something)! Oh, yeah, it's also a BYOB theater, so bring some beer, if you're inclined.

Please come and bring all of your friends. It's an experience you won't want to miss!

Use Google Maps for Directions!
View Larger Map

The TAMI Show on DVD: This time for real!!!!!

2010-03-08T00:20:00.002-05:00

So, imagine my surprise last night when I came home from work, turned on the TV and the legendary Rock movie, "The TAMI Show" was on PBS in widescreen HD! I about lost control, let me tell you. I couldn't believe it. Now, the broadcast was cut heavily and had a few pledge break interruptions that featured interviews with Dean Torrence (who should have gone a little more in depth with his remembrances), but just the fact that it was on at all was just incredible.

As it turns out, almost 3 years after the original announcement that I reported on HERE, Shout! Factory is finally releasing the greatest Rock film of all time on DVD, March 23rd. The DVD will include a full director's commentary by Steve Binder, Radio Spots and a 20 page booklet. It will retail for $19.93 (a goddamn steal!) and, if you buy it direct from Shout! Factory, you'll get a poster reproduction of the original Theatrical one-sheet.

You can read the press release HERE. It's still like a dream, but it's actually going to happen!

Now, I don't know if a Bluray version is forthcoming, but the PBS HD footage was absolutely fantastic to see. It's playing around the country right now, so check your local listings. It's well worth it, even if it is only half of the actual movie.

Oh yeah, PBS is touting it as a first time ever broadcast premiere, but we all know that it was played on Night Flight in 1981. Hyperbole, be damned!

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 6:01 "Cinematic"

2010-01-26T01:43:00.004-05:00

Prepare yourself for the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 1, Season 6; "Cinematic". Give it a listen.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP6:01

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

Explanation

2009-12-29T21:46:00.007-05:00

Yes. I know, I know. This blog has turned from general pop culture into announcements for J pop / J rock artists in between episodes of The Shockedelic Radio Show. I'll try to rectify this in the new year. It's just that, well, everybody talks about movies these days and it's becoming less and less worthwhile to write about films with all of these self professed "Critics" around. It just seems everyone who has an opinion on movies only wants to write about how vital their views on current film are and they do it while showing how clever they are with pop culture references. I don't want to be one of those people and I really haven't been in the mood to write something worth writing, so I guess it's going to be what my favorite artists (Western and Eastern) are doing these days until I can move past this funk. I can't even bring myself to do a year end list. Crap, getting older sucks.

In the mean time, here are some YouTube Videos to keep y'all riveted. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Let's start off with the latest single from Morningwood's "Diamonds and Studs" album:

Next, a great single from Japan's Scandal. "Shoujo S":

Superfly fronts Big Brother and Holding Company at Legends of Woodstock 2009:

Focus Live with an incredible version of "Hocus Pocus":

Of course, P.I.S.S. Will Never Go To School:

Cracker came back ferociously this year with a new single, "Yalla Yalla":

Hitomi Takahashi and the Beat Crusaders whip up some wonderful
pop confectionery with "Wo Ai Ni" (Song begins a 1:34):

Shaka Labbits with their latest single, "Roller Coaster":

Kimura Kaela's "Hot Pepper" CM was a viral hit this past year:

American gibberish as Italian funk. "Prisencolinensinainciusol":

Love Psychedelico's new album! ABBOT KINNEY

2009-12-28T00:52:00.000-05:00

It's almost here! The new album from LOVE PSYCHEDELICO is being released on January 13th, 2010. Can you believe they've been around 10 years???!? From the clips on YouTube, it looks to be one of their best. Here are some clips:

Click on the above logo to go to the official Youtube page!

Click the Love Psychedelico Logo to reserve your copy of ABBOT KINNEY

And, of course, the official Love Psychedelico webpage has been overhauled and enhanced. Go give it a looksee!
http://www.lovepsychedelico.net/index.html

The Bawdies!

2009-12-08T01:35:00.003-05:00

Do you love Rock -n- Roll? I mean really love Rock -n- Roll? Most people say they do. Joan Jett said she did (and she was covering The Arrows). Thing is, I don't believe most of those people. Oh yeah, people yell "Rock and Rolllll!" as a battle cry and everyone wants to be a Rock Star (even down to Miley Cyrus), but put real Rock -n- Roll in front of them and they'll most likely balk. But why?

Well, seems to me that true Rock -n- Roll has been bastardized by many forms of Pop music over the years. I have nothing against Pop. I revel in it. Hell, my radio show's slogan is "The Best In International Pop", but Pop and Rock -n- Roll are different beasts, as are Rock, Classic Rock and Southern Rock. None of those things are Rock -n- Roll. In fact, it seems all forms of music from the 1960's on all envy good ol' Rock -n- Roll so much that they constantly try to make ties to it. The lines start to blur to the casual listener who doesn't know better. That's why confusion sets in when such people are confronted with real Rock -n- Roll.

An oft missed point is that Rock -n- Roll is not a pretty thing. It's dirty. It's sexual. It's very name is derived from slang for f**cking. It's also very much an attitude thing. It's rebellious by nature. All these things contribute to why Rock -n- Roll has been all but lost to Western culture. The late 1960's Summer of Love and 1970's Sexual revolution killed it for all future Americans (with small exceptions in the mid 70's and early 90's; both times quickly and decisively killed by corporations). There is no need for teens to rebel anymore. Electronic gadgets and mood controlling medications keep them docile these days... along with idiot parents who want to stay forever young and be their children's best friends. It's a rather disgusting time here in the west.

Thank god for those Japanese. They've always understood, right from the first time it hit them. Why is that? Easy. A repressive society always needs an outlet for rebellious youth to exercise their primal urges. This brings me to today's show and tell band, The Bawdies from Tokyo Japan.

They've been around for a few years now in the indie scene with three albums ("Awaking of Rhythm and Blues", "Yesterday and Today" and "This Is My Story") and an EP ("I Beg You"). They've now been signed to Victor Japan and a new single has been released, "It's Too Late"; produced by Love Psychedelico's Guitarist Naoki. Here's the video for the song:

The enigmatic thing about the new single is that it isn't actually a single. It's touted as one and the first of the two tracks is "It's Too Late", but the second track is an unbanded, full 40 minute live concert at the QUATTRO Club and it's the real reason you should absolutely own this disc. It's a load of their Indie material and covers of "Pretty Vacant" Which they Who up substantially and a brutal rave up on "What'd I Say?". Now it's pretty obvious that you should buy this and CDJapan has it for $16 US before shipping. The link to buy it is below:

The Bawdies - It's Too Late

Here are some more videos from their Indie days...

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T00:14:00.002-04:00

I hope y'all have a sweet and scary Halloween! Here's a playlist that you can keep on in the background for your party or what have you. Press Play, turn it up and click on the full screen tab. Enjoy!

The Shockedelic Radio Show EP 5:06 - "Lady Killer"

2009-10-22T00:31:00.003-04:00

Prepare yourself for the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 5, Season 6; "Lady Killer". Can you figure out the reason for the title? It's in this episode. Give it a listen.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP5:06

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

KISS "Sonic Boom" Review

2009-10-03T00:58:00.008-04:00

The new KISS album, SONIC BOOM, arrives on Tuesday only at Wal-Mart stores, but I've been listening to it for about 2 weeks now (damn this Internet). Of course, I'll be buying the 3 disc (2 CD + 1 DVD) package on Tuesday, but I really felt the need to hear what I was getting into in advance.

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer have been stating that this album of all new material is All Killer No Filler. Gene Simmons even went as far as saying it was the best thing KISS has done since DESTROYER in 1976. As a longtime KISS fan (I grew up in the 1970's, so it was required), I staunchly disagree with that statement. Even when I gave up on KISS after UNMASKED in 1980, I still considered their makeup-less 80's output as pretty damn good, even though it wasn't my KISS. After the PSYCHO CIRCUS album, which I bought and listened to once, I was absolutely skeptical that these boastful... well, boasts were just that.

I'm thrilled to report that it is a very good KISS album. It's not a great, end all, be all, KISS album, but it's probably the most consistently listenable KISS album since probably 1991's REVENGE. What confounds here is that the album is a winner despite being quite schizophrenic. The Paul Stanley sung material sounds like CRAZY NIGHTS / ANIMALIZE KISS while the Gene Simmons sung material sounds like ROCK AND ROLL OVER / LOVE GUN KISS.

The album opens with the first "single", MODERN DAY DELILAH. It's a Paul song that, I admit, sounded a bit generic and limp on the first listen. It has grown on me since. A Gene song follows,entitled RUSSIAN ROULETTE, that evokes REVENGE era KISS, but the chorus definitely hearkens back to late 70's KISS. NEVER ENOUGH follows and, being a PAUL tune, reeks of CRAZY NIGHTS era KISS.

At this point, I wasn't impressed, but I wasn't quite ready to dismiss the album. YES I KNOW (NOBODY'S PERFECT) was the turning point for me. A Gene song, this song is so very 70's party rock KISS that I got a little emotional. The sound is reminiscent of a ROCK AND ROLL OVER / GENE SIMMONS (SOLO) outtake with it's instantly recognizable guitar work and the trademark chanting of "I Know" (if you're a KISS fan, you could make a drinking game out of how many times the phrase "I Know" is uttered on a KISS album). Gene's vocals and Bass work is the best I've heard from him in literal decades.

The album gets a bit confused with the song STAND. It's great because Simmons and Stanley trade vocals on the verses. KISS was always the best when there was vocal interplay, for my money. The Four Tops/(REACH OUT) I'LL BE THERE style vocal interjections by Paul lift the song up considerably. However, the choruses (Reeking of I from 1980's MUSIC FROM THE ELDER album and the shifting musical styles within the song are a bit ill fitting. HOT AND COLD, which follows, is a standard Simmons 70's throwaway. No great shakes, but infinitely better than anything off of PSYCHO CIRCUS.

Eric Singer does lead vocal duties on ALL FOR THE GLORY, a particularly 80's KISS sounding track. His vocals are nice and raspy a-la Peter Criss and it's a pleasing song overall. DANGER US is Paul at his punniest. Another great 80's sound.

Gene pipes in next with the heaviest song on the disc, I'M AN ANIMAL. It's a song in the I LOVE IT LOUD / WAR MACHINE mold and it really showcases the commitment Gene had to the project. It's a fist pumper.

Tommy Thayer also gets a chance to shine vocally with WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES. His vocals are good, but his style is a lot like Gene's and it took a little bit for me to figure out who was singing at first.

The album closes with SAY YEAH. This is a great classic KISS song and the true anthem of the album. I mean, what's a KISS album without an anthem? It closes the album on a nice 80's vibe.

Paul Stanley's production works well simply because he understands KISS better than any current producer could. Another producer would have most likely tried an Everything Louder Than Everything Else approach and that would've killed it. The album also cheekily pays homage to 60's British Invasion and Motown Pop in refreshing and unexpected ways. In addition to the aforementioned Four Tops references, HOT AND COLD and SAY YEAH have sly Beatle winks in them and STAND shifts musically like a Metal GOOD VIBRATIONS.

Tommy Thayer, it should be noted, is the true star of the album. His guitar style is quite adaptable to each song and he plays Ace Frehley riffs better than anyone, including Ace. That is to say, Tommy balances the lead guitar work in a way that it sounds like KISS should sound without him losing his musical identity.

It's a highly recommended album. KISS fans are the intended target, of course, but anyone who misses Metal Pop should take a stab at this one.

I should also write that I've had the other re-recorded Greatest His disc for a while now already as a Japanese Import. You simply can't go wrong with that one, either. The redone songs are hard, raw and plain fantastic. This is how KISS sounds now and they sound better than ever. Unfortunately, the DVD isn't a complete concert, but a selection of 6 tracks from the Buenos Aires show this past year.All in all, though, for $12.00, you can't beat it. KISS Loves You. This proves it.

KISS M&Ms are going to be available at Wal-Mart, too. Awesome.

The New Kimura Kaela Concert DVD

2009-09-30T02:58:00.005-04:00

Damn this recession! I've had the new Kimura Kaela Concert DVD, "Go! 5! Kaeland", ordered for over a month now and then I get this notice of a Premium box set version:

http://columbia.jp/kaela/

Yep, it's in Japanese, but a peruse over to CDJapan.com reveals the Box Set includes the following:

Deluxe DVD box set release from Kaera Kimura featuring her Jury 11, 2009 "Go! 5! Kaeland" performance at Yokohama Red Brick Park. Set includes USB memory stick, memorial photo book, stickers, and mini-poster. Comes housed in an original can box.

...and it retails for $109.64 US (more than double the price of the DVD only version). Now, you know I want this. I'd kill for this. Sadly, I can't afford this. Oh, maybe someday into the future, but not now.

This doesn't mean YOU can't get it, though. Below, please find links to the Premium Box, the DVD version and the BLU-RAY version of the Go! 5! Kaeland Concert video.

Go! 5! Kaeland Premium Box (Title subject to change) [Limited Pressing]

Kaera Kimura

GO!5!KAELAND

Kaera Kimura

GO!5!KAELAND [Blu-ray]

Kaera Kimura

Video from the show to whet your appetite:

The Shockedelic Radio Show EP 5:05 - "It's..."

2009-09-12T00:47:00.004-04:00

Prepare yourself for the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 5, Season 5; "It's...". Can you figure out the reason for the title? It's in this episode. Give it a listen.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP5:05

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

KISS' Sonic Boom!

2009-08-17T21:49:00.001-04:00

KISS announced today that they will be releasing their new album, "Sonic Boom" on October 6th exclusively at Wal-Mart stores. As enticing (yawn) as an album of new material is, the real excitement will be the other two discs in the 3 disc set. KISS will be releasing a DVD of their "Alive! 35" Buenos Aries concert as well as (for me, the real reason to buy the set) the official domestic release of the Re-recorded Greatest Hits collection that was previously only available in Japan. The price for the set (in a digipak with 20 page color booklet) will be in the ballpark of $11 - $12.

I already have an MP3 of that greatest hits set, entitled "JIGOKU RETSUDEN ~re-recording anthology~" and I can attest that it's a solid offering. Well, you may ask, why would I want a disc of recently re-recorded material from KISS? Simply, this is what KISS sounds like now with Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. Purists be damned, it's a fine sounding disc. It sounds grittier than the originals, yet the harmonies and musicianship is actually better than the originals. Should it replace the original recordings? Hell, no. Still, I've been listening to that disc more lately than the originals. I can also say, after seeing a bootleg of the Buenos Aries show, that it's pretty solid and will be great fun to watch.

I may sound like a bit of a hypocrite here, since I've been saying for years that KISS merchandising has given us everything us fans have ever wanted over the years except for what they should be giving us: A new studio album. So why am I so blase about the new material disc? Blame it on the Gene Simmons marketing beast. If you go to kissonline.com right now, you'll be bombarded with the lead off track from "Sonic Boom", "Modern Day Delilah" ("Is That You?" from "Unmasked" was a better lead off track) and a flash presentation featuring testimonials of how great the album is from... Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer. I really think I need more reliable testimonials than that. Also, Genie is spouting off about how this album is 'the best thing they've done since "Destroyer"' and it's '"Rock And Roll Over" meets "Love Gun"'. The album cover is already evoking "Rock And Roll Over" and "Psycho Circus". Really want to get me excited, Genie? Tell me it feels like the first three albums. That's really what I want. I would like to hear the Glitter rock of "KISS" with the experimental Grunginess of "Hotter Than Hell" brought together with the anthemic rock of "Dressed To Kill". I'd kill for that album.

You all know I'll buy it, though. ...If just to put Sophie through college.

The Shockedelic Radio Show 5:04 - "Shockedelic Soul Punch"

2009-07-16T00:53:00.002-04:00

Hocus Pocus: a real time overview

2009-06-23T12:32:00.010-04:00

The following is being written as Lord Shockedelic listens to Kimura Kaela's new album for the first time:

Bagpipes. That's the first instrument heard on Kimura Kaela's new CD, Hocus Pocus. It's the intro to the first song on the album, Dear Jazzmaster '84. Not quite the instrument that you'd hear on any Pop album, let alone a Japanese album. Brian Wilson never used bagpipes, did he? Still, it's a refreshing decision like putting bagpipes in a driving Pop/Rock song that keeps me coming back to Kaela's albums. She's always slightly off center she's not afraid to try something that the average cooperate music label would immediately nix as non commercial.

The next song up is the Album version of Mustache. To be honest, there is but a slight difference between the Single version and the Album version; just a small detour of a few bars. Doko's B-side, Phone, follows. I'm not sure about this trend of placing B-sides on the actual album. I think it cheapens the singles and ultimately makes them irrelevant. It also seems like padding, but luckily, Phone is a quality song.

Otome Echo is a nice, light summery song that's heavy on the synthesizers and background interjections from Kaela. It's quite the playful song. Following that is the latest single from Kaela, Butterfly. I'm going to admit, as a single, this song falls a bit flat and I was initially disappointed by it. As part of the album, it fits perfectly, however. It's vibe is consistent with the tracks that came before and I actually have a new appreciation for the song. It's flower powery vibe has grown on me.

Doko, the second single released prior to this album's release follows and is another ballad. At this time, I'm willing to bet this album will never take off into the stratosphere, but I must say I commend the consistent feel of the songs. As of this point, this CD doesn't feel like it's slapdash, but it's of a piece. Hocus Pocus is up next. It's the B-side to the Banzai single (and is featured on the latest Shockedelic Radio Show). This album is staying right on course and this song is lot of fun, playing with the Asian musical scale.

For a second on the next song, Another World, it seems like Kaela is going to dive into some funk. Instead, she goes into a synthy ballad with dreamy echo chambered vocals. This song actually reminds me of Deep Blue Sky off of her Circle album. Towards the coda, the production begins to add layers and texture. I can say really like this song. Sounds good.

Season begins as a light, breezy guitar driven ballad but then swiftly builds in production with a great habit of switching it's mood, instrumentally. It's easily the busiest track on the disc thus far. Kaela shows off some great vocal chops on this one. The song bookends itself with an acoustic coda.

Things begin to rock with the uptempo Kimi Ni Aitai. I like the new wave-ish Power Pop sound with it's "Ooh, oohs" and a catchy chorus. Good stuff. Makes me wanna dance. Next, Jeepney. Ok, we're fully in Pop/Rock territory here. There is a great, driving Cars infused sound here. It has nice halting bursts that, well, make me wanna Pogo. Jump, dammit, jump! I wanna Pogo with Kaela!

Next up, the Album version of Banzai. Wow! It has a different opening and extended intro before going into familiar territory. This, I like. It's always nice to put an alternate version of a single on an album so the people who bought the single won't feel gypped, even if it's simply an alternate opening and extended coda. A long extended coda, by the way.

Closing the album is Super Girl. Nice to end the album on an up note. Full on driving synths, here. The chorus changes the attitude of the song and then goes back to business on the verses. It's a nice change up. Kinda reminds me of Swinging London from the Scratch Album. That's a good thing.

But wait! There's a bonus track! After a long pause, the music starts back up again. Don't know the title of this one, but it's a nice mid tempo alt-rock song with some studio chatter at the end. A fun surprise to round out this very well done album. But where's Memories? I suppose, since it's already on the Paco and the Magical Picture Book OST, it doesn't merit inclusion on this disc. Something strangely feels amiss without it, for some reason...

Overall, this is one of Kaela's best records of the 5 she's done. There's not one subpar song on it and it feel as if a lot of thought went into the album as a whole. It may take some listeners a couple of spins to let it grow on them, but I love the way Kaela always defies expectations. It's a great, top down lazy summer day album and I think it may well go into heavy rotation with some of my other current favorites this summer.

Furthermore: I suppose I should also mention that Hocus Pocus is not only her 5th album, but it's release marks her 5th year as a recording artist. Congratulations, Kaela! Thanks for all of the great music!


From Kaela Blog

You can buy the new album at CDJapan. Click on the link to purchase.

Out Of The Bleu...

2009-06-19T22:51:00.007-04:00

With all of the music I'm exposed to and the breadth of it, it's no real surprise that I sometimes come late to the party. It happened with Bleu, an extraordinarily talented singer/songwriter that has a new album coming out on July 14th (that's 2009). Bleu was one of those under the radar performers that kept showing up in and on other records that I'd been listening to. We all know what an admirer of Mike Viola's I am and the first time I remember hearing of Bleu was when Mike mentioned he was doing some work on a project called L.E.O. and then another side project called The Major Labels. I quickly investigated the L.E.O. project (The Major Labels was a bit further into the future) and was delighted that the project, entitled "Alpacas Orgling", was a nod to the work of Jeff Lynne. That is, none of the material involved cover songs, but the entire project was Jeff Lynne/ELO flavored. The album was great (especially for a rabid Jeff Lynne fan like myself) and I was further amused to find Bleu had stuck in a little drawing into the disc packaging.

Of course, we all know what I think of the Major Labels (and I'm electrified that Mike had just announced the followup ML album, tentatively titled, "TML4EVA"!) and I've been consistently surprised finding Bleu turning up on records that I'd already loved, like Hanson's "The Walk" and Puffy's "Splurge" album. So, it was a nice surprise when Bleu's people invited me to have a listen to the album and tell y'all about it.

The new disc is entitled "A Watched Pot" and I think it may be a nod to the fact that it was recorded 4 years ago under the auspices of Sony Records, who promptly shelved the record. It's taken until late last year for Bleu to get the rights back to the album and it's release is now being handled by Fontana Distribution.

Upon first listen, I admit I wasn't quite prepared. Having listened to L.E.O. and The Major Labels (and not having heard his previous two solo ventures) I thought I'd be plowing headlong into a power pop explosion. Instead, I was treated to an eclectic mix of sounds both contemporary and classic. The album lies astride the pop music pantheon from the Countryish Pop of the lead off track Save Me, What Now? and the lyrically rich Boy Meets Girl (featured on the latest "Shockedelic Radio Show"!), through the modern light rock of "Come 'N Go" and into the proper Soul sounds of I Won't Fuck You Over (This Time) and What Kind Of Man Am I?.

There's a fully blown eruption of Jeff Lynne-ism on There's No Such Thing As Love and, in a righteous world, the Explosive Motown blast of Kiss Me would be blaring from every transistor radio in the world. It's pure AM gold. The track Go felt awfully familiar and it took me a while to figure out I'd heard it before on Hanson's "The Walk" album. Another highlight of the album is a wonderful duet with Sandra McCracken on When The Lights Go Out that climaxes with a counterpoint vocal that hides forever in the crevices of the mind.

While the songs are uniformly good and authentic to the styles they belong to, it's the vocals that make "A Watched Pot" an exceptional album. I had noticed this before on the other projects of Bleu, but this album confirms it. Kids, Bleu is an honest-to-goodness song stylist. His voice adapts and adheres to the style of whichever song he's performing and at times it's no less than astonishing. His Jeff Lynne vocal on There's No Such Thing As Love is so authentic that, even to a dyed in the wool ELO fan like myself, it's chilling.

Understand, though, that "A Watched Pot" is essentially a lover's lament album. It's a bit downbeat, but it's an honest album and I can't fault that.

You can preorder the CD HERE from Newbury Comics and get an autographed CD Booklet to boot. I do recommend this album. It's been a long time in the coming and this "Pot" finally going to boil over (you know I couldn't resist).

You can also get the album at AMAZON, iTunes (when released) or Bleu's very own Paypal Page. Consider the ad to the left just that, an ad. You can't buy the album there.

Listen and investigate further on all things Bleu on the official MySpace Page!

One last thing. There was an extra track that I heard at the end of "A Watched Pot" that isn't listed on the track listing. It's called "The Penguin Song" and it's a beautiful homage to Harry Nilsson, right down to the opening riff that resembles Turn On Your Radio from the "Son Of Schmilsson" album. Don't know if it will be on the album proper, but it was a great tune. I got misty eyed. Harry would have loved it.

Bob Bogle, RIP

2009-06-17T14:32:00.004-04:00

Bob Bogle died. I won't be mad if you ask, "Who?" His was not a household name, generally. He was the bassist for the legendary instrumental band, The Ventures. He was 75. He died of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Cancer.

I went to see The Ventures once, back in the late 90's. Mel Taylor, the original drummer, had already passed on and his son, Leon, had taken his place. That was one of the great shows I'll always cherish attending. That the Ventures toured America was a rarity at that time, but to have come to Pittsburgh, well that was extra special. The venue was set up as a nightclub, with tables dotting the dance floor. I sat up front and was blown away at the musicianship. They played 2 sets broken up with a 15 minute intermission. At the end of the first set, everyone stood up and gave a standing ovation. As the Ventures left the stage, they passed right by my table. I was smiling and applauding. Bob Bogle looked at me, smiled, and extended his hand. I shook his hand and said, "Nice to meet you". He firmed up his handshake and gave a small smile in return. A moment later, I looked at my friend Randy and it had dawned on me: I just met a Rock Legend; Nay, a Rock God!

After the show, We all got autographs and had our pictures taken with the band... except for Bob. We searched for him, but he had already retired to the tour bus with his beautiful wife, Yumi. I wasn't sad, though. That handshake and smile was worth a million pictures. RIP Bob, I'll always remember that night.

Here's a photo from that show. It's Leon Taylor and Bob Bogle during "Caravan". Leon is drumming on the Bass Strings while Bob manipulates the fret board. It was magic.

Here's the Obituary.

Here are some performances via Youtube:

"Wipeout" in 1966, Japan from "Beloved Invaders":

"Diamond Head / Pipeline" Japan 1993:

"Caravan" 1965 TV:

"Hawaii 5-0" Promo video:

"Walk, Don't Run" TV 1960:

The Shockedelic Radio Show 5:03 - "Power Pop Summer"

2009-06-16T02:02:00.006-04:00

(Sorry, no mix tape design this time. "Says-it"'s generator is down. Here's a cool Shockedelic Cafe logo instead.)

Prepare yourself for the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 3, Season 5; "Power Pop Summer". Can you figure out the reason for the title? It's in this episode. Give it a listen.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP5:03

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

Eratta: I did it again. My brain was saying one thing; my mouth revolted. I gave the wrong address to order Kimura Kaela's new album. I should have said www.cdjapan.co.jp. Order it there. Sorry 'bout that. Oh, and I said in the intro to the Tinted Windows song that it was called "A Girl Like You". Of course, the song is called "Kind Of A Girl". Such are the pitfalls of doing these things live and not using a cheat sheet. Everything is in my head and it's plenty cluttered up there.

McFly Live DVD Overview

2009-06-08T22:39:00.008-04:00

Something happens at the 35 minute mark in McFly's new concert video that dropped my jaw in disbelief. I've been a huge fan of theatricality in Rock concerts all my life and it's been interesting to see the level of oneupmanship over the years as technology has caught up with stage theatrics.

More on that in a minute. I want to start from the top. I received the new Mcfly Concert DVD, Radio:Active Live at Wembley, one week ago today. It's a UK import and in PAL format, but that's never stopped me. Mcfly, as you regular readers will know, has captivated me since their inception just a few scant years ago. They began as a power pop band that Evoked the Beach Boys and the Beatles as well as Squeeze and other classic Pop bands of the past 50 years. Over their last 4 albums, their sound has matured rapidly, but steadily and their fan base has caught fire; a worldwide phenomenon around the world and a certified cult band in the USA.

Their latest CD release, Radio:Active, saw them breaking from their record company to form their own label, Super Records ("Saving the world, one song at a time") and finally doing their own thing, their own way, for better or for worse. The DVD of their last concert tour is visual proof that they're possibly the best Rock n Roll band in the world (as of this writing). A heady boast from a rabid fan? Possibly, but Rock n Roll isn't about brooding soundscapes and self Pitying lyrics about how life is a downer. Rock n Roll is about fun, power and winning over every girl that lays their eyes and ears on the band.

For this latest tour, McFly has redesigned their stage set to a futuristic decaying look, with oil cans and large ventilation fans dominating the stage. There're also some pyrotechnic displays that would make KISS nod in approval. The songs come hard and heavy in a mix of songs both current and classic. Then... 35 minutes in, it happens.

The stage supporting the band rises up into the air as McFly sings Star Girl. Cool enough, I've seen it before, albeit on a smaller scale. It's something that makes me smile. The stage then begins, in total, to sail above and over the audience as the band plays; a Plexiglas floor giving the girls in the audience a good look at their boys. As Star Girl comes to a close, the stage settles down at the back of Wembley Arena, so the fans in the cheaper seats can get a good look at the band. It's a magnificent moment and makes me wish I was there, makes me wonder how much it was to insure this show and how something like this could possibly be topped. I've seen many artists fly over the stage: David Bowie, Garth Brooks, Paul Stanley, Tommy Lee and his drum kit.... Koda Kumi even rose up a hundred feet in the air to see the folks in the back of the stadium, but I've never seen something so incredibly outrageous and unnecessary as this. THIS is Rock n Roll, people.

The band eventually makes it back to the main stage with a cover of Michael Jackson's "Black Or White", a few audience singalongs and a two song encore. The show wraps up in 80 minutes and I was left on my couch wondering what had just happened, it happened so fast. A truly great show and almost as good as the Motion In The Ocean tour.

A McFly Evolution documentary rounds out the disc; an enjoyable piece of the lads and the logistics of the current tour.

I, of course, completely recommend this show. It can be had at CDWOW for a reasonable price (and free shipping!).

Here's Lies from the concert DVD (note the lovely Mylar confetti... ROCK N ROLL ALL NITE, boys!):

A Quick Review: Mandy Moore's "Amanda Leigh"

2009-06-06T14:27:00.004-04:00

Being a fan of Mandy Moore comes as a surprise to a lot of people I encounter. "Why???!?" seems to be the most popular response. The thing is, at the ripe old age of 25, she's become quite the songstress. Forget "Candy" and the teen princess pop she did 10 years ago; she doesn't want you to remember it anyway. She's been working stealthily the past few years to let people know she belongs much more into the classic pop realm. I first took major notice with her covers album, "Coverage" where she paid homage to XTC, Cat Stevens and Blondie, among others. Her last album "Wild Hope" was a very mature step forward in her musical growth. She's much more Carole King than Britney Spears. In short, readers, she's one of us.

Her new album, entitled "Amanda Leigh", is the boldest statement yet in her musical growth. The album was co-written and produced by Candy Butcher/Major Label Mike Viola and recorded in Ducky Carlisle's home studio in Boston. That's right folks, 2/3 of the Major Labels play a large part in the creation of her newest album.

That fact alone should have you running from your keyboard to buy a copy.

The album isn't a hard Power Pop affair. It's a lovely, light as a feather and highly acoustic pop album and Mike's fingerprints are all over it. More than a few times during the discs running time, it sounds like Mandy had joined the Candy Butchers. The joint effort is fruitful, bountiful even. The opening track, "Merrimack River", is a great introduction to what's to come, with Mike and Mandy's vocals wrapping around each others beautifully. The followup track, "Fern Dell", has a great Jazzy feel. The first single off the disc is "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week". It sounds, to these ears, like a Three Dog Night tribute from it's opening "Family Of Man" organ riff to the "Shambala" infused chorus.

Other disc highlights include "Pocket Philosopher", which has an admitted Nilsson/Newman vibe to it, while "I want Love To love Me Back" is 70's MOR perfection.

This album gets a high grade from this guy. It's recommended. Go git it.

Here is a great concert from Amoeba Records last week featuring Mandy and Mike:

Kimura Kaela! Hocus Pocus!

2009-05-31T14:25:00.010-04:00

Kimura Kaela has a new album coming out on June 24th, 2009! The Album is entitled "Hocus Pocus" and will contain the latest singles "Mustache", "Banzai" and "Doko". Here's the tracklising for the CD + DVD edition (the only one you should own!!!)

Tracklist
01 Dear Jazzmaster '84
02 マスタッシュ(album ver.) (Mustache)
03 Phone
04 乙女echo (Otome echo)
05 Butterfly
06 どこ (Doko)
07 Hocus Pocus
08 Another World
09 season
10 キミニアイタイ (Kimi ni Aitai)
11 Jeepney
12 BANZAI(album ver.)
13 Super girl
DVD
01 マスタッシュ
02 memories(original version)
03 どこ
04 BANZAI
05 tvk”saku saku”MC Revival Week
06「BANZAI」MUSIC VIDEO Making

The latest single, "Banzai" is now playing on the latest Shockedelic Radio Show playing HERE.

Here's the video for Banzai!

...the video for Mustache...

and here's the Video for DOKO...

UPDATE! Kaela has released one more video before the release of the new album.
Here it is - Butterfly:

You can purchase the new album by clicking on the link below:

PURCHASE Kimura Kaela's new album "Hocus Pocus" here!!!!!

(Trust me on this, it's much cheaper than buying an Import.)

The Shockedelic Radio Show 5:02 - "Getting Mizzy"

2009-05-04T13:53:00.005-04:00

Prepare yourself for the best in International Pop Music. It's the NEW Shockedelic Radio Show! This is Episode 2, Season 5; "Getting Mizzy". Can you figure out the reason for the title? It's in this episode. Give it a listen.

Listen to it streaming above or download it below:

SRS EP5:02

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

Review: Cracker - Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey

2009-04-25T01:27:00.005-04:00

Cracker! Where the hell have you been?

For the longest time, I had the feeling something was a bit amiss. Today, I found out what it was. It came back to me in the form of of a CD in my mailbox this morning. This "it" was the new collection of songs from Cracker entitled, Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey.

I admit, I've not been among the true faithful for a few years. Countrysides was fun, if sloppily drunken and Greatest Hits Redux was nice to hear, but it felt like the last gasp of Cracker as a recording group. I felt that their last effort, Greenland, was basically the final curtain for one of my favorite, enduring bands. I was so non plussed by that album, it became the first and only Cracker album I listened to once and then abandoned. Sure it was a good, well written album, but there wasn't any fire. Greenland sounded like a former Hell and brimstone band retiring to their rocking chairs. I said, "Thanks for the memories" and moved on.

Today was the wake up call. Cracker's new album, Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey, is the musical (and lyrical) Phoenix rising from the ashes of the Greenland album. In many ways, this is Cracker's most explosive selection of material since their first disc back in 1991.

From the opening track, "Yalla Yalla (Let's Go)" [see the video here], it's clear that Cracker isn't going to be introspective or sentimental. Frank Funaro's metronome drum bash and David Lowrey's throaty rasp sell the plight of a US soldier's day patrolling the Middle East. The following two tracks, "Show Me How This Thing Works" and "Turn on, Tune In, Drop Out With Me" find the band falling back into familiar territory that one would find as filler on any Cracker album. The former tune has a Sci Fi bent with the narrator musing over a device seemingly from Outer Space. The latter tune (the weakest on the album) was selected as the album's first single. It's a pleasant song with a Jeff Lynne style production, but it's maybe a bit too MOR for the tracks that share the disc with it.

"We All Shine a Light" is a custom made lighter raising club anthem featuring "X" front man John Doe lending extra credence to the tune, while "Hand Me My Inhaler" makes the most of it's brief running time with a rollicking punk sensibility that hearkens back to Camper Van Beethoven's earliest albums.

"Friends", a Johnny Hickman penned tune that he previously recorded on his solo album, Stonehenge turns up here in duet form with David Lowrey trading verses with Drive By Truckers' Alumni Patterson Hood. The song sounds like a virtual re-write of "Mr. Wrong" from the first Cracker album and there's just a bit of wonder in this reviewers mind as to why Johnny didn't share vocals with Lowrey instead.

The last 5 songs pretty much solidify the album's brilliance quotient. "I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right" lays down a sinewy funk that wouldn't sound out of place on a Zutons album. "Time Machine" is a straight ahead rocker that Johnny Hickman completely shreds with a killer guitar riff and one of his fiercest solos he's played in years.

"Hey Brett (You Know What Time It Is)" gets a bit political with it's pointed lyrics and a band in-joke chorus. "Darling One", a song written by Lowrey with Mark Linkous and Suzanna Hoffs with backing vocals by Adam Duritz, is a lovely upbeat love song with a soaring guitar from Johnny.

The Album ends with the title track, "Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey". It's a great album closer that left me wanting to start the whole album over again.

You can read from the past paragraphs that this is a new phase of production for Cracker. In the past, Cracker (that is Hickman and Lowrey) would do the majority of the writing and finish the songs with whoever else was in the band at the time. On this endeavour, the songs were written by Lowrey, Hickman, Funaro and the latest bassist, Sal Maida. I don't believe there has been this much outer assistance since the first album, when Davey Faragher (who gets a liner note shout out with his publishing company) was the first official member of Cracker.

This album is not to be missed. No matter if you haven't heard Cracker in awhile... or if the last couple of albums had left you cold... or if you're a dyed in the wool fan of Cracker Soul, you should make the purchase when the album is released on May 5th (yeah, Cinco De Mayo). It's highly recommended.

New CRACKER album info!

2009-04-21T14:41:00.004-04:00

I received a press release for the new Cracker album today. Here's the text:

CRACKER IS BACK ON 429 RECORDS DEBUT!

“SUNRISE IN THE LAND OF MILK & HONEY”
IN STORES MAY 5

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Alt-rock icons Cracker have signed with 429 Records and are preparing to unleash a collection of new songs, SUNRISE IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY. Long-time musical co-horts David Lowery and Johnny Hickman have teamed up again with drummer Frank Funaro and bassist Sal Maida and along with stellar producer David Barbe (Drive By Truckers), have created a uniquely eclectic trove of new tunes. Well-worn words used to describe their sound—brash, irreverent, sharp-witted, anthemic and riveting—all descriptives are in full-effect on the new project that bursts with their trademark rock, punk, glam, surf and country aesthetic. Friends John Doe, Patterson Hood and Adam Duritz also make spirited guest turns on SUNRISE…Their 429 Records debut is in-stores on May 5 and the first single to radio is “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me” (add date April 7).

Taking a new approach to their creative process, SUNRISE IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY is a truly collaborative effort for the band. Suprisingly self-disciplined, the whole band would take time out to write together one week every two months between tours over the course of a year. Focusing on a goal of two songs per day, their individual musical influences combined in refreshing and distinctive ways. On the outside it was a straight-ahead work ethic, but the process resulted in the band clicking creatively with a renewed energy.

Says Lowery: “We weren’t kicking back on an island in the Caribbean, waiting for the muse to hit us. We got down to work, found the punk and glam rock in our blood and woke up to Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey.”

Track listing:

Yalla Yalla (Let’s Go)
Show Me How This Thing Works
Turn On, Tune In Drop Out With Me
We All Shine A Light (w/ John Doe)
Hand Me My Inhaler
Friends (w/ Patterson Hood)
I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right
Time Machine
Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is)
Darling One (w/ Adam Duritz)
Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey

429 Records is a unit of the Savoy Label Group (SLG). SLG is the North American unit of CME (Columbia Music Entertainment), the oldest music company in Japan. The Savoy Label Group has evolved into a leading independent company consistently outperforming competitors in key music categories as monitored by Billboard Magazine. SLG is lead by Steve Vining and CME is headed by Chairman Strauss Zelnick, founder of Zelnick Media which owns interests in and manages an array of media companies.
www.429records.com

I'll be reviewing the album in a few days so keep yer eyes peeled. Meanwhile, you can download the banner below to put on your own sites!

The Beauty Within

2009-04-20T18:03:00.008-04:00

I'm absolutely positive that, by now, you've seen the segment of "Britain's Got Talent" featuring Susan Boyle. It was pure and classic television and one of those moments that will surely go down in history. I can't say I wasn't moved by the segment. I had the feeling that I was watching the tail end of a crowd pleasing movie and I'm already betting that a Susan Boyle life story movie (probably entitled, "I Dreamed a Dream") is on it's way to being green lighted.

It is strange to me that so much is being made of her appearance than anything else. There is a definite angle here; average looking middle aged (47) woman with voice of an angel makes good, but really, does she look all that bad? No. Of course not. She looks like most women her age. Seriously. If you don't believe so, you're one of the billions of people who have watched so many TV programs and movies that you think the beautiful people are the majority. Even most of the beautiful people out there aren't... without help.

Beauty is rare, plain and simple. It is. If it weren't there wouldn't be a need for makeup and hair products. A person who can look beautiful without any external help from rise to rest is indeed a four leaf clover. Most people simply aren't beautiful and help is needed to achieve a certain illusion.

The whole situation is reminding me of 2 films that I've recently watched. One is from South Korea and the other is Japanese. The former of the two is entitled "200 Pounds Beauty" and concerns a morbidly obese woman, Kang Han-na, with an incredible singing voice. She provides the singing vocals for a beautiful Pop Star who lip syncs to Han-na onstage, while Han-na sings from underneath the stage. Han-na blackmails a plastic surgeon to do extensive work on her and she becomes "Jenny" a beautiful pop star in her own right.

The other film, Japan's "The Handsome Suit", concerns an unsightly man who runs a local restaurant. Women are regularly repelled by him and he's never had a girlfriend. When a pretty young girl applies for a job as a waitress, his heart is set afire, though he knows he'll never win her because of his looks. One day, a man hands him a card for a suit shop. Since he has to attend a wedding he goes to purchase a suit, only to be led into the back room and let in on a new technology. It's "The Handsome Suit", a full body suit that vaccuforms to the wearer and makes the person incredibly handsome. He becomes a model, but can't win the girl of his dreams.

The theme of both movies is, ultimately, be yourself and stay who you are because you end up turning your back on those who already love you when you chase frivolous dreams.

Both movies were hits and not because of the moral. People flocked to these films because we all feel like we could be successful if we were more handsome, or pretty, or had that something that other people would die to possess. It was the duty of these films to let the audience have these fantasies, but to tell them in the end that fantasies are nice, but you have to make the best of who you are. Any other message would be simply irresponsible.

...Which brings me back to the Susan Boyle subject. We're now seeing a woman who is wholly herself. She doesn't seem to have any personal illusions for fame and fortune. She says she's never been kissed. I believe it. Not because she's homely, mind you, but she doesn't seem to be the type to casually kiss. She's a proper person. A normal person. An AVERAGE person. Damn, maybe that's just as rare. I don't know anymore.

This woman is in for a little bit of a ride, I think. She'll make an album, be a media darling for a while (these whiles are getting shorter and shorter in the Internet age) but in the end she'll ultimately go back to her village and cat and talk about the times she had. Back to anonymity. For a woman that simple and sweet, there should be no other ending.

Shockedelic Wear

2009-04-08T00:42:00.003-04:00

I've joined with Cafe press to make available "The Shockedelic Cafe" Clothing Line.

Click on the shirt to go to the store. In time I'll have a widget that will make shopping even easier. Buy BUY BUY!!!!!

Yalla Yalla - New CRACKER Video!

2009-03-23T23:39:00.003-04:00

From the forthcoming (May 5th, 2009) album, Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey. Preorder it here. This is the first video, Yalla Yalla.

From the Youtube page, by David Lowrey:

"Yalla" is a common arabic expression, loosely meaning "hurry up" and often used by american soldiers in place of "hurry up" or "let's go". Like every war Iraq war soldiers have developed their own unique slang based on their experiences. Oftentimes these slang words creep into our nations vocabulary many years after the original conflict. ."Yalla" or "Yalla Yalla" may not become as common as RADAR, AWOL or SNAFU but it will certainly be used by soldiers for many years to come. This song takes no position on the war in Iraq*. It is a exploration and a celebration of a certain kind of bravado and swagger one finds in the speech of soldiers. I find it nicely matches the kind of swagger often exhibited by rock, blues and hip hop singers. I suppose that is why it was so much fun (and relatively easy) to take this arcane slang and anacronyms and build a song out of it. If I got some of it wrong, well i apologize. There seemed to be some disagreement among my small sample of soldiers (and marines) about the pronunciation or precise meaning of some of the terms i use. case in point whether anyone really refers to Camp Anaconda as Bombaconda, or the precise definition (and spelling!) of a "pogue". My questioning at the Atlanta airport set off a heated argument between two servicemen. It's all in good fun, so don't kick my ass. please.

Finally most of this footage was taken from YouTube. Who knew the internets were full of soldiers marines, sailors and airmen dancing, lip syncing and headbanging to their favorite music? IF YOU ARE IN THIS AND DON"T WANT TO BE: politely write us and we will edit you out.

David Lowery

* Due diligence: I opposed the war in Iraq. I viewed it as a distraction from the fight in Afghanistan. However now that we are in Iraq I believe we shouldn't leave until there is a stable and humane government in that country. I'll leave the notions of timetables, troop levels etc etc to the professionals.

Gothic Strawberry Ice Cream Nightmare Daydream!!!

2009-03-02T17:58:00.007-05:00

We all have to cut back in this depression/recession. I'm no exception. Like everyone else, I'm trying to get less money to go just as far. I've made one extremely frivolous purchase, however. I took a week to decide whether I should or not and I decided it would be my personal (5 month early) Birthday present to me this year (I am planning one more personal Birthday present closer to my Birthday, but more on that this June). Was it a Television..? A new game system..? A full home renovation..? That one I actually need, but no.

No, no, no. What I bought was much more frivolous than that and having them has made me very happy, so this also counts as a mental health purchase. I bought Tommy Feburary6 and Tommy Heavenly6's Greatest Hits box sets. They cost 6,666 Yen each (that's nearly $70 each, but I scored them for $64 each) and are about as deluxe as a box set can get.

The theme here is each box set is a High School class in Tommy. Tommy February6's box is entitled "Strawberry Cream Soda Pop Daydream" (also the title of the new track on the CD / DVD and Tommy Heavenly6's box is entitled "Gothic Melting Ice Cream Darkness Nightmare". Each set arrives in a heavy, glossy slipcase that's dimensions are 14 1/2" high X 9 1/2" wide X 2 3/4" deep. The insides of the set are covered in polka dot print. The box itself contains everything one needs to be enrolled in Tommy's classes. Each set includes A lyric booklet, a 16 page Composition notebook that actually serves as a picture book (4 pics per page), a big sticker sheet, 10 photo clear files and a quality loose leaf binder with enrollment information embossed on a metal plate. Oh, yeah, each set comes with a DVD and a Blu Spec CD.

Now, this whole Blu Spec CD thing... I don't know if you've heard of this or not, since it's really only being utilized in Japan right now, but it's basically this: a standard Red Book CD master is burned with a BluRay laser instead of a standard laser. This, it's reported, creates virtually no jitter to the actual pits the laser reads in a CD, so the playback is of a higher quality. Did I notice any real difference? I really can't say I did. I have a mid to high end playback setup, so I should be able to pick up a marked difference, if there was one. Maybe a side by side comparison will be in order.

I did, however, notice that the DVD's did look remastered. The images were a bit clearer that I've been used to on past Tommy DVDs.

I'm glad I bought them, all in all. Yeah, it set me back a bit, but I got the feeling that when the economy recovers, these limited edition sets are going to go up sharply in price... or not.

Usually a greatest hits package flags the end of a career, however a cruise by CDJapan reveals the Tommy train just isn't going to stop. Tommy Heavenly6 3rd, as it's titled there, is going to be released on April 29th, 2009. Click on this link to CDJapan to Preorder it.

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 5:01 "Love Is Like Helium"

2009-02-26T02:09:00.004-05:00

The Shockedelic Radio Show
February 25th, 2009 - Episode 5:01
"Love Is Like Helium"

Click this here link to download this new episode of The Shockedelic Radio Show to your Computer. It's an mp3 file (80 minutes long, about 38 or so megs) that you can transfer to your MP3 Media Player, burn to a CD or just listen on your computer. If you prefer to just have it stream to your computer via WinAmp or Windows Media Player (or whatever streaming player you use), click On this particular link.

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

Wanna subscribe to this on iTunes? Do this:

Open iTunes
Go Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast
Type the following into the Pop Up Box (exactly like this. No Spaces.):
http://www.geocities.com/Schmilsson1969/Shockedelic/shockadelic.xml

There you go! You'll be in tune with the rest of the Universe now!

Happy 100th Post!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-21T02:29:00.007-05:00

Damn! The big 100th post! Whadaya know?

I know, you're thinking.... Where the hell have you been? Ah, life is complicated. I have a lot to say, but I just can't seem to put finger to key these days.

There're lots of new Jpop albums I'm thrilled about. The Beat Crusaders have a new best of collection (with DVD!), as does Tommy Heavenly6/February6. Yeah, more on that one in a later post. I'll probably do that when I actually receive the overpriced sets. Yes. Sets. There's two of them... one for each alter ego. I'm also grooving to the new Hot Leg album, "Red Light Fever". Hot Leg is former "Darkness" lead singer Justin Hawkins' new band. Maybe this is the album The Darkness should have done after their debut instead of the album they did release. Maybe they'd still be together.

I've seen lots of really good movies, too, with the most endearing one being the Swedish horror fable, "Let The Right One In". I loathe Vampire movies as a rule, but this one is very special.

I've not been too excited about any of the Oscar picks for Best Picture this year. Nothing stands out. I liked "Slumdog Millionaire", but while it was very well made, it is by no means an Oscar worthy film. I'm surprised "Gran Torino" was snubbed, at the very least, in the best actor catagory since Clint Eastwood was brilliant in fairly complicated role. I suppose Heath Ledger will win for Best Supporting actor, but let's face it; he was okay at best. It would be better Robert Downey, Jr. gets it for "Tropic Thunder". Seems that's a bit of lip service for his best actor snub for Iron Man. Who knows, though?

I don't have much else to say at this time. Look for a new Shockedelic Radio Show in a couple of weeks. Until then, visit my Youtube page for a journey into my past.

Best Albums of 2008

2009-01-01T20:02:00.005-05:00

Guys and gals, Lord Shockedelic has been sick with a nasty intestinal virus for the last month and that's why there's been no updates to this blog. I'm feeling better, now that I've passed the damned thing on to all my loved ones so here's a list of my favorite albums of 2008... late as it is... No countdown here. I'm going down from one to ten; the best and the rest. 'Course they're all the best.

The Major Labels
Aquavia

The nicest surprise this year was the coupling of Mike Viola and Bleu, along with their buddy Ducky Carlisle. The result was an explosion of Pop masterpieces and song cycles. No kidding, this was the best and most enduring listen of the year. As of this writing, it can still be had by clicking on the widget to your left. Cough cough.... it's free... cough cough....

Kimura Kaela
+1

Kaela's fourth album was a marked improvement over the slightly lackluster "Scratch". This new disc was a fun pastiche of Techno and hard guitar driven Pop. Kaela has never sounded so at ease and in control of her voice. She simply keeps getting better. I'm not sure yet if this is my favorite of her albums yet. It could be this or "Circle". Regardless, this is top shelf Pop and a perfect introduction to the music of Kimura Kaela.

The Foxboro Hot Tubs
Stop Drop and Roll

This album was the 'Knock-me-over-with-a-feather' release of the year. I wasn't aware of it's release until a few days beforehand and I was, admittedly, non plussed when I head it was Green Day and their touring members, but the 1960's throwback album cover and mini album sleeve packaging (along with a nice price of $8.00!) encouraged me to try it out. I'm glad I did, because this was a phenomenal piece of garage growl rock and roll. True, some of the songs are simple rewrites of actual 1960's nuggets ("The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" and The Yardbirds' "Heart Full of Soul" are dug up and redressed), but I haven't heard primitive rock and roll done so well and urgently in years. I'll never be a big Green Day fan, but The Foxboro Hot Tubs and one of the best Rock and Roll units around right now.

Anna Tsuchiya
Nudy Show!

After "Strip Me?" a few years back, I'd been wondering if and when Anna Tsuchiya was going to do a follow up. "Strip Me?" was a solid debut and "Nudy Show!" ups the ante. "Nudy Show!" throws multiple genres of pop at the listener with equally high degrees of success. Most of the album rides on amped up rock and pop while the ballads are mostly contained to the second half of the disc. Anna Tsuchiya has one of the strongest, evocative and unique voices in JPop and JRock and she has a marvelous ear for song style and arrangement. "Nudy Show!" is worth a few dozen spins.

McFly
Radio:ACTIVE (MAIL UK Free Paper Edition)

I'm giving the high marks on McFly's new album to the version they gave away with the Mail UK paper a few months before the actual, official CD release of "Radio:ACTIVE". Te reason for this is simple. The Giveaway Edition is a shorter, stronger album. The Song selection is strong as well as the very sequencing of the tracks. The retail edition is longer with 4 new (weaker) songs and a re sequencing of the existing songs that takes away the power the earlier version had. That said, the giveaway edition is a powerhouse of a powerpop album from a group of talented kids that become men right before your ears on this album. Either version has great songs and is worth a listen, but the UK Mail edition is the one to own.

Furukawa Miki
Bondage Heart

Miki Furukawa, founder and bassist of the late great band Supercar finally released an album this year and it's a doozy. Equal parts Mazzy Starr and T. Rex, this is an album that defies classification. It's raw and dirty, but sweet and gentle... often in the same song at the same time.

SHAKALABBITS
SHAKALABBITS

I'd only heard of this established Japanese Ska Band this year. I thought their latest, self titled album was a debut. I was so very wrong. This, their 6th album, actually finds them drifting further away from their ska roots; relying instead of monster guitar riffs and super sly hooks. Lead Singer UKI's mousy vocals slam right up against the bands' wall of sound. I love this band and, late or not, am glad to have joined the party.

Kaiser Chiefs
Off With Their Heads

The Kaiser Chiefs 3rd album is an improvement over "Yours Truly, Angry Mob" in that it actually sounds like the band is more comfortable in their skins. This current album pretends like YT, AM never happened and picks up where "Employment", their debut, left off. It's loud and ballsy, catchy and snotty. That's all anyone could ask.

Humbert Humbert
Makkurayami no Niramekko

Another discovery for this year, Humbert Humbert is a Japanese band that plays Western Roots music. That's right, you'll find Appalachian Mountain music here as well and German and Scottish folk. It's a bit jarring to hear such familiar traditional music being sung in Japanese, but it's certainly welcome. The vocals are relaxed and the playing simple and assured. This one is for the adventurous Country Bluegrass fan.

Brian Eno and David Byrne
Everything that happens will happen today

What happens when two Avant Garde Rock Gods reunite for an album? Magic. Be prepared to be transported back to the 1980's with this quirky and lightly funky selection of songs. Byrne's vocals never age and Brian Eno will always be the penultimate alt rock weirdo. Together, they create the stuff of legend. Kids today won't care (and should they?), but us oldsters can indulge in a bit of old school alt rock comfort food.

On a lighter note...

2008-12-08T00:01:00.002-05:00

Remember love.
JWL
9 October 1940
8 December 1980

RIP, Forrest J. Ackerman

2008-12-06T00:02:00.007-05:00

I've been itching to write something, anything, just to say, "I'm still here."

Whatever I was about to write has to take the back burner today. Friends, Forrest J. Ackerman has died at the age of 92. The Obit is here. There isn't much I can say that isn't being written across the world right now by people as sad and heartbroken as I am right now. I just found out about it a few minutes ago. What I will write about right now is a remembrance.

I met Forry a couple of times at conventions, the first time in 1997 at the first Monster Bash in Ligonier, PA. I was actually a little scared to meet him. Whenever I'm faced with someone in my adult life who meant something to me as a child, I freeze up a little. The inner child comes forward and takes over. I become that shy little boy again. That's what happened when I met Forry the first time. When I finally mustered the strength, I found I needn't have been frightened. It was almost like meeting the REAL Santa Claus.

I approached him when there was a moment to get him alone and I introduced myself. He responded in kind and, while shaking my hand, he noticed me noticing his ring. He smiled and beckoned for me to join him on the other side of the table. He sat me down and presented the ring. He asked me if I knew what it was from. I shook my head, no. He explained it was the ring that Boris Karloff wore in "The Mummy". He pointed out a part of the ring that still contained a bit of makeup from Karloff. He then went on to show the ring Bela Lugosi wore in "Dracula". That was priceless. We talked for a long time and he tested my knowledge of fantasy and horror films, gently correcting me when I faltered.

I then expressed interest in his CD ROM set of the Ackermansion. I told him I was tempted to buy one. He leaned back, his eyes widened and he bellowed, "NO! You must always give in to temptation!!!!!" We both cracked up and I bought that set. He autographed it and we had our picture taken together.

I saw him a couple of times after that, the last being in 2006 at another Monster Bash. It was my Birthday and I was keen to meet Zacherle, The Cool Ghoul. Lo, and behold, they were in the same room together. Forry looked so thin and frail, his skin pasty and oxygen being fed to him via a portable oxygen machine. There were so many people around, but I'll never forget this: I looked over and he looked up, smiled a big open mouth smile and raised his hand high in the air. I saluted him back. We didn't speak, but it was nice that there was that recognition.

I still have that CD Rom set and Picture (I keep them together), but they're all in storage. If I ever dig that photo out, I'll post it with pride.

I'll miss ya Forry. I've missed you for too many years already; your puns, your way of making those old, moldy silents seem new and vibrant. Really, who is going to keep the giants of fantasy's memories alive now?

Rest in pieces, old friend. Horrorwood, Karloffornia will never be the same. And neither will the rest of the planet.

Beloved Invaders!

2008-11-14T03:30:00.003-05:00

Beloved Invaders is on my Top Ten Best Rock and Roll Movies Ever Made list. The movie is essentially a feature length travelogue following The Ventures through their first tour of Japan in 1966 (the core members eventually moved there for good). In between scenes of The Ventures walking around Japan and learning the culture are white hot excerpts of their performances on the tour. It was only released in Japan and the only soundtrack currently existing is a Japanese dubbed track, but that does nothing to squash the impact this movie has on a viewer.

The opening of the film is one of the best ever. It starts in the countryside, where a bell is rung by a monk to start the day. We cross cut to a bustling city, people starting their day and teenagers playing "Group Sounds". A boy walks up to a jukebox and makes a selection: Out of Limits, by The Ventures. We're then treated to a montage of a record pressing plant manufacturing discs by the hundreds. The discs are put in sleeves and shipped off to record stores where rock crazed teens buy them up. All this happens before the opening credits and it's marvellous. Then... the credits start and the world is treated to one of the best opening credit sequences ever in a motion picture. I'm not exaggerating or throwing out hyperbole. It's really what life is all about; youthful exuberance captured in Cinemascope!

Here it is in all it's glory.

If this doesn't get you going, then there's no hope for you.

The meaning of life, man. The meaning of life.

Papermoon!

2008-11-03T02:09:00.011-05:00

Did you have a good Halloween? I did. It was a quiet one. I didn't even dress up. I wasn't even tempted. Strange days...

Well, if you were looking at the photo above, you'll get the hint that Tommy Heavenly6 has released a new MV. It's called Papermoon (single out Dec. 10th) and it's yet another great one from Ms. Kawase (yes, I know that's her maiden name). The song (the theme to the new Anime, Soul Eater) is prime Heavenly6 material and the video plants viewers into new territory. Whereas, Tommy February6 once did a video as Alice (In Wonderland; the video was for the song Bloomin'), this is the ~~first~~ second time Heavenly6 has donned a famous costume (the first time being Snow White in the Heavy Starry Chain Vid. Thanks to k' for correcting me!). She's decked out as Dorothy from MGM's The Wizard Of Oz and, as you can see from the photo above, she's absolutely smokin'. Yes, I suppose it's true. I only hang around Kaela and Kumi to pass the time until my true Jpop/rock love comes back around. Forgive me, girls. Tommy's my true love!

Here's the video. It's Youtube and it's likely to get banned. I'll keep changing the links as much as I have to to make sure it's available for your viewing pleasure.

Yep, had to replace it. This one has English captions now. Just click on the triangle on the lower right had corner and choose CC. We'll see how long this one lasts...

The Scarecrow in this video, I'm told, is named Jimi Blumer from a Visual Kei band called Laverite. That explains all the fey and precious looks he's shooting the camera with in his shots. What's Visual Kei? I don't want to go too long into it, but it's kind of a really Flamboyant Goth style. Read about it here.

If Google is your friend, then Wikipedia must be your guide.

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 3:04 "The Price Is Funk"

2008-10-13T20:26:00.003-04:00

The Shockedelic Radio Show

October 13th, 2008 - Episode 3:04

"The Price Is Funk"

Click this here link to download this new episode of The Shockedelic Radio Show to your Computer. It's an mp3 file (80 minutes long, about 38 or so megs) that you can transfer to your MP3 Media Player, burn to a CD or just listen on your computer. If you prefer to just have it stream to your computer via WinAmp or Windows Media Player (or whatever streaming player you use), click On this particular link.

Legal stuff:

It's a very litigious society, so please understand that this MP3 Podcast is presented as a radio show promoting new and lesser well known artists. All of the music here is copyrighted and the copyright proprietors retain ownership of the material presented here. No rights are given to the downloader or listener or are implied as such. In short, listen to the show and enjoy it, but don't go dissecting the program. If you hear something you like, track it down and purchase it. Supporting the artist is crucial. Make sure you do your duty.

Wanna subscribe to this on iTunes? Do this:

Open iTunes
Go Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast
Type the following into the Pop Up Box (exactly like this. No Spaces.):
http://www.geocities.com/Schmilsson1969/Shockedelic/shockadelic.xml

There you go! You'll be in tune with the rest of the Universe now!

Domo-Kun attacks America!

2008-10-03T21:13:00.004-04:00

You may have gathered from these posts that I am a fan of certain aspects of Japanese Pop Culture. I'm not enthralled by all aspects of it, but I'm rabid about the one's I do covet. It always amuses me when I see something decidedly Japanese invading Western culture, but sometimes it can be extremely surreal.

Today was a perfect example. I never, never enter Target stores. I'm not against them, it's just they're a bit expensive and just a little more than oppressive. Red is not a color that makes me want to buy. Red is a color that alternately makes me want to punch or hump things.

Halloween is an exception, since I like to visit Target for their $1 section and unique Halloween items (example: the limited selection of monster themed half cans of Jones soda).

So, not knowing what I'm about to be in for, I stroll casually into my local Target store and, just inside the front door, I am faced with a 3 foot plush Domo-Kun hanging from the ceiling. Surrounding the plushie are a series of Domo-Kun Halloween themed ads. For the tiniest of a split second, I forgot where I was. "Did I mistakenly walk into an Asian store?", I asked myself. Nope, it's a Target.

A similar Domo-Kun to what I encountered today (taken from I-mockery.com).

I was so jazzed and disoriented, I quickly made my way to the rear of the store to see what amounted to an absolute shrine to the Japanese NHK TV mascot. Domo-Kun everywhere.

What's more puzzling is the way Domo-Kun is being marketed. The ad copy states he's from Japan and he's new, but that's about it. So, I bought a small Domo-Kun bag with 5 Domo-Kun candy necklaces and a small Domo-Kun Frankenstein's Monster plushie. I suppose I'll be back for more. Crap, I know I will.

To see more pictures concerning this Halloween Ad blitz, go to I-Mockery.com and Target's Halloween Website for more official Domo-Kun shenanigans. Better yet, go down to Target and see it for yourself. It's surreal and, as I'm loathe to admit, pretty wonderful to see.

Tommy, you complete me

2008-09-23T02:15:00.009-04:00

I write a lot about Kimura Kaela on this blog and I have a blog (which I haven't updated in a long time) for Love Psychedelico. I love them both dearly and I'm grateful to all of them for providing me with music I'm not sure I'd be able to do without. With all of these new artists and albums of late, I tend to neglect one of my absolute favorite Japanese artists; Tomoko Kawase aka Tommy February6 aka Tommy Heavenly6. The reason I tend not to write about her so much is that her output has been virtually nil as of late (with the exception of a cover of "All Through the Night" for the Japan only Cyndi Lauper Tribute Album, "We Love Cyndi"). She's put out 3 singles with her first, and most famous band, "The Brilliant Green" this year and that's wonderful, but I'm a dyed in the wool fan of her alter egos.

You see, "The Brilliant Green" is a legendary band in many parts of the world and Tommy is an integral part of it's success, but her eccentricities seem to be a bit dampened by being part of a three piece band. That's not to say her bandmates stifle her creativity. Look no further than the video of "The Brilliant Green" where the entire band is dressed as students of Hogwarts with Tommy making a quite fetching Hermione. It's just that, as Tommy February6 and Tommy Heavenly6, she becomes a performance artist. She's not playing a half drunken schoolgirl who sings 80's synth pop or a Grungy Hot Topic casualty with an affection for Blythe Dolls... She simply IS a half drunken school girl who sings 80's synth pop AND a Grungy Hot Topic casualty with an affection for Blythe Dolls. Tommy, whether February6 or Heavenly6, is absolutely unique and brilliant.

My love for her work is (like my love for any of my favorite International Artists) somewhat crippled by the fact that I simply can't find readily available merchandise that won't kill my pocketbook. I bought Tommy February's "Tommy Airline" Special Edition CD+DVD set and Tommy Heavenly's self titled Special Edition CD+DVD sets early on in my fandom, so they were fairly easy to find for an agreeable price; not so for Tommy February's first album. Oh, I could have bought the first album in it's regular CD only edition, but I REALLY wanted that Special Edition CD+DVD set. Why? Well, you have to understand that while Japan has what is possibly the most expansive music releases in the world (they release EVERYTHING), their releases are mostly relegated to limited runs and the Special Edition runs become scarce quickly. I was able to score those other two sets because they were still in print when I bought them. The "Tommy Airline" was an especially lucky break since I obtained it from a US seller for under $20 shipped. Tommy February's Special Edition first album is an object I've sincerely NEVER seen available for sell anywhere in the USA... not even on eBay (and that's rare, folks!)

So, I turned my sights to Japan. Yahoo! Auctions Japan, to be precise. Yahoo! Auctions Japan is the only Yahoo! Auctions site still in operation and it thrives on Japanese people selling to each other exclusively. A look at any auction on that site will invariably carry a disclaimer stating: "Will Not Ship Internationally". Damn. And there were a few really nicely priced copies of Tommy's Special Edition First. What to do, what to do.

Thank goodness for a service that I only occasionally hit up. From Japan is basically a brokering site; a middleman that will bid on Yahoo! Auctions Japan items for you, will have the item shipped to them on your behalf if you win and have that item sent to you. It's expensive: You pay for the item, shipping to their offices, shipping to your home and a commission fee. Thankfully, I took advantage of their free commission promotion and that cut a few dollars off my order. It took 2 weeks from bid to arrival, but it was on my doorstep today. Approximately $32.00 shipped.

Gorgeous, ain't it? That's the front cover. Looks like a Wonka Bar. Inside, chocolate goodness and a ticket to the "Lollipop Candy Land". OK, maybe not, but a splendid time is guaranteed for all who wish to indulge. (Look! You can see me in the reflection!!!!).

The inside. The top one is the CD, the bottom one, the DVD. Perfect shape, both. The Really cool thing is, the inner hub on both are marked as "Sample Loaned". I got a Promo Copy! Verrrry Cool. The booklet is bound into the package (That's the brown part). It contains lyrics and four pages of photos that apparently depict Tommy's High School days. I've taken the liberty of scanning all 4 photos and making a big collage. Click to enlarge. Enjoy!

Isn't that awesome? The CD sounds better than any copy I've ever owned and the DVD is worth the whole thing. The DVD has only 2 videos, "KISS One More Time" and "Bloomin'!", but each video comes in 3 flavors: Regular, Furitsuke (only dance footage is shown so you can learn the dances at home!) and Karaoke (so you can sing like Tommy!). There're are also promo TV commercials for each song and a making of segment for each song. "Bloomin'" is great, but "KISS one More Time" is easily my favorite Tommy February song and video, so I was sent directly to nirvana this morning, as I'm sure you'll find easy to believe.

So there it is. I've completed my Tommy Album/DVD collection (for now). I feel complete, myself. Is that strange???

Along Came A Spider and a free shipping spoon!

2008-09-06T00:10:00.004-04:00

I got the vinyl edition of Alice Cooper's new album, "Along Came A Spider" today. I got it from Amazon.com. It was $24.95 and super saver free shipping is $25.00. I had to buy an 8 inch spoon for 95 cents to get the shipping. Yeah. An Alice Cooper Vinyl album and a spoon. Shades of the 70's.

Sans spoon.

So, I'd been listening to the album for a couple of weeks already on CD and MP3 and I think it's a very good concept album. Concept albums are an acquired taste, like movie musicals, so your milage may vary. Still, the aural history of a Serial killer told in song appeals to me. Can't wait for a tour.

Oh yeah, if you get this album as an album.... be careful... Things can happen to you...

RIP: Jerry Reed

2008-09-02T19:49:00.005-04:00

Jerry Reed died today of Emphysema. He was 71. It's a shame (and not at all ironic) that the guy who recorded "Another Puff" on his Ko-Ko Joe album would succumb to a smoking related disease.

The obit is here... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080902/ap_en_ot/obit_jerry_reed

This man was another one of my heroes. He was a killer guitarist and songwriter. Most people know him solely from his work as Burt Reynold's sidekick in the "Smokey And The Bandit" pictures, or, to a newer generation, as the coach in Adam Sandler's"The Waterboy".

To me, however, I will always think of him as a fantastic writer and performer of country funk storysongs. Although he had a fine baratone, as showcased in songs like Today Is Mine and A Thing Called Love (A personal favorite of mine), the meat of his hits were performed like near rap narrations. She Got The Goldmine (I Got the Shaft), Tupelo Mississippi Flash, When You're Hot, You're Hot, Ko-Ko Joe and his signature classic Amos Moses were all spoken storysongs that skyrocketed him to the top of the Country Western charts throughout the 70's and early 80's. All of those songs were produced by Chet Atkins solely or with Jerry on hand co-producing and were on the RCA label. They even released a few instrumental albums together; Jerry's guitar in one speaker, Chet Atkins' guitar in the other.

The songs were funky, too. Even if the songs were labeled country, the guitar riffs in the songs were nothing short of diabolical funk. I'm still amazed no R&B producer hasn't sampled the riff from Amos Moses. It's THAT funky.

so, you'll be missed Jerry. I'm going to put on some Jerry Reed albums in his honor tonight.

Here's Amos Moses from 1983

Kimura Kaela Krush!

2008-08-31T00:24:00.007-04:00

Yeah. You all know my one sided love affair with J-pop songstress Kimura Kaela, dear readers. She has, over the last couple of years, scratched her way up to the top of my favorite artists. It's been a good year for being a fan of her's. Last April brought her latest album, "+1", a concert tour followed this summer along with a new single ("Mustache"), a photo book ("Kimura Kaela Collection") and a new DVD of (almost all of) her music video PVs.

Last night, I finally saw her Fuji Television special of her "+1" concert Tour that you'll find in it's entirety below in Youtube playlist format (super special thanks to Youtube user mist1125 for uploading it!). If you love Kaela like I do, you'll love this. If you're not familiar, give it a shot. She's pretty damn electric.

I also finally got the PV DVD in the mail today. It comes in similar packaging to her last 2 DVDs (see the cover below) and it includes 16 videos. For some reason, "Dive Into Shallow" from her Jasper DVD single isn't here, but the rest are in LPCM audio ('cause it's the best!) and high video bitrate. It looks great! It also includes a lenticular sticker of Kaela posing in two ways, depending on which angle you view. Nice package.

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 3:03 "Spidey Sense"

2008-08-08T21:42:00.007-04:00

The Shockedelic Radio Show

June 15th, 2008 - Episode 3:03

"Spidey Sense"

Legal stuff:

Hope you enjoy it.

ERRATA UPDATE: Nary a show goes by that I don't make a gaffe or two. My mind was elsewhere (read: turned off completely) while I was doin' the announcing thing-a-ring, so I mistakenly stated the drummer for The Major Labels was Ducky Carlton when his name is Ducky Carlisle. Sorry, Ducky! I also neglected to say the name of Liam Finn's album that the song "Second Chance" originates from; which is I'll Be Lightening. Sorry, Liam. I'll post more errors as they reveal themselves to me. Enjoy the show e'rebuddy!

Review: The "My Sassy Girl" Remake

2008-08-03T23:57:00.005-04:00

OK. This is a tough one. This morning (11:30am; 8-2-08), I finally, finally viewed the United States remake of the South Korean classic, My Sassy Girl.

First things first: I DIDN'T hate it. There, I wrote it. There is much to be said for going in with the mind wide open. I'm not going to say the film was very good or that it would, in any way, compare to the original. It has many, many faults. We'll list them, but first, a brief synopsis.

Charlie Bellow (Jessie Bradford) is a Country bumpkin who moves to the city to attend College. One day, in the subway, he rescues a girl, Jordan Roark (why did they name her? Played by Elisha Cuthbert) from being hit by a train. She calls him "Honey" and collapses. He takes it upon himself to take care of her, which lands him in jail. Their relationship grows in spite of her erratic and abusive behavior.

(Note: this review is going to go deep into spoiler territory. I'm also going to assume you, the reader, has seen the original film.)

The main problem with the film is the length. This film is attempting to compress a 2 hour and 5 minute film into a 90 minutes. This would have me believe that the remake was going to remove a lot of scenes found in the original. Wrong. This movie includes virtually EVERY key scene from the original, including the Military hostage scene (which was the first scene I expected to be excised from the remake). This makes the film move at a rapid fire pace. This remake moves so fast that actual exposition is sometimes glossed over or removed completely. It reminds me of those old Super 8 film digests, where all the key scenes are there with nothing to link them. This is especially problematic in the opening scenes where it's not exactly explained sufficiently how the cops showed up at Charlie's apartment.

Jessie Bradford is a very bland leading man as Charlie Bellow. He seems to be playing the role like Freddie Prinze channeling Jon Cryer. He's too handsome to play the "I-can't-get-a-nice-girl" role and he's too upwardly urban to be playing a guy from the rurals.

Charlie has an Unnecessary sidekick in Leo (Austin Bass). Gyun Woo, in the original, had friends, but he never spent time pointlessly discussing what we already know.

The film also has a bad case of "Explain-it-all-ity". The original had the good sense to at least pretend the audience wasn't a group of idiots. Here, in this remake, everything is spelled out with narration so that even the biggest idiot can see the final plot revelation coming from Mars.

Thankfully, the film has Elisha Cuthbert. The character is unwisely rewritten; she's not mean enough when it counts and we never see her as a danger. She never even says, "Wanna Die?" once in the film. The beauty of Jun Ji-Hyun's masterful performance was that she was a constant danger to herself and everyone around her, yet we still fell in love with her in spite of it all. That said, Elisha Cuthbert carries the movie on her shoulders. Her performance is so good that she even sells the most mediocre lines (and there are a ton of them) beautifully. She is completely faultless here. No one could fill Jun Ji-Hyun's shoes and Cuthbert seems to know this.

Joanna Gleason, in a double role as Charlie's Mother and Aunt, is fine here and Chris Sarandon is almost unrecognisable as Jordan's Father.

I also have to give special notice to the Cinematography. The movie looks lovely.

So, there is a lovely surprise here. It's not a wonderful movie. It's not even all that great by any stretch, but somehow, it doesn't embarrass the memory of the original.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-07-30T00:45:00.002-04:00

Thicke, Bitch.

2008-07-28T19:12:00.002-04:00

I love Thicke. Robin Thicke, that is. I still remember the morning I woke up, turned on the TV and saw his video for "When I Get You Alone" on MTV (yeah, back when they not only played videos, but when they played more than two types of music genres). I forgot, for the longest time, who the artist was. I searched everywhere to no avail. A friend finally found out "who that artist with one name" was. It turns out, his album Cherry Blue Skies never got a release until a year later when some additional tracks were added and retitled A Beautiful World. Luckily, the Internet once again came to the rescue and revealed it's bounty upon me. I grooved to Cherry Blue Skies long before many people knew who Thicke was (well, outside of being famous for his parents Gloria Loring and Alan Thicke).

His breakthrough album, The Evolution of Robin Thicke, to my ears, suffered from too much modern Soul sounds. You know, finger popping percussion over either light Flamenco guitar or a driving string section. I missed the straight ahead funk of his debut album (in either configuration).

Well, a new single is out, entitled Magic. It's a return to the earlier, old school sound that made me love Thicke in the first place. The video is a good watch, too. It has a fun parody of the old THX theater snipe and a cool send up of key images from 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as some hat tipping to Fred Astaire. The video is below. Groovy.

OMG! NOOOOOOOO! They're KISSING!!!!!!

2008-07-28T15:53:00.004-04:00

One more My Sassy Girl remake trailer. Too much physical contact in my opinion.

....and they're KISSING????!?!!!?? This movie is going to emotionally kill me, I'm positive.

...and to wash the tast of that out of your mouth, here is the Music Video, I Believe, from the Original My Sassy Girl.

Note: It's not subtitled, but in the spoken word portion in the middle of this clip, Gyun-Woo is giving the Girl's new boyfriend "Ten Rules" of her likes and dislikes so he can get along with her better. I've added the subtitled "Ten Rules" after the Music Video.

God, the original film is so, so great. I love this movie. The remake is gonna kill me, I just know it.

Speed Racer crushes the Batmobile!

2008-07-26T01:50:00.014-04:00

Sorry, everyone. I've been gone away for a while. The reason for my absence is kinda funny. I've been hiding out, frightened for my life. Why? I was stupid to publicly say The Dark Knight was just okay. That's not to say I hated it, but I might as well have, considering the near violent reactions from all who've heard me speak of it. Honest to God, it seems that if I say it was anything less than amazing, then I'm a fucking leper and have no taste. I've been told I'm biased because of my less than stellar reaction.

The bottom line is this. Yes, I know it's an event film. Yes, I know I'm supposed to rhapsodise over Heath Ledger's posthumous performance. I wish I could just shit flowers all over this movie, but I can't. I went in with an open mind. Truly, I did. I wanted to be nothing less than entertained... and I was, but I didn't witness the second coming of cinema that night. It was just another Batman movie, but this time Batman was just a footnote to the story; a supporting character that just happens to be the film's namesake.

As much as I disliked the Tim Burton Batman (But I did enjoy the first sequel, Batman Returns), I'm seriously beginning to believe he got it right. Well, more right than anyone else did. ...and no one is going to sway my belief that Caesar Romero is the penultimate Joker. Hail Caesar.

He was far more annoying than frightening, but Heath Ledger's performance was great. No question.

However:

1) He wasn't (and shouldn't have been) the best reason to see the film

2) There are many competent actors who could have pulled off that role. The entire role consisted of makeup, lighting and chewing of scenery. Hell, Carrot Top could've done it as well.
3) I'm convinced, had he not died, there wouldn't have been near as much raving about this simply above average movie

4) His ultimate best performance was Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain and it's unfortunate that he won't be widely remembered for that role.

Other complaints:

The film was too long. 40 minutes could've easily been excised. The film couldn't decide if it wanted to be a realistic crime melodrama or a dark graphic novel come to life. The script was a bit too mean spirited for it's own good. Christian Bale was woeful as Batman. That damn Bran Muffin in his throat killed every scene he was in. As Bruce Wayne, he was fine. I'll give him that.

Also fine in their roles were Gary Oldman and Michael Caine; their presence giving some balance and prestiege to the piece. Morgan Freeman was great, too, as always, but I'm puzzled by his presence here. His role amounts to nothing more than a pale copy of James Bond's "Q".

My biggest complaint is the disservice being done to the actor Aaron Eckhart who played Harvey Dent / Two Face. There was no mention in the advance press or previews of this particular villain's appearance in the film and, in my opinion, Harvey Dent / Two Face was a far more compelling character than the Joker.

The Joker's character arc was "I'm bad and crazy - I'm bad and crazy - I'm bad and crazy". In fact, his antics were getting a bit annoying towards the end. Harvey Dent / Two Face's character arc was much more complicated. Seeing how a true good guy could be perverted by vengeance and then redeemed was the real glue of the story in The Dark Knight for me.

So, no, I guess I wasn't The Dark Knight's target audience and I'm sure there a lot more people who don't like it as much as they say they do for fear of being an outcast. I don't care. Never did. That's why I have so few friends. Suffice it to say, I predict a ton of revisionism once it's released to Home Theatre systems.

At least it was far better than the royal turd that was Batman Begins.

The Summer Movie season in general has been pretty damn wonderful, however. I really liked Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and it's poor cousin, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D was light family entertainment that used it's 3D effects to wonderful advantage. I haven't yet seen Iron Man, but It's high on my list. The biggest and best surprise for me this summer was Speed Racer, an incredibly beautiful and surprisingly thoughtful film that I fully regret not seeing on the biggest screen possible. I'm sure it killed in IMAX. I have a feeling that Speed Racer will do wonderful business on Blu-Ray and I'm also sure it'll sell tons of Blu-Ray units as well. It will leave your eyes popping and your ears bleeding (something they also said about Suspiria back in the day). Speed Racer may well be my favorite popcorn movie of 2008.

(Heath Ledger is the new Matt Damon)

The Major Labels' Major Debut Album

2008-07-12T23:57:00.006-04:00

You may have noticed on the left hand side of this blog, there is a widget dedicated to a group called "The Major Labels" and their new album, Aquavia. I urge everyone reading this to stop and click on the widget. This is a brand new album by Expert Popsmiths Bleu, Mike Viola and Ducky Carlisle and it is exquisite. I've personally had it on a loop for 2 weeks straight. It's a very addictive confection. You can listen to some samples of the album, but I recommend you dive in head first and immerse yourself into the album, start to finish. Although I loathe the term normally, the album is Beatlesque. The album is also T-Rexy, Bowie-y, Lennon and Mccartney solo-y and, to my uncannily trained ears, Hudson Brothers-y.

The opening and closing songs ("The Major Labels Got It Made" and "TML4EVA") bookend the inner content with the first proper song within those bumpers being, "Don't Hear A Single"; a paean to the great pop records of the past. If you're past 35, you'll be able to fully appreciate the sentiment here. There is some incredible Lennon/McCartney-ism going on with 2 seemingly different songs welded together to form a whole.

The next song is simply the best 3 and a half minutes spent in 2008. "Velveteen Queen" can be called a number of things: Baroque, Glam, Psychedelic... they may all fit, but labels aside, it's simply pop brilliance. The guitars, vocals, lyrics all come together with the nudge of a higher power's hand.

"The Bitter Pill" shares a kinship with "Don't Hear A Single" in it's record store delving theme.

"Richard Randolph" is a curious song. It's about a harmless middle aged man child who wants nothing more than to play with the local children. The parents, however, won't stand for it. The vaudeville type melody belies a darker lyric about automatically deeming anyone with a love for children and remaining a child himself (the Peter Pan Syndrome) a pervert. A worthwhile, challenging song.

"Hummingbird" is Bleu's beautiful second cousin to McCartney's "Blackbird". Simple and lovely.

This is where side two on a vinyl record would be (and one is forthcoming, I've been assured!) and it is an Abbey Road type suite of sweeping themes and melodies. It kicks of with the assaulting driving rock of "Jimmy Kenney" and lands on the doorstep of "The Sweet", a fascinating pop piece with movements and themes that would've made Brian Wilson proud.

Then there's "An Ode To Something To Cry About"... This is an oddball one joke one off. Possibly the weakest cut on the album, but it's a funny joke piece that reminds me of Nilsson's "Ivy Covered Walls" off of his Sandman Album.

"Deja Vu (All Over Again)" is a short and sweet Merseybeat like tune that comes complete with Ringo Drums and 12 string Rick melody lines. It's just an appetizer for the album's namesake.

"Aquavia" is a devastating and haunting song that wouldn't be out of place on an early 70's Elton John album. The melody and chorus will stay with you for days.

After the "TML4EVA" closer, the cheeky bums had the nerve to round out the album with 6 minutes of noise.

Seriously, this is one wonderful album and one of the best albums I've heard all year. Download it for free, or better yet, throw 6 or 7 dollars their way. They more than deserve it.

The Major Labels home base are on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/themajorlabels

My Sassy Direct to Video Release

2008-07-12T01:37:00.005-04:00

From the people who brought you... WHAT???

Yeah, that's right. I kinda knew it was going to happen when I couldn't find any solid release information for so long. The Elisha Cuthbert / Jessie Bradford remake of My Sassy Girl is going straight to video from 20th Century Fox (!) on August 28th in the USA. It's going to run 95 minutes (as opposed to the 121 theatrical minutes / 137 director's cut minutes of the Korean original) and it sports a PG-13 rating. It was given a Theatrical release in the Philippines this past June, but I guess that's it. I suppose after The Lake House tanked, there wasn't much interest in remakes of Korean movies. Shockingly, however, I feel kinda bad that I won't get to see this on a big screen. Not that I would have thoroughly enjoyed it, you see. I'd already made up my mind to about 25% dedicated to hating it (that's 75% still unsure). Still, it would've been nice for a Theatrical release to stir up some interest in the original.

Well, even so, you KNOW I'm gonna buy it on DVD, even if I watch it just once. Why? The original is in the top 3 of my all time favorite movies (as if you didn't know) and that means it's one of the few movies that I can watch anytime, anywhere without reservation. I also have 6 unique editions of the original My Sassy Girl already, so I sorta have to own it, even if I never watch it.

This whole "From the people who brought you My Big Fat Greek Wedding" thing. That bothers me. Once again, it's a case of filmmakers from the West taking a wonderful Foreign movie, remaking it and not acknowledging that it's a remake of a film that's almost certainly far superior.

Where The Hell Is Matt?

2008-07-01T19:19:00.004-04:00

From Boing-Boing comes a link to one of the most pleasant, life affirming video clips I've seen in a long time. Yeah, this is one of those so-called "Viral" clips, but it stands, for me, as one of the most disarmingly fascinating videos I've seen anywhere in any media. It'll make you smile wide and may even make you tear up a bit. Seriously, this is the type of thing that should be playing before movies in theatres instead of TV commercials. Bring back the Short Subject. OK, soapbox, off. Here, for your absolute enjoyment is the Dance video from the "Where The Hell Is Matt?" website. This high quality version is actually from Vimeo, BTW.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Review: "L. Save The World"

2008-06-30T19:26:00.010-04:00

I am not the world's biggest Anime fan, nor am I the biggest Manga fan. It's not that I hate either medium, I just never really got "it" until a few years ago. Even then, I really only got into it because of the Live Action films they spawned (the exception to that rule would be the Beck Anime). I suppose you could say my appreciation for all things Anime and Manga were due to me being "Backwards Compatible". Battle Royale, Shimotsuma Monogatari (Kamikaze Girls), Cutie Honey and even Cromartie High School were all seen by me as a live action movie before I experienced the Anime or Manga (and in the case of Battle Royale, a translation of the original source novel).The same thing happened to me with Death Note. A good friend of mine clued me in on the Death Note Anime which, of course, began as a Manga, but I ended up seeing the first two films (Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name) prior to either. Of course, my friend was correct and I ended up wholly embracing the Death Note stories.

One of the most appealing things about the whole Death Note experience is it's wonderful cast of characters. From the Kira's Light and Misa to the Sinigami's Rem and Ryuk, the characterizations in Death Note are a big reason behind it's success in Japan and abroad. Of course, the most popular character in the Death Note universe is, arguably, the master detective known as L. Although L sacrifices himself at the end of the second Death Note film, the character's popularity is so great that he warranted his own spin off film.

Directed by Hideo Nakata, L. Save The World, is a fine solid action film that touches on both Death Note mythology (although the actual Death Note is merely a cursory part of the story) and (most surprisingly) Hideo's own screen adaptation of RING. L. Save The World starts around the same time Death Note: The Last Name is wrapping up. All of the characters from the first two films are given brief face time to tie the film into the last one and elicit a smile or two from Death Note fans. You see, in the previous film, L had written his own name in the Death Note in order to flush out the mysterious Kira. The mission was accomplished, but it left L with only 23 days to live. This film deals with L's final days and the one last mystery he has to solve before his self imposed death.

The last mystery involves an Ebola virus spliced and mutated to an influenza virus that Eco terrorists are planning to use to thin out the human race and set the Earth's ecology back on track. As the film opens, the virus has already ravaged a small village in Thailand. There in Thailand, another super detective, F, discovers both the diabolical plan and a little boy who seems impervious to the virus. The boy winds up in the custody of L, as does the daughter of a scientist who sacrifices himself to stop the spread of said virus. From there it's L and the children on a race against time to find an antidote to the virus and to stop the Eco terrorists from going through with their plan.

As Director Hideo demonstrated brilliantly in RING, he is a master of the "Race Against Time" plot line. L's race against time to solve the one final mystery directly parallels Asakawa and Ryuji's race to save their son from certain death in 7 days. The big difference here, and one that works in favor of L. Save The world, is L knows his time is limited and nothing can be done about it. The protagonists in RING are living on a hope that they'll all get a reprieve if they solve the mystery. L knows there's no hope left in his surviving past what was written in the Death Note. He's solving the mystery and saving the world just because that's what he does. Another, albeit tenuous, RING connection is this film is to the other Death Note movies what Spiral and Loop are to the RING novel. It's an extension of the storyline, but it doesn't actually continue the storyline. I personally like that approach very much. Having yet another Shinigami show up with a black book wouldn't have cut it for me. I also surprised myself by liking the direct line made between Terrorists and Serial Killers. Usually observations like that in Cinema can come off as extremely preachy. Here, however, the approach was very much of a, "Here it is, absorb it or reject it" type of commentary. The film is full of nice, non condescending touches like that.

Ken'ichi Matsuyama (L) is the undisputed selling point of this movie. His portrayl of L is the film's complete raison d'être and, thankfully, he doesn't disappoint here. All of the mannerisms and quirks that endeared audiences to the Live Action edition of L are all in place. His scenes with the children are nothing short of precious and worth the price of admission alone. His realisation that he's not a very good babysitter since, genius notwithstanding, he's not much more than a child himself is priceless. There are also some expansions of the L character, including a scene where, emotionally exhausted after finishing up all of his open cases on record, we actually see him asleep. He also does the action scenes very well, introducing a physicality to the character while never breaking the L character.

Some may roll their eyes at the overblown action finale (including an intentional (?) homage to Airplane!), but I dug it. It's one of those films where, either you go for the entire ride, or you walk away. The film never gets too, too serious and the sense of fun is always there. On the downside, the intellectual cat and mouse games that dominated the first two Death Note movies are all but gone here. It's a different kind of movie, though. I'd surely love to see more L films; earlier cases and mysteries he may have solved prior to the Death Note case.

When The Terror Died

2008-06-28T01:16:00.008-04:00

I first published this essay on my MySpace blog on the 5th of February, 2005. I feel the need to reprint it here, since I think it bears reprinting; especially in the post SAW & Hostel era. I'll probably come off as an old fogey, but you know whay? I am an old fogey... at least in this context. Read on, true believers:

When the Terror Died

Current mood: Surly

I was born in 1969. That was a pretty good year, I gather. The Beatles were still together, Man landed on the moon and Night of the Living Dead was still playing theatres and delivering the goods as the first important modern horror film (arguably, of course).

I am now a Horror fan and I have been for about 28 years. I wasn't born a horror fan; I had two considerably older brothers that took care of that. I was so terrified of just about EVERYTHING, thanks to them, when I was a toddler that I can't believe I made it this long without therapy. In my earliest years, I couldn't even hear the theme to Chiller Theatre without running, screaming into the next room. Thanks for that, bros. Of course, all of that eventually changed. Around 1977 / 1978, in the midst of the big Star Wars mega hoopla, I discovered my oldest brother's Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. I wouldn't have even picked it up if not for the picture of Darth Vader on the cover. I leafed through slowly, cautiously as each page revealed something even more fantastic and grotesque than the last page. That magazine... and a few Godzilla movies later, and I was a bona fide Horror / Monster movie fanatic.

About this time, a movie was released that was made not far from where I live. Dawn of the Dead was everywhere in Pittsburgh. The city was proud of the movie and rightly so. I was a little uneasy about the poster: a half rotted head of a zombie rising up over the landscape like a horrific sun, with eyes burning straight through me. I was also a little shocked by the TV ads. I remember it well. I was watching Blackula on WPGH's 11:00 Saturday night movie. The movie was a bit hokey, but fun. When the first commercial break came, the first commercial was an ad for "Dawn...". There wasn't much to it; just an animated version of the poster graphic with Adolf Caesar's creepy voice intoning that, "Dawn of the Dead is here!" and a shot of zombies rushing towards the camera through an elevator. Wow. That was strong stuff for a 9 year old. I was also intrigued by the fact that the film was not rated. Being that the MPAA's rating system was established in 1968, I had no idea hat a film could be unrated. EVERY film I ever saw in a theatre had a rating. The mind boggled.

Even though I didn't see "Dawn..." until the mid 1980's, I knew by reputation that it was an extremely graphic film. I even saw in an issue of Fantastic Films magazine (god, I miss that rag), a frame by frame collection of stills detailing the bursting of someone's head via shotgun. It blew my mind as much as the victim's. Then there was Halloween. Not a gory film, but seminal. Everyone talked about that one. Alien followed in 1979, then Friday the 13th in 1980... by then there was this unholy glut of slasher films, Italian zombie films, sci-fi gore movies, you name it. If blood could be put anywhere in a movie, it would be. A new magazine came along to cover it, too. It was from the makers of Starlog magazine. Starlog was a magazine for Sci-fi geeks. Fangoria was for Horror aficionados. What's really the distinction? Sci-fi geeks had their own little world created for them. Thanks to the Star Wars merchandising strategies, it became essential to consume anything that had it's name on it: Action Figures, lunch boxes, models, playsets, etc. Horror fans didn't really have anything like that (at least not since the mid 1960's). The main reason was as such. Studios making Sci-fi movies were big budget, for the most part and Sci-fi movies in of themselves were a family friendly genre. Modern Horror films, on the other hand, were for (demented) adults, presumably, and there was no room for merchandising. Sure "Dawn..." had a posterbook and a role playing game, but there were no dolls, or Monroeville Mall playsets.

Let me pause here and refine the subject of this blog. The reason for this rant stems from a video I watched the other night. It was a 1986 VHS of Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors. It wasn't a video I had seen in the past. It always sat on the Video Store shelf, but my 17 year old self really had no use for a documentary about a convention. I was a devoted reader of Fangoria, and I was until 1992, but I wasn't into conventions and the whole thing just left me totally uninterested. Watching this tape now, however, is pretty essential. What was a mish mash of convention goings on mixed with promo reels and shameless huckstering on the part of Media home entertainment now appears to be a time capsule of a turning point in American entertainment.

Yes, friends, this tape is the key. It tells us the exact moment the Modern Horror movie died. It died at this convention and the disease was a movie. the movie? A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Now, before you get your panties in a bunch. I have the utmost respect for ANOES (which it will be heretofore referred to). It was a long time favorite of mine and I saw it about a dozen times in it's initial run. Looking back, now, I believe it might have ruined horror forever. The first film in the series was a horror movie, but subsequent films, in the attempt to garner a larger and larger audience, began to leave the horror genre and embrace the genre of fantasy. Freddy Kruger himself went from a relentless bogeyman to an uneasy cross between the Crypt Keeper and Shecky Greene.

The Death Knell:

Right up front, you should know that until the mid 1980's, horror aficionado and Sci-fi geeks stayed with their own. A line was drawn in the sand and one rarely crossed it. Sci-fi geeks didn't like horror aficionado because horror movies were gross and simplistic and catered to the basest of human depravity. Horror aficionado didn't like Sci-fi geeks because they were weirdos that liked to play with dolls and dress up and role play. There was a rift in the cinematic fabric of space. One man brought the two together.

The big attraction at the convention was Robert Englund. Now, Robert Englund wasn't your average Horror movie star. Had Gunnar Hansen or Nick Castle shown up as the main attraction, not a 1/3 of the attendees would have shown. You see, Robert Englund was a horror AND Sci-fi/fantasy star. He played Willie on the NBC television show V. Since the convention was advertised in all of the Starlog publications, the attendees at the convention were split pretty evenly down the middle between Horror aficionado and Sci-fi geeks. The unholy melding begat a new kind of fan: The Horror Movie Geek®.

This beast is frightening in that it loves horror movies, but has the mentality of a Sci-fi geeks consumerism. Lemme tell ya, money doth talk and corporation listen. It wasn't long before ANOES posters, T-shirts and other geeky swag were bursting out from licensing companies. There was much of this swag to be had at the convention. Seems, for the first time, horror film memorabilia was standing shoulder to shoulder with Phasers and Taun Taun busts.

This was also making the bigger studios take notice. About the only thing the Majors had was Paramount's F13 series, and they weren't marketing that very much at all. Now these smaller studios were getting bigger and gaining more muscle. Let us not forget New Line Cinema was originally an acquisition house that played mainly underground and grindhouse fare for College and drive in audiences. Now, with ANOES and it's decedents, it was killing all it's competition on opening weekends. So, of course, the big studios were cranking out carbon copies of the junk the lower budget studios were already watering down for the masses who all of the sudden were embracing the horror genre.

Gone were the visceral thrills and chills of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Evil Dead. Now we were getting diluted horror that relied more on hallucinogenic imagery and crass one liners spouted be charismatic villains. For the first time in movie history, viewers were vocally cheering for the killer. They were no longer placing themselves in the position of the victim. They were now all for the bad guy... and all thanks to Wes Craven and his bogeyman Fred.
Horror Cinema really hasn't been the same since. Sequels to established genre classics like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn were going for the laugh rather than the scare. Even original scare flix like H. P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator were funnier than actually unsettling. Drive ins and single screen movie houses were closing and being torn down and turned into parking lots, or worse, mega stores.

Things got worse in the 1990's as smaller studios and acquisition houses were either turning to other venues like Art films, being swallowed up by the major studios, completely unchecked by the anti trust laws of the US Government, or just simply closing down all together. Sure, little straight to video studios were popping up everywhere, but cheap looking video couldn't then, or now, hold a candle to a theatrical film.

Today, New Line Cinema is a major player, owned by Warner Brothers. Even the smaller releasing houses (Dimension, Screen Gems, Rogue) are actually offshoots of the major studios. The films suffer because of it. Everything is made by committee and there is no real room for new, mind leveling ideas. We now go to other countries for that, the true horror aficionados do, at least. Things are bad and they won't get any better. They say the Golden Age is where we are now, but I say in order for an age to become golden, one has to look back on it and filter out the no so good parts. Seems we had a major golden age and the non believers pissed on it. Thieves in the temple, I tell you.

I wish I could come up with a suitable coda to this rant, but I can't. This story really has no end, so I am unable to conclude. I guess I'll just end this one by asking something of you, the reader: Tonight, go into the farthest reaches of your video collection (or video store, if you have an older, not franchised, one available) and find a horror movie, pre 1986. Watch it, all warm and fuzzy with it's bad video transfer and sound drop outs. Don't watch a remastered DVD or VHS. It has to be a tape from the era. Drink it in. Remember how you felt when it was new and you were watching it for the first time. Return to that time. And Smile.

It's Me Birthday

2008-06-25T18:46:00.006-04:00

Yes, yes, yes. It is Lord Shockedelic's 39th. Thank you for all of your kind cards and letters... both of you. Yeah. So. 39. It's kind of a placeholder birthday, y'know? Everyone who has brought up the subject has told me something I hadn't thought of: "One more year until 40!!!" Thanks. Yeah. Not obvious. At all.

So, my 39th has been slow so far. I've forgone the whole cake and cards thing. I'm not one to want too much attention drawn to me. I like a little, but lavishing is overdoing it.

I went shopping for things today; soap, paper towels, stuff that one needs to make it though the day. That's when I saw it. Big Lots must've known it was my birthday, 'cause they got a bunch of Sony and MGM DVDs and priced 'em all at $3.

I bought the following:

Art School Confidential (hadn't seen it yet, but wanted to)
The Amityville Horror (1979; the remake was there, but no one offered me money to take it)
Amityville 2: The Possession (a sick, sick movie... Awesome!!!)
The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (once again, a movie I wanted to see, but haven't yet. Steve Irwin RIP)
Burnt Offerings (anyone for a double feature with The Changeling???)
The Brood (to replace my Laserdisc that John Beluvich stole back in the 90's. No. I NEVER forget.)
Foxy Brown (A classic that's worth much more. But why not Coffy?)
The Ghoul (the 1933 Boris Karloff classic!!!!!)
The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane (Haven't seen it since I was a kid. I've been wanting to revisit it.)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. 'Nuff said)
The Fall of the House Of Usher (AIP! Vincent Price!)
Jack the Giant Killer (the original version, not the musical re-edit. Damn.)
Roadie (Meatloaf! Alice Cooper! Kaki Hunter! Blondie! Roy Orbison! Art Carney! Hank Williams, Jr.!)
Scanners (because, believe it or not, I didn't have a copy yet)
Swamp Thing (Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll be the withdrawn disc with Adrienne Barbeau nudity! Update: Nope! Same old Brief nudity PG version. Doesn't matter. It's DC and Wes Craven's arguable finest hours.)

So, yeah. Lot's of AIP/Filmways, a couple of Cronenbergs, some comedies; A nice haul, don'cha think?

Some I passed over. Killer Klowns From Outer Space ('cause I already own it), John Carpenter's The Fog (might go back for that one), Amityville: The Demon (because I have it on DVD in it's original 3D field Sequential version), Bert I. Gordon's The Magic Sword (might go back for that one, too)... can't remember the others I almost went for. A nice bag of goodies for my 39th.

I'll probably spend the rest of my impending middle age chilling out and watching movies, though maybe not the ones I just bought. I just got two Korean movies that are barking at me to watch, and soon: A Tale of Legendary Libido (a period comedy about a man with an unstoppable erection... shades of Sex & Zen!) and GP506 aka The Guard Post (a military zombie movie).

Lastly, who else has formed a crush on Stephanie Courtney aka Progressive Insurance's spokes lady, FLO? She went from mildly annoying, to strangely attractive to I have to stop everything and watch whenever one of the commercials are on. It's not enough to make me go Progressive, but throw in a date with her and I might change my mind! What am I saying? Stop me!!!!!!

The Shockedelic Radio Show Episode 3:02

2008-06-16T11:40:00.011-04:00

The Shockedelic Radio Show

June 15th, 2008 - Episode 3:02

"For Dick, Harvey and Bo"

Legal stuff:

Hope you enjoy it.

Update Eratta (6-20-08)!!!: This latest show was produced under some diress. I was getting a cold (which broke badly just hours after the completeion of the show) and my mouth was running on auto pilot. So, there were some errors and faux pas.

Firstly, the opening song was "Harder and Harder" by the Zutons and not "Higher and Higher". Coincidentally (or not!), the Zutons did cover Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher" on the vinyl only edition of the "It's the Little Things We Do" single. Maybe, as pennance, I'll spin that one next show. I also said "Hotter and Hotter" was the Title Track from the album "You Can Do Anything"; and absurd claim that makes no sense. I meant to say, "The lead off track on the album "You Can Do Anything".

I also stated that you could get the Love Psychedelico compilation, "This Is Love Psychedelico" from the Hacktone website. For more info on that album, you should actually go to: http://www.thisislovepsychedelico.com/ and you can actually buy the album on iTunes or from Amazon.com or bestbuy.com.

I keep mispronouncing Anna Tsuchiya's name. Can't help it. I know it's pronounced (in English) as Soo-Chee-Yah, but when I'm talking quickly and not paying attention, I always seem to pronounce her name as Too-She-Yah. I cringe whenever I do it, but I never know I do it until I listen to the show later on. I'll try to untie my toungue better next time.

Lastly (and this is not an error, but a notice), the aftershow bonus track is The Zutons' cover of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" from The Jo Whiley Show on the BBC Radio 1, May 23, 2008.

Your Sweet Bippy.

2008-05-25T01:53:00.010-04:00

Dick Martin has died.

Although I was born in 1969 while "Laugh In" was in full swing, I grew up with Rowan and Martin's wonderful, anarchic sense of humor about the world through half hour syndication editions of the show. Dan Rowan, who passed on in 1987, was the debonair straight man to the lecherous Dick Martin. Dan would set it up and Dickie would bat it out of the park. Dick Martin was a true master of the "Wink Wink" style of Hippie humor that was all so ubiquitous in the late 1960's. Even if something wasn't dirty, he could make allusions that would turn it on it's head and make it so ("You bet your sweet Bippy!", "Look that up in your Funk & Wagnals!").

You could say that Dick Martin's sly sense of double entendre shaped my young sardonic psyche. He was the ultimate swinger and ended up marrying a Playboy Playmate; the lovely Dolly Reed. That's called living the American Dream, my friends.

86 years ain't a bad run, but you never want to hear that your heroes have died. Rest in peace, Dickie. This Fickle Finger of Fate is for you.

Here's a classic bit of Rowan and Martin shenanigans.

Dickie with Tiny Tim. Check out the pure comedic perfection of both performers.

Speaking of Bippies, isn't it time for TCM to air "The Maltese Bippy"; the theatrical spin off of the "Laugh-In" TV series?

The Shockadelic Radio Show: Episode 3:01

2008-04-27T00:06:00.004-04:00

The Shockedelic Radio Show

April 27th, 2008 - Episode 3:01

"Brand Spankin' New"

Click this here link to download this new episode of The Shockedelic Radio Show to your Computer. It's an mp3 file (80 minutes long, about 35 or so megs) that you can transfer to your MP3 Media Player, burn to a CD or just listen on your computer. If you prefer to just have it stream to your computer via WinAmp or Windows Media Player (or whatever streaming player you use), click On this particular link.

Legal stuff:

Hope you enjoy it.

The Forbidden Kingdom!!!! CJ7!!??!

2008-04-18T18:34:00.006-04:00

Every great golden once in a while, some Hong Kong films wash up on these shores and play non speciality cinema. This week, we have two... sorta.

"The Forbidden Kingdom" really isn't a Hong Kong film, strictly, tat is. It's an American / Hong Kong co-production that features the first ever teaming on Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Now, I'm absolutely certain this film will ruffle a few critical feathers, because this films isn't some "Kill Bill" masturbatory Tarantino flick. This is a true, dyed in the wool HK Martial Arts celebration. There is so much respect and reverence (and no irreverence) done here that it's impossible to not be rapturous while viewing. What we have here is a Hollywood film that finally gets the Hong Kong aesthetic right... and it only took 20+ years!

The film concerns a young man, Jason Tripitikas (smartly played by Michael Angarano) who is obsessed with Martial Arts movies. The opening title sequence shows that his character's (and the filmmaker's) heart is worn on his sleeve. Indeed, if the opening credits doesn't elicit a gleeful response, then you're in the wrong theatre. Exits are located in the rear.

Jason often goes to a run down shop in Chinatown to buy his videos. Sure he could go to a regular store, but he seems to go for the atmosphere as much as anything. The owner of the store, Old Hop (played marvellously in old age makeup by Jackie Chan), humors the young boy and lightly rebuffs him on his martial arts obsession. Jason notices something golden in a back room of the shop. It turns out to be a mythical staff that, according to Old Hop, is waiting for it's owner to pick it up.

On his way back home, Jason is accosted by a local street gang and they force him to help rob Old Hop's place after hours. A scuffle ensues, Old Hop is shot in the shoulder and the staff sends Jason back to another time and place.

Not so long story short, Jason finds himself in ancient China where he meets a drunken master, Lu Yan (Also Jackie Chan), Sparrow (Crystal Liu) and a Silent Monk (Jet Li). Turns out the Staff belongs to the Monkey King (also played by Li), who was encased in stone 500 years before by the evil Jade Emperor (Deshun Wang). What follows is an extremely satisfying mixture of Broad humor and some excellent Kung Fu.

Anyone saying the film is derivative is missing the point entirely. There is no such thing as a "new twist" on the genre. This is a film that loves the films that came before fiercely and is trying to gently bring these films back or, at least, let audiences remember how much fun they were.

There has also been some hemming and hawing about the White lead. This is bogus and the invention of liberal ridiculousness. This is a Hollywood movie, guys and girls! Did anyone bitch that John Saxon fought along side Bruce Lee in "Enter The Dragon"? Anyone remember Kurt Russel in "Big Trouble In Little China"? It's not a sin to have a white person in a Kung Fu Film. That barrier was broken in the 1970's fer gawd's sake. Michael Angarano has nothing to be ashamed of here. He more than holds his own comically, dramatically and physically in this film.

Of course, the major attraction is the fight between Jackie and Jet and it's incredible. I'm sure it's no surprise that it's a draw (though Jet has the edge, I believe), but it may be a shock that it occurs so early in the film. Anyone who has anything to say about these two being past their prime is an old fuddy duddy. Don't just write their eulogies yet, people. They're great in this movie.

So, I officially give this film the SHOCKADELIC SEAL OF APPROVAL. Please go and see it. Bring the kids, too. You won't be sorry.

The same can't be said, sadly, for the new -- highly anticipated, long awaited -- Steven Chow movie, "CJ7". The last two films Steven Chow had done ("Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu Hustle") had led me to almost believe Chow was cinematically invincible. The films were universally admired and won new fans wherever they played. I say "almost", though, because I'd been a HK film fan for a couple of decades now. I remember watching Steven Chow way back then. Let's face it, crew, on the whole, his films were greatly hit and miss. Of course, this had to do with local humor and the fact that he was releasing 3 or 4 films a year in his prime.

It's been a couple of years since "Kung Fu Hustle" and it seemed like Chow was taking his time to do things right.

Here's the thing. Even though the film opens in limited release today, I saw it a couple of months ago. The reason it's taken me so long to write a review for it is, frankly, "CJ7" really isn't that good of a movie.

The film concerns Dicky, a destitute little boy who attends a private school. He's sent there by his single parent father who works multiple jobs and rummages through landfills for clothes and food for the boy. One night, feeling bad for not being able to afford an expensive toy for Dicky, he finds a green ball in the landfill. Unbeknownst to him, the toy is actually a high tech alien toy dog left behind when a flying saucer takes off suddenly. The dog has a regenerative touch, but it drains his battery (and he only has the one). Dicky misunderstands the toy's talent and expects the dog to work other types of miracles.

I mean, it's OKAY, but it's nothing special at best and a serious error at worst. First, to be fair, let's discuss the good.

At the top of that list is the actual star of the film, Jiao Xu. She plays Dicky, the son to Steven Chow's character, Ti. As a little girl playing a boy, she's fantastic. Her timing is dead on and she carries the comedy as well as the drama. Steven Chow is also good, but he's basically playing a straight man in a movie with very little laughs. I kept seeing him as some modern day Charlie Chaplin, as this film does have the feel of a depression era drama. The other thing that gains high marks from me is CJ7 itself. CJ7 is a CGI created character that looks like a green gelatin dog with a furry white head. The thing is so damned adorable that when it is mishandled for mostly comic effect, I felt myself cringing instead of laughing.

While the film doesn't have many laughs, there are a few, courtesy of Chow's gang of grotesques; most notably a 6 foot tall grade school girl that is played by a man in drag with a little girl's voice dubbed in. Dickie's fantasy day at school is also a hoot with a great homage to both "Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu Hustle" contained within it.

The downside to this movie is the depressing atmosphere the film has. It seems to want to be an "E.T."/"Gremlins" hybrid, but the story never explores those avenues. What the film is essentially about is a rather sad story of a widower father and his precocious son and this wonderful alien being that rolls into their life. The kids in the film are bullies, most of the adults are also bullies and the film just doesn't seem to be that much fun because of it.

Worst of all, the ending seems rushed and that's the saddest part. The film only runs about 80 minutes without credits and there's so much more that could have been done within the film's framework. The film's ending promises a sequel of sorts, but even that seems labored and dull.

So, the film opens today and, while it's pretty much a kid's movie, it's being released in Mandarin with English Subtitles. I'm not getting Sony/Columbia Pictures here. It took them so long to realise that adults want their films to be subtitled, and that's all well and good, but you just can't do that to children. This is one film that should have been dubbed into English.

Funplex!

2008-04-07T12:55:00.002-04:00

Not much to post today, but I thought I'd post the video for the B-52's new single, "Funplex", the title track from their new disc. Look for the extra in the video with the bones on his sleeves. That's one of my all time best buddies, Don. I'm very proud of him, 'cause he's always been on of the B-52's biggest fans. Good on ya, Don!

Kimura Kaela +1

2008-04-02T00:36:00.007-04:00

Kimura Kaela's fourth new album, "+1", has been released today and it's a beauty. I like it very much and I think it's better than her last album, "Scratch".

She has made the complete transformation from pop/rock songstress to more dance oriented material. As a result, this album is much more harder driving, darker (as illustrated by the cover... screws?) and less eclectic than her last endeavours. The opening song, "NO IMAGE", is a true departure for Kaela. It's made good on the promise of her last, pre album, single, "Jasper" as a techno/rave type rocker. "Jasper" follows immediately, continuing the techno theme, and then into "Yellow"; a hard, alternative rocker. Another new song then follows, "STARs". This song is also her current single. It has a great hook and a fun singalong chorus.

The rest of the album flows along quite smoothly; much more smoothly than "Scratch". You might think I'm not a fan of that album, but you'd be wrong. It's just that "Scratch" is a little too experimental and quirky. Then again, "+1" doesn't have anything as instantly catchy as "L. Drunk" or "Ground Control". A matter of taste, I guess.

There're a few things that are a little distressing about "+1", however. The placing of "NO IMAGE" and "Jasper" back to back is a little jarring. I think "Jasper" would've served itself better towards the end of the album. "Yellow" feels better following "NO IMAGE" as well.

I can't understand why Kaela's B-Side cover of Farrah's "No Reason Why" would get album status, while "Honey B", a B-side that actually was quite popular was left off. I'm not saying this because "No Reason Why" is in English, while "Honey B" is mostly in Japanese, like some critics are saying. It's just that "Honey B" would've felt better in context of the album.

Speaking of context... The last song, "Humpty Dumpty" is extremely puzzling to me. The song, a sort of ballad, just doesn't jibe at all with the rest of the material on the album. Strange.

So, it sounds like I'm disliking this album, but I'm not. It's her strongest album since "Circle" and the songs that do click (90%), click hard.

So, here's to Kaela! Congrats on another album well done!

(You can get your copy at http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/ for a more than fair price!)

The Who's AMAZING (vinyl) JOUNEY

2008-04-02T00:12:00.003-04:00

***Normally, I'd post a picture of the Album, but the thing is too big for my scanner! Marvellous! In short, go to Best Buy and get yer ass a copy of this 'un! Until then. read on...***

I'm possibly the very last person to want to do any promotion for the beast that is Best Buy. They're not the devil that Walmart is, but they're close. Still, I can't help but to throw buckets of praise for their decision to release the "Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who" compilation on a 2 RECORD SET in addition to the CD version. That's right! RECORDS! Vinyl! Like, for a turntable. I'm listening to it right now and it's astounding. The Albums are pressed on 180g vinyl (with a black "Track Records" label!) and they sound incredible. It's packaged in a lovely gate fold sleeve with a book(let). I didn't see the CD version, but I'm inclined to believe the book is a full size 12" X 12" version of the CD booklet.

I've said it before on numerous occasions, but I feel it bears repeating:

No matter how well packaged a "Special Edition" CD is, it will never beat a well packaged Vinyl Edition. Why? Well, size, for one thing. Yes, it does matter. I do buy new vinyl from time to time when I have the opportunity (which, sadly, isn't often), but I'm always awestruck when I do. The vinyl always has a certain weight the Digital version can't seem to possess. Some call it presence, others call it compression... I just feel it sounds more "in the room" than Digital CD. Clicks and pops? Not if the vinyl is well cared for. Static? A little, but who listens to music in a vacuum? There is always extra noise hanging about.

And the packaging! A CD will give you either a Jewel Case with a couple pieces of paper or a digipack and a plastic disc; usually on a spindle. Vinyl covers, or slipcases are much more aesthetically pleasing. The artwork isn't a chore to see (i.e. no squinting). Indeed, when I flipped the book on the vinyl version to the back page and I was faced with the original four members of The Who from the "Who Are You" Photo sessions looking much bigger than their 12" X 12" size, I was bowled over. Man, you can actually SEE them. See what they look like.

Maybe Best Buy can be encouraged by their "exclusive" vinyl excursion enough to put a small vinyl section in their stores. Nothing major, just exclusive, limited vinyl pressings of their best sellers. I mean, Hot Topic can do it, why can't they take a loss? They're so-called "Loss Leaders", right?

My Sassy Girl: The Remake Trailer Is Finally Out!!!!!

2008-03-29T00:29:00.003-04:00

So, here it is. I suppose this means it'll be out sometime soon.

The good: It looks like a straight remake, without much embellishment. This means, while the remake is totally unnecessary, at least it's faithful.

The bad: It looks like the film's straightforward violence is going to be toned down a bit to make THE GIRL more lovable to American audiences. The mood of the subway slapping scene is different. She smiles too much. The best friend role to the male lead is totally unneeded. He doesn't need a sidekick.

Here's the trailer. See what you think...

If you go to my Review of "Run Fat Boy Run"...

2008-03-13T23:25:00.003-04:00

...which you can get to here, you'll see I've updated it with a widget. A widget is a flash window that contains information and more about the movie. This widget is a promo for "Run Fat Boy Run" that's coming out on March 28th, 2008 and it contains a game called "Blister Bash" (if you heard a farting noise, that was the widget's "Blister Bash" game calling you). Bust the blisters on Dennis' (Simon Pegg) feet for a chance to win a private screening of the movie for you and 25 friends. Go on, now. Do it. You know you wanna...

I've created another blog...

2008-03-13T23:17:00.002-04:00

My favorite all time group, Love Psychedelico, is making it's US CD debut at the end of April so I created a new blog about it (thedelico.blogspot.com). "The Another World" (a line from their song, "Right Now") is a fansite that will both promote and chronicle Love Psychedelico's emergence into he American music market.

Have a look. Click on the link below to go there...

Dr. Goldfoot and the Gril Bombs!

2008-03-13T15:37:00.009-04:00

Hulu is threatening to become the video monster of the Internet. I hope the site builds on the material it has right now, because there are some gems! Below, you'll find the FULL LENGTH FEATURE, "Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs", directed by Mario Bava. Why is this so special? It's not available on US Video, it starrs the inimitable and it's kind of a lost Bava film. The reason? Well, it's kinda terrible but totally watchable and it's here in all of it's wide screen glory. There are some other AIP titles there, too, including the marvellous "Comedy Of Terrors" and the first Dr. Goldfoot flick, "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine".

So, here, fellow shockedelicicos, is the AIP Feature:

"Doctor Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs"

Tom Hanks = Godhead

2008-03-10T23:34:00.005-04:00

Tom Hanks and Dave Clark at the 2008 RnRHOF Induction Ceremonies

Are you watching the Rock -n- Rock Hall Of Fame Ceremonies right now? Tom Hanks is inducting The Dave Clark 5 right now. Tom Hanks understands. Tom Hanks knows. He is the Pope of Shockedelica. Hallelujah!

More to follow.

P.S. The Ventures ripped it up, too. Now, explain to me HOW in God's green Earth Madonna got in? Even Iggy Pop couldn't convince me. SHE IS NOT, and NEVER WILL BE ROCK AND ROLL!!!!!!

The Teenage Prayers Invade Pittsburgh!

2008-03-10T21:01:00.005-04:00

Last Thursday night at Pittsburgh's Club Cafe, The Teenage Prayers from NYC kicked off their latest tour. This was the 3rd time I had been invited by the band to come and see them on a Pittsburgh stop and I had to decline the past two times, so it was imperative on my part to make every attempt to see them.

It was a late show (10:30pm), so it didn't interfere with my work schedule. I got there about 20 minutes after 10 and the place was about 3/1 capacity; not bad for a Thursday after hours gig. I bought a Ginger Ale and had a seat about 15 feet from the stage. The first act was a lovely little wisp of a girl with a ukulele who called herself "Pizza Pierogi". She plucked the uke and whistled like a marvellous reincarnation of Tiny Tim through time tested standards such as "Paper Moon" and "Tiptoe Through The Tulips". She also ran through some modern standards like The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and made them sound golden. "God Only Knows" was especially affecting. The only thing that I found to be rather sad was her self deprecating insistence that these songs were "cheesy". I'm sure she repeated this to deflect any undue criticism to her performance. It was unnecessary, however, since her set was sterling. I'd see her again. I regret, I didn't see the other band, The Harlan Twins. Maybe next time, guys.

"The Teenage Prayers" then took the stage and basically blew the doors off the place. It was a Rock ~n~ Soul baptism. On the tiny, cramped Club Cafe stage, the 5 piece band (normally 6?)made every second of their 30 minute set count. They sang some selections from their first album, "Ten Songs" but the bulk was from their brand new, forthcoming silver disc, "Everyone Thinks You're The Best" (it comes out in a week, Preorder HERE). I wanted to request the song, "Annihilation" from their first album, but my mind slipped again and all I could think of was "Isolation". That, however, was a John Lennon tune. My damned middle aged brain.

After the show, I introduced myself to the band, somewhat in vain. I was talking to the lead singer, Tim Adams, online for a little while, but do you think I could for a moment remember his mane? No! I went haphazardly through each member saying, "Hi! I'm Terry... from the Internet? Did I speak to you? I'm friends with Mike Viola..?" Of course, no one knew who the hell I was, but I was persistent and finally (lastly) spoke to Tim. After that was ironed out, I had a lovely time with, Tim, his brother Terry (No! Not Another Terry!) and Remy Weber. I have to say the entire band was absolutely accommodating to me and I thank them for that. I had a great time talking to them. Bought both CDs, too!

I had a blast, though. I'll definitely see them again, time and date permitting.

Here's their website. You can Listen to their tracks, see their tour dates there and buy their CDs, too! LISTEN! SEE! BUY!

Return from the DEAD!

2008-03-04T17:57:00.010-05:00

Yep, so last week I was sick as the proverbial dog. FLU sick. It's been 13 days and I'm still recovering. I really don't mind so much since I don't seem to get sick all that often (knock, knock). I mean, a person really needs to be sick sometimes to strengthen the body's immune system.

I saw a few movies last week that I hadn't yet commented on. In addition to "Run Fat Boy Run", I saw the concert film "U23D".

I hadn't seen the "Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds" 3D concert film because a) I'm 38 years old without children and b) the friggin' tickets are $18 bucks a pop. $18. That's Child or Adult. That's Matinee or Evening prices. It's a sad and outrageous fact of life these days. Big Business makes your kids into spoiled brats, then use them to make the parents pay ungodly amounts of money for things that have been marked up 500% from what they should be. I digress.

In my Flu induced haze last Tuesday, I decided to leave the house and see "U23D". $11.00 a ticket. Wow. I remember a day when 3D movies were the exact same price as other features. The glasses were actually FREE in those days. So I pay the money and sit in the back row.

The film is really good. I'm not a U2 fan by any stretch, but I know all the hits. I tried to get into U2 back during the release of "Rattle & Hum", but the whole "We're messiahs from Ireland coming to America to become Journeyman Bluesmen" thing left me cold. I saw it a few times during it's release since I was doing the Rocky Horror floor show thing back then and "Rattle & Hum" played for 3 weeks at the same theatre (yeah, I did Rocky Horror. I was a kid. Sue me). So, yeah, I wasn't really into U2's pretensions.

The movie itself is a criminal 80 minutes long. This is one film that could've easily ran 2 hours with no audience fatigue. I was a bit unsettled by the first credit: A BEST BUY PRESENTATION and then kinda mystified by the second one: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PRESENTS... Strange bedfellows. I'd have never thought I'd see those two credits before a film. The actual opening scenes of kids running through the stadium to get to their seats are actually in 2D with artificial 3D sun flares added to them, but once the concert proper starts, the 3D really rips.

I was incredibly impressed with the 3D. It wasn't ever the poke you in the eye 3d, but many effects were quite pronounced. The best shots were not of the sort where the band pokes instruments into the screen, but the shots taken from the audience. Those shots are the ones that really give the feel of being there. The first time someone onscreen pumped their fists up into the air, I was actually tempted to yell, "Sit down!", but then I realised it was onscreen and not the guy in front of me.

As for U2 themselves, I was suitably impressed with their show. Their political causes have intensified, but the pretensions have fallen off a bit. Outside of Bono wearing a bandanna with religious symbols on it, there wasn't much grandstanding. Most of that was on the huge screens behind the band. Bono is, admittedly, quite a showman, but he really needs to be seen from about 20 feet away. Up close, the guy is kinda creepy. Still, a scene where he's close enough to touch while a 60 foot reproduction of him is lit up on the screens behind him was damned awesome.

Later in the film, there were some visual effects that were 3D representations of the graphics on the rear screens and those made things interesting, but they reminded me of the free association projections utilised in the greatest concert film of all time; the Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense".

One thing that bothered me was it seemed like the band did a run through of the show expressly for the cameras. Some of the shots seemed too staged for an audience to actually be there. In fact, I didn't detect an on camera camera until about songs in. I'd read afterwards that the film was culled from around 6 shows, but I can't believe there wasn't some post concert doctoring going on.

All in all, a wonderful concert experience, but not nearly the greatest. It's a great film for people like me who wouldn't dare pony up the dough for a ticket to an actual U2 show.

A couple of things I learned from watching "My Blueberry Nights":

- Wong Kar Wai is a visual genius that is incapable of creating a film that isn't absolutely gorgeous.

- Natalie Portman is actually more attractive as a butch gambler.

- Norah Jones' speaking voice is impossibly different from her singing voice.

- Uncover any cinematic rock, and you'll find a Jude Law performance.

I almost completely missed this film by accident. I knew that Wong Kar Wai, director of the devastatingly gorgeous Chinese art house films "In The Mood For Love" and "2049" was making an all English, all Western actors movie and I'd heard Norah Jones was going to star, but I'd forgotten all about that. The title "My Blueberry Nights" rang a bell in my head as well, but I couldn't tie it all together.

When I finally worked it all out in my head, I immediately dropped everything and sat down to watch. "My Blueberry Nights" is obstinately a road picture; kind of a feminine "Iliad" where Norah Jones' character Elizabeth seems to drift from one scenario to another. Jude Law's character Jeremy is the owner of a busy NY diner who keeps a collection of keys in a bowl under the counter. Either someone forgets their keys or, as in Elizabeth's situation, leaves them on purpose. Regardless, every set of keys tells a story. Elizabeth leaves her cheating boyfriends keys behind to signify their breakup. When he doesn't come to retrieve the keys, Elizabeth begins to frequent the restaurant; talking to Jeremy about relationships over the blueberry pie that no one seems to ever order. After a night of being mugged and catching her now ex-boyfriend red handed with another woman, Elizabeth moves to New Orleans to start a new life, sending postcards with no return address to Jeremy as to how she's progressing.

Along the way, Elizabeth finds herself involved in other peoples personal lives and situations. To reveal more would be to give away much of the film's mystique. The other two big names in the movie, Rachel Weisz (who looks strikingly like Jones in more than a few scenes) and Natalie Portman give some dramatic weight to the film, but this is Norah Jones' show all the way. As stated earlier, her speaking voice is a bit jarring if you've only ever heard her sing. In fact, the first scene with her involves her screaming into a phone and her screechy voice set me on edge. She quickly settled into her role, however, and was fine from there on.

I'm not really sure exactly what the film was really about, but that could be easily said for all of Wong Kar Wai's films upon initial viewing. I'm starting to believe Wong's interests are not in actual plot and resolution than just observing people in their daily lives and making the surrounding look as magnificently beautiful as possible.

I've always stated Korean films are some of the most visually sumptuous films in the world. Even their garbage films are wonderful to look at. No where is this more true than in Korean Romantic Comedies. These films grab me every time. Usually, it will be a few hours after one of these has ended before I realise what a crap film it was.

Case in point: "Spring Bears Love" (aka "Everybody Loves Spring Bear"), a Korean Rom Com from 2003 that I recently caught up with. It's lovely to look at and the plot is fairly engaging. So much so, that it didn't hit me until later what a total muddled mess the entire film was.

Hyun Choi (Played by Bae Doona) is a average looking girl that has terrible luck with men. Actually, that not true. It's not luck so much as she's not very good socially. She always seems to say/do the wrong things at the wrong times. She takes care of her father, a writer, and brings him library books to study up on. One day, she opens one of the books and discovers a love note that refers to another book. The next book, in turn, has a note that refers to another book. And so on... She begins to believe that notes are placed there for her and that she has a secret admirer whom she dubs "Vincent", since all of the notes are written in books on paintings.

Enter Dong Ha (played by Kim Nam Jin). He's Hyun Choi's would be suitor from their childhood who returns to the city just to be close to her. His attempts at affection fail due to her obsession with finding "Vincent".

That's the basic plot, but the damn film is so bent on twisty plot devices that my head started to hurt as the finale approached. Once the plot strands were untangled, however, it was actually a very ordinary and standard story, somewhat predictable but pleasant enough.

I'm beginning to believe the era of quality Korean Romantic Comedy cinema is about finished. There doesn't seem to be any more films of the caliber of "My Sassy Girl", "My Tutor Friend", "Someone Special" or "Please Teach Me English". Last year's "200 Pound Beauty" was close, but someone needs to come up with something really special. I'll keep my eyes peeled and probably sit through a million more "Spring Bears Love" before I find one. (*sigh*)

Run Fat Boy Run

2008-03-03T02:14:00.006-05:00

Last Spring when I saw "Hot Fuzz" theatrically, there was a preview for a movie entitled, "Run, Fat Boy, Run". The trailer was a string a slapstick scenes surrounding Simon Pegg working out in a gym and failing miserably. I thought the trailer was hysterical and couldn't wait for the release.

Although it comes out at the end of this month, I secured a copy of the PAL UK DVD to watch in advance (It came out last September in the UK). What the film is actually about is a sad sack character named Dennis Doyle (played masterfully by Simon Pegg) who, in a great panic, runs away from his own wedding day and his pregnant wife, Libby (Thandie Newton).

Five years pass and Dennis is living alone in a one room apartment and working as a security guard for a women's clothing store. He gets along with his ex-fiancee' just enough to share custody of his son, Jake (Matthew Fenton). Things become edgy when a new man enters Libby's life. Whit (Hank Azaria), is seemingly the perfect man. He's handsome, successful and apparently well endowed. Whit mentions to Dennis that he runs marathons and Dennis, in a fit of "Well I'm just as good as this guy" decides to run in the same marathon.

I wasn't expecting another "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz" (and I wasn't looking for another "Big Nothing"), but the film was ill represented by the theatrical trailer I saw last year. The film does have many big laughs, but it's bot the slapstick juggernaut that the trailer was making it out to be. In fact, after peeling away what is, on the surface, an underdog sports story; the film is, at it's very core, a romantic comedy about correcting mistakes and second chances. I'm sure "Run, Fat Boy, Run" will confound and frustrate fans of Pegg's cinematic adventures with Nick Frost, but Simon Pegg's fans will find much to feast on here. Fans of Dylan Moran will be in 7th Heaven, too. Yeah, he's playing the patented half-pissed-on-a-bender role he's so wonderful at, but it never gets old. He and Pegg are magic together and their street fight is classic physical comedy.

David Schwimmer's direction is basic, but sure handed and the comic timing is spot on for the majority of the films running time. The Story by Michael Ian Black and Screenplay by Black and Pegg takes it's time in setting up eccentric characters and it's warmhearted, but predictable story arc. Yup, I said it. The film is predictable, but there's no reason it shouldn't be. If you were going to eat meatloaf and you had your mouth set on meatloaf, would you want it to taste like sauerkraut? Of course not. No punches are pulled here.

...and that's the rub here. This film is pure comfort food. It's a lovely date night movie and I hope it will find it's deserved audience in a few weeks. This film is Shockedelic Approved.

UPDATE: 3-13-08!

The folks at Deep Focus have created a "Run Fat Boy Run" Widget and here it is below. Included in the widget is a game called "Blister Bash". Play it and gather a chance to win a private screening of "Run Fat Boy Run" for you and 25 friends!

Also, visit the official movie website at http://www.runfatboyrunmovie.com/

The film opens March 28th, 2008. Be There!!!!!!

Oscar? Not bad...

2008-02-25T13:55:00.004-05:00

The Oscar ceremonies were broadcast last night and I watched them through a flu induced haze. Not the ideal way to experience one of my favorite shows of the year, but hey...

So, looking back at my predictions, with the exception of the female categories, I pretty much nailed it. Daniel Day Lewis won for Best Actor, Javier Bardem won for Best Supporting Actor and the Cohens swept the Best Director and Best Picture awards and deservedly so.

I didn't expect Tilda Swinton to eclipse Cate Blanchette and, as I wrote previous, I didn't have knowledge of Marion Cotillard (although, after seeing her channel Edith Piaf in the few clips that were shown, it made perfect sense. I can't wait to see "La Vie En Rose".) so I was kinds lost on those two.

The largest delight for me during the show was the performance of "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for the film "Once" and their subsequent triumphant win in the Best Original Song category. I was disappointed when Bill Conti cut off Marketa before she could give her acceptance speech (a total miscommunication between her and Conti), but was overjoyed when, after a commercial break, she was allowed to return to the stage and give her speech. It was a lovely moment.

The other great moment, for me, was Javier Bardem's acceptance speech, wherein he spoke the last few sentences in Spanish for his mother, whom he brought with him as his companion. He brought his mom. He's the greatest.

Of course, the show didn't go completely well for me. There was always the looming dark shadow of the beast that is "Juno". Thankfully, the academy was smart enough to realise there were much, much more deserving films out there. Unfortunately, the Academy did give best Original Screenplay to "Juno" and the writer/ex-stripper/current Hot Topic fashion victim/Suicide Girl wannabe "Diablo Cody" (the quotes are because it's not her real name). Seriously, did anyone read the script?

"Your Eggo is preggo."

"That ain't no Etch A Sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, Homeskillet."

"Yes, hello? I need to procure a hasty abortion?"

"Honest To Blog"

Not exactly the kind of dialogue found in the worst Oscar nominated screenplays, let alone the best. Ah well, Methinks the Academy was being a bit to friendly this year and wanted to recognise everyone.

All in all, though, it was a fine telecast and it came in at under 4 hours and that's a plus.

I'm feeling better, by the way. Thanks for asking. My fever broke last night and I woke up in a stew of my own juices... Oops. I shouldn't write that. Not because it's gross, but because Diablo Cody might read this and use it in her next Oscar winning screenplay.

The Forbidden Kingdom!

2008-02-14T02:03:00.008-05:00

OK, it's like this. It doesn't matter a lick what this film is about. Forget that it's essentially about an American kid that is transported to Ancient China to become a warrior. The ONLY thing that matters here is this:

Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the same movie!

Here is the trailer for "The Forbidden Kingdom":

...and here is a much better trailer (in both quality and presentation), but it's DIVX (you'll need a DIVX codec), so be sure your computer can handle this (slow connections need not apply):

It's awesome beyond belief. I don't know when it's coming out, but this is a wet dream for Kung Fu fans.

JASPER!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-10T01:19:00.001-05:00

Damn it! Kimura Kaela has done it yet again.

She has this knack of releasing singles that just stick in the brain. I swear, it's like having a musical leech attached to the cerebral cortex.... and I love it!

The song is called "Jasper" and I believe it's the theme song to the Japanese release of "Mister Magorium's Wonder Emporium" (or so I've been told). At any rate, here is the PV of the song "Jasper".

Warning, it's addictive!

Cuddle up with Kuu-chan...

2008-02-10T00:56:00.000-05:00

This past week, I got my super limited edition pressing of Koda Kumi's new CD/DVD release, "Kingdom". I'm, admittedly, not really into this type of music at leage, but I really like Kumi (or Kuu-chan, as her fans refer to her). I don't know what it is about her. Most people I confess my adoration for Kuu-chan to say something along the lines of, "Eew! She looks dirty!" I don't think so. I think she's pretty, though it's obvious to me she's had some work done. She's kinda like the Japanese Christina Aguilera, another singer I like even though I'm not really into that type of music.

As many of you know, as far as Japanese Pop and Rock go, I'm firmly into the rocking side of things: Love Psychedelico, Kimura Kaela, The Pillows, Beat Crusaders and the like, but when Kuu-chan does her upbeat dance funk numbers, she really gets me pumped (her song, "But", was in high rotation at my home for a couple of months. Great song!). Sadly, I'm not really about her ballads, which are what her fanbase seem to really enjoy. I'm sure that has to do with my extremely tenuous grasp of Japanese. Ballads rely largely on lyrics, you see, while dance music relys more on the pelvis.

So, I get the 3 disc set and I'm impressed. Disc one is the music CD, Disc two is the "Kingdom" album on DVD as a series of PVs and the thrid disc is a live show DVD. The package is rounded out with goodies for the fans (photos, a poster and stickers).

Of the three discs, I'm most infatuated by the live one. The other two discs are good, but Kumi is best in her live element. The second disc of videos had a preview for yet another concert DVD coming sometime this year that promises to be even more spectacular than the one included here. I can't wait.

Here's the intro from the DVD:

UPDATE 2/10/08: I'd like to comment that I had heard about Kumi's "scandal" prior to the release of "Kingdom" and I think it's shameful. To the one's that don't know, a few days before the album's release, Kumi made an appearance on a late night radio show and was fielding questions from fans and such. One queston was if she would like to become a mother someday. She responded that she would, but before the age of 35, because, at that age, a woman's ambionic fluids become rotten. She said it with a laugh and the statement itself is quite absurd, but many Japanese women were outraged and were calling for her tour to be banned and for her sponsors to drop her.

This is quite distressing for me, since I (wrongly, I suppose) tend to hold the Japanese people to a higher standard than the rest of the world. I can't believe such an absurdist comment would cause such an unnecesary stir. Double shame should go to her record company for leaving her twist in the the wind like that. Kumi went on television to give a tearful apology (one that, I believe, she didn't need to give) a few days later.

Luckily, the incident didn't affect her record sales at all. She sold a very respectable 400,000+ copies of "Kingdom" the first week (not bad at all, especially considering the album was released in 3 formats ranging from $20 to $50 {US currency adjusted}).I know she doesn't speak English well at all and she'll not read this, but I still encourage Kuu-chan to keep the faith... and maybe start looking for another record label.

John Rambo

2008-02-05T12:40:00.000-05:00

I saw Sylvester Stallone's newest, "John Rambo", last night. I was absolutely smitten by "Rocky Balboa" a while back and that was enough to get me to see what Sly's done with his other iconic character. Although it was way too short (77 minutes without the end credits!), "John Rambo" was absolutely great. There will be detractors, of course; people who will always knock films like this, but I say fuck 'em. As there will always be high art, there will always be high exploitation.

The plot is as such: John Rambo is living in Thailand, capturing snakes for sale and manning a longboat for hire. A group of missionaries hire his services to get them by boat to Burmese, where the locals are being slaughtered en masse. He's extremely reluctant, but he agrees to take them, thanks to Sarah, the lone woman of the group.

Long story short, the group gets captured and Rambo, along with a group of mercenaries, go back to rescue them.

This film is brutal. It's filled to the hilt with brutality. It's also filled to the hilt with old school jungle action. In that respect, this film is spectacular. The first part of the movie is dedicated to making us hate the villians by bludgeoning us with the genocide of the Burmese people. Once the film hits the one hour mark, bodies just explode and disintegrate for the next 20. There really isn't a middle ground. Either you'll be repulsed by the goings on here, or you'll be roused. I was completely roused.

You may be asking, "Terry, you love this movie but you hate films like "Saw", where the body counts are much lower". Well, yeah. There's a large difference here. In "John Rambo", the violence is triggered by a kill or be killed situation in a Genocidic warzone. Those (so-called) Torture Porn movies are about a person, or persons, who believe they are intellectually superior to all other humans on Earth and believe they should dictate who lives and who dies. The same goes for that sad television drama, "Dexter". Things like that are smug and overtly realistic. "John Rambo" is a grand comic book of a movie and I only felt cheated by the short running time.

Do you miss 1980's action films? Go see this and get your fix. Now, where's Chuck Norris and the next "Missing In Action" movie?

The Greatest Movie Preview Ever Made!

2008-02-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

I know this trailer (aka preview of coming attractions) has been seen millions of times, but it bears repeating. If you've seen this one before, sit back and smile. If you haven't, get ready for the Greatest Movie Preview Ever Made. I'm not kidding. It's that great.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Preview for the double bill "Frenzy Of Blood"...

THE BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE and I DISMEMBER MAMA!

Tom Cruise / Scientology pwned!

2008-01-25T13:40:00.000-05:00

If you haven't seen the scariest video in the world yet, look here:

(mind you, he's sincere. This is no bullshit (on his part, at least).

Have you watched it? OK. Now watch this video by Jerry O'Connell. He is godhead for doing this.

You're welcome for giving you the best laugh you've had all week.

The Oscar Nominations are out!

2008-01-22T13:01:00.001-05:00

The nominations for this years' Academy Awards have been announced. Here're my thoughts:

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises"

Geez. I'm going to have to go with Daniel Day-Lewis on this one. His crazed oil baron was, admittedly, mesmerizing. Johnny Depp will be passed over again, I'm afraid. Good as he is, actors in musicals are notoriously passed over. George, Tommy and Viggo: This just ain't your year, guys. Sorry.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton"

This one is extremely tough, since there are two performances here which, I feel, deserve the statuette. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was an absolute god in "Charlie Wilson's War", delivering one of the most dead on hilarious performances in recent film history. He did, however, recently win for "Capote". That, coupled with the fact that Javier Bardem gave the performance of the decade in "No Country For Old Men" as a true incarnation of evil leads me to believe that Javier Bardem will steal away that statuette. Everyone else in that category, please stay home.

Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie in "Away from Her"
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney in "The Savages"
Ellen Page in "Juno"

A tough one. Let's get Ellen Page out of the way right now. She simply doesn't deserve it for "Juno". The movie itself was average at best and her performance was standard. She basically did what Thora Birch already did, and did better, but is now too old to do. If Thora didn't deserve an Oscar for "Ghost World" (and she did), then Ellen Page doesn't deserve one for "Juno". Cate Blanchett is tempting, but I don't know if anyone wants to reward yet another actress for playing Elizabeth and she's nominated in another, more likely, category. Julie Christie? Maybe, but it seems the Academy is getting a little hardened on rewarding senior actors for their present work. I know nothing about Marion Cotillard, so I'll say Laura Linney will take the statuette for "The Savages". She's a great, deserving actress and, well, she held her own against the genius of Phillip Seymour Hoffman. 'Nuff said.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement"
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton"

I'm going with Cate Blanchett, here. There's a thing within the Academy where they seem to love actors that perform in biopics about pop culture icons. Cate Blanchett playing Bob Dylan? A shoe in.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):

"Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush" (Warner Bros.): Nominees to be determined
"So Close" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Three songs from a Disney movie will probably cancel each other out. That's pure overkill. "August Rush"? Not familiar with it and they don't know who to attribute the song to? Hmmmm. I'm going with "Falling Slowly" from "Once". The song is gorgeous and it deserves every accolade it gets. It's also the sole reason I hope the Awards are televised this year. I'm dying to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova perform it live.

Achievement in directing

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel
"Juno" (Fox Searchlight), Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson

Fie on the Academy for nominating "Juno". It's not a good film. Sorry. It's not. Are we paying penance for not nominating "Napoleon Dynamite", academy? "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" has not a shot in hell. "Michael Clayton" may be a great film, but it's going to be soooooo overshadowed by the the showdown of the towering monsters that are "No Country For Old Man" and "There Will Be Blood". It's tempting to pick "There Will Be Blood" just to see the Son Of Ghoulardi win an Oscar, but I don't think that's going to happen. This is Joel and Ethan Cohen's Year. "No Country For Old Men" is going to take it and take it all.

Best motion picture of the year:
"Atonement" (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
"Juno" (Fox Searchlight) A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

"Atonement", "Juno" and "Michael Clayton" can leave now. "There Will Be Blood", you did us proud. Don't forget the gift bag on the way out. Congratulations, "No Country For Old Men". This is the film of the year, hands down. Anything less is a travesty.

So, there are my pics for the Big 7. I'll update my picks after the Oscar ceremonies.

New CJ7 trailer!

2008-01-21T13:23:00.000-05:00

This movie is going to simply rock!

Forget that the trailer below has narration in English while the dialogue is in Chinese without English subs, the visuals are all you need right now. It looks like a cross between Gremlins and Kung Fu Hustle. Enjoy!

I previously put the teaser trailer here.

"ONCE" ...I saw a beautiful film.

2008-01-09T02:13:00.000-05:00

"Once" is simply a brilliant film. It's a giddy pleasure and I'm absolutely remiss that I didn't see it in the theatre when the getting was good. I had heard so many good things about this film that I had fallen into cynical film guy mode, so i missed it. Had I seen it during it's theatrical run, I would have been absolute jelly by the end. In public, that would not have been good. In the privacy of my living room, however, it's perfectly okay to grin wide from ear to ear and clutch at my chest when I'm either beaming or my heart is breaking.

"Once" is the first film I've seen that completely reinvents the movie musical successfully. Making it a love story set in Ireland between a street musician and a classical pianist makes perfect sense. They never sing for unbelievable reasons. They sing each other their songs and the songs somehow double for their emotions in the moment. There are no production numbers. Everything is organic that can be.

The film stars Glen Hansard, a street musician that daylights for his father in a Hoover repair shop. He's perfect in this role. The first time looking at him made me think, "This guy looks like Harry Nilsson", then I thought, "He REALLY looks like the guitarist from "The Commitments"... which, it turns out, he is. Now, "The Commitments" is an all time favorite of mine so it was great to see this actor back again. He meets this Girl played by Markéta Irglová. She is a Czech girl living with her young child and mother who works odd jobs to make ends meet. When they meet, it's obvious they are extremely attracted to each other and it's adorable. The thing is, like so much in life, life itself gets in the way of them coming together (he has an ex that he can't get over, she has a child and estranged husband) and the only way they really come together is through the guy's music. She becomes his muse and he becomes the person she needs to forget about herself.

This film is so incredibly sweet and life affirming that it's disarming. Every other scene, I half expected something dark and sinister to happen to them but I was relieved that the film pulled no punches of that sort.

It's out on video now, so you need to go and see it as soon as possible. It's wonderful.

Steven Chow's "CJ7"

2008-01-08T13:09:00.000-05:00

A quick one.

Here's the preview for the new Steven Chow movie, "CJ7". Looks great; A nice departure from "Kung Fu Hustle" and "Shaolin Soccer"

It takes two to SKIDOO!

2008-01-05T04:04:00.000-05:00

So Skidoo came and went on TCM at 2:00am. It was a bit of an event, to say the least. Many of the more hip Internet blogs (even Boing Boing!) have been making this American broadcast something of a legendary landmark. So, for this landmark presentation, let's go down through the scorecard:

It was uncut and unedited. It was also the same exact transfer from the late nineties / early 2000's (with modern opening Paramount logo) that showed up on Australian TV a few years back (and became the source of many, many bootlegs). Luckily, it was on TCM, so there weren't any commercial breaks with fake fade outs or exit music like on the Australian broadcast. It was the original MONO soundtrack and, most unfortunate, pan & scan. This is a film that was shot in 2.35:1 Panavision and it's always been woefully cramped on television. It's a shame that TCM, which normally prides itself on presenting films in their original aspect ratio, didn't go the extra mile to hit Paramount up for a new transfer.

So, in short, it was wonderful to see this on Television finally after all these years but it puzzles me that it would be presented so lazily.

UPDATE 01-08-08!! Here's the magnificent trailer for Skidoo featuring celebrities not even in the film!!!!!!

New Year's Movie Reviews

2008-01-01T22:47:00.000-05:00

I saw a few films this past week and I'd like to offer my opinions on them.

I Am Legend

I really had no expectations going into this one. I loved "The Last Man On Earth" with Vincent Price and I really had no love for the Charelton Heston' vehicle, "The Omega Man", so I simply didn't care either way. What I came away with was an extremely well done, superior remake of "The Omega Man" that failed miserably when compared to the original novel and the Price version. Still, for what it is (and for the first two thirds of the movie) it's impressive. It isn't until the last third, when other characters are introduced, that the wheels fall completely off. Also, the intelligent vampires of the original novel are replaced by above average intelligence zombies. The ending is also changed to a more upbeat ending that completely changes the meaning of the title. Will Smith does his best and he's fine, but he's upstaged by a dog that surely deserves an Oscar Nomination. OK, I'm kidding, but the dog was good.

No Country For Old Men

I've been electrified. The Cohen Brothers have done it once again. Josh Brolin turns in another amazing performance. God, I could go on forever in simple sentences. "No Country For Old Men" is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. It's blackly comic, incredibly tense and ultimately nihilistic. It feels like a distant cousin to Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan", another brilliant country set films about the price of greed. Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson turn in solid performances, but it's Javier Bardem that turns in the performance of the entire year as a cold, calculating serial killer that riveted me to my seat. The ending might have let some people down, but suited me fine.

Charlie Wilson's War

The movie has no real ending to speak of and Julia Roberts is just about horrible here, but Tom Hanks and, especially, Phillip Seymour Hoffman pull stellar turns in this comic docudrama. I would love to see these two paired up in a more substantial film since their chemistry is undeniable. The plot, which involves a single man's efforts to get weapons to the Afghanistan refugees for battle with the Soviet army in the 1980's is interesting, but much of the dialogue is delivered so quickly. It's like the majority of the cast is trying to get the words out before the audience realises the actors have no idea what the words mean. Seriously, does anyone in Texas talk that fast?

There are great touches; Charlie's secretaries (4 of them!) who he dubs "jail bait" are fun to see interacting with each other and hearing real life names that are just as relevant now being dropped is a little scary, but overall, the film is a little too light and the non existent ending feels rushed at 90 minutes. It is, however, a lovely diversion.

See it for Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He's nothing short of astounding here.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

What the fuck? Seriously. John C. Reilly is fine, as is Jenna Fischer, and the soundtrack is unassailable, but the movie is unfunny. It's more than unfunny, actually. It's insulting and unfunny. Watching this movie, you'd think there have been only two music biopics ever made, "Walk The Line" and "Ray". I chuckled a total of 4 times (the Bob Dylan parody, the disco "Star Man" cover, the Television Interview and the Temptations joke) and never actually laughed once. There is no real sense of creativity here. It's simply a string of one joke sequences that are made up of recreating sequences from rock documentaries with "knowing" dialogue thrown in so you know we're supposed to know it's funny. I kept waiting for a laugh track to further the point home.

The much hyped Beatles sequence is totally unfunny and forced and the entirety of the film seems to by written by and aimed at people who think they're Pop music experts because they watch VH1 Classic. I knew I was in real trouble when The Monkees were mentioned and everybody laughed hard.

HA! HA! He said he thought the Beatles were better than the Monkees! Get it? The Monkees weren't a real band!!! HA! HA!

Bite me.

Buy the great soundtrack and avoid this unbelievable waste of time.