Category: Film

Orange Sunshine

Aah the late 60s. Hippies! Summer of love! Groovy music!

LSD.

Check this trailer for an upcoming documentary of The Brotherhood Of Eternal Love, entitled Orange Sunshine:

More about The Brotherhood docu here:

The group’s headquarters, a Laguna Beach head shop called Mystic Arts World, mysteriously burned down in 1970, and two years later, law enforcement indicted several dozen members of the group. Those who weren’t arrested fled overseas. The story of the Brotherhood is one of the strangest chapters of American counter-cultural history, yet 40 years after its inception during the so-called Summer of Love, it’s one that remains little-understood and, outside the confines of Laguna Canyon, all but unknown.

“As one former member — who spoke on the condition of anonymity — told me, ‘If you remember it, you weren’t there.'”

Heh.

Some YoYo Stuff

Evaristo kindly points out this 1993 Capt. Beefheart documentary by Anton Corbijn, available online.

His quite abrupt artistic transformation from working with a microphone to a paintbrush in 1982 and his consequent move from the desert to the ocean meant even less direct contact with the outside world than before. Subsequently there is very little information about Don from this time onwards and this short black-and-white film made in 1993 is an unique opportunity to see and hear this unique man.

I remember seeing this when it was first aired on VPRO. Well worth a moment of your time.

40 Minute Psychedelic Version (2)

ed-seeman-40-min-psychedelic.jpgYou may recall my mentioning this film by Ed Seeman a while ago. I got to see it recently and thought a little more info could be of (your) interest.

Of the 14 hours of footage Ed shot with Zappa, what’s shown here is a compressed (surprise!) 40 minute version. We see the Mothers recording at Apostolic Studio’s, Greenwich Village NYC ’67, then follow them along their European tour (London, Amsterdam). Included are shots from the Royal Albert Hall rehearsals as well as Zappa on the London sidewalks generally baffling pedestrians by pointing his audio-recording kit at them.

No voice-overs or interviews throughout the film. To make up for that though there’s the fantastic musical score taken from bits of Freak Out!, Absolutely Free and Lumpy Gravy (the all instrumental Capitol version, no less). Notable appearances: Cal Schenkel preparing a doll for the WOIIFTM cover, Suzy Creamcheese, home footage with Gail and baby Moon, Arthur Brown, and the London Groupies.

For more info and to purchase the DVD, visit Ed Seeman’s homepage.

Chameleon

And you thought Zelig was fiction? Think again:

When with doctors, AD assumes the role of a doctor; when with psychologists he says he is a psychologist; at the solicitors he claims to be a solicitor. AD doesn’t just make these claims, he actually plays the roles and provides plausible stories for how he came to be in these roles.

I’d love to know what happens when he’s in the presence of a rabbi…

Maestro

Five minutes before his big performance, the Maestro and his persistent mechanical assistant are in preparation mode. As the clock ticks, life at the top is not all it seems. The multi award-winning Maestro blends an operatic aria with CG animation.

Hungarian animation. An Oscar nominee. Hah.

For There Is Life Beyond MOFO!

Bernard sent me this link to a music survey and although I don’t consider myself to be much of a “musician”, thought it would be fun to post my responses here anyway. Without further ado:

Give us an example or two of an especially good or interesting:

  1. Movie score:
  2. TV theme:
  3. Melody:
    • Sufjan Stevens‘ “They Also Mourn Who Do Not Wear Black”, from “Michigan”
    • Elliott Smith‘s “Everything Means Nothing To Me”, from “Figure 8”
  4. Harmonic language: Rufus Wainwright and Sufjan Stevens, again — one of the most original composers of recent years
  5. Rhythmic feel: Doh: The Black Page!
  6. Hip-hop track:
  7. Classical piece:
  8. Smash hit:
  9. Jazz album:
  10. Non-American folkloric group:
  11. Book on music: David Walley‘s Teenage Nervous Breakdown

Bonus questions:

  1. Name a surprising album (or albums) you loved when you were developing as a musician: something that really informs your sound but that we would never guess in a million years: Neil Young – After the Goldrush, Harvest, Zuma
  2. Name a practitioner (or a few) who play your instrument that you think is underrated:
  3. Name a rock or pop album that you wish had been a smash commercial hit (but wasn’t, not really):
  4. Name a favorite drummer, and an album to hear why you love that drummer: doh: Terry Bozzio, ZINY.

That’s all I have time for now — I may be adding stuff later…