happy tunesday! skipping records

Do you know that feeling you get when you hear a song for the first time and it just seems so right? To clarify, it's not just a song you've never heard, but a band you've never heard of. Somehow you feel right at home with the song like it's been part of your soul forever, even if you didn't know it. It's a sublime moment. The kind to cherish. I had that moment today. In the car. Going to a doctor's appointment.

But it got even better. Ethan, the kid whose musical taste has virtually no overlap with mine, was singing along. I asked if he was singing along, and he quickly denied it. But a few measures later he was doing it again. That time I didn't say anything. I just enjoyed the moment.

I made sure to memorize the title and band name so I could find them later. "Spinning Records" by The Shang Hi Los. For all I knew it could have been from the 1980's -- it was played right after Graham Parker's "Local Girls" (1979). But it had a more recent, grungier sound. So it could have been newer. 1980 to today covers a lot of time. And, strictly speaking, there are clear influences from earlier.

At home I learned that the group is from Boston, and the song is from their debut album, Kick It Like a Wicked Bad Habit (my copy, ordered this evening, should be coming on Friday) which was released earlier this year. I could go on and on about it, but just listen.

happy tunesday! she'll fall for me

 Many thanks to my friends, Keith and Christina Crocker, for introducing me to this video. It's of interest for a variety of reasons.

Notably, it features Christopher Lee, whom I am most familiar with as a horror film actor. Lee is kind of wooden here as a singer, but that stiffness actually helps draw the contrast between himself and Gary Curtis, the lead vocalist.

The song also sounds a lot like Nick Lowe (circa the Cowboy Outfit era). That said, it also reminds me of Dire Straits' "Twisting by the Pool." It's a really catchy song, even if it is kind of disposable.

Finally, Gary Curtis' look and manner remind me of a guy at work. Discretion prevents me from naming him.

 

cinema history class: the screaming skull

Session: Get Some Skull, Week 4
Movie: The Screaming Skull (1958)
Directed by Alex Nicol

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Plot:
Newly married Eric, brings his rich but nervous bride to the palatial home he inherited from his first wife after she drowned. There, the newlyweds are haunted by her ghost. Horror ensues.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

Ethan put it best when he called this movie "a good fun fifties film."

SS isn't particularly deep, but it's a lot of fun. The scares are humorous, the visual effects are great, and the story itself is spooky. In some ways it plays like an extended Twilight Zone. The red herrings are good distractions, and the element of gaslighting adds interest.

This really was a fun film.  

 

Ratings

Me: 8.5

Bob-O: 9

Christina: 8.7

Dave: 9.5

Ethan: 7.5

who makes the fog surrounding the golden gate simply disappear?

When Phyllis, Cloris Leachman's spinoff from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I wasn't what you'd call a regular viewer. I loved MTM, but just didn't get into the spinoff. I vaguely recall trying a couple episodes and not liking it. But I have few specific memories other than frequent mention of "Lars" and the clever theme song. So, for decades I thought of Phyllis as a sort of inferior copy of MTM.

But, recently, I found the first episode on Youtube. I forget how or why it came up, but there it was. And I started watching it. And found it quite funny -- not hysterical laugh-out-loud funny, but clever. So now I've been watching complete episodes on Youtube -- sadly, I can't seem to find them anywhere else.

I think my favorite character is Audrey (Phyllis' air-headed but well-meaning mother-in-law). One of my favorite exchanges (as Phyllis, Audrey and Jonathan (Audrey's husband) are sitting down at a fancy restaurant):

Audrey: Why, they serve every kind of fish in the sea here. I can't imagine why we haven't been here before.

Jonathan: You hate fish.

Audrey: Maybe that's it.

Another (when it dawns on Phyllis how old her daughter is getting):

Phyllis: It was only yesterday that I nursed her at my breast, played pattycake with her, put on her booties, sprinkled talcum on her little bottom. Only yesterday...

Audrey: I thought you went to that new Woody Allen picture yesterday.

Who knows? Maybe I'll even give Rhoda a shot. I really hated that when I was a kid.

happy tunesday! living like flowers (at the mercy of the wind)

In high school I wrote a song called "Mercy of the Wind." It sucked. In the interests of full disclosure, I only wrote the lyrics. A friend set it to music. The music was fine. It was the lyrics that sucked. I'd say more about that song, but I'd have to go into all sorts of cringey cringitude. Take my word for it.

But I still liked that title, so decades later I wrote this little number. As I was writing it, I had "Mercy of the Wind" as the working title. But as it neared completion I realized that I had the wrong title. It just wasn't the right emphasis. I played with "Living Like Flowers," which I like as a song title. But that also doesn't seem right for this song. Combining the two into "Living Like Flowers (at the Mercy of the Wind)" just seems right. It's a bit long, but whatevs.

This is the eighth recording that Toby Wilson has made for me, and I happen to think this is the best of them.

Special thanks to Christina Crocker for her advice regarding how to split this as a duet. She has a real gift for that kind of thing.