If you enjoyed hearing about Stuck on VHS then you'll be thrilled
to know that there is another VHS fanzine! Lunchmeat is more like the fanzines that proliferated in the
'80s and '90s (and as an erstwhile full-time employee at legendary zine
store See Hear from 1994 to, uh, years later, I should know).
This is Lunchmeat #10 ("VHS LIVES!") and it's a treasure trove
of fringe movie ephemera.
Who knew that there were videotapes of people reacting to farts in public?
Or that some teenage fans of The Crow spent years shooting their
own more faithful film adaption of the comic. On video! (Lunchmeat
gives it a rave review.)
And there's a wide range of material in here, from David Lynch's
On the Air tv show to reviews of cartoon porn, as well
as fascinating interviews with fringe filmmakers you've probably never heard of. Once again, thanks to Quimby's for being the kind of place where you
find this kind of thing!
2021 September 22 • Wednesday
While I'd noticed that audio cassettes were making something of a comeback,
I hadn't been aware that, apparently, video cassettes were also experiencing
a revival of sorts. For some reason, I hadn't noticed the book Stuck on VHS
but the last time I was in Quimby's Chicago, I picked up
the first supplement to that book, a wonderful fanzine
that revels in the glory of the videotape.
Be kind, rewind, indeed.
While the main focus is on the stickers that used to adorn videotapes and their cases—and
this is one of the most delightfully specific ephemeral subjects I've ever encountered—
there is some other interesting content, particularly the story of Dave Sharkey's
mobile video rental service in New Jersey, which ran from March 1985 to November 2017.
It's an inspiring and uplifting account and this zine is worth picking up
for that alone.
Fanzines like this, and places like Quimby's where you can find them,
are increasingly rare these days. Let's not let them go the way of the videotape.
If you're in Chicago or New York City, go to Quimby's. If you're somewhere else,
why not search for something like it?
2021 September 20 • Monday
The 692nd Soundtrack of the Week is Nathan Furst's
music for the movie Dust to Glory a documentary
about an off-road race in Baja. It's directed by Dana Bron,
son of The Endless Summer filmmaker Bruce Brown.
The "Dust to Glory Theme" is, unexpectedly, a Middle Eastern-sounding
piece with a lot of momentum and energy. It's followed by a triumphant
and stirring orchestral cue in a John Williams vein, "Heart of the Baja".
"Race Day" takes its time getting started, with some suspenseful electronic
pulses and subtle sounds appearing around a delicate piano part. It builds
too full orchestra with electronics and what sounds like a chorus, a massive
wave of music that's still very lyrical.
Folksy acoustic guitar playing kicks off "The McMillins", which stays in this
interesting zone of Americana mixed with instruments from other places
around the glove, North Africa and Japan among them, by my guess. At one point
it becomes somewhat reminiscent of Howard Shore's theme for the Shire.
Then Furst kicks it in to gear with the rocking "Falling from the Sky",
pounding riffs delivered by rock band instrumentation and a male
vocalist who's somewhere in between Radiohead and Iron Maiden.
Things get dreamy/suspenseful with "Andy Closes the Gap", which
has a poignant melody played over insistent percussion and a desert
sort of feel to it.
A lovely female soprano voice is the feature of the lushly beautiful
"Weatherman", another piece that might recall Howard Shore or John
Williams. "Riding Dust" continues some of the previous feels and melodic ideas
for a short cue that sounds like it's for a tense action moment. A hyper and nervous 3/4 meter (and sometimes 6/8?) help give "The Beach" a dangerous
off-kilter quality. It leads directly into "On the Other Side" which relaxes into
a romantic cue which recalls the "Heart of the Baja" theme. After this comes a delightful surprise: The Sandals! Immortal for
their "Theme from The Endless Summer" they appear here to
play a wonderful and dreamy acoustic number called "Lorena". "Sharing Dust" brings back more sensitive piano playing after
some long tones and various textures create an atmosphere of
what sounds like mourning someone beloved. More stirring orchestral music with some global music selections
kicks off "A Pattern Developing/Silt" before getting into
a cool groove with some insistently strummed strings and
other vigorous ostinati. The acoustic guitar and piano do almost all of the work for the very
tender "Coco's Corner". The same two instruments are the main voices in the mysterious "Baja Shadows". "Open Terrain" has some of the same momentum as the main theme
but is presented as a quieter and more laidback piece with
an ethereal melodic line floating above everything before it
explodes at the end. Then another song, this one a kind of rock/pop/funk/whatever number
called "Yes I Will", one of those energetic affirmations
of all the things the singer is going to do (yes, he will). Flutes add a lot to "Not to Finish", a short and atmospheric
piece that's like a passing cloud of mixed emotions. The melody is continued, but with an earthier foundation, in
the next cue "One More Mile", with strings being the main voice. "The Dust" revisits elements of the main theme and finally there's
another song to close the record, the contemporary country rock
"Once Knew You".
2021 September 17 • Friday
Here's the second entry in our Meta Marquee series. That's John Cusack (in the car) in 1989's Say Anything driving by a cinema
that's showing 1988's Tapeheads, also
starring John Cusack.
Since I haven't seen my favorite headlines in
a while, I've decided to start a new series of pointless observations about movies. This will be called Meta Marquee and it's basically when someone
in a movie or television show appears on screen with a marquee
for a theatre showing something else that that person appears in. It's not complicated. This first example is probably all the explanation
you need. That's Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry standing in front of
a movie theatre that's showing Play Misty For Me, also from 1971,
also starring (and in the latter case directed by) Clint Eastwood.
Get it? Good. If you notice other such examples I'd be pleased to hear about them.
A certain very important Brooklyn resident has a first day of school in
Manhattan today. And so what better way to mark the occasion than by
making Fred Mollin's music for Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason
Takes Manhattan the 691st Soundtrack of the Week?
First you'll hear a very '80s song, "The Darkest Side of the Night",
back beat driven with lyrics like "The darkest side of the night / Burns like
a fire / For the wasted lives / There's no way you can fight / Just
show some respect / And try to survive".
Then there's some classic horror movie scoring, bells and percussion
and keyboards and some wailing lines, repeating figures and bending tones
in "The Story of Jason / Jason Resurrected / Impractical Joke".
Things get tenser and stabbier in "The End of Jimmy / Goodbye Suzi" (spoiler
alert?) which concludes with some interesting, airy, almost all percussion music
that builds to a climax.
The bells, long tones and studden stabs of music return in "The Ghost People /
Jason on Board / Porthole Flashback". There are interesting variations
in tone and density throughout and some of the score might remind you of
the music for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.
"False Alarm / Sauna Death / Rennie Overboard" (spoiler alert?) is
mostly more pensive while things get active again for "Mirror Flashback /
Saynoara Tamara / To the Bridge, Masked Man".
"Discovering Dad / McCulloch Gets Angry / Dropping the Anchor / Eva
Finds Tamara / Wayne's Demise / Wayne Fries" continues with
the varied textures and use of space while suffering a bit from
the limitations of synthesizer tones available. A welcome surprise is what sounds like an actual acoustic harp
starting out "Jason Kills Two / Flashback in the Cabin / In the
Galley / Jump Ship". Also surprisingly, the cue finds
a pretty cool groove at one point with the strings suggesting
a lyrical melody on top. Things calm down and get almost romantic for "In the Lifeboat /
Arriving in New York / Jason Arrives in New York / Rennie's Abduction".
At first. Then of course we get back into the horror tension zone. Suspense and tension start out "Rennie and the Punks / Jason and
the Punk / Jason and Julius / Heads Up, Julius", and
eventually Harry Manfredini's classic "Jason" sting
is referenced. More lyrical passages alternating with explosions of
musical dread constitute "Sean Finds Rennie / Freeze! / Police Car Adventure"
while "After the Collision / Sink or Swim / Goodbye McCulloch" begins
with a stirring valedictory feel while continuing with the
same very effective musical ideas. "Sean and Rennie / Jason Breaks It Up / Into the Subway / Subway Chase /
Jason Fries" starts out with a love theme but... well you know what
happens next. Another love theme-sounding cue starts out "Safe at Last (Just Kidding) /
Rennie and Sean See Jason / Jason and the Waitress / Down to the
Sewer / Goodbye Sewer Worker" and it even has a bit of smooth saxophone
playing. It won't last, of course. The grand finale comes with the aggravated tension and violence of "Sewer Chase /
Toxic Flood / The End of Jason". The record also has a few more songs at the end. Terry Crawford's "Broken Dream" is very '80s hard rock that you could imagine
hearing in a gym. "Livin' in the City" by King Lou is rap that goes for some of the
sounds that made MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" a hit. It's not much
of a song. "Livin' in the city ain't no big deal / You gotta have a heart
made of US steel / If the crack don't get you then the hookers will /
Livin' in the city ain't no big deal." Then there's "J.J.'s Blues", a short blast of '80s guitar rock
instrumental, followed by an instrumental version of "The Darkest
Side of the Night".
Every once in a while there's a new David Collier book and it's always
a cause for celebration. In this context "new" means new to me as there's
a certain amount of luck involved in finding his latest effort. Morton: A Cross-Country Rail Journey has a 2017 copyright
date on it but it was only last month that I came across it at The Strand.
(For some reason I haven't seen it in any of the numerous comic book shops
I've visited in the last four years.)
Collier is a Canadian cartoonist who has always and exclusively, as far as I know,
created works of non-fiction: autobiography, biography and history.
His art style might remind your of Robert Crumb or Chester Brown but his
sensibility is quite different, as is his approach to the material.
Morton is an exquisitely detailed account of a long train trip across
Canada undertaken by Collier with his wife and son. The physical journey
is paralleled by temporal journeys, back in time to the history
of the country as well as to Collier's own past.
There are many interactions with friends and strangers along the way,
some of them quite poignant. (Learning of one friend's death
gives the book its title.)
There's a long wait in between Collier books but it's always worth it. Hey, this came out in 2017! Maybe there's another one by now!
Brattle Book Shop in Boston, MA, conveniently located quite near the Boston Common and a short
walk from South Station, is one of the last great book shops. On a recent visit
there we dove into their impressively large collection of vintage paperbacks—all
priced at $5—and surfaced with several nuggets, including Fever Heat
by Angus Vicker.
This was an unusual book, very well written, and had a brisk, smooth, inexorable
pace. It combines hot rod genre conventions—stock car racing being the
setting here—with noir fatalism and motivations (greed, lust, hate, etc.).
I can't remember ever reading a book like it. Ace Jones used to be a great racer
but his wife's infidelities turned him into a crazed madman on the track, more of
a homicidal maniac than a driver. So he switched to being a mechanic and knows everything
there is to know about cars, inside and out.
The book opens with Jones on a crosscountry drive. When he's aggressively and dangerously cut
off and almost run off the road by another car he sees red, slips back into his
aggressive racing mentality and exacts automotive revenge, easing up at the last minute
so that the other driver and his car don't suffer significant damage.
Then Jones arrives at a town called Town. He moves in on a widow who's running
a failing garage and whose husband was killed racing in the local stock car event—
an incident that might not be the accident everybody thinks it was.
This guy turns out not only to be the man Ace had his highway duel with in
the first chapter but also one of a couple of competitors for the widow's
affections.
But no matter. The story is told with downbeat noir inexorability,
blended with fast cars, sex and incessant conflict. All books like these
claim to be thrilling but this one really was. The first line is "The guy shouldn't have passed me the way he did because
it made me mad, and it's not good to get mad behind the wheel".
The 690th Soundtrack of the Week is Jean-Pierre
Bourtayre and Jean Bouchéty's music for the movie
The Game Is Over.
It begins with "Generique Debut (Opening Theme", a short cue of solo sitar
playing with a lot of space and establishing the main theme.
Then we swing into a bossa nova with acoustic guitar and a Paul Desmondesque
saxophone backed by a jazz ensemble. This is "Un Certain Regard (A Certain
Look)" and it's a really nice tune. It would be great to know who the
musicians are.
This is followed by "Scene d'Amour (Love Scene)", just over a minute of
dreamy melody, the main theme again, with wonderful harp accompaniment.
"Renee" is even a few seconds shorter and reprises the same melody,
this time with flute and a slightly sparser harp part.
The sitar then returns, this time with tabla and harp for some
gentle atmospheric psychedelia before reprising the main theme
again and then fading back into the quasi-Indian music.
The last cue on the A side is "Scene du Lac (Lake Scene)",
another fairly short one, starting with snarls of distorted
electric guitar that ends up doing its own acid rock
version of the main theme. The B side begins with "Attente (Waiting)", another laidback
feature for the sitar. "Avant Toi (Before You)" is a fairly energetic hybrid of Vegas
show/lounge music and acid rock/pop with perky horns pumping
out sunny phrases here and there while electric guitar and Hammond
organ freak out. The melody has some similarities to the
Hawaii Five-0 theme. Then comes "Baby You Know What You're Doing", which is the same
ensemble as the previous track but this time with a male vocalist
singing "Oh baby you know what you're doing / When you do that to me" etc. Another song with the same singer and same band, but this time
with fuzzed out guitar and no horns, comes next. "Don't Tell Me"
is a pretty straightforward '60s rock song and it's good! The main theme then returns in "Depart de Renee (Renée's Departure)",
again presented by flute and harp. "Bal Vert (The Green Ball)" is another '60s rock song but this time
with a different singer and a pre-psychedlic sound. It's bouncy
and unoriginal, nothing special but not bad and with some good Hammond playing. And then finally there's "Generique Fin (Closing Theme)", a melancholy
solo flute take on the main theme followed by solo sitar playing the same.
We had the opportunity over the summer to meet Alice Hoffman and hear her read
from her novel Second Nature. And so of course we made sure to read the book
itself first, Practical Magic being the only other Hoffman
book we'd read before. (Don't judge it by the movie adaptation.)
Second Nature occupies a literary space that overlaps with many genres.
Fairy tale and fantasy, certainly, as well as magical realism, romance, thriller,
domestic drama, coming of age, the story of a small, insular community... It's
not one thing.
The basic plot concerns an adult man who was raised by wolves in the wild since
being the only survivor of a plane crash when he was a toddler. After getting caught
in a hunter's animal trap, he's removed from his environment and brought
into civilization, first to a hospital from which he's supposed to proceed
to institutionalization.
After he asks a woman named Robin, a landscape gardener on Long Island
whose brother is in charge of the man's case, for help, he goes home
with her. Something they both in common is that they've both become
involuntary lone wolves, Stephen by accident and Robin by
splitting from her unfaithful husband, also the local sheriff, whose
police force now harrasses her around the clock.
Stephen is Robin's secret at first, soon to be known to her teenage
son, who's in the middle of his own intense first love experience
while also weathering the emotional storm of his parents' separation.
As Stephen learns about human society and attempts to assimilate, he intends
to use the knowledge he gains to return to the wild and to his wolf family.
At the same time, those who connect to Stephen also connect to
a wild part of themselves buried within. Usually this is with positive results. But then a series of killing begin
and Hoffman slips in a reference to Little Red Riding Hood... It's a satisfying book. Hoffman told us that part of its inspiration
came from a dog she had that was extremely overprotective of one of her
children, not allowing anyone near the child, and this got her thinking
about a human-animal bond that our society
doesn't allow for. The first line is "By April most people had already forgotten
about him, except for some of the nurses on the floor, who crossed themselves
when they walked past his room".
One of the highlights of the summer of 2021 was Reuben Radding's new photozine,
At Large.
Following his photojournalism series documenting life during the pandemic
and reactions to lockdowns and vaccination requirements, Radding
turned his attention to something like the fallout.
In At Large he presents vivid and extraordinary images of
people in the city, outside and, it appears, mostly feeling free.
As he notes on his website, this is an intentional rebuttal to
"commonly accepted narratives of doom and gloom" that clashed
with what he himself witnessed and felt. (A similar contrast
between the media's NYC reality and that of the people actually
living here occurred back in September 2001.)
The pictures tell the stories. But Radding also asks an important question:
"If all space becomes ruled by the forces of commerce, semi-privatization, or standards of conduct, where will be left for us where we don’t have to buy things in order to find a neighbor and dance in the moonlight?"
2021 September 15 • Wednesday
2021 September 13 • Monday
2021 September 10 • Friday
2021 September 08 • Wednesday
2021 September 06 • Monday
2021 September 03 • Friday
2021 September 01 • Wednesday
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