Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog

Happy Birthday, Claude Rains

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:32:00 +0000

Lowe, Hite & Stanley, 1945

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:19:00 +0000

Here's a clip which emphatically illustrates why vaudeville died. Still, I've thought about obtaining this Soundie to spring on an unsuspecting KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival or Lobo-tronic Show audience (hmmmm . . . must be my Andy Kaufman-esque desire to watch people squirm). The tall guy has a couple of nice double-jointed dance movies towards the end, but admittedly, this doesn't hold a candle to Reg Kehoe And The Marimba Queens, let alone such iconic risqué Soundies as Row Row Row.

Could these guys have been openers for Bert Lahr and Joe Frisco? Maybe, but they were certainly lower on the bill than both boxers-turned-comedians Mitchell & Durant and the toy poodle act.

Happy Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:28:00 +0000

What late-1950's B-movie trailer could I post (on blog entry #333) that includes the essential elements of the Frankenstein genre, mixed with breathtakingly lame-brained grindhouse exploitation and both inept and indefensible horror? While I considered coming detractions from the mind-numbingly bad B-film The Brain That Wouldn't Die, this trailer for Atom Age Vampire takes the cake and makes Edward D. Wood, Jr. look like Orson Welles.

Since Halloween actually falls on a Saturday, there are tons of events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area tonight.

Oddball Film offers a Terror Noir screening, local Jazz Mafia luminaries meet at Coda for the 7th annual Mobster's Ball jam session, while Dragula and Tran Helsing host the Midnight Mass/Trannyshack Horror Show, featuring uber-ghastly horror movie clips and a special performance by guest star Jackie Beat.

And, alas, if you are a parent and/or hold a job that (drat) requires getting up early, check out the kid-friendly 4:00 matinee or the 7:30 screening of Paul Leni's Gothic ghost story/mystery The Last Warning at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum's Edison Theatre.

Halloween Movies In San Francisco Bay Area

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:28:00 +0000

Halloween-related movie events are happening all over the San Francisco Bay Area this week. Since these shows overlap, it isn't possible to attend all of them, but do your best, classic movie mavens and late show insomniacs!

Tuesday and Wednesday, October 27 and 28 at 7:00 p.m. Shock It To Me presents a Vincent Price Double Bill featuring The Last Man On Earth and The Tomb Of Ligeia, directed by Roger Corman. Clay Theatre, 2261 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94115.

Wednesday, October 28 and Thursday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m. Bay Area Film Events presents Creature Features Live; host of KTVU's Creature Features from 1979-1984, John Stanley, will preside over two fright nights, the first family-friendly and featuring Son Of Godzilla with Frankenstein Vs. the Wolfman, the second not-so-family friendly and co-billing Motel Hell with The Howling. Grand Lake Theatre, 3200 Grand Avenue, Oakland

Thursday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m. Thrillville presents Halloween Gore n' Snorefest co-bills Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers with Zontar, The Thing From Venus. Live in person: special guests The Deadlies and Lady Monster. Balboa Theatre, 3630 Balboa (at 38th Avenue), San Francisco.

Thursday, October 29, at 9:00 p.m. The Cosmic Hex presents Werewolves On Wheels (1971) and Simon, King Of The Witches (1971), with ORDNUNGSAMT (from Germany) performing LIVE between features. Vortex Room, 1082 Howard (at 7th Street), San Francisco

Friday, October 30, 8:00 PM
Paramount Movie Classics presents Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. Box Office opens @ 6:00pm Doors open @ 7:00 Curtain rises @ 8:00pm. Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland.

Burt Bacharach Day

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:39:00 +0000

And here's yet another amazing collaboration between two guys who know a thing or two about pop songcraft, Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello, from the 1998 Sessions At West 54th concert.

Joe Frisco, 1931

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:44:00 +0000

How comedian/dancer/actor Joe Frisco, seen in this clip from the American Masters documentary Vaudeville, executed this precision act without swallowing that stogie like a cartoon character, I'll never know. Without a doubt, if Michael Jackson ever saw this clip, he would have tried to incorporate these nimble dance floor moves into this terpsichorian bag o' tricks. Maybe Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly saw Frisco's act and did just that.

Joe Frisco appears in Happy Hottentots, one of numerous Vitaphone musical shorts on the Al Jolson: The Jazz Singer - Three Disc Deluxe Edition. For more information on genuine vaudeville that was filmed at the dawn of talkies, check out The Vitaphone Project.

Bert Lahr, 1938

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:52:00 +0000

This Friday In Sacramento: Lobo-tronic Spookshow Extravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:32:00 +0000

This Friday evening at Sacramento's LDV Auditorium, a good portion of the footage-crazed rapscallions who bring late show insomniacs the notorious KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival will proudly present:

Friday evening's Spookshow will star an unspecified and never-to-be-repeated amalgam of goofy Halloween-related footage, with "your horror host", Mr. Lobo from Cinema Insomnia presiding over the festivities as m.c. and ringmaster.

That said, my purpose upon this earth today will be rummaging through reels of 16mm film, seeking anything involving actors in ridiculous monster, skeleton, robot, ghoul, Frankenstein, Dracula and "thunder lizard" costumes. I would add that if you're in the Sacramento/Fair Oaks area and you have kids, bring' em over for the fun, as this is very likely as family-friendly a show as we will ever do.

The event: Mr. Lobo's Not-Very-Scary Spookshow
The date: Friday, October 9, 2009
The time: 6:30 p.m.
The place: Leonardo DaVinci School Auditorium
4701 Joaquin Way
Sacramento, CA 95822
(916) 277-6496

For The Love Of Funk, New Orleans Style

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:57:00 +0000

I attended the "For The Love Of Funk" concert aforementioned here, in which George Porter, Jr. and Zigaboo Modeliste, two founding members of New Orlean's legendary groove gurus The Meters tore the roof off San Francisco's DNA Lounge and proved that, yes, Poncé, there is a fountain of youth. This was the hardest rockin' group I've witnessed since a late 1980's concert of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time, which funked it up like mad (two electric guitarists, two electric bassists and two drummers drove that beat) while also exploring the far frontiers of Coleman's distinctive harmolodic universe in a most deliciously dangerous way.

For just a taste of this New Orleans treat, jambalaya served hot to one nation under a groove, enjoy this clip of 3/4 of the original members of The Meters rocking out at the 2009 New Orleans Jazzfest.

Psychotronic Paul says: don't miss this motherfunkin' band if they play in your town (U.S.A. or elsewhere). They rock - and embody the highest level of spiritual expression.

Happy Birthday, Groucho Marx and Bud Abbott

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:04:00 +0000

Today And Tomorrow In Santa Cruz, CA: The Fab Four Film Festival

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:17:00 +0000

Bay Area Film Events presents a tribute to the Beatles at the Del Mar Theatre in Santa Cruz this weekend. Here's a trailer promoting the event, which will include live performances by Drew Harrison and Peter Lomenzo of The Sun Kings.

Since I still have quite the soft spot for the Fab Four after all these years - especially the era involving that most productive competition between the Beatles-Sir George Martin and Brian Wilson (objective: make the most progressive, most orchestral, most mind-blowing pop album ever), this appeals to me.

I also have a soft spot for the still mod films of Richard Lester, so seeing A Hard Day's Night again on the big screen is a must, and am ready for a followup event involving Eric Idle's The Rutles, George Harrison's contributions to the early Saturday Night Live and various Monty Python-related endeavors.

Art Car Fest Hits The San Francisco Bay Area

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:10:00 +0000

Art Car Fest 2009 brings a colorful cornucopia of "vehicles gone wild" to the Bay Area this weekend. They will be in Redwood City on Saturday and Berkeley on Sunday. Here are clips from previous Art Car Fests, packed with amazing - and often hilariously funny - objects d' art.

It has been suggested to me, a film collector (by an artist, no less), that I create an art car with reels, projector/splicer parts, projection lamps and footage. While this is a fantastic idea, the only problem is that I, as a serious classic film geek, would opt to make my strange vehicle with ridiculously rare tinted silent movies and I.B. Technicolor cartoons on 35mm nitrate film. Nitrate is highly combustible, so it would ultimately be necessary to torch the vehicle, Burning Man style; alas, I love both cars and films too much to do this. Come to think of it, being a musician, I could never bring myself to light any of my guitars on fire (a la the great Jimi Hendrix), even the axes I didn't like.

For more cool stuff on this fun event, which brings new meaning to the phrase "cash for clunkers", check out the Art Car Fest Blog.

Born On This Day In 1926

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:15:00 +0000

John Coltrane (1926-1967), one serious musician. Here's a rare bit of an interview recorded in 1966.

I believe the following clip is from the John Coltrane Quartet's appearance on the KQED-TV program Jazz Casual (correct me if I'm wrong).

Burt Bacharach Day

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:40:00 +0000

I can think of no better way to precede a listening of Elvis Costello Live With The Metropole Orkest - My Flame Burns Blue (recorded at the 2004 North Sea Jazz Festival) than by enjoying my last Elvis Meets Chet (Baker, not Atkins) blog entry, followed by this stellar performance of "God Give Me Strength" featuring no less than Burt Bacharach, the maestro himself, on piano. Now, if there could be an Elvis Costello - Diana Krall tour with Burt as conductor/pianist. . .

Elvis Costello And Chet Baker, 1986

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:47:00 +0000

At Ronnie Scott's.

Interview: Two Songwriters Extraordinaire, Isaac Hayes And David Porter, June 2008

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:34:00 +0000

Note on this interview from the Conclave Learning Conference in Minneapolis (June 28, 2008): I have omitted Part 2, as there is no audio on Part 2 of the youtube clip, as well as Part 4, which is devoted to audience questions.

Never Can Say Goodbye by Mike n' Ike - Pick Your Favorite Version!

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:27:00 +0000

Here's a tune written by Clifton Davis that topped the charts and became concert show-stoppers for at least two 70's icons. In this corner, from Motown Records, The Jackson 5!

And in this corner, from Stax Records, the fabulous Isaac Hayes! I'm partial to the following version and Hayes' baritone vocal stylings - although both renditions are great.

Raymond Scott Quintette, 1938

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:03:00 +0000

It's Labor Day Weekend, so I'm really too lazy to write today. So here's a clip from Happy Landing (1938) featuring the music of the amazing Raymond Scott Quintette and tapdancers dressed in Sitting Bull costumes.

So dear readers, however many or few, have a great weekend! If you're gainfully employed, enjoy and relish the time off. If you're out of work, I sincerely hope that paying and fulfilling employment (or an inspirational entrepreneurial brainstorm) comes soon!

More San Francisco Bay Area Jazz

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:25:00 +0000

Here's a bit of much-needed balm in these unrelentingly lousy economic times:

Tonight, the excellent "little big band" 8 Legged Monster is having its CD release party at San Francisco Yoshi's. Of four exceptional S.F. Bay Area female jazz singers, Kim Nalley, Tré Taylor, Lavay Smith and Karina Denike (add a fifth chanteuse, Paula West, when she is not on extended engagements in New York), two - Lavay and Karina - will be belting 'em out with 8 Legged Monster tonight.

8 Legged Monster's 8:00 p.m. set will be followed by a late show by The Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, an ensemble which blends jazz rhythms, arrangements and improvisation with the linguistics and distinctive beats of hip-hop. As hip-hop can often be very metric and free-flowing "without a net" improvisational jazz is anything but metric, I don't know how they do it, but this band pulls it off. They are carrying on the artistic tradition of Herbie Hancock, who mixed funk, 1960's style bop, r&b, free jazz (thanks to Bennie Maupin's powerful saxophone work), synth-pop and rock brilliantly back in the 1970's.

Across town at Amnesia on Valencia Street between 19th and 20th, Gaucho pays homage to the sweet, sprightly and enduring "Gypsy Jazz" music of guitar god Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club Of France.

While not yet near the level of that last stretch of Bay Area music glory in the early to mid-1990's (ah, yes - heady days of many great young jazz bands, several of which featured innovative guitarist Charlie Hunter, playing the Elbo Room, Radio Valencia, Bruno's, Up & Down Club, Beanbenders, etc.), activity has been building slowly over the past few years. Hallelujah, we have a live jazz scene again.

So don't blow 250 semolians to attend one concert by some dinosaur act that doesn't need the money anyway, check out these fine local musicians instead. Support local arts and artists - it's up to you!

Back To The Sandbox, 1966

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Here's one of the great songs Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks wrote in the sandbox (yes, there was a piano in the sandbox) in 1966. Brian, Van Dyke - I look forward to hearing you guys perform in the San Francisco Bay Area again sometime!

In The Rear View Mirror by Paul F. Etcheverry

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:25:00 +0000

With apologies, I leave the playgrounds of music and movies. I'll return to the sandbox - like the great Brian Wilson in 1966 - pronto.

Eulogies for Senator Edward Kennedy continue to pour in and literally thousands are paying their respects at the Kennedy Library as I write this. Not only is there the sense, with the recent deaths of the Senator from Massachusetts and his sister, formidable activist Eunice Kennedy Shriver, of the end of an era in our shared history. There's a gnawing feeling that a certain style and approach in American politics, one in which you can battle opposing forces toe-to-toe without demonizing and dehumanizing them, is vanishing.

Senator Kennedy and Rep. Jack Kemp, both recently passed, as well as 2009 Medal Of Honor recipients (Kemp posthumously) this year, represented the two opposite sides of this coin. Both were lightning rods who followed their own paths, assertively partisan yet capable of listening to and at times even finding common ground with political foes. They found the most unlikely collaborators in public service and ruffled feathers in both parties along the way.

The concept that legislators can disagree vehemently on how to solve the problems of the day while working together on policy initatives, not only maintaining a civil relationship but actually (shudder) becoming friends - something Ted Kennedy was particularly and singularly adept at - is rapidly becoming a quaint anachronism.

Much to our country's detriment, the status quo now, not just in campaigning, but in governing (as well as in the often brain-dead national discourse), is to not just destroy your opponent but leave scorched earth and a pile of smoking ashes behind.

And we wonder why social and political problems get worse and nothing gets done.

Happy Centenary To The Incomparable Prez

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:30:00 +0000

To celebrate the centenary of the inspired, fabulous and ever-soulful Lester Willis Young (1909-1959), here he is, the one and only "Prez", playing "Pennies From Heaven" with Hank Jones (piano), Ray Brown (bass), Bill Harris (trombone) and Buddy Rich (drums).

Following this is one of the greatest films ever made about jazz, Jammin' The Blues (1944), stylishly directed by Life Magazine photographer Gjon Mili.

It is my hope that Lester found some peace in the hereafter that he largely did not enjoy in his time on this planet.

Some Stevie Wonder For A Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:52:00 +0000

Continuing the Steve Wonder thread, we'll start with a genuinely moving clip from a somber occasion, the Michael Jackson memorial service. Something I would have loved to have seen that didn't happen (thanks, the many conspiracy theories about Michael's death being a grand hoax notwithstanding, to The King Of Pop's abuse of some awfully heavy-duty prescription drugs): a CD of splendid songs and performances from Michael and Stevie hanging out in the studio informally, having fun, singing each other's tunes, contributing creative arrangements, making music for the pure joy of it.

And, on a lighter note. . . I have sought out clips of Stevie playing live during his inspired early to mid-1970's stretch that produced the great albums Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness' First Finale. Found one of him performing "Superstition" in 1973, unfortunately sans Jeff Beck's brilliant guitar work but wonderful nonetheless.

Burt Bacharach Day

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:43:00 +0000

Burt n' Stevie? Yes - it happened.

The Realistic Orchestra

noreply@blogger.com (paul etcheverry) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:08:00 +0000

The Realistic Orchestra will be part of the 40-piece ensemble that will play at Yoshi's San Francisco from Thursday through Sunday. Here are more music clips by this Jazz Mafia mainstay, carrying on the Gil Evans-Miles Davis flame while adding original spins to the mix.

This first composition reminds me of Wayne Shorter's late 60's and early 70's compositions. Nice mysterioso feel and top-notch brass n' reed arrangements here. The second clip, featuring the vocal stylings of Chris McGhee, is from one of the band's annual Stevie Wonder tributes. Since Stevie started writing bonafide jazz chord changes from about the age of eleven, it's a good fit. Enjoy!