WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Devo to Spain: do you copy?

In 1976 the Mongoloid single escaped from Akron, a transmission which promptly made its way to kindred spirits across the Atlantic. A parallel set of futurist/science-fiction geeks were lurking in the halls of a Madrid high school, first unleashing their dadaist fury under the guises of Alex y Los Drugos and Holoplástico. Nerd-angst turned into a full-fledged counter-movement, complete with code-names, manifestos, and an electric organ as the group finally settled on the name El Aviador Dro Y Sus Obreros Especializados.

Armed with radiation suits, safety goggles, synthesizers, and the signature Spanish lisp, Aviador Dro made spastic new wave combining their love for Tubeway Army, The Residents, and Kraftwerk. Check out this amazing video for the song "Laser" (mov, 40MB): if these dance moves don't win you over, it's time to switch your meds. I'm guessing the piece was made around '79 or '80, when the song appeared on their album Vano Temporal.

A few of the band's core members left in 1980, forming the group Esplendor Geométrico: take a listen to "Moscu Esta Helado" (real audio, from an archive of Michael Goodstein's show). Remaining members of Aviador Dro continued making music, though with the growing success of their own independent label, DRO, little time was left for practice. The band recorded albums through the 90's and an incarnation of the group is still active today. Here are some sites for more info on Aviador Dro: English | Official AD Site (Spanish only) | another Spanish site, most up-to-date.

Thanks to Zoms Frenchman of Zom Zoms for the video nugget!

Einstürzende Dead Mosquitos

I hear the Germans have a good chuckle at the American tendency to view Blixa Bargeld as some mysterious, dark and dangerous creature.  The man we know best as the firestarting sledgehammer-wielding Einstürzende Neubauten shriek'n howling Bad Seed with S&M themed performance & fashion aesthetic is better known to his country volks as a national institution: Movie Star, Urbane Gentleman, Celebrity Chef, and now, the face of the German equivalent of Home Depot.

Fabio Roberti, aka Our Fobsie, host of Strength Through Failure, shows us the following award-winning German television commercials, starring our hero:

• Blixa recommends a strong mosquito killer.
• Blixa can't get enough of these new paving stones.
• Blixa not love a power drill?  Pshaw!
• Blixa on paint.

You're invited to further nosh on Neubauten.  Herewith, my interview with Blixa (RM link) on April 28, 2000.  I was scared shitless.  It was my first radio interview ever, I was intimidated, and it was my birthday.  I desperately needed to smoke cigarettes and drink beer. We did, and it went fine, though I'm sure I'd be humiliated to hear it now.

And here once again is Our Fobsie, hosting (RM link) another Neubauten, Alexander Haacke.

And finally, here's an mp3 download of the song you hear playing in all those commercials --
12305 Te Nacht (5.7m), from the album Tabula Rasa.  Yippee ya-ya yippee yippee yay.

Christmas Lights Sequencer From Hell

Merry Christmas, Con Ed; or, I'm Glad I Don't Live Next Door to Them.

3-minute video (Windows Media) (Or here or here) (Music is "Wizards of Winter" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

(Artist neighbor unknown)

VARIOUS UPDATES:
Another arrangement on the same house, with Jingle Bells audio by (brace yourself) Barbra Streisand: 2-minute video (Windows Media)

(Users of better operating systems can view Windows Media video using the open-source video player VideoLan (a.k.a. VLC).)

The light arrangements are by Carson Williams on his Mason, OH house.  The show ran four hours a night at low volume, simulcast via low-power FM radio for drive-bys, and used 16,000 lights and the Light-O-Rama sequencer.

Or, play Pong on the side of an office building using your cell phone.

(Thanks to Barrett Golding and others for more info!)

UPDATE 12/5/05: How to make the EXACT same display on your own house using Carson Williams' sequencer file.

Yet another UPDATE 12/8/05: Williams has pulled the plug on the light show at his house, due to traffic problems and accidents in front of his house.

Sites for Sore Eyes

Ahh, the internet. It sucks company bandwidth, blows your productivity at home and in the school library, and there are naked people. LOTS of them. There are also crazy MP3s, weirdo animations, stupid movies, arty things to impress your intellectual pals with, old timey robots, and European football hooligans armed with video cameras. Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby present half an hour of your life that you will never get back.

Mile and miles of vintage arcade sounds
And not just recordings of the games themselves, but the geek-chic ambience of the arcades themselves, which I spent countless hours in as a kid, as I imagine many of you did as well. Left! Left! Bodyblow! Bodyblow! Quickly followed by the buzzsaw gun from some shoot 'em up, and the lame victory music from Tron. Ladies, have I lost you yet?

Cup stacking championship?
Next up, a salad-tossing derby.

Best Rejected Advertising
TV, Radio, Print, you name it -- All of 'em share the common theme of having been complained about by consumers. Says a lot about the national standards of "taste and decency" in the various countries of origin, especially in places like Italy, where you can't sell granola bars, carburetors, or airline tickets without a multitude of nude bodies.

Spray it, Don't Say it
The incredible beatbox stylings of San Francisco's Kid Beyond.

Google News in Map Form
Did your family Thanksgiving dinner feature one of those fist-through-the-wall styled arguments with your Dad about that kooky old liberal media? Did you, at any point summon the crusty specters of NPR vs. Fox News or New Yorker vs. The Drudge Report? This newsmap application (seems to launch best in Internet Explorer) will dazzle you regardless of your good witch/bad witch/cowboy/indian/liberal/conservative leanings.

The Power of the Floor Compels You

College students at MIT finally got it together and constructed a modern-day version of the disco dancefloor from Saturday Night Fever.

Space out to the bright lights and flashing colors. (avi, 5MB)

Geek out to the construction design and planning schematics.

Check out the followers.

via Pixelsumo

Violence Real and Imagined: Which One Gets Banned?

Here's a recent TV commercial that Microsoft commissioned for it's new Xbox 360 and then banned, ostensibly because the non-existent violence portrayed in it was deemed to be too.. violent: streaming video via youtube. (This seems to be a pattern with Microsoft - here's a link to their last banned ad for the xbox 360.)

And here's the "trophy video" which alleges to show (possibly Irish or Scottish) security contractors in Baghdad randomly shooting at motorists on the infamous highway linking Baghdad to the airport: downloadable quicktime video. Although the incident is being investigated, since the shooters in this case were private employees (of  Aegis Defense, Ltd, a firm hired by the US), they're not in any legal danger, even if the people they shot were innocent civilians. The Elvis song "Mystery Train" was added later by the Aegis employees who shot the footage. The video first appeared on this Aegis employee's site, but the files have since been removed. Here's a Telegraph UK article about it.

Videos: Barney vs Tupac, Cheney vs Scarface, Spike Jonze vs Esquivel and Mixel Pixel

All those years of Barney bashing come full circle in this video mashup of the big purple dinosaur channeling Tupac Shakur. This is nine years old, but I missed it. Soundtrack's not safe for work, so put on the headphones. Streaming video from Google, via Daddydesign.

If Barney seems to fit right into Tupac, check out how well Al Pacino's Scarface sounds coming out of Dick Cheney's head: downloadable windowsmedia video. via del.icio.us

Here's a short film from Spike Jonze called "How'd They Get There," which uses Esquivel's version of Sentimental Journey (featuring the great zoo-zoo singers) as the soundtrack. It still doesn't address the mystery of sneakers hanging from telephone wires. downloadable quicktime video.

In order to make my monthly quota of cartoon sexuality, here's a cool animated video by Devin Clark of the song Body Automatic by Mixel Pixel. downloadable m4v video file, which will play with Quicktime. nsfw due to the cartoon cunnilingus. via antville, screenhead

Cleaning Out My Inbox, Covered Face Edition

Did you know that it's a bad idea to give powerful hallucinogens to soldiers? Who woulda thunk it?  But here's a British newsreel film that proves it (downloadable mpg video). via undercurrents from a UK newsreel about British Army drug experiments.

How not to display rare records (downloadable wmv video). Maybe he can replace that cylinder here. Thanks, Listener Tom via Nata2

Touchradio has created the longest language removal exercise yet, of our own Vicki Bennet, from her program Do or D.I.Y. You can download all of Vicki's tongue flaps, uhms and ah's here.

Another creepy classic from Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley: Horrorclown (streaming Quicktime video, nsfw)

Feeling too productive at work? The bouncing girl will change all that.

A truly creepy tale of serial rape by telephone, reminiscent of the famous Milgram obediance experiment. Thanks? Listener Mike

The great Bush-Blair swear-off and Anti-drug Russian waxworks, via b3ta

Six Degrees of Smoking.

Heidi Barack's musical portraits.

incriminating photos via Happy Palace and the LA Public Library:

Mother(s) Rage

Jesus, what's up Internet?  I know you go through your phases, but what's with this white-ladies-of-the-American-south-flipping-their-lids kick you've been on lately?  What?  You've always been obsessed by them?!  Hmmm... so you have.  And it's not just you?  I guess you're right.  Well, TV may have started it, but you've gotta admit you're sort of harvesting them.

Exhibits:

Margaret Perrin She's the one that seems to have started all this. Click to view a gag-reel of her show-saving turn on Fox's "Trading Spouses".  (Oh please, no booing, you're better than that!) Margaret is what you might call a "Good Christian Woman from Louisiana".  You are what Margaret would call a "Gargoyle from the dark side". 

Parking Lot Pariah (NSFW): And over here we've got the potty-mouthed secular (also southern) version of Mrs. Perrin.  (both of these vids via break.com)

"You should've asked me nicely, Mom" (link to clean Realaudio version, or download the totally choad-licking obscene mp3).  This is some unhinged Mom (from the south) and her dickwad 16-yr old kid, which I found on The Internet someplace.  She started screaming at him to let her use his car, so he turned on his webcam.  You only need to hear the audio.  I hear some of our DJs have tried this tactic, only to fail when the parental ass-whupping commenced.

Speaking of parental ass-whuppings, here's a thing someone wrote back in 1998, and it's all about being a mom and raging at your kid - way back in 1998!  What's more, she says all mothers got rage -- so this kinda thing's been going on since 1998, and The Internet is just now catching on? Shame on you Internet!  Tho I grant, it's not really your territory until it becomes porn -- hey, what's that?! A site that fetishizes that movie "Locked Up: A Mothers Rage" starring Cheryl Ladd as a raging mom who smokes cigarettes!!  (For what it's worth, here's Realaudio of my kid Lila flipping the tables and raging at her mother, accompanied by Nurse With Wound.)

Of course, one need not be an actual mother to be in possession of Mother Rage; no, mother rage makes plenty of allowance for human complexity.  We celebrate (flip) now with two versions of the "Dyketactic" classic from Kathy Fire, "Mother Rage".

A Thanksgiving Prayer from William S. Burroughs

Straight from Blame-America-First World Headquarters to your hard drive, here's a Thanksgiving Day prayer from William S. Burroughs, from a video directed by Gus Van Sant (mpg video for download). In this 1986 poem, Burroughs salutes our nation of finks "where nobody is allowed to mind his own business." And he throws in a few bad words for the KKK, Prohibition and "Kill a Queer for Christ" bumper stickers for good measure.

Mark E. Smith Reads Daily Football Results

Face it: Mark E. Smith could fart in a bag and we'd think it's funny and a grand artistic statement by which future gaseous emissions ought to be measured. So looky here (right-click to download 6M Real Media file) and get a load of The Fall frontman's visit to a local UK sports desk, to which he was invited for the purpose of reading the daily football results. The beginning and middle are kind of brain-numbing, but the end is priceless. (Via Jon Solomon)

And when you're done with that, check this (older) but equally enthralling clip (streaming Real Media file) of the Mad Man of Manchester's reflection on the passing of John Peel. At about the 2 minutes mark, he does the funniest thing you will ever see anywhere. Liz Berg and I nearly passed out from laughing and replaying it. (Via Mr. Science)

Cooking With Brother JT

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania's Brother JT is a man of much talent, as we have seen in his almost 20-year discography both solo and with the Original Sins (who, by the way, reunite on WFMU December 13th for a live set). We all knew JT could bring the psychedelic soul, but how many of us knew that his greatest talent was in the kitchen? Thanks to JT for allowing us to put up an excerpt (17 MB wmv file) of his rejected program submission to the Food Network (you guys are real rubes for passing him up). The entire DVD Someone's In the Kitchen With JT (which also features as 2000 tour documentary called Southern Discomfort), is available along with many of his non-visual confections at his site.

Tony Blair versus The Sex Pistols

It's sort of refreshing to see an old King Crimson fan cast as The Antichrist. The gyrating Maggie Thatchers don't hurt either. Somehow I don't this is going to be as big as JibJab. Flash animation page. via Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley, Ltd.

(F:) Drive Video Vault

Rarely do my worlds collide with such hilarity as in this clip from grindcore band Dying Fetus.  To see the Blue's Clues "face" and other images from popular children's TV used in this fashion brings me great joy.  (Everyone knows that Death Metal vocals started with the Cookie Monster, anyway.)  Go on, play this video for your kids—with the given indecipherability of the lyrics, I'm sure no one's in danger, despite the title.  Here's more information about the band and the album, plus guitar tabs for the song.  [Dying Fetus - Kill Your Mother Rape Your Dog mpg]

Since there seems to be a Fall renaissance going on, it's timely to view these clips of the band in their salad days.  First, one of the earliest lineups performing "Psychomafia" and "Industrial Estate" (plus some interview footage), taken from the What's On? program in 1978.  Note the presence of original keyboardist (and Mark E. girlfriend) Una Baines.  The next clip is a raucous live performance of the song "Smile" from 1983, when the band was featured on the BBC's The Tube.  BBC Radio icon John Peel appears briefly in the intro; Peel waived his hosting fee, with the agreement that The Fall could perform on the show.  All this should make you ripe and ready for The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E. Smith, an outstanding 2005 BBC4 documentary that is so good, the lack of a subsequent DVD release would be criminal.  (RSM contributed)  [Fall clip 1] [Fall clip 2]

How cool were The Stranglers?  Look at Hugh Cornwell—you wish you were half as cool as he is in this Top of The Pops clip, where the band apes to their version of Burt Bachrach's "Walk On By."  Not the greatest lip syncher, but still way cool.  Start with a base stock of Roxy Music, add some Ray Manzarek keyboards, fold in four creative, decadent minds and stir, with lots of grit and sweat from the pub floor and voila! — one of my all-time favorite bands.  Why are The Stranglers not as heralded as some of their contemporaries from the UK punk explosion?  Was it Dave Greenfield's refusal to leave the prog era behind and cut his hair?  Perhaps they were too dark, too literary or too sexy for their own good.  The Stranglers still perform and record today, albeit without Hugh, who's busy with his solo projects, including two books and a touring/recording band.  [The Stranglers - Walk On By mpg]

They Called Her Mrs. Bowie

Don't worry, fabulous space-kittens, this isn't an R.I.P. post. Angie Bowie is alive and well, hanging out with pals like Xaviera Hollander and Mick Karn, and writing pocket books about bisexuality.

In fact, here's a cool interview with the lady with some great pictures. Better yet, you MUST see Angie in a leotard thong, with giant press-on nails and a *ahem* handsome escort in these incredible videos!

Amon Duul II TV performance

Teutonic titans in a rare 1971 clip performing on the Beat Club. The song "Eye-Shaking King" (48MB wmv file) comes from one of the group's most godlike records Yeti, and while female member Renate seems to be AWOL here, this is still an awesome performance. After graduating from the late 1960's Amon Duul I incarnation, the group evolved from an initial commune that performed extremely non-structured tribal bashing to a highly organized progressive rock ensemble that captured some of the greatest elements of free rock spirit that the era had to offer. Yeti, and their preceding record Phallus Dei (their first as Amon Duul II) are considered by many to be their peak moments, full of tranced out, multi-culti-influenced jams head to head with throttling and very heavy rock. Follow up 70's albums like Tanz Der Lemming, Carnival In Babylon, and Wolf City are also full of great moments. Dig the clip, it's actually the only time I've seen this one in a non-shortened mode.

Bush Girl Goes To War

With no end in sight to the war in Iraq, and the death toll rising with each passing day--over 2,000 American service members killed as of October 26th, not to mention at least 26,982 Iraqi civilians reported dead as of this posting--this Kate Bush video from 1980 seems especially timely. I wonder if Barbara and Jenna would look as good in uniform as Kate does?

Watch: Kate Bush "Army Dreamers" music video (mpg video, thanks to listener Matt).

While you're at it, check out a similar song by Joanna Newsom, a young harpist and singer-songwriter whose 2004 debut album might have been more indebted to Kate Bush than many of us were clever enough to notice. Don't let all the talk of whale bones throw you off, the song is really about the war in Iraq.

Listen: Joanna Newsom's "What We Have Known" from an archive of Irwin's show.

3 Videos: Subway Car Video, Ali Snubs Bush and Al Qaeda Cartoon Outtakes

Here's how to turn a subway car into a film projector, using only suction cups, mirrors and a laptop. The perpetrators in this case pulled it off in Berlin. Had they tried this stunt in New York, they'd be facing charges right now. Quicktime video for download via del.icio.us/tag/video

Last week, President Bush awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom award to Muhammad Ali, calling The Greatest "a man of peace," and "the greatest of all time." Ali responded by making the internationally accepted "this guy's nuts" sign as Bush tied the ribbon around his neck. Windowsmedia video for download

The Family Guy started off a recent episode with a great idea - what would the outtakes from an Al Qaeda "death to infidels" video look like? Of course, it ends with Stewie kicking some Al Qaeda ass, which would never happen. If anything, Stewie would join up. Windowsmedia video for download (last two via theync.com)

The Kid From Brooklyn Speaks The Truth

The Kid From Brooklyn is neither a kid nor is he from Brooklyn. He's a poetically foul-mouthed ticket dealer from Jersey named Mike Caracciolo, but the ticket racket's never been the right place for him. As he likes to tell people, he really oughta be an actor.

The Kid may want to be an actor, but he's found the perfect medium, taping his own video rants and posting them on his Kid From Brooklyn site. He's been at it for a few years, but he's been on a real tear lately. Since his own servers are a little on the sluggish side, I've re-posted three of his latest video rants here (nsfw):

The Importance of Telling People to Go Fuck Themselves (wmv video file)

The Big Man On How To Stop Terrorism (wmv video file)

The Big Man Introduces Mona, (Mrs. Kid From Brooklyn) (wmv video file)

via metafilter

Cleaning Out My Inbox

While visiting Brazil, Arnold displays his deep respect for local mores and customs. Quicktime Video  via del.icio.us/tag/video

Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing. via Hemaworstje

Dance moves circa 1974, via an Isley Brother's Soul Train Line. Mpg video via del.icio.us/tag/video

The ever photogenic Laura Bush. Thanks Rebecca!

Cool remix of toy instruments. via growabrain

Forget Judith Miller. What's Jayson Blair been up to? Thanks, Steinski!

Covert cameras for every use. Don't miss: 1  |  2  |  3  | Thanks again, Steinski!

Relive your (my) 7th grade drug education class! Pretty pictures | Junkie Comics. via Hemaworstje, Ethan Persoff

Using cartoon technology to teach kids to kill themselves. Iranian suicide bombing cartoon. (streaming windowsmedia video clip, via del.icio.us/tag/propaganda

In case you missed it, here's that Japanese TV game show clip of the kids with the pork chops strapped to their heads. Oh, and there's a big lizard, too: Google video, via boingboing

If World War Two had been an online game. via fazed

The infamous CIA sabotage manual from the early eighties. via flickr

Gallery of Luis Bunuel film posters.

Mary Lou (above) by Bryce (click on her!)  B/W Photos (below) from PhotoEye Galleries:

The Family Guy's FCC Song

Last Sunday night's episode of The Family Guy was all about the FCC's (now dormant) language crackdown. It included a brief song and dance number about our favorite regulatory agency. Here's the MP3 of the song, and here's a link to the streaming video of it, via devilducky.

Secos e Molhados, Next Big Thing for '73

By anybody's standard, 700,000 records sold is a huge success.  By Brazilian standards, that's just incalculably enormous.  32 years ago, the Sao Paolo band Secos e Molhados ("Dry & Wet Goods") sold 700,000 copies of their eponymous debut record (shown, left), and still nobody outside Brazil knows who they were - not even WFMU.  Let's start knowing.

Secos e Molhados "Sangue Latino" and "O Vira" (wmv movie, 18M)

The most important thing you can do for yourself today is watch this video, which ends on the frame you see to your right  Go do that, then come back and I'll tell you more about them.

When I first heard the debut Secos & Molhados album, I endured several months of confusion trying to figure out who's the woman singing, and why isn't she on the album cover?  Well sir, "she" is Ney Matogrosso, and he is indeed on the cover.  No, he doesn't sound like a feminine guy, and he's not singing falsetto - he sings like a girl!!  And it's totally beautiful, and these songs are mostly achingly sweet.  The confusion lingered as I got hung up on the disconnect between the sound of the songs and the look of the total freaks who, it seems, are performing them.  And then along came Wolmar.  He's my fave dealer of Brazilian esoterica at the annual WFMU Record Fair, and he actually had some video footage - lots of it.  And now the pieces are coming together.  Go listen to some songs:

O Patrão nosso de cada dia (realaudio link)
O Vira (realaudio link)
Rosa de Hiroshima (realaudio link)

Jump the flip if you're interested in a little bit of history on the band (which is remarkably scarce in English).

Me and Takeshi Down By The Schoolyard

Here's a video I stumbled across which seems to show Japanese schoolkids engaging in freestyling, cheerleading and consuming a large unidentified piece of meat. Get past the annoying editing, and there's plenty here to ponder, not the least of which is: why does the spasmodic catholic school girl always seem to get the better of the shirtless mohawk sporting suspender guy? Video here. (wmv file for download).  via  hemeworstje

The Fall Vs. Jools Holland

BBC's Later With Jools Holland (which can be seen on BBC America as well) often features an eclectic variety of live music performances, though, to be honest, the average viewing finds usually about one or two bands I really care enough to watch. It's such a weirdly formatted show as well: the taping runs pretty much without pause while Holland points to the bands in a P.T. Barnum-like way to play, while they are enclosed in cubbies as part of a large semi-circle before the studio audience (some of whom intermingle in cafe-like surroundings around said artist). Usually when the performance is done, Holland will pop out and may or may not really address the act, though if it's someone like Alicia Keys or Robert Plant he'll plop down next to them and they'll probably be granted two songs. But it's certainly better, I guess, than being forced to lipsync on Solid Gold around their dancers. Enter Mark E. Smith and company on a May, 2005 show where they performed a medley of "Pacifying Joint" and the Move's "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", as well as a follow-up track "Blindness." (rm video file for download). Under giant hulking letters spelling out "Fall", Smith warbles, barks, tampers with his wife's keyboards, and is, in other words, great. The band's lumbering, repetitive din quickly takes command of the BBC set and for seven minutes takes it outside the parameters of your average-act-promoting-new-hit-on-TV, and no doubt that both the audience and fellow guests all knew something quite different was afoot that day.. Allegedly there was an off-camera advisory from MES to Jools to "not join in on any boogie-woogie piano" and fellow guest Robert Plant supposedly got called "c***ty" out loud. Ah, Mark. But cheers to the show for giving up 7 minutes of time for the Fall; amidst a sea of flash-in-the-pan bands aping their moves these days, it's heartwarming to see the Fall still great after 28 years of riding several peaks but no valleys whatsoever. Their newest LP Fall Heads Roll (Narnack Records) is enjoying some heavy WFMU airplay not surprisingly, and Castle/Sanctuary continues to roll out deluxe reissues of some classic albums like Room To Live and Hex Enduction Hour with extra discs of bonus material.

Sun Ra Vs. Saturday Night Live

The Ra's mothership lands on SNL, 1978 (rm video file for download), introduced by Buck Henry. Excuse the grainy quality, great performance though. I asked Andy Breckman if he was around the set to sit in with the Arkestra, but alas, was before his time. Thanks to Derek Erdman.

Mike Bloomberg's Cartoon Handjob

New York mayoral wannabe Freddy Ferrer recently released an animated campaign ad (in jibjab style) which depicts mayor Mike Bloomberg giving a cartoon handjob to Dubya. The ad is available from Ferrer's site (it's the one called "Buddies") but in the event that they take it down, I've posted it here as well (mov file for download).

What's interesting is that in the fallout from the ad, The New York Times failed to mention what made the ad so controversial in the first place. It's the cartoon handjob, stupid!

But the Times' myopia pales next to the question of what exactly constitutes a cartoon handjob. Some experts contend that the ad doesn't depict a handjob at all. In the ad, Bloomberg reaches his well-moneyed hand over to Dubya's crotch and rubs it, eliciting Dubya to grin and kick his heels. But Bloomberg's hand never actually penetrates Bush's trousers, which technically speaking, makes the act frottage, not a handjob. But different rules apply to the world of cartoon sexuality. Things have been so quiet here at the cartoon sexuality desk that all the frottage in the world would not awaken our cartoon sexuality editors from their slumber, so we may never know the answer.

For me, the most offensive part of the ad is not the handjob, but Ferrer's campaign slogan: Fernando Ferrer. He's not like Mike. He's more like you. Ferrer's slogan writers clearly owe royalties to Andy Breckman, who penned the WFMU slogan, Helping listeners like you become less like you.

Evil Indie Rock From Goblin Cock

Here's a spooky new music video from Goblin Cock, the not-quite-heavy metal Pinback side project. The clip features the band cloaked in black robes a la Sunn O))) and paying sludgy riffs on B.C. Rich knock off guitars. The story involves a comic book store, a girls' softball team, and robots... taste the irony. Happy Halloween!

Watch: Goblin Cock "Stumped" 
(Thanks to our friends at Aquarius Records for bringing this to our attention.)

Bizarre, Smutty Video from LTK Commune

If the People's Republic of China still has military designs on Taiwan, they might want to first check out the latest video from the Taiwanese political novelty band Loh Tsui Kweh Commune (Download .mov movie file). After a visual checklist of internationally-accepted rock cliche's (devil horns, stage diving, guitar smashing, keyboard histrionics, etc), the band (also known as LTK and LTK Commune) gets down to business with the old chainsaw-up-the-butt gag. (Did I mention the video's complete absence of work-safeness?) But LTK doesn't stop there.

Before finally getting down with Buddhah, the band engages in male lactation fantasies and inexplicable product-positioned prostate exams. All in all, a bizarre and wondrous Asian smutfest, full of highly entertaining imagery, much of which would be scandalous here, but which is apparently A-OK for that haven of free-speech, Taiwan. via del.icio.us/video

Video on History of Electronic Music

I never thought I'd be posting a filmstrip on the blog, but here you go: Pathways To Music, Part One: The Birth of Electronic Music (mov file for download). This is part one of the series - if you know where part two is, let me know. This installment covers "electronic" music from 400 BC to 1950, including analog techniques such as the "soundhouses" of the 17th century (pictured at right) to the glass harmonica, before finally moving along to early electronic instruments such as the Dynamophone and the Ondes Martenot. And the case is made that DJ Paul Hindemith was the first turntablist of all time, yo!
UPDATE: Here is part two (MP4 file), via GetLoFi. Thanks, Tony!

What's Behind The Mask?

In the spirit of the Halloween season, let us not forget that peculiar entity that seems to cross all cultures: The Masked Musician!

Most of the popular references include The Residents, Kiss, Buckethead, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Insane Clown Posse and the recently signed Mushroomhead. But there have been a string of artists working in disguise that are just off the radar, including -

Nash The Slash, he of prog group FM and many solo projects, Cast In Bronze, the mysterious Carillon player, Orion, the cabalistic Elvis impersonator, Nigeria's outrageous Lagbaja, and Afrobeat Ensemble's Kaleta, to name a few. Click Here to be serenaded! (wmv)

                                                                             

10, officer.

We all love music, and we all love to watch hand skills. So watch Greg Irwin and his incredible finger dexterity as he bust out moves to the beat of De'vo's music.

(The other Devo.)

PiL on American Bandstand, 1980 (video)

In our ongoing series of subversive American Bandstand performances, here's a video clip of Public Image, Ltd. performing Poptones and Careering on American Bandstand in May, 1980 (97 mb of mpg goodness). It's the best lip-synching I've ever seen, if you like your lip-synching honest - which is to say that John Lydon's microphone rarely comes within 18 inches of his mouth.

I'm surprise he even bothered to pick up the mic at the start of the clip. Also of note: Dick Clark confusing Jah Wobble and "Johnny" (with Lydon's able assitance), not to mention Lydon's lethargic enthusiasm in the midst of the confused disco chaos. The clip is really poor quality, as is befitting such a sarcastic performance. Now if we only had a video clip of their famous show/riot at The Ritz in 1981.

Download American Bandstand Video Clip. Thanks Listener Chad!

Monkey Vs. Robot?! No! Monkey PLUS Robot...

Rich Hazelton alerts us to the existence of the creepiest "toy" to grace the 2005 Holiday Season: the Alive Chimpanzee from WowWee Toys. Click here to download a short video clip.

Bathtime in Clerkenwell MP3 and Video

Everytime I play the song Bathtime in Clerkenwell (MP3) on the air, I get calls and e-mails about it. It's by the band (The Real) Tuesday Weld, from the soundtrack to the book I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan. I haven't read the book, but the soundtrack is great. As is this cool black and white animated video of the song (wmv video file), by Alex Budovsky, which apparently won the best animated short award at Sundance last year.

Robert Ashley's "Music With Roots in the Aether"

Robert Ashley's Music With Roots in the Aether (1975)

14 hours of video (.avi & realvideo) and audio (MP3) of Robert Ashley interviewing composers David Behrman, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma, Pauline Oliveros and Terry Riley. The pieces are broken down into one-hour interviews and one-hour live performances, all from 1975. Check out the Robert Ashley files: they're chilling. Very rarely seen since its filming.

Prince on American Bandstand, 1980 (video)

Here's a fairly gigantic video clip of Prince lip-synching on American Bandstand in early 1980, after the release of his second LP Prince (mpg file, 94mb!). The lip-synching, crotch grabbing and dancing are all well and good (and impermissible in today's broadcast environment), but the best parts are Dick Clark's attempted interviews with His Majesty. Prince exudes total indifference to Clark and to this, his first big national moment.

via del.icio.us/tag/video

In Praise of Gibberish

Here's an idiotic and hilarious video clip about the joys of gibberish, and the power of peer pressure. via Hemaworstje via catmanandmary

Do as I Say, Not as I Do

I apologize for reminding everyone about the horrific election we had here in the states last year, but you may recall that roughly a year ago the people at JibJab made a hoakey video about President Bush and John Kerry set to the tune of "This Land is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie. As you also may recall, Ludlow Music, who owned the copyright for the song, filed a ridiculous lawsuit against JibJab for not obtaining proper permission to use the music. JibJab ended up hiring the wonderful people at the EFF to help defend their right to fair use and argued in their pleading that:

"(Ludlow Music's threats) have jeopardized (JibJab's) First Amendment-protected right to free speech and its right to disseminate that speech via its Internet hosting facilities. (JibJab) therefore seeks a judgment that its artistic expression is protected by the First Amendment and copyright's fair use doctrine, before that expression is silenced by (Ludlow's) threats."

Inexplicably, as noted by the people at the Berkeley Intellectual Property Weblog, it appears that the Jib Jab people have now turned around and sent a cease and desist letter to The Black Lantern for using 9 non-contiguous seconds of the "This Land" video in his mashup of the Legendary KO's "George Bush doesn’t like Black People". To make matters even more surreal, JibJab's lawyers in the case  (Goldring, Hertz, Lichtenstein & Haft) like to collect "Bill of Rights" awards from the ACLU in their spare time (clearly these awards only honor amendments 2 through 10).

The Dirty Mac doing "Yer Blues" at The Rock and Roll Circus

Here's a video clip (mpg file for download) of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix Experience) performing under the name Dirty Mac as part of the Rolling Stone's 1968 TV special, Rock and Roll Circus.

After an unfunny Mick Jagger (doing a lame American accent) interviews an amusing John Lennon, the impromptu supergroup launches into a version of Yer Blues that makes the White Album version sound lame and hollow. This was the first time Beatle John had performed in public without The Beatles, and fortunately audio and video were on hand to preserve a great performance, with Keith on bass, Clapton on guitar, Mitchell on drums and Yoko mercifully crawling into an un-mic'ed black elastic bag. Apparently on other songs that day, Yoko provided her customary caterwauling. (If it's Yoko caterwauling on TV behind Lennon you want, see The Professor's post about the Mike Douglas show performance that made Chuck Berry's eyes roll.

via del.icio.us/tag/video

The Secret of Lil' Markie Revealed

Video: Quicktime file of Large Happy Man holding Lil' Markie captive inside his body.
MP3s: 17 Lil' Markie tracks below the jump.

Listeners to Kenny G's show or Irwin's old show Incorrect Music may recall the pleadings of a certain helium induced duck-child named Lil' Markie, as he begged his mother not to abort him (Diary of An Unborn Child MP3), or his drunken Daddy not to feel so bad about killing him (Story of An Alcoholic Father MP3). As bizarre Christian Kiddy records go, the Lil' Markie material stands alone.

But something never felt right to me about Lil' Markie. For one thing, he looked human, but he sounded suspiciously like a puppet. But there were no strings to be found. From the sound of it, Markie carried himself like a well respected leader of the  Christian Puppet community, but unlike Lil' Joey, Lil' Harry or Lil' Jackie, not only were there no strings, there were no hands up the back, no hinged dummy-jaws. Nothing to suggest puppetry. It didn't make sense. To my mind, the helium duck-child voice was not of human origin.

Now at last, the mystery is solved. The other day on the Bomarr blog, this video surfaced (Quicktime file). In it, you will see video footage of a Large, Happy Man singing the praises of Jesus. But that's not the strange thing. About halfway through the video, the voice of Lil' Markie emerges from The Large Happy Man.

This is visual proof that The Large, Happy Man swallowed Lil' Markie whole and is now exploiting him on tours of churches around the United States!! When Lil' Markie sang Use Me (MP3), he didn't mean this! The actual identity of the Large Happy Man has not been verified, but he claims to be one Mark Fox.

Ignore Mark Fox's preposterous claims and jump below the fold for Otis Fodder's MP3 collection of Lil' Markie tracks, plus other Lil' Markie links. Thanks to Otis, Bomarr, and Pea Hicks.

Fun Video Clip of Reg Kehoe and The Marimba Queens

Here's a great video clip of Reg Kehoe and His Marimba Queens, performing sometime in the early 1940's: big MP4 file | small MP4 file (click to download files). Here's the page on archive.org that this came from. There's more versions of it and info over there. Thanks to Carrie from Stay Free for alerting me to this little wonder.

This band apparently performed at the start and end of the vacation season in Hershey, Pennsylvania every year. The clip here came from a PBS show Matinee At The Bijou. A fuller version of this segment was made available to the public originally as a "soundie," a film reel that played inside a video jukebox of the day called a Panoram, a precursor to the Scopitone.

The bass player is a guy named Frank Denunzio, and he gets my nomination for the upright bass player hall of fame, for his visual antics alone. And then there are the wonderful Marimba Queens. Sigh.

All in all, a real delight of a clip. Maybe I'll rip and post a batch of tracks from other marimba bands.

Thanks Carrie!

Lucas Abela: live video clip

  I touched base with Australian noise/performance artist Lucas Abela last week, sharing the indelible memories of Singing Sadie's live set on Irwin's show  (Abela released Sadie's disc on his wild and wooly Dual Plover label, a perennial WFMU fave). He kindly offered some footage (avi file, 45 MB) of his own recent tour, which was deemed "Justice Yeldham and the Dynamic Ribbon Device" and circled the globe. Said Sadie to me: "it's a bloody drag having to take him to the hospital all the time."

I'm A Genius, Too! The Murry Wilson Tapes

MP3s: The Beach Boys Help Me Ronda Sessions - Full Version | Edited version
Flash Animations: Peter Bagge's Murry Wilson: Rock and Roll Dad - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

January 8, 1965: The Beach Boys enter the studio to record what will become their second number one hit, Help Me Rhonda. Well into the session, a drunken Murry Wilson (Brian, Carl and Dennis' Dad) arrives and proceeds to commandeer the session with psychodrama, scat singing and weepy, abusive melodrama.

The session tape captured it all, and versions of these tapes have been floating around bootlegs for years. The fact that the tapes survived is itself surprising - you can hear Brian and Murry fighting over the tape recorder controls at the 35:30 mark of the full version, Murry wanting to stop the recording, with Brian ultimately keeping the tape rolling. And it's a good thing that Brian won out, because this audio verifies many of the Murry Wilson horror stories described in the Steven Gaines book, Heroes and Villains: The True Story of The Beach Boys.

Here's the full 40 minute version of the Help Me Ronda sessions for you completionists: (MP3), and here's a twelve minute edit I did for other attention-challenged people such as myself: (MP3). Recently, Listener Jeff alerted me to Peter Bagge's four-part animated Murry Wilson flash series, which Icebox put out in 2001. Here are all four installments as Shockwave 3.0 files: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Listening back to the full Help Me Ronda sessions again, I'm struck by how sane Brian sounds when compared to Murry, and how mature and patient he is for a 22 old standing up to his abusive, alcoholic father. After listening in on this session, It's easy to see why the Beach Boys eventually purchased Murry a fake audio console for their sessions, so he could twiddle knobs to his heart's delight without destroying anything.

Cleaning Out My Inbox

Animations of plantlife gone berserk. All this video needs in Werner Herzog intoning about the chaos of nature and it would be complete. via fazed

From the makers of the above, it's a dream come true: robots harrassing pigeons in the east village. (Click on the 2nd video down on the right.)

When Flying Dogs Attack. via peremeny

The secrets of Bohemian Grove, gathering place of powerful, fat, naked men.

Listener Wendy's home in the hills.

Devendra Banhart goes to great lengths to ensure that he wont be a Starbucks poster boy (video).

The Japanese Gallery of Psychiatric Art.

In May, I wrote about the art of free running, aka Le Parkour. Here's a new free running video making the rounds (windows media file).

Eight, count 'em, eight galleries of bathroom graffitti.

A new video from Jason Forrest / Donna Summer: War Photographer (Quicktime file)

Singing Sadie: All That, and a Pair of Tap Shoes

Recently, Irwin hosted the second artist to ever tap dance in the WFMU studios*, Australia's Singing Sadie. Assaulting our audience with a saccharine-sweet schoolyard tattletale's voice laid over 1930s big-band recordings, Sadie's cheerful wailing and spunky wit will win you over (click to hear the performance in real audio or streaming MP3). Download a video of Sadie performing the song "Until Drink Do Us Part" (mpg, 18 MB), to get the complete singing/tap-dancing experience (minus the backing music).

* Matmos was the first: they were accompanied by a tap-dancer for a set that aired on the Re:Mixology program, click here to listen to the archive in real audio.

Mud Wrasslin'

If you've never hit up Walter De Maria's New York Earth Room, I suggest you pay this permanent installation a visit. Absorbing the notion that a 3600 sq ft NYC apartment (within the boundaries of Soho's most precious real estate radius, no less) is filled with 2 feet of dirt boggles the mind. It also fills you with a desire to cast your shoes aside and frolic past the observation barrier to feel the soil squish between your toes.

One group of kids documented a mud wrestling fest in the Earth Room (click here to download the video, .mov file), clocking in just under a minute's worth of forbidden glory (you'll find photos of the 2003 Brooklyn Condiment War if you delve further into their site, just beware of the hippie nudity).

De Maria was an experimental recording artist, and self-released an album called Drums and Nature in 1968; click the song titles below to hear them in real audio.
    "Ocean Music" from an archive of Hatch's show
    "Cricket Music" from an archive of Brian Turner's show

This Week in Sex: Sex Ed

Sex isn't all fun and games, you know. Actually, it's mostly no fun and games. Which is why we bring you the Back to School edition of This Week in Sex. Take your hands out of your pockets and get learning, Junior.

Mommy, Daddy, where did the controversy about sexual education come from? Apparently, from this boring 1947 film. You can watch the movie, or just look at the thumbnails featuring a deeply suspicious dad. I prefer the Department of Agriculture sex ed film that takes the sex Ed Wood approach: if you like stock footage, a swelling soundtrack, and rabbit C-sections, this is the film for you.

Movie Club. If you just want to watch something dirty, which I know you do, there are about a kajillion other old  films on the Internet Archive, plus a handy subject index. They have non-sex stuff, too. Actually, it's mostly non-sex stuff. I just don't pay attention to it.

Biology 101. What's inside your boobs? I'm not really sure, but it's disturbingly glowy.

Career Counseling. You say you want to be in radio, but the results of your assessment test say you would make a great Hooters Girl. Congratulations!  Please take your Suntan-colored pantyhose and a copy of your Hooters Handbook, and remember that being sexually harassed is part of the job. (The pantyhose and the sexual harassment parts are just like radio, so don't be too disappointed.)

Linguistics. This guy spent a whole lotta time researching and thinking and writing about about the word cunt. (Whereas I just spent a whole lotta time watching the cunt circus.)

Science Fair. "How many angels fit on the head of a pin?" is a question for theologians, but "How many condoms fit on the head of a penis?" is one we can really wrap our hands around. And by "we" I mean the Science Project geeks, who I hope keep up the good work. A+.

Cosmology. If you think God is being a big dick with this weather, you're right. Rita looks like a big phallus. But if you think Katrina looks like a big fetus, and that means the storm is God's way of punishing us, you're wrong. Plus you're being a big dick.

Community Service. It's not porn, it's charity: make a donation to Katrina relief and see pictures of boobs in the virtual Mardi Gras that is Boobs4BourbonSt. You can donate boobs or money, or both. [via]

P.S. I double-dare you not to look at pets in uniform. (P.P.S. Now I know what I'm getting DJ Bronwyn for Christmas! Don't tell.) [via]

Thanks for the random acts of smut, Station Manager Ken.

Music From Your Mothers

I'm on a real Mothers of Invention kick lately, and nothing could be better than the quintessential 1968 lineup (Don Preston, Roy Estrada, Ian Underwood, Jimmy Carl Back, et al.) performing King Kong.  What gene pool made these guys?  Largely classically trained, oversexed, jaded intellectual too-cool-to-be-hippie motherfuckers - they simply do not make bands like this anymore.  They inspired so many, and were narrowly rewarded for their efforts.  Of course, Frank Zappa's post-Mothers career and all-too-short life is well documented, but it's the Mothers era that never ceases to amaze me.

Note Frank's comment at the top of this clip thanking the BBC for "allowing them to do things..." - the US hasn't changed that much, if at all; we still have the worst artist-censoring record this side of Iran.
King Kong.rm

Bingo Gazingo Serenading Kenny G

If you're wondering what Bingo Gazingo's been up to since WFMU released him from contract, check out this animated video of the septuagenarian ranter's song Kenny G, with backing from My Robot Friend.

Montreal Post-Punk Invasion

We Are Wolves dropped into the WFMU studios last week for a live set that aired on Bill Zurat's show (click to hear the set in Real Audio or streaming MP3). The trio left us with a dancey, damaged set of epileptic electro punk, tinged with some Québécois flava'. Grab a short video of the performance right here (avi file, 43 MB), and get busy with your synthi.

Kanye West Video Mashup

From the mouth of Steinski: I dunno whether Kanye was right about George Bush and black people, but I love it that someone turned his interview into a mashup, and someone else turned the mashup into a video, all in like a week.
Black Lantern site |  Quicktime video download

Vintage Beatnik Poetry MP3s from Cafe Bizarre

I really should have posted these the day that Maynard G Krebs passed away, but I was asleep at the bongoes that day. So here are a batch of spoken word tracks recorded at Greenwich Village's Cafe Bizarre, long before "Beat" became a parody of itself.

And while we're at it, have a look at a documentary on the Greenwich Village scene, narrated by Jean Shepherd. (via the Internet Archive)

The MP3s from Greenwich Village's Cafe Bizarre Presents Assorted Madness start after the jump:

Starring... WFMU's T-shirt

The New Pornographers have just released the video for their pop anthem "Use It" (watch the video in Windows Media or Real Player), which appears on their latest album Twin Cinema. If watch closely, you may notice Carl Newman (the band's red-headed frontman) sports a WFMU t-shirt (designed by Chris Ware; also seen on Blaine Thurier in the photo to the left) for part of the head-bobbing sing-along. Playing supporting roles to our t-shirt are comedian/actor David Cross and Canadian rocker Nardwuar.

If you missed it, the New Pornographers recently performed live on WFMU during Brian Turner's show: you can listen to the archive right here (real player) or download a video clip of the band's performance (avi file, 44 MB).

Videos: Soulwax, Sun Ra, Pink Floyd, Joy Division and a Cheesy Euro Disco Instructor

Here's a batch of videos, and not a single one has anything to do with Katrina!  All these videos must be downloaded before viewing. (For Katrina videos, go here.)

First off, the most recent video, NY Excuse by Soulwax, aka 2 Many DJs, celebrating trash and culture, not necessarily in that order. Or is it a culture of trash? The archival footage is nicely done, as is the Barbara Kruger-esque agit-prop. Download video (Windows Media file)

Here is a video mashup of Pink Elephants On Parade, with music by Sun Ra and the visuals from the movie Dumbo. The Sun ra tune originally appeared on Hal Wilner's Disney tribute LP. I saw the Arkestra perform this at The Bottom Line shortly before Sun Ra dies, and they played it as they paraded around the club. Download video (Quicktime video)

For many Cheesy Euro-Disco aficionados, merely watching the sensual gyrations of Dschingis Khan or Tommy Seeland does not suffice. Action is needed, but can the Cheesy Euro Disco moves actually be learned, or are these abilities genetically inbred? Unfortunately, the moved can be learned, and here is a video to prove it. Download video (mpeg file) More Cheesy Euro Disco links here. And yes, "Cheesy Euro Disco" is now one of the most popular search strings bringing people to this blog.

Here is a video of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd performing Jugband Blues, sort of his farewell song from their album Saucerful of Secrets. Not sure where this came from, but it's clearly been transferred from film. The sounds is good, but why does that sousaphone sound like a kazoo? Actually, the horn moments appear to be spliced in, and the rest of the film seems to include an actual performance. Download video (mpeg file)

Before your mental image of Ian Curtis is forever destroyed by Jude Law's portrayal of him in the forthcoming Joy Division movie, have a look at the real item performing She's Lost Control. Download video (realvideo file). And before your mental image of Iggy is sullied by Elijah Wood's portryal of him, have a look back at the young Iggy performing and rubbing peanut butter all over himself in Cincinatti, ca. 1970.
 

 

Batch of Katrina Videos

I long to care about Silly Bullshit again.

Every once in a while, I hear the faint sound of Silly Bullshit calling my name throught the pines.. "ken... keennnn.." I turn my head towards the voice, but it is gone. Just the wind blowing through the non-existent pines. No Silly Bullshit.

I thought I was close to getting back to the Silly Bullshit today, when I looked at this video by Katrina evacuee Charmain Neville, who is indeed related to Art and Aaron.

After you've taken a look at that, download this Blame Game video (quicktime file). It includes the now-famous "Fuck Yourself, Mister Cheney" clip. But of far greater interest is the ever-eloquent Bill O'Reilly, who equates stranded hurricane victims with drug addicts, and finds the silver lining which we all missed.

But I agree. It is too early for playing The Blame Game. Now is the time for tarring and feathering those responsible, without casting aspersions.

Here is the video (quicktime file) of that genius, Wolf Blitzer, referring to the residents of The Big Easy as "so poor... so black." Who is dumber, Wolf Blitzer or Larry King?

Before the hurricane even hit, this CNN weatherman (windows video file) proved himself to be The King Of The Hissy Fit. And this New Orleans resident (quicktime file) correctly told a Fox reporter to fuck off. But who's laughing now?

Finally, here is the repaired (but still FCC-Unfriendly)  version of the Kanye West Goldiggers remix,  George Bush Dont Like Black People (MP3). via FWMJ via boingboing

I hope to return tomorrow with more videos, this time of Silly Bullshit.

Other videos via del.icio.us/tag/system:media:video

I'm A Work-Is-Shit Anarchist, and I Approve This Message

Check out this amazing political ad from the German Anarchist Pogo Party: Link (mp4 video file for download). Instead of the usual empty political promises, the party's campaign spot splices together scenes of debauched revellers smashing furniture, children playing with axes, and groups of couples kissing and groping each other. The best part is that the Hamburg-based group gets national airtime for free, due to German campaign laws, and despite some outrage over the spot, it will continue to air nationally. Here's a link to the German Anarchist Pogo Party website, and here's the Reuters story on them. Thanks Bill Z!

Canto a Go Go

MP3 download Nancy Sit and/or Josephine Siao "Go Go" | Video clip download "I Love A Go Go" (avi, 34 MB)

Blindly trailing the clerk through stacks of old Cantonese musicals that had been converted to VCD, she finally handed me a disc wrapped in a cover boasting nothing particularly distinctive from the rest. "I think you will like this one," she said. Trusting the judgment of strangers was all I could rely upon during my shopping escapades in the record stores of Hong Kong, so I carried the disc up to the counter, keeping my fingers crossed that at least the term "rock and roll" had squeezed through the language barrier. Indeed, it had.

Check out this amazing video clip from the film "I Love A Go Go" (1967) (avi, 34 MB), which stars Josephine Siao (aka Xiao Fangfang/Fong Fong), Nancy Sit (Ka-Yin), Adam Cheng, and Woo Fung (click here if you want to read about the plot). Pay close attention to the gals in hats for their extra fly dance moves. The guitar trio should also recognized for playing their instruments so fast that the chord progressions and solos cannot be detected by the naked eye... And just in case the movie wasn't campy enough already, they threw in a suspicious guy with thick plastic-rimmed glasses, a stick-on moustache, and a cigar for good measure.

You can also download the song featured in this clip right here (MP3), but I'm not quite sure if it's Siao or Sit singing the tune. Nancy Sit was actually a go-go girl back in the 60's, releasing a number of records of both Chinese tunes and covers of English pop songs. She was a featured artist on Girls in the Garage Vol. 9 (click to listen to Sit's cover of "Love Potion No. 9", real audio from an archive of Three Chord Monte with Joe Belock), but from her voice seems a bit lower than the one featured in the movie. It could be Josephine Siao providing the vocal track for her own character, though she is mainly known for her acting career (to further cloud the issue, I dug up what appears to be an album cover picturing Siao, left). Since all roads lead back to New Jersey, I must mention that Siao took a break from acting in 1969 to study Communications at Seton Hall University. If you've got any more info on the go-go ladies of China, please share in the comments section.

The Rawker Rawks Out

Anton Maiden he ain't, but The Rawker reaches new heights of surrealism with his shirtless accappella renditions of ACDC and Zeppelin tunes. According to the legend, The Rawker was kicked out of his band after the vocal monitors they bought revealed how awful his singing was. But undeterred, The Rawker made 20 VHS copies of himself singing in his bedroom and left them at the local music store, looking for a new band. My favorite Rawker clip is Whole Lotta Love, in which our hero recreates Robert Plant's howling at the moon perfectly, which is all the more strange since there is no instrumentation behind him. Me, I prefer The Rawker accappella. But if Pure The Rawker is too much for you, there's already a page of Rawker Remixes. via therawker
 

Eugene Mirman Videos

New York comedian Eugene Mirman hosts 18 hilarious videos on his webpage and you should watch them all. Once you're done with those visit his Show & Tell section where you'll find a spot on impression by Stella's Micheal Showalter, and if you're not watching Stella you're mad.

March of the Mean Penguins

I haven't seen that March of the Penguins movie in a theater, but I got my mitts on a copy.

I don't think it's that great.

At least it's short (gif).

 

New Pornographers Visit WFMU

Like a grape popsicle consorting with a parched tongue in the dead of summer, Vancouver's power-pop supergroup, the New Pornographers hit WFMU's airwaves yesterday during Brian Turner's show. Our studios were inundated with a much-needed blast of hand-clapping, tambourine-spanking tunes full of quirky hooks and satisfying harmonies bleeding with oohs and aahs: click to hear the performance in Real Audio or streaming MP3, or pretend like you were here by downloading a video clip (avi file, 44MB) of the set.

The band's line-up this time around has shifted just a bit, with 6 members present for their current tour, each individual a separate force to be reckoned with in the music world apart from their work with the New Pornographers: Carl Newman (vocal, guitar), Todd Fancey (vocal, guitar; also has a solo career), John Collins (bass, vocal; also in Canadia's goofy spazz band, Thee Evaporators), Blaine Thurier (keyboard, vocal; filmmaker by night), Kurt Dahle (drums, vocal; co-produced Fancey's album), and the debut of Carl's niece Kathryn Calder on vox (making her first radio appearance and second ever live performance with the band). Neko Case will be meeting up with the group later on the tour route.

In other Pornographer news, Carl Newman dons a WFMU t-shirt (Chris Ware design, same one as shown in photo above... c'mon, you know you want to be a copycat) in the band's new video for "Use It," which co-stars Vancouver rock icon and celebrity interpreter Nardwuar the Human Serviette and comedian David Cross. The clip should be available on Matador's site soon. Twin Cinema, the New Pornographers' latest album, will be released August 23.

Phone Home

MP3 download | Fast Matt "sns"

All children of the late 70’s/early 80’s (along with E.T. fans) reserve a special place in their hearts for the Speak & Spell learning appliance (even have-not kids like me). If you're now feeling a burning nostalgic sensation, visit this Speak & Spell simulator site to relive the halcyon days of your youth (minus the skinned knees), or download this poor-quality vintage commercial for Speak & Spell (wmv), starring then-ubiquitous super-dad Bill Cosby.

Inevitably, someone somewhere on the gravy train thought it would be clever to mix up the circuity guts of the S&S, rendering arty noise from the innocent spelling robot's voice; thenceforth the music world was forever changed. Listener Steve alerted me to Fast Matt, a prolific bender (geek name for circuit-shuffler), who sells his glitched-out S&S devices and offers some amazingly scatalogical MP3 audio from his creations.

You can visit this site for more souped-up S&Ss, or go here for some instruction on S&S deconstruction.

And, of course, WFMU has played many a song featuring the sounds of a manipulated Speak & Spell, so take a listen:

Kraftwerk  “Numbers” from an archive of Nickel and Dime Radio
Experimental Audio Research  “Track 2” as heard on Andrew Listfield's show
Komputergurl  “I Love My Speak and Spell” swiped from Pseu Braun's show
Christina Kubisch  “Speak and Spell (excerpt)” from an archive of Strength Through Failure with Fabio

Quincy Core: No Scum Like the Human Race

"Why would you listen to music that makes you hate, when you can listen to music that makes you love?" This was the question posed by Jack Klugman's famed Quincy character to Dr. Emily Hanover in the now-legendary Next Stop Nowhere episode in 1982. Yes, network TV's depiction of the relatively new phenomenon of punk rock remains one of the more hilarious moments in dated cultural observations, but as Jay Hinman's Agony Shorthand blog points out, it was only one of quite a few instances of the mainstream media looking at punk through skewered goggles. Giving the goofball punk band Mayhem from Quincy a run for their money was the aptly-titled Pain, who made a mortifying showing on an episode of CHiPs (documented a bit here), where apparently Erik Estrada gets the crowd to stop moshing when he sings Kool and the Gang's "Celebration". Jay's piece on the media's view of punk rock also reprints a great Time Magazine article from 1977 that served to introduce Mom & Dad's America to punk, and also cites LA intolerant TV ranter Wally George for doing punk a good service by adding fuel to the fire with guests like the Mentors' late El Duce. But without doubt, the Quincy episode reigns supreme, with some Quicktime video and Real Audio clips for the uninitiated here, as well as an article written by an actual extra from the episode. I also throw in a vote for the punk club scene in Valley Girl with Nicholas Cage  (people slam to the Plimsouls?) and Dennis Hopper's great Out of the Blue (where his delinquent underage daughter takes up with a Rollins-looking meatheaded drummer). SCTV's Queen Haters performance of "I Hate the Bloody Queen" is without a doubt my all-time fave. And don't forget Nelson (above), ready for that upcoming Misfits show at CB's.

Corndogs

Like many people, I missed out on the minutemen documentary that was making the rounds a few weeks ago. As a nice consolation, a guy named Sir Demon Brown has been kind enough to put up corndogs.org, a collection of interviews, live shows and other scraps from San Pedro's finest 

Highlights include video of a 30 minute acoustic set from L.A. public access (210 Megs, in Windows Media unfortunately) as well as the lost corndogs video (great footage, terrible quality).   

Abandoned Amusements

Abandoned amusement and theme parks left for nature to reclaim.

This site contains a stunning series of photos of an abandoned Japanese amusement park. The first few pictures of a rotted roller coaster are especially creepy as they were taken in the morning fog. page 1 - page 2 - page 3

Suzy Poling, an Oakland photographer, has a great photo series of an abandoned theme parks called Hidden Village. She also features a spread of old delapidated theatres: Palace of Mold

Defunctparks.com features many snapshots of parks in their heyday alongside the current state of rot: Rocky Glenn Park in Lackawanna County, PA - Mountain Park in Holyoke, MA - Idora Park in Youngstown, OH - Chippewa Lake Park in Chippewa Lake, OH .

IllicitOhio.com made a trek to the PTL's Heritage USA.

Pacific Ocean Park decimated through time.

Here is a promotional film for Santa's Village (mov. file) from Extinct Attractions, a site that preserves Disneyland's and Disney World's past through interactive DVD documentaries. They also archive information, pictures and sounds of theme park rides, attractions and brochures. Browse around a bit, they have a few more video clips.

Take a listen to Goosy Goosy Gander (mp3) and The Happy Dragon's Tongue (mp3) - they are part of a collection of field recordings from theme park rides and attractions recorded and compiled by Melinda Simon and Mark Fay and released as "Songs for Little Ones" on Dish Recordings in 1997.

Nihilist Spasm Band Live

I dropped by the Nihilist Spasm Band's Monday racket yesterday and have returned with presents. Formed in 1965, NSB is apparently really big in Japan but can still be seen every week in London Ontario at the great Dissent night club (check out dissent's Spasm Band gallery here). This Monday's line up featured Art Pratten on violin, Bill Exley doing the voice thing, Pat Gregory on bass, John Clement on drums and Connell Smiley on sax.
Using the latest in entry level digital camera technology I recorded set one and most of set two for your viewing displeasure. The picture is virtually indecipherable  and the same could be said for the sound, but does it really mater?

Set One (quicktime)
Set Two (quicktime)
Related: I'm A Meat Eater (MP3 On The Download) & another post with lots of NSB MP3s.

A Week Imagined

If you're old enough to recall seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan (as I do), or If you remember when it was widely accepted that marijuana would soon become a nationally decriminalized (and ultimately legalized) substance, YOU know– the world HAS changed.

But no matter what age you are, you can turn the clock back a few paradigms and get a taste of that more daring and open era by watching a few episodes of the Mike Douglas Show-- Specifically by taking a look at a week of programs from 1972 when Douglas invited John Lennon and Yoko Ono to co-host his afternoon TV show.

Mike Douglas, former big band vocalist and all around affable guy, was no hipster. And his weekday program (syndicated nationally from 1965 to 1984) was produced by future right-wing media guru and now the head of Fox News, Roger Ailes. However, the world was a much different place 33 and a third years ago, and letting a former member of the fab four and his avant-garde wife take over your popular TV show must have seemed like a pretty good idea at the time. And the fact that Rhino has released the entire week as a box set of videos pretty much proves that the entertainment value of the unlikely match up of Mr. Douglas and the arty celebrity couple has actually appreciated over the years.

Through the week of shows, Lennon and Ono chain smoked their way through conversations with Ralph Nader, Black Panther Bobby Seale, George Carlin, Yippie Jerry Rubin and many others. Although he never pursued it seriously, Lennon had a natural talent for broadcasting (listen to him on the radio in 1974 here), and he has a blast playing talk host and bringing some pretty radical politics and ideas to a nationwide audience.

Iggy Pop Video From 1970

Since Mike Lupica revealed the circulatory benefits of chronic heroin use, as evidenced on Iggy Pop's chest, I thought it was only fair to give equal time to the young Iggy. Here's a video (51 MB mpg video, for download) from a 1970 Cincinatti concert, in which a boyish looking James Osterberg has his way with a vat of peanut butter while singing TV Eye and 1970. This is also the show that resulted in the iconic image seen to the right. Pay special attention to the play by play announcer ("That's..peanut butter!") and the various shrieks, cries and etchings of audience members as they swarm Iggy. via del.icio.us

This Week in Sex: A Love So Forbidden

It's Friday morning, which means it's time to grab that cup of coffee, check the clock, and realize you're late! It's smut-thirty. But we didn't start without you, darlin'.

G.I. tracts. G.I. Joe is scary. Fan fiction is scary. But G.I. Joe fan fiction--well, that's just too fucking sweet.

Here's a bit from "G.I. Joe: A Love So Forbidden" (and rightly so):

At that moment, they had suddenly realized that even though they each were on different sides of the whole G.I. Joe/Cobra thing, they were still able to experience something wonderful between them.

That something is known as raw and untamed erotica ... and they were enjoying every minute of it.

A few minutes later, after he had placed his stiff cock inside her asshole, Blaine had used each of his hands to caress both her breasts and pussy.

'AAAAHHHH, COR-BLOODY-SHIT! THAT FEELS ... SSSSOOOO GOOOOD!" yelled a sexually energized Zarana. "DO IT, BLAINE! FUCK ME! I REALLY ... WANT YOU ... TO FUCK ME! AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!'

And here I thought I didn't like erotica, but I just didn't know it included yelling COR-BLOODY-SHIT!, which makes me melt every time.

"Attorneys find Dykes on Bikes offensive." No cor-bloody-shit. Twice, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the application of San Francisco's legendarily les-tastic Dykes on Bikes to patent its name, on  the grounds that "Dyke" is vulgar, offensive, and "scandalous." And not in a good way. The Dykes aren't offensive, mind you, it's just the word Dyke that the lawyers don't like. But that's the best part of the name. Without Dykes, you got no Dykes on Bikes. In case you didn't notice, I'm just trying to say Dyke a lot here.

Afrirampo Live at WFMU

Afrirampo, the Japanese rock duo (Pica on drums and Oni on guitar) that favors eating while singing (singing while eating?), slipped away from their Pygmy captors and popped into WFMU to perform live on Brian Turner's show. Click to listen to their playful set in Real Audio or streaming MP3.

This video clip (avi, 39MB) shows Afrirampo performing in the WFMU studios, as Meg and Jack White jealously take notes from the sidelines.

Men!

Here is Japanese hammer throwing champion Koji Murofushi whipping his ramen (and himself) into a frenzy: Link. (avi video file for download, via octopusdropkick)

Cleaning Out My Inbox

With all today's brouhaha about the Governator's five million dollar muscle magazine shilling contract, how come nobody is praising Ahnuld's fine work on this amazing Japanese commercial? (quicktime .mov file for download) via Cynical-C Blog and imockery

Chris Cunnigham's most disturbing Aphex Twin video yet, the not-for-the-squeamish and not safe for work Rubber Johnny (shockwave video). See, I told you that chihuahuas were not of this world! Thanks Brian!

Following up on Dave the Spazz's coverage of The Beach Boys own Mount Rushmore, Rich submits this Leni Riefenstahl-esque tribute to Freddie Mercury. And for all you Queen fans, here is All Your Base set to Bohemian Rhapsody (flash page).

Cool gallery interface from a Spanish artist.

Bawdy Songs, erotic toasts and lascivious recitations.

For fans of big ass horns. Thanks Kevin!

Art Robot Heaven

A robot invasion is scheduled to take over Dublin this weekend. Find out more about the Robot Talent Show, download the ArtBot Theme Song (MP3), and cruise through the links for each participant, as some are quite impressive.

There are a few video clips embedded deep within, perhaps most entertaining are the Altoid robots and the stuffed animal robots arguing in German (wmv file).

And we've got plenty more robot videos available from previous posts.

Cleaning Out My Inbox

The world's ugliest dog has been located. Styggeste hund, indeed. (via b3ta)

Dschinghis Khan and Cheesy Eurodisco completionists might want another video of the band in action, this time doing their society thing with an orchestra and everything. (Realvideo clip for download, via Listener Ed)

"Put the camera down and worry about your friend." (streaming quicktime video, via fazed)

And you thought it was wet in Glastonbury? (Doh! This is Glastonbury)

Expansive art/photography site with many well known photographers and works. (via peremeny.ru)

Great page of Brazilian Bossa Nova and Samba MP3s, via Listener Zach.

How do you get extra credit from Professor Fuck? (via b3ta)

Nice street art / graffiti sketchblog.

Live in a giant coconut or create your own flying carpet. (via gizmag)

Go get lost in superbad.

Where sheep are nervous.

Live! Naked! Comets On Fire!

Comets On Fire recently stopped by Brian Turner's show for a fuzzed-out, balls-out (see photo, left) performance. Witness part of the blowout live session by grabbing this video clip (avi file, 39 MB), or listen to the whole performance in all of its raging psychedelic glory (streaming MP3 or Real Audio).

Magma video clips

Sing along in Kobaian to some wild clips of French prog masters Magma in live performance. These clips (Windows Media) from 1977 are a bit grainy but still pretty hot. Listener Alan Blattberg who sent them my way points out that the non-Christian Vander drummer is eerily similar to Deputy Junior from Reno 911. There's also this bizarre 1972 outtake (also Windows) from a film where Magma make a cameo performing in a futuristic church, while the priests sit calmly looking on, only getting a little riled when Vander goes apeshit at kit near the end. Finally, a more recent clip (Quicktime) of Vander playing solo and being interviewed in French. Incidentally, their first new studio disc in 17 years, K.A. rules, and here's a Real Audio excerpt of "K.A. III" from Bill Zurat's show.

Synchronized Chinese Arm Dancing

Sorry, if I knew what this style was actually called, I'd use it to describe this amazing little dance number (streaming windows media video) by a supposedly deaf Chinese dance troupe. But their ears aren't what's at issue here - it's their arms (32 of them at last count) and their 320 synchronized fingernails. It almost turns into Chinese Euro Disco at the end, but a choreographer of much wisdom pulls it back from the brink. via fazed

Emotional Rescue

Most PC users at one time or another have encountered miscommunication online, whether it be via e-mail, message boards or chat. Hence, the births of the douche-chilling "LOL" and those horrid emoticons.

The Geeks and Shrinks at New Jersey's own Human Markup.org (Bringing Human Qualities Into Information Technologies) feel your pain, literally. Further, they'd like your other communicants to feel it as well. They provide an XML solution using something called Human Physical Characteristics Description Markup Language (HPCDML), which they hope will replenish the accounts of the emotionally bankrupt on-liner. This quick sample (avi), while compelling, still doesn't convey the snarky assholism displayed on some music lists I've seen, but I'm sure Human Markup's working on it.

Zappa Kids Jamming with John Tesh!

Check out this awesome video clip from a monumentous episode of the Conan O'Brien show back in 1995: Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa cover Black Sabbath's "The Wizard" with keytar-wielding John Tesh (real media video download).

Thanks to Mike B. and the AZDZ site/group

Robot Girl Nods Out, Skinned

Like Eva, the disconcerting stoned teenage girl robot head, this little girl android, named Repliee R1, is a bit sleepy (mpg), maybe even a bit, um... challenged (mpg). When her skin is pulled off, she looks like Homer Simpson.

via planetdan

The Rocking Son of Dschinghis Khan

Just when you thought that the Cheesy Euro-Disco drought would never end, listener Ed comes to the rescue with this newly found video of Dschinghis Khan, taking a stab at Der Rock und Roll, with The Rocking Son of Dschinghis Khan (right-click to download 21mb windows media video). Dschinghis Khan pulls out all the stops - gold lame pants, smoke machines, Cossack costumes and dancing, weird utterances like "Look at me, Daddy," Abba-esque background vocals and of course, that crazy Rasputin looking guy who comes out at the end for a quick round of berserko dancing which manages to get the attentive Euro-Disco audience to actually clap their hands. Thanks Ed!

More Cheesy Euro-Disco MP3s and videos here.

The 911 Operators

Almost everyone agrees, September 11, 2001 was a really lousy day in America. Thousands died horrible and violent public deaths– in airplanes, in burning and collapsing buildings, and by jumping out skyscraper windows. All of us around New York City who watched two of the tallest buildings in the world burn and fall will never forget seeing something macabre and previously unimaginable take place that morning.

It was easy to take it personal around here-- Photocopy posters everywhere bearing the photos of the missing, people spontaneously sobbing on the street on in the subway, and the sick smoldering stench that lingered around here for months. It wasn’t until weeks later that I realized that people all over the country were probably just as affected by the replaying of slickly edited movie-trailer style videos of the day's disasters on television. (You can download and watch a couple mpg versions here and here)

While the smoking hole downtown is gone and most of the mess was cleaned up years ago, the memory remains ugly, distinct, and powerful. And what’s worse, despite Bush’s promise to “smoke” out the “evildoers” responsible for all the American death that day, nobody has been caught or tried for those ghastly crimes. Sure, we were immedietly told the attacks were the work of a vast network known as “Al-Qaeda” led by a guy named Osama Bin Laden. but the billions spent there hasn’t been any fresh leads on capturing these alleged terrorist masterminds since our forces inexplicably let Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora over three years ago.

Cleaning Out My Inbox

Time to move this stuff from my inbox to yours...

One of the true wonders of New Jersey.

Japan-bashing artwork by Korean schoolkids.

Finally, a roadmap to the wide world of sexual deviancy. Human Furniture? Turkey Men?

Amazing German karaoke version of Bohemian Rhapsody (MP3). I've got a ton more stuff like this to put up in the next few days, watch for it!

Cool trippy movie called Ministry Messiah by Dutch filmmaker Gints Apsits (Quicktime).

The Museum of Retro Technology, including rocket powered bicycles and alcohol-fueled record players.

Van Gogh's letters, indexed by keywords like "venereal" and "hallucinations."

A Russian painter's incredible online gallery and even more incredible gallery interface.

All hail The Toilet Union.

Catalog of various end-of-the-world scenarios.

Wonderful art by Alex Gross.

The Fifty Greatest Song Parts. It would be fun to do a FMU version of this.

Copyright-free spoken word samples of famous literary works via Penguin Books.

Beautiful gallery of early photographic technique of cyanotypes by photographer Edwardo Aites.

Good new mashup of Led Zeppelin and Snoop Doggy Dogg (mp3).

Do Not Click On This Link. 

Thanks del.icio.us, boingboing, peremeny, Sarah, Music for Maniacs, fazed, beatmixed, J-Walk

Dada Doll Aggregate

How many times have you endured some melodramatic doll painting representing the artist’s precious suffering and overwhelming mediocrity? Remember the art teacher’s video art in Ghost World? How about a Rasputina CD cover? The use of the doll in art has been seriously marred by weepy-eyed nostalgic Victorian aesthetics. Please dry your eyes with these Dada & Surrealism inspired Doll artists:

Hans Bellmer. – German Surrealist Bellmer would construct his waifish beauties, disassemble them and reconstruct them into grotesque bulbous heaps, the vulva always exposed. The dolls are always adorned in mary jane shoes.

Jake & Dinos Chapman –These brothers build hilarious mutant children out of reconstructed mannequins…genitals usually replace facial features and they all wear sneakers. more images here

Real Dolls (nsfw) – These highly detailed, custom built sex dolls are extremely creepy in their realism. Some photographers of Real Dolls like Elena Dorfman and the uncredited pictures on this page (nsfw) blur the line between reality and fantasy.

Van Sowerwine – This Australian artist creates interactive installations where the viewer can manipulate the residents of a doll house. Surreal and awful outcomes occur. Play With Me (installation documentation – quicktime video) - Expecting (interactive quicktime video)

Peter Caine creates juvenile and very hilarious doll tableaus. Think Paul McCarthy with intentionally shoddy craftsmanship. Take a look at Michael Jackson and Doodoo-Head Boy (quicktime video..nsfw) and SLICK WILLY (cubscout Bill Clinton) (quicktime video).

More Dancing Robots

People dancing like robots (WMV). Robots dancing like people.

via Music Thing

Gainsbourg meets Whitney

In honor of the June 30th premiere of Bravo's Being Bobby Brown series, here's a short clip (realvideo download) of pop icon Serge Gainsbourg meeting the future Mrs. B. on a French TV chat show in the late 80's. After the events that transpired here, Gainsbourg would never be invited to appear on live TV again, while Whitney, needless to say, would go on to make Serge's behavior seem pretty fucking sedate in comparison. Funny how the pop biz can be.

Chairman Mao fronting Roxy Music

Thought everyone would enjoy this video clip (realvideo download) of Chairman Mao, inexplicably rising from his deathbed to perform a rather faithful rendition of "Virginia Plain", taking Bryan Ferry's place in Roxy Music. Well, it's not really Chairman Mao, nor Roxy Music, but rather the troupe from the BBC comedy series Big Train, one of the best and weirdest sketch shows to come out of the UK in the late 1990's. Kevin Eldon (Mao) and Mark Heap (Eno) later appeared in the incredible Chris Morris series Jam, and Heap was also a character in the sitcom Spaced which also featured Simon Pegg (the Phil Manzanera of the band) who's also gotten some notoriety for his Shaun of the Dead film last year. Big Train is also worth seeing for no other reason than the sketch where Islamic terrorists kidnap George Martin, who continues to incessently prattle on about his experiences in the studio with the Beatles, even bound and stuffed underneath a transport truck and thrown in a cell. They also recreate the birth of Frankenstein in another skit, with the monster awakening to reveal himself as Kevin Rowland of Dexy's Midnight Runners.

Lower your IQ

Retarded flash video animations right here. Choice cuts include the Llama Song and The Guinea Pig Way.

Cheesy Puppet Disco Loop

Life is a Cheesy Puppet Disco. And it never ends. Video Loop. Thanks PLU!

23 MP3s of Wild and Wooly Vocal Stylings

In honor of Donna's return to WFMU weekly schedule (Wednesday's 3 - 6pm, beginning June 15th), here are the MP3s of her 2001 marathon premium, Babble. She described it this way:

All manner of vocal stylings, ranging from Ethiopian herdsmen serenading their cow's udders to avant garde types with microphones lodged in their esophaguses.

People Like Us new Film: Story Without End

A new short film by WFMU's own People Like Us can be downloaded or viewed here as a streaming file from the Internet Archive. People Like Us' weekly radio show, Do or D.I.Y returns to the airwaves on June 15th and will air each Wednesday from 7-8 pm, following Seven Second Delay. Do or D.I.Y is one of 15 WFMU shows which are available for automatic mp3 download via podcasting. Currently, we're podcasting the old Do or D.I.Y shows. On June 15th, we'll begin podcasting the new ones.

The Bait Car Videos of British Columbia

In keeping with two great Beware of the Blog traditions, making fun of Canadians and overusing the F word, I present to you The Bait Car videos of British Columbia. Bait Cars are rolling, remote-controlled traps to catch car thieves and put 'em away. Is this some Totalitarian Canadian Nightmare? Have the Canucks actually out-Orwelled Old Glory?

No need to worry, we have plenty of Bait Car programs here in the USA. Over 100 police departments around the country use Bait Cars, which are decked out with satellite tracking equipment, remote controlled engines and door locks, hidden cameras and occasionally, expensive easy-to-steal stereo equipment as additional bait.

Of course, videos like this make the prospect of encroaching governmental entrapment so worth the gamble! In a Burnaby, British Columbia video called Oh No (streaming wmv file), a Canadian car thief is grooving to The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony when he realizes that he's the target of a dragnet. As he laments his predicament, he whines "oh fuck" and "oh no" to the music. Only when the police disable his car by remote control does he realize that he's driving a bait car. By the end of the video, you actually feel bad for this guy - no mean feat.

In the production entitled The Prayer (streaming wmv file), two young car thieves discover religion during a night of joyriding while listening to British Columbia's Finest Alternative Rock. These videos are amazing enough on their own, but the rock radio backdrops just make them perfect.

How long before the Security and Exchange Commission sets up a Bait Corporation Program? Don't hold your breath. Bait Cars are more fun. via fazed

Electrelane Live on WFMU

Electrelane stopped by last week to record a great session for OCDJ's Plug and Play program. You can hear their set as a streaming Realaudio archive here. Electrelane's set starts 5:40 into each archive. And here is a short video file of them playing in WFMU's Love Room (avi file for download).

Buffies (First Season)

LINK: Quicktime Movie, 9.7 MB
Every utterance of the word "Buffy" made during the first season of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," totaling nearly one minute.

It's an artwork by the great Chuck Jones (the Chicago-based aritst, not the also-great animator). Be sure not to miss his Isolation Studies which include audio edits from the TV Show "Loveline" (MP3s) Names, Numbers, No and Yes, Alright, Okay, Goodtimes. There's tons more great stuff to explore including Jones' original MP3s of  State Songs and the bizarre Penguin Rants. Finally, check his series of bizarre links pages starting here.

A Batch of Great Current Music Videos

Head over to Colonel Blimp, a London-based video house which is producing some of the more interesting current  music videos you'll find these days. Besides a great one from WFMU's own Donna Summer, you'll also find a Cheesy Euro-Disco anthem featuring power tools, plus videos from Dizzee Rascal, The Streets, Interpol, Chicks on Speed, Bjork, Basement Jaxx and others.

My favorite has to be Donna Summer's (aka Jason Forrest) video for Stepping Off, directed by the boy wonder Waverly. Structured as a rock tour travelogue, Stepping Off touches on dozens of Seventies rock cliches - wizards, dwarves with fake beards, coke and girls. And refreshingly, Donna Summer never appears in his own video. Click for the video here (Streaming Quicktime 6, but can also be downloaded from the site).

Bringing Cheesy Euro Disco into the 21st century, we have Benny Benassi's Satisfaction, directed by Dougal Wilson, featuring scantily clad babes in safety glasses operating two-speed power drills, Belt Sanders (110 or 220 volts!), Dual Actions Saws and Orbital Sanders. Video link here.

Another winner is Dizzee Rascal's video for Dream, also directed by Dougal Wilson. Dizzee covers the song Happy Talk from South Pacific while cavorting on top of a grand piano with criminal puppets and marionettes. Video link here.

Be sure to also check out Klonherz' Three Girl Rhumba (video link here), and FC Kahuna's Hayling (video link here).

For Fun And Prophet

Forget the news. Aren’t you sick of all the reports of U.S. torture of foreign nationals, and how our country has been caught red-handed launching an illegitimate war? And who hasn’t had enough of the all the news cycle sucking sideshows– the runaway bride, the Motown Pedophile and the recent revelation of the real “Deep Throat”? It’s all so depressing and messy.

If you’re as distraught about what's going on in the world today as I am, then I may have some good news for you. The saucers may finally be on the way.

That’s right. All the painful political bickering and mind-numbing non-news may soon be reduced to forgotten trivia. The mother of all current events may be on the horizon– first contact.

A man who goes by the name of “The Prophet Yahweh” (a.k.a. “The UFO Summoner,” or just “Ramon Watkins”) claims that over the next few weeks he’s going to call down a bunch of spaceships over Las Vegas, and America, for the news media to film and fawn over. And while it all sounds kinda fantastic, the prophet did offer a taste of his powers to an ABC affiliate in Vegas the other day. And well, whatever happened it’s a pretty wild bit of news video. Download the windows video file here. And to really find out what this holy guy is up to, you can read his press release right here.

So, you like downloading video clips?

Eat your heart out. And if you don't trust me, here's a little robot video (WMV) I found there, to compliment our obsessively expansive collection.

Fucking USA Video

I don't think the North Koreans like us very much. This is allegedly a North Korean anti-American propaganda film which owes a lot to Team America. Quicktime video via robpongi (nsfw)

NYC Department of Transportation's Camera Corps

There are forty five cameras in the naked city. This is one of them.

Staring into the thin air...

  I was thinking that if the drinking/running club Hash House Harriers was to merge with the ham transmitter-chasing T-Hunters or Bunny Chasers , another club could form comprised of drunks running around the woods looking for radio signal sources.

Speaking of my listeners, two of them sent some blog fodder. Listener Laurie wanted to share Joe Pernice's indie version of MTV's Cribs . Listener Tom inadvertently mentioned poutine which I was ignorant of, and hope to remain so (at least in practice). On the Canadian tip, enjoy the Crucified Mountie visions of painter Michael Harris.

Gunther and His Ding Dong

OK, I submit. I will create a separate category for Cheesy Euro-Disco.

I received my DVD with the video of Baccara's Yes Sir I Can Boogie a few days ago, and it was terrible. But then, as if The Disco Gods heard my disappointment and wanted to make it up to me, Listener Jon notified me about 2004's huge Euro-disco hit, Ding Dong Song, aka Oh, You Touch My Tra La La, by Gunther and The Sunshine Girls. Watch the video here (streaming wmv file from jengajam). Baccara may dance around suggestively, but Gunther delivers. (Not safe for work due to soft core lesbianism and frothy champagne bottles.)

And check out the GI Joe remix of the same (right click to download wmv file, via ebaum).

Afraid to admit that you like Cheesy Euro Disco? Be not alone.

Many Infinite Planets

A very special presentation.
[35 MB QuickTime, 18:30]

A didactic singing alien and "Chip the black boy" team up with James Quall's special Bible voice for this Christian Science kids' show.  Today's lesson includes the Book of Enoch, and the exposition is so absorbing, the Technical Director has a 30-minute-long grand mal.

Just kidding, of course.  His seizures are because he doesn't unbelieve in seizures enough.  He better hit the books.  Also, green is grey.

via Screenhead

Sweet Young Children Grab Bag

The Genius Kids (mpg) - an astounding video of a North Korean girl playing xylophone backed by a band of violins and melodicas.  via Rob Pongi, who also does a zany dance party meets Uncle Floyd show  in Tokyo.  Browse around his site, there are many other wonders.

Mini-Pops - Disco Medley (mp3) - an odd and severely grating children's record from the 80's.  This is the "Disco Medley" which includes "YMCA" and "In the Navy".  A creepy leering adult voice backs up the children on "Celebration".

Raooul - Possessed (mp3) - Raooul was an East Bay Lookout band from the early 90's comprised of 14-15 year old girls.  Their music, which they called "Jail-bait Core" is a limping screech that always make me laugh.  This is from a Very Small Records comp...their split LP on Lookout might still be in-print.

Babies with Respiratory Problems Choking (mp3) - Someone gave me this tape years ago.  The only information  on the tape is a hand scrawled "Child". 

Fatty Jubbo, Age 11 (mp3) - A recording of me, age 11.  I was obsessed with Malcolm Jamal Warner, dildos and heavy metal.  I pronounce "Fetish"  FEEETISH.

University of Michigan Inpatiant Therapy Program - Oh Come All Ye Faithful (mp3) -  From a record of a Children's Psychiatric Hospital Christmas Concert (oh...it's never too early).  This was taken from the wonderful Pastor McPurvis Vinyl Orphanage mp3 Talent Show website.  Pastor McPurvis posts a new album every week of amateur and vanity press records.

Fainting Goats

With all the fake viral crud swarming around the web these days, isn't it refreshing to know that Fainting Goats are real? What they are. Why they fall over. Fainting goats in action (mpeg video file). Fainting Goat / Yooper Humor Heaven. Festival of Fainting Goats. Fainting Goats slang. Get yer Fainting Goats (ifilm movie). via Life in the Present.

The Saints Preserve Us From Peter Frampton

The Saints came all the way from Australia to play live on Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic yesterday. You can hear their set here in streaming MP3, or here in streaming Realaudio. And here is a short video clip of them performing in WFMU's Love Room (avi video file, right-click to download).

As they were loading in, Chris Bailey from the band informed me that, if it werent for The Saints, we'd still be playing Peter Frampton. Taken aback, I informed him that we never stopped playing Peter Frampton (realaudio). He then gave me a big bear hug and licked me all over my face. OK,  that didnt actually happen. Except for the Peter Frampton part. And the licking.

Cookie Monster Karaoke

And speaking of Cookie Monster Vocals, follow the bouncing ball with Growl Karaoke. (flash animation, via del.icio.us)

Cleaning Out My Inbox

It's time once again to purge these items out of my inbox before they start to grow fuzz all over them. Then I can get back to preparing some new MP3 posts.

* Why did someone leave this video clip of Kenny G and Irwin doing karaoke to The Carpenters in my Studio C folder? Dont they know how dangerous leaving stuff like this laying around is? (avi video file)

* Virtual mumblypeg. The screaming is the best part.

* My beloved Latvia is a 33 to 1 longshot in the Eurovision betting pool. And how in the world can Wigwam generate 4 to 1 odds?!

* Vinyl as a visual medium.

* The amazing real-time World-O-Meter.

* Keep the Freesound project handy for the day the MP3 police show up at your front door.

* Captain Tolerance says: Change Your Race!

* Buy My Fucking Ringtone (nsfw)

* Break out the sunscreen!

* Everything you need to pass a piss test, including the prosthetic penis. (nsfw)

* Another way to postpone aging. (streaming wmv file)

* The endless Zoom Quilt.

* The musical preferences of British politicians.

* Finally, a site dedicated to Brainfreeze.

Thanks Erella, Bill, Bryce, John from Oslo, b3ta, eyebeam, fazed, del.icio.us

Stop Me Before I Euro-Disco Again

Question: What do you call a batch of Danish hippies cavorting in a field with a trio of gyrating Indian maidens?

Answer: I dont know, but watch it here and don't avert your eyes.  (right click to download mpg)

More importantly, does this mean I have to create a separate category for cheesy Euro-Disco even before my Baccara video arrives in the mail? Actually this is a video of Danish singer Tommy Seebach covering The Shadows song Apache. And if you liked Tommy, you're sure to enjoy Vitalic and Dschinghis Khan. Thanks Carrie from Stay Free for the link.

Konono No. 1 video

WFMU first played a Konono No. 1 demo from an MP3 back in March of 2003, and we've eagerly anticipated full-recorded outings from this mysterious Congolese outfit championed by (and covered by) the Ex. Hearing them for the first time is a truly mindblowing experience: traditional instruments like the likembe (thumb piano) are souped up by electric pickups jerry-rigged to car batteries, mics are hand carved out of bamboo, percussion isn't too far from Einsturzende Neubauten scrapyard material. The groups' intent is surely to be more ass-shaking than avant-garde, but apparently Fat Cat Records  is emphasizing the meaning of the latter by dumping them onto a split 12" single with New Zealand's free-rock explorers the Dead C this month, and I've already seen other indie rock labels touting forthcoming Konono singles. For now, two great releases are out, a live album Lubuaku on the Ex's own Terp label, and a studio album Congotronics on the European Crammed Disc imprint (Aquarius' store site has been the only place I've seen carrying both). Both are stunning, though I find the live album to be a more exciting example of the pure electric power of this band, and am psyched to see this video being streamed on the Crammed Disc site giving us our biggest visual glimpse to date.

The most influential musician of all time

Mark E. Smith can grumble about Pavement and every other band out there he claims lifted its sound from him, but Animal from the Muppets remains quiet and dignified about the fact he has infiltrated more press comparisons than the Velvet Underground. We're all guilty of it. Even me. See assorted clips from various sources below (I googled for the phrase "Animal from the Muppets"), and enjoy this link to Animal Vs. Buddy Rich, served up on Quicktime via Milk and Cookies.

On the VON BONDIES: "... fiery howl combined with Don Blum's manic pounding of the skins (much like Animal from The Muppets)."

On KEANE: "The pianist Tim was described by a friend like Animal from the Muppets on a piano and it was surprising that he never fell off of his stool!! "

On the FOO FIGHTERS: .".. He looked like Animal from the Muppets; all you could see was his hair flying and the blur of his arms banging away."

Sonic Weaponry

It's long been known that various governments have sonic weapons in their arsenals, sound cannons that can be aimed at enemy troops (or in some cases, their own citizens). But now this video proves that European gameshow hosts have been experimenting with the same technology (windows video file, right click to download), often to devastating effect. via alldumb.com

Must...Adopt...Chicken

For those who love chickens or hate powerpoint. Mailorder Chickens. (Flash animation)

Angelina Jolie Homewrecker Song

Amazing near-X-rated song and video about the breakup of the century, starring Brad, Angelina, Jennifer Aniston, Mariah Carey, Halle Berry and Condoleeza Rice like you've never seen her. Not safe for work. via alldumb.com
UPDATE: The song is by Bumba and Jhae.

More Disturbing Canadian TV

A bold and innovative television public awareness campaign about domestic violence will not be shown on Calgary television stations due to an unfavourable ruling from the Television Bureau of Canada (TVB). You can watch these public service announcements yourself, but please make the children leave the room first:  Boardroom and Restaurant (right click to download mpg files). Both from the Homefront Mission of Calgary. These two PSAs were deemed to be too graphic to broadcast, according to Canada's Telecaster Guidelines. via Cant Stop The Bleeding.

Bring Me The Video of George's Jig

Dubya apparently wiggled his hips in Tblisi, Georgia last night, at least twelve hours ago, and still no video! At least I couldn't find it yet. And George's jig was (appropriately) televised on Georgian television over and over last night. The internet was supposed to make all embarassing political moments available to the entire world immediately! My kingdom (or at least a few CDs) to the first commenter who can link to video of yesterday's Georgian jig. Remember Dubya's dance with Ricky Martin at the first inaugural? While searching, I did stumble across this video about an extraterrestrial puppet who really likes Jesus (Quicktime video of The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Show).
UPDATE: Listener Jeff found and edited the video of george's brief jig. Right click here to download windows video file. Thanks Jeff!

Ashtray Heart

  There's an underground movement to make smoking sexy again... Coherent Light is an adult site that caters to fans of dominant babes who light up and don't give a flying fuck. In fact, they wanna blow smoke in your face and maybe snuff a Kool 100 out on your ass. 

Despite warnings by the Surgeon General about its effects, butt sex may be gaining popularity as we become increasingly fetishistic in reaction to ever-shrinking national liberties. But never mind what I think, take it from Valentine and her Lucky Strikes (wmv) or Nadja with her long Marlboro (wmv).

Do Something Dreadful to Your Television

It's no great secret that TV SUCKS. But the seemingly endless collection of  RealMedia clips housed at TV Ark do a fantastic job of re-writing some local history. Folks who are native to WFMU's broacast area can sort the collection to feature just the New York City material, and will subsequently lose countless hours while plowing through ancient promo clips of 11 Alive's Action News helmet-haired newsteam, Channel 9's Million Dollar Movie intro, Emergency Broadcast System tests, public affairs promo spots, and other wonderfully primitive works of videography. If you listen to WFMU from elsewhere in the country, you can sort the clips for your area with this link. (Via Mr. Science's X818)

Something To Do

Han Hoogerbrugge is one of the finest artists on the internet. His world is the one I sometimes find myself in when I am sitting in an office without windows, the lovely color-neutralizing glare of fluorescent light making it almost impossible to see the computer screen after several hours of mind numbing excitement leading to nowhere but a paycheck. 

Nina Paley is a cartoonist who did some decent work for Dark Horse a few years back. I'd kind of forgotten about her until I found out about her latest project through grow-a-brain: Sita Sings The Blues. Sita is a series of cartoons telling the story of The Ramayana with soundtracks from the 1920s. These are charming, and charming is a word that is rarely uttered by these cold, harsh lips. Warning: these will take a little while to download.

Eiland is one of my favorite comics featuring the work of two great artists Tobias Schalken and Stefan J. H. van Dinther. Their webpages are filled with strange comics, animation and games. Enjoy.

Le Parkour

The art of running away from the police has finally been elevated to the status of Eastern Religion through the practice known as Le Parkour. Think Will Smith chasing down the alien in Men in Black II, or the rooftop chase scene in the remake of The Untouchables. Le Parkour goes under a few other names such as Yamakazi or Free Running. Its high priest is a Frenchman named Sebastien Foucan, and it tends to flourish in densely populated urban areas with lots of flat rooftops, the better for leaping across. Here's a parkour video (wmv file) from the British parkour group Urban Freeflow, and to see just how pervasive this new religion is, check out the latest Spike Jonze commercial for Adidas (Quicktime video).

Vienese Actionist Films (1970)

Otto Muehl Manopsychotisches Ballett (1970)

What could be more fun than Vienese Actionist films? You know the Vienese Actionists, don't you? They were a bunch of Austrian artists in the 60s who sliced open cows and rolled around naked fucking each other, soaked in animal blood. While most of this stuff has been relegated to the dustbin of art history (with the exception of Hermann Nitsch), we've uncovered a prime document of the period by gang leader Otto Muehl. It's a film in two parts and features all sorts of great stuff: nudity, fist fucking, animal sacrifice, dildos and group groping, all to the strains of Charlotte Moorman's cello. True art, in our humble opinion. via UbuWeb

Leadbelly Video

David Suisman just alerted us to the only existing footage of Leadbelly (from 1945).

Warning: this link is to the iFilm site, which is ridden with ads.

Inuit Mittatin

Inuit Mittatin is Inuktitut for “That’s Funny” and is also the name of my favorite television show. Airing Thursday nights here in Canada on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network or APTN, Inuit Mittatin’s official description reads "This program sets out to find the funniest, quirkiest Inuit in the communities of Nunavut. What is so distinct about Inuit humour? What role does humour play in Inuit life?".

If I had to write the blurb it would read “This program is a lunatic Inuit woman running all over the barren north making up songs and inviting us along as she sinks deeper and deeper into dementia”.

If you get APTN, watch this show. If you don’t, I’ve done my best to furnish you with some clips. I had to point my digital camera at my TV so it’s not as HD as possible, but the audio is good. These are all 2-6MB WMV.

The theme.
Trip to hotel. In this clip she travels to a hotel and visits the Queen Elizabeth Suite. The creep showing her around claims the queen stayed here, I’m not so sure. I swear the edit from an offer to see where the Queen drank tea to a shot of the toilet was how it aired.
Stand up comedy. Here we see the ultimate joke, it is both a lawyer joke AND a Newfie joke.
Oh Canada. This lesser sung version of Oh Canada is followed by a brief God Bless America and then what I think was a request for a new chair from the Canadian government.
Cracking eggs. Cracking eggs in front of some kind of studio audience.
Dream sequence. It’s not all fun and games on Inuit Mittatin, they finish every episode with a short soap opera called “As Nunavut Turns For The Passionate and Devious”. We see our host turn thespian in dream sequence featuring bingo and closing doors with feet.

Oo.

O   O   O   O   O   o

Original Hater

Canada's own GX Jupitter-Larsen needs no introduction to noise aficionados. His project The Haters has been exploring decay and nihilism in sound for over 20 years. Some of his projects have included amplified staple guns, replacing the tone arm and cartridge of a record player with an amplified toy shovel and designing noisy and destructive items with Survival Research Labs.

Here's a clip showcasing Haters alternatives to the playback of pre-recorded music (quicktime - right click and "save target as" on your PC)

GX also has a spot on the web for some short video clips of his projects here. 

ADDENDUM!! GX was kind enough to write in: As ALTERNATIVES TO THE PLAYBACK OF PRE-RECORDED MUSIC. It really does means a lot; thanks. There's just a little something I want to bring up. If I may be so bold as to to point out a correction I think should be made: to call me or The Haters "Canada's own" is very misleading. First of all, I am a US citizen. I might have grown up there, but I haven't been back in over 20 years. Secondly, The Haters actually started in New York City when I lived there in 1979, before I went back to Vancouver to go to film school. Actually The Haters were based in San Francisco two times longer than in Vancouver. For two years (1991 & 1992) The Haters were actually based in Bordeaux France (where I was living at the time). Forgive me if I seem piety over this. Thanks again.

ALL THE BEST GX (back in Hollywood where he belongs)

Copyright debate

Cornell University recently hosted a spectacular debate surrounding the issues of copyright and filesharing, with a cast and crew of intellectual property superstars on both sides of the fence: heavyweights from academia, RIAA, MPAA, Napster, EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), and NBC/Universal hashed it out for over 3 hrs.

Streaming video (Real Player) available here (via Cornell University).

Or, check out this page for downloadable MP3 torrents of the debate, along with some links to articles pertinent to the digital copyright controversy.

State of the Art Cheesy Euro Disco

Is Vitalic the current incarnation of Baccara and Dschinghis Khan or am I just a sucker for rotating engine blocks, silver go-go boots and air guitar? Watch the video for his song My Friend Dario and judge for yourself (edited Quicktime movie). At first I thought that this video was one of those new-fangled fake viral movies put out by some net-slumming corporation to hawk its wares (in this case, some new kind of car engine). But no, it appears that Vitalic is really a Frenchman named Pascal Arbez who is committed to carrying the mantle of ridiculous European disco into the 21st century, his football helmet held high.

Android Love

All I wanted to do was alert BoB readers to the new robo-jockeys being used for camel races in Qatar... However, being semi-obsessed about the inevitability of a devolved, post-apocalyptic future made glossing over the subject of robots replacing humans nearly impossible.

First, the battle of humans vs. androids must be accompanied by an appropriate soundtrack: check out this archive of a special episode of Greasy Kid Stuff, Monkey Vs. Robot (Real Audio).

Next, read about the latest in robot research here. Or, find out who won the first robot vs. human arm-wrestling match.

Earlier this month, Station Manager Ken posted a somewhat disturbing video of an interactive teen femme-bot. If that didn’t give you goosebumps, robo-go-go dancers might be more your speed (right-click to download wmv). For more links to robot videos, click here or here.

And if lightning strikes, perhaps this story will have a happy ending, after all.

According to a Recent Nationwide Survey

More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.

622 Music Videos

Download these 622 music videos before the crushing weight of the rest of WFMU's listenership brings the Gran Faro blog crashing down.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Or perhaps what you might want to do on yours... This year mark's the 30th anniversary of a movie I never get tired of watching; Steven Spielberg's blockbuster, JAWS. There will be a celebration in Martha's Vineyard, the original filming site - this summer, June 3-5th, called JawsFest '05. Highlights will include an island-wide scavenger hunt of production sites, tours, a JawsFeast (wonder if that features chum and license plates as entrees), trivia contests & other Jaws themed events.The local YMCA will even get in on the action by hosting a swim for kids called "the shark in the pond!" If you're not in the mood to take the trek to Martha's Vineyard, feast your eyes on this, a 30 second animated version of the movie, using bunnies as characters, courtesy of Angry Alien Productions. You'll reminisce for about a second, or thirty. And who knew the shark's name was Bruce?

America's new (Jersey) rock video anthem: "America: We Stand As One"

It's America's rock anthem (music video) for the new century of war without end.

And who better to channel it for us* than a Jersey native who can claim to be "also featured on the Star Trek Trading Cards, which in the trading card world is a high honor."

The Quicktime music video is here (for streaming or download).

Here's the main site.

(Yes, Station Manager Ken included this in a list of wonderful links a few days ago, but, damnit, this song is just too important for our country to not give a spotlight to!)

(*I mean, of course, other than John Ashcroft or Bryce.)

Video game a go-go

The music of Super Mario Brothers perfomed a capella (quicktime). Yep.

via Compfused

F'ing Example

In case all this FCC stuff has left you wondering just how to use the word fuck properly, here are two examples which showcase it's wide variety.

The first is a song created by North Korea to express their dissatisfaction with the USA for, among other things, stealing a gold medal. Hear the MP3 or view the video for a translation.

Second is a track from H. Jon Benjamin (friend of The Best Show) and is "like fucking perfectly fucking perfect and great and fucking great". Download the MP3 or experience the video.

Worst. Standup. Ever.

Check out the comic stylings of Aunt Pearl. If you've had plenty of coffee, that is. Her brother Bob is quite the card. Dont miss the tortured warblings of John Daker, either. (wmv movie files for download)

From a public access TV show, which contains still more existential exercises in ennui, all of which can be found here.

Put One Foot in Front of the Other

Pleasant dreams...

[via chiasm]

Better living through science

Levitating frogs (mpeg) and tomatoes (mpeg), brought to you by a group of wacky scientists in the Netherlands (futuristic lair, pictured right). Check out this page for more videos of floating crap, along with a few explanations for how these feats were accomplished. It all boils down to a nifty mega-magnet that produces a maximum field of 20 tesla, which is 400,000 times the earth's magnetic field.

via wobha!

H is for HOLY SHIT

Mr. T raps about his Mama.

Courtesy of Ifilm.

One Less Car

If you haven't heard the Cosmic Cowboy's show on the current Critical Mass troubles, go ahead and  do so: (Realaudio archive). Critical Mass is a fun, legal and peaceful event that is fairly cop free in most locations and I highly recommend it. Okay, now that that's out of the way, what is a cyclist to do when they want to break the law and probably their spine? They repress that urge and leave it to the pros. Lucas Brunelle has got some terrifying movies of street races through busy, chaotic traffic. My favorites include drinking & racing, monster track, drag race NYC and ice ice . Check them out!

If less extreme bicycle photography is more your style maybe you would like to mount your own camera the coat hanger way or the bottle cap way.

Finally, if you're searching for a way to make your spokes spell out "Fuck Bloomberg" maybe this is more your style.

Your Space Exploration Dollars At Work

What's NASA been up to? Apparently, designing talking robot heads based on stoned teenage girls. Introducing Eva. (.mov video file, via fazed.net)

Madonna and Eggs

Long before she had her way with David Mamet and Lina Wurtmuller, Madonna had her way with...eggs. As evidenced in this video clip from her student days at the University of Michigan, she downs raw yolks a la Sly Stallone and does her best imitation of a skillet. via Blowupdoll. (asf file, will play with Windows Media Player)

Medieval Technology In Action: WFMU's New Antenna

March 29th, 2005. A day to ascend to the heavens - despite the fact that The Rapture wasn't scheduled for another six years, two months and three days. The last snow of the year was still on the ground and a light drizzle was falling as WFMU set out to replace it's 91.1 FM antenna. By the end of the day, the sun broke out and WFMU signed back on the air, pumping out a better signal than ever. The technology that made it happen spanned millenia, from ancient and medieval devices like axles, wheels, ropes and winches, to the old fashioned twentieth century art of tower climbing by eccentric tower guys, to the high tech back-seat-of-your-car computer analysis of the whole operation. Not to mention the laser guided hole cutter which carved out the precision entry system for the transmission cable. There's a photo gallery of the day's exciting events, and a batch of avi movie files for your downloading pleasure. Click here for the photo gallery, and here is a list of the movie files for downloading:

Johnny pulls some rope to send the new cable to the top of the tower. Download AVI file here.

Dave and Al hang out up top as the storm breaks up. Download AVI file here.

Johnny uses precision guidance systems to cut the transmission cable. Download AVI file here.

WFMU Chief Engineer John Fog tunes up the new antenna. Download AVI file here.

A Trove of Avant-Garde Films

A trove of free historic artists films by Kenneth Anger, Luis Bunuel, John Cage, Guy Debord, Marcel Duchamp, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Robert Morris & Stan VanDerBeek, Isidore Isou, Man Ray, Robert Rauschenberg, 37 short Fluxus films, Hans Richter, Harry Smith and Jack Smith.

The Song in a DJ's Heart, Part II

For five years running now, WFMU has closed out our annual fundraising marathon with a cavalcade of singing DJs, each performing a song of their own choosing while backed up by the Hoof & Mouth Sinfonia -- a live karaoke band comprising even still more WFMU DJs. To paraphrase the great Scott Williams, (seen here taking a much-deserved break between sessions) who acts as Hoof & Mouth organizer and band leader supreme, this event is the source for our most animated water-cooler discussions in the 364 days that precede each annual performance of the band. Recollections of whose performances were the best, most drunkenly delivered, or most juxtaposed to that particular DJs playlists are all elements that figure into these discussions. (Efforts to convince Fabio to perform "True" by Spandau Ballet have consistently failed, year after year.)

We're gluttons for tradition around here, and tradition clearly dictates that this mess takes place not only on the airwaves of WFMU, but on a webcam feed as well, effectively delivering these hastily rehearsed renditions of the classics live from our main studio and into the hard drives of FMU listeners scattered across the globe. This year, ace listener Jeff T not only captured and recorded the entire thing, but has edited it down into convenient, DJ-sized chunks, which we are now pleased to present for your horror/amusement here.

Stop Touching Yourself

I mean it!  Stop blowing up oranges, too.

[ via wohba! ]

A different kind of nose candy

For years, your girlfriend has been going to Yoga class on Tuesday nights. No problem, right? A bunch of people laying around in sweatpants, stretching, listening to multi-kulti CDs, going "oooohhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm" and then talking about "energy"  -- what could possibly be more wholesome? Then again, have you ever asked her for more specific details? Do you really know all that yoga can entail?

Listener Zaphod brings us just one horrific possibility. Click here to view the .WMV movie file.

Induce an epileptic fit

Right here (quicktime).

via Swound MP3 blog

In Related News

The internet is still not safe for anyone.

Hamstercore

Thank you, this is a ditty we wrote back in 2005 called "How Come I Can't Go Anywhere?"  [Quicktime, 12 MB]

Cornell via Chiasm

Destruction Minded

Courtesy of the mighty Kenzo, we present for your workday distraction, short video clips of everything from cardboard to aluminum cans to refrigerators to washing machines to mattresses and computers being run through an industrial shredder.

A brief aside: When I was a little kid, I used to go into the trash, collect bottles, and smash them in the street on my way home from school. Then when I was 11, I set out on a mission to destroy every last toy I had with the aid of a hammer from my father's toolbox. About a year later, I blew up that same toolbox in the woods behind my house with the aid of recently acquired fireworks. At 14, I started a fire. Then when I was 17, I briefly flirted with the popular local sport of using my car (a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit) to propel shopping carts into brick walls at 45 miles an hour in the middle of the night.

Meaning: The appreciation for ritualized destruction never dies, apparently.

Classically Keytarded

This is kind of like watching the Croatian version of The Great Kat.

This is also kind of like being punched repeatedly in the solar plexus.

This link was sent in by Volunteer Tom.

Thanks, Tom.

(Click image to view video of Belinda Bedekovic totally tearing it up on the keytar.)

Demons Nesting In Brian Wilson's Body

Irwin submits this windows video file for your consideration.

Warner Brothers Records president Lenny Waronker claims to have encountered at least five different entities that use Brian Wilson's body as their home.

The Song in a DJ's Heart

I don't lay claim to much, and I'm not one of those guys who brags about doing, seeing, hearing, or smoking something way before it got trendy and all the kids in Brooklyn started doing it, but I'm also a big enough guy to stand up and take the blame for something bad that I've done. Like the time I accidentally burned down that puppy sanctuary. I'm still losing sleep over that one.

A more recent case in point: You know how Kenny G has been starting his Wednesday show by singing a few songs karaoke style? Ummm.... that's kinda my fault. He started doing that after I organized a WFMU night out at a Chinatown karaoke bar last year. If memory serves, this particular evening was a going-back-to-England party for Vicki Bennett, and featured brilliant performances from Monica ("Never Been to Me"), Pseu Braun (some Queen song with a lot of "la la la"'s in it) and Ken ("We Are the World"). Actually, Ken was up on the stage 3 or 4 times that night. Total karaoke whore, that guy is. Those flaming shots obviously go right to his head. Anyhow, everybody's performance was out-of-the-ballpark stellar and earned the appreciation of the other patrons as well as a drunk dwarf sitting on the side of the stage, who pumped his fist with approval after each DJ's performance.

Except when Kenny G sang.

Kenny had never sung karaoke before that evening and I'm sure he wouldn't mind me telling you that he rather plainly sucked at it. (Certainly not the fault of the song he picked, which was "Hava Nagilah" -- a cornerstone of the entire karaoke phenom.) However, I think that evening is what planted the seed in his head that lead to catastrophic on-air events such as this: (Right click to download AVI file of Kenny and Irwin singing karaoke on the air last Wednesday.)

It is for this and at least 51 other Wednesday afternoons that I offer my most sincere and humble apologies for.

This all got me thinking about other instances of DJs singing on the airwaves of WFMU. (You know, lest you think Kenny and Irwin have the market entirely cornered...) Now for the purpose of this blog post, I am purposefully excluding the extravagant cavalcade of singing DJs that's facilitated by the Hoof n' Mouth Sinfonia at the conclusion of our annual fundraising marathon each year, and scheduled to occur once again on March 20th at 7 PM. That's a whole 'nother blog post for a different day.

What follows here are just a few shining examples of WFMU DJs spontaneously bursting into song while behind the mic, in the midst of their shows. It is by no means a complete list, and if you know of other instances and can supply me with specific archives and approximate start times, feel free to send 'em along and I'll add them to the permanent record.

Tom Scharpling sings Elton John

Ken Freedman sings "Begin the Beguine"

Pseu Braun, Scott Williams, Mike Lupica, Megan Murphy, Vicki Bennett, Maria, and Marty the Dog sing "Annie's Song"

Charlie Lewis sings "Goin Out of my Head"

Nachum Segal wraps up the 2003 JM in the AM Marathon

All sound clips will open with Real Player.

And as stated, since we are currently in the midst of the WFMU Fundraising Marathon, which is traditionally the time of year when the most DJ-soul-baring takes place, I would expect a lot more spontaneous croonings, incantations, and tuneful squakings in the coming days. And make sure you tune back in on the 20th to hear how alcohol coupled with extreme fundraising exhaustion affects our collective perception of good taste. With a live karaoke band taking center stage.

Creepy mannequins

This morning as I stumbled into the kitchen for my first cup of coffee, I was greeted by an inanimate stranger: Debra Manikin, as introduced by the label on her neck.* Automatically, I flashed to that scene from Return to Oz (mpeg download) where the evil Princess Mombi threatens to remove Dorothy’s cranium for display in her gallery of bitchy mannequin heads that come to life, a source of many of my childhood nightmares.

As the coffee worked its magic, I recalled the gleefully absurd plot of Mannequin (1987), in which the lead character creates a mannequin so perfect he falls in love with it… then she comes to life as a misplaced ancient Egyptian, and together they create beautiful window displays. Yep. And Princess Mombi fades back into my subconscious, resuming her small role in controlling my daily decisions.

A few lullabies for Debra (Real Audio from the WFMU archives):

Mannequin “Romanticizing Again”
Wire “Mannequin”
Mothers of Invention “Plastic People”
Senor Coconut y su Conjuto “Showroom Dummies” (Kraftwerk cover)

*Logical explanation: roommate in cosmetology school = mannequin head clamped to countertop.

Celebrate VHS Voyeurism

The Found Footage Festival, a screening of video oddities salvaged from the bowels of thrift stores, garbage dumpsters, and yard sales across the country, is coming to NYC this month. Watch the trailer here (Quicktime movie, not safe for work). Highlights include a totally radical Wendy’s training video, hypothetical accidents that come to life in a clip from an insurance company tape, and a prima donna RV informational video host with a potty mouth. The festival comes to Galapagos Art Space (Brooklyn) on Fri. 3/25, 8pm.

Thanks to Irwin for passing the info along.

Your Kicked Ass

Sadly, your ass has already been kicked, many many times over.  This is not entirely unfortunate.

In any event, please send my regards to your ass.

[Diabolical Media Player for macs]

Cheesy Euro-Disco and Dschinghis Khan

For several years, I've had an LP cover by the 1970's German disco band Dschinghis Khan gracing the cover of my DJ locker at WFMU. So imagine my surprise when Bryce mailed me this music video (mpeg video file) of the band doing a fantastic cheesy cossack disco dance number! And then when Nachum Segal saw my Dschinghis Khan LP this morning, he screams, "Dschinghis Khan, they're huge in Israel!" And then Nachum send me even more Dschinghis Khan videos. Why does Israel go crazy for bands like Dschinghis Khan, Baccara and t.A.T.u.? (MP3s) Why do I?

Don't answer that.

Let the Evil Spore

"Have you heard the song?  It really sucks."

On February 25, 2002, untold bags of Cheetos® in high altitude groceries burst from the sudden decrease in global air pressure brought about by a zillion simultaneous gasps of people realizing the Attorney General of the United States was demonstrably, incontrovertibly batshit fucking bananas.

The Unluckier You Are, The Luckier You Get

Like the time I almost put out my left eye because a waterski tow rope snapped right into it - everybody told me how lucky I was, despite the fact that the chances of the thing hitting me in the eye were one in a million! How 'bout if you were skydiving, and despite two instructors holding onto you (or perhaps because of them), your parachute ripped clean off your back - lucky or unlucky? And then, let's say your instructor still somehow managed to pull your back-up chute just before you hit the ground, but then you landed on top of a power line, almost electrocuting yourself - lucky, or unlucky? Download the video and decide for yourself. (Windows video file, via fazed.net)

Copyright Criminals

Here's a link to a ten minute long trailer for a forthcoming documentary on sampling and copyright. The doc will be called Copyright Criminals and it's by Kembrew Mcleod and Benjamin Franzen. The trailer contains clips from copright / sampling superstars Lawrence Lessig, Pete Rock, Matmos, DJ Qbert, Negativland and even our own Vicki Bennett. Link to Quicktime movie.

Big hot dog tramples wealthy liberals in park, makes mean face, enjoys refreshing beverage

I was figuring that since everybody and their brother was in Central Park last weekend for the unveiling of The Gates, one of my esteemed FMU colleagues would've already posted about it here. We are an arty bunch, after all... Here's a rather gigantic photo of the exhibit as seen from space, courtesy of the very cool and very addictive Space Imaging website.

I've been reaping a lot of joy from the predictably cartoonish response the exhibit has earned from people who thought it was a complete waste of time. I got into one such argument with my brother, who loudly declared via email from his suburban tract-mansion that The Gates were "stupid", "a waste of money", and "not real art". Having known my brother long enough to realize when he's baiting me with editorial nonsense picked up from some easy cultural whipping post like Fox News, I sweetly pointed out that the project was self-financed, wasn't costing the city anything, and was in fact creating jobs as well as generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in business for local bars and restaurants that all the visitors were promptly descending on all weekend. (My companion and I had to beat it all the way down to 23rd and 9th to find a restaurant that wasn't totally packed.)

As for the idea that the Gates were not "real" art -- a popular opinion also espoused in a few of the raggier city dailies, by dorks in golf pants, and by a bunch of artists who paint tourist portraits in the park for a living, well,  that's an opinion too stupid for even me to bother arguing. "I don't like it" is a perfectly valid artistic opinion, but apparently not enough for the modern and sophisticated naysayer. It's more important to  declare yourself the absolute authority and expect the rest of the world to live or die by your expert judgment. Eh? EH???

Truth be told, I wasn't particularly bowled over by The Gates myself. I only found it visually stimulating once I got up near 80th Street and was able to look back towards Columbus Circle with a bit of elevated perspective. The more enjoyable parts were being out on a beautiful afternoon, appreciating all the work and planning that went into pulling off such a monster project, watching little kids try to climb up the posts, seeing the celebrity couples strolling around holding hands, watching teenagers send text messages and walk their robot dogs, and generally making mental notes of all that other faux-pastoral small town horseshit people always carry on about when they write about New York City.

As for the Gates not being "real art" idea, I found myself once again fighting the creeping urge I always get in these instances to pinpoint a really upsetting or challenging work of creativity, and proudly display it as an object of appreciation for people who share my brother's artistic outlook. Musically, this is a common and easy practice for many of us who spent our teens living out the under-achieving, negative asshole stereotype like I did. Arriving at WFMU later on in life with some kind of profound agenda at hand, these issues are routinely worked out of our systems on a weekly basis and reflected in the music we choose to play. For me, an earlier example harkens back to when I first started doing radio in 1992, which was just about the same time that the Spin Doctors were becoming popular. At my old radio station, whenever I would get a request for said band, I would instead play music by  quasi-legendary Trenton noiseniks the Scornflakes, (click to hear RealAudio archive) who had a record out that I was able to scientifically prove would make all fans of the Spin Doctors feel like shit about themselves (forever.) I admit, doing this was immature but was (and still is) very satisfying. There's still some part of me that appreciates the heedless joy of being stared at blankly by Joe and Mary Suburbanite for expressing an appreciation of something edgier than The Little Mermaid.

Of course, achieving that kind of satisfaction on the visual arts front can be loosely approximated any number of ways. One favorite that recently snapped back to my immediate focus would be Ron Mueck's "Mask", which I was able to view in all its terrifying splendor last November at the Saatchi Gallery in London. This photo doesn't do it proper justice, but when you walk into the gallery and are directly confronted by it, your bowels will definitely do that same rumbling bass thing you hear at the beginning of the Scornflakes track. (It's gotta be close to 15 feet tall.)

And make no mistake: Any number of the exhibits at the Saatchi would utterly terrify the lightweights and pansies who were frightened by the big, mean orange shower curtains in Central Park. I definitely recommend shelling out the money to visit the gallery if you're ever in England, no matter how bad the exchange rate gets.

While it's a no-brainer that Mask would upset my brother (I think he liked the Spin Doctors after all), London is inconveniently far away. There's no way I could get him into a museum like that or have him sit through even the first minute of a Scornflakes record. So clearly, an easier way for me to have some fun with this familial argument and flesh out my responsibilities as the creepy little brother is to rough up his email box with a link to this mind-bending commercial for Afri-Cola, created by Charles Wilp in 1968. That'll give him nightmares. (You can  view many more decidedly un-commercial commercials for the fizzy beverage on the Afri-Cola website, most of which will handily relegate all that overhyped hooey seen during the Superbowl to the trash.)

If that doesn't work, I'll invite him to have a seat and enjoy a good long stare at Ivan Witenstein's fantastically jaw-dropping hot dog sculpture. Yes, my friends... that is indeed a six-foot hot dog squirting ketchup and mustard all over itself with a stillborn black infant emerging from the lower quarters. It's called:

Watch her younger year by year
Stare her back in time,
Teach her the four food groups
Hotdogs, pussy, beer, and crime.

Try rationalizing that one for someone who as a teenager didn't have any better records for me to steal than ELO, Linda Rondstadt, and the Beach Boys' "Endless Summer".

(Thanks to Listener Jen, Listener Jaybob, Brian Turner, and Dan Ruccia for link-assistance and inspiration.)

 

Silence of the Lambs Video Mashup

I'm not sure that Andy Breckman would've cast Ted Levine as Captain Stottlemeyer on his little TV show Monk if he had seen his earlier music video work. (The Greenskeepers streaming video clip "Lotion") Not Safe for work: music or video.

The Numa Numa Song

Listener John from Oslo, our Scandinavian correspondent, submits this movie  for your  consideration.  The group is called Haiducii, which apparently means "The Outlaws" in Romanian. Romanian and English lyrics are available on this page.