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

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

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

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

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

At Ronnie Scott's.

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Burt n' Stevie? Yes - it happened.

The Realistic Orchestra

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!

San Francisco Jazz: August 2009

I sincerely hope the entire set of fresh takes on MJ classics will be issued on DVD or CD sometime. Perhaps we will be seeing more streaming video soon on the Jazz Mafia website. It's a fitting tribute, as well as fantastic music.

The World Is Dyslexic

I have at least one reason for a fair amount of the conflict, strife and senseless violence around the globe, including a fair amount of current putrid horseshit (and I mean that with sincere apologies to all the nice horsies out there). It all starts innocently enough, with this incredibly irritating TV commercial:



Now a certain number of folks just watched that ad and concluded "that's the most IRRITATING thing I've ever seen, but I can't stop thinking of the jingle, and want to buy this product - and I don't even have a dog! Dammit, I'm telling all my friends with Schnauzers NOT to buy Ken'l Ration, EVER!"

Everyone else just saw "My GOD'S better than your GOD!" The world is dyslexic.

No doubt this commercial got translated into hundreds of languages and made it to the far corners of the globe. This concept. . . "My GOD'S better than your GOD!" drives everybody from the suicide bombers to the settlement movement to hysterical nut-jobs in the United States

Please, ladies and gentlemen, go with the rational-thinking first reaction. . . yes, that means don't buy that, ever!

The Moth Who Came To Dinner

Don't have much to say at the moment, so I'll post a classic Looney Tunes cartoon. Tex Avery, Frank Tashlin, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng all made some pretty amazing contributions to the black and white Looney Tunes series. Here's a particularly fun one directed by Bob Clampett. Love the theme song, hilarious voice work by Mel Blanc and Sara Berner, and the cheerfully wacky spirit of the animation.



To appreciate the many original touches in Eatin' On The Cuff, check out John Kricfalusi's shot-by-shot breakdown.

New On DVD: Retrospective Of Silent Film Comedy Innovator by Paul F. Etcheverry

"Charley Chase's run of Pathe two reelers from 1925 through 1927 are an astonishing group -- two dozen comedies, each with carefully crafted gag situations that aren't repeated, almost every film a gem. The only track record comparable are the Laurel & Hardy silent MGM shorts of 1927-1929. The few Chase MGM silents that escaped a fate of nitrate decomposition (such as THE STING OF STINGS and LIMOUSINE LOVE) are equally outstanding." Historian Ed Watz, author (with Ted Okuda) of The Columbia Comedy Shorts

Prolific writer-director-comedian Charley Chase - some of you may know him from his role as "the practical joker" in Laurel and Hardy's Sons Of The Desert (1933) - just got some more of his due recognition earlier today.



All Day Entertainment released Becoming Charley Chase, a 4-DVD box set spanning his early career in silent films. While it's a good bet that many of this blog's readers know who Charley Chase (A.K.A. Charles Parrott) was and have seen some of his films, as well the classic two-reelers he directed at Columbia Pictures for The Three Stooges, even fans may not be aware of his importance in film and comedy history.



Chase, along with fellow innovators Harry Langdon and Lloyd Hamilton, essentially changed film history in the mid-1920's by bringing a less frantic, more sophisticated and varied approach to both slapstick and that bastard child of entertainment, the comedy short subject. All three expanded the screen comedy palette. Chase in particular added more sophisticated storylines to classic sight gag humor.



Prior to that, sophisticated comedy and slapstick were strictly separate genres, especially in short films. Sophisticated comedy, exemplified by the popular Mr. And Mrs. Sidney Drew, primarily stuck to pratfall-free but absurdity-filled marital farces. Slapstick - epitomized by the "louder, faster, shorter" school of Mack Sennett, Henry Lehrman and Larry Semon, the king of epic sight gag spectacle - was a rip-roaring characterization-free zone where guys with gargantuan mustaches ran around frantically, threw pies, destroyed cars, water towers crashed, fat guys got doused with gallons of goo, little guys scampered on skyscrapers, lions chased terrified actors, stuff "blowed up real good". . . and stuntmen worked hard, very hard.



Charley Chase mastered all of the above: directed marital farces starring Mr. And Mrs. Carter DeHaven, slapstick for Sennett, Hal Roach (the Snub Pollard series) and Chaplin imitator Billy West, as well as Lloyd Hamilton, whose 1920's and 1930's comedies blend sight gag humor with subtle acting, deliberate timing and an eternally world-weary sad sack characterization. Charley also was among the creative team that developed the Our Gang comedy series for Hal Roach in 1921-1922.



By merging elements of the two genres, as well as fostering a more character-driven approach with Our Gang, Chase changed the very nature of film humor, paving the way for both Laurel & Hardy and the screwball comedy genre that became popular just a few years later.



Although he has been hailed as the originator of situation comedy and aptly compared to Dick Van Dyke (especially Dick's 1960-1965 TV series, created by Carl Reiner), Charley Chase also points forward to quite a few comedians both in and outside of that genre who became prominent long after his death in 1940. The clever invention of his ideas recalls Ernie Kovacs. The contrast between an everyman and a host of improbable, bizarre and wacky things that can happen brings to mind an equally funny guy whose style is very different from Chase: the great Bob Newhart, master of standup comedy and the sitcom. And his mannerisms - especially in such still hilarious films as Mighty Like A Moose (1926) - often make me think of The Goons and The Pythons (watch the Ministry Of Silly Walks sketch and then reference Charley's inebriated gait in His Wooden Wedding).



The 4-DVD set traces his artistic development and features a selection of short and sweet one-reel short subjects he starred in and co-directed with Leo McCarey.



It includes over 40 silent shorts from Chase's early years in movies, both as actor and director, and chronologically moves from his first directorial efforts for Mack Sennett, later films he made as a freelancing director (including one in which he co-stars with the always fabulous Oliver "Babe" Hardy - before either worked at the Hal Roach Studio) and Chase's re-invention as starring performer.



I extend big time thanks to David Kalat, Robert Blair at VCI Entertainment and all the film historians - Ben Model, Robert Arkus, Richard M. Roberts, Paul Gierucki, Rob Farr, Yair Solan, Bruce Lawton, Dave Stevenson - who contributed to this. If you love classic comedy and film history, buy it.

Bring Back Classic Cartoons To Television!

Now that classic cartoons don't even show on the Cartoon Network anymore, we animation fans don't want them to go the way of the do-do and bipartisanship. We want cartoons back on TV!

In pursuit of this worthy goal, animator and producer of Cartoonland Presents, "Cap'n Kevin" Coffey, has commenced a campaign to bring his show, which ran from 2001 - 2005 on channel 29, back to local TV screens in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here's a clip of the Cap'n, accompanied by a strangely familiar looking First Mate, introducing the cartoon fun:



San Francisco Bay Area cartoon fans: strike blows both for classic animation and the tradition of freewheeling, fun local programming by lobbying for the Cartoonland Presents show on the KOFY-TV website. Or write to and phone the KOFY-TV programming department demanding it!