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eerietomThe Beatniks (MST3K version), dir. Paul Frees, 1960
Recently I had watched the MST3K versions of The Rebel Set (dir. Gene Fowler Jr., 1959) and Tormented (dir. Bert I. Gordon, 1960). The Rebel Set was about three beatniks (a culture about which I’m learning more recently), whereas Tormented featured an uncredited dubbing by Paul Frees. So what could be a better choice for the next film than The Beatniks, written and directed by Frees? Alas, the film had absolutely nothing to do with beatniks, but rather a gang of juvenile delinquents. Still, it was good for some laughs, and I really admired the sequence (all in one take!) where Joel & Gang dramatizes Servo's life as a singing sensation.
Blackjack, Dynamicaracket, 1994
This was our last “official” recording*, though I still have one more tape with a performance we did at a party. Blackjack was a radio play of sorts, about a nameless man (played by Duane) making a road trip while having a quasi-existential crisis. He stops in Barstow, California for lunch, then checks into a hotel in Vegas. He goes to see a magic show, then wins $10 at a casino, then goes to see a strip show. The dialogue is accompanied by music and sound effects. Blackjack also gave me the biggest laugh of the evening: the man calls one hotel to hear a recording of the entertainment that night; I was the recorded voice. The first item was a show called “Dogs on Ice with special guest Nell Carter”. Even back then I could not keep a straight face while reading my lines and could barely contain my laughter. I kept picturing someone grabbing some hapless dogs in glittery costumes and sliding them on the ice like curling stones.
Later, the man meets a ticket scalper (played by me) who offers him tickets to “Dogs on Ice”, and again I fought to keep my composure. As with “After much, Effort?”, I had to pause the tape until I could stop laughing.
*After Blackjack, we recorded two new songs to multitrack cassette, but never mixed them down. I still have the master tape, but not the recorder.
Toko (at Nemu Jazz), Motohiko Hino Quartet, 1975
Great music; Mikio Masuda plays the keyboard like an electric guitar, riffing through a variety of effects.
Jazz 625 performance, Bill Evans Trio, 1965
I always think of bass players as plucking their instruments, which of course they do, but I really marvelled at Chuck Israels' playing as he also caressed, tapped, and massaged the bass. There were some moments so intimate I nearly felt I should look the other way.
There is some remarkable camera work. Often there would be closeups of the performers' faces rather than their hands, showing their solemn concentration as they played. During their rendition of “Summertime”, the camera began by showing the band from the audience's POV, then circled around and up until it was looking at the audience over drummer Larry Bunker's shoulder. Watch the performance here.
As much as I enjoy the barely controlled chaos of free jazz, I also like this genre. There was once a radio show in Los Angeles on KPFK called Smoke Rings that played this kind of jazz: quiet and subtle, yet incredibly enthralling. I'm not sure what it's called. I am loathe to say “smooth jazz” (though that may be the correct name), which conjures sounds of Kenny G piped into a dentist's office.
CT: The Dance Project, Cecil Taylor, 1990
Bonus: Henrietta Savernake is stoned!
My hubby printed a passage from The Hollow by Agatha Christie that he thought was beautifully written and showed it to me. I read it aloud but as you will see, I had to riff on it ...
Recently I had watched the MST3K versions of The Rebel Set (dir. Gene Fowler Jr., 1959) and Tormented (dir. Bert I. Gordon, 1960). The Rebel Set was about three beatniks (a culture about which I’m learning more recently), whereas Tormented featured an uncredited dubbing by Paul Frees. So what could be a better choice for the next film than The Beatniks, written and directed by Frees? Alas, the film had absolutely nothing to do with beatniks, but rather a gang of juvenile delinquents. Still, it was good for some laughs, and I really admired the sequence (all in one take!) where Joel & Gang dramatizes Servo's life as a singing sensation.
Blackjack, Dynamicaracket, 1994
This was our last “official” recording*, though I still have one more tape with a performance we did at a party. Blackjack was a radio play of sorts, about a nameless man (played by Duane) making a road trip while having a quasi-existential crisis. He stops in Barstow, California for lunch, then checks into a hotel in Vegas. He goes to see a magic show, then wins $10 at a casino, then goes to see a strip show. The dialogue is accompanied by music and sound effects. Blackjack also gave me the biggest laugh of the evening: the man calls one hotel to hear a recording of the entertainment that night; I was the recorded voice. The first item was a show called “Dogs on Ice with special guest Nell Carter”. Even back then I could not keep a straight face while reading my lines and could barely contain my laughter. I kept picturing someone grabbing some hapless dogs in glittery costumes and sliding them on the ice like curling stones.
Later, the man meets a ticket scalper (played by me) who offers him tickets to “Dogs on Ice”, and again I fought to keep my composure. As with “After much, Effort?”, I had to pause the tape until I could stop laughing.
*After Blackjack, we recorded two new songs to multitrack cassette, but never mixed them down. I still have the master tape, but not the recorder.
Toko (at Nemu Jazz), Motohiko Hino Quartet, 1975
Great music; Mikio Masuda plays the keyboard like an electric guitar, riffing through a variety of effects.
Jazz 625 performance, Bill Evans Trio, 1965
I always think of bass players as plucking their instruments, which of course they do, but I really marvelled at Chuck Israels' playing as he also caressed, tapped, and massaged the bass. There were some moments so intimate I nearly felt I should look the other way.
There is some remarkable camera work. Often there would be closeups of the performers' faces rather than their hands, showing their solemn concentration as they played. During their rendition of “Summertime”, the camera began by showing the band from the audience's POV, then circled around and up until it was looking at the audience over drummer Larry Bunker's shoulder. Watch the performance here.
As much as I enjoy the barely controlled chaos of free jazz, I also like this genre. There was once a radio show in Los Angeles on KPFK called Smoke Rings that played this kind of jazz: quiet and subtle, yet incredibly enthralling. I'm not sure what it's called. I am loathe to say “smooth jazz” (though that may be the correct name), which conjures sounds of Kenny G piped into a dentist's office.
CT: The Dance Project, Cecil Taylor, 1990
Bonus: Henrietta Savernake is stoned!
My hubby printed a passage from The Hollow by Agatha Christie that he thought was beautifully written and showed it to me. I read it aloud but as you will see, I had to riff on it ...
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When she finally came to the long ridge of Shovel Down it was half past twelve. Henrietta had always loved the view from that particular place. She paused now just at the point where the road began to descend. All around and below her were trees, trees whose leaves were turning from gold to brown. It was a world incredibly golden and splendid in the strong Autumn sunlight ... she's stoned. Henrietta thought, I love Autumn. It's so much richer than Spring. And suddenly one of those moments of intense happiness came to her ... because she's stoned!—a sense of the loveliness of the world—of her own intense enjoyment of that world ... so stoned! She thought, I shall never be as happy again as I am now ... never .... stooooooned! She stayed there a minute, gazing out over that golden world that seemed to swim and dissolve into itself, hazy and blurred with its own beauty ... mega-stoned! |
