planet chocko zine from the vaults!
November 5th, 2011 by Mr. C
I was cleaning up some skeletons in the closet and low & behold, I found some dusty archives of planet chocko in zine format from 1997! Chocko was the martian behind the excellent artwork on the front and back covers but, you do see a trail of bon bons left by mr c on my feeble attempt at chicken doodle with the 4th installment to celebrate chinese new year — the year of the tiger!
The content of our “collective unconscious” hasn’t changed much since we discovered the internet in 2009, but the personal touches & the vibe in print format is something we miss. We were thinking of pumping out a limited run of planet chocko on paper for fun! Stay tuned!
Enjoy your day, my young padawan’s!
(A BIG peace sign to all of the collective unconscious planet chocko contributors from our previous life which includes Raluca (R.I.P), JoelDEV, Brett, Woody, & Buggy.)
Tags: chocko, mr c, planet chocko, zine
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Pictoplasma NYC
November 4th, 2011 by chocko
Pictoplasma NYC-The Festival of Contemporary Character Design and Art rolls through New York City November 3-6, 2011 with a variety of exhibitions and installations to check out all around town. Most of the art happenings are in downtown NYC and Chelsea but be sure to hop on a subway and check out what’s going on in Brooklyn too. Chocko and the crew stopped by a few spots with the help of the Pictoplasma map which you can grab at any of the participating galleries or shops.
Geneviève Gauckler‘s paintings of weird and wild painting of creatures were located at Cappellini NYC (152 Wooster Street) along with the bizarre, beastly fabric sculptures by Joshua Ben Longo. The paintings were hung on the walls and the Longo monsters were all over the furniture store on top of tables and on the floor too. The monsters with pink sphincters for mouths kinda freaked me out.
A short walk from the store brought us to the hanahou gallery (611 Broadway, Suite 730) which featured ‘Gnomes vs. Snowmen’ by Anna Hrachovec. This has to be seen in person to appreciate the work that went into the epic battle told with knitted miniature scenes depicting gnomes and snowmen going at it-no holds barred. Those cute little gnomes are sadistic creeps and those snowmen fight dirty for the control of the carrot supplies. Unleash the bunny rabbits! Can’t we all just get along? Highly recommended. Check it out Nov 3-18!
Bold Hype (547 W 27 St, Suite 510) featured the paintings of Johannah O’Donnell and drawings and prints by Raymond Lemstra. Johannah’s vibrant paintings showed young women hanging out with humans with animal heads. Those human-animal hybrids looked like they were ready to party. Beautiful work! Raymond’s work was displayed in the back gallery room and featured distorted portraits and characters done with pencils looking both futuristic and drawing influence from tribal art.
‘Time Kills All Gods’ by AJ Fosik was displayed at Jonathan Levine Gallery (529 W 20 St, 9th fl). Every relief and sculpture was made out of wood. So much detail went into each work, many covered in painted tiny shingle-like pieces to portray fur and textures. The sculptures depict creatures with multiple mouths and creepy, bugged out eyes. The large scale installation piece titled “The Shepherd Inevitably Consumes the Flock” is sick!
Tags: art, exhibitions, festival, festival of contemporary character design and art, new york, new york city, review
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The Real Rocky — friday night fights at the movies!
November 4th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Jeff Reuerzeig
Starring: Chuck Wepner
Genre: boxing documentary
ESPN 30/30 films churned out another righteous & entertaining documentary called The Real Rocky which chronicled the boxing life story of Northern New Jersey’s own, the Bayonne bleeder — Chuck Wepner and his battle to get some recognition and royalties from the Rocky movie franchise. Sylvester Stallone had made it known all along that Wepner was the inspiration for Rocky Balboa as Stallone witnessed the brutal boxing match between Muhammad Ali vs Chuck Wepner on March 24, 1975. Wepner would surprise a lot of folks by enduring 15 rounds with the champion before getting TKO’d in the 15th. Originally, Wepner was scheduled to fight George Foreman for the heavyweight title but after the rumble in the jungle — plans changed.
The documentary started out with the Chuck Wepner of 2010 doing some road work dressed in his sweats and knit cap which then progressed into a workout at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, shadowboxing and working on the speed & heavy bags. The Rocky theme music would be playing in the background. Not for nothing, but the old lion still looks like he can still pack a punch! George Foreman, where are you?? I think we found you a perfect matchup!! It may be 35+ years late, but… — Wepner would then finish his workout by triumphantly running up some long steps at Hudson County Park in Bayonne, NJ! Sound familiar?? Guess where Stallone got that from!
This film would only get better as a who’s who sportswriter roundtable gathered at the gritty Ringside Tavern in Jersey City, NJ which included: Bill Gallo – RIP (Daily News), Jerry Izenberg (Newark Star Ledger), Charlie Mcgill (Bergen Record), Vic Ziegel – RIP (NY Post), Bob Kurland, and John Rowe (Bergen Record). Boy, I would of loved to be a fly on that wall! They had fun talking about the Bayonne Bleeder and his problematic cuts in matches which led to a river of blood on his face. They all agreed Wepner was not the most talented of pugilists but he was one tough cookie that always gave it his all. Bill Gallo even mentioned that he drew a cartoon of Wepner bleeding at the onset of touching gloves with his opponent even before the bell was rung! These sportswriters/cartoonists are vicious!
*Excerpts from Sports Illustrated*
– “Wepner has swallowed more blood than dracula!”
– “He has enough stitches in his face for a double knit suit!”
The Bayonne Bleeder, a former marine–former bouncer at a go-go bar–former leg breaker for the mob–was a very colorful character. Unfortunately, that also included run ins with johnny law due to his bouts with cocaine use. John Belushi’s name was mentioned in the mix as well. Possession of cocaine would eventually lead Wepner to spend some time up at Northern State prison in Newark, NJ. As luck would have it or maybe he was just shadowing Chuck Wepner to find more inspirational stories, Sylvester Stallone and his cast happened to be filming “Lock Up” at Northern State at the same time when he was in prison.
Some other off the wall circus acts on the menu from this Bayonne outlaw included wrestling a real life bear named Victor at Art Stocks — Royal Manor and the infamous mixed wrestling match vs Andre the Giant at Shea Stadium: War of the Worlds! Chuck Wepner looked like pee wee herman compared to the 7’ 500lb Andre the Giant! The bayonne bleeder tried his haymaker shots and his well known rabbit punches to the back of the head but the Giant swatted those bee stings away and eventually picked up the NJ outlaw and threw him outside the ring! A melee broke loose after Wepner got back in the square! As another coincidence, Rocky II had Rocky Balboa wrestling Hulk Hogan as Thunder Lips! Hmmm?! I wonder if the Wepner vs Andre the Giant was an inspiration?!!
Chuck Wepner vs Andre the Giant courtesy of baltazarbrothers @ youtube
As Chuck was living his day to day being a liquor salesman while receiving no financial rewards from the Rocky franchise, not even a penny — what really broke the straw in the camel’s back for Wepner was when Sylvester Stallone came to Edgewater, NJ to film Copland with Robert Deniro but had made no mention to him. 30+ years have gone by and ‘0’ benefits from the Rocky franchise. Can you say lawsuit? Vince Mcmahon had a word of advice for Stallone — settle —
In September of 1978, the Bayonne Bleeder would have his last fight vs Scott Frank. Wepner went the distance but lost his State Title to a younger and hungrier opponent.
Chuck is happily married to his 3rd wife and still lives in Bayonne.
The Real Rocky is heavily recommended and definitely worth your time! Chuck Wepner also did the narration for the film which added a genuine Jersey bada bing touch! Director, Jeff Reuerzeig is said to be in the works developing the film “The Bayonne Bleeder” which is based on the life story of this Jersey outlaw! See you at the movies for this bruiser fest!
Tags: bayonne bleeder, boxing, chuck wepner, documentary, mr c, real rocky
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Night Birds
November 1st, 2011 by chocko
2011 has been a busy year for East Coast’s Night Birds. They played a ton of shows including a European tour and released their killer 7″ featuring their tribute to sleazy films titled “Midnight Movies”, an album titled Fresh Kills Vol. 1 featuring all their vinyl recordings since 2009 and the brand spankin’ new album The Other Side of Darkness. Their punk songs are all killer, no filler and combine punk with surf rock. Night Birds features Brian Gorsegner on vocals, Mike Hunchback on guitar, Joe Keller on bass and vocals and Ryan Mchale on drums. Their last show of 2011 will be on December 17 at ABC NO RIO in NYC along with Death First, Mind Eraser, and Citizens Arrest. That show is gonna rule! Thanks to Joe for taking the time out and doing the following interview.
How did you all meet and form the band?
Brian, Mike, and myself all had previous bands and we all played with each other’s bands. Once those band (For Science, The Ergs, and Hunchback) broke up, we got together to form Night Birds.
What are some of the bands you’ve all previously been in?
Brian – For Science, The Survivors, Full of Fancy, Psyched to Die, The Good Book,
Mike – Hunchback, Weird Fantasy Band
Joe – The Ergs
Tell us about the new record, Fresh Kills Vol. 1.
Fresh Kills Vol. 1 is a compilation of the songs from our original 4 song demo plus the three 7″s we’ve put out so far. It’s everything we’ve done as a band up to “The Other Side of Darkness” LP.
What are some bands that have influenced you?
I love tons of stuff all over the board. I like jazz, punk, old rock n roll, soul, surf, and country. In terms of what influences Night Birds, I’d say it’s heavily influenced by old California punk and hardcore. Mike also brings his heavy 60’s surf influence to the band as well which I think really defines how we sound.
What do you remember about going to your first punk show?
Shit! I guess that depends on what you define a punk show as. I think the very first punk show I went to was The Ramones believe it or not! I saw them on their last tour back in 1995, fucking half a lifetime ago at this point. In terms of first local punk show, I think the first show I saw was at a place called Club Bene in Sayreville NJ. I went to go see my friends’ band, Visual Purple, play. They did a bunch of originals as well as some sex pistol and Rancid covers. Then they smashed all their gear. Two of the guys in the band were the other 2 members of The Ergs. I think that day changed my life.
How has touring been so far?
Touring has been great so far. We all get along pretty well so that makes it go very smoothly. We’ve done the Midwest, a little bit of Canada, and Europe so far. We hope to hit the West Coast next year.
Do you have any good road stories to tell?
Hmmm, the really juicy ones are not fit to print. I guess the best thing I can talk about is Mike falling off of the stage in Germany. Mike likes to jump into the crowd while we play and this time he tripped on the way out. He hit the ground hard and according to him, he blacked out for a second. He thought he was ok by the end of the night but the next morning he sneezed and heard something crack. All of a sudden he was in terrible pain. We had to call a doctor to the squat to have him looked at. She was afraid Mike had ripped his spleen because if he did, he would probably die on the plane ride back home. We got Mike some ultrasounds and an x-ray and thankfully he was ok. He had to play sitting on a stool for the next couple of nights though. It looked like he was in coffee shop mode.
What are everybody’s interests outside of the band?
Music takes up a lot of my time, but I also love science fiction books and movies. I listen to records and drink large quantities of soda whenever possible.
What are some of your favorite horror and b-movies?
I’m not the biggest horror fand like Mike is, but I love the John Carpenter stuff as well anything by Frank Henonlotter. It may be a little too big to be considered a b-movie, but “Army of Darkness” is one of my all time faves.
Do you have any favorite comic books?
When I was a kid I loved the Marvel superhero stuff, particularly the X-Men. Nowadays, I read a lot of stuff on Vertigo. I was reading the Walking Dead but I haven’t kept up.
If you could have one super power, what would it be?
Gotta go with invulnerability – party all night and no hangover.
Do you have any touring or recording planned for the near future?
We’re definitely going to do an instrumental surf 7″ next year as well as be on a couple of compilations. I don’t know yet what we’re doing beyond that but I would expect a couple more records after that.
Closing comments?
Get in the hole!
Night Birds at Europa in Brooklyn (video courtesy of loopyvids)
Tags: interview, night birds, punk, punk rock
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CMJ in NYC Part 2
November 1st, 2011 by chocko
There was a free BrooklynVegan showcase at the Knitting Factory on Oct. 20 during the CMJ Fest. I missed the Yellow Ostrich, but just made it for the start of the Still Corners 1:15 PM set. I’ve been listening to their new album nonstop. “I Wrote In Blood” sounds like a song from Twin Peaks mashed with a Wutang Clan beat. Hundred Visions from Austin, TX rocked out with songs that mixed indie rock, with some funk and new wave. The band was energetic and the lead singer hopped around a lot-they were fun to watch. Sorry, to hear that the band’s van and most of the gear got stolen the night before.
Forest Fire from Brooklyn played a short set and will be hitting the road next month. Look out Europe! Bobby played next with a lineup that looks whittled down since I last saw them play a couple of months ago at Music Hall of Williamsburg. They play polyrhythmic, avant garde electonic music using guitars and synthesizers. Check them out. Main Attrakionz from Oakland represented the hip hop world with a set of rap songs about girls, getting high and skateboarding. They provided a lot of laughs with their laid back Cali swagger and performed their “cloud rap” like they were in a packed arena.
Later that night at the Woods in Williamsburg Broooklyn, there was a Tom Tom Magazine’s showcase featuring an interesting mix of bands featuring female percussionists. The night featured many bands including Brute Heart from Minneapolis featuring 3 women on bass, viola and drums. Their songs can get tribal and abstract, but it’s good stuff! Pearl And The Beard also rocked the stage with their fun, soulful folky tunes! This trio from Brooklyn (Jocelyn Mackenzie, Emily Hope Price, and Jeremy Styles) sing and play a variety of instruments, but mostly guitar, glockenspiel and cello. They always play a fantastic live show…highly recommended band! Japanese female punk band, Hard Nips were also in the house. Emi, Mariko, Yoko, and The Gootch got the party moving with their pop punk songs. “Children Of Satan” go the fists pumping! Coasting, a two-piece from Brooklyn featuring drummer Fiona Cambell and guitarist Madison Farmer who met while organizing d.i.y. shows, brought their lo-fi songs complete with killer riffs and booming beats. Next time I see them, I’m definitely buying all their records on the merch table!
After a quick drive into the Lower East Side and charging through the jam packed Pianos on Ludlow Street, the packed-like-sardines audience were treated to a free showcase by Deli Magazine and friends. The Grates (from Australia) featuring John Patterson on guitar and bouncy, kick-ass Patience Hodgson played a late set and jolted the CMJ zombies with a much needed burst of adrenalin. The Grates never cease to amaze me and I love the way Patience interacts with the crowd. She can never stand in one place for too long until she’s whipping a lariat, or climbing on a table or jumping on the shoulders of an audience member. Their new album titled “Secret Rituals” is out now. Check ’em out!
Tags: brute heart, coasting, hard nips, main attrakionz, pearl and the beard, still corners, the grates
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WFMU record fair
November 1st, 2011 by Mr. C
The 91.1 WFMU annual record fair happened last weekend at the Metropolitan Pavillion in NYC! It was a nice way to spend the day digging through the crates looking for that old LP, 12” single, 45’s, CD’s and even DVD’s especially with crappy weather out like we had last saturday. You can sure bet I brought my hand sanitizer and lotion to exterminate then exfoliate after flipping through some of those crusty old records. Oh, & I can’t leave out VHS movies as I found myself snatching up gems (in my eye) like The Perfect Weapon and the Kentucky Fried Movie for a mere $2 each. Ooops, did I just lay claim to that?! I have no shame! I’m a tight wad and definitely not your collectors collector of vinyl so I always spend my time at the WFMU $1 record bins looking for any decent rejects of 12” singles/LP’s of 80’s-90’s R&B/Hip Hop/dance records that I can jam out to and possibly scratch the snuff out of when I put the needle to the record. Besides that, all of the proceeds for these $1 records go back to benefit the cause of WFMU! Though, I can safely say that I wouldn’t be bumping elbows fighting DJ Z-Trip or DJ Grand Wizard Theodore diggin’ through the same bargain crates. This year I found solace in finding playable copies of classic joints from Sybil, Joyce Sims, Shanice, Brenda K Starr, and Tamia! Just Ice, Audio Two, Digital Underground, & Eazy E rounded off my other cheap vinyl eats!
Gary Balaban from Cine Noir Film Archives was rockin’ at his usual table selling 16mm movies, movie posters, noir, biker, & blaxsploitation films on DVD along with concert footages. Planet Chocko refers to Balaban with the nickname of “Iggy” (iggy pop) because he is always found hustling his Cine Noir stuff with a punk rock like attitude while maintaining a cool-groovy like composure when he showed 16mm blaxsploitation & horror films at the pink pony on ludlow street back in the mid 90’s! Can you dig it?! I ended up buying a hard to find copy of The Last Fight starring Fred ‘the hammer’ Williamson, Willie Colon, Rueben Blades, Don King, Tony Sirico, & Jose Torres just to drop a few names in this all star cast! Gary Balaban mentioned that he’s going to be showing 16mm films at the Spectacle Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn soon! Stay tuned!
Gary posing with a copy of Born Losers for sale at his Cine Noir film archives table.
Other cool happenings throughout the day included running into a trippy, psychedelic, bollywood like music performance from Prince Rama!
There was also a very neat collection of flexi, cardboard, and oddity records on display pinned to the wall at the record fair. MAC was on hand to answer any questions, play any record you were curious to hear, and to share his love for the history of the flexi-disc and disposable records! Right on!
You can also take a load off by riding on the home spun WFMU jungle inspired merry-go-round with your very own personal safari guide!
(all photos and vid by mr c)
Tags: mr c, record fair, wfmu
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TYSON (1995) — friday night fights at the movies!
October 28th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Uli Edel
Stars: Michael Jai White, George C. Scott, Paul Winfield, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Tony Lo Bianco, James B. Sikking
Genre: boxing docu-drama, based on a true story
–Excerpts from the movie:
“What do I think!?, I think he hits with bad intentions”. – Cus D’amato
“God’damn kid hits like Joe Frazier”. – Teddy Atlas
“40 times!!!?, even Al Capone wasn’t arrested 40 times!!”. – Cus D’amato
This HBO film released in 1995 was based on the life story of Mike Tyson. The movie was an adaptation of Jose Torres’ book: Fire and Fear – The Inside Story of Mike Tyson. Torres was an accomplished fighter, member of the international boxing hall of fame, and then later on became the NY State Athletic Commisioner of boxing. Jose was also under the tutelage of Cus D’amato just as Mike Tyson was.
Already an accomplished martial artist, this was to be the breakthrough film for Michael Jai White who portrayed the role as Tyson to a tee! From the body language to the haircut to the body style right down to the voice, Jai White would strike a strong resemblance to the young iron mike. George C Scott (Cus D’amato) & Paul Winfield (Don King) would also do a bang up job! It was pretty neat to see Malcolm-Jamal Warner (yes, from the Cosby Show) surface as one of Tyson’s childhood friends as well. The reenactment of the Trevor Berbick, Michael Spinks, & Buster Douglas fights were surreal, too! Some funny sequences from the film which was probably not so funny when it happened at the time was the Mitch Green confrontation on the street especially for Green’s jaw! I also couldn’t help but chuckle when the Barbara Walters & Robin Givens lookalikes appeared on the tube!
This movie covered Mike’s juvenile delinquent self growing up in the gritty Brownsville section of Brooklyn who was very fond of pigeons and thug life which in turn led him to the arms of upstate NY to a boy’s reform camp in the Catskills to being discovered by Cus D’amato and his raggamuffin crew consisting of Teddy Atlas, Kevin Rooney, Jimmy Jacobs, Bill Cayton, & Jose Torres which would ultimately lead to the blossoming of his professional boxing career until greed, being naive, & full of rage especially without the direction of D’amato took him onto the yellow brick road of self destruction in the Don King, Robin Givens era. “Tyson” would tell the tale of his story up until his conviction of rape to Desiree Washington.
Rather than trying to rehash Iron Mike’s life story, I’m going to just mention some highlights from the film (his life) that seemed to be turning points.
Furthermore, I’m not going out on a limb to say that this docu-drama is the definitive life story of mike tyson but from just basing it on the accounts of reported events in the media in real life during his struggles which includes the point of view from Tyson’s original trainer, Teddy Atlas and his book: Atlas – From the Streets to the Ring: A Son’s Struggle to Become a Man, stories do seem to match up with Jose Torres’ writeup. Only Tyson and the people directly involved will truly know. Some events that were known to the public at the time involving iron mike included the robin givens-barbara walters interview, the mitch green altercation, Givens breakup, the changing of hands to Don King from the Bill Cayton & Kevin Rooney reign, and the Miss Black America escapades.
The events that seemed to impact Mike Tyson includes:
*product of his environment growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn
*discovers boxing while at the reform school in the Catskill with trainer Bobby Stewart
*meeting Cus D’amato and crew
*Cus D’amato & Camille take custody of Mike Tyson
*Death of mom
*Tyson’s sexual assault on Teddy Atlas’ niece
*Teddy Atlas out, Kevin Rooney in
*Cus D’amato dies
*Jimmy Jacobs takes the reign
*Robin Givens enters his life
*Jimmy Jacobs dies
*Bill Cayton takes the reign, but Don King is the shark.
*Don King-Tyson goes all black, never looks back
*Cayton-Rooney lose control of Tyson
*manipulation by Robin Givens
*Barbara Walters
*breakup
*Buster Douglas
*Miss Black America
*Jail
Michael Jai White did a fantastic job depicting this troubled, talented, & fascinating man. The roughneck side along with a more sensitive, vulnerable, & shy side of Mike Tyson were definitely unraveled leaving the insecure portion of himself to morph into doing some not so nice things. Being a great student of the boxing game under the guidance of Cus D’amato was one of the highlights of this film. I’m not sure how accessible this movie is but a VHS copy might be lingering somewhere in your local swap meet, flea market, or pawn shops. Let me leave off with some of Cus D’amato’s quotes:
“Always keep your chin tucked down into your chest. I don’t care if you are running roadwork or just walking around school or watching T.V. Keep that chin tucked down. And your eyes looking up and out”
“A professional performs no matter what he is feeling inside“. – Cus D’amato
“Fear is a friend of every good and reasonable athlete“.
“Who ate my ice cream!!!?”.
On Rocky Marciano – “One word describes Rocky Marciano, Tenacity. He would not allow the concept of defeat to enter his mind“.
On Joe Louis – “Joe Louis had the quiet rage. He was a negro in a white man’s world and he hated it“.
Tags: michael jai white, mike tyson
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Zine and Mini-Comic Reviews
October 27th, 2011 by chocko
Xerography Debt #29
This is a zine chock full of zine reviews and is an excellent resource for checking out what’s out there in the zine world. It starts out with some informative editorials concerning the zine community and then there’s reviews galore with a plethora of info and contacts in case you see something that interests you. Most of the zines reviewed are from the United States, U.K. and Australia. It only costs $3 to purchase a copy, so definitely support the scene! I’m digging the pirate-themed wraparound cover by Bojan. Xerography Debt is published twice a year. Check it out at Microcosm Publishing.
San Diego Diary
Gabrielle Bell documents her trip to the San Diego Comic Con in comic book form. She is an excellent artist and has an amazing talent for storytelling and making the mundane interesting to read. Her personal Comic Con experience features cameos by her ex-boyfriend Michel Gondry and fellow comic book artists such as Ariel Schrag and Jeffrey Brown. The first couple pages are my favorite as she recalls her first time at the Con, more than a decade ago, trying to sell her mini-comics. As a bonus, there are also pages of her rough drafts and sketches. Definitely recommended. Get your copy at Uncivilized Books.
Feedback #10
I grabbed this copy during my trip to Portland. Feedback just got put on the shelf in the zine section of Powell’s Books and I snatched my copy for the flight home. It’s one of my favorites. The zine is by John Isaacson and features his reviews of punk shows told within a couple panels of comics. This particular issue also features flyers from the shows he reviewed for the issue along with zine and record reviews. For your own copy, send $2 to John Isaacson/P.O. Box 42041/Portland, Oregon 97202.
Fungus Issue One
This comic was done by James Kochalka who is known for his Monkey Vs. Robot series and American Elf books which features his daily diary comics. The first story in Fungus follows two mushrooms looking to have some fun and party hard. The second story is about two mounds of moss and a mushroom bickering about facebook and cellphones. Great cartoons…weird stories. I like the 3D cover a lot and the list of music Kochalka listened to while working on the book is a nice touch. This book was published by Retrofit Comics straight outta Philly.
Tags: feedback, gabrielle bell, james kochalka, review, san diego diary, xerotraphy debt
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Rolling Thunder (1977)
October 26th, 2011 by chocko
Director: John Flynn
Starring: William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Haynes
Genre: 70’s B-Movie
This violent tale of revenge is hard to find. I found myself a bootleg copy at a local horror convention. Rolling Thunder has only been released on VHS in the United States and hasn’t seen the light of day until it was released on DVD and Bluray a couple months ago in the U.K. The movie was directed by John Flynn who would later go on to direct the cult classic Brainscan, the Sylvester Stallone prison movie-Lock Up and the Steven Seagal action flick titled Out For Justice. The story is by Paul Schrader who also wrote the classic Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver. On a sidenote: Quentin Tarantino named his now defunct movie company, Rolling Thunder Pictures, after the film. They released movies such as Chungking Express, Switchblade Sisters and Sonatine theatrically at a time when those movies were rarely seen.
William Devane is Major Charles Rane, a Vietnam vet who returns home to his wife and son after doing time in a P.O.W. camp. After receiving a big San Antonio, Texas hometown welcome, Rane is rewarded nearly $2000 in silver coins. Things at home aren’t so peachy when he finds his wife wanting a divorce and his kid seeming more connected to the new guy his wife is sleeping with. Trouble really begins to brew when a gang of redneck thugs break into his home in search for the silver coins. The robbers run for the border with the silver after shoving Rane’s arm down a garbage disposal and killing his wife and son.
After recovering, Rane heads down to Mexico for some vengeance with his new hook for a hand, some guns and his new friend, a young war hero groupie portrayed by the actress, Linda Haynes. Her role is pretty much just whiny, eye candy. They search for the killers and then she gets ditched after Rane gets some help from his vet buddy while they set out to do the dirty work. Rane’s buddy is played by a surprisingly young and wrinkle free Tommy Lee Jones. The climactic ending finds the two vets in a Mexican whorehouse guns a’ blazing while naked women run amok. Rolling Thunder is a true gritty grindhouse classic!
trailer courtesy of The42ndStreetMutant
Tags: chocko, grindhouse, movie, quentin tarantino, review, tommy lee jones, william devane
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CMJ in NYC
October 25th, 2011 by chocko
The CMJ Music Marathon came through NYC leaving music fans thirsting for more. It was a physically draining last couple of days and most of us are still suffering from the post-CMJ blues. Here’s a meager slice of what went down…
Wild Flag, an all female band consisting of members of Sleater-Kinney, Helium and The Minders played Bowery Ballroom on Oct. 18. Carrie Brownstein and Mary Timony exchange lead vocals on the songs. Mary gets the girls singing backup for most songs and Carrie just rocks out…kicking and screaming. The songs are raw, no holds barred rock songs and the girls play like a band that’s been playing together for a long time. I went to their other recent shows. They played a Misfits cover, “She” during their encore at The Bell House in Brooklyn! There was no encore at their Maxwell’s show in Hoboken, NJ. Was it the lame crowd? Their set list at the Bowery Ballroom consisted of tracks from their self-titled debut album and two non-LP songs, “Nothing” and “Winter Pair.” They played 2 covers during their encore: “See No Evil” (Television) and “Ask The Angels” (Patti Smith). Eleanor Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces) opened the show. Her songs are less experimental than her Fiery Furnaces stuff, but they just ooze with coolness. Her new band is great and play her catchy songs with the greatest of ease. “My Mistakes” will stick in your head long after the song is over.
Under The Radar had a free (if it’s free, it’s for me!) showcase during the day on Oct. 19 at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. U.K.’s Chad Valley a.k.a. Hugo Manuel opened up the show. It sounded like Rick Astley doing electronic music. Norway’s Casiokids were the next to bring the noise with thundering percussion and fun dance music. They intend to tour Japan for the first time in November. Next, was a man who kinda looked like George Michael who performs under the name Porcelain Raft. His real name is Mauro Remiddi and he sings with a guitar with samplers and loops to beef up the sound. Great, dreamy pop from the label, Secretly Canadian! Eleanor Friedberger played a nice set of songs from her new album before breaking out to Philadelphia to open for Wild Flag again. Still Corners played some dark, mysterious songs with the alluring Tessa Murray on lead vocals. Her soft, whispery voice drew me in while twangy guitars played and psychedelic visuals projected swirled around on the screen behind the band. I was hypnotized and bought the new album on Sub Pop titled, “Creatures of an Hour.” It’s awesome! If you like bands like Cults, Mazzy Star, The Cranes, then Still Corners is the band for you. The Step Kids (Stones Throw Records) closed out the showcase with some bonafide soul and funk to shake your trunk.
Tags: bowery ballroom, casiokids, cmj, eleanor friedberger, marathon, music, porcelain raft, public assembly, review, still corners, the stepkids, wild flag
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Basil Gogos signing at NY Comic Con 2011
October 23rd, 2011 by Mr. C
Basil Gogos, one of Planet Chocko’s favorite illustrators who brought monsters and classic horror characters to life in the most frightening of ways, was in the house at NY Comic Con signing his book, Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos . Chocko and Mr C have been harassing Basil since the early 90’s at the Chiller Theatre convention! His artwork includes portraits of the creature of the black lagoon, frankenstein, dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, Godzilla, King Kong to Peter Cushing, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lou Chaney, Vincent Price, & Christopher Lee. Of course, Gogos was also known for creating the cover art for the magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland.
I think I jogged his memory a bit in a good way when I mentioned the poster art he created for the Shaw Brothers movie, Super Inframan (1975).
Of course music fans might recognize his CD cover art from The Misfits, Rob Zombie, and Electric Frankenstein. Chocko and I thought it was pretty ironic that Basil Gogos was sitting at the next table over at Comic Con from the artist that just did the album cover art for the Misfit’s latest album, The Devil’s Rain which Chocko wrote about here.
But most of you would recognize his portraits from these classic monster movies:
Classic horror film fan or not, if you appreciate art that pops out in your face attempting to put a strangle hold on you when you lay your eyes on it, you’ll definitely appreciate the portraits by Basil Gogos. Meet, greet, get photos, and admire this young man in person while this living legend is still around! Can you say Chiller Theatre Convention in New Jersey?! Yes, yes, y’all…and you don’t stop!!
Tags: art, basil gogos, chiller theater, monster, ny comic con 2011
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Superjail + EagleHeart : Adult Swim shows at NY Comic Con
October 23rd, 2011 by Mr. C
(All photos below by mr c)
Upon the many cool new things that I discovered at NY Comic Con included a few shows on the adult swim programing block hosted by the cartoon network that I never knew about. Namely, the animated series from 2008, Superjail and the live action series, EagleHeart starring Chris Elliott (Yes, the guy from the Get a Life series!).
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the press hour conference with some of the production staff of SuperJail: Janine DiTullio, Stephen Warbrick, Christy Karacas(creator), and Richard Mather as they answered questions from the media which included casually talking about the violence and cuteness of the series, Superjail toy figures, and collaboration with Venture Bros & Metalocalypse.
After sitting in on the general panel of Superjail at comic con and watching an episode, I knew this 15 minute animated series would have to be added to my regular to watch queue! A jail housed inside a volcano with twisted and colorful inmates glorified with uber violence all the while having a maniacal warden as the maestro of the joint was too much not to take notice! Sold! Season 3 is in current production! See the pilot episode below from 2007:
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Another hilarious action series on Adult Swim called EagleHeart won my heart as well! Actors from the show, Chris Elliott, Brett Gelman, Maria Thayer and Jason Woliner were on hand at Comic Con to pitch the series and to invoke the inner nerd in us! I was wondering why there were so many questions involving Chuck Norris and finally realized that many EagleHeart scenes encompassed Chuck Norris Walker-Texas Ranger parodies amongst many other cop shows as well! Brilliant! No wonder Chris Elliott revealed his 6 pack stomach at the comic con panel! It was all in thanks to the Chuck Norris home gym as Elliott explained!
Eagleheart is produced by Conan Obrien’s company, Conaco and they are currently working on season 2! I’m beginning to realize the type of tv shows that cures my attention deficit disorder, 15 minute shows like Eagleheart and Superjail! Winning! Watch Chris Elliott play the character of Chris Monsanto, U.S. Marshall as he demonstrates the power of his inner Chuck Norris!
Tags: adultswim, eagleheart, mr c, ny comic con 2011, superjail
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