RIP Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009)

Thriller (1982) – Michael Jackson [Amazon.com]

I’ve mentioned Michael Jackson twice[1][2] on this blog, once when I was amazed by his choice of footage in “They Don’t Care About Us“[3], and once when I did the obituary of James Brown when I mentioned that Brown’s “rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson”.

Jackson was the embodiment of things gone awry as the result of mediated fame in the 20th century, when he was catapulted from child prodigy [4] to natural freak [5].

With more than 100 million albums sold, Thriller (1982) is the bestselling album of all time and is iconic in the history of 20th century popular music, where he is the natural heir to Elvis Presley. Beyond both dying from an abuse of prescription drugs, parallels beween Presley and Jackson are numerous (Graceland/Neverland). Lisa Marie Presley, for a short time married to Jackson in the nineties wrote at the time of Jackson’s death that he knew “exactly how his fate would be played out” and feared his death would echo that of Elvis Presley.

Jackson dies, long live Jackson.

Shinehead‘s reggae version of “Billie Jean.”

Here he is reincarnated in Shinehead‘s reggae version[6] of “Billie Jean.”[7]. But one of the earliest samples of “Billie Jean” was in 1983, when Italian studio project Clubhouse mixed Steely Dan‘s “Do It Again” (1981) with “Billie Jean” as the “Do It Again Medley with Billie Jean“[8] .
*Daryl Hall has claimed that Michael Jackson admitted to copying the bassline from “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)“[9] in his song “Billie Jean“.

PS. For those of you who miss the Jahsonic old style of haphazard blogging about anything he finds, please check Jahsonic’s microblog[10] at Tumblr.

RIP Farrah Fawcett (1947 – 2009)

RIP Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett (February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress and sex symbol. Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared in Charlie’s Angels in 1976. In that year, a poster of her in a one-piece red bathing suit, was a best-seller and became an iconic picture of the 20th century. I quite liked her in The Burning Bed.

Gratuitous nudity #17

via www.vintagesleaze.com

Cinema X was a british film magazine best known for its coverage of sexploitation films. Early issues of the magazine were undated, but it is believed the first issue was published in 1969. The first film to grace the cover of Cinema X was Loving Feeling directed by Norman J. Warren. Other films covered in the first issue were I Am Curious (Yellow), Curse of the Crimson Altar and Therese and Isabelle, people interviewed in the premiere issue included Norman J Warren, John Trevelyan and Anthony Newley.

The Cut-Ups is World Cinema Classic #108

The Cut-Ups is World Cinema Classic #108

The Cut-Ups

Yes, hello. Yes? Hello! Yes, hello.

Yes? Hello! Yes, hello. Yes? Hello!

– Look at that picture – Yes, hello.

Yes? Hello! Yes, hello. Yes? Hello!

Yes, hello. Yes? Hello! Yes, hello.

Yes? Hello! Yes, hello.- does it seem

to be persisting? – Yes? Hello!

Yes, hello. Yes? Hello! – Good!

– Yes, hello. Yes? Hello! – Thank

you – Yes, hello. Yes? Hello! Yes,

hello. Yes? Hello! Yes, hello. Yes?

Hello! Yes, hello. Yes? Hello! Yes,

hello. Yes? Hello! Yes, hello. Yes?

Hello! – Look at that picture – Yes,

hello. Yes? Hello! Yes, hello. Yes?

Hello! – Does it seem to be persisting?

– Yes, hello. Yes? Hello! Yes, hello.

Yes? Hello!Yes, hello. Yes? Hello! Yes,

hello. Yes? Hello! – Good! – Yes, hello.

Yes? Hello! Yes, hello. Yes? Hello!

– Thank you!

The Cut-Ups[1] is an experimental film by British filmmaker Antony Balch and American writer William Burroughs, which opened in London in 1967. It was the second time Balch and Burroughs had collaborated after their earlier Towers Open Fire. The Cut-Ups was part of an abandoned project called Guerrilla Conditions meant as a documentary on Burroughs and filmed throughout 1961-1965.

The film contains 19 minutes of someone saying “Yes, Hello?”, “Look at that picture,” “Does it seem to be persisting?,” and “Good. Thank you,” accompanied by a repetition five or six basic film clips shot in New York City and featuring Brion Gysin.

Inspired by Burroughs’ and Gysin’s technique of cutting up text and rearranging it in random order, Balch had an editor cut his footage for the documentary into little pieces and impose no control over its reassembly. The film opened at Oxford Street’s Cinephone cinema and had a disturbing reaction. Many audience members claimed the film made them ill, others demanded their money back, while some just stumbled out of the cinema ranting “its disgusting”.

Included in The Cut-Ups are shots of Burroughs acting out scenes from his book Naked Lunch. The idea of bringing Naked Lunch to the big-screen was Balch’s dream project. First developed in 1964, a script was completed in the early 1970s which would have adapted the book as a musical. Personal differences between Balch and the film’s would-be leading man Mick Jagger caused the project’s collapse.

For an indepth description of the films of William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Antony Balch, see brightlightsfilm [1] by Rob Bridgett.

“Lesson #1 for Electric Guitar” is WMC #342

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9lwuojEREI]

Lesson #1 for Electric Guitar[1] was the first album released by Glenn Branca, originally in 1980 on 99 Records as a mini-album. It was re-released in a remastered form in 2004 by Acute Records and is variously classified as no wave or noise rock. It combines punk aesthetics with those classical music.

Glenn Branca[2] is an avant-garde composer and guitarist of the New York “downtown music” scene known for his use of volume, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series.

99 Records was an independent record label that existed from 1980–1984. 99 (pronounced Nine Nine) Records was run out of a record store with the same name, located at 99 MacDougal Street in New York City’s Greenwich Village, and owned by Ed Bahlman. Artists included ESG, Liquid Liquid, Bush Tetras, Glenn Branca, Y Pants, and others.

Downtown music is a name given to the New York music scene from the 1960s to the 1980s. A scene that suppposedly began in 1960, when Yoko Ono — one of the Fluxus artists, at that time still seven years away from meeting John Lennon — opened her SoHo loft to be used as a performance space for a series curated by La Monte Young and Richard Maxfield.

RIP Ali Akbar Khan (1922 – 2009)

Psychedelic Music of India is an album by Ali Akbar Khan released on El records.

Here is a recording of a live concert at the Ali Akbar College 1981.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzDx7vgluq0]

Ali Akbar Khan (April 14, 1922 – June 19, 2009) was an Indian sarod player. Khan was the first Indian musician to record an LP album of Indian classical music in the United States and to play sarod on American television. He came to prominence during the first and second waves of world music, otherwise known as the cultural appropriation of non-western music.

Recordings to seek out are In Concert 1972[1] by Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan on Apple Records and Karuna Supreme[2] on MPS Records.

RIP Bob Bogle (1934-2009)

RIP Bob Bogle (1934-2009) of the The Ventures

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ11y7pYl-8]

“Walk Don’t Run“

American guitarist Bob Bogle of surf music act The Ventures, died age 75.

The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. The band had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide, having sold over 100 million records, and are to date the best-selling instrumental band of all time. They are known for such singles as “Walk Don’t Run“[1] and “Perfidia “[2], both cover versions. The sound of The Ventures influenced punkabilly band and Jahsonic favorite The Cramps.

Herschell Gordon Lewis @80

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ2t0et8wWc]

“Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to see scenes from the most unusual picture of all time. We urgently recommend if you have a heart condition, or if you are with a young and impressionable child, that you leave this auditorium.” –trailer for Blood Feast

Blood Feast, a 1963 film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, is an American exploitation film often considered the first “gore” or splatter film.

Renaissance erotica and icons of erotic art #49, #50, #51 and #52

After ending a brief survey of medieval erotica, I’ve come upon Renaissance erotica, where I must tell you of Venus and Nini.

Sleeping Venus (c. 1510) Giorgione

Venus of Urbino (1538) by Titian

Venus and Nini are two terms of art to denote the female nude, the first is divine, the second is a mere mortal. They are illustrated here by the Venus (Giorgione) vs. Venus of Urbino (1538) by Titian.

My most astonishing find was the 16th century Testa di cazzi, which reminded me of the 18th century anonymous caricature of the Cardinal Armand de Rohan-Soubise [1].

Testa di cazzi by Francisco Urbini

The works shown are icons of erotic art #49, #50, #51 and #52.

RIP Barry Beckett (1943 – 2009)

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHsDa9_HSlA]

Barry Beckett (February 4, 1943 – June 10, 2009) born in Birmingham, Alabama was a keyboardist who worked as a session musician with several notable artists on their studio albums. He was also a record producer.

He was involved in the “Muscle Shoals Sound”, being a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and in 1969, one of the founders of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

Lynyrd Skynyrd famously mentions the Muscle Shoals sound in “Sweet Home Alabama“[1]:

“Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers;
And they’ve been known to pick a song or two.
Lord they get me off so much.
They pick me up when I’m feeling blue
Now how about you?”