Category: From The Vault

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Forgotten Music From The Eighties

Tony Carey as Planet P. I haven’t heard this song in probably 30 years. Wiki-wiki-wikipedia says …

Following the release of I Won’t Be Home Tonight, Carey was signed to Geffen Records for his third solo album (later to be released as Some Tough City), but he had a great deal of music written that didn’t fit the style of that album. He was able to sign a second record deal with Geffen to record and release that material under the Planet P Project pseudonym, which he would use throughout his career for his more progressive and experimental music. He released his first album under the name Planet P Project in 1983, called Planet P Project (originally titled Planet P), which peaked at #42 on the Billboard 200. On the week ending March 19, 1983, both Planet P Project and Carey’s earlier album I Won’t Be Home Tonight were climbing Billboard’s Rock Albums chart simultaneously, with Planet P Project then at #30 and I Won’t Be Home Tonight reaching its peak at #8. (The following week Planet P Project had made it up to #15, though I Won’t Be Home Tonight had slipped to the #10 position). Planet P Project received modest reviews, despite being listed for two weeks by Billboard as a Top Add. The album, however, contained the more highly acclaimed song “Why Me”, which was released as Planet P Project’s first popular single, reaching #64 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #4 in the magazine’s Top Rock Tracks chart.

Turns out, this guy was in Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio!

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The Jim Jarmusch Zombie Film You’ve Been Waiting For

Yes, please.

THE DEAD DON’T DIE – the greatest zombie cast ever disassembled starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Sara Driver, RZA, Selena Gomez, Carol Kane, Austin Butler, Luka Sabbat and Tom Waits. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. In Theaters June 14th.

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Looking For Stiv

Goddamn, I’m a sucker for these things.

In his second punk documentary, filmmaker Danny “Looking for Johnny” Garcia takes a deep dive into the life and legacy of the Dead Boys front man. Included in STIV is some rare footage and lore about Stiv’s surprising career before and after the Dead Boys, as well as the hilarious stories and hijinks one associates with the punk legend who died at age 40 in 1990.

Interview with the director right over here.

And here’s a panel interview from the world premiere a few days ago.

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Vintage Star Wars Toy Auction … What

Check it out, you magnificent bastards!

A massive treasure trove of vintage Star Wars and pop culture toys and collectible ephemera are going on auction at the end of this month, and the folks at Prop Store bring a few of the rarities to our studio. We learn about prototype mockups, international figures, and even retail display pieces that would be the prize pieces for toy collectors.

All those toys you lost or destroyed that are now worth thousands of dollars? Look for ’em here.

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Welcome To The Basement

Anybody ever heard of it? These guys are goofy fun (and bad teeth) personified. This episode features one of my all-time favorite cult classics: Phantom of the Paradise. Make that my all-time favorite cult classic. I have to watch it at least once a year, much to my wife’s disgust. And don’t even get me started on the soundtrack. Pure GOLD.

“Welcome To The Basement” is a show about watching, discussing and having fun with movies. Matt choses the movie and Craig doesn’t know what it is until the cameras start rolling, so none of the discussion or riffing is planned ahead of time.

A cinematic odyssey through the rock universe?

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Fuck Me, Don’t Tell A Soul Is 30

Released February 1, 1989. This makes me feel older than turning 50. To put it in perspective, this post is the equivalent of the 20-year-old me in 1989 talking about an album that came out in 1959.

Wiki-wiki-wikipedia says …

Don’t Tell a Soul marked the debut of Bob “Slim” Dunlap, who replaced founding guitarist Bob Stinson. The album was recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles and produced by Matt Wallace and the band. It was mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, who decided to give the record “a three-dimensional, radio-ready sound”. However, singer and guitarist Paul Westerberg was not satisfied with the new direction, commenting: “I thought the little things I’d cut in my basement were closer to what I wanted.”

To celebrate, let’s all take a moment and watch one of my favorite rock ‘n’ roll moments.

As explained by a lesser blog …

Before the show, they were told they needed to change the line, “We’re feeling good from the pills we took.” Well, fittingly, Westerberg did no such thing, and the censors were obviously ready for it, as the tape goes silent during that section of the song. What the censors at ABC didn’t anticipate was this: Near the conclusion of “Talent Show” the lyrics address the time when the band hits the stage and there’s no retreating: “It’s too late to turn back, here we go” is repeated twice on the album version, but here Westerberg has changed the line to “It’s too late to take pills, here we go”—ha! The censors missed it and they’ve pissed everyone off again! To add insult, the line is sung three times.

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That Missing Persons EP

Guilty Pleasure Time!

There’s a special place in my heart for the first self-released Missing Persons EP. Although technically, it’s the 1982 re-release I love, the one that replaced the original EP’s “Hello, I Love You” with “I Like Boys.” At this stage in my life, I don’t know if it’s an entirely accurate memory, but it seems like we spent a lot of time blasting this in a friend’s car one summer.

Anyway, as we’re living in the Digital Age, I now present to you the videos for the songs from that glorious EP.

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The Muck Monster

When I was a kid, my mom would take me grocery shopping. I would practically run to the magazine stand and then she’d collect me after check out. What she still doesn’t know is that I read TONS of inappropriate shit, from Creepy to Creem and whatever else you can think of. On one of those trips, I came across this story. Me being me, it had a profound effect. Unfortunately, I could never track down a copy as an adult, not knowing the artist, story name, or publication. Occasionally, I would ask other horror fans about it, but no one ever knew what I was talking about.

Of course, after I gave up looking, I accidentally found it online. According to some comic historian with a blog, “The Muck Monster” was originally published in the September 1975 issue of Eerie (#68) as a color insert. Comix International then reprinted it in October 1975, and then, a few years later in November 1979, it was reprinted in black & white for issue 113 of Creepy. (Which is when I must have initially read it.)

So here it is, pretty much as I remembered it. I uploaded the color version because it’s higher resolution, but the black & white version is much more impactful. I should have guessed Berni Wrightson was the artist and writer.