Rubix Kube with special guests TIFFANY & DEBBIE GIBSON in NYC

January 23rd, 2011 by Mr. C

Rubix Kube’s 80’s tribute band with guests Tiffany & Debbie Gibson performed at the Canal Room this past saturday! It was hella fun as I machine gun blasted my fists into the air & alternately twisted my hips from side to side with my arms flailing in unison like courtney cox in Springsteen’s dancing in the dark video! I couldn’t see what Chocko was doing, but my antennas sensed some pretty dynamic movements going on to the side of me! It was a fun night as I instantly flashbacked to my martian teenage years when 1980’s inspired movie images, TV Shows, & music icons were projected onto a screen set in back of the stage while performances were being had.


Images of Back to the future, Karate Kid, Family Ties, Devo, National Lampoon’s vacation, Coming to America, The Goonies, Alf, Smurfs, Care Bears, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, & the likes were constantly being refreshed on the screen! Rubix Kube slowly stepped onto the stage to the music of Kenny Loggins’ FOOTLOOSE like heavyweight prize fighers were getting introduced into a boxing match! RK then played the classic ROCKY Theme music as their opener! I was definitely getting my punching combination scenerios coordinated in my head! The cover band played 80’s hits like Loverboy’s Working for the weekend, Rick Springfield’s Jessies Girl, Walking on sunshine, A-HA’s Take on me, hey Mickey, Devo’s Whip it, Madonna’s Into the groove & Like a virgin, MJ’s Billy Jean, 99 red balloons, Eddie Money’s Take me home tonight, Video Killed the radio star, & some more classics that I can’t quite remember right now.


The 1st special guest to appear on the stage was Tiffany! She looked & sounded great! She sang Could’ve Been & I Think were alone now while busting out a few synchronous dance moves with the rubix kube band members!


Debbie Gibson anchored the set with some major hits of her own like Shake your love, Electric Youth, & Only in my dreams! Gibson also ripped up the dance floor with some throwback dance moves like the roger rabbit, a modified wop, & new kids on the block dance!


The finale was OFF the planet chocko spaceship radar when Debbie Gibson & Tiffany both came out to sing a duet version of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing! It was an epic performance FO SHO! It was a fun time to be had & it was awesome to see that 80’s musac still lives on! Right on! Rubix Kube did a great job playing live 80’s mock up music, but the hairstyles from that era had me thinking, what da bluck were we thinking of?! The big hair, glam rock, waynes world, mullets, chow yun fat, & flock of sea gulls hairdo, what da?! Almost seemed like a circus sideshow act with clowns after a while! Who am I kidding?!….I’m still sporting my David Hasselhoff hairdo as long as I have hair! Peace! Oh, & I hope Chocko is gonna tell his rendition of the performance, too with bonus droppings of some funky funky rhymes wit some funky funky style pics & vid! Chocko-san looked like he was gonna B-Boy battle some crew from alphabet city when the madonna tunes came on! A one-two..A one-two!!!



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Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield played Maxwell’s

January 21st, 2011 by chocko



The Evan Dando & Juliana Hatfield show rolled into Hoboken, New Jersey last night and played to an enthusiastic soldout crowd. Aly Spaltro a.k.a. Lady Lamb The Beekeeper opened up the night with poetic songs with strong vocals and guitar. She easily quieted down the crowd and had everybody’s full attention during her set which is not an easy thing to do when people don’t really know who you are and there’s a bar in the back with people getting their drink on. She recently won the folk artist of the year award for the Boston Music Awards and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from her in the near future. The room eventually filled up and everybody moved forward to get a closer look the the night’s headliners. I guess if you don’t know, Evan Dando founded the band, The Lemonheads which was pretty big in the 90’s and put out a bunch of albums including “It’s a Shame About Ray” with catchy alt-rock songs and a cover of “Mrs. Robinson” which got them a lot of attention. The album is a near-perfect pop-rock album and I think one of the best that came out at that time when grunge was all the rage. After about a 6 year hiatus, Evan reformed the band with a new lineup in 2004 and continues to record and play shows. Juliana Hatfield played in a Boston indie band, Blake Babies and after they broke up in 1991 she went solo, recorded a bunch of great albums which produced songs like “my sister” and “spin the bottle.” With all the attention, she sort of became a huge role model to a lot of young girls at the time for her views on issues that concerned young women. What’s interesting is that both Evan and Juliana have performed on each others albums but never toured or performed together until recently. Needless to say, I was pretty psyched for this show. After a short break, Evan and Juliana hopped on stage with their acoustic guitars and sang, taking turns on lead vocals and backing each other up through out the night. A screen behind them was set up and showed videos of driving through city streets and highways which played while they performed. Evan and Juliana looked the same as I remembered them from the 90’s when Lemonheads cassettes played in my car nonstop and at a time when everybody had a crush on Juliana. Anyone remember that “universal heartbeat” video MTV used to play? Oh, yeah she’s still a dream and her voice still sounds super sweet. Evan was rocking long hair again and a scruffy look, sang with his smooth vocals and played all the songs we came out to hear. The set included solo stuff, lots of Lemonheads songs, three Blake Babies songs, a Teenage Fanclub cover and a Gram Parsons song, “$1000 wedding” which Evan performed on a covers album. My only beef was that there was no encore… I guess both of them didn’t feel like playing more at the end of the night (I heard Juliana telling Evan that he could do another if he liked, while putting away her guitar) so they just bolted off the stage. It was a fun night of songs that brought back a lot of great memories. Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield are a perfect combination and I hope they play again together and come back soon.

SET LIST
all my life (Evan Dando)
butterflies (Juliana Hatfield)
bit part (Lemonheads)
brain damage (Blake Babies)
cells (Teenage Fanclub)
choose drugs (Juliana Hatfield)
down about it (Lemonheads)
what is wrong (Juliana Hatfield)
hospital (Lemonheads)
it’s about time (Lemonheads)
my darling (Juliana Hatfield)
paid to smile (Lemonheads)
rain (Blake Babies)
ride with me (Lemonheads)
it’s a shame about ray (Lemonheads)
somebody’s waiting for me (Juliana Hatfield)
so alone (Juliana Hatfield)
outdoor type (Lemonheads)
$1000 wedding (Gram Parsons)
waiting for heaven (Blake Babies)
drug buddy (Lemonheads)

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Rock And Roll Reunion #2 at Continental

January 20th, 2011 by chocko


Continental, located at St. Mark’s Place in New York City closed its doors in 2006 after a long run of hosting live rock shows only to reopen as a trendy bar without live music. It sucked for the music scene in NYC which had already lost some legendary spots to catch live music such as Coney Island High and CBGB. However, last Sunday the rock returned to St. Mark’s Place and all the misfits and cretins including Chocko and Mr. C came out to check out some of the bands that played there in the past. I missed their set, but I heard that Furious George kicked some major ass. Punk Rock! I caught the last song of The Threads set. They sounded awesome and the lead singer looked familiar-Mike fronted the L.E.S. Stitches back in the day and played at the club plenty of times. There were plenty of highlights that night including Bebe Buell (Playboy’s Miss November 1974) who looked and sounded great. Just a little quick fact: She’s Liv Tyler’s mom. Local NYC band, The Bullys also were on the bill and pissed off and ready to start a bar room brawl when their microphones weren’t working. They are badass and their punk songs about fast food, crappy jobs and dating sluts are the best around. The Bullys was started by Johhny Heff back in 1997 who was also a NYC firefighter who lost his life on 9/11. He had an incredible stage presence and you could tell he had a great work ethic and really believed in the band. I e-mailed him one night back in the day with a bunch of questions for an interview for our little ‘zine and the following morning I woke up to his e-mail and the entire interview completed. I’ll never forget that. He was such a cool dude…may he rest in peace. Trigger’s Allstars featured workers from the club and a Bully on guitar who played a bunch of cover songs to get the crowd pumped including some Ramones tunes. Sea Monster played a loud set of drunken punk biker blues and had some of the ladies in a frenzy. One lady took her top off and her big titties were flying all over the place. Amazing. God Bless Sea Monster. The Waldos featuring Walter Lure of The Heartbreakers were also on the bill. Walter has the energy of a man half his age and he definitely put on a great show performing songs such as “Monkey Business” and “Chinese Rocks” a rather saucier version than the slightly tamer Ramones’ version. For me, the reason for going there that night was the CJ Ramone set featuring Daniel Rey on guitar and Michael Stamberg (Eggplant Queens) on drums doing a full Ramones set. CJ donning the Yankees cap played an excellent set which included blitzkrieg bop, judy is a punk, beat on the brat, cretin hop, endless vacation, sheena is a punk rocker, my back pages, pet cemetary, strength to endure, listen to my heart, wart hog, commando, pinhead, i wanna be sedated and r.a.m.o.n.e.s. It was 2:30 AM by the time CJ’s set was done and it was definitely a fun blast from the past. I hope they all do it again next year.



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JIAN GUI aka THE EYE (2002)

January 16th, 2011 by Mr. C

Director: The Pang brothers
Actors: Angelica Lee,Lawrence Chou,Chutja Rujinanon
Genre: Horror,drama,thriller

JIAN GUI or GIN GWAI in cantonese is literally translated to “seen a ghost” in chinese. The western masses might know this original chinese film under the name, THE EYE. I’ve heard a few “expert” movie analysts slaughter this film in their reviews, but this E.T. found this ghostly piece to be an entertaining flick! JIAN GUI inspired directors David Moreau & Xavier Palud to remake this movie in 2008 for the rest of the united foreign nations which casted heavy hitter & easy on THE EYE, Jessica Alba!
The Pang brothers did an awesome job of adding nuggets & bon bons to the cinema trail tantalizing the viewer into putting pieces of the movie puzzle together to formulate the story of JIAN GUI! Without divulging too much information, Mun Mun is a blind young lady who lives life to the fullest even with her misfortunes. She excels in playing the violin, & escorts herself throughout hong kong like nobodies business. Mun Mun finally gets her wishes & gets a cornea transplant from a donor that lost her life unexpectedly. A mun slowly readjusts to life when she suddenly gains an added sense that she has been living without almost all of her existence. With all of these added features to the new eyes came a bonus track that suprises her, she can see spirits of the deceased when no one else can. Mun Mun tries to come to grips, but is frustrated that nobody else believes her. She hauntingly sees flashbacks to unfamiliar situations which is driving her paranoid. A mun can also forcast when death looms because she can see dark faded figures appear before lives are whisked away. Luckily, one person is by her side and they both go on a trip to thailand to trace the life of her eye donor. With this information, they unearth the reason behind JIAN GUI!
I really enjoyed the emotional ride of this film! I also found THE EYE with Jessica Alba pretty entertaining as well. There are a few modifications here & there with the western version because certain scenes would probably not translate well to the american audience in the name of religion & customs. Not a spoiler either, but Thailand in JIAN GUI is Mexico in THE EYE. And one last popcorn kernel, the ending of both of these movies are a bit different, but they achieve the same results! Got it?! Now, watch it!

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THE YOUNG MASTER (1980)

January 13th, 2011 by Mr. C

Director: Jackie Chan
Actors: Jackie Chan,Yuen Biao,Shek Kin,Lily Li,Hwang In Shik

This film blew my mind when my alien eyes first laid contact with her on WNEW’s Channel 5 drive in movie in the mid 1980’s! This was Jackie Chan’s 2nd directorial piece & it was truly a GEM in my galaxy! The fighting choreography in all its serious, & slapstick glory was nothing that I have ever seen before during my egg foo young tours. The movie was clearly Jackie’s comedic inspired kung fu flavored ramen oodles of technically sound choreographed action scenes that would make buster keaton clap silently. Don’t get me wrong, the plot of the story cannot hold a candle nor is as elaborate as some of the Shaw Brother pieces, but pound for pound the fight sequences in THE YOUNG MASTER single handedly put this film on my top 20 list of all time in the chi-neez variety! The all star cast included Jackie Chan himself, the grandfather of chinese cinema..drumroll…Shek Kin(other neophytes might know him as Han on Enter the Dragon), Lily Li, Yuen Biao, Lee Hoi San, & the real life Hap Ki Do master himself, HWANG IN SHIK! Master Hwang is one bad ass mofo! He accounted for 75% of what blew my mind when 1st watching this! It’s amazing watching a professional martial artist do his thing with a korean bon chon fling. It was truly art on the screen when watching this hap ki do master perform devastating kicks, joint locks, & punching combinations in some baskin robbins flavor that you have never tasted before. Jackie was very impressive as well. His acrobatic kung fu style is candy to the eyes while the character that he portrays is very playful & harmless, but deadly when provoked. Jackie’s expert handling of weapons like the chinese fan, the bamboo pole, a skirt, a smoking pipe, or basically anything that he lays his hands on is amazing! Yuen Biao added some nice spice to the film by providing some off the yin yang fighting himself. Hong Kong legend, Shek Kin does his thing with a comedic swing, but lets Jackie know that he can get as serious as a heart attack like Mr. Han Man if he has to! The action tid bits that really stood out to me in this film include the opening scene with the lion dance competition, the fight scene between Lily Li in her skirt with Jackie, the Jackie & Yuen Biao fight, the prisoner getaway scene, Shek Kin & Yuen Biao arresting Jackie, Jackie using a skirt to fight the bodyguards, & the final EPIC fight scene between Jackie & Hwang In Shik! Don’t get me wrong, this film isn’t for everybody. The fight sequences are long, there is plenty of humor, & the plot of the film is suspect. But, if you are a martial arts fan, you will undeniably recognize the fine wine associated with this film. Heheehee, this might be the 1st review of a movie to which no mention of a story line was given by the writer. What da, what?! Guess, y’all have to watch the movie yourselves to see what planet chocko sees! Only a true drunken master would understand! The YOUNG MASTER put Jackie on the kung fu map of stardom before THE POLICE STORY movies blew up! Oh by the way, depending on what version of the movie you see, the fight scene at the end with Jackie & Hwang In Shik is about 15 minutes long! Trust me it sounds long, but it’s martial arts at its best shakespearian format! Check it, check it out…y’all!

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Dar Williams: Live at the Bell House in Brooklyn

January 9th, 2011 by Mr. C

Dar Williams performed at the Bell House in Brooklyn last friday, January 6th! She was originally scheduled to play on the day after Christmas but that show was canceled due to snow AND snow we got, almost 2 feet worth! It was definitely a bummer because I wanted to catch her perform while everyone was in a festive, joyful mood! Nevertheless, it’s always a treat to watch her live! The performance space reminded me of a large barnyard stable with a cowboy rustic feel mixed in with modern commercial ductwork draped on the ceiling, a large buffalo or bull artwork hanging (I failed at identifying all the animals correctly in Noah’s ark in elementary school), exposed rafters, & monster chandeliers suspended from the heavens. The setup, configuration of the stage, & sound were pretty darn pleasing to the eyes & ears. Dar Williams’ voice sounded crisp & her rhythmic guitar playing were spot on as she hit all her chords with ninja precision! She was funny as all hell like usual as she introduced some of the songs before she played them. For instance, she mentioned the real inspiration to her song, TEEN FOR GOD…the cute boys in church during her adolescent years! She had also talked about how freaky it was when she was starting to break out in the music business around the same time that Kurt Cobain had died. Dar & Kurt shared the same birth year, 1967. It definitely was a reality check for her, although she mentioned that her lifestyle was completely different from Cobain’s of course. Dar also reminisced about the time when her management team approached her to ask if she was interested in opening up for ANI DiFranco. She was like hells yeah!
She gave some more background info to her song, BUZZER which is about a social psychological experiment commonly known as the milgram experiment. This experiment was conducted in 1963 to measure how much pain a person would inflict on another person if ordered to. Now, I get the song! “I press the buzzer…I press the buzzer!”.
Dar played a song that she does every so often called AGING WELL. It’s a tune about body image, self discovery, & maturity. Joan Baez had covered this original Dar Williams song quite a number of times. You can check out this exclusive tune above from her performance at the Bell House! (lighting was dark but the audio was good!)
She played a new song called THIS EARTH ( I think that’s the name of the song). My faves of the night included AFTER ALL, FEBRUARY, AGING WELL, IOWA, TEEN FOR GOD, & MIDNIGHT RADIO, a cover from Stephen Trask. Dar also played an inspirational song called THE HUDSON to pay homage to the Tri state area (Connecticut,New York, & New Jersey)! She ended the night with a softer tempo flow of the BABYSITTER’s HERE! Another good night, another entertaining performance by Dar Williams. GOODBYE!
OHhh, and check out Dar’s GREEN BLOG on the Huffington Post at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dar-williams

Set List
Spring Street
Easy Way
Beauty of the Rain
Teen for God
If I wrote you
buzzer
Tide falls away
aging well
Iowa
Ocean
this earth
After All
cool as i am
Mercy of the Fallen
Midnight Radio
The Hudson
February
babysitters here

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THE KILLER SNAKES (1974)

January 6th, 2011 by Mr. C

Director: Chih-Hung Kuei
Actors: Kwok-Leung Gan, Lin Lin Li

Everyone usually associates Shaw Brother Studios with creating epic period piece kung fu action films, but they also got a hand in the horror, sex, & exploitation cookie jar, too! Case in point, THE KILLER SNAKES. This movie has got to be one of the most sleaziest exploit films that the Shaw Brothers has ever released! There’s plenty of topless action, s&m, & violence that would make the Shining look like a G-Rated movie. Never mind the cruelty to all the snakes that were filmed. I’m sure in 1974, there were no CGI or fancy pants software to superimpose inanimate objects. Just ask Jackie Chan!
Oh yes, the story! It’s 1970’s Hong Kong when a young adult has flashbacks to when he was a kid watching his mother get tied up by her significant other while getting whipped into S&M submission. Witnessing these incidents as a kid has turned him into a social misfit with similiar fetishes as a young adult. He dreams of tying up woman & whipping them into a sexual disposition. He struggles with day to day routines & gets robbed by a prostitute & pimp of his delivery job money. He is a total outcast in his own mindset. His only outlet is when he came upon a snake that is left for dead which he rehabilitates. In Hong Kong, drinking snake blood mixed with alcohol is an aphrodisiac. Drinking the blood of a snake from the gall bladder was said to bring sterility and strength. Some snakes would get skinned & then gutted while others would just get gutted for the gall bladder & then tossed aside. With his new found snake friend, he meets other snakes that need rehabilitation, too! Soon, he will have an army of snakes by his side willing to lash out on moments notice! The turning point for this young man in the movie is when he patronizes a brothel, but gets robbed in the end by the prostitute & pimp, yet again! With his snake buddies on hand, you can imagine what will come next! Before murdering the lady of the night, he satisfies his fetish before ordering the snakes to take a bite out of crime! Besides snakes, a komodo dragon reptile makes an appearance on the set as well! That is one scary looking mofo! There is one scene where the snakes were flying around every which way to attack the low life pimp assailant. As a defense, the pimp slashes the snakes with a machete as if they were like spaghetti! I hope there were props to properly display this snake massacre when they filmed this sequence….but, I don’t think so! As a side story, a young lady turns to prostitution after losing her father unexpectedly. She meets her fate when the snake man intervenes!
This movie is definitely not for the sqeamish! There’s plenty of breastesses, category III HK sex, horror, violence, & unfriendly PETA scenes dashing around that would probably scare Stephen King away, but make Art Crumb happy! Wait, on second thought King might enjoy this, too!
THE KILLER SNAKES is a depressing, quirky, & sleazy sexploitation film that probably could of won best film of the year awards if it were showcased in NYC’s Times Square area at the raunchy grindhouse theatres in the 1970’s & 1980’s which is precisely why you have to watch it! Just remember to turn the volume down if your little ones are around because there is lots of moaning, groaning, & screaming going on from ecstacy, murder, & horror! Do you know where your snakes are today?!

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ZATOICHI MEETS THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1971)

December 31st, 2010 by Mr. C

Director: Kimiyashi Yasuda
Actors: Shintaro Katsu, Jimmy Wang Yu

My 2 favorite swordsmen from 2 different genres collide! A walk on water Shaw Brother character meets the blind gambling swordmaster!
Both with physical defects that would cripple the mere mortal, but these mythical legends with enhanced awareness turn their misfortunes into lethal weapons! The legendary ZATOICHI, a blind masseur with extraordinary samurai skills moves swiftly & gracefully with quick and precise slashings of doom while the ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN has mastered the technique of the iron palm coupled with sweet buttery nipple moves with his short curved stunted blade that any crocodile hunter would wish for. That, tripled with extraordinary aerial skills that even the crouching tiger-hidden dragon would have a hard time keeping up with! The end result is an amazing blend of asian fusion cinema that mashes up 2 well known characters into something called: ZATOICHI MEETS THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN!

The skinny of the movie without spilling the rice porridge is that Jimmy Wang Yu, who plays the one armed swordsman defects to japan in refuge to a buddhist temple to escape the enemies that have been building up in his native home of china. Jimmy Wang Yu meets a chinese family of 3 hustling on the streets of countryside japan with a Peking Opera like performance. The one armed bandit & this chinese family instantly hit it off & they all stroll to a nearby restaurant to celebrate when…hell breaks loose. The kid from the chinese family loses his kite & it flows directly in front of a procession of japanese samurai parading a bunch of expensive abalone to the yakuza. At first, I thought it was a funeral procession but, I guess those samurai’s are deeply one with seafood! Talk about giving the bouncer at a club a stink eye! The chinese father & mother both lose their lives to protect their kid because of a kite that flew into a path of a few nazi swordsmen. This left the One armed swordsman no choice but to take some lives of a few bad, bad japanese men. Wang Kang disperses when chinese cleaver meets jap flesh meanwhile the chinese kid flees & happens upon Zatoichi. The bad japanese men slaughter a few more innocent lives that witness the senseless killings of the chinese family. The “rearranged” story now is that the chinese one armed swordsman is the crazed devil that murdered the samurai & the innocent ones. A heavy reward is issued to anyone that can bring the head of the one armed chinese bandit! As far as Zatoichi knows, he thinks the chinese man is the assassin. The story takes a few twists & turns as the one armed swordsman continues on his path to this Buddhist temple in the countryside to meet his monk friend & to escape the japanese assassins looking for their scapegoat. A few more twists & turns of the story leads me off the cliff with a final end fight that pits the sloppy in appearance but, sharp in skill ZATOICHI vs the handsome looking one armed raggamuffin of a swordsman! This fight will leave both of them scarred with a bit of chinese & japanese soul lodged in between them! Suddenly, I have a craving for chino & japones food!

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RIGHTING WRONGS aka ABOVE THE LAW (1986)

December 28th, 2010 by Mr. C

Director: Corey Yuen
Actors: Yuen Biao,Cynthia Rothrock,Melvin Wong,Corey Yuen

Righting Wrongs aka Above the Law is on my all time top 3 list of Hong Kong action films from the 1980’s fo-sho! I did a brief write-up of this movie in the printed version of Planet Chocko a galaxy ago, but this movie is so nice, I’m writing about it twice and maybe, thrice if you give me some more time! It stars Yuen Biao of the famed 7 little fortunes of the Peking Opera School in Hong Kong (which includes Sammo,Jackie Chan,Yuen Wah,Corey Yuen,Yuen Tak, & Yuen Bun). Cynthia Rothrock is another diamond in the rough that made a name for herself with the character that she played in this movie! Cynthia’s stuntwork, & fighting skills are 2nd to none! We’ve met Cynthia Rothrock in person at the Chiller Theatre convention in NJ some years ago & she mentioned that YUEN BIAO is one of the most talented & controlled martial artists that she has ever worked with in filmmaking! That is saying alot! Rothrock also mentioned that RIGHTING WRONGS is one of her personal favorites! It’s one of my personal favorites, too! It’s to no surprise Cynthia shined on the screen because she is a champion martial artist in real life! Corey Yuen, the director of the movie also plays a character in the film called “bad egg”. Corey Yuen & Yuen Biao were the brains & the mechanical robot that drove the energy of Righting Wrongs & let me tell you, this movie was flatout R-A-W with all the crazy stunts, the acrobatic-fighting choreography, & twisted story. Don’t worry, I won’t spill the rice & provide any spoilers for this film! Yuen Biao plays a HK prosecutor that is frustrated with the justice system & decides to take things in his own hands. Biao eventually runs into a hot shot HK police woman played by Rothrock who suspects Yuen Biao of foul play. They play a game of good cop, bad prosecutor until they both discover the twisted truth behind the injustice. There are some great fight scenes between Rothrock & Yuen Biao as well as an off the meat rack estrogen encounter between Rothrock & karate champion in real life, Karen Sheperd! Another fun fight sequence involved Rothrock & a mahjong gambling house! The action is often raw, & there are senseless killings of innocent people & family members in the movie! YESsss! The final fight scene between Melvin Wong, Cynthia Rothrock, & lastly, Yuen Biao joining the bulls on parade is entertaining to say the least! I’ve heard that Sammo Hung was the guest fight choreographer in the fight scene with Melvin & Biao! The finale scene involves Yuen Biao and an airplane! There is an alternate ending to RIGHTING WRONGS(chinese version) aka ABOVE THE LAW(american version) that caters to either the chopstick enthusiast or the knife & fork wielder. The chinese version is classic for the chopstick holder while the american version is classic for well…the Leave it to Beaver connoisseur…sort of! Luckily for you, you can see both endings with the DRAGON DYNASTY released DVD of ABOVE THE LAW! Otherwise, you might have to grab RIGHTING WRONGS in your nearby chinatown for the chinese inspired ending and somehow, find the dubbed version of RIGHTING WRONGS aka Above the Law in an old video store like in Kevin Smith’s, CLERKS or KIM’S UNDERGROUND in NYC if they still exist! I personally like the chi-neez version because it’s more of a…..Tra..tra..train wreck!

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Kathleen Hanna Project at Knitting Factory

December 17th, 2010 by chocko

Last Saturday at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn NYC was a night to honor and appreciate Kathleen Hanna, founding member of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and an outspoken feminist who was instrumental in shaping the riot grrrl movement through punk rock music and ‘zines since the early 90’s. The sold out show was also being filmed by Sini Anderson for an upcoming documentary about Kathleen. It was a great night of music, spoken word and dance and every band on the bill performed awesome Kathleen Hanna covers. There were so many highlights and early in the night Kaia Wilson (Team Dresch and The Butchies) rocked us with a slow song, “pretty is” by Kathleen’s old band Suture. I think it’s only available on 7″ vinyl and has been long out of print. Toshi Reagon just blew us all away with a passionate, acoustic version of Le Tigre’s “keep on living” which got the crowd singing along. The young, all-girl punk band, Care Bears on Fire, did a helluva job on Le Tigre’s “my my metrocard” and made it look so damn easy. Bridget Everett rocked the house in her bra and panties with “after dark” with the help of Kathleen’s husband, Adam Horovitz a.k.a. Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys on the bass. Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) read from Kathleen Hanna’s riot grrrl manifesto while her husband and fellow band mate Thurston Moore watched from the crowd of people which also included Joan Jett. Men, featuring Le Tigre’s JD Samson, performed a Bikini Kill tune titled “double dare ya.”

The night came to a close with Murray Hill introducing the world premiere of Kathleen Hanna’s new band Julie Ruin which features another Bikini Kill member-Kathi Wilcox! There was a Julie Ruin album out on Kill Rock Stars Records in 1997, but the band never performed live. Kathleen looked and sounded great. She sang a few songs and started up right off the bat with Bikini Kill’s “this is not a test” followed by two Julie Ruin songs: “V.G.I.” and “radical or pro-parental” and ending it off with the Le Tigre song “hot topic.” For an encore she played a brand new song titled, “cookie road.”  It was a memorable night of music which we won’t forget about for a long time.  Keep your eyes open for the documentary, Kathleen Hanna Project which is in production.  Kathleen did mention that a new Julie Ruin album was in the works too. Does that mean more shows?  I hope so!




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HEROINE SUSAN: SISTER OF THE SHANTUNG BOXER (1973)

December 13th, 2010 by Mr. C

Director: Wong Hung Cheung
Actors: Wong Ping, Charlie Chin Chiang Lin, Jack Long

This movie was an unofficial sequel to the famed BOXER FROM SHANTUNG that was released by Shaw Brother Studios. HEROINE SUSAN: SISTER OF THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG was directed by Wong Hung Cheung & produced by a film company from Taiwan. It stars kickass chick Wong Ping, Charlie Chin Chiang Lin, & old school fave actor of many wutang kung fu cult fans: Jack Long. Wong Ping plays Ma Su Chen, the sister of Ma Yong Cheng who was ambushed & killed by the Axe Gang from Shanghai in the 1st movie, Boxer from Shantung. Charlie Chin plays a devout friend of Ma Yong Cheng looking to seek blood in honor of his friend. Charlie Chin was famous for playing comedic roles in Jackie Chan movies like “Twinkle Twinkle Luck Stars”, “My Lucky Stars”, & “Winners and Sinners” amongst his vast filmography. He was often cast as a smooth talking ladies man , I’m a “lover not a fighter” type of character. To my amazement, this 1973 directed film displayed Charlie Chin as a serious brotherman with extraordinary kung fu mojo who swats the bad guys around like some dirty lint on your triple fat goose down jacket. Wong Ping shows why she might give Angela Mao Ying a dirty cat fight if they ever tangoed fist to fist. Jack Long who is famous for playing movie roles opposite of the Ghost-Faced Killer(Mark Long) is the Japanese Samurai hired by the Axe Gang in order to erradicate Ma Su Cheng & Charlie Chin’s character since the gang proves no match for this blood thirsty duo of the chinese version of the “six million dollar man” & “bionic woman” of kung fu proportions! Revenge for Ma Yong Cheng is the main bullet point of this movie as the Tan Gang & the Sister of the Boxer from Shantung team up to issue a can of chopsocky whoopass on anything named AXE GANG! The fighting choreography was pretty crisp considering the basher style mentality during that era. Charlie Chin surprised the hell out of me with his flying jump kicks & throwdowns with the gang! I’m accustomed to Chin playing characters that sweet talk the chics into his love shack while Jackie Chan shows his action muscles! The fight scene in the casino was one of the highlights of the film as was the fight at the Teahouse with the Japanese killers at the end with Jack Long. With all these axes, & empty handed fists/kicks of mass destruction flying around, it still comes down to a tale of the firearm that would determine the victor!

Big ups to “FU-Subs” who are a conglomerate of all stars from the Kung Fu Cinema forum that provide us fans with rare movies that are hard to find. FUsubs translates the movies into english subtitles & restores the movie for our viewing pleasures!

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brooklyn street art

December 11th, 2010 by chocko

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