Way Out Wednesday: The Bat Boys – Batman | PopdoseWay Out Wednesday: The Bat Boys – Batman
With the Batman: Arkham Asylum game coming out this week (for PS3, Xbox360 and PCs), I thought I’d throw out another Batman-related album for you. When the Batman TV show came out it seemed like you couldn’t swing a dead bat without hitting some sort of Caped Crusader tie-in, and record albums were no exception. Some were pretty good. Some, not so much. I’ll let you judge where this one falls.
This first song is the Bat Boys’ version of the Batman theme song. This really isn’t too bad, with a nice swinging organ solo.
I hope you liked the previous song because, despite the name Batman and all the sound effects on the album cover, absolutely nothing else on this album is remotely Batman related! There’s not even any name checking in the song titles. What the songs I picked from this album do have in common, though, is that they’re jazzed-up versions of classical tunes. The first, “Uppercut Blues,” borrows heavily from “Flight of the Bumblebee” (which was actually the Green Hornet’s theme song). The titles of these songs seem to be pretty random. You can maybe imagine people punching each other while listening to this song, but there’s nothing bluesy about the song at all!
If you watched The Ed Sullivan Show, you might remember the song “Saber Dance.” It was used a lot for death-defying acts like the Flying Wallendas and people who juggled swords. This is the basis for the song “It’s Murder!” This doesn’t have much to do with the Batman show either, since I don’t think anybody ever got murdered on the show. Jill St. John fell into the Batcave’s atomic pile and Catwoman fell to her supposed death a number of times, but that was the closest they got.
The last song featured here, “Mars Visitor,” is based on the song “Funeral March for a Marionette,” probably best known as the theme to Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I know that whenever I think of little green men from Mars, Hitchcock is the first person that comes to mind!
If you’d like to hear the rest of this album, which contains more jazzy instrumentals that have little to do with Batman and less to do with their song titles, you can get it here!
August 27, 2009
Way Out Wednesday: The Bat Boys – Batman | Popdose
Basement Songs: Joe Jackson, “The Trial” | Popdose
Basement Songs: Joe Jackson, “The Trial” | PopdoseBasement Songs: Joe Jackson, “The Trial”
In my mind he’s sitting at the kitchen table writing so diligently the table shakes and the white swivel chair he’s sitting on squeaks. Outside it’s night, and the autumn chill is trying to get in. The television is on; we’re watching some inane ’80s sitcom, and my father is someplace else. As he writes in the kitchen, he’s hearing music, scribbling notes on scrap pieces of paper.
My father, Budd, is a great arranger of band music. He can take a song and compose parts for various wind instruments simply by sitting at the piano, pulling notes from the air and writing them in pencil on the back of discarded paper from the school, drawing the music clefts by hand. A staggering number of students have played his arrangements, though he never got paid for this extra work as the high school band director. When he retired, for the second time, earlier this year, he was still writing out arrangements for the musicians in his bands to perform. Why did he do it? I’m not sure, but I think some of it had to do with that bird called creativity chirping in his ear. Watching him work so hard all of the years of my childhood influenced me profoundly, teaching me to keep at something until you get it right, even if it means going back and revising again and again.
When I sat down to write this column, Joe Jackson’s “The Trial” seemed to leap out at me. I had been thinking of my father and our relationship. So much of what we have bonded over has been music. While he is definitely a student of classical music, I am a disciple of rock. Where we often met halfway was the populist movie themes of some of our favorite composers, like John Williams and James Horner. That this track, a classical piece of film music written by a pop artist like Joe Jackson would come to mind when I haven’t listened to it in years, well, to me that’s serendipity.
“The Trial” comes from Jackson’s underappreciated, out-of-print soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1988 film, Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Jeff Bridges stars in this great, inspiring movie as Preston Tucker, the automobile entrepreneur who took on the Big Three auto manufacturers in trying to produce and market his own line of cars. Martin Landau also stars, and the movie features fine performances by Joan Allen, Christian Slater, Elias Koteas, and Bridges’ father, Lloyd. Dean Stockwell also shows up in an uncredited appearance as the eccentric Howard Hughes. For the score, Jackson delved into his love of postwar music from the 1940s.Unlike so many pieces of music written for movie soundtracks, “The Trial” works as a stand-alone composition. It’s heard under the climactic courtroom sequence of the film, in which Tucker is put on trial for stock fraud. The trial is a farce, trumped up by the manufacturers to ruin Tucker and his dream. The scene plays out like a real film noir/conspiracy sequence and Jackson’s music that aptly creates the right mood. Plus, it has a Theremin solo!
Listen to how mysteriously it begins, with just trombones, pulling you in with their simple, heavy notes. Slowly, the orchestra builds, with piano, clarinet, vibes, xylophone and the drum set. I love the way the drums keep rhythm but are creating their own melody that works against the saxophone solo. Those drums are a constant reminder that things aren’t going to work out well for Tucker. I’ve always loved how Jackson has incorporated percussion into his music — whether it’s his new wave period, his slick studio albums of the ’80s, or the soundtrack scores he’s been involved with, he really understands how important these array of instruments in the percussion section are to the success of a piece. From the jazz guitar solo to the mournful clarinets, “The Trial” is lovely piece of work that will haunt you if you let it under your skin (must be the Theremin!)
There are days when I wonder why it is that I write the Basement Songs series, as I’m sure many of you do (especially those of you questioning my taste in music). I think to myself, “Is this worth it? The strain, the pressure I put on myself, the revisions, the self doubt and depression, is it all worth it just for a couple of comments each week?” Those are the moments I just want to say, “Forget it. No one gives a shit. It just doesn’t matter.”
Then I’ll hear a melody, like “The Trial,” and a thought forms. I grab a phrase out of the air, as my dad does catching notes at the piano, and words begin to flow like a series of music notes scribbled on scrap pieces of paper. Sitting at the kitchen table, sometimes with Julie in the next room watching television, I write diligently on a legal pad with my trusty Bic pen, though I’ve been known to use a scrap piece of paper from time to time.
Sly Stone living on welfare, claims documentary | Music | guardian.co.uk
Sly Stone living on welfare, claims documentary | Music | guardian.co.ukSly Stone living on welfare, claims documentary
The funk legend's financial woes have been revealed in a new film that claims he is dependent on social security and living in cheap hotels
Sly Stone ... film claims the funk pioneer has suffered a major financial crisis. Photograph: Zak Hussein/PA
Funk legend Sly Stone is living on the dole, according to a new film, staying in cheap hotels and campervans. A forthcoming documentary by Willem Alkema alleges that Stone was betrayed by manager Jerry Goldstein, cutting off access to his royalties.
Representatives for Sly or the Family Stone have not yet commented on Alkema's claims, which appeared in a YouTube trailer for Coming Back for More. Alkema is a Dutch filmmaker known for a previous documentary about Stone, Dance to the Music. His new film, due out this autumn, claims to include Sly Stone's first interview in 20 years.
This claim, however, isn't true – Stone spoke to the Los Angeles Times in 2007, and again with journalist Jeff Kaliss for a book published last year. He also appeared on KCRW radio in May. But certainly Stone has been reclusive, offering few points of access since his induction into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
According to Alkema, Stone's financial security depended on a contract signed with Jerry Goldstein in the late 80s. As part of that agreement, Goldstein acquired rights to Stone's music while paying the singer "fixed expenses" and a regular allowance. Due to a "debt agreement", the film claims, Goldstein "turned off the tap" of payments – forcing Stone to rely on social security. He has since been staying in cheap hotels and campervans.
"Although legally the father of funk has a solid contestable case," the trailer states, "he lacks the funds to engage a lawyer to proceed his case."
The trailer also claims that Stone had been working with Michael Jackson, and that the King of Pop had commissioned the 66-year-old to write songs for his new album. Stone apparently hoped that this would solve his financial woes.
Though Stone has performed only a handful of concerts in the last five years, this is the first word of the star experiencing a major fiscal crisis. At the time of his 2007 interview with the LA Times, he was reportedly living in a "large country home" in California's Napa Valley.
Company Town
Company Town
The business behind the show
VH1 wants less love, more redemption
That's what VH1 is starting to wonder. The Viacom-owned cable network, whose top five shows this year all have the word "love" in the title, is reassessing its heavy reliance on dating and relationship shows. Although the network says it was already in the process of plotting a new direction, the shift has taken on greater urgency since one of its reality show participants, Ryan Jenkins, apparently killed himself after becoming the lead suspect in the murder of his ex-wife.
VH1 has canceled both "Megan Wants a Millionaire" and "I Love Money 3," which Jenkins had appeared on. It is also reevaluating its reliance on 51 Minds Entertainment, the production company behind the two programs, as well as several other reality hits on the network over the last several years.
Calderone also wants to bring some new producers into the mix. "We always want 51 Minds to be part of our arsenal and stable of creativity, but the only way VH1 will survive and be healthy is to have several different voices and production partners," he said.
Many of VH1's reality shows were sired from "The Surreal Life," a program in which B-list and C-list celebrities (think Tawny Kitaen and Verne Troyer) shared living quarters. Out of that came "Flavor of Love," "Rock of Love" and "I Love Money" and then those shows spawned "Charm School," "I Love New York" and "Daisy of Love." Brian Graden, who recently left VH1 parent MTV Networks, was the architect of much of the content on the network during this time.
Although Calderone wants to tweak the tone of VH1's reality shows, the risk is that he'll alienate VH1's audience if the shows lose some of their, uh, tawdry appeal. "I Love Money 2," for example, averaged 2.3 million viewers while "Real Chance of Love" has been averaging 2.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Overall, VH1's prime-time average audience this year is 760,000, up 26% from five years ago.
At the same time, a change in tone might make the shows easier to swallow on Madison Avenue. Many blue-chip advertisers are wary of some of the shows on VH1 because they often feature drunken antics, fighting and lots of sexual innuendo. According to industry consulting firm SNL Kagan, VH1 will have advertising revenue of $424.4 million in 2009, down 12% from two years ago. Although some of that can be attributed to the troubled economy, people close to VH1 say several of the network's programs are a hard sell.Calderone points to "The T.O. Show," its new program with NFL star Terrell Owens, as indicative of the direction he'd like to take the network. The show follows Owens as he transitions from being a star on America's team (The Dallas Cowboys) to trying to rehabilitate his image and career on the Buffalo Bills. Calderone said he wants to bring a more "redemptive" feel to the network's reality programming.
"We don't want our viewers tuning in and feeling like it's the same network all the time, that is not something we want to be famous for," Calderone said.
Of course, that's not the only thing he doesn't want to be famous for.
-- Joe Flint
Photos: Top Left: "Megan Wants a Millionaire" star Megan Hauserman. Credit: VH1/51 Minds. Bottom Right: VH1 President Tom Calderone. Credit: VH1
Two women may have helped Ryan Jenkins hide after model was killed, sources say [Updated]
Two women may have helped Ryan Jenkins hide after model was killed, sources say [Updated]
Investigators said they are looking at whether one unidentified woman aided Ryan Jenkins when he was hiding in Washington state and a second woman helped him in British Columbia, including checking him into a motel where he was found hanged Sunday night.
The sources, who spoke on condition that they not be named because it was an ongoing investigation, said it remained unclear if the women would be charged with aiding and abetting Jenkins.
The sources said they believe Jenkins got help when he managed to evade the U.S. Coast Guard during a boat chase around Blaine, Wash. Authorities tracked Jenkins to a marina there and came upon his car and an empty boat trailer.
The engine of the car was still warm and the Coast Guard was alerted. A Coast Guard cutter came upon a speedboat several miles off the coast that was believed be Jenkins'. Coast Guard officials aimed their lights at the speedboat and began approaching.
The boat then fled into Canadian waters, sources said. Authorities there were notified and chased it with a helicopter and a boat, but the speedboat crossed back into U.S. waters.
Officials said Jenkins took the boat to another marina in the area, then walked into Canada.
The next day, officials said a woman checked Jenkins into the British Columbia motel.
Police allege that Fiore was killed by Jenkins, her former husband and a contestant on the reality TV shows "Megan Wants a Millionaire" and the third season of "I Love Money."
Fiore, 28, was last seen Aug. 13 when she and Jenkins went to an upscale Del Mar hotel together. Jenkins checked out of the hotel the next morning, apparently alone, according to Orange County prosecutors.
The next day, the Canadian national called authorities to report Fiore missing, and within hours the body of a woman was found stuffed in a suitcase in a trash bin behind an apartment building.
Authorities said Fiore's teeth had been pulled out and her fingers cut off. Fiore was identified through a serial number on her breast implants, the Orange County district attorney's office said.
On Wednesday, Fiore's missing Mercedes-Benz was found in the parking lot adjacent to a West Hollywood Trader Joe's.
[Updated at 11:55 a.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said the car was found in the Trader Joe's parking lot.]
--Andrew Blankstein
Photos: The Thunderbird Motel, top, where police believe Ryan Jenkins, middle, got help checking in from one of the two women being sought by authorities. Jenkins was found hanged in the motel Sunday night. Credits: Darryl Dyck /Canadian Press (motel); Associated Press (Jenkins)
Two women may have helped Ryan Jenkins hide after model was killed, sources say [Updated]