Friday, February 27, 2009

The Crawling Tingler From Outer Space

Way out. This planet has seen me walk its surface for 48 years now as of a couple of days ago. Hard to believe. My good buddy Icicle dropped by the night before and we watched Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. Those old sci-fi monsters movies are always good entertainment. The animation in that particular one is fantastic. I highly recommend it.
Just the week before, I treated my sweet and lovely wife to Earth Versus Flying Saucers. Before that, we viewed The Crawling Hand. There’s a great scene in that flick where a guy who has become possessed by the evil hand and strangles a kindly malt shop owner. While they begin to wrestle with one another, the jukebox gets bumped and turns on. The song that starts playing is an old version of Surfin’ Bird. All these crazy lights are flashing on and off. Great scene indeed.
There seems to be a pattern forming here as I think that The Blob may be next on the list. The original, of course. Then, maybe The Tingler.
Yeehahahaha!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

After the Sound of the Train

There is always, it seems, a squirrel outside my office window. Sometimes a cardinal. Sometimes a time. That’s how the ball bounces and how the wind blows. That’s how the trees bend and how the bread smells when in the oven for just the right amount of time. Like a card trick, sort of.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Lux Interior - You rocked

I think the year was 1980. Actually, I know it was 1980. I had gone over to Johnny Icicle’s house to pick him up and drive to a Fort Worth Cats rehearsal.
“Hey kid,’ he said. “Wanna hear something cool?” Five minutes later I was a diehard and lifelong fan of a band that went by the name of THE CRAMPS.
Their singer and front man was a skinny, and quite frankly scary (okay, maybe not scary, but uniquely interesting) looking guy who went by the moniker of Lux Interior. This guy exuded coolness and audacity.
While I have in my possession several of their albums, I am sorry to say that I never got to witness their live show except for video clips. Guess that is better than not seeing them at all.
One of the albums I have includes a song called Human Fly. One of the finest punk tunes ever penned.
“I’m a human fly and I don’t know why.”
The above line is what makes the tune so clever. He’s a human fly and there is no explanation for it. He just is.
Any fan of rock’n’roll who also appreciates horror and sci-fi movies has no choice but to be fascinated by Lux Interior and the Cramps. And yeah, I know his birth name, but bet that he would want to be remembered by the one mentioned in this piece.
For those not familiar, click on to www.stashdauber.blogspot.com. Scroll down until you see the post R.I.P. Lux Interior. The stashdauber was kind enough to share some classic live performances by the Cramps.
Ah. There one can observe what the true meaning of stage presence is. Writhing energy.
Adios Lux Interior. May your existence in death be as totally and outrageously cool as your existence in life among the rest of us. Outstanding and influential would be two good adjectives to place here.
Okay, time to dive into my LP collection and blare a little Psychedelic Jungle.
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Monday, February 02, 2009

so much for predictions...

Oh well. I really did think the Cardinals would take that game just from the perspective of momentum. Have to give credit to the stellar Steelers for coming through at the end. Both teams should be commended for affording us with a heckuva game.
Some of the penalties were a bit questionable, but that’s part of the game. The half time show could have been scaled down a bit. Springsteen somehow did not seem to be so much himself as an imitation. Just a humble opinion.
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Sunday, February 01, 2009

Super Bowl prediction

Hard to believe I am writing about football again, but hey, it is Super Bowl Sunday. There was once a TV announcer, I do not remember which one, that defined the game as special as it is watched world wide and in the end, nothing of grave importance has happened.
That being said, here is the Bodega Train Super Bowl prediction:

Cardinals 21 Steelers 10
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