'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
The Great Luke Ski
By Baron Dave Romm
For years, I've been waiting for rap to work for me. Lots of people like it, presumably because their parents don't, and that's fine. I was hoping that rap would bring back good lyric writing and storytelling in song, so lacking in recent years. But alas, rap is known for hating women and loving guns.
Who'd a thunk that rap would have found its justification in... filk.
Oh sure, there have been other rap parodies, notably Two Live Jews. But it took the great Luke Ski to bring science fiction fandom to this art form, breathing new life into ringing ear drums and introducing a new musical genre marketing category: Rap Dementia. A tribute, of course, on Dr. Demento, who has his own song on the album. Luke has been doing this for many years, mostly on the con circuit, and his act is polished, the CDs professional and his web site is easy to use.
Featuring an astonishing range of song stylings and voices, Luke Ski is a staggering amount of fun. His latest CD (and the only one I have) is Uber Geek (or, more properly but harder for search engines to find, Über Geek.) While mostly rap variants, there are parodies of Willie Nelson and Billy Joel with spoken bits that range from rap CD outtakes to parodies of Monty Python bits. Equally adept at rapping in the voice of Ed O'Neill, The Swedish Chef or Keanu Reeves, Luke is one drive-by shooting away from being notorious.
Unabashed plug: The Great Luke Ski, Dr. Demento and myself (and others!) are going to be Guests of Honor at the next Marscon, March 7-9 2004. Indeed, I first met Luke at the 2003 Marscon, where he performed many of these songs live. If you think it's fun listening to him, it's even more fun watching him play with Kermit dolls as he sings Who Let The Frog Out (to the Baha Men anthem) with the audience joining in the chorus.
Now where was I? Oh yeah...
To catch all the references that Luke makes, you have to watch too much tv. He's not kidding about the Uber Geek title. Heck, I get most of the references, but probably miss a few. They go by quickly. I don't even play Pokemon or watch Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, but the parodies are dead on target, and the rap lyrics give the references a thick viscosity. You don't need to get all the jokes to appreciate the songs, but it helps. He's fast and furious, bold and beautiful, Barnes and Barnes. He works his way up to Shockwave dense by surrounding a great song about the Buffy spin-off Angel, I Am A Vamp of Constant Sorrow (to the traditional folk tune), with Monty Python references. Sheesh.
I must admit, what did it for me, watching him live, was It's A Fanboy Christmas. With fanboy enthusiasm, he shares nearly ten minutes of Christmas song parodies, science fiction tv references, bad jokes that go by quickly and almost anything else. I'm a sucker for stuff like:
(To the tune of The Little Drummer Boy)
Danger, danger young Will
Robinson
For Dr.
Smith is coming Will Robinson
I know you have been searching for Babylon
You're hungry have some fish
heads eat them up yum, eat them up yum, eat them up yum
Linoleum
yeah!
Come join us at Marscon and... let's play doctor.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here, and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio here (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air, and I'm collecting extra-weird stuff for a possible CD compilation.
Reader Comment
''Call Me Dick''
According to an anonymous source, a reporter heard the
following exchange at a GOP fundraiser during the 2000
election campaign between Dick Cheney and a man who
identified himself as the head of a right-wing fundamentalist
Christian group from North Carolina:
"Hello, Mr. Cheney, it's so good to meet you."
"Please, call me Dick."
"I don't use that kind of language, sir."
Awkward silence for a few beats, then Cheney
piped up, "Uh, just call me Richard then."
-- Mr. Fish
LOL, Thanks, Mr. Fish. One thing about 'Dick' is that he sure lives up to his name...
Reader Research
Re: 'Horns & Halos'
As the BCer who probably lives closest to this theater (about 2-1/2
blocks), I have no excuse for not getting around to seeing this movie
before now. But I finally got organized and called the theater. The
showing times through Thursday, March 13 are:
3:00, 6:30, 10:00
Admission is $9.00.
If I manage to stay on schedule today and actually see the movie, I'll let
you know!
~~ SusanNY
Thanks, Susan.
Seems that the film's run has been extended a week. Hope it gets to the NuArt on Santa Monica Blvd. soon.
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another sunny day.
Have to postpone the 'tribute to search engines' til some time later. It's science project season, and we're down to the final week.
Mocha is still hanging on. He gets up, grooms, eats (well, licks the goo off the wet food), and then strolls out to sun & nap. He's not real pretty at the moment, but that's why there's linoleum.
Tonight, Monday, CBS opens the evening with a FRESH 'King Of Queens', followed by a FRESH 'Yes, Dear',
then a FRESH 'Raymond', followed by a FRESH 'Still Standing', and then a FRESH 'CSI: Miami'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave - with Guest Host Whoopi Goldberg are Jessica Lange, Ben Harper, and "Survivor: The Amazon" castoff JoAnna Ward.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers is Craig David.
NBC has a FRESH 90-minute 'Fear Factor', followed by a FRESH 'Meet My Folks', which is really 'Boof Our Mom'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Benicio del Toro, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, and Randy Jackson, Everclear.
On a RERUN Conan are Tina Fey, Joe Pantoliano, and Coldplay.
On a RERUN Carson Daly (from 2/13/03), are Kelsey Grammer and Joseph Arthur.
ABC starts with a FRESH 'Veritas', followed by a FRESH 'The Practice', and then a FRESH
'Miracles'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are John Leguizamo, Suge Knight, Cook E. Jar, and guest host Jeff Ross.
The WB offers a RERUN '7th Heaven', and a RERUN 'Everwood'.
Faux has a FRESH 'Boston Pubic', followed by a FRESH 'Married By America', minus the already married contestant.
UPN starts with a RERUN 'The Parkers', then a RERUN 'One On One', followed by a RERUN
'Girlfriends', and then a RERUN 'Half & Half'.
Time to pull out the wire hangers & enjoy
Mommie Dearest (1981) (with
Faye Dunaway) on AMC.
Over at TCM, it's time to celebrate All-American crime sprees with
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
(with Faye Dunaway, again), followed by
In Cold Blood (1967), with
Robert Blake.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Aerial view of cross country skiers racing over the frozen lake Sils during the Engadin ski marathon near Sils, Switzerland, March 9, 2003. Some 11,262 skiers participated in the nordic
skiing marathon, skiing 42.2 kilometers (26.2 miles) from Maloja to S-chanf.
Photo by Remy Steinegger
Clinton Vs. Dole
Bill Clinton
Former President Clinton, in his first televised mini-debate with Republican Bob Dole on Sunday, said that a tax cut at a time that war is looming in Iraq is "bad economics."
Dole, Clinton's opponent in the 1996 presidential election, said the Bush administration has launched a global war to protect the American way of life, "which means, among other things, the freedom to save or invest our own money."
Clinton said a conflict with Iraq and the subsequent rebuilding will cost many billions of dollars when the country is at a deficit.
Bill Clinton
'Guerra no! Paz si!'
East Los Angeles
In East Los Angeles about 1,000 mostly Hispanic anti-war protesters marched for 2 1/2 miles along Whittier Boulevard chanting "Guerra no! Paz si!" (War, no; Peace, yes).
The East Los Angeles protest, organized by Latinos against The War On Iraq, ended with a rally at Salazar Park, the site of a Chicano protest against the Vietnam War in 1970.
Henry Gutierrez, 54, who attended the 1970 Chicano moratorium, which drew tens of thousands of protesters, also marched in Sunday's protest.
"If we go to war, Hispanics in particular are going to suffer," said Gutierrez. "It will mean cuts in public transportation, health care and education. Those are things we depend on."
East Los Angeles
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Baby News
Jill Hennessy
Happy news for "Crossing Jordan" star Jill Hennessy - she and her husband, Paolo Mastropietro, are expecting a baby. Spies said Hennessy, 33, is several months along. Producers of the
NBC show are said to be figuring out how to work the pregnancy into the plotline. Hennessy's representative confirmed her pregnancy and said the baby is due in mid-October.
Jill Hennessy
Former President Bill Clinton as he appears in the new Clinton & Dole/ Dole & Clinton debate segment on CBS News' '60 MINUTES' that debuts Sunday night, March 9, 2003, on the CBS Television Network.
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Built Malibu Church Complex
Mel Gibson
Actor Mel Gibson is the person behind a 9,300-square-foot, Mission-style Catholic church complex in Malibu, Calif., that is not affiliated with any diocese.
The star of "Braveheart," "Lethal Weapon" and "Mad Max" financed the building for about 70 fellow members of the ultraconservative group Holy Family, according to Sunday's The New York Times Magazine.
Among other things, Holy Family and other so-called traditionalist congregations conduct Sunday Mass in Latin.
Mel Gibson
Times Magazine
No Talks Scheduled
Musicians Strike
Tempers were rising and so were the costs, but negotiations were at a standstill Sunday in the effort to end a walkout that shut down 18 of the 19 musicals on Broadway.
Everyone was looking toward Monday, and the hope that talks would resume between the League of American Theatres and Producers and Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. By Sunday
afternoon, after two dark nights at the theaters, neither side had made the first move.
Shutting down the 18 shows has cost about $1.2 million per performance in terms of lost box-office revenue, or nearly $5 million for all four performances over the weekend, according to Bernstein.
The city's tourism office estimated weekend losses for ancillary businesses, such as restaurants, hotels and taxis, at more than $7 million.
The one Broadway musical still open Sunday was "Cabaret," which is covered under a different contract. The show, now starring Deborah Gibson and Neil Patrick Harris, sold out throughout the weekend
as people lined up for cancellations. The walkout also did not affect the dramatic plays on Broadway or off-Broadway plays and musicals.
Musicians Strike
To Pen Memoirs
Anthony Kiedis
Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis is set to write his memoirs for Hyperion Books. The book, titled Scar Tissue, is scheduled for a fall 2004 release, and will focus on his and the Peppers'
rise to fame. Scar Tissue will also tackle the singer's well-publicized lifelong battle with drugs.
Hyperion president Bob Miller said Kiedis was forthcoming with his experiences. "No rock star has ever been so eloquent about life on the edge as Anthony Kiedis." Miller said. "We're thrilled to be
his publisher and confident that this book will be a major bestseller in 2004."
Kiedis will receive support in writing the book from Larry Sloman. Sloman helped out Howard Stern when the shock jock penned the best sellers Private Parts and Miss America.
Anthony Kiedis
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Airs March 13 on Fox
NAACP Image Awards
Denzel Washington swept the 34th annual NAACP's Image Awards on Saturday with a trifecta for his acting and directing prowess, while the top nominee, "Brown Sugar," was shut out of the awards.
Washington, describing his awards as "an embarrassment of riches," won statuettes for best actor for playing a desperate father in "John Q" and for best supporting actor for his role as a Navy psychiatrist in "Antwone Fisher."
"Antwone Fisher," the film Washington guided from script to screen in his directing debut, captured the show's top prize for best picture. As producer and director, Washington collected the award.
Washington, who last year became the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actor since Sidney Poitier in 1963, and Halle Berry, the first black best actress Oscar winner ever, got standing ovations when
they appeared to induct director Spike Lee into the Image Award's Hall of Fame.
Berry picked up a best supporting actress award for her role as sexy secret agent Jinx in the James Bond thriller, "Die Another Day."
Angela Bassett took home two best actress statuettes for the film "Sunshine State," and for CBS's "The Rosa Parks Story." The other nominees in the film category included Jennifer Lopez in "Maid in
Manhattan," Thandie Newton in "The Truth About Charlie," Vivica A. Fox in "Juwanna Man," and Sanaa Lathan in "Brown Sugar."
Tennis champion sisters Venus and Serena Williams received the President's Award for their sporting accomplishments, joining such previous winners as President Bill Clinton and national security adviser Condoleeza Rice.
"Lethal Weapon" actor Danny Glover received the Chairman's Award for his work to broaden human rights internationally and to abolish the death penalty. In his acceptance speech, Glover
admonished the audience "to question, to dissent, to speak truth when the call to patriotism and nationalism are used as barriers to detain us."
Glover was among several actors who used their time at the microphone to voice their opposition to the looming U.S. war with Iraq.
NAACP Image Awards
Britain's Prince of Wales holds up the ball before the start of the second day of the Shrovetide football match in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, March 5, 2003. The game dates back to the 17th
Century where the aim of the teams, the Up'ards and the Down'ards, is to score by tapping the ball three times on the circular mounds on the banks of the River Henmore.
Photo by Ian Hodgson
Will He Be Whacked?
James Gandolfini
Could James Gandolfini's legal battles with HBO get him whacked? Nevermind that few people would want to watch "The Sopranos" without him - the latest unsubstantiated
rumor from the troubled set is that the producers are so fed up with Gandolfini's demand for a reported $2.5 million per episode, they've decided to kill him off on
the first show of the new season, tentatively to air next January. "Unless your source is David Chase," an HBO rep says, "he would be mistaken." According to the tipster,
Gandolfini will never shoot any new footage, so they'll splice together Tony Soprano's hit from old footage of him walking into a diner in Nutley, N.J. Series co-stars
Michael Imperioli, Aida Turturro and Robert Iler will be on hand later this month to film the scene, in which gunshots will be heard but the actual murder won't be shown.
"People will at least tune in to see him get whacked," the source says. Supposedly next to die is Drea DeMatteo, who won't survive the third episode.
James Gandolfini
Working On Folk & Blues Covers
John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp might not have a label deal, but that doesn't mean he isn't making new music. Mellencamp is holed up in his Bloomington, Indiana, studio working on what's said to be an album of
traditional folk and blues songs by the likes of Woody Guthrie, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson.
The New York Times reports that Mellencamp has updated the lyrics to Guthrie's "Baltimore To Washington" to reference resident George W. Bush and the current conflict with Iraq.
According to The Times, the revised lyrics read, "He wants to fight with many/And he says it's not for oil/He sent out the National Guard/To police the world."
John Mellencamp
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Saturday Night
WGA Awards
Filmmaker Michael Moore, whose "Bowling for Columbine" examined gun violence in America, won best original screenplay Saturday night at the 55th Annual Writers Guild Awards.
Best adapted screenplay went to David Hare for "The Hours," from Michael Cunningham's novel about author Virginia Woolf and two women in other time periods with connections to Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway."
Other winners:
TELEVISION:
Animation: "Godfellas" ("Futurama"), Ken Keeler, Fox.
Original Long Form: "The Gathering Storm," teleplay by Hugh Whitemore, story by Larry Ramin and Hugh Whitemore, HBO.
Adapted Long Form: "Bastogne" ("Band of Brothers"), Bruce C. McKenna, based on the book by Stephen E. Ambrose, HBO.
Episodic Drama: "Pilot" ("The Education of Max Bickford"), Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, CBS.
Episodic Comedy: "Rooms With a View" ("Frasier"), Dan O'Shannon, Lori Kirkland and Bob Daily, NBC.
Comedy-Variety, music, awards, tributes, specials: "The Kennedy Center Honors," Don Baer and George Stevens Jr., film sequences written by Sara Lukinson, CBS.
Comedy-Variety (including talk) Series: "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," Mike Sweeney, Chris Albers, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Jonathan Glaser, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman,
Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Andrew Secunda, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack and Andrew Weinberg, NBC.
Daytime Serials: "The Young and the Restless," Kay Alden, Trent Jones, John Smith, Jerry Birn, Jim Houghton, Natalie Minardi, Janice Ferri, Eric Freiwald, Joshua McCaffrey, Michael Minnis and Rex Best, CBS.
Children's Script: "Our America," teleplay by Gordon Rayfield, based on the book "Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago" by Lealan Jones, Lloyd Newman and David Isay, Showtime.
Documentary, current events: "9/11," Tom Forman and Greg Kandra, CBS.
Documentary, other than current events: "Monkey Trail" ("American Experience"), Christine Lesiak, PBS.
News, regularly scheduled, bulletin or breaking report: "Attack on America," Jerry Cipriano, Paul Fischer, Thomas Harris, Hugh Heckman and Bruce Meyer, CBS.
RADIO:
News, regularly scheduled: "World News This Week," Stuart Chamberlain Jr., ABC.
News, analysis, feature or commentary: "Pearl Harbor Day," Steve Gosset, CBS.
WGA Awards
Empty rails are seen in the main train station of Frankfurt, central Germany, Thursday, March 6, 2003. Striking railroad workers caused delay and cancelation of about 1,000 trains across
Germany stepping up pressure on rail operator Deutsche Bahn as it restarts pay talks with labor unions.
Photo by Michael Probst
Posing For Playboy
Sarah Kozer
"Joe Millionaire" runner-up Sarah Kozer has starred in bondage-fetish flicks, and now she's taking it off for Playboy. A source told New York magazine she's agreed to appear topless.
Kozer declined Playboy's offer of $1 million to go completely nude, but took it up on its second offer - $500,000 to pose nude from the waist up. Kozer's publicist wouldn't confirm
or deny because "nothing is set in stone yet."
Sarah Kozer
North American Box Office
The Top 10 Movies
Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the March 7-9 weekend, according to studio estimates collected on Sunday.
1 (*) Bringing Down the House.........$31.7 million
2 (*) Tears of the Sun................$17.2 million
3 (2) Old School..................... $ 9.2 million
4 (5) Chicago.........................$ 6.9 million
5 (4) How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days....$ 6.8 million
6 (1) Cradle 2 the Grave..............$ 6.6 million
7 (3) Daredevil ..................... $ 5.2 million
8 (6) The Jungle Book 2...............$ 4.2 million
9 (7) Shanghai Knights .............. $ 2.7 million
10(8) The Life of David Gale......... $ 2.1 million
NOTE: Last weekend's ranking in parentheses.
* = new release.
TOTALS TO DATE:
Chicago ...................... $114.5 million
Daredevil...................... $91.5 million
How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days... $86.9 million
Shanghai Knights .............. $54.7 million
The Recruit ................... $50.3 million
Old School..................... $50.8 million
Jungle Book 2 ................. $39.5 million
The Hours...................... $35.3 million
Cradle 2 The Grave............. $27.0 million
The Life of David Gale......... $17.1 million
Gods and Generals.............. $11.1 million
The Top 10 Movies
Arrested In Domestic Case
Ralph "Sonny" Barger
Hell's Angels founder Ralph "Sonny" Barger, whose arrest record spans several decades, was in custody again Friday after a reported fight with his wife and daughter in their New River home,
adding another chapter in his well-publicized life.
Barger, 64, was placed in an isolated cell at Maricopa County's Madison Street Jail in Phoenix for his own protection, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.
Barger, who detailed his hell-raising life in the book Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club, is also owner of Sonny Barger Cave Creek Cycles.
Ralph "Sonny" Barger
Medical First
Penis Transplant
In what is claimed to be a first in medical history, a group of doctors has transplanted a penis from a child born with two to another born without one.
The three-hour transplant, which doctors say is the first of its kind in the world, was performed on a seven-month-old child at the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College Hospital in Calcutta.
The penis was taken from a one-year-old child from Shantipur in Bengal's Nadia district. The donor baby had been born with two external male genitals with normal growth and scrota but no rectum.
According to Dr Ashok Ray, the leader of the medical team and a noted pediatric surgeon, the surgeons first constructed the rectum and then removed the extra male member in another operation two weeks later.
The doctors realised they could make medical history when another child admitted to the same hospital was discovered without a penis, Dr Ray told the Calcutta daily newspaper The Telegraph.
Penis Transplant
Run Extended
'Horns and Halos'
Cinema Village
22 E. 12th St.
NYC
Three-year-old wallaby Terenty, right, and one of its roommates, Markiza the cat, at the zoo in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, 1,000 km (600 miles) south of Moscow, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003. Terenty, a Bennet's wallaby which resembles a small
kangaroo, shares its enclosure on good terms with two cats.
Photo by Sergei Venyavsky
'The Osbournes'
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'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
