Fathom Events TCM Big Screen Classics Series 2023 Schedule

January 22 and 25 Roman Holiday 70th Anniversary February 2 and 5 Groundhog Day 30th Anniversary March 5 and 8 Casablanca April 16 and 20 The Big Lebowski 25th Anniversary May 14 and 17 Grease 45th Anniversary June 11 and 14 Hairspray 35th Anniversary July 16 and 19 National Lampoon's Vacation 40th Anniversary August 13 and 17 Enter The Dragon 50th Anniversary September 17 and 20 Rain Man 35th Anniversary October 22 and 25 The Birds 60th Anniversary November 12 and 15 Scarface 40th Anniversary December 10 and 13 A Christmas Story 40th Anniversary

That's Not Saint Nicholas

Next up on my Second Doctor adventures is the Short Trip "The Feast" by Stewart Sheargold.

The Doctor, Polly, and Ben arrive in London during the reign of Oliver Cromwell. They head to a tavern called The White Rabbit in search of a drink and some Christmas cheer. Unfortunately, Cromwell has outlawed the celebration of Christmas.

Some Yule loving folks have taken matters into their own hands and seek to bring back the celebration of the Christmas. But the holiday spirit they summoned wasn't Saint Nick...

A fun little tale with the TARDIS crew portrayed well. It's like a typical Doctor Who story where the crew lands and get into trouble quickly but it's resolved quite quickly.

Dancin' by the Nile, the ladies love his style

The final short story from the 1968 annual.

The Tardis lands in what the Doctor suspects is the tomb of Tutankhamun. Ben and Polly are keen on grabbing all of the gold and treasure they can before scarpering back to the ship and enjoying the fruits of their thievery. The Doctor is appalled.

Real tomb robbers start to break in (Ben uses the slur "Gyppos" which was new to me.) but are repelled when Ben dons King Tut's mask and menaces the intruders.

Oddly enough, the Doctor has a flashlight and not a torch here.

Meh.

********

As I noted above, this is the final tale from the annual of 1968. "When Starlight Grows Cold" was the best of the bunch as it was a bit spooky and had a very neat concept. Otherwise the stories were meant for much younger folks than me.

I did, however, really like the illustrations. Not so much their style, as they were rather generic, but the whole idea of including them. I wish Doctor Who novels had had some. Outside of the book covers and the Virgin New Adventure preludes, there were no illustrations. Too bad as they can be fun.

Commander But No Master

The Tardis lands aboard the H.M.S. Victory right in the middle of the Battle of Trafalgar. Being a sailor, Ben is psyched to not only be on a sailing ship again, but also to be given the chance to meet Lord Nelson.

The Doctor decides, contra "The Aztecs", to try and alter history by having Ben kill Lord Nelson's assassin.

You know, Polly, history is filled with moments when affairs hung in the balance. The slightest alteration in what actually did happen to what might have happened, could alter the whole of history. I'm going to try and alter history, Polly.

Well, Lord Nelson dies anyway because Ben cannot operate a musket. The Doctor just shrugs off his failed attempt to subvert the worshipful and ancient laws of Gallifrey. At least he gave it the old college try.

I had a feeling all through that it couldn't be that easy. But...well...one has to try, hasn't one?

No wonder the Time Lords got fed up in "The War Games".

The Day the Light Went Out

The Tardis crew land in what appears to be the middle of a Turners routine with a clutch of men with well-toned muscles flying around. When our heroes admit to not being observers sent by the Ancients, one of the muscle-bound gentlemen takes them to these mysterious elders.

It turns out the planet has 3 suns and thusly perpetual daylight...except when there's an eclipse every few hundred years that plunges the planet into darkness and causes the inhabitants to turn into extras from The Purge.

The Doctor is given the knowledge of the Ancients in the hope that someday someone will teach the people that going apeshit during these eclipses is not the brightest idea. And so our heroes beat a retreat and helplessly look on "as a wonderful civilization died before their eyes". The Doctor, however, vows to return and teach them the ways of not being hysterical.

Short and with a depressing ending. It reminded me of a Genesis song.

Unquiet Slumbers for the Giant, Hirsute Sleepers

The Tardis is parked in a vast stretch of interstellar space where the nearest celestial body is millions and millions of light years away. If you think some podunk town up north like Odanah is a real Nowhereville, well, this spot has got it beat by orders of magnitude.

Never having been in such a spot, the Doctor wants to investigate in-person with a little extravehicular action. He and Ben suit up - funny how their hands seem to remain exposed in one illustration - and head outside.

In the Tardis control room, Polly keeps an eye on things and notices that the ship has begun to move slightly and that the biological probe has started showing signs of life. She radios her companions a la Lambert in Alien, though not hysterically. "Doctor, Doctor, the Tardis is moving!" And that biological probe? "Almost into the red band."

Ben sees it first - a giant, silvery, erector set thingy. He and the Doctor go inside and discover 12 gargantuan, hairy creatures slumbering away. Polly, sensing danger, flies the Tardis inside and rescues the Doctor and Ben.

The Doctor had been thoroughly entranced by the aliens and wanted to know more. And so he was royally pissed off that his research time had been cut short. He calls Polly a "crazy young idiot" when he should have been marveling at her ability to fly his ship better than he can.

The story ends with the Doctor having calmed down and asking Polly to show him how she flew the Tardis with such precision.

This is a creepy little story with a good premise that deserved to be fleshed out. Best story from the annual so far. Go Polly!

To Serve the Doctor and His Companions

I got some "Twin Dilemma" Sixth Doctor vibes early on as Ben and the Doctor bicker. I mean, just look at him in the opening illustration. The Doctor looks pissed off.

A sarcastic remark from his companion leads the Doctor to admonish:

"One day you'll goad me too far, young man," he said severely. "There'll come a time when, maybe, I'll have had enough of your youthful cynicism and I'll abandon you in the some world filled with loathsome monsters."

Polly even gets in on the action when she tells the Doctor to shut up so we've got the dysfunctional family thing going on here.

This is a decent enough story with some aliens that appear as Greek gods with a benevolent streak a mile wide but who have other, more sinister, designs. Some of the hosts are on the portly side and this is because they eat their guests!

GAH!

A well-trodden premise, perhaps, but there are some neat bits such as how Polly perceives the aliens' speech as music. And it's funny how the Doctor's recorder playing almost makes their guests' ears bleed as they perceive it to be nails on a blackboard.

A fine little story but the author should have eased off on the whole Tardis crew antagonism.

The Doctor thinks that life has nothing left to chance

This.

This was a strange one.

As the story begins, the Tardis, described as "the most complex and marvellous conveyance ever constructed by mankind" - is amidst an invasion fleet from the star Arcturus(?!) or a planet in its orbit. The Doctor has turned off all electric and electronic devices aboard his ship and the Tardis is sitting quietly like a movie submarine where the captain turns everything but the red lights off so as to avoid detection (and depth charges).

The Doctor comes across more as William Hartnell than Patrick Troughton here. He calls Ben and Polly "my child" and "dear children" instead of using their names. Plus, he gets really testy at one point and tells Ben, "Oh, shut up, my boy!"

And then there's his spiel about Destiny wherein he gives the revelation, "Now I know that every movement, every curve and every sweep is inexorably controlled by some previous set of circumstances. Destiny governs all, my children."

The fleet is heading towards Earth so our heroes take action. They discover that it's not an invasion fleet but rather one of refugees that are unarmed and complete pacifists. Realizing they'd get murdalized by the not always so peaceful denizens of Earth, the Doctor helps them divert course to a more friendly destination.

I liked the misdirection but the characterization of the Doctor was just bad.

Do they have the right?

A Doctor solo adventure here.

He lands on a stormy planet and is greeted by a couple of imposing figures. They're escorts that have mistaken him for a representative of the Raymah. They're expecting this messenger to give official permission for genocide to be carried out against the beastly Tryod.

A rather sober story, especially after the comic. But the Doctor is compassionate and good prevails.

Blondes Have Less Fun Here

 

What a weird little comic story.

The TARDIS crew land on a planet where fair-haired people are slaves and those who have black hair are the masters. In order to overcome their servitude, the blondes must undergo the titular labors. One of them is to swim crocodile infested waters. The Doctor flexes his explosive chops with some dynamite that knocks out the crocs.

The comic is not fully colored but a couple parts of the story have some blue fill while the rest features light purple. I was reminded of The Phantom Carriage.

Short and, well, it's a weird little story.

Dreams Turn to Nightmares

This story begins with the Doctor, Polly, and Ben having lost their memories and trapped in a dystopian situation where they spend their days turning the wheels and pulling the levers of some kind of machine and then allowed to dream at night once their shifts are over.

Our heroes are enlisted by some rebellious Doradans seeking freedom from their overlords who are brains in tanks with some vestigial tentacles. One of the rebels has his brain burst before the Doctor and his companions are convinced to kill the Brain Masters by cutting off their oxygen supply.

I liked how the story begins in media res and the vaguely Phildickian nature of our heroes' predicament.

Dr. Who in "The Sour Note"

 

In addition to having read my first Telos novella, I have also dug into a Doctor Who Annual for the first time - the 1968 edition. My initial foray began with "The Sour Note".

It's a very short tale that opens with Ben wanting to get out and get some exercise as he feels that his existence in the TARDIS (referred to as "Tardis") has become cramped and confining. They land on a planet and off Ben goes for a run.

The Doctor ("Dr. Who" here") and Polly explore the new planet and encounter some locals. A little Pied Piper action helps save the day.

Slight and written for people much younger than me. But it has a nice moment towards the end with Ben that would have gone well on TV with a wah wah wah sound.

New, New Moonbeam Blues

Telos Publishing released a series of Doctor Who novellas starting in 2001 and continued until 2004. This was my first Telos novella and I had no idea what to expect going in. I am very ambivalent about the Doctor Who short stories as I prefer letting adventures take their time. Still, a good tale can be had in fewer pages.

I figured 90-odd pages would be more a meal than a snack but what kind of stories did Telos want? Was the remit for authors to keep to conventions or were they free to do their own thing?

The basic story here revolves around a hippie chick, well, a young woman who became a hippie and adopted the name Summer. She is in the Haight-Ashbury area seeking out her boyfriend, Denny, and encounters the TARDIS crew of the Doctor, Ben, and Polly.  At one point, a boy appears to them and he pulls a Cyberman head out of a bag. This starts a short series of weird events that indicates that someone or something is trying to communicate with the Doctor.

Meanwhile, Summer's attempts to track down her old man reveal that there's a nasty drug out there called Blue Moonbeams that is rumored to make those who take it disappear. As in literally blink out of existence.

The story is told from Summer's point of view and author Mark Chadbourn takes an interesting tack here as there are several times she bitterly complains that the Doctor is indifferent to her situation. Normally our hero is a real Johnny-on-the-spot but he seems lost in his own world for most of the story. While he offers Ben and Polly to assist Summer, he is usually off pursuing the answer to his own mystery.

Of course, Denny's disappearance, the Blue Moonbeams, and the strange appearance of figures from the Doctor's past (Menoptera!) are all related and, in classic Doctor Who style, everything is revealed at the end and the Doctor makes everything alright.

What I didn't expect were the asides that pepper the story from an older, more cynical Summer. At the beginning, she is young and full of hope. She thinks the communal vibe of Haight-Ashbury can spread and affect real, systemic change in American society. All you need is love, right? But in these reminisces of the more mature Summer, she has her Oliver Stone moment of looking back at the JFK assassination as being the start of the ascendancy of the Deep State. Paranoid and gone into hiding, Summer muses about the futility of her youthful optimism and admits that They have won.

"Wonderland" is a neat little story. There's a few very dark, grotesque scenes along with several where youthful idealism and weary pragmatism clash giving the reader some food for thought. Plus, it's simply funny envisioning the Doctor wandering around the Haight-Ashbury area. I envisioned one of those slow motion scenes where he's walking along and a young Jerry Garcia passes him going the other way. Far out, man.

"A Gathering Of The Tribes For A Human Be-In", a rock concert, essentially, that took place on 14 January 1967 in San Francisco is part of the story. Here's some footage shot at the event.

An Alien Drawn on Celluloid

As someone who loves the movies, I found this to be a fun romp. It's Doctor Who paying obeisance to the likes of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The Doctor, Ben, and Polly find themselves in Los Angeles in 1947 where they stumble upon a cult looking to spread their gospel in the form of Midi-chlorian-like aliens smeared on celluloid to be projected to the unsuspecting masses.

Dying in the Sun is a very noirish affair. There's our (anti-)hero, Robert Chate, who's a drug dealer, Maria Coleman, a down and out actress who is the story's femme fatale, lots of sordid activities, corrupt cops, and plenty of murder.

Exposure to the aliens, whether by ingestion or watching a print tainted with them, imparts feelings beatific as well as egoistic to the person whose mind is being influenced by the creatures punningly called the Selyoids.

While this tale doesn't stray far from the conventions of Doctor Who, it is a really fun read. Our heroes are written well, even if the Doctor is a bit generic. I appreciated that the cult wasn't evil per se, but rather severely misguided. They weren't imposing the aliens onto people out of a desire to conquer or subdue, but rather out of a sense of paternal benevolence.

There's a scene that stays with me that involves Det. Fletcher. The Selyoids can animate corpses and they do so to interact with the cult leaders. As chaos reigns near the end of the story, Fletcher is under the influence of the Selyoids and gains an insatiable desire to have more of them inside of his body. Using a letter opener that he had filched, he punctures the skull of one of the corpses that has been brought to life...

A wide smile crossed his face and he scooped the Selyoid essence out of the corpse’s skull with his hands. He shoveled it in to his mouth and drank it, pools of glowing liquid spilling through his fingers.

Criticism of consumerist culture is a bit on the nose - at one point, Polly argues with the Doctor that people don't object to advertising so how is the tainted film any different?  (I think that's the gist of it. I cannot find that section.) - but I still enjoyed the story. That the cops are crookeder than a dog's hind leg while the ostensible evil villains are more deluded than malevolent was a nice touch. Plus, I simply liked the whole noir atmosphere, tropes and all.

These cookies have more than just your fortune

It appears that fortune cookies now have ads inside them in addition to their usual words of wisdom and Nostradamus-like visions of the future. This one that we got with our last order of Chinese food had an ad for Dude Wipes which apparently are mentholated, moist towelettes aimed at men who want their buttholes to be extra clean and minty, I guess. The cookie came from Asian House over at Dempsey and Milwaukee.

Not the best ad to keep up one's appetite, if you ask me. It also had a vaguely creepy vibe as well because the cookie packaging featured a young girl on it.

The Rising Sun (Not the bathhouse)

I caught the sun rising over the Madison Yards this week. My camera was not able to capture the lovely red of the sky.

I presume the Whole Foods will be open in the spring and hordes of well-heeled folks will be moving into those luxury apartments come summer.

This ramen is crazy hot, apparently

Why do spicy ramen packets always have someone or something screaming on them? The last one I bought had a guy sweating bullets screaming, "WITH NOODLES!"

EDIT! I found the photo of the sweating guy.

A Brace of Dunkels from Milwaukee

The latest My Turn brew from Lakefront in Milwaukee is a Munich-style Dunkel from a fellow named Chopper.

And don't forget that Sprecher's Winter Lager is also a Munich-style Dunkel.

Jeepers. Sprecher's website is now almost wholly dedicated to soda with beer getting but a single page under the About menu. It's like their beers are an afterthought. Only the regular releases are listed there. The On Tap page lists a Doppelbock but they are sure in no hurry to promote it. I have to wonder if Sprecher is going to get out of the beer business altogether as they seem to have almost given up on it.

The Corona Diaries Vol. 71 - Postlude: Soul Brew

Some Fine Covers

Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters producer Greg Kurstin have been doing Hanukkah Sessions and they enlisted Jack Black for a performance of "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush.

 

 

Another cover tune that I stumbled upon recently was this version of Yes' "I've Seen All Good People" by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. I never thought I'd ever hear The Bangles' singer perform a prog tune. It's a very faithful cover and Hoffs does a fine job. She has a wonderful voice.

The Corona Diaries Vol. 71: The Best Little Saloon in Milwaukee

(mid-October 2022)

While I haven’t spent much time in front of the television lately, I did watch a show of note called The Rope (La Corde). It’s a French program based on the novel La Corde by German author Stefan aus dem Siepen.

The tale concerns a group of astronomers and other scientists who are working at an observatory/radio telescope out in some remote area of Norway. They are attempting to find vestigial evidence of the Big Bang by tuning their telescope into a certain part of the sky. As the day of the Big Listen approaches, one of the scientists, Agnès Mueller, takes a walk in the forest which surrounds the observatory where she happens upon a rope snaking along the ground. She follows this enigmatic discovery for a little while but is unable to find its end.

After announcing what she's found, her fellow researchers become insatiably curious and a band of them head out to determine just how long this mysterious rope is and where its end lies.

Each member of this fellowship has their own quirks and problems and they find their relationships being put to the test as they venture further into the forest yet can only be amazed that the rope simply goes on.

I found the conceit of a rope of interminable length suddenly appearing to be interesting. But, at a paltry 3 episodes and featuring a large ensemble cast, things seemed rushed. Most characters were undeveloped so their fates felt cliched and contrived. The show did, however, have a rather weird ending which I really enjoyed.

I had hoped to read the novel that the show was based on but, alas, it does not appear to have been translated into English.

********

Meanwhile back in Milwaukee…

The Frau and I checked into our hotel. She decided to lie down for a spell before dinner so I went out for a walk. Despite being a dreary, cool afternoon, I headed over to the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is a pedestrian walkway along the shores of the Milwaukee River that begins at Lake Michigan and continues north through downtown.

Along the way you can see some neat buildings, old and new.

Many businesses along the Riverwalk have open patios but the time to drink and dine alfresco was long over, for most people, anyway. But, during the warmer months you can dine and drink in style on the shore of the river.

There were boat landings dotting the river with spaces for private boats and tourist ones as well. Benches and even some statuary make for a fun and interesting stroll along the shore. This piece is called Acqua Grylli.

We had agreed to meet a friend of mine and her family for dinner. With the dining hour approaching, I made my way back to the hotel.

My friend had initially suggested we meet at the Public Market. However, her husband warned against this as it would be extremely crowded. Instead he suggested O’Lydia’s which was about 6 blocks south of our hotel in the Walkers Point neighborhood near the confluence of the Milwaukee and Menomonee Rivers. It was a pleasant walk that took us past some decaying industrial sites as well as older buildings that had found new life as restaurants and cafes.

We found O’Lydia’s on a corner and, upon walking inside, immediately took to it. A lovely wooden bar that had seen many a patron welcomed us. We grabbed a couple brews and waited for my friend and her family to show up. I ordered a Riverwest Stein from Lakefront, the Milwaukee area’s second oldest craft brewery, having opened in 1987. I think it’s their flagship beer and the one places carry if they only have one Lakefront beer available.

Before long my friend and her entourage arrived and we got a table. I’ve known her since college but only recently got back in touch after an absence of many years. I met her husband several years back so it was a pleasure to make his acquaintance once again. I’d never met their two children, a daughter and son, previously so it was nice to meet them after having heard various tales.

It being a Friday meant fish fry!

I got the bluegill which was a little over breaded but tasty nonetheless. Bonus points from me for the marbled rye instead of bland white bread. Plus they had potato pancakes.

We ate, drank, and were merry. My friend and my Frau work in the same general field and so had a lot to talk about. Curiously enough, my friend’s husband works in IT as I do. We chatted about sundry topics such as their kids and the gentrification of their neighborhood as well as the perennial Wisconsin pastime, commiserating about property taxes.

All too soon they had to head home. Needs must when the devil drives. Or you have young children. The Frau and I, however, went in search of a nightcap. We approached one place but she passed on it as it appeared too trendy, filled with the well-heeled. The kind of place you go to in order to be seen as much as to have a meal.

A couple blocks later we found ourselves in front of Just Art’s Saloon. (I returned the next day for these photos.)

Derelict buildings were behind it and to the north and Just Art’s had a classic dive bar appearance being a bit rough around the edges.

That aesthetic carried over to the interior which was dimly lit. It was slightly brighter than Jocko’s Rocket Ship, which some older Madison readers may remember. Not exactly dingy, but it was entirely possible that the interior had not had much work done on it since the bar opened in 1980 and it was all the better for it. This place oozed character and was a million miles away from the cookie cutter places meant to appeal to Richard Florida’s Creative Class.

An older gentleman with a head of white hair and a similarly colored bushy beard was busy playing dice with a patron from behind the bar while a dog scrambled over to give us a sniff.

As we took our seats, we were greeted with “Was willst du?”

How thoroughly appropriate to hear German in a bar in Milwaukee.

“Ein bier, bitte,” I replied.

He struck a slightly quizzical face and asked, “Sprechen sie Deutsch?”, switching to the formal pronoun.

“Ja, ein bischen,” I noted with some trepidation lest I find myself out of my depth in a lengthy conversation where my role would be to constantly ask, "Was bedeutet <insert word I don't know> auf Englisch?".

The old duffer turned out to be the proprietor, Art Guenther. As we sipped our drinks, we discovered he was prone to brief bursts of orneriness. For instance, he caught us looking at our phones and grumpily remarked, “Damn Millennials can’t look away from those stupid phones!” Well, these grouchy old man moments turned out to all be for show because he was really a very affable fellow. Armed with a dry sense of humor, he always had a droll comment at the ready and was happy to chat about any and everything. The 3 other patrons were regulars and a fourth entered a little while later. She had her usual – gin on the rocks. That dog was wandering about looking for pets and it took me 10 minutes before I noticed that it was missing a leg.

Utterly without pretension and wholly welcoming to a couple of folks from out of town, Art’s saloon is now my favorite Milwaukee watering hole.

The next morning we broke our fasts at Uncle Wolfie’s Breakfast Tavern. It is located in the Brewers Hill neighborhood, apparently so called for being home to countless people who worked at the city’s breweries way back in the day. Brewers Hill is just north of downtown and sits atop a bluff that overlooks the Milwaukee River.

The food was very tasty as was the view from our window seats. When we were done, it was off to the south side and the South Shore Farmers' Market which my friend had recommended to us. The market is at South Shore Park just a small hill away from Lake Michigan. The park was beautiful with all of the colorful trees. It reminded me of Madison’s Orton Park only larger.

No doubt there were more vendors during the summer but there were still quite a few that day, the penultimate market of the season. The vegetables looked marvelous.

A woman was selling frozen custard that had been infused with booze.

Look at these chilies!

With coffee in hand, we wandered over the hill and were treated to lovely views. To the north lay a marina and, in the distance, downtown.

To the south and east was a breakwater beyond which was the great Lake Michigan.

I spied a couple cargo ships off in the distance.

The Frau bought some kombucha and a smattering of baked goods before we headed back to the hotel. It was late morning and our only plan was to meet another friend of mine, whom I’ve known since high school, and her family for dinner. My Frau opted to relax and take a wee nap while I decided to go out for a walk. This time I would go south.

********

Bonus photo. Here are some colorful cookies from the Public Market that I neglected to include in an earlier entry.

Some Fine Seasonal Illumination

A Christmas Hedgehog pic.twitter.com/uTPXx5Q3qZ

— Damien Kempf (@DamienKempf) December 23, 2022

Jethro Tull, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison, Wisconsin (3 November 2004)

Jethro Tull's performance in my hometown in November was their first here in twenty years and one day. Then they were promoting their new album, Under Wraps, while in 2004 they had no new album to push. Instead they were touring with the promise to play some songs that hadn't been performed live in a long time, if ever. The first set was to feature Tull's acoustic side while the second would see Martin Barre's guitar put to full effect. In addition, it would be my first time in the newly-built Overture Center and nice way to beat my post-election blues.

The show began with "Life Is A Long Song" from an EP released in 1971. Not particularly rare but a good performance nonetheless. After it was finished, Ian Anderson began with his usual stage banter. He commented on the Presidential election the day before and how the new President looks a lot like the old one. This elicited many a boo from the liberal Madison crowd which was loud and boisterous most of the night.

The show continued with the perennial favorite "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day" from 1974's War Child album. More classics followed, including "Dun Ringill" and most of the acoustic songs from Aqualung. The set featured the second-ever performance of "Slipstream" as well as the live premiere of "I Raise My Glass to You" from Martin Barre's solo album, Stage Left.

While Anderson's antics have mellowed over the years, he still wandered the stage maniacally with phallic flute in hand. This line-up has been together for about ten years and it shows. Musically, they were tight and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Each band member introduced at least one song and their comments lightened the mood and got the crowd laughing. A woman in the audience yelled "Hey, sexy knickers!" during the introduction to "Up the 'Pool'" which added to the revelry.

Keyboardist Andy Giddings may dislike "The Squeezy Thing" (a.k.a. - the accordion) but his playing on "Eurology" really warmed me up to the song. The highlight of the first set was Aqualung's "Mother Goose." Giddings and Barre added recorder and everyone got a chance to show off during the extended instrumental section. The first set closed with the latest arrangement of "Bouree" from their sophomore album, Stand Up.

As promised, the second set had the amplifiers turned up loud. Bassist Jonathon Noyce donned a University of Wisconsin hoodie and started out by playing the intro to "My Sunday Feeling" before Doane Perry's drums came crashing. "Cross-Eyed Mary" followed and showed the weakness of the set: it was weighted a little too heavily towards songs from Aqualung that have been live staples for most of the band's career. However, I can imagine that it isn't easy for a group that's been around for 36 years to devise a setlist that appeals to a crowd of mostly older fans but younger ones as well. Still, Tull's last two albums, Dot Com and Roots to Branches, are criminally underrated and it was disappointing that the band played nothing from either. Considering the results of the election and the wars on terrorism and in Iraq that were ongoing, I felt that songs such as "Roots to Branches" and "Valley" would have been highly appropriate in addition to being great pieces of music.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the second half of the concert. Towards the end, Tull brought out "Farm on the Freeway," a song about the loss of the family farm here in America. Many people in Wisconsin understand the situation all too well and perhaps some folks in the audience knew it first hand. Any political messages aside, the song stands as one of the band's best, with Barre's guitar sounding brash and loud while Anderson spits out plenty of licks from his flute. Hot on its heels came the most intense moment of the night, "My God." Probably Tull's angriest song, it is a classic with piano, flute, and acoustic guitar butting heads with the loud, acerbic electric guitar and drums. A shiver shot down my spine when Barre's electric guitar burst out after the flute solo in the middle of the piece. "My God," like "Farm on the Freeway," explored a political issue, in this case, the tension between the Islamic and Christian worlds today.

Tull brought the set to a close with rousing versions of "Aqualung" and "Wind-Up." The standard encore of "Locomotive Breath" followed. The band played an instrumental version of "Protect and Survive" from 1980's A, while Anderson tossed out balloons that were almost as big as he was into the audience. They were still bouncing around the theater as the band left the stage and the house lights came on. However, saddened one was with the election and the state of the world, it surely brought a smile to see two huge balloons caroming off of the balcony as Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" played softly in the background.

(This was originally published at The Green Man Review back in 2003-08.)  

Welcoming Winter, Tippling Tippy

You know winter is here when Tippy Toboggan is on tap. I had dinner at Vintage the other day and had my first Tippy of the season.

A Roggenbock, it's one of my favorite beers and heralds the arrival of winter for me along with the solstice.

I also sampled Z-Quester, a toasted kernza amber ale. Kernza is a new grain and its use in Madison garnered an article by Robin Shepard in Isthmus recently. It was a very tasty beer and the grain nouveau lent a very nutty flavor, to my taste.

A Mini-Gallery of Grabby

Cold! Redux

 

I busted out the hearty food last night in the form of a pasty. With rutabaga!

Piper was wrapped up tight this morning.

Cold!

The Corona Diaries Vol. 71 - Prelude: Milwaukee Waltz

Michelle Nixon and Drive, It’s My Turn

Native Virginians Michelle Nixon and Vernon Hughes both came from musical families and made their first forays into performance at young ages. Nixon developed her singing skills in church while Hughes spent his childhood learning mandolin. At 14, each of them joined their first bands. A chance meeting at a recording session in 1992 led to a musical partnership which has lasted 11 years. In the late 1990s, Nixon and Hughes were together in regional favorites Local Exchange. After its dissolution, the the partnership emerged unscathed. After adding four new members, they adopted their new name and recorded It’s My Turn, their first album for Pinecastle.

Just a brief look at the cover of It’s My Turn will let the listener know what they’re in for. Nixon stands against a plaintive backdrop wearing blue jeans and a tank top with the Stars and Stripes. Locks of hair lazily sit on her shoulders and she has a large caliber smile on her face. With a mix of originals and well-chosen covers of traditional and newer songs, the album tackles bluegrass in the time-honored ways of Bill Monroe with a few contemporary twists.

A cover of Tom T. Hall’s “Harlan” kicks things off. Jason Davis’ banjo and Justen Haynes’ fiddle get the song moving from the get-go and it never lets up. It’s a paean to Harlan County, Kentucky and the people who live there. Personally, when I think of Harlan, I think of the miners and their strike in the early 1970s as documented in Barbara Kopple’s documentary, Harlan County, USA. This explains why I heard a bit of irony in the lyrics but you can’t deny the celebratory mood of the song. The bouncy bass and Nixon’s enthusiastic delivery make this song infectious.

“One Small Miracle” is a woman’s lament as she watches her husband walk out the door and out of her life. While the tone is melancholic, it’s a showcase for Nixon’s fantastic voice which is warm yet full of pleading. Hughes steps up to the mic and croons the traditional “Bees in the Hive” with Nixon adding some great harmony. “Couch Potato,” an instrumental, betrays its name with some blazingly fast banjo picking from its 15 year-old(!) composer Davis who leads the charge. Along the way Haynes and Hughes strut their stuff on fiddle and mandolin, respectively. This song really smokes!

Bassist Jim Green rearranged the gospel “Step Into the Water” and the result is a fantastic bluegrass song. He sings lead here but Nixon and Hughes contribute as well. In fact, the three of them harmonize superbly. A version of “Hello Operator” gets your feet moving once again and is followed by another Tom T. Hall song, “Joan Henry.” Hall wrote this gender-bending take on the traditional “John Henry” with Nixon in mind and she belts it out with confidence.

Michelle Nixon has a great voice and she’s surrounded herself with a clutch of musicians whose talents equal her own. The playing is tight and the vocal harmonizing tighter. And they’re no slouches at penning songs either. The older songs are rendered anew with spirited performances while the newer tunes are respectful of the rich traditions of bluegrass.

(This was originally published at The Green Man Review back in 2003-08.)

Previously Uncirculated Shows from Merlyn's Emerge

A trio of previously uncirculated shows from the legendary Madison music venue, Merlyn's, have been posted at Dime.

Air 1981-02-10
Art Ensemble of Chicago 1980-10-29
Ronald Shannon Jackson 1982-11-27

The taper noted: "A friend of mine was a student at U-W Madison in the early 1980s. He noticed someone recording various jazz shows at Merlyn’s and requested copies of a few shows. He recently asked me to transfer these 1st gen cassette copies to CDR. This transfer is the basis for these audio files.

Unfortunately my friend did not keep in touch with (the taper) nor does he remember much about the recordist, who likely still has a stash of shows recorded in Madison in the late 1970s and early 1980s."

I have recordings of Brand X and Pat Metheny performing here in Madison at Bunky's in 1978. Same taper?

The Languages of Africa

Wowzers! This video from the Youtube channel NativLang called "The Languages of Africa" is really neat. The linguistic diversity on that continent is astonishing.

"The Black Stone" audio play

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has a new Dark Adventure Radio Theatre story out - The Black Stone.

It is an adaptation of the Robert E. Howard short story of the same name. I have never read it but it comes with the warning "This episode features a bit more sex and violence than is typical of Dark Adventure, including one scene of unusual horror."

Sounds good to me.

Ancient Infrastructure

Philip K. Dick maintained that the Roman Empire never ended. Well, it did. But they left behind quit a lot. Having taken Latin, I found this video (via Open Culture) to be really neat. It details some Roman roads and bridges that once can still use today. I'd love to walk on a Roman aqueduct or stroll along a stretch of the Via Appia.

La Civil coming to Cinematheque

La Civil is set to screen at the UW Cinematheque on 3 February.

"La Civil tells the story of Cielo, a mother in search of her daughter, abducted by  a criminal gang in Northern Mexico. As the authorities fail to offer support in the search, Cielo takes matters into her own hands. Cielo begins her own investigation and earns the trust and sympathy of Lamarque, an unconventional army Lieutenant working in the region. He agrees to help Cielo in her search, because her research data could be useful to his operations as well. Cielo’s collaboration with Lamarque pulls her further into a vicious cycle of violence. The film focuses on Cielo’s emotional rollercoaster, as she is drawn into increasingly intense and dangerous circumstances. The camera stays close, we never lose sight of her as she gradually transforms from housewife into avenging activist. As events unfold, Cielo gets closer to the truth: discovering a mass grave, obtaining official DNA analyses, confronting one of the presumed kidnappers, but corruption and apathy keep her from finding resolution. Until the end finally comes, unpredictable and uninvited..."

A Little Music for Hannukah 2022

Welcome to the Hotel Galaxian

  

I sure have a lot of reading to do before I get to the next Second Doctor story that exists on video in its entirety. But, if there are more tales like this one between now and "The Moonbase", the time will pass quickly because this was a really fun read. (The Doctor is in drag!)

It reminded me of one of my favorite Doctor Who stories, the Seventh Doctor PDA, Storm Harvest. That book is also a tale of a vacation spot under siege. (Storm Harvest was released about 2 years after the book at hand.)

Steve Lyons' The Murder Game begins with the Doctor, Ben, and Polly being summoned to Hotel Galaxian by a distress call. Hotel Galaxian is an vacation hotel ship in orbit around the Earth. The once trendy spot has seen better days as off-Earth tourism has shifted to destinations much farther away leaving it to its fate as an outer space version of The Sands.

One Geoff Hornby is hosting a murder mystery game on the Galaxian but things get serious when one of the participants is found dead. I mean dead in real life. The story takes on an Agatha Christie tone as we struggle to figure out who dunnit. Things get even worse when creatures like this board the ship.

These shark-like creatures are Selachians. Perhaps not as mindlessly destructive as the Krill, they are still quite ruthless nonetheless. And they're strong and have good armor.

There's more of the Doctor here than in Invasion of the Cat People but he's basically all business with fewer moments of whimsy set to a recorder soundtrack. Ben and Polly have larger roles, especially the former. They both struggle with their feelings for one another and Ben for another character named Terri as well. In several instances, Ben's attempts to help prove futile such as when he tries to physically assault the Selachians. Their armor ensures his attacks did nothing. I felt rather terrible for Ben as he wanted to be heroic so badly but was unable to do a lot most of the time and he usually got banged up and bruised for his trouble.

The Murder Game didn't tinker with Doctor Who conventions much, if at all, and it seemed to be a story in line with the Second Doctor era as far as tone and characterization. Lyons did, however, make his story a little too big for the small screen with some underwater scenes. The story was well paced and really a lot of fun.osting.photobucket.com/images/v99/tim_archer/murdergame-cover.jpghttps://hosting.photobucket.com/images/v99/tim_archer/murdergame-cover.jpg