Dino DeLaurentis And His Crummy Kong

Crummy gorilla. Crummy movie — King King (1976) — but I love it anyway.

A Quick Lesson In Compostion

Attention photographers. Here's a couple frames lifted from a couple great Westerns. Dig the beauty of these shots.

First, Ride Lonesome (1960) directed by Budd Boetticher and shot by Charles Lawton, Jr.

Next, Sam Peckinpah's modern-day Western Junior Bonner (1972), with Lucien Ballard as DP.

I'd love to hang either of these images over my couch.

53 Gasser

Wish I could say I drove this 1953 Chevrolet to work this morning. Instead, I found it with Google Images.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #13

Four dollars and fifty cents! And no "convenience charge."

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #12

The Zappa/Mothers ad campaign for Hagstrom Guitars — created in 1967 by Zappa's ad agency, Nifty Tough & Bitchin'.

From the Hagstrom Guitars website:
Back in 1967, Frank Zappa created an advertising agency in New York City called "Nifty Tough & Bitchin'" as another creative outlet associated with, but not directly tied to his musical endeavors. This ad agency, in a very short amount of time, mounted various professional advertising campaigns for clients such as Hagstrom Guitars, Panther Combo Organs, and even Remington Razor Blades in addition to art direction for the Mother's of Invention album covers.

The Hagstrom campaign was one of the first campaigns launched by Nifty Tough & Bitchin'. It features 3 print ads: "Nifty", "Long and Slippery", and "Folk Rock is a Drag", and a radio spot: "Long and Slippery". Using himself as the subject matter of the ads, Frank does a masterful job crafting these ads showing that he is not only a musical genious, but also an astute business man, and savvy marketeer. Frank was responsible for art direction of the various ad campaigns, and he was also skilled in the technical aspects of ad creation handling layouts and creating the blue lines for print media.

Nifty indeed.

""Well, if we're looking for a shark we're not gonna find him on the land."

The Ben Gardner head prop (found here) that pops out of the boat in one of the greatest scares in Film History.

Shot in Verna Fields' swimming pool. (She edited Jaws in her pool house.)

Venture In Space: Bob Bogle, 1934-2009

One of my heroes has passed away. Bob Bogle, co-founder of The Ventures, passed away on Sunday. In this photo, he's on the left.

(The) Ventures In Space (1964) remains one of my all-time favorite records.

Why I choose to live in Garner, NC.

Have a script due today, so I stopped at the local Dunkin Donuts for coffee and a bowtie — and to look this thing over before heading into the office.

Was there about 30 minutes, and as I was getting ready to leave, this rather large woman came in, got in line, waited through 4-5 customers, and got a large coffee with "a whole lotta cream." She walked out right in front of me, obviously in a hurry and irritated by the wait.

Out in the parking lot was a big Buick or something, with a paintjob that had been beaten to hell by the sun. The driver's window was down and another big woman was behind the wheel. In her left hand was a cigarette. In her right hand was a puffy Cheeto. The Cheetos bag was in her lap.

Seeing her friend/mama/whoever come out with the coffee, the Cheeto lady yelled "We gotta git to the courthouse!"

It was all I could do to get to the car before I busted out laughing. And I'm really curious about what they're doing at the courthouse.

"We're having much more fun"

My daughter Presley and I saw X at Cat's Cradle on the 9th. Presley's descent into X fandom had really accelerated since last year's show (written about here), and she was in full autograph-seeking mode this time. Both Exene and Billy Zoom were extremely kind and patient, and my eight-year-old's still floating on a cloud over the whole thing.

Exene handed Presley the setlist, which is now hanging in her room (top photo). As you can see, this was a show full of great stuff. The encore also included an acoustic run-through of "See How We Are" by Exene and John Doe. There was an additional encore of "It's Who You Know," "Blue Spark" and "The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss" — as fine a chunk of music as I've ever heard.

I've also come to the realization that X is my favorite band. And after years of evangelizing about them, to whoever would listen, my greatest success story has to be my own kid. Seeing Presley singing "Nausea" along with Exene was quite a sight. Her later call to my best friend James to give him a full report of the show was a hoot, too. (When you're handing out the Father Of The Year awards, don't hesitate to email for my address.)

In the background of the photo above (thanks, Erika), you can see Presley chatting with Billy Zoom. Her blog about the whole thing, much better than mine, is here.

"What's the point? Hooks and lines..."

Jaws
Friday, June 19

7pm
The Carolina Theatre
Durham, NC

http://festivals.carolinatheatre.org/retrofantasma/

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #11

As you may know, the first Mothers record, Freak Out!, was released as a two LP set in the States and a single LP throughout most of the rest of the world. Is this a great country or what?

If you're rich — or if you don't care if your children eat or have shoes — you can go here and bid on the actual master tapes of that international single-record version.

Will they help you meet girls? No. But would they be a really cool thing to have sitting on your mantle? Absolutely.

Fridays With Frank (Zappa) #10

Go here and you can check out Burt Ward's Batman cash-in 45 "Boy Wonder I Love You." The backing track was provided by Zappa and The Mothers back in June of 1966.

Thanks to Never Get Out Of The Boat.

The Driver

A good friend is sick, so naturally we got in a short email discussion of writer/director Walter Hill.

Like all Steve McQueen movies, The Getaway (which Hill wrote) has curative powers, so Joseph should be up and around soon.

Anyway, I got to thinking about The Driver (1978). I saw this thing when it came out — I was 14 and hated it. Now I think it's Hill's best movie and a masterpiece. Totally stylized. A complete film noir throwback. And filled with some really boss car stuff.

It was offered to McQueen, who turned it down since he'd done so many car movies. Ryan O'Neal ended up with the part, and his usual stiffness works perfectly here — like it did in Barry Lyndon. This guy is a machine with no feeling whatsoever, a zombie, tearing around LA in all sorts of cars with absolutely no expression.

Bruce Dern is the cop obsessed with bringing the Driver down. Good stuff. Seventies movies, especially if they have cars in them, can be so great.

I hate this.

From the Associated Press:

A judge placed former Columbo star Peter Falk in a conservatorship Monday to ensure his daughter could occasionally visit the ailing 81-year-old actor.

Falk’s wife of more than 30 years, Shera, will remain in control of his personal care and affairs. Falk has advanced dementia, likely from Alzheimer’s disease, one of his doctors testified Monday.

Catherine Falk petitioned in December to take over her father’s affairs despite a sometimes contentious relationship with Falk and his wife. By court order, she will be allowed a 30-minute visit with her father every other month.

Falk’s condition virtually ensures he will not remember the meetings, his doctor said.

Ross MacDonald

1981. In a Rolling Stone article, Warren Zevon talked about how much he loved to read Ross MacDonald.

Zevon's recommendation was enough for me. Then I realized that MacDonald's Lew Archer character, and the novel Moving Target, was the source for Harper (1966).

Soon, I'd found my favorite novelist.

Came across some old MacDonald paperback covers on a great blog dedicated to such things. Killer Covers. Check it out. More importantly, check out Ross MacDonald. You can't really go wrong with any of them, but I really liked The Way Some People Die.

If real cowboys didn't look like William S. Hart, they sure should have.

Growing up, there were always pictures of silent Western star William S. Hart lying around. I've always loved his profile — his face seemed to have been specially shaped to go with the hat. And his man of few words — living by a strong, rigid code — is reflected in the films of Sam Peckinpah, Randolph Scott, Clint Eastwood and a few others.

If you've never seen the land rush sequence in his last film, 1925's Tumbleweeds, you're missing out. It's incredible.

Dangerous Don Rich (And Buck Owens)