The Shining Set To Music

Who is Pogo, you may ask?

Pogo (Nick Bertke) is a music producer and remix artist based in Perth, Western Australia. His music has garnered over 110 million plays on YouTube and integration with many major studios and agencies around the world. Pogo also takes his work on the road having performed at the Guggenheim Museum, The Highline Ballroom and in most major cities across North America.

Watchoo Bastards A-Readin’?

I’m in the process of finishing up Vonnegut’s Slapstick, a book I picked up for $1.99 (Cheap!) on Amazon. I bought it five years ago but only recently got around to reading the damn thing. I like it, but I don’t love it. It’s the novel that gave us a quote you’ve probably seen here and there online: “Why don’t you take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut? Why don’t you take a flying fuck at the mooooooooooooon?” (I really should start working that line into conversation.)

Next up, I may circle back to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or that Bowie bio I started a year ago.

I Want You … To Want ME

Great song from a juggernaut of a band.

“I Want You to Want Me” is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick from their second album In Color, released in September 1977. It was the first single released from that album, but it did not chart in the United States.

“I Want You to Want Me” was a number-one single in Japan. Its success in Japan, as well as the success of its preceding single “Clock Strikes Ten” paved the way for Cheap Trick’s concerts at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo in April 1978 that were recorded for the group’s most popular album, Cheap Trick at Budokan. A live version of “I Want You to Want Me” from the album Cheap Trick at Budokan was released in 1979 and became their biggest selling single, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing sales of one million records. In Canada, it reached #2 in on the RPM national singles chart, remaining there for two weeks and was certified Gold for the sale of 5,000 singles in September 1979. It was also the band’s highest charting single in Britain, where it reached #29.

Norm Macdonald Has A Show

Not sure where you bastards stand on Norm Macdonald, I think he’s hilarious. Also a fantastic writer; his 2016 book, Based on a True Story: Not a Memoir, is excellent. And now he’s got a new show coming to Netflix on September 14th called Norm Macdonald Has a Show.

In anticipation, here’s a recent New York Times profile that’s worth a look. See what you think …

Midway through his third orange Fanta, in the course of explaining why he doesn’t talk to strangers anymore, Norm Macdonald told the story of one of his stalkers. We were at the Panini Kabob Grill, an aggressively normal eatery in a planned community of shops and condos not far from his home on the Westside of Los Angeles. It was April, sunny but mild. The night before, Macdonald taped an episode of his new Netflix talk show, and he still had makeup in the crevices around his nostrils when he arrived for brunch. We were sitting with Lori Jo Hoekstra — Macdonald’s producing partner for the last 20 years — and a representative from Netflix. The tables were heavily lacquered, the menus were laminated and there were a few discreetly placed TVs. It was the kind of place where Macdonald was both …

You can read the rest here.

It’s Just Not Labor Day Weekend Without Jerry

So here’s some highlights from the 1976 MDA Telethon, including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Buddy Rich.

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Nasty

Season 2, episode 3 of The Young Ones, featuring Terry Jones as the drunk vicar and musical guest The Damned. (Original air date May 29, 1984.) For all of MTV’s evils, it did introduce the US to this crazy, offbeat British sitcom. I loved it immediately, and watching it now, I feel like it’s aged pretty well. Alexei Sayle was absolutely the show’s secret weapon.

If I had to pick, “Nasty” is my favorite episode. A horror movie theme and a punk band?

Fuhgeddaboudit.

Lady In The Front Row

Bumbershoot Music Lounge, September 2nd, 2013.

Song List:
Lady In The Front Row
Stay Away From Downtown
Switchblade Sister
Uglier
Jimmy’s Fantasy
Pretty Please Me
Annie’s Gone
Linda Blair
Crazy World