By Danny R. Phillips
Over the five plus decades that rock & roll has been a force in American youth culture, many books have been written, most with futility, in an attempt to explain its history, its debauchery, its value, and the ebb & flow of the trends sprouting in all directions from its fruitful loins.
Steven Blush’s American Hardcore: A Tribal History not only explains a big part of the punk rock subculture but comes out swinging like a bloody knuckled little brother with something to prove.
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By Christian Lipski
The Rocky Horror Picture Show played in theaters in 1975, and was finally released on VHS here in the US around 20 years ago. The movie had been around for 15 years before there was ever a legitimate copy available. People had been dressing up as the characters and mimicking the movie for FIFTEEN YEARS without a way to practice at home (there were bootleg copies around, but oh so rare).
When the VHS tape came out, it was honestly a kind of letdown. Now anyone could practice their part wherever there was a VCR, without waiting seven days to stand in line and pay your money to watch the bug screen for some nuance you forgot. But the old-old-timers eventually dropped their gripe, just as the guys riding buggies stopped yelling at the guys in cars. Time marches on, and so, too does obsession.
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As part of this year’s FanExpo, Rue Morgue presented “Confessions of a Gothic Messiah: An Evening with Ken Russell” at the Bloor Cinema, a special screening of Russell’s 1971 film, The Devils, hosted by film critic Richard Crouse and attended by the director himself.
By Ann Clarke
JG Thirlwell’s The Mesopelagic Waters was released on John Zorn’s Tzadik record label during the spring of 2010. This is the third installment of Thirlwell’s Manorexia project, but it’s not a block of new songs. It is, in essence, an acoustic re-arrangement scored for tactual instruments, performed by virtuosos. However, that’s easier said than done!
So if you were hoping to hear new songs on this album that weren’t on Volvox Turbo or The Radiolarian Ooze . . . that’s not going to happen, so nix that thought! So now, if you are thinking, “Why bother?” read on, and I’ll explain why you should!
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By Christian Lipski
Read:
Day One’s Diary
Day Two’s Diary
Day Three’s Diary
And then there was the last day. We eventually got up and packed our bags for checkout, and made our way to the convention floor for our last visit. Since it’s the last day and exhibitors want to ship as little as possible back home, there are rampant sales and many attendees only buy Sunday tickets.
Mile High Comics put their entire stock on sale for 50% off, for example. Independent publishers were willing to make deals, for the most part.The show closes at 5 p.m. as well, so the action in the convention center was tinged with both sadness and anxiety.
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By Christian Lipski
Read:
Day One’s Diary
Day Two’s Diary
After going to bed sometime after 1 a.,m. the night before (late dinner), Saturday morning was pretty much a wash. I had a press conference for Futurama at 11:30 a.m., so I took off for the convention center. The room was about two-thirds full, and we all shifted about until the event began.
Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, Maurice LeMarche, and Lauren Tom filed in to have their pictures taken before ascending the dais. They apologized for the absence of the voice of Bender, John Dimaggio, but it was explained that “Dimaggio” was Italian for “running late.” He did show up presently, and the conference began.
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By Christian Lipski
Read:
Day One’s Diary
By the second day I feel much less pressure; I’ve already made a day’s worth of forays into the wilds, and though I haven’t seen nearly all of what there is, I have a good sense of the floor’s layout and content. I also know that it’s nearly useless to try to get into large sessions, since the amount of time you need to devote to the line-waiting is better spent wandering the floor below.
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By Christian Lipski
Wednesday night was a long night of travel, so we didn’t get to sleep until 1 a.m. Upon rising at seven, I cursed the medium of the sequential image as we struggled to get ready.
We go to the parking garage at 10:30, and walked the mile to the Convention Center. You know you’re getting close when you see the TRON banner start to appear on lampposts, and even a replica of Flynn’s arcade from the movie. The amount of people in costume increased, and so did the amount of people handing out flyers and laminated cards and magazines. These last items tended to create a kind of carpet on the sidewalks that led to the doors of San Diego Comic-Con.
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By Less Lee Moore
If you live in the Atlanta, GA area, do not miss “We Are Going To Eat You, Too,” a sequel to the 2009 show at MINT Gallery, which opens on Saturday, April 17. (Hell, even if you don’t live in the Atlanta area, it will be worth the trip.) And unlike many horror movie sequels, this one promises to be just as amazing (if not more so) than the original.
Eric Weber is once again curating this artistic tribute to underground and cult movies. Eric writes for Popshifter, and is also an artist, photographer, and sometimes-draftsman of floor plans for the layout of the Golden Girls house. (For serious.)
Check out the MINT Gallery site for details and read more about Eric’s motivation for putting these shows together in the preview feature about the exhibit on Creative Loafing.
You can also read a great interview with Eric about his art from Popshifter‘s September/October 2009 issue. Don’t forget to check out his other Popshifter articles while you’re at it!
“We Are Going To Eat You, Too” runs from April 17 through April 25 at the MINT Gallery, a non-profit community oriented art gallery located at 684 B John Wesley Dobbs Avenue in Atlanta, GA.
By Lisa Anderson
The Evil Mad Scientist is a familiar figure in popular culture, and is found most often in science fiction, horror, or superhero tales. Evil Mad Scientists are not to be confused with their more benevolent counterparts, like Emmett Brown of Back to the Future. While the Evil Mad Scientist can be a figure of great terror, when this archetype is used for comic effect the results can be hilarious. Following are five of the best examples.
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