WFMU's Beware of the Blog

The Other Side of Glam Rock

BY KOLLIN HOLTZ

 

Watch all 16 videos on Network Awesome

Tony Visconti found Glam Rock buried in the basement of the UFO Club in London when he saw Tyrannosaurus Rex play to a crowd of 200 hippies on instruments they found in the garbage. Obviously I’m not talking about the giant, prehistoric reptile! I mean the band founded by Marc Bolan, and Steve Took (which is not as well known as the giant lizard). It was Visconti’s assignment to go out, and find a new band for the record label to sign as part of his six-month visit to England from Brooklyn, NY. At the time, they were folk heavy on the sound, but after three records, they topped the charts in the UK. It was the 1970’s. The radical US political group, The Weathermen (later called the Weather Underground) HAD gone underground, the Summer of Love died in a biker rage at a Stone’s concert, and the British Invasion of the US Billboard Top 100 was showing little sign of stopping. You ready boys and girls, because we’re about to get it on like a gong. Glitter? Check. Hair? Check. Unbridled, raw, sexual rock lyrics? Double check.

Let’s talk about who comes to mind when we all think of Glam Rock: David Bowie. A month or two after meeting Marc Bolan of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Tony Visconti was introduced to David Bowie. A man he worked for suggested he meet Bowie saying he had a talent for, “working with odd artists [paraphrased].” Bowie and Visconti hit it off, talking about everything from their favorite musicians, spoken word artists, and seeing the new Polanski film, Knife In The Water (Original US release in 1962)* before parting ways at around nine in the evening. His first album was apparently a mish-mash of inspiration from show-tunes, folk, rock and everything else in between. Bowie took time to discover himself, according to Visconti. In the few years they worked together, Bowie took mime classes, and discovered the art of Kabuki Theater. Both of these heavily influenced his showmanship.

Mime taught him how to use his body, and Kabuki inspired the wardrobe and makeup of his stage persona. He may not have been the impetus of the movement, but he was certainly one of its most major influencers. As soon as he wore what he wore, everyone rushed to copy him without understanding the source material and inspiration he was working from. The influence of Kabuki makeup, and the strong pronouncement of

SPEND AN HOUR OR MORE WITH GRACE JONES

Watch the whole hour long compilation here

 

BY KOLLIN HOLTZ

Grace Jones is a Jamaican born (May 1948), New York raised (1962) model, actress and most notably, a Grammy nominated Disco pop star turned new wave/R&B artist at the peak of anti-disco sentiment. Her Androgynous style landed her on the covers of Elle, and Vogue magazine inspiring the aesthetic of many female pop stars to come. Her fashion sense and style is a rebellion against the status-quo regarding gender rolls, and what a woman’s “place” is. Through her music, clothing and attitude, she most certainly is the rebellious epitomic representation of the Pastor’s child that she claims to be.

Grace was born and raised in Spanish Town, Jamaica until the age of thirteen. While there, she was raised by her grandparents part-time while her fashion-forward seamstress mother trotted the globe behind Grace’s sermon giving Pastor of a father. Growing up, she was name called things like “Olive Oyl” after Popey the Sailor Man’s shapeless love, and “nothing-in-the-middle” for what some saw as her lack of breasts. In these early years, surrounded by familial men of the cloth with a line of bishops stretching back to her Pentecostal grand Uncle, Grace took note and issue with the well defined, strict gender roles established around her. Grace didn’t want to become her Grandmother, and speaking about her she says, “She could never say anything at all. She just lived through all that abuse in the name of religion. If she did object, my step-grandfather (who was twenty years younger than her) would dismiss her with a wave of his hand. Even though my mum was tough, my dad was scarier.”

In 1962, her parents moved her and her siblings to New York. While Grace was seen as a tad masculine, her brother was seen in the reverse. In Jamaica, he organized the church choir and played the piano. Apparently

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 70

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Alan Howarth playing his John Carpenter movie score contributions live at 285 Kent on Halloween.

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After the break: Assemble X at Ace Hotel and Negativland at New School

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 69

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Pallbearer in Brooklyn at the Baby's All Right on October 19, 2013.

After the break: Sannhet at Saint Vitus and Iceage at The Acheron

Help WFMU Open our Performance Space to the Public!

WFMU's Studio of Tomorrow silent campaign to raise enough money to open our 100-seat radio theater to the public is gaining steam! Help us make our goal by October 31st by making a pledge below!

Earlier this year, WFMU reclaimed the ground floor space of our building* and renovated it on a shoestring. But right now the space is just an empty room with a stage, and we now need to bring it up to code and purchase some basic audio equipment so that we can open our doors to the public and start hosting events.

*(previously, we rented it out to a business that closed shop)

Station Manager Ken explains it all in the video below:

 

And if that didn't convince you to pledge, perhaps we can entice you with our fantastic new Junk Food T-shirt ($50) or Knit Hat ($100). More swag on view here.

 

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 68

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Death in June in Brooklyn at the Bell House on September 20, 2013.

After the break: Grails at Saint Vitus

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 67

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Death in June in Brooklyn at the Bell House on September 20, 2013.

After the break: Grails at Saint Vitus

Down by the Riverside with Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Watch the 30 minute show on Network Awesome

Before Bob Dylan, before Joni Mitchell, before Chuck Berry, heck, even before Elvis Presley, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was rockin’ it gospel with her electric guitar at a time when such a thing was unimaginable. Born in 1915, the Arkansas native began playing guitar at the age of four and performing with her mother at Southern tent revivals from the age of six. Tharpe stayed on the road until her untimely death at the age of 58, confounding critics and supporters alike with her blend of the spiritual and the secular and inspiring scores of performers along the way.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, born Rosetta Nubin, began performing for charismatic evangelical church audiences with her mother in Chicago, where she achieved fame for being such a unique child talent. Throngs of church attendees would flock to Chicago’s Church of God in Christ to witness the “the singing and guitar playing miracle,” performing hymns and dancing on the church piano. From the very beginning, 'Little Rosetta Nubin' understood the importance of a strong stage presence, something that she would carry with her throughout her performing life.

In the 1930’s, Nubin moved to New York, married for the first time, changed her name, and in 1938 was the first gospel artist signed to Decca Records. Her first singles, such as “This Train” and “Rock Me” transformed traditional gospel hymns into rollicking, rhythmic recitations. “Rock Me” was actually a spiritual called “Hide Me in Thy Bosom,” that Tharpe repurposed into a sultry and sensual seduction. Naturally, her

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 66

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Wrekmeister Harmonies playing live at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn on August 30, 2013.

After the break: Negative Plane and Poison Idea at Saint Vitus

Andrzej Żuławski: A Man Possessed

by David Selden

Watch the whole film on Network Awesome

Andrzej Żuławski’s “intellectual horror film”, Possession begins with the protagonist’s return from an unspecified but apparently dangerous assignment. In an empty room at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, Mark’s employers plead with him to stay but he is adamant. His “subject” (and his pink socks) will elude them for now. Returning to his bland apartment in a 70’s housing complex, Mark (played somewhat woodenly by Sam Neil), finds his wife is leaving him for Heinrich, an intellectual martial arts expert with a wardrobe of silk shirts.

From there the film spirals into a queasy out of control psycho-drama, with acts of gratuitous violence appearing out of the blue with increasing frequency. Schlock is piled upon schlock until it almost becomes a bonfire of all the vanities of European art house cinema of this period, as well as being a cathartic scream and (perhaps) a pitch black comedy in the tradition of the Grande Guignol.

Żuławski, a protégé of Andrej Wadja, was never a director shy of overstatement. Here in Possession, his first and only English language film, scripted in the midst of a messy divorce case, he piles it on thick with

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 65

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Wehrmacht playing a Cryptic Slaughter mini set with Scott Peterson live at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn on August 25, 2013.

After the break: Pharmakon at 538 Johnson and Delphic Oracle at The Hive

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 64

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Aa (Big A little a) playing live at Death By Audio in Brooklyn on August 8, 2013.

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 63

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Missing Foundation live in Brooklyn at Goodbye Blue MOnday on July 13, 2013.

After the break: Reptilian Shape Shifters at Death By Audio and Akitsa at Saint Vitus.

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 62

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Sly & Robbie w/Bunny Rugs live in Brooklyn at MetroTech Commons on July 11, 2013.

After the break: MV Carbon at Public Assembly.

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 61

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Locrian playing Saint Vitus in Brooklyn on June 28, 2013.

After the break: Pact at Martyrdoom Fest at The Acheron.

The Birth of Rock... In Brazil: Tropicalia

by Kollin Holtz

WATCH THIS NOW: http://networkawesome.com/2013-6-26/collection-tropicalia-1

The 1960’s Brazilian art movement, Tropicália, began as a youthful challenge to convention, and fell into being a youthful rebellion against an unjust and militaristic government. Like many musicians around the world at the time (Bob Dylan, The Beatles), these ones found themselves thrust into the center of the 60’s political activism movement, whether they were willing or not.

Tropicália began as an art movement by young Brazilians of the 1960’s to bring the musical and cultural offerings of their nation to the world. As a result of this desire, musicians incorporated non-traditional instruments into their native music, primarily guitars. The common rock ‘n roll instrument was regarded by artists of the Bossa Nova movement, and other traditional artists, as a cheapening of Brazilian music. It showed a disregard for heritage, and the ‘true’ sounds of Brazil. It was this music that had to come up

“MAN GETS EATEN BY AN ALLIGATOR”: THE WILHELM SCREAM

BY CASEY DEWEY

Watch nearly all of the 200 uses of "The Wilhelm Scream" on Network Awesome

At some point in 1997 my friends and I were debating the merits of the remastered, souped-up re-releases of George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy. We discussed the issues of introducing Jabba the Hutt in the first film, how the CGI-enhanced added TIE-Fighters was a positive addition, and we lamented the loss of the Ewok’s “Yub-Yub” song at the end of Return of the Jedi. On Jedi, one of my friends said “With all of the stuff Lucas added visually, couldn’t they have at least changed Boba Fett’s pussy-ass scream when he died?” Little did we know at the time that the “pussy-ass scream” was in fact the legendary Wilhelm Scream.

What is the Wilhelm Scream? Trust me, you’ve heard this sound effect over a thousand times. You’ve heard it in every single Star Wars film, even the dreaded new trilogy. You’ve heard it in all of the Indiana Jones movies, you’ve heard it in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and also The Hobbit. You’ve heard it in most Quentin Tarantino movies. You’ve heard it when Harold and Kumar went to White Castle. You’ve heard it

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 60

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Vomir playing live at Ende Tymes Festival at The Silent Barn in Brooklyn on May 25, 2013.

After the break: Cobalt at Saint Vitus and Secret Chiefs 3 performing John Carpenter's "Escape from New York" at The Stone.

Heil Honey, I’m Home: The Worst TV Show Of All Time?

BY KRISTEN BIALIK

Watch the only full episode of "Heil Honey, I'm Home"

What's on Network Awesome today?

It’s hard to imagine how the studio pitch forHeil Honey I’m Home! went beyond ‘Picture it: It’s the 1930s and Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun are living in their Berlin apartment/American suburbia home. But they keep getting into zany situations because they can’t seem to get along with their Jewish neighbors, the Goldensteins! (Pause for overenthusiastic chuckles)Any post-WWII audience is gonna love it!’ Really, it’s hard to imagine even getting there, but the British Satellite Broadcasting channel Galaxy went so far as to create an entire series around the premise. Yes, I said series. The world would never know the extent of Heil Honey I’m Home!, however, since the show was cancelled after the first episode aired in 1990. Who’s surprised?

The basic plot of the first (and only) episode to see the light of day takes place around the 1938 German annexation of the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland, though this is largely just an odd backdrop to Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun’s domestic issues. Neville Chamberlain does make an appearance, a fact Hitler tries to hide from his “meddling” blatantly stereotypical Jewish neighbors. Of course, the Goldensteins find out because Eva (read: women) can’t keep secrets and so they pop over to meet Chamberlain and set him up with their frumpy teenage niece. Eva Braun’s plan to get the Goldensteins out of their hair before the Chamberlain visit is to get them knocked-out drunk and “bundle them back to their

In case you didn't feel like showing up - Volume 59

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Patrick Noecker's Assemble performing live at Knockdown Center in Queens on May 11, 2013.

After the break: Marissa Nadler at Saint Vitus, Cammisa Buerhaus at Market Hotel and the complete Suicide show from 2007 at the Seaport.