Rolling Thunder (1977)
October 26th, 2011 by chocko
Director: John Flynn
Starring: William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Haynes
Genre: 70’s B-Movie
This violent tale of revenge is hard to find. I found myself a bootleg copy at a local horror convention. Rolling Thunder has only been released on VHS in the United States and hasn’t seen the light of day until it was released on DVD and Bluray a couple months ago in the U.K. The movie was directed by John Flynn who would later go on to direct the cult classic Brainscan, the Sylvester Stallone prison movie-Lock Up and the Steven Seagal action flick titled Out For Justice. The story is by Paul Schrader who also wrote the classic Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver. On a sidenote: Quentin Tarantino named his now defunct movie company, Rolling Thunder Pictures, after the film. They released movies such as Chungking Express, Switchblade Sisters and Sonatine theatrically at a time when those movies were rarely seen.
William Devane is Major Charles Rane, a Vietnam vet who returns home to his wife and son after doing time in a P.O.W. camp. After receiving a big San Antonio, Texas hometown welcome, Rane is rewarded nearly $2000 in silver coins. Things at home aren’t so peachy when he finds his wife wanting a divorce and his kid seeming more connected to the new guy his wife is sleeping with. Trouble really begins to brew when a gang of redneck thugs break into his home in search for the silver coins. The robbers run for the border with the silver after shoving Rane’s arm down a garbage disposal and killing his wife and son.
After recovering, Rane heads down to Mexico for some vengeance with his new hook for a hand, some guns and his new friend, a young war hero groupie portrayed by the actress, Linda Haynes. Her role is pretty much just whiny, eye candy. They search for the killers and then she gets ditched after Rane gets some help from his vet buddy while they set out to do the dirty work. Rane’s buddy is played by a surprisingly young and wrinkle free Tommy Lee Jones. The climactic ending finds the two vets in a Mexican whorehouse guns a’ blazing while naked women run amok. Rolling Thunder is a true gritty grindhouse classic!
trailer courtesy of The42ndStreetMutant
Tags: chocko, grindhouse, movie, quentin tarantino, review, tommy lee jones, william devane
Posted in movies | Comments (0)
CMJ in NYC
October 25th, 2011 by chocko
The CMJ Music Marathon came through NYC leaving music fans thirsting for more. It was a physically draining last couple of days and most of us are still suffering from the post-CMJ blues. Here’s a meager slice of what went down…
Wild Flag, an all female band consisting of members of Sleater-Kinney, Helium and The Minders played Bowery Ballroom on Oct. 18. Carrie Brownstein and Mary Timony exchange lead vocals on the songs. Mary gets the girls singing backup for most songs and Carrie just rocks out…kicking and screaming. The songs are raw, no holds barred rock songs and the girls play like a band that’s been playing together for a long time. I went to their other recent shows. They played a Misfits cover, “She” during their encore at The Bell House in Brooklyn! There was no encore at their Maxwell’s show in Hoboken, NJ. Was it the lame crowd? Their set list at the Bowery Ballroom consisted of tracks from their self-titled debut album and two non-LP songs, “Nothing” and “Winter Pair.” They played 2 covers during their encore: “See No Evil” (Television) and “Ask The Angels” (Patti Smith). Eleanor Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces) opened the show. Her songs are less experimental than her Fiery Furnaces stuff, but they just ooze with coolness. Her new band is great and play her catchy songs with the greatest of ease. “My Mistakes” will stick in your head long after the song is over.
Under The Radar had a free (if it’s free, it’s for me!) showcase during the day on Oct. 19 at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. U.K.’s Chad Valley a.k.a. Hugo Manuel opened up the show. It sounded like Rick Astley doing electronic music. Norway’s Casiokids were the next to bring the noise with thundering percussion and fun dance music. They intend to tour Japan for the first time in November. Next, was a man who kinda looked like George Michael who performs under the name Porcelain Raft. His real name is Mauro Remiddi and he sings with a guitar with samplers and loops to beef up the sound. Great, dreamy pop from the label, Secretly Canadian! Eleanor Friedberger played a nice set of songs from her new album before breaking out to Philadelphia to open for Wild Flag again. Still Corners played some dark, mysterious songs with the alluring Tessa Murray on lead vocals. Her soft, whispery voice drew me in while twangy guitars played and psychedelic visuals projected swirled around on the screen behind the band. I was hypnotized and bought the new album on Sub Pop titled, “Creatures of an Hour.” It’s awesome! If you like bands like Cults, Mazzy Star, The Cranes, then Still Corners is the band for you. The Step Kids (Stones Throw Records) closed out the showcase with some bonafide soul and funk to shake your trunk.
Tags: bowery ballroom, casiokids, cmj, eleanor friedberger, marathon, music, porcelain raft, public assembly, review, still corners, the stepkids, wild flag
Posted in music | Comments (0)
Basil Gogos signing at NY Comic Con 2011
October 23rd, 2011 by Mr. C
Basil Gogos, one of Planet Chocko’s favorite illustrators who brought monsters and classic horror characters to life in the most frightening of ways, was in the house at NY Comic Con signing his book, Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos . Chocko and Mr C have been harassing Basil since the early 90’s at the Chiller Theatre convention! His artwork includes portraits of the creature of the black lagoon, frankenstein, dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, Godzilla, King Kong to Peter Cushing, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lou Chaney, Vincent Price, & Christopher Lee. Of course, Gogos was also known for creating the cover art for the magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland.
I think I jogged his memory a bit in a good way when I mentioned the poster art he created for the Shaw Brothers movie, Super Inframan (1975).
Of course music fans might recognize his CD cover art from The Misfits, Rob Zombie, and Electric Frankenstein. Chocko and I thought it was pretty ironic that Basil Gogos was sitting at the next table over at Comic Con from the artist that just did the album cover art for the Misfit’s latest album, The Devil’s Rain which Chocko wrote about here.
But most of you would recognize his portraits from these classic monster movies:
Classic horror film fan or not, if you appreciate art that pops out in your face attempting to put a strangle hold on you when you lay your eyes on it, you’ll definitely appreciate the portraits by Basil Gogos. Meet, greet, get photos, and admire this young man in person while this living legend is still around! Can you say Chiller Theatre Convention in New Jersey?! Yes, yes, y’all…and you don’t stop!!
Tags: art, basil gogos, chiller theater, monster, ny comic con 2011
Posted in art, movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
Superjail + EagleHeart : Adult Swim shows at NY Comic Con
October 23rd, 2011 by Mr. C
(All photos below by mr c)
Upon the many cool new things that I discovered at NY Comic Con included a few shows on the adult swim programing block hosted by the cartoon network that I never knew about. Namely, the animated series from 2008, Superjail and the live action series, EagleHeart starring Chris Elliott (Yes, the guy from the Get a Life series!).
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the press hour conference with some of the production staff of SuperJail: Janine DiTullio, Stephen Warbrick, Christy Karacas(creator), and Richard Mather as they answered questions from the media which included casually talking about the violence and cuteness of the series, Superjail toy figures, and collaboration with Venture Bros & Metalocalypse.
After sitting in on the general panel of Superjail at comic con and watching an episode, I knew this 15 minute animated series would have to be added to my regular to watch queue! A jail housed inside a volcano with twisted and colorful inmates glorified with uber violence all the while having a maniacal warden as the maestro of the joint was too much not to take notice! Sold! Season 3 is in current production! See the pilot episode below from 2007:
—————————————————————————————————–
Another hilarious action series on Adult Swim called EagleHeart won my heart as well! Actors from the show, Chris Elliott, Brett Gelman, Maria Thayer and Jason Woliner were on hand at Comic Con to pitch the series and to invoke the inner nerd in us! I was wondering why there were so many questions involving Chuck Norris and finally realized that many EagleHeart scenes encompassed Chuck Norris Walker-Texas Ranger parodies amongst many other cop shows as well! Brilliant! No wonder Chris Elliott revealed his 6 pack stomach at the comic con panel! It was all in thanks to the Chuck Norris home gym as Elliott explained!
Eagleheart is produced by Conan Obrien’s company, Conaco and they are currently working on season 2! I’m beginning to realize the type of tv shows that cures my attention deficit disorder, 15 minute shows like Eagleheart and Superjail! Winning! Watch Chris Elliott play the character of Chris Monsanto, U.S. Marshall as he demonstrates the power of his inner Chuck Norris!
Tags: adultswim, eagleheart, mr c, ny comic con 2011, superjail
Posted in mr. c, TV | Comments (0)
more cosplay from NY Comic Con 2011
October 20th, 2011 by Mr. C
(all photos by mr c)
Posted in art, comic books, mr. c, photos | Comments (0)
DJ Z-Trip + Tom Morello at New York Comic Con kick-off concert 2011
October 19th, 2011 by Mr. C
(photos by mr c, vids by chocko & mr c)
Tom Morello (Guitarist from Rage Against the Machine & AudioSlave) was the 1st act to perform on friday night at the IGN Theater. Unfortunately, we had ramen noodles dripping down our chins as we rushed from the port authority/hells kitchen area back to the Javitz to catch his performance. I guess we were lucky in a way to at least catch the last song of his set as Morello lit up a nice rendition of the Ghost of Tom Joad as he dished out some guitar licks that would keep the zombies and vampires away! Rock on! The crowd really brought the noise to show appreciation as Tom went buck wild on the guitar! Chocko provided a mondo video of the performance below.
DJ Z-Trip was on next and he simply destroyed it on the first night of New York Comic Con as he johnny blazed on the wheels of steel at IGN Theater in what he called a special one off set for NYCC 2011! Z-Trip is known for serving up some fine–prime 1st grade mashups of old skool hip hop, classic & modern rock and soul to soul, wall to wall vinyl, now blending in the techniques of new age turntablism to boot! This special comic con 2011 ree-mix was devised by this honorary mixologist of the night which took about a week or so to formulate as he stated! The geek crowd would get a heavy dosage of flava’ in their ears with some well known tunes of superheroes, kaiju’s, & video game inspirations to infuse along with the hip hop and rock tracks! Armed with a Mac, a pair of turntables, & a microphone offered by the glitz of an LED table holding his weaponry with projected images on a screen behind him, Z-Trip set it off one time for our minds! “Z” sampled tracks from Rush-Tom Sawyer, Black Sabbath-Iron Man, Guns N Roses-Sweet Child O’ mine, Rolling Stones-Satisfaction, Nirvana-Smells like Teen Spirit, Rage Against the Machine-Freedom, Johnny Cash-Ring of Fire, Pink Floyd-The Wall to Eric B & Rakim-Follow the Leader, Pharoahe Monch-Simon Says, Public Enemy, House of Pain-Jump Around, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, and yes..even Puff Daddy as he phased in soundtracks from star wars, godzilla, & many other comic book characters. Meanwhile, the images on the L-E-D DJ booth and projected images on the screen would all be in sync with the theme of his mixes which provided some really cool visuals! Towards the end of his set, he saluted all the 99%’s out there and ended the night with an inspiring Curtis Mayfield joint. The performances by Tom Morello and Z-Trip was such a tremendous way to celebrate the weekend to come!
To get some nice elbow grease of Z-Trip at his best, pickup his album “Uneasy Listening” and “Live at Future Primitive Sound 2”. You can also get a glimpse of Z-Trip in his prime as he digs in the crates for some funky vinyl on the most excellent documentary from 2001 profiling some influential DJ’s called “Scratch”.
Also, check out Tom Morello’s comic book “Orchid” on Dark Horse comics.
Tags: comic con 2011, mr c, music, tom morello, z-trip
Posted in art, comic books, mr. c, music, photos | Comments (0)
New York Comic Con 2011
October 18th, 2011 by chocko
The New York Comic Con (October 13-16, 2011) at the Jacob Javits Center brought out fanboys, nerds, gamers and geeky girls from all walks of life to have some fun and celebrate comic books and pop culture.
(photos by chocko)
Tags: comic convention, cosplay, jacob javits center, nyc
Posted in art, comic books, photos | Comments (0)
Corey Glover + Daniela Cotton played at Maxwell’s
October 13th, 2011 by Mr. C
The distinct vocals of Corey Glover (Living Colour) and Daniela Cotton blessed the stage at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ to a very modest crowd much to my surprise even for a party, hardy Tuesday in hobo-NJ where frats meet brat packs surrounded by finance rats.
Daniela opened up the night with her hybrid blend of rock, blues, funk, and even a dash of country at times when she sings her slower tempo tunes. I absolutely love her powerful-high to the mountain top vocals offering shades of raspiness from her diminuitive frame yet she is still able to deliver a gentle and heartfelt performance with songs like ‘Bound’ and ‘Shame’. Daniela played a bunch of newer songs including Lighthouse Keeper slated to release on her new album in February. She ended the set with a knock’em out of the park rendition (rock & soul edition) of Purple Rain by Prince which she also mentions will make its way to the studio! Cotton’s set included her oldies but goodies: Shame, Bound, Rare Child, & Make u move. Her band members provided a base clearing, inside the park home run performance with Marc Copely on lead guitar (awesome rock-out riffs & some wah-wah), Winston Roye on the bass guitar (funky,funky bass lines), & the animated John Clancy on drums (dope rhythm). Daniela Cotton’s band also did a tremendous job backing up Corey Glover. For a second, I thought Vernon Reid, Will, & Muzz were in the house in costume!
Daniela’s Small White Town and Rare Child albums are always hot on my playlist!
Corey was batting cleanup as he stretched out his vocals on deck before stepping up to the plate in his Will Calhoun t-shirt & iPad setlist! Glover, if you didn’t know was the lead singer for the very underrated band created in the awesome 80’s called Living Colour! Their sound would infuse metal, hard rock, funk, & jazz with lyrics that would provide in your face political and social messages. All this off the chain energy would be steered by Corey Glover’s voice as he drove everyone home with his animated performance supported by his rock’em out voice with some R&B undertones at times! The old lion still had the same tricks up his sleeve at Maxwell’s as he belted out a few Living Colour goodies like “Open Letter” and “Middle Man”. I wished I had more hair on my noggen as I banged my head around! Corey also delivered some gentle tunes from his solo albums like April Rain, One, Rose which he dedicated to his wife, & the finale song with Daniela Cotton, “Can’t find my way home” as well as a sex ‘em up song like “Do you first, then do myself”. All in all, it was a great performance despite a skeleton crew of a crowd which is why we love Glover to begin with anyway. He brings his heart, soul, & energy to the stage no matter if he’s singing to an audience of 20 or to an arena. Corey mentions that he is currently working on a new solo album.
Get Living Colour’s 2009 album “The Chair in the Doorway”!
You’ll also have a 2nd chance to see this potent combination of soulful juggernauts known as Corey Glover/Daniela Cotton live at the Highline Ballroom on November 29th! Lose yourself!
Tags: corey glover, daniela cotton, maxwells, mr c
Posted in mr. c, music | Comments (0)
fatty arbuckle & buster keaton in “Coney Island” (1917)
October 10th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle
Stars: Fatty Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al St. John
Genre: Silent film, comedy
Shot on location at Coney Island’s Luna Park, Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton starred in this comedy romp of slapstick proportions as the main character Fatty runs away from his wife on the coney isla beach only to create havoc at the park while he chases a pretty young lady around. You will get a really good glimpse of the glory days from Coney Island-brooklyn with shots of the beach to some really neat amusement park rides like the witching waves, the whip, and the chute! You will even get a chance to see Keaton crack a smile or two working as a lifeguard at the bathhouse before his persona on film of being the stone-face would come into play! There are many hilarious moments in this 24 minute movie but the ones I kept on losing my lunch over were when fatty rode the ‘chute’ with the girlfriend, the scene when Arbuckle dressed up as a lady before Keaton spilled the beans to his wife, and the keystone kop jail scene!
Coney Island would be the 2nd break in Keaton’s film career after The Butcher Boy thanks to the Fatty, plump one himself! These two would have great chemistry together as their physical display of comedy & charm would make anyone roll in laughter! Despite being rotund, Fatty Arbuckle can move move like the wind or more accurately like a hurricane. His agility & gracefulness while performing stunts definitely added to his vaudeville appeal. We all know that Buster Keaton was a great influence to Jackie Chan’s comedic style, but the more and more I look at it, Sammo Hung really reminds me of the great Roscoe! The big dude with the little hat & baggy pants sure packs one hell of a kick! Yes, a front heel kick!
The Turner Classic Movie channel is running a month long Buster Keaton appeciation day every Sunday thru October! Don’t miss out on the chance to see stone-face in action! You might even get lucky and see Fatty Arbuckle do some backflips, somersaults, and a double flying heel kick right through your living room floor! It’s the skinny tiger — fatty dragon show, y’all!
Tags: buster keaton, comedy, mr c, silent films
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror
October 10th, 2011 by chocko
Bongo Comics annual Treehouse of Horror issue recently hit the stands and it features special guest artists and writers who tell a spooky tale involving everybody’s favorite animated family. The first story of this triple threat of terror is titled “Rosferatu” and was done by Zander Cannon and Gene Ha. Comic book fans might recognize this artist tag-team from Alan Moore’s Top Ten. The story is accompanied by some of the most creepiest renderings of the Simpsons drawn in a style inspired by old silent horror movies. The art and colors are top notch!
“Marge of The Dead” is a zombie tale which manages to throw in some Star Wars references including a light saber battle in which Marge ends up falling off a cliff and messing up her knee. After receiving a knee ligament transplant from a dead body, Marge begins to feast on brains! The art is by Tom Hodges (Clone Wars) and the story was written by Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s. Jane is no stranger to comic books. She writes her own book titled Lady Robotika. Check it out!
“Harvest of Fear” is by the legendary, Jim Woodring, best known for his anthropomorphic character, Frank. The story and art pays homage to the old E.C. Horror Comics. Bart buys a comic at a yard sale and gets pretty spooked by the scary tale within the book. Bart’s reality starts to unravel when the real world and the fantasy world of horror comic books collide. This is a truly fun read with a surprise ending.
Tags: bart simpson, comic book, halloween, homer, review, star wars, the simpsons
Posted in art, comic books | Comments (0)
Misfits – The Devil’s Rain
October 6th, 2011 by chocko
Devil’s Rain is the first album of new material by the Misfits in almost a decade. The current lineup is Jerry Only on bass and vocals, Dez Cadena on guitars and Eric “Chupacabra” Arce on drums. First let’s focus on the positive, the packaging of the CD is awesome especially the cover art. The cover of the album featuring the Crimson Ghost was done by Arthur Suydam, known for his work with Heavy Metal magazine and the Marvel Zombies series. The inside of the digipak also features more art by Suydam, the art from “Twilight of the Dead” single and killer photos of the band by Mick Rock. The CD, released on Misfits Records, also comes with a glow-in-the-dark poster of the coolest looking album cover ever by Suydam and on the reverse side-a new photo of the band!
At this point in time, Jerry is the only original member in the Misfits (maybe that’s why his name is Jerry Only?) and ever since Glenn Danzig left the iconic horror-punk band in 1983, fans have been having a tough time dealing with his absence. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of Jerry on lead vocals. His vocals come up flat at times and just lacks the power or anger to be singing punk songs. I actually would prefer Michale Graves back singing again. The album isn’t bad, all the elements are there: campy, horror themed punk rock (at times a little metal) songs mixed with some vintage rock influences and homages to sci-fi and classic monsters. Dez Cadena (original member of Black Flag) is in his 10th year as a member of the Misfits and he sings on two songs on the album, “Jack The Ripper” and “Death Ray”. The album was produced by Ed Stasium who produced the 1999 Misfits album “Famous Monsters” and whose track record includes working on albums by the Ramones and Talking Heads.
One of my favorites out of the new 16 songs are the Ramones influenced “Dark Shadows” where Jerry actually sounds decent on the track and the song is catchy. I also like “Father” which asks the question “Father have I the curse of the vampire?” which is a cool lyric. Jerry also sings best on 50’s inspired tracks “Monkey’s Paw” (co-written with Daniel Rey) and “Where Do They Go?” which includes girl backup vocals and handclaps. So, definitely give this disc a spin, but don’t expect to hear vintage Danzig-era stuff.
Tags: black flag, dez cadena, jerry only, ramones, review
Posted in music | Comments (0)
Feist played a Harlem Crypt
October 5th, 2011 by chocko
On the eve of the record release of her new album, “Metals”, Feist played in a crypt at the the Church of the Intercession on W. 155th St. in Harlem, NYC. It was an adventure getting the tickets, a record store in Brooklyn, Sound Fix had 100 tickets for the first people that pre-bought the new album. We luckily grabbed the last two tickets the store had and drove to Harlem and found parking right next to a cemetery. The small crowd of about 100 people were led into the creepy, dark, basement of the church where Feist played nearly an hour and a half of mostly new music along with a band which included a fellow Broken Social Scene member-Charles Spearin, an orchestra and backup singers-Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath, aka the folk trio Mountain Man. The performance was filmed by Mason Jar Music and hopefully we see some footage soon.
The incredible sounding acoustics in the room brought out the best in the music. The percussion sounded thundering, voices were crisp and the orchestra of strings, brass and woodwinds punctuated the new songs while breathing new life into the older Feist songs. Although, “1234” was written on a set list, I guess it was later decided to “86” it.
The small audience was treated to such a fun and special night of music in an intimate space. Hands down, my favorite highlight of the show was Feist’s performance of the new song “Graveyard” where the polite crowd whooped it up when the song crescendoed and sang the “Whoa, oh oh oh! Bring them all back to life” chorus at the end of the song. The crowd started up the sing along again for no reason at the start of the encore, with the band and backup singers joining in too. The song is that catchy!
SET LIST
A Commomotion
Undiscovered First
Mushaboom
How Come You Never Go There
The Bad In Each Other
The Circle Married The Line
So Sorry
Bittersweet Melodies
Anti-Pioneer
Woe Be
Sea Lion
Caught A Long Wind
Graveyard
Comfort Me
Get It Wrong, Get It Right
ENCORE
Pine Moon
When I Was A Young Girl
Let It Die
video by hypeceo
photos by chocko
Tags: broken social scene, church of intercession, lelie feist, mountain man, new york city, nyc, secret show
Posted in music | Comments (0)
