"Boobs and Butts and Bulges...And Comedians - Oh My!" - My Trip to New York Comic Con Opening Day 2013

I didn't expect to walk into the opening day of the New York Comic Con (NYCC) at the Javit's Center on Thursday October 10, 2013 and feel overwhelmed.  Sure this was the biggest convention on the East Coast, one of the biggest in the world, but I've been to plenty of cons since the 80's (Chiller Theatre, Creation's Star Trek Conventions, etc).  It turned out they were nothing like this.

The "main days" of NYCC (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) had long ago sold out, but a couple of weeks ago, while at my favorite Thursday Live Trivia Night in the area, my buddy Kyle and I decided it would be cool to go and found out that Thursday had not sold out.  Tickets were immediately ordered.  We waited 336 hours.  Hopped a train down to Grand Central followed by a couple of subways to Penn Station and a delightful walk to 11th avenue.  We arrived right around 4:00 pm, about an hour after doors opened and were greeted by a line of a couple of thousand people!

YIKES!  

It turned out to be an ill informed "Yikes!"  The NYCC/Javit's Center folks have this down to a science (at least if you have your printed out ticket receipt).  We got our badges and were in the door in about 15 minutes...

...and then WOW!

The full main room of the Javit's center was completely filled - mainly with vendors, but also companies. Marvel for instance had a serious, but it was Intel who by far had the largest presence.  There were 36 long aisles with I don't know how many hundreds of  different vendors setup along with these companies.

I guess I shouldn't have been overwhelmed.  I've been to various trade shows here over the years and I think I thought NYCC would have more a trade show vibe (more giant booths by large companies and just a minimum of smaller booths by vendors) than that of a collectibles convention - A GIANT collectibles convention where it immediately became obvious one could not cover everything with a one day limited hours Thursday pass.

Oh well, there was only one thing to do, enter the main hall and dive right in.

It didn't start good.  We walked in right in front of a South Park building come to life.  It was a small building with three doors (sorry, I dunno why I don't have a picture of this building) with a velvet roped line of about 25 people waiting to get in.  We shrugged, not sure what this was, hopped on line and in about 10 minutes the doors opened one by one.  Approximately 8 people came out and 8 more went in and the door was shut...we just made it into the 3rd room.

Turns out this was an elaborate commercial (and honestly - this is EXACTLY what I expected all of NYCC to be - thankfully I was wrong) for an upcoming video game called "South Park: The Stick of Truth"

The door was shut and it was HOT in there.  I know nothing puts me in the buying mood like being shut in a stiffling closet with 10 people - it's quite the marketing scheme.  Our host told us this would be a 10 minute view at the game play of this new South Park video game and after watching it, if we pre-ordered today, we could get a Cartman as a Wizard little figurine.

The first two minutes were fine and entertaining.  It was a funny little South Park animation where basically the gang appears to go larping and an adventure plays out in a house to save Princess Kenny.  The fun part of the spiel soon ended when it switched to the 7 minutes of game play mode which looks great, but is SOOOOO slow and SOOOOO monotonous...looking around for those 10 mintues I saw everyone doing the same as I was.  Sweating profusely and laughing a little uncomfortably as a trapped audience feels they should (and honestly - the lighting the fart on fire weapon feature was humorous the first time it was shown...oddly by the 10th time, it's somehow lost it's charm.)

Thankfully the 10 minutes finally ended and we got out.  Kyle and I decided there would be no more waiting on line for "commercials" with our limited time (the main floor was to close at 9:00pm).  I guess if you have a 4 day pass some of this could be interesting...but not a great way to start.

We then basically roamed the floor for the next few hours.  I took some pictures as you'll see and I hope it shows the most fun aspect of NYCC - the people watching or, if you're so inclined, being one of the people to watch.  These are not all of the best costumes (although some are), just the ones I would turn around or see in front of me while still having time to check out as many vendors as we could before the opening night Comedy Mutant Show at 8:00 pm.

So...in the words of Willy Wonka "Come with me...and you'll see...a world of pure imagination...":

The layout is somewhat based on the vendors who are collected into groups - Artists/Sculptors, Vintage Comic Book Dealers, Manga/Anime, Collectible Toys, Clothing, Swords/Prop Weapons, Science Fiction, Original Art, Etc - but there is alot of crossover.  If you're a collector, you would want to check out everything and that takes A LOT of time.

We basically started at the first booth in aisle 100 and worked our way to the last in aisle 3600 , seeing these sites along the way.

Rocky lifesize statues.  I would think in general, these probably would not be at any other Comic Con, but the real life Sylvester Stallone was going to be appearing on one of the other days of the convention.  You could buy tickets to get his autograph and/or tickets to get a photo with him (the real him, not the life size statue him).  To do both of these things (get an autograph AND a photo with) would cost you $850.  Yes that is a three digit number.  So I guess if your company makes life size Rocky statues, your core audience would be someone who would pay almost a grand for a photo op and autograph of Sly, hence this booth.  I'm would love to know what the line was like for him.  If anyone was there on the day he was signing, please let me know...my guess is only a select few would pay this, but who knows, maybe Sly had them lined up around the block!

Before I move on with my tour...I wanted to mention some celebrities that were at booths and again, not sure why I don't have pictures, but we did see Doyle from the Misfits as well as Sgt. Slaughter.  Sgt Slaughter was charging either $15 or $20 for a signed photo WITH Photo op.  Now I don't want to keep ragging on Sly Stallone (I LOVE "Cobra"..."Crime's the disease...he's the Cure!!") but no way is Sly worth 42.5 Sgt. Slaughter's.

We then noticed fantastic outfit!  And the Felix the Cat ain't bad either (yeah I know I know...you ALL saw that coming...but hey, that gal has got some great stockinged legs!  I guess I should have put "Legs" into the title of this blog as well as they too were plentiful and delightful, but most of the costumes really were about the three "B's" mentioned above.

This was either potentially one of the coolest and most obscure pop culture costumes I saw or maybe it's just what this dude looks like.  I think he's going for "Dr. Gonzo" played by Benicio Del Toro in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and if so - Kudos sir...kudos!

Orange guy followed by sorta Wonder Woman on the farm...actually just pretty normal wear for NYCC

I promised bulges for the ladies, but here's a nice blue butt instead standing next to his furry friend.  Tails were in abundance on both the gals and guys at NYCC.

Well HELLO THERE my newest favorite-est Super Heroine (Villainess?)! 

And another HELLO! 

Time to admit something (that is probably already obvious).  I USED to be a big time comic book collector and try to keep up with pop culture, but I honestly don't know if these two below (and many others in costume) were "supposed to be somebody" or just came up with a snazzy pair of costumes.  Either way I dig them both and I think they exemplify what NYCC is all about.  But I'm more than happy to be schooled in any character I show in this batch of pictures that obviously I have no clue who they are.  Comment/Email away.

The Walking Dead was ALL OVER the convention (hell, see my badge).  The Saturday main event was a full panel with EVERYONE from the show.  This was the Image Comics booth who were selling a bunch of cool convention only items (like a con exclusive "Governor" action figure for $25...how much are they immediately being marked up for on ebay?).  Lots of zombies in attendance as well.

World's collide at NYCC.  I do believe that's the Riddler with King Arthur?  Why not!

You gotta be quick on your feet to interview the Flash and the Black Power Ranger.  This fella has all the right TV moves.

That thing HAD to be heavy by the end of the day.  I was humming "dododododoo Inspector Gadget dodododuhdoduhdooooo" all damn night.  This guy had the babes lined up for pics with him.  Ladies love a "gadget"...who knew?!

Very Odd!  A life size "Yak Face" from Star Wars.  This was at the booth of "The Toy Hunter" - Jordon Hembrough.  I dig his show.  It's like American Pickers except just toys.

Oh yeah...you gotta watch out at NYCC - Shit is gonna go down when The Joker and Harley Quinn roll up on The Dark Knight! 

 Stop!  Hammer Time!

Well now!

 God Bless New York Comic Con!

Okay...there were only a few points after the South Park Hot Box fiasco that started the day that made me sad.  One was Shazam! era Captain Marvel moping up the stairs, but I understood, it was a long day and I assume that outfit does not breath well...

I pointed out Kid Rock to my buddy and when he corrected me that it was Kid McRock I have to say it was my chuckle of the day!

 Just another day at the office...

One of the oddest moments of my day.  We were chilling by the restrooms before heading to the comedy show when suddenly after sitting there for about 15 minutes, this gal walked out of the ladies room!

 Then her whole gang came out and walked off into the NYCC fun!

Easily the best Walking Dead on say on opening day...

8:00pm - The Comedy Mutant Opening Night Kick-Off Party starts with free swag being hurled to the masses! (My guess was 3000 to 4000 people)

Then Brian Posehn opened the show with a short intro set before coming back and ending with a headlining g set which KILLED later on. Outside of standup Brian is probably best know for his appearances on the Sarah Silverman show.

Mike Drucker followed and I laughed rather hard at his story about dressing up as Simon Belmont, the hero from Castlevania as a kid.

 Myq Kaplan was excellent

Baron Vaughn had the audience singing along to the theme of "Duck Tails" - as you can see, much of this material was not written specifically for, but happend to be tailor made for this crowd.

 Trevor Moore of "Whitest Kids U Know" came out with his buddy and played three hilarious tunes

He wrapped up his set with "What About Mouthwash?" playing along to the video.  Go to youtube and watch...you will laugh and thank me

Janeane Garofalo did a very what seemed like an off the cuff stream of consciousness 20 minutes.  She also teased that she was going to bring her bowling ball from her character "The Bowler" in "Mystery Men" but due to some back issues did not.  The crowd wanted to see that Bowling Ball.  

Brian Posehn returns and sets the record straight about the real "Star Wars" and being of his age group.  He destroys the room in the process.

Brian ended his set with a request for any weed holding con attendee who could help him show off his smoking skills.  While I could not fulfill Brian's wishes, he was nice enough to take a pic I call "Two guys in Stephen King related Shirts" that I shall treasure as one of the best moments of my first Comic Con.

10:15pm - before leaving we visited the 75th Anniversary of Superman showcase by DC Comics with many of the costumes used in many of the Superman films over the years.

So would I go back?  The answer is yes, but this was a learning experience.  I would get either one or two full main day tickets (which I believe sell out before the guest/panels are announced so one must have faith in the Geek Gods).  I'd check out said panesl and take my time with the vendors, buying lots of crap I thought was cool at the time and I really didn't need. 

And of course I would enjoy all those there to be watched in their costumes showing off those fabulous "B's".  I'll just take the first two...you can enjoy the bulges.

Poughkeepsie Loves Wood...Ed Wood - The Ed Wood Statue Kickstarter Benefit Oct. 11, 2013. Bardavon, Poughkeepsie NY

I was trying to figure out when I first heard of Ed Wood so I started reflecting on how I passed my youthful teenage days in Fishkill up in Dutchess County, New York.

I was born in 1970, so like many a guy (and some amazingly rare, cool and instantly dreamy gals) of my age, there was a holy trinity of sorts that life revolved around: video games, horror movies and girls.  Of the three, some proved far more elusive than others, but I digress.

For those of us who loved horror movies and came of age during that time, there was one magazine you had to read - Fangoria.  I tend to wonder if I first heard Ed Wood's name in those pages.  Maybe he was referenced in an interview or just maybe there actually was a feature on him in those early to mid 80's issues.  In actuality though, I think it was more a case of Fangoria being a "gateway" cinematic magazine.  While I enjoyed their gore filled pages, it lead me to publications which dealt more with (cult) classic films and I believe I may have really learned of Ed Wood from Filmfax magazine (which started in 1986) which I'm sure covered him in depth.  Stay away from Fangoria kids, next thing you know you'll be reading Filmfax, Cinemafantastique, Video Watchdog, Cult Movies, Film Threat, etc.  (The great thing is, most of those are actually still around!)

So I'm thinking I first saw "Plan 9 From Outer Space" around 1987 or 1988 after reading of him in one of the above publications and became an immediate fan.  By the time the fantastic Tim Burton biopic was released in 1994 (20th anniversary next year), I was a full fledged um...Ed Head?  Woody?  Let's just stick with fan.

So what the hell does all this have to do with anything?  Well, for myself and the 300 to 400 folks that came out to the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY to see Mr. Wood's classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space" on Friday, October 11, 2013 - there's definitely a feeling of finally having this hometown hero get the recognition he deserves. 

The ball for this project started rolling in earnest with the printing of this article by Tony Musso in the May 29, 2013 edition of the Poughkeepsie Journal.

I'm going to simplify this, but don't want to understate the incredible amount of hard work that has gone into this project by those involved.  The article went viral and the support proved amazing. A sculpture design was sketched which can be seen on the official website for the project EdWoodStatue.com , a budget figured out, and a Kickstarter campaign planned. 

Then the Bardavon Benefit was planned to launch the Kickstarter which goes live this weekend.  The kickoff benefit tonight can be described with two words: a "blast" and a "success!"  (okay okay...5 words if your a damn stickler and count the small words)

The night started with a 7:30 meet and greet with many of those involved including Kevin Barry aka Creighton Agogo of Ghoul A Gogo as "Tor Johnson" and Bailey Jay (2011 and 2012 AVN - Adult Video Network - Performer of the Year award winner) as "Vampira" taking pictures and signing autographs to raise money.

Kevin and Bailey Jay filmed this fantastic trailer for the event:

and yes, of course I got my new updated Facebook profile pic with them:

I honestly was wondering what the turnout would be for this event and it was fantastic.  There was a full house in the lobby for prior to the show, chatting and enjoying cocktails. By the time the event actually started at 8:00pm I would estimate there were between 300 to 400 attendees.  While it didn't appear anyone dressed in angora (Ed's sweater of choice), some folks did dress up and in my opinion, no one better than the various group of gals with the the paper plate flying saucers  In my opinion, this "Wood Lover" (meant strictly in the cinematic sense of the word as I don't know her personally and who's name I really should have gotten for this blog) took the cake! Poughkeepsie was ready for a fun evening and they got it!

Joe Netherworld of Weird Poughkeepsie is the lead on this project (he being the "Upstate New York Man" in the PoJo article who had a dream of a statue) and opened with a few words.

He then handed over the mic to filmmaker Lola Rock'N'Rolla to host the evening.

Lola was an engaging host as well as "opener" for Ed's "Plan 9" with a showing of her first film "Dragzilla." (yes, Drag Queen meets Godzilla meets New York City - see the trailer here).  It was very funny and the audience totally dug it.

Lola was not only humorous and welcoming throughout the evening, but the true heartfelt love she has for Ed Wood, his films and his place in film history really shined through. 

Right around 8:30pm, we were treated to the trailer for "Plan 9" and then the actual film.  It was great to see it on the big screen with so many other fans.  The laughs were plentiful (and granted, not originally intended) and the audience response enthusiastic with numerous applause breaks at key moments in the film.  In the end, "Plan 9 From Outer Space" is the realization of Ed Wood's dreams.  His celluloid vision lives on, still finds a new audience and continually brings joy.

After the film, some of the audience stayed for a 15 minutes Q&A with Lola, Joe, Kevin/Creighton/Tor, statue artist Patrick Pigott and Donna Verteramo of the Bardavon.  

During the Q&A, they announced that $4000 has been raised this evening.  The goal for the campaign is $65,000 and if you've read this far - you must be a fan of either Ed Wood, Poughkeepsie, cult classics or having dreams realized.  If any of those, I hope you go to Kickstarter and give what you can - hell, even if it's a buck or two.  It all adds up quick. And c'mon Sam Raimi, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, etc - I know you all read this blog religiously - kick in a little and let's get this done.

If you care to watch to the Q&A here's the link (I missed about the first minute)

Along with the statue (which they hope to set up across the street from the Bardavon where Ed worked as an usher), there is hope this will turn into an annual festival (Forget Woodstock up the road...Woodfest in Po-town!!)  I hope it happens so those of us who like this type of film can come together, gather, laugh see some old friends and make some new ones.

I'm glad to have been part of this initial fundraiser and I look forward to seeing the goal reached 30 days from now!

Click Here: Ed Wood Statue for the link to take part in the Kickstarter Campaign

Listen to Air Supply with Rowdy Roddy Piper and OBEY

What happens when I chat movies with my friends? 

The necessity to create something like this:

 

Roddy Piper from They Live Joins Air Supply "All Out Of Bubblegum"

 

 

 

OBEY!

My 1st Heavy Metal - Motley Crue "Shout At The Devil"

So I just saw a website that is giving away a pair of tix to the M3 fest in Columbia, MD in May.  I always go to this 80's Glam/Metal fest and I could be entered by telling them about the first piece of vinyl that got me turned on to Metal.  I ended up typing up the following and it turned out to be WAY too long for their comment section - so I chopped out the middle paragraphs and I'm keeping my fingers crossed...but since it was typed already, here's a little blast from the past and a look at how I was turned on to Motley Crue's "Shout At The Devil"...

I remember taking the trip to Record World in the Dutchess Mall in Fishkill, NY in late 1983 or early '84. Probably had a crisp $20 from my December birthday in my pocket. I'm sure I hit the arcade, Dream Machine, first - maybe a little Tempest or Berzerk then walked down to the other end of the mall.

Most of my friends dug cassettes, but I always was a fan of the vinyl album and spent many hours there flipping through the racks.  On this day I had a mission, this band I had been seeing on MTV.  "Looks that Kill" was good, but "Too Young To Fall In Love" (and the awesome video featuring a Motley Crue kicking ass Kung Fu style) was what made me need "Shout At the Devil."

Pre-Spinal Tap (and Metallica), you wouldn't think you could get a cover more black (including the black on black Pentagram when you tilted it in the light - at 13, evil = cool...hell at 42 it still kinda does!). 

I went home and slit open the plastic and the white and red pentagram inner sleeve slid out with lyrics on the other side...hell one of the songs is called "Bastard"...goddamn cool!

I popped it on and to this day I will consider it one of those rare breed of perfect album.  Great from beginning to end with no filler (okay okay maybe SOMETIMES I'll skip "God Bless the Children of the Beast").  The opening "In The Beginning" futuristic spoken intro is just the COOLEST then right into the monster riff and booming drums of the title track.  Then "Looks" and the aforementioned "Bastard" and "Children".  The side ends with their cover of the Beatles "Helter Skelter."  Wait...this is the Beatles?!  At the time I lived mostly on a steady diet of Poughkeepsie's Home of Rock n Roll WPDH and I never thought the Beatles could sound like this...

I probably wanted to listen to it all again but had to see what side 2 would bring.  Holy Crap, it was even better!

Opening with "Red Hot," to this day my fave Crue tune - just driving and kick ass, then "Too Young" which I already loved.  "Knock Em Dead Kid" kills it next.  Then "10 Seconds to Love" which I probably turned down a little either so my parents wouldn't hear or because of their telling me to turn that crap off.  The album slows it down and ends with "Danger."

I'm 100% sure I flipped it over and put it back on following along with the lyric sheet, starting to memorize the words to sing along with the many times I would see them through the years.

Yeah, Motley Crue's second album "Shout At The Devil" was the key turn me on to metal vinyl of my youth.  I still have it and dammit I still think that offset black on black pentagram cover is cool as hell!

As extra proof of my love of the Crue, here's me meeting Ace Frehley at Record World wearing one bitchin' Red rayon Shout At The Devil jacket by Roadie.  Oh yeah, I KNOW I was badass...

The Who in Brooklyn 11/14/12 - Quadrowhothewha...?

First saw The Who on their second farewell tour during the opening run of four shows at Giants Stadium back in 1989.  It was fantastic...so good I bought tix for another night of that run.  Since then I've caught a show on most of their US tours (including one of their six nights on the second - after the original - Quadrophenia tour run at Madison Square Garden in 1996).  Without reviewing my ticket stubs, I believe last night(November 14, 2012)'s stop in Brooklyn was Who show number seven for me. 

Would my first visit to the newly opened Barclays Center be lucky number seven and continue the run of great shows?

Sadly the answer was no.

Hopped on the train in Poughkeepsie and met up with my buddy Kevin (the biggest Who fan I know).  Good ride down to Grand Central where we grabbed the #4 Subway to the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays stop.  From there you get off the train, jump on the escalator and you are at the Barclays entrance.  Gotta love this set up!

Barclays itself is quite nice.  Super friendly and helpful staff in abundance.  Lots of food choices if you're hungry (including Juniors Cheesecake - nice!).  Maybe I need to investigate more, but the beer selection was limited.  Standard Bud, Bud light, Coors and Heineken I believe.  Some beer carts have Brooklyn Lager.  Prices were typical.  Our seats were the last row on the left side - you can see the view from the pics.  Went with the cheapest seats - $53 including all charges...pretty cheap for an arena show. 

Overall the actual arena area was nothing special - but the ease of getting and leaving there and food choices if you're running late and want to eat make it quite nice, but enough about the venue...

We did run a little late and got in a couple of minutes after 8:00pm (showtime was 7:30pm) so we missed opening band Vintage Trouble who's set ended as we were getting to our section after stopping for a beer.

We settled in and at 8:30 on the dot the lights dimmed.  The beach/sea video used throughout the performance came up on the video screen and as the "I Am The Sea" was played on an otherwise unlit stage to audience cheers.

Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and company then kicked in to "The Real Me" and the audience was up on it's feet rocking, this was then followed by the instrumental song "Quadrophenia" and the trouble with the show began.

Throughout the song, which is something of a prelude with teases of the songs to follow, the audience started to sit.  Let me add that much of this review regarding the audience does not apply to those on the floor, most of whom did stand for the entire show.  I'm describing my section which was typical of most of the above floor sections of this near sold out show.

This song also gave a hint that it appeared much of this audience did NOT want to hear Quadrophenia in it's entirety, but mostly just wanted to hear "Love, Reign O'er Me", the closing track from the album.  This song is teased right at the end of the song "Quadrophenia" and garnered a large cheer and people jumping up, only to sit down 20 seconds later when they realized The Who were not actually playing the song at this time.

The next song, "Cut My Hair" lost the majority of the rest of the audience with everyone just sitting politely.  I thought "The Punk and The Godfather" would get them back as while not a "hit", this song gets substantial play on classic rock radio (or at least on WPDH - the local Poughkeepsie "Home of Rock n Roll"), but overall it was as if the excitement had been sucked out of the room.  There was decent applause between songs but no electricity at all in the room.

This continued for the first 10 (of 17) songs of Quadrophenia.

I think part of the problem is that Quadrophenia is not necessarily "singles" friendly, but I know when I saw the band perform it in 1996 it was stellar and the crowd loved it.  Was the band lacking?

I say somewhat here.  In '96 you not only had the band, but also had the special guests (Billy Idol, Gary Glitter) who's appearances here and there throughout did add another level of excitement and cheers that would have helped immensely here.  And let me repeat that...it was 1996...this is 16 years later...Pete is 67 and Roger is 68 and I'm sad to say this is the first time I've seen age (mostly in the case of Roger) having an effect on a Who show.

There was an oomph missing to many of the tracks.  It would come back here and there...for instance I thought "The Dirty Jobs" was very strong and it woke the audience up a little - but most of the audience didn't know it so they could only get so excited.

This was just the wrong tour for most of this audience to attend - other than Kevin, no one sitting around me knew any of the songs that don't get radio play.

Back to the age issue.  I don't think this was an issue for Pete.  Pete was very strong both on vocals and guitar, particularly in the second half of the show, and Roger can still sing - but some of the songs just seemed too much of a vocal work out which we'll get to in a bit.

I wonder if the issue with Roger was the main reason for doing a "Quadrophenia" tour as opposed to a Greatest Hits tour as Roger has nothing to do during much of this part of the show.  There are numerous 5 and sometimes almost 10 minute stretches where there are either no vocals or Pete (or Simon Townshend) is handling the vocal duties.

At an hour into the show, as The Who was performing "I've Had Enough", it was obvious that's how much of the audience felt.  Let me note that it didn't help that there was absolutely NO interacion with the audience at all, not even a "Hello Brooklyn" when they came out.  The Who would not acknowledge the audience until after Quadrophenia was complete.

I turned to Kevin as "I've Had Enough" was ending and said if anything will get them back into it, it would be the next song "5:15" with it's horns and plenty of airplay.  This song would prove to be a bit of a turning point in the show.

Much of the audience did recognize the song and were into it, but then it started going into an extended outro and John Entwistle appeared on the video screen playing along with the band which turned into him playing a video bass solo jamming live with Zak Starkey on drums.  I have to say it was very cool and the audience LOVED it and went nuts.  It was the first time in the show since the opening that everyone was fully engaged.

At this point in the show, Pete stepped up his game partly because more of the remaining songs allowed for him to play power chord guitar God.

A strong "Sea and Sand" followed into "Drowned" and the audience was definitely more into it, but were slipping.  Next up was "Bell Boy" were the video screen was another hit.

Roger sang the verses and then during the spoken parts, Keith Moon appeared on the video screen to perform with the live band on stage.  Like with the video of the Ox in "5:15", the audience loved it and went wild.

We were now getting towards the end of the the main Quadrophenia set with another tune that gets some good airplay, "Dr. Jimmy."  This also had the advantage of riding the Moon wave from "Bell Boy."  I have to say this was one of the biggest songs Daltrey had issues with all night - I literally thought he might pass out and not make it through the song - he looked in pain trying to keep up and get the vocals out (although it did sound okay).   "The Rock" was next and then the lights all went down and the big hit on the album, "Love Reign O'er Me," started.

This was another one Roger seemed to strain through to the point he took about a 1 second attempt at the final "LOOOVVVVVVVEEEEE" scream at the end and just gave it up - but the audience knew this one and as it closed out "Quadrophenia," they stood and cheered wildly.  Out of the previous 90 minutes (which is exactly how long this portion of the show lasted), it was what they came to see (along with the 40 minutes to follow).

After this many of the stage lights came up and the band FINALLY addressed the audience for about 5 to 10 minutes while introducing the band.

The band would not leave the stage at all, it was now into the "Other Hits" part of the show.

They kept all of the audience on their feet through "Who Are You" but then suprisingly everyone started sitting down again for "Behind Blue Eyes".  Both sounded fine, but that was the problem - I've seen them perform these and most of the remaining songs at every Who show I've ever attended and these did seem to have something missing.   They were good, but not great.

Pinball Wizard was next and to me the best song of this set.

Then it was the one two punch of "Baba O'Riley" into "Won't Get Fooled Again."  Everyone was up for these and they were again good versions and I'm guessing if I didn't have 6 other times seeing them to compare them to I would have liked them much more.  The audience loved screaming "It's only teenage wasteland" in Baba and I didn't hold much hope for Roger to do what I consider the best rock scream in any song ever at the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again",  but while he might have had some issues earlier in the show, he saved up and nailed that scream!

At this point the rest of the band left the stage, and as they've done of late, Roger and Pete end the show with "Tea & Theatre" which I think is a beautiful way to say goodnight.

So overall, I'm always glad to see The Who, but if this turns out to be their last tour, I wish they had not picked "Quadrophenia" and went with a career spanning show instead.  At the same time, I knew what I was buying a ticket for and was glad to buy it (and let me strees - I LOVE the album "Quadrophenia") - I just don't understand why so much of the rest of the audience reaction was so tame when you go in knowing this.  But again, out of the two hours and 10 minutes, about an hour was bonafide hits and that alone could be worth the price of admission.  Perhaps they were thinking, to steal from the Stones who I'll see again in a month, that this could be the last time for The Who.

So it was a show of maybe's for me...maybe if I was young and just discovered the Who and loved Quadrophenia in particular and never saw them before and this was my first show of theirs...maybe, I think probably, I would have loved this show (if I was in a more excited section especially or on the floor especially).  But of the seven times I've now seen The Who - it's the first time I left not loving it and thinking at times the band was going through the motions.

or maybe it was just a bad night.

Austin Delights - The Music and Movies edition

This will be a first in a series of blogs about my Austin trip.

So once Hurricane Sandy passed through the Northeast, we were allowed to return to New York with our all the cool stuff we bought in tow.  Here I'll discuss the various movie and music goodies we found.

The 2012 Austin Record Convention was going on the weekend we were visiting and I've always wanted to go.  We headed over around noon on Saturday and the initial thought upon walking in the door was overwhelming. 

I used to go to record cons all the time, but like many collectible related fields - the internet has killed off many of these shows and in many cases all that survive are some very small local shows and a few really big ones like this. 

I stayed about three hours and scored some cool finds.  Vinyl was definitely the main thrust of the show with I would say 75% of the available goods being vinyl records, maybe 20% CD's and the rest a mix of other related items (a few dealers selling bootleg videos and a small mix here and there of memorabilia.  I was definitely hoping for a few more tables of memorabilia - in particular old music magazines) but this was not the show for that...this is for serious vinyl fiends.

Considering I wasn't looking for any specific vinyl, I did a "quick" (an hour) run through the room to check out the non vinyl goods.  Magazine wise I just scored a couple of mags including this old issue of BAM from May 24, 1985 (with a great cover feature on Lone Justice.  I dig them, but love lead singer Maria McKee's solo stuff much more)

Magazines like this are my fave as they capture the local music scenes and contain tons of great old concert ads.  Check out May 11 on the ad below featuring an at the time little local band called Guns n' Roses playing out well before even their Live Like A Suicide EP was released.  Totally dig this type of music history. (and look.Poison, newly arrived from Pennsylvania played a gig a week later.  This issue features probably the first feature on Brett and the boys as well.)

I rarely buy bootlegs anymore (because you can basically get it all for free online), but did upgrade my copy of the out of print flick "Never Too Young To Die".  My copy was dubbed from a higher generation VHS with annoying French subtitles running across the bottom throughout.  This copy is basically pristine sound and picture so definitely worth the 10 bucks.  What's it about you ask?  Well John Stamos is a college student who has a mysterious James Bond-ish Dad who gets killed.  Luckily the suave Stamos is rooming with a nerdy geek who can MacGuyver up all kinds of cool spy gear.  Stamos goes to find what happens and runs into Evil Gene Simmons of Kiss who when not destroying families is a nightclub drag queen.  Yes...it IS as awesome as you're thinking.  Also picked up a VHS copy of Slumber Party Massacre II for 2 bucks.  Really, how can you pass that up?!

That was basically it for the first run through.  Now there were about 250 tables of over one million records to go through...yikes!

First let me say that while many dealers really sort and label and clearly price their items I was amazed at the amount of dealers who basically just seemed to bring boxes of records (and this applied to many of the CD dealers as well) that were almost completely unsorted.  I guess some people spend all weekend going through every record looking for a hidden gem, but I had no time or patience so I went around and narrowed my search at every dealer table.  First I would drool over their backdrop of super rare expensive Albums and Singles?  You want rare - we got rare.  Beatles butcher covers?  I saw at least a dozen.  Velvet Underground unpeeled first pressings - bountiful...Private Press Psych - just hand over some hundreds and they are yours.  Pantera's first album sealed - a mere $750 and it's yours...quote the dealer as I picked it up to look at the price "It's REALLY hard to find still sealed.").  It was cool to see these albums.  I was hoping to find a bargain vinyl copy of The Replacements "Let It Be", but the one copy I saw was a bit beat up and $95!  It's one of my fave albums (and album covers) but I can get one on ebay for $50 or so whenever I want.


After checking out the rare and expensive, I basically wanted records more for design for my apartment so I then looked for crates marked one of the following: Exotica, Bachelor Pad, Weird, Oddities, etc.  I scored some cool stuff indeed. 

Or at least I think it's cool...judge for yourself:

Tony Mottola joins the Guitar Underground - Love this supercool gatefold cover and will probably give this badboy a listen as well.  Great condition!

Music For Big Dame Hunters - I've always wanted this one with an AWESOME Pin-Up cover feturing Irish McCalla as sexy Sheena.  I've seen this album before for quite a bit of $$$, but this dealer had Just the sleeve for $7.50 which I considered a major score as I just want it as wall art.  It's currently framed and rockin in my living room.

For Men Only - With a classic Jayne Mansfield cover.  Something about this just spoke to me...well two things spoke...in stereo...how could I resist

Serenade for Sex Kittens - I kinda dig it, but not as much as the two above, we'll see if this makes it on the the wall 50's sexiness I appear to have going on.

Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts - On Campus.  For 5 bucks I couldn't pass up this album on Gross Records.  For Adults only.  I look forward to giving this a listen - anyone ever heard of them?

The Sinceros - The Sound of Sunbathing.  Some tasty New Wave.

and last but not least The Rudy Ray Moore Christmas Album!  Didn't even know this existed and there's no way I'm passing up Christmas with Dolemite! Gives new meaning to Ho Ho Ho!

So that was my trip to the record con.  Over the course of our stay we hit up a few other record/music stores but we were all so burnt out on flipping through racks that I mainly was just looking for cool stuff that pops out at me.  One such place was Waterloo Records where I got this cool clock.  Been looking for clock for my wall and this one works just fine.

 

Stopped at Wild About Music on 6th which is all shirts, jewelry, artwork etc related to music.  Some really cool stuff, but hit this joint up close to the last day in town and didn't have alot of money or room left in the suitcase, so I just scored one of their cool bags for 3 bucks.

Austin is really just amazing for the wealth of used record/CD/movie stores.  We hit up Friends of Sound while on South Congress plus there's a chain of stores called Half Price Books Records and Magazines.  We went to one of them and it had the coolest selection of oddball movies in the DVD section for cheap.  If I had time, I would have visited the 2 or 3 other ones in Austin as well, but here's a bit of what I scored there (Actually Scumrock I picked up at Waterloo - they have a great DVD selection as well)

I got a Jess Franco triple shot with the Vampire Lovers set and Virgin Report.  A few B-Movie Collections one of which is called Psychos with four flicks including "The Sadist" starring Arch Hall Jr.  I've always wanted to check out this 1963 cult classic.  I also picked up another movie that I've almost bought a ton of times and will surely make it's way into one of my monthly double feature movie nights - Troma's "Surf Nazis Must Die."  Yep, it's high brow all the way in my DVD collection!

Another cool thing I learned about Austin while on the hunt for other shops with stellar goods is that Austin has some amazing privately owned video rental stores!  We first saw an add for Vulcan Video in the South Congress neighborhood and went in and the shelves were lined with so many amazing flick and I then realized they were rental only!!  Oh man...unreal large cult classic sections, Museum size classic television sections and it just seemed at least half of the stuff was way out of print. 

Right next to the ad for this joint was an ad for a place called I Heart (luv) Video.  The ad said "Buying and Selling" and "100's of videos for sale."  I even pointed out to my sister and her boyfriend that they must have made an error in the ad...it only said hundreds of videos, they must mean thousands...my bad!

We drive over and see this amazing place:

Lolita!  Slackers! Metropolis! Pink Flamingos! Charlie Chaplin!  Oh man that's just one side of the building - this place is gonna be awesome!

We walk around to the front:

Yellow Submarine! Lucha Libre! Eraserhead!  "Rare and Unique Video for the Connoisseur!"

We walk inside..it's big, two floors, very cool and...90% rentals!!! ARGH!!! DAMN YOU AUSTIN AND YOUR ALTERNATIVES TO BLOCKBUSTER!!!"  So the "100's of movies for sale" was true...just a couple of hundred (and nothing I wanted) mixed with many thousands I could only rent.

Next time I come to Austin I might hold a Double Feature night in my hotel room!

And we'll stop here...This covers the stores we hit up for movies and music...but to come we have the nightlife, the shops, the food and as they like to proclaim...The Weird

By the way...If you're going to Austin and dug this review...check out my friend Melissa's Blog from her trip there a few years ago...you'll surely notice I took some of her advice on some of my stops...I hope my blogs add to your guide:
http://atariflashback.blogspot.com/2009/02/theres-saying-in-austin-texas-that-goes.html

Concert Review: Manitoba - The Bowery Electric, NYC January 26, 2012

     Handsome Dick Manitoba is back with a great new band made up of old friends and bandmates including Daniel Rey (guitar) and J.P. Patterson (drums) from Manitoba's Wild Kingdom along with Dean Rispler (bass). The band is rounded out by Ross The Boss also from MWK and the Dictators (not to mention Manowar - saw quite a few Manowar fans in attendance and numerous signs of the hammer being thrown in the air throughout the night.)

     This was my first time at The Bowery Electric, a multilevel club/bar a block away from where CBGB once was, which is co-owned by Jesse Malin whose birthday just happened to be this night. It must be nice to be able to throw a party like this to celebrate!

     My buddy and I took the train down from Poughkeepsie and cabbed it to the club getting there about 8:45 or so. We walked in and were directed down the stairs through the velvet curtains into a great tiny space to see a show! There's a small low stage with maybe 20' x 25' feet in front of it, then you can walk up about 5 steps to a long narrow bar space (with an additional small extra bar room with a mini bar at the back.)

     Not many folks there when we arrived - maybe 40 tops, but seeing how small it was we knew this joint was gonna be packed for the second gig ever by Manitoba! Two more friends arrived, we drank, chatted, watched the three openers and at 11:30 on the dot, the lights went down and the theme song from "Chariots of Fire" played as the band came on stage - very epic indeed!

     As expected the place was PACKED.  I saw a sign on the wall saying occupancy was limited to 108, but I think it had to be closer to 200. The show had sold out a few days prior, but I'm sure those in attendance did did not just include all the folks who scored a tic, but also those lucky enough to know someone who could get them on the guestlist.

     The "Chariots" theme ended and the band blasted into "The Party Starts Now!!" by Manitoba's Wild Kingdom. As stated above, this was the band's second show ever (the first being part of the "Light Of Day" Festival about two weeks earlier) but they sounded like they'd been playing together for years...and well, in essence they have been in various combinations.

     "Party..." was followed up by a Dictators triple shot with "The Next Big Thing", "Avenue A" and Baby, Let's Twist". Just about every song in the set with preceeded with an energetic and always humorous tale from HDM. The setlist that followed was:

Haricut and Attitude (Manitoba's Wild Kingdom)
Pussy and Money (The Dictators) - This is absolutely one of my faves and was glad they played it!
Who Will Save Rock n Roll (The Dictators)
Prototype (Manitoba's Wild Kingdom) - This was so friggin rockin! Awesome!
Slow Death - The Flamin' Groovies cover that was done by the Dictators
Faster and Louder (The Dictators)
New York New York (Manitoba's Wild Kingdom)
Stay With Me (The Dictators).

     "Stay With Me" was a great end to the main set which lasted about an hour.  We knew there had to be at least a little more to come when the band left the stage. Amongst cheers they came back about 5 minutes later starting off the encore set with the obvious choice of "Two Tub Man" which included an extended band introduction in the middle.

     "Tub" was followed by a great suprise for the crowd that wasn't even noted on the setlist (I nabbed Dean's setlist after the show as shown below). HDM introduced the club's proprietor and Birthday boy Jesse Malin who joined the band for the last two numbers.

     The first of these was a KILLER version of The Stooges "Loose!" Jesse basically took main vocals on this while HDM rocked out and did some back up. The night was ended with the punk tinged surf rock of another cover the Dictators did - "California Sun" which featured HDM and Jesse trading off verses. Then it was a done and I was off to catch the last train home to Poughkeepsie. Great show and hopefully we'll be seeing Manitoba playing out often.