MA-127 - Seethin' Seventies

It's a heavy hunk of steamin' junk, that's what I say ...

Tracklist:

01 - Oh Bondage Up Yours - X-Ray Spex - 1977   (2:40)

02 - Mourning Star - Zones - 1979   (4:27)

03 - On Reflection - Penetration - 1979   (2:06)

04 - I Don't Want to Go Bald - The Moderates - 1979   (3:54)

05 - Hanging on the Telephone - Blondie - 1978   (2:27)

06 - Itchy Bugs - The Tracers - 1979   (3:22)

07 - Sincerely Yours - Sleepy Hollow - 1972   (3:00)

08 - New York! - The Rentals - 1979   (2:58)

09 - Robot - Plastics - 1979   (3:42)

10 - Down Among the Dead Men - Flash and the Pan - 1978   (3:24)

11 - Skeletons - The Sound - 1979   (3:27)

12 - Talking Loud - Suspects - 1979   (2:21)

13 - Too Much Pride - Fine Art - 1978   (2:49)

14 - White Mice - Mo-Dettes - 1979   (3:38)

15 - Do Anything You Wanna Do - Eddie and the Hot Rods - 1977   (4:02)

16 - B Movie - Janis and the Bumble Bees - 1979   (2:49)

17 - You - Au Pairs - 1979   (2:51)

18 - Friday's Angels - Generation X - 1979   (3:11)

19 - Dancing with Myself - Fingerprintz - 1979   (3:02)

20 - Judy's Gone Down - James Vane - 1979   (3:18)

21 - Laugh and Walk Away - The Shirts - 1979   (3:05)

22 - Jerk Teens Jerk - Zilch - 1979   (3:52)

23 - The Punk - Cherry Vanilla - 1977   (2:42)

24 - Where's the New Wave - The Cybermen - 1978   (2:18)

25 - Mind Your Own Business - Delta 5 - 1979   (3:12)

https://www.filefactory.com/file/3e79ppxc7wqe/MA-127.rar

So, start list'nin' and seethin'.  And if you like it, leave a comment.

See you on Monday for our next compilation!
  

MA-129 - WATCHNOTES

Welcome to the 2018 Musical Month of May, with new compilations for you each Monday and Thursday—on the Super Blog and Spock’s Record Round-Up.  First up is ...

MA-129 - WATCHNOTES (79:08)

            This comp was inspired by my recent obsessive re-reading of the Watchmen comic-book maxiseries.  The ruminative fruit of that survey may be found on the Super Blog, under the heading “WATCHMENUTIA.”  I also realized that several pieces of music that are referenced in the series (and even the film) haven’t been bundled together, even in the various fan soundtracks.

            This comp’s subtitle, of course, is from Groucho Marx, who in 1949 famously wrote, “I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.

            The art which I manipulated came from Marvel’s Transformers #14, cover-dated March 1986.  Of course, Marvel’s band is an expy of Bruce Springsteen and his group.

            The tracks:

01 - The Times They Are A-Changin' (film edit) - Bob Dylan - 1964  (3:49)

02 - Diary of a Madman - Ozzy Osbourne - 1981  (6:15)

03 - Neighborhood Threat - Iggy Pop - 1977  (3:23)

04 - The Comedians - Elvis Costello - 1984  (2:30)

05 - The Black Freighter (live) - Steeleye Span - 1978  (6:15)

06 - Heroes (album version) - David Bowie - 1977  (6:06)

07 - Walking on the Moon - The Police - 1979  (4:59)

08 - If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day - Robert Johnson - 1961  (2:35)

09 - Life on Mars - David Bowie - 1971  (3:51)

10 - We Will Become Silhouettes - The Postal Service - 2005  (3:43)

11 - Outside of a Small Circle of Friends - Phil Ochs - 1967  (3:41)

12 - Jocko Homo - Devo - 1977  (3:37)

13 - Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire - 1965  (3:33)

14 - Nightshift Watchman - David Wilcox - 1987  (3:15)

15 - Two - R D Laing, Alan Blakley, Ken Howard - 1978  (1:42)

16 - Requiem Aeternam - W A Mozart - 1791  (6:51)

17 - Santies - John Cale - 1982  (5:55)

18 - The Smiley Face Song - Charles Ball - 1998  (3:08)

19 - Def Con One - Pop Will Eat Itself - 1988  (4:01)

            Also included is a 12-page booklet which detail’s each song’s relation to the storyline.

https://www.filefactory.com/file/4w8tq8nodgy/MA-129.rar

            See you on Thursday!  

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In: Source of the Indy Maneuver

           One of the iconic scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark is the bring-a-gun-to-a-swordfight scene.

          You know what I mean.  Indy is running through Cairo trying to find Marion Ravenwood.  In a town square, he’s confronted by a big guy with a big scimitar.  After the “Arab Swordsman” waves his blade a few times in challenge, Indy heaves a sigh at the antics, pulls his gun, and just shoots the guy.

          While it’s a hilarious and inspired bit of storytelling, it’s not ... quite ... original.  In fact, this same idea provided the inspiration for a whole series of riffs for Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, nearly fifteen years previously.

          It was Episode 3, from February 5, 1968.

          At the 25-minute mark of this episode, a brief skit opens with a mustachioed guy waving a fencing foil, while stopping several times to blow insulting clouds of cigarette smoke into Dan Rowan’s face.  Rowan takes this with an expression of boredom.  Then the fellow backs up and points the foil at Rowan while yelling “En garde!”  Whereupon Rowan draws a flintlock pistol and shoots the guy, who drops dead.

          At the 36-minute mark, the gag is repeated with Rowan pulling a knife that fires a bullet into the other guy.

          At 48 minutes, it’s another variation.  This time the challenger’s got an oversized sword.  But he’s nevertheless outgunned by Rowan’s mini-cannon.

          And it wouldn’t be surprising at all to learn of other versions of the idea.  Do you know any?

          That’s it for this year’s

APRIL  FOOLISHNESS!

          See you next Monday!  It’s a biggie, because May, 2018 is gonna be

“The Musical

Month of Compilations”!

Uses for CD Spindle Cases

            I buy my blank CD-Rs by the stack.  I really like these:

            But when you’ve used all of the CDs, should you just throw the spindle case away?

            Several people have proposed re-uses for the spindle cases.  You’ve probably seen these.

Some of the ideas, while clever, are a lot of work.   

            Yes, that’s a light inside the case!

            As you can see from this idea, not only do you have to drill holes in your wall, but them spindles is really too flimsy to hang anythin’ from, besides necklaces or the occasional shrunken head.

            There’s always somebody playing with superhero action figures at our place.  Sometimes those guys need a time out, and this is what I devised.

            My most useful improvisation merely requires you to remove the spindle.

           Once you do that, you’ve got a perfect way to keep your paper coffee filters from getting smashed.

            See you next Monday for more APRIL  FOOLISHNESS!

 

Adventures in Proofreading

As a proofreader, editor, and writer, I am all too familiar with my own mistakes and slipups.  In some strange (possibly vindictive) way, it’s gratifying to come across somebody else’s oopsies.

            In this 1989 article about teaching a “Science Fiction as Literature” course, Dartmouth’s Professor Noel Perrin is embarrassed by a whopper of a headline.

Hint:  Even in sci-fi, that's not how you spell "worlds"! 

            My friend Marc Cushman, author of many books on Baby Boomer media, is particularly burdened by my scrutiny.  Before his stuff gets printed, he lets me rake it over.  And he’s kind enough to let me share a couple of his mis-typings.

            In our recent book about the Irwin Allen series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, we had a reference to the “Berlin Intentional Film Festival.”  Of course, “Intentional” should be “International.”  Elsewhere, a studio staffer was described as having an “all encumbering role,” when “all-encompassing” was meant.

            And we mustn’t forget the time when one of Sid Caesar’s costars on Your Show of Shows was named “Imagine” Coca.  That’s Imogene Coca, of course.

            Closer to home, here’s an example from a calendar produced by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, aka ODOT.

            Read the month’s name again.  Hee-hee!

            It turns out that even the Great and Powerful Stephen King isn’t above a little slip now and then.  I came across a silly little thing when reading Nightmares and Damnations.  It’s in the story “Sneakers,” set in a building which has a recording studio as a tenant.  This is pages 266-67 of the Signet paperback (mine’s the first printing of this mass-market paperback).

           See the reference to Krrang?

            The thing is, this is a real magazine.  It’s about pop music.  But, it’s spelled Kerrang!

            This misspelling isn’t just in the paperback.  In an online PDF which I quickly glanced at, it’s the same:

           So, my question is ... Did Mr King get the name wrong on purpose, as a joke?  Or, was the name messed up somewhere along the line from his fingers to publication?  Perhaps a proofreader or fact-checker noted the mistake—but was afraid to correct The Master?

            Only the capricious gods of proofing know, and they ain’t takling  talking!

See you next Monday for more silliness.