RIP Tom Snyder

Tom Snyder passed away. He was one of those weird broadcasters that seemed to be around a lot in the 60's and 70's, like Joe Franklin and Dick Cavett. Anyway I was reading up on him and his show, Tomorrow. He had some out of control interviews with Johnny Rotten and Charles Manson. I came across this gem with Snyder interviewing the members of Kiss. This took place right around the time they were hitting their nadir with the original line up. You can see the brewing tension between the fun guys, Ace and Peter and the all business guys, Gene and Paul.

It's a hoot.

Melancoly Baby

Well, I have all but moved in my new place, nice neighborhood, weird housemates, and a good movie theater with bad, bad, popcorn. My apartment is tiny, crowded, I'm not sure how creative I can get, but it looks like I'm gonna get rid of more stuff, I guess my goal is to have as little stuff as possible, I have gotten rid of most of my comic related books, except for the ones that are reference. They say if you haven't used something in over a year to get rid of it. The weird thing is that there are things I still enjoy that I haven't read in more than 5 years , but still, I need to get rid of it. Old comics, and of course CDs.

The odd thing is that most of my space is taken up by my sketch books. I have been tempted to throw out some of my old artwork from college and high school. I haven't had the guts, but the sketchbooks... there are too many good ideas in it related to Pipe Dreams that I want to keep, just in case something finally good happens to my life regarding it.


Anyway, I whine. I ask this question, have any of you guys thrown out your artwork? If so, what? And what stuff will you not throw out that might seem strange to others?

My Back Hurts

I'm typing this on the floor of my near empty apartment looking at an invasion of dust bunnies. I have everything almost removed from here except the computer cuz I want to keep using my internets. I am down to my small tv and finally slept the night in my teeny tiny apartment. I need a new fan, no ceiling fan here.

New British Invasion?

So, Not much is going on in my life other than the slow process of moving into the equivalent of a toothpaste tube.

So, I watch a bit too much TV. Especially in the early morning. That is the only time MTV, VH1 plays videos. A lot of it are craprap videos. There are some videos that appeal to me in the sense that they have a newness to it. Turns out once again, that they are British music acts. The first one occurred of course in the 60's with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Hollies, Who, Kinks and what have you. There was a residual effect with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple.

The second wave, the "New Wave" occurred in the late 70's and early 80's with the Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, Duran Duran, U2, Culture Club, Flock of Seagulls, Eurythmics and others.

The British tried another invasion in the early 90's with the Farm, Charlatans, Blur and Happy Mondays but the Grunge warriors of Seattle put the kibosh on that.

Now the British has returned. Hiphop has run its course, it's lame, repetitive, and let's face it folks, Ice Cube is doing family films and Snoop Dogg is doing commercials. Hiphop is not longer cool. Some American acts are trying to revitalize rock, but there is a sameness to it and doesn't appeal to me.

The first clip is "Smile" by Lily Allen. She's a sassy gal with a pleasant voice and man is that song catchy! However, I'm not into the idea of vandalism and assault by thugs as revenge for a nasty breakup. If a man had done the same things (minus the assault) after a breakup he would be in jail. But like I said the girl is sassy.


The second clip is by James Blunt. Let me say I hate the song "Beautiful" It's easily the most annoying song to come out in a decade. That said, his voice is toned down for this clip, so it's not as annoying.


Speaking of distinct voices, Mika is the name of an artist from London by way of Lebanon. He's a talented individual whose vocal gymnastics and song structuring is reminiscent of Freddy Mercury of Queen and that's not a bad thing. It's a cute clip and man is that dude skinny!

Speaking of guys who resemble late rock stars, here comes the Fratellis whose guitarist/singer has the look of a subdued Marc Bolan. The video is a guilty pleasure with some hot girls who actually have sex appeal. Of course it may have to do with the fact they look like pin up girls from the 50's. like a Vargas or a Petty girl. Plus I likes the Geetar pickin' at the end of the song.


Now, Amy Winehouse might only make it as a pinup girl for a magazine like Easy Rider or Tattoo but she intrigues me with her singing. Whereas Lily Allen sings high, Amy sings low, I like the two songs I've seen like "Rehab" but this clip is of a song that is getting a lot of airplay in commercials and as the song for the new show "Madmen" It fits the mood of the show.

There may be others, but these are the ones that I feel are the most interesting.

Enjoy the clips. Don't bother waiting for MTV of VH1 to play it.

Wasting Time

ahhh, the internet. When I was reading about Orson Welles on wikipedia, I came across the revelations on the time Orson Welles was drunk doing Paul Masson commercials. I went to Youtube found the clip and came across a tribute one involving a dog doing the commercial with the original soundtrack. I thought the dog one was funnier. Compare.

Men Whom I'm Glad Ain't My Dad

I was in the 7-eleven the other day waiting in line to get coffee. He was talking to another guy and he was saying how his family was in the car waiting for him....

to get a cup of coffee.

That's all he got.

He was saying that he was going to take his family to the diner for breakfast, but hey, he had time to talk to his friend.

While his family waits... for him to get his coffee. They wait for him, in anticipation of him taking them to a diner to get breakfast.

Where they serve coffee.

A Little Tale From The Past (Hairspray edition)

The musical movie "Hairspray" comes out this week. It is based on the Broadway musical by way of Seattle which was based on the 1988 movie by way of John Waters. I was reading about the star Nicki Blosky, who came out of nowhere to become the star of the movie. this reminded me of an old friend Staci.

Back in the late 80's I went to the School of Visual Arts. Our dorm rooms were in the former YMCA Sloane House on west 34th street. Our school occupied the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors. Our rooms were tiny, but each student had their own rooms. If you had the will to stay more than one year, you get a bigger room. Anyway, My room in my second year was across the hall from Staci, a freshman.

Staci was a sweet, cute, friendly girl who was a bit on the plus side at the time. We used to hang out in the hallways talking about....whatever. One afternoon, she comes up to me wanting some information. She had a father who had some show business connection and she wanted to know if I knew anything about John Waters.

This was 1987. John Waters was famous for making guerrilla R-rated exploitation movies like "Polyester" and "Pink Flamingos". I had recently seen these movies and others for the first time at the time. They are very gross even for my tastes. "Pink Flamingos" ends with the infamous scene in which Divine literally eats dog shit. This is all I knew about John Waters in 1987.

Staci tells me that they are looking for a lead in the next John Waters film and that she had the opportunity for an audition.

Now, Staci was sweet and to me, a little naive. So I told her what I knew about John Waters with a cautious tone that maybe steer her away from taking that audition. I thought it might be a mistake to be in that film, though I felt that she should do what she felt was in her best interest. I never talked to her about it again and I lost touch with Staci soon after.

About a year later I see previews for the movie "Hairspray" I thought it looked like a hoot, it seemed delightful, a PG movie that had enough quirkiness to keep me interested. I then saw Divine playing the mom of the lead, a chubby charmer by the name of Riki Lake. The movie was directed by John Waters. It was unlike any movie John Waters had done before. I instantly thought of Staci, and felt guilty that I prevented Staci of certain fame. Every time I saw Ricki Lake with her talk show and other movies, I felt that it could have been Staci. She was nice enough to deserve the fame. The only thing is I don't know if Staci even went to the audition. She might have done the audition and didn't get the part, but I can't help but feel that I prevented Staci from enjoying life long fame.

I hope she's doing good these days, at least she has avoided tabloid exploitation.