Category: From The Vault

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Help! Magazine

Holy shit, more pop culture dots connected. Before I forget, a few full issues of Help! are available online.

Help! is an American satire magazine that was published by James Warren from 1960 to 1965. It was Harvey Kurtzman’s longest-running magazine project after leaving Mad and EC Publications, and during its five years of operation it was chronically underfunded, yet innovative.

In starting Help!, Kurtzman brought along several artists from his Mad collaborations, including Will Elder, Jack Davis, John Severin and Al Jaffee.

Kurtzman’s assistants included Charles Alverson, Terry Gilliam and Gloria Steinem; the latter was helpful in gathering the celebrity comedians who appeared on the covers and the fumetti strips the magazine ran along with more traditional comics and text pieces. Among the then little-known performers in the fumetti were John Cleese, Woody Allen and Milt Kamen; better-known performers such as Orson Bean were also known to participate. Some of the fumetti were scripted by Bernard Shir-Cliff.

At Help!, Gilliam met Cleese for the first time, resulting in their collaboration years later on Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Cleese appeared in a Gilliam fumetto written by David Crossley, “Christopher’s Punctured Romance”. The tale concerns a man who is shocked to learn that his daughter’s new “Barbee” doll has “titties”; however, he falls in love with the doll and has an affair. Gilliam appeared on two covers of Help! and along with the rest of the creative team, appeared in crowd scenes in several fumetti.

The magazine introduced young talents who went on to influential careers in underground comix as well as the mainstream: among them Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton and Jay Lynch. Algis Budrys and other science fiction writers were regular contributors of prose and scripts to the magazine.

A total of 26 issues were printed before the magazine folded in 1965. Volume one (Aug. 1960–Sept. 1961) had 12 issues, and 14 issues comprised the second volume (Feb. 1962–Sept. 1965).

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Hey Ladies

Because I want the new Beastie Boys memoir.

Hey ladies in the place, I’m callin’ out to ya
There never was a city kid truer and bluer
There’s more to me than you’ll ever know
And I’ve got more hits than Sadaharu Oh
Tom Thumb, Tom Cushman or Tom Foolery
I date women on T.V. with the help of Chuck Woolery
Words are flowing out just like the Grand Canyon
And I’m always out looking for a female companion
I threw the lasso around the tallest one and dragged her to the crib
I took off her moccasins and put on my bib
Wheelin’ and dealin’ I make a little bit of a stealing
I’ll bring her back to the place and your dress I’m peeling
Your body’s on time and your mind is appealing
Staring at the cracks up there up on the ceiling
Such and such’ll be the bass that I’m throwing
I’m talking to the girl telling her I’m all-knowing
She’s talking to the kid (who?) to the kid, to the kid
I’m telling her every lie that you know that I never did
Hey ladies, get funky
All the ladies in the house
The ladies, the ladies
Well, me in the corner with a good looking daughter
I dropped my drawers, said welcome back Kotter
We was cutting up the rug, she started cutting up the carpet
In my apartment, I begged her, please stop it
The gift of gab is the gift that I have
And that girl ain’t nothing but a crab
Educated no, stupid yep
And when I say stupid, I mean stupid fresh
I’m not James at fifteen or Chachi in charge
I’m Adam and I’m adamant about living large
With the white Sassoons and the looks that kill
Makin’ love in the back of my Coupe De Ville
I met a little cutie she was all hopped up on zootie
I liked the little cutie but I kicked her in the bootie
‘Cause I don’t kinda go for that messin’ around
You be listening to my records’ A number one sound
Just step to the rhythm, step, step to the ride
I’ve got an open mind so why don’t you all get inside?
Tune in, turn on to my tune that’s live
Ladies flock like bees to a hive
Hey ladies, get funky
(Girls, girls)
Ain’t it funky now?
(Ain’t it funky now?) well, you know that
She got a gold tooth you know she’s hardcore
She’ll show you a good time then she’ll show you the door
Break up with your girl it ended in tears
Vincent Van Gogh go and mail that ear
Call her in the middle of the night when I’m drinking
The phone booth on the corner is damp and it’s stinking
Said come on over it was me that she missed
I threw that trash can through her window ’cause you know I got dissed
Your old lady left you and you went insane
You blew yourself up in the back of the six train
Take my advice at any price a gorilla like your mother is mighty weak
Sucking down pints until I didn’t know
Woke up in the morning with a one-ton ho
‘Cause I announce I like girls that bounce
With the weight that pays about a pound per ounce
Girls with curls and big long locks
And beatnik chicks just wearing their smocks
Walking high and mighty like she’s number one
(She thinks she’s the passionate one)
Hey ladies, get funky
Good god
(I like that polyester look)
Dance
Good god
Baby, baby, baby, baby
(Hey you know, I ‘d really love to do your hair sometime)
Ain’t it funky brother?
Hey, hey, hey, hey ladies
Hey ladies

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Original “Eye of the Beholder” Prosthetic Up For Auction

Lot 208 of 401, with a starting bid of $5,000.00. It’s expected to go for as much as $15,000.00!

From the auction site …

A male nurse ‘Pig Face’ makeup appliance from Rod Serling’s essential anthology series The Twilight Zone. This foam latex makeup appliance is painted in a light flesh tone with pink lips and large nostrils, and has been professionally conserved by LACMA object conservator Irena Calinescu and pin-mounted to an oval museum board. The appliance was made by prolific Hollywood makeup artist William Tuttle, who previously worked on H.G. Welles’ The Time Machine. It was acquired from science fiction writer and memorabilia collector Forrest J. Ackerman. This appliance has been meticulously cared for and stored in a light, climate and humidity controlled fine art warehouse. As a result, though the appliance is delicate and the foam is now brittle with age, the shape, color and appearance remain intact, and it is in good vintage condition overall.

In the episode ‘The Eye of the Beholder’ (206), the appliance is worn during the trademark twist ending, when the medical staff is repulsed by their patient’s ‘horrific’ beautiful appearance, one of the seminal moments in television history.

There’s actually TONS of cool shit in this auction. Check it out here.

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I’m Busy, Watch This

https://youtu.be/PjBO6bzVM4o

In 1998, a little known company named Valve released a first-person shooter named Half-Life and changed the face of gaming. Where other shooters struggled to provide even a semblance of a story, Half-Life had brains to match its brawns; a stirring tale featuring a realistic human cast and a protagonist that was more than a hand and a gun unfolded before the player’s eyes as they progressed through each level.

As Valve grew, so too did Half-Life’s reputation, with Half-Life 2 in 2004 once again revolutionizing the genre, and its episodic expansions, Half-life 2: Episode One and Episode Two, further raising the bar. The series didn’t release consistently, and occasionally suffered unexpected and painful setbacks; but when it did, it seemed as if Valve could do no wrong – until the series suddenly stopped. Shifting priorities, a lack of motivation, and other, more nebulous factors would lead Valve to put Half-Life on ice in the middle of its prime, leaving a generation of gamers adrift, and an opus unfinished.

And yet – Half-Life lives on. Be it in the innumerable games and series it inspired or provided the computative bedrock for, an undying stream of mods, or other media based on the franchise, Half-Life’s DNA is permanently embedded in the fabric of the video game industry, and will likely remain so for some time. As sad as it is that a Half-Life 2: Episode 3 or a Half-Life 3 will likely never happen, and as frustrating as it is that Valve remains belligerent as to precisely why, the series, for the most part, has only really fallen… out of Valve’s hands.

This is the rise and fall of Half-Life.

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Please Kill Me Radio Documentary

And if you haven’t read the book, we can’t be friends anymore.

Please Kill Me: Voices from the Archives
Two one-hour documentaries that explore an America that birthed the new order of today.

20 years ago journalists and music historians Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil recorded interviews with the icons of Punk for their New York Times best-selling book “Please Kill Me – The Uncensored History of Punk.” Now, these rare, candid interviews have been meticulously restored for Public Radio and compiled to create an oral history of the Punk movement in Please Kill Me – Voices From the Archives.

The stories of these bands are more than music, they’re the cultural evolution of America:
the end of the 60s
the ferment of the 70s
Watergate to the Women’s Movement.

Part One -The Pioneers of Punk
How the Warhol 60’s morphed into the Punk 70’s, marginalized inhabitants of a near-bankrupt New York City, changed 20th century culture, and influenced the World.

Part Two – The Punk Invasion
The music of the Velvet Underground, Iggy and the Stooges,The New York Dolls, and others were meeting fierce resistance in the US. With no other options open to them, during the July 4rth weekend of 1976, as America was celebrating it’s bicentennial, the Ramones went to London and launched punk rock. In England, punk would explode and become a cultural force to be reckoned with.

Features exclusive, never-before-heard interviews with Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, the Ramones and many more.

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Fear

I was reminded of these guys at band practice the other night. LOVED this record in high school, in a way that kids tend to love stuff they know will piss off their parents. Listening to it again 30 years later, I think it holds up. I’m particularly impressed with Lee Ving’s vocals. (Hilarious lyrics and a tight band who can really play don’t hurt, either.)

As is my want, I did a little research. Turns out, Ving (real name Lee Capallero) is a bit of a journeyman musician. Before Fear, he sang in a Philadelphia blues band called Sweet Stavin Chain, who shared stages with B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Cream. Most recently, he plays in an outlaw country band called Range War. He’s an actor too, typically cast as degenerates and lowlifes. He was Mr. Boddy in the 1985 film, Clue.

There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many

Let’s have a war
So you can go and die
Let’s have a war
We could all use the money
Let’s have a war
We need the space
Let’s have a war
Clean out this place

It already started in the city
Suburbia will be just as easy

There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many

Let’s have a war
Jack up the Dow Jones
Let’s have a war
It can start in New Jersey
Let’s have a war
Blame it on the middle class
Let’s have a war
We’re like rats in our cage

It already started in the city
Suburbia will be just as easy

There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many

Let’s have a war
Sell the rights to the network
Let’s have a war
Till our wallets get fat like last time
Let’s have a war
Give guns to the queers
Let’s have a war
The enemy’s within

It already started in the city
Suburbia will be just as easy

There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many

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Jac Mac And Rad Boy Go!

Any of you bastards remember this from Night Flight?

Interestingly, Wes Archer was one of the original three animators (along with David Silverman and Bill Kopp) on The Simpsons, Tracey Ullman shorts, and subsequently directed a number of The Simpsons episodes. He’s also directed episodes of King of the Hill, Futurama, The Goode Family, Bob’s Burgers, Allen Gregory, Rick & Morty, and Disenchantment.

There’s a great article about Archer and his cult classic (which my place of business chooses to block, because of course it does) right over here.