// Category Archive for: Issues

The Junk Food Junkie’s Guide to The Best and Worst Halloween Candy

By Maureen

“Trick or Treat,” my ass.

Everyone knows Halloween is all about the “treat” part, the free candy. It’s the one day a year where people of all ages can stuff their faces full of all kinds of junk food goodness under the single condition of dressing up and repeating this iconic phrase. Every neighborhood has their hot spots and their spots to avoid. There’s always a dentist somewhere giving out mini-toothbrushes, which makes kids groan. Every person has his or her own personal candy preferences, but like all holidays that involve overindulging in food, Halloween has some staples that are irrefutable.

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Ten Instruments Of Evil: Popshifter‘s Horror Movie Picks (And Five To Avoid)

With Less Lee Moore and Megashaun

Here are our ten horror movie picks for this issue of Popshifter. We’ve tried to keep the Popcast as spoiler-free as possible so as not to ruin your enjoyment of any of these great movies. And in order to avoid playing favorites, we’ve listed them in alphabetical order.

We’ve also got the scoop on five movies that we wish we hadn’t watched, even in part.

And don’t forget to check out “Five More Instruments Of Evil,” too.
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Now Let Us Praise Famous Monsters

Count Dracula, 1977

In reviewing a series of horror and ghost story anthologies, literary critic Edmund Wilson wrote that the “sudden revival of the appetite” for such tales arose in part from:

“. . . the instinct to inoculate ourselves against panic at the real horrors loose on the earth. . . by injections of imaginary horrors, which soothe us with the momentary illusion that the forces of madness and murder may be tamed and compelled to provide us with mere dramatic entertainment.”
—From Classics and Commercials, 1950

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Souls Don’t Die: 54-40’s Northern Soul

By Megashaun

With the music industry so fond of constantly pushing the next big band you’ll have forgotten about months after their publicity onslaught, it could be easy for the easily-swayed to forget that good music is not always the kind that’s being crammed down their throats at every commercial break, every soundtrack, and on every magazine cover. Yes, believe it or not, there are bands that are actually in it not for fame, but because making music is all they can and want to do.
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Out Of My Shell: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Me

By Megashaun

I was in the sixth grade, eleven years old, and I didn’t understand why I wasn’t cool. I only knew I wasn’t. I liked Ninja Turtles and Batman in a time when everyone else in my class was into MC Hammer, Technotronic, and Public Enemy. I didn’t own any albums. I didn’t try chasing the girls. One of my classmates—a boy—asked me which girl I liked and I said I didn’t like any (which was a lie; I didn’t want that secret getting out and risk being made fun of for it) and he asked me if I was gay.
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Please Don’t Spoil The Movie By Adding Your Own Soundtrack: An Interview With Mike Nelson

Interviewed by Megashaun

Mike Nelson was a writer/host for the cult classic TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000. In it, Mike (and in earlier years, Joel Hodgson) and their robot pals onboard the Satellite of Love were subjected to watching b-movies while their fictitious employers at the Gizmonics Institute observed the crew’s reactions. These reactions ranged from goofy commentary during the films to sketches between the film and they were, for the most part, very funny.
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Sparks Spectacular: Exotic Creatures of the Deep (2008)

By Noisy Boy

What can I say that you don’t already know? Nothing really. The album performance was excellent, and for a first attempt, just about flawless. Less multimedia than the previous two, but what was there was really stood out, especially Ron’s reprise of the Notre Dame organ gag in “Photoshop.” Same goes for the use of backing dancers and models as angels during the “Intro,” and as pregnant “men” in “(She Got Me) Pregnant.” All we needed was to quiff them up for “Lighten Up, Morrissey!”

It was obvious that Sparks were rightly revelling in the action and lapping up the feverish worship from all corners of the Empire. (Shepherd’s Bush and beyond!) In fact, they seemed sad to end their spectacular run, Ron symbolically burning all 21 album covers on-screen during the end of “Likeable.”

The second half was equally fabulous: every song that I’d seen them perform before was ten times better than previous performances. I should give special mention to “Looks Looks Looks,” which I thought was pretty poor at the Indiscreet gig, but absolutely on the money tonight: all lean, no wastage, no losing their way. Maybe they learned from last time. On top of that, apart from “The Decline And Fall Of Me,” I got to hear all the songs from my wish list that I missed from the gigs I didn’t see. “Dick Around” was fabulous. “Big Boy” was monstrously heavy, and “Goofing Off,” well, it should’ve been a single. Superb!

By the time it got round to “Get In The Swing,” I was looking at my watch, willing time to slow down, to get in ten, perhaps fifteen more songs. And then, after “Change,” I left, and waited for friends outside, only to realize I’d missed the final encore. Ah well, I’ve seen them do “This Town” thrice before, so I wasn’t too bothered, but it would’ve been nice to share the love that I could hear directed towards the band.

The only question now is, what am I going to do with myself every evening? Bravo to the Mael brothers and their fabulous band for doing the full thing, and allowing us to see all those songs (bringing my total up to 126 songs in this run). Let’s look forward to the same thing happening again with album 22. . . oh well, we can dream, eh?

Sparks Spectacular: Hello Young Lovers (2006)

By Claire Schofield

Hello Young Lovers was part of my introduction to the wonderful world of Sparks and remains my favorite of their albums. Hence it seemed the logical choice for the single gig out of the twenty-one of the Sparks Spectacular shows that I was actually able to attend. (Damn you, university exams, etc.) Did that choice prove to be a good one? Hell yes, it did.

From the opening chorus of “Dick Around,” as the band fade in and out from behind mesh screens, the crowd is held rapt. It’s probably been said before, but the amount of energy Russell still displays as he bounds around the stage is frankly unbelievable, bordering on suspicious. They sail through the album, every track perfectly reproduced with that extra live bite. “Metaphor” is a highlight, Russell asking “who’s up for a metaphor?” and the crowd thundering the response back.

The trend of video animation accompanying songs, started with Lil’ Beethoven, is continued here to great effect. Ron battles a video version of himself throughout “The Very Next Fight;” an army composed entirely of the brothers Mael marches along to “(Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country;” and a chorus of cats joins Russell for “Here Kitty.” It looks incredible, alternating wildly between witty and hypnotic.

Since this is a review, I should probably give a vague nod towards objectivity. So here we go. The nature of Hello Young Lovers, like much of Sparks’ later work, means that the live band is supported with a lot of pre-recorded strings and multi-tracked singing. But it doesn’t matter one bit (unless you’re one of those people overly concerned with authenticity, and in that case probably not a big Sparks fan). This is an album that is built on insane, bombastic arrangements, and the live venue only accentuates this. Particularly “Rock, Rock, Rock,” one of the weaker tracks on the album, finally reaches its potential as Ron acts rock god while guitars clash around him.

In the end, mere words cannot capture my love for this endearingly crazy band. It’s a bizarre but lovely feeling to discover a thirty-year-old back catalogue and to know that the people responsible are firstly, still putting out truly brilliant pop music and secondly, can put on a live show as thrilling as this.

The applause is rapturous and seemingly unending, with Russell and Ron becoming more and more happily embarrassed as it continues. They return for an encore of “Profile,” the last song they’ll play at the Carling Academy, and it soars as everything else has done. I leave on a somewhat ecstatic high, having decided to get hold of a ticket for Exotic Creatures of the Deep as soon as possible. University be damned; it’s clearly worth it.

By Elizabeth McCarthy

“Night Twenty! Can You Believe It?”

“We’ve got this far and it’s incredible. . . and it’s sad, this is the last night in Islington,” says Russell Mael during the performance of Sparks’ 20th album, Hello Young Lovers. And indeed it was kind of sad. Many of us had started to look upon the Carling Academy in Islington as a home away from home, a place where for an hour or so you could be transported to Sparks heaven. But this night we knew the dream was rapidly coming to an end.

Myself and two fellow Sparkophiles had booked ourselves on a plane from our native Dublin to London to see four of the shows Sparks would perform in their 21-night Spectacular. . . A Woofer In Tweeter’s Clothing, Kimono My House, Propaganda, and Indiscreet. Then we saw the light and hurriedly booked ourselves up for another three nights. . . Lil’ Beethoven, Hello Young Lovers, and the premiere performance of Exotic Creatures of the Deep.

The first four nights we attended were utterly fantastic. I’d never seen Sparks perform live and was completely unprepared for the sheer energy and excitement of the shows. As innumerable people who have attended any of the shows have mentioned, these great albums gained even more in a live setting. . . like cleaning an old oil painting and discovering once again the vibrancy and brilliance that lay there all along. As a Sparks fan who enjoys the band’s more recent music at least as much as anything they have done over their astounding 30-year career, I awaited the last three concerts, as the saying goes, with heated anticipation.

I was not disappointed. These last few shows were very special. Not only because sadly, it was all coming to an end, but because they very much catalogue Sparks’ most recent musical reincarnation. . . vital, dramatic, poignant, sardonic, overblown, subtle, cynical, intelligent, angry, and funny. The Lil’ Beethoven show witnessed the audience’s most euphoric response to any one song, when “My Baby’s Taking Me Home” received a deafening ovation that seemed to last forever. Hello Young Lovers marked the second stage of Sparks’ “genre-defying opus.” Like Lil’ Beethoven, this show also marked a striking change in the band’s live show, with dramatic interactive projections and spatial demarcation of the stage.

On a stage that could just about enable you to swing the proverbial kitty, Sparks managed to reproduce Hello Young Lovers in all of its glory: the “intimate” setting only adding to the intensity and drama of the performance. The stage was essentially cut in half; the back was taken up with a large projection screen, either side of which were Sparks’ great musicians, garbed in black, behind a black mesh screen. In the front half of the stage there was a keyboard and the brothers Ron and Russell Mael. There was a poignancy to the stark, almost lonely, figures that the brothers cut out front on that stage. It brought home just who Sparks are and have been and how two people can work together over the decades and create something that touches people so profoundly.

The audience was, as they have been on all the nights I attended, an integral part of what made the Sparks Spectacular such a unique live experience. The concept of performing 21 albums on 21 nights is admittedly nuts and Sparks fans, being Sparks fans, embraced that nuttiness wholeheartedly. There was so much—dare I use the word? Yes, I dare—love projected from that audience it was truly amazing, and something I have never experienced before in all my gig-going days and nights. The Spectacular was, in part, a band statement—”Here’s who we are and how we got here”—and those attending celebrated that statement with unflagging joy and appreciation. But anyone expecting an easy ride through nostalgia-laden memory lanes had another thing coming. Hello Young Lovers proved that irrefutably.

In what has to be one of Sparks’ greatest opening songs of all time, the overblown, quasi-operatic, rocking “Dick Around” blasted out first. Ron bashed his “Ronald” keyboard, while Russell prowled the stage and sung with all the dramatic license the song affords. “Perfume” followed, Russell clicked his fingers like a suave lothario as he reeled out the litany of women’s names and their purchased scents. . . but even though he remembers them all, they are in the past. . . and as the audience unanimously agreed, “Screw the past!” During the dark “The Very Next Fight,” a song all about self-lacerating ego and insecurity, Ron leaves the keyboard to stage a battle with a virtual Ron on the projection screen, landing a series of perfectly-timed punches until he aims the fatal blow that sends his alter ego flying. . . until the next time.

Like the stage show for Lil’ Beethoven, here the projection screen acts as an alternate world where Ron interacts with various projected media in a hyper-formalized style not unlike the silent screen comedians Charles Chaplin or Harold Lloyd—all of which adds a delightful but nonetheless unsettling element to these songs and highlights the intensely dark humor which has always been an integral part of Sparks’ music. A joyous send-up of macho and nationalist presumptions, “(Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country?” is next, accompanied by a projected army of marching Russells.

The next song, “Rock, Rock, Rock,” is, for me, one of the night’s highlights. Ron straps on a guitar, leers menacingly, and throws various pseudo-rock star poses while the music mercilessly cranks out. Counterpointing this, Russell vows (scout’s honor) to “Rock! Rock! Rock!” then pleads “don’t leave me” and cradles himself “like a mother.” The song is all at once a damning indictment of conceding to the tide of soulless “rock” formulas and a genuine rock song that discovers its hardness through this very indictment. Two giant speakers are projected on screen, their brand names are “Russell” and “Ron” and, as the guitar screeches its feedback, the speakers shake and start to self-destruct.

“Metaphor” follows and, once again, Russell adopts the pose of a smooth lothario. “Chicks dig metaphors” you know? “Use them wisely use them well and you will never know the hell of loneliness.” The audience joins in and sings along at the key moments:

Russell asks: Who’s up for a metaphor?
We answer: We’re up for a metaphor!
Russell asks: Are you chicks up for a metaphor?
We (including all the men in the audience) answer: Yes, we’re up for a metaphor!

The wonderful “Waterproof” is next, with its erudite musical variations and witty lyrics, sung by Russell with such vigor that one can only remain in awe at his vocal abilities, which show no signs of flagging during the course of the 21 nights and which have only improved with age (whatever age he’s admitting to that is, as Ron wryly noted during the Exotic Creatures of the Deep show). “Here Kitty” follows, accompanied by projections of figures with the heads of cats and recorded meow loops. . . once again convincing me that this is one of Sparks’ creepiest songs. . . don’t ask my why. . . the answer is clearly too embedded in my unconscious mind for me to want to know the answer.

When “There’s No Such Thing As Aliens” begins I know it’s all nearly over. Perhaps this adds to the melancholy feeling the song has. . . especially when performed live with the projected images of Ron and Russell holding their hands out in front of them and slowly evolving into alien forms; an image that starkly contradicts the song’s lyrics which demand that dreamers stop dreaming and realize such otherworldly creatures do not exist.

The final song, “As I Sit Down To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral,” is a fitting end to proceedings. Ron places himself in front of the projection screen and plays a virtual church organ. . . Russell paces back and forth. . . spitting out lyrics which (like Hello Young Lovers‘ predecessor, Lil’ Beethoven) turn mundane terms and trite interactions into operatic expressions, which through constant repetition become increasingly menacing: “bye bye bye my baby now it’s time time time for me to go to work work work so you might want make your way from here. . . “

The song then shifts onto another level as the harsh guitar sound of “Dick Around” insinuates itself into the rhythm. Doleful organ sounds then appear, followed by a madly frenetic organ arrangement not unlike something Lon Chaney might have cranked out as The Phantom of the Opera. Ron mimes this on the projected organ as it shakes and swells. . . and yes, the sexual innuendo does not go unmarked by the lyrics, which lament the confusion of religious faith with the organ player’s desire to impress a woman in the congregation. But his efforts seem futile. . . he knows he will be upstaged by HIM. At this moment Russell points to the sky. . . HIM is God. . . The religious ceremony is in fact a courting ritual, with God as the ultimate romantic rival. But having made his sexual conquest, our organ player has FAITH, a deep abiding faith. And the audience of Carling Academy responds with appropriate joy, “Hallelujah!

The night ends, as all of the previous 20 shows have, with an encore song that in some way merits as an obscurity. Although judging by most of the audience, there’s no such thing as an obscure Sparks song. Many of the encore songs were connected with the album featured that night, but this time around there was no connection. The song was “Profile,” the b-side to “Get In The Swing” from the album Indiscreet. And it was a cracking finish to a fantastic night and a perfect way to bid bon voyage to Carling Academy Islington. The fact that the song careened us all back to Sparks circa 1975 was an apt reminder of the musical innovation as well as longevity of the band.

As always, the night ended with Russell giving a well-deserved mention and thanks to the musicians: Steve McDonald, Steven Nistor, Jim Wilson, Tammy Glover, Marcus Blake, “and the principal songwriter, my brother, Ron Mael.” He also thanked the audience, “Thank you, thank you so much. Thanks for making this month something we are always going to remember.” We’ll always remember it, too. Thank you Sparks.

Sparks Spectacular: Lil’ Beethoven (2002)

By Noisy Boy

Wow. Just wow. Unquestionably the best show yet, and one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. Just stunning in every respect: from the crowd who were just as entertaining as the band (props to the folk waving cowboy hats during the choruses of “Ride Em Cowboy”), to the backdrop (which was faithful to the DVD), to the return of Tammy Glover (who looks a bit like Becky from Coronation Street if you squint a bit).

Positioning myself towards the back rather than the front made for a great sound, as on came the band and into “The Rhythm Thief” they went, with all the band on vocals, Steven Nistor and Tammy Glover on timpanis. . . just breathtaking. Enter Ron and his long arms for “Carnegie Hall,” to much applause. This was easily the most enthusiastic crowd I’ve yet seen.

I think what made this so excellent for me (and what made it so damn annoying that I couldn’t see the next night’s show) is that this wasn’t an attempt at creating a facsimile of a vintage work, as the past shows have been; this was real and current and still vibrant. It also helps that most of the band who played on the album (and live shows) were still there (though Dean did appear in spirit as one of the on-screen animations taking a bow at the end). It showed up best in the younger crowd, and in “My Baby’s Taking Me Home,” possibly the best performance of anything they’ve done so far, and a response so rapturous I didn’t think it would end. Seriously, people didn’t stop cheering after it had finished!

The other facet was that this is very much a performance piece rather than just an album rendition. The whole multimedia presentation is definitely Sparks’ most adventurous work in that realm (so far), and Ron is as much of a star as Russell (who said very little during the set). He’s not just the deadpan keyboard player, but a key stage element, and a very funny physical comedian. I very much dug his amusing facial expressions in “Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls,” whilst he paraded his beautiful girl around, as well as his “Ride Em Cowboy” actions.

What was also a joy, and what you may not have been able to see on the webcast was the sheer camaraderie between the rest of the band. During “Suburban Homeboy,” when Steve McDonald came back out (sporting a rather ill-advised moustache) to sing backing vocals, all the band looked like they were having a whale of a time, which was really infectious. They could’ve ended right there and I’d have gone home happy. And while I was expecting “The Mandalay Song” as the encore, “Wunderbar” was a good choice, with Russell doing a fine impersonation of Günther Koch’s exasperated commentary skills.

Thus ended my experience of Sparks at Islington Academy; one of the most unique things I’ve experienced in my life, and probably twice as unique for those who’ve been attending every show.

Sparks Spectacular: Balls (2000)

By Miss Missy Tannenbaum

As on previous evenings the sound was brilliant; every detail in the tunes was loud and clear. Tammy Glover, who was a Sparks drummer for ten years, was back for this set and the two subsequent ones. It was lovely to have the chance to see the lady play live.

One thing I hoped for was the guitar sound Ron had done as an intro on Balls Live from 2000. It’s not a part of the album but was a very good sound to start a concert with. On this gig Balls started with the same tune as the album. Both the title song and the second song “More Than A Sex Machine” were powerful to hear and it was impossible not to clap along.

“Scheherazade” was beautiful, as always. Even though the strings are only generated from synthesizers, they are so dramatic and pure-sounding that the fact remains that this song will never sound bad live, ever.

“Aeroflot” is not my favorite but the intro with Tammy chanting “Thank you for flying Aeroflot” was incredible, and there was an astounding effect of her voice being “lifted” from speaker to speaker. As irony would have it, the microphone decided to go on strike with a loud “bang” in the beginning of a song about an airline that lacks reliability.

A technician tried his best to find a new microphone which he had to rob from the other musicians. Even though the vocal was gone, the music went on and so did Russell, giving signs to the audience to sing along which we of course did since sing-alongs are always fun.

The hunt for a good working microphone went on. Russell threw away one he was handed before he confiscated Jim Wilson’s mic, all for the noble task of getting the lead vocal heard by the crowd.

The mic sound needed a little boosting but it improved by the “Calm Before The Storm.” Of course, this and “Bullet Train” again made the audience clap and chant with the music. “The Angels” was beautifully done with an added guitar in the mix which was another highlight of the night.

The encore, “Katharine Hepburn,” was a wonderful surprise and without a doubt a huge favorite (which was actually played again on the last night). It’s an obscure song many fans crossed their fingers would be an encore, so it was an almost unreal and overwhelming experience to hear Russell singing that song for the first time. Problems aside, this turned out to be a splendid concert.