Tim and Eric fans rejoice! It’s that time of year again, it’s time for AwesomeCon 2010!

Join Tim and Eric Saturday July 24th at San Diego’s Embarcadero Marina Park North for AWESOMECON 2010! There will be special guests, games, music by DJ Douggpound, a costume contest, Tim and Eric karaoke, and much much more. And don’t forget to study up on your trivia because one ultimate fan will win a jet ski ride with Tim and Eric!!!!

This event is totally free and no tickets are required!

For maximum enjoyment bring yourself and your friends (preferably in Tim and Eric themed costumes), a blanket , sunscreen, and water. See you thereeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A jet ski ride? Really?

Maybe even the Tan Man himself will be there!

Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 12:00pm Embarcadero Marina Park North, San Diego, CA 

 
As someone who works in the mainstream media myself, believe me when I tell you: This is 1000% on the money. Hilarious, but all too true. No really!

 
Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you, the newest member of the Dangerous Minds team, Marc Campbell:

Marc Campbell was the lead singer and lyricist for THE NAILS who recorded two critically acclaimed albums for RCA records. He’s best known for the cult hit 88 Lines About 44 Women. Later this year, Campbell will be releasing his first solo album, Tantric Machine. He is also working on a book, 44 WOMEN, an erotic memoir spanning the 60s and 70s, from the hippies to the punks. “Having been passionately involved with the social and artistic revolutions of those decades, I see many connections between the two and how one grew out of the other. 44 WOMEN pays tribute to the power and glory of sex, drugs, rock and roll…and LOVE. It is dedicated to the women in my life who did their best to keep me human.” Marc currently lives in Austin, Texas with his beautiful Turkish girlfriend and his chihuahua, Freddy. He likes good wine, rock and roll and hardboiled detective novels. He agrees with Timothy Leary that “intelligence is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”

I’m sure Dangerous Minds readers will enjoy Marc’s eclectic pop culture postings. As some of you have probably already noticed, we’ve often linked to some of Marc’s Facebook posts here and think he’s the perfect addition to the band. Welcome Marc!

 
Bob the Tan Man from Tim & Eric’s Season Cinco has launched his own website where you can write to him, download a “Me Me I’m a Tan Man” ringtone, buy autographed pictures and even get Bob the Tan Man himself to call you!

Wow! But what would I say to him?

For the personal recorded message service I record a short personal message to the fan. Almost about anything.

This is the most popular and just an example. The message can be just about any length. It’s all worked out prior to any recording.

Hi (Their Name) Bob the Tan Man here from the Tim & Eric Awesome show. I’m sending you a short message about your (occasion here). I’m sorry I had to miss it. I’m sure it would have been a great time and it would have been great to meet you. Best wish’s and hope you have an Awesome day.

Give as much detail about the call. 5 minutes can be a long time.

When there is nothing to talk about the call will end.

I like how he let’s you know this!
 

 
Detroit techno soldier Monty Luke hepped me to this rather remarkable clip from an unnamed American music show in 1969. It seems apropos since last week marked the 39th anniversary of Jim Morrison’s death, and his ghost still haunts what once was the Doors Workshop in Los Angeles. Below, the LizKing notes that music in the future “might rely heavily on electronics and tapes” and feature performers “using machines.”

You think he figured that electronic music geniuses like John Oswald a.k.a. Plunderphonics would have such a blast blowing out the Doors, as shown in the fan video after the jump?
 

 
After a couple of drug-bust-heavy years off the road, the Rolling Stones were at a few turning points as of July 5, 1969. Their back-to-basics Beggars Banquet album signaled the end of the rainbow dream of Their Satanic Majesties Request, and a return to a therapeutic blues mode that would last them long into the ‘70s. Most importantly, guitarist Mick Taylor of John Mayall’s Blues Breakers had replaced a drug-soaked Brian Jones, and Jones had been found drowned in the pool of his Sussex home two days before their previously booked free performance in Hyde Park. The Stones decide to go on with the show. As shown below, Britain’s leading independent Granada Television was there.

Granada put the biggest rock concert in England’s history to that point (250,000 people, with Woodstock planned for a month later) into context by chatting with the band, the fans and members of the amazingly efficient Kent chapter of the Hells Angels. Unfortunately, the Stones’ next huge concert would demonstrate that the Kent Angels neglected to exchange notes with their West Coast brothers about how to best secure a large crowd…
 
Please note: Live Video seemed to be the only free video site that’s hosting the full documentary. Unfortunately, the user experience after the jump is less than optimal—the video just starts and buffers a lot. It seems best to just pause the screen and let it load before playing. Please remember that it’s free, and that for best results you can buy the DVD by clicking the link below.
 
Get: The Stones in the Park [DVD]

 
Why… here’s an item that was just screaming out for a blog post, don’tcha think? It seems that Amoeba Records in Hollywood accepted delivery on a most unusual item earlier this week when a box of bespoke records and CDs for the soundtrack to weirdo auteur Harmony Korine’s latest cinematic head-scratcher, Trash Humpers, arrived at the store. It’s just a pity the employee who opened the box wasn’t wearing a Hazmat suit….

First a little background: Trash Humpers, like most of Korine’s filmic oeuvre, defies description, but I’ll try: Trash Humpoers is about some freaks and genetic mutants who like to, well, hump trash and the wacky misadventures these zany characters get up to. How’s that?

But back to the made-by-hand records and CDs at Amoeba: Each of the 500 individually-numbered, limited edition 45 rpm records comes packaged with… you guessed it (or maybe you haven’t) TRASH! In fact, one of the ones Amoeba got in the post, like a bottle of Mezcal, even came with its’ own worm! The CDs are in fact computer burned CD-Rs, and each one comes with hand-labeled art by Sharpy.

If, like many folks reading this, you’re making an “Ewww” face at the moment, I’ll leave you with the pithy comment of my always witty Los Angeles Times colleague, Alie Ward: “Why couldn’t they just wipe some gonorrhea on them and be done with it?”

She’s right, you know. Worms. Sooooo 2007!
 

 
Fans of Hispanic Batman, at long last, Hispanic Batman, the book! The thing is, it’s only for sale at the San Diego Comic Con. They say that unsold copies will be for sale on the Royal Flush website, but with a cover like this, there is no way this baby won’t sell out!

Created in 1997, Hispanic Batman is the retarded brainchild of Royal Flush creators and comic artists Erik Rodriguez and Josh Bernstein. This parody of the classic comics character has certainly found his unique voice over the last few years tackling the tough issues like immigration, slavery, politics and even American Idol and Hugh Hefner.

Light-hearted, goofy, offensive and extremely well drawn, Hispanic Batman’s charms are irresistible. Appearing in every Royal Flush, Hispanic Batman all his adventures are gathered here into one 80-page tome.

In honor of this special edition, many top comic artists and illustrators banded together to try their hand at the famed Caped Conquistador. Tim Bradstreet (Punisher, Hellblazer, Batman) came aboard to do the killer cover that adorns this book. His take on the Brown Knight gives salute to both Adam West’s campy portrayal of the character and the great Mexican cinema art of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

In addition, there’s over 25 pages of exclusive and brand-new comics and pin-ups from such Royal Flush artists as Danny Hellman, Steve Chanks, Ryan Dunlavey, Matt Siren, Sean Pryor, Brent Engstrom, Patrick McQuade, Woodrow J. Hinton III, Tanxxx, Frank Powers!, Cojo, Luis Diaz, Jayro Lantigua, Pat Sentman, Jim Mazza, Adam Turman, John Jagusak, Jesse Philips and Kristin Koefoed.

The Hispanic Batman Collected Archives, Vol.1 is completely self-published and will only be limited to this 1,000 copy edition. If any copies are left after the San Diego Comic Con they will be available on a first come, first serve basis on RFMAG.com for $15 plus shipping and handling.

 
Have you been keeping up with the delightful Pekar Project at the Smith website? The latest installment is my favorite, with Dangerous Minds pal Douglas Rushkoff co-starring with our hero! With terrific—kinda perfect—art by Sean Pryor.

Editor Jeff Newelt writes:

A year ago, our own cuddly curmudgeon, Harvey Pekar, joined author / media theorist Doug Rushkoff on his WFMU radio show, The Media Squat, to talk about a pet peev to both authors: the corporate takeover of society. Doug recently wrote LIFE INC: How the World Became A Corporation and How to Take It Back and Harvey legendarily bashed GE on Letterman in the ’80s, so jamming on this was a natural. To create this comic, “Pekar & Rushkoff Kibbitzin’ About How Life Got Incorporated” (part one of a four-part epic collaboration), we treated the transcript of their talk like the first track laid down for a jazz record. Harvey & Doug remixed the script and then artist Sean Pryor brought the dialogue to life. Note the masterful switch in coloring technique whenever the story shifts from the conversation itself to images of subjects being talked about. Sean first collaborated with Harvey on “Gauntet of Rock” a story for Royal Flush Magazine, and has since rocked out three Pekar Project stories, “Searchin’”, “Jungle Music,” and “Two Working Stiffs.” Sean also designed and contributed a Harvey Head to the new Pekar T-shirt.

This is fucking excellent!

Pekar & Rushkoff Kibbitzin’ How Life Got Incorporated by Harvey Pekar & Sean Pryor (Smith)

 
A super twisted Etsy merchant is selling a Human Centipede cat toy. “This cat toy is 100% medically accurate!”

Wouldn’t you feel bad subjecting an innocent kitty to something so decadent?

Etsy, via Popbitch

 
Nice! Multi-talented Noel Fielding of the Mighty Boosh has an upcoming show of Bryan Ferry-themed paintings at London patisserie Maison Bertaux and a new non-narrative (that could mean a lot of things!) program coming up on the E4 network. From the Guardian:

Noel had his first show there in late 2007 and he’s looking forward to the launch of this one. “I was thinking of getting everyone to wear Bryan Ferry masks and then I’ll dress up as the Jelly Fox and challenge them to a mass game of badminton. Or something.”

This makes more sense when you know that the show is to be called Bryan Ferry vs The Jelly Fox. It will feature a shrine to Ferry, including a large portrait of the Roxy Music singer, as well as a picture of a tree, with Ferry masks hanging off, and another with a headless man on a hill, a Bryan Ferry kite flying high above his neck. The Jelly Fox is part of another convoluted fantasy, a little like The Wizard of Oz, in which three characters go in search of the Jelly Fox: “This one doesn’t speak, this one says ‘Am I nothing?’ and this one, Little Chrissie, is the main narrator.” . All may end up as part of a new series Fielding is making for E4.

What will it be like? Well, there are random stories in it, though Fielding says he got a little bored of narrative after the third series of the Boosh on BBC3. But he doesn’t want to make a traditional sketch show, either. Not that his explanation of some of the concept (he’s living in a jungle and becomes the local newsreader) sounds traditional, though he insists he’s partly inspired by the Kenny Everett show.

Noel Fielding’s Life of Bryan (The Guardian)

Childmen in New York (with recent Boosh Q&A at the 92nd St Y) (The Velvet Onion)

Thank you Paul Gallagher!

 
Klint Finley conducted an interview with me last month about digital piracy, the death of the Hollywood business model and right-wing fucktards:

So your position is that piracy is going to completely undermine these businesses models?

Well, it’s not just piracy. It’s also changing consumer habits and what consumers will put up with. Price points that make sense and are viable in the consumer’s mind are not going to be the same sorts of numbers that sustain big Hollywood blockbusters. Shrek 4 was just released this weekend and in New York City the ticket prices edged north of $20. And it didn’t do that well. Because I think what they found is that there’s a pain threshold above which the consumer is saying “Fuck it!” Who the fuck is going to pay that much to see a Shrek movie instead of something else? It’s utterly ridiculous.

And then the other news, which shows that the Hollywood studios are ready to throw the theatrical distribution industry under a bus, is that they’re going to shorten the distribution window between theatrical release and DVDs in stores. Day-and-date releasing is something that Steven Soderbergh and Mark Cuban have done with their movies, but they got a lot of push-back. Hollywood studios are embracing this now. What does this do effectively? It’s like burning down the only grocery store in town. It doesn’t make any sense to do this from a selfish point of view –or an accounting, cash flow viewpoint–given current business realities. Yet they can’t not do it either!

There was one really compelling thing we found that stood out amongst all the facts about where the entertainment business is inevitably headed. Domestic box office basically pays for 15% towards what is goes to make tentpole motion pictures profitable these days. 85% is home viewing, including 59% for DVD sales. Hollywood is doomed, or at least the current way of business is doomed. That much is certain.

Read the entire interview at Media Punk

 
Mike Nichols’s film adaptation of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opened 44 years ago today during a summer of tumult. Not only were massive protests against the Vietnam War hitting Washington DC, but the last trouble-free marriage sitcom, The Dick van Dyke Show, had just aired its last episode. It was on.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor took on the roles of inadequate associate history prof George and his drunk university-president’s-daughter wife Martha two years into their actual marriage, which itself was one of the most scrutinized in pop culture history. The then-thrice-divorced Taylor won the Best Actress Oscar, and Haskell Wexler’s stark cinematography scored him a statuette as well. Controversy over how much of the play’s profanity to include in the film would compel the MPAA’s Jack Valenti to convert the industry’s old Production Code into the rating system we know today.

Screenwriter Ernest Lehman ingeniously situates George and Martha’s relentless turning-point fight in a well-lit parking lot, giving Taylor the pacing space to sprawl out the argument across the psyche of tortured married couples across America. The pair’s agreement on “total war” seems almost chilling in its self-indulgence in the context of President Johnson’s escalating the horrific bombing of North Vietnam at the time.
 

 
“Perversion for Profit links pornography to the Communist conspiracy and the decline of Western civilization.” The producer, Citizens for Decent Literature, Inc. was the organization of crooked banker Charles “Mr. Clean” Keating, one of the central figures in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s. Clearly Keating and his cohorts seemed to know an awful lot about the pornography available at the time.

 
Watch out Robert-De-Niro-as-Angel-Heart’s-Louis-Cyphre, there’s a new contender in town for most Dramatic Eating of a Hard Boiled Egg!  Ah, Faye Dunaway, keep your Eggs of Laura Mars carnality away from Edith Massey!

 
Thanks, Everlasting Blort!

 
Difficult to tell from the box cover, but like the real thing, it certainly hints at it! Gaga goo goo!
 
Via Oh No They Didn’t! where you can also see the back cover.

 
Today marks the half-century anniversary of the premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which—along with Fellini’s La Dolce Vita opening earlier the same year—used the artform of cinema to hold up the cracked mirror of compulsive desire to Western civilization.

Movies, of course, would never be the same. Who better to drive the point home than our friendly neighborhood Lacanian critical theorist from Slovenia, Slavoj Žižek, from his excellent 2006 documentary, The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema?

 
Get: The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema Pt. 1-3 [DVD]

Although Charles Manson had been interviewed on television from prison previously, the 1981 chat he had with Tom Snyder that was aired on the Tomorrow show 29 years ago tonight was the first he did outside of his cell. On review, it’s instructive in two ways.

First, it shows that inside the clichéd image to which so many fashionably “extreme” types cling (via t-shirts and the rest) lives a rather regular guy—albeit one who inhabits an extraordinary sense of self-justification. Secondly, it demonstrates the hugely talented Snyder’s haranguing pomposity, which was also famously on display the previous year in his interview with John Lydon and Keith Levene of PiL. Geraldo Rivera would tweak that same pomposity with a bit of sleazily ingratiating buddy-buddy attitude during his 1988 go-round with the bearded enigma. For an actual listening exchange with the man, check out the Charlie Rose CBS News Nightwatch session from 1989.

2010 marks the 46th year since a young dandy named Davy Jones made the media scene. On June 6th 1964, at the age of 17, he’d released a typical mod-blues single with the King Bees called “Liza Jane.” Later that same year, he’d appeared on Cliff Michelmore’s BBC Tonight show as head of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired Men.

Two years before this, he’d gotten into a scrap with his friend George Underwood, who punched Jones in the eye with a ring on his hand. Although imperceptible in the BBC Tonight clip, it would leave the young Jones with a permanently dilated pupil a different color in that injured eye, one of the many features of the future superstar that would later fascinate millions.

Abstract non-narrative filmmakers deserve all the attention they can get, if only because so many of their techniques are absorbed into more conventional films. Moviemaker Jeff Keen only started making his own 8mm films in his late 30s, as his native Britain entered the adventurous ‘60s. His work was soon discovered by art journalists and ended up in the National Film Theatre, garnering funding support for his activities into the ‘80s.

Now in his late 80s, Keen lives in Brighton and is actively creating, although he’s reportedly sick with cancer. Thankfully, the British Film Institute released the Blu-Ray collection GAZWRX: the Films of Jeff Keen last year as a lasting document of his work. Below is his 1967 short film Marvo Movie, in which Keen backs his rapid-fire, Kenneth Anger-cum-Stan Brakhage romp through the areas of nature, decay, consumption and pop culture with a soundtrack that resembles the early chant-work of British occultist group Current 93.

Gazwrx: Films of Jeff Keen (3pc) [Blu-ray]