So it's a fact now, Hasil Adkins is dead. A nasty way to go for a still-young man.
Best tribute so far online is here ...
Sex Kittens Compare Scratches
Download and savor "No More Hot Dogs," my favorite Haze track of all time.
Once Soren busted up a small gathering I was hosting in my Lansing, MI duplex apartment by suddenly grabbing his guitar and launching into a full-lunged version of "No More Hot Dogs" round midnight. The neighbors were on the phone within minutes but it was worth it.
Monday, April 25, 2005
All you chumps I know in the mudwest have been whining girl-style about the weather God's been dumping on you lately, but here in Seattle the weekend was beautiful, the first true spring feeling of the year and Lori and I took full advantage. Saturday we took a long, long walk to Ballard, where I cashed in a gift certificate at Sonic Boom (local CD/record outfit), courtesy the Resonance Corporation. I had planned on using the windfall to snap up something new, something modern, because even as I try to keep up with "what's happening," I rarely shell out for the latest great record. I figured I'd leaf through the stacks, pick up a couple fresh In The Red/Goner/Sympathy discs and see if any of them have any staying power. But as usual, I remain mired in the past ... I ended up with 13th Floor Elevator and Love records, plus a great comp of Black Power soul with selected moments of speeches from Malcolm X, Huey Newton and other righteous brothers.
To continue ...
At the recd store I ran into Eric Kohler, a guy I knew over a decade ago in East Lansing, a former backcook at El Azteco that some of you might remember. He's a carpenter here in Seattle now, has a fledgling garagerock band and he joined the old lady and me for a few drinks mid-afternoon. A nice surprise for sure.
Also got the amazing F FOR FAKE to review for Resonance, so I dug that for a while Saturday night. The last film Orson Welles finished, a wild, unpredictable documentary about an art forger ... as good as CITIZEN KANE sez I, more profound, anyway. Criterion is releasing it as a double DVD package, it's worth a weekend rental for sure.
Sunday we were up early and spent most of the day doing a spirited spring clean, swapping furniture from room to room and creating a lot more space for ourselves. Did some rare shopping for clothes at Red Light (which is right around the corner) and scored, finally. I nabbed a choice cowboy shirt, black with descending eagles as the lapel design, and it fits my sagging frame just right. Most always the good stuff is too tight, fit only for the tiniest twentysomething hipster ... this time the old man gets the prize.
To continue ...
At the recd store I ran into Eric Kohler, a guy I knew over a decade ago in East Lansing, a former backcook at El Azteco that some of you might remember. He's a carpenter here in Seattle now, has a fledgling garagerock band and he joined the old lady and me for a few drinks mid-afternoon. A nice surprise for sure.
Also got the amazing F FOR FAKE to review for Resonance, so I dug that for a while Saturday night. The last film Orson Welles finished, a wild, unpredictable documentary about an art forger ... as good as CITIZEN KANE sez I, more profound, anyway. Criterion is releasing it as a double DVD package, it's worth a weekend rental for sure.
Sunday we were up early and spent most of the day doing a spirited spring clean, swapping furniture from room to room and creating a lot more space for ourselves. Did some rare shopping for clothes at Red Light (which is right around the corner) and scored, finally. I nabbed a choice cowboy shirt, black with descending eagles as the lapel design, and it fits my sagging frame just right. Most always the good stuff is too tight, fit only for the tiniest twentysomething hipster ... this time the old man gets the prize.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Now, my take ...
All Movie Guide: Whodunit
Whodunit? (aka Island of Blood) is a lousy but creative body count picture that occasionally transcends generic shortcomings thanks to an always-entertaining level of absurdity. A movie producer assembles a cast of cliché twentysomethings (soulful folkie, African-American dancer, talentless rich girl, sullen punk, etc.) and brings them to an isolated island to make an upbeat, inspirational youth film. Before shooting can commence, an unknown maniac starts picking them off one by one, using the lyrics of a violent rock song for inspiration. The noisy, repetitious New Wave number encourages the listener to "Burn me, burn me, burn me/Face to face" or "Chop me, chop me, chop me/Face to face," with enough verses to ensure unique demises for at least seven victims. When a slasher film opens the festivities with a a young man being boiled alive in a swimming pool, it's a good sign that the proceedings will continue on an offbeat path, and Whodunit? delivers an exploding boat, a battery acid shower, a graphic chainsaw dismemberment and the old stand-by mid-coitus machete stabbing. Like most of its brethren, Whodunit? suffers from redundancy and too many scenes in dark, shadowy spaces, and the eventual revelation of the killer's identity is particularly stupid. Still, slumming horror mavens will have a good time if this obscurity crosses their path. - Fred Beldin
Of course, the last word should always go to an expert, in this case the exhaustive slasher film database Hysteria Lives!
All Movie Guide: Whodunit
Whodunit? (aka Island of Blood) is a lousy but creative body count picture that occasionally transcends generic shortcomings thanks to an always-entertaining level of absurdity. A movie producer assembles a cast of cliché twentysomethings (soulful folkie, African-American dancer, talentless rich girl, sullen punk, etc.) and brings them to an isolated island to make an upbeat, inspirational youth film. Before shooting can commence, an unknown maniac starts picking them off one by one, using the lyrics of a violent rock song for inspiration. The noisy, repetitious New Wave number encourages the listener to "Burn me, burn me, burn me/Face to face" or "Chop me, chop me, chop me/Face to face," with enough verses to ensure unique demises for at least seven victims. When a slasher film opens the festivities with a a young man being boiled alive in a swimming pool, it's a good sign that the proceedings will continue on an offbeat path, and Whodunit? delivers an exploding boat, a battery acid shower, a graphic chainsaw dismemberment and the old stand-by mid-coitus machete stabbing. Like most of its brethren, Whodunit? suffers from redundancy and too many scenes in dark, shadowy spaces, and the eventual revelation of the killer's identity is particularly stupid. Still, slumming horror mavens will have a good time if this obscurity crosses their path. - Fred Beldin
Of course, the last word should always go to an expert, in this case the exhaustive slasher film database Hysteria Lives!
My word of the day.
My film of the day is Island of Blood, aka Whodunit?, for which I am currently finishing a review. However, I doubt that I'll be able to explain the film's charms better than "Slasher Reviewer," a commenter to the IMDB website, so I'll let him take it from here while I go back to work ...
"I've had this movie for quite some time under the title WhoDunIt and found it under Scarred Alive recently and is also known as Island Of Blood? So be warned you may think your getting 3 really cool movies but your really getting 1. This movie is awesome and a must have for a slasher fan. Anyone that disagrees should go stuff there head in the toilet and flush it about 666 times! Great gore, great 80's music what more can you ask for? I love the tape recorder that the killer leaves at all his murders with the songs playing, "kill me" "burn me" etc...Just a great movie if you like the Friday The 13th series and other mainstream slash and hack films. This flick is in my favorite 20 slasher movies for all the right reasons..Unique kill scenes, naked chicks, and dead bodies everywhere!!!Slasher reviewer gives this one all his thumbs up!!!Killer!!!"
My film of the day is Island of Blood, aka Whodunit?, for which I am currently finishing a review. However, I doubt that I'll be able to explain the film's charms better than "Slasher Reviewer," a commenter to the IMDB website, so I'll let him take it from here while I go back to work ...
"I've had this movie for quite some time under the title WhoDunIt and found it under Scarred Alive recently and is also known as Island Of Blood? So be warned you may think your getting 3 really cool movies but your really getting 1. This movie is awesome and a must have for a slasher fan. Anyone that disagrees should go stuff there head in the toilet and flush it about 666 times! Great gore, great 80's music what more can you ask for? I love the tape recorder that the killer leaves at all his murders with the songs playing, "kill me" "burn me" etc...Just a great movie if you like the Friday The 13th series and other mainstream slash and hack films. This flick is in my favorite 20 slasher movies for all the right reasons..Unique kill scenes, naked chicks, and dead bodies everywhere!!!Slasher reviewer gives this one all his thumbs up!!!Killer!!!"
Friday, April 15, 2005
"What? You gonna put poison in my coffee?"
"Yep! And you'll die!"
"No, I won't. I'm an inter-dimensional being, who transcends time and space; the laws of psychics that apply to you don't apply to me."
Well, I'll tell ya, THAT shut him up. Based upon my intelligent observational skills, I determined that he was boasting. But not for long ...
"Yep! And you'll die!"
"No, I won't. I'm an inter-dimensional being, who transcends time and space; the laws of psychics that apply to you don't apply to me."
Well, I'll tell ya, THAT shut him up. Based upon my intelligent observational skills, I determined that he was boasting. But not for long ...
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
In honor of Soren Davis' 40th birthday ...
"Haircut Stomp" by the Family Haircut
MP3 File
There's no better compliment you can pay a friend than to steal an MP3 right off his website and post it on your own, and this is what I have done. To be honest, it's not the first time I've done it. I hit a really rough patch in my life last fall and most of my blog posts during that time were plagiarized directly from Soren's archives. No one noticed, or at least everyone had the grace not to call me on it.
But this is a great fucking song from a godammn good band that never put out anything while they walked the earth of Chicago back around the turn of the century. Most no one ever heard of the Family Haircut, and until Soren becomes the basis for some arcane musicology thesis 100 years from now, the band might remain mere memory, so here's the best number to suggest their charms. One chord, one idea, one more crazed Soren Davis performance. And that wah-wah solo, it's perfect. The stage is coated in beer from the very first stomp of Soren's foot, he hollers something about his train transfer for a while, a call and response mysteriously begins ... quite a fucking workout.
Anyhow, it's Soren's birthday, so drink a 40 to his memory. Uh, I mean honor. What's the one for when you're not dead?
"Haircut Stomp" by the Family Haircut
MP3 File
There's no better compliment you can pay a friend than to steal an MP3 right off his website and post it on your own, and this is what I have done. To be honest, it's not the first time I've done it. I hit a really rough patch in my life last fall and most of my blog posts during that time were plagiarized directly from Soren's archives. No one noticed, or at least everyone had the grace not to call me on it.
But this is a great fucking song from a godammn good band that never put out anything while they walked the earth of Chicago back around the turn of the century. Most no one ever heard of the Family Haircut, and until Soren becomes the basis for some arcane musicology thesis 100 years from now, the band might remain mere memory, so here's the best number to suggest their charms. One chord, one idea, one more crazed Soren Davis performance. And that wah-wah solo, it's perfect. The stage is coated in beer from the very first stomp of Soren's foot, he hollers something about his train transfer for a while, a call and response mysteriously begins ... quite a fucking workout.
Anyhow, it's Soren's birthday, so drink a 40 to his memory. Uh, I mean honor. What's the one for when you're not dead?
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Talking Jesus, Mary and Moses dolls due to go on sale in May - Apr. 12, 2005
Good LORD this is fucking stupid. When The Man can sell blasphemy to the children of the faithful, we're all doomed to the lake of fire.
And I hereby forbid the further use of numerals to replace prepositions. This means you too, Troy Gregory. I don't care if you're a genius or not, just quit it.
Good LORD this is fucking stupid. When The Man can sell blasphemy to the children of the faithful, we're all doomed to the lake of fire.
And I hereby forbid the further use of numerals to replace prepositions. This means you too, Troy Gregory. I don't care if you're a genius or not, just quit it.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Monday, April 04, 2005
ANOTHER SUCKER LANDED
Got a new "client" (if that's the word) ... after six months Paste Magazine returned my initial email and I conned my way into reviewing THE NOMI SONG for their summer issue. It's a damn good movie if you have any interest in the subject (which I do), nicely constructed and full of long lost clips. So they'll be getting 150 words on Klaus Nomi from me by the end of the week, and here's hoping I can parlay the assignment into bigger and better things, like some music coverage ... they're big on Torch & Twang-style stuff, so once again my interest in sheer noise terror and outsider weirdos will have to be repressed (speaking of which).
Got a new "client" (if that's the word) ... after six months Paste Magazine returned my initial email and I conned my way into reviewing THE NOMI SONG for their summer issue. It's a damn good movie if you have any interest in the subject (which I do), nicely constructed and full of long lost clips. So they'll be getting 150 words on Klaus Nomi from me by the end of the week, and here's hoping I can parlay the assignment into bigger and better things, like some music coverage ... they're big on Torch & Twang-style stuff, so once again my interest in sheer noise terror and outsider weirdos will have to be repressed (speaking of which).
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