Wish I'd been there.

Random stuff off my desktop.

Time for a little digital housekeeping to get some of this random stuff off my desktop so I can find the work stuff that's scattered amongst all this junk.

First and foremost, here's Presley feeding a baby donkey at Amazing Acres Farms. She went yesterday to their Holiday Farm Camp — and had a blast. The coat makes her look a little like an Apollo astronaut, but it was really really cold yesterday. The donkey's name is Domenic, by the way.


Next, a press sheet for an old Batman tray puzzle from the Sixties. Found it on somebody's blog out there somewhere.


Jennifer found this one somewhere. It's Frank Zappa and his parents — at their house. You know, I sure miss Frank. We've still got all that great music, of course, but it's nice knowing there are people out there like Frank walking around and just generally being brilliant.


There's this thing on the Internets somewhere that lets you construct an illustration of a Volkswagen Beetle of any age, in any color, with a number of accessories. I did mine — then stuck a luggage rack on the top.


And lastly, since I can't seem to break my Big Star infatuation these days, here's the four-piece lineup around the time of #1 Record. If you haven't figured it out by now, I really like Big Star.


Told you it was random.

The Big Star freakout continues.

I'm two-thirds of the ways through Rob Jovanovic's great Big Star book, Big Star: The Short Life, Painful Death, and Unexpected Resurrection of the Kings of Power Pop, which I think has been re-issued with a shorter title. Probably a wise move.

The Big Star story is a sad one, filled with missed opportunities (lots), self-destructive behavior (lots and lots), etc. But knowing how this music was made has really aided my appreciation of a band I loved to begin with. It's also thrown me into a big fat Big Star binge, which is not a bad thing at all.

Came across this original promo poster for #1 Record. Very cool. There's a lot of Big Star reposing on eBay these days.

We'll never know how well this poster really promoted the record, since issues with the label and its distributor sunk any chances of success the band had with this album. But this does serve as a fine example of Truth In Advertising: wise men do check out Big Star.

A couple dozen shopping days left till Christmas.

The very rare masterpiece, Big Star's #1 Record, on eBay. (Radio City is just as good.) It's an original Ardent copy from 1972 in near-mint condition.

Something ridiculous like just 5,000 of these were supposedly sold. The CD is playing in my office right now.

"Try Again" (Bell/Chilton):

Lord I've been trying to be what I should
Lord I've been trying to do what I could
But each time it gets a little harder
I feel the pain
But I'll try again

Lord I've been trying to be understood
And Lord I've been trying to do as you would
But each time it gets a little harder
I feel the pain
But I'll try again


At $100, this seems like a deal.

Why'd They Bother?

Battle Of The (Not Much) Bulge.

I love the epic war films of the Sixties. The Longest Day. The Dirty Dozen. Battle Of Britain. Where Eagles Dare (my all-time favorite movie). The big budgets, wide screen, monster casts and roadshow lengths really seem to work in this genre — while they’ll sink films in others (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang comes to mind).

The other day, I happened upon The Battle Of The Bulge on DVD. Three bucks. I’m in.

Growing up with a film-collector Dad, I was lucky to see many of these films on film, actually projected on a screen. But Bulge I only knew from Sunday afternoons on local TV, where it was always a terrible mess. Pacing destroyed by commercials. Camerawork, blocking and composition completely wasted by panning and scanning Cinerama down to 1.33:1 (which is a crime against nature). Sound piped through a speaker the size of a silver dollar. Basically, all its epic-ness totally stripped away.

It’s a lot more impressive now, with an actual attempt to preserve what the filmmakers where aiming for 40 years ago. Color, framing, sound — they’re all near perfect. We get the entrance, intermission and exit music. Actually, it’s beautiful. A first-class presentation of a Sixties roadshow film.

However, the film itself is where the trouble starts.

First, for an epic, it’s not all that epic, taking a massive military milestone that lasted a month or more, and making it feel like a couple dozen guys and an afternoon. Then there are a number of inaccuracies, beginning with American post-war Patton tanks pretending to be King Tigers and the sunny plains of Spain filling in for the snowy forests of the Western Front. Not to mention some of the lousiest process photography I can remember — just look at Robert Shaw sitting in front of his tank column. Shameful.

Guess they can’t all be The Longest Day can they? And since that film’s director, Ken Annakin, gave us this one, it’s doubly disappointing.

All that said, however, I loved it. Tanks. Cinerama. Robert Ryan. Charles Bronson. Telly Savales. Can you think of a better way to spend an afternoon? I sure can't.

We've lost a couple big ones, folks.

First, Forrest Ackerman passed away Thursday night. The editor of Famous Monsters Of Filmland, 4E had a tremendous influence on science fiction and horror films, literature and fandom. From Steven Spielberg to Joe Dante to Rick Baker and on and on, Hollywood is lousy with Famous Monsters readers turned film-makers.

I once had the incredible privilege to tour the Ackermansion, Forry's memorabilia-filled home. In L.A. to see X, my best friend James and I headed over one afternoon. It was Geek Heaven, one of the finest afternoons of my life. The stuff laying around the place was unbelievable: mountains of artwork, the ape model from King Kong (1933), model spaceships from you-name-it, even Professor Fate's submarine from The Great Race.

I snagged the above photo from someone (sorry) because it reminds me of the time I spent with him. Note that he's wearing Lugosi's Dracula ring (the larger one) and Boris Karloff's from The Mummy. He slid the Dracula one on my hand. "With this ring, I be dead," I quipped. Mr. Ackerman, the absolute king of groaner puns, laughed and threatened to steal it. I was honored.

See ya, Dr. Akula. And thank you.

Actress Beverly Garland has also passed away. She was in a slew of great B movies, from D.O.A. (her first film) to The Alligator People to Gunslinger to Not Of This Earth. If it's from the Fifties and she's in it, you're in good shape. Especially if Roger Corman directed it. It'd be easy to call her a "cult actress" and leave it at that, but that belittles how versatile and good she was -- a very good actress in movies that don't usually have very good actresses.

Beverly was a regular on My Three Sons (which is what many people know her from) and appeared in about a million other TV shows. She also owned a hotel in Hollywood.

And Bettie Page is in a coma.

Calling All Creature Geeks!

There's this blog I check out every once in a while, John's Forbidden Planet. It's always got some incredible old movie poster art and stuff. Check it out. Frequently.

This morning, I can across this on there: an actual color photo from The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954). John says he did a little color-correcting on it, which I thank him for.

There are very very few color photos of the Creature around. These were shot for Life magazine, and it turns out you can buy them. Pretty neat. And just in time for the holidays!

While I'm on the subject of old monster stuff, Famous Monsters Of Filmland's Forrest Ackerman isn't doing very well. Love ya, 4E!

Feel A Whole Lot Better

The other night, Thursday to be exact, we went to see Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen. It was a nice contrast to the heaviness of last week's jury duty. Ick.

Of course, Hillman was in two of my favorite bands, The Byrds (above) and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Pedersen has played with about everybody who ever did the country-rock thing — I'm a big fan of the records he did with The Dillards (Copperfields and Wheatstraw Suite).

Thinking about Hillman, I realized what a huge influence he's had on my appreciation of Country Music — adding to the Johnny Cash fandom I inherited from my Dad. The Byrds' and Burritos' covers lead me to the Louvin Brothers, Buck Owens, Hank Snow and on and on. And for all that, in addition to masterpieces like The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, I can't thank them enough. And I'm sure there's plenty of other alt-country fans out there who were educated the same way.

Lately, I've been all over those Sundazed mono mixes of the first four Byrds LPs. When it comes to mid-60s rock, people, mono's where it's at.

A few tools, an old VW, and a whole lot of "what the hell?"

Sitting around the courthouse yesterday, I trolled the many Volkswagen restoration sites and blogs out there. Came across this, which someone scanned outta Mechanix Illustrated.

My bug, a '74, is yellow. I won't take the color of this bitchin' camper as some sort of sign — and start making with the hacksaw. But this is a very cool thing.

However, I bet getting it up I-77 into Virginia would be one long, slow, white-nuckle ride. Note the aerodynamic windshield.

Does this make me Commissioner Gordon?

Here I sit in the "jury lounge" of the Wake County Courthouse, nursing this laptop through some very terrible wireless signals — all in an attempt at doing some work while waiting to be called to some courtroom downstairs.

Thought I'd put this overdue Halloween picture up. Months ago, Presley wanted to be the Pink Panther, so Jennifer started sorting out how she was going to pull it off. It was going to be very very hard. (Last year's masterful Herbie The Love Bug set the bar very very high.)

Next, Presley wanted to be a flower. Easier than the Pink Panther, for sure.

Then she came to the realization that she should be Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees. Huh?

Let's see, one of those shirts with the weird yoke, a drum with the Monkees logo and a curly wig? Would that do it? And would any of the other kids wandering around Cary, North Carolina, have a clue as to who she was? And do we really care? She'd certainly get points for originality — and maybe a few more for out and out weirdness.

But in the end, she settled on Batgirl, as seen below.

No crimes were solved, but much candy was secured. And the Batarangs absolutely refused to stay in her utility belt.



We went to the Museum Of History which had a special Halloween thing going on. A TV crew was there and Presley/Batgirl somehow ended up on TV.

I love these things.

Where's a fried bologna sandwich when you need one?

On the way to work yesterday — at my new job — I dropped Jennifer and Presley off at the NC State Fair. After lunch, I left the office and joined them. By the time I got there, they'd milked a cow, seen a buncha animals, walked miles, etc. They're huge fans of the Fair, and spent about 10 hours there all-told.

I snapped this picture of Presley on the Ferris wheel (that's Dorton Arena in the background). As you can see, she was a little uneasy about the whole thing. Guess heights aren't her bag.


When we got down, a guy from the News & Observer approached us. He was pointing his camera at us as I was pointing mine at Presley. We appeared on the N&O site this morning.


The whole thing is a bit more documented than I think was really necessary. But it was a fun day, even though I never found the fried bologna sandwich place Mark Brumback told me about.

Oh, and Presley won a stuffed bear and a weird doll that plays some crazy song in some crazy language.

Paul Newman, 1925 - 2008

The shot's from HARPER (1966). That's the one-sheet to the right. It's my favorite Newman film, and it pointed me to one of my favorite writers, Ross MacDonald.

Paul Newman was, and still is, a yardstick we could all use to measure cool. And he made it cool to care about other people, which we should all be grateful to him for.

We're losing these guys at a pretty distressing clip. What are we gonna do when all the cool guys are gone?

Meet Supercat!

Presley started the second grade yesterday. In one of her workbooks, she had to create a new superhero. She came up with Supercat.

It was some sort of exercise to use verbs, with a fill-in-the-blank thing to describe her superhero. It reads:

"My superhero can fly, save, arrest and meow!"

It's great here in North Carolina: Barbie rod hooks record-breaking catfish

BARBIE ROD HOOKS RECORD-BREAKING CATFISH
From The News & Observer

A Wilkes County fisherman caught a record channel catfish -- with his granddaughter's hot pink Barbie doll rod and reel.

David Hayes landed the fish, which weighed 21 pounds, one ounce, on Aug. 5 in a private pond in the northwestern North Carolina county. He was fishing with his granddaughter Alyssa, 3, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said.

The fish was 2 inches longer than Alyssa's rod and reel, which measured 2 and a half feet.

Hayes and his granddaughter were using black crickets as bait and fishing for bluegill when nature called for Alyssa.

"After catching two or three bluegill, Alyssa turns to me and says 'Papa, I've got to go to the bathroom. Hold my fishing rod,'" Hayes recalled, according to a news release issued by the Wildlife Resources Commission. "A few minutes later, the float went under and I saw the water start boiling up. I knew right then that I had my hands full with that fishing rod."

It took Hayes 25 minutes to land the fish.

The fish was weighed on certified scales at Thurmond Grocery in Thurmond, N.C. It was certified by Kin Hodges, a fisheries biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

The fish was 32 inches long and 22 and a half inches in girth.

The previous record channel catfish was an 18-pound, 5-ounce specimen caught in August 2007.

Hayes told the Wildlife Resources Commission that he and Alyssa have been fishing together since she was old enough to hold a fishing rod.

Big-rubber-foot

"As the team and I began examining this area near the feet, I observed the foot which looked unnatural, reached in and confirmed it was a rubber foot."

This Week's Greatest Thing Ever

There's a lot of Stupid in my life right now, which come to think of it, isn't anything new. So maybe it's a little more obvious these days.

So, it just makes sense that all this stuff would be scored by "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen. Or maybe by that 4-CD Stack O' Greatness (and the current Greatest Thing Ever), BIRD CALL: THE TWIN CITY STOMP OF THE TRASHMEN.

(What you're looking at up there is their first LP.)

Maybe the world isn't as crummy as I thought.

It's pretty easy to see the world as a pretty lousy place to be these days. The economy, war, people starving everywhere, network TV.

But then you figure that we live in an age where you can own the 1966 BATMAN movie, starring Adam West, an a high-definition Blue-Ray DVD.

Something about that makes me feel good inside — even though I don't have a Blue-Ray player.

Atomic batteries to power!

Sugarlight

In late May, my best friend James and I took my daughter Presley to see X. She had a blast.

Yesterday, it became apparent what an impact that whole event has had on her.

Like most seven year olds, she loves lightning bugs — even though most other insects freak her out.

She caught four the other day. Their names: Exene, Billy Zoom, John Doe and DJ Bonebrake. I talked her into letting them go. Last night, she had another one in her special plastic bug container thing (a jar with holes in the lid was good enough when I was a kid). She swears it's Exene again.

Hooray! It's The Feelies! Part 2

This morning while drinking my Bushiban coffee and eating my Dolly Madison coffee cake, I geeked out and read a buncha blog entries and stuff about the Feelies' Maxwell's shows.

One of the best came from Stan Demeski's daughter, Katie. You can read it here:

http://howstrange-innocence.blogspot.com

The photo I snagged from her site. (Thanks, Katie. Or maybe it should be "Sorry, Katie!") Down at the bottom of her post, I came across:

http://www.nyctaper.com/

Here, you can download the second set of their July 1 show.

So there. Proof that this whole Internet thing really can make our lives better.

Hooray! It's The Feelies!

I know where I wish I was gonna be on July 4 — seeing The Feelies. But I'm happy just to know they're back.

Thought For The Day

It's a bird! It's a plane. It's Father's Day!

For Father’s Day, Presley gave me a right spiffy gift: a trip to the indoor skydiving place.

What’s that? Well, that was kinda what I was wondering, too. You head to this place outside Fayetteville called Paraclete where they got this big fat monster wind tunnel and you get in there and hang in the air and zip around and stuff like you see skydivers do as they drop like stones.

As they describe it on their website, “you will soar on a column of air inside a vertical wind tunnel.”

And that’s what I did. Suited up in a jumpsuit and helmet, with some goggles that thankfully let me keep my glasses on, I got in there and flew around a little bit, with an instructor keeping me from blowing around like a wadded up piece of trash on a blustery day. It was a blast. And I was less lousy at it than I figured I’d be.

It was for sure a Father’s Day I won’t forget. And I’m ready to go back and try it again.

Jennifer took some pictures with her phone, but they aren't much to look at. So, I boosted this shot off their website. My aerobatics were nothing like those you see here.

"Must Not Think Bad Thoughts"

Been pretty down on my fellow man lately, thanks to an almost constant onslaught of rudeness from just about everybody I come into contact with. On the way to work, at the grocery store, walking around the flea market -- you name it, I've found creeps there. And my wife, Jennifer, has been complaining about the same thing. What the hell's wrong with people? And is it that damn hard to be civil?

So what did I do to fix all this, to restore my faith in the human race? Took my seven-year-old daughter to see X.

X is one of my favorite bands. Maybe they are my favorite band. If there was such a thing as a Rockometer -- a way to scientifically measure whether you prefer The Beatles to The Stones or Sgt. Pepper to Pet Sounds or Punk to Grunge or mono to stereo -- then I guess X could duke it out with The Kinks for my High Score. I discovered them in college and quickly pegged UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN as one of the greatest albums of all time. But I was a latecomer -- the mighty Billy Zoom was gone by the time I found 'em.

Flash forward to 1998, and Billy Zoom is back for reunion shows. I'm married, sporting a hairdo clearly inspired by Zoom's, and my best friend James (after running the whole scenario past my co-conspiring wife) flies us out to LA to see X at The House Of Blues on the fabulous Sunset Strip. One of the greatest days of my life, easy.

Ten more years pass. I've got a seven-year-old daughter named Presley, the same Billy Zoom hair and thankfully the same wife and best friend. X comes to The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro last Tuesday, and James comes down from Brooklyn to take it in with Presley and I.

They played a little under an hour and a half. Stuff from the first four records, all played really hard. (They did "The Have Nots"!) And throughout, they seemed to be enjoying it. It mattered. Can't say that about many reunion tours, can you?

One of the greatest days of my life, easy. Not just because I got to see X play perhaps the best live show I've ever seen. Not because my daughter was there having a good time and sitting on the stage — perched in front of Billy Zoom and looking splendid in her “White Girl” t-shirt. Not because James came down — and I see him all too infrequently. Not because I met his friend Lauren, who took the above photos. Not because I also ran into my buddy Dick Vincent there. But because people were so NICE, from the ticket guy to the fans to Billy Zoom. And even though I felt a little conspicuous going in with a little kid, by the end of the show, people were coming up and saying they wished they'd brought their children.

It was a perfect father-daughter evening. And one of these days, Presley'll be able to tell her friends that her dad and his kooky friends took her to see X. And they'll probably say "Who?"

I feel sorry for them already.

John Phillip Law, RIP

John Phillip Law, 1937 - 2008

Our populace is getting less cool by the day, people!

And some more Roth.

I've had this car on my mind for days. It's beautiful.

It's Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's daily driver during his prime mid-60s custom-building days. '55 Chevy with a fiberglass front end. Scoop on the hood. Tangerine orange. The back fenders were radiused.

And of course, it's got ROTH painted on the doors and trunk lid.

Ed's vehicles are well-documented and their whereabouts are locked down, especially since the Orbitron was located. (In fact, some say the mill from this '55 was chromed and plopped into the Orbitron.)

Wonder where this '55 is? Wonder how hard it'd be to clone it?

More Roth.

Here is Ed's 1979 Honda CVCC, which he used to haul his airbrush stuff around in for years. Of course, as much paint went on it as in it. The hood, even in its unrestored state (I hope the owner leaves it as-is), is a thing of Beauty.

Ed Roth And His Orbitron

Here's a picture of Ed Roth and his Orbitron, years before what was left of the car was found sitting in front of a sex shop across the border from El Paso. Some people have no appreciation for Fine Art.

They say a complete restoration is in the works. Let's hope so.

Famous Monsters Of Filmland

Came across an interview with director Joe Dante (PIRANHA, GREMLINS) in a blog called Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule.

Joe spoke of 4E's immortal Famous Monsters Of Filmland magazine, and he really nailed what it was like to be a monster-loving kid back in those days (50s and 60s for him, 70s for me):

"The appearance of that magazine made a lot of kids realize they weren’t alone. There was a network of people who were interested in all the things they were interested in that no one else around them was. You can look back on it and say, well, it wasn’t much of a magazine, which it really wasn’t. But the transformative effect, the unifying effect that it had on an entire generation was amazing."

You can read the whole thing at:
http://sergioleoneifr.blogspot.com/2008/04/joe-dante-your-movie-orgy-mc.html

"Now tie that knot real tight. It has to hold the weight of a pig."

One of the things I don't like about myself circa 2008 is that I don't get excited about stuff the way I used to. Maybe it's because you can get really jaded after 20 years in Advertising. Maybe it's because you have a kid, your priorities change, and stuff like the next Who record isn't as big a deal as it once was. Or maybe I'm just getting old and tired. Who knows.

But something's coming up that I am real excited about. THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY is coming to the Carolina Theater in Durham. One showing. 35mm Techniscope. Man, I'd crawl to Durham on broken glass for that.

It's one of my all-time favorite movies. Easy. And it passes one of my Great Movie tests: I can sit in a chair and watch this thing for three hours and never once look at my watch. (That's a test movies like TITANIC or DANCES WITH WOLVES fail miserably.)

One thing that really amazes me about THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY is that its grand scope somehow comes through on a dinky little television. How did Sergio Leone pull that off? Of course, with Lee Van Cleef's closeups 40 feet wide, and on Film, that won't be much of an issue.

God, I can't wait!

(The title of this thing is one of Eli Wallach's lines.)

O. Winston Link

As I mentioned in my last thing, if anybody bothered with it, we went to the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke over the weekend. Above is one of his elaborate, amazing photographs. (Click on it, it gets bigger.)

As beautiful as his work is, the backstory might be even better. In the late Fifties, he documented the last years of the last railroad to still use steam, Norfolk & Western across Virginia. His shots are amazing compositions, using tons of lights to show the relationship people had with trains in the small towns along the N&W line.

In the museum, you'll see hundreds of his shots, along with his cameras, diagrams and lighting rigs. There's even some artifacts from one of the old country stores he shot.

My wife is from this area (her grandpa worked for N&W) and I'm a closet train nut, so we find this stuff just fascinating. But if you're a railhead or a camera geek, you should consider the museum a pilgrimage you really need to make.

If it's good enough for The Three Stooges, it's good enough for you.

This weekend, I spoke at a student portfolio review thing in Roanoke, VA. Saw some really nice work from some graduating seniors. And what a great town!

The best thing about the whole trip could have been The Texas Tavern, a city landmark and a chili/burger/hot dog place without equal.

The chili was great. The hot dogs were perfect (according to my daughter). Their famous sandwich, The Cheesy Western, was a heaping, delicious mess. And the people (on both sides of the counter) couldn't have been nicer.

The Texas Tavern has been there since the 30s, right downtown, and local legend has it The Three Stooges once ate there. What more endorsement could you possibly need?

Oh, we also visited the O. Winston Link Museum and checked out Link's incredible steam train photography from the late 50s.

Roanoke is kinda like what Raleigh would be like if Raleigh hadn't gotten so busy with the wrecking ball.

I bet their mothers are proud.

I see a lot of ads. Hell, I write a lot of ads. And here's one I really really wish I'd done.

It was created by Giovanni+Draftfcb, an agency in Rio de Janeiro. I like the concept, in large part because I'm a huge fan of Hitchcock and PSYCHO. And I love the art direction, which is absolutely impeccable. Beautiful.

Way to go.

These things are great.

I don't what else I need to say about that.

Who says Vegas marriages don't last?

Ours has outlived the Stardust. That's its dust you're looking at.

Today, my wife and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Woo-hoo! And while that's certainly a great thing, it's sad to think about how much of the cool old Las Vegas has been demolished in those 10 years.

The Stardust, where we spent a day or two. (We also stayed at The Flamingo, which is still with us.)

The Desert Inn.

The New Frontier.

The Aladdin.

And God knows how many others. The Sands was a vacant lot when we arrived.

I always thought it'd be cool to go back for our 10th. But maybe it's better to remember it the way it was back in '98 — when only SOME of the cool stuff was gone.

By the way, we got married at 6pm on Monday, the 23rd at The Graceland Wedding Chapel. Jennifer was escorted down the aisle by a chunky Elvis singing "Love Me Tender." We then rereated to a wonderful restaurant beside Caesar's Palace, where our friend Beth drank too much wine. We did the whole garter/bouquet thing near the entrance to Caesar's — with Japanese tourists videotaping it all.

It was a great day.