CollisionWorks

Because of people's Halloween plans, as well as the annual crazy huge Halloween event at Theater for the New City, we've wound up with a few unexpected days off from working on Kitsch (while Trav has been working his songs with the singers). Berit is using the time to try and adjust her sleep schedule to something reasonable by the time we're back in rehearsal on Sunday (and at the same time avoiding the scary theatre and movies I plan on seeing, which are not to her taste anymore), and I'm going off and seeing other peoples' shows that I was expecting to have to miss.

Last night, it was Up for Anything by Marc Spitz at The Kraine, which was about as funny as expected -- I was in a reading of it earlier this year that was quite hysterical. It wasn't quite as funny at the start as it was at the reading -- certain pace things that work perfectly when a play is read don't work as well when it's on its feet, and the first section of the play seemed a little rushed and a bit TOO frenetic, but as it settled down a bit it all evened out.

And favorite Gemini CollisionWorks actors Alyssa Simon and Ivanna Cullinan were in there (along with Yuri Skujins, an old acquaintance I haven't seen in many MANY years) doing great work, so I was VERY glad I got the chance to see it, which I didn't expect. Wound up sitting with and talking with Tom Murrin of PAPER Magazine, a GCW supporter from way back, and we were good audience members to have laughing in the front row, I'm told. The show plays through tomorrow, if you're able and inclined to see it.

Tonight, I'm off to The Brick for the annual Blood Brothers show from Nosedive Productions -- I lit last year's and had a good time on that (and on their Infectious Opportunity, which I also lit). I'm not sure I'm in the mood for gore tonight, but I'm gonna get it, I'm sure.

The beloved CollisionWorks iPod is . . . acting up. It's going on three years old, and I've read in many places that three years is about what you should expect from an iPod, so our heavily-used baby may be on its way out. Last night, for the first time, it began repeatedly freezing or shutting down for no apparent reason. At the same time, I had just cleaned out a little space to put some tracks on there, and wound up then stuffing it to less than a MB of its life, so it may have been a space issue. I did a big cleaning today, giving it 2.5 gigs of safe space (a gig of which I then filled, of course).

So, from the something like 24,996 tracks on the damned thing now, here's a Random Ten for today, with associated links:

1. "Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife" - Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
2. "Caryn Shaffer" - Wesley Willis - Greatest Hits Volume 2
3. "Mama, Mama -Talk To Your Daughter" - Magic Sam - West Side Soul
4. "The Dreams Of Children" - The Jam - Direction, Reaction, Creation
5. "The "In" Crowd" - The First Gear - Jimmy's Back Pages...The Early Years
6. "Push Button Love" - Internationals - Lost Deep Soul Treasures 5
7. "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" - The Ramones - Rocket To Russia
8. "Do I Do I Do I" - Richard Berry - Baby, Please Come Home
9. "Bonus Pay" - Pat Hare - Sun Records: The Blues Years 1950-1958 vol. 8
10. "Eighties" - Killing Joke - Night Time

Tomorrow, Halloween, I'll be spending some of the day in rehearsal for the improv performance I'm doing with David Finkelstein a week after - as you can read about HERE.

After that, it's off to Millennium for Sinister Six Must Be Destroyed . . . but I haven't the time to write any more now . . .

So, since I have to run to get to the show, here's a quick grab of a recent shot of Berit and the two kitties, who have been quite annoying sweet recently (as I've been writing this Hooker has been casing me and leaping up on me quite a few times, despite the fact that there is no lap to jump into, and if I don't catch him, he'll just fall to the floor, which has been what's happening):

Happy Halloween.

I'm awake, but not cheerfully - insomnia, up and down all night. In the end I got the full hours of "a good night's sleep," but not in a row.

This had nothing to do with any Halloween scariness, though on one of my times up in the middle of the night, puttering away online, I encountered THAT commercial from 1978 that caused me a few sleepless nights back then:

( Fats Wishes You a Happy Halloween! )

Oh, what the heck, let's continue the creepy horror trailers theme for today!
( There's only one thing wrong with the Davis baby . . . )

Meanwhile, back in the iPod, there 26,012 tracks taking up 72.27 GBs, with less than a gig for new music, and months of acquired music to put in. What tracks from today's Random Ten shall be dropped to make way for better things?

1. "L'Estasi Dell'Oro (from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)" - Ennio Morricone - The Dinosaur Gardens Tribute to Il Maestro

Better known as "the music that plays as Eli Wallach runs around in circles for three minutes looking for Arch Stanton's grave." One of my favorite pieces of music. STAYS.

2. "Final Achievement" - In Camera - Return of the Batcave

Whoa. The opening of this is someone doing a low-rent Arnold Dreyblatt impression, apparently striking an electric guitar with a bow. Then it completely changes into a good little post-punk, post-no wave alt-rock song. Not great, but good enough and obscure enough to keep. STAYS

3. "Idiot Wind (original version)" - Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks - New York Sessions

Just got this recently and it was good enough to shove on the iPod ahead of the rest of the backlog. A very different version of a song I already love, maybe not as good as the released version, maybe as good, maybe better. Ask me next time I hear it. STAYS.

4. "Gloomy Sunday" - Sinéad O'Connor - Am I Not Your Girl?

From her album of standards, which I love. However. This song is slow and depressing in the wrong way for the iPod. This one is to be REMOVED.

5. "Louie Louie (medley)" - The Troggs - The Louie Louie Files

This is pretty cheesy. It's probably barely the original Troggs, much later than their 60s prime, doing a medley of various 60s hits. Almost charming enough in cheesiness to stay, but it the end I think this should be REMOVED.

6. "Who's Gene Autry? " - Johnny Cash with John Carter Cash - Legend

Pretty corny track from The Man. GOES.

7. "Glory Box (live)" - Portishead - Roseland NYC (Live)

Great song, made better in this live version, which is not what I would have expected from this band. Actually, EVERY song on this album tops the original version, while sounding almost identical to it; there's just some little bit of extra live energy to them that puts them over the top. STAYS.

8. "Electric In General (from Flower Power & Gunpowder)" - Jerry Finegold - Public Guy Private Dick-Selected Cuts From The Original Soundtracks

Neat hot instrumental that STAYS. Wish I knew where it was REALLY from - Finegold created soundtracks for NYC-area Z-pictures by just needle dropping tracks from other albums, and actually had the nerve to release a "soundtrack album" of tracks he'd just lifted outright from other places. Not even had replayed by new musicians, he just TOOK them! Some chutzpah there . . .

9. "La Vie En Rose" - Sam Butera & The Witnesses - Ultra-Lounge 10: A Bachelor in Paris

Good cheesy lounge version of the song. Not necessary, but STAYS, for now.

10. "Greyhound Blues" - D.A. Hunt - Sun Records: The Blues Years 1950-1958 vol. 5

Don't really know this song yet, and I need to live with it a while longer. STAYS while I get to know it and see if it keeps penetrating, or if it's one more REALLY good blues from the time and place that I have dozens and dozens of now, and can't keep all of them in the iPod.

Some political stupidity to link to . . .

So, have you heard the latest wingnut rumor about Obama? About his parentage? Oh, it's astonishingly mad. urbaniak breaks it down with his normal wit HERE. Yeeesh.

Meanwhile, a group of Christians decided to band together (after one had a dream in which God spoke to her and told her to do this - really) and DO something for our economy. What did they decide to do?

They decided to get together at the giant bronze bull statue down on Bowling Green - not Wall Street, as everyone keeps saying, but it's close enough - and lay hands on this symbol of Capitalism and pray for it to be healed.

It's not quite worship, and not quite a golden calf . . . but close enough to make you wonder how well these people had read their Bible. Oh, right, that's that "Old" Testament, the one that only counts when it's on about killing homosexuals. More words, photos, and video on this glorious non-ironic derangement HERE.

(you know, this same poor bull, right after the beginning of the financial crisis, had its prominent testicles painted bright blue - I'm not sure what event is more insulting to this proud beast . . .)

Oh, and Wil Wheaton, TV's Wesley Crusher, wishes you a very Happy Halloween in his own way . . .

We ALL float down here, Georgie!

Boo!

Happy Halloween!

Ed Hardy Jr., over at Shoot the Projectionist, will, at some point today, in honor of the holiday, be posting a list of the top "31 Flicks That Give You the Willies," as voted on by readers of his blog (and other interested parties).

He started by asking for nominations, and made up a list of 183 nominees from 67 ballots that got more than just 1 vote. Then the floor was opened for votes for the top 31 - to be listed in order of preference (top film gets 31 points, down the list to the final one getting 1 point). It was a fun, if difficult, exercise (way too many good ones).

Here's my top 31 out of the 183 films on the nomination list:


1. Eraserhead (1977; David Lynch)
2. Peeping Tom (1960; Michael Powell)
3. The Devils (1971; Ken Russell)
4. Hour of the Wolf (1968; Ingmar Bergman)
5. Lost Highway (1997; David Lynch)
6. Night of the Living Dead (1968; George Romero)
7. The Brood (1979; David Cronenberg)
8. The Birds (1963; Alfred Hitchcock)
9. Dawn of the Dead (1978; George Romero)
10. Targets (1968; Peter Bogdanovich)
11. Videodrome (1983; David Cronenberg)
12. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974; Tobe Hooper)
13. Don’t Look Now (1973; Nicolas Roeg)
14. The Wicker Man (1973; Robin Hardy)
15. The Exorcist (1973; William Friedkin)
16. The Exorcist III (1990; William Peter Blatty)
17. Black Christmas (1974: Bob Clark)
18. Halloween (1978; John Carpenter)
19. The Thing (1982; John Carpenter)
20. I Walked with a Zombie (1943; Jacques Tourneur)
21. Candyman (1992; Bernard Rose)
22. Black Sabbath (1963; Mario Bava)
23. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992; David Lynch)
24. Creepshow (1982; George Romero)
25. The Haunting (1963; Robert Wise)
26. Carnival of Souls (1962; Herk Harvey)
27. Kill, Baby…Kill! (1966; Mario Bava)
28. Martin (1977; George Romero)
29. Shivers (1975; David Cronenberg)
30. Scream (1996; Wes Craven)
31. The Evil Dead (1981; Sam Raimi)

There's a bit of strange algebra going on in picking the 31 top ones that "give me the willies," as it winds up being a big balance between "favorites" and "ones that creep me out." Eraserhead doesn't really give me the willies so much anymore, but it's my favorite film, so it goes to the top of the list anyway. Looking at Cronenberg, Videodrome is one of my favorite films, but The Brood has more "willy-giving" going on, so it comes in above the former. So it's a balance between what I love and what scares the bejeezus out of me.

Ah, Ed's just posted the list since I wrote the above. Hmmmn. Yeah, as always, things pretty much even out and the more obscure titles drop between the cracks. But 14 ones I listed are on there - obvious ones, classics - as well as the six I had the hardest time eliminating from my list and would have been #32-37.

Well, I've got 15 of my own list above on DVD, and another 10 on tape, so I'll find a selection to spend a few hours with today before going off to The Crow: Final at The Brick tonight (right now, I'm suspecting I'll put on Candyman, Scream, Black Christmas, and maybe The Haunting and/or The Brood).

Stay sick and turn blue!