'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater
podcasts
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Marscon CDs
These are some of the CDs I picked up at Marscon 2008, a local Minneapolis science fiction convention with a large number of musicians performing and selling merch. As I've said before, talking about CDs of your friends can be tricky. I shall bull on.
All of My Heroes Are Villains
Beth
Kinderman
Marscon, February 29, 2008CE
When I first heard Beth Kinderman at last year's Marscon, two things were apparent: 1) She was good but not great and 2) She would be getting better. Both these are still true. She keeps pushing herself, and it's paid off. Many of her songs are available on various EPs and demos as solos. Having the songs available meant that I could air a few cuts and talk her up (I'm thanked in the credits), but it's her fearless desire to perform live that is honing her talents. Every time I see her, she's improved. With help from audio engineers and musician friends, she took the plunge with a commercial CD.
All Of My Heroes Are Villains is Beth Kinderman's first full length CD. She went all out, and picked up some accomplished musicians for her backing band, the Player Characters. She writes from a personal Point Of View, usually (but not necessarily) her own, and usually introspective. She has a way with a haunting tune that stays in your head, even as the lyrics are complex and deserve more than one listen.
The title track tells of a 16 year old watching a Hannibal Lecter movie on tv:
Hannibal Lecter
brilliant & dignified
more real than fiction could be
I was rooting for you from the beginning
what does that say about me?
She grows up faster than her boyfriend and tells him so, and excises her guild in Redeemer, learning "I've learned when you calculate the price of every sentence soon you don't open up your mouth at all". He doesn't care about her, yet she stays with him, distancing herself emotionally but not physically, because "second best is better than to stay alone inside" as he's just a Distraction.
For the Science Fiction fans, comprising her main audience, she offers the Serenity inspired Valley and the bonus track Zombies.
All of My Heroes Are Villains is a worthy album, but it won't be her best. While all the songs are strong, not everything works. The band isn't completely tight, and sometimes the sort of jazz-inspired-punk guitar doesn't seem to fit. (Sorry Dave.) Clearly, Beth is a work in progress. And one that's good to watch. The CD is recommended for all those who like introspective folk/rock with some catchy hooks and poignant lyrics.
But Wait, There's More!
DJ
Particle
Marscon, March 2, 2008CE
When we last left Dementia Radio emcee and "RIAA-dical Lesbian Parodist" DJ Particle, she had released her second CD Oh Dear FSM... Not Another One, at last year's Marscon. I commented, "Her vocal range, alas, is exceeded by her enthusiasm." She vastly improved the former at, alas, the expense of the latter.
But Wait, There's More! is structured as a series of related parodies, like a set list for a radio show, complete with spoken introductions couched as "Infomercials", hence the title of the CD. The sets are the Food Group (2 songs), Political Group (3), DDR 10th Anniversary (2), Travel (2), Dr. Who's 30th Anniversary (2) and the closing sales pitch with audience participation (2)... plus two bonus tracks.
As always, she pulls the music from the originals, karaoke versions and public MIDI and remixes/mashups them with parody lyrics. Whether you like the parodies depends not only on how well you like the original music, but on how much you appreciate (or want to hear denigrate) the subject. Predictably, my favorite track is 88 Songs About 44 Companions, even though I'm not a Dr. Who fan and don't know most of the people in the song. This is another song that I have (at least) two parodies of and not the original. She does a fairly straightforward version of The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun which electrified the Marscon 2007 audience (including me) when she performed it near the end of the con.
DJ Particle's previous CDs were an acquired taste as she fearlessly put herself center stage. But Wait, There's More! is an attempt to broaden her audience, and to an extent it works: without descending into mainstream, she covers topics with a more sure voice and without using Naughty Language. Still, sometimes I missed the sheer exuberance that comes from knowing you're appealing to a few people you know will like what you do. If you liked her previous CDs, you'll like this one. If you don't have the other two and want to sample this side of Dementia music, this is probably the CD to get. Otherwise, listen to her Saturday shoutcast Revenge on Dementia Radio and decide for yourself.
The MarsCon 2008 Dementia Track Fund Raiser CD
Dementia Track
Artists
Marscon, March 3, 2007
I'm really not going to say a lot about the two CD set of The MarsCon 2008 Dementia Track Fund Raiser CD. It's a charity thing. Most of the tracks are live performances from Marscon 2007, poorly engineered, with banter and mistakes and all. Almost all the songs are done better by the artists themselves on their CDs.
The reason to get the CDs is to encourage them to do it again.
I was in the audience for perhaps half of the performances captured on these disks. (I think the picture above was taken during Don't Download This Song, track 18.) The great Luke Ski does yeoman's work making dementia music possible at conventions. What Dr. Demento is to funny music on the national level, what Shockwave Radio is to weirdness in the Twin Cities and science fiction fandom, Luke is to this range of filking. (And not everyone agrees that it's "filk", but we will ignore them for the nonce.) Only a few of the musicians are professionals, and even the pros aren't making Weird Al money, and convention transportation fundraisers have a long and honorable history in science fiction fandom. The TransAtlantic Fan Fun was started in 1953... and contributors didn't get a wire recording!
It might be too late to appreciate the 2008 fundraiser, though I suspect Luke will simply take any further sales and add them to the 2009 effort. If you're going to get these disks, it would be as 1) a collector: Some of these musicians will be the Captain Beefheart of 2060, and these discs will (maybe) command a premium, and 2) as a sampler of a rather wide range of talent. The bonus tracks are professional mastered: Nun Fight from Paul & Storm and The Yolk's On You from the Hot Waffles.
As either a collector or a contributor, you'll pull a few iPod worthy songs and stash the CDs, and feel good about it. Especially if you come to any of the numerous conventions they play at, or see the artists in concert. I can't recommend The MarsCon 2008 Dementia Track Fund Raiser on its merits, but I am glad I have them. Bragging rights, doncha know. Neener neener.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
--////
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Stand by your beds (guardian.co.uk)
Around the world, a shadowy army of plant lovers is on a mission: to make their dull, grey neighbourhoods more beautiful places to live. Armed with seedbombs and spades, these green-fingered outlaws are stealthily filling neglected public land with flowers and shrubs. Richard Reynolds explains how he joined their ranks and became a guerrilla gardener.
FROMA HARROP: Osama Crashes the Democratic Party (creators.com)
What was so shocking, terrible and unfair about flashing Osama bin Laden's ugly mug on a political advertisement? Hillary Clinton's TV spot was the first Democratic ad to make pictorial reference to the al-Qaida terrorist. It was about time.
SUSAN ESTRICH: Lilly's Dilemma (creators.com)
There are some who believe Democrats are doing everything they can to hand this election over to the Republican in what should be a Democratic year. But Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both took time from their campaigns to go back to Washington to vote for Lilly Ledbetter and the millions of women who know they are being shafted at work, but don't have the evidence - at least not within 180 days of the shafting - to prove it. McCain only took the time to say he would have voted against her.
Connie Tuttle: While the future looks bleak, there is good news in the effort to curb environmental damage (tucsonweekly.com)
After several decades celebrating Earth Day each April (though Tucson's been officially at it only 14 years), it seems we're more interested in festivals than taking on the challenge of cleaning up the mess we created after deciding fossil derivatives were the answer to everything: increased food production with fertilizers! Better living through hi-tech warfare! Fuel engines replacing manual labor for every imaginable task!
50 best cult books (telegraph.co.uk)
Some are classic. Some are catastrophic. All have the power to change lives.
Interview by Chris Wiegand with Simon Munnery: 'A heckler is like a gift from God'
What's more amazing is that there's 100 or 200 people listening and laughing at the same time, magically. Like birds in a flock. A flock of birds will move like it's one thing. You'd think they've got to know where all the other birds are but they don't - they only need to know about the seven nearest. Maybe that's the same with an audience. When people laugh, they turn to each other.
Julia Wallace: Amy Poehler Pops (villagevoice.com)
Talking with the "Baby Mama" star.
Eileen Jones: Gitmo Injustices Get Satirical Treatment From Harold & Kumar (AlterNet.org)
The iconic teens come face to face with the injustices at Gitmo -- and young audiences are going to eat it up.
The Walt Disney we lost to Canada (film.guardian.co.uk)
Erlend Clouston on Truffaut's favourite animator.
Dominick A. Miserandino: Interview with Kin Eagle - children's authors (thecelebritycafe.com)
Write, write, write. Write about the exciting things that make you happy. Write insights you have had that you want to share. Write about your feelings that you think others have or might want to know about. Write about the little boy next door who warms your heart when he plays with his dog and a red rubber ball. Write about the mundane details of writing. And before, during, and after, read about all of these things, too. We are all social beings and in some way, no matter how small, what some other people say DOES count!
Will Harris: A Chat with Steven Wright (bullz-eye.com)
We're not sure if anyone under the age of 50 would get it if we described Steven Wright as "the Pat Paulsen of his generation," but, trust us, it's true.
Reader Contribution
'Redbud Valley'
Hi Marty -
From 'redbud valley,' near to State College, PA.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
eCONomic CON U copia?
Check out W's 'package' with its CON of plenty?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hot and dry.
Media Awards
GLAAD
Two ABC series were in repeats - as winners - at the annual awards honoring good work in media presentations of gays and lesbians.
"Brothers & Sisters" and "Ugly Betty" received awards for outstanding drama and comedy series during the 19th annual Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards at the Kodak Theatre on Saturday night.
Other winners included Bravo's "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" for outstanding reality program, Janet Jackson for the Vanguard Award and Rufus Wainwright for the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, in honor of the late casting director who fought homophobia in the entertainment industry.
According to GLAAD, the awards honor individuals and projects in media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives. The awards are split into four ceremonies, held in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and San Francisco in March, April and May.
GLAAD
Hide At Speed Racer Premiere
Wachowski Siblings
Reclusive Hollywood filmmakers Larry and Andy Wachowski showed up for the premiere of their new movie "Speed Racer," not that most people got to see the brothers siblings.
They did not do the red-carpet press line at the Nokia Theatre on Saturday, and were well-camouflaged during the after-party. Photographers were sworn to secrecy as to their whereabouts, and Warner Bros. assigned handlers the mission of keeping journalists off the scent.
"Speed" star Emile Hirsch described the pair as having quirky and dry senses of humor: "Almost like the Coen brothers, but from another planet," he said.
Wachowski Siblings
Coachella
Sean Penn
Sean Penn spoke at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, urging the young crowd to involve themselves politically.
The Oscar-winning actor, a late addition to the music festival, joking referred to his out-of-place billing among the 125-plus performers.
Penn urged festival-goers to join him on his "Dirty Hands Caravan," a biodiesel cross-country bus trip he plans to launch Monday, arriving in New Orleans on May 4. The purpose of the trip, which he hopes 300 will join, is to encourage young people to be more politically and environmentally involved.
Penn, who was to repeat the talk on the main stage later Sunday, was one of the few participants to discuss politics at the Southern California festival, where dancing and music were far more prevalent.
Sean Penn
Low-Key Exit To ABC
'Scrubs'
Like a tipsy party guest, it's going to be pretty tough for "Scrubs" to exit NBC gracefully.
The network's final "Scrubs" episode airs next week, concluding its run with the network after seven seasons. But you'd never know it from watching NBC or perusing the entertainment media.
At the conclusion of what was the comedy's third-to-last episode on NBC Thursday, viewers were simply urged to check out the show's interactive features on NBC.com. The usual array of creator and cast interviews that usually accompany the final episodes of a concluding series are likewise largely absent.
The super low-key exit for "Scrubs" is tied to what's become the worst-kept secret in Hollywood: that the veteran comedy is moving to ABC. The long-pending deal for ABC to pick up 18 episodes of "Scrubs" for next season is effectively, pretty much, essentially, done.
'Scrubs'
Vanity Fair Photo Spread
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus said she's embarrassed by an apparently racy photo spread appearing in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair.
"I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about," Cyrus said Sunday in a statement through her publicist.
The photos, by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, were taken to accompany an interview with the 15-year-old pop star and her father, singer Billy Ray Cyrus. They include shots of the teen reportedly topless and wrapped in a blanket.
"Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day," the magazine said. "Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley."
Miley Cyrus
Annual Yuk-Fest
Correspondents' Dinner
Resident Bush poked fun at his potential successors Saturday night, expressing surprise that none of them were in the audience at the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner.
"Senator McCain's not here," Bush said of GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain. "He probably wanted to distance himself from me a little bit. You know, he's not alone. Jenna's moving out too."
Bush then referred to scandals that have dogged the campaigns of the two remaining Democratic candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, in explaining their absence: "Hillary Clinton couldn't get in because of sniper fire and Senator Obama's at church."
Bush was followed by Craig Ferguson, the host of CBS' "Late Late Show."
Ferguson, who became a U.S. citizen in February, asked Bush what he was going to do after leaving office, then suggested, "You could look for a job with more vacation time." The president has drawn criticism for the amount of time he has spent away from the White House during his presidency.
Vice President Dick Cheney, Ferguson said, "is already moving out of his residence. It takes longer than you think to pack up an entire dungeon."
Correspondents' Dinner
Holocaust Mystery
Raoul Wallenberg
Budapest, November 1944: Another German train has loaded its cargo of Jews bound for Auschwitz. A young Swedish diplomat pushes past the SS guard and scrambles onto the roof of a cattle car.
Ignoring shots fired over his head, he reaches through the open door to outstretched hands, passing out dozens of bogus "passports" that extended Sweden's protection to the bearers. He orders everyone with a document off the train and into his caravan of vehicles. The guards look on, dumbfounded.
Raoul Wallenberg was a minor official of a neutral country, with an unimposing appearance and gentle manner. Recruited and financed by the U.S., he was sent into Hungary to save Jews. He bullied, bluffed and bribed powerful Nazis to prevent the deportation of 20,000 Hungarian Jews to concentration camps, and averted the massacre of 70,000 more people in Budapest's ghetto by threatening to have the Nazi commander hanged as a war criminal.
Then, on Jan. 17, 1945, days after the Soviets moved into Budapest, the 32-year-old Wallenberg and his Hungarian driver, Vilmos Langfelder, drove off under a Russian security escort, and vanished forever.
Raoul Wallenberg
100-Year Mystery
Belle Gunness
Asle Helgelien didn't believe Belle Gunness' claims that his brother, missing for months after answering the widow's lonely hearts ad, had left her northern Indiana farm for Chicago or maybe their native Norway.
Suspicious after a bank said his brother, Andrew, had cashed a $3,000 check - a large sum in 1908 - the South Dakota farmer came to LaPorte and discovered his brother's remains in a pit of household waste.
A century later, modern forensic scientists hope to solve once and for all what appears to have been a web of multiple murders, deceit, sex and money orchestrated by a woman dubbed Lady Bluebeard, after the fairy tale character who killed multiple wives and left their bodies in his castle.
Many locals believed Gunness staged her death in a farmhouse fire, 100 years ago Monday, before Asle Helgelien's arrival to cover up years spent poisoning and dismembering more than two dozen people.
Belle Gunness
No-Bid Contracts Were A Great Idea!
Iraq
Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say.
The audit released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, provides the latest snapshot of an uneven reconstruction effort that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion. It also comes as several lawmakers have said they want the Iraqis to pick up more of the cost of reconstruction.
The special IG's review of 47,321 reconstruction projects worth billions of dollars found that at least 855 contracts were terminated by U.S. officials before their completion, primarily because of unforeseen factors such as violence and excessive costs. About 112 of those agreements were ended specifically because of the contractors' actual or anticipated poor performance.
In addition, the audit said many reconstruction projects were being described as complete or otherwise successful when they were not. In one case, the U.S. Agency for International Development contracted with Bechtel Corp. in 2004 to construct a $50 million children's hospital in Basra, only to "essentially terminate" the project in 2006 because of monthslong delays.
Iraq
Weekend Box Office
'Baby Mama'
"Baby Mama," Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's comedy about surrogate motherhood, delivered the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office with $18.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Universal Pictures laugher starring the "Saturday Night Live" duo crawled past Warner Bros.' "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," the goofy stoner flick that opened at No. 2 with $14.6 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Baby Mama," $18.3 million.
2. "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," $14.6 million.
3. "The Forbidden Kingdom," $11.2 million.
4. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," $11 million.
5. "Nim's Island," $4.5 million.
6. "Prom Night," $4.4 million.
7. "21," $4 million.
8. "88 Minutes," $3.6 million.
9. "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", $2.4 million.
10. "Deception," $2.2 million.
'Baby Mama'
In Memory
Joy Page
Joy Page, the stepdaughter of former Warner Bros. studio chief Jack L. Warner who made her film acting debut as a Bulgarian newlywed in "Casablanca," has died. She was 83.
Born Nov. 9, 1924, in Los Angeles, Page was the daughter of silent screen star Don Alvarado (also known as Don Page) and Ann Boyar, who married Warner after she and Alvarado divorced.
A dark-haired beauty, Page was 17 and a high school senior when she snagged the role of Annina Brandel in the 1942 classic "Casablanca" starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Her other screen credits include the 1944 MGM film "Kismet" with Marlene Dietrich and 1948's "Man-Eater of Kumaon."
In 1945, she married actor William T. Orr, who later headed up Warner Bros.' TV department. She retired from acting in 1962. The couple divorced in 1970.
Page is survived by her son Gregory Orr, her daughter Diane Orr and her half sister, Barbara Warner Howard.
Joy Page
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