Do You Have Christmas in France?

Well, it's December and Christmas in only a mere 22 days away. Stately Famous Manor is decorated appropriately and the boys are having fun w/ trying to 'redecorate' the tree. That said, i'm still not in the holiday frame of mind quite yet.

Actually, we were out at Woodfield Mall yesterday and I found myself pretty disgusted that the big 'Meet Santa' deal in the middle of the place was entirely sponsored by the horrible looking movie 'Fred Claus'. Seriously. Movie posters everywhere and a big freaking video screen right in back of Santa playing an endless loop of Vince Vaughn line-dancing w/ a bunch of elves. Co-opting the holiday for a movie tie-in is one thing...but a crappy flick like that?! The whole thing struck me in a bad way like a stocking full of coal to the head.

As I actually love this time of year (including the crass commercialism that comes along with it), i'll get over it. I may even try to post up w/ my annual Holiday Mix, should my lazy ass get around to it. So, as always, stay tuned for mucho holiday fun and other useless pap.

Naughty? Nice? I don't give a crap...everybody is invited. Ho.

Holy Nards!

It has come to light, that an outright late 80's HBO classic that my little brother and I would watch EVERY time it came on was finally released on DVD a few months back...in a 20th Anniversary Edition w/ extras nonetheless! 1987's 'Monster Squad' was kind of The Goonies meet Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein meets Dracula meets The Wolfman...you get the point.

The premise of the flick, is that Dracula has just happened to come to a small town to find some sort of amulet giving him the power to rule the world and the whatnot. He enlists Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Gill Man (AKA Creature from the Black Lagoon) and The Mummy to help him out. It also happens, that there is a club of movie monster fanatics made up of several young rag-tag losers in same said small town that set out to stop them.

The film is so phenomenally 80's in the look, feel and dialogue...and you can't go wrong w/ all those classic monsters. I'll be netflixing this bad boy soon and it will be an experiment in nostalgia...hope it's at least a quarter of the fun I had with it at age 16. If you are one of those retro 80's nerds and/or sci-fi/horror geeks like me...you probably already have it in your que.

BONUS: My YouTube query for the trailer also unearthed the 1976 TV series of the same name where a pre-Love Boat/US Congress Fred Grandy solves crimes w/ wax figures of Dracula, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein brought to life. Enjoy the show opening HERE.

CLOVERFIELD!

You may or (more likely) may not remember the teaser trailer I posted a while back for the upcoming J.J. Abrams project. At the time, it was untitled and going by 1-18-08 (it's release date). Fast forward a few months, and the film is officially being called 'Cloverfield' and there is a brand spankin' new trailer...

Still looks like fun, but I hope the whole Blair Witch POV thing doesn't get too annoying. Guess i'll find out come January. BOOM!

Come On Pilgrim

Thanksgiving is a couple of days away, which means that Christmas (my favorite time of the year) is hot on it's heels. That said, before I go all yuletide on your candy asses, I have a lot of things to be thankful for:

• My best friend and lovely wife, Mrs. Famous.
• My sons, the dynamic duo, O and Lo.
• My entire family and extended family-in-laws.
• My Grandfather, tough as nails and still an inspiration.
• My brothers from other mothers, Kev, Kory, J.C. and Brad.
• My e-brothers from other e-mothers, Charles and Peter (What's happening?).
• ANYBODY who takes the time to actually read this labour of love.

I'm also thankful for the return of the seasonal Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash and, in an even more fantastic development, the Slurpee version of the same delicious beverage at my local 7-11.

So, while I drink copious amounts of dark beer while simultaneously watching football/my children run amok w/ their cousins and supervise my bro-in-law's first ever frying of the Thanksgiving day bird, may you be enjoying life and giving thanks for everything you've been blessed with as well.

Gobble Gobble, PEACE and God Bless!

Play Misty for Me

Wow. My best friend and movie junkie, Gep, has been talking this one up since the first trailer hit the theatres/web a few months back. I haven't been that interested in anything Stephen King in a long while, but this looks solid...and legitimately scary. I do recall enjoying the short-story this was based on in 'Skeleton Crew' many moons ago and like how the supposed safety within the grocery store turns no less dangerous than the enviornment outside.

Another King/Frank Darabont collaboration ala 'The Green Mile' and 'The Shawshank Redemption', 'The Mist' is in theatres next week and I may just have to go see this prior to it hitting DVD. Looks like total tub-o-popcorn fun.

KING KHAN & HIS SHRINES

'What is?!'

Okay, wayyyy late w/ this one, but i've become so enthralled by it's retro goodness that I had to spread the love. I became a moderate King Khan fan w/ the 2004 release of the last album w/ his Shrines, 'Mr. Supernatural'. He did some subsequent work as one part of The King Khan & BBQ Show that was more of punk blues thing...fun, but not funky as I like him.

A tongue-in-cheek retro revivalist channeling the 13th Floor Elevators...a Hindu James Brown fronting a dangerously funky garage rock/show band hybrid...a man who spews musical voodoo on par w/ the late, great Screamin' Jay Hawkins...the King is all that and more. While the last album (much more polished in it's production) leaned heavily on the 70's, 'What Is?!' takes another step back to the psychedelic 60's.

Retaining the funky, horn-laden ethos of the band w/ a garage rock twist, this album is painfully authentic sounding in it's raw production. You can practically close your eyes and see the lava lamp/black light posters and smell the hashish in groove-intensive tunes like '(How Can I Keep You) Outta Harms Way', 'I See Lights', 'No Regrets' and 'Le Fils De Jacques Dutronc'.

Throw in some equally fun moments of soul ('69 Faces of Love') and psychedelia ('Cosmic Serenade')...you've got the blueprint to the best key party and/or clambake EVER. Khan and his Shrines obviously don't take themselves seriously and to properly enjoy this album, neither should you...while the musicianship on display is tight, this album is all about cutting loose.

The album actually dropped back in May, but but better late than never...you can pick up 'What Is?!' and the previously hard-to-find 'Supernatural' on iTunes after you take a test-drive in my samplemobile to the right. Yount!

OHMEGA WATTS

'Watts Happening'

Overdue review, but I didn't want this absolutely tasty album go by the wayside. I practically street-teamed everybody I knew a few years back w/ the release of his first solo joint, 'The Find', and it looks like the sophomore effort is having the same effect. While the kids were too busy worrying about how many albums Ye and Fitty were going to move, Ubiquity Records and my man Watts slid another modern take on CLASSIC hip-hop into the mix, under the radar.

While the rhymes on 'Watts Happening' are the same throwback backpacker fare as last go around (social issues, relationships, loving hip hop, etc.), the intelligence, consciousness and positivity comes through like a breath of fresh air in a stale room full of mainstream rap...and it's sure as hell a lot more fun. Arguably, Watts strong point has never been as an MC, but he does seem to be an increased confidence in his delivery and flow on this one.

Rhymes aside, this album truly comes alive in it's production and composition. The man can just make absolute magic behind the boards, turntables and synths. The beats are so funky, so FAT...known side-effects of listening to this album are toe-tapping and head-bobbing. The musical explorations into funk, neo-soul and even bossanova that are layered on top, while keeping things funky, keep each track fresh and interesting to listen to.

While I love DJ's like Cut Chemist and Shadow, this is not turntablism for turntablism's sake...samples or scratching are never the focus, they only come in to accentuate the full composition of the song. This isn't a just a DJ or a rap album, it's hip-hop as God intended it to be...fun, funky and informative.

Enjoy some of the good stuff in the sample area and if you really dig the musicality/production, seek out the physical album w/ the bonus disc of all the instrumental tracks at your favorite record shop. PEACE!

AMBFAD Book Club

'The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History'

I don't know if it's come across via this blog or not, but if and when i'm posed w/ the question of who i'd consider the greatest American rock'n'roll band to ever stumble across God's green earth...it's an extremely easy question for me to answer. Minneapolis's favorite sons (of no one), The Replacements, are by far my musical (anti) heroes and changed the way I both looked at and listened to music.

Legendary in a way that could never be pre-fabricated and/or manufactured...more infamous than famous...the 'Mats are remembered for both how amazing and how amazingly bad they could be both live and on record. Their amazing catalog of music and self-destructive behavior as both band/individual equally created a near-mythical status and cult-like following that still haunts the surviving members/alumni of the band to this day.

The band was soooo ahead of it's time and the droves of artists that reaped the dividends from their influence during the early 90's alt-rock boom would have almost been sad, if not that it was seemingly the band's mission that they never reach industry-success. I remember back in the late 90's driving w/ a co-worker much younger than I and after a half hour of being subjected to their recently 'greatest hits collection' he turned to me and said: 'wow. this is amazing...how is it these guys were never huge?'

Until this book's release, that was a question that could only be answered w/ a few hours of free time and cocktails of equal amount. Minneapolis rock critic and former Westerberg co-conspirator, Jim Walsh, does an admirable job of weaving modern-day personal and recorded accounts of the band's infamous history into book format. Confirming and (in some cases) debunking the lore that has been spun from those who were there and those who wanted to be there during their 12-year ride.

Not only does 'All Over but the Shouting' encapsulate all of those great stories into one place, but it serves as a huge love-letter illustrating how much this band meant and continues to mean to people. While I don't usually like 'oral histories' and the book would have been more interesting w/ Paul and Tommy's participation...it's still a great read for fans of the 'Mats and music alike. It was supposed to be released on 15-Nov, but found it's way to my local Border's last week.

In honor of this book that has been a long time coming, please enjoy my favorite 'Mats song of all time in the sample area. 'I'm in love...w/ that song.'

'THE HOST'

I'm usually not too big on foreign films, unless they are of Asian descent and feature either elaborately choreographed kung-fu sequences and/or giant monsters terrorizing entire cities. Lucky for me, I had a certain Netflix on ice since last month when a few hours opened up this past weekend for a movie that had plenty of the latter.

A South Korean film, 'The Host' received and continues to receive a large amount of hype since it's release in 2006. While the film is a good old-fashioned monster movie at it's core...this is most definitely not your father's Godzilla flick. Personal struggles amongst the film's protagonists are just as frightening as the beast they are trying to take down. Plus, there are no foam suits or chicken wire here...this film is visually stunning in it's capture of the dark surroundings that serve as the backdrop to an FX masterpiece of a monster on par w/ Jurassic Park.

There is some parity to the cautionary Atomic tale of Godzilla, as the creature's origins offer some light political commentary based loosely from an actual incident in 2000 (wiki it, fool). Never a heavy-handed anti-US statement, the film does a great job w/ making the government's handling of the incident just as scary as the monster itself. There film also has it's goofy/comedic moments, but unlike most of the Godzilla flicks...it's intentional when they happen.

Bottom line, it's a blast of a flick that has a little something for everyone...sci-fi/horror nerds and art-house film geeks alike. Avaialble via Netflix and it sounds like they are working on a sequel for 2008 as well. Enjoy.

SACHARINE HANGOVER!

Well, our first official Trick or Treating expedition was a success! Owen (bottom pic) loved his monkey costume the minute we put it on him, but Logan (top pic) wasn't nearly as happy. However, once we started going door to door and filling up their buckets w/ candy...the cowardly lion was practically pushing us over to get to the doors and collect his loot. They hit 8-9 houses, had an absolute blast and made nice little haul.

I rounded out my Hallow's Eve by FINALLY watching the one film in the 'Halloween' movie franchise i'd never subjected myself to...'The Curse of Michael Myers'. It's awfulness is a thing of legend in horror movie fandom and it more than lived up to the hype. I'd never seen a movie try so hard to have such a complex plot line and make so little sense. Eh, it was still fun to watch.

Speaking of flicks, I finally got around to watching a great one that we received via Netflix and will share my review in a post later today. Stay tuned!

ZERO More Days til Halloween (Silll-ver Shamrock)

Only real horror junkies will get that title, but I digress. It's the actual holiday and not the movie and I caught myself chuckling at how my celebration of Halloween has changed over the years.

From dressing up and begging for candy as little shaver...to watching horror movies and defacing other people's property in High School...to dressing up and begging for girls in trashy costumes at bars in College...then, practically coming full circle, attempting to dress up MY little shavers so they can beg for candy (that we'll eat later) later this afternoon.

Keeping in that vein, while my love of the grindhouse/slasher horror flick is well-documented on this blog, I decided to go a little further back and highlight some of my favorite classic monster/horror flicks from my youth:

'Spider Baby'

While I don't recall actually catching this as a youngster, it seems like something I would have enjoyed on Son of Svengoolie some Saturday night. Theme song performed by and starring Lon Chaney Jr. himself, plus the debut performance of one Mr. Sid Haig (AKA Captain Howdy)! You can actually watch the whole flick online at AMC online as part of their yearly Monsterfest celebration.

'The Raven'

I remember stumbling upon this excellent flick based loosely around the Poe poem, on the WGN afternoon movie after school at a friend's house. Some gross FX for the time and an all-star cast including Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Vincent Price and a young Jack Nicholson. Creepy and funny...a really good time.

'Mad Monster Party?'

Rankin Bass flick featuring such legendary monsters as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Mummy, Invisible Man and Phyllis Diller...nuff said. Not at all scary, but silly stop-motion fun w/ a Halloween vibe.

'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'

Again, not that scary as an adult, but this flick rocked my world as a kid. I both laughed and hid behind the couch as Bud & Lou took on Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. and Glenn Strange (reprising their roles as Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein).

While these flicks may seem kind of wimpy by today's standards, when included in a more well-rounded Halloween filmfest diet that includes guests like Michael Myers, Freddy, Jason and/or Dr. Satan...you've got an evening that has something for the entire family. Boo, bitches!

And You Don't Stop!

Not counting my lukewarm review of Ye's latest, we haven't really talked about much hip-hop in a long while. A lot of that has been due to my lack of exposure to anything interesting on that front outside of Madlib's 'Beat Konducta in India' (which is fly as hell BTW). Well, that changed earlier this week when the new album for my man Ohmega Watts dropped on iTunes.

The sweet boom-bip has me floating on air and I'll have a full review next week. Until then, check this dope 'making of' video for one of the funkier-than-hell instrumental tracks on the album, 'The Platypus Strut' and have a good weekend y'all...

THE HIVES

'The Black & White Album'

I'll preface this review by saying that for me, a little bit of The Hives goes a long way. I mean, i've always enjoyed both their music and their ethos...just in small doses. Could it be that, while I enjoy it, the chunky, dirty brand of Swedish rock delivered in black and white uniforms is just too much for even me to handle?! Well...yeah...that seems to be the case.

That said, their latest release, 'The Black & White Album', is nothing less than a blast. Really fun stuff. The trademark punchy, buzz saw garage rock wrought on previous releases still flows through the album's veins on killer tracks like 'Square One Here I Come' and 'Hey Little World'.

Maybe it's just me, there seems to be an infusion of funk/disco touches on tunes like 'T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.' and 'Giddyup' as well, that may be in part to some different producers that include both Pharrell and Jacknife Lee and/or thier work w/ Timbaland. Sometimes it works, sometimes...not so much. I like the tracks that lean a little bit on some new wave floursihes the most. 'It Won't Be Long' and the Tony Basil's 'Mickey' on steroids 'Try it Again' bring the fun in a major way, both gritty and polished at the same time.

While I love quirky, the Hives just don't do it well as far as i'm concerned. Tracks like 'A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors' and 'Puppet on a String' end up as disappointing filler after the first listen and leave you a little irked that they are taking space up on the record. Regardless, the album as a whole is still worth the listen...especially if you are looking for a good time.

As always, check out a taste in the sample area and, while it was released in the UK last week, buy the album when it's avail in the States on 17-Nov. Even more WTF?! than the video in the post previous...they are currently touring as openers for Maroon 5. Wow.

Yup.

Well, it looks like Grandpa may be finally going home tomorrow. There will be a lot to work through, but he's doing as best is possible. Just got back from a long weekend at my college alma matter's Homecoming festivities and it was a much-needed good time...although my liver may say otherwise.

I'm still not really feeling like going back hot and heavy on the blog...and don't really feel like finishing off the whole ROCKTOBER thing, but I do have some worthwhile music and the whatnot to talk about. So, in the next few days, look for a review of the new Hives album and maybe some other semi-interesting stuff. Until then, here's the most excellent video for the first single from that album:

Don't ask me. Hell yeah it's weird, but like the band itself...you can't help but enjoy it no matter how strange they get.

Hey There.

Haven't had an opportunity to post up due to a family medical situation. My Grandfather had been acting a little unlike himself for the past few weeks and, long story short, they discovered a tumor on both his brain and his lung last Saturday.

Flash forward to this morning and the operation yesterday on the brain tumor went as best as possible. They removed everything they could via surgery and Grandpa got through just fine. I stayed until they brought him back to the ICU and he was really tired but okay.

The CT they did this morning showed no clotting and it seems everything was a complete success! He could be home as early as tomorrow afternoon. He'll start radiation treatments for the little pieces that could not be removed via surgery in 10 days and somewhere in that time frame they will also determine what to do about the tumor on his lung.

A (hopefully) long road ahead, but at least we got through one major issue okay. Today, I don't foresee myself blogging for a while...but that could change. Right now, music, pop culture and goofing around are kind of low on the list of priorities. Versus turning this blog way too emo, i'll just take a break until i'm ready to serve up the useless crap you look forward to on a not-quite-daily basis.

In the meantime, i'll offer one parting shot for ROCKTOBER and ask that you go give somebody you love a hug...life is too short and you cannot take it for granted.

On the Cover of the...

Rolling Stone? Pfffft. If you were into hard rock/metal in the late 80's, the only one of your favorite bands you would have seen accomplish that was Motley Crue in 1987. Even then, they were poster children for a venemous article ('Heavy Metal: It's Loud, It's Ugly and it Won't Go Away') that pretty much trashed the genre at that time. I was so incensed I cancelled my long-running subscription and found a new mag to curl up with while I listened to my new Bullet Boys cassette.

That rag was the glorious Larry Flynt-published RIP Magazine. Until it's arrival, (outside of Metal Edge, which i'll be talking about later) your options were either Circus or Hit Parader...the former not good for much else other than concert pictures to hang on your bedroom wall and the latter looked like they had a 12-year old for a design editor.

RIP was like the Cadillac of metal magazines...real interviews instead of monthly regurgitation of press clippings, professional photography versus photocopied fan photos and coverage of a diverse line-up of artists from death to speed to glam. Seriously, you could find an article on Anthrax sandwiched between pieces on Vixen and King Diamond. Plus (see above), where else could you WIN A GREAT WHITE LEATHER JACKET?!

But, like the genre it covered, the mag started to jump the shark w/ the grunge/alternative boom of the early 90's and eventually died off in it's attempt to stay relevant. Shortly thereafter, I went back to suckle at the teat of Rolling Stone, until the Internet pretty much rendered it as useless as a Great White leather jacket and 'artists' like Britney and The Backstreet Boys adorned it's cover. Hmmmm.

Yngwie For Africa

Hear N' Aid - 'Stars'

I deemed that Sam Kinison video in the last post the hard rock/metal equivalent of the 'We Are the World Video', only to remember there actually was a legitimately bad metal version of the whole Band Aid / USA for Africa trip called (get ready for this) Hear N' Aid. The tune itself was a pretty awful garden-variety sounding deal reflective of the times, but there was just as much big hair in the 'Do They Know It's X-mas' video (Duran Duran, hello?).

I have absolutely no idea what they were actually raising money for...it could have been to buy Kevin Dubrow the hair extensions for the Quiet Riot video I posted earlier. Who cares though, because...'We'rrrrrrrrrrrre STARS!'

Hahn(s) Across America

Sam Kinison - 'Wild Thing'



An awful cover tune from his excellent 'Have You Seen Me Lately?' album w/ the 1988-89 hard rock equivalent of the 'We Are the World' video to go along with it. More cameos from the 'who's who' of the genre during that time frame, than a double-sized issue of Metal Edge w/ fold-out poster of C.C. Deville. I can't believe it received regular rotation on MTV, even during metal's heyday on the channel. That said...R.I.P, Sam.

ROCKTOBER BONUS: The only thing more obnoxious than Jessica Hahn's freakishly altered breasts in that video? The follow-up vid for his cover of 'Under My Thumb' that came from his next album that MTV wouldn't air. Hmmmm...I wonder why?

NO ROCK'N'ROLL!

Quiet Riot - 'The Wild & The Young'

A perfect way to kick off ROCKTOBER, Kevin Dubrow and bandmates save us from a rock-less Wink Martindale-ruled future using only sequined marching band uniforms and a tune that sounds way too close to 'I Know There's Something Going On' by former ABBA member Frida.

Good Morning!

Well, it's a brand new week and after the last 2-3, i'm sure it's going to be a good one. Just in case, I thought i'd kickstart it with a little audio pick-me-up for everyone to pour into their coffee...complete w/ a sneer and bad haircut. Herrrrrrrrrreeeee's Johnny...

A lot of fun stuff planned starting today. Now that i've got the Lydon out of my system, the rest of the month AMBFAD will be spent celebrating ROCKTOBER! What does that mean? It means we will be substituting precursors like 'indie' w/ 'glam' and/or 'hard' whenever we refer to thee rock. Videos, albums, books, film that will make you want to tease your hair, hold your hand up in devil horn formation, lift your shirt up and flash the monitor. ROCKTOBER!